#also i should say that I actually I'm only on part 4 of 9 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

astrologydayz · 6 months

Text

ASTROLOGY FUCKING NOTES

WHY do people say that if someone's planets falls into your 7th house, then YOU'RE THEIR IDEAL LOVER??? Bitch bye. If someone's planets falls into YOUR 7th house, then U DIG THEM OR HATE EM, AS IT'S YOUR 7TH HOUSE! Let's say that your crush planets falls into your 1st and 7th house, then obviously u like their looks (1st house) and the way they show themselves off 2 other people, (how they treat other people/people u know (7th house! Don't project.

Pluto conjunct Ascendant in synastry, is a stalker aspect🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️. It kinda reminds me of Hailey running around after Justin at his interviews, when they were young and he had no idea🤨🫣😭🤣 . SO FUCKING CREEPY. Pluto is obsessed, and way 2 "fixated" on the asc person. It can get dangerous, cuz ASC person has no idea about how deeply the obsession runs with Pluto, fr💀. The worst part is that they usually know that the Pluto person can be kinda "creepy", but not about how deep it actually runs. U won't ever really know with Pluto, cuz they won't even give out 20% of their secrets - they can't help it. Unless they literally have no aspects from Pluto 2inner planets in their own natal chart.

Your Bella asteroid - 695 conjunct/trine/quintile someone’s ASC means that the ASC person finds u really beautiful, (physical attraction) 🍒🫦. With the opposition it's on & off, like sometimes yeah and other times no - It switches. With the square/quincunx - takes time, but grows into a really strong attraction, the longer you're 2gether/know each other.

Why the fuck do people think that 8th house energy is only about sex and intense connections? If a person has planets in your 8th house = that person does not like u 9/10 times. They'll talk shit about u when u ain't present/gaslight u/do things behind your back. They're usually jealous of u. Trying 2 cross your personal boundaries all the fucking time. WHO GOT TIME4THAT?? NOT ME LOVE⚠⚠.

Why do Cap inner placements/points always get a "boring", or a "cold" rep? We just don't like u? Trust me. We'll show u a good time, if we think you're worth it.

Jupiter is not only good. It enlarges EVERYTHING. So if someone has Sado asteroid (118230) conjunct Jupiter in their natal chart = a very smart/knowledgeable Sadist. They want to know everything! Hours&hours of research. They can't get enough with Jupiter! They're into some sick shit, and can use some really AGGRESSIVE ways 2 create that "pain and suffering". "shhh, I'm here baby, it's okay"🤨. 9/10 times = addiction 2 being that Sado "teacher" with Jupiter here🔞🔞. They can even brag about it!

Nessus asteroid - 7066 in synastry can definitely cause sexual attraction. But the Nessus person will always take advantage of the other person, no matter what. It may not be as "in your face"/prominent, like it is with the conjunction/square/opposition, but it will take place. Some can like Nessus contacts in synastry, if they have Nessus aspecting their own planets - especially inner planets, or points. And they can also handle Nessus energy way more, than someone who doesn't really have any Nessus contact, as they're already used to it. It doesn't make it good tho.

WOMEN with Black Moon Lilith conjunct/square/opposite Mars can hate being touched by men. Can also have trouble regarding intimacy with men in general/bc of their experiences with them🪚🪚. I have this, and if a man touches me out of nowhere = I'll punch him back 2 the year he should have stayed in a fucking condom 🦄.

Lilith asteroid - 1181) in 3rd house synastry can mean that the house persons siblings doesn't like Lilith if it's "poorly" aspected😮‍💨😮‍💨. Or that house persons siblings doesn't even want 2 try 2 create a relationship, because they already heard so much "shit" about Lilith🫠🫠.

💜 Pluto conjunct asteroid Valentine - 447) in a natal chart loves so fucking hard. They'll literally take a bullet 4 the person they love. They don't “create” a connection with anyone easy either. They're so intense when it comes 2 love, and with how they connect 2 another being. They transform/find themselves - Pluto, through those few people they do end up loving. Most people can't handle their intense ways of showing love🖤🔫.

Inner planets in Gemini degrees 3/15/27° in a natal chart are the real champions, when it comes to overthinking - but knowing everything beforehand. They already thought about ALL the different outcomes, 2 every fucking situation!🫰🫠😍🤭. They already know what time it is, before u tryna tell em.

Look at your Vertex persona chart 2 c what kind of fated things you're supposed2 go through in this life ✍👀. Make a synastry chart and c if your Vertex chart makes any significant aspects 2 your natal! It can show important life events/secret fated "events" that won't be seen in just natal or Vertex pc alone👽.

Lol, I'VE SEEN A LOT OF PEOPLE SAY THAT ARIES RISING WILL HAVE RED HAIR, OR COLOR THEIR HAIR RED AT SOME POINT? I'm an Aries rising, and I would rather get shot in the face. I'm naturally blonde, and honestly? I haven't met a single Aries rising who has red hair, or would color their hair red.

Anti - Vertex persona chart shows what YOU choose2 let into your life, and what u choose 2 do without fate intervening. It also shows u how u choose 2 act, in moments where u find no "meaning", and that's where your Vertex pc comes in right after - Fate intervening 🔮🔮.

Pluto opposite ASC/conjunct DSC in synastry can show the Pluto person deciding/or trying to at least, who the house person talks 2/surrounds themselves with. They can think a person is "bad company" 4 the house person. They can be in DSC persons business, a lot! House person is alarmed/or not, depending on how Pluto is aspected in their own chart. If Pluto is afflicted = they kinda like it.

ANYONE who has benefitted/benefits from me = a planet/point/NN/Vertex/asteroid conjunct my POF. Your POF is all the things (material/or spiritual wealth/growth), u have "picked up" on/will pick up on throughout your life. U "help" others with that planet/point or asteroid in synastry💰🦉💳.

Star asteroids - Starr - 4150), Kallisto - 204), Fama - 408), Europe - 52), actor - 12238), Lumiere - 775 - acting, Apollo - 1862), Talent - 33154), Klio - 84), Fan - 151590), Records - 30718), Varuna - 20000) Webb - 3041).

✨✨✨✨🎭🎬🎨

Music, writing&poetry asteroids - Polyhymnia - 33), Euterpe - 27), Apollo - 1862), Terpsichore - 81 - song and dance) Luscinia - 713 - Singing), Melpomene - 18, Harmonia - 40), Erato - 62), Kalliope - 22), Singer - 10698), Cantor - 16246 - singing), Poesia - 946), Parthenope - 11 - singing), Tone - 1266), Echo - 60), Mnemosyne - 57).

🎤🎧🎼

"Lucky asteroids" - Fortuna (19), Opportunities - 39382), Paradise - 2791), Winner - 15606), Abundantia - 151), Angel - 11911), Bless - 92891), Bonus - 10028), Tyche - 258), Midas - 1981), Magion - 2696), Spirit - 37452), Nike - 307).

🍀🍀🍀

Please look at these asteroids in synastry. Prey - 6157), Sado - 118230), Devience - 21419), Nessus - 7066), Pain - 5188), Lie - 26955), Blink - 4425), Nemesis - 128), Swindle - 8690), Lilith - 1181), Hades - h41), wild - 1941), Fanatica - 1589), Medea - 212), Savage - 29837), Not - 2857), Pervert - 18624), Hard - 28077).

🔞

THANKS4READING BABE!!

Appreciate u, always❤️

#astro community #astro notes #astro observations #astrology #astrology notes #asteroids #synastry #lilith

1K notes · View notes

riding-the-sunset-bird · 3 months

Text

A character reference based on all four Steps of Our Life! It's only "sort of" a height reference as well since obviously they're not 100% accurate (the devs don't have specific heights for everyone to my knowledge).

I did dig into the code to try and get characters at their "normal" heights but there are other matters at play too (example: Nicolas is obviously "taller" than he should be because he needs to be pushed upwards to be visible enough above the game's text box; likewise with other very short characters).

Still, this should serve as either a nice reference guide for every character or a "height reference" in the sense of getting an idea of which characters are shorter/taller than others.

I'm also going to detail some extra notes below the break, including posts from GB Patch's Tumblr that reference any defined heights (with Cove being the obvious one) or general height things, as well as some more stuff about the MC's height in comparison to the three love interests depending on what you pick.

Cove's height is listed on GB Patch's FAQ as 4' 1" in Step 1 (also stated as "mostly average, perhaps a bit on the short side"), 5' 4" in Step 2 (in-game this is defined as "very tall" on the MC's potential height spectrum, as that is the only option considered on par with Cove's height), 6' 0" in Step 3, and 6' 4" in Step 4. A fun fact is that Cove's final height was originally 6' 3" (191cm) instead.

Derek in Step 2 is under five feet tall (this post also lists Cove as "around 5 and a half feet tall" which you could take as either close enough to 5' 4" as stated above or a potential original height he had that got changed). In-game, he's "short" but not "very short", as having your MC be "very short" will prompt narration telling you that you're shorter than Derek, whereas "short" only has you relate to him in smolness generally.

Step 4 Derek is "mostly average." He wouldn't be considered tall nor would he be considered short. His youngest brother Nicolas will "probably end up as a similar height to him" once he's more grown up.

Step 4 Baxter is "taller than average, but not especially tall."

I've been informed that, on the Our Life Patreon Discord, Step 4 Derek's height is listed as 5' 9" (175cm) whereas Step 4 Baxter's is listed as 5' 11" (180cm), so those are their defined heights. Before that, both of their heights had jumped around somewhat. A post from 2019 said that Derek was 5' 11", but a post from June 2021 said that Baxter was 5' 11" and Derek was 5' 9" (so consistent with the Discord). Then there's also another post from July 2021 (you'll have to scroll down for this one) that listed Baxter at around 5' 10" while Derek was 5' 8"/5' 9". If you're insane enough to try and use the character reference too, then Baxter would actually be around 6'1" at minimum since he's taller than Step 3 Cove (though you could also make the same argument that this means the mom trio of Pamela, Noelani, and Kyra must be decently tall as well since they're so close to Cove on the character reference).

I don't have any experience with GB Patch's other game, XOXO Droplets, so I don't know what ages the characters are in it, but since both Shiloh and Jeremy are characters seen visibly in Our Life, I thought I'd also mention that they're listed as 5' 10" and 5' 5" (or 5' 5 1/2") respectively in XOXO Droplets. Jeremy also apparently grows to 5' 8" in his 20s and he's 22 in the Our Life Cove Wedding DLC (I don't think this is spoken of in the game specifically but he's labeled as 22 in the code).

As for the MC and how their height plays into things, "tall" and "very tall" as well as "short" and "very short" tend to be considered the same for the most part in the game's code. It's not that there isn't a difference at all (I would say it's still notable), it's just that sometimes the game may be more vague about height differences. My post about Errands references this where you don't need more athletic points due to being "very short" instead of "short" to give Cove a piggyback ride.

A guesstimate I'd make is that about 5% of the time, the game will take note of whether you're "very tall" instead of "tall" or "very short" instead of "short." Otherwise, you're either "generally tall," "average," or "generally short." There are also other instances (usually with Cove) where the game might just check if you're either generally tall (around Cove's height) or not generally tall (i.e: definitely shorter than him).

This is actually relevant to the heights because, following all above information, one would assume that Step 4 Derek is average, Step 4 Baxter is tall, and Step 4 Cove is very tall going off the MC's potential "height spectrum" of very short, short, average, tall, and very tall, but it's not entirely the case.

A "tall" MC (generally tall) will look "down" at Step 4 Baxter just as he will look "up" at them or they'll look directly at each other if the MC is "average," same as Step 3 Baxter, but--

when the game has any instance of differentiating between "tall" and "very tall" (they never do this for Step 3 Baxter so the base assumption would have to be that he's just average height), things change.

During Baxter's apology in the wedding of his Step 4, Baxter dips his chin to look at the MC if they're "short"/"very short," levels his chin to look at the MC if they're "average"/"tall," and then lifts his chin to look at the MC if they're "very tall." A generally tall MC still has to lean down to kiss him if they choose to do so though.

Also, during the intimacy scene with Baxter (either in his office or his living room), if the MC is "very short," "short," or "average," it states that Baxter is taller than them. If they're "very tall," then Baxter is shorter than them, but a "tall" MC is "almost the exact same height" as him.

This is all a really long-winded way of saying that GB Patch referring to Step 4 Baxter being "taller than average but not especially tall" might mean that he's some infuriating middle ground between average and tall where he's not quite one but not quite the other either (which honestly is very Baxter of him so I can't even be mad).

#type: helpful #type: cracking the cove #our life #olba #our life: beginnings & always #((If you line up the images yourself then make sure the height of the original images are all the same))#((I don't know if Tumblr squished any.))#((Let me know if I'm missing anyone!))#((I know there's Step 3 Jeremy and someone named Cala in Derek's Step 4 (haven't gotten there yet)))#((but you only see those two on the phone so there is no ''default'' position/size for them.))#((Also I was worried that Tumblr would eat the quality if I uploaded such long images))#((so I separated Steps 2 and 3 and 4 into multiple images.))#((Hopefully that's fine; if you line them up side-by-side it still works out.))#((Me feeling so exposed because now how I design my Coves is here for everyone to see.))#((Feel free to judge my bias towards the color blue.))

623 notes · View notes

nikkotinamide · 6 months

Text

my observations and take on some nuances not conveyed in translation

my drawn out summary part 2!

*Disclaimer: I'm not critiquing existing translations, I think the translators have done a phenomenal job! Just wanted to add my 2 cents worth.

Part 1

Language Use in Kiseki

Ep 4 Cont

More tears. This scene hurts so bad. Ai Di actually says "Blind or what? Having followed him for so long, it's not as though unaware of whom he likes..." It's difficult to translate these lines because there are no first person pronouns used. On one hand, it's Ai Di scolding himself for holding on to his unrequited feelings for Chen Yi (seen in the translation above). On the other hand, he is also scolding Chen Yi for the same thing with regards to CDY.

Ep 5

Time for some comedy to soothe the angst. Our boy really went to school punning and naming himself Edison (and I think the intent was with Thomas Edison in mind lmao).

Ep 8

There's so much we don't know about Ai Di. Here Chen Yi actually asks if Ai Di wants to return to school. Coupled with how Ai Di deflected and told him to stop joking around, and how he told Zong Yi he doesn't need to attend school because he's a genius, it suggests that Ai Di has some regrets about not having the normal life peers his age lead.

Ep 9 💔

This was the most heartbreaking scene imo. Here Ai Di says "你再怎么喜欢他，你再怎么努力，他看的永远不会是你。" - "No matter how much you like him, no matter how hard you try, the one he looks at will forever not be you." While it's clear it's directed at Chen Yi, to a degree it's also Ai Di directing it at himself.

He goes on to say "会看着你的他妈只有我。" 他妈 is a vulgarity (essentially meant to insult someone's mother) which the subtitles and translation have censored, and this line translates into "The only fucking person who will look at you is me."

Let's make it angstier. Ai Di says "只有我，从小看到大。我蠢，我猪。", which has been translated into "Only I, for all my life...I'm such a stupid fool". The translation is fine but it doesn't reflect just how vulnerable Ai Di was in this moment, as though he heart was breaking right alongside Chen Yi’s. My translation would be "Only I, since I was young till now when I am old, have been looking at you. I'm naive. I'm foolish."

This is the line that has made me tear every single rewatch. Ai Di isn't stupid but he is aware that he is being foolish, chasing so desperately all his life after someone who doesn't see him as anything more than a brother .

Ai Di regrets and he says "这件事我帮你扛，抵昨天晚上的事情行吧。我说行就行。" which has been translated into "I'll take the blame for you to make up for what I did to you last night. It's a deal." I felt it was more of a resigned question Ai Di poses, "I'll carry the blame for you, to make up for yesterday night's affair, alright? If I say that's fine, then it's fine."

I was surprised to see this! Here, because Ai Di will not follow willingly, Chen Yi picks him up, and he purposely steps over the pot of burning coal on Ai Di's behalf. I'm not too sure if it's a Chinese thing or religion thing, but in my home country, some Chinese (esp the older folks) say that upon returning home after incarceration, one has to step over burning coal to wash away the bad luck. Very neat that they included this custom!

The same thing Ai Di tells Zong Yi not to say "再见" - see you again; they wouldn’t want to see prison again (which has been translated into goodbye).

This is why people think ChenAi switch, also courtesy of Hsu Kai who pointed this line out. Ai Di says "做回来就不欠啦" which translates into "Do it back and I'll no longer owe you". (more context in comments)

Ep 10

Matt Lee's character who was Ai Di's friend at the bar before jail mentions that Ai Di even dyed his hair blonde upon going overseas to further his education. Meaning, Ai Di's friends were told that he was schooling overseas when he was actually in prison 😢

Ai Di tells Chen Yi "应该多培养一些人在你旁边了，被开枪的时候，才有人帮你垫背" which translates into "You should cultivate relationships so more people will be by your side, so that when the gun is fired, there will be someone to take the bullet for you". Ai Di's done it once, he doesn't want to do it again. And Chen Yi smiles weakly after Ai Di says this because Ai Di just confirmed that he went to jail in Chen Yi's stead.

Ep 11

Like Xiao Jie says, Chen Yi really sucks at wooing someone, so much so that even Xiao Jie is better. On receiving the signature, Ai Di asks if Chen Yi thinks he is BTS (bangtan) and that he can sell his autograph 😂

Ep 12

Chen Yi says "我是在你离开之后，我才发现自己真正喜欢的是你" which has been translated into "It's true I realised you are the one with whom I'm in love while you were gone." I would prefer if it had been "It was only after you left that I realised the one whom I actually love is you". Keyword 真正 - really/actually.

Ai Di uses more heart-rending words. Instead of "Don't make me your rebound just because you can't get the one you love", it would be better translated as "Don't randomly use anybody as a substitute just because you couldn't have the person you love."

Cake scene translations

The most heartbreaking line of this scene. 再 - again. Ai Di actually says "Never again will I step aside for anyone." Implicitly, he was previously going to give up on Chen Yi for CDY.

ok this was a longass post but I wanted to keep most of the angst here

#kiseki: dear to me #chen ai #chen yi x ai di #ai di x chen yi #ai di #xiao jie is chen yi's 2nd ride or die #i'm crying them a river #ramblings

435 notes · View notes

absolutebl · 4 months

Text

This Week in BL - Bit Slow Round These Parts

Organized, in each category, by ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Dec 2023 Wk 4

Ongoing Series - Thai

Last Twilight (Fri YT) ep 8 of 12 - Mhok is about the most indulgent boyfriend on the planet. Why they dressed as 1930s gangsters for the wedding? I have no idea idea, but it’s adorable. IFYLITA mark 2? And they’re even dancing together using bits of the same steps that were used that show too. Cute nod.

The Sign (Sat YT) ep 6 of 10 - Everything but the kitchen sink includes lesbians apparently. Excellent. Carry on. Also a lot of filler about the sides. (Boring, stop that.) I wish the doctor were a little bit more of a multifaceted character (and less evil snakey), and that we had some of his backstory + Tharn. If we saw them as kids, having a longer true friendship, it would make Tharn’s attitude a little bit more sympathetic and forgiving.

For Him (Thurs iQIYI) ep 5 of 10 - I like this show, but it’s awfully one-sided in the romance arena. I mean shouldn’t they be trying to support and make each other happy? Why does it always have to come from Him? Also, I’m constantly worried about the fact that Nail doesn’t eat any vegetables. His digestive track must be in serious distress. And if the boy is a bottom?! Look I have concerns is all I'm saying, I hope he's getting his fiber along with the dk. Meanwhile... Mom confrontation! Always fun.

Twins the series (Fri GaGa) ep 9 of 10 - Now I’m having a hard time keeping the twins straight. Who’s getting beat up for whom, what’s going on? No matter who, First caught himself a live one. I like those bits.

Pit Babe (Fri iQIYI) ep 7 of 14 - I got little crumbs of my sides but not enough, and then they dropped the mpreg bomb. Kinda like blowing the BL diaper. Trash watch happening here.

Cooking Crush (Sun YT) ep 5 of 12 - They are so cute. And mostly such good communicators. Except evil dad is evil! I didn’t have OffGun tango on my bingo card, but I'm happy to check it off. After making everyone sing, GMMTV is now making everyone dance. I much prefer it. Kiss came a bit out of nowhere. But it was sweet.

A few minutes later...

Bake Me Please (Mon Gaga) ep 6fin - I don’t know, I feel like this just wasn’t good enough for the class of talent involved. Which means it’s mostly the story and script's fault. In the end I kinda just wanted Guy to get the guy.

In cluclusion:

A lack-luster story about a group of bakers coping with (mostly) a shoddy script that could not be saved by either the beauty nor the talent of the actors involved. It suffered for lack of narrative backbone and so did I. 6/10

Middleman’s Love (Fri YT & iQIYI ep 8fin - Mai is an adorable clingy boyfriend, and that bit was kind of cute.

Summation:

Office clown, Jade, a manic pixie dream dork, is courted by the new intern, Mai. This show is right in my wheelhouse but it fell flat for me. I wish it had lived up to the concept behind the title (if nothing else). If we had done more of Jade‘s family and the reasons behind his self-worth struggles and self-acceptance issues, they might have been easier to bare. Without backstory, the show had no through line. In the end, Jade was a largely intolerable character, and Mai felt flat and lacking in personality. I was disappointed with this show, and I hope they don't blame the pair for the poor ratings. 6/10

My Universe (Sun iQIYI) 1626 ep 19 of 24 - Meh. So dull.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

VIP Only (Taiwan Fri Gaga) ep 7 of 10 - I’m not really interested in the late addition love triangle concept.

Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 4 of 8 - a bit too frenetic and manic for me, this one. Glasses boy is best boy. But I’m kind of confused as to was actually going on with this show. Including whether I like it or not.

I Became the Main Role of a BL (Japan Sun Gaga) ep 1-3 - AKA BL Drama no Shuen ni Narimashita: Crank Up Hen - it should finish airing at the very beginning of the year, so I decided to wait and watch all 3 back-to-back.

It's Airing But...

Playboyy (Thurs Gaga) 14 eps - Dear Playboyy, it's not you, it’s me… I hate you. You’re about as deep (and as palatable) as a shot glass of cum. While I'm sure you’re someone’s kink, you're my weakest link. Goodbye. I DNFed this at ep 5. Frankly I'm impressed with myself for getting that far.

Night Dream (Sat YT) 6 eps - It’s a pain to track down and I really didn’t like the first episode so… DNF

The Whisperer (Sun ????) 10 eps - Thai horror BL that ALSO involves cheating (what joy is mine). I don't think even the perfect single dimple can motivate me to watch. Word is... it's terrible.

7 Days Before Valentine (Weds WeTV) 10 eps - Giving me Luminous Solution vibes. I'm waiting to binge if safe.

Dead Friend Forever (Thai Sat iQIYI) - horror, meh, tell me if it's worth my time?

It's done and I didn't, or we can't

Beyond The Star (Weds iQIYI) 8 eps - House of Stars meets Boyband. I was NOT impressed with ep 1. Been told I shouldn't bother. So I won't.

Behind the Shadows (Korea movie) - This is a historical I was interested in, but I've been told they kill the gay so I'm OUT.

[INTERNATIONAL] Cherry Magic (Sat YouTube) ep 3 of 12 - yeah Japan put the smack down on our boys. Sadness. You can use a VPN if you like. Read all about it here.

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - will binge when I have a spare day.

Crazy work load right now so no idea when that will be. (End of year is a bear for me.)

Honestly I'm gonna have an epic number of dnf's this year for me.

Next Week Looks Like This

Original 2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED). With the end of the year upon us I'll do an "announced for 2023 but never happened list" soon.

Also my best ofs are coming.

Don't think I'll do a stats round up this year, everything progressing as before.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

(Last week) - sorry, forgot to link it.

It's 2024 people! Round ups are coming!!!! Leave a comment or an ask, if you have something specific you want addressed.

#Last Twilight #this week in bl #bl updates #the sign the series #Thai BL #for him the series #cooking crush the series #twins the series #Bake me please review #BL series review #Middleman's Love review #taiwanese bl #japanese bl #vietnamese bl #cooking crush #PitBabe

153 notes · View notes

fullcoffeemoon-nem · 8 months

Text

Timeline Theory

First update: 9-21-23

Second update: 11-14-23

Lust update: 05-01-24 (+ S2 Theory link)

——————————————

Hi there!

After another re-watch and the head to pay attention to the small details, perhaps I have reconstructed a possible

Timeline of Helluva Boss

It would be better to define them as hypotheses. First of all, here is an outline of the episodes and their release dates.

I know, I also included the one whose title we know, just for the sake of general overview. The theory for the moment covers 2 seasons out of 4 announced.

Here the synthetic timeline. From the estimate version I have removed the year here, we'll get to the reason.

Here I also report some of my thoughts:

Already from the first episodes there's a strong focus on clocks and time, it is much more striking in Oops, where Asmodeus' clock marks the whole day.

I'm not sure about the year, but also from the analyzes carried out later, 2021 could be the year of the narrative arc that goes from Murder Family to Ozzie's.

(*) The Verosika's tour t-shirt was official and linked to the episode, at the moment I'm undecided on its validity at the year level, althought the date could be very possible.

However, my research started with Seeing Stars because it's the first episode to feature an almost specific date: the 20th of a 30-day month.

In my opinion it could be April chronologically and it's agreed with the information in the subsequent episodes.

The only problem is that the full moon would't coincide with what was marked by Blitz.

Noteworthy:

Blitz's calendar suggests that the full moon that month is the 14th.

Stolas wrote in the Western Energy chat that Blitz was supposed to come that evening and that therefore the full moon was the 20th.

We are certainly either in 2021 or beyond given Moxxie's coin in Seeing Stars.

From the chat we can understand that:

About a month passes between the trio Ozzie's - Queen Bee - The Circus (1 moon)

About 3 months (3 moons) pass between Seeing Stars and Western Energy

Western Energy is placed a week before Oops and among these the week told in Unhappy Campers

From Millie's flyer we know that her and Moxxie's mission ends on Friday July 17th. We know from Blitz that this lasted a week, so it started on Monday 13th July.

According to what Striker says to Crisom, Western Energy should be set around July 11th and Oops around July 18th.

We should be in 2022 though, but in that case July 17th was a Sunday.

In Mammon's magnificent concert Blitz says on the call with Ozzie that it's a weekend.

There are two options:

It could be set on the week parallel (July 21-22th or 28-29th) to the events of Western-Unhappy-Oops.

It could be set on the following month (August).

Here we come to the gap:

(*) The Mammon's official t-shirt is clearly linked to the episode, but the date (2023) and month (October) cause the information to conflict.

So, at this point we have this options:

The official t-shirts are tied exclusively to the release date of the episode.

They are official or at the date level, or at the year level.

They're official and we're actually 2 years removed from Murder Family.

I think it is more canonical to consider a connection with the month of July shown in the episode and maintain the hypothesis.

Seeing Stars -> April

Wester Energy to Oops -> July

Full Moon → September 29th

——————————————

With the LVL UP on April 29th we got a new trailer for the second part of the second season. In addition, we also have a preview of the Stolas and Blitz duet from the next episode.

I dedicated a post for analysis, opinions and spoilers here.

——————————————

In the end, I report here some of the most interesting posts from Blitz and Stolas' Sinstagrams, due to that they're the only two accounts that hide canonical information.

(Thanks @timkontheunsure for the source)

I underlined my opinion, they certainly respect real events but I don't think that in terms of dating they are canonical.

What a mess...

What do you think about it?

Have you noticed any other details that could clarify the mystery? Make me know it and let's solve the mystery together :}

Bye~

#blitzø #helluva boss #helluva #stolas #stolitz #vivienne medrano #vivziepop #spindlehorse #helluva millie #moxxie #moxxie helluva boss #loona helluva boss #striker helluva boss #fizzarolli #helluva boss asmodeus #helluva boss theory #helluva blitzo #helluva boss timeline

265 notes · View notes

highladyluck · 1 month

Note

For the fan theories ask, can you go down the list of Nakomi theories on the wiki? (Or, if that’s too much, just Nakomi is the Creator (or an agent of the Creator))

Ok, before we get into detail on this, if any of you tell me who Brandon Sanderson says Nakomi is, I will be genuinely annoyed. I don't want to know and I hope to go to my grave blissfully unaware of the actual truth. I engage in this for the pure love of unhinged speculation and bitchy judgement. I'm including the 7 theories that @anyboli tells me are on the wiki, and then 3 bonus ones.

1) Aes Sedai From Age of Legends - this is just silly, and frankly after [specific chapter in AMOL when a long-debated fandom question was finally answered] the fandom as a whole should have stopped making theories like this. THERE IS NO PURPLE AJAH!!! I debated shoving it further into 'worst idea' territory but unfortunately it is an undeniably fun premise, and we do canonically have Aes Sedai from the Age of Legends hanging about (they're just evil) which is why everyone keeps trying to make it happen. The placement just into worst idea territory is a compromise.

2) Agent of the Creator/Pattern - this is deeply unlikely- the Pattern doesn't care and the Creator's only agent is Rand- but I like it a little better than the previous option. I also think this is the Bela option, which also nudges it slightly more into 'extremely compelling'.

3) Bubble of Good - I don't think this is the author intent, but on the other hand, it's a random positive encounter that moves the action along, and a Bubble of Evil is a random negative encounter that moves the action along. Functionally, Nakomi ACTS like a Bubble of Good, so I think this sits squarely on the border between likely author intent and definitely not author intent. I enjoy the lampshading of Nakomi as Plot Device so this is somewhat compelling to me.

4) A Hero of the Horn, or Amaresu - Ok, this actually strikes me as somewhat likely and I think if it were an RJ thing this is almost the likeliest option. As a Sanderson thing it seems a little less likely but still pretty plausible. I enjoy the specificity of it and the Heroes do seem to break their own rules about meddling a lot. Maybe Amaresu is vibing with Aviendha because Avi's going to give birth to her reincarnation or something; that's not particularly plausible but I like the emotional implications.

5) A Jenn Aiel - This seems like the most likely of the wiki options. I think the Jenn Aiel still exist, canonically, and probably they'd be in the area and have opinions. It's not the most interesting theory to me because I don't get the mystery aspect at all in this case. I'd rather just know up front that Nakomi was Jenn, then I could get a reaction from Aviendha, which would have been super interesting. It's still pretty neat but the execution could have been improved if this is really the answer. (I actually think this would be AWESOME as part of #10, but without either the use of a specific known character or a reason for the obfuscation, this is not peak cool to me.)

6) Verin - No. I don't even get why people are saying this and I don't care to be informed, either. Verin's great but we don't have to make everything about her.

7) A Wise One - Sure, maybe? But this premise is so deeply uninteresting without specifics. This is the Wheel of Time. I need any random character that shows up once and has a speaking part to have a backstory three pages deep. It doesn't all have to be on the page, but you better convince me that it exists.

8) any Cosmere character - This is my worst fear because it seems so horribly plausible. I know it has been officially denied, but like Taimaindred, it makes too much sense and you can't convince me this wasn't the original intent.

9) Lanfear - This is my personal theory and it sparks joy. Nakomi is a moon-related name like Lanfear's "Selene" moniker, Lanfear constantly goes around in disguise helping protagonists even though it makes no fucking sense, AND Lanfear is apparently still at large even after she appeared to have died? At this point, Lanfear could be doing anything for any reason, we just can't know. The only way we can truly know Lanfear is her vibes--that's why her punishment from the Dark One was to be put into a body that was perfectly good but not her aesthetic--and this whole business has Lanfear Vibes so strong they can be seen from the Age of Legends moonbase.

10) Tigraine - This is @asha-mage's theory and it's the best one I've ever heard. The only reason it's not higher on author intent is because I'm going by Sanderson intent and I don't think this was on his radar, but it absolutely seems like something RJ would have done, so I split the difference. It fits the hints I vaguely remember- someone we haven't met directly in the books but not a totally unknown character either- and it's just so cool, the idea of Tigraine surviving after all, maybe throwing in with the Jenn, and giving advice to her son's lover/a future leader of her adopted people. I want to write a series of 3 vignettes about Tigraine and the concept of legacy: Tigraine at the Tower, dealing with being the legacy kid with no magical skills. Tigraine abandoning Galad and contributing to his complex about his family legacy. Tigraine (as Nakomi) after talking to Aviendha about the legacy of the Aiel as complicated by her son. It would be so satisfying!!! This should be the answer!!!

Again, DO NOT SPOIL THIS FOR ME. I DO NOT WANT TO KNOW THE CANONICAL ANSWER.

#wheel of time #wot book spoilers #fan theory ask game #anyboli #nakomi

39 notes · View notes

trans-jon-rights · 7 days

Text

Let's adress the case numbers in TMAGP !

Spoiler warning up to episode 15

Here are all the cases by categories and ranks :

CAT 1 :

MAGP 1 (Case 1) : 'Some of him' // RBC

MAGP 6 : Needles // RB

MAGP 10 : Bonzo // RB

MAGP 12 : Bonzo // RB

MAGP 14 : Snakes // RB

MAGP 15 : Lady Mowbray // RB

CAT 2 :

MAGP 1 (Case 2)* : Red Canary // RAB

MAGP 3 : Guy who becomes a tree // C

MAGP 5 : Voyeur // RB

MAGP 7 : Charity shop // RC

MAGP 8 : Brutalist Architecture // RBC

MAGP 11* : 'The deep will care for his bones' // RC

CAT 3 :

MAGP 1 (Case 2)* : Red Canary // RAB

MAGP 2 : Tattoo // RB

MAGP 4 : Murder Violin // C

MAGP 9 : Murder Dices // RB

MAGP 11* : 'The deep will care for his bones' // RC

MAGP 13 : Murder Crypto // RB

*The Red Canary Case and the 'Deep' Case are labelled as CAT23, so I put them in both CAT 2 and CAT3

Okay ? Okay.

So now I think we can say each category have a thing :

CAT1 is for 'living' manifestations (that used to be human/animal or not)

CAT2 is for specific places (MAGP 3 is a garden and MAGP 5 is the cinema)

CAT3 is for artefacts/non-living manifestations.

About MAGP 1 (Case 2) and MAGP 11, I think they are in both categories because it got to do with both. For Red Canary it was both the Institute and the box he took from there, and for the other it was both the tattoo and the ocean/cliff (unsure if its one or the other).

You could argue that MAGP 5 got more to djo with the movie than the cinema, and I would agree ! However, I think the movie is also part of the cinema, in some way. The whole place was creepy, and if it was only the movie, it could have been done with simply a DVD or something. The fact that it was in a cinema was intentional.

For the ranks, I think it's pretty much self explanatory : RA to RC to categorise the levels of danger.

What is concerning about it however is that :

A) The Institute is ranked AB, which is the highest on this list for now.

B) All 'living' manifestations are ranked B or below, which means that our heroes would be pretty fucked should they encounter a rank A.

C) Some cases (namely, MAGP 3 and 4) are simply labelled 'C' without it being an actual rank. I could pass it off as a typo, but were talking about Jonathan Sims here, folks.

Another theory I have is that the O.I.A.R only handle B-ranked Externals, and eliminate those whose rank is higher. We'll need to verify that once the next External turns up, but until then I'm running with that. Bonzo and the Lady are both indicating that.

Here, that was my rambling. Have a good one <3

#also i said were dealing with jonny sims so it cant be a typo #but remember this is the michael guy. he put the crack in reality in hilltop road because he messed up his timeline.#so there is still a chance that im gaslighting myself thinking its more than a typo #meh. well see.#max talks #tmagp #the magnus protocol #tmagp spoilers #the magnus protocol spoilers #tmagp theory

47 notes · View notes

smytherines · 16 days

Text

I love One Step Ahead for all the obvious reasons (gay angst), but also because it is so packed with little storytelling moments. Also it just seems exhausting. So much happens in that song:

1. Motorcycle chase (with office chairs)

2. Boat chase

3. Staff fight

4. Sword fight

5. Vigorous musket loading

6. Run up the staircase

7. Hang glider chase

8. Fistfight

9. Run halfway down the stairs again

And the entire time they are doing all of this, they're belting out a vocally demanding song. I mean, no wonder Curt Mega had to take a breath during that final note. That's a feat of endurance. I simply would've passed out and died.

One Step Ahead is one of my favorite setpieces of all time. In anything. Ever. It is so impressive, and it is even more impressive when you realize this was done by a tiny little independent company with the theatre budget equivalent of $1.50. Unreal. It should not be possible.

And the thing is, One Step Ahead is the perfect narrative counterweight to A1P1 (Spies Are Forever). The amount of thought they put into this is just stunning. Because here's the thing: A1P1 is also incredibly physical. For most of the song Curt and Owen are on the move, they're going up the ladder, they're fighting goons, they're going down the staircase, they're running.

But more importantly, Curt and Owen are touching a lot in A1P1. And yeah, that's fun in a swoony curtwen vibes way, but its also incredibly important to the narrative. They are touching a lot, and when they aren't touching they are standing just a little bit too close together. Its subtle enough that you initially dismiss it as a stylistic choice, but once you have the full context it is remarkably intimate.

Those are important details- like the way Owen has his arm around Curt and is literally holding his hand when they're talking to Cynthia. Its meant to tell us that they are together. In the romantic way, yes, but also they're just aligned, working together, on the same page. They are partners here. They literally have each other's backs.

And that's down to Curt Mega and Joey Richter selling the absolute shit out of these roles, and genius choreography by Lauren Lopez, and Corey Lubowich being the director of all time.

The digital download BTS has a part with Joey and Curt rehearsing the bit where they do the hug, and right after that they're trying to figure out what cool action poses to move into and Corey says that he wants to see something with them "connected," which is just... yeah, that's the perfect word to describe what is going on in A1P1. These two are connected.

So then we get to One Step Ahead. At the very beginning, Curt does the arm clasp with Tatiana. The first time they did this, Curt had a flashback of Owen. Owen was still his partner in his heart. But this time that bond is severed. Curt thinks of Tatiana as his partner now.

We get into the action of the song, and Curt and Owen do not touch. Even when they are very physically close together, there are weapons between them. In A1P1 they had lots of moments with their backs turned to each other, trusting each other, working perfectly in sync. In One Step Ahead they are facing each other head on. They are literally and figuratively fighting. They are breaking up.

The only moment during this sequence where they are actually touching each other is when Owen slaps Curt, Curt punches Owen twice, and they do that lock up move. They're only touching to hurt each other now.

And its so subtle and well executed that you don't really think about the parallels between these two scenes the first time you watch them. But you feel it on an emotional level. They had about ten minutes to establish the relationship between these two, and they used that ten minutes so effectively that the staircase scene ends up hitting like a ton of bricks.

Just. I love this show. I love how much TCB and Curt Mega and the rest of the cast care about this show. I'm so grateful they keep coming back to it. I cannot wait to see what they do with these scenes for Spy Another Day.

#spy another day #spies are forever #owen carvour #agent curt mega #tin can bros #curtwen #saf #tcb #tinlightenment world tour #saf rants

52 notes · View notes

jingchu-time · 1 year

Text

Spoilers for all of DRDT so far (all the way to the end of Ch.2 - Pt.1)

(This is my first attempt at a character analysis, so forgive me if it's a bit messy, I'll try to fit it up later. Also my first time using tumblr, intimidating but I'll figure it out.)

(TW: Talks about parental death and neglect. Mentions of racism, not talked about in much depth)

---

Intro:

Whit is one of the most interesting and mysterious characters in Despair Time. Despite being so well-loved by the fandom, his character is not taken nearly as seriously as I believe he should be. Objectively, Whit has one of the most in-depth characters, which isn't talked about with how often he gets reduced to a possible love interest for Charles. I also love their relationship (and ship it as well), but compared to Charles, Whit's other traits are ignored in favor of their relationship, which is unfair with how complex Whit's character actually is. Likes his backstory for example.

Part 1 - Whit's Backstory:

Whit's backstory is still shrouded in mystery, since it's only Chapter 2, but that isn't to say we know nothing about it. During Episode 4 of Chapter 1 Whit talks about his home life. He reveals that he's an only child, and briefly mentions that he thinks having a sibling would be cool, since he could be friends with them. This will be mentioned again later in the analysis, so keep this fact in mind. He then goes on to talk about his parents. First, he talks about his father, Lin or Steve. Whit says he doesn't see him a lot since he works overseas. All Whit is able to say about him is that he's quiet. Then Whit goes to talk about his mother, Elizabeth. Whit shows actual happiness when he talks about her. He doesn't go in depth, but he does call her pretty and sophisticated. He says he even bleached his hair to be like her. He clearly admired her a lot. He finally goes on to talk about his since nobody is ever in their house for long periods of time, he couldn't have pets. His home seems decent solely based on this information, but we have gained another part of it recently. In Episode 9 of Chapter 2 (what a jump) the secrets of all the cast are finally talked about. During the trial, Whit admits his secret is, "Your mother is dead. You always omit that truth." This isn't all that surprising when you consider how Whit deals with stuff like death (which well talks about in a different section) or his secret quote, "We tend to idolize the Dead."

So that's all of Whit's backstory, right? Insert *Sore wa chigau yo!" meme here. Is it all we've seen in the story, yes, but there was a Q&A done a while back that gave us an even greater idea of Whit's past. Anon asked if Whit was Biracial. The creator said yes, since his father is Chinese and his mother is American. It's also mentioned that for the first part of Whit's life, he was raised by his mom, so he doesn't have many Chinese experiences. What is mentioned next is what I care about the most. It's said that his father was very absent from his childhood (and life in general it seems). I think this makes it safe to say that Whit probably experienced some form of neglect from his father. He could barely say anything about him, the house is so empty that he can't even have pets, the way he talks about having a sibling. His mother is dead, and his father is never around. Whit was probably a lonely kid. The idea of having a sibling could fill the void because of his basically non-existent family. Also, regarding his mother's death, I'm gonna guess it was around his teen years, though I'm not sure.

Why mention his backstory first? Because this fandom never acknowledges anything about his past besides his dead mom when we clearly have more to look at. I also think this backstory can explain a lot of Whit's actions throughout the game. Speaking of…

Part 2 - Whit's role as comic relief, and how he (and Ace) subvert the stereotype:

Whit is easily seen as comic relief by most (I hope). Comic relief is a character used to defuse tension from certain scenes in shows/movies, plays/musicals, or video games. Whit is clearly made for the role, but another character, Ace, plays (or did play) the role as well. How can they both share the same role? You see, all roles have different stereotypes that are repaired with them. Comic relief is no expectation. I would say that comic relief tends to come in two types.

Characters who take absolutely nothing seriously. The lack of seriousness can be so bad that their jokes can fully screw over the tone of a scene, or story as a whole.

Using flanderization, which is just exaggerating a certain trait (or even sometimes traits) in a character. Character traits like paranoia, anger, happiness, or even sadness will become so amplified that you, much like the story, won't be able to take them seriously.

Whit and Ace fit these two stereotypes very well. After Whit's introduction in Episode 4 of the Prologue, Teruko calls him frivolous. A word, when used as a trait, is characterized by lack of seriousness or sense, which is a fairly accurate descriptor for Whit. Ace fits the second very well. Ace is characterized as both extremely aggressive, and as an extremely large coward through the entirety of the Prologue and Chapter 1. It's hard to take either character seriously at first glance.

Yet both Whit and Ace manage to subvert the stereotype and do interesting new things while doing it.

Ace goes through (negative but natural) character development after Chapter 1. He takes on a fully aggressive persona so that he's not seen as someone that can be easily killed off, the more intimidating the better. If he's seen as all bark no bite cowards, then he'll be an easy target. The cowardness is replaced by more anger and now the anger isn't funny now since we see it negatively affecting both the rest of the cast and Ace himself. He loses the role as comic relief by going through his natural character development. He subverts the trope by getting proper development, which leads to him losing the role entirely.

Whit subverts the trope by fully admitting that he's trying to be it. In Episode 4 of Chapter 1, Whit talks about how his constant joking is just him trying to lighten the mood. Whit wants to find a way to make the others happy, or at the very least lessen the stress they have because of the current situation they're in. He does this by joking and teasing. Whit subverts the trope by admitting he's trying to be the trope.

Both Whit and Ace subvert the same trope in vastly different ways, which are both effective for both of them. This does lead me to a question. Why does Whit do this? Well…

Part 3 - Goals vs Motive, actions, and what differentiates Whit and Hu:

When discussing characters' popularity, Hu and Whit are basically opposites. Whit, as mentioned earlier during the intro, is one of the most popular characters in the DRDT fandom. Hu, on the other hand, has gained a distaste by a majority of DRDT fandom because of how she's acted during the course of Chapter 2. This is very interesting, since the two are fairly similar. This is probably surprising to many, since the two seem so, so different. Hu is a serious mom friend, while Whit is a jokester.

I won't deny their differences, but what makes them similar is actually really important. The biggest similarity between the two is their goal. "Help the others through the killing game". This goal is special to these two because while the others are all (mostly) actively trying to find a way to either get out or end the killing game. These two don't though. They don't make any active attempts to find a way to or escape like the others, or their attempts are way more subtle than everyone else. So, if they have the same goal, why do they go about it so differently? Motive. A goal is what a character wants, a motive is why your character wants to achieve their goal.

We already know Hu's motive. Her motive is feeling useful. I'll discuss it more whenever I get to making a Hu analysis, but Hu has self-worth issues, making her believe that if she isn't doing some then she is completely useless. The idea of being useless seems to scare her. The reason Hu wants to help the other through the killing game is because it will make sure she isn't useless. Her actions to achieve her goal are by giving all her love to certain people, since she's aware that she can give equal love to everyone. She'll do whatever it takes to keep those certain people safe and happy, even excusing their bad actions. She plays favorites so that there will always be someone that finds her useful.

Whit is very different in regard to motive, since we don't really know fully what it is yet. We can make assumptions, but we can't be fully sure yet. Our best answer currently is simply, nobody can. This leads me to the next section…

Part 4 - Whit's calm persona, and it's relation to his motive:

Whit likes to make others happy. Whit also likes to help others. I believe these two traits heavily influenced his persona. Whit doesn't show emotion. We've seen happiness, concern, surprise, regret, confusion, and neutrality. He legit says "Jeez" after watching Min's execution in Episode 12 of Chapter 1, which is very tame compared to the others. Then he says, and I quote, "Oops" after seeing Arei's dead body in Episode 8 of Chapter 2. That is not a normal/socially (and morally for that matter) appropriate response to a dead body. What does this mean? Well, Whit doesn't show a real hint of sadness, or what he has is a very closed off version. Why does this point matter? Well, Whit is doing what nobody in the cast can. Whit is able to be a kind while being a reasonable/neutral force in the killing game. Hu and Eden, while kind, are both easily swayed by their emotions. Whit is less swayed by emotions like that and is shown to be logical when it counts. Like when he reminded David that they only knew Xander for a few days, so there was no real way of knowing if how Xander acted was in or out of character during the scrum debate in Episode 8 of Chapter 1. Whit can manage the role of a jokester and calm person very well. However, his calm side has grown a lot over the killing game.

Whit has always been generally calmer compared to a majority of this cast. You can take his dialogue after the killing game was revealed during Episode 5 of the Prologue as an example. However, his persona is something growing in intensity over the course of the series. When Min was executed, Whit showed off at least some form of sympathy, compared to when Arie died. He barely acknowledges her death, focusing much more on comforting Eden. This is all odder considering that while he and Arei didn't always see eye to eye, he still had more connections to her than Min from what saw. While everyone else slowly descends into madness, Whit just keeps amplifying his calm persona.

How does this relate to his motive? At the very least, for Chapter 2, Whit's motive is something along the lines, "Because someone has to". Whit likes helping others. If he doesn't help the others through the game, literally nobody else will. Mainly because this cast is extremely mentally unwell. Also, having a goal and motive doesn't mean they'll be good at achieving said goal. Whit hasn't been particularly helpful despite his efforts, but I'll explain why this is a little later. Anyway, if you compare Whit and Hu's motive to help others, then it makes sense why they're so different. It also explains why Whit is more easily likable compared to Hu. Neither of them are bad, not by a long shot, but we still have to wait for more of both. I would like to move into my next section, since this section does reference something in there…

Part 5 - Whit's ability to see the best in others:

This is one of Whit’s lesser known traits, which is so odd because this trust is seen so much in his character. Whit’s main relationship is with Charles. He and Whit have lots of interactions. Like during the Prologue, where half of Charles’ introduction is him and Whit. Or during Chapter 1, where the pairs' friendship begins to develop. And Chapter 2, where we get to watch their friendship fully develop. At the start, both of them disliked each other. Charles disliked Whit for his jokester person and how often Whit would use him as an object for humor, which didn’t mix well with how much Charles hates being looked down upon. Meanwhile, Whit didn’t like Charles for his very rude and arrogant personality, which make sense considering how much of Whit’s persona(s) are based around being kind to others. What happens in Chapter 1 is what I’d like to discuss in relation to the topic of this section.

During Chapter 1, Xander tries to pin the blame on Charles by using Charles’s hemophobia. Charles’ phobia makes him breakdown when he sees gory or dead bodies because of his unresolved childhood trauma. After Charles gets lured into seeing Teruko’s dead body and runs away, he ends up running into Whit, who was in the cafeteria, mid-breakdown. At first, Whit assumes that Charles is messing with him, but ends up realizing he wasn’t. Whit ends up making the choice to stay and help out Charles. Levi brings up in Episode 9 of Chapter 1 that Charles could have been faking it. In a game where any wrong moves can lead to your death, Whit decision to stay and help could’ve gotten him killed if Charles had been. Yet Whit choice to stay, ignoring his own opinions about Charles at that point, decided to see the best in him. He chose to see the best in Charles despite only really having his intuition as a reason.

To continue this point, I’d like to bring up Teruko and David. Teruko is fairly straight forward, as during the dressing room scene in Episode 2 of Chapter 2, Whit says he doesn’t think Teruko or anyone else in the cast is a bad person. We get a small look into Whit’s thought process. He believes that, despite everyone acting callously, they aren’t bad people. They are human. They are just human with emotions and weaknesses, and that’s fine with him. He believes, even when Teruko herself doesn’t, that there is still a good person in her. That despite the current asshole she is being, she is still a good person, even if it’s a little deeper inside. This thought process also relates to how he handles David. Whit is the one who had David’s secret. David’s secret is, “You exist to manipulate others, others exist to be manipulated.” It is very hard to see this secret and believe whoever it’s about isn’t a bad person. But Whit having it actually makes this makes sense. Whit, much like Hu, likes to see the best in others. Unlike Hu, however, Whit keeps this fact to himself unless he’s having a moment of vulnerability. It isn’t hard to believe that he, despite how obvious the secret is, convinced himself that David wasn’t a bad person. Hell, we get some confirmation of this during Episode 11 of Chapter 2, when after David’s real personality is reveled, Whit makes a certain comment. “I was keeping that secret out of concern for your career. But if this is how you really act, then your career might be in trouble for reasons out of my control.” A majority of the fandom think he’s lying, and I won’t deny the possibility, but I feel like we should look at this comment from more than one angle. If we bring up the idea of him believing that the secret was simply worded badly, then it’s no wonder he of all people wouldn’t wanna take that risk. I don’t think anybody would want to ruin someone's whole career based on a secret that could be purposely worded badly. “...reasons out of my control”, this quote basically confirms that if David hadn’t gone insane in Episode 11, then Whit would have blamed himself for David’s career. Whit is a caring person, so this idea is very plausible.

If it was anyone else, then the idea would be unlikable, but it’s not unbelievable if you consider Whit’s character so far. A person who cares for others and has risked his life holding onto the idea of seeing the best in them. Whit is the only character who would hide a secret like that. Since I brought up Charles, Teruko, and David, that brings me to a different section…

Part 6 - Gaining importance through others:

This section should be fairly brief. Whit, while has not really been a major player, keeps having connections to characters who are. If most had to assign the DRDT cast cliché Danganronpa roles, then it tends to go Teruko is the protagonist (obviously), Charles is the support (stretching but okay), and David is the antagonist. Whit, as mentioned in the section before, is connected to all three. However, that isn’t all when it comes to his connections to major characters (this wouldn’t be a section if that was the case). Let me bring up Eden, Arei, and Hu. Whit has come to Eden’s defense twice now. First in Episode 5 of Chapter 1, when Arei and Arturo are insulting the cake which she was actually really proud of. Whit makes a joke about how cake=birthday song, which is able to distract the group from the insults and everyone becomes much less hesitant about eating the cake. Then in Episode 9 of Chapter 2, he buys Eden some time, since Teruko was asking about the note (that made Eden super suspicious), by bringing up the alibis. In Episode 1 of Chapter 1, we get to see that Whit and Arei were investigation partners. It’s not big, but is still a point of connection. Finally, he and Hu had a a fairly long talk about the killing game during the dressing room scene during Episode 2 of Chapter 2.

Whit keeps being given importance because of his connections with major players in Chapter 2. No matter how big or small. I honestly don’t have a good translation to the next section, so…

Part 7 - He is very different compared to the rest:

Whit handles most stuff in a very special way. Firstly, while a majority of this cast will become aggressive or start fighting with each other. Whit, however, is very different compared to the others in this case. Whit will make passive-aggressive or sarcastic comments. He is also very conflict avoidant, which will be dissected later for reasons. And second, his method of investigation. Compared to the majority of the cast, who go the logical route of investigating the body and scene of the crime in depth, then investigating other areas. Whit is one of the three character (the others being Charles and Rose) who don’t examine the body. This is odd considering that Whit doesn’t really seem to have a reason to not too, I think I know why, but it will have to be talked about a little later (I'm sorry, but this is the last time I promise). Anyway, as mentioned earlier, Whit is a very calm person. His type of calm (yeah type) is different from that of Hu or Veronika. Hu is calm but is very easily angered by her situation and constantly struggles to keep composure. Veronika is much more similar, but unlike Whit, Veronika finds joy in their situation. She finds the killing game fun and interesting, completely fine with her situation. She’s only calm because she doesn’t find the danger frightening. She’ happy because she hates being bored. Whit is only calm because, as mentioned many times, he had to be. Someone has to be calm and kind during their situation. One is more selfish than the other, and that makes them different. All the talk about Whit’s differences reminds me of one thing that only her has…

Part 8 - Whit’s intuition:

Before I get into Whit’s intuition, I want to talk about what intuition actually is. Intuition are just gut feelings. They are ideas that, while there i no logical reason to believe it, you just feel like you do. Whit’s intuition has been mentioned during Episode 4 and 9 of Chapter 1 and during his and Charles’ FTE. He claims, using his intuition, that one day, Teruko will be happy, that Charles isn’t faking the breakdown he is/was having, and that one day him and Charles were going to be friends. His intuition hadn’t been mentioned once through the first part of Chapter 2. I think this mostly because of the calm persona, He has to be more logical. This doesn’t mean his emotions won’t influence situations, but now he had to try to rationalize his decisions based on those emotions. He can’t just say it’s his intuition anymore, not with how the group is currently.

I still don’t have a good way to transition so let’s just-

Part 9 - Whit’s social life and conflict avoidance:

Whit isn’t a fan of fights, unless it for the sake of someone else. In Episode 2 of Chapter 2 (it’s a great scene okay), Hu and Whit are discussing how much the Mastermind knows about them. Teruko, being Teruko, finds a way to twist it into distrusting others. Whit then makes one of his passive-aggressive comments towards her. Then, only a little while later, Teruko is equally rude when Whit tries to call her a good person, and this time Whit keeps quiet. Whit won’t argue with someone unless what that other person is doing negatively effects others. His conflict avoidance is seen during Episode 4 of Chapter 2, where he refuses to try and break up any of the fights. His reasoning is that his talent isn’t couple counseling, therefore he can’t be the one to break up any of the fights. This is an excuse that Charles quickly shuts down. So yeah, Whit doesn’t like conflict, which is probably part of why he became a jokester in the first place, but we’ll come back to this though after the next section. Speaking of the next section…

Part 10 - The 4th wall (and finding information):

Whit is the character that shows the most awareness of the 4th wall. In Episode 8 of Chapter 1, Whit legit tells the audience to pause to read the list, since it would be useful. There is no way that he was directing that at the cast, since they can’t fuckin’ pause their lives. Then in Episode 10 of Chapter 2, Whit breaks the 4th wall, but in a far more subtle way. Whit says he doesn’t remember which secret Eden got, which leads to us, the audience, to be shown the list. Whit gave us a direct way to relook at the secret list, which is very weird since he could have just looked up and silently read the list. Something that Ace points out (kind of). Whit is the only character to show this much awareness of us, The weird thing is why would Whit want to help us? We’re the whole reason that he and the rest of the cast are stuck there, dying for our entertainment. So why would he want to help us? This is a question we’ll have to wait for an answer, since even I’m not sure yet. A downside of only being through half of the 2nd Chapter.

This section is the one I brought up earlier during Part 9, and will be connecting some of the mysterious points I didn’t expand upon earlier…

Part 11 - How does his backstory influence him:

You’ve probably noticed that despite his backstory being brought up first, I haven’t given it much though since. This is because I believed we all need a better understand of Whit before I could describe how his backstory affected all of what we’ve discussed. Before that, however, there is one part left.

If you remember, I said that Whit was a lonely kid. Along with what I said earlier in the backstory section this is also because of his talent and love life. Whit’s talent is something others have to pay for, mentioned in the Q&A earlier. He sets other people up as a way to earn money, which begs the question of why Whit took up the talent in the first place. Since we don’t have a proper answer yet, so we’re going to move one, just keep that as food for thought. Anyway, Whit is said to have a pretty bad romantic life despite his talent. He apparently just can’t find a partner, despite his efforts. This isn’t all that surprising when you consider that Whit isn’t all that socially competent at times. It’s hard to describe, so well use examples instead. During the FTE, Whit is shown to be completely shocked at Charles’ anger toward him. Whit hadn’t even considered the idea that the stuff he did earlier could be seen as negative. Even when it’d probably become obvious to anyone else at that point. Then, during the Computer Lab scene during Episode 7 of Chapter 2, Whit makes a dark joke about Min’s death in front of Teruko and doesn’t even think of the bad implication till Charles points it out to him. He is able to apologize and fix those behaviors, which is an interesting pattern of behavior. Not understanding a wrong till someone points it out to you, and then you improve it. Unless you point it out to Whit, he probably won’t notice the problem. I think these behaviors say a lot about his past and it’s effects on him.

Whit’s past would explain his social incompetence at times. His father wasn’t there to be a good example and his mom probably wasn’t there for his teen years, which is a huge time for development in minors. This leads to him not having the proper role-models.

(This is an off section, but I felt the need to bring it up. Whit is biracial, Asian American, American/Chinese, a race that faces a lot of discrimination in America. The DRDT creator is very well versed in his research of the topic and ideas he handles. Ace is a lovely example, including the higher chances of anxiety and chances for eating disorders they have. I won’t say I know anything, but I wouldn’t completely discard the idea of him facing discrimination in the past.)

So yeah, Whit was a lonely kid, why does it matter? It matters because if he is as much of a former loner as mentioned, then that would also explain why Whit keeps people-pleasing. (I think there is a want for acceptance, but a struggle to believe that it’s possible without the personas.)

His backstory also explains his seeing the best in others' mindset. People tend to think that the only way to look at negative events in life is through negativity, but that’s wrong. When you have nothing, then you’ll leach onto anything to hold onto, like optimism. This idea was used in the canon Danganronpa games with Nagito, and I think a similar principle is shared with Whit. Whit probably attached onto something positive because he literally had nothing else. Optimism, in that case, is the easiest answer. Whit deals with life, and the killing game by trying to find the good. Whit's life might not be great, but that doesn't mean he has to see it that way. It's probably why he keeps omitting the fact about his mother's death. Why look back on the past when there is so much left to do in life. He probably thinks this is what she would've wanted, based on his idolization of her.

This all brings me to my last section…

Part 12 - His belief in privacy:

Whit is very adamant in respecting others' privacy. In Episode 1 of Chapter 2, Whit brings up the idea that everyone keeps the secrets to themselves until they have more time to work through it properly. This gets ignored by Arturo, who does it anyway. I've already gone into depth talks about privacy with Charles and David. What I wanna talk about is why Whit is so big on it. Because that is a question we haven't gotten an answer to. Why? Well, while I'm not sure, I think it has something to do with his past.

I have also lost my mom, like Whit. When I lost my mom, people wouldn't stop questioning me about it. Whit described his mom as sophisticated, so that makes me think she could've been fairly known in the community. Whit probably had a lot of strangers question him about it, despite his feelings about it. Mix this with Whit's pleasing other mentality, then his adamantly about respecting others' privacy. This is the only part of his mentality that goes against his more logical character. Charles even says he gave Teruko the secret he had because he wouldn't trust Whit to sacrifice someone's' privacy when it's necessary. Charles has a strong understanding of Whit's, so I'd trust him. This is the only part of Whit that he never changes, even when he has different personas on. It's consistent.

This concludes the final section to this analysis, so onto the conclusion.

Conclusion:

Whit is a character that gets overlooked by a majority of the fandom despite being pretty much universally loved. His past is so much more than what we've seen or is talked about. His caring nature is something that has so much hidden depths. And, unless he is the Chapter 2 killer, there is so much left to find about Whit.

---

(Thanks for reading. Again, sorry if it's a bit all over the place. I hope I could shed some more light on Whit's character for ya'll. Have a good day/night.)

#danganronpa despair time #drdt #drdt spoilers #drdt whit #whit young #fanganronpa #drdt fanart

222 notes · View notes

bluginkgo · 5 months

Text

The ending of season 1 is a pretty common topic right now. Of course, many theories have been said so here I am adding my own jumbled mess of thoughts and probably repeating what other, smarter, people have already said.

Spoilers, duh

The main question I actually kinda wanna take a dive into is why destroy earth?

A parasite on a usual timeline, tries to take over its host and use the host to produce more parasites to infect others. Ok, that's fine. But if absolute solver is like a parasite- which is what it seems to be almost like- why destroy earth? Yes, we saw what it did to the Elliot mansion. That must have been only just the beginning and a small taste of what it's capable.

So by the parasitic definition, it should try to find more hosts and more zombie drones to expand its reign. But does that really require to make earth into what N saw?

The first time I saw this theory it was pitched by LoreDrone on youtube- they do amazing theories and explanations. Go take a look, they explain it much better than I can. But basically they said that perhaps the true form of the absolute solver isn't this:

Or this:

And definetly not this:

But instead is a black hole AKA this:

That once the parasitic like nature finally takes complete control of the planet, it will do this and create a black hole.

The insane amount of times absolute solver has referred (or others have) to black holes is crazy. The most direct being: "The Solver of the Absolute Fabric. The void. The exponential end."

Sound familiar? Yeah, sounds like a black hole. It would actually explain some random things that we see throughout the show.

Like the two black holes that slowly float away after Uzi and N defeat eldrich J.

And not to mention all of the black holes that are seen in drawings both from Nori and others in eps 4 and 6.

There is an issue here though. The small creatures that we see for eldrich J, the corrupted core plus the small head that was projecting Khan's dead body only have a small impact and therefore produce little black holes. Uzi was able to create- although accidently- black holes throughout Dead End. All of which could not take full form as the first time, she passes out and thus the black hole form disintegrates. And the second time was when N chopped off her arm.

This all means that the absolute solver needs more solver drones like Cyn to create a large enough black hole to take its final form.

Here's the kicker though.

Why send disassembly drones to the planet then? We get a direct quote from Liam himself saying that spoilers! The humans didn't make the disassembly drones- which pretty much leaves Cyn to be the one that made them, and that's pretty true seeing as she was already making prototypes in the library basement in ep 5.

Copper 9 and many other planets (when Tessa explained) were studying absolute solver and trying to use its powers. "But all they did was spread it." Sounds like a perfect plan for the absolute solver, right? Spread the parasites and its hive mind/cloud based nature to overtake galaxies! So then... why send disassembly drones to Copper 9? The main hub where two very powerful solver drones, by the looks of it, that have huge potential! Nori and Yeva.

And both killed by disassembly drones. Sounds counterproductive, doesn't it?

"J, relay hand. Cyn's orders."

"Step 1: Clear drop zone of life and construct spires. Step 2..."

"Enter labs with this symbol."

Ladies and gentlemen, here we are. Idk if it's a commonly accepted theory or take, but I'm on this boat and I will proudly burn down with it.

Cyn is on our side.

Tessa (although she's very sketch) and J are trying to figure out why Cyn sent disassembly drones to other exo-planets. It is also Cyn's administration that's blocking absolute solver from completely corrupting our trio. It was also Cyn that ordered the eradication of all worker drones. We see that many of these worker drones are... by all technicality and for the most part aside from some odd balls- are correctly disposed of. Their bodies are ripped apart, devoured of their oil and cannot reboot as a zombie drone.

If Cyn was completely corrupted by absolute solver, she'd send the disassembly drones to perhaps kill the worker drones to increase the rate of zombie drones to wake up with the absolute solver string in them- just like seen with Cyn. But no. The entire spire is constructed of corpses in pieces.

Now as for my take on the ending (and let me tell you, I bet you I'm 100% wrong and this will probably not happen) I think our trio will beat whatever the f*ck is in Cabin Fever labs and team up with Cyn to then go to other planets and save them from absolute solver. A rather optimistic uptake, I know. But I'm also for a lot of the more bittersweet and not so happy ending theories that are out there.

I saw it from @villainsrule2018 for the first time. That this image may be Copper 9 by the end of the season. I absolutely love the idea that we might lose Copper 9 but perhaps save other planets. But I have another take on this. This is earth. We've lost earth already, and off to the side we have Copper 9's moons, implying Copper 9 is its next target.

As per usual, there's plenty of holes and inconsistencies in my theories and ramblings. Feel free to expand or go against this, I love hearing other theories on how season 1 will end. ^_^

#murder drones theory #murder drones #serial designation n #glitch productions #uzi doorman #serial designation v #serial designation j #rambles #murder drones ep 5 #murder drones episode 6 #murder drones tessa #tessa james elliot #murder drones cyn #absolute solver #murder drones nori #murder drones yeva #bluginkgo's rambles/theories

57 notes · View notes

cressthebest · 11 days

Text

Crimson Rivers thoughts pt. 22

chapter 38:

1. “"Right, so, your stylist?" Marlene asks, settling in as they continue to sway. "The one who looks like a fucking goddess? Yeah, so get this, she says we're friends…"”

james and marlene gossip sesh <3333333

2. 😧 MCGONNAGAL??????????

3. wait i think mcgonnagal is good. i’m pretty sure she’s from the phoenix. i’m not sure. i’m hopeful. i’m so hopeful

4. aww huey is kinda sweet. i like that’s he’s reg’s breath of fresh air when it comes to talking to the hallows

5. reg, i understand your anger, but please don’t make one of the only good sponsors feel bad

6. jealous james >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

7. “"I like your tea," James offers. "Maybe I'm biased, but it tastes better than anyone else's. What do you do to it?"

Regulus hums and lightly says, "I spit in it."

Without missing a beat, James replies, "Ah, that explains it."”

😭😭😭😭😭

8. “"Would you—" Regulus chokes on another relentless giggle, gasping a little. "Wait, would you actually drink my tea if I spit in it, James?"

"Love, I would let you spit directly into my mouth," James announces with absolutely no shame in his tone whatsoever.”

😭😭😭😭 james i love you

9. awww i love that barty is the most consistent part of reg’s life. i love barty

10. 😬 riddle is unconvinced in their love story. i- yikes

11. okay, right, mcgonnagal is good. thank god

12. dorcas wants to keep marlene out of the war, but only one of them has had a pov so far, so i’m not hopeful

13. oh shit marlene sounds hot

14. also, to add in, i’m so fucking glad there’s like no homophobia (that we know of) in this world

15. i do NOT want dorlene to be a tragedy in this universe

16. 😟 she gave back the ring. AHHHH

17. oh no. shit shit shit shit shit what did riddle do

18. “Riddle didn't even grant the liberty of leaving bodies behind for them to bury.” 😟😧

(but also, orion and walburga were dicks, so like, i’m not sad, just scared)

chapter 39:

1. aww regulus finally invites james in for tea

2. “On the day he accidentally kills a bee while tending to his flowers, he goes through the five stages of grief in less than an hour, which has nothing to do with the bee and everything to do with Vanity.” STOP! THE VANITY MENTION HURTS TOO MUCH

3. “When Regulus wants more time with him, he adds bagels, which James has now unconsciously been Pavloved into thinking of as his favorite food for that very reason.” STOP THATS SO GAY

4. sirius being dramatic about james and reg liking each other is TOP TIER in this fic, in the most realistic, aggravated, obnoxious, and completely loving way

5. BWAHAHAHHAHA JAMES GETTING A PIGGY BACK RIDE FROM SIRIUS IS GOLD

6. oh shit, (i’m not the best comprehensive reader, but i should have figured this out sooner), but from sirius’ perspective, he has to do the back and forth with remus his whole life. he doesn’t have the knowledge that i do, that a war is coming and they’ll finally get a chance to live together. he thinks he only gets to see remus once a year for two weeks at a time. this- this shit is heartbreaking yall

7. “”I watched him stand to his feet and tip himself into a river of blood in an act so tender that I'll never again be able to look at him with anything less than pure love. Every other member of the Black family, including you, fought and clawed their way home to their family, oftentimes to a family that never truly made them feel loved at all. Regulus? He fought and clawed through that arena, the entire time, for James. He's far more gentle than anyone gives him credit for."”

y’all, i’m crying over this. this is so lovely. effie is right, and i’m crying over how right she is

8. 😒 i know what’s coming. riddles a bitch. a right bitch. he’s gonna announce that previous victors are competing and i’m PISSED

9. so far, all three potters offered reggie food. they’re so hospitable, i love them

10. “He hasn't forgotten what it is to long for James. He still knows what it is to want him so badly that he'd be willing to kneel at the altar of James Potter and beg; he'd drop down on his hands and knees and crawl if that's what it took, if that would prove his devotion. He is the manifestation of longing built up with nowhere to go, and he craves, he yearns, he covets.”

both of them are so down bad

11. omg reg is so horny. his inner monologue is literally only like “”””“rip my clothes off please, read my mind and rip my clothes off”””””

12.AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I KNEW IT WAS COMING! BUT IM SO MAD!!! FUCK RIDDLE

13. effie is a queen. she is a godsend. and i’m so upset right now

14. not effie making them promise not to volunteer, and immediately james and sirius arguing over who’s gonna volunteer for her

15. i’m seething. i’m pissed beyond belief. i’m so angry it’s indescribable. my babies are going back into that arena. honestly, fuck riddle

#marauders #regulus black #james potter #fanfic #jegulus #sirius black #effie potter #euphemia potter #sunseeker #starchaser #dorcas x marlene #dorcas meadowes #marlene mckinnon #crimson rivers

29 notes · View notes

mastersoftheair · 2 months

Text

ok, so my own final (and very, very fresh) thoughts, bc i wanted to wait until i'd watched everything to make a sweeping opinion of the whole series, and it's quite opinionated. and long. probably too long. i write essays for fun (everyone point and laugh):

my personal (and very, very fresh) ranking of the hbo war shows (not including gen kill bc that's a different war, sorry) goes- band of brothers > masters of the air > the pacific (it's the same for my title score rankings. that hasn't changed yet)

my main points of contention with MotA are 1) the nine episodes, 2) the length of the episodes, and 3) certain editing choices. nine episodes, compared to the classic ten, isn't Nearly enough time to showcase all that they wanna showcase (especially when the episodes are as short as they are, once you get past the recap and "next on" parts). and they wanna showcase A Lot! there so much going on! i'd ask them to pace themselves, but they literally Can't!

i mean, the editing choices are a Whole Thing! practically gives me whiplash sometimes lol. i feel like the weaker episodes still have parts that are Really good, but like. Individually. they don't work together as a stronger whole, which is to the episode's detriment. rather than jumping around (as the show often did), they could've benefited a lot from focusing on the One Story instead of squeezing three more stories into there (i say that, but i think the 4-5-6 episode run (all with multiple stories per episode) did this very well while Still being very good episodes, so it's not like it Can't be done, it just didn't work for 7, 8 and (partly) 9). granted, i suspect a chunk of the weird editing can be blamed on, well, there being only nine (and not all that long) episodes and no one wanting to cough up enough money for a tenth. ugh! i'm blaming both hbo And appletv for this (and covid19 ig). it's just One More Episode, how much could it cost?? and on the subject of episodes, why no episode titles? you used to love episode titles! i could've brainstormed episode titles for them For Free!!

when it comes to the characters, the rankings remain the same: BoB > MotA > TP. it's not totally fair tho, since BoB followed the exact same (and large-ish) group of guys from beginning to end, so you're Gonna know who they all are and get attached. this wasn't the case (for me!) when watching TP, since, unlike BoB, they jump around from group to group. i never felt like i got to know them all that well, outside of the main characters. i think MotA almost hits that sweet spot, especially knowing they had those two main things going against it: large cast And jumping from group to group. there's a case to be made for bias here (i Was the blog blogging about everything MotA for like. years.), but i still think they found a good enough balance of fleshing out the main characters while Also helping the audience get to know about a bunch of minor characters, of which there are a shitton (and their personalities, motivations, backgrounds, quirks).

there's also the representation of women. actual angel renée lemaire is and will always be a cut above the rest (bastogne is just That Good, argue with the wall). she's written so well that it almost makes me forget about how a bunch of women are portrayed in carentan. i have...issues with how women are portrayed in TP (even tho i love lena), so there's that. MotA falls in the middle (again) bc there's Way more women on-screen, but the writing can be questionable. balanced (as all things should be?) captain l'sandra wing-westgate is a character of all time, but episode 7 birthed the craziest discourse known to man (the hbo war fandom), but it wasn't all that unwarranted. manon and michou were sooo cool, but we didn't see nearly enough of them (another victim of the 'editing too many stories into one episode' problem. why not a whole resistance episode? or at least as the only b-plot?). paulina was interesting, but fulfilled one of those 'attractive foreign woman gives sage advice during/after sex' tropes (there's probably a tvtropes page for that idk). so many red cross girls, but none of the in-depth payoff :/ epic highs (multiple women!!) + epic lows (writing women??) = pretty tolerable. not great, not terrible. it was aight. i trust the fandom to build on this tho.

narrative is the big one tho. it's the whole "doing so much with so little" thing they've got going on (i'm ignoring their big budget here lol, could've been bigger). rather than having one main story with many connecting side stories (like BoB), it does the TP thing where there's many semi-connecting side stories set in the same general area. it helps that there's crosby's narration (i enjoy narration, sue me!), and he helps everything connect, sorta. but there's still other side stories that have Nothing to do with him (sandra's side gigs (revealing what she did takes away the mystery of what she Might be doing), the tuskegee airmen, quinn and bailey's eurotrip). would it have helped if there were two narrators (say, someone like rosie)? idk. gonna sit with that one. if there's a through-line, it's not super obvious like in the other two shows. which is insanely funny to me bc i literally like TP less, but that show's got an Extremely tight through-line all the way down. i can't lie and say it doesn't!

back to budget- i've seen people criticize this show for being called "masters of the air" when there's not much of "the air". ig that's fair, but there's the money issue, again. also, it'd get very repetitive if they were always in "the air". there was enough confusion about identifying who was who with the masks on, so imagine if that was Every Episode. out of All the issues the show has, this is the least issue-y. again, that's just my opinion, and it could change.

another budget thing (i think??)- idk enough about costuming and hair for period pieces so i can't comment on that with my 0 background in it, all i Can say is that i knoooooow people were clowning on marjorie cleven's hair in episode 1 (and i could see why, no such thing as 1940s beach waves). but from what i could understand- that actress' addition was a last-minute thing (bc i had No idea who the hell she was and i already found someone cast for marjorie all the way back in 2021). maybe there's something to say about the quality of rush jobs, but i really do think it was the most last-minute thing bc it came out of Nowhere, and timeline-wise, it looks like that bit was done long after everything else had been filmed. outside looking in, it seems something probably went wrong/didn't work out with who or what they already had and there wasn't enough wiggle room (time and money) to fix it. this isn't me being an apologist (lol), but i feel like a theorist at a big board bc nothing adds up! and i wanna know what happened! i'm just speculating! speculating on this blog is All i did for like Years lmaooo.

this is more of a side thing, but some of the lines in MotA feel really on-the-nose, almost corny. and that was Gonna be a knock against it, but there's some equally Extremely on-the-nose lines in both BoB and TP (Especially in BoB), so if i give MotA shit for it, i'd have to give all three shows shit for it lol. none of them are free of cheese.

another silly aside- no peaches, no main gingers, no main eugenes! we can't have 'em all, but c'mon!

there Is some good tho lol. one thing that MotA really has going for it, that i think the other shows have less of, is- and GOD it feels so weird to call this "world-building" when it's actual goddamn history, but- it's got world-building. maybe that isn't the best word for it. but i like how much Bigger ww2 feels in this show. BoB is one stop, then the next stop, then the next stop, which is, admittedly, good from a narrative-perspective (easy to follow), but not as good when you want a scale of how devastating the war is (in fairness, it was filmed in 2000). even TP feels pretty "enclosed" in a way. there's island-hopping, yeah, but all the damn islands look the same (not including australia lol). it's a theatre of the war we otherwise don't really get to see, but there still isn't all that much to see. it's water and sand and rock and dirt. which is the point, but Whatever! would've been cool if we saw sledge and co. in china, but moving on. MotA's able to really show the scale of it, both in the air and on the ground (that scene in germany during episode 6 was both harrowing and fantastic, also the inclusion of the actual children forced to fight nearer to the war's end in the finale). idk i just liked how it was able to zoom in and zoom out (and in and out again) in a way that the other shows weren't.

another thing it's got that the other shows don't is Really driving home how young everyone is (not "child soldier" young, but damn young). the cast is full of baby faces (rip babyface). a lot of ww2 shows/movies don't bother casting to reflect this, but i think overlooking that takes away from the overall impact. you browse through some old newspaper articles or photos of soldiers during ww2 enough and you're gonna Regularly get hit with the face of someone who looks like they could've sat in the desk next to you during a high school lit class. a lot of those b&w grinning faces look like kids bc they pretty much were (more so if they lied about their age). you don't really get that in BoB or TP (it's Crazy when the real life pics of the soldiers portrayed in those shows look younger than the actors).

i'm mixed about the tuskegee airmen. what we have, i love (thank you, dee rees). unfortunately, my biggest irk is that it leaves me wanting more of them, which i won't ever get. speaking as a black person (not speaking for All black people, just how i personally feel about it), having them included feels like a catch-22. if they weren't included in any capacity (all while knowing there were whole tuskegee airmen in stalag iii with the white main characters), there'd be a problem. however, including them (all while having these time constraints and not enough focus on them) leads to the feeling of having them "tokenized" (which i can see). there's no world where there'd be 50/50 split (even a 70/30 split) bc, at that point, just give them a show of their own. but there'd still be a general annoyance that big budget ww2 shows are only ever white. on the other hand, hanks and spielberg and orloff and miller and all the directors (except dee rees) are white, and how good of a story about black people are you really gonna get from the perspective of nonblack people? that in mind, i personally don't feel put-off by having the three tuskegee airmen in the posters/trailers/promos, bc i just Know there'd be a whole nother problem if they weren't included in them at all despite being in the show for however long (it'd be even worse if they made their pictures smaller). like i don't work in advertising, but i don't know if a "sweet spot" even exists for something like this. people would be pissed off no matter what imo (i'm also speaking with a bias here bc i had to browse through sooooo many comments written by white guys whining and crying and pissing and shitting themselves once they learned that the tuskegee airmen were gonna be in the show in Any capacity, so i'm just cool knowing they're in shambles rn (and josiah cross- he played richard macon- always goes Wild seeing his face in the promos, and his joy is pretty contagious).

i give it somewhere like a 7.5-8/10. 3.75 stars out of 5. not perfect, subject to change, gotta marinate, but i'm overall happy with it! MotA's best episodes are better than many other individual hbo war episodes. should i be grading it using the overall sum of its parts, not just the different parts? idk, i'm not being paid to grade lol.

#i feel like i'm knocking the pacific too much in this even when i like the pacific. i just like it much less #i've talked my sister's ear off enough about it (she adores the pacific the way i do band of brothers)#and like i've got plenty of issues with band of brothers but it just does it for me. idk. i'm complicated by avril lavigne #this is an essay. my GOD is this an essay #but better to vomit it all out now so i can look over it later and see how my opinion changes over time. i want to archive my fresh thought #masters of the air #hbo war #masters of the air spoilers #mota spoilers #band of brothers #the pacific #for once i'm not spam-tagging those. i talk about them a decent amount in here. sorry for the people who don't go here tho #long post

27 notes · View notes