#all I did was see similarities and because of my inability to explain things can only go “LOOK!!!”

[aureentuluva70]

Do you see it

[maulfvckers]

OK SO HEADCANNON TIME

Maul was re-alived by the Son. Just like Ahsoka was re-alived by the Daughter.

So we know this for Ahsoka because it's done right in front of you and we have the bird and all that jazz. "In plain light," so to speak.

BUT what happened to the Son at the fall of Mortis? Well if you look at it carefully they're immortal beings that aren't exactly bound by space and time. So the Son being pretty damn powerful but probably not as much as the Father. He decides to live on in a dark sider. So... Who's desperate enough, emo enough, and stupid enough to accept the literal embodiment of evil?

Our boy Maul.

It explains a lot about him. It gives a pretty neat Watsonian explanation for his change in voice, it explains why Sidious literally never thinks of him again and is kinda surprised that Maul's alive, and it even explains his weird behavior in Rebels (again a Watsonian explaination). His voice changes because it's literally the Son's voice. Sidious genuinely thinks he died because, well... He did. And his seemingly erratic behavior and split motivations would fit pretty neatly with two different souls fighting for dominance in one body. It even gives a little insight into how Maul was able to "see" more than the average force user even more so than just having the context of his abuser taking over the galaxy.

But we don't see this right? Well... In line with the "light/dark" dichotomy that star wars loves. The reveal of Maul's possession isn't as straight forward or "hidden in the dark." (Yeah it's simple but *sighs* Star Wars) But we DO see it. We see it with the repetition of "the chains are the easy part. It's what goes on in here is hard," by the Son on Mortis as he talks to Ahsoka and by Mauk when he see him on Lotho Minor. We also hear it in his voice. These choices made by the animators were not mistakes in this sense.

We also can see how this plays out in Maul's general inability to draw from the light side even while not being a Sith just like Ahsoka has a general inability to draw from the dark side even while not being a Jedi. For the both of them, they're more or less fixed in their alignments. It explains how no matter how hard Maul tries to do the ultimately right thing by seeking to destroy Sidious, he's never going to experience the connection that comes from being in the light. It's just like no matter how much she despairs that she'll fall to the dark side, Ahsoka never really does (okay I gotta say Warsonian a third time cos I will lose my shit if I say what I really think).

So what does this mean for the narrative? For those two specifically, I think they're a little less in line with the idea "you can choose to be good or bad" and little more "wouldn't it be fucked up if you were possessed by the literal embodiment of evil/good and didn't even HAVE a choice no matter how hard you tried?" And you get some deep thing about free will and moralizing about how great it is. Cos if there's anything Star Wars loves to do it's moralize about things!

So that's just my take on them and I'm sure I'm not the only one that thinks this, bit I'd love to hear from your frens. Take care!

-♥️-

granmaul

I love this, and I'm going to throw in a devil's advocate "Doylist" thought for the hell of it: Witwer voices both the Son and Maul and has a really good grasp on the lore. I think we can feel his influence in both characters' acting, and those similarities may be deliberate choices in their design so those echoes become apparent when looking closely at the execution:

The Son of Dathomir and the Son of Mortis.

I'm particularly fond of your headcanon because I think there are mirrors between the architects (the Celestials, assuming the Mortis Gods were part of that ancient race -- I like to think so but unconfirmed in canon afaik) and the fruits of their efforts, no matter how far they've fallen from the tree.

Thoughts, frens?

Darth Maul is alive truthers, speak up or forever hold your peace.

[perplexingluciddreams]

Today was orthotics appointment. It is at hospital I don't like, Dad not like too because bad parking. When we get there, it was very full loud waiting room. So we wait outside the room in the corridor.

The orthotist Kirsty is very nice! With nice accent. It was loud bad place at first with other patients talking loud - even with noise cancelling headphones I struggle and get very anxious but also feel stuck could not stim like I need. I could not hear what Kirsty or Dad said because the other voices noises were louder even with noise cancelling headphones ☹️.

They could see I didn't cope, so she very kindly, look in other quiet room to see if it is empty. (Usually I go to that room). Yes, it is! So we go in there.

Then talk a lot about old AFOs. And Dad show my list of what is not-good about them. She look at my walking with shoes AND without shoes, and examine look at my legs and feet and move about and feel how hypermobile I am. And where my calf muscles is a bit tight.

She agree that my current AFOs don't work. So we try something different new. Dad showed my pictures of what I think might be better for me. So, she say they can do a similar style of rigid plastic AFO on the outside, with an inner "anklet" that is thinner more flexible plastic going around my ankle and over the top of my foot. Then that part will go inside the bigger rigid AFOs. And, I can have better straps that isn't so bulky and too tough to undo by myself. (They will just go once over, instead of through a ring and double back).

Then, she do a SCAN!! Instead of casts this time :D. I have to hold very very still it takes a LOT of concentration and effort. But I did very well. Dad said the shape of my leg showed up slowly on the screen when she did the light scanner in stripes. I didn't see that because I had to concentrate very much to stay still.

They had to stick a wire to the front of my leg for the scanner. And the tape stuck to my leg hair! And ripped some off when I took it off, ouch! But it was okay, not too sore, just mostly funny. Dad joked about is his genetics for the leg hair.

Overall, very successful appointment and it went much better than I expected! I am still very anxious about it all, because we have several attempts already that didn't work. But, Dad says we will keep on trying until we get exactly what works for me.

I always feel overwhelmed and exhausted after appointment. And always feel like I didn't communicate everything I want to - even with prepare with other people and they say things for me, even if I try try try so hard to do words, it just doesn't happen at the time. And I have automatic response to just nod head "yes" at almost everything, even if I didn't process or understand. So I worry that I seem to say "yes" or agree to things that I don't mean. Especially when I know that there was a lot of talking at the appointment that I didn't process at all. I feel so utterly lost all the time - and there is no way to really express how that affects me my whole entire life.

I hate my inability to communicate ☹️☹️. It goes WAY beyond just not able to speak. Even with all the tools and aids and help from other people... majority of the time it is simply near-impossible for me to interact with another person. It is everything about how I interact with everyone, my whole life long. And then I feel like anything that goes wrong or doesn't work is my fault for not able to communicate or explain something.

Anyway. I am knackered now, so time for rest and Celtic Woman DVD 😄. I try not to think about it anymore, just distract. And try to keep hope, but not too much, so I don't get too disappointed.

I have lemonade (Dad quickly go to shop and buy so I can have my usual fizzy drink treat after appointment 😄, thanks Dad!). And I have snack. And DVD. 😊

[the-obnoxious-sibling]

Hello,

I found your takes very interesting and I would love to discuss them a big more.

Your analysis of the Shanksbuggy break up is really great based on what we have (Buggy pov of what happened) but I also want to add that they are teenagers that just saw one of the most important person in their eyes died. Obviously they're not in the best position to have a very clear discussion about future and it's even worse if you add to the mix the tendency of Buggy to jump to conclusion and the love of mystery of Shanks. And I also think in a way it a discussion about grief and mourning and how different people have different reaction to it.

I also have some hypothesis about why they changed their opinion about separating each other because they don't have the same dream.

- The first one is what happened quickly after their discussion: Buggy eating the devil fruit. The fact this incident is what Buggy uses as an excuse to explain his hatred of Shanks is obviously now a lie to himself but there is probably a part of true in that this incident changed their relationship and makes them more codependent due to Buggy's inability to swim while living on a boat. There is also probably a discussion to have with the quite weird relationship of Roger's crew and devil fruit (The fact that no one except Buggy have one).

- The second one is the circonstances of them leaving the crew. When discussing their plan, they speak about Leaving the crew and building something in a way which is very similar to a child leaving their parents house to go study or work. It's an active decision. (Even if Buggy's action at the time is closer to a teenager running away than a future adult 😅). But that's not what happened in the end, their departure from the ship is a decision which is forced on them and with quite a traumatic end. It willmakes sense then that they stick to each other.

- The third hypothesis is that they become teenagers and they went from best friends to lovers.

(Sorry I did end up writing a lot) 😅

hello! don't apologize for writing a lot, i am a big fan of writing a lot myself! …as you’ll see in this post. >>;

and you're very right, these are good points to bring up that i haven’t really gotten into before. grief, and the ways their circumstances changed (or might have changed—as you’ll see, i’m not totally convinced about one of your hypotheticals) after that first conversation. let's get into it!

grief.

the context for their fight, and the grief they must be feeling in that moment, is definitely worth taking into consideration. there's something of a truism that you shouldn't make big decisions in the first six months to a year after suffering the loss of a loved one, because during that early mourning period you simply aren't thinking clearly. you may make hasty, impulsive decisions that you'll regret later, or the additional stress of attempting to take action while emotionally burdened will cause things to go wrong. it's better, we tend to agree, to wait.

if buggy is asking shanks to go to laugh tale right now, that’s a textbook hasty decision, and one likely to go poorly if acted on. (i’ve stated my opinion to the contrary in tags before, but that is just my opinion.) and buggy’s rejection of shanks’ offer also seems impulsively made! a knee-jerk reaction to getting an unexpected response, that could also be the influence of grief though buggy is pretty impulsive in general so who knows.

in contrast, shanks deciding not to go to laugh tale ‘for now’ can be seen as recognition that it would be better, smarter, to wait.

at this point, i’d like to point out that we don’t know what life was like for buggy and shanks between dropping oden off at wano and this conversation in roguetown. as far as we know, nothing of significance happened after the roger pirates disbanded—emphasis on as far as we know. we don’t even know if buggy and shanks spent those months together, or if they met by chance at roger’s execution!

all that to say: we don’t know what the status quo for these two looks like in this moment. is shanks asking buggy to come with him asking him to stay together, to continue as they have been, or is this yet another impulsive decision? are they both trying to take action too quickly?

i think this was definitely a bad time to be discussing these topics—but there might not have been another time available to them. we know there were a lot of pirates in roguetown that day—and a lot of marines, too. there may have been an urgency to this moment that we can’t appreciate right now, with the information we have.

changing circumstances 1: the chop-chop fruit.

i used to think it was curious that buggy was the only devil fruit user on the roger pirate crew, until i remembered what other crews around at the time were like. specifically:

whitebeard, himself a devil fruit user, is all about embracing weird outcast types and bringing them into his crew (and his family). so to people who were already devil fruit users, who consider becoming pirates because they’ve been shunned and cast out of their home and society, whitebeard’s gotta be the go-to guy. he already knows what it’s like! he must have extra measures in place to keep his sons from falling overboard! you’ll be safe with him!

kaidou, also a devil fruit user, loves getting devil fruit users in his crew. he’s not as friendly or paternal a captain, but if you aren’t interested in that energy—if you got yourself a devil fruit for power’s sake but found the downsides made it hard to be on your own—he’s a good option.

basically, i think most people who went into piracy in those days already in possession of devil fruit powers found themselves drawn to captains who had one too—understandably so, in my opinion. a ship where no one has a devil fruit, would they know how to look out for you? for all you know, they’re one of those superstitious crews who take the “ocean’s curse” line seriously! better to stick with someone you know has devil fruit experience.

buggy’s one of the uncommon few to eat a devil fruit after becoming a pirate. that whole crew was offered the opportunity to eat the thing, and he was the only one who dared—because the rest knew that it was a risky move at best, especially with an unknown fruit. the power you get might not be worth the cost, especially for someone who makes their living on the sea.

we forget this, i think because there’s so many devil fruit users in one piece, but devil fruits are hard to come by! we’re seeing a small sliver of the population who managed to get their hands on one and then managed to survive the downsides. that the roger pirates ever found one was a rare thing. they didn’t even know for sure if it was real when buggy ate it!

all this to say, i don’t know that i believe the chop-chop fruit changes much about the shanks-buggy dynamic, except in the “he betrayed me!!” angle it brings to buggy’s future grudge against him. (not that i think this is what buggy considers to be shanks’ real betrayal. it’s just the one he can talk about without revealing his roger pirate history.) so buggy can’t swim anymore! so what?! neither can whitebeard! shanks, you better not look down on me for this!! etc, etc.

now, how much of that would just be talk from buggy? (i.e., claiming ‘you better not look down on me, i don’t need your help’ but clinging to shanks’ arm the second a wave looks like it might crash over the deck?) probably a fair amount! but i don’t think that’s a significant change in behavior from buggy, his words and actions often disagree.

changing circumstances 2: roger pirates disbanded.

it is one thing to boldly claim as a child that you’re going to be a great pirate captain, and quite another to actually do it. it probably helps to spend years on a great pirate captain’s ship, to see how he does it, to eventually start to wonder to yourself, would i do it that way, if it were me in charge? but even then, when you’ve been quietly thinking about it, maybe announcing your intentions a few times, setting aside the most important things to take with you on the day when you finally leave, on the day when you’ll finally feel ready to leave—

all that is very different from being told that everyone is leaving. that you don’t have a choice about when to go. that there will be nowhere and no one to return to if it turns out you weren’t ready to be on your own after all.

as i mentioned earlier, we don’t know what the time after the roger pirates disbanded was like for shanks and buggy. were they relying on the kindness of near-strangers, people who half-remembered them as members of roger’s crew from their first trip through the GL? were they lucky enough to be the last ones let go, at a trusted island in that early part of paradise? did shanks have enough understanding of conqueror’s haki at that age to get his ship through the calm belt when the news about roger’s arrest went out, or did a ship traveling into east blue end up with a stowaway or two?

any way you look at it, i have to imagine being a teenager alone (or nearly alone) on the grand line must have been terrifying. who wouldn’t think back on childhood dreams of independence and wince at that poor child, who didn’t know how good they had it? after going it alone against your will, who wouldn’t cling to a familiar face?

circumstances change 3: relationship upgrade.

kind of in line with the above: after being thrown into the world alone, unexpectedly, who wouldn’t cling to a familiar face? or… more than cling? 😉 but seriously, i’m a bit of a pessimist about this hypothesis. i think it can make sense, it just also makes me sad.

because if shanks wants buggy to come with him because they’re romantically involved, i think that would make buggy less certain of his place in shanks’ life. crew is crew forever! even when you leave the ship, you’re still a part of its crew deep down. a kissing relationship, though… that can go away easy as the wind. if shanks wants him around to kiss, what happens if they stop kissing? does shanks stop wanting him around?

but also: does buggy want to be around shanks, if he only wants buggy around to kiss? isn’t buggy a pirate worthy of shanks’ respect?! didn’t he grow up on the same ship, learning the same lessons? why shouldn’t he be captain of his own ship?! why is he even kissing this idiot in the first place?!!

of course, shanks doesn’t mean it to come across this way. when he asks a buggy he’s involved with to come with him, he means that he loves buggy and would miss him if they weren’t on the same ship. but you know how buggy always hears the worst possible meaning to any sentence spoken to him.

[crazylittlejester]

some funny stories about kids that i’ve had happen to me:

so i serve in the younger kid classrooms at my church as a leader so i have this badge with my picture i wear and one of the kids just looks at it and says: “is this picture from before or after you got married?” mind you this was when i was a freshman in high school (so i was like 14-15 during this conversation) and i just have to try and keep a straight face like “um technically from before i get married yes, but uh how old do you think i am? like-i’m not married?!?”

then the other time another kid looked at my badge, asked if that was me (i said yes) then they cringed and was like “that’s not a good picture.” (the picture really isn’t that good though so i was just trying not to laugh because that kid had the funniest face) i swear kids say the most random things at the most random times but they’ll almost always get me to laugh even when i’m having a bad day.

i can just imagine mask or tune asking warriors a completely random question while being completely serious because they have absolutely zero social awareness and warriors trying to answer the question with a straight face.

(hope you enjoyed this story and have a great day/night!!)

I feel bad for laughing as hard as i did, I had a similar experience because my ID photo was taken right after I shaved my head, and my hair is shoulder length now, and one of the kids at work told me the picture “aged me by 20 years” (I was 18 when that conversation happened)

Kids are so funny, I can see Warriors fighting for his LIFE while trying to explain things to Mask and Wind after they ask odd questions

Kids inability to vibe check age correctly is something I’ve been thinking about with Mask/Time and Wars a LOT. Like Mask was 10-12 ish when he met Wars who was like 17, I bet he thought Wars was like, an accomplished experienced adult, and then meeting him again when he was older and realizing Wars was only in his 20s was probably an insane perspective shift for him

Like when you’re in middle school, high school seniors are practically 30, you don’t realize how young 18 year olds are until you hit 18 and still don’t know what you’re doing

Mask probably looked up to Wars a lot, he probably thought Wars knew all the answers to everything, just for him to realize Wars was literally just a kid too

[fivedayslater]

Part 18: Lounge

Dinner and a Murder: A Mr. Prince Mystery Masterpost

“Let’s check the lounge,” Sanji says as turns back to the room at large, “Since the candlestick that killed Nami came from here, I want to get a closer look.”

“Alright,” Zoro nods as he gestures in front of him, “Lead the way.”

Sanji begins circling the room. He spots a candlestick similar to the one that killed Nami on a nearby shelf, and sure enough there’s a spot in the accumulated dust where a second one would have gone.

“Looks like the candlestick did come from here,” he says as he turns back to Zoro, “You were right.”

“Of course I was right,” he scoffs, but he can’t hide the pleased smile on his face, and Sanji finds his own form as well.

The woodsmoke from the dying fire is heavy in the air as he keeps searching, tickling Sanji’s nose. As he approaches the fire, he recalls suddenly that the same smell was present on Ace’s body when he examined it earlier.

He looks back at the room, examining it in a new light as he says, “I think Ace may have been killed here.”

“Really?” Zoro frowns as he glances around too, his brow furrowing when he can’t see what Sanji sees, “How do you know?”

“The smoke smell,” he taps his nose, “His body had the same smell, even though he wasn’t in the lounge before dinner.”

“I see,” Zoro smiles as he turns back to him, “You really are something.”

Sanji blushes as he looks away, Zoro’s direct gaze making him feel too giddy, “Yes. Well. Any detective would have realized the same.”

“Why did you become a detective anyway?” Zoro asks as Sanji begins his search again, “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Why did you become a detective anyway?”

“Hm?” Sanji hums as he stops and glances back at him, “What do you mean?”

“It’s not really a common career path,” Zoro says as he crosses his arms in front of him, “I don’t know any other detectives that weren’t cops first, but you don’t strike me as a cop.”

“That’s because I’m not,” Sanji says as he tries to figure out how to explain it to Zoro without revealing everything.

But in the end he realizes he doesn’t mind if he does. He wants Zoro to know about him, to understand him. Maybe after everything Zoro could accept him, maybe he could-

He cuts that thought off. No need to run away with himself.

Instead he decides to start from the beginning.

“When I was seventeen, my mother was killed.”

“What?” Zoro’s eye goes wide as he takes a step forward.

“...And I was the prime suspect.”

“What?” He repeats, harsher this time, an angry vengeance in his gaze despite the issue having long been resolved.

“The real killer considered me a nuisance and a burden and wanted me out of the way,” he explains as clinically as he can, “so he did everything he could to frame me. Planted evidence, coerced witnesses to lie, fed the investigators stories about my short temper and violent streak.” He shakes his head, “I think the only reason they didn’t arrest me right away was because I was still a minor and she was my mother.”

Zoro’s gaze goes impossibly soft, and Sanji has to look away again. Still, his presence is a solid comfort at his side, and it urges him to continue.

“I knew I didn’t do it,” he says, “And no one else was looking into other options, all convinced I did it.” He looks back to Zoro, “So I took matters into my own hands, and investigated it myself.” He shrugs, “Turns out I have a knack for seeing things that others miss, a charismatic personality that makes people want to talk, and an inability to take no for an answer.”

“That does sound like you,” Zoro chuckles, “And, you solved it in the end, right?”

“Yeah,” Sanji exhales slowly, “The killer turned out to be her husband. My birth father.”

Zoro’s jaw drops as he gapes at him, “Your father set you up?”

“He…was never a nice man.” 

“I’ll kill him,” Zoro says with a steel edge to his voice that makes Sanji shudder, “If I ever see him, he’s dead.”

“I appreciate the sentiment,” Sanji rests a hand on his arm, and rubs comforting circles into it with this thumb, causing Zoro to relax under his ministrations, “But it’s fine. It’s all over and done with.”

There is plenty more Sanji can say about that wretched scum masquerading as a human being, but he’d made the decision to wash his hands of him the moment the judge announced the guilty verdict. Instead he chose to focus on the things he did have, and the people who were there for him, “One of the investigators on the case – the only one who actually took me seriously – took me in afterwards. Taught me everything he knew. He was more of a father to me than that bastard ever was.”

“I…wow,” Zoro looks gobsmacked, and Sanji can’t blame him. He lived through it, and even he has trouble believing it happened, “I’m glad you found someone who cared about you. You deserve at least that much.”

Sanji’s face flushes at the softness in his tone, and clears his throat before he continues.

“Yeah,” he shrugs, pulling away to rub his own arm, “I realized there were a lot of people out there who were in that situation though, who have mysteries that need solving, or are being blamed for something that isn't their fault, and that I could help them. So I kept at the detective thing. I find the truth for them, so they never have to feel as helpless as I felt.”

“That’s…” Zoro’s looking at him again with that impossibly soft look, but now Sanji feels he can face it head on, assess it for what it’s worth, “That’s incredibly you, isn’t it?”

Sanji laughs, “Well, I can’t be anyone other than me.”

“And I’d never want you to.”

Sanji blushes and looks away again.

“You’ll solve this mystery too,” Zoro says. There’s a surety in his tone, as if he knows that to be a fact and is just waiting for Sanji to catch up, “You’ll find the truth here. If anyone can, it’s you.”

“I…” Sanji isn’t sure what to say in the face of Zoro’s confidence, so he settles for, “Thanks, Mosshead.”

“Anytime,” Zoro laughs, reaching out to brush his fingers against Sanji, just for a moment, before pulling away again and nodding to the rest of the room, “So, you see anything else we need in here?”

Sanji takes another look around, spotting something shiny by the fireplace, something else under the couch, papers in the trash can, and a cloth tucked in between the cushions of the armchair.

[saintbleeding]

Saint. Best beloved. Give me number 8 in the spicy takes meme. Obviously for tma. Be correct about sth. You know you want to. 😘

8: common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

ough............... ok at the risk of this being like. legitimately combative (and with the disclaimer that i love him he is me i am he and i would not ever change a thing about him in either a watsonian or doylist sense).

i dont think jon did Literally Nothing Wrong per se? i think, esp in like, s1-3, he chooses what is essentially the best and most sensible option from where he's standing at the time and i fully understand and under similar circumstances would act in accordance with his actions. but i think the aspect of jon-related conversation, jonversation if you will, that i really don't agree with, or at least find any personal interest in, is that which kinda suggests that he's never acting in a selfish or misguided or even dysfunctional way? because i don't think that's true.

to be clear, i think he's a deeply, deeply caring character who does genuinely want to do things to protect and strengthen and help other people. one hundred percent. but i think one of the conflicts at his core, regardless of what one may think of as the reasoning behind it, is the conflict between that great capacity for caring about and loving others and his frequent inability to go about it in ways that do actually benefit others, or even that do keep him safe, whether we're talking physically or psychologically. i think he, like a Lot of people, especially those with early traumas, learned at some point in his life that an apology must demonstrate remorse, and the optimal way of doing that is by flagellating. so it's truly not any sort of wilful, or even knowing, malice or dysfunction. he is, as he almost always is, doing the best he can with the information from which he's working, but i also think that doesn't mean he's never done wrong or done harm, just that it isn't driven by any sort of desire to hurt.

also (i didnt mean for this to be this long but i had another thought wah) i think a further complication is that when he is acting in an intentionally (or at least, not unintentionally) self-sabotaging or self-harming way, from what we see he feels and enacts the self-loathing after the fact in quite a similar way. again, this is a pretty huge extrapolation, but i think he probably grew up in an environment where all his wrongs were treated as exactly equal, and so he actually feels comparable levels of guilt regardless of the finer points of the infraction itself. that could reasonably explain the consistency in him but. i guess what im saying is my man contains. multitudes. and to me personally the times he falls short are some of the most intriguing.

[beevean]

"Whisper we should talk this out"

Where? Where did Lanolin EVER offer either Whisper or Silver the grace to actually defend themselves without immediately cutting through in her Disappointed Mama tone of voice? Especially Silver?? Where did she not immediately point fingers, shoot them down, and turn all the blame towards either of those away from Duo?

She asks Whisper (who is far more knowledgeable about Mimic than her) to explain herself... and promptly grows all defensive and angry when Whisper says that Duo is actually Mimic. Not surprised, not concerned, angry with her usual I Am Two Seconds Away From Throwing Up Because You Disgust Me facial expression. When Whisper says Mimic has tells, she immediately jumps to Duo being harrassed by Whisper and Silver. How is this them "talking it out"? Where is Lanolin staying calm and reasonable like a good leader who first listens without immediately jumping onto the verbal counterattack? She does not de-escalate. She does nothing to calm Whisper down and show her she is taken seriously. Whisper knows Mimic better than ANYONE there, and Lanolin furthermore knows of their history: if Whisper says someone is Mimic, you listen. It does not help that the comic never provides a single reason why Lanolin is so seemingly fond of Duo, either. She's truly just putting some rando over the literal saviour of the world on multiple accounts and a highly experienced sniper who used to be in a team with a traitor she is accusing someone (who has also been literally shown to run away to leave somebody else to die) to be, and there's just no explanation given as to why.

So yeah. If Lanolin suffers under whatever Mimic pulls when the truth comes to light, she truly has no-one but her own inability to listen to other people for two seconds without immediately cutting in with a sneering deflecting to blame, in my opinion.

That post was peak strawman lmao. That is very blatantly not what happened bro. Painting Whisper as someone who attacked Lanolin deliberately, Lanolin as just a poor thing who wanted to talk, man, Lanolin's defense being a light smack at best... yeah no I read the comic, that's not it chief.

I don't know what to say anymore. You go back to re-reading #63 and #64 and you'll see that Lanolin has shut down all attempts at a verbal conversation. She dismisses Silver as someone who should control his powers better and Whisper as someone who has randomly decided to harass the newbie, without stopping to think that Whisper isn't the type to do that and she actually knows Mimic - yeah she doesn't know Silver personally, but she sure knows Whisper more. Even in the context of "she doesn't know what we know", she is not reasonable. And calling her violent behavior reasonable... yeah no.

Again, it kinda looks to me that she's so protective of Duo because she sees herself in him, this scared rookie who only wants to try his best. If true, this might give her the first spark of humanization so far... but it also would make her extremely biased and unempathetic, only able to relate to someone similar to her. So she feels sorry for the rookie with 🥺 eyes... but not for the veteran with PTSD, nah we can smack her just fine. okay. leader.exe

[amaribelt]

why vil isn't guilty of attempted murder

okay this is like speculation and spoilers for book 5 and vils overblot but people don't talk about this enough

so vils overblot, we know the apple juice was poisioned and alot of people think it would have killed neige like the queen thought she did with snow White but like the amazing lawyer I am I will defend my Client till the ends of the earth

"we don't know what it was going to do with all the snow White paralleled him killing neige is the clear option" we don't know much about the poisioned applejuice but we do have solid evidence to give some reasonable doubt, the introduction of vils UM and how it works,

in 5-31 and 5-32 we get woken up to grim telling us he wants the confiscated snacks vil took. ace takes a bite force feeds deuce a peice and grim eats some Atwell vil comes down and catches us and after getting into a battle with vil we see his UM take affect

vil explains that fairest one is an extreamly powerful magic that he himself cannot undo and that the conditions must be met (in this case paralyzed till sunrize) what would be the point of introducing his magic if it wasn't needed

we have seen them introduce UM only if it plays a role in the story like ruggie using his to injure students and to seal grims food, jamil using his on us kalim and other students and kalim using oasis maker then later using it to get us and octotrio back to scarabia. even characters like deuce and epel have had their UM introduced and used I later plot points or events (epel using his in glorious mascarade and idias book and deuce lending his to azul in glorious mascarade) because of this what would be the point of introducing something if it will just me dropped further on (assuming it won't be used in book 7 witch it probably wont)

using this logic it's reasonable to assume that they didn't just introduce vils UM just to make him seem cooler their was likely a point to it so what does it mean for the apple juice. we kno vil wasn't in the right state of mind and could have seriously wanted to hurt neige and if he didn't specify then it could have Been something that ends up harming neige but if vil has been shown to use his UM to paralyze and temporarily stop others from moving it can be reasonable to assume it would have been something similar. if vil was vague in it and just said "Let this juice do anything to make neige inable to compete in the VDC" it could have ended up In something like neiges death and if someone were to die the event would be cancled so no one would have been able to compete. it's more likely that he did the same "paralyzed till sunrise" thing because if neige is alive the compotion can still go on.

when the bottle is broken and it starts like poisoning the air that could easily be a reaction from freaking out fhag all your hard work is being sabotaged

could vil have wanted to kill neige or cause harm to him, absolutely but if he someone died it definitely would have been canceled. I wouldn't blame him and having neige be killed is definitely better or angst but it's more likely it's the paralysis

[rebelumbrella46]

Rewatching TUA - 1x10 The White Violin

The Opening Scene /Reginald Flashback

There are certain things i noticed:

LONG AGO: There is no exact date...

We see Abigail Hargreeves (for the first time): She is in bed, sick, probably dying... 

Reginald brings her a Violin: Mentions that it’s a gift for a special occasion... it could be a birthday, an anniversary... or a birth...

If she had just given birth, that would explain why she is so weak.

They exchange some words that make it seem like something bad is going to happen and the tone they use during the conversation makes it seem like they are a couple, but it is not confirmed during the scene or later in the show (besides S3 showing us their name it's Hagreeves too...)

Then she says some things that caught my attention...

Abigail’s Words

Abigail says that she will die there but he won't... and tells him that the world needs him... so he must go and leave her...

Could it be that Abigail also had powers... that her power was to see the Future... and that’s how Reginald already knows everything that is going to happen... the apocalypse, the children... the reset...

We don't really know if she died before Reginald left. Or if Reggie took her with him and then sometime after her death, he left Abigail on the Moon (where he kept her body)

Marigolds and World

When Reginald approaches the window to free the Marigolds, we can see that his world is very similar to Earth... and that there are several spaceships taking off... probably fleeing the threat...

Where did the Marigolds came from? Are they living creatures... ? Or are they just particles that carry power...?

Earth 

In the next scene, we are shown a City Port...

There is a ship named "Carol Ann": This may be a reference to the Coheed and Cambria song of the same name.

The Inspection Card: The year of the seal is 1928 and the Number 7 stands out (which may be an indication of the Seven Children that Reginald needs for the Oblivion Project... or of Viktor's Number... who is responsible for causing the apocalypse in every timeline.

Reginald traveled Third Class: Which could mean that he has just arrived to this world, and has yet to make a name, fortune and reputation for himself... There is no “Sir”... just Reginald Hargreeves

Given the date in the Card, Reginald must be at least a hundred years old... and he was already old in this scene... So could it be that Reginald’s power is Longevity... or some sort of Immortality... (not like Klaus inability to stay dead)

The Monocle 

Regarding my previous thoughts on Abigail's powers...

She may have modified Reginald's monocle so that he could see everything she saw, so in a way, the reason the monocle is so important to Reginald is not just because of the sentimental value, but because he can see the future with it... in some way Abigail is guiding him with it... that's why he never takes it off...

Once Reginald puts on the Monocle during this scene, and sees the Umbrella Shop, he looks interested and surprised as if he just had a revelation... it could have been a vision about the Umbrella Academy...

Final Thoughts and Theories

We've seen Abigail Hargreeves since S1 and in the last scene of S3 she's finally here, so i believe she'll be a big part of S4...

My theory regarding the Flashback...is that Abigail and Reginald are a couple, could it be that the reason she was sick and he brought her a celebratory gift was because she had just given birth... to 43 beings...

It is hinted that they are aliens, so how do they reproduce or do they have normal human pregnancies? Could it be possible that Reginald and Abigail ARE the real parents of the 43 Children...?

If Reginald's power is longevity... and Abigail's is seeing the future... those two powers are related to two children we know... Klaus and Five... Reginald has always seemed interested in these two powers, above all others... just as he has interacted more times with Klaus and Five than with the rest of the kids... for example: In S1 when Klaus and Reginald are in Heaven /Barbershop, in S2 Five and Reginald have a chat after family dinner. And then in S3, Klaus and Reginald spend a lot of time together, and Five and Reginald talk as they watch the Kugelblitz wipe out the world...

If Reginald disliked children so much and only hoped to use them for the reset... then why did he give Viktor Abigail's violin...? Reginald expected him to control his powers through him...? Reginald's interest in Klaus's powers was to summon Abigail? Abigail warned Reginald about Five's time travel and Viktor's Apocalypse... Was it Abigail who saw the machine reset and that's how Reginald came to Earth and adopted the Children...? Did they create the Marigolds?

It confuses me because if the point was to save the world, Reginald only caused the apocalypse by giving power or life to these special children. So all he did was to get to the reset button because Abigail was going to die anyway and he wanted to reverse it or is it because his world was destroyed and the only way to save it was through the Earth and the children and Project Oblivion...

I have so many questions, I hope they can answer them all this last season... Anyway, it is unlikely that Reginald and Abigail are the parents of the children because of all the relationships that have been created between them (Luther/Sloane, Lila/Diego...) But I look foward to meeting Abigail... and see the reaction of the Umbrellas when they meet her...

[denimbex1986]

'I expect Andrew Haigh to be a bit bleary-eyed this morning. After all, it’s the day after the British Independent Film Awards and Haigh’s stunning new film, All of Us Strangers, has just walked off with seven awards, including best supporting performance for Paul Mescal, best director and best screenplay for Haigh and the big prize of the night, best British independent film. Surely he was out celebrating? “Oh, I’m too old for drinking and having fun," he laughs. "I was in bed by about 12.30 after a cup of tea.”

Adam, the protagonist of All of Us Strangers (played by Andrew Scott), is similarly partying-aversed – initially at least. As the film opens, he’s alone in his near-empty tower block in London, where he spends his nights gazing longingly across the city or watching archive clips from Top of the Pops while struggling to write a screenplay about the death of his parents. His lonely existence is punctuated one night by Harry (Paul Mescal), his only neighbour, who turns up at his door drunk and horny.

A lonely gay man longing for connection puts us in mind of Weekend, Haigh’s breakout feature from 2012, although a hint of the supernatural creeps into the new film. While researching his screenplay, Adam goes back to his childhood home to find his mother and father still living there, despite having died in a car crash when he was 12. “At one point, I was nervous that people would just see this as Weekend Part 2 with ghosts.” laughs Haigh. “I was like, ‘Oh God, I don't want that to be what this film is.'” Haigh agrees that the films are in conversation in some way, though. “Weekend was 12 years ago, and as I've got older, there were more things that I've wanted to explore about queerness and the nature of love. And I've poured that all into the new film.”

One theme that links the two films is the feeling of being outside of society as a queer person. “As queer people, we're all trying to understand romantic relationships because we haven't had a framework of what those relationships can be,” explains Haigh. “You know, you grow up in a family where everybody is straight, and everyone at school seems to be straight, and you're not, so you're unsure how you fit in with any of that. So I think it can take a lot of queer people a long time to understand what it is that they want. But it is not that you're inherently lonely because you're gay, which is what people used to think. It's just that the world says we are that kind of person.”

All of Us Strangers is based on Strangers by Japanese author Taichi Yamada, which tells a similar narrative about a heterosexual writer. What drew Haigh to the story initially was its central concept of meeting your parents as they were when you were a child and you are now an adult. “The idea of being able to go back and meet your mum and dad on the same level would be an incredible experience,” says Haigh. “Often we think our parents should know everything. But then, when you get older and you look back, you're like 'Jesus, my parents were 32 when I was a kid. I was a mess when I was in my early 30s. Why did I expect my parents to know everything?'”

Haigh suspects that children’s inability to fully see their parents' point of view is what makes family dynamics so tricky to navigate. “If love is, in general, let's say, about truly knowing the other person, it's no surprise to me that familiar relationships can be quite complicated, because there is so much that stops us from being honest with each other within those relationships," he says. "So to me, to have this sort of space, separate from reality, where you can find a common ground feels so appealing. I mean, it's wish fulfillment, obviously, because it’s never going to happen, but it feels like something that would be special.”

All of Us Strangers is undoubtedly Haigh’s most visually complex film. But like all his work it’s centred on great performances. Working with actors is clearly something he relishes and Andrew Scott is an actor he’s wanted to work with for the longest time. “Obviously Andrew has had a lot of lead roles in theatre, and he's done a lot of stuff on television, he has been in a lot of films, but I've never seen him be the centre of a film. And I've always thought, Why? Because he's such a good actor.” Haigh also felt Scott would understand this world. "In real life, Andrew and I have similar experiences," says Haigh. "Andrew is gay, so we understand what that experience was like growing up. Plus he really responded to the script. So it was just a no-brainer, really. He's a really talented actor, he loves the script, and he understands it. It's like the three things you want more than anything else.”

Paul Mescal matches Scott’s performance every step of the way. Haigh points to Mescal’s eyes as being the key to his performance. “It just feels there's a whole world going on behind there that you want to sort of understand; there's a soulfulness to him. And with a role like Harry, you don't know a huge amount about him. But Paul lets you know that he wants him to be compassionate towards Adam, and you also get the sense of his own demons. It’s all there in the eyes and I feel like Paul is so good at communicating two things at the same time, one thing on the surface, and then something else that's underneath. And that's rare."'

[navree]

what do u think about zeglar and how she talks about the snow white movie? what are ur thoughts on the situation?

Is this about the Rachel Zegler thing? Cuz I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea what that was about at all. All I saw was that she maybe said that her version of Snow White might be more proactive than in the original? Or something similar to that? And that doesn't seem like a bad thing to say, to me, it's not that revolutionary to point out that some of the early Princess movies had somewhat more passive protagonists than people my age are used to having from Disney (seeing as we grew up with Disney Renaissance of the 80s and 90s, which focused heavily more on active protagonists than the classics did).

It doesn't seem like she was passing an indictment on the original movie, moreso just saying that they were attempting to make this new one resonate with the audience of the 2020s rather than the 1930s, especially considering this is a retread of a story they've already seen before and are familiar with, whereas the original 1937 Snow White was entirely new territory (it's literally the first Disney animated movie, it Is the prototype for everything that's come about since then). It doesn't seem like she said that people shouldn't enjoy the original, or that it was bad to like a more passive protagonist (honestly mood, one of my favorite Disney princesses is Aurora and she does not do a lot in her original movie). Nor do I think her saying her version is updated for the times is out of bounds, these dumb fucking remakes need to justify themselves somehow and seeing as Snow White likely won't be as CGI heavy as The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast or The Jungle Book or the terrible awful horrible disgusting nasty trash ass The Lion King (can you tell I don't like the TLK remake?), trying to make it more "updated" means that the studio can pretend that this is about creativity and not cash grabs and monetizing childhood nostalgia.

What I know I don't like is that apparently a young actress, who by and large seems to be nice and not have a problematic online presence and is just doing her own thing, said something Some People didn't like and got an internet blood mob after her for no reason. Like, you dumb assholes need to get a hobby, so she said that her Snow White is more "active" apparently, so fucking what? Did she hold up a banner saying death to women who want to be rescued by men? Did she demand that everyone burn their copies of the original movie? Did she break into your home and personally destroy every piece of Snow White merchandise you clearly have since this movie from the 1930s is so fucking important to you? Oh wait no? She didn't? She just voiced her opinion on a movie that's still in the process of being made and attempted to explain why it was worth existing at all because nobody is going to be honest about the fact that these movies are easy money and that's it? Because that's exactly what it is, and then it's people being whiny babies because of this idea that's becoming increasingly more prevalent in a LOT of circles that if you like something, everyone should like it too, and if you don't like something, no one should like it. It's the death of subjectivity and the inability of a good chunk of people on the Internet to grow the fuck up and touch some godforsaken grass, it's a bizarre resistance to just dislike something and move the fuck on like a normal person.

And it's misogyny for me, honestly. If a woman says something that you don't agree with and you blow your fucking lid and think she should be dragged through the streets, you really gotta examine why. Were any of you complaining about the fact that the Beast or Aladdin might have gotten more of a different arc in their remakes than in the originals that might be considered more compatible with a 21rst century audience, or is it just that a young woman said it that pisses you off so much? It's ridiculous, and it's embarrassing.

So yeah, those are my sorta thoughts on it, as someone pretty far removed from the situation who hasn't really given it much thought.

[xenokiryu]

if you were to rank the ikemen games and their characters, how would you rate it?

p.s. bold names are routes i have completed and brackets are unreleased so i rated them based on what i know of them from other routes. i didn’t include villains or genjiden as i haven’t read them. i will continue the rest later.

for me, it goes:

ikemen sengoku (i think the game provides a better experience than the other games; the way that we can see the minute differences between the characters in the beginning and the end. this game provides depth to the character’s relationship with other characters - something that prince doesn’t focus heavily on - and with the mc. )

- Kennyo (current): so i’m not even halfway (i think) and i already live his character). his relationship with ranmaru makes me happy. fun fact: i was supposed to do ranmaru’s route but then noticed it wasn’t released so i decided to do kennyo. i’m happy with my choice - the way his kindness shines through his rough exterior makes him my favourite.

- kanetsugu and keiji. see i can’t pick a fave from them. i love how my top three begin with k. anyway, i love the little smiles kanetsugu let’s out in his route and he was my first route love and i mean the man loved the mc enough to suggest a safe word so he doesn’t harm her. plus, i love his fangs. in a way, he’s similar to kennyo with the whole mysterious, self-deprecating aura and the fact they both looked after a child/children. My heart broke when the child in kanetsugu’s route died. Moving onto Keiji, I love his boisterous attitude and how it was all a facade because you see how comfortable he gets with being himself around the mc. Plus, I really loved the part when he tried to ask her out on a date and I think she invited Ranmaru and Hideyoshi because she thought it was a friendly outing. This was my second route and I loved how this route focused on her being able to protect herself rather than a man protecting her - plus, he always made sure to look after her even when she wasn’t aware (similar to kanetsugu).

- Sasuke. I already loved his character in every other route, I did before his. This may be my comfort route. Except for the besties loving the same person. Other than that, I really loved the aspect of friends to lovers. I usually hate this trope (in a modern au because they always use other characters to get over the other and it’s trash), but the way that you learn tad bits about sasuke like his weak facial muscles and his habit of not knowing how to wink, which makes me laugh every time i read because i just imagine it happening. His relationship with Yukimura is also my favourite bromance. Comfort route, for sure.

Kenshin: I was going to put him above Sasuke but the comfort route triumphed. We all know he becomes a yandere. I love enemies to lovers and although it starts off with strangers to acquaintances? to lovenemy?!?? I would’ve loved to see Kanetsugu in this route because we’d have seen his relationship from Kenshin’s side and I wanted to see how Kanetsugu would react to Kenshin hanging around an enemy woman. That’s what brings it down for me. We don’t see the master-servant? relationship between them. Although, I do love that we get to see the other characters like Shingen etc. Learning about his past actually explains his tendencies and I can see why he acts the way he does. I also love reading about him and his bunnies and my favourite CG ever is the one where he’s laying on her lap.

- Ranmaru: Even though, his route hasn’t been completed, I really do love his character especially after reading a little more of Kennyo’s route. Might be a comfort route like Sasuke.

- Talking about comfort routes. Mitsunari and Ieyasu. Though, I just adore Mitsunari’s route that slight bit more. Mitsunari is the official sweetheart of the Oda side and his inability to understand Ieyasu’s sarcasm and sneakiness is one of my favourite things to read. I love how simple his route is in terms of her caring for him and him not making things harder for her and them just falling in love along the way. Though, she does get kidnapped my Kennyo but we move on. Ieyasu is a wonderful character because his concern shows beneath his sarcastic comments and constant nonchalance. I love how even after he falls in love, he doesn’t change, he just learns to communicate better. Also, his relationship with Mitsunari is one of my favourite things.

- Shingen and Yukimura: Haven’t done either of these routes but from Kenshin’s route and Sasuke’s route, I loved the characters. I figure I know how Yuki’s route will go considering his character and knowing his rival is Sasuke. I do not know enough about Shingen except he loves sweets and flirting with women. But, I feel like he’ll grow on me.

- Kicho: I am in the middle about him. I learnt he hurt MC in Motonari’s route and idk why (I haven’t read that route) so it’s brought him down. I do love the way he seems to acknowledge the further future and wonder what his relationship with MC will look like - when he notices she is from the future or if she tells him. Though, maybe he notices straight away and that is why he gets interested in her.

- Mitsuhide: I haven’t read this route because I am saving his for last. I love his character don’t get me wrong and I’m sure I’ll love his route but his relationship with MC as I’ve seen in event stories etc. wouldn’t be my ideal. Though, I do get why people love him. He just isn’t for me. Anyway, I saved him for last because when I did Nobunaga’s route and it revealed Mitsuhide being a ‘spy’, I wanted to save what he was getting up to last. This is because I did Lancelot first in Revolution and I ruined his secret in every other route. So I want to stay ambiguous.

- Masamune: He was my last route. Idk he wasn’t the worst character for sure but I just was put off by the whole him nearly killing her situation. Like, they get over it but I’m still not. I get why he’s like that though but that’s the only reason he is down here.

- Hideyoshi: Again, he threw me off with the whole sister thing. But I really love his kindness that definitely shows as soon as he trusts her. I appreciate that he doesn’t hurt her or try to kill her even though he doesn’t trust her (although we do have the constant glares for talking back to Nobunaga). I admire and respect his work rate and his willingness to be around Nobunaga. I don’t get how anyone would go near him. All in all, he’s a wonderful character that just needs to stop sister-zoning. At least friend-zone yk.

- Yoshimoto: I believe I have not done a route where it focuses on him so I have no clue about him. Just that he likes art? I believe or just beauty in general and a far relative of Shingen. I’d love to know more about him. Might be my next route.

- Motonari: I was going to pick him as my second route to do ever but I didn’t because I learnt about his character and was just put off. Apparently, he is like Silvio (who I love) but I just can’t seem to find a reason to like him. Hopefully, when I read his route, this will change. However, currently this is my stance.

- Last and definitely least: Nobunaga. He is a weirdo as I see it. In every other route, he basically tells her you’ve got to do this by assigning her to someone. In his route and a few others, he bangs on about her being ‘his lucky charm’ and he literally brings her to a battle because he sees her as a possession. Minus points for the misogynist and I would’ve loved to see more appreciation for Hideyoshi from him.

ikemen prince (this game is lower than sengoku because we don’t see the relationships between the two different groups much. but i do love how the characters do not change they just fall in love. (for me, that’s a good thing because in shows sometimes they’ll change the nature of a person when that is not how reality works). However, this game has the best endings. Currently on Keith.

- ikemen vampire (this game is repetitive as well in the beginning but i feel like we are the brotherhood between. the characters more and we see progress in the relationships between the characters. one other downside is the quickness of them falling in love and how the mc is weaker in understanding her feelings). Started Jean recently and I’m liking it except the getting out of trouble unlike Arthur who didn’t actually bite her and Isaac who actually had a reasonable excuse for biting her.

- ikemen revolution (this game is somewhat repetitive in the beginning especially chapter 1 and 2) and that is what I dislike. Plus, the endings aren’t as great because most of them end with Amon and aren’t as interesting as Ikemen Prince and Swngoku as they are just one chapter for dramatic and romantic. I dislike the Like I said earlier, I did ruin it for myself by doing Lancelot first. Just finished Kyle and starting Loki (I think).

An interesting question for sure, of course all mine are based off of personal opinions and such. So It's best to not push it further as everyone is entitled to their opinions.

So I'll summarize the games themselves: (it is of my own opinion, it doesn't mean I'm wrong or right, as I do try to keep a neutral stance on a lot of things)

IkeSen

IkeVil

IkeGen

IkePri

IkeVamp

IkeRev

As much as I do love IkeRev, it does fall flat for me on some occasions, I've had more pauses and uninstalls on it than I have others. I know you've yet to read IkeVil & IkeGen, but I've found both of their set ups to me, a little more enjoyable than IkePri's and IkeVamp's. (it might just be that I'm starving for slightly darker content akin to a CSI episode- but that's not important)

Of course IkeSen is top for me as it's spaced out, like you said it shows the changes in the characters fairly well as well as their interactions with the MC and with the other characters.

xxx

Route-wise for IkeSen, I'd have to rank it via route favorites but-

Kennyo

Kanetsugu

Kenshin

Mitsuhide

Yoshimoto

Kennyo's is the one I'm running back through right now for a second run and his POVs are a treat, this man is beyond thoroughly confused by MC. Kanetsugu might be next for round two because I really did thoroughly enjoyed his route and I think it's just overall because his character is an interesting one. Though one of the reasons Kennyo, Kanetsugu, Yoshimoto, and Mitsuhide's routes are my favorites because there is some good content happening there in regards to Ranmaru. Since as of right now he's the last main route to be released (we're expected to be seeing Kicho's route soon), I can only be sated via events and whatever time he has going in everyone else's routes.

Safe to say that Ranmaru went to being my number 1.

Though Motonari's route is something, it hasn't been that long since I ran through it, his route was surprisingly enjoyable and you can only really get a feel for his character in it (in my opinion of course), it wasn't a bad route. But it does give you some Kicho time in it. Same with Yoshimoto's, I know Kanetsugu has some Kicho time as well. But if you really want your heart stabbed a little, Yoshimoto's route is def the way to go.

xxx

IkePri, I love the premise for it. I love how they just take the fairytale and rehash it in a way that makes it charming, though it feels a lot like some things (IkeVamp does it too, but is worse than IkePri) tend to get forgotten for a short while. I agree that the endings are better, like IkeSen it def helps that they add more to the endings instead of doing a single chapter ending like IkeVamp & IkeRev.

I unfortunately only have four that I really loved personally, I might actually have to go back through the other routes, though right now I'm taking a reading break on IkePri at the moment, Rio's route is the only one I have not read yet, sans Gilbert whose route has yet to be released.

Sariel

Keith

Chevalier

Silvio

Though if you had to be more accurate and not me being bias-

Silvio

Keith

Chevalier

Sariel

With IkeVamp, I did find a lot of its stuff all over, but I still love it to pieces. Of course my Top 5 routes being reflective is rather interesting in on itself. Dazai's route just always hits me hard and I think part of it just hits a little too close to home for me, although I didn't list it for IkeSen since I had so many favorites, Keiji's route did hit me fairly hard since that was also relatively close to home for me. But Dazai's route really was enjoyable and I do recommend that one, Arthur's was a good one, especially after revisiting it 2 years later and his was fun. His love by fans is well deserved, largely because the interactions felt close to what I personally do with my friends (namely the playful friendly quips)

I'm just extremely bias to Faust, Charles, and Vlad though. But there's were enjoyable to me. Especially after reading their side-stories too. I'm mid-process of getting Dazai's.

Dazai

Faust

Charles

Vlad

Arthur

xxx

Lastly for IkeRev, I do have a special fondness for it, but I did say it was the one I paused and uninstalled a lot. Parts of it just didn't latch on to me the same way the others did and it might largely be because I've never actually been the biggest fan of Alice in Wonderland or anything themed to it. Parts of it was strong, I will give it that, but other parts of it were... not so strong. IkeVamp, IkePri, and IkeSen do give you a little insight as to what portion they're next to or not. IkeRev really didn't and just separated it via sequels and main stories. IF there is a way to tell, I would love if someone could tell me or show me the indicators cause I cannot find it on the app at all. But I did have some favorite rights, and yes. I also agree with Lancelot, if you do his route then it does kind of spoil things.

Route favorites tho? From what I can remember? I def might have to run back through them again

Sirius

Harr

Lancelot

Fenrir

Jonah

xxx

I wound up doing it more by favorites rather than by, well- overall.

But these of course are based off of my own opinions. I'm partly sick so my brain is all jumbled and the whole response is rather lengthy overall and I worry over the length of the ask and people coming at me. Which is valid and fair. But but but! That's what I can think to share, there's a lot of info I have sorted up in my head, some of it doesn't come naturally right away. Though I am in the process of making notes for IkeSen for each of the suitors, (except for Hideyoshi cause I forgot to, and it was during a collection event and I'm trying to keep my suitor keys stocked up since they're hard to get 😭😭😭😭)

[chronomaza]

Hnnng I'm thinking about how the way Pit flies around in uprising and how this ONE PERSON'S AU inspired me so much it's directly responsible for almost EVERYTHING about how the angels work in my series.

(Sorry if this is worded like shit or incredibly stupidly I've been very mentally weak the past few months both from depression, lingering medication withdraw and several other things. Brain is a fog, think is a hard.)

Ok, of first of all, Pit doesn't really obey the laws of physics when he flies around. He's either kind of just gliding and occasionally flapping, or sort of just hovering upright in the air when you're shooting and during some cutscenes.

Like, to give you an idea of what I mean, here's a few examples of this. It's hard to see from just these pictures but he's *really* just kinda hovering in place with a faint sparkly glow (because 3DS graphics) coming from his wings and it's VERY physics defying. It makes sense, even if it IS a really odd stylistic choice; he's not flying on his own, he's using the power of flight.

Now this is where I get to that one AU. I WISH I could remember who's it was or what it was even called- or if it was even an AU at all but jesus it was so clever, I wish I could shake the hand of whoever came up with it.

Basically, whoever came up with it paid close attention to this and the fact Pit's wings glow when he flies, and how Pittoo's wings get noticeably bigger after he takes Pandora's powers, and decided to explain Pit's inability to fly as simply lacking some sort of energy to do it. They explained how other angels couldn't fly using actual physics, so they used some sort of energy they naturally have instead. This energy is also the same thing that powers weapons, and the creator directly tied this to the dialog about palms where Palutena explains how they use some sort of "life energy", and reinterprets it as that same energy that allows angels to fly.

This idea back when I saw it in 2020/21 inspired me SO MUCH that it fixed a major issue with the angels in my series: they were boring, and their weapons made no sense. I figured, well, if I use something similar to this it'd fix that.

So I did, and the concept of Zyrgia and eventually every other biological aspect of my angels was born! I'm too lazy to type this out, so here's this handy chart I made for myself explaining it;

Heads up; OUTDATED OUTDATED OUTDATED! They don't even have their weird fake bones in this!! Blasphemy!!! The information about Zyrgia is still MOSTLY accurate aside from a few things, though.

You can VERY CLEARLY see the inspiration I've taken from it. Zyrgia both allows them to fly, and powers all their gear, which I've neglected to write down here for some reason- I was probably tired, I DID make this late at night evidenced by the beige tinted page to spare my eyes, and how I neglected to turn it back to white.

Also, the way angels fly in my series looks almost IDENTICAL to how Pit flies because of this, just without the 5 minute limit.

So yeah, almost EVERYTHING to do with the angels in my series can be tied back to Kid Icarus. No, EVERYTHING to do with them can, not almost everything- that series is the reason they're even there!

[juliansummerhayes]

What has become of us?

As you know, the question “How did it get like this?” is one I continue to wrestle with, if only to remind myself that it hasn’t always been like this, i.e. we haven’t always had to face an existential threat of such magnitude.

As for the rest of the human malaise, atrocities and inequality, that appears to have been there (practically) from the very start – and I don’t say that to in any way excuse what’s happening now or to come.

But how did it get like this?

How did we not see that that which goeth up and up would eventually bring ruination and destruction on such a scale that whatever we might believe we can do to ameliorate the consequences, the effect of big business, big pharma and big egos was simply that: too big a problem to change.

And yet, as COP28 and similar talking shops aptly demonstrate, our inability to accept that globalisation and our desire for a better life – better than what? – is simply unsustainable on a finite, animate world. 

When I think back to the late 70s and early 80s, when it’s arguable that things really got going – e.g. there is no society and greed is good and we’d never run out of oil – there were no cautionary tales to tether our hubris and self-belief that we could be anything we wanted to be, have what we wanted and enjoy the best of everything. I’m not saying everyone was so in love with materialism and be all you can be but I don’t remember any of my teachers, and certainly not my parents, telling me to aspire to be less than what I was capable of and that meant, of course, consuming and destroying as I went along.

Imagine it otherwise.

Imagine that there was at least an elder or two who could have applied a gentle brake to my putative runaway success, and asked the simple but profound question:

“. . .[B]ut at what cost?”

We know only too well, now, the cost, and the Gods have spoken but still we don’t take heed or not on a scale anywhere sufficient to give us a wee bit more time to find a way to leave this planet for Mars – or wherever the dot.com money is taking us.

As a slight segue, I remember watching one or two videos of the father (apparently) of efilism, Immendam*, who promulgated the idea that all life was inherently bad and someone should press the Red Button to end it all. Radical, nihilist and pro-mortalist for sure but at least there was someone who had a very different narrative on what it meant to be human. I’m not saying I agree with his thesis, and certainly I’m not endorsing him or his material, but I am pointing to a different version of what I’d been exposed to throughout my adult life. Not in the same bracket, but Professor David Bennatar’s book, Better Never To Have Been, was also something that made me think that if only I’d had the benefit of someone in my early days who was prepared to explain what our growing population was and would do to the earth, and that once we all succumbed to the neo-capitalist messaging and adopted mutatis mutandis the same modus vivendi (apologies for the Latin), that it was game over.

But I’m going off the point.

The question is and will remain, how did it get like this? And it’s one I feel duty bound to explore and to share my musings on, if only because I don’t want it said that I didn’t leave a few web-based breadcrumbs for the next generation who are being or have been hoodwinked to believe that this is ‘normal’ (more like insanity if you ask me).

I’m sorry if my message, at least for now, seems repetitive and a little anodyne but it’s where I’m at.

Blessings, Julian 

*Antinatalism led to efilism, a school of thought pioneered by a man known as “Inmendham” on YouTube. Efilists don’t only subscribe to antinatalism but believe all life — animals included — is inherently negative. – We need to talk about extreme antinatalism, Unheard, 5 April 20023

Photo by Chris Yang on Unsplash

PS. I have updated my Ko-fi page where you can support my work for as little as £1 either as a one-off payment or recurring subscription.

[derekscorner]

Maybe 3 Houses should’ve been Azure Gleam

It’s not that rare a “hot-take”, believe me I know, but it is one I can’t help but agree with after experiencing 3 Houses, its dlc, and 3 Hopes several times through.

Everyone that plays either entry can tell it’s story writing took a bit of a hit due to the branching story routes. 3 Hopes helps a bit to explain some stuff that 3  Houses did not but both suffer from this decision.

The base 3 Houses story is still very enjoyable, I do not wish to make a hit piece (as if I’m popular at all to even attempt that) but there’s holes and questionable actions on the characters part depending on your route.

3 Houses DLC and 3 Hopes add context later as well but some stuff just feels rushed or half baked. Things such as;

Thales being Arundel. (I didn’t learn that till I saw a youtube video)

The full truth of the tragedy in Duscar.

How did Claude sneak in Almyran troops in Verdant Wind?

The whole questionably of Edelgards plans. Her goals are crystal clear but her plans felt rushed at times or her working with Agarthans in general.

The whole step sibling dynamic between Edelgard & Dimitri.

There’s more that I can’t think up off the top of my head, some of these may not even be mysteries to others in their first playthroughs, but these are things I remembered the most during mine.

I will even go as far as to say Verdant Wind is my first and favored route in 3 Houses because it answered the most for me. Rhea lived long enough to explain Byleth, I confronted and destroyed Shambala, and it sprinkled in a bit more of the mysterious history of Fodlan due to Claude always seeking truths.

I’d even argue Verdant Wind is a better “Silver Snow” for those reasons as well as due to Claude himself. He’s written as a tactician and it makes more sense for him to make the schemes I used as opposed to Seteth doing so in Silver Snow.

They both even have these random ass bosses that spring out of nowhere which is a weak point on them but I wont get into that because it’s minor. The point is they explained more and thus I liked Verdant Wind the most.

Silver Snow is just lesser Verdant Wind and Crimson Rose is way too short. I see Rhea and Edelgard as highly complicated, contradictory, but human characters. So I wont go into “Edelgard was wrong” debates either.

My main issues with Crimson Rose are its short length and my inability to agree with working alongside Agarthans. It makes no sense for me, as Byleth, nor Edelgard to not turn on them near the endgame.

Blue Lions

Then there’s Dimitri and the blue lions. I initially weighed this route lower for similar reasons to Edelgard’s. I never confront Shambala, that threat is there when the story ends. I also had no idea that I took out Thales as Arundel since the game didn’t give me enough to deduce it. I love a hub world but I’m not going to visit the Garegg Mach library every month for that kind of lore hint.

I also did not fully adhere to Dimirti’s trauma and rebound because the game did not delve into the Tragedy of Duscar enough. At least not for me. If anything I was more annoyed by his downward spiral by the time he rebounded.

However, upon playing 3 Hopes I can finally see why people like this route the most.

It answers a bit more about that Tragedy, I get to see the regent that was disposed of in 3 Houses, I get to see Dimitri tackle this mystery head on.

He still has his trauma and more negative tendencies but in this story he had people to keep him on track the whole way. I saw him confront Cornelia and ask questions, I saw him sorrowfully cut down his uncle despite having no love lost, and most important was the Agarthans being more present.

In a sense 3 hopes focused more on the tragedy as a subplot due to ‘Those Who Slither in the Dark’ being more present. Shez & Edelgard forced them to act early and openly.

I went through Azure Gleam and by the end I appreciated Azure Moon more because I understood more of it.

My mind also wandered back to videos and posts I had seen when 3 Houses launched. Azure Moon was the more traditional route in that title but it was lacking like the others. It was rushed, 3 Houses needed two routes at most and one at best.

And I can actually agree with that now. Of course, you can also make a similar argument for Edelgard. Her plans in 3 Hopes actually more sense and flow better than they do in 3 Houses. She uses Shez as a chance to cease the empire early, expose her tormentors, and prep for war far earlier.

My only personal issue with Edelgard is that I still feel like she’s burning down the world to rush her ideals. In contrast, Dimitri in 3 Hopes expresses similar sentiments to both Edelgard and Claude but has the wisdom to see that such a thing is a slow process.

Which ties back into his father and the tragedy. Duscar’s Tragedy taught him that you can’t rush change, it all comes full circle for his character to believe that. He is more interested in routing those who slaughtered his family and an innocent nation for personal greed.

His path through the story is about stabilizing his people’s lives first, understanding the tragedy second, and implementing slow change later.

And to be blunt I enjoyed that. I wished 3 Houses had been that. It didn’t have to be the exact same story but I liked what 3 Hopes presented as a possible path for Dimitri and his kingdom.

His words, actions, and beliefs circle back to the Tragedy of Duscar. He has some old school medieval drama and, most important, his desire for the truth pushed him toward finding some mysteries shrouded in Fodlan.

I finished Azure Gleam imagining what 3 Houses could’ve been if they had focused on just one story. Dimitri has the perfect set up in that worlds setting to delve into the mysteries and world building all the while growing his character and how his friends react to him.

Essentially, both versions of the Blue Lions from each title had the potential to be a really compelling old school fire emblem story but new. I can’t help but wonder what the story would’ve been had 3 Houses just been Azure moon.

All that creative focus in one route, a route perfectly fashioned to tackle most of what Fodlan had to offer.

You wouldn’t even have to cut the concept of three nations, three leaders, or the three classes. Edelgard and Dimitri’s past gives room to explore that dynamic even before Edelgard starts a war.

And Claude is the perfect advisor. Someone you could potentially recruit since his goals are more inclined toward opening Fodlan’s borders than anything else.

Sure, Claude seeks truth and change but he, like your avatar Byleth, is an outsider and thus his stake in it all feels a little weaker. It’s not as personal despite it being entirely personal.

Perhaps you could’ve even had a few alternative endings depending on whether you recruited Claude or allied with the Leicester Alliance. Heck, imagine how much better it’d feed some supports when you managed to recruit some of the Black Eagles in such a route.

I know I’m rambling at this point so let’s conclude this

After playing 3 Hopes and seeing this alternative Faerghus I can see the appeal of a game focused entirely on the Blue Lions. Their leader had everything needed to make the story more compelling than it became.

The kingdom has the most relics and crests

Dimitri has a personal stake in fighting Edelgard

He has perfect cause to ally with Claude

His pursuit of the truth would naturally force you to confront Shambala

And the kingdom is heavily tied to the church. Your Silver Snow units would be there for you by default. You’d be able to learn the truth of Byleth too.

All the core aspects of the four routes (and dlc) can be found in Azure Moon. Azure Gleam showed me what they could’ve been and I earnestly believe 3 Houses should’ve just been one route, the Blue Lions.

=======================================

Editors Note: This is a bit of a spin off from my traditional: Fiery Opinions posts. You’ll find the rest in that link if you’re curious about my trip through Fire Emblem.