#also pretty much every number will have it's own analysis

[jklovesfandoms]

So umm.... Would y'all like an analysis of/opinions on all the rtc choreography? Bc I think you'll get it, even if you don't want it.

Like, I am physically restraining myself bc I have things to do in an hour, and it's gonna take longer than that to do it in good depth.

But like... Would the fandom like that? Bc me, as fandom wants to do it, and I am. Bc I have a 4 day weekend.

This isn't asking, this is warning.

You're getting me ranting about choreography in the off Broadway production, if you like it or not.

Suffer, if you don't

[jaspvids]

The Diagnosis Of David

Disclaimer: I am by no means a mental health professional. This is just a meta-analysis.

What do we think of when we think of David?

His values of kindness. Optimism. Hope. Conviction. Passion. His drive to do his best every single day. The way he always makes an effort to reach out to others.

But also:

Attachment issues. People pleaser. Rose-colored glasses wearer. And at times, though the fandom doesn’t want to acknowledge it — Selfish. Unstable. Rude. Hypocritical. Kind of a dick.

See this video I made;

He’s complex, so let’s try to unpack him, and figure out what he’s got going on under that floof.

On David’s Childhood

David has been through a number of traumatic events in his childhood, most notably:

Witnessing Jasper fall to his near-death.

Finding Jasper, and being almost mauled by bears during the escape.

Clown school was apparently very bad, given the flashback-like reaction he had when it was mentioned. I’m unsure of his age when this occurred, however.

The fight with Jasper at the cave before they parted ways.

Losing Jasper. He says Cameron told him he was picked up by his parents, but I’m not convinced it’s not just his mind trying to erase painful memories.

As far as what we don’t necessarily see in the show, but can infer, David’s father was either not present or not great. He dreamt Cameron was his real father, as seen below.

And we all know Cameron is an awful father figure to begin with.

Yet, that’s better to David, apparently, than whatever he had at home. Which implies it was likely a pretty bad situation.

This can also be backed up by his attachment to the camp — growing up (and even now) it seems to be more of a home to him than his actual home.

That’s a home that hasn’t ever been mentioned, by the way. Contrary to Gwen, we know absolutely nothing about his family. He hasn’t talked about them once, if I recall correctly.

David is often open with emotions, if not wearing his heart on his sleeve. So why would he never mention his family and home?

We know why.

Even as an adult, he has retained this attachment to Cameron (who has in turn, continued to use this attachment to his benefit). He gets very excited about helping Cameron change in “keep the change” — because he needs to believe people who hurt him can get better. Otherwise, it’s too painful to bear.

The Loss Of Jasper

Part of his childhood, but significant enough to warrant its own section.

Jasper and David had a very interesting relationship. We’ve seen in the past that David was pessimistic, foulmouthed, and hot-tempered, directly compared to an optimistic, peppy, popular Jasper.

But then Jasper saw Cameron’s real self, and David received a modicum of praise for what was likely the first time based on his reaction. And so, they basically did somewhat of a switcheroo.

(David takes on many traits of Jasper after this experience, showing that he does admire him at the end of the day. I believe these traits are the foundation of David’s many masks.)

Despite the whole shebang, further episodes show us that they form a strong bond (or maintain one, we don’t know what happened before the first Jasper and David episode.)

What makes this friendship especially crucial in David’s development is that I believe Jasper was the first person to truly stand up for David.

David is, as we have seen, easily manipulated. Jasper picks up on this, and knowing Cameron’s just trying to use his best friend, tries to take Cameron down.

Jasper essentially died trying to protect David.

If Jasper hadn’t died, I don’t think David would have ended up as gullible and dependent as he is. If he had the more rational and realistic Jasper by his side during the rest of his developmental years, I believe things would have ended up much, much differently.

With Jasper’s death, there seems to be nobody else at camp who knows of Cameron’s crimes, or possibly, doesn’t want to speak out about them. Nobody to stand up for him. Nobody to redirect him.

So there’s nobody to stop the unhealthy-attachment-train from picking up speed.

Cameron And David’s Relationship

Cameron is manipulative and abusive towards David. This even becomes physical:

Despite this, David continues to idolize him as is seen in many cases of abuse. He works his ass off maintaining Cameron’s camp. Cameron’s approval makes or breaks him, because this is the man he sees as a father, unfortunately.

In addition, David is unable to let go of the hope that Cameron can change, because he’s convinced himself that deep down Cameron is still “good”, based on his skewed perception of him. And we all know how that ended.

But as Diane from Bojack Horseman once said —

And that is David’s problem — he wants so much for there to be a “deep down”, that there will be a day where Cameron showers him with praise and throws signed adoption forms at him, etcetera.

He judges Cameron not on who he actually is, but who he wants him to be. And so, the unhealthy attachment remains.

(Which is, of course, incredibly destructive to his mental health.)

Other Things We Know About His Mental Health, From Canon

We know he takes meds.

We know he has (sometimes dissociative) panic attacks.

We know he has been seen to suddenly snap, even to the point of violence.

My Final Conclusion: C-PTSD

(As the trauma has been not just one event, but many over the course of his life, and among other reasons, I believe CPTSD fits better than PTSD.)

David meets much of the criteria, most notably:

Lack of emotional regulation

Dissociation

Flashbacks

Anxiety

Guilt and shame

Distorted perception of abuser

Relationship difficulties

Okay this was long I’m tired good night.

[magicwhiskers29]

“You don’t always have to be the Hero!”

“It doesn’t always need to be you!”

As I understand, this line has been thrown around a bit because, well, it’s just a really good line, for any situation it can fit for. It’s impactful, the voice work on the original is really good, and it summarises a lot of LMK season 5’s core themes really well! Heck, it probably summarises a lot of themes really well, but I think there’s something interesting to be found in the fact that it’s Macaque saying it, originally.

Let’s roll back a second to Shadow Play, s2e7, because I think that can really recontextualise it.

“The Hero and the Warrior were like the sun and moon, their light a protective glow, shining upon the world.”

“Together, there was nothing that could stop the two of them, in either the Celestial Realms, or on Earth.”

“As time went on, the Hero gained power beyond comprehension.”

“As his light grew, so too did his shadow, and soon, the Warrior was cast in that shadow.”

“In the darkness, the Warrior was forgotten by the Hero.”

…okay, so I’m pretty sure a good half of the fanbase already has this monologue memorised, but I digress. Because the loaded meaning behind the words “Hero” and “Warrior” are never forgotten by the show. If we cut ahead to Embrace Your Destiny, the s3 special, we get a direct reference to these titles in a practical setting.

“I’m not a Hero, bud.”

“Then be a Warrior!”

This is the moment which really kickstarts Macaque’s turn to start working with the Monkie Kids. He doesn’t work against them again, after this point! (As of season 5) MK tells him that to do good things, and save the world, he doesn’t have to be the Hero in limelight – he can be the Warrior, doing good from the shadows. And for as much as Macaque does take quite a prominent role in the fight after this, literally taking on Wukong 1v1, it’s still MK who ends up with the glory, in the end.

Macaque needed to hear this because he does these antagonistic things out of self-preservation, yes, but also out of a spite which he knows isn’t especially heroic. And because he doesn’t want to be the guy who leaves stuff behind. But after this, he doesn’t act as an antagonist again, and he does stuff which he really doesn’t want to do, like confronting his past with Wukong in the scroll, in the season 4 special! What MK says sticks with him.

And to get it out of the way, not every time the word “Hero” is used in the show is necessarily a reference to the Hero and Warrior. For instance, when Mei yells at a possessed Wukong and LBD in the season 3 special, she says “Because that’s the hard part of being a hero!”, but I don’t think she’s talking about the implications of limelight, or Wukong and Macaque’s story. I mean, she never even saw the play in Shadow Play, so she likely doesn’t even know the deeper meaning behind that word...

A lot of these other moments can carry interesting implications when examined through that lens (E.G. how Mei fits into the Hero-Warrior dynamic, or the nature of LBD’s “Save your hero speech, child” from the end of season 3) but I think those would better be left for a different analysis.

These two lines from season 5, at the beginning of this post, have a direct connection to the Hero-Warrior stuff though, because they're from the character who invented that metaphor, to the only other character who understands it. It’s like a coded message, I suppose.

Throughout a lot of Macaque’s screen time, especially in the earlier seasons, he preaches about self-preservation, specifically under the advice of “look out for number one”. He believes that people like him, and later MK, need to be the ones to look out for themselves, because otherwise, no one will. This is expanded upon to seem a little more heroic and noble in later seasons, to be similar to a sentiment that Wukong expresses about choosing your own destiny, and forging your own path. The core of the advice is still centred on trusting yourself, and prioritising your own beliefs, but it’s no longer about something that could be perceived as selfish, and more a tool to use for good.

Macaque is shown to want MK to look out for himself less selflessly. His advice in season 4 is this choosing your own destiny stuff, but it also mirrors the end of season 5 really well. He tells MK that the two choices of fighting Azure, or not fighting Azure don’t have to be the only choices. If MK goes to fight Azure as is, he will lose, and there is a good chance that he will die. Like, obviously Macaque doesn’t want the whole universe that he lives in to be destroyed, but he’s also not yet fighting for it, at this point. He does want MK to do what is most likely to save everyone, but the reason he pulled MK aside was to appeal to him to take care of himself.

Season 5 already mirrors and is a true continuation of season 4 in a lot of ways, with the main threat once again being the sky cracks that symbolise the end of the world due to the death of the Jade Emperor, but it’s thematically that we can really see that. Macaque even literally brings up that MK is misconstruing his advice from the previous season in the line right before the ones I’m supposed (haha, we're getting there) to be analysing.

Once again, MK has two choices, functionally: save the world at the cost of himself, or do nothing. Once again, Macaque is advocating for MK to make a third choice, one where the world can be saved without MK likely dying in the process, but MK had taken the whole “choose your own destiny thing” to be choosing the choice that only he can. Macaque’s biggest argument to this are these two lines. That MK doesn’t need to be the Hero, this time, or any time.

The Hero exists a public figure that people can rely on. He represents absolute power, as well as recklessness. In Macaque’s story, the Hero gains power, and then leaves his friend behind, so he’s strong, but doesn’t stop to think about consequences. Now, obviously Macaque is very biased in his story, because we know Wukong very clearly does still care about Macaque, but to what the story represents between MK and Macaque, that’s not necessarily important.

Macaque is just telling MK that he doesn’t need to be someone who’s the public picture of heroism. He has all of this power, but it’s his choice how to use it. Sometimes, it’s okay to take a backseat and be a Warrior, someone who can look out for themself, and who doesn’t always have to do everything themself. Once, the Hero and the Warrior were ultimate power together. The fact that the Hero became that by himself suggests that he still does the job he once did – he just doesn’t need to have anyone help him with it.

The Hero is supposed to be presented as a selfish figure, but that can also flip around to be someone who’s selfless, so selfless that they try to carry the weight of a good mission on their shoulders alone. The Hero’s sin was abandoning the Warrior, not unspeakable evil or something. And… Isn’t that sort of what MK is doing here? He’s trying to an act so selfless that it really could only be called heroic, but to the friends he’s leaving behind to make a sacrifice that’s really a not-so-subtly-disguised suicide allegory, it’s selfish. He abandons them all to fulfil his supposed destiny, but they don’t need him to sacrifice himself – they want to find another way with him.

If you want to look at it that way, MK is playing out the story again. Seems fitting, when later in the same episode, Wukong, the original Hero, tries to take his place and make the same sacrifice.

Macaque’s statement to MK is so loaded because of his history as the original Warrior, and what being a hero really means to him, and across the show with MK’s actions as a whole. He doesn’t need to always be the Hero – sometimes it’s okay to just be a Warrior. And it doesn’t always need to be him – just like the original Hero, there are people who would want to help him, if he just doesn’t leave them behind.

[obscured-everything]

​​OBSCURA trailer analysis & theories

The OBSCURA trailer is very pretty (watch it if you haven’t already <3) and is also full of interesting symbolism and snippets of Latin. In this post I’m going to be manually translating and providing notes on the Latin, as well as discussing what the numbers mean and giving my own plot speculations. SPOILERS for OBSCURA’s Chapter 1 with every love interest. 

I’m going to be working with the theory that the numbers correspond to the Major Arcana in a Rider–Waite–Smith tarot deck. I’ll be pulling tarot card information from A.E. Waite’s 1910 book ‘The Pictorial Key to the Tarot’, where he discusses the symbolism of the images in the cards and provides divinatory meanings. 

Shoutout to @/starlitmanta and @/mostlygayrage for posting their own analyses before me! I got inspired by both of them to both write down my thoughts and then actually finish the post after leaving it for months lol. @/mostlygayrage has some interesting stuff on the imagery and also delved into the Latin! Although he took it as one sentence which I won’t be doing – I’m going to take the double forward slashes as an indication of a break. 

Disclaimer that I haven’t formally studied Latin in years so if there are any errors feel free to point it out in the notes! 

Cirrus

18. Presbyter // Ecclesiae lunaris XVII: The Moon. Priest // Lunar churches 

18. Obsequium // ducit ad caelum Obedience // he leads to heaven TL notes N/A Tarot meaning To quote Waite, “The moon is increasing on what is called the side of mercy… the path between the towers is the issue into the unknown. The dog and wolf are the fears of the natural mind in the presence of that place of exit, when there is only reflected light to guide it…the message is: Peace, be still; and it may be that there shall come a calm upon the animal nature...” 

Upright: Hidden enemies, danger, darkness, terror, deception, occult forces, error. Reversed: Instability, inconstancy, silence, lesser degrees of deception and error. Speculation I think we can all agree that Cirrus is not trustworthy, hence danger, deception, occult forces etc. Nevertheless, Vesper (if you’ve got a good ending, at least) puts great degrees of trust in him. ‘A calm upon the animal nature’ calls to mind his odd ability to influence Vesper’s choices and force them into saying ‘yes’, but I also thought it might reference something about Vesper putting aside their instinctive reservations about Cirrus’ suspicious character to follow him into an unknown future. 

Leading to heaven is, to me, a bit double-edged; it could mean death or paradise. Very fitting, I think. 

Keir

20. Keir // Cavillatur fur XX: Judgement. Keir // Mocking thief 

20. Fatum // vestrum vel extraneus [Destiny / (calamitous) death] // yours or a stranger TL notes I’m inclined to believe that Keir’s name being his plain name rather than an epithet is probably just part of his blunt kind of character, and ‘mocking thief’ is probably related to his personality too. Also, there is another piece of Latin on that first screen – ‘cultellus’, which means ‘dagger’ and points downwards towards where his dagger is held. Also, ‘fatum’ is a very interesting word in that it carries an intriguing potential double meaning. Tarot meaning Upright: Change of position, renewal, outcome. Reversed: Weakness, pusillanimity, simplicity; also deliberation, decision, sentence. Speculation Waite’s initial discussion of Judgement is very Biblical which I doubt has much to do with OBSCURA’s use of it. I do think the divinatory meanings are very interesting – I think that at a good/best end of Keir’s route, he’ll be able to come out on top and secure a good and/or stable future for himself and/or Mouse Hole. 

My current theory is that, since we have had mentions of Keir and Oleander in each others’ routes, that they have direct effects on each others’ fates. This fits with ‘yours or a stranger’ of course, but also the double-edged ‘destiny or (calamitous) death’ – I’ll speculate more in Oleander’s route, but I think he and potentially most of Mouse Hole will not fare well if Vesper picks Oleander. 

I’m interested in why his dagger was explicitly pointed out and labelled. I’m kind of shooting in the dark here but I think it’ll be significant in the future – either as a symbol of his history (specifically with Oleander, perhaps?) or as a plot device of some sort. 

Oleander

11. Nerii // Periculosum scurra XI: Justice. Of oleander // Dangerous clown 

11. Patiuntur // sicut habes They are suffering // just like you are TL notes More technically, ‘nerii’ is the genitive of ‘nerium’, which means oleander. This makes sense to me when I think about how he’s had a history of changing names – he’s moreso embodying the qualities of oleander (a pretty but dangerous plant) rather than taking it as a definitive name. 

‘Patiuntur’ is in the plural, and suffering might be a strong word depending on how you look at it – the original word is like enduring through something difficult or unpleasant. Tarot meaning Waite basically says that the card has ‘obvious meanings’ so I don’t think I need to look too closely into it. 

Upright: Equity, rightness, probity, executive; triumph of the deserving side in law. Reversed: Law in all its departments, legal complications, bigotry, bias, excessive severity Speculation The second half of the second piece of Latin, ‘sicut habes’, is in the second-person and I’m assuming that this is meant to address Vesper/MC. Maybe Oleander is also looking for something that he can’t find or afford, although the plural throws me off a bit if that’s the case. Maybe it’s referencing Oleander’s previous Vigils (since Vesper is currently holding that position, ‘just like’ they have) or something…? 

Now, here is my plot theory which may or may not be insane. We know that Oleander has committed murder, and was very blasé about it; presumably he’s done this sort of thing before. We know that in his route, Keir has been alluded to, Griff has shown up and Keir is presumably going to show up at some point. I think that Oleander’s involvement with Keir is going to end very poorly for Keir, even leading to the calamity insinuated in Judgement. Specifically, I think that Oleander and Keir are going to be caught up in a serious crime and Keir is going to take the fall, leading to a permanent end for him (death, probably) and the following collapse of Mouse Hole. Oleander will get off lightly or scot-free (Justice’s ‘triumph of the deserving side in law’, ‘deserving’ as opposed to Keir who is indisputably a criminal and receives ‘excessive severity’). 

This could be from Keir and his group failing the burglary since Vesper isn’t there to cover for the injured lookout, or it could be something else that brings in the dagger which was pointed out in Keir's portion of the trailer. I’m thinking murder, honestly. 

Francesco

10. Franciscum // innocentes nobiles X: Wheel of Fortune. Francisco // innocent nobles 

10. Tempus // decurrit Time // runs out TL notes Grammatically, ‘Franciscum’ is in the accusative (the case used to mark the ‘object’ on which a verb acts). This could be a stylistic thing or it could allude to how he’s being ‘acted upon’ by whatever power/influence his family have. 

‘Decurrit’ is literally ‘runs down’ which fits with the hourglass imagery, but I imagine that the spirit of the phrase is ‘runs out’ especially since his route already alludes to that. Tarot meaning To quote Waite, “the symbolic picture stands for the perpetual motion of a fluidic universe and for the flux of human life … the essential idea of stability amidst movement. Behind the general notion expressed in the symbol there lies the denial of chance and the fatality which is implied therein.” 

Upright: destiny, fortune, elevation, luck, felicity. Reversed: increase, abundance, superfluity. Speculation I think that at some point within Francesco’s route, his family is going to be further involved. I assume that these are the ‘innocent nobles’, which makes me think that whatever state or situation that they find Francesco in won’t be very innocent at all. Alternatively, it could be that his family is more innocent/harmless than they present themselves as – depending on circumstance, this could be a big win for Vesper or a big loss because they don’t have the family backing that they thought they did. 

The Wheel of Fortune carries connotations of luck and change in fortune. I assume that Vesper provides Francesco with some degree of ‘stability amidst movement’ and that any ‘denial of chance’ involves Francesco leaving the marketplace and returning to the very clearly mapped out future that his family has for him, thus leading to a bad end. ——————————

Thanks for reading to the end!

[cocogum]

The Great Wave - Chapter 2 Review

‼️ SPOILERS FOR THE CHAPTER ‼️

I have good news and bad news.

The bad news is, no smexy time here.

The good news is, we get some Yugo and Adamaï moments, AND the SADIDAS are FUMING 😍🥰

But before we see the sadidas, we can’t start this off without addressing Yugo and Adamaï’s interaction at the beginning of the chapter.

Cuz man, I liked it but when @vinillain addressed it and even ANALYZED IT I fell in love with this scene even more 💖💖

Without their perspective on the matter, I would have missed so many details. Here’s the post if you are interested.

So yeah I’m glad I found their analysis on it and I hope you like it just as much as I did ✨

Now let’s start.

I found babes lol (the dot is so tiny!!)

Look at his emo ass just looking gloomy after having a wet dream. My guy is such a drama queen that he decided to sit at the top of the kingdom just to make himself feel better.

(Get down from there you little shit-)

Adamaï swoops in and actually helps? Omg slay? Like you’re doing something helpful while scolding Yugo that’s actually good. Cuz ngl I’ve been getting kinda annoyed that Yugo had just left Amalia to deal with the sadidas’ problems all alone.

If Yugo didn't have nightmares like these from time to time, I could have overlooked his decision to leave her to deal with it on her own. But now that we know he does get them, it’s a pretty big deal.

He confirms it to Adamaï when he tells him that his condition has been worsening meaning that he’s already used to it and yet decides to not say anything to Amalia AND KEEPS LEAVING HER DEAL WITH THE PEOPLE ON HER OWN. Now he obviously doesn’t leave her like that during the whole day. It’s just that there’s a good chance he’s not there with her during the mornings. Like, imagine fucking a dude who keeps having PTSD nightmares every two nights. Now we know why she got pissed in Chapter 1 when he left her on the ground naked like that. Girl just wants to have fun and lead her people let her have her moment-

Also, we all saw this coming folks.

The blue cows are back.

Bro is trying so hard to be Eva. Look at him trying to visualize and zoom in on the wastes of spaces coming to the kingdom.

Also, I remember how some of us used to think that Aurora was pregnant which is why she might’ve had the balls to come back to the kingdom and try to regain her throne, you know, the very same kingdom THAT SHE FUCKING FLED FROM DURING A WAR THAT COULD’VE WIPED THE WHOLE RACE. The pregnancy theory was a common one to be shared around because the trailer for the manga did not show her stomach. Some of them also theorized that theory because it made the most sense as to why she’d want to come back willingly whether her father wanted her to or not.

Of course, no shade to anyone who thought about this theory before but I love how they tried to justify her stupidity for returning by making up this theory.

Cuz it turns out that bitch wasn’t pregnant after all.

Her stomach is flatter than a washboard and her return happened AFTER FOUR MONTHS (or around that number at least) so her stomach would have at least had a bump but she got none of that.

Judging by Yugo’s expression when he realizes them, he doesn’t look like he’s surprised to see that they’re coming back. He looks like he’s pissed off, annoyed at the fact that they’re coming.

I initially believed that the reason why Yugo looked angry, instead of confused or shocked at seeing them come back, was because the royal Osamodas family might have been trying to return during those few months after season 4. But it turns out that this wasn’t the case because when Aurora manages to re-enter the kingdom, Amalia tells her she didn’t expect her to come back ever again. This means that the royal osamodas family only came back once. So Yugo’s only reason for being angry at seeing them must’ve been because he heard everything the family did through Amalia (including all the times the blue cow tried to marry Amalia off to one of her brothers AND THEN her cousin) which is pretty understandable to be pissed off about.

Finally, after a full week of waiting, the Sadida people make their presence known in this chapter AND IT’S EVERYTHING I’VE EVER WANTED.

We learn that the sadidas are annoyed that the elite eliatropes have not only stayed but that they also shared some of their lands.

I genuinely feel bad for this eliatrope getting criticism from this old sadida. True, they did come here and stayed but they’re not even a lot to begin with. We’re not talking about thousands of children eliatropes here. We’re talking about 30 to 40 eliatropes since these were the bravest to have joined their mother and ALSO completed a lot of missions (that they knew of through the eliaculus) that involved putting their life on the line. So to hear these sadidas claim that they don’t feel at home must say A LOT if 30-40ish eliatropes were able to make such a change. The old sadida man even said that they do not understand sacrifice as the sadidas do.

And that’s something that’s been bothering me since I learned that the sadidas weren’t aware of the eliatropes’ past.

Didn’t Amalia tell Yugo to explain to the sadidas their background?? It sure sounds like he didn’t do anything about presenting his people to Amalia’s. If you’re going to share a land with people you’ve never seen before, you might as well present yourself, no? Because if you don’t, tension and possible harassment are exactly what would happen to the eliatropes if they don’t do anything about that topic.

I also wanted to point out how the people have been behaving towards Amalia in Seasons 1 to the Ovas. This is important to notice because these guys clearly love her and always think of her as a good future queen. We even get a confirmation in Season 4 that a lot of sadidas would rather have her as their leader rather than Armand.

So the fact that a lot of them are now feeling like they’re not at home anymore because Amalia let the elite eliatropes stay makes them think as if they’ve somewhat been betrayed by her.

Translation for 1st panel: “Your father and brother would have never accepted this!”

Translation for 2nd panel: “He’s right! We aren’t at home here!”

Translation for 3rd panel: “These eliatropes are not like us! Your father and brother would have never shared our lands!”

This is a very big shift from what we know. For once, Amalia doesn’t receive smiles or praises.

A lot of them are now siding with Armand and her father, claiming that they wouldn’t have let the eliatropes stay. We know Armand wouldn’t have done that because he confirmed it to Amalia in Season 4 right after the meeting with the Eliatrope goddess ended. But Amalia’s father? No. King Oakheart would’ve welcomed them with open arms. He told Yugo that he had no problem welcoming his people (he said this in Season 2).

The sadidas were right about one of her family members not accepting the eliatropes and I believe it reflects how hurt they all feel about this decision. Because they have no one else to blame this decision on, they are trying to think that only Amalia in the royal family would’ve done that so they immediately point fingers at her.

And then, as if things couldn’t get any worse, the blue cows are officially back. And yes, I’m going to call them blue cows from now on, just like how I addressed them in the beginning too.

Yugo: “Sorry, I didn’t have the time to warn you.”

Also Yugo: has the ability to create portals.

The Osamodas family is even more brain-dead than I thought.

Blue fat cow over here is saying “here’s your legitimate ruler” while pointing at another cow but she ain’t even a Sadida. And then you’ve got Amalia over here who’s obviously royal Sadida blood so idk why tf the blue cow king would think he did something there. The sadidas just said that they don’t feel at home cuz of the eliatropes so what makes him think the people are gonna accept a useless blue cow who’s only not a Sadida but did nothing during the war? The sadidas are already pissed at not feeling like they’re at home, don’t throw more gasoline into the fire by claiming an OSAMODAS is fit for the SADIDA THRONE.

Yugo’s wave where you at?

The Osamodas King lost so many neurones when he stayed in that cave, he should just go back in there with his ugly crusty ass bats.

But it’s alright, I’m not even mad (i’m fuming) because no matter how stupid and dumb the king sounded, if you look at chapter 3’s cover, the king doesn’t look confident and cocky anymore.

Clearly, something must’ve happened in the throne room when he was spewing all this shit about Aurora being the “legitimate heir” because AGAIN, that’s clearly Amalia’s role so I genuinely hope that the sadidas were the ones who made the king frown like that. Because there’s a gigantic possibility that they must have flat-out told the king to sit his ass down and remind him that he and his worthless daughter didn’t do shit when the war happened and now he suddenly wants to rule them?? Of course they’d get pissed by what he said!

The majority of them obviously looked bothered by what he had just announced as well. Everyone in the throne room looked like they were just shocked to hear him talk. EVERYONE.

So yeah, I hope I see this fatass get humiliated. Even the eliatropes are like ‘sir what the fuck are you doing’ type of shit.

[that-ari-blogger]

On Grim Spectacle and Greatest Fears

There's a reason Enchanting Grom Fright is beloved by fans of the Owl House, not only is it just a plain old good story, it's also a phenomenal queer story.

But why is that so, and what makes it so important? That's what this post is about.

And if you're wondering whether I'm going to talk about @moringmark in this post, you bet I am.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD

If you look at online discourse, there is a lot of discussion about "good representation" and that is certainly an interesting discussion, but I don't think there is much explanation as to why representation is important in the first place. It is a good thing, we all know this, but why?

One word: Normalisation. Representation of varying identities, cultures, and ethnicities is important because it takes apart the implicit bias inherent in society.

The generic individual in western society is white, male, and straight, and while there is nothing wrong with these character traits, this means that anything added to that template becomes a statement. It becomes an important metaphor for the story which doesn't get applied to someone with the three characteristics I mentioned earlier.

For example, there is a question in analysis of what a character being gay does for a story, where a character being perceived as straight doesn't get that level of scrutiny.

This is a problem for a number of reasons, most notably it abnormalizes certain traits that a large proportion of society (myself included) exhibit, effectively othering those people as a result.

Representation does the opposite of this, it allows real people who are not the generic individual to be treated with the same level of respect and for audience members who don't usually see themselves in media to find characters like themselves, to see their own stories reflected in fiction.

I think the best reason for representation actually comes from Ordinary, by Joriah Kwame, the sequel to Little Miss Perfect. This song, written explicitly from Luz Noceda's perspective, says this:

"The characters I read never act or look like me I can't depend on them to lead me through the right door"

Stories are a way of learning about the world and yourself, and in stories with extremely low representation for marginalised people, that lesson is pretty clear.

@jameswoodall has a video essay on YouTube titled How Much Representation Is Enough. In it Woodall discusses the benefits of representation through a queer lens, and argues about the end goal thusly:

"It's not about achieving a certain percentage. It's about making that percentage stop mattering. When queer representation is no longer noteworthy. When queer inclusion is so naturally assumed that nobody feels the need to count anymore. When even if we did put queer rep in every story, nobody would bat an eyelid. Because we have just as much right to be there as anyone else."

So, let's talk about Grom.

Meromorphic is a channel with a two-hour long video about The Owl House as a whole, and while there is a lot in that video that I disagree with (as is the nature of media analysis) it is comprehensive and fascinating, and I would recommend giving it a watch.

However, I am not bringing up that video to talk about its points, instead, I would like to shamelessly steal borrow a term from it: Magic Literalism. In this context, it means when a piece of media uses magic to make physical an intangible concept. In this case, it turns fear into a monster, that being Grom.

When Grom looks into Luz, she sees Luz's mother, and she sees Luz's fear of disappointment. She sees that Luz has a secret that she hasn't told her mother in case she breaks her heart. It's literally about the Boiling Isles, but there's something written between the lines here.

It is possible to read this as Luz's fear of coming out to her mother, and by "it's possible", I mean that this is how I read this.

Coming out is terrifying, even if you have supportive parents, it's still asking people to accept a part of you, and that comes with risk, because if they don't accept you, what do you do?

That's what I think Luz is afraid of.

Amity, on the other hand, is afraid of getting rejected in a similar way, although hers is more direct. Amity is scared of falling in love and not being loved back.

As a side not, I think it's a really cool detail that of Odalia's many flaws, homophobia isn't one. As in, Amity isn't afraid of coming out to her parents, and when she makes passing remarks about having a girlfriend to her mother and father, their surprise is that it's with Luz, not with another girl. Bellos kind of keeps this going, and the message with that is clear. Homophobia is too low, even for these villains.

Anyway, Amity's experience with Grom is the other side of being queer, the romantic part. I am aware that romance isn't something everyone experiences, but when you do, especially when you are queer, confessing your feelings for someone is terrifying.

So, Amity avoids the question and doesn't really confront it directly at all. Even at the end of the episode, she has everything thrust upon her and still doesn't confess. Luz does the same thing with her mother. Fear is a powerful force, and I would argue that the best time to deal with it is when you are ready, not before.

I really like the scene in the forest. The light gives the two a feeling of warmth and safety, and it wards of the night. Once again, it's Luz giving hope to those around her, and here it is in a more personal sense. Light, do not falter.

The colour palate of the scene (that warm light) conveys that these two people are comfortable in each other's presence and can talk freely around each other. They are already in love; someone just needs to say it.

However, there is another side to Grometheus that also factors into being queer. When Amity explains the event, the art style changes into this style that I want to call classical, even though it probably isn't (art nerds, rise up in the replies and tell me what this is please). But she also directly calls the Grom event a tradition.

"Every year it tries to break out and a student has to defeat it before it invades town. Ever the optimist, Bump holds a party and calls it tradition."

Perhaps tradition, at least in the Boiling Isles, isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Perhaps there is an issue with seeing a problem and instead of trying to fix it, stalling it and making a spectacle out of achieving nothing. Maybe there is an issue with willingly putting children in danger for the drama of it. Maybe the fact that certain sports are just the audience enjoying people getting life threatening injuries might be an issue. I'm just throwing ideas out at this point.

If we link Grom with fear, there is the idea that fear spreads from schools and it is the role of the students, as decreed by the adults, to contain it. See the plot of Footloose for an example of this, or certain places in the real world today, where fear of the other (mainly bigotry) takes the form of arguments about schoolbooks.

This is a valid reading, but I'd like to go a bit wild with my interpretation and talk about @moringmark's comics.

Chapter three of A Little Hint of Blue is a brilliant piece of storytelling that actually characterises Bosha a ton. It carries the theme of fear over to both Skara and Bosha, but it shows them in real time. Skara is scared that Bosha won't let her spend time with... (*checks notes*)... Fledermaus?

She has good reason for this, Bosha is overprotective to the point of toxicity and runs on her own fear. Bosha's hierarchical worldview comes from a place of fear as well, she's afraid of being out of control, and a really subtle thing that gets done in this comic is the association of Bosha with fire.

It doesn't really get done in the original series, but Bosha and fire are such a neat thematic paring. They both consume, they both try to reach out, and fire is heavily associated with strong emotions, like anger and fear.

Bosha tries to control everything in the same way she controls her flames, but as it turns out, people aren't fire. People, when they are free, don't immediately destroy things, and a lot of people actually benefit from that freedom. Most notably, artists and musicians, like Skara.

Grom Factor also deals with the subject matter, but from a slightly different perspective.

First up, the most obvious, at least to me. Enna saves the town but it outcast in the process because what she is scares people, despite her heroism, she is not accepted. The metaphor isn't perfect and reading it as a one-to-one analogy is a detriment to the story. For example, the reason for Enna being outcast is because of a curse, and queer people are generally not magically cursed to be queer, they are born that way.

But, there is also the idea of Luz's fear as an adult being the exact same as when she was a child. She is scared of disappointing people, specifically her family and her daughter. This means that she is acutely aware of Ayzee's own mirror of that, and this line is spectacular:

"Make yourself proud"

It's ok to be afraid of what others think, that's part of being human (or a witch, or a demon. It's part of being sentient), but in the end, the only person who you have to make proud, is yourself.

Final Thoughts

I've been dying to talk about the Moringmark comics, and I do plan on talking about them more, but that will happen when I get there. I will do more gushing about their serious artistic and storytelling skill when that happens, so buckle up.

Enchanting Grom Fright is one of my favourite episodes of the series as a whole, and its a testament to the writing of it that there is more that I am yet to cover, and more that I am discovering as I watch it. For example, the storyline with Gus and King is a big part of the episode, but I didn't mention it because it wasn't really relevant to my main point, and the whole thing with the dance is stellar.

Next week, I am looking at Wing It Like Witches, so stick around if that interests you.

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[theresattrpgforthat]

do you have any recommendations for games with interesting superpower mechanics? bonus points for a clear love of superhero comics as a genre

THEME: Superpowers

Oh gosh do I have some recommendations for you. I have likely spoken about pretty much all of these games before, but I feel very strongly about them and I can’t help myself from talking about them again!

Exceptionals, by Bramble Wolf Games.

Exceptionals is a game inspired by X-Men about and for the spaces and communities marginalized peoples make for themselves. Play as a Geno, one of little less than 0.5% percent of the population that has gone through a mysterious process called Claremont-Simonson mutation, as you try to navigate a world that won’t make room for you. Exceptionals is a game about what the mutant metaphor means to you and the different lenses through which we view it. Punch back and build something of worth together in this narrative tag-driven tabletop role playing game.

What Exceptionals does differently than the other games mentioned here is that it ties all of your character abilities to descriptive words or phrases. You’re not just heavily armoured, you have bone spikes and you’re exceptionally good at resisting extreme temperatures. Your powers can just as easily be things that slow you down and get in your way as they can be handy weapons or powerful resources. Not only that, but your character is also defined by their role in the community. Are you excellent at socializing and often called on to provide a distraction? Or are you good at noticing details, and therefore asked to investigate local mysteries? Each answer gives you a tag you can use to improve your chances of success.

If you have some experience with Fate, you might find Exceptionals to feel pretty familiar, with the biggest difference being in the dice used. The system itself uses 2d10, with modifiers applied through tags, the environment around you, and social bonds. Your bonds are crucial to improving your chances, and that is why Exceptionals champions community. If you want a game that cares deeply about the media it’s drawing from, then I recommend Exceptionals.

Spectaculars, by Scratchpad Publishing.

Spectaculars is a tabletop roleplaying game where players create their own comic book universe, craft heroes and villains to populate that universe, and then play through full-length campaigns to tell incredible stories of heroism and villainy in a world of their own creation.

Spectaculars has different decks of superpowers depending on the kind of genre you’d like to play in, but you can also mix and match if you’d like. Your superpower options are dealt to you randomly, with five basic superpowers always available if you don’t like the options you’ve been given. You get five unique cards, out of which you can choose up to three. I really like this because it prevents analysis paralysis, while still giving you a good number of unique options!

Your superpower ability is usually tied to a percentile - 80 being your best power, 70 being the second best, and 60 being the tertiary (should you choose to take all three). Rolling under that number means you succeed, and you can also roll advantage or disadvantage dice to determine extra details - like whether your move sets up another superhero really well. Each superpower could have up to two different effects, using situational limitations or time tokens to debuff anything that is extraordinarily powerful.

So for example, the Corrosion power gives you the ability to reroll any advantage dice you roll once, as long as you are trying to corrode non-living matter. However for Light Manipulation, you can make whatever light effect you evoke last for longer if you put two time tokens on your card, and you can allow yourself to use your power and do something else at the end of the round by adding four time tokens to the card. At the beginning of your turn every round, you get to remove a time token. This is a great game for folks who love tactile play, as the tokens, dice and power cards give you a lot to handle.

If you want a more in-depth review of Spectaculars, you can check out this summary by Deeper in the Game.

MASKS, by Brendan Conway, at Magpie Games.

Halcyon City has had more than its fair share of superheroes, superteams, supervillains, and everything in between.

Your team of young supers must forge your own path amidst the pressures of a world full of people telling you what to do and who to be, and kick some butt along the way!

Masks: A New Generation is a superhero tabletop roleplaying game full of action, youthful angst, and dazzling bravery. Take on the roles of members of the latest generation of superheroes, young adults trying to figure out who they are and what kind of heroes they want to be.

I am remiss if I don’t talk about MASKS, the first game I would turn to if I wanted to replicate Young Justice, Teen Titans, or anything from the Spiderverse series. This game is often cited as one of the definitive examples of what a Powered by the Apocalypse game can do, and for good reason. The superhero powers are present as picklists tied to each playbook, while what separates the playbooks is the inherent struggle of the character. Are they trying to hide their mundane identity? Are they struggling with feeling like a freak? Do they have a legacy to live up to?

I think these thematic elements show a deep love for the superhero genre, and I also love that the chances of success aren’t tied to what your abilities are, but rather your reasons for using them. If you are trying to protect someone, you’re rolling Savior, but if you’re trying to do damage, you roll Danger. In either situation you could be using your powers, but it’s intent that matters - and then you describe how you want to do it in order to give us an idea of what success or failure would look like.

FASERIP, by Gurbintroll Games.

FASERIP is a neo-clone game of super heroes, based on a classic 1980s role-playing game. The game contains a flexible yet streamlined super power system, and a completely new character generation system which keeps the fun and unpredictability of the original game’s random character generation but tempers it with an emphasis on balance and player choice.

This is a retro-clone from another superhero game that has since gone out of print - I think perhaps Marvel Super Heroes? Unfortunately I’m not familiar with the source material, but I can tell you that this version is free!

FASERIP is pretty granular in your ability level, ranking characters and difficulty levels from Zero to Infinite. Your superpowers in this game have a few important factors - source (how you got the power), rank (how effective it is), and boosts (how flexible your abilities are. Powers are determined randomly in FASERIP, with roll tables used to determine what kinds of powers you get and how many boosts you get. If you’re a fan of older rules systems and random power generation, I recommend checking out FASERIP.

Those of Us Who Know Better, by C.J. Linton.

Those of Us Who Know Better is a tabletop roleplaying game about transgender superheroes whose powers come at a price. Civilians by day, in community every other Thursday evening, and heroes by night, the players use their powers to problem solve and offer protection and support around town. These powers must be used sparingly, however, because every use of a superpower demands a specific and costly remuneration.

For some reason or other, your characters are under a contract that gives them powers. How that contract came to be and how it functions is up to you, but the result is this: every time you activate your superpower, you must pay a price. If you do not pay this price, your character is immediately subjected to intense physical pain.

The book has a short list of some common superpowers, such as flight, fire manipulation, and super senses. It also has a short list of consequences - with options such as get an animal to bite you, run for five minutes, and take a shot of alcohol. The book has some basic guidelines for what to consider when creating your own powers and prices, so I think the world is your oyster with a game like this.

[ghostinacardboardbox]

@averagecygnet-blog i accidentally deleted your ask about my opinion on the themes in Black Friday 😶 sorry bout that anywhere here’s my thoughts.

So like first of all, like you’ve already said, the critique of consumerism is incredibly heavy handed. You are right. It is not at all subtle. We’ve all heard Made in America. But I really don’t think it was possible to tell this story and have it be subtle; this was always going to be an incredibly overt anti-capitalist message.

Starting with the real life inspirations of the premise, the “Tickle-Me Wiggly” is already a direct reference to “Tickle-Me Elmo,” which was a toy that inspired real life riots ending in at least a handful of injuries and arrests. In the scene right after the Wiggly Jingle, Paul and Emma discuss Cabbage Patch Kids. The Cabbage Patch riots have their own wiki page. The idea of parents literally resorting to violence over toys on Black Friday is something that already happens. So this musical is really just looking at those events, saying, “Wow, capitalism sure makes people behave badly,” and then pushing that concept to its most exaggerated form. The fact that it isn’t subtle is not a bug, it’s a feature.

I also see people bring up this theme almost entirely in relation to the song Made in America rather than connecting it to almost every scene. As if this isn’t a show that doesn’t begin with an advertisement. The opening number is an ad.

(Apparently an effective one, considering how quickly Starkid sells out of the Lord in Black dolls whenever they sell them. People literally watched a whole musical about how the doll represents using the product of capitalism to distract from societal problems and then went and bought the doll. And I would have, too, if I had the money. But I think about the irony.)

I'm not going to go through every scene and the capitalist imagery in it, mostly because I don't actually have anything particularly unique to say about it. Like most of them are fairly self-explanatory and I'm not particularly good at analysis. But do want to specifically bring up the lyrics of "Our Doors Are Open" since they usually get overshadowed by people talking about how much cunt Corey served (it's a lot of cunt. Record amounts of cunt served), because the entire song is both satirical and foreshadowing. Also the bridge of "First of Famine" and the dehumanization of the worker, etc. etc.

I'm also fascinated by the social dynamics in Black Friday. Lex is basically raising her sister due to their mother's neglect; Tom is a single dad; Becky is a domestic abuse survivor; and while Linda's family externally looks very well-put together, she's had multiple affairs, and it's revealed in the Nightmare Time episode "Honey Queen" that she blatantly plays favorites with her kids and has a terrible relationship with her father. Lex is a poor retail worker, Tom and Becky are middle class, and Linda is very wealthy. Black Friday more than any other Starkid show acknowledges the implications of social class, I think. I wonder if part of why a lot of people don't like it is because it's not really escapism the way a lot of other musicals are; it's pretty clear about dealing with real life problems, in a very simplified but obvious way.

I think all the time about the scene where Linda tells Becky, in front of a crowd, that everyone knew her husband was abusive and chose to stay silent. It's such an important moment because it's directly showing the audience just how cruel Linda is. It had been implied before but this was on another level. And it also serves as, again, a pretty basic depiction of how society treats victims. Like, saying that "bystanders will always look away as long as there's plausible deniability to preserve their own comfort" is pretty simple, but that doesn't mean it's a bad point to make, and I think it's made well. The title song also has the lines "I don't want your half-baked sympathy, / When did it save those in need?" which reinforces a similar concept; expressing pity isn't the same as actually taking any kind of action.

And then, of course, there is all the religious imagery. Every time I watch this show I notice more of it, it's everywhere and it's so cool. The show takes place during the holiday season so there are a lot of references to Christmas, specifically. Wiggly keeps saying it will be his birthday, and Linda will "birth" him, so they are tied to Jesus and the Virgin Mary, symbolically (While writing this I had the thought that Wiley possibly counts as the angel Gabriel, then). And I think that using Christmas works because of how commercial Christmas in the US is. If your eldrith god is using capitalist desires as a recruiting tactic, having him bastardize Christmas for his own purposes is a pretty logical step I think. It's also not just that Wiggly is associated with Christmas thematically but also in a sense the iconography of the holiday becomes Wiggly. The garlands on the balcony turning into Wiggly's tentacles is one of the greatest set design pieces I've ever seen. Even apart from the functionality of it as a low-cost set that can go unnoticed until it's needed, it so perfectly evokes the imagery of Wiggly literally corrupting the holiday imagery. The first time I saw that scene I was amazed. I don't feel like checking rn who did the set design for Black Friday but whoever they are, they're fucking incredible. No notes.

And then the music. This is by far my favorite Starkid score overall. I love it so much. Partially because I, known 80's pop-rock enjoyer, am obsessed with a good synthesizer, but also just because of how well the songs suit this particular story. The synths are used most in the songs that show Wiggly's influence (Feast or Famine, Adore Me, Wiggle). Is "non-traditional instruments represent the unknown and otherworldly" the most unique special concept ever? No. But I like it and it sounds cool so like idc.

Jeff Blim is an incredible songwriter who is so talented in so many genres, and I'm always impressed with the songs he writes for Hatchetfield. I think sometimes we don't appreciate enough that all of these songs are by one guy (also Matt Dahan's musical direction for the entire series and the underscoring for both seasons of Nightmare Time that works in the melodies of previously used songs so incredibly). All of the Nightmare Time songs are so different, and all three of the stage shows have a very distinctive sound that really makes sense with the story that's being told. And one of the things Jeff does best in my opinion is the use of repeated melodies and leitmotifs.

Hatchetfield is full of them. There's been a lot of discussion of it in Nerdy Prudes because that show has so many motifs (i.e. the Nightmare Time riff, the "I'm not a loser" melody), and one of them actually comes from Black Friday. In The Summoning, right after Wiggly says "fwendy-wends," the keyboard melody that plays is the same as the part in the song Wiggle that goes "We will build a portal just for [when he comes]" (The last few notes fade directly into the chorus of The Summoning). I'm not the first person to notice this or anything but I thought it was so cool when it happened.

And Wiggle itself is using a different melody: The Carol of the Bells. Again, it ties into the idea of Wiggly completely taking over the idea of the Christmas season. The lyrics of Wiggle also include the lines "He will rise up with joyful noise," and I didn't realize that not everyone would catch that as a religious reference until a friend commented about it but "joyful noise" is a biblical reference (Psalm 100:1). It all ties back to the religious themes.

This last one may not be intentional, but the last song also really makes me think of another Christmas carol? The opening lyrics of What If Tomorrow Comes ("Do you all see what I see, / What I know, / What I see?") really reminds me of the song "Do You All Hear What I Hear?" The melody is different and only vaguely similar so I may be reading too far into it, but I always got the feeling that I'd heard something like that before and wasn't able to place it until last year.

Anyway TLDR Black Friday is heavy handed but I think it actually works better that way, and I like how strong the imagery throughout it is.

[finisnihil]

IPC analysis+Penacony Adventure Mission Spoilers ahead read at behest

I just did the Chadwick Adventure Mission and I’m so. Just horrified. When you’re trying to resist and say no no I won’t do this and they shoot you? And then the countdown as the screen gets more and more fuzzy and Dudley is talking and as you watch 24 planets that the IPC see as a good enough collateral for their means are obliterated he’s just standing there and going “Hey at least you’ll have a legacy. The rest of us? We won’t even be remembered” because in an organization as big as the IPC being remembered as a monster is better than being forgotten at all.

There is no identity in the IPC. Everyone is a pretty stone that is only worth something when polished and worn like an accessory. Sure the rarer ones are hard to come by but they’re still able to be replaced with a bigger, prettier version. Aventurine and Topaz, how quick they were to jump to the morally dubious answer. How quick Dudley was to jump to leaving 24 planets unremembered and sneering at the idea that he himself will also be left as such.

Aventurine has a serial number because he’s a product to the IPC. Without his identifying stone he’s just the IPC’s spare body. He’s a gambler because all he can do is gamble, it’s the only way he can gain agency and power. It’s so hard to not like him because everyone else doesn’t like him for a very different reason and are being derogatory to him. Like god no wonder he places no value in friendship as far as he’s concerned he’s completely on his own. I don’t like him that much, make no mistake, but I do like him more than Topaz because at least he doesn’t seem to have a choice in serving the IPC while Topaz does. Rewatching her trailer and seeing her bask in the roars of a crowd chanting “Interastral Peace!” in an almost religious way it’s horrifying. Adding to that, Dr Ratio is involved with the IPC and he’s literally based on Rome and if you know anything about the history of Rome that feels intentional.

Not to mention Penacony used to be a prison planet of the IPC and now we know they were using the planet to try and pry out the knowledge of a weapon of mass destruction by stripping away his body and memories and leaving him to wander aimlessly in a pretty dream until they can harvest husk of a consciousness to hurt more people?

They were so ready to steamroll over Aurum Alley at any costs knowing the ramifications it’d have on the people of the Luofu. They were ready to reclaim Jarilo-VI and try to “revive” it knowing the failure rate was higher and they could very easily leave the place a husk. It’s honestly hilarious that they claim to serve Qlipoth because they never actually protect anything, they destroy. Every time the IPC is involved with something the people they’re against are the ones protecting, Sushang protecting Aurum Alley, Bronya protecting Jarilo-VI, Chadwick protecting anyone who could be a victim of his hubris by passing his knowledge to Herta to make a counter against it, the Genius Society protecting their work from being misused by refusing to collaborate with the IPC… it’s never been the IPC who protect.

In case you can’t tell I really hate the IPC and I typically like antagonistic/villainous characters/entities but there’s just something about the IPC that gives me rancid vibes.

[chowmoon2]

Kirby and the Amazing Mirror is a pretty interesting game especially for a mainline title

It contains some cool characters that originate from that game such as Big Waddle Dee,Moley,Dark Meta Knight and Capcom’s Nightmare -

What the fuck are you Dark Mind? I’m sick of it

There is two things that really intrigues me with this series,thing number one:

Fuck you Dark Mind!

(A small essay/analysis/theory(?) about a very mysterious villian in the Kirby series,under the cut!)

Okay,I think Dark Mind is the most Nothing Burger mainline Kirby villian ever,if not in the entire series

Almost nothing is known about him ingame besides “He is evil and wants to take over the Mirror World”

And yeah,he is referenced by Void Termina in one of their attacks which might mean something but like,almost every boss is so he is not special

I will argue that Nightmare and Dark Nebula (two similar final bosses with little to no info on them) are more talked about,the former because of the anime (without it,he won’t really be that popular me thinks) and the latter because ‘Lord of the Underworld’ title (despite being a localization thing) and his possible connection to the Sparkling Star among other reasons

Not saying nobody cares for him at all,he just have less attention then all of the other mainline villians because the lack of depth and info he has compare to the others

Now,a theory that I have seen thrown around is that Dark Mind is the Mirror World counterpart of either Nightmare or Zero.or even a combination of both counterparts,and yeah,I can see it especially since he have aspects of both of them

However

As shown in this official tweet by the Kirby Twitter account,it heavily implies that Magolor doesn’t have a mirror counterpart because nothing is shown while looking at the dimensional mirror

This tells me that not everyone has a Mirror World self and if Magolor doesn’t have one,I seriously doubt both Nightmare and Zero would have one as well

I still do think that Dark Mind is atleast somewhat connected to Dark Matter,even if it’s just the substance and not the actual species (if that makes sense)

His name brings the phrase “Mind over Matter” to mind (heh,mind) which means this:

So my epic game theory is that maybe he is like,a advanced version of Dark Matter that gained perception or something???? I think that would be cool

Or maybe he is just his own thing exclusive to the Mirror World,since some Mirror Worlders (like Dark Meta Knight) reflects the darkness their Popstar counterpart,maybe Dark Mind was formed by the leftover darkness from the hearts of many? That may be true but it is still very vague compare to other bosses lore

There is the possibility that he corrupted Queen Sectonia because of the whole mirror thing,it’s way more likely then DMK doing it,that’s for sure

Oh,let’s now talk about something that is also l related to Dark Mind,sorta!

This is King D-Mind from the Team Kirby Clash Deluxe,a king of darkness who is summoned through the Black Mirror by Dark Taranza but he proceeded to shatter the dumb spider

After clashing with Team Kirby,they managed to trap him back the mirror and shatter it,saving the Dream Kingdom

He also had a role in Super Kirby Clash but idgaf

In a interview about Kirby Clash,which can be found here:

I found some interesting stuff like with Taranza using the Black Mirror so much that the balance of worlds breaks and lots of Parallel versions are born alongside Taranza’s dark counterpart

And King D-Mind being born from Dark Taranza’s evil mind who he considers to be the most strongest and savage warrior

Let’s take a look at the Black Mirror itself actually,it bears a striking resemblance to Dark Mind himself,perhaps it was created with him in mind or his origin place because remember,even before Dark Taranza summoned him,King D-Mind was manipulating regular Taranza through this mirror to summon rampaging monsters

Of course,the Kirby Clash games take place in a alternate universe but I always saw the Mirror World as can be visited/connected to all these universes as long if they have a variant of the Dimensional Mirror

Oh,and also it’s probably not important but his internal file name is “MaskedBlackDedede” Black Dedede being Shadow Dedede name In Japanese,but there is not enough evidence (if at all) to suggest Shadoe Dedede and D-Mind are the same

In fact,this might not even BE the same Dark Mind from the Amazing Mirror

So like,can multiple D-Minds exist as long as if people has evil minds? What’s up with the skull mask and flaming eyeballs? Did Dark Taranza considered both Shadow Dedede and Dark Mind as extremely savage it created King D-Mind?

Who knows?

So in conclusion,idk,maybe Dark Mind isn’t meant to be that deep,he was just a villian that needed to be overcomed and that’s it

Either way,I enjoyed rambling about him,let me know if yo I want to see more of these kinds of post from me and let me know what are your interpretations of Dark Mind!

[empressofthewind]

Analysis of Near's Relationships & Social Skills

fairly long post below the cut :-)

something that i find really interesting about Near's sociability in the manga is the fact that he's immediately presented as a recluse. in his very first scene, he's sitting alone completing a puzzle, and declines Linda's invitation to come outside "for once", without looking up or even remotely entertaining the request. this is backed up by his profile in Volume 13, in which his social skills are rated a 1/10, and it's said that he "keeps human contact to a minimum". yet when we see him throughout the rest of the series, this doesn't really seem to be the case. it's tough to analyse what he's like in typical social situations given that the circumstances under which we see him are quite unique, but he is surrounded by people pretty much 24/7 and seems to be very comfortable in this setting. he frequently asks for the input of his team, he is extremely willing to share his thoughts with them at any given time, and he also empathises with them and encourages them to speak up if they feel uncomfortable at any point (e.g., telling Gevanni he does not have to touch the notebook if he's too scared, and telling the entire team that they are welcome to stay at headquarters if they do not want to risk Mello making contact with them). so it doesn't feel right to say that he's shy or unwilling to talk to others, or that he has limited understanding of/regard for others' feelings; nor does it feel accurate to say that he keeps contact "to a minimum" when it's both shown and confirmed that he functions best with others around him.

the impression i get from him is that he is very willing and able to talk to people, but only when he needs to. he can hold a conversation just fine and he talks a lot when prompted, but he does not engage with people simply for the sake of socialising. he won’t go out of his way to initiate a casual chat just because. he does not conform to social norms, as exhibited by his preference for wearing socks and pyjamas even when meeting the President of the United States, so he won't participate in activities or conversations that he is not interested in just for the sake of earning brownie points with the people involved. he doesn't crave the approval of those around him and would rather be alone than engage in forced social interaction. his manner is also very blunt and he is not above brutal honestly. even his lies are very blunt and bold, such as him pretending that he dialled the wrong number when calling Light to confirm that Mogi was not Kira, or announcing to the task force that Mogi had died - which is a stark contrast to L, who lies often and is generally not upfront about it. i also feel like as much as he is willing and able to articulate his thoughts very clearly and extensively, this isn't necessarily his default. when receiving the news of L's death, for example, his instinct is to remain quiet, and process the information internally before speaking about it. on several occasions during the Kira case, he has to be prompted by the members of the SPK to share his thoughts. so i think it is perhaps reasonable to say he is instinctively a fairly quiet person, but is more than capable of speaking his mind if the need arises.

but despite all of this, i do definitely feel like he prefers having people around him. he's perfectly capable of reaching conclusions on his own, at times even faster than he would be when thinking aloud - case in point, the moment when he deduced that Mikami is X-Kira - so it isn't as though he needs to voice every individual thought. in fact, he doesn't really need to have others in the room with him at all, which is once again exemplified by the X-Kira deduction. but he often chooses to be around his team and voice his thoughts anyway, especially when he has strong opinions about something or someone, such as Kira supporters attempting to break into his hideout, or the president withdrawing his support from the SPK. i also think it's worth mentioning that despite him having been alone when he deduced that Mikami was X-Kira, he did invite both Gevanni and Rester into the room individually to ask for their opinions on who stands out to them from the broadcasts, so he could, in his words, use them as a reference. this suggests that he does not just share his thoughts and ask for input because he feels obligated to do so as a member of a team, but that he deems their contributions worth taking into account. it seems to me that he genuinely values the input and presence of his team and recognises that they are instrumental in solving the case; thus he offers them the courtesy of hearing his thoughts at every stage throughout the case, and explaining the logic behind the duties he needs them to perform for him.

once again, though, it's tough to analyse Near's social skills & habits when looking purely through the lens of his interactions with his employees, and there are limited options to investigate outside of the SPK. one thing that is clear to me, though, is that he draws very clear lines between people he does and doesn't respect, and treats them differently as a result. Light is the best example of a person Near does not respect. even before establishing that Light is Kira, Near has no issues telling him to his face that he and the task force are incompetent. after deducing that Light is Kira, Near is snarky with him, calls him out on his lies, and is the only person in the entirety of Death Note who tells Light to his face that he is a mass murderer, not a God. this ties both into Near's bluntness & honesty and his lack of desire for social approval; he has no interest in pretending to like people he fundamentally does not.

the best example of someone Near does respect, in my opinion, is Mello. Near's relationship with Mello is a particularly interesting case to analyse as an outlier amongst the people he interacts with. Mello is the only person we see him engage with (other than the brief exchange between him and Linda) whom he has history with beyond the Kira case, and who is neither a direct ally nor masquerading as one. Mello is actively working against Near, and thus, in theory, Near has no allegiance to him, nor any reason to be polite to him unless he considers Mello a potential threat whom he needs to be especially sensitive towards - which clearly isn't the case, given he makes no effort to appease Mello when his gun is pointed at Near and instead gives Mello permission to shoot him. so the way he speaks about and to Mello is very notable to me. it's abundantly clear to me that Near likes Mello and has a lot of respect for him. he praises Mello on his ability to get the Death Note before the SPK could, and does not hold Mello's crimes against him. Near talks about Kira and his followers with disdain and condemns them for their crimes, but he vehemently defends Mello, and is very quick to justify Mello's actions. he also went to great lengths to protect Mello by contacting everyone he knew of who had seen Mello’s face, and kept his photo protected for five years.

however, Near also puts very little effort into forming any sort of amicable relationship with Mello, as far as we can tell from canon. he accepts Roger's request for them to work together, but does not complain or attempt to stop Mello when he walks out. he does not console Mello over L's death, either, and he makes no attempt to extend his interactions with Mello later in the manga when Mello visits his headquarters and sends Mogi to him so they can conduct a joint interrogation. he never tries to convince Mello to like him and he doesn’t make a big deal about the effort he has put into protecting him. what this shows, in my opinion, is that if Near does have any interest in befriending and/or working with Mello (the latter of which i think is implied, and the former is more so a matter of interpretation), he does not want to force those relationships. he would be willing to align himself with Mello directly, but he does not want Mello to do so out of any sense of obligation. since Mello has made it clear that he has no interest in working with him, Near does not try to persuade him, and is perfectly comfortable to let him follow his own path if that is what he wishes to do. this could also give context to his apparent lack of friendships at Wammy's House, as specified in Volume 13 - if all of this is true, it's possible that there were others at Wammy's House whom he liked and would have been open to befriending, but because of his unwillingness to take initiative when it comes to forming these relationships, he gave off the impression that he was not interested, and would rather be alone.

[dangerousyako]

the thing that keeps bugging me about tmagp 16 isnt the overuse of gen z slang. it's that it's internet online slang used wrong. It's not just a matter of vocabulary. If we consider that internet online slang among the youth is a sociolect, then we must admit that it comes with its own rules of usage and grammar, just like other dialects.

It was very egregious with its use of "no cap". Because as far as i can tell from a cursory textual search, "No cap" works pretty much exclusively as a final or starter particle, the way we would use "on god" or "man" as is "Don't do it, man", or "for real" except that "for real" is a bit more flexible about being used in the middle of a sentence. Essentially, "no cap" is always used either at the very beginning or at the very end of the sentence, in a situation where it would be separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma (or, orally, an inhale or a pause) and it is always used as a qualifier that applies to the whole of the sentence and not just one word. It is never used as a qualifying adverb for an adjective, the way "really", as in "i was really tired", can work

You can get:

No cap, I was shook

or

I was shook, no cap.

but you cannot get:

I was no cap shook

[someone] no cap robbing graves

Specifically "[someone] no cap robbing graves" is so weird because "No cap" is used to qualify a statement that you, the speaker, are saying. It means "I swear I'm not lying to you on this". So it's extra weird that she's using it, not only grammatically wrong, but also to qualify reported speech. It makes no sense that she's saying "On the news, there's this whole thing about someone robbing graves, I'm not lying about this" when the news is saying the thing, not her.

There are a lot of other specific issues, like the misuse of "y'all" when talking to a single person or the perplexing use of "finna" for the immediate future instead of the near future or the fact that i can't find any occurrence of "thick and perky" as a locution or just how plain dated "sliding into their dms" is, and i'm not sure "ya [adjective] girl" is in use much with "ya" as possessive adjective ("ya girl" is common, but with an adjective? not so much), but i don't have time to do a corpus analysis on every word in that statement

(also whatever is "Gothdam central". Because i'm a batman fan first and a linguistics enjoyer second, and if A.J. Newall miswrote "Gotham" i may need to have words)

(im not going to talk on the appropriation discourse about the overlap of youth slang and AAVE because that's a issue that's so much bigger)

I KNOW that AJ Newall said that Madam E is a try-hard and that she talks like that as an affectation for her online persona, but she has 1,6 MILLION LIKES. she has 137k followers just on that platform. No one gets that kind of numbers by speaking the local dialect wrong. Her misusing teen slang for clout every other word shouldn't make her popular, it should make her a laughingstock. Madam E is clearly very young (kindergoth indicates young age) and extremely online: even if she wasn't codeswitching seamlessly, she should at least be moderately fluent in internet youth talk, not butchering it constantly

Anyway. This felt much more like an older adult coming across a list of internet teen slang and not bothering to do any further research writing a strawman story to complain about Those Damn Kids Amiright.

It's lazy and it's mean and it's punching down and it's frankly insulting to anyone who speaks a distinct social dialect, because what it means is that AJ Newall, like some sort of boomer parent, thinks that internet (and AAVE) talk, usage, register, grammar, etiquette and inflexion can be boiled down to a simple list of funky vocabulary.

[sexyleon]

I felt that post of yours about the Dracula fandom and the way it talks about adaptations tbh, like, I'm someone who was very involved in DD last year and I've written critique myself about Dracula adaptations bc I love comparative analysis and really thinking about the choices adaptations make, for good or for ill, but from my personal experience, a lot of fandom commentary on adaptations isn't really thoughtful analysis, and don't get me wrong, I'm a hater sometimes too and enjoying venting, but I noticed that this year, there were so many posts that started out as thoughtful commentary on the book, then launched into bitching about the evils of adaptations out of nowhere, and people can write what they want, but it got tiring after awhile to be in a fandom with so much angry energy, not to mention the divergence in canon vs fanon that was much starker this year that made me feel like I had read a different book.

Also, every time I see people point at re: Dracula to be like, see, it's so easy to do a perfect 1:1 adaptation of the novel, why can't other adaptations do it?, it's like, it's an audiobook, a movie can't be that long, even a television mini-series would have to make cuts. And I might dislike a lot of choices adaptations make, but creatives absolutely have the right to take a public domain work and put their own spin on things beyond book accuracy as the number one goal - and like, do we truly want a 100% accurate adaptation when the novel is still ultimately a xenophobic reverse invasion story? Like, I would hope modern directors would seriously grapple with those aspects of the original story instead of reproducing Victorian bigotry unquestioned.

Hi, thank you for your response! I'm glad that my post resonated with a few people!

I definitely also felt a shift in energy with this season of Dracula Daily, and I'm pretty sure it is a direct result of the phenomena that is Re: Dracula. Don't get me wrong, I am a HUGE supporter of RE: Dracula, and I found it to be absolutely delightful specifically because it was a 1:1 adaptation of the book, but I also think that it has skewed the way people engage with all the other adaptations of Dracula. You are so right when you say that Re: Dracula's media as audiobook is what allowed it to be so authentic. Even if it was a long-form series, there would have to be creative liberties taken to account for visualising certain aspects of the text. I am 100% sure someone would be able to do it, but it would undoubtedly be a labour of love and expense.

I think the biggest thing that got lost in translation in my post is that I was speaking specifically on the rhetoric of "bad adaptation = bad media." I don't even like to use the term "bad adaptation" because it feels inaccurate and gives the connotation of being holistically terrible; "failed adaptation" or "inauthentic adaptation" seems more apt when discussing how close an adaptation relates to the source material. I think it is unfair for any adaptation to be written off solely on the fact that it does not strictly adhere to the original text. This can be in way of narrative, characterization, theme, etc. I don't think it's fair to say "x adaptation is bad because it ignores x from the text" because that fundamentally dismisses all the other attributes that contribute to whether or not a piece of media is subjectively good (because honestly that's all it is-- subjectivity). Media, especially film and stage, has so many dynamic and moving parts. There are so many attributes that contribute to the success of any one given thing, especially adaptations (which can claim the title with even the loosest references to the source material). I feel like the black and white thinking when it comes to this doesn't really allow for a dialogue to exist between people who enjoy Dracula adaptations for what they are and, forgive me for saying this, book purists.

Understandably, there is criticism against some adaptations that have claimed to follow the source text closely, but very distinctly did not (Ahum, Cappola). However, I think it does everyone a disservice to deny the impact of a lot of these (mostly) films. Someone in the reblogs of my original post did a good breakdown of the origins of the Dracula genre itself, and I think it goes to show that the story of Dracula has a life of its own outside of the pages of Bram Stoker's book.

The most annoying thing about the responses to my initial post was the refusal to believe that anyone was making these comparisons. I really would not have gone out on a limb to rant about this if I hadn't been consistently seeing vent posts in the main tag with mostly negative responses to a lot of different adaptations of Dracula based on the authenticity of them to the text. I admit I was frustrated when I wrote it, but it really was meant to just address the black and white thinking re: failed adaptations making bad media. This is not to say that criticism of adaptations isn't valid, but I think there should be more nuance to this conversation and that's what I wasn't seeing. It's not fun to dive into the broad Dracula tag and find post after post shitting on your favourite media because it isn't like the book.

Sorry this was a bit long! I am just really passionate about Dracula okay!! And I really really really like all the shitty little shows and movies and plays and comics and all other media that comes out of his name (because YES, a lot of adaptations really make vampire synonymous with Dracula and ROLL WITH IT). Vampires are really neat and the Dracula genre of film has been a huge influence on horror media. I think there is a lot to be said when analysing adaptations, but none of it can come from blanket statements against them.

@spider-xan

[readingsfrommars]

A Hero in a City Full of Giants

So I just got positive on my covid test and have nothing better to do. I figured I might as well get started on the Don Quixote analysis of each of her IDs.

Please note that I am not infallible, and can very well get things wrong. Additionally, I might not do it all at once. It's kind of a lot.

I will also not be going over T Corp and Cinq Association in too much detail here, as I have already covered them in earlier posts.

For now, I'll discuss Shi Association and Blade Lineage. They're both pretty clear cut, so they're unsurprisingly the most brief explanations.

With that sorted, let's begin.

To start, it's important to remember the setting of Limbus Company. To summarise a lot, and I mean a lot, The City is a hyper-capitalist dystopia, one in which the best way to survive is to look out for yourself first and foremost. It is a place where in order to get anything meaningful done, one must be strong. The systems in each wing exist to benefit the rich and powerful, while exploiting the people beneath them.

Altruism is an endangered concept with The City. In a place where you have to give everything you have to merely survive, the ability to help someone else for no benefit to yourself is a luxury. Any who try will, assuming they aren't killed first, inevitably discover the futility of their actions.

Suffice it to say, heroes don't last long.

And yet, Don Quixote is still here. Still trying, despite everything that has impeded her path. Throughout the story, we have seen her time and time again going out of her way to help the weak and downtrodden, to varying degrees of success. And, while she might not be an actual hero - at least, not yet - her identities provide an interesting perspective on her motivations.

With every ID of hers we've received, we have seen a Don who, in one way or another, failed in her journey towards Heroism.

I'll start with Shi Association. They're assassins whose lethality also extends to themselves. They tend to excel when they're on the brink of death, which means that any mission they're in is likely to get very, very bloody. In Don's case, the ID story shows us that, while she acts jolly and upbeat around her colleagues, she is a deeply traumatised woman by this point.

Her ID art should tell you exactly how heroic she feels at this point. Shi Association Don is no hero, only a weapon that is on the brink of breaking.

Moving on...

Blade Lineage Don is an brief one. Don seems relatively sane compared to a number of her other IDs, even more so than LCB Don, but it is explicitly stated within her ID story that she has long since given up her quest for heroism.

Pretty straightforward, honestly. Don has lost the will to fight for others, instead deciding to act in her own best interests. In the context of The City, this would be considered a good ending for her. She's alive, still has her sanity, and is a part of a syndicate that has an above average level of morality. Not that being above average means anything, really...

So that's those two IDs done. I'll try to get the next few done by tuesday, but I can't guarantee that. If you've read all the way to here, first of all, thank you very much, but second of all...

Should I include Don's Lobotomy Corp ID? It feels a bit like an outlier, but I expect I could probably find something to talk about with it.

[dungeons-and-dictions]

It’s Analysis Friday about precisely why Hazbin Hotel is such a stand out.

But first - this is probably my last Hazbin Hotel-related analysis until the next season; give me asks during this long dry spell!

Why on this specific topic? Because I’m tired.

Y’all.

Listen.

I’m all for subjectivity. People can just like or dislike things regardless of quality. Heck, I know Helluva Boss is part of the Hazbin world, but it gives me too much cringe and vicarious embarrassment to handle.

(Yeah, I’m weird. I know)

But I keep hearing people say Hazbin Hotel is mid or just relying on hype.

Those are fighting words!

We are getting quality on par with Disney movies for a tv series!

That’s crazy! Let’s break it down.

Musical numbers

Talented singers play the main crew. Stephanie Beatrix plays Mirabel Madrigal, Kimiko plays Izzy, etc.

There were 2 songs per episode! And because it is truly perfect for a musical, we even get thematic reprises and callbacks!

Does anyone recall when similar things have happened in animation? MLP:FiM had a glorious episode that was ALL musical with a reprise. That’s all I have at this scale outside of Disney.

Characters

I’ve always known Vivzie to put thought into her work, and this shines through so well in Hazbin.

Lucifer’s depression is similar to my own

Angel’s gradual changes and struggles are realistic

Charlie’s breed of passion is the same as mine in my career

Alastor’s extremely manipulative yet we all love him

Velvette had one of the best formal character intros I’ve seen in a long time

Hazbin Hotel works really hard to get away from stereotypes, and dives in past superficial traits.

Also, we get things like Valentino sounding like he’s squeaking because moths squeak. We don’t need these things!

Animation

You know what else we don’t need?

Airplane arms!

Complicated dance moves!

Cute leg swishies with cuter sound effects?

Every second you see is 10+ frames traditionally. (Idk the studio’s technical details). That’s wild to add in these complicated extra details! And they flow so nicely! This level of quality for 2D (and honestly 3D too most of the time) is unheard of in the West nowadays.

And on that, western adult animated shows typically are so poorly made, especially in the art. Even the few I have seen that have okay stories to tell absolutely stink in terms of visuals and movement.

Story

Yeah, this is the biggest weakness Hazbin Hotel has, no doubt. The story is actually an incredible premise, and truly done pretty well within the awful time constraints. I think everyone is valid in saying it was far too fast! Hopefully we get more (or longer) episodes in upcoming seasons.

But at the same time, this is also the nature of musicals. If you think this is fast, don’t watch the Les Miserables musical where everyone only sings. Idk why, but singing the entire time makes everything seem like you’re in a race car on autopilot.

Don’t forget; the symbolism just drips out of the screen in this show. The fact that I could still do more analyses even now is a testament to that with all the content I have done since it aired. Vivienne goes hard on the details.

But put yourself in Vivzie’s shoes. You do the impossible, shot for the moon while hoping for maybe the top of a 5-story building, and you were offered the stars. Your project has been a part of who you are before you even went to university, and a major company gives you a way to bring it to life? Why wouldn’t you settle for this good of a deal?

Innovation

People do not bring up often enough that Vivienne broke a glass ceiling separate from that of gender. She showed that YouTube animations can be taken seriously, and even be aired.

In this age, the Saturday morning cartoon blocks I grew up with no longer exist. There were tons of great shows, and I could talk with other kids about it. Nestled within these weekends were shows that ran short pilot episodes for potential series. The last time I saw one was Adventure Time’s pilot.

It’s been a whiiiiiiile.

So having a cutesy little indie pilot animation amongst thousands on YouTube be such high quality and get a mainstream platform? Spindlehorse made history!

Moreso, Helluva Boss is also demonstrating the capacity of indie studios like never before - and what may pave the way for the future of animation too.

Out of all the animated series running on YouTube, Glitch is the only creator who does 3D that I am aware of. Even Glitch’s work has only started within the past few years, ie after Vivienne managed the impossible.

So please, stop complaining about subjective parts so much. Hazbin Hotel objectively has some of the highest craftsmanship in western animation.

We are blessed that Vivienne’s dream has come true in such a glorious manner. When I discovered her back in 2012, I couldn’t have guessed the pilot would be so successful, nor that it would change what was possible for animation!

[asteria7fics]

hey! while i don't want to assume that you're still doing this challenge, but if you are, i'd love to hear your thoughts on bebe! your analysis on wendy was excellent, so i just want to hear more lol

🏳️‍🌈 A sexuality headcanon

🏳️‍⚧️ A gender headcanon

🧸 A headcanon about their childhood

👻 A headcanon about what scares them

🎶 A headcanon about music

👽 A headcanon about a weird quirk of there

💝 A headcanon about their love language

🫂 A friendship headcanon

💔 An angsty headcanon

🪢 A headcanon about their family

📓 A headcanon about their hobbies

👗 A headcanon about their clothes

🔪 A headcanon relating to fighting/violence

🌟 A headcanon about their desires/wishes

🍫 A headcanon about food

🎭 A headcanon about what they lie about

❤️‍🔥 A romantic headcanon

💄 An appearance headcanon

🖕 A headcanon relating to anger

😬 A headcanon about the worst thing they’ve done

😶 A random headcanon

(sorry about the number of questions here. Answer as much or as little as you want!)

-<3

Hell yeah dude! I’m happy to keep doing these as long as people have characters they want me to blab about!

And truthfully, talking about Bebe will probably actually help me a ton. She makes super limited appearances in EWILY but I’d like to explore her character more in the future!

Anyway, let’s get into it!

🏳️‍🌈 - So deep in the walk-in closet it’s actually a little embarrassing. Bebe’s the kinda girl that acts straight 99% of the time, but WILL make out with her female friends when she’s drunk. But it, like, didn’t mean anything she swears.

🏳️‍⚧️ - Cis girl. Definitely most comfortable when presenting high feminine.

🧸 - I kinda like to think Bebe was a little bit spoiled as a child. Not rotten, she was just one of those kids that got whatever she wanted. As an only child, she was doted on pretty heavily by her parents and extended family.

👻 - Not much truly scares Bebe, though she would definitely be the kinda girl that agrees to see a scary movie with a hot guy just so she can scream and grab hold of his arm. If she was in a really terrifying situation though? She is on her knees begging for her life, all confidence is out the window.

🎶 - Bebe loves popular music, and is a MASSIVE Swiftie!!! Owns every album, spends hours online discussing lore and hint drops. Currently, I think she’d also really like Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo and Meg Thee Stallion.

👽 - She’s so…. Normal, that it’s hard to imagine her doing anything ‘quirky’. I do imagine she probably went through a phase of biting her cute little pink pens and pencils until someone scared her about it ruining her teeth (probably Kyle making an offhand comment lmao).

💝 - Gift giving. NEXT! Ahaha no but seriously loves receiving gifts. I think she gives love with a lot of physical touch though. Big on hugs and hand holding.

🫂 - As we know, Wendy is her BFF, though Bebe is very popular and makes friends extremely easily. She’s one of those people that will go into the bathroom at a party and come out with a whole new friend group and plans with them for the following weekend.

💔 - Bebe stopped trying to keep a boyfriend in the summer between freshman and sophomore year, claiming to be over stupid boys and wanting to be in her ‘hot girl era’, but she was really just tired of being disappointed by jerks who treated her like garbage. She’s really kind of given up on the idea of ‘love’ as something real and attainable.

🪢 - She is very close with both of her parents, spending tons of time gossiping and shopping with her mom if she isn’t with her other friends. She’s her father’s perfect little angel, and he definitely brought her chocolates and consoled her after her worst breakups.

📓 - Bebe’s top hobby is being a social butterfly, but she also really loves makeup and fashion! I could see her attempting to become an influencer during college for some extra income. She also definitely used to be a horse girl, though she probably no longer keeps horses into her teens.

👗 - Perfect transition from the last question hehe! Bebe keeps up with most trends, so at the current moment she would wear tons of Y2K inspired clothes! Low waisted jeans, mini skirts and baby tees. She has a revolving wardrobe and rarely wears the same combination of clothes twice.

🔪 - Bebe can and will fuck you up. You saw what she did to Butters. Talk shit about one of her girls? Start praying brother it’s over for you, especially if she’s sloshed.

🌟 - She would claim to be happy with the idea of being independent, as some kind of influencer or maybe a personal assistant to a super famous celebrity, but she secretly fantasizes about having an extravagant wedding and starting a family. Yes, she’s had a wedding Pinterest board since she was like twelve.

🍫 - Unfortunately probably succumbs to a lot of social pressure to stay thin, using a ton of super unhealthy trend diets throughout her early teens in an attempt to stay skinny. As she gets older though she starts to accept herself as she’s meant to be, with a lot of help from Wendy and a great many lectures about the health risks associated with those horrible, bullshit diets.

🎭 - Ahahaha being straight!! No, but seriously, she lies constantly to her parents about where she is and who she’s with. Despite being spoiled, they don’t love some aspects of her lifestyle (namely, doing lots of drugs and having lots of sex ahaha).

❤️‍🔥 - As I’ve mentioned, Bebe has sort of given up on the idea of being in love. She has a few sexual partners that she revisits occasionally, but the second they start catching feelings she dips.

💄 - GORGEOUS!!! STUNNING!!! Big, bouncy blond curls, round features and the most insanely blue eyes out of anyone in town (second is probably Stan tbh, brother stares into your soul with those things). And her makeup is always FLAWLESS?? An actual guru, she should really go to cos school.

🖕 - Bebe’s a bad bitch, we all know this, though she’s got a longer fuse than you might expect. Unless she’s drunk. I think this whole ask has taught us all not to let Bebe get too drunk, huh?

😬 - Nothing! She’s a perfect angel and has never done anything wrong! JK she sleeps with girls’ boyfriends on the regular. None of her friends though, don’t worry. She’s not a total monster. (Also, the whole list thing? Yeah, that was rotted. I support her wrongs and her rights)

😶 - Despite appearing very infrequently in EWILY, Bebe actually plays a very important role. Aside from hosting the post benefit party at her house, of course. She also probably helped Wendy when she was running for class president! Aaaw girls supporting girls, love them!

Thank you for these, anon!! I really don’t get enough of a chance to stop and think about some of the side characters like I did when I was working on TSOB, so it’s helpful to be handed an opportunity to do so! I hope my answers please and sparkle!