#.....................................yes i'm a believer of the clone theory why do you ask

[roseaesynstylae]

Star Wars: Republic Commando: Triple Zero, Chapter 1, Part 1

"Kal Skirata had committed the biggest mistake of his life, and he'd made some pretty big ones in his time."

It's begun. Kal Skirata is here.

Also, considering Kal's track record throughout this series, "mistakes" might not be the right word to use.

"No, this wasn't happening.

Inside the transparent tubes there was fluid, and within it there was movement.

It took him several minutes of staring and refocusing on one of the tubes to realize there was a body in there, and it was alive. In fact, there was a body in every tube: row upon row of tiny bodies, children's bodies. Babies.

'Fierfek,' he said aloud.

He thought he'd come to this Force-forsaken hole to train commandos. Now he knew he'd stepped into a nightmare."

I will confess: When I first read this section, I thought I might actually like Kal Skirata, just a little bit. Then I read the rest of the book and I realized, no, this guy is an asshole. But he is at his most sympathetic at the very beginning of this novel. If any fanfic writers out there want to rewrite him to be more likable, this bit is what you should build off of.

"Skirata knew from day one that he wouldn't like Kaminoans.

Their cold yellow eyes troubled him, and he didn't care for their arrogance, either. They stared at his limping gait and asked if he minded being defective."

To be fair to Kal, Kaminoans are pretty damn hard to like. And I too would be upset if someone looked at an injury I got and went "Are you okay with being damaged?"

However, Kal using the word arrogance is almost funny. Pot calling the kettle black, anyone?

"Jango slowed down tactfully. 'So, Ilippi threw you out?'

'Yeah.' His wife wasn't Mandalorian. He'd hoped she'd embraced the culture, but she didn't: she always hated seeing her old man go off to someone else's war. The fights began when he wanted to take their two sons into battle with him. They were eight years old, old enough to start learning their trade; but she refused, and soon Ilippi and the boys and his daughter were no longer waiting when he returned from the latest war. Ilippi divorced him the Mando way, same as they'd married, on a brief, solemn, private vow. A contract was a contract, written or not."

Okay. Um, I'm just going to list a few things.

Did you discuss this with her at all before you got married? I kind of get the impression that you just assumed she'd go along with it.

Eight years old? If Kal actually has the gall to say anything about child soldiers going forward, I'm going to explode.

Why do you sound surprised that she first left your ass and then divorced you? From what I'm hearing, you royally fucked up your marriage.

It's a Man's World: 1 (for Kal's assumption that his wife would just go along with him)

Mando-Shilling: 1 (why yes, child soldiers are fine and peachy if they're Mandalorian child soldiers)

"'Don't your sons talk to you any longer?'

'Not often.' So I failed as a father. Don't rub it in."

Considering how much you fail as a father in this very book, I am, in fact, going to rub it in.

"'Ko Sai said something wasn't quite right with the first test batch of clones,' said Jango, ushering Skirata ahead of him into another room."

*Looks over at the "the Bad Batch are the other half of the Nulls" theory that has consumed my brain and led me to reading this series in the first place* *Looks over at the fact that the Bad Batch are defective or "not quite right"* Continue.

(All GIFs in this chapter will from now on be TBB GIFs.)

Is This The Bad Batch?: 1

"'I always believe in being honest about setbacks in a program. We value the Jedi Council as a customer.'

'I have nothing to do with the Jedi,' said Jango. 'I'm only a consultant on military matters.'

Oh, Skirata thought. Jedi. Great."

(All and any unhappy Echo expressions, regardless of the actual context, are perfect for this.)

The nicest thing that has ever come out of Kal Skirata's mouth regarding the Jedi Order.

Jedi-Bashing: 1

"'Chief Scientist Ko Sai apologizes, as do I,' said Orun Wa. 'Six units did not survive incubation, but these developed normally and appeared to meet specifications, so they have undergone some flash-instruction and trials. Unfortunately, psychological testing indicates that they are simply too unreliable and fail to meet the personality profile requited.'

'Which is?' said Jango.

'That they can carry out orders.'"

First, every time we learn more about the Nulls, I'm going to point out the parallels to the Bad Batch and shamelessly propel my theory (mostly to make myself feel better). Second, have a little serotonin boost!

Is This The Bad Batch?: 2

"'We could do with a few wild cards,' Jango said carefully, moving between Skirata and the Kaminoan. 'It's good to have some surprises up your sleeve for the enemy. What are these kids really like? And how old are they?'

'Nearly two years growth. Highly intelligent, deviant, disturbed -- and uncommandable.'"

Quoth the Tech, "We're more deviant that defective."

"Ordo was doing pretty well for a four-year-old soldier,

They could learn to be heroes tomorrow. Tonight they needed to be children, reassured that the storm was not a battlefield, and so nothing to fear.

[...]

'It's okay, Ord'ika,' he said softly. 'I'm here, son. I'm here."

This is the most likable Kal Skirata is going to be. It's all downhill from here, guys.

I'm splitting this into two parts, so the jump to present day will be in the next post.

Jedi-Bashing: 1

Mando-Shilling: 1

It's a Man's World: 1

Shut The Fuck Up, Kal: 0

Deltas, Move Out: 0

Mird, My Beloved: 0

Is This The Bad Batch?: 2

Main Post

[amyisherenowitsokay]

I was wondering if you've seen MatPats Film Theory on Invader Zim? And if you have, what your thoughts were on the conclusion?

Okay so since I'm sick I finally got around to watching this video to fulfill this ask.

TLDR for the people who don't want to watch the video below the cut.

TLDR: the theory is that Professor Membrane is an Irken, based off of his lack of ears, goggles that hide is eyes, complete lack of mention of who Dib and Gaz's mother is, his random advanced technology, etc. It would also be an interesting self-folly for Dib, who's made it his life mission to seek out the paranormal, never realizing he is in himself a paranormal entity. There's also some hints that while Dib is oblivious, Gaz might know ("I have a squeedily-spooch" quote), and her acceptance/knowledge is why she's Membrane's favorite kid.

Onto my answer:

I can definitely appreciate the thought that went into this video. I'm a big fan of fan interpretations and secret messages. The Invader Zim lore is so open-ended in a lot of areas, leaving hints about character personalities and motivations all over, it's real fun. That being said, I have to firmly disagree with MatPat's conclusion (with the disclaimer of: to each your own fanfictions).

I think the reason we just can't see Membrane's ears are because they're just under his goggles.

I think this is a pretty good angle to emphasize that the goggles don't go OVER his ears, but under. I actually have a facemask that does that, as it's more comfortable than something going over your ears for hours. The heavier duty safety goggles also have thick ass bands. I think Jhonen and the art team just took insp from that and upgraded it to look futuristic, to where they cover his ears.

Another reason I disagree:

Membrane had a childhood. (The comics also show him with his parents, but I'll stick to strictly show material, since a lot of the comics are not canon). Yes, it could be argued that this was just a younger Professor Membrane, when he was still short. However, I think the childhood wonder of still believing in Santa Clause, even as a super-genius, is more pro-human than pro-secret-Irken. Zim studied Christmas, whereas Professor Membrane experienced Christmas, if that makes sense.

To explain his kids, I do think Dib and Gaz were clones. I subscribe fully to the theory that the Membrane also told them already, way younger than was probably appropriate lol. I think if they didn't know for sure where they came from, they'd both have way more questions on the regular about their theoretical mom.

As funny and interesting as it'd be to have Dib be chasing proof of, well, the existence of himself, I think the reason Membrane tries to keep him away from the paranormal is as stated: Membrane believes, and has always believed, that science is the only career worth chasing. He doesn't believe in the paranormal, because the spookies are just things that science doesn't yet understand. I think if we're lending to the clone theory, it'd also trouble him that his clone-son doesn't like science, and therefore is not the perfect clone. Dib's disinterest is a sign of something going wrong in his experiment, which is simply unacceptable. Furthermore, I think we don't give Membrane enough credit for just being a sentimental guy sometimes. Like any other dad, he just wants his son to think what he does is cool, and join in on his favorite thing.

I think Gaz's comment about a squeedily-spooch was just her being a glib little sister. Also, Dib literally had his organs stolen in that episode. Zim stole his organs to replace organs that he don't exist in Irken physiology. Sure, Dib could be part-human-part-Irken DNA, but if that was the case, Zim still would've noticed by now. He literally steals Dib's DNA signature on multiple occasions. Zim turns him into bologna one episode, and the both of them take extensive cultures of their DNA to try and cure themselves from being turned to meat. If not one, the other certainly would've noticed some Irken in there and pointed it out.

I can't find the episode immediately, but there's also episodes where Zim gets electrocuted and we get the humorous x-ray shots. There's also an episode where Membrane gets an x-ray shot. In both, their bone structure is different.

As neat as the idea is, especially in terms of a 'wow Dib's his own worst enemy' idea, I can't say the video swayed me, or that I could be convinced towards adding it into my own personal fanon. Very neat video though. Thanks for the rec homie

[lemonhemlock]

I don't get why any team green supporter would want the "Aemond is the father" theory to be true. It would only serve to undermine team green and shit on Alicent. I've seen many team black people that like this theory and their reasons are: "it's an good ironic twist since Alicent hated Rhaenyra's bastards", "it would highlight team green's hypocrisy, "see, the bastard argument doesn't matter, etc." Basically, they want to use it as "gotcha."

I think this theory only serves to prop up team black and will ruin team green's depiction even more. And no, I'm not a "Helaemond anti." I'm fine if they want to make it romantic instead of platonic, but I'd hate it if they make the kids Aemond's.

i don't know what to tell you anon since i already have a ton of posts in my backlog cataloging those very points so i'm going to redirect you to my helaemond tag. although some stuff might be found under the anon wars tag or inbox antagonism as i got besieged at one point

i'm just going to say that the greens being hypocritical in one regard isn't the end of the world. i don't know why people are so against this, they're not meant to be perfect angels. and they're getting much worse as the story progresses. also this changes nothing for the actual plot.

the bastardy argument absolutely does still matter, because it's a different thing entirely to have plausible bastards you can pass off as trueborn. we all know that if cersei had fathered those children with stannis (lol), we'd be having a different conversation. how would this amount to a gotcha moment for rhaenyra? she doesn't know shit and can't prove shit. meanwhile her children are looking like harwin strong's clones. aegon has got himself very properly targaryen-looking kids.

there's no DNA testing, but people aren't stupid either. those working in agriculture and animal husbandry have been manipulating genetics for thousands of years to get better crops and food without studying chromosomes under the microscope. sure, their understanding was limited, but it's reasonable to assume they would, at the very least, realise that a Rhaenyra-Laenor marriage could not produce Strong features and find it Pretty Sus

but, you know, what actually really bothers us is that no matter how often we explain these things, it gets ignored and unaddressed. so people just regurgitate the same talking points again and again. it's hard to believe people are not doing it in bad faith at this point. not saying that's your intention, anon, but go to any helaemond account and you'll see that we've been over this already. many times. it's really like talking to a wall. and we still get "i don't understand why some people like this idea" type of questions even though there's a lot of ink spilled on the topic already

and these different asks from different anons:

Anonymous asked: I think people get so riled up about Helaemond and for what 😭 it’s a shipper theory. There are minuscule hints in season one, but like you said, the show could very well never do anything with them. That’s it! Why is it always such a big thing lmao

bingo. this is what it amounts to. the show's framing is there, it's implied as a possibility, yes, it's subtext, for the millionth time, we get it. why would any green sympathizer be interested in this? because they'd find exploring those particular themes interesting in a fictional setting. whether it be angst or longing or star-crossed lovers or dreadful secrets that eat you alive and consume you from within.

there are a hundred of different flavours to any ship. you may not like every one but do you even have to? people who hate this theory talk about it more than people who actually like this theory. is that normal?

Anonymous asked: You don’t have to answer, I know you’re done with ship asks, it just confuses me how people on all ends of the spectrum cry about how others are self inserting or wildly changing a ship. F&B barely gives the main characters a ton of attention, ships even less so. Why argue over something that gets one-two pages? It doesn’t seem worthwhile to me. The show is liable to change plenty of things, as we’ve already seen. The rhaenicent dynamic is so different from the book. The idea of them changing other things is incomprehensible? And “making up characterization/personalities/etc”- doesn’t everyone do this? Isn’t this the purpose of fanfic? I feel like I’m in an alternate universe sometimes where the idea of someone developing a side character is not only normal, it’s encouraged. Fandoms do it all the time.

hey there, i'm not ~done with shipping asks, as this is my blog at the end of the day and i can be as annoying as i want. :)) i see both sides of this issue.

one the one hand, it's sometimes baffling how much of a difference there is between the actual presentation within a text / on screen and the fanon interpretations. i think like there is a conversation here and it is sometimes indicative of some other issues. it's not always just innocent, self-aware changes made for fun, sometimes it's also a question of media literacy or personal / societal prejudices at play here.

a personal example from my reading experiences was the fact that i used to encounter a lot of fics where alicent was depicted as this awful mother who hates her children and sees them as tools. i would get so tired of seeing this take (which i consider bullshit for a number of reasons) that it was kind of a frustrating situation, since it seemed that was the (undeserved) way she was being portrayed all over the fandom. it would bother me bc it's also something so prevailing in society today, to demonise women who are trying their best as bad mothers and place the burden of child-rearing on them. for example, people would look at the scene of a distressed alicent trying to calm a continuously crying helaena and would claim that the baby hates her because she is such a horrible mother to her. anyway. many such examples. you can look up my opinions on lucemond, for instance. :))

on the other hand, most fics imply some sort of changes somewhere, whether they're a fix-it, canon divergence, a freaking coffee shop AU, a crackship or characters acting OOC. it's completely normal AND harmless at the end of the day. so, as long as people mind their own business and are not being arseholes to each other, to each their own. the people who want to make these changes should be free to write without getting hate for it and the people who are frustrated by interpretations they dislike can rant about it in their own spaces and that should be that.

it truly becomes an issue when people don't mind others boundaries' anymore, become so hateful with others and resort to name-calling, morality high-horsing and other forms of online harassment and bullying. for example, there are many people who write fics i don't care for or have takes i strongly disagree with, but i've never in my life went to their inboxes to disparage them, send them hate, dictate what they should post, leave comments on their fics, deride their artwork, tell them to kys or any such things. at the end of the day it's about having some basic manners, you know? it's ok to not like stuff and feel frustrated about it, but do you have to make it everyone else's problem? can you not just convey your displeasure in a more considerate way?

Anonymous asked: putting aside that self inserts in fic are as old as time and will never stop being a thing so it’s silly to complain (aemond/ofc has more fic on ao3 than alysmond, helaemond, aegond and daemond combined) I think people throw around that insult the same way they used to make fun of people for even writing fic. like it’s so silly and fangirly and dumb. But what most people are doing with literally any aemond ship is finding a dynamic they enjoy/find interesting and running with it. they expand on the characters because they have to, f&b is so sparsely drawn and the show had to cram 2 decades into 10 episodes. there simply isn’t a lot of source material. so using that as a foundation and crafting more rounded characters isn’t a crime, it’s simply fandom? i don’t relate to having prophetic dreams and marrying my alcoholic brother any more than i relate to being a hot goth milf who can do blood magick. both can be expanded on and played with because that’s what you do when you enjoy media!

this was in reference to a caustic anon that was accusing me of self-inserting into helaena. :)) OP is making some fair points here, i don't have much to add but thought it interesting as a general commentary on fandom

Anonymous asked: Even if you were engaging in ship wars and stoking flames (which you really aren’t, I don’t think any of your personal discussions have been inflammatory) it’s your blog. People can block and unfollow if they dislike the content? I can’t imagine asking someone to confirm more to what I want to see on their blog, as a fan.

yes, thank you, this was sent to me because i sometimes get requests from people asking me not to post something in favour of something else. this particular instance was because i answered other helaemond asks at the time.

is it fair? idk! some of those requests are worded v politely, so i'm not upset by them or anything, but, at the same time, shouldn't this blog be something that caters to me first and foremost? not to toot my own horn, but i should be my first customer in this regard. why else would i post if i don't enjoy doing it? i don't get paid for doing this, it's my own free time involved. if i have a day where i want to post shipping asks instead of something else, why not? if i have a day when i don't want to or can't muster up a coherent answer, i feel like it should be equally fine?

another thing that people don't realise - some might not like a topic or me talking about shipping wars for the 234th time this week, but others do. otherwise i wouldn't be getting so many messages about this. so, by trying to please 1 or 2 people, i might end up displeasing others. is that a good trade-off? this is why i don't even want to start considering my blog in those terms. "pleasing" everyone is an impossible objective, so i might as well just write about things if i enjoy them and not if i don't want to.

similarly, you're never going to find an account that caters 100% to your tastes, so i feel like trying to make it so by putting pressure on other people to post what you specifically want is an endeavour doomed to failure from the start. your first reaction when seeing something you're not interested in should be to scroll past, not to feel the urge to make people aware that you experienced a minor inconvenience and should, therefore, be accommodated accordingly.

[keiths-stupid-mullet]

can you link/post a shiro characterization thingy? im writing a fic and im super bad at characterizing and i dont want to make him ooc

Aww, don’t worry too much about it!^^ OOC isn’t necessarily bad, I’ve just had my fill for the day :’D 

But I’m absolutely ready to help if you want it. Before s3 came out I made a post series with little things I liked about the characters, so if you’re looking for random facts about him to bring him to life you can check out this post. I’m writing a little more about how I personally interpret him and his relationships with other characters under the cut :D 

(Keep in mind though that this is my personal interpretation, I’ve never actually read a lot of Shiro-centric works)

Generally, Shiro seems to have 2 different attitudes. One for his team and one for pretty much everyone else :’D

Shiro with the team is incredibly patient. He never yells. The only times where he can be considered rude or abrasive towards his team is when they are in a pinch or a time-sensitive situation, he has already made a decision and someone speaks up against him. Normally he would be the type to talk any problems out but since he doesn’t have that time he puts his foot down and makes everyone else follow him. 

Other than that we see him being dorky (although he doesn’t initiate stupid things he never hesitates to join them, like the food go fight or the laser gun sounds or the spore fight) and we see him giving out compliments whenever he deems it necessary. He is extremely attuned to everyone’s mood and when he’s near and realizes that someone isn’t feeling well he’s always the one to comfort them:

Shiro feels responsible for them. He was the one to hang back when Lance was injured and he is protective of them without being overbearing. Like, he always offers emotional comfort, but when he gets rejected and realizes that it really isn’t wanted he leaves it. He doesn’t fight anyone on needing distance, especially not when they are feeling bad. 

However, Shiro is also a very reasonable person (and, as I already mentioned, attuned to everyone’s feelings) so when he’s approaching someone they are usually prepared for it and open up to him. He doesn’t joke to diffuse a situation. Everyone knows that Shiro will take them and their concerns seriously which is why they usually feel safe enough to talk about what’s bothering them.

One of the problems Shiro has though is that he’s worried about his image. Not in the way Lance is, more in the way of that he never looses his cool in front of his team. He’s scared of who is and who he might become - you can read more on that in the middle of this post (that I wrote after s2 which is why there’s no Allura :P).

Moving on to his general relationship with different characters on the team: Keith.

Shiro and Keith are very close and, more than anything, they are equals. They don’t really tease each other. Most of their conversations are honest and relaxed and they always know when the other one is feeling bad:

They have phrases that they repeat “(it’s good to have you back”/“it’s good to be back”), they have the ‘shoulder touch of comfort’, they know how each other’s minds work (“patience yields focus”), they openly depend on each other. Yes, that goes from Shiro to Keith too - Keith said that he was the only one that never gave up on him, Shiro thinks Keith would make a good leader, Shiro opens up about feeling unsure if he’s ever gonna make it out alive at the beginning of s1. Most of their smiles don’t come from jokes but from shared memories that they’re fond of!

[more on Shiro and Keith]

Pidge. Shiro is undeniably fond of her. Once again, there’s no teasing in their relationship - it’s just honesty. Pidge, who can be rather scathing at times, becomes very soft around him. She feels safe around him, probably because he respects her decisions:

He went with her to search for her brother in episode 1. He would have allowed her to leave the team if she really wanted that. Shiro has confidence in her - “go, be great!” - and he never hesitates to show it. There is no ‘this girl is 10 years younger than me, I’ve got to protect her from the world’ in his behavior, he was the one that gave her the confidence needed to first claim the green lion. Whenever she rambles he lets her talk, he’s not the one to tell her to get back on topic. 

Allura. Shiro is older than Allura, the head of Voltron, has more battle experience, has graduated from the academy - and he still addresses her as his superior. Whenever the team has to make a decision outside of battle he always leaves her the final choice. I’m not completely convinced that it has to do with rank (“Princess” vs “officer”) since he never insists that anyone amongst his friends has to address with ‘sir’ as much as it has to do with respect. Allura is the one with the knowledge about the entire universe and she’s the one that gave them a purpose out here in space, so he is damn well going to respect that. 

Apart from that, he seems to get along really well with her. He comforted her on two different occasions:

I think it’s safe to say that he recognizes some of himself in her. She too bottles up her emotions, feels responsible for all of the paladins, is serious rather than funny and has a secret dorky side. She too has suffered from the hands of the Galra and got forced into something she wasn’t prepared for. But, once again, he never doubts her strength: he has no problems with her joining the team on the infiltration mission in s1.

Lance & Hunk. These two get the same category because there’s not much to say about them. Shiro has never been around when Lance has felt the need to talk about his insecurities or homesickness and Hunk has never freaked out past the point of listening with him at the helm in the middle of battle. Since both Lance and Hunk are extroverted people that talk and joke around a lot Shiro doesn’t quite click with them as much as with the others. That’s not to say that he won’t ever do it - he just needs a little more time for it. 

Despite that, he has the same general effect on Lance and Hunk as on the rest of the team: they feel safe with him around. Hunk hid behind him when they first entered the castle of lions and Lance knows that he’s allowed to keep joking around despite Shiro reprimanding him when he starts saying inappropriate stuff. Shiro compliments them when they succeed with something good - “nice job, Lance! That’s why we bring our sharpshooter” - and he doesn’t make jabs at Lance’s intelligence/Hunk’s fear of flying.

(there’s not much to say about Coran. He seems to get along with him quite well when Coran lets go of his quirky behavior for a moment. Shiro knows that Coran too has suffered a lot but keeps on fighting and he respects him for that.)

Matt. Matt addressed him with “sir” in s4 and he was shown to still wear a cadet uniform on the ‘gone missing in space’ pics in s1, so I’m not actually sure if they knew each other before the Kerberos mission. Either way he was very protective of him - enough so to take his place in the arena - and was extremely relieved when he met him again in s4:

Despite not having had a lot of appearances together, Shiro acted a little differently around him though. Directly when we first saw them on screen he joked “you guys get a little more excited about ice samples than I do” - which is teasing - and he pulled Matt into the hug:

-which can also be considered teasing. Shiro has a playful side that he allows to initiate stuff around Matt! (Part of it might be because Matt just… doesn’t seem to get angry/offended when you tease him. Not even in a fake offended way, he just laughs it off and keeps doing his thing!)

Now, his personality outside of the team. He’s a prime example of a leader when he’s meeting new people as the head of Voltron, put together and to the point. However, his fuse is a lot shorter than with his team:

Slav was driving him up the wall, when the BoM refused to cooperate and believe Keith he was ready to abort mission, the moment he met Zarkon on the Astral level he was ready to fight. In general, he has very strong morals and wants to do anything to set right the injustice in the universe, but he is a lot more patient than (for example) Keith when it comes to that. To top it all off, his will to live is extraordinarily strong too - he survived the fight in the arena. He was forced to fight against and probably kill multiple creatures/aliens.

…and yet he was willing to trust Ulaz and give the Blades a chance. Shiro doesn’t generalize, he observes and makes his decisions or goes with his gut and does whatever it takes to survive. It’s pretty clear that he’s battle-hardened and very strategic, even if he has suppressed most of his memories from his time with the Galra. 

[crystallhamptonhersheykiss]

Spoilers for The Owl house episode Elsewhere and Else when.

This was definitely an interesting episode to say the least.

We pretty much got a confirmed answer that yes Belos and Phillip are the same person. And I'll be honest up until this episode I was never fully on board with this theory, (Someone did ask me why people had this theory, I did a post with evidence that supported this and admitted that I could see why people believed this theory), The diary being left in the library was one reason I wasn't fully convinced. (Why would Belos leave something where others can use it against him.)

And we did get an answer, Phillip is an unreliable narrator, even in his own journal he was lying to make himself look like a hero. Makes me wonder what kind of person he was before he came to the boiling iles, since we saw him after eclipse lake you could've said what happened to all his friends there could've changed him for the worse but I don't think that's the case, He told Luz it took him years to discover glyphs, where it didn't take Luz nearly that long. If the titans spirit is still on the iles, he must have thought Phillip couldn't be trusted.

Hollow mind is the episode I was the most excited for and after this I'm even more excited for it, since we'll most likely get a memory of Eclipse Lake. Did Phillip lure his brother and companions into a trap to sacrifice them? Was it really an accident? Or did he only mean to kill the companions but accidentally killed his brother as well?

If Hunter is a grimwalker clone of Phillips brother makes me wonder what their relationship was like, did they love each other but had a fallen out? Hate each other? Could explain why Belos treats Hunter the way he does. Did he hate his brother and hates that Hunter looks and acts like him. Or did he love his brother and wants to love and care for Hunter but can't bring himself to because of Hunters role in the day of unity? I don't know I think you can make Belos more interesting if maybe he had those feelings instead of him being evil just for the sake of being evil.

Also looking forward to learning more about the collector and what role they play in all this I'm starting to agree with everyone that maybe Hunter isn't a sacrifice to the titan but a trade to the collector for their help.

Not to mention the backstory with the glyphs on Phillips arm. I think like Luz he really wanted to be a witch but went as far as putting glyphs on himself so he could do magic like them, but it backfired and ended up cursing himself instead.

And I wonder what Luz is going to do now, she knows Phillip can't be trusted so there's no point in going back to the journal. I think she'll find out about Belos's door and try to use it first before he can.

[just-another-npc]

Okay so you're the only one online right now but,,, I was thinking about something. It seems the whole fandom believes that Hunter is a Grimwalker now. So wouldn't it be funny if he wasn't one? And we just deciphered the book wrong? Yeah I'm being serious right now. Dana is known for loopholes so I wouldn't be surprised if a fan favorite theory ended up being wrong. I've seen it happen in other media. I feel like the theory is too obvious now.

First off, I'm so sorry I didn't see this! I got a notification from Tumblr but it was a repeat of someone's reblog and when I searched on the mobile app I couldn't find anything so I shrugged it off until I found this on desktop.

It's definitely something I've thought about before! I haven't put a whole lot of thought into it (though I'm going to now), but I personally like the take that Hunter is really just a direct descendant of the Whittebane's rather than a Grimmwalker. We took Hunter's eye color matching the graph to be indicative of his Grimmwalker status, but what if it's instead a prerequisite? I grabbed a screenshot of the book:

Notice how everything on the right side of the page is a list of ingredients? Well, don't those normally come first in a "recipe," so to speak? I see two possible options (one being more interesting and the one I'm more likely to subscribe to). One, the eyes were a misnomer, and the chart on the left side is actually in relation to a different section of the book that Belos was using(Bo-ring, but also? Wouldn't put it past the team). Two, Hunter matches one of the "materials" needed to create a Grimwalker. Looking on the right side of the page, we see a list of rare ingredients. Palistrom wood is the most recognizable; it's well-established as a rare substance that the public doesn't have access to due to its decrease in availability in "Hunting For Palismen." Then there's Galdorstones and Selkidomus Scales. Galdorstones were the stones in the illusionist's graveyard in "Through The Looking Glass Ruins"--they are highly protected and hard to steal. The Selkidomus scales were what Luz was hunting for in "Separate Tides," and it had quite a high value--the highest on the board. I don't recognize stonesleeper lungs, and while bone of Ortet sounds familiar, all I could find on it were fan theories. That being said, we can assume they're just as rare of substances as the others.

So what if the red eyes are a rare genetic indicator of being a vessel for a Grimwalker, rather than a side effect of being one? We see most all of the other ingredients on the left side of the page near the top; they may be descriptions of each of the ingredients. However, there's a distinct lack of something bone-like. What if Hunter is an Ortet? It may be the name for a nonmagical witch--a side effect of which is dark pink eyes. While there could be multiple reasons for needing the power Galdorstone, one may be to add power where the vessel lacks a bile sack--which, if Hunter was part human and a descendant of the Wittebane's, he wouldn't have one. If this is the case, Hunter wouldn't have been created as a Grimwalker. He instead is needed to create one of the dead Wittebane. Belos describes Hunter as being "a hassle to replace"--like needing emergency work on a car. But if Hunter was a Grimwalker, the endgoal, I'd say Belos has him on a relatively long chain, all things considered. Why clone your brother only to have him wander around and do his own thing, send him on smaller missions because, why yes something bad may happen to him, but he can be replaced. Replace??? Your brother's clone?? It doesn't quite make sense. The topic and execution feel a bit too sensitive and personal, even for the series antagonist. However, if Hunter was an ingredient--a witch with a rare genetic disorder making him unable to do magic--well that makes more sense now, doesn't it? Hunter is valuable--his condition is rare and he's related to the person Belos wants to bring back. However, that doesn't mean there are no more "Ortets" on the Boiling Isles. Hunter has a family, one in which his condition is common. And maybe witches can be born without a bile sack without having human ancestry, it's just incredibly rare. Replaceable, but "a hassle."

This also would make sense talking about the day of Unity. Hunter is needed to bring back Belos's brother--that's why he plays such a large role. It also explains some of the guards on the other ingredients. Belos hates wild magic and eats Palismen, so why protect the tree? Because he still needs it to make a Grimwalker. High bounty on the Selkidomus scales? He needs them for the day of Untity to make the Grimwalker. So on and so forth, you get the point.

Anyways this was a great ask! It makes a lot of sense now that I think about it, connects a lot of dots. Sorry I took so long to respond! Also I once again took like an hour to write a theory so only light proofreading </3

Note: I'm not using Phillip or his brother specifically because I believe that the fan theory is backward--Belos is Phillip's brother. For ease of understanding (and because this theory is unrelated to the topic at hand), I just left each Wittebane "anonymous" so to speak.

[moonstrider9904]

I rewatched the Bad Batch arc of TCW in honor of May the 4th and I feel like they totally changed Crosshair's personality in TBB or is it all the chip?

Nonnie! Hello!

I love analyzing Crosshair's character and how it changes throughout canon, and I can say for sure that yes, there's a difference in his character between TBB and TCW.

I take Crosshair's character and analyzing him a *bit* too seriously hehehe so I'm putting this under a cut. It is way longer than anticipated; it'll be a mix of facts and theory, observations of mine, etc.

For starters, back in TCW he displays more banter with his siblings, particularly Wrecker, with their competitions and so on.

I'm honestly sad we didn't see that at all in TBB season one and haven't given up hope it'll happen in future seasons.

But as to your question--was it a matter of writing or was it just the chip? From the realistic point of view, I think writing did have to do with it. As far as I'm aware, the writers in TBB and in TCW weren't the same, but I could be wrong.

Either way, Crosshair's inhibitor chip was activated within the first ten minutes or so of episode one, meaning there was barely any room for us to see how the writers of TBB wrote him without his inhibitor chip active before order 66. Before that, he was distant, snarky, bit cocky, and that much is consistent between TBB and TCW.

From my point of view, his personality did change with the chip, as it did with all the clones. With the chip, Crosshair shows concern over Saw Gerrera and his soldiers plotting against the Emperor, something that Crosshair (in all honesty) never would have given two craps about. Even his brothers point out this difference--Crosshair was acting differently. He was thinking differently, and he couldn't control it.

However, his chip wasn't active all the way, as stated by that evil Nala Se, so because of the way Crosshair was altered genetically, the chip's functionality was due to have some differences with the way the other clones' chips did, mainly the fact that a big part of Crosshair's actual personality was still visible while the chip was active. Even after Crosshair had his chip programming intensified, he retained his usual sneer and snark (we see this in the way he confronts Hunter at the end of ep 1 with quotes such as "make it easy on yourself" "I guess it is [an order]").

From here on out is mostly my own theory and my observations, bear with me: I do believe the programming intensification was supposed to be reinforced periodically, i.e. the intensification could wear off. I think that by episodes 7 and 8, Crosshair was more able to make his own decisions above the chip.

At the very start of episode 8, Rampart gave Crosshair the direct order to kill Clone Force 99, and Crosshair did no such thing despite having multiple opportunities to do so. When he has them lined up and surrounded, he banters and deliberately stalls for time by asking questions and saying things like "I suggest you drop your weapon," things that don't really have?? to be said?? Why else would he say those things when he has a direct order to put a swift end to his former squadron?

When Tech and Hunter peek out from the engine, we see Crosshair aiming at them through his scope. On two occasions, Crosshair has a clear shot. He doesn't fire, and instead resorts to pointless chatter. "Try again, Hunter!" Why? Crosshair is a sniper. He has no need to distract himself. He sees his objective cross his scope, he fires. End of story.

And then, in the engine scene, once he notices the explosions detaching the cone of the engine from the main structure, Crosshair was already on his way out. Now, my man is smart. He's got brainpower. He wouldn't do anything deliberately stupid. So why in the flying tookas would Crosshair return, put himself directly in blast's way and look at the scene through his scope, all to yell "No!" right before the explosion? I very much believe that the whole engine scheme was to give them a chance to get out of there, and when he saw that his brothers had once again been completely reckless, he legitimately thought they would perish there.

Bringing me to my next point. Why, pray tell, would Crosshair be so anxious to personally be on the shuttle overseeing the persecution to the Marauder when he's just been notified that his forces have the means to capture them without his help?

What I want to say is Crosshair's behaviour with the chip evolves, but the chip isn't all of it. Not only did his chip activate, but he also suffered abandonment. It is no secret at all that Crosshair felt abandoned, and that was made clear many times before the infamous "We were brothers once" speech. We see it in episodes 1, 3, 9, and 12.

And I'm still not fully convinced Crosshair's inhibitor chip is out, but that's a whole other post uwu

And while the technical level of the writing is different, we see that with the other batchers as well. Like Crosshair, they've gone through different things that have also changed them as people. Now, I'm not saying the writing of TBB is flawless and I do by all means hope that future seasons elaborate more on their sibling dynamics. But I am saying that, on some level, it makes sense that the characters behave differently.

Their four episode arc in TCW was a manner of introduction of these characters. They were a semi-freelance squad who did as they pleased, who were cocky enough to call themselves the Bad Batch, who prided themselves in their recklessness. In TCW, they were like boys at the start of college. Energetic, proud, cocky, laughing at one another. By the time of TBB they're adults having to make their way in the real world. It's the simplest comparison I can think of.

TLDR yes, Crosshair's personality does change. A lot of it must be due to the writers themselves on a technical level, but I'm not discarding the fact that the chip as well as the events surrounding Crosshair in canon can contribute to him behaving differently. In short, he is now sadder than he used to be, and he's lost, and that frigging breaks my heart.

Let me know what you think!! Like I said, I love analyzing Crosshair's character, I've spent a full year trying to get a better understanding of him so I like to believe I'm on the right track, and I'm always down to talk about things like these!

[the-yearning-astronaut]

I have SO many feelings about @spectroscopes post about Din being expected to change his religious beliefs for "Character growth", but not expecting it of the Jedi. And then people had to bring Bo into it which is honestly amusing to me. And irritating.

My biggest reaction was FINALLY SOMEONE SAID IT. This post is gonna get very long because now I'm Into It and I want to address all three characters of the original post and responses. Bare with me here for a moment!

(seriously, this post got super long. You can thank the ADHD. For the TL;DR version, scroll all the way to the bottom.)

First of all, I love Bo-Katan. I think she's a really interesting character that has a lot of potential for some great character development. We don't know anything about large chunks of her life -- the 15 years between Order 66 and Rebels and then the decade between Rebels and the Mandalorian being the most interesting of those chunks.

But she is in no way "reasonable" or good. Like many in Star Wars, she's very much a grey character. She wants what's best for her people and she does what she thinks will provide that. In The Clone Wars, it's siding with Pre Vizsla as a high ranking officer in Death Watch and then the Republic as leader of the Night Owls when she needs Maul overthrown. In Rebels, she actually turns down the Darksaber at first, believing she is the wrong one to lead Mandalore. She takes it later only after the leaders of quite a few other clans stay they will unite under her leadership. I have a lot of theories about her current mission, but those are for a different post.

The word you're looking for is pragmatic. She's also very stubborn and opinionated. She makes decisions based on what she believes will get her what she wants, but no one can make her do something she doesn't want.

And she was a part of Death Watch at the height of its violent heyday. I have a lot of things to say about Bo and Death Watch and Din and The Children of the Watch, all of which will go into yet another post when I can wrangle my thoughts in some sort of order. But I'll touch on it a little here because that's what the original post is about.

There are a number of possible reasons why Bo calls Din's Tribe a "cult" but the most likely imo are: 1) she's referring to Death Watch and her own experiences within the group, which has apparently split off again and become a bit more radicalized. 2) she's an unreliable narrator with her own strong biases and beliefs and doesn't know the full details about the Watch. Honestly I think it's a combination of the two but that's besides the point. The point is we don't know about The Watch and we don't know what she knows about it.

Now the idea that Din has to change his own beliefs for "character development" is....no. Just no. There has been no indication that Din's upbringing has been harmful in anyway. Does the idea of never removing one's armor and helmet in front of anyone else make me upset? Yes. But I also get it. And relate to and respect it. While I relate to this for neurodivergent reasons and not religious ones, it comes down to the same thing: if someone asked or forced me to "unmask" for them -- for whatever reason -- I'd be really upset and very uncomfortable. Doing such a thing is a deeply personal choice, one that some people make and others don't. I would love it if Din would take his helmet off for Grogu, but I would totally respect his choice if he decides it's something he could never do.

The fact that he did it in the last ep -- and was obviously horribly uncomfortable and terrified during the whole situation -- was honestly the biggest shock to me. But it also shows just how much Grogu means to him. I don't think he'll suddenly start taking it off all the time now. I don't think he'll even do it for the kid. If he does it'll only be once, maybe twice, but for the most part he'll keep it on.

Din's character development is NOT in him throwing away three decades of important religious beliefs. It's in how he's learning to make connections with others. He's forming relationships with people, friendships and allyships. He's grown to love Grogu deeply. When we first meet Din, he is lonely. He's cold, even. I wouldn't say uncaring, but he's certainly cut himself off from connecting to others for whatever reason (likely in self preservation considering his job is to literally hunt others down.) The change from that Din to this Din is what's important here. THIS is his character development.

Which brings me to @spectroscopes original post once more. You know who actively distances themselves from forming close relationships (or tries to)? The Jedi. You know what group ACTUALLY hits all 6 indicators of a religious cult? THE JEDI. And Spectroscopes is right -- NO ONE expects the Jedi to change their ways, and yet they are the ones who need to do it the most. There are two Jedi that I know of (and I'm talking what's in current canon, not in the EU) who have turned from their original teachings while not going full sith: Kanan and Ahsoka. Ezra, being taught by Kanan, never really learned the "old ways." All three of them have much healthier relationships -- personal, familial, and with other sentients in general -- than any other Jedi I know of. I have a lot of thoughts about this but once again that's for another post because this one is already far too long.

TL;DR: Bo-Katan is far from reasonable and is likely incredibly biased. Nor is she automatically correct. If you're going to take her word on Din's tribe being a cult and expect him to denounce it entirely, you need to take a good long look at the Jedi Order too. We know nothing about the Watch other than the words of one woman. We have PLENTY of examples of The Jedi Order being an actual cult. Din's character development isn't even about his religious beliefs or the Creed in the first place. It's about him learning to make meaningful connections with others.

[m0mmat0rtle]

Star Light Chapter Three

Pairing: Tech x Pantoran!OC

Words: 1542

Warnings: none

Summary: Tech returns to visit Star Light and the two start to form an unlikely bond.

<Chapter Two

"A little more to the left!" Star shouted as she balanced on one foot while standing on top of her trusty gonk droid, Gink. "GONK" Gink replied as he shuffled slowly to the left with Star balancing on top. She teetered slightly as her poor balance threatened to send her tumbling to the ground. "Woah!" She shouted before she caught herself by resting one hand the wall in her room. The other hand held a pallet of freshly arranged paints and a paintbrush nestled between her teeth as she balanced poorly on the gonk droid. A knock at her door startled the pantroan and almost caused her to fall over off of the droid who GONKed at her frantically, trying to keep her from falling over. "Come in!" She shouted, catching herself again. Once she finally caught her balance she looked at the wall, using her thumb pressed against her paint brush and holding it eye level to her face as she imagined her desired artwork on the wall. She used her thumb as a measuring tool, planning out how she wanted her work proportioned. She was so focused she didn't even hear the door swoosh open and someone step in. "Are you sure that's the safest way to do that, Miss Star?" The sudden voice of someone else in her quarters startled her, causing a small shriek to fall from her lips as she finally lost her balance and fell back into the arms of someone she had only known for a day. "Tech," She breathed as her eyes met his under the cover of his bucket and goggles. "Hi." She added as a small smile formed on her lips. The moment happened so fast Tech was a little stunned from it all, holding the small girl in his arms bridal style. "You should really be more careful miss Star Light." He said as he gently put her down. Star brushed off her skirt before looking to Gink with a groan. Her pallet had fallen smack upside down on the droid covering it in shades of green and pink. "Thank you Tech." She said to the clone before grabbing a spare clean cloth and quickly working to wipe the paint off the droid. "What are you doing here anyways? How is your cut?" She asked kindly, flashing him another smile from her position of cleaning her droid. "Oh-" He felt a small brun coming to his cheeks when he caught the sight of her smile. He removed his helmet against his better judgement, and kneeled down with Star, helping her clean the droid. "My cut is fine, miss Star Light." Tech replied. "I'm simply here to see you."

"See me?" Star replied with a raised brow as she set her cloth down. "No one ever comes to see me." She replied before crossing her arms over her chest. "Why are you really here?" Tech had to think of something to tell her and fast. Most of the clones were bad liars and unfortunately Tech was no good at it either, that is most of the time. "Lama Su wanted you to spend time with someone. According to research, social interaction is good for an individual's mental state." "So she sent you?" Tech didn't know if he should be offended or not. The way Star said his name made it sound like she was almost surprised that he was the one chosen for Lama Su's experiment. "Yes." Tech replied. "I do have a superior mind compared to the other clones. I would be the ideal subject for such a procedure." Tech replied as he adjusted his goggles, pushing them father up the brim of his nose. "What was your name again?" Star asked as she moved to sit at the edge of her bed, looking at the ginger clone with a slight glimmer of curiosity in her eyes. "Tech." He replied. "Well Tech I'm sorry but I hope you're prepared to be completely and utterly bored." Star said with a sigh before leaning back onto her bed. "I'm afraid, for once, I do not follow." Tech said as he watched her from a respectable distance. "Tech I stay in this room all day every day. I don't exactly do much, never the less do anything worth sharing or entertaining." "So you believe you aren't interesting?" Tech asked. "Ye-up." "I believe I have found a fault in your assumption." Tech replied and Star sat up to look at him. "What do you mean?" She asked. "Well I haven't known you long at all and I am already intrigued by you and your nature." Tech said as he looked over at the paints and pallet that had been left on Star's desk in her room. "You're an artist." Tech observed before turning back to her. "You create things." He added before tilting his head to the side and looking at her. "Tell me about your process."

"I always like to picture what I paint before I start." Star said as she stood up and walked back over to the spot on the wall where she was planning to paint her mural. But first she picked up her atlas, her one book that she owned, and brought it over to Tech. "I was gonna paint this scene of Naboo, the one I was looking at yesterday, that is before you came by." She said as she pointed at the picture of the planet. It was a landscape with beautiful flowers, each a different pastel shade. It was beautiful, almost as beautiful as the girl holding the book. "Then once I have a clear picture of what I want to paint, and I have the motivation to do so, I find the perfect spot for the painting and begin my work like so." She said as she added her selection of paints to her pallet, grabbed her paint brushes, and attempted to climb back onto the Gonk droid once more. That is before Tech stopped her. "Miss Star Light, please refrain from standing on a Gonk droid like that." He said as he walked over to her. The pantoran who stood on one foot, standing on the tips of her toes, turned to him. "What? Why?" She asked and Tech sighed as he reached to pick her up again, his hands gripping her torso right underneath her arms and lifting her like she were a glass ball and setting her down on the ground. "It's not safe. The probability of you falling at an angle like that is unsatisfyingly high." Tech caught her eyes for a moment as he set her down. Those golden yellow orbs met his and for a moment he felt his breath hitch and that familiar sting of a blush spread on his cheeks. Compared to him, Star was small. She barely came up to his shoulders meaning he had to lean down when he set her down on the ground. "If you want a lift so bad while you paint why don't you sit on my shoulders." Tech blurted out, mentally cursing himself and wondering where in the galaxy his boldness came from. "You'd do that for me?" Star asked, raising a brow with a small smile forming on her lips. "Well I- uh-" "You're sweet, Tech." Star said kindly. "I like you."

Tech's shoulder's had been aching for hours but was he going to tell Star that? Absolutely not. She had been happily painting away and talking nonstop about her artistic process. She had filled Tech's ears with talks of color theory, form, the influence of line, and now she was currently on the philosophy of art. Tech had happily listened to everything she told him, always happy to hear new information. As soon as a final brush stroke was applied to the painting and Star gave a sigh of relief did she realize that she had been talking the clone's ears off. "Oh my goodness." She said softly as she slid off of his shoulders. "I was rambling that whole time... for three hours. Tech I'm so sorry." The clone smiled at her however. "It's alright. I ramble myself, sometimes." He replied. "I would like to hear some more about your opinion on the theory of art." Tech prompted with curious eyes. "You would?" Star asked and the clone nodded. "I have often heard that what makes something art is the work's ability to go beyond culture and current events of life. The work, in a sense carries the viewer above the stream of life and provides them with-" "The aesthetic emotion." Star finished his statement for him with a raised brow as she used a near by paint stained rag to remove the paint buildup on her blue hands. Tech nodded at her, a small smile on his lips. "You know art philosophy?" She asked and her eyes twinkled ever so slightly with amusement and the clone nodded. "Well yes, there isn't much that I don't know." His response caused Star to merely giggle with delight and Tech found himself fascinated with the sound. He had never heard a sound so pure and sweet as the giggle from a delighted girl. He never wanted it to end.

Chapter Four>

[marislittleworld]

Liane’s mission - chapter 2.5

WARNINGS: none

Liane was combing Filia's hair while she played with her teddy bear, Twilight. Yoru, her boyfriend, was just watching the two

Liane - hehe, what are you looking at, dear?

Yoru - nothing, I'm just watching a beautiful scene where my girlfriend is combing our future daughter's hair.

Liane - do you want to try?

Yoru - of course, in this I am an expert

Yoru started to brush Filia’s hair

Filia - daddy, you just comb your hair, it doesn't mean you're an expert

Liane - *holding in laughter*

Yoru - now I'm speechless.

Liane - in addition to appearance, has the same personality. She really is your daughter. *laughing softly*

Yoru - my version of the future should be proud just as I am.

Phoenix- Hey Yoru, Viper and Brimstone want to talk to us.

Yoru - what does that old man want with me? I'll be right back dear

Yoru kisses Liane and Filia's foreheads

Yoru and Phoenix are on their way to Brimstone's office

Phoenix - so Brov...

Yoru - what is it?

Phoenix - I'm still jaw-dropping

Yoru - and why?

Phoenix – because you are taking care of a child

Yoru - shut up Phoenix, Liane wanted us to take care of Filia until we find her parents, in other words, our versions of the future.

Phoenix - do you believe it? Do you think that little girl is really your daughter in the future? What if she is Liane's clone in disguise?!

Yoru - it's not her...

Phoenix - how are you so sure?!

Yoru - Liane's radiant abilities are too powerful, she can have health problems if she uses them all the time. Viper said that our clones are just a reflection of each of us. And if Liane trusts the files Kurt sent her, so do I.

The two arrived at Brimstone's office, they knocked on the door and then entered.

Yoru - hope it's important, old man. I don't want to babysit our prisoner again

Phoenix - looks like someone woke up on the wrong foot today.

Brimstone - ok, that's enough! Viper, tell them about the mission

Viper - ok, Liane went to the old Kingdom lab, which unfortunately exploded. But we still detect signs of radianite there, we want you two to go there.

Phoenix - but usually it's Liane who does this kind of mission.

Viper- Liane won't be able to do this mission for 2 reasons, the first reason is that she is busy with Filia, and the second reason is because I want to.

Yoru - and can I know why?

Viper - Liane went on 2 missions and she found her clone 2 times, but in the last mission she mentioned that Filia appeared right after her clone disappeared, me and Brimstone are suspecting that little girl, if she's not from future, so she can clone Liane using her abilities.

Yoru - but what about the files Kurt sent?

Viper- Yoru, I trust the files Kurt sent to us after he died, but when that little girl showed up at our base, I started to raise suspicions if she's Liane's clone.

After the two left the office, Yoru was worried and wondering if Filia is really his daughter in the future.

The two took their guns and went with Yoru's new car. Viper gave them the location of the old lab, when the two arrived, the place was all collapsed

Phoenix - looks like the place was abandoned a long time ago

Yoru - Viper said we have to be careful

Phoenix - you're not one of those following orders.

Yoru - you're right, I'll do it my way

Yoru takes his mask from the dimensional fabric and checks the location, Yoru starts talking to Phoenix on the communicator:

Yoru - after all, what does Viper want so badly in this place?

Phoenix - well, to sum up what she said, that this place may or may not have radianite, she wants us to investigate whether it has radianite or not.

Yoru - ok, this is like taking candy from a kid.

Phoenix - if any enemy but Liane's clone appears, it means that Filia is Liane's clone.

Yoru - I'm still refusing to believe this theory

Phoenix - and if it's true?

Yoru - and if not?

The two were arguing until they heard a strange noise

Yoru - did you hear that?

Phoenix - I heard

Yoru - Phoenix, go to room A, and I'm going to room B

Phoenix - understood

The two went to both rooms

Yoru - there's nothing here, what about you? Is anyone there? Phoenix? Kuso. The communicator stopped, perfect.

Meanwhile, Phoenix entered room A and readied his weapon and headed for the enemy. He made his wall of fire to corner the enemy

Phoenix - hands up, come on!

It was a hooded woman, she raised her hands

Phoenix -now come slowly

The woman walked until she got her whip and took Phoenix's gun and shot him in the leg.

Phoenix - ARGH!

The woman took off her hood and revealed that she was Liane's clone

Liane - don't fuck with Chameleon. And don't disturb me!

Liane's clone took her grappling hook and went out through the ceiling.

Yoru came out of his dimensional fabric and saw the Phoenix writhing in pain on the floor

Yoru - Phoenix, what happened?

Phoenix - that damn clone shot my leg and got away! Why didn't you call?!

Yoru - because your communicator stopped! We have to get you to Sage.

Phoenix - no need *argh* I can heal myself

Yoru saw the Phoenix heal using his fire.

Yoru - I will inform Viper

Phoenix - ok

Yoru - Viper, are you listening?

Viper - I'm listening Yoru

Yoru - Phoenix and I explored the site, and no sign of radianite.

Viper - that's good to hear. Any enemies?

Yoru - only one

Viper - is the clone of Liane

Yoru - correct

Viper - great, I'll get that little girl out of the interrogation room

Yoru - y-y-you put her there?!

Viper - yes.

Yoru - why?!

Viper - I put her there in case you don't see Liane's clone on your mission

Yoru - Viper, is Liane there?

Viper - so is she.

Yoru - oh thank God

After the Phoenix had healed, the two went to the car and returned to base.

Filia - おとーさん!

Filia ran and hugged Yoru's leg. 

He lifted her up and hugged her. When Phoenix tries to pat her head, Yoru always hits his hand

Phoenix - come on, man?! She is my niece

Yoru - since when? As long as I'm her father, you're still not allowed to touch her little head

Phoenix - so ok.

Yoru was stroking her head, until Filia started to laugh

Filia - hihihi, that tickles .

Yoru saw that it was Phoenix poking Filia's belly, Phoenix saw that Yoru looked at him angrily

Phoenix - what? You said I'm still not allowed to touch her little head

Yoru wanted to curse him, but he saw that Filia was beside him. Phoenix took this opportunity to stroke her little head.

Yoru - oh no, now you're asking!

Yoru put Filia down and went after Phoenix

Phoenix - come get me, daddy Yoru

Yoru - now you're pushing the limits! My patience is limited!

Sage stood beside Filia while she drank tea

Sage - they're both very childish, but that's one of the keys to being a father

Filia - Aunt Sage, where's ママ?

Sage - if you're asking about your mom, she's resting in her room, she took care of you all day

Filia yawns, catching Sage's attention, making the healer laugh.

Sage - it seems that games have made you sleepy. I'll call your father... Yoru

Yoru stopped chasing Phoenix and went to Sage's direction, he noticed that Filia slept in her arms, Yoru took her and took her to Liane's room, he placed beside her. 

He kissed Filia's forehead and Liane's forehead. And he slept with them.

(if all of you try to figure out wich anime I inspired to draw the first drawing, click on the heart <3)

Mari - OC from @kanaesparadise​

Hera - OC from @runeterrankhaleesi​

[moralitycrisis64]

Okay. I have a Hordak Metaphor.

It's a very silly metaphor, but it's on my dang mind.

So lately I've been messing with a tiny Rubix cube. Not tiny as in a 2x2. A tiny, 3x3 cube. And look at this baloney.

You might look at that and think, "Wow, Ash, two thirds of the cube! That's not bad!" And you're right. It's not bad. In theory. I'll get to why it's ACTUALLY not great in a second, but first of all let me express to you the UTTER FRUSTRATION of being TWO THIRDS of the way done with this dumb puzzle and being STUCK on the last layer.

I've been working at the final layer for hours. I even caved and looked up instructions at one point, which I consider cheating, but I still couldn't do it. I'm sure if I spent some more time with a tutorial, I'd be fine, but it wouldn't really be ME who solved it, would it? It'd just be a testament to my ability to follow commands. And here's the REAL kicker.

I can solve the first two layers in about one minute now. 60 seconds. Through practice, yes, but you know the real reason? The reason that makes all of this more or less pointless?? It's because when I was about twelve or thirteen, I got it into my head to learn how to solve a Rubix cube by straight up memorizing the algorithms. I didn't know why what I did worked. I just knew it did.

And that's why I was able to solve the first two layers of the cube in the first place. One day I happened to pick up a 2x2 Rubix cube and found, to my amazement, I could solve it. I didn't know why. I didn't know how! My hands pretty much moved on their own, guided by some weird subconscious knowledge I thought I'd long since forgotten!

So I thought maybe I'd be able to solve a 3x3, and have those bragging rights again. But no. Instead I am RUDELY confronted with my lack of memory, and more than that, my lack of understanding. I want to solve the third layer on my own to prove that I CAN DO IT. That I figured it out MYSELF.

But even if my adolescent memories came through, that would be a false narrative. Because I don't understand what I'm doing, and I never did in the first place.

How does this relate to Hordak, you ask? Is this a long-winded excuse to rant about a Rubix cube, you wonder? Well, not completely. But I have wondered how an army general (if he ever actually was one; I've seen headcanons to the contrary and given Prime's ability to warp memory I think it holds water) had such advanced technological knowledge to build war machines, cloning chambers, halfway-functional portal tech, etc.

I mean, maybe that's normal space general stuff, but... don't you normally have a team of people for this? What about engineers? Chemists? I thought a general's job was to understand how to use that stuff and then use it well...not to know how to build it.

I'm not saying Hordak isn't a smart man. Reverse engineering any of the above tech takes hella smarts. But I have a headcanon that all Horde clones have baseline knowledge of chemistry, engineering, construction, etc, coded into them, so that any given knowledge field can be "switched on" at will, making all clones effective in any field. I don't particularly believe any one clone was allowed to hold rank, as that seems like an admission of personhood.

Thus the Rubix cube metaphor. My ability to solve the first two thirds using vague intuition (mixed with a little logic) feels analogous to the way Hordak apparently took over the Fright Zone in a near immediate upset, armed with nothing but whatever weapons were on his ship and his subconscious ability in all fields of conquest. And then, once that subconscious ability runs out...it's out. Leaving me at the final layer, and Hordak struggling to make any headway against the rest of Etheria for 20+ years.

And it's frustrating, it's FRUSTRATING to know that not only are you good and stuck, but also that if anyone asked, you couldn't explain HOW you even got this far in the FIRST place.

There are other factors as well; for example, I don't think Hordak cared THAT much about conquering all of Etheria as much as he cared about getting his experiments to work. Like any metaphor, this one breaks down pretty quickly.

But still.

[ganymedesclock]

Your meta is singlehandedly responsible for all my opinions and characterization of Shiro tbh and I kinda just realized something. Tell me if I'm wrong but I get the feeling what you're trying to say about after-s2 Shiro is just: This is Shiro, except now all his stressors are Worse.

I mean, Shiro’s not the same person he was in the first two seasons just as much as none of the other paladins are the same person they were in the first two seasons, but, I definitely think Shiro since then has built on what was established as his essential character that’s growing and changing.

Part of it is he’s under a lot more pressure. Part of it is, when Shiro first came to the position in s1 he basically took all of his trauma and survivalism and tried to stuff it back into the mold of the Garrison’s Golden Boy. And ironically, I think it’s s1 Shiro who’s a lot more callous- look through the early episodes and see how many times Shiro interrupts, corrects, shoves or silences Lance in particular.

He’s determined to make a good impression early on, and, frankly, Shiro’s first impression of Lance is not favorable- he seems to regard him as just fooling around when the paladins need to be serious, they need to commit to this. 

He’s also the one to chew out Keith for demanding Pidge can’t leave and was about to make, frankly, a very bad decision by letting Pidge wander off alone into the universe without even questioning how even a very resourceful and clever fifteen year old intends to survive in a hostile spacefaring empire they know almost nothing about. And it’s pretty clear, I think, rather than fair judgment, Shiro’s letting his personal sense of guilt, believing he failed the Holts, rule in this context. 

Yes, people shouldn’t be shackled to paladin duty, but given Pidge’s custom jet booster had a good chance of making the pod explode (and by good, seemingly as high as 50% since it was used twice and the second time it detonated) on top of everything else, it’s clear if she’d gone off alone the way she meant to, she would have died.

Shiro in s1 is trying to be a perfect leader for everyone and frankly, who he’s become since then is better. It stands that he’s come a long way that Hunk, Lance, and Shiro himself all agree it’s unlike him to snap at people and bark orders.

At a glance, Shiro might seem as if he’s doing worse, but to me, I think it’s an incredibly heartening sign that Shiro’s character development appears to be an exercise in learning to ask for help.

Because while Shiro’s not a tyrant of a leader the way Zarkon leaned alarmingly close to in s3e7 on multiple occasions- it stands that Shiro, too, especially early on, suffered from that disconnect. He kept his own problems incredibly close to his chest. It’s obvious that he desperately latched onto being Black Paladin as a way to cope- as a way to redefine himself by something other than what had just happened to him.

Shiro in s1 is a tight-coiled spring. He’s uptight, he argues with Lance over the littlest things, in s1e1 on two separate occasions he breaks up arguments just by yelling for them to stop or “Stow it, cadets!”

Shiro’s growth as a character involves climbing off the pedestal he was sitting on at the beginning of the show. And he’s not the only one who was enforcing it, either- Lance flat-out says Shiro was his personal hero. 

In the comics, Pidge can’t conceive the idea of defeating Shiro at all even though he’s really not that much a better fighter than the other paladins- before she gets her head in gear and is able to knock him out, she just reflexively looks to him as an invincible paragon which is a pretty big cognitive slip in an issue all about Pidge’s ability to gather and keep data.

In s3e1, none of the team can really see themselves conceptualizing Shiro and a lot of their overtures seem to suggest, more than none of them are suited to the Black Lion like Shiro is (fair!) that... not a lot of them really understand what Shiro was doing. Even Keith, the closest to Shiro, leads as a Red Paladin. He says he can’t do this like Shiro can but he never seems to clarify what that entails.

What I personally think began in earnest in s3, though there were small things building towards it all along, is the systematic demystification of Shiro as the perfect leader, as the team’s paragon.

There’s kind of a point that, as Zarkon’s specific counterpart, enemy, and successor, Shiro is going to be called upon to succeed where Zarkon failed.

And Zarkon’s failure, what led to his death and downfall as a paladin, was twofold: he failed to listen to his team when they had valid points, and he kept all of his personal suffering privately away from them.

Zarkon gambles everything to rescue Honerva in s3e7, and it goes disastrously because he lies to his team the entire way leaving them completely unprepared- so when he ends up outside of his Lion and faced with a devastatingly powerful opponent, he’s surrounded and killed while the rest of the team is not in a position to do anything to help him.

Shiro in s1e11 leads the team in an equally desperate gamble to rescue Allura, and it works out. It works out because Shiro has the team’s consent beforehand, and even people who disagree (Keith) still consent to go. So when Shiro ends up outside his Lion and faced with a devastatingly powerful opponent on two fronts, it’s not his personal skill as a fighter that keeps him alive.

It’s Keith going toe to toe with Zarkon to buy Shiro time to get back to the Black Lion.

It’s Lance, Pidge, and Coran holding off the majority of the empire’s forces.

It’s Hunk smashing in to break Allura out, and it’s her and him together that come to save Shiro’s bacon from Haggar who had already seriously injured him and could easily have killed him in that moment.

It’s pretty obvious that Shiro being honest and transparent with his team is what’s keeping him from getting killed. They’re his saving grace, time and time again, Keith especially- which is a big deal, when Keith is Alfor’s successor, and while Zarkon broke with the entire team, it was his refusal to listen to Alfor that was the nail in his coffin.

And in s5e3 and s5e6, what’s steadily moving into position to save his bacon from Kuron? It’s not just Lance being the team’s interpersonal Heart as usual- but rather, that Shiro is finally, decisively, opening up and connecting to the person he’s been at odds with from the start. 

And while a lot of people take that as a “boo hoo, poor Lance”... it’s really more to Shiro’s detriment than Lance’s. After Shiro and Lance argue, Lance is the one who has multiple people verbally taking his side (Hunk, twice, and Allura personally talking to him about it with her concerns, and Shiro himself apologizing)- while Shiro clearly is falling back on bad habits and withdrawing from the team about his issues.

Because Shiro, in a very catlike manner, starts avoiding people when he’s feeling awful. Which is why I think it’s such an unsung glorious moment when in s5e6, when Lance hasn’t even brought it up again or prompted it- Shiro is the one to bring it up and basically tell Lance to keep looking into this because something’s really wrong.

S5e6 is a glorious day for Shiro’s character because, some time before the car has set on fire, Shiro’s actually rolling down the window and telling someone “hey, the door’s locked and I don’t know where this thing is going, and this is kind of a problem. Can you... get help, please, I’m terrified”

So in that sense, much as I purport to be take it or leave it about clone theory, that’s why I really hope this is the original Shiro at hand... because everything he’s learning here is incredibly good and important for his long term emotional health and I’m pretty sure what we’re gonna get out of Kuron is a strong positive emotional arc for Shiro and Lance. 

Shiro’s moving away from being the team’s perfect leader, but that’s nothing to mourn, because instead of a perfect leader he’s becoming an honest, emotionally healthy person who knows he can actually trust his team. And my multiple posts talking about how Shiro really wasn’t that perfect once you take the rose-tinted glasses off isn’t dunking on him or calling him lame-

it’s pointing out that he really wasn’t doing anybody a favor by pretending to be ideal leader. In s1e9 he had a full-tilt panic attack and immediately jumped into realizing Allura was still in danger and they had to act fast to prevent them all from being destroyed- which is fine, except the part where... he didn’t unpack or process any of that afterwards.

Sendak dug up a huge volume of Shiro’s insecurities, trauma, and frankly fear of himself, of the idea of being irreconcilably changed by what the empire did to him. This is a big problem. The implication is on some level Shiro is genuinely not comfortable in his own skin and that... wasn’t the only allusion to it. 

S4e4 is basically a whole exercise in the paladins and how they relate to image (and how they really don’t) and with Shiro, the main thing Worm!Coran focuses on is Shiro’s body.

Shiro’s body, that, seemingly, he prefers to keep covered as much as possible given even though he prefers pretty close-fitting attire, he’s also pretty consistently one of the most modestly dressed of the paladins. That, as mentioned, Sendak was able to maliciously play on the fact that Shiro has some lingering anxieties of what was done to it, and that pervades his flashbacks and reactions to his missing year- the repeated implications of medical torture emphasized less by pain (sedatives are frequently shown) and more that things were done to him, that he doesn’t know the extent of, and he was powerless to stop.

And Shiro- perfectionist, anxious about how people see him (s1e6 for example), with these very serious insecurities about bodily autonomy and the aftermath that he’s been living with...

(he has a large facial scar, lost color in part of his hair, and is missing an arm, to say nothing of any other scars he might have that we as an audience haven’t seen, and, personally, his body type to me suggests that he lost weight in prison and his super-defined musculature is less about athletics and more a lack of proper subcutaneous fat)

...has Worm Coran repeatedly telling him to show off his body. The relatively innocuous (before Coran gets brain-wormed) start of it all even has the script make a joke about how Shiro only has one hand, that he gives a “really?” aside look at.

I can’t help but feel like the implication there, when all of the other prompts poke at existing insecurities- 

Allura feeling like she’s just an ineffective replacement for the person no longer with the team when she was one of the loudest unhappy voices about him drifting away, Hunk being relegated to his gastrointestinal problems and his genuine quick wit and keen sense of humor ignored, Pidge being ignored because “nobody cares what you’re saying anyway!”, and Lance the actor basically spending the entire time indulging the fake, flashy casanova persona he uses to cover all of his own insecurities

-that there’s something significant that, again, all of s4e4 for Shiro is talking about his body, especially his muscles, which is seemingly another change after the missing year- he doesn’t seem nearly that built in the Garrison pictures, though it could be that he’s just wearing more modest clothing, it’s still very suspicious especially when Haggar’s endeavor was to turn Shiro into her personal fighting machine.

Shiro’s got a huge amount of things that have been quietly eating him from the start, and the good news is, they’re actually starting to bubble to the surface- he’s actually breaking down and talking about them with less and less impetus, which is important, because back in s2e7, Shiro made it clear that his connection with Black, that any ideal connection, needs to be rooted in trust. And while he’s heavily spun that as, he needs to be trustworthy to others...

If Shiro never talks to the team about his problems, no matter how he might spin that as not wanting to burden them or that he’s able to deal with it on his own, he’s not trusting them.

And again, that Lance is seemingly the catalyst for this is amazing to me, because Lance?

Lance is the trust guy. Lance is the feelings guy. Lance is the uncrowned king of literally every thing Shiro has been struggling with the absence of here.

Lance is both the guy who genuinely gets in Shiro’s face when he feels like Shiro isn’t listening to him, but he’s also the guy talking about how Keith needs to trust the Black Lion because Black wouldn’t ask him to do this for no reason (when Black is Shiro’s Lion, and Keith draws many obvious explicit parallels between Shiro’s requesting him to fly Black and Black taking Keith as their replacement paladin).

Lance is the one who tells Allura that Shiro is ultimately not their enemy, that they’re on the same side, and who’s vindicated when Shiro is now clearly working with Lance against Haggar, telling him that something’s wrong and that he doesn’t feel right, hasn’t felt right for a while, which is the last thing Haggar wants Shiro to do.

Lance trusts Shiro, but not blindly. He’s compassionate, but not to the point of self-neglect. He is exactly the head that Shiro needs on his team right now. And that experience is gonna mean a hell of a lot to Lance, as well.

[dent-de-leon]

sorry if you've already answered this question somewhere, but do you have any thoughts maybe on why black accepted kuron at the beginning of s4? I'm a diehard clone theory supporter, but that one bit still leaves me... stumped.

A few reasons. I know you probably mean the in-universe reason though, so to go over that first: it happens for mostly the same reason the lion swap happens. The new pilots aren’t the lions’ first choice, but you have to form Voltron somehow, so they’ll still try to make it work as best they can. Would Black prefer Shiro? Undoubtably. But in Shiro’s absence, she must have known the person Shiro was closest to, the person he trusted most and wanted to lead in his absence, the person he believed in–was Keith. 

She didn’t choose Keith because it was Keith. Not really. She chose him because of his love for Shiro. Keith’s desire to protect Shiro is what convinced her to let him pilot in the first place. Keith coming to her again in season 3 and trying to “talk to Shiro” through her is what prompted her to turn on again. When asked why the Lion chose him, Joaquim said, “[Keith] and Shiro have the closest relationship, so there is that kinship there.” And Lauren added, “And I think the Black Lion probably got from Shiro what Shiro saw in Keith.”  (source)

Keith’s motivation for piloting Black has always been for Shiro’s sake. He found some measure of comfort in Black Lion’s seat because it let him feel closer to Shiro. He speaks to himself in the Black Lion as if Shiro is right there beside him. The closest thing we ever see to something like this is Allura saying, “What would Lance do?” But even then, she makes a distinction between Lance and her Lion. She doesn’t directly talk to Lance as if he is Blue. “This one’s for you, Shiro.” For Keith, this is a coping mechanism. Another way his grief manifests. He’s still mourning. So as soon as “Shiro” comes back? He pulls away. Immediately gives up the Lion without a second though. “Keith, are you sure?” “I’m sure.” It was never about leading. It was about carrying on for Shiro and the team. 

So I don’t think Black wanted Kuron per say. She would have preferred Keith, which would have been honoring Shiro’s wishes. And at least, through Shiro’s memories and feelings, she knew without a doubt she could trust Keith. Because Shiro always did. Implicitly. But Keith was gone. She has very limited options here, and no, this isn’t Shiro. But he’s someone who still cares, who is genuinely a good person and wants to fight the good fight. Who’s learning to open up and trust Black even when he believes she sent him back to the galra’s hands in the first place. 

That’s incredibly brave and noble and trusting on his part. He’s not here saying, “I’m the rightful paladin! I have to lead!” or “Why did you betray me?” He says, “Please, people’s lives are at stake. You trusted me once. Trust me again.” And isn’t that what Shiro said about his bond with Black before? That it’s all about trust? And doing what’s right? When Shiro says “It’s about earning each other’s trust,” in the astral plane, Black’s eyes light up. When Kuron says, “Trust me again,” she powers on. That’s not a coincidence. 

Kuron might not be Shiro. But in that moment, she saw that same spark in him. Those same qualities of a black paladin. Of someone who was ready to open up and trust her wholeheartedly and wanted nothing more than to save lives and defend others. Yes, it does take more time. It’s something she has to consider. It’s something that feels off, and we can see that when she has trouble powering on. But Kuron’s heart and pleas are genuine, and right now, he’s the best she’s got. 

And you know what else? Visually speaking, the way those monitors flicker for a bit and go out and on again. It looks like a glitch. And given that the Lions tend to mirror the quintessence and mindset of their pilot, I can’t help but feel that’s their way of showing there’s also something wrong with Kuron. We’ve already seen his weird headaches, and this definitely brings that to mind. The galra have done something to him, that much is obvious. Whether you believe he’s a clone or they’ve tampered with his brain and this is some form of mind control, it’s clear this isn’t the same Shiro. The fact that Operation Kuron even exists proves it.

From a writing standpoint, if you’re going to explore Keith’s role as a leader without Shiro there as his support, it makes sense to show “Shiro” takeover without his right hand man. Makes for an interesting contrast. I think it’s also the first time Voltron’s ever played around with this idea of Allura and “Shiro”/Sven both piloting at the same time, which is kinda neat. Could also be about Shiro being a popular character and toy companies especially wanting to capitalize on that by putting “Shiro” back in the action quickly. 

Of course, I strongly believe that Kuron is still Baby Clone as well, and that Shiro is the true Black paladin. This is something that Keith has been saying all along, and it’s a part of why he eventually leaves–thinking the Black Lion will be restored to the hands of its rightful paladin. “Shiro’s the head.” “Stop talking like that. You’re gonna make it.” “Didn’t you see how he sole the Black Lion right out from under Shiro? Or how he could do all that cool stuff with his bayard? Shiro’s bayard?” “Why are we even talking about this? Nothing is gonna happen to you.” “You mean your bayard.” “Shiro’s the Black Lion.” “I know this is what you wanted for me, Shiro. But I’m not you. I can’t lead them like you.” “You had a connection with the Black Lion and I know it’s still there.” “It was always meant to be yours.”

If there’s one person who never doubted Shiro’s ability to lead and his bond with his lion, it’s Keith. And even though things between him and Kuron have been getting tense, Keith ultimately believes leaving Voltron in his hands is for the best. Because that’s Shiro, right? And as soon as Keith finds out about Operation Kuron, I’m pretty sure we’ll see him try to take back the Black Lion and use her to find the real Shiro. But Baby Clone certainly doesn’t have any malicious intentions here (that he’s consciously aware of), and he’s trying to keep the team together and do what’s right. Right now, that will just have to be enough. But it’s very much temporary–and it’s clear Black herself is very aware something’s off. It’s why she tried to shut him out in the first place. 

[cienie-isengardu]

Hi. I read your great post about Yoda using Ahsoka to control Anakin. You mentioned the Agri Corps. This is something I have already heard here or there but I'm not familiar with this. I mean, I don't really know how they work. I've read on Wookieepedia that adhesion was voluntary. But was it voluntary also for discarded younglings/padawans who failed the Trials, or were they obliged instead? Just, may you explain what you know about these corps generally? My Jedi-critical feels are pawing. lol

Thank you, I’m glad you like it! :)

I will try my best to explain the matter, though to tell you truth, most of my knowledge is based on informations from Legends / old canon. What means, I’m not sure how up to date it is compared to the new canon. With this in mind, here comes my not-so-short answer:

In theory, Agricultural Corps - along with other Corps, like the Educational one - were part of Jedi Order, and thus its purpose was to using Force for the betterment of galactic society. The biggest difference was that, Jedi Knight 1) finished their studies at Temple and with that, they were full-fledged member of the Order and 2) were sent on diplomatic missions, to fight against Republic’s foes, to provide protection for designated - very often important - people or to investigate the crucial matters, while those sent to Argi Corps either were considered to have a poor (too weak) connection to Force or failed their Trials or didn’t get their own masters before reaching a certain age (for human & human-like species it was the age of 13th birthday). Though both Jedi Knight and those in Agri Corps were working for the benefit of galactic society, there is visible difference how their talents were used by Council and/or Republic.

Of course, it makes sense that various people will have specific talents which should be used according to the ability of a person. Like Docent Vant explained in Jedi Apprentice: The Rising Force:

“Not every one is meant to be a warrior. The Republic needs healers and farmers, too. With your Force skills, you will be able to treat sick crops. Your talent will help feed whole worlds.”

So, in general work of Agri Corps is useful and important because it helps to feed people on many worlds. But at the same time, most younglings were afraid to be assigned there. And that brings us to the more complicated matter: how Agri Corps was seen by young initiates of the Jedi Order.

Mace Windu once said there was no dishonor for a youngling to be part of Agri Corps. In a sense, this was “a kinder fate” for childrens to work at their “own level” than being “humiliated” when they can’t keep up with much younger and talented kids. Also, helping to feed hungry & people in need was very honorable and good thing to do. And the selfless service to others is basic principle of being Jedi.

But for most younglings, it didn’t matter if the work of Agri Corps was important or not. A person assigned there was seen as, well, washout and failure. Some kids were sent there, because their connection to Force turned out to be too weak to make of them a good Jedi. Some were skilled yet still could not pass the Trials for various reasons. Some who already were strong in the Force and passed Trials still didn’t catch attention of any Jedi Knight, and thus no one offered them an apprenticeship.

Many - if not most of younglings were thinking about Agri Corps as demotion, a prove they weren’t good enough to be a Jedi. Those kids who grew up at Jedi Temple didn’t know any other life than that and thus had a real reason to be afraid of. They were not only “kicked out” for being a “failure” but also by sending to a foreign planet, they were cut off from security provided by Order - from friends, familiar teachers  & Temple staff who until now took care of their needs, so they never had to worry about food, clothes and so on. Of course, the Agri Corps were supplied by Order/Republic, yet I believe the living conditions were dependent on the climate and technical advancement of the planet. To be fair, I personally don’t know that many sources focused at inner working of said Corps - there was one comics called Graduation Day that actually makes an impression the kids were on their own, without any teacher or adult guardian(s)… then again, the action of comics took place during Clone Wars, so maybe all Jedi / appointed superior(s) from there were pulled into war? I dunno.

Backing to Legends sources, there are examples how the oldest (almost 13 years old) younglings were desperate to show off their skills, in hope to catch attention of Jedi Knight, so they will not be assigned to Agri Corps, what was seen with both Tallisibeth Enwandung-Esterhazy (a.k.a. Scout) & young Obi-Wan Kenobi. Not to mention examples of bullying between kids (and yes, this is sadly thing, but bullying was quite common in Jedi Order) where Agri Corps were seen as a “job for rejects, initiates too weak to be Knights”. Some younglings taunted other kids by making fun of their lack of skill, that no Knight will take them as padawans and thus they will be kicked out and sent on some remote planet to be *just* farmers.

Did younglings had any choice in that matter? Their voluntariness is… debatable.

Sources like A Jedi Path: Manuals to students of the Force and The Complete Encyclopedia noted that younglings may volunteer to Agri Corps - and some probably did so. But for those that were assigned to Corps by Council, the choice was limited. For example, in Jedi Apprentice, when Obi-Wan Kenobi was informed about Council’s decision, no one asked him if he agreed with that nor in what part of the galaxy he would like to serve. He only get his orders through Docent Vant:

Obi-Wan Kenobi was bandaging his burns in his room when he got the bad news. He was trying to imagine ways to impress Qui-Gon in the morning. He considered ways to improve his fighting skills – anything he might say or do to convince the Knight that he was worthy to become a Jedi’s Padawan Learner. But then Docent Vant brought a data pad and showed him his orders.

Suddenly all his plans and dreams were shattered.

[…]

Obi-Wan stared at the orders in shock. The data pad told him that he would ship out of the Temple in the morning. He needed to pack his bags.

He was to report to the world of Bandomeer – some planet he’d never even heard of , out on the Galactic Rim. There he would join the Agricultural Corps.

Like you can see, younglings didn’t have much to say on this issue. Kenobi was lucky, because Yoda liked him / saw him as valuable student, so old master made sure the boy get his chance to meet Qui-Gon Jinn who at that time were looking for a new padawan. But how many other kids didn’t get the same chance, we may only wonder.

Of course, the kids may decide to leave Jedi Order permanently and thus not joining any Corps. There are examples of padawans who chose that path - some, like Ahsoka left due to unpleasant experiences, some simple decided they didn’t really want to be a Jedi. But in both cases, padawans were given little to no support at all. I mean, Ahsoka practically marched out of Temple with only clothes on her back - no money were given to her to help her survive on her own. Which I think is one of reasons why younglings followed Council’s orders even when they didn’t want to become part of Agri Corps. They didn’t know any other life outside of Order, didn’t know their parents or families, and thus have nowhere to go, no money or support to survive in dangerous galaxy on their own.

And then Empire happened.

Agri Corps were part of Jedi Order - the force sensitive kids working there were considered Jedi (albeit no fully trained ones) and thus were either killed or captured during Jedi Purge. Those who proved themselves to emperor and / or Vader, became Dark Jedi and as so, became servants of the Sith Lords. Some, I believe, simply didn’t want die, so it was better to serve Empire than being dead. Some, on other hand, were quite angry at Jedi - and thus prone to Dark Side. What Palpatine happily exploited for his own benefit.

This is less or more what I can tell you about Agricultural Corps at this moment. I hope my answer has satisfied your curiosity :)