#And the theory was apparently acknowledged by creator people so

[acemakes-art143]

look at this I'm living up to my username once again and making art

Silly lebsian pompom :]

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 408: Orphaned Cryptid to Billionaire Supervillain

Previously on BnHA: HE WAS BORN AN ARROGANT BABY.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi decides he’s going to cover the rest of the AFO/OFA saga in the span of just seven pages, the majority of which are mostly just filled with lovingly detailed closeups of AFO and Kudou’s eyes. Back in the present day, Kid For One takes a couple of seconds to trample the last of the “Kacchan is OFA II or is related to OFA II” theories into the dust, and is then all “fuck it, I’ll just take him out with one last spectacularly grotesque supermove.” Kacchan is all “lol you fucking dipshit”, and he says it with such confidence that it truly makes me believe he can defeat AFO’s “ALL THE QUIRKS EVER!!” attack with his piddly little exploding bloodsweat quirk. AND IT WILL BE A SIGHT TO SEE.

interesting!

Yoichi’s name btw is written with the kanji 与 which means “bestow” or “give”, and 一 which means “one.” so basically “one who gives”, which is fitting as the creator of OFA, but also fits in with this new context of being the first “possession” bestowed upon AFO

oh yes and also AFO I guess has just torn his brother to shreds or something too. idk. I’m going to be honest with you guys, this panel has such a surreal vibe that I just sat here blinking stupidly at it and wasn’t even shocked or anything. like what. is he dreaming this?? or did he really just make a “STOP! IN THE NAAAAME OF LOVE” gesture and in doing so remove half of his brother’s jaw

ewww

idk what’s wrong with me today guys. AFO just disintegrated Yoichi, and Kudou and and OFA Tres (who apparently still doesn’t have a name???? freaking Kudou got named before you??) are literally RIGHT THERE and presumably horrified, and all I can think about is how fucking gross it is that they’re all hanging out in a fucking sewer

oh shit y’all it’s about to go down

he can’t kill Kudou right off the bat can he? does Kudou even know he has OFA yet? are we going to see him transfer it to OFA III? I’m so fucking excited omg

LOL WHAT

“weirdly matte” omg. so apparently he’s like All Might, where the “he’s just drawn differently” thing is something people actually acknowledge in-story. “yeah he actually has no pupils. that’s a real thing. technically that should mean he can’t see since pupils are what let light into your eyes, but don’t worry about that part. just know that his eyes canonically look weird to the story people as well, and everyone is creeped out by it, not just you”

yeah he’s actually blind

so he literally can’t see outside himself. way to lay those metaphors on thick, Horikoshi

(ETA: this is my “just in case my impeccably dry wit doesn’t translate well across the internet” ETA to assure everyone I know he’s not actually blind lol.)

now we’re cutting to some random city where AFO is broodingly staring at Yoichi’s severed hand because he’s perfected the art of always doing incredibly unsettling things

I cannot believe the fucking hands thing has an actual origin story. of course it does. this man has never done a single hinged thing in his life. it’s all unhinged or bust. am I talking about AFO or Horikoshi? YOU DECIDE

he’s sitting at a table with a bottle of wine holding his dead brother’s embalmed severed limb and thinking about fucking quirk shit

so your transformation from Orphaned Cryptid to Billionaire Supervillain happened almost completely offscreen huh. I’m kinda disappointed, ngl. I could have read a few more chapters about that. maybe a spinoff miniseries

WAIT WHAT

are you serious. we finally get a panel that’s INCREDIBLY RELEVANT to pretty much ALL OF MY BNHA THEORIES, only for that same panel to contradict itself ONE SPEECH BUBBLE LATER?? so what is the truth???

omg omg omg

so many fucking questions, omg. what the hell does “through research” even mean. how did he confirm Yoichi’s quirklessness, and why did he later change his mind? how the fuck can Yoichi have a quirk factor and yet not have an actual quirk. “it was just so weak it didn’t count or something I guess” okay??? how much of this is unreliable narrator vs. the word of god? how is it we’re getting so many answers and yet all I have is more fucking questions you guys

BRUE?CE?CEE??!

bruce

Kudou is so goddamned hot. I hope you washed the hell out of that arm wound after getting it all covered in sewage you stupid sexy man

I can’t get over Three’s name. “idk if anyone noticed, but it’s kind of a subtle homage to another very famous superhero” Horikoshi your nap wasn’t long enough, please go home

also love how Bruce is talking shit about OFA being a puny loser quirk for wimps. how the fuck do they even know what’s going on, anyway? was there a tutorial???

oh you just had a feeling huh??? that it was “something like this”, huh??? how is it that I, who knows all about OFA because I’m from the future and have read 408 chapters of this nonsense, am somehow still less in the know than this handsome clown who doesn’t know shit but just “had a feeling”

(ETA: while editing this post I noted that Bruce is sitting in front of a computer in what seems to be some sort of medical lab, so maybe they ran some tests or something? except that only makes me more confused, because it implies they didn’t actually figure out OFA’s workings via convenient plot instincts. so then how the fuck did they figure out the transfer process?? questions)

meanwhile AFO is sitting in the panel next to him whining about how someone stole Yoichi’s quirk. excuse you. he did not steal it. it was in fact a gift

these flashbacks are all jumbled up and it’s unexpectedly fun to read, but also really chaotic

I guess he’s talking to Kudou on the right and AFO on the left

so many intense closeups of eyes in this chapter oh my goodness

Horikoshi even drew the individual goddamn eyelashes. this looks like the margins of someone’s notebook from when they were really bored in middle school

oh my god the information overload!!!

so much for AFO actually feeling emotions lol. or is he just lying to himself about why he cried. that delicious ambiguity

so we don’t even get a flashback explaining how the transfer actually happened?? to either Kudou OR my beloved Bruce?? goddamn you Horikoshi. omg I would seriously kill for more of this. make a movie about it. I want the OFA origin story prequel movie damn it

I like how AFO just sits there on a throne holding court with a single tiki torch beside him for aesthetic reasons

I can’t quite figure out how he killed Banjou and I’m not sure I really want to know. it looks very violent

friendly reminder that Shinomori is Sir Not Appearing In This Flashback because he’s the only OFA user who died of natural causes! good for you Shinomori. En probably wishes he was more like you

poor En

was Nana just taking a stroll or something one day and stumbled across this epic fight with the evilest man on the planet vs some kid in a trenchcoat, and then the poor kid got bisected and he looked at her and he was all “please eat my hair” and she was just like “ok”?

OH WOW

what a transition omg

LOLLLLLLLL

you know, part of me always wondered how All Might was so certain he’d killed AFO that he apparently never bothered to confirm it. but looking at this panel now, I can understand

fjjfdzjgf

he’s sweating so much. like “okay yeah he punched the top of his face off, this is pretty bad but I’LL DO MY BEST”

BACK TO THE PRESENT DAY AWW SHUCKS

so let’s recap. over on Kacchan’s side we have “GOTTA USE THE PAIN TO WIN!!!” haha ouch. and then over here on KFO’s side we have. whatever the fuck we just experienced over these past two chapters. so basically it’s a battle between the two most deranged characters in the entire series. glorious sweet chaos

DSFJKSLDKGJL he’s now trying to figure out how the fuck they look so much alike and whether they’re actually related

“no, that can’t be it. so then maybe... this kid grows up and then somehow travels back in time...?!” HE’S JUST LIKE US FR

so now he’s saying it’s because Kacchan didn’t have character development yet the last time, but now that he does his eyes are all Full Of Determination just like Kudou’s and so we’ve basically come full circle!

transcended WHAT? :O :D :D omg I’m kidding you guys please don’t hurt me

lol

actually the more we learn about Kudou the less I personally see the resemblance now lol. because Kudou seems so calm and collected, but Kacchan is just... [gestures to literally everything about Kacchan]

so AFO’s trying to strategize, but he can’t warp Kacchan away because the only available targets are too close and he’s still got that SUPERSPEED, BOYO so it wouldn’t make a difference. lol but if you kept doing it repeatedly it might be kind of funny though

and he can’t keep fighting him either because he’s getting his ass whooped and it’s speeding up his de-aging or whatever. well you could just give up then I guess. your call, AFO

oh was that your plan?

spoiler alert for me lol. but it’s not exactly shocking or anything since he’s dying, guess he wants to abandon ship

(ETA: just FYI for anyone reading this who’s not familiar with my dumbassery, I have currently only read chapters 1 through 374 at this point in time, before skipping ahead to 403 because Kacchan came back and I lost all willpower. I am working on catching up with the rest!)

oh so now you did come up with a strategy?

lmao what the FUCK

how much of this is going to be clearer to me once I finish the chapters that I missed, and how much of it is just plain old “nope this is all brand new zero-context BnHA bullshit” lol. this looks like every single quirk AFO ever absorbed combined into one gigantic horrifying blob that forced Horikoshi to take an extra week just to draw it

oh my god!?

Kacchan hovering there bravely facing all this is giving me Gandalf “you shall not pass” vibes and I’m LIVING FOR IT

so either AFO is going to kill Kacchan for the second time right here and now, or he’s going to fail and turn back into a squishy evil baby fdslfjkls

love how All Might is all “DODGE IT YOUNG BAKUGOU!” thanks for the warning, champ. doing his part

more exploding bloodsweat closeups. are these just going to be a mainstay of Kacchan fights from now on

“are you stupid?”, when faced with [gestures to the entirety of the previous page], is possibly the best line ever uttered by anyone in the series. even better than the polite “coming through” uttered only seconds before it

ah man. you love to see it. he literally doesn’t even care. HE ALREADY DIED ONCE TODAY, AND IT CLUED HIM IN TO THE FACT THAT HE’S A MAIN CHARACTER AND ACTUALLY IMMUNE TO DEATH. sorry AFO it’s curtains for you. CURTAINS

[sophieinwonderland]

Stop Posting Hate and Disinformation in Endogenic Tags!

Does it? Are you sure? Because that's a really bold way to start off a post in a community with a lot of people who have PTSD!

But even bolder is this claim:

I would ask for the source for this, but I already know it.

Now, to be fair, there is a lot of wiggle room where some can argue semantics of what an "alter" is.

Luckily, today we aren't arguing semantics, as they made it clear in a comment that they don't believe endogenic systems are experiencing any sort of plurality! Yay!

Now, back to their claims... it's true that most evidence of any forms of consciousness in psychology is based on believing people's personal experiences.

Psychology is distinct from neuroscience in this way. Hopefully, we can get neurological evidence too. Stanford University was conducting an fMRI study into tulpamancers. But that study isn't complete yet.

But it is worth noting that practically every researcher who has looked into endogenic and non-disordered plurality do believe it's a real phenomena.

As mentioned above, Stanford University has invested anywhere from tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars into a neurological study of tulpamancers.

The ICD-11 by the World Health Organization states that you can have multiple "distinct personality states" without a disorder.

The creators of the theory of structural dissociation have said that hypnosis and spiritual mediumship may create "self-conscious dissociated parts of the personality."

Transgender Mental Health by Eric Yarbrough has an entire chapter discussing plurality, including acknowledging non-disordered and endogenic plurality. Eric Yarbrough is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and this book was published by APA Publishing.

And these are but a few.

Psychiatrists and psychologists overwhelming support the existence of endogenic plurality.

Is there any reason for the human brain to just randomly decide to be a singlet?

Why do the 80-billion neurons in the human brain just decide to be one person? Why is a singlet treated as inherently the default for humanity?

Total side tangent, but not all alters fit neatly into the ANP/EP dichotomy. The thing that defines an ANP is not simply being dissociated from the trauma, but trying to continue on with normal life and avoid it. Hence, being "apparently normal."

Many alters though, just don't fit into that as described. I would argue that a non-traumagenic alter who never fronts isn't really an ANP according to the Theory of Structural Dissociation.

Yup. That's why I'm responding to this. Your post is nothing but misinformation.

Most words have etymology in other cultures. Hurricane, for example, comes from an indigenous religion that referred to storm gods. This is a natural process as cultures interact.

For the record, "tulpamancy" IS created headmates. The term "tulpamancy" is purely Western, with the -mancy suffix originating in Latin. And whether you like it or not, the ongoing studies into tulpamancy will be into this Western practice, not the Tibetan sprul pa from which it draws its etymology.

Maybe you should take your own advice.

Although if you have a single credible source proving that endogenic plurality can't exist, you're welcome to show me.

You: "Stay out of DID/OSDD spaces" Also You: *Tags post as "#endogenic" and "#endogenic systems"*

Anyway, as always, anti-endos coming into endogenic tags means the response goes to anti-endo tags. If anti-endos do not like me posting in their tags, please take a moment to explain to @frenzyborderlines why crosstagging into our spaces is bad (and incredibly hypocritical from someone telling endogenic systems to stay out of CDD spaces) so I won't need to do this again.

[davekat-sucks]

god im sorry if this topic is beaten to death, but the pinkie pie discourse reminds me of validates creator complaining about hic, despite creating catherine pinla... which one looks closer to a racist caricature if you compare them? and how hones art is apparently not like the comics, when the people saying that draw them as anything but that.

its this pattern i noticed of woke people hating on something so inoffensive and at the same time doing the ugliest art possible in the name of activism. i dont think even the racist boogeymans they complain about make art as unflattering as they do. horseshoe theory is real.

And for those who don't know what Catherine Pinla looks like, here it is.

vs The Condesce

But yeah, sometimes the left can be just the same as the right in its own way and viceversa. We hate to admit hypocrisy, but it will happen at times that we have to acknowledge it. We're all human. Just how it is handled varies on the situation. Best course of action is making sure nobody gets harmed and if something does go wrong, they will be properly punished.

[gaytoddanderson]

okay, so after a lot of time to think, here's my thoughts on the neil gaiman allegations and their repercussions for how to view good omens.

I never had any particular attachment to gaiman because I don't care about famous people in general and know it's not healthy to put them on pedestals.. at most he was just someone who posted cool tidbits about good omens sometimes.

I believe the women. I think the conspiracy theories fans are trying to come up with to prove he's not guilty are awful and insane. I think it's just as ridiculous to call fans of his work rape apologists and tell them to kill themselves. neither of these things are productive or helpful ways to engage with this topic.

I don't think gaiman's shittiness bled over into good omens in any apparent way. I think this is a case where the art can reasonably be separated from the artist (side note - harry potter is NOT an example of this - rowling's bigotry is easy to identify as being present in her work). I still plan to continue to enjoy good omens in ways that will not give money to gaiman.

I also don't think that posting about good omens on my small personal blog is going to harm the victims in any significant way. i don't really think talking about my interests qualifies as promoting his work or condoning his actions and beliefs.

if you attended public school, you have probably read something by a bigoted or otherwise "problematic" author. let's be for real and acknowledge the complexity of the world we live in and that people who have bad beliefs and/or do bad things can make good art.

even if you think it's bad art, it's not reasonable to demand no one even so much as blink at a certain work because the creator might be shitty without consideration for a) if the shittiness is pervasive in the media and b) the ways people might engage with the work without supporting its creator

all this being said, fandom feelings are not more important than supporting the victims. some of the ways I have seen fans react to this news are incredibly vile and repulsive to me and I have taken a huge step back from the fanbase after seeing people I previously respected start saying incredibly awful shit.

I will probably still reblog some good omens posts to this blog, but am still evaluating how much I am going to continue interacting with other fans outside of reblogging fanworks. if I've been quiet on gomens discord servers, this is why.

[bornetoblood]

That’s the thing, no one so far has actually said the Doll is a literal mourning doll. That would be creepy. It’s just the concept of people making dolls in memory of their loved ones. The way mourning dolls were also commissioned for parents also was oddly in line with the theme of surrogate children in Bloodborne, but death dolls have been a thing in other cultures too and for a million different reasons.

The Japanese text says that the doll was created with the purpose of gentle consolation for its creator. That’s why the mourning doll theory got popular, but I don’t think anyone is actually trying to say that it’s a one-on-one comparison. It could just be a place where From Soft drew inspiration, since they often reference history in their games.

From Soft also has done the doll thing before. Ranni made two dolls in Elden Ring that looked like her former mentor and then possessed them. It’s just a theme they like to use apparently. I think people should feel free to discuss the mourning doll inspo theory without being told to be careful. We know it’s not the same thing. I’m trying to make this sound as non-hostile as possible, but it does feel like some people may be assuming the worst of others for offering different takes on the doll :/

Just to preface, I don't think ill of anyone who believes in or pushes the theory! This is just a fun little game discussion. It is essential to mention and acknowledge wider context when talking about possible inspirations and I do believe that wider context sours it a little bit. It's just that when people talk about more positive interpretations of the Doll they just say "Victorian Mourning Doll" without any specifications, I think that's just what puts me off a little bit.

Along with that, I think it's important to understand that the way that Gehrman and the Doll's relationship is presented within the game is uncomfortable- even if it wasn't intended to be so. The story concerning the Doll shifted a lot through development and it can even be assumed that Maria was created retroactively for the DLC and based on the Doll, instead of the other way around. That the unfortunate presentation that Gehrman stripped his apprentice of her masculine attributes and agency wasn't planned initially. I just think that the way that it is presented in the final product should defiantly be considered!!

This isn't Gehrman slander I really like Gehrman, but he absolutely isn't completely moral. I have to end this by stating that this is my opinion here!!! My specific wants about lore discussions aren't gospel or anything! It's just that when people mention this theory they tend to disregard the context around it is all and it's unfortunate that the context presents the exact opposite takeaway.

[caddy-crystal-queen]

So apparently I need to bring this series back even though house of the dragon won't have another season until 2024. But....

On today's episode of who in the game of thrones/House of the Dragon Fandom need to be slapped is.....

MILITANT DAEMYRA SHIPPERS!!!!!!

Oh I already know I'm not gonna make any friends with this rant so I'm gonna put a quick disclaimer

This is not me bashing the ship, nor am I promoting any others. This is my opinion about people who have made shipping this their entire life/existence here on this site. I'm also not promoting other ships here, I'll probably briefly touch that on a later date if the interest is there.

Oh Daemyra...the ship of Rhanerya and Daemon Targaryen. In real life its a disgusting scenario, especially as someone who actually was molested by their uncle growing up. It's a special kind of awkward.

My problem doesn't lie with the ship however, at least not today. It's all you crazy ass motherfuckers who decide to make it your entire existence to defend this ship, all the while being absolute douche camels to anyone else who, gods forbid, dares to ship anything different from you.

"Oh but Daemyra is the best ship ever on the show and-"

*WHACK*

No!

No!

No it isn't.

There are no healthy relationships in this show. Not even the one I ship the hardest, Corlys/Rhaenys, is completely healthy. You assholes just seem to act like your ship is soooooo much better than everyone else's, and you crap on other peoples fan works, theories, and headcanons just to prove how much of an inconsiderate asshole you are.

I kid you not. I saw someone post an ask about a fanart someone made of Rhaenicent and they were super ugly about it just because they don't ship Rhaenicent. This...this is bullshit.

"Oh my god my eyes!!!!"

Dude...all you had to do was delete the ask and go about your life! But no...you had to sit there and make a big ass deal about it. Oh but you don't wanna down the artist? Motherfucker, what do you think you JUST DID?!

Seriously whatever happened to "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything, or better yet compliment them on something else"?! Nothing stopped this individual from simply deleting the ask in regards to someone else's artwork. This really got under my skin personally, as it served to remind me why I quit Fandom interaction.

You guys are such assholes to other shippers. God forbid anyone ships both daemyra and Rhaenicent in your presence, you attack them. I feel really bad for those folks, because they get attacked by every goddamn body I imagine. No one deserves to get shit on because they ship something different from you.

Their artwork shouldn't be bashed.

Their theories should be left the hell alone.

Their headcanons you can simply ignore.

Is it really that fucking hard to not be an asshole to people, particularly content creators, because they make content for a ship you don't like?

This shit here is why fan content is dying. It's not lack of appreciation, reblogs, or what the fuck ever, it's goddamn militant Fandom bullshit like this.

Oh and before anyone comes after me, I'm not a Rhaenicent shipper. I'm actually kinda neutral the whole Rhaenicent thing. I feel the idea for it in the show was there, but at the same time...if it was Canon there wouldn't have been a story so...yeah.

Just...leave. each. Other. The fuck. Alone! Someone sends you fanart of a ship you don't like, delete it and have a nice day. Acknowledge you saw it, but don't bash the art or the artist because that's wrong just because it's content is something you don't like.

Daemyra shippers...seriously...do fucking better.

Holy tap dancing horus.

[notjustla]

What are theories of media?

 In the hands of a creator, media theory can become truly powerful, and fulfill its innermost dreams. But in the hands of most theorists, it's usually just lubricant. But what would the great theorists and their great competitive impulses do without a milieu of fools? Media theory isn't theory that tries to prove itself like scientific theories, so it has to be content without echoing the predominating, self-reflexive chatter of academic communities that entertain one another, while generally regarding the unrobed masses (and by extension, their own students) as barbarians.

They may be competitive as well, but their competition is typically for the wary approval of their supervisors, and then, for typically unsatisfying and poorly compensated contractor positions at narrow-margin corporations that present themselves to a marketplace under the name of "universities." 

In this regard, the real theorizers tend to be enormously disruptive to whatever extent their ideas are received. That said, they're nothing more than terrorists terrorizing a ghetto filled with reasonably smart who have sequestered themselves from a world that is far more crass.

Successfully rebutting intellectuals in America amounts to little more than knocking over burning trash cans where the impoverished have gathered themselves.

And, at the end of the day, a true creator who reflects creatively on the few exemplary instances of thought, can really only achieve the negation of bad thinking through great works. In other words, they have no easy out. They have to put the theory where their mouth is, instead of using it to slather their genitals. 

The greatest mistake theorists make is in their unexamined pretense that their work yields a high resolution image of "reality", or that it "reveals" or "decodes" some latent truth that would have otherwise gone unpercieved. 

Media Theory has little or nothing to do with reality. It cannot do so because the object of its inquiry already occupies an intermediate position between reality and an independent chemical process that creates a highly partial, enframed excerpt of a past reality. Great works that appear to present magnificent visions do so through tricks and editing techniques whose mechanisms of action are usually of little or no concern to the theorists. In many cases the attempt reveal these mechanisms to professional theorists is met with unease, precisely because it reveals the extent to which the theorist typically remains on the level of the phenotypical, the apparent, the illusion. And without intending to, the relentless analyzers of other people's work usually obscure whatever curiosity drew them in initially, and deprive themselves of the properly religious depth that one achieves contemplating the mysteries privately, rather than disguising their professional needs in the form of unnecessary screed that almost never appends an acknowledgment of its own hopeless preconceptions and relativism.

If so many artists show a general apathy to theorists, it's because the latter usually commit the same sins as popular journalists, yet bedeck their thoughts with terminological fineries signifying their belonging to other residents of the academic ghetto. At least the popular journalist or film critic addresses the general mandate of the film’s entertainment value. Here, the theorists whose opaque prose depends on comparably opaque and "difficult" pieces of media will inevitably protest that good, entertaining works are a dime a dozen, reflecting the lazy efforts of charlatans in the service of a "culture industry". In fact, the industry, for all its faults and miscalculations, represents genius acting on all fronts, rather than limiting itself to words on a page. 

[eurofox]

Yakuza 6 review

I finally made my way through them all. I have some mixed feelings on this one however. I don’t know if i’ll bother with 7 with the turnbased combat so I’ll move on to judgement instead.

Spoilers:

The good shit:

Fully voiced substories are great

Looks good

I like the dragon engine, ragdolling people is funny

Onomichi is easy enough to navigate and makes a nice change of pace

The Hirose crew is likeable, once again I’m impressed by how they make characters who should be annoying as fuck likeable.

Daigo gets a nice letter acknowledging all the bullshit Kiryu put him through

Kiryu and Haruto interactions are funny and cute

Onomichio

Peak dad Kiryu

THat jingweon guy was kind of cool, especially his battle theme.

Throwing exploding barrels is great

Troublr was an ok distraction

Akiyama finally calling Kiryu out on his dumb bullshit and having one of the funniest fights in the series.

The baby tossing scene was hilarious

Date thinking ahead for once, doesn’t work but hey, he tried

Yomei alliance being neutral was  interesting until it went off the deep end.

I like the way food is implemented in this game

I actually got into clan creator once I realised you could use codes (daigo’s code being Kiryusavemepleaz killed me)

Big Lo was a bit of a change when it came to villains, he deserved more time.

Yuta wasn’t too bad. He’s a total dumbass sure, but he’s sound.

Stardust being turned into a male strip club/brothel thing. Twist on the usual formula

Ghost photos

The Bad Shit:

I like the Dragon engine but it felt unpolished here compared to K2. Real lack of heat moves.

Sugai putting that ugly ass table in the Tojo Clan HQ. Fuck outta here with that

Very weak soundtrack, Theory of beauty is all that stood out to me. Shame as most of the series has a fantastic soundtrack

That weird gimp in the brothel long battle. WTF was that about. I looked it up and apparently he’s some kind of running joke but it just felt dumb and out of place. 

The Yomei captain was boring as a character and sucked as a boss. I beat his ass flat in 2 mins.

Baseball minigame fucking sucks

Hard to trigger some substories

Where the fuck is my drugstore? I need my staminan royales

Game in general feels kind of unfinished, lots of Kamurocho being inaccessible for example. Important events happening off-screen, like the Tojo boss’s all getting arrested.

Someya is weirdly popular for a guy who beat his wife. And his death is pointless lmao

Honestly, a lot of issues with the plot in general, made all the worse by the fact this is supposed to be a send off for Kiryu:

Starting off with him going to jail, again for some bullshit about ‘responsibility’. Daigo says he can get him off but noooooooo, he chooses to abandon the kids again, when they really need him.

Repeat of 2 with everyone being Chinese instead of Korean

Haruka gets daigo’d and spends most of the game in a coma and her final reunion with Kiryu is an anti-climax. He risks her BF’s life in a stupid battle in Millenium tower after he said he wanted them to be there for Haruto. Then he let’s her think he’s dead. I was never the biggest haruka fan but she deserved better.

The age of some of these characters was just silly. A 90 year old making a triad boss quake in his boots? Dumb. I think someone on the development team has an interest in WW2 and wanted to shoehorn it in somehow even if it made things absurd.

Kiryu feels sidelined in his own send off for the secret of onomichi bollocks. 

Majima, Saejima and Daigo get shafted in this. They appear in the beginning and then are just gone until the epilogue. That’s the 3rd time Saejima is jailed, ENOUGH. That was disappointing. At least Daigo get’s a letter. They got pushed aside for the Hirose boys and although I like them it kind of sucks. 

Why doesn’t Akiyama hide somewhere else instead of living in a sewer. That felt silly.

I never liked the Florist or purgatory but the way he was just absent in this game, when you are looking for people, makes no sense. Wrote themselves into a corner there.

Hirose is just Kazama 2.0, which was the point I guess, but why is everyone so cool with father figures who murdered their real dads in this series.

Kiyomi added very little to this story. Same with Someya tbh. He does point out Kiryu’s dumb luck when it comes to plans working out and explains why the yakuza are changing.

The whole of onomichio not telling Kiryu that haruka had been  there all along, Really now.

Honestly the triad felt really intimidating at the beginning but their story fizzled out in favour of that damn boat conspiracy. Sugai eventually felt like an afterthought. I wish they just focused on the Tojo/triad stuff and left the boat crap for another game

The shit with the Fixer I was confused by. Surely anyone involved is old as shit now. That boat is very outdated at this stage.

Kiryu abandoning everyone seemed silly, the kids only got to see him for a day. At least Date gives out to him about it.

Yeah so although the game was fun, some of the best substories, the plot as a whole felt messy and unfocused and the ending was lukewarm (plus it seems Kiryu comes back after all, so lol). The new gang was strong for the most part, but it came at the expense of the old Tojo crew, who just get arrested off-screen and do nothing, only appearing in  the last second. Kiryu makes so many dumb decisions here that it got hard to watch, I get he’s emotional with all the shit going on but c’mon. For an ending to Kiryu, it’s disappointing.

[cruelfeline]

In light of all that we’ve learned with this most wonderful final season, some people have asked me to reassess Hordak’s backstory monologue. To see how Hordak’s narrative fits with what we now know about his home. To try to discern exactly what its discrepancies are, and why.

I’m going to do that! But before I do, I would remind everyone: this is a little difficult to fully untangle because, given that Hordak is not a main character and thus does not have the focus that we’d like, we really don’t know a whole lot about the Horde in terms of function, social roles, and general history. So this is going to be very much limited by what I can glean from exactly what the show gives us.

That said, it’ll hopefully still be interesting. So!

During season three, after recovering from his syncopal episode, Hordak describes to Entrapta what he is, what he was, and how he came to be on Etheria. He describes himself as a defective clone who, once upon a time, was the top general in the galactic Horde. When his defect became too much of a burden, he was apparently demoted, sent to the front lines to fight until death, and arrived on Etheria by way of unexplained portal.

This is what Hordak tells us, and, as far as we know, he’s not lying. Hordak, as portrayed in the show, is a very honest person, both in his own actions and in the actions he expects of others. He greatly dislikes deception and does not appear skillfully capable of it himself (save for that one time). Knowing this, we generally have to assume that, in his own mind, what Hordak is saying is true.

So. What gives, right?

After all, once we see the galactic Horde in action, we learn that it is a played-straight, honest-to-the-gods cult. There’s nothing distinctly military about it. It’s not a bigger, grander version of Hordak’s Etherian Horde.

It is a cult with a god-brother-creator at the helm, commanding countless identical acolytes who live their lives in slavish devotion to their master. There do not appear to be any ranks. We hear nothing about any generals, let alone a “top general.” There doesn’t even appear to be a need for anything like that, because Prime doesn’t seem to really delegate to his brothers in a way that singles them out or relies on real autonomy from them.

He can, after all, read their minds at will and slip into their bodies whenever he fancies. If he needs to make a decision about a battle on a planet at the other edge of the galaxy, he can just take over a body on that planet and make said decision himself. Or, at the very least, enter the relevant clone’s mind and influence the decision as needed. He doesn’t need, and certainly doesn’t appear to tolerate, clones taking their own initiative.

So, again: what gives? What does Hordak mean by “top general”? Why does he think he has this elevated role when we can see that Prime considers all of his clones the equivalent of faceless bodies to be used a he likes?

Well, while we will likely never know the full truth, given the lack of Horde background detail, we can safely assume some things from what canon shows us.

Namely that, while all clones appear indistinguishable and do not seem to have named rank, there are definitely clone positions that work more closely with Prime than others. His attendants are one example. Those who are in his throne room feeding him information while he is working are another. (Hordak actually appears to be one of these, at least while Prime is trying to hack the Heart of Etheria, when Entrapta is captured.) And then, of course, there are the chosen vessels that will one day house Prime’s consciousness.

All of these positions can likely be occupied by any clone, with bodies switched out as needed (likely what happened when Hordak got sick). I doubt that individual clones have any sort of real rank. Prime knows this. Hordak and his brothers, I suspect, may not fully understand it. 

Rather, I would not be surprised if Hordak, deceived and indoctrinated into believing things about himself and about Prime that are not true, misinterprets the nature of his purpose and the truth of his relationship with his Brother. He believes that, fulfilling whatever role he was fulfilling for Prime, he was a general, an individual of note, an individual that Prime specially valued. Perhaps he fulfilled the role long enough that, in all but name, it became “his.” Perhaps he even fulfilled it well enough that Prime praised him frequently, cementing this unfortunate delusion. Perhaps Prime gave him legitimate favor -  a false thing, of course; simply a controlling tool, but Hordak did not realize that. 

Without canon confirmation, we can really only speculate, but these ideas seem reasonable.

Details aside, the point of the matter is that Hordak sees himself as “top general” because he sadly doesn’t understand that he is an interchangeable piece of a utilitarian machine. He truly thinks that he has this coveted position, that he is particularly useful, special, of great value. It’s a tragic misunderstanding that simply fuels his misguided devotion to Prime and prevents him from seeking freedom when he is given the opportunity. 

It’s something, I think, that people in very controlling religious organizations often end up thinking: that they are especially valued, worthy in some way that others are not. It’s part of how the organization controls them. 

By the by, there is also the theory that Hordak has suffered memory erasure before and is thus doubly confused, filling in blanks with fantasy, but given that we have no direct evidence of that, I’m not really going to go into it; it’s a popular bit of speculation, though.

Now, however, let us examine a different aspect of this. Labels aside, delusions aside, we are left with another conundrum: however Hordak interprets his position, it is very clear to us that said position does not actually offer the power or respect that a legitimate high military rank would offer. It does not appear to provide Hordak with any special treatment. 

Once upon a time, back when we first learned of Hordak’s backstory, it was somewhat assumed that the position would do something like this. Numerous fans speculated about how it might be a position that gave a clone dominion over others, or over their own personal ships or planets; some fans suggested that it might give a clone the right to a name. Now, of course, we know that none of these speculations are true: all of Prime’s clones are essentially interchangeable; all are part of a hive mind that eliminates the need for certain clones directing others; no clone is allowed a name, no matter what their current job might be.

So. What, exactly, is Hordak practically gaining here? Despite this position appearing to hold zero effective esteem, despite it necessitating Hordak giving up his self and his autonomy, it is abundantly clear that he desperately wants it back. Why? 

What about this position, whatever it may or may not be called, would provide Hordak with this sense of value, of specialness, of personal worth? After all, Hordak may be deluded, but he’s not stupid; even indoctrinated, he can tell that he doesn’t hold dominion over other clones, or have a right to his own name. He can tell that he doesn’t receive any functional privileges, that his own sense of value doesn’t translate into anything that you or I would think is “worth the price of admission,” so to speak. 

In light of that incredibly steep price, what does this position offer, in a world where military rank appears irrelevant? What does it offer, in exchange for Hordak’s name and his bodily autonomy and his freedom? In short, what does it offer that makes Hordak think it worth sacrificing so much for? 

Well. 

It offers closeness to Prime, doesn’t it? It offers the chance to work near him, to bask in his presence, to be spoken to and looked upon and touched by him. It offers the chance to receive his praise, personally. It offers the chance to perhaps -  hopefully, wishfully - receive his love.

Because that’s what Hordak really wants. Not dominion over others, or a fancy military title. He wants that emotional connection. He wants that approval and validation. He wants love. And for so much of the series, for so much of his life, he believes that love comes only from Prime. That working closely with him, being of use to him, will provide him with that sense of belonging and acceptance and affectionate care that he hungers for. That it will make him worthy and loved.

(There’s a line in the deleted Entrapdak scene, where Prime calls Hordak the “most unloved and unworthy” among his brothers that really cements the idea that worthiness is synonymous with love within the galactic Horde)

This is what marks the position as “special” in Hordak’s eyes: it is special because it stands the greatest chance of providing him with Prime’s love.

All of it is a lie, of course. Because Prime only “loves” his brothers as extensions of himself, and even then, only if they are physically useful to him. Once Hordak starts to lag behind due to his illness, he is quickly removed from Prime’s presence and sent to the front lines, destined to fight until defect or battle kills him. And yet it is a lie so powerful, and the clones’ need for Prime’s love so great, that he is able to use it to control them even when they are separated from him. To the point that a sickly clone trapped in a shadow dimension will forgo freedom in his desperate bid to feel wanted and treasured by his cruel god.

Eventually, thankfully, Hordak finds a true version of the connection he craves, someone who looks at him and acknowledges him, values him and loves him as he is, without him needing to prove himself useful. He finds Entrapta, and she provides that love that he sought from Prime.

This is why, even though Hordak actually ends up working in Prime’s throne room again, ends up close to him once more, he breaks free from control and kills his Brother. Throughout season five, Hordak remembers Entrapta. He remembers how she makes him feel. He remembers her love... and he realizes that it is not the same as Prime's. It is sincere. It is unconditional. It accepts him as his own flawed person, rather than the perfect drone Prime wants him to be. It is deeper and more true and more real than the hollow sham Prime offers.

And so Hordak rejects this once-coveted position, rejects Prime, and frees himself. He makes the choice between a false, controlling “love” and the real, heartfelt thing. He makes the choice, and he chooses Entrapta.

In the end, the greatest disconnect between what Hordak tells us in season three and what is true isn’t the word “general,” or even the cruel difference between how Prime views the clones, and how they view him. It is the impression of why Hordak wants such a position at all, of what it means to him. What initially comes off as a disgraced military man seeking to regain former glory is actually a lost, unloved soul desperately searching for the emotional connection he needs.

And, after many mistakes, after much hardship, he finally finds it.

[the-unrelated-theorist]

It's commonly acknowledged that "Undertale" and "Deltarune" are both anagrams of the word "unrelated" (as well as anagrams of each other). Toby almost certainly did this on purpose. But it's still unclear whether he's trolling us like the troll he's proven himself to be time and again, or whether there really is some connection between the two games besides just some of the music and character designs and names.

So for the time being, I'm going with the theory that there is some connection between the worlds of Deltarune and Undertale, and this overarching theory will naturally color any and all theories included in this blog.

And then, when Chapter 7 is finally released- which I predict will be the year 2193- I and anyone who agreed with this nutty theory can all have a good, hearty laugh at our own stupidity.

Fuhuhuhu! Geh ha ha ha! Tee-hee! heh.

Disclaimer: I like the idea that theory-crafting should be about having fun and throwing ideas out at random. There is no one "right" theory, not until Toby decides to confirm it or deny it. Remember that a lot of us thought it was Chara at the end of Chapter 1. And most of us thought Azzy had the official controller and Kris had the knock-off controller until we saw Toriel's school computer in Chapter 2. (I feel pretty sure Toby added that little detail SPECIFICALLY because we all got it wrong, and apparently it's a very IMPORTANT detail about Kris' character and their place within the family and even the town in general, and we needed to be set straight). So while I do have some pet theories that color my overall viewpoints on both games, I'm not afraid to consider and post alternate or even wildly contradictory theories. It's just for fun, after all.

Below is a glossary of some of my tags, partly so followers know what kinds of posts to expect, and partly so I can remember my own tags.

#theory and #headcanon - are just that

if "theory" or "headcanon" have "my" in front of it, some part of it is something i came up with independently of other people

#analysis - an in-depth analysis of characters or situations, whether or not a theory or headcanon is involved

#possible inspirations - cataloguing things that seem so coincidentally similar to elements of UTDR that they could conceivably have influenced UTDR. For instance, we all know that Toby quotes both Earthbound and Homestuck a lot, but there appear to be a lot of Zelda and His Dark Materials references, too, which I intend to make note of once I get around to it.

#deltarune.com secret links and #spamton sweepstakes - I don't know if these links will exist forever or be removed eventually, so I tag references to things like holidaygirl1225's blog and any of the links from the UT 7th Anniversary and Spamton Sweepstakes with one of these two so people know where they come from.

#redacted content - any cut/deleted content, whether it be Entry No. 17, the "cut on your face" poem, the sprite of Susie bleeding, etc.

#toby fox is a genius - anything that especially shows off how very, very clever Toby is in crafting these two stories.

#unrelated - whenever an apparent connection between the two games presents itself. Some posts may be tagged with both #undertale and #deltarune and not #unrelated, if the post isn't about pointing out a connection.

I also try to tag posts from well-known YouTubers and other content creators with the creator's username. For instance, I have quite a few videos from halfbreadchaos and kesMadjick.

A few personal theories that I try not to cling to too strongly, but I do like them and do tag them:

Papyrus is the Knight

Papyrus is the Egg Man

Spamton is a cat (which is pretty well confirmed by Noelle's Cat Petterz post)

Susie is a dragon (I feel like this is so obvious that it doesn't even need confirmation, but it hasn't been directly stated in-game, so it's technically still just a theory)

sans is a Darkner

Papyrus is a Darkner

sans and Papyrus aren't biological brothers (I actually hate this one, but tbf, there is just enough evidence against them being brothers that I have to take it into consideration)

that wasn't Chara (uh, this one's gonna take a loooooooooong theory post to explain, but I do have a couple of teasers in my queue, only because other people have touched on this theory, as well)

the entity/the red-eyed entity (referring to whatever it is that possesses Kris at the end of Chapter 1- this entity will get mentioned a lot in conjunction with the "that wasn't Chara" theory)

Dessriel

[mittensmorgul]

it’s a bummer to see you can’t enjoy the ending. I hope someday you can come around it it. It wasn’t perfect but it didn’t nuke its integrity. i think the heart of the show really shines through and it’s a shame that it’s not being appreciated bc there’s so much shipping drama 😣

Hi there!

I... first of, I really need people to understand this... the travesty of the finale for me has almost nothing to do with “shipping drama.”

Yes, I see the wild conspiracy theories flying around, and I’m honestly concerned for some of those folks and hope they can find a way to make peace with this in whatever way they can, because we aren’t likely to ever get a better answer than that this is legitimately the ending that Dabb thought was best, despite years of us seeing the best of his writing choices and guiding Sam, Dean, and Cas to grow past the roles that Chuck would’ve forced them to fulfill, and that at the end it fell flat because he couldn’t actually come up with a better ending than “this was always their destiny, free will is a lie, and these characters had nothing outside of the revenge quest they’d been raised for since birth and manipulated into over and over for the entertainment of a vengeful god.”

I can see how “surface level” viewers would feel that this one basic narrative point was satisfying, that Sam and Dean had grown beyond their own hopeless cycle of self-sacrifice that had driven the narrative for so many years. The fact that they both acknowledged that they should allow their stories to end in that way was satisfying... but only in the shallowest and most detached read of the narrative. Like, is this really the ONLY thing these two characters learned in the last 15 years? If so, that is BEYOND depressing af.

And even THAT message lost all narrative weight when the two of them were once again reunited in death, as if nothing else had ever mattered in their lives. As if neither of them had ever outgrown the codependency that had driven so many of those previous self-sacrifices and refusals to let go of each other even in death.

So yeah, in the absolute most basic sense, I suppose I can see how casual viewers or people who aren’t actually invested in these characters could find that at least narratively coming back to a starting point.

But narratives don’t actually work that way, and that’s not the point of watching fifteen years of story develop in between.

This story wasn’t JUST about Sam and Dean needing to accept that death might be okay actually.

This story was also about free will, fighting for humanity as a whole but also their OWN humanity and self-identities. In Dean’s case, the absolutely transformative growth from feeling like nothing but a hammer, a killer, a tool to be used. And then less than an episode and a half later, after finally accepting that truth into his heart and using it to defeat the original creator and reclaim the story of his own life for himself... he gets pied in the face after flippantly talking about his destiny and having no choice, and then three scenes later he literally dies impaled on a great big nail... like a hammer...

So I would kindly ask folks who feel satisfied by that shallowest possible takeaway of this episode, and maybe invite folks to look just under that surface. Try to understand why loads of us will NEVER feel satisfied with this ending, and why it truly does feel like the most hopeless version of the story. Like even in defeating Chuck, they could never be allowed to own their own stories and what happened to them after that point was just a twisted version of the “destiny” that drove Chuck’s entire plotline for them anyway.

Please understand where we’re seeing this as horrifically painful irony rather than some beautiful circular narrative about letting go.

For a lot of us, the shipping stuff would’ve been the cherry on top of the sundae. We would’ve been happy with a scoop of plain vanilla, though. We would’ve been happy for anything that honored the journey to freedom, and the choice at any sort of a different life of their own making than literally falling back on a nail fighting off one of John’s unresolved hunts and a vampire who had literally never been named in canon before, yet who Dean instantly recognized somehow... 

but sure, for those of us who felt that “the heart of the show” was all the stuff that the finale actually erased-- that “family don’t end in blood,” and that this was actually not a show about just two brothers but the love of their found family and coming to terms with the choices they actually HAD made for themselves versus the narrative that Chuck kept centering them in DESPITE what they would choose for themselves, the finale basically told us no, everything you ever found of value in this story actually meant nothing. It told us that Chuck’s story for them was their only truth in the end, and their only freedom was to be found in death.

Please, I am begging people, stop trying to gaslight us that this was some beautiful ending. Maybe think for a second that “your read” of the narrative that allows you to find peace with the ending is not what we saw and loved about this story for the 326 episodes leading up to this finale.

And please try to understand that we were not wrong to see the entire narrative through this lens. Because we were literally validated IN CANON, and told that we understood the depth of the story and the characters just fine, actually. There’s literally ONE episode of the entire series that burns it all down in a bewildering pile of wtf. And that’s #327. That throws that entire read out the window to well actually us all back into Chuck’s literal ending... This was literally the ending Chuck wanted to force them to enact for him, and it’s what ended up happening even after they defeated him-- the ultimate Big Bad of the entire series should’ve been defeated, but instead he pulled off one final victory over the entire story.

Becky: No. You can't-- Chuck: I did. Becky: Y- This is just an ending. Chuck: Yeah. I don't know how I'm gonna get there, but I know where I'm goin'. Becky: B-But it's so... dark. Chuck: But great, right? I can see it now -- "Supernatural: The End". And the cover is just a gravestone that says "Winchester". The fans are gonna love it. Well? Becky: It's awful! Horrible. It's hopeless. You can't do this to the fans. What you did to Dean? What you did to Sam? Chuck: There, see? It's making you feel something. That's good, right?

and

Dean: Well, what now? You're not gonna dust us. Chuck: Oh, yeah? Why not? Dean: Because you're holding out. For your big finish. Yeah, we know about your galaxy-brained idea, how you think this story is gonna go. Sam got a little look into your draft folder. Chuck: Sam's visions -- they weren't drafts. They were memories. My memories. Other Sams and other Deans in other worlds. But guess what. Just like you, they didn't think they'd do it, either. But they did. And you will, too. Dean: No. Not this Sam. And not this Dean. So you go back to Earth 2 and play with your other toys. Because we will never give you the ending that you want. Chuck: We'll see.

And even in DEFEAT Chuck thought he understood these characters, thought that having rendered him powerless they would finally take their revenge and kill him, but they didn’t, because he never actually understood these characters at all. And the story he tried to force them into from day one was never about THEM, it was about HIM. 

And then Dean gets like two whole days of freedom and choice and is apparently incapable of making any of the choices that don’t throw him immediately back into Chuck’s favorite story. Like none of that resolution in the previous episode meant anything at all. He even SAYS it in the finale:

Dean: Yeah, no. I think about 'em, too. You know what? That pain's not gonna go away. Right? But if we don't keep living, then all that sacrifice is gonna be for nothing.

And then two scenes later the show gives us the Nelson Muntz HA HA and Dean is no longer living, and Sam is left to carry on as a shell of himself and wander off into Blurry Wife Land to devote any even remotely content moment of the rest of his years to raising a  Replacement Dean to fill the void, and is never able to pick up the pen to write anything better of his own life than Chuck would’ve dealt him in the first place.

So I’m glad that top-layer takeaway is sustaining and enough for you. It wasn’t, and will never be enough for the rest of us.

What was actually real in all of this? We were.

Until we weren’t.

And that’s honestly a shit message to be pushing on people in the wake of it all. So please stop.

I should actually thank you for the kind intent with which your message is phrased, but that doesn’t make it feel less hilariously awful. Though I chose this one to reply to as the least insulting of all the messages currently in my inbox on this subject. So thanks for that, at least.

[avelera]

Part 2 of Let’s All Drag Joss Whedon (Finally) - Joss Whedon Doesn’t Accept the Premise (And that’s why he struggles with modern superhero franchises)

Part 1 - “Break the Cutie” aka Whedon’s just writing his fetish over and over and people are just beginning to figure that out

So apparently, Joss Whedon’s take on “The Justice League” was so horrible even WB’s own execs despised it, and we get some hints as to what they hated from the Vanity Fair article, “The robber on the rooftop—so goofy and awful. The Russian family—so useless and pointless. Everyone knew it. It was so awkward because nobody wanted to admit what a piece of shit it was.”

Now, I have a theory as to what went wrong here, and it’s the same thing that went wrong (for me) with Steve Rogers’ plot line in Age of Ultron, and looking back, in Avengers 1. It goes beyond Whedon just not wanting to continue any other creator’s stories (a gripe for another day) into the fact that AoU and even Avengers 1 feel a bit like, well, the movies that people in the Marvel Universe make about the Avengers. Not events that happened to the actual Avengers as seen in their own films. 

It’s because when it’s not his own world, Joss Whedon just doesn’t accept the premise of other people’s fantastical worlds. 

What do I mean by “accept the premise”? Another phrase could be “suspend disbelief” or “take it seriously” but what it translates to is being willing to accept even a ludicrous scenario as fact and go from there as a writer, arguably the foundations of writing speculative fiction. I can write for you a heart-wrenching story about a clown who is supernaturally stuck in his clown-car if I just accept the premise enough, because once the silliness of the premise is accepted, we can acknowledge it and move on to the seriousness of the character’s suffering and continue from there. Any ludicrous premise can be played straight if you accept the premise. 

Young nerds may not remember, but for all the scattered success of late 90′s/early 00′s sci-fi/fantasy/superhero films there were ten times as many ridiculous failures that all felt like they were self-conscious to even be alive much less daring to subject you to a story about wizards or superheroes for goodness sake. It felt as if the creators themselves were embarrassed to be there. This all changed when films like Lord of the Rings, The Dark Knight, and Iron Man 1 stopped cringing away from the fantasy elements and accepted the premise that fantastical things are happening, that there are heroes in rocket suits and bat costumes saving the world and ok, now that we’ve acknowledged this is a departure from normal reality, we can actually deal seriously with the things happening in these world. 

Superhero franchises like Marvel haven’t looked back from this decision! Yes our heroes are in costumes, but Captain America isn’t just a boy scout in spandex, he’s a man who suffered and lost more than most people can comprehend in the course of being frozen in ice for 75 years, and in films like “Winter Soldier” we’re going to deal with that immense suffering, the scars it leaves, and what happens when he discovers his best friend has suffered a fate worse than even he has. 

Whedon didn’t want to accept Winter Soldier in AoU. Actually, he didn’t want to accept any of the individual character films in his story, he just picks up right off from Avengers 1 with a few scant nods to the intervening canon. In fact, he outright said he wanted the MCU to be loosely connected one-offs where creators like him could all do their own thing without paying attention to each other.

To me it seems obvious that this was in part because Whedon couldn’t accept Winter Soldier (and, IMO, was jealous of it). He couldn’t accept Cap/Steve Rogers being more than a punchline. He’s always making him into this golden retriever, boy scout, whatever. Tony Stark, for all that he gets better treatment as the “cool”, quippy guy of a Joss Whedon story, also has most of his trauma and PTSD dealt with in his own individual films tossed out the window in favor of him, yeah I’m gonna say it, basically bullying everyone with how smart he is the whole film and generally being obnoxious and unbearable. 

The only place serious emotion is allowed to live in a Whedon story set in someone else’s world is when he gets to play out his “Nerd Guy and Battered Strong Female Character” love story, which for Avengers he twisted Nat and Bruce Banner into performing for his fetishistic pleasure. A story that made no objective sense for the characters, that at least Scarlett Johansson protested as not making sense for her character (and she was right) and which required absolutely tortured logic for some of the other characters, like Hawkeye suddenly having a family that was never alluded to previously in order to derail the burgeoning (and actor promoted!) love-story between Hawkeye and Black Widow. 

Not that I’m bitter or anything. 

My point is, I’m not surprised that given modern superhero films are built on accepting the premise of a superhero world where people where spandex but also feel really bad emotions that we’ve gotta take seriously for the story to work, that Whedon’s 90′s comic book era quippy detachment from all this “silly comic stuff” just doesn’t work. It’s great for the occasional humorous scene but it can’t carry a franchise and it clashes with other creators who are taking the characters, premise, and world seriously. 

So while everyone is waking up, shocked, to this realization that Titan of Nerd Culture Joss Whedon can’t carry a modern superhero franchise that takes itself seriously, I admit, I’m kind of sitting here going, “You just figured that out??”

[goldenlie]

I already made that point in the ask on a different blog but I dislike how they put Dream on pedestal and relate anything that happens with George to him. Jokes and more serious takes calling him covid warrior get me annoyed because it's the same person that allows his mom do groceries for him and didn't see any issues with Sapnap going to visit Karl, create irl content with him and other ccs and even make video with mr beast despite Sapnap apparently interacting with his mom and sister. It also surprises me how the fans push so much towards meet up when it's clear they are the ones that care the most about it. Don't get me wrong I do believe dream team wants to meet up however question directed at Dream if he would visit George in UK was meet with awkward silence and George had to answer for him that it means no. Clearly it's important but there is no feeling of urgency or even a maybe in there. Same with George, I feel like after experiencing irl content and hanging out more with ccs in UK he isn't in any real rush to get to the US when he knows neither Sapnap or Dream will be down to create that type of content which is fine but George seems to enjoy making it so losing advantage of meeting up with Wilbur, Tommy etc to create content might be something that he started to care more about. Wilbur also planned to move to US from what I remember so it's just a theory, not really serious but maybe George wants to move when Wilbur does so they both have someone to create irl content with? Sorry for rambling but this situation rubs me the wrong way in so many ways, hope you'll have a nice day!

(The following is a depiction of my own personal views containing fandom critical aspects which mostly dissolves into a general discussion. This isn't intended to speak on behalf of any DT members (S+G+D) in any sense or to insinuate how they feel regarding their following.)

In an effort to shorten the length of this, my thoughts on the "covid warrior" situation are in more detail here. In summary, It's not the best idea to hold a cc so high for the expected, eventually something will slip and the fall will be much greater than it deserves to be. As you mentioned, allowing quarantines to occur in his own home where other family members frequent doesn't fit the narrative created by some. No ones going to be perfect in a pandemic, yet we shouldn't act oblivious in favor of holding up this pristine image specifically crafted and implemented by fans.

Regarding the Dream association with George. I'll preface this with acknowledgement that getting the green light from the creators themselves to view their relationship romantically, will create a ripple effect of posts, clips, and overall more attention funneled to the cc's. However, I don't think the aim was to ever be overshadowed by the idea of themselves in a romantic sense. To be truly frank George is the one facing the brunt of this association. People think Dream and they imagine a high tier mc player, people think George and know him from being flirted with in tiktok clips. This link leaks into moments unintended to be related to one another, bringing up his name whenever George even interacts with other ccs? Expecting Dream to give George a slap on the wrist for attending a party? Unwarranted behavior. Dream is not responsible for George (or Sapnap) and vice versa. They are separate people responsible for their own actions.

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The initial excitement at meeting each other was very clear in December/January due to both Karl+Quackity and Sapnap+Dream meeting up. Understandably over time the thrill at the thought began wearing off due to the shaky future presented by the pandemic (Yet I've no doubt they'll be glad to be together under one roof in the future). I think this was especially obvious during the puffy podcast in particular when Minx directed the question to Dream whether he would visit George now or wait another one and a half years before meeting him. Dream toyed with the question for a bit, confirming the timeframe before being pressured for an answer to which he responded he'd guess he'd go. It didn't exactly sound ecstatic and as you said it's not the first time the question has been dodged or answered with such emotion or lack thereof.

That being said, It's not surprising they don't want to get their hopes up considering the pandemic is too reliant on people to predict. However, I saw a lot of talk at the time concerning how sweet it was Dream said he'd go to London. It's down to personal perception but in all honesty the situation did not read that sweet to me. Although I understand the desire for a heartfelt sentiment declaring "Yes! Of course I'd go across the Atlantic for George!", this was not it. There is a tendency to romanticize and view subjects with a rose tint in this fandom but this instance was one of the more painfully obvious times.

A similar reaction occurred on Georges solo PkMn stream. Dream joined heavily insinuating him to end stream despite George explaining his plans to continue for a further hour. At a weak attempt at pleasing the fans Dream promised a dnf stream and within seconds the chat spammed "take the deal!". It felt very self exposing of chat, these joint streams are not uncommon but it had been five months since the previous solo stream. On top of that, some started claiming how whipped George was to leave steam when in reality there wasn't much of a choice presented. When watching a trailer to a game they might potentially play, commentating it with "what's happening" Dream responded "you're ending stream". Not everything is a "cute" moment (if anything looking back this was comical) and that's expected, but lets not act tone deaf when we bare witness to such.

Returning to your initial point regarding the meetup, Sapnap seems to be the one who carries the brightest torch for it publicly. During a GTA stream he excitably referenced the long awaited time in which he would collect George from the airport. George once expressed offhandedly how he thought S+D might not have room for him to which he joined the call expressing how they could do bunk beds together and reassured him they'd have space (although surely that was obvious from the beginning). Sapnap once posed the question to George where he'd take him if he showed up in London, asking if they'd go to Tesco. Even during the PkMn card unboxing stream (Karls), he told the camera George could have any of the cards he pulls and they'll be waiting for him in Florida. These were all such genuinely kind sentiments where you could tell he's been anticipating the meeting for a while yet, they've been talked about to a much lesser degree.

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Regarding the content situation, there hasn't been a stream which consciously consisted of Sapnap and Dream together since the move in. Baring in mind Sapnap often disregards face-cam streams the odd joint stream could've occurred if they so wished. It's not apparent to a random viewer they live together, not to say that's a bad thing or that they needed to in any sense, but I feel like it's a good teller of how content will be once George moves in. Obviously Georgenap could do face cam streams together and I have no doubt that's what we'll get, which I can't complain about. Honestly it wouldn't be surprising if George and Wilbur do the plane journey over together. However, Wilbur has expressed his desire to travel America and as much as I'd enjoy Georgebur taking landmark after landmark, it seems more likely for George to travel on occasion to the states where Wilbur finds himself. Sadly indicating the real life vlogs with Gnf will regrettably be left in the UK.

[lunaajade]

Everything You Need to Know about “Shadow and Bone” on Netflix (*UPDATED: POSSIBLE LANGUAGE OF THORNS ADAPTATION INFO)

 Since it’s recently been confirmed that we’d be getting S&B content in a few days (finally!), I thought I’d compile and summarize as much info as I could to refresh everyone’s memories! Please spread the word/share this post to those who aren’t up to date! (I’ve seen some people online who are worried about how it’s going to turn out, and I’d like to be able to hopefully reassure those people)

Now, there’s a LOT of stuff, so there’s always the chance I missed/forgot something. This post will be split up into categories based on type of info, so here we go! I went back and listened to/watched both of the big live streams (NYCC and the S&B Charity Competition), went on the Grishaverse Reddit, etc. to find as much (extra/bonus) stuff as I could. (If I missed anything/got something wrong, please feel free to leave a comment!)

Update: A lot of people have been asking where it was confirmed we were getting content soon. I found out from one of the update accounts I follow.

Thanks for reading, everyone!

General/Key Info About the Show

-This first season will be adapting both “Shadow and Bone” and what has been dubbed a “Book 0″ (most likely meaning prequel/backstory/set-up) for “Six of Crows” -In relation to the above point, the timelines are being brought together for the show. (Normally in the books, the two series are set two years apart)(We don’t know how exactly or what this means for the story, but I have a really interesting theory that I thought up in relation to this, message me if you’d like to hear it.) -Leigh acknowledges and understands that some of us have doubts and are worried about the show, but she has publicly assured us (numerous times) of how much she loves the show and cast, how well she thinks the crew/writers did in bringing the Grishaverse to life, etc. See a later point below in the Facts/Tidbits section -The first season will have 8, one-hour long episodes -Alina has been made half Shu (half Asian) for the show! Leigh stated that was decided on after she and Eric had a lengthy discussion on Alina’s character. -The main cast (as in confirmed to be in all episodes) is comprised of Jessie Mei Li (as Alina), Archie Renaux (as Mal), Ben Barnes (as the Darkling), Freddy Carter (as Kaz), Amita Suman (as Inej), and Kit Young (as Jesper) -Wylan and Nikolai are NOT in the first season. (Nikolai didn’t appear until the second book, and Leigh confirmed that at this point in the story, the Crows had not met Wylan yet.) -Other cast members include Danielle Galligan (as Nina), Calahan Skogman (as Matthias), Daisy Head (as Genya), Sujaya Dasgupta (as Zoya), Luke Pasqualino (as David), Julian Kostov (as Fedyor), Simon Sears (as Ivan), Zoe Wanamaker (as Baghra), and more! -The Darkling will also be called “General Kirigan” in the show. From what we know, The Darkling will be the “enemy” to Ravka (so in essence, General Kirigan is his alias/fake persona (what he’ll most likely be referred to for most of the show), and no one knows that he’s actually their enemy. (Meaning it’ll most likely a super big moment when they learn their general was actually the Darkling in disguise)). -The show was shot on location in Budapest, Hungary. (And additional filming took place this past fall in Vancouver) -In order, the 8 episodes are titled the following: “A Searing Burst of Light”, “We’re All Someone’s Monster”, “The Making at the Heart of the World”, “Otkazat’sya”, “Show Me Who You Are”, “The Heart is An Arrow”, “The Unsea”, & “No Mourners”.

Other (Fun) Facts/Tidbits About the Show

-Upon seeing Jessie’s audition, Leigh loved her audition/portrayal of Alina so much that she apparently stated that she wanted her to play Alina or she’d be out of the project. She was sent five auditions to watch, Jessie’s was the third, and she said she didn’t bother watching the rest of them. -Leigh stated that she and Eric Heisserer (the creator of the show) said they were on the same page from the first meeting. All other past meetings with producers and companies about possible adaptations had left her with a bad feeling, but she said they’d had the same ideas about inclusion, story, staff, etc. She said she’s loved the respect he’s shown towards the work (and, in a way, to us the fans) -Netflix apparently also has the rights to adapt “The Language of Thorns” , though we’ve gotten no info on that adaptation yet. (UPDATE: I just watched a Leigh Bardugo event from Feb 2019 (a few weeks after the show was first announced, I think): As of  that day, she said that she thought that they were going to use LoT more for "texture” (IMO that might mean worldbuilding?) in the show. And I don’t know if she was talking about LoT specifically because she was very vague, but she said that there were certain things in the show that she thinks readers will be really excited about. Again, this was over a year ago, back when they were still in pre-production and stuff, so don’t take my word for it. Besides this, I couldn’t find anything else relating to a possible LoT adaptation. Maybe they’ll have the stories from LoT appear as actual folk tales told in the show, and that’s the “adaptation”? IDK. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpHnw8Ygw5c&t=1906s)) -Leigh is an exec. producer on the show! I’m no expert, so I don’t know how much say/power she had in the process, but she definitely had some. -There is a RAVKAN edition of the “Shadow and Bone” book that Leigh says makes a cameo in the show! -Jesper’s guns had custom etchings done on them by a Hungarian antique gunsmith! (And they were so good that Leigh and Eric said that it looked like it belonged in a museum--they were also described to be quite heavy!) -Eric Heisserer is the creator of the show, he is an award-winning writer, well known for “Arrival”, “Bird Box”, and more. (If I remember correctly, Leigh said that he’d reached out to her about making the show!) -A DeKappel painting (maybe the one owned by Van Eck?) was confirmed to be in the pilot episode. -Pekka Rollins and Tante Heleen have been confirmed to be in the first season, but their casting has (up to this point) not yet been revealed. -Bo Yul-Bayur is confirmed to be in the show! (Though Kuwei has not) -Leigh will have  a cameo in (I think) Episode 5! She will be wearing a Materialki kefta and will be opening a door, if I remember correctly. -A lot of the crew was also extremely passionate about the project and fans of the books -The “Lives of Saints” book that was published in October is an actual book/prop that is appearing in the show! -I’m personally fine with Mal, but Leigh says that Archie is going to change everyone’s minds with his portrayal! -The costume designer for the show is Wendy Partridge, known for her work on “Thor: The Dark World”, “Pompeii”, and more!  -The composer for the show is Joe Trapanese, known for composing for “The Greatest Showman”, “Straight Outta Compton”, “Lady and the Tramp”, and more! At the NYCC Grishaverse panel, they revealed a little bit of the score (”Grisha Theme”): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFxIEbsHKJA 

Fun Cast/On Set Stories/Facts

-The cast all loves each other, and are all extremely passionate about this show, which is great! (Leigh said that on her second visit to the set, she heard them singing together) -Leigh says that Ben Barnes once snuck up behind her on her first day on set and scared her by whispering “Fine, make me your villain” -Freddy’s favorite Grishaverse book is “Six of Crows”, but most specifically the first line of chapter 2 (”Kaz Brekker didn’t need a reason.”) -Jessie would apparently come to set on some of her days off to support the cast and crew! -Sujaya has stated that her favorite Grishaverse character is Nikolai! (#Zoyalai) -Freddy has become famous/popular with the fandom, one of the reasons being because he often comments on posts/live streams asking something along the lines of “What was it like working with Freddy Carter? xoxo” -Danielle loves Nina and her journey in “King of Scars” -According to a Tweet, Freddy and Leigh said that there had been a scene with “a very pesky gate”--Freddy said that it “wouldn’t be proper to tweet the expletives [he] used that day” and that he thinks he “scarred” Amita and Eric. -Amita’s favorite thing about Inej is her silence, and her favorite Grishaverse book is “Six of Crows” (as of May, where we learned this during a live-stream, she said she’s read it three times and listened to the audiobook twice.) -There was a waffle truck on set on the last day of shooting! -Calahan says that if he could play any other Grishaverse character, he’d want to play Nikolai! -While she did work with the trainer to get more physically fit, Amita learned most of her knife techniques by herself! -Leigh said she cried a lot while on set! (She said there was one scene they were shooting that she has a very clear, vivid memory of writing many years back--based on the context of which she was talking about it, if I had to guess, I’d guess she’s describing the Winter Fete.) -Leigh also said that on one of her first days on set, it was funny/weird to see all the extras in First Army uniforms chilling on their phones, drinking coffee, etc. -One of Calahan’s favorite character dynamics in the books is the dynamic between Kaz and Matthias -There was a moment where Amita was fully in costume and doing amazing, graceful knife work, only to trip and fall when she’d finished. -Amita and Jessie and Sujaya were best friends on set. -Sujaya loved everything about playing Zoya. (Especially her confidence) -Leigh says one of her favorite props was Kaz’s cane, especially because of what it meant to her and the story. -If he could be any Grisha order, Calahan says he’d want to be a Corporalki -Calahan loves Matthias’s journey/arc. -Kit’s favorite Grishaverse book is “Crooked Kingdom”!

Links

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X65iI1YXrbU (NYCC Grishaverse Panel) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHou5rVs6o0 (S&B Talent Show Charity Live Stream ft. the S&B Cast!--the IG video got taken down because Archie deleted his IG account and switched to a new one) -https://www.netflix.com/title/80236319 (”Shadow and Bone” on Netflix!) -https://twitter.com/shadowandbone_ (Official “Shadow and Bone” Twitter!) -https://www.instagram.com/shadowandbone/?hl=en (Official “Shadow and Bone” Instagram!) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRh-Pmbynww (Annoucement made by cast when filming wrapped! (can be found on the social media accounts, but here’s a link to YT)) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bpY8uLtyB4 (A S&B Cast Crack video by HeartPhantom--it highlights a lot of the inside jokes and memes that we’ve gotten to witness among the cast, and also just generally shows off how hilariously chaotic everyone is (this cast is the definition of chaotic good, lol))

[funkylittledemon]

Okay with my only prior knowledge of this being

1) chucky is a doll that kills people and

2) apparently he has a genderfluid kid? I was shown the clip where he says it

So with that established, aren't people jumping to conclusions here? Like in my experience evil dolls can't have children and usually just have 1 thing on their to do list, which is kill people. With that in mind how do we know that chucky isn't lying to the gsy kid he told about his alleged child to make said kid trust him and then he, chucky, can kill more people. I'm just stoking the flames here I have zero (0) actual stakes in this but I think everyone is too quick to be like omg gay rights that they ignore the actual story and potential metaphors and the actual spice of a story. "Evil doll uses a queer person's desire for acceptance to kill people" is so much more interesting than "this doll that's supposed to be evil isn't as evil because it accepts its queer child" which is a good concept sure but more of a stand alone concept than one in a chucky series. I mean there isn't even an explanation of how chucky has a kid that I know of.

In media we're doing audience theory and some guy (I forgot his name but we study his theories) said that the audience is dying, in that with social media its becoming less of a clear line between creators and audience. The audience is also becoming more active, instead of just passively accepting the dominant view the creators intended we think for ourselves and actively question it. Anyway I think that guy is right but also not because the audience is not actually thinking about the media as media! Chucky is evil and while it might end up being that he's just supportive of queer people there's also a chance its actually nuanced and would fit in with horror tropes, which are there for a reason. Horror is essentially haha wouldn't this be fucked up

Interact with media! Think about it! Debate it! Say hmmmm what is the writers trying to say here? And then choose whether you accept that or reject that! That's the fun part! If people actually debated media in an interested way and acknowledged that this is media and not real life and therfore uses tropes and stereotypes to get their point across so we can understand it and pick up on the cues, there'd be a lot less mind rotting discourse because people would be putting their critical thinking skills to use!