#Same with I had no idea what 'iirc' meant for like... years and would just see people use it

[icewindandboringhorror]

still have no idea what “icymi” stands for and refuse to just look it up, I simply read it a different way every time I see it  (”I can you me I”, “It cant young men inside”, “I could you mine I”, “I can your more information”, “I count your man in”, “Icy Me”, “If can you my eyes”, “International conference yearly (???)”, “I consider you most important”, “I call you me if”, etc) and move on, at peace with the fact that my brain will always interpret it as silly gibberish 

[genericpuff]

This might be kind of a stupid question, but in total, how many times did Rachel retconned LO? I clearly remember Hypnos being trapped for 10 years and then it getting retconned to "a few days"

Also, Hera, Demeter, Hestia going from friends to sisters

Did something else get retconned…?

UHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-

this question got me thinking so hard i consulted the UnpopularLO crew, here's what we were able to come up with but there are almost definitely more examples:

Melinoe claims she's only been trapped for a few days but this contradicts what Hypnos told us about Kronos using a child deity to overthrow the Underworld in the first place. Unless this just means Persephone showed up just a day or two after everyone fell into a deep sleep, but considering the state of the Underworld when she arrives and other things we're told after the S2 finale, there's no way this is the case.

Speaking of Melinoe, the whole concept of "the interloper" was clearly something Rachel came up with on the fly and didn't have an actual solution to because when we're first told about them, they look nothing like Melinoe:

The weird replacement of Hades' imagined childhood self with Melinoe as a dream child who was actually "always present" throughout the first two seasons. Like, why is Hades so familiar with the ghost child 'checking in on him' if this was some random thing that started happening due to Kronos messing around with the timeline?

The sudden 'reveal' that Ouranos was the one pulling the strings and manipulating Apollo since the very beginning even though that makes zero sense and was completely unnecessary to explaining Apollo's motivations. Apollo himself even constantly flip flops between being some evil mastermind out to get Persephone for a very specific purpose (overthrowing Zeus) and being just a completely oblivious obsessed asshole who doesn't understand consent and actually believes Persephone is in love with him. After all, why would Apollo go on a date with Daphne and then ask her if she'd be willing to cut her hair to look like Persephone's if the goal was to get his hands on Persephone specifically for the purpose of using her powers to overthrow Zeus? How in the world does Daphne factor into that?

Throughout S1 and 2, the gods claim that the mortals are largely disposable and easily replaceable, but then when Persephone causes the plague, suddenly mortals need to be protected because their beliefs and rituals are necessary to sustaining the gods (funny how Hermes bounces between the mortals being necessary to save at all costs but also just inconvenient to live without, like which is it lmao):

The whole "plan" to overthrow Kronos bouncing between being Hera's idea and being Zeus' idea. Rachel just couldn't seem to decide if she wanted a strong female character like Hera to be a victim manipulated into abuse or willingly choosing to put herself in harm's way for the "greater good". IIRC it's written out in the end that Hera and Zeus couldn't even remember who came up with the plan first (but don't quote me on that, I need to find the panels, they do stick out in my mind but I don't know which episode they're specifically from)

The reveal that Hera was the missing fertility goddess depicted on the mural when the original reveal of the mural looks nothing like how it looks later in the flashback sequences. This is the same as the Interloper problem where Rachel was clearly grasping at setting up some kind of mystery box that she didn't know the contents of.

The reveal that Zeus and Metis had a relationship which is what allowed him to use her powers in the first place (because within that same episode Rachel revealed that a bond of love was necessary to using them, but then clearly realized that meant Zeus and Metis had to be in love)

Zeus consuming Metis was changed into some plan to "protect Hera" from being used as a fertility goddess power battery, but then Zeus just went ahead and slowly drained Hera of her powers anyways.

Metis becoming a star after being eaten by Zeus because reasons.

The text messages from Leuce and Hades were retroactively changed into a "manifestation board", probably to absolve Hades of "fooling around" while Persephone was trapped in the Mortal Realm, but all at the expense of a woman who was now retconned into being delusional just for the sake of strengthening the main ship and giving Persephone someone to bully.

The reveal during the trial that Eris was the cause of Persephone's wrath when there was literally zero reason for that to be the case.

The reveal during the trial that Thanatos was actually Hades' adopted son, which really doesn't look good on Hades considering how much of a dick he was to Thanatos throughout the entirety of the first two seasons without any impression given that they might have a canon father-son dynamic.

Apollo and Artemis WEREN'T originally going to be children of Zeus in LO, as Rachel didn't want to create any possibilities for incest within the messy family tree of the Greek gods, but then she decided to make them the children of Zeus anyways as a "plot twist" which is really silly considering 1.) most people would assume they're Zeus' children anyways due to being his children in the myths, and 2.) she still designed them to look just like Zeus.

The subtle but very present SA retcon. This one's so egregious and in-depth I wrote an entire essay about it.

Minthe was originally written with BPD which Rachel decided to "move away from", probably because she realized how shitty it made her look to give BPD to the one character she was pitting the audience against as the "mean other girl" who we all knew was eventually going to be turned into a plant.

Edited panels and changes in the physical books. This is unfortunately not something that I can fully document here, I'm planning on making an actual dedicated post for it, but people have caught changes both in the webtoon version of the comic AND the physical prints that point to Rachel trying to quietly retcon things in the wake of her own bad writing, one of which is present in that aforementioned SA erasure essay in which a scene was added to make Persephone seem more sympathetic towards Apollo. That said, there's also a scene in the trial arc that was changed in the webtoon version, in which Rachel retconned Eris' dialogue from revealing that Hades was the reason Demeter wasn't queen of the mortal realm to reminding her that Hades was the reason (because obv later on we'd get a flashback sequence showing us what happened between Demeter and Hades, which implied that Demeter knew all along what Hades did because he did it right in front of her):

(isn't it funny-weird how Persephone never asks about this despite being in the courtroom when Eris mentions this?)

There are almost DEFINITELY more examples of Rachel absentmindedly and/or intentionally retconning things throughout LO, but that's what we were all able to come up with and should at least get the gears moving in our heads when thinking about other instances of it throughout the comic. Granted, some of these are arguably less 'retcons' and more so just logical inconsistencies / plotholes / etc. but they all still point towards Rachel doing a very bad job at keeping track of her own comic's narrative, its characters, and its twists, even in spite of having multiple other people working for her who all seem to enjoy LO (including heyitsjaki, who is also a webcomic creator), an editor with a background in television writing, and a massive and dedicated fanbase that actively keeps track of her story and its themes arguably more than she does. At that point it feels less "oopsie daisy!" and more just deadass not giving a shit. I don't want to accuse her of intentionally doing this, but it's like she knows her fanbase will just go with whatever she tells them even when it doesn't align with other things she's told them or make sense within the overall narrative - and she'll still be rewarded with Eisner awards regardless - so she doesn't bother to actually try when it comes to the writing, it's just about meeting that panel quota and giving people more H x P fluff.

The simpler answer though, even outside LO, is that Rachel just can't write.

[une-sanz-pluis]

I am looking at Elizabeth Woodville's family ledger... The author concludes by describing that Margaret Anjou's high income and luxury were in line with the chaotic finances of the late Lancaster dynasty, while Elizabeth Woodville's simplicity represented the order of the York dynasty... Well, I think the author may have overlooked Elizabeth Woodville's identity, making it impossible for her to have the expenses that a normal queen should have at the beginning. And Anjou's Margaret did need to be generous in reaching out to the nobility when her husband was unable to rule in the later years (what do you think?)

I'm not that familiar with Elizabeth Woodville's life and tenure as queen, the intricacies of Wars of the Roses discourse nor Margaret of Anjou's finances. But I would agree with the idea that Elizabeth Woodville got smaller dower because of her lack of status compared to Margaret of Anjou and the fact that by marrying her, Edward IV circumvented the political marriage negotiations.

What we do know, however, is that Margaret received 10,000 marks p.a. for her dower and this is the same dower that her predecessors, Joan of Navarre and Catherine de Valois, received and the same dower Isabelle de Valois would have received had she reached her majority before Richard II was deposed and killed.

Historians looking at Joan of Navarre's dower have noted it was a large strain on the country's finances, particularly given the costs of the Crown was accruing in effort to suppress the various rebellions. These historians have also noted the bind this put on future marriage negotiations for future kings and heirs (by which I mean negotiations with royal and aristocratic European courts): the same dower would have to be provided for each queen or else it would be deemed insulting, suggesting their daughter/sister was less worthy than their predecessor(s), and the negotiations would be unlikely to succeed.* It's generally suspected that the treason accusations Joan faced were primarily in reaction to Henry V's upcoming marriage to Catherine de Valois - Henry didn't think the already-stretched finances of the country could stretch to finding another 10,000 marks and the easiest solution was to deprive Joan of her income and her liberty.**

What that means is that when it came time for Henry VI to marry, it would be expected by both the English and the French that Margaret would receive 10,000 marks p.a. in dower. It was not a sign of the "chaotic finances of the late Lancaster dynasty", it was entirely in keeping with the marriages that the previous Lancastrian kings and last Plantagenet king had made. It might be tempting to conclude that given the struggles with paying that dower, the English should have considered marrying Henry to an English noblewoman with the intention of providing her with a smaller dower. But that overlooks the purpose of Henry's marriage. Marriages - especially the marriage of a king - played large, important roles in medieval diplomacy. The chief priority at the time was to gain some advantage in the war with France. The financial benefits would also limited - the reduction between Margaret's dower (10,000 marks or around £6,667, iirc) to Elizabeth's (£4500) might seem like a lot to modern and medieval eyes but comparatively it was a drop in the ocean of the broader financial problems England and Henry were facing.

As your ask implies, Margaret's income from her dower was not just about making her rich. Gift-giving was an important part of the medieval court culture and individuals of status were expected to exchange luxurious gifts and they served as a symbol of the relationship between individuals.

What often does seem frivolous to modern eyes was the display of splendour. Richard Barber connects the display of kingly magnificence to the visible proof of the monarch and their special status. This meant the king's personal appearance (wearing splendid jewels and garments), the presence and appearance of his queen and their children, his ceremonies, feasts, and public appearances, the appearance of his surrounds, the courtiers, musicians, artists etc he employed and who were present at his court, the display of his belongings and more. This was also true for queens. The display of splendour enforced Margaret's status as queen and her wealth allowed her to maintain this display, from the rebuilding of La Pleasaunce to her personal dress to the gifts she gave and the ceremonies that centred her. It also underlined Henry's status as king, since Margaret's queenship was an extension of his kingship. This was particularly important as Henry's reign entered the crisis years and his authority became threatened.

On the use of jewels in particular, Tracy Adams succinctly summarises Nicola Tallis's work on the jewels of the late medieval and Tudor queens like so: "the gems worn by these queens mirrored their status and rendered visual their authority". We can be sure, too, that if a queen failed to live up to the expectations of the display of queenly splendour, she would be faced with a barrage of criticism - probably from the same commentators criticising her for spending too much money.

And yes, Margaret's income gave her the wealth and independence to maintain or court loyalties during the crisis years of Henry VI's reign, especially when Henry was in York's custody.

* Possibly, this is what happened with Joan. Because 10,000 marks had been promised for Isabelle's dower, it is possible the same had to be promised to Joan but where Isabelle had a large dowry to offset the costs of her future, Joan had no dowry.

** The situation was a lot more complicated and murky but Joan's not the subject of this ask. so I'm keeping it short and simple.

[kingsmoot]

Ok, so. It's interesting and really sad to me that Tyrion - a person who has suffered sexual abuse (w Tysha, that bit where Cersei hurt him as a baby, and probably many more lesser things) - has this more complex attitude towards Sansa than most of the creepy men in her life. In that aside from consistently trying not to marry her, he also acknowledges that she's a child, a little girl, not supposed to be in this situation (considering the world of Westeros, this is... almost entirely a conclusion he came to himself, as the only other character we see thinking of a teenager this way (iirc) is Ned. Most likely the average decent people are aware of how gross pedophilia is but. You get what I mean!) He doesn't show this same attitude towards Lancel which is it's own thing but also ties into his attitude towards himself.

He's aware that she's too young for this, but the fact that he started a sexual relationship at 13 himself (alongside he desperate need to be wanted and loved, but especially wanted) makes him still... try it with her when they get married.

And the line that really hits me is, "You're a child [...] but I want you. Does that scare you, Sansa?" Which, on so many levels:

a. Gross

b. It's partially because of how Westeros sexualises kids and teens (remember Arya? The nine year old?) that he's even aware of her sexuality. She's been advertised as a sexual object by the Lannisters all day.

c. Gross, and also Tyrion is immoral as hell

d. He's never been grey in this particular direction before and that's horrible to read! Until now it's mostly been him lashing out at people (he thinks are) prejudiced against him. ADWD is coming...

e. IDK if he'd still be this sort of - we'd call it a pervert but it's not perverse in the nobility of Westeros is the horrible thing - individual if he was in a less child-eating setting, (bc that's some heavy psychological theory there) but the idea that he would, he'd just never show it, is almost more hair-raising than the more visible sliminess...

completely agree wrt tyrion's understanding of sansa as a child being unique to him. cersei and tywin both say explicitly that because she's had her first moon's blood she is a woman grown and ready to be wedded and bedded. and in general, child brides abound in westeros. it is a cultural norm to marry off girl-children. tyrion is a singular and notable exception in saying that this is wrong and he wants no part in it. tywin even expresses annoyance when he first says this because sansa is meant to be his "reward" for a job well done on the blackwater because of how her status as heir to winterfell would bolster tyrion's own inheritance as a second son.

i actually think that tyrion not showing this attitude towards lancel is a reflection of how sex in general is framed in westeros (which isn't too different from how sex is framed in real life) where it is something that can only be good for men, never bad, and is expected to be bad, painful, uncomfortable, or unwanted for women but they should be doing it anyway. i think tyrion's acceptance of lancel being crushed between the cogs of lannister sibling machination is a combination of his own traumatic sexual experience in his youth, and the culturally held belief that regardless of cersei being twice lancel's age, she is the most beautiful women in the seven kingdoms, and even if she is going to bite his head off and eat it at the end of this, he should enjoy the experience.

i also think you pointing out the fact that average people are likely aware that pedophilia is bad is a very interesting part of the series in terms of how smallfolk view the intricate depravities of their nobility. there hasn't been a lot of smallfolk perspective so far in my reread (beside arya's adventures with hotpie and gendry which lend a really good perspective but not specifically on this) but i get the sense that they aren't keen on the child marriage and dynastic incest.

i think the thing to remember is that like, we as readers can be disgusted at tyrion climbing into bed naked with sansa and telling her he wants her, because we as readers have a better perspective on this situation and haven't been raised in westeros. that's a good thing! i think that scene is definitely supposed to make us feel ill. but the important thing is that tyrion chooses not to "exercise his rights as a husband" and rape sansa in their marital bed, which is unheard of in westeros.

even cat and ned, who are like in general the golden het standard of a perfect westerosi arranged marriage, even cat describes that she was terrified of her wedding night, that she "gave her maidenhead" to a dark sullen stranger and watched him ride off to war. like it is simply not done in westeros that you would spare your wife her expected marital rape. it is what she has been preparing for all day and it is what is expected of you, her lord husband. cat even watches roslyn cry all the way through her own wedding and thinks "well of course she would be inconsolable, she must be so scared of getting raped later" (with the understanding that the crime of rape does exist in westeros and can be charged for but the definition of rape does not include the sex forced onto women and girls in their wedding beds, so cat does not think of this as rape in her mind. but i do.)

so i think in this case tyrion is grey to readers because we have the understanding that it is wrong to rape a 13 year old girl and inherit her lands and get her pregnant so that they pass into your household lineage so that the lannisters hold the west, south, and the north. but by westerosi standards he's doing some sort of baelor the blessed schtick that everyone finds annoying.

[cookinguptales]

actually, talking about that fic that I wrote for a fandom over a decade ago made me remember the only time I think I've actually had a true fandom nemesis. the fandom was fairly small at that time, though it blew the fuck up later, and everyone kind of knew everyone.

this was also when AO3 was just sort of starting to get its legs, so I was still primarily posting to DW first. I usually posted it to the ship community first, and then a few days later crossposted it to AO3. it was more of an afterthought, honestly. a place to archive my work for later, not the primary place that people went to read stuff.

but because of that habit, I ended up encountering a truly annoying person lmao. this person... idk if they were actively trying to copy me specifically or if they just regularly got inspired by my work, but no less than three or four times they ended up writing something that was the exact same idea as what I'd just written. and I don't mean a vague trope like "bed sharing" but fairly complex (sometimes bizarre) plots. sometimes even the dialogue was only slightly different.

and while I would post my fic to DW first, they would post theirs to AO3 first. which meant that if you looked at the timestamps on the fics, it looked like I was copying them.

broooooo

I hated them lmao

like I haven't even thought about it in years, but I used to get so irritated. especially because their version was, imo, not that great. obviously they were writing them really quickly, so I guess that's not surprising. but because their fics were "first", they'd often get more traction on AO3. I even had someone call my work derivative once and I was incandescent lmao.

to this day I don't really know what all that was about! years later, my versions of the fics were the ones that showed up on reclists and got fondly remembered, but like. still! at the time it was just so bizarre and irritating.

IIRC, it's actually what made me start simultaneously posting to AO3 and DW lmao. like this was what made me realize that some people only read AO3. and I guess these days, it's the only place I post.

so uhhh hey what the fuck was that.

[curseofbreadbear]

jumbled f.naf movie thoughts under the cut. proceed with caution because these are ALL spoilers!!

okay i am taking the idea that mike is not related to william and RUNNING. yes, that is mike Schmidt, but still?? there's the weird abby factor too, but i'm thinking so hard abt tossing aside the name because of her similarities to charlie. that LOOKS like kid charlie, not elizabeth, and considering how impeccable the casting was otherwise, i can't help thinking that was intentional? also god the misleads on the names were CRAZY. (remember when we thought "hank" was henry???)

i might take my lore-manipulation even Further and say, given everything, that mike IS mike, vanessa IS vanessa, and abby is a parallel for charlie. there's some book parallels sprinkled in the movie (there's actually a ton that, as a book appreciator (until tftp...), i love) BUT i am thinking especially about the reference to the kids believing spring bonnie is their Friend & how abby fixed their perspective / made them realize who their killer was via drawings. carlton did that in the books iirc, but the connection to charlie and Her Story is there? they also have a brother who went missing when mike was younger and like, that reminded me hardcore of sammy in the books. he was kidnapped, mike couldn't stop it, and he keeps replaying his own memories to try and fix it- just like how, once she remembers sammy exists, charlie references the closet he was taken from multiple times.

ALSO ALSO they have an aunt jane, and i KNOW, i'm stretching, but charlie has an aunt jen in the books. their personalities would be different to some extent (jen was absent & borderline neglectful because she Knew the truth about charlie, whereas jane straight-up wants custody of abby for Greed reasons), but that's still an aunt neither of them are fond of?

also yeah i think this movie is almost like the books in that it is not main canon, but a parallel that is supposed to help you find answers about game lore. that's why vanessa is there, despite that making the timeline Wack, but still has the same overall character. i'm also super supportive of the idea that mike schmidt is NOT michael from sister location because he would also just be a good standalone character.

i actually love the twist of william being vanessa's dad. iirc vanessa also referred to her dad as "bill" in the retro cds, which made me yell abt connected dots. i know that'd fuck up the timeline if it was real in canon, but like.....i adore william being a dad that she is trying to fight against. i think, on the whole, it's meant to represent william acting as a controlling father figure in game canon. it's also representative of vanessa's overall struggle against him, hence her being a "reluctant follower." i love movie vanessa. she got more screentime than game vanessa........

i ADORE the animatronics being portrayed as friends (to kids at least), which is how i always saw them. i also love the nod to william having influence over them bc again, they trusted spring bonnie in the books until they were shown the truth.

BALLOON BOY. straight-up he was the character who jumpscared the most and it was SO funny. i love that balloon boy figurine, i want him in my house Now

my husband (who only knows fnaf through osmosis) and i agree that susie's dog is possessing the cupcake. they made a joke about susie having a pet that somehow inhabits the cupcake now and it gave me a stupid epiphany - william almost definitely killed her dog (points at "toy chica: the high school years") so like...what if dog = cupcake?? that's why it's so damn FERAL (but also protective :'))

the credits.......whoever (on twitter before i left it) said they'd cringe if the movie had "five nights at freddy's" by the living tombstone in the credits was so fucking wrong. i was already mad abt that comment but like, with how much of a love letter this movie is to the series as a whole, it's even better that they got the song from the peak of fnaf's recognition. it's super nostalgic to me as somebody who has been with these games from the beginning. i remember first hyperfixating on fnaf and having a spotify playlist that was JUST the living tombstone's fnaf song. and now i have a playlist of 500+ fnaf fansongs y'know!!!!

ok those are the biggest things i got on my first watch. i know for a fact i am going to watch this multiple times so watch out for possible updates!!!! i'm also probably going to post this several days out because it literally JUST released and i don't want to overwhelm anyone (bc god , the reason i watched asap was because of how terrified of spoilers i was).

[lucky-dreamfisher]

So… what exactly from the books is canon? Are the Crackup Comics canon? Is the Illusion of Living canon? I know that the novels have a lot of differences from the games, but what can we even really take at face value from the games anymore???

Bendy and the Ink Machine implies that the actual workers’ souls ended up in that iteration of the Cycle through the coffin easter eggs iirc, the novels proceed to make that canon (although it’s largely only showing us a cast of people not connected to the game, excluding Sammy and some others), and now… Dark Revival is just ignoring all of that? Huh???

I guess Henry… was never real. Okay. What exactly is the beginning/ending of Bendy 1 then? Why would Henry experience something that akin to reality if he was never real?

And not only that, but what’s going on with Joey? Dark Revival’s surface-level narrative portrays him as a man who had done ambiguously flawed things in the past, but that he was ultimately a good and loving person at heart, hence the weird “memory” version of Joey (who is also… made of flesh, or so to speak, and also can be killed??).

And yet, despite this more sympathetic portrayal, if you dig deeper, you find a note implying that he made a variety of sentient Audrey’s and then scrapped them (hmmm, I wonder where I’ve heard that before), which seems like a pretty clear example of him being a complete monster? Like, you created life, and then you decided to just snuff it out or lock it away because it wasn’t what you specifically meant to make.

And yet Dark Revival doesn’t spend much time criticizing Joey for how he seems to have a careless attitude towards this life he’s creating. I mean, I guess it kinda does that in some places, but at the end of the day, the game ends with Audrey inspirationally quoting Joey, and then carrying on his legacy, and the game also has him inspirationally monologue to you twice about how you were his greatest creation.

I've been a longtime fan of World of Warcraft, a game which is over 20 years old at this point, and still gets a new expansion or book every year. With a game of this size, we're used to retcons, and the general rule of thumb is "if new lore contradicts old lore, then new lore should be treated as canon". I'm going to adopt the same rule for Bendy.

I think Crack-up Comics are canon, because they don't really contain anything contradictory other than Nathan being listed as the head of a film studio, despite rejecting the idea in one of his audiologs. That could still be explained with Wilson aka Nathan Junior being the head of Archgate Films and Archgate Pictures being its subsidiary.

TIOL is probably also canon, because it doesn't contain anything particularly lore-relevant.

The Employee Handbook... is more tricky. it definitely had some directions from Mike and Meatly, like that wedding invitation from Allison to Joey. But it also has stuff that was lifted from the Bendy wiki, and the info in the wiki is not always accurate. It literally has my outdated instructions for how to get a scythe, which wasn't accurate and was just me describing all I did in my playthrough until the moment I found the scythe. Half the steps in it is redundant and can be skipped. There's this weird thing with the letter addressed to Henry, where the date is a faded 194- and the stamp is from 1942-1946, but while looking around I found the same stamp on stock image websites so it's hard to tell whether the illustrator was explicitly instructed to use a stamp from the 40s, or just slapped a random oldtimey-looking stamp they found and never expected the fans to look into it. The relevance of that will depend on how serious M&M are about the different timelines concept they've touched on lightly in BATDR.

DCTL AND TLO are tricky... For one they show people turn into ink creatures and back to humans while remaining alive, including Sammy, which contradicts his coffin name in BATIM. Audrey's monologue at the end of BATDR about "Joey's world escaping into ours" made it sound like the ink dimension has always been separate from the real world, yet in the books ink creatures walk around like everyone else. Of course, Audrey only knows what memory!Joey told her, and what she's learned via notes, and like you said the notes and audio logs in BATDR portray a very different situation to the books and BATIM. Whether it's a retcon or a set up for Audrey thinking that she had a nice heroic dad only to find out the truth in the next game, it remains to be seen. There's still that promised BATDS update and the upcoming book so maybe they will shine more light on it.

I definitely hope that's the reveal they're setting up, because otherwise the most likely explanation for why Joey's crimes are swept under the rug, while every single JDS employee he victimized is portrayed as a thieving cannibal, is because he's the character most often compared to Mike Mood and the devs pulled a JKR, with that book she wrote where the protag is murdered by the evil twitter crowd after being unjustly cancelled for making transphobic remarks. Let's pray that's not it, because it sure makes it very hard to ignore the real life controversies surrounding the devs, when they insist on putting them in their games.

[windywriter]

I mean, MC being Lilith's descendent was to set up their ability to bypass certain wards and such as well as allow them to communicate with her, as far as I'm aware it's the reason they're immune to Asmo's charm as well. MC wouldn't have the ring either if they weren't born with the power of angels.

The game never solved anything by "we have our sister back technically", the entire first season is MC helping the brothers with their problems, including the fact that letting go of the constant grief isn't letting go of Lilith and getting that understanding that moving on isn't bad, you still have her in your heart.

If you're talking about the fandom idea that the brothers only think of MC as Lilith then I'll let you know that was an angst au type thing. If one of the canon brothers treated MC as Lilith or her replacement then I'm almost certain that the others would beat some sense into him and make him apologize.

The brothers love *MC*, not Lilith's descendent. Belphie could be argued but the reveal was more about Lilith getting the life she always wanted in the end (living proof standing in front of him) and that hating *all* humans would be hating her too. And the reason he knows this now, the reason he's back with his brothers, the reason everything's going to be okay is MC. Maybe Lilith's descendent played some part in him wanting to get closer to them at first but I really don't think that'd last, his brothers and even MC would catch on quick and shut that down (saw a fic about that a while ago). After all, he also knew MC before any reveal, they were only "friends" but that meant he did know MC before "Lilith's Descendent".

MC being Lilith's (reincarnation's) descendant just solved certain plot holes with things like their abilities and why Lilith could talk to them but not her brothers.

Sorry if this is messy I'm not great at communicating my points or ideas. I've also got a really bad headache which isn't making it easier--

I actually used to think the same as you in some ways but I've been obsessed with this game for over a year and between rereading the story and reading fandom analysis, I've come to firmly believe that it wouldn't matter if MC wasn't Lilith's descendent, it was just an easy explanation for the plot holes and a typical otome wrap up for what was (iirc) supposed to be a 20 Lesson game.

(Not part of my take but I think the idea of Lilith being so done with the boys' shit and unable to knock some sense into them that she uses "power of fate" to knock around the papers so the boys get to deal with her most chaotic fucking rizzmaster descendent is absolutely hilarious and the entire plot point is worth it just for that)

Hi Anon, Yeah, the whole thing of Lilith being the reason MC can bypass certain stuff could easily be changed with the fact that the divine fruit Lilith gave her lover allowing them immunity against shit, plus my newest post about Lilith as a concept of love protecting MC (check it out here!) I think i mentioned it? idk, but if i didnt here it is.

As for the "technically we have out sister back" because its so ambiguous with the relationships lilith had with the other brothers, its hard to tell, except lucifer who i think mentions holding MC's hand reminds me of when he would hold lilith's hand which is a weird thing to say on a date. As for Belphie's situation, yes it does make sense that if Belphie were to hate MC who is a descendant of lilith he'd be hating her as well, but I think it would be much more interesting if we got him to forgive humanity or at least make steps towards it by confronting the one who he blames for it. And by seeing that they still have lilith's blessing it would mean that Lilith still loves them, and by hurting MC belphie is basically spitting in the face of his beloved sister's wishes.

Also overall, I made this version purely because Lilith being the brother's Sister, and MC being her descendant has some really messed up implications (going back to the lucifer part i pointed out) and technically they arent related by blood but if you have to put "technically" in front of something like that its still pretty strange. But im glad to hear your input! I hope you feel better!

[yellowvixen]

Initially I thought Knuckles and Jet could fit equally good as either Dagur or Snoutlout (I'm never getting used with his original name LOL), but then nah... Dagur is too much villainous in the start, like he is deliberately such a madman and had such a charisma being that villain and was so into being like that by his pure free will plus the way he was used to see the world and such that not Knuckles or Jet can fit, none of them were ever evil to begin with, one was misguided and the other is just not exactly good as well.

Knuckles being there was only guided by the aesthetic since you're considering Blaze to be Heather and then the two ✨guardians✨would be the siblings and it made sense to me for a time.

Meanwhile I just thought on Jet because of SatBK, as many point out Lamorak and Percival are siblings in the Arthurian Stories, that's it...

Buuuuuut y'know what, or rather who, have a personality that matches with Dagur? Infinite! Yes, I'm suggesting him, I feel like he has the vibes to take Dagur's role.

Then we get who would be Snoutlout and a further thought put Jet out, Initially they seemed equally perfect as them both have that dynamic, like they hype themselves and even boast like they were better than Sonic, but then the narrative is like "actually, Sonic is just as good as them... I think he's even better lol" if it even makes sense...

But then, let's be real, if there's something ridable in the universe, Jet is doing that years before than Sonic (Uh, he could be one of that group that raises the kind of dragon Heather rides, which I'm not sure of the name in the original dub)

Also, Snoutlout is kinda like Hiccup's first rival, just like Knuckles, so yeah, Knux is the better suíted.

I won't lie, I also think Vector could work as Snoutlout, his attitude + the soft and sensible side he gets in the series (and I think were carried to the second and third movies I need to rewatch) + the kid he have quite a quarrelsome big-lil bros dynamic with made Vec just pop around here

So in short, I invaded your Ask Box to suggest you to put Infinite in Dagur's role and that somehow I suggest Knuckles and Vector equally to Snoutlout's role

I thought about the twins too, but the fact one of them ends with Fishleg, who iirc is Tails, makes it harder

Yeah Jet never really wanted to KILL Sonic so he doesn't quite fit Dagur, and as you say Knuckles was just misguided and eventually becomes besties with Sonic - which is why I feel he works better as Snotlout too!

I DID actually think of Infinite as Dagur!! Even before Blaze as Heather (which might have been Chaz's idea I don't remember who said it first now lol). Cuz he definitely does fit how Dagur acts in riders/defenders but not really in rtte where he has a complete personality change and decides to be good sjfjdhfgd. But it could still work perhaps... there's enough reformed Infinite aus out there that it wouldn't be TOO weird lol. I'll see I'll see, again I'm not sticking with all the canon relationships so he doesn't have to be Blaze's brother if I do have him as Dagur.

Also I'm crying do you mean Mala? Jet as Mala, queen of the defenders of the wing? Who ends up married to Dagur?? Maybe you meant one of the others but I'm LOSING it at Jet/Infinite... that's so funny I've never considered that ship ever. Yeah why not Jet can be Mala LMAO

I don't think I would consider Vector as Snotlout (sorry) just cuz I wanted the main squad to be the classic characters y'know? And Shadow lol. That said, my original line up was Jet as Snotlout, Tails as Fishlegs, Knuckles as Tuffnut and Amy as Ruffnut. However. And I'm very sorry about this... I just don't like Jet. I don't have any real reasons, I just don't lmao so I didn't want him to be part of the main gang ^^;

I did have a vague thought of Vector being Gobber but idk... if he was he definitely wouldn't have the same dynamic with Aleena that Gobber and Stoick do lol!!

Someone mentioned Sticks as Tuffnut which is hilarious but they wouldn't have the same dynamic as Ruff and Tuff so idk. That's why I thought of just having 5 of them rather than 6 and not having twins at all (rip). Amy and Knuckles can still have the headbutting dynamic as they're both pretty hot headed, they don't need to be related to do that!

If we wanna talk about canon httyd relationships then Fishlegs also dates Heather in rtte, as well as Snotlout having a GIANT gay crush on Fishlegs in one ep, and the both of them fighting over Ruffnut in the 2nd movie. So like I'm not gonna be doing all that don't worry skfhfhsgs I'm picking and choosing the dynamics I like and want to keep.

[glitchbirds]

started watching the his dark materials tv adaptation earlier this week- something that i had meant to do back in 2019 when it began and never quite got around to. started s3 yesterday so i should get the remaining 7 episodes under my belt within the next few days genuinely it is fascinating to watch an adaptation of a series that i read only once, when i was ten years old, but which left such a profound impression on me that i have consistently cycled back to it for years and years (esp when its such a complex, sprawling fantasy world-or several worlds, really- that its adapting)

as ive mentioned Several times over the years- maybe not on this particular account though-, i was gifted an omnibus copy of all three books in one by my older brother, either for christmas or my birthday i cant remember, sometime before the 2007 movie came out (meaning i had to have been 10 at the absolute oldest when i started reading them, though maybe 11 by the time i finished?). i also very clearly remember The Controversy surrounding them among christians, mainly because of a few comments by classmates but more importantly because my (fourth grade, iirc?) teacher pulled me out of class one day to tell me the book i was reading was sinful and atheist and against god and etc (which made me cry very hard </3 even though she told me i could still read it. this was back when my dad still took me to (catholic) church on a semi-regular basis to appease my grandmother as well as sunday school (run by my older cousins) and at least a year or so before i started to develop a modicum of critical thought towards deep south church teachings. i was petrified of the idea of going to hell and scared to do anything whatsoever to jeopardize my chances) (this did not stop me from reading the book however, because i enjoyed it too much. but i also have a clear memory of reading the book every chance i got w/o paying much attention to what was happening around me and one day realizing that i was reading it while at church service and mentally freaking out that i was doing something sacrilegious and trying to force myself to stop reading. i think i spent about 10 minutes bored out of my mind before i, internally apologetic, went back to reading) luckily my parents seemed unaware or unphased by the fearmongering- i assume my mother never noticed, or this was before she started to become insane from fox news poisoning; my dad i think brought it up briefly because of a flyer he saw but wasnt overly worried about it- because i saw the movie in theaters (i liked it ok; have never seen it since, i want to now though) and also acquired the ds game (tbh i enjoyed it despite it being tie-in garbage and me being v bad at video games as a kid; i never managed to beat it though) and later the wii game (bad </3 never got far into it)

Anywayyyy. again i have never since reread any of the books or read any of the other novellas and the like philip pullman has written set in the same world, though im itching to do that now; and ofc while ive skimmed through wiki articles and the like to refresh my memory on things, my memory of most of the plot points in the books are heavily based on My Perspective As A Ten Year Old Child. i remember the first book the best, a decent amount of subtle knife, and can only recall a few specifics of amber spyglass, and its only now while revisiting the world by watching the tv show that im getting a proper, more well-rounded view of the symbolism and messaging and Authorial Intent(tm) behind the series, because of course a lot of this shit flew right over my stupid little child brain as a kid. once i got to the third book i started to understand, vaguely, why my teacher didnt want me reading this book and why there was a backlash against the movie, but a lot of things that are obvious to me now (and would have been obvious if i read the series just a few years later, really) just did not compute for a 10 y/o. which ofc does not mean that i think its a Bad thing i read them that young but all of ^ that turns watching this series into a mix of "oh i remember that" "oh i know whats coming up" "oh my god i forgot that this is from HDM, this has influenced so many creative projects over the years w/o me even realizing it" "oh they skipped over it but i know in the books there was a scene here that i loved and that has stuck with me forever" "i dont remember this from the books but it extrapolates perfectly from what i remember about these characters" "oh my god was the symbolism here really that obvious and i still didnt pick up on it" etc etc etc ANYWAYYYY. my actual review of the tv series so far: -season 1 in particular is sorely lacking in how it portrays daemons and it made me increasingly sad. daemons were without a doubt my favorite thing from these books and one of my favorite things in a work of fantasy Ever to the point where over the years i have Repeatedly decided to sit down and spend a ridiculous amount of time painstakingly plotting out what daemon i think (x) character from (x) piece of media i enjoy, would have. many of which are still committed to memory. i fucking love daemons as a concept and i wish this shit was public domain so any piece of fiction i write could utilize them forever. i get budget issues exist or w/e but whyyyy would you adapt a series where every character in a world would have a cgi animal with them at all times if you couldnt actually show those cgi animals in more than a handful of scenes per episode and only for (some) major characters and only if they had a speaking role in that scene and also occasionally just have them teleport instead of showing them walking from one room to the next and also crowd shots are fucking barren. its like watching a live action pkmn tv show where pokemon are onscreen for a combined 5-10 minutes out of 60 minute episodes. s2 is a bit better about it but it also spends significantly more time in other worlds where daemons arent visible so ig its easier to budget in more daemons in scenes that take place in lyras world. no idea about s3 yet though ofc the mulefa are coming so We'll See how they handle the cg there

-i do think the cg animal animation looks good though. like its not "i believe there is an actual snow leopard in the room" photorealism but not only is that something i do not particularly care about, i think daemons looking a little unreal is actually perfect. they are physical manifestation of human souls and are in-universe immediately distinguishable from identical animals of the same species... it works

-s2 in general is a significant improvement on s1 not just in the daemons but in the overall pacing and character exploration imo; which is surprising considering its the season cut short from covid lockdown; and also a bit sad since, again, most of what i remember is from the first book and thus many of my fondest memories of the books were things that were either skimmed over in the first season or cut out entirely </3 ALAS.

-iorek and iofurs fight didnt go as hard as it shouldve </3 they didnt even show iorek ripping iofur's jaw off... he was killed in the blurry bg behind lyra. how are you gonna let the 2007 pg-13 movie kick more ass at talking armored polar bears fighting to the death

-am i crazy or is the alethiometer just not used much in the tv series compared to the book... maybe the movie+games clouded my memory, or maybe its the fact that in the show there's rarely any elaboration as to what the symbols could mean or which symbols lyra is using for her questions/what she's interpreting. almost every scene of it being used blurs together and i wouldnt be shocked if some show-only fans think its a stupid plot device with no rhyme or reason behind the symbols, when imo i think you can at least roughly intuit many of the meanings, though obviously not to the extent that a reader could interpret full accurate sentences

-some really really strong casting for like 99% of the roles in this show, i love most of the changes theyve made from the books wrt to casting decisions, my only significant gripe is of course. why did you have to do lee scorseby like that. i loved lee a lot. i remembered him so fondly. why'd you have to give lin manuel miranda that one. just absolutely devastating to me personally (though the choice to have andrew scott as will's father was v funny to me because lin manuel miranda and moriarty from bbc sherlock hanging out together for a huge chunk of s2 has to have appealed massively to a very particular subset of tumblrina)

-again i read these books when i was 10 so the concept of "characters can be bad people but also really well written and enjoyable to spectate" hadnt really settled in my mind yet so i really have no idea if this fully applies to the book version of her but oh my godddd i love mrs coulter in this series. yes she kidnaps children and rips their souls apart from them yes she drugs her own daughter and holds her captive yes she murders people indiscriminately without remorse etc. and she rules <3

-similarly the changes theyve made to the golden monkey are Fascinating...

-i loved lyra and pan with my whole heart when i was her age and it is really :,) to now be fully an adult and see her again. waughh. i love how almost everyone she meets loves her too (i will not stand for ppl watering it down to found family fanfiction tropes. but She Is So Loved.)

-i think its cool that boreal went from being a fairly minor character in the books to one of the main antagonists for a hot minute. he was fun :)

-i dont remember having strong feelings about mary malone as a kid but i really like her here. i havent gotten to this point in the show yet but im aware they tweaked her backstory to make her a lesbian as well, which is just delightful to me

-will's relationship w/ his mother and particularly the way the book describes her mental illness from will's perspective was so, So important to me as a kid and the thing i remembered best from subtle knife, and i wish the show had dwelled on it a liiiittle more? in particular, the bit where will thinks about when he first realized something was up and his mother wasnt just playing a "game" with him and was actually terrified of a nonexistent threat, when he was seven and they were shopping for groceries, and how he realized then and there that he needed to take care of her and protect her- that stuck w/ me very strongly as a kid and i wish the show had found a way for will to talk about it with lyra, there were a couple points where i thought he was going to bring it up. maybe this season??

fun fact i started writing this post at like 10 last night. i gotta put a stop this rn

[randomnameless]

"#IDK IF THOSE 10K YEARS OF LORE WERE EVEN GOING TO BE CONSISTENT" I feel like the 10k lore (if it even exists‚ cause I feel like at that point they would have sold it already) at the very least‚ a single event happen at Year X then a huge time jump to Year Y for event Z with maybe a little bit of background explanation then repeat until 10k. I also think that I would have the reaction‚ "Okay but none of this is important to the games." At most it would affect the Agarthans‚ but they are so(1/2)

evil that it would feel like you're forcing sympathies when the games barely show reasons to give them. There's also the Nabateans‚ but I don't really know what could be said to expand upon them (maybe why two saints decide to live alone and in non-human form). Anyways‚ any reveals you would want to show up in the 10k lore (‚ and any that don't conflict with the setting's love for Grey tea)? (2/2)

Yeah, I think so too, we wouldn't have something as detailed as "-10000 Sothis creates the world but then still explores the infinite space ; -9987 Sothis' spaceship crashes in this new world she created, -9980 Sothis says hello to the inhabitants living there" etc etc.

IIRC the other timelines also have huge gaps like what you suggest, even if they don't cover 10k years lol

As for what I'd have prefered...

Well, it's no surprise I'm a sucker for WoH events, but I guess even some "-1400 Nabateans start visiting other places than the continent where Zanado is" could have been nice, or even some sort of rough draft of how events happened regarding Agarthans, we know from word of God they were salty about Sothis and her kin having power but at one time they were sharing tech at least peacefully, until the Agarthans started to nuke other lands and, in time, tried to nuke Sothis herself.

Also, maybe more intel about what Fodlan was like before Willy and Seiros created Adrestia and started the WoH.

However, I disagree, even the random "-9874 Sothis brings a lamp to the first humans she sees" is, relevant to the game because we have two factions (and a clown) drastically opposed to the idea that Sothis and humans/people could/can coexist in Fodlan. In that sense, unless they only reveal events like big eruptions or flood or whatnot, intel depicting Sothis/her kids as not tyrannical ovelords who are colonising people or whatever was being said in a certain discord is bound to cause friction with those two major factions - no one gives a fig about Agarthans bar some very devoted people, but Supreme Leader? What would happen to "You are a Nabatean you cannot rule over Humans" if the 10k years of lore reveal that humans, under Sothis' guidance, thrived and lived peacefully until Agarthan salt became too salty and was used to create missiles?

Nonetheless, I'd like to have some intel on how the "first" Nabatean-Agarthan war happened and ended, if Sothis "healing" the land meant she also re-created "humans" at the end of this conflict (like Raphael ?) or if Agarthans call beast the "humans" who sided with Nabateans in this war, and the setting of the War of Heroes, why Seiros'n'Willy took 14 years after declaring the war to fight in Gronder, why did it take so long, how that happened, how Cichol'n'co joined, if other Nabateans were part of the war effort, etc etc.

lbr i just want to know how many times Rhea had to fake her death and how many wigs she pulled off from 100 to 1180 with no one noticing that she's the same person

[joculatrixster]

Gingerbright's description says that she was baked "with leftover dough from making Gingerbrave" which kinda says that yeah, the two are related. I don't blame you if you didn't know about that as personally I didn't for a good while

they r not. let me explain.

Canonly they r NEVER stated to be family or see each other as such(arguments for found family aside) and in the valentines day event devs paired them??? in the picture i had in my og post it was clearly meant to be brave and bright but thats not the only reason i dont see them as family

their chart also doesnt say family, and while for some cookies it makes sense why in ovenbreak it would say that even when canon(Princess and Tigerlily separated at birth so not KNOWING they r related to eachother) Gingerbrave and Gingerbright have interacted w/ each other in MANY forms of cr media being the 2 main mascots even if bright is less so and they have never referred to each other as siblings(to my knowledge, if someone has proof of that ill change my mind). Hell they came out of the oven together and don't call each other siblings. Brave called Dozer his brother in Ovenbreak yet ha called Bright nothing but a trusted friend.

Actually, do you want to know what their charts do say? Bright's chart "My bravest friend! He's so brave!" FRIEND not brother. His? "Shes the brightest Cookie I know!" nothing saying thats his sister, if anything it is actually implying they r close friends again.

And while Brave has said to have a canon family member(Dozer) in the YEARS Bright has been around they never said she's his sister, being baked from the same dough i get why ppl would see them as related...but imo that doesnt make them related.

Littleray no other family member has been said to share dough??? for Alchemist and Vampire they r both grape based(grapes and wine), Almond and Walnut r both nuts, the Cherry Trio r all related to cherries, cherry blossoms, and candy cherries...none of whom r said to be baked form the same dough iirc??? its clearly ingredient based??? even mustard and wasabi r both condiments...and yet there r many cookies who share ingredients who r NOT related as well, like Latte, Affogato, and Espresso all being from the coffee tribe yet sharing no canon relationship or Bluelily and Lilybell who r from the same village sharing flowers as an ingredient yet being implied as a ship in canon...

Hey, did u know in the og korean txt of line(and possibly ovenbreak I havent checked) Devil uses Angel Cookie batter w/ added bat extract? while many hc the 2 r family its never canonly stated they r. Actually, in the comics, there were multiple Angel Cookies who all shared ingredients but didnt share relation.

Can i also use her whole description here? bc i think it says something u kinda didn't see...

"Maybe the Witch thought GingerBrave seemed lonely all by himself, cause she baked GingerBright with the leftover dough from making GingerBrave. Sweet and bubbly GingerBright is full of life. But this smart Cookie clearly knows that it would be a bad idea to offer her lollipop to GingerBrave."

...to me this doesnt imply the witch made him a sister, it implies the witch made him a trap. bc he was lonely she sent him a cookie similar to him to let his guard down but to me that seems to imply something like a friend sent(or lover...) but she resisted doing something which could have hurt him. Honestly i could just argue she only used the left over dough bc they were the first or last cookies if i wanted to bc the witch has been said to bake multiple cookies in batches together btw. Strawberry was baked in the same batch, for all we know she has some of the same dough as those 2 as well.

The fun thing about headcanons is we all have our own interpretations w/out telling others theirs was wrong. The sad thing about headcanons is ppl do not understand that. So, anon, I do not blame you if you didn't know about that as personally I didn't for a good while.

[eddieydewr]

i'm a zionist jew, and i don't understand people's negative reaction to noah possibly being a zionist. to me antisemitism and antizionism are often the same thing, even if people don't realize it. like i'm sorry but when celebrities like bella hadid and dua lipa say they're not anti semitic but that they're antizionism/pro free palestine, i am doubtful. my personal opinion is that you have to be anti jew, at least deep down, to believe that we cannot have a exclusive jewish nation state in our rightful HOMELAND (where we are free from persecution). and i know that palestinians also claim historical and national rights to the same place and believe that we shouldn't have conquered the land, but there is CLEAR evidence showing that jews are indigenous to the land of israel, like we have roots in the land dating back THOUSANDS of years. not to mention that in the 1940's before the state of israel was formed, there was no independent and sovereign state called Palestine!! i'm not saying i love the israel government (obviously they need to calm down with some of their actions), but i do believe israel has a right to defend itself against hamas. i'm also so sick of people in the left never condemning hamas. hamas started this on october 7th (regardless of israel's reaction, hamas always starts it), but that is conveniently ignored.

i think it was the stickers that got people rly riled up. i’ll agree that it was ignorant and extremely insensitive considering the current climate but it was some loser who went through noah’s friends’ accounts (looking for ammo, i’m guessing) and found the video on one of their insta stories. it wasn’t meant for public consumption (idk if it was public or friends only viewing); but it wasn’t noah himself who posted the video on his official account. and people wrote their own narratives despite not knowing anything, saying things like he was handing out stickers (he was IN the video, recording on his phone and smiling), and he’s pro-genocide, thinks the idea of genocide is sexy 💀😭 oh, and he’s islamophobic bc the other sticker said hamas is ISIS. like i’m aware ISIS doesn’t align with hamas and is pretty much worse as they seem to be absolutely against everyone and everything whereas hamas just wants all jewish people gone, as well as their own liberation, even it means killing their own people. the people they’re supposed to represent, as a ‘government’. but their values are similar and they are antisemitic. i don’t get how this makes noah islamophobic. are we supposed to root for terrorist orgs now?

people just ignore everything noah (or whoever wrote the post) said on insta. he sympathises with israelis and palestinians. he even made the distinction between hamas and palestinians clear but people still believe he referred to all palestinians as terrorists. so there it is, he’s an islamophobic, zionist genocidal maniac. apparently. and the painfully online leftists want noah and brett gelman gone, will byers to be recast, AND to cancel the show or boycott the next season.

anyway, i’m in agreement with you. there’s historical evidence, and yeah, it sucks that the UN had to get involved bc the british didn’t know what to do but there was an opportunity for israelis and palestinians to co-exist within a two state solution but iirc, palestinians didn’t want it and not only they but also neighbouring countries started to attack israelis. this whole conflict is being viewed through a westernised lens; israelis are all white and evil. never mind the fact that there are many israelis who disagree with their government and don’t like how the conflict is handled. i assume zionism is an umbrella term, or it just gets used by antisemites when they see a jewish person behave badly and call them a zionist. aka a bad jew. it’s unfair. jewish people aren’t a monolith. it’s telling that non jew zionists don’t get as much flack.

btw, even without the current climate, people would hate on noah for the stickers anyway. i could do the same and say annibyniaeth is sexy, and people wouldn’t give a toss, apart from brit nats and the butcher’s apron bootlickers, lmao. but we’re not taken seriously anyway 💀 maybe a better example would be irish independence, or reunification. it’s politically charged but they get a lot of supporters too.

[siriuslystarbucks]

(Different anon) I like your idea of Remus becoming distant from his friends after school because it’s very consistent with his character, I think. But i don’t think we can say the same for Peter, imo. We know he visits the Potters when they are in hiding and it seems to be a regular occurance, not something surprising or out of the ordinary, Lily talks very fondly of him, and why would they have made an old school friend their SK? I think Peter was very much part of James’s life after Hogwarts. Also, Peter needed to stay close to them as a spy, it was in his best interest to try and convince James that he was there for him. (I’m not crying 😭)

I never know quite what to think of Peter in canon. I don't think he ever planned on being a spy, I think it was something he got threatened with and then had to stick to so he could ensure his own safety. That being said, it definitely did him well to remain so close to James 😭

It's also just hard to figure out the exact timeline. James is what, 21 when he dies? That meant he'd been out of Hogwarts for only 3 years. Harry was a little over a year old when James and Lily died, and they'd been in hiding for most of Harry's life iirc? So he was 20 when Harry was born, 19 when he married Lily, 18 when he graduated Hogwarts. We don't know what Peter did as a job after Hogwarts-- or if he even had one; I can't remember if him caring for his sick mother is fanon or canon.

Compare those 3 years of James's life moving at a rocket pace without us really knowing what Peter was up to, to Sirius being with him every step of the way, and I think you can see why I relegate Peter to being more of a high school friend than a current one XD

That being said, I don't remember that Lily mentioned Peter, so if she did, then it would make him a current friend, if not the most trusted one (Sirius's role, obvs)

I think with what little we do know about everything from that time though, that we could reasonably say that Peter was still friends with James throughout the entire war. It's not my favorite way to interpret that time in canon, but that doesn't make it wrong lol

[yeonchi]

Kisekae Insights #35: Gokaiger and Decade Introduction

I am the Australian Shinichiro Shirakura lmao.

It’s time to begin the Superhero Project and the Kamen Rider Project. For the Moushouden Project, I created two back-to-back series as its first main features, namely Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger and Kamen Rider Decade. Unlike implementing them into my personal project by way of spinons, the Super Sentai and Kamen Rider series are adapted like how Power Rangers adapts the former. Characters from my personal project are given powers to fight and only recently did I realise that I never explored the heroic themes of tokusatsu series because I cared more about writing fights than character development. Not to say that I didn’t have anything resembling character development because Decade was a character arc for Hiroki, but more on that when I get to it.

Production format outline

Gokaiger was originally intended to be my Series 12 of Doctor Who until I decided to make it a spin-off series, while Decade was always meant to be a spin-off series from the start. I designed them to be broadcast side-by-side on Saturday primetime, just as Super Hero Time was broadcast in Japan on Sunday mornings.

Both series had thirteen 45-minute episodes with an extended 75-minute series premiere and finale, the equivalent to 28 standard half-hour block episodes. Between the ninth and tenth episodes, there was a 90-minute crossover special followed by 90-minute TV movies for both series (this was because I wanted to give Gokaiger more than a short movie that might as well have been an episode of the show plus Kamen Rider has had extended director’s cut versions of their movies that are just about as long). Following this, I decided to create movie trilogies for both series (also 90 minutes long each movie), titled Space Squad for Gokaiger and Age of Riders for Decade, the former not being related to the Toei V-Cinema series of the same name and the latter being based on the yearly Movie War movies. Both series premiered in late January 2018 and ended in September of that year including the delays and movie trilogies.

As is the case with a tokusatsu adaptation, Gokaiger and Decade utilises footage from Super Sentai and Kamen Rider series mixed with original footage. There are places where I would cut or replace the Japanese footage with original footage, such as Gokai Changes pertaining to teams that I didn’t adapt, particularly the pre-Zyuranger teams. Decade had a bit more effort required on the original footage given the way I changed the series.

Gokaiger also incorporated storylines and enemies from Boukenger, Ninninger and Zyuohger; this factor combined with the 28-episode equivalent was a bit of a detriment as I later realised that I could have adapted more Gokaiger episodes to highlight character development (this wasn’t a problem in Decade because the original series was shorter). Then again, I was only limited to what Sentais I wanted to adapt (particularly in terms of footage) and I was already trying to do a better job than Saban did with Super Megaforce, so maybe it was for the best.

Admittedly, I put more work into Decade than I did with Gokaiger; I started working on ideas for Decade in 2015 and I didn’t really get serious about Gokaiger until 2017 iirc. I remember doing several versions of Decade’s TV movie over the years and ending up having to rip off three movies and two episodes just to get Gokaiger’s TV movie done in a week while also juggling university assignments. Fun fact: I adapted Gokaiger’s 199 Heroes movie four times over the course of the series, using different elements each time.

Working on the final episodes of both series after that was a shitshow; the tenth and eleventh episodes were broadcast on alternate weeks after the TV movies, then I was snowed in with complicated assignments meaning that the twelfth and thirteenth episodes ended up being combined together and broadcast on two separate nights. I relaxed myself by releasing the movie trilogies over three months, but all the other delays, that’s a story for another time.

I feel like I could have done more with the series and relaxed myself more if I followed the half-hour format instead of sticking to 45 minutes an episode. I think that this was one of the reasons why I struggled with delays and writer’s block over the years.

Gokaiger and Decade are set between Series 11 and 12, aka Series 9 and 10 of BBC Doctor Who, specifically between Hell Bent and The Husbands of River Song. Series 10 and 11 of my personal project also served as a prelude to the two series, with the 2017 Christmas Special introducing the Gokaigers before Decade made his official debut the next month in the first episode of his series. Well, they also had pre-debut cameos in Three Kingdoms and they are set within their stories, so we’ll cross those bridges when we get to them.

The opening themes are retained from their original counterparts, namely Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger by Tsuyoshi Matsubara and Journey Through the Decade by GACKT. The closing themes for both series are different; Gokaiger uses Life goes on by U-ya Asaoka (originally from Chouseishin Gransazer but with slightly modified lyrics) while Decade uses Aozora ni Naru by Jin Hashimoto (originally from Kamen Rider Kuuga).

The next two sections were copied from posts I made to promote my stories to my friends. Although they never got much traction back when I posted them originally, I write these Kisekae Insights instalments about my personal project in the hope that people from the different fandoms of the series I adapted will read and appreciate them, so I hope you enjoy.

Gokaiger introduction and character profiles

A new alien threat, the Zangyack Armada, has come to planet Earth, rousing many other threats on the ground with it. UNIT has established the Superhero Project to help combat these endless threats to humanity and protect the Earth. One team is on a mission to gain the cooperation of the other teams and defeat the Zangyack Armada for good…

Using the Ranger Keys with their morpher, the Mobirates, the Gokaigers can “Gokai Change” into any Ranger from the Superhero Project, whether individually or as a team. Their weapons are the Gokai Saber and Gokai Gun, which can be used with the Ranger Keys for finisher attacks. Their base and spaceship, the GokaiGalleon, can store and combine with four other Zords to become the Legendary Megazord, which can utilise the Megazord Powers of other teams to increase its power.

The Doctor (GokaiRed) After centuries and centuries of travelling the universe in the TARDIS, the Doctor is called on by UNIT to become the leader of the Gokaigers, being given command of the GokaiGalleon as part of their mission to gain the cooperation of the other Superhero Project teams. While being down-to-earth and unpredictable, the Doctor cares for his companions as if they were his own family. Despite his aversion toward weapons, the Doctor seemingly makes an exception to this notable value given the gravity of the situation and the strength of the Zangyack Armada.

Marco Wong (GokaiBlue) This is Marco's first major role in a Doctor Who series since the 50th Anniversary Series in 2013. Marco is the prince of a magical kingdom known as Parris Island, where he also served as the commander of his kingdom's military before joining the Gokaigers. A calm and serious person, Marco has trained himself to be an elite swordsman during his four years living on Parris Island, specialising in a dual-wielding technique that could equal the likes of the legendary Musashi Miyamoto.

Angelina Mouseling (GokaiPink) Known to many people around the world as “Angelina Ballerina”, Angelina is a cheery, passionate and determined mouseling from Chipping Cheddar (located in Kikugawa, Shizuoka) who loves dancing and aspires to be a prima ballerina. Though Angelina is a skilled fighter from her former days in the Takeda and Northern Armies, she prefers to use guns over swords as she likes to demonstrate her elegant ballet skills on the battlefield. Having also been a companion of the Doctor in the past, Angelina shows concern at times for the Doctor’s ever-changing personality and manner.

Alice Nimbletoes (GokaiGreen) Alice has been Angelina’s best friend since their childhood years at Miss Lilly’s ballet school. Optimistic, enthusiastic and quirky, Alice joins the Gokaigers alongside Angelina to experience new adventures as a Superhero Project Ranger. While Angelina shows elegance and pageantry on the battlefield, Alice can become clumsy while trying to incorporate her own gymnastics into her fights, leading her to rely on stealth and trickery to make up for her shortcomings. Amongst her comrades, she is a kind and compassionate friend with a heart of gold and a delightful sense of humour.

Yui Hirasawa (GokaiYellow) Lead guitarist and vocalist of her high school band Ho-kago Tea Time, Yui has improved her airheadedness over the years, leading her to be selected as a Gokaiger. Fearless and fun-loving, Yui seeks to become a more serious and mature person than she was in the past. While she may not be as strong as her fellow swordsman Marco, Yui relies on her own intuition and resourcefulness to create her own style of dual-wielding, which involves the use of her swords as bladed whips or a double ended sword.

Kai Hirasawa (GokaiSilver) Formerly BoukenSilver of the Boukengers, Kai steals the Gokai Cellular and becomes GokaiSilver in order to be with his wife, Yui, out of fear for her safety. Before Kai could join the Gokaigers, however, he was asked to prove his worthiness to the Doctor and the others, seeing as Kai wanted to join out of selfish intentions. Through his adventures with the Gokaigers, he learns from his comrades and other Sixth Rangers about how to be less overprotective toward his wife and more a person worthy to take on the role of a superhero. GokaiSilver’s weapon is the Gokai Spear, which can be used as a gun as well. His Zord is the Q-Rex Drill, which uses the Megazord Powers of the ToQgers, Zyurangers and Kyoryugers to change into the Dinozord or Megazord modes.

Fun fact: Pip Gooseberry was originally slated to be GokaiGreen but this was scrapped because we already had a Flowertot representative in Decade. His place in the team was replaced by Marco Wong, bumping Alice from her original spot as GokaiBlue.

Decade introduction and character profiles

Yokohama is being invaded by an unforeseen threat that scales above everything they have dealt with in the past. With no reinforcements available to combat this threat, UNIT’s only hope lies in the hands of a reforming Hiroki Ichigo, also known to some as “the destroyer of worlds”. What does he see in his eyes as he seeks the nine Riders and his way back home?

Hiroki Ichigo (Kamen Rider Decade) A man of deplorable past, Hiroki seeks repentance for his transgressions by becoming Kamen Rider Decade and gaining the cooperation of the nine Kamen Riders in the past to save Yokohama. In order to do so, he must learn lessons about the values of human society to show that he is a step further on the path to redemption. As a result of his actions in the past, he has earned a reputation as “the destroyer of worlds”, leading him to be feared or loathed by many. With the help of his companions, Hiroki learns to accept his own nature as an autistic and a half-Time Lord.

As Decade, Hiroki can use the Decade Beltmorpher and Rider Cards to fight as any Rider and use their powers. With the Final Form Ride cards, Decade can also unleash co-operative attacks with the other nine Riders, whether they may involve the summoning of a weapon or a temporary modification of a Rider’s body to suit the system’s needs.

Kayley Karlington (Kamen Rider Diend) Formerly a poor and weak young girl selling matches in the streets of Jing Province (today’s Kanagawa), Kayley was saved by Hiroki near the brink of death and taken in by the Special Unit, where she learnt how to become a strong and self-made woman. After years of living in Mianhu, Guangdong, Kayley returns to Yokohama and joins Hiroki on his mission to seek the Nine Riders. Kayley initially acts as Hiroki’s travelling companion, but when she becomes Kamen Rider Diend, she begins contributing to Hiroki’s mission by fighting alongside him.

As Diend, Kayley uses the Diend Gunmorpher as her primary sidearm. Similar to Decade, Diend can use the Rider Cards to enhance her attacks or summon Riders to fight alongside her.

Firerose (Kamen Rider Kuuga) A rose Flowertot from Never Land, Firerose became Kamen Rider Kuuga to fight against the Gurongi threat on his home world. Later on, he joins Hiroki and Kayley on their adventures. While Firerose may be meek, he fights with confidence to protect the smiles of everyone around the world.

As Kuuga, Firerose can utilise four different forms in order to adapt to the ever-changing conditions of battle. He can also make use of certain objects as weapons, such as poles, sticks and pistols. Kuuga’s ability statistics for his basic forms are on par with the statistics of his Japanese counterpart’s Rising forms.

Narutaki (Kamen Rider Duke/Gold Drive) Narutaki lived in Xiangyang as Hiroki and Fifi’s roommate from the Dinghai-Wuzi Revolution to the end of the Parallax War. Along the way, their lives were changed when they met the Doctor, but they eventually had to part ways in order to properly live the years they had missed. Over the years, Hiroki and Narutaki became more and more distant from each other, eventually culminating in the two becoming mortal enemies (especially as Hiroki would learn that Narutaki was the cousin of his love interest and wife Akari Ichigo). Now, Narutaki uses her newfound powers as Kamen Rider Duke and later, Gold Drive, to stop Hiroki from destroying the world.

As Duke, Narutaki uses the Genesis Driver and Lemon Energy Lockseed to transform. Her weapon, the Sonic Arrow, can be used as a bow or a melee weapon. She would later gain the EFTPOS Gunmorpher and Rider Cards, which she can use to summon Riders like Diend can. As Gold Drive, Narutaki can use the EFTPOS Gunmorpher and Rider Cards to transform into Riders like Decade can, with the former becoming her primary sidearm.

Fun fact: Diend’s character was split between Kayley and Narutaki for the series; Diend being the secondary Rider was given to Kayley, being Natsumi’s counterpart, while Diend being Decade’s rival was given to Narutaki, the counterpart of her namesake. Kiva-la was not adapted in this series, her role being replaced and merged with Narutaki as Gold Drive.

Changes in localisation Part 1

The names and voices for the equipment and mecha, along with the names of the Rangers, Riders and monsters, normally follow that of the original series. In terms of the Gokaigers, their mecha names follow those of their counterparts from Power Rangers Super Megaforce, though with some changes. Decade’s only original names are in the equipment names for Decade, Diend and Gold Drive, particularly the last one as her equipment is original to the adaptation. Here’s a quick list of the adaptation names:

Gokai Gun – Gokai Blaster

GokaiOh – Legendary Megazord

MagiGokaiOh – Legendary Dragon Megazord

DekaGokaiOh – Legendary Patrol Megazord

HurricaneGokaiOh – Legendary Ninja Megazord

GaoGokaiOh – Legendary Lion Megazord

ShinkenGokaiOh – Legendary Samurai Megazord

GoZyuDrill/Rex/Jin – Q-Rex Drill/Dinozord/Megazord

GoZyuGokaiOh – Legendary Q-Rex Megazord

GorenGokaiOh – Legendary UNIT Megazord

Go-OnGokaiOh – Legendary Turbo Megazord

KanzenGokaiOh – Ultimate Legendary Megazord

Decadriver – Decade Beltmorpher

Ride Booker – Swiss Booker

Diendriver – Diend Gunmorpher

There is no original name for the EFTPOS Gunmorpher due to it being exclusive to my version of Decade, but if I had to give a Japanese name for it, it would be the Gold Terminaldriver or something.

Due to Gokaiger using teams that debuted after its original series aired in place of certain teams, the Sixth Rangers for those teams take the place of the Sixth Rangers that were replaced on GokaiSilver’s Gokai Cellular. As such, KyoryuGold, ToQ 6gou, StarNinger and Zyuoh The World take the places of AbareKiller, TimeFire, MegaSilver and GaoSilver. This was before the Twokaizer x Gokaiger crossover came out with the Gokai Tsuika Unit and the Memorial Edition Gokai Cellular.

On top of this, the source Megazord Powers for the Q-Rex Megazord are changed; the Q-Rex Drill is the Megazord Power of the ToQgers (referencing the Drill Ressha instead of TimeFire’s V-Rex) while the Q-Rex Megazord is the Megazord Power of the Kyoryugers (referencing Kyoryuzin instead of AbarenOh). The Q-Rex Dinozord being the Megazord Power of the Zyurangers (referencing Dragon Caesar) remains the same. My counterpart of Wing GoZyuJin in the finale is GokaiSilver summoning and combining with Pteragordon while using the Sentai footage as-is.

The Red Lion’s source Megazord Power in the original was Gaoranger/Wild Force. It was changed to Go-Busters for this series while the Red Lion Zord was written as a prototype for Tategami LiOh before it was given to the Gokaigers.

To be honest, I wasn’t a big fan of the body horror Final Form Rides in Decade. While I did manage to change some of them (which I will explain when I get to them), I ultimately could not do it for all of them. Faiz, Hibiki and Kabuto’s Final Form Rides were always going to be the same due to Narutaki’s character. Kuuga, Agito and W were the only ones out of the Nine Riders to maintain their Final Form Rides for the series. The others are either original or changed.

To morph or to transform?

The transformation phrase for Kamen Riders is “Henshin!” which is translated to “Transform!” in subtitles. Power Rangers has a pre-morph phrase “It’s morphin time!” used in most series. How did I handle this in the adaptation?

Masked Rider, the adaptation of Kamen Rider Black RX, had the transformation phrase as “Ectophase Activate!” while Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, the adaptation of Ryuki, just has “Kamen Rider!” as the transformation phrase. While the latter phrase is alright, both are ultimately lame.

The rule I go by in writing is that Power Rangers (and Space Sheriffs) morph while Kamen Riders (and Ultramen) transform. The Rangers do use “It’s morphin time!” followed by their respective transformation phrase (eg. “Gokai Change!” for the Gokaigers). As for the Riders, their common transformation phrase is “It’s morphin time!”, which was a decision I made to have an English counterpart for “Henshin!” Recently however, I thought that combining the two phrases would work better, which I did use in The Interdimensional Café. Will I continue using it? Who cares, it’s not like anyone takes this seriously anyway.

This was Part 1 of the introduction to Gokaiger and Decade. The next instalment will be Part 2 covering which Super Sentai teams and Kamen Riders have been adapted for the Superhero Project and Kamen Rider Project. See you then.

[aj-moment]

So in case you weren't aware, Overwatch 2 is about to come out, and Overwatch 1's servers are down for matinence ATM (though they will be going back up soon? IDK I don't really follow it). A lot of people are saying it's a dead game now, and rightfully so.

Now Overwatch is an easy target. An incredibly easy one. Blizzard being blizzard, the obvious brownie points forced diversity, and just general cringe corporate bullshit plastered all over it. But I played it religiously for a year or so in 8th grade (I was a 13 year old white boy I was basically obligated to), so in this reminder of the errors of my youth, I want to reminisce a little on overwatch. Think to myself, maybe the game is actually good and HAHAHAHAHA no. It's not. This is a rant about why overwatch is terrible from someone who consistently played it when I was a kid.

It's not even remotely an exaggeration to say that overwatch was the single most miserable casual experience I have ever had the misfortune of subjecting myself too. The biggest offender here is by far the balance patches. If you're not aware, after about a year or so of its life (around when I started playing) Overwatch started hyperfocussing on its esports scene. And what this lead to is a huge influx of patches that probably made the game more balanced, but failed to take into account that some people actually wanted to have fun with the game. And these weren't just small changes either, there's a reason like half of all overwatch channels were entirely dedicated to patch notes. It was a regular occurrence for a patch to just, massively change how an entire character works on a fundamental level overnight. By far the worst of these changes was when they basically took away roadhog's one shot potential in favor of making him fit into the dive meta at the time more (which actually made him worse ironically) when the one shots were literally the entire reason to play as him. They just made the character more generic, and straight up less fun so he could potentially be "meta." And it just straight up sucks when your favorite character suddenly plays nothing like they used to. That was actually exactly the tipping point for me, when my most played character, Mercy, got massively reworked, and even though she got better (actually broke the game and was stupid OP from what I know), the fact that I just didn't have the same character I had always played anymore, she was removed from the game in favor of this better version essentially, sucked massively and was the reason I stopped playing.

Then there's the ranking system. Dear God. So most online games have some sort of rank they give you as a general idea of how good you are. I'm sure I don't need to explain this to anyone with any experience with online multilayer games. And just like the balance patches, the ranking system of overwatch focuses on the top like, 5% of players who are super dedicated to the game, and leaves the casual players with a frustrating an unsatisfying experience in almost every way. How it worked is first, you played 10 placement matches which would determine your rank. That part was fair. Now when I did my placement matches, I was really bad at the game. I ended up being put in the lowest rank (bronze) which iirc consisted of less than 10% of the player base. So I was at the literal bottom of the barrel. After playing a few matches in ranked and doing poorly in general, I decided I wasn't ready yet and went back to free play to hopefully improve, which i did. And eventually, I decided to go back to ranked. Well, the ranked mode works on a season model, and it had been several seasons since I played ranked iirc, and what that meant was I had 10 more placement matches to get through because rank resets every season. But, it's not a true reset. Your rank one season is based on your rank from the last seasons, including the placement matches. Now on this second set of placement matches I did really well. I had improved a lot, it'd been a few months, and I ended up winning almost all of them, 8 or 9 to be specific. And all of that? Across 10 games doing really well, and essentially proving I wasn't in the bottom of the pack anymore? That earned me almost exactly 100 rank points. The average you get for winning a game is about 50. All those placement matches did was put me right back where I was before when i lost almost every match. And the games weren't short either, completing all 10 took a good 2-3 hours iirc, so all that time I spent on it? It did absolutely nothing. Had I just kept my rank from previous seasons I would be gained around 4x as many rank points as I did in the placement matches. All it did for me as a casual player was waste my time. And I don't think I ever touched the normal game modes ever again after that point.

I say normal game modes for a reason though, because there was actually something I enjoyed about the game, and even to this day I'll defend. The arcade. The arcade was where all the wacky shit went. The stuff that would never be a good idea for normal gameplay. Especially where I spent time in the game was thr custom battles, where you could turn everything up to 11 and have the most chaotic game ever. This was the only reason I ever player for more than like 2-3 months. Because this was the only part of the game that was actually fun, and not some tryhard bait marketable esports monolith. And that honestly just says a lot about what the actual game overwatch is like. The only reason I enjoyed the game was because it let you play in ways they never intended you to.

I don't think anyone who follows me would be even remotely interested in overwatch, but if you are, just don't. Any joy you can potentially squeeze out of it will be gone in no time. The game is designed in a fundamentally anti-fun way. Just play splatoon and move on with your life.