#I'll make sense of the wars stuff I mentioned later...

[luna-loveboop]

Hyrule's actually...

really not looking forward to the idea of the monsters being stronger

Look back...

In both mentions of monsters being stronger- He looks so scared. I want to hug him.

.

Art from @linkeduniverse :D

@breannasfluff @la-sera

[eemamminy-art]

Things took a turn for the worse today during her treatments and we had to put our kitty to sleep. Please don't ask me for details. We did all we could, but satisfying your curiosity isn't worth me recounting the details over and over to everyone who wants to know. Just know we had no other choice and it was frankly devastating.

I'm going to take the rest of the week off and get back to my comms on monday. It's been a long couple of weeks as it is and this week especially the days have been long. Tomorrow will be another long day to bury her.

some further personal stuff below the cut about death and loss

I feel like every time I lose someone else in my life I'm retraumatized and shattered into more pieces than I was before. My whole world broke completely when my mom died. Then 8 months later my dad died too, and I just remember getting the call to come to the hospital immediately because there wasn't much time left and thinking, "This can't be happening again." Getting the call today about our cat, it's all I could think of too. "This can't be happening again."

Since losing my mom in 2013 and my dad in 2014, I've lost all four grandparents, two uncles, and now my cat. I hate that it's such a familiar routine now. I feel so thoroughly soaked through by death that I will never truly get through it. Like I'm rotting away too, little by little.

I try to take solace in how my dad had this outlook of like, to not linger in the past or linger on the things we can't change. I try to do that. I try to just look forward. When I look forward though, sometimes all I can see is my own death waiting for me. I treat my body so badly when I'm in the thickest muck of sorrow and I know it just burns the candle of my life quicker, but what else am I going to do?

I hate having to tell everyone about it. Yeah hi me again. You'll never guess, someone else died. I know, you're sorry, thanks, it's okay. In the uber ride home I was writing to all my friends who have been checking in on me to tell them what's happened, trying not to throw up, and I'm instantly 22 again, calling my aunts and uncles and cousins at 6 am after being up all night to let everyone know my dad was gone.

I draw and write about these topics often because I'm trying so hard to heal from them and make sense of them. If I can write about fictional characters overcoming their trauma and grief and finding light and happiness again, it gives me some hope that I'll find that one day too. Still waiting, but maybe I'll find it. Though it seems I can't even have peace in my creative outlets when time and again I have people making it about stupid ship wars and antagonizing me and belittling me for what I'm making when I'm just trying to work through all the tragedies of my life through my art and writing. Life isn't fair and then stuff like that happens and I remember people don't care how much you've lost or suffered sometimes, they only care about themselves.

I'm sure this is all very worrying to read but ultimately I'm just venting after experiencing something terrible after a lifetime of other terrible experiences. I'll be okay. I always come through. I'm not a quitter. If you read all of this, then thank you. Please be gentle with me. My light will probably dimmer for the foreseeable future but I'll be okay. You probably noticed I didn't mention many details about my cat. That was on purpose. It's hard enough feeling her absence, trying to articulate all the things that made her so special and that I will miss in her is going to make me even sicker than I already am. So please don't ask. If I want to talk about her I will, but right now it's so difficult, and more than anything my body is just reacting to having the trauma of death coursing through it yet again.

[sapnapstummy]

short little dsmp thought from my drafts (tw for referenced torture)

c!sam left the server at some point early on. he'd seen alyssa and callahan leave and after continuing to get his stuff stolen and dragged into drama, he leaves too. but he leaves behind his latest robot, one nearly indistinguishable from himself. he makes sure it's moral and always does what's right. and it reports back to him every week.

the server operates in the back of his mind now, something about another war, betrayals and secret alliances. he doesn't pay much attention, working on his own side projects. then the robot asks him permission for something... "should i let harm come to the monster"

it's not super coherent, and upon further notice the backlog of reports is looking sparse. sam figures it needs some maintenance and is malfunctioning. he assumes the question was about mobs and the morality of killing them. so he sends back a "protect the people around you. if that means harm to monsters, then that's okay." the robot goes quiet after that, no real reports. just: "all is right." every so often.

the robot has slipped his mind when he runs into quackity on the mcc server months later. he's greeted with an overly familiar smile that sets off alarm bells.

"didn't expect you to be taking a day off, warden." quackitys eye twitches.

sam shrugs, "can only work on the same project for so long before it gets boring."

quackity bristles, "i'm making more progress than you did. i have dream begging and pleading with me, all you did was let him sit around. when i get the revive book it'll be off my work."

sam has no idea what any of that means. so he asks about the only thing he does recognize. "how is dream?"

quackity scoffs, "stubborn and annoying as ever." normally sam would laugh and agree, but the way quackity says it sets his mind on edge. "i'm sure you saw him how i left him today. i wonder how long it took him to finally die and respawn."

"what did you do?" sam asks, trying to push down the horrifying sense that quackity isn't playing around.

"hacked through his leg with an old pair of shears. quackity grins, snapping his suspenders with a satisfied look in his eyes.

sam holds back bike, quickly he pulls up the logs. the robot doesn't mention anything about quackity or dream. the last thing he got was the odd question. the growing dread burst into full terror. "i have to go." he tells quackity, running off to the server portal without hearing his goodbye.

the first thing he notices when he gets back on the server is that the air stinks. it's stagnant and thick with the smell of gunpowder. urgently he pulls up the robots tracker, rushing toward it quickly. he's so focused on his compass, he doesn't notice the building until he's nearly on top of it.

a massive rectangular box of obsidian blocks the horizon. the tracker says the robot's inside and he has to push down dread as he enters. his robot greets him immediately, "the prisoner is not taking visitors at the moment."

"what have you been doing?" sam asks, walking around the desk.

"i've been doing what is right and necessary." the robot answers methodically.

sam's fists clench at his side, "override any commands you have and take me to the prisoner."

the robot hesitates for a moment, but follows his orders obediently. it leads him through tight twisting tunnels deeper and deeper into the obsidian. sam waits with baited breath as the wall of lava drops slowly. the sight that meets him has him doubling over spitting up bile.

red-brown covers the walls and floor. and the air is so thick and hot and rot-scented he can hardly catch his breath. dream is almost unrecognizable, a bony bleeding body trembling in the corner. his mask is missing and his golden curls lay in thick dark mats over his face.

"dream," he whispers horrified.

a raspy whisper barely makes it to his ears, "please sam. please don't let him come back, i'll do anything. please."

sam reaches for him, recoiling as dream flinches away. "i'm getting you out of here."

dream shakes his head weakly. his body weights almost nothing as sam pulls him into his arms. dreams breathing goes ragged and panicked, clawing at sam's chest. "i've got you," sam promises, "we're getting away from here."

"i'll never give you the book," dream sneers.

sam shakes his head and holds dream closer.

[slugtranslation-hypmic]

Hihi slug, I love your work, and thanks for everything!! Since Matenro season is nearly upon us, I was wondering if we could get your opinion on the solo snippets🤞🤞

Matenro's new solo previews are SO GOOD, what do you think of them?

Thank you both for notifying me about them! Taking a look now...

(The album is probably already out now, but... better late than never...)

Jakurai's A Majestic Figure

Title note: 4-kanji compounds are like the SAT vocab words of Japanese; they're not super common in everyday speech and can evoke a literary or sophisticated feeling. This one is...interesting. To the best of my knowledge, it isn't a standard compound (I'm also not getting any hits when I Google it) and I wonder if that's significant. It's just two words strung together to make the appearance of fanciness, perhaps. I couldn't say for certain. At any rate, both 威風 and (especially) 颯爽 describe a majestic, often captivating appearance. This isn't to say that such qualities of dignity or majesty aren't real, but I definitely feel like both terms are defining a subject from an outside perspective. These aren't terms I would ever expect someone to describe themselves with, which makes the song title sound like it's an outside observer commenting on Jakurai instead of Jakurai talking about himself. We see this happen a lot in Hypmic, with people putting Jakurai on pedestals or Jakurai struggling to see himself as the same grand figure others perceive him as. As a result, I wrote the song title as "A Majestic Figure" to emphasize the appearance of majesty, whereas the character of the figure is unknown. Anyway, let's dive in and see what this is all about.

(10 seconds in) Vibing with these instrumentals

(19 seconds in) Not vibing with these "ah"s... but we can't have everything in life

(43 seconds in) I'm a little too tired to fully keep up (I'll look up the lyrics when I'm done) but I REALLY like the urgency in the delivery, which is so at odds with the flowing, dignified background music. In JPN fiction as a whole, flusteredness/desperation is contrasted with calmness as a synonym for imperfection and perfection. Jakurai is, honestly, really kind of a desperate character...yet one that appears outwardly calm/perfect to most of the rest of the cast, so it's interesting that we get to see his desperate nature on full display right at the start of the song.

(1:26 in) Hand motif mentioned *Cinemasins ding* (of

(End) Thank you uta-net for having the lyrics up already; ily. Let's see now... Interesting. I'll have to read them again in more depth later, but it looks like a call to forgive past wounds and seek out a better, less painful way of existence--in a societal sense, a religious (as in like, ascending or becoming enlightened) sense, and a personal sense. All great things to see Jakurai expressing. Again, it's interesting to see Jakurai expressing this with such urgency, even if these are things we know he really, really cares about. That coupled with the background music seems to match a bit in the lyrics that says "And [to end war within society, paraphrased] I take grand, dignified action mixed with the discord and noise of Shinjuku, a samsara spiral of cacophonous echoes." Mixing the stately and the chaotic, the "imperfect" and the "perfect." Really interesting stuff!

Hifumi's The Beginning of the Last Song

Title note: "Last Song" is English and written in katakana, which is a sharp contrast to the style of Jakurai's title. Creates a much younger and casual feel appropriate for Hifumi. Not much else to say here, so let's jump in.

(10 seconds in) Modern indie pop song on the radio feel. I'm not a fan of autotune in general so I'm not in love with this, but I'm hopeful it'll pick up soon.

(22 seconds in) I listen to so much "soft hiphop" (for lack of a better term) during work that my brain instantly catapulted itself into work mode and stopped paying any attention to the words. Coffee mug? Check. Emails? Check. Anxiety? Check. Let me rewind and listen to this properly.

(32 seconds in but for real this time) So far, very Hifumi. Opening verse has some fun figurative language but essentially says Hifumi's suit is pure courage he dons like a suit of armor. In doing so, it masks him and makes him become like a whole other person. From there, he switches to addressing a listener: "I want to soothe your mental wounds. I want to change your frown into a smile. I won't let go of your hands, and no, I'm not doing this for a reward." It's something that Hifumi should be saying to himself (something Hifumi wants to hear, maybe?) and yet he says "To [Host!]me, this is happiness."

(59 seconds in) Hmm... I was going to say this song feels sad to me, because all these positive messages of "Keep going! You're safe now!" are framed as being directed at other people, and I was like..."Hifumi, who's going to say that to you? Who's going to help you feel that way?" but then the line "You made me realize I'm not alone" radically flips the framing so that it DOES become things Hifumi is saying to himself, too. How nice. :) I would not want to translate this, personally... Haha it's using the vagueness of Japanese grammar and lyrical conventions to great effect, but I don't feel comfortable touching that personally.

(1:02) Hell yeah, belt that shit, homie

(1:32) So it's a last song in the sense that it's a farewell or the final song of his old self. Now he's the new, healing Hifumi. We love to see it 10/10 bravo. The song is also a happy, heartfelt thank you to the unspoken listeners (presumably Matenrou) who helped him feel less alone. That's cute! I like it. I probably shouldn't go here, but I find it intriguing how the vagueness of listeners is utilized. The first time the listeners are addressed, the language is...if not borderline romantic, pathos-filled to the point where it's definitely evocative of his host job (hence why he's not seeking compensation for handholding, an often romantic gesture). Yet it's borderline enough that it wouldn't be inappropriate to imagine it being addressed to Matenrou instead of his patrons. Hahaha. Again, another reason I don't want to go near this one.

(Overall) I like it! A nice ballad for Hifumi.

Doppo's Andante

(5 seconds in) For a song called Andante, this has a faster tempo than at least one other song on this album lol. But it's much less frenetic than Doppo's other solos, so there's that, I guess.

(7 seconds in) This delivery is giving me anime ending made by a 2010s rock band vibes lol.

(14 seconds in) Damn there's a baller line here that I'm stumped on how to convey in Eng in a way that's both baller and sensical. Meaning wise, it's like "I want to take back the things I shouldn't have said and give them as a present to you" and in figurative language it's like "Once, I used to fire words into the air [speak things in anger or carelessly]. Now, I want to gather them up [esp. like a bouquet of flowers] after their flight and use them to decorate you [again, like flowers or like a piece of jewelry--it's a positive connotation]" Pop off, Doppo

(40 seconds in) Oh this is killer and also going to need some major explaining. Doppo's name is literally "he who walks alone" which is usually considered a positive thing--someone who "walks the path of life" alone would have gotten there by outstripping the rest of the pack. In Doppo's case, though, this is a negative thing. I think it's not as obvious to Eng-only fans, and I know I didn't really think about it for a long time myself, but Doppo considers himself a "loser" bc he didn't follow a conventional life path. It's considered atypical to switch employers, especially very early on in one's career, as he did when he stood up for Hifumi and got himself fired at his first job. Part of why he puts up with shitty treatment at EL Medical is because it's one of the few places that would hire someone who switched employers at such a young age. (Sidebar: My (probably flawed, as I don't live in Japan) impression is that this is becoming less and less of a thing as time goes on and the economy goes to shit, but I think it's the self-stigma more than anything else that's affecting Doppo. To me, it feel similar to the societal pressures in the US to attend and graduate from a four-year college. Plenty of people don't for all sorts of reasons, but because that's so ingrained as the default life story for Americans in a lot of communities, Doppo's dealing with the kind of disappointment and self-hatred someone who dropped out before getting a four year degree might feel.) Doppo beats himself up about that a lot, but here we get that lovely line of "In the waves of people (hitonami) passing all around me, I no longer see anyone who looks like me. It's a shame, because I always wanted to be just like everyone else (hitonami)." Outside of that beautiful wordplay on hitonami, we're also treated to the figurative language of hitonami being literally "in line with others." Doppo, a character who walks through life alone, wanted to walk through life at the same pace/reaching the same milestones at the same time as everyone else.

(1:04 in) "Life is a tightrope act; it's like walking a balance beam [lit. "average beam" aka a beam where everything is averaged/balanced]. In a country where not everything can be average (narasarenai) and where even if the things that [I] can accomplish (narasareru) don't matter [in the eyes of society], sometimes the sounds I want to make don't come out right (narasarenai). When that happens, I can call myself pitiful--or I can feel the breathing of the beautiful flowerbed that is this city, and when someone's humming under their breath disturbs that short break [lit. breath], I ask them 'So, what is this happiness thing anyway?'" I would rather die than TL this song but I'm LOVING the creativity and depth of the lyrics.

(1:27) WILD! FUCKING! CHEERING!!! "You fake smiles in a mirror to make other people happy and call it love. It's a form of hypnosis, and I've made a go of falling under its spell because I just want to be equals [on par with, balanced], and so if you and I can walk these crowded streets together, then I think I don't mind as much that I'm always walking alone." THE GROWTH! THE GROWTH!!!!

Damn, this album's lyrics go hard. What a feast.

[sarahjtv]

My Hero Academia Chapter 425 Spoiler Talk

I'm enjoying writing about this stuff again, though I've got a headache going on, so I'll do the best I can for now. I might add in stuff later:

I'm very happy to see our Big 3 graduate finally! I was kinda worried Mirio wouldn't even graduate for a second, but I'm happy to see that he did and he gave a valedictorian-esque speech to everyone talking about rebuilding society so everyone can have a bright future like Sir Nighteye wanted. Ending his speech with a joke is such a Mirio Togata thing 😂. I'm going to miss that guy so much 🥹

Why are Deku and some other students just lying on the ground with their feet up like that btw? Did they run out of chairs or something? It's a weird, quirky little thing that's just there, I guess.

The narration mentions that it's June in the MHA universe now (Happy Pride, btw 🏳️‍🌈). So, if the War took place around April or May, then it's been at least 1 month since we last saw the kids at the hospital.

Our class 1-A is now officially Class 2-A! They're finally second years as they should have been. Everyone including Aizawa is alive, though saying they're well is debatable. Everyone is clearly still injured in some way, shape, or form. Most have several bandages and even Jiro looks like she has a prosthetic for her missing left earphone jack.

Quick note: I notice that Bakugo is actually wearing a tie with his uniform now. It's still not buttoned up, but you can tell that he's definitely softened a bit since the war. EDIT: Looking at it again, it might not be buttoned up because he has a cast holding his right arm, but it’s hard to tell from the scans.

Aoyama not wanting to return to UA is sad, but it makes sense. I'd argue that he earned his place there regardless of AFO's influence, but I can understand that he doesn't feel that way and wants to redeem himself and become a hero in his own way without being forced to betray his friends and teachers.

Replacing Aoyama will be Hitoshi Shinso! I think most of us predicted that Shinso would be joining Class 2-A, but I'm very happy to see that confirmed. It's going to be a bit of a weird start for him, but I think he'll get used to his new classmates quickly.

Another quick note: The second-year cloud girl, Fuwa Mitawa, is seen quite a bit in this chapter and her return is something Horikoshi promised many volumes ago, so I'm glad to see him keep that promise.

Those two first panels of Shouto make me so sad, y'all 😭... His hair is so messy and you can see bags under his eyes. It's hard to tell because of the leaks, but I don't know if there's even light left in his eyes. He looks so exhausted. What happened to Dabi, Endeavor, and the rest of his family? I have no doubt that he's been agonizing over them for god knows how long. I hate seeing him like this, honestly. He's my favorite character and deserves all the good in the world, especially after the harsh life he's been put through. I want to give Shouto all the hugs in the world 🩵.

I don't think Deku smiled at all this whole chapter btw. He tries to talk to Ochako at one point, but she interrupts him with a comment about his new haircut. He just looks sad this whole chapter. I bet he's still grieving and processing what happened. I need Izuku to open up to someone because he can't just bottle this up.

Then we have this mysterious man walking around a desolate town. We have absolutely no idea who this is, but apparently it isn't someone we know of. I want to say it's a grown-up Tenko Shimura somehow, but even that might be too farfetched.

Finally, there's Shouto and the Todorokis. Shouto reassures Deku that he's ok, but I bet my gatcha game currency that he's putting on a brave face because that final beautiful panel of him does not scream "I'm ok!" to me. If anything, I'm amazed Shouto doesn't look like he got any other permanent scars on his face at least.

It looks like Shouto is going to see his family at the hospital. Specifically Endeavor and what might be Dabi who's being kept alive in a big machine. It's hard to tell because the scans are so unclear, but I'm 90% sure that's Dabi in there. It's a miracle that man is alive given he was just a skeleton last we saw him. I'm 99% sure we're going to get a Hellish Todoroki Family Part 3 or something next chapter.

But, we won't see that until 3 weeks from now because we're officially on a 2-week break. There isn't a given reason why like Jujustu Kaisen got (Gege Akutami is sick, so he's taking 2-week break too), so I really hope Horikoshi is ok. It's either he's sick too or he needs time to think of the final chapters of MHA. Or both, that too. Regardless, any breaks given to Kohei Horikoshi to give him time to rest is ok with me. Just sucks for us as fans. Leaving us on THAT kind of a cliffhanger is just mean 😭

[kylo-skywalkerr]

It has come to my attention that some people apparently didn't know about the Duel of the Fates script??

Okay so here's some of the official concept art for the original (and better) direction that the sequels were meant to go down.

1. Many cool fights were cut from the script. Kylo was supposed to fight a form of Vader to outline how he's always been in the shadow of expectations that Vader left. The Knights of Ren actually got used for more than just a brief battle. The Knights hunted the Resistance actively, and as seen in the art, it wasn't just Ren or Rey fighting them. In fact, Rey kills them, and it makes her fear that she's slipping to the darkside. Rey runs off as Luke had and goes into hiding so that she doesn't use her teachings to be anything like Kylo. In her fight with Kylo Ren, she's blinded.

2. The story also went a far darker route. Years had passed between the movies. Characters were older, and changes were made.

For example, Rose and Finn get sent away to a First Order labor camp for their crimes against the FO.

While I can't find an image for it, the Resistance also takes fewer prisoners with them. Rigging FO ships to explode if they attempted to escape, disguising bb8 as a FO droid to rob their ships, all that fun stuff that wasn't featured as much in the sequels we got.

My favorite part was that Hux was the chancellor. All of the power he wanted was his, and Kylo was alright relinquishing it. It was proof that they were stronger together, with Hux admiring the force and even having a lightsaber collection of his own. Chancellor Hux wishes he had the force and is frustrated that he doesn't, so he keeps Kylo as a tool to use instead of banishing him from the FO or simply killing him.

The darker aspect comes from what Hux does after the Resistance defeats the First Order. In shame for all that Hux lost, he commits suicide with a lightsaber. Another thing to note is that if you read about it, it's mentioned that the lightsaber was supposed to be purple. The concept art, however, shows a red one, like Kylo's. (I'll have to note this particular fact down for later.)

3. Kylo gets stronger. A Sith holocron guides him to a new master, from whom he learns to drain life from and use force lightning.

Eventually, these teachings are used to kill Kylo's new teacher, bringing him closer to the dark side than he was before, despite the internal conflict still being present.

Kylo was also intended to get a new mask! It may or may not have been intended to be a show of his journey, but imo the concept art seemed interesting enough to note.

4. How Kylo's redemption was handled. While hunting a sith artifact, the artifact senses the light in him and pretty much explodes, leaving him disfigured and severely injured. The locals of the planet, despite knowing who he is, help him recover. Kylo begins to reconsider his actions due to the kindness he was shown and works his way towards redemption.

He still dies, but only when Leia stops him from killing Rey. He sacrifices his life to save her as in the original, making his death the endgame in both scripts.

5. Relationships. Reylo isn't a thing, I think she actually kisses Poe or something at a point. Rose and Finn are canon and at the end of their story have force sensitive children. That could have been in the original if not for Disney's "issue" with them being together. (That's not a story for today)

6. Rey's true name was revealed to be Rey Solana. Not Skywalker.

To conclude, the script was fascinating to me. There was redemption, suicide, new characters, different relationships to explore, and so much potential for a darker yet more interesting story than what we got. Thank you for reading!

Here's some sources if you'd like to read more about it yourself, those were just key things to note about the script!

(And of course, a source for where I got the concept art from)

[angelbitezzz]

SO 👏

I been thinking really hard about how I'll be writing magic for whatever undertale related stuff I write.

If viewed as straightforward, we get an example of magic that could be reasonably tied to every human soul "trait" (more on that later) in undertale proper. Listed as follows:

Cyan magic: Tied to patience, requires targets to stop in order to avoid damage. Many monsters in Snowdin use it, though notably Papyrus, Sans and Asgore have used it

Orange magic: Tied to bravery, requires targets to move in order to avoid damage. Many monsters in Hotland use it, but a notable example would be Asgore as well

Green magic: Tied to kindness, could be reasonably tied to healing magic since healing is often associated with the color green, not to mention the game requires you to touch a green attack on some occasions (such as vegetoid's healing veggies). Plus Undyne and her turning you green, forcing you to stop moving but giving you the opportunity to protect yourself in the process

Blue magic: Tied to Integrity, likely something to do with gravity. Notable example is Papyrus and Sans, though Papyrus only uses it to weigh you down, versus Sans using it to throw you around (or maybe forcibly changing your direction of gravity?)

Yellow Magic: Tied to Justice, seems to be used strictly offensively? Notably, monsters don't use it against you, but Frisk is given the opportunity to use it during the Mettaton fights. However, I believe that the Karma poison damage from Sans's fight is because he's actively using Yellow magic at the time

Purple magic: Tied to perseverance. An oddball magic type, because the only Real example we get of it is during the Muffet fight. And since she's not technically part of the main cast despite having such a unique and notable boss fight, we don't get Much information on her personally to make any real guesses or judgements. And THIS is my sticking point, the thing I think about a lot

Muffet turns your soul purple, and you find yourself only able to move along the webbing that she strings up along the battle screen. You can't stray from the lines, you can only pass from line to line and move along them, until the magic wears off and you can move freely.

I have been thinking of how these magic types can be tied to elements as well, since we see a lot of certain kinds of monsters use certain types. I'll list my thoughts below

Cyan: Ice

Orange: Fire

Blue: Water/Or just straight up. Gravity. I know it's not traditional in a sense but we don't really get much on this one either bear with me

Green: Plant-life

Yellow: Electricity

Purple: And AGAIN I come up blank. Best I could figure? Earth. Rock. Or, conversely, the wind. Air. Something adaptable.

Purple stands out. It's a different sort of "trait" compared to the others, because all the others are straightforward. Anyone can define themselves by their Bravery, or their Kindness, or their sense of Justice, but who is defining themselves by how much they Persevere? Or Persist?

Soul Traits as I write them in TSoT or even Crossbones and Starstruck arent the end all be all of a person. It's simply tied to what chiefly motivates them. If they happen to be a mage, then the magic they use corresponds to that motivation, to that Color of magic. There's no right or wrong trait here, only intent.

Intent is important, intent is what causes you to be able to clear the genocide route so easily! Because the game knows you're going out of your way to grind—in short, you do more damage because you want to do more damage. If you don't want to hurt someone, then it's reflected in your attack. That is why monsters were so vulnerable during the war, because human vitriol made it all the easier for monster populations to be decimated.

Swinging back around to Perseverance: I think this trait—this magic, is completely personal. I think it reflects the user more so than the others because the point is to persevere—to survive. To Get Through This Shit. It's adaptability at its core.

Muffet is in a position where her family is split by the cold of Snowdin, and it seems like her family is extremely important to her, all posturing and threat displays and money hungry persona is masking the fact that she is concerned with and takes care of her own. And they care for her in turn—they do everything she asks, assist in the fight with you and help run her bake sakes, and upon her death you are greeted with a solemn scene of one of them rushing up to drop a flower where she stood and then rushing off again.

Adaptability and survival is important, but the best way to adapt and survive is to lean on others. Find your people, build your village and so on. She's never doing this alone. She knows this and it strengthens her. Her fight wouldn't be nearly as tough if she didn't have her spiders helping with it.

And ideally, a user of purple magic gets that strength from their loved ones. How that magic manifests depends on the person, as I've said before.

Muffet is a spider. She traps you in a web. Subtextually, one could argue that your connections to others are like a web expanding outwards to those that you know.

Angel, my self insert, has the perseverance soul trait. In Crossbones and Starstruck, you've seen her use purple magic once—to force her health to stop depleting. In a physical sense, she stopped the bleeding entirely, if only briefly. Ensuring her continued survival until help arrived. What else she can do with her magic, if anything, remains yet to be seen. But I'll tell you what—

Connections are important. Acknowledging your love for others only strengthens you. Electing to pretend that someone isn't important to you out of misguided fear of being rejected or misunderstood only hurts you, and thus, your magic.

:-)

[numberonemoefan]

I was talking to my dad yesterday about fallout new Vegas for around an hour straight, and mentioned I was planning on playing fallout four sometime, cause my copy of fallout sometimes gets a glitch for an hour that just resolves itself later, and he, while playing fallout four, basically BEGGED me not to play fallout four LMAO

it's so funny to me cause he bought me fo3, fnv, and fo4 and I started on nv and I'm apparently making him want to start nv again every time I ramble about it because he, quote, "would not be playing it [fo4] if there weren't mods"

probably still gonna try it eventually, but I doubt I'll love it as much as I love new Vegas (partly just cause I reallllyy love new vegas. also hi to my sister who followed me for some reason. why did you do that? now you just get sick of me talking about fnv in real life and online/lh)

but new vegas's level of detail is insane to me. all the little character interactions. like, a large majority of the groups/types of NPCs who aren't currently hostile have custom dialogue for when you aim your sights on them. I wouldve never thought that there'd be stuff for that. for scientific reasons, y'all should put a gun to y'all's companion's heads LMAOO. but there's seriously so much fucking detail. like, you can just absolutely fucking fail a stat check and still try to say it and you'll just say it like a fuckin loser. there's so much to explore, like the other day I found the mountainy area with the super mutants on accident. I saw there was an area on the map without any places id discovered, and I was like "y'know what? lemme go check that out." and when I saw TREES for the first time, I was absolutely thrilled. the storytelling in the locations is awesome (and occasionally very heartbreaking) too. gonna put this under a read more line cause it's spoilery for some lore, some of it is sad, and also this post is already long

for example, this is like a stupid one, but apparently the entire H & H tool company was FUCKING. if you read through the terminals, you not only get perhaps one of my favorite lines ever, which is

but you also see multiple people making emails that say something along the lines of "I told X I needed to do something. bring the moon rocks and dino head grabber ;)" (not an actual quote, but the objects are just as ridiculous)

AND THERES LIKE THREE OF EM AND THEY'RE ALL CHEATING ON THEIR WIVES/HUSBANDS WITH AN OFFICE AFFAIR PARTNER WHILE ALSO CHEATING ON THEIR OFFICE AFFAIR PARTNER.

this is probably the saddest/most disturbing one, but there's a vault that was overrun by spores that infected the residents, vault 22. I was finally getting somewhere, and I found a room with a key card in it. yay!

it was a bedroom. there was a baby carriage in the room. there were two spore carriers (essentially plant zombies) which I killed, then kept looking through the stuff in the room. there was a type of spore person I hadn't seen before that jumped out of me. it was called a runt. IT WAS THE FUCKING KID. after I killed it I just spent 7 minutes or so just staring at my screen cause. what the hell.

the empty houses are so haunting to me too. like all the different junk items strewn around tell a story if that makes sense. like, toy boxes, or houses with absolute loads of empty alcohol bottles in them. it's weirdly haunting.

nipton is also such a haunting location, obviously with the crucifixions and all. going into the houses and figuring out the legion bombed the fuckin bodies was so horrifying and interesting. according to my dad, they do stuff like that in real life in wars sometimes.

there's just SO MUCH STUFF idk how to put it all into words

play fallout new vegas guys

[sweetshelluvaau]

World/Lore Building - Redoing the Rings of Hell [Pt 2.1- The Pride Ring]

Already mentioned that the reimagined Rings of Hell series is gonna be in eight parts, the first part can be found and read here which talks about the basics like color change, thoughts on the rings themselves, briefly talking about what I'd change (if none at all) or add on to of general feel and aesthetic, and with travel between rings. In this part, we're gonna talk about The Pride Ring.

This post will be touching on...a lot. So much that I'm dividing Pride into two parts. The first part being about the Ring and places within it, while the second part will talk about citizens and culture.

So, obviously, this will be under read more and likely to be looooong af so...

Okay to reblog, feedback and criticism is welcomed.

Part One: The Pride Ring in Canon

I already said in my last post that I don't mind the city hellscape Pride is going for. Is it the most creative? Not really, but I don't mind it. What I do mind however is all THE GOD DAMN RED! This is a problem with Hellaverse in general (more so Hazbin than Helluva tho) but it's a bit of an eye sore. Everything around it just all blends together. Lets add all kinds of color. In fact let's make the sky less red with more blue, purple and and gray hues the higher the sky goes with the red being more from the lights and pollution of the city below.

But let's put aside the aesthetic for a second and talk about the worldbuilding around it. Like all of Hellaverse, it leaves me with more questions than answers.

Why are Sinners stuck and only in Pride? Is there a reason for this? Why bother having other rings then if sinners of those sins aren't going to be sent to those rings? Why are Hellborn exempt from the Extermination? Wouldn't Heaven be more worried about Hellborn rising up than Sinners considering that Sinners are sent down, or at least suppose to, there to be damned for all eternality while Hellborn are born there and possibility created by the Sins themselves? Wouldn't they fear what Lucifer and the Sins/other powerful demons wanting to start a war being...well they hold the power in Hell and have legions and things? Why are Overlords as powerful as they are? What even are they? How do some of them even have powers to begin with? How did they gain those powers? Am I overthinking all of this? Am I out of touch? Am I out of time? *starts singing* Am I out of my head when you're not around?

...yeah I think I may just be loosing it at this point...

UPDATE: So as I'm writing this, some stuff from Hazbin Hotel's production leaked and we now have a map with the names of those sections:

While this doesn't change too much it has helped me a bit in writing progress.

Part Two: Redoing Pride (Aesthesis and structure)

Found this little tidbit online somewhere (I'd rant about why all this lore shit is behind a patreon paywall suppose to being in the show itself but we're getting a head of ourselves):

Okay I'm kind of curious about these 'nine circles' things and how they're different from the rings. It makes sense for Pride to be the largest and most diverse being not only do you have Hellborn that likely moved from different rings sharing their culture but you also got sinners and their different customs, religions and walks of life. It'd be really interesting to see those sent to Hell regardless if they deserve to be down there or not sharing parts of their past life with hellborn and vice versa but I'll discuss this a little later.

I decided not to incorporate the nine circles thing into my AU because it asks more questions for me than answers but will have nine main areas in my version of Pride. (I guess that is incorporating it but blah!!)

In the center we have Pentagram City, or as I'm gonna rename it The Pentagram, the hub and heart of Pride and likely where you'll land in Hell if your 'crimes' in life were related to the sin of Pride to be processed and start of your new afterlife. I'm getting rid of any other cities in the ring. IMP's office is in one of the neighborhoods in Pentagram while the Happy Hotel is right at the outer edge of it.

Then we have the surrounding areas around Pentagram: The Morningstar Grounds (Lucifer's castle and estate), The Royal Estates (rich and royal demon suburb), various other suburbs made up of Hellborn and other Fallen Angels, and The Bad Lands (basically a Mad Max like wasteland where a lot of biker/punk like gangs make their home.

The Pentagram

Basically it's close to the same idea as it is in the show except I plan to have each section of it having some sort of theme related to sin or/and cultures ruled by different overlords/gang leaders. I talked about Overlords here.

There are eleven major districts:

Red Light/Entertainment District:

Basically a mini Lust Ring but there's a bit of Gluttony in the mix too. Ya know: nightlife, drugs, sex. Basically a hedonist's wetdream. There is various other entertainment options such as bars and shops, but sex and drugs is what sells here! This is also where Voxtec's HQ is. Voxtec owns most, if not ALL of the businesses in the area and is the biggest media conglomerate in Pride (though Vox does want to expand into other rings if he can). Valentino works the sexual industry aspects of it, Vox controlling the mass media of it while Velvet works the social influencer angle while also low key playing PR because as the wise words once spoken by Cassandra Nova from the box office smash movie Deadpool and Wolverine said: Boys are so silly.

(aka Vox and Val can be pretty unhinged at times yet somehow Velvet who died in the late 2010's at the ripe age of 19-20 is more mentally stable, or at the very least no where as unhinged, than the guys that died in the 60's and 70's respectfully).

Look I think I'm funny...

Though there are businesses that have individual owners with no connections to the Vee's, don't expect those to remain independent for long. XDD

As aesthetic go: I wanted to go with the red light district vibe that I hinted at and the first thing that came to mind was Kabukichō in Shinjuku, a part of Tokyo in Japan. The lights, the sneezy bars (not all are in kabumicho obviously but the area is infamous for taking advantage of tourist and ripping them off/drugging them and stealing their money if you're not careful on where you go) plus the love hotels and host clubs.

Cannibal Town:

Basically what it says on the tin. It's basically the same as it is in the show expect it's a mixture of Sinners and Hellborn cannibals. The feel is the same as in the show but the citizens that live there aren't all stuck in the 1800's/1920's or something there's a variety of sick twisted people from different eras, but that side of town does still keeps it's vintage 1910's and small American downtown feel going for it:

Obviously Gluttony is the sin most prevalent here.

No one runs the district presay but Rosie is seen as the de facto leader due to how heavily involve she is in Cannibal Town's politics and her ownership of a few successful business in the area. Of course her personality with her kind, motherly like nature has those looking up to her for guidance also helps. She's also a Hellborn Overlord in this rewrite, granted a small timer compare to many of the others but still powerful enough to be respected. Most of the cannibal's we see in CT in the show are Hellborn as well. They're there own species in Hell that stemmed from Gluttony likely before Hell was established like it is now but eventually made their way all over Hell's rings, with the Pride ring being the biggest community.

The Old Town Historic District (will think of a better name later), REPLACES DOOMSDAY ON THE MAP!!

One of the major Hellborn centric, along with being likely the oldest district in The Pentagram, but Sinners are seen here as well even if its often advised to use caution when entering the area due to Sinners not necessarily looking fondly on. Sinners also aren't able to use most magic themselves.

The Old District is the few areas in the Pentagram that still kept it's otherworldly-ness. It's one of the major hubs for anything magic related. Potions, spell books, tomes, etc. The best, and only, place in Pride for all your magical needs. Sloth and Pride are the themes of sins you'd see here

Zestial is the Overlord (hellborn in this AU) who runs this district due to his major influence and is one, if not THE oldest Overlord to still have power.

As aesthetic go: I really want to make it otherworldly, or at least un recognizable to anything on Earth being it's one of the oldest parts of Hell. The vibe I'm going for:

And of course, book stores. Lots and lots of book stores with spells:

Industrial District

Again, what it says on the tin. Basically a mixture of warehouses, factories, and infrastructure both important to Pride and not so important. Greed is the sin most rapid here along with Sloth due to production and it shouldn't surprise people that some people from the Greed Ring (including Mammon but Ssh don't tell Lucifer xD) have some sake/power in the area due to investment opportunities. The District is also where the delivery and export of goods and services from and to Pride and other rings come and go.

I haven't decided who runs the district (Likely a Hellborn Overlord who may be secretly a proxy under Mammon because c'mon that guy IS GREED if he can get his fingers on it he'll take it.), but this is where Carmilla Carmine stores most of her goods while also producing and experimenting with angelic weapons.

Most powerful people/Overlords who do business in the area don't end up living there. They have homes in surrounding districts. If anything, the living quarters in the District are where those who live inside The Pentagram but don't have the Souls (Hell's currency) to afford anywhere better to live (or if the owner of their 'soul' forces them to live but more Overlords let those under them live wherever they want). Best way to describe these quarters are like the favelas they have in Brazil:

The Five Border Districts:

I don't have names for these sections yet but these areas are made up of both Sinners and Hellborn, but two of them are more Hellborn centric (The ones on the right near the Old District) while the other three is more Sinner territory. I.M.P Offices are in the district in between Uptown and The Red Light districts. There are two Hellborn Overlords who rule both Hellborn centric districts (Zeezi and that blue flame skeleton looking guy in E3 that I'm call Frederick Fumes for now idk he looks like Frederick xD ). I haven't figured out names for the Three Overlords who rule the other areas yet but they'll likely be OCs though I may have one being an Hellborn despite being more Sinner base. Honestly they likely won't play an important role in the stories anyways so kinda doesn't matter in the long run.

aesthetic wise they're basically a mixture of old, otherworldly and modern, closer to earth architecture depending where the lean on who populates these areas the most are.

Uptown:

What is there really to say here? xD it's an uptown area. Mostly Sinners with a mixture of Hellborn. This is where the Happy Hotel resides. The Overlord who runs the district is a good friend of the Morningstar family which is why they let Charlie set up their 'pet project' there along with whatever 'token' resources Lucifer gave her (aka an old warehouse/building no one was using and nothing else 'you're on your own kid have fun' kinda ordeal).

This is also where Alastor's Radio Station broadcasts his show from (along with the screams of souls that he's taken) every morning and when he feels like ruining Vox's day.

Aesthetic wise it's basically similar to what the Five Border Districts have going on, a mixture of old and new. Tons of bigger buildings towards Downtown while slowly turning more into row housing and smaller buildings towards the hotel.

Downtown

And the final and center district of The Pentagram: Downtown! I mean, there's not much to say about it. Tall buildings, bustling businesses, tons of restaurants, etc. This is also where Sinners who land themselves in Pride after they die go to though 'immigration' and begin their start of their new afterlife. Welcome to Hell, Bitch!

However, the most (in)famous landmark is the Heavenly Clock Tower and Embassy, where the leaders of both Hell and Heaven argue and scream at eachother discuss political matters and other issues like insulting Lucifer and some of the Sins while also making sure they understand 'their place' in the system to prevent another uprising and have them bow in submission in regard to keeping the peace. The embassy remains empty about most of the year with the exception of important meetings. If anything, it's main function is the countdown when the next Extermination is.

Aesthetic is basically the same as above with a few more angelic looking buildings closer to the clock tower/embassy, often left vacant incase Heaven chooses to use them for whatever reason in the future (aka never). There's no Overlords who run the district, mostly due to heavy monitoring from Heaven above. They want to protect their little control of Hell after all.

Okay we got The Pentagram out of the way, lets talk about the other eight sections.

The Morningstar Grounds

What it says on the tin (I know I use that saying a lot but there isn't much to describe what it is). East from The Old District, this is where Lucifer and the Morningstar family live. It's basically a huge estate, one fit for a King.

There's not much more so say. Plenty of rooms, many servants and guards (all Hellborn), a huge garden in the center where Lucifer likes to spend a share of time in in filled with exotic plants from though out Hell, as well as some of his favorites back from Heaven (he's a little more nostalgic and homesick that he leads on).

Charlie no longer lives here both due to her work for the Hotel and well...she isn't on the best terms with her father (She's still good with her mother Lilith though). I'll talk about that another day though.

Aesthetic wise I haven't fully decided on one persay but here are some ideas of what I'm possibility aiming at in regard to the castle itself:

As for it's interior: Think a lot of royal colors. Purple is one you'll see though out because, ya know Pride, and various crystal and metal embellishments. It almost has a similar architecture to Heaven but painted in more dark hues. And of course, the Estates garden:

The Royal Estates

What it says- You know, nm you know the the drill by now. A suburb where various powerful and rich clans and families make their home. Stolas' mansion is here, along with a few other established names and Ars Goetia. The most established clan of demons that live here would be The Aerius, which are basically the bird people in canon we got now. Stolas and his family, Andrealphus (who's also an Ars Goetia of course) and Asmodeus are all part of this clan (for Ozzie's sake and sanity though, he wish he wasn't. XDD). All the homes vary from more 'hellish' to looking similar to the way Stolas' home is in the show. While the suburb is mostly made up of homes, there is a little downtown like area in the center and a main street when you first enter the area with shops and restaurants along with whatever else they desire. Who wants to share a space with those sinners and hellborn presents afterall? Disgusting!

The Five other Suburbs

I'm still working this area out but there are five other suburbs to the Estates but no where as posh/not posh and kinda mundane honestly. Not interesting and likely won't be bought up much outside of maybe I.M.P visiting these areas once in a while. The major four are all hellborn being Sinners took over most of the city and they wish to stay far from them when possible, with one suburb being more imp and lower rank demon centric. the fifth one is a small area that's aimed towards Fallen Angels that aren't royalty or higher rank, but Hellborn live here as well.

(Heaven likes to deny it, but more of their ilk are declared Fallen that they claim though it isn't as common now due to cracking down on free thinkers and plenty of propaganda to keep the status quo)

Each area has it's own culture and feel due to Hellborn from around Hell live in these areas, not just those from Pride. Maybe I'll go deeper into these suburbs later on the line but there isn't much more to say right now.

The Bad Lands

And finally, lets talk about the vast lawless (not that there are any LAWS in Pride, let alone much in Hell), dangerous and unpredictable wasteland that those in Pride have titled The Bad Lands. There's no real civilization out here, only wildlife and dangers that made Hell it's home far before Lucifer's Fall, along with some creations that Lucifer himself made himself that he couldn't tame. There are a few fringed groups that made The Bad Lands their home, a lot of punk and biker gangs, mostly Sinners, along with a few hunting guilds. Cherri Bomb is a part (or at least was) of one of these gangs and Barbie may have hanged with a few of them during her party girl/relapse stage.

But why adventure out into The Bad Lands to begin with? Only someone that's either stupid or desperate for a thrill that The Pentagram doesn't offer them would dare to step foot out alone. Perhaps some are looking to build there own little community of likeminded individuals or maybe a cult they can have control over. Maybe some wish to seek out and take on the various creatures there and to sell resources gathered to those within the city, or maybe it really is as simple as taking a risk. It's not like you have anything else to lose now that you live in Hell...

The place is also used by many Overlords as a place to execut and 'dispose' of bodies (Hellborn or Sinners killed by angelic weapons) or restrained to suffer a slow death by being left to the elements/be feasted on by the wildlife there.

As aesthetics go, I wanted to go with an otherworldly feel, something you wouldn't see on Earth, but at the same time also feel familiar. Either way, its a place that screams 'fear' and 'danger'.

Anyways, not sure when I'll get the second part of this out. Hopefully sooner than later but we'll see...

Thanks for reading. Pt2 of the Pride Ring coming soon.

[foullegussy]

I am making this post because Fontaine Archon Quest made me go down the theory rabbit hole and I need other people to agree with me that I'm not crazy.

Of course this post will have SPOLERS about the Archon Quest and some minor one about world quests, but I'll try to stay vague about them so everyone can still read this.

First thing off, fontaine is super related to Abyss stuff:

So far we have:

Childe actually finally dropping the things from his character story, giving us some weird Abyss fact that doesn't seem to be important yet (but i bet will become later on);

the whole Primordial Sea thing. I don't know if you saw that, but during the Archon Quest (in Marcel's underwater hideout) if you use elemental sight on the water it's black, just straight up black. 

NOTHING has ever been black before, so that to me just screams ABYSS. 

Also, it was flowing upwards, as in, in reverse, which reminds me of the reverse statue, the reverse city in the chasm, and all of that stuff. Then it would also make sense for it to "reverse" the life it created, dissolving people. 

the world quests in Fontaine being very Abyss related, as well as the constant mention all over fontaine of the name Jakob Ingold, the one who allegedly first discovered the effects the water from Primordial Sea had on people (this is said during the Archon Quest).

So far, in every Archon Quest we've had the Fatui as main villains (except in Mondstadt, but then Signora kinda stole the spotlight, so we all forgot about the Abyss Mages), and the Abyss Order stuff has progressed independently with Dain, but I think they're trying to reintroduce the topic in the main quest this time.

One of my main theories is that the Tsaritsa is at least somewhat right in whatever her objective is (even if her Harbingers are deranged psychopaths), so when we'll eventually get to Snezhnaya it's gonna be some huge mess, but we're gonna get the key to piece together some facts that they've throwing at us since the beginning with no context, and find some common ground (Are she or Pierro still gonna be bosses we'll have to fight? Maybe. Will the common ground be fighting Celestia or maybe saving it from the Abyss that is, maybe, taking over? Also Maybe. I have some speculations, but no proof whatsoever. Just vibes)

The reason I think that the Tsaritsa is not our enemy and doesn't want the Gnosis to, I don't know, take over the world or some shit, is because then why are all the Archons so chill about giving their Gnosis away?

Many say that, well, Signora attacked Venti in Mondstadt, that means Venti didn't want to give his Gnosis to the Fatui, otherwise why would she have done that? 

And maybe that's even true, but 

why isn't Venti more worried about it, then? 

after knowing Signora's backstory, she probably did it because of a personal grudge, ngl

Also, with every other archon it went very peacefully, especially with Zhongli. Zhongli who literally gave it away like it was nothing: if he truly cared about it he would have found another way to get his retirement, the Fatui weren't the only ones he could ask for help, but since he was already giving it away he probably thought he should get something out of it.

Ei too (and while she isn't technically one of the original Seven she has always been there as Makoto's twin, so she's still old enough to remember the Archon War), she literally didn't even have it on her and wasn't worried at all when Miko just straight up gave it away.

Even Nahida gave two of them away, the only thing that was holding her back was not the fact that she needed them, or what the Tsaritsa wanted with them, just the fact that one had just been used by Dottore to create a god to replace her, so she didn't exactly want to give him two of them.

So far all the gods we've met are: either old enough to know some stuff or the literal god of wisdom, who still knows some stuff thanks to Irminsul.

None of them seem too worried about the Tsaritsa's plan. (even mf Zhongli that literally signed and NDA is just chilling) (like, i know you know what the Tsaritsa is doing, and you're a really good guy who literally wants nothing more than his people to be safe, so if you're not stopping her i can't really think of her as a bad guy)

I made this long ass premise to say that when Lyney says that Arlecchino yes, wants the Gnosis, but also wants to save Fontaine, I-

like-

I think that could actually be true.

Or at least I don't think they're the ones behind all of the stuff that is going in in there (realistically speaking, we don't know if Arlecchino actually cares about Fontaine. I don't think she has plans about its downfall, but maybe she just doesn't give a fuck, whether they all drown or not), I think it either directly the Abyss Order, or just a consequences of abyssal energy on the land and water.

(also there's like, three Fatui tents in the entire map and from where they're placed it could actually be them just investigating what the fuck it's going on with the Abyss. I have 100% exploration, so i know i haven't missed any,,)

(from the official Interactive Map)

The Abyss being responsible might explain a bunch of stuff, like Childe being judged by the Oratrice guilty even when he's not.

Let's put some stuff together: Childe says that, while in the Abyss, he awakened "something", and that he still carries traces of that "something" inside of him.

The Oratrice is a divine mechanism, as such it is powered by divine energy.

In Fontaine we are introduced to Pneuma and Ousia. 

Each of them is what could be called and "Archè", which (if memories of greek philosophy in high school don't betray me) means something like "original substance", something from which everything else originates (like Heraclitus thought it was fire, Thales thought it was water. I should go back to read it, i might find something there huh).

For Pneuma (the light one) this is easy to understand: after all we know that combined, the seven elements make the Light element, but that is just because the seven elements are actually the spectrum of the Light element broken down, and it is said that the Dragons lived in a realm made of Light. So Pneuma (which means something about life and stuff) is Light, and it is the original substance from which the seven elements derive. 

One thing we know about Pneuma and Ousia is that they are opposites, they are both energy sources, and when interacting they annihilate each other, but also become more stable than when on their own.

Allegedly, this is probably also what Khaenri'ahn machines were powered on (because when the Ruin Serpent charges up he does that AoE attack where he shoot these yellow and purple blocks, which reminds me of Pneuma and Ousia; added to the fact that we know the Research Institute of Fontaine has been studying Dhari machines, this is probably some kind of confirmation).

Ousia literally means something about substance and matter (so on one hand you've got the "divine mind generating life" on the other you've got the matter, which remind me of the whole Descartes's res cogitans and res extensa, but whatever, another thing to look up again i guess).

If we're working on the whole "opposite to Pneuma" thing (so opposite to Light and elemental energy), then all that comes to mind is the Abyss (also referred to as the Void Realm).

This would tie back to Khaenri'ah and the fact that everything that everything that the Abyss touches gets the Mussolini treatment (this is a joke that literally only italians understand, sorry. Basically: it gets hanged upside down. down with the fascism boys)(i need to stop, sorry, i'm just in a silly goofy mood).

So divine things come from the Pneuma archè, that of Light: the Dragons, after them is the Primordial One, Celestia (Paimon??? The Travelers??? you know, the whole battle pass cutscene is hella sus).

The Abyss is a completely different archè: it exists outside of Teyvat and therefore has different laws (time is different there, we know from Childe's backstory), has taken on many different forms (oozing filth in the chasm, forbidden knowledge, etc) because its purest one is incompatible with the other realms.

(Do the Celestial Nails, placed in areas of high abyssal energy, contain enough divine power to generate an annihilation reaction, leading to funky but stable ley line disorders? Ice from Dragonspine doesn't melt, but doesn't spread either. Same for Tsurumi Island, the Eternal Oasis, and the Chasm)

Logically, there can only be one "original substance from which everything is generated", and the Abyss's presence on Teyvat is unnatural (the Abyss is, after all, a completely different world, it was Nibelung who sought out its power and opened the connection), so conflict is inevitable and again with the greek philosophy (still Heraclitus i believe, but i could be wrong): it is the conflict between opposites that generates things (such as energy). 

(The first human civilization in Teyvat, the one that saw the conflict between the Primordial One and the Second Who Came, is based on ancient Greece. DO WE THINK IT'S A COINCIDENCE???)

Abyssal and elemental energy being opposites also explains why elemental creatures are so vulnerable against abyssal energy, why gods defeated in the Archon War escaped to die in the "dark sea" outside of Teyvat, and the annihilation that leads to stabilization probably explains why some abyssal creatures can wield elemental energy (Abyssal creatures that we know where humans at first).

If the waters in Fontaine got contaminated when the Cataclysm happened (and previous Hydro Archon died), then oceanids, elemental creatures, would suffer quite a lot and escape from Fontaine and MAYBE even get a little bit corrupted as well. 

After all, the oceanid lady in the bottle event was extremely chill and lovely, while Rhodeia is as pleasant as hugging a cactus: is it just different personality or something similar to what happened with Apep (when she became a lot more angry after absorbing Forbidden Knowledge)? Doesn't Rhodeia also mention something about the waters in Qingce once being polluted as well (you know, right where the Chi was sealed? The Chi we know has something to do with abyssal energy from Baizhu's story quest)? 

Just throwing these out there, it's very cool to realize how connected the Genshin world really is.

Going back to the Oratrice, a divine mechanism, who, maybe, sensed the Abyss in Childe and either

had a funky reaction 

somehow knew the influence of the Abyss on Primordial Sea water (which after the world quests I can imagine how it could have happened), saw Childe's abyss-iness (abyssussy??? abussy??? amogus???) and went "Ah! Gotcha bitch" 

the Jakob Ingold thing (because Childe is basically a herald at this point, mf can switch forms like my boy Enjou did back in Enkanomiya, god I miss him). 

What would the abyss order have to gain by flooding Fontaine? Yeah, play the world quests. My boy Elynas is taking a nap bro (he chill tho so it's fine)

AND THAT'S MY PREDICTIONS. I guess. I might make more?? eventually?? 

[i-am-worm]

(This is an old idea I had for Quarians here, I just think Tali looks adorable in this old pic, lol).

Today's inktober word is 'Nomadic' and this made me think about Quarians in the game Mass Effect. And to my self-imposed horror, I realized I never bothered uploading my ideas for what they looked like back in the day. I went through a phase like that. I did lots of stuff back in 2010 and never really uploaded it...Possibly for the best, as it looks pretty rough in places now, but I did want to share some of my ideas before I upload my more current version from today.

I did at least upload my concepts for the Volus and the Raloi though (two other unseen races in game, one is coved up, and the latter just mentioned in other media). You can see them here:

Quarians are masked aliens in game and back in the day, I had to have my graphic settings turned WAY down in order to play mass effect. Have my low graphic crunchy Shepard

Because of that, I never saw the two glowing eyes or slightly human nose bridge reflection you can see in a normal setting. So I had in mind an alien species that somewhat resembled the Geth - a race of AI the Quarians themselves made:

So I was picturing something with one eye, armour and maybe even mandibles? So here is my first go:

BUT later on, when I played Mass Effect 2 on a better pc, I was disappointed that you could see a bit of a human face. No matter- I could still work with this.

MORE BELOW so I don't clog up your feed with ancient quarian debates I should have posted a decade ago, lol.

So I got to playing around with ideas, using my old ones. I mean- Quarians are mentioned to be attractive to Turians and later Javik mentions that ancient Quarins looked attractive. And they look like this:

So definitely not very human....right?

One thing I also noticed was that male Quarians have a flat nose compared to females, almost like a muzzle. (screenshots are mine, the model I downloaded back in the day and can no longer find a source sadly)

And that made me think about the sci-fi trope of cat people.

Seriously, these are just some of the books on my bookshelf that contain sci-fi cat people, and that's the ones I could find off the top of my head:

It makes sense; Mass Effect is a bit of an amalgamation of sci-fi tropes into new ideas. You have the insect race (Turains), Warring tank race (Krogun), the classic 'Grays' (Salarians), Animal-like with tentacles (Hanar), The 'sexy human female but a colour' (Asari). etc. etc. yadda yadda.

So I sat down and tried to design something that sort of encompassed all these ideas, Geth-like, attractive to Turians, Javik and maybe even humans...and a little bit of space cat thrown in.

So this was my first idea that I meant to upload back in 2012.

I think I wasn't happy with the body and I had meant to come back to it. I had over the next few years dabble din other sketches, even going back to the drawing board on the face.

I think what stopped me was the things we learned from Mass Effect 3. If you romance the Quarian Tali, you can see a photo of her face!...

...they were purple humans.

LAME.

But recently, The legendary edition took the critique on board and revamped the picture to the one on the right. Now they look ...even MORE human.

EVEN MORE LAAAAME.

Utter disappointment. Now I always knew that if Bioware revealed the Quarian face they would disappoint some people, but this was such a missed opportunity to design something unique. Bioware did they that they were worried if it was too alien, it would be hard for cosplayers to dress up? But come on, cosplayers love a challenge and will overcome anything. We knew they had two eyes and a nose bridge, it didn't have to be too alien, just alien enough.

TALI RAGE.

BUT the best answer is to REJECT CANNON.

And in a moment I'll upload my more updated Quarian idea.

[lachievpoststhings]

The Simpsons Season 13: My thoughts

Once again, I'm not sure what to say, this is more or less the same level of quality in writing as the last two. I'll say this, I like the arcade theme of this boxset. Some of the boxset art has references to the original Simpsons arcade game so that's pretty neat.

Favourite Episodes:

Homer the Moe

Again, Moe episode, you can't lose.

A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love

Seeing Mr. Burns date a younger woman may seem weird but Homer as his wingman makes it work. Of course, she leaves him for Snake Jailbird at the end but I like how she's still Snake's girlfriend in later episodes, nice bit of continuity.

Sweets and Sour Marge

I do understand both sides of the conflict but this mostly makes the list because of the comedy.

Jaws Wired Shut

Homer's injury seems painful but the way it changes him is nice, and the way it affects Marge is a nice bit of irony.

The Old Man and the Key

Grandpa getting his license and his roadtrip are pretty neat, not to mention this led to one of my favourite Simpsons memes, that being "Old man yells at cloud". But I especially like how Grandpa confronts Zelda at the end.

Blame It on Lisa

Even with the massive controversy this episode faced, I think this episode is hilarious.

Weekend at Burnsie's

Even though the film parody the title implies doesn't come into play until the last five minutes, this episode is pretty good.

I Am Furious (Yellow)

The internet parody, Stan Lee, the school presentation at the start, etc. This Episode has SO MUCH good stuff going on!

Little Girl in the Big Ten

Lisa pretending to be a college age student and getting away with it seems a bit far fetched but the Romanian gymnast, Bart in a bubble and Skinner's ceremony makes this episode a gem for me.

Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge

Homer's Neighbourhood watch is surprisingly competent and I just like the episode as a whole.

Not so Favourite Episodes:

The Parent Rap

Don't care for the judge character they introduced in this one, she's incredibly unlikeable. I get that that was intentional but I think they did too good of a job if that makes sense.

Gump Roast

Really? Another clipshow? Well, at least the song at the end is good.

The Sweetest Apu

Maybe it's just me but it seems a bit out of character for Apu to cheat on his wife. I love the civil war reenactment at the start though.

The Frying Game

I'm sorry but Homer and Marge being framed for a murder they didn't commit, no one believing them and getting sentenced to death all as part of an elaborate prank show just isn't all that funny to me. I really hope Homer and Marge took Frame Up to court.

Okay screw it, I'll talk a bit about the "Blame It on Lisa" controversy.

Apparently around this time, Brazil spent a lot of money on a tourism campaign aimed at America to get people to go on holiday in Brazil but then The Simpsons did this episode where they go to Brazil and sort of depicted it as a monkey infested slum full of conga lines, criminals, soccer and kids shows with sexual themes. I don't know if any of these jokes were based in reality but Brazil was pissed at this and threatened to sue. I don't know if anything came from this but that was apparently what happened.

Well, season 14 is next, let's hope I have more to say about that one.

[lord-squiggletits]

On my Pharma apologism bullshit again

So like, I've made posts in the past about how Pharma's trauma at the hands of Tarn/the DJD and his refusal to call for help makes sense given what we later learned about Tarn/the DJD's capabilities for isolating and brutally murdering targets. Basically, I said that it makes sense that Pharma is largely treated as a villain by the narrative because the present-day of the story takes place entirely during Pharma's madness/villain arc and that's the only function he has in the story: as a super tertiary villain that's not meant to be Super Deep. Since a lot of Pharma's character is stuff that you can only infer via retroactive lore scattered throughout future series, and the narrative never brings it up so you have to put the lore together yourself, it makes sense that Pharma's first/present-day characterization as a "mad doctor" is how he's primarily remembered.

But honestly, I still have to call bullshit on Ratchet immediately assuming Pharma was evil and working for the DJD. You don't have to sympathize/apologize for Pharma based on later lore that only we as the reader are subject to; you can find signs of it literally throughout MTMTE 5-6, the same issues that introduce Pharma and treat him as if he's simply a mad doctor/evil Autobot.

We establish that the facility of Delphi is on "the edges of DJD territory"

As characters introduce more details about the DJD, we find out a lot of "fun" facts about them:

They specialize in "extreme punishment" aka torture, as wee see a mech who looks like they've been completely stripped of armor and literally has their guts hanging out

They punish Decepticons who defect or turn traitor

Just witnessing the aftermath of what they do is enough to traumatize people (the Swerve line is played as a joke of how he was upset he couldn't talk, but the root cause of him not being able to talk was being traumatized by seeing the DJD's work)

Multiple Decepticons, including Drift who just earlier in MTMTE 5, tried to play off his fear of the DJD, say that they would rather be killed or euthanized than face the DJD

And, most importantly in regards to Pharma... the DJD were literally going to kill everyone at Delphi and destroy the whole facility if Pharma didn't comply with Tarn's demands.

And also: Delphi is harboring an ex-Decepticon who defected to the Autobots, aka one of the very people who the DJD are employed to track down and kill in the most gruesome of ways.

So in other words, not only would the DJD have wanted to kill everyone at Delphi simply for being Autobots, it also stands to reason that they would have inevitably come to Delphi at some point in time because they would've come for Ambulon and, presumably, Pharma's deal with Tarn was the only thing keeping Ambulon safe (as we can extrapolate since his t-cog deal was keeping everyone at Delphi safe).

Though of course, the characters in the story (I'll focus on Ratchet for now) aren't privy to all of this. But I still find it rather callous of Ratchet to react the way he does

Considering that before this conversation, he already knew the points mentioned above (including having the personal experience of Decepticons/Drift telling him they'd rather die than meet the DJD)

And what rubs salt in the wound is that later on Ratchet acknowledges that

For most of his life, Pharma was a fantastic doctor.

Later on in certain flashbacks we also find out that Pharma and Ratchet worked together at the DMF before the war even started and continued to work with each other throughout the war (such as when they saw all the dead Wreckers cadets), dating their friendship as having lasted at least 4 million years long. So basically, Ratchet has an intimate knowledge of Pharma from them being friends virtually their entire lives.

Then Ratchet sees Pharma go from "a fantastic doctor" to a raving lunatic killing his patients and just....... doesn't notice anything amiss with this? The ONE PERSON IN THE UNIVERSE who was closer to Pharma than anyone else just didn't question this sudden, radical change in Pharma's demeanor? Even after knowing about the DJD being on Messatine? Even after being personally told that people would rather die than face the DJD? And Ratchet's first reaction to the whole situation is to say angrily to Pharma "You harvested organs on behalf of the DJD?!" as if it was some sort of choice Pharma did willingly.

It's not so much Ratchet being mad about Pharma killing people that gets to me, it's the aspect of how Ratchet was Pharma's best friend for 4+ million years, used to be inseparable from him at one point, and should therefore have known Pharma well enough to understand when he was acting out of character, both in regards to betraying his medical ethics and in regards to behaving erratically and acting stark raving mad.

Like really, this is just a personal thing, but as someone who HAS a best friend that I've been friends with for almost half my life at this point (and soon we'll have been friends for longer time than we didn't know each other), I can't fathom treating her the way Ratchet treated Pharma here. Anger and a feeling of betrayal, sure, but assuming the absolute worst of Pharma and not giving a single lick of care towards the circumstances all pointing flaming arrows to a sign that says "PHARMA WENT INSANE FROM BEING BLACKMAILED BY THE DJD"? That's just low, man.

TLDR: I thought that the sympathetic Pharma lore wrt his fear of/paranoia about the DJD was only established retrospectively, but it turns out the signs of Pharma being forced/driven mad by the DJD were there literally from the start of the Delphi arc and Ratchet just didn't give a shit about it I guess.

[quibbs126]

Okay so I ended up actually finishing off this page today

So do you remember when I talked about wanting to make Legally Distinct Transformers sometime after watching Transformers One like 2 weeks ago? Well I actually did start trying to make their designs afterwards, but then I ended up losing interest. But then listening to the Transformers Prime theme song on loop got my brain a-thinking about these guys again, so I went back and tried to at least make some of the designs in my head

Right now this is what I have in mind for their designs. The basics are that they have solid eye colors (I just shaded them like CRK to give them some more life), skin that's at least the color of metal, which tends to be grey but can be other colors as seen, and also hair. Maybe hair doesn't make the most sense, especially considering they are still supposed to be made of metal, even if it is living and malleable, but listen. When I was originally internally thinking of designs for these guys, golden guy there specifically had long, wavy, luscious golden locks, and I had to keep that. So they have hair now. Also pointy ears because why not

They also have those square cores in the middle that are the same color as their eyes, which is basically supposed to be like their heart/power source

As mentioned, they are still metal alien things like Transformers, and they still have transforming capabilities. I don't know what specifically they transform into though, at least as some sort of alternate mode. They can just transmute their metal at will into other things, like weapons if they so choose. Also most of their world is also made of living metal, so with some reformatting they can turn anything into a weapon or some other object, including severed limbs

So far, I really don't feel like I've gotten distinct enough with these guys, both in design and concept. Also their designs just aren't really that unique or special in any way, just in general. But I don't know, I don't really know what to do with these guys design wise. I think you people know I never really get too weird with my designs, at least not now. It's pretty much just humans and mostly human looking beings. I know I need to get out of that more but I just don't know how

I also want to give them clothes in some way, but I don't know what to do on that front either. They're all naked right now, but that doesn't really mean anything here since they don't really have private parts. At least not yet anyways. I'm not giving them boobs or anything though. But yeah, they maybe wear clothes, mostly because I don't know how else to make them distinct, but I don't know what kind of clothes to give them

Something I'm realizing is with the Transformers, generally what makes them the most distinct is their head/helmet design, as well as what's around their body that's part of their alternate mode. But since I don't really know what I'm doing with these guys, I don't know how to incorporate that

I don't know, I think I should move on to a different topic, I'm just repeating myself on the design front. I don't know what I'm doing and I am not skilled enough to make these guys anything exceptional, even if my brain wants to do stuff with them

I guess we can talk about character stuff? Though granted, we still only have one character named, that being (tentatively) Howler, whom I'll mention later

I've mentioned this before, but basically as a refresher, Purple and Gold here are fighting a civil war, after their people had an uprising against the previous tyrannical leader

Basically the story I have right now is that the two started out very close, at some point joining against the ruling class to elicit change and revolution for their people. Also, they were in fact, gay and in love. But then during one encounter, likely after saving Purple, Gold gets captured by their enemy and basically left to be tortured and die in some horrible punishment place they have or something. I haven't fleshed out the details of this place yet. But it did lead to him getting horribly mutilated with his eye being ripped out and by the end of it, half of his face being basically gone and ripped apart. I have this very distinct vision of him having this red line (same color as his eye) going all the way from the top of his head to at least his neck. Meanwhile, Purple and their other allies tried to get him back but failed, and they rallied more forces and eventually lead an assault on the ruling class in revolution

This is also where Gold came back, having basically done the impossible of surviving that place he got sent to, and also bringing other survivors from there to basically be the cavalry and the two both working together to defeat their tyrannical leader

But they differed when left to decide what to do after, and how do deal with the ruler, Gold's experiences making him more ruthless, leading him to personally execute their former ruler and have some sort of altercation that left Purple with his arm now gone. His yellow one is a replacement he got sometime after this fight

This event sparked the creation of the two sides of this new civil war, with both disagreeing on how they deal with the rest of the ruling class and the structure of the government going forward. But also, for Purple and Gold, who are either the leaders of the movements or people with high standing in both sides, the conflict is very personal, since they both feel personally betrayed by the other

So yeah, basically Transformers, particularly One

I really need to work on making them more distinct from Transformers, I really do. I know I eventually was able to do that with Ralia, but that was over the course of at least two years, and was when I was in junior high, aka I had a lot less responsibilities, and I actually had creative juices back then as opposed to the constant drought of nowadays. Also my attention span is even lower, and I'll probably forget these guys yet again before I do anything meaningful

But anyways, I guess we talk about the last person here, aka Howler?

To be honest I don't entirely know what her name means. I think in my brain she was originally Sparrow or Raven, but then I wanted to change it, and so my brain thought Nightshade, then Night Howler (like from Zootopia), which then just got shortened to Howler. But it's a name, so I'll take it

Note that Purple and Gold are not the characters' actual names, they're just placeholders because I don't have any for them

Basically Howler's whole deal is that she suspiciously looks like Purple and Gold's love child. She's on Gold's side of the war, and is a younger member who's quick and good with knives. Gold also does treat her nicely, though they never refer to each other by a familial connection, but also Gold isn't evil like Megatron is supposed to be, and he's not horrible to the people who serve under him, unless he just doesn't like them. She is also supposed to be young enough that she was born after the war has started, although very early on in its timeframe

In my brain, because it's also for some reason an actual series someone watches, Howler's relation to the two is supposed to be something people commonly theorize/headcanon, but at least at the beginning of the story, isn't outright stated, and I've left it semi-ambiguous in my mind. But I think I'm going with the idea that yes, she is

Also the specific setup is that Purple isn't aware of their relation and Howler maybe hasn't specifically been told of Purple's relation to her, because Gold was the one that had her and this was not that long after their split, so emotions were kind of running high for him and he didn't feel like doing that out of spite

Also don't ask me how they reproduce. I guess it's sexually based on Howler, but I'm not sure I want to think about the whole process of it. They're made of metal, but it's also supposed to be living metal or some sort of metal-like alien substance, so they have some amount of organic-ness to them. But gender doesn't matter with them, or at the very least their concept of gender is different than ours and lets this be a thing

I'm not sure I have much else to talk about, so I guess I'm done here. I just wanted to talk about these guys I suppose. I like them and I want to do more with them, but I struggle with drawing them, or at least making designs of them that aren't just really boring and uninspired

[mmorpg-escapism]

On the remembrance ceremonies:

All three events (cutscenes) focus pretty heavily on the topic at hand: remembering those who gave their lives alongside the Warriors of Light at Carteneau, with added commentary from Alphinaud. Alisaie is there too, just quietly. There's a good amount of backstory fill-in stuff too.

Limsa, naturally, has a good amount of focus on the seafaring origins. Alphi is very judgemental of their focus on "freedom" specifically in the capacity of "oh yeah the beast tribes also want that". It's the flavor of "freedom for me not for thee" that he's griping about while the Admiral paints sahagin, kobolds, and Garleans as the same flavor of enemy in an attempt to reunite her very pirate-leaning people against a common foe. Dangerous thinking, and thankfully she reverses course eventually... several expansions later. Right now all Alphinaud can predict is a LOT of bloodshed.

Gridania is more focused on the tug-of-war with the elementals they still have to deal with and fight to maintain... and also I seem to remember a post about the lost history of said elementals, and if I can find it again I'll link to it. The Elder Seedseer boasts about being key to the reformation of the Eorzean Alliance... and then repeats the same "us vs them" tactic that the Admiral used, targeting the Ixal. Seems like there's a pattern here... anyway Alphi mentions what the Seedseer didn't: only one beast tribe is in active conflict with Gridania - the other, the sylphs, aren't for the moment.

Last but not least, Ul'dah is very focused on the "we can make money out of anything" type of stuff. Again, they have the right idea with poor execution by prompting unity by pointing at common enemies. At least Raubahn has the sense to give them another option (get glory from outside the city instead of stabbing your neighbor in the back for it) which is the best I've heard so far. Showing Nanamo shoulder-surfing on Raubahn is something they need to do more of. Alphi's commentary after the fact sheds more light on the refugee deluge they have going on which is more pressing, arguably, than the repeated summoning of Ifrit.

We've got a Choice on our hands alright. Or that's what they want us to think, anyway. I know where I'm headed.

Oh yeah, screenshot uhhh... Twins! Look at them!

Once again, I'm begging YoshiP to give us a cutscene where we just. hug them. PLEASE.

[digitalgate02]

Ok, since i saw like, two or three people looking at that sketch of Taichi and Yamato for the upcoming Music PV Beyond and wondering things, I'd like to give my two cents on the subject.

One: As much Kakudou was very vocal about not being involved in Kizuna (and also in 02TB), he still positively encouraged the fans to watch Kizuna.

I'll quote @shihalyfie's post about this, because she explained it a lot better than me:

Kakudou infamously was not a part of production, although he was initially asked to help supervise and dropped off as soon as they went in a direction that contradicted his original lore (which, later, also meant that the Kizuna drama CD became the franchise’s first since 2015 to not involve him in any way). He did, however, encourage people to see the movie positively and stated that he mainly said this because he felt it was unfair to get people’s hopes up about lore compliance in the light of tri.’s lack of it; his other statements on the concept of lore compliance have historically indicated he just doesn’t personally care to work on things that aren’t consistent with that kind of background and is quick to disclaim involvement with them, rather than personally disliking them (see his similar attitude towards Our War Game! and the other three Adventure/02 movies purely on the grounds of something as small as a character’s birthday).

Friends and I were discussing about whether there could be cameos of non Adv-and-02 characters, judging by those previous statements, until we all remembered he wasn't involved in OWG and 02 definitely has mentions to it and even references to (like, it kept Miyako's cameo from the movie as part of the reason Miyako became a Chosen, and OWG events are also mentioned twice in-series, on ep 14 and on ep 27 -- on ep 14 Miyako namedrops Diablomon, and on ep 27 there's a whole shot of Omegamon while Koushiro explains about two digimon combining into one to the 02 group) which means yes, he's totally fine referencing or making cameos of stuff he didn't work on.

"But the digivice--"

Look, let's not think too hard about it. Especially when 02 also has a whole scene taken too literally by the fanbase for ages and with concerning takes about it. I'm talking about the episode 27's references to Taichi's group "giving up on their crests". This is obviously figurative, and lots of people take it seriously, ignoring the next lines coming from Tailmon and Patamon, saying "Don't worry about it, the power of the crests are inside our hearts so we're hopeful we can evolve further again someday."

And, well... all three post-series and non-Kakudou material -- tri., Kizuna and 02TB -- has them evolving to higher levels. But also a post-Adv and pre-02 drama CD released with the Blu-Ray of Adv'99 as part of the 15th Anniversary campaign for the series, had Palmon warp evolving into Rosemon out of the blue. So yeah, you know... Don't think too hard about it.

And two: If we're going to talk about the digivices, well Taichi with the goggles again is also a 02 violation, since Daisuke had them after ep 1. But Also makes sense to imagine Daisuke gave them back in order to encourage Taichi and show emotional support like Taichi himself did to him in 02.

Which means i don't think this would be literal at all... Or that controversial or even "retcon" stuff.

Again, it's a Music PV so i'd not think too hard about it everyone...