#Dream BBQ Spoilers

[rufoustee]

Guess who's AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[enaconfessions]

Since the Dream BBQ trailer was just posted, I should reminder you all that when it does release, all posts regarding it will be tagged as both #ena spoilers and #dream bbq spoilers. However, how long would you suggest that I tag spoilers for? Would a week or two be a good timeframe?

[lilliesofinspirationvalley]

(about the dream bbq post) aren’t daturas like… the worst hallucinogen known to man? Known to give people horrifying trips with effects that linger for months/years? I wonder if that’s significant. I saw someone else point out the fork frog guy looks like a mad cow disease prion, + the spirals in the ballerina scene and the paper streamers also resemble prions. Both these things feel similarly related to losing one’s mind.

Ayo, you’re onto something!!!

This is an ask I recieved relating to my first ENA: Dream BBQ analysis I posted! Be sure to check that out if you haven’t already! I definitely plan to write more up ;p

Let’s look into what Mabel (I shall call this user such based on the first part of their username) brought up~!

Make Me Delirious

Daturas are a hallucinogen, more specifically a deliriant. Here are summaries about deliriants and delirium I found from Wikipedia

Already, we can see some fascinating points being brought up.

Deliriants inhibit the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is a key part of the autonomic nervous system (aka, how our body and brain react to our surroundings). It’s an internal transmitter in the sympathetic nervous system (which is responsible for the fight-or-flight response), and the primary neurotransmitter/final product of the parasympathetic nervous system (which helps you calm down and bring your body back to normal). It’s primary function is activating muscles… so shutting that down is pretty dangerous (especially in high doses).

Deliriants are known for causing… delirium (what a shocker lol). Delirium causes psychomotor changes (hyperactivity/hypoactivity/mixed), emotional and perceptual disturbances (such as hallucinations and delusions), and disrupt sleep-wake cycles.

Most plant deliriants are part of the Solanaceae/Nightshade family, which include plants such ad belladonna/deadly nightshade, and brugsmania/angel’s trumpets. Arguably, the flowers in the trailer also look like brugsmania… but whether they’re brugsmania or datura, they’re both deliriant flowers, so all of this still applies.

These plants have historically been used by indigenous cultures in the Americas (likely in extremely small doses) for assistance in traditions/rituals involving altered states. Such rituals involve communicating with ancestors, divination, and rites of passage, and are always used under supervision of a Shaman.

Prion for Info

First and foremost, what the heck is a prion? 

In case you haven’t taken biology yet, or forgotten those lessons from high school, the brain has a lot of normal cell proteins called prion proteins. They're an important part of our brain function... though we're still figuring out their specific purpose. Normal prion proteins look like this (pictures are from this video):

However, there are also misfolded, abnormal prions that look like this:

These are usually referred to simply as "prions" (we specify the normal, healthy ones as prion proteins), and they're able to spread their abnormal/misfolded structure onto the normal variants of the prion protein. This chain reaction is a major causative of neurodegenerative disorders, primarily via spongificatioxn of the brain (destroying the brain's gray matter). This can lead to severe symptoms such as rapid dementia, ataxia (loss of limb control), and insomnia. Once the disease starts, it's incredibly rapid and always fatal.

One of these neurodegenerative disorders that is especially prominent is Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, also known as BSE or Mad Cow disease. As the names suggest, this disease primarily harms cattle... but humans are able to become infected by it.

How? By consuming contaminated beef.

What do you usually eat at a barbecue?

"Where is my mind" by the Pixies at full blast

In all seriousness, all of these connections to literally losing your mind and dying from madness are all very concerning. BBQ!ENA is going to go through so much more (as if the two other forms of her didn't allude to that already), and I'm very worried about her.

[v1x-holo]

*sigh* Here it comes...

Bon!ENA au!!

[secretkryptoniteangel]

THEY GAVE ENA A FUCKING GUN LET'S GO

[obseq--villain]

I am SO gonna kin Dream BBQ ƎNA fr

[luzxii]

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ YOOOO????

[yikeskauri]

Humanoid ENA but not donut (sketch)

[greengungegirl]

I made a con video!!! Makima Goes to TooManyGames 2023!!

[thekracken]

symbolisms. metaphors. etc.

[teranobriss]

Npmd + Workin Boys spoilers

I just realized how tragic it is that Ruth dreams of being an actress but seems to die every time she makes it to the stage. Getting killed by Max right after she discovers the joy of letting herself shine on stage in the bbq monologues scene, and then getting killed by Hidgens in Workin Boys.

Doomed to never make it to the closing act.

[heat--end]

beat the scarlet/violet DLC! i havent done some of the bigger postgame stuff yet, but ive beaten the main story, which is really the important part

ill leave my longer thoughts under the read more to avoid spoilers

honestly, i really like how they handled this DLC. i think part of me likes kitakami as a place more, but this is also a really nice little spot. the terarium is a cool place, the pokemon in it are cool, etc.

what i REALLY liked was the story, as well. ive talked about this with a lot of other people, but SV's main theme seems to be getting yourself too lost in your own desires, so much so that you don't realize what happens, and this continues that. ambition is a great thing, but pushed too far, it can put others at risk. i think kieran's character is fantastic in this regard. it genuinely makes sense, and it's no surprise he ends up the way he does, and his desire to look up to the player becomes warped and corrupted because he wants to be better, he wants to achieve the dreams he's seeing the player reach, etc.

it's really interesting stuff. i really, REALLY like it, honestly, and i love how they handled briar in the way, too. briar literally gets so invested and excited about terastialization research that she's putting *three children* at risk. she actively realizes this and apologizes, and i like that they highlighted this. it's a neat theme, and i think the DLC tackles it really well

like the lore and extra stuff introduced is cool, but i feel like always, the character writing shines really well here. it's nice to see a bit of old kieran peek back out, him falling into old habits, but then we see him lose himself again as SOON as a sliver of a chance for him to be better than the MC arrives. for that, i'm a huge fan, i think they did a really good job there

also, big fan of BBQs. scratches that "i want to do PLA tasks forever" itch just enough to be satisfying

the one thing i wasn't a fan of was the battle difficulty, however. now, keep in mind, after asking my friends for some help i WAS able to adjust my team and have strategies to beat them and all that, but MAN, this is WAY too drastic of a leap in difficulty compared to base game, IMO. it'd be one thing if this was optional, but this is the main story.

now, keep in mind, i don't mind if they want to make pokemon games harder. i think it's a good thing. challenge and all that. but when base SV wasnt... ANYTHING like this, it is VERY jarring for them to like, legitimately start using competitive movesets and strategies and all that, without so much as a means to prepare you for it. i feel like there's gonna be a lot of people who just get hard walled by some of the battles, and idk how i really feel about it.

i AM glad this is here, but, i don't think it shouldve been the DEFAULT. some kind of toggle or even having these be post-game battles wouldve been great. but having it be the main difficulty scaling feels really bizarre in comparison to SV's base difficulty. hell, kitakami wasn't nearly as bad as this. it's a leap that is very, VERY drastic.

(and yeah, i did get fucked up bad early on, but keep in mind this is coming from someone who first tried kieran, who is the hardest battle in the DLC. so it's not like i was just playing poorly all the time)

also stellar as a tera type is kinda just whatever i feel. idk not really as interesting as it seemed to be. it's cool lore wise, but even then it's just like... eh, neat, i guess LOL

all in all, i really liked indigo disk. it wasn't the most mindblowing thing ever, and i feel like i MAYBE liked teal mask more, but honestly, it's not by a huge margin. it was pretty good, i had a good time. i'd say it won't win over anybody who already didnt like base SV, but it's worth if you like the base game because it improves on a lot. honestly, i think i like the DLC more than i do the base game, and i already liked SV, lmao

[theliterarywolf]

What did you think of Unicorn Wars?

So, I've known of Alberto Vasquez as an artist and filmmaker for a while now, though I, unfortunately, haven't had an opportunity to watch his first feature film Birdboy: The Forgotten Children.

Even with Unicorn Wars I had to watch it on a website of ill repute since the nearest theatrical showing of it is nearly halfway across the state (though I am going to purchase the Blu-Ray when GKids finally announces it).

The film itself... I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a master-class in effective use of juxtaposition: in this case, we have a story about the hells of war and religious fanaticism conveyed through cuddly bears and magical unicorns.

The animation and art-direction are stunning, particularly the use of colors. I am in love with the soundtrack. Dark, foreboding synthesizer music has become such a love of mine in recent years: from Satellite City's "Concertina Ballerina", to "anemoia" (the theme for the upcoming ENA: Dream BBQ), and now various songs from this film.

And, of course, we can't talk about Unicorn Wars without mentioning the violence, blood, and gore... Which, for me, was great. Though I do realize that not everyone can handle the film for that exact reason.

The only nitpick that I could come up with is that I kind of wish (and this isn't too much of a spoiler) that we had some scenes with the unicorns that showed them in color and the bears in that shadowy black CGI style, rather than only the unicorns having that style for the whole film.

I feel like it would have been a good way to show that both sides see the others as monsters. However, aside from that, I'd recommend the film.

[v1x-holo]

When ENA steals Walten's files... Idk I haven't watched the series /j

[crossover-enthusiast]

Hey can you like briefly explain ENA lore to me?

That is a. VERY hard ask but I will try my best-

So the setting of ENA is a psychedelic world inspired by surrealism and old computer games

Ena herself is... a Thing, split into two primary sides, Happy Ena (yellow) and Sad Ena (blue). She can still feel other emotions, but these two are the most prominent

Other ENAs also exist; Dream BBQ is set to feature a red and white Ena, with the red side being a Salesperson and the white side being a Meanie

Moony is a living moon thing and Ena's best friend. I don't know what her deal is. She's kinda a jerk, but cares about ENA

The first three episodes take place chronologically, but the fourth takes place before Temptation Stairway at the least

In all episodes except "Auction Day", Ena explores a weird location and meets various strange characters that reside within that location

ENA is... very complicated. Idk if you've seen the series so I didn't go into spoilers, but If you want me to go in deeper on something I can!

[applepies-and-starlight]

hi, hello, you mentioned you have ocs and i would like to learn abt them if thats ok, could i get some fun facts abt them?

Y'know, I was planning to make a list of OCs anyway so this is a good excuse to do that

Gonna giving their names and fandoms with a couple of facts under cut (i feel like this might get long Very quick)

(Mid-edit Apple: minor Canto VI spoilers, nothing really story-related but I do use terms mentioned in 6.3 in passing; better safe than sorry tho)

Tamami Mochizuki (Persona Series)

As her last name implies, she's related to Nyx

She's my watsonian/in-universe explanation to where the rest of the arcana shadows are

Her persona variant is Akhlys; heavily based off Riordan's interpretation of her, meaning she can control poison

Her appearances changes a lot more than her brother's since the collective idea of suffering/misery changes over the ages while death stays stagnant (I've been considering making her look gyaru since that seems to be associated with japanese mean girl tropes)

Ena Kutsuki (Persona Series)

Initially, her name was Era, but I changed it somewhere down the line (did you know that the name 'Ena' has japanese origins too?)

Demigod of order; got a certain cup's magic handed to her after Striker's AI takeover attempt

Her bones are fucked up because of said magic (her spine can literally burst out of her back and turn into extra arms doc ock style)

She is being rizzed up by the goddess of misery and neither are aware they're in the slowburn plot and mutually believe they are friends (both of their friend groups can see how lovesick they are)

Cai An-Yue (ProjMoon; Lobcorp)

She's named after me! (My chinese name is Cai An Yu)

She has stolen her world's Library and made it her own

I'm considering classifying her as some flavor of Erlking because she's been fucking around the timelines and superimposing herself on various people and/or corpses

Transfem, any pronouns; ENA Dream BBQ is her voiceclaim (both voices)

Unit O-1 // Cordelle (Smash Bros/Kirby)

Their favorite attack is F-smash; their second favorite is Side-B (hammer flip)

They have a weird relationship with their creator (Octave), since they were initially made as a murder protocol and ended up accidentally developing a personality along the way; by the time the incident cleared out their creator went "wait, shit, I didn't expect that to happen I'm not ready to be a mom–"

They're on good terms for the situation they're in though

Their original name was Ocean before i changed it to Cordelle (Ocean started to sound less like a word the more i said it)

Whaleship Essex (Azur Lane)

Heavily inspired by Ishmael from Limbus Company

Very post-adventures 2!Shadow the Hedgehog coded

Feral; very prone to biting people regardless of whether they're friend or foe

(I'll be adding more on another post since someone else asked about her specifically and I'm still figuring out what to say about her)

Galatea "Gamma" Soliel (Miraculous/Genesis)

Ladybug holder; she's in a different timeline where the Miraculous have landed outside of Paris

All of her teammates are idiots and she only Vaguely tolerates the Black Cat because she Knows he's in a perpetual state of "Nagito Komaeda in his bad luck cycle"

Has shanked the Butterfly once; the Butterfly keeps trying to do homoerotic swordfights with her (they're similar in age)

May or may not be inspired by Mitsuru Kirijo from Persona 3, I can't tell you because if she was then it was likely subconscious