#aren't necessarily indicative of what they want to happen

[cryptidorchid]

I’ve seen a lot of people call out Scott’s lack of care for Jimmy’s life in Third Life. (Usually, this is part of their explanation for why they think flower husbands is toxic) And I think these points are interesting but kind of miss that the lack of care is reciprocated by Jimmy.

In Scott’s case, the moments I see pointed out the most are the two times Scott treated Jimmy dying like it was a spectator sport. Like when Jimmy got attacked by the enderman or Jimmy played the Tango’s lava minigame and Scott was like “I’m just here to see if Jimmy dies” and when he told Grian that “once our husbands die, we can be free.” 

I will play devil’s advocate for a moment here and say that in all of these moments, regardless of what Scott was saying about it, he took action to try to keep Jimmy alive. In the first two instances mentioned, he gave Jimmy advice to help him survive and in the last one with Grian, he suggested Jimmy should stay in the bunker so he could be safer. But I will admit that Scott acts very apathetic about Jimmy dying.

In Jimmy’s case, he’s less verbally apathetic but his actions seem strange for someone who should want Scott to stay alive. Like that time where Grian and Scar let their enderman free to attack Scott and Jimmy scolded Scott for killing the enderman because it upset Grian and Scar. And even when Scott was being attacked, Jimmy’s response was just yelling that he wasn’t the one who looked at the enderman and then watching as Scott gets attacked. And there was that time when they found the enchanting table outside of Renchanting and Jimmy (correctly) guessed that it might be a trap so he told Scott to mine it.  For the second one, Jimmy says it’s because he’s just died so he doesn’t want to die again which would be fair, except neither of them have any motivation to mine the enchanting table in the first place, so the reasonable response would be “it might be a trap so neither of us should mine it”

Which made it really weird when the Dogwarts confrontation happened and suddenly, they’re all protective over each other. Suddenly, they’re like “Jimmy, don’t go near the scary red name!” and “Scott, what if they sacrifice you on their altar?” 

What? Where did this come from? At least in Scott’s case, I can guess it was because Jimmy’s now a red name so if Jimmy dies, it’s permanent. I don’t know what was up with Jimmy in that moment.

And, as far as them continuing to be protective after that? On Scott’s end, he was pretty consistent and explicit about wanting to keep Jimmy safe after that (except for him being weirdly happy about the idea of being a widow, don’t know what was up with that). 

On Jimmy’s end, after this, as far as I can tell, he went back to using Scott’s green life as an excuse to ask Scott to take risks. He finds a cake unexpectedly in his house, thinks it might be a trap, and asks Scott to eat it and tell him if anything bad happens. When they're in a fight with Dogwarts, Jimmy tells Scott that he should "get in there" because he’s a green name. Honestly, I don’t think these are that bad because Jimmy was on red and Scott was on green, but it is a big difference from him burning the Dogwarts banner over just the possibility that they might try to kill Scott (and it implies that Jimmy sees Scott's life as disposable which while pragmatic, is not very kind). Anyway, my main point is that I can’t remember Jimmy ever really being worried about Scott’s life outside of the one moment with Dogwarts.

In conclusion, neither of them seemed to be super concerned about the other one dying (Scott said it. Jimmy acted like it) until Jimmy went to red. Which I think mostly had to do with the fact that they both knew the other had more lives to spare. They really lived their lives like “me and my husband who couldn't care less if I live or die.” My dysfunctional faves.

[artbyblastweave]

Okay, Time for that belated Shrinking Rae post-

In the comics, Shrinking Ray's "arc" (bearing in mind an extremely liberal definition of that term, they had exactly one scene showcasing this) was that he was implied to be developing an inferiority complex; he's not necessarily incompetent, but he's out of his niche, his clever shrinking-based plans kept getting upstaged by brute-force solutions from the more conventionally powerful heroes like Invincible. He's the scrawny, nerdy little guy with the joke powers, he never gets a win, and in most fights he literally isn't visible. In the fight with the Lizard League his death is framed as pathetic and ineffectual- there's one or two panels between "I'll make you pay!" and getting eaten alive by Komodo. All of this is doing a couple of things- it's emphasizing that again, this is in fact a story and setting where superheroes sometimes just die really badly with limited fanfare- a thing that IIRC hadn't happened since the original Guardians team wipe in issue 7. Second, it's an indicator that the new Guardians are structurally kind of on the ropes. They're heavily staffed by second stringers, they exact second they have to split their forces they suffer a 66 percent casualty rate, and that's with backing from two capes who aren't actually part of the team. Grim! Anyway, when they do the adaptation Shrinking Ray becomes Shrinking Rae, because they want to tweak the gender balance of the cast and the pun is too good to pass up. But I think that there was a reasonable reluctance to transfer the "arc" from the comics one-to-one, because to be blunt, "Ineffectual Nebbish Glasses-wearer who whines a lot and dies pathetically," paired with absolutely nothing else, is gonna read as misogynistic if the character is a woman now. So in the adaptation Rae is markedly more competent. We're introduced to her taking down a much larger opponent by fucking around inside his ear canal, which becomes a favored trick of hers. There are traces of the self-esteem thing- the visual gag where she physically shrinks about a foot when getting chewed out in the briefing- but the overall throughline isn't "look at this loser who somehow ended up on the guardians." In the Lizard League fight, she doesn't get eaten- she's deliberately trying to execute a Thanus maneuver and just fucks it up, seconds after successfully killing a different villain the same way. And there's a second where it looks like it might work, too, before hope is cruelly yanked away. Which makes for a markedly cooler death scene- but who died? What was actually going on with her? Anything? In some sense she's cooler, but it's kind of an undifferentiated cool. She had what, Six lines? Seven? On balance I think Rae is still doing her fundamental job in the story, which is to pad the Guardians roster for a while and have someone who actually dies and stays dead as a result of the Lizard League fight- but I think they definitely missed an opportunity to give her some more texture than her comic counterpart had. Part of me thinks that the show would have been a good place to go even harder on Shrinking Rae being in over her head, but in a considered way, to emphasize that the Guardians aren't well managed- maybe tie it into the tensions between Robot and Immortal regarding sustainable team management practices. Part of me thinks you should go the other way, that if you're gonna do away with the idea she's underwhelming you should blow up her role, have her actually say and do some things that affect the story or the team dynamic in any noticeable way, because as it stands she's kind of visibly siloed as the designated mauve shirt. I'm definitely of one mind that this showcases something I suspected was gonna bite the show in the ass, which is that they're (laudably) diversifying a secondary and tertiary cast whose main role in the source material is often to die badly or fade out of focus.

[coeluvr]

What kinda worries me about Vincent's route rn is not being able to trigger it. The current romance options are too crazy, as you said, and it doesn't work at all for my MC so i'm just not choosing them, and i'm kinda worried i'll miss special dialogue because i don't have enough romance points with him? Maybe it could be nice if there were some less intense options for MC or choices that aren't necessarily romantic in nature but still count for the romance? Just so ppl who want to romance him with more introverted MCs don't get "left behind" if it makes sense. Maybe i'm overthinking this...

I guess you skimmed through the indications tutorial, which reminded me to put it in the extras part later to avoid confusion, but the flirting options aka ❤️‍🔥 options don't trigger the routes. 😅

The options with 💗 trigger the romance route, the ❤️‍🔥 options show attraction toward the character and may trigger flings (which not all characters have). Vincent has a sexual only route which can be unlocked by choosing the ❤️‍🔥 options and that can later develop into romance when 💗 options start showing up.

As of right now, no MC has romantic points with Vincent. Because there aren't any 💗 options in the game.

Like I said in my previous post, I won't be adding any normal flirting options until later when there's actual depth in their relationship. The first sexual scene with Vincent fits the crazy shameless MC (although it is a bit trickier to unlock), I didn't put the choices to be this way just because yes, it fits the storyline.

Every route has special dialogue, you will miss out on scenes that only the shameless MCs get if your MC is not that way. That's just how it is.

For example, unkind MCs missed out on dialogue in Chapter 4 with Vincent, it happens.

I can put less intense but equally shameless and crazy ❤️‍🔥 options but I don't think they'll fit your MC and from what you say I doubt you'd even want to go through the sexual only to romantic route with Vincent. 😭

But if you do want to, you'll have the chance later on when things are more normal than now without flirting shamelessly. 🫶

[6okuto]

vulnerable vere is!! such a concept!! I love the idea of him eventually shedding that front he puts up w the mc but I’m curious as to how…basically, could we get some more vere hcs? 🥺 I absolutely love how you characterize him (and all the touchstarved charas!)

VULNERABLE VERE HCS

gn!reader | (hypnotic/alluring voice) red spring studio drop more lore so i don't look like a loser when all of this is absurdly inaccurate

VULNERABLE VERE!! aahh... with so little information to work with. i will try my best to think of possible scenarios!

starting out with going on a 'mission' with him—'mission' because it might not necessarily be an actual hunt. he could totally just lie to see what you'll do. you're intriguing!

a scene where you have the option to leave him behind, use him, hurt him in some way, and simply not doing so. and he's distrustful and shocked—maybe he had just done something to piss you off earlier—but you tell him you'd never have let that happen. and he might not thank you, but he eases his remarks for the day

^ actually you might get a Little thanks. just a little one. dependent on how far along you've gotten with him

you finding vere after he's gotten injured on a hunt. and he tells you he'll be Fine but it's cute how much you care but sits and lets you examine him anyway. maybe if you weren't looking for any scars or blood you'd notice the way his tail twitched when your fingers almost touched his skin

i don't think finding out vere's history is going to be as easy as a deep conversation.. like i don't think it'll be something he reveals voluntarily in some safe place. unfortunately. though i could still be wrong! which would be soo awesome

but to me. it seems like something that'll be commented on/exposed by other characters, something you'll be witness to when he has to transform, etc etc. and then there's an awkward tension because well, you're not really sure what to do now. you know vere and that's why you're hesitant, but also he kinda fucking hates the hesitancy

because ! great ! you've seen him ! and of course you're fucking scared (even if you aren't), of course you're staring at him silently, trying to start a conversation that no, he does not want to have right now.

but i Am expecting a deep late night talk. come onnn come on!!! there has to be one where he opens up a little bit, maybe he's a little tipsy, or he was and actually, he's quite sober right now, but you don't point that out because you don't want him to stop talking.

and then you open up. and he's silent while you tell him your story, when you tell him you wish you could touch somebody without the fear of turning them into something else. and maybe he thinks about every single innuendo he's thrown around and wonders what you were really thinking. wonders about you're different but also the same

and of course. the highly awaited scene of him finally letting you touch his collar/chains. you don't realize you're holding your breath, and he's sitting oddly still while your hands hesitate. then your hands touch the metal for the first time, and really you're not even sure what you plan to do. you have to be careful not to touch him, after all

and i think he might try to be dismissive of it . what the collar means, what letting you touch it means. your fingers follow the chain down his chest and he says something about how it's "nothing special," about how you're so nervous—does he make you nervous?

one indicator that he's learned to trust you i think could be falling asleep around you... like, not even just going to sleep at the same time with you, but simply letting himself rest while you're nearby. not having to worry about being woken for a job, or you trying to do something terrible, etc. i think that could be very sweet!

vere's tail...not just brushing it, but he flicks it at you knowing you won't retaliate in any harmful way. it's playful and teasing as always, but something he wouldn't do with someone he didn't want his tail near

a time where you can Touch him. perhaps the first time you think it's safe to try and he can tell you're freaking out so he moves into your touch before you can retract your hand

vere who is just like...a little calmer? he teases, but unlike the first meeting where he's dropping innuendos with every sentence, he doesn't really feel the need to do that? like vere's first meeting was definitely building up a character not just for us but for MC themself like...scratches head. anyway. vere in the morning where you've been in a relationship for a while and he's just. he comes up from behind while you're making a drink, and he might run his fingers along your back to send a chill down your spine, but then he's sitting down and holding a regular conversation about your plans for the day. yeah

i really want to know about vulnerable vere because right now . that one blushing sprite when you ask about ais at the end of the demo ... ??? like i Cannot imagine a scenario when else we could elicit that response. it is such a loving flustered gaze it's baffling because not a single story plot point i can think of right now for a character like vere would. ... well! it'll happen! it's a sprite for a reason! waauww...

[braxiations]

What is Hylics Canon? - The Accretion

Preamble/Disclaimer

Hi! This post will be a bit different from my previous analysis and theory posts. Unlike those, I'm going to be doing very little theorizing or speculating -- at least, that's not my primary goal. What I want to do today is go over everything we know about "The Accretion," a vague event referred to numerous times throughout Hylics 2. Additionally, I'll try to draw some conclusions about what I think is Mason's authorial intent with the Accretion. I'll do my best to walk through my logic and view multiple sides, and whenever I speculate or make a stretch I'll try and be clear about it.

Before we start, I want to apologize for if I come off as rude or dismissive of certain headcanons or interpretations. Later on I'll be tackling 3 of the main theories I've seen floated around and I intended to be critical and clear when I think they contradict the established canon. However, I do not mean to invalidate these interpretations. Hylics' lore is very interpretive and vague and "canon" isn't something that needs to be strictly abided to. If your interpretation conflicts with what I've shown here, that's perfectly ok!

Basically, my post is for people who either care about adhering to canon or are just curious as to what evidence there is. That being said, let's jump in!

The Basics

"Gibby! Emerge from that vessel. The Hylemxylem was a failure. Only now does the Accretion's long dark age begin to subside." This dialogue, said by Wayne to Gibby before the final battle, is perhaps the only piece of required dialogue referencing the Accretion. This paints the Accretion as the cause of a "dark age," although it's unclear what this entails, which the Hylemxylem threatens to begin again. Many have taken this to indicate that the Hylemxylem caused the Accretion, but there isn't substantial evidence for or against this. It's certainly a valid possibility.

"Back when the accretion hit, the strongest gesture was buried." This line, spoken by one of the Waynes at Waynehouse is one of many indications that the Accretion was an event. Many other pieces of dialogue have wording that confirms this, this is just the first the player is likely to encounter. I bring this up to dispel the idea that "the Accretion" could be the name of the dark age itself.

This is also the first instance we see of the Accretion being claimed to "bury" things. This might indicate that certain objects either hit the ground with such tremendous force that they sank deep in. Alternatively, the Accretion might have actually produced a layer of matter that buried objects on the surface.

Known buried objects: - Disthlarn Moon. (New Muldul NPC: "When the Accretion buried the sage's great ship, Disthlarn Moon, my wife and I were stranded here on the surface.) - The Bombo-Genesis monitor (The TV Wayne and various other NPCs. The monitor is in Disthlarn Moon so this makes sense.) - The labyrinth ("The key is ancient. Whatever door it unlocks is likely deep underground, buried in the Accretion." Said by Smuldunde, referring to a key that unlocks a door in the labyrinth.)

You'll notice that many of the things explicitly listed as buried in the Accretion are specifically those that belong to the Sages. This makes sense given what we'll discuss in the next section.

"A great gesture may oppose Gibby. But accretions place it beyond our reach, and embolden his agents as they seek reconstitution." The Sage of Accretions gives this line, and like their name it confirms that the Accretion is just a singular instance of an accretion, and in fact there have been multiple. The Accretion, denoted by "the" and also capitalized (at least by me, the in-game dialogue is inconsistent) may have just been a particularly damaging one.

Given that a Sage of Accretions exists, they're likely not all catastrophic and could be somewhat akin to weather event. They happen from time to time and aren't necessarily bad, but under particular conditions or if emerging suddenly, they can be a disaster. These are all just assumptions though. Accretions could happen over massive spans of time and the Accretion is only referred to as such due to being the most recent. As we know that the "great gesture" referred to here was buried in the Accretion, the fact that multiple accretions place it beyond their reach may indicate that smaller accretions have occurred since. This is all just speculation.

The Age of Sages

"Our empire was undone by a sudden accretion. Only the cabinets recall its grandeur now." This line, spoken by the Sage of Monitors deep beneath Viewax's Edifice first establishes an "Empire of the Sages" and the idea that that empire was undone by the Accretion. The Empire of Sages is also referred to by Pongorma and Gibby. Pongorma specifically refers to Disthlarn Moon as a "remnant" of their empire. This indicates rather clearly that the "Age of Sages" as I've decided to call it was specifically ended by the Accretion, which cast the labyrinth and Disthlarn Moon deep into the subterranean.

"The surviving sages hid themselves, one in Viewax's edifice, another under the fortress at Foglast, and a third in those halls which recently held this ship." This line from an NPC within Disthlarn Moon directly implies that many Sages perished in the Accretion. The mention of three survivors is interesting in regard to the other three Sages we know from Hylics 1. This is something we'll talk about later in the theory section.

This provides us a pretty solid layout of events. For a time, the Sages led a prosperous empire. However, a sudden accretion ended this era of prosperity, plunging society into a dark age.

The Cabinets

An often overlooked detail is that the arcade cabinets provide some of our only looks at the world of Hylics before the Accretion. The cabinets can be presumed to have been built by the Sages, given that they protect items like the deep key that corresponds to the Sage's labyrinth. We see many within Viewax's Edifice in complete disrepair, with only one functional, as one might expect from ancient machines caught in a catastrophe.

The Sage of Monitors also remarks that "only the cabinets recall its [their empire's] grandeur now." This may suggest that the games within the cabinets are actually designed to tell important stories of the Sage's empire or hold information. This would make sense given the story we see play out, which follows a Wayne transforming into the Sage of Satellites. It's not a stretch to suggest that the Sages chose to immortalize the ascendance of one of their own.

With this in mind, we can use what's seen in the cabinets to date certain things to the pre-Accretion times.

A flag bears the image of Odozeir and Gibby, suggesting they're not only older than the Accretion but were even allied back then.

The, or a Hylemxylem, seen in the background. It resembles the reconstituted Hylemxylem in Hylics 2. This is probably the previous Hylemxylem before it grew into the Moon seen in H1.

A structure resembling the Waynehouse. Notice the egg pod in the basement, the bathroom, the bedroom, and the tv.

At least one Wayne (the player aka "Sat-Wayne.")

Poolmen

Coutures

Truculents

Numerous kinds of airships

Various other enemies

The labyrinth and drill site also indicate what species existed before the Accretion, albeit less directly. Tyros are depicted in numerous statues in the maze, and a tyro in the drill site seems to refer to a herd of galliforms as being pre-Accretion (although this dialogue is kind of vague and could refer to the labyrinth itself.) The labyrinth also has a pool hooked up to the Afterlife, implying that it existed back then too. There are also numerous enemies found inside the labyrinth which one could assume were sealed down there in the Accretion, but they may have crept in through breaches in the structure or other means. I'm not comfortable saying they're definitively pre-Accretion, although I won't disregard the possibility.

There is another character heavily implied to have lived before the Accretion, Pongorma.

This dialogue amounts to show us that Pongorma lived during the Sage's rule, and I believe we've successfully concluded earlier that the Accretion is what ended their empire. Thus, Pongorma is pre-Accretion. This fits in well with his introduction in the first game: we find him sealed away within a vault "through long ages."

The Three Main Theories / When Did it Happen??

Okay, so this is the real meat of this discussion. I'm going to lay out the three main theories I've seen discussed and go over evidence for and against each of them. I'll also be making the case for what I personally believe to be the canon intent of Mason lindroth.

Theory #1 - The Human Extinction theory: It is widely accepted that the world of Hylics is a post-human one, following some kind of apocalypse that wiped out humanity. This theory suggests that the Accretion is the event that caused this. Note that some believe humanity didn't necessarily die, but rather that they were transformed or evolved. Regardless, this event is what caused humanity to stop being human, which is really the only thing we can prove or disprove. I'm going to say "extinction" for simplicity.

Theory #2 - The Moon Crash theory: This is the only theory of the three that actually proposes a cause for the Accretion, being the crashing of the Moon at the end of Hylics 1. This theory states that, after Wayne's crew killed Gibby and trashed the Moon, it crashed into the planet, causing the Accretion.

Theory #3 - The Other Apocalypse theory: This theory is kind of vanilla compared to the other two. It just states that the Accretion happened before Hylics 1 (and presumably long after the extinction of humanity if you believe that to have also happened.) Because this theory says so little definitive about the Accretion, it's sort of the default if the other theories are disproven. As a result, it's the theory I personally subscribe to, and I will explain why below.

This is where we get into harsh, potentially theory-"disproving" territory, and I want to again reiterate that I don't intend to invalidate anyone's personal interpretations, I'm just speaking in terms of what the games show us and what I think to be canon. That being said...

The easiest of these theories to """disprove""" is the Human Extinction theory. This comes from the views of the pre-Accretion world given to us by the cabinets. The world depicted in the Accretion is very Hylics-y, still comprised of clay, having Hylics-age species, and no traces of human civilization or typical Earthen life. Even if the world and the people in it underwent some kind of transformation and the Sages and Pongorma were originally human, this directly shows that clay species and landscapes existed pre-Accretion. There are a few explanations for this, hence why I put "disprove" in quotations. One could argue that only parts of the world were clay'd at this point, or maybe the scenes depicted in the cabinets have changed over time as did the world. I personally find these explanations kind of contrived (the former would make the Accretion seem nearly redundant if the world is already transforming, and the second would make it incredibly strange for the cabinets to "recall" events if they can't recall them accurately.) There's also the language in which the Accretion and its ensuing dark age is described. Wayne calls it a dark age, and Gibby seeks to return to the Age of Sages' grandeur by forging a new zone. The "dark age" in this theory wouldn't just be a more stable society, it would be a completely different world that, to put it simply, none of the characters we know would fit into. It seems especially odd for Gibby to want a return to this sort of world when the fortress he launched transformed the inhabitants into surreal creatures. Personally, I find the Human Extinction theory to be uncompelling. While it can't be outright, factually disproven, explanations for it require inelegant contrivances. There isn't really any evidence for it either, and in my opinion it removes depth from the world's history.

Now we'll discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the Moon Crash and Other Apocalypse theories. First, I'll give what (to my knowledge) is the main evidence for the Moon Crash theory. As Oxford Dictionary defines it, "Accretion" can have a few definitions, but two are primarily relevant to us. 1. the process of growth or increase, typically by the gradual accumulation of additional layers or matter. 2. the coming together and cohesion of matter under the influence of gravitation to form larger bodies. The second definition, astronomical in nature, is particularly intriguing and relevant, especially with Hylics' themes of moons. This brings light to the idea that maybe the Moon crashing into the planet is what caused the Accretion.

"Pongorma, you witnessed the empire of the Sages." Here, Gibby speaks directly to Pongorma as someone who witnessed the empire of Sages, something we previously established ended at the Accretion. This heavily implies --but again does not directly confirm-- that the other characters didn't see the empire. Why would Gibby call out Pongorma specifically if what he was saying applied to everyone? And, if the gang indirectly caused the Accretion, how could they have not witnessed the time before it? There's also the general language with which the Accretion is spoken of. As previously mentioned, Wayne says the Accretion caused a "long dark age," and Smuldunde says that the labyrinth must be "ancient." The monitor containing bombo-genesis is also called the "monitor of the ancients," indicating that the Sages must be viewed as ancient too. While Hylician lifespans and therefore general scale of time may be amplified compared to ours if that was the case we would expect adjectives such as "long" and "ancient" to be equally stretched. However, there's no indication that such timespans have passed since Hylics 1. It'd be especially odd to refer to a time as ancient if most people were alive for it. While Pongorma certainly was, his age is portrayed as an exception. Although I understand that this is ephemeral, the general vibe is that only a few years have passed (or whatever the equivalent is to Hylicians.)

The only evidence against the Other Apocalypse theory I can gather is how the remaining Sages are described. One inhabitant of Disthlarn Moon says "The surviving sages hid themselves," going on to describe the locations they're found in. Another says "Tokens from the three sages." This could be taken to say that only three Sages are currently alive, which would imply that the Sage of Computers, Brains, and Monitors from the first game have since perished. Otherwise, there'd be six. I would like to counter this with two possible explanations. For one, this dialogue exists specifically to tell the player where to find the Sages. If the NPC also said "another sage can be found in the hall of deadly statues," players would be confused because that location doesn't exist in this game. It'd defeat the purpose of this dialogue in the first place. Secondly, we know that the Hylics 1 and Hylics 2 locations are different, evidenced by Somsnosa's dialogue about moving away from her island home from the first game. It'd make sense for the NPCs to not be discussing Sages from distant lands. If you were talking about a natural disaster in your country that only left 3 politicians alive, no one would correct you saying "actually, there are plenty others in other countries!" That's simply not what you're talking about. It's even possible that the Accretion wasn't a worldwide event. The Hylics 1 location could've been unscathed and thus be equally irrelevant.

Conclusion

An analysis of all the dialogue referencing the Accretion brings us to a few conclusions I find to be rather sound.

The Accretion was a particularly sudden or strong instance of an event called an accretion. This particular accretion buried numerous objects like the labyrinth and Disthlarn Moon, as well as ending the empire of Sages and plummeting the Hylics 2 location (and possibly others) into a long dark age. "Only the cabinets recall its grandeur now." We know that Pongorma, Gibby, and Odozeir witnessed the time before the Accretion, and it seems likely that Wayne, Somsnosa, and Dedusmuln did not. As indicated by the cabinets, the previous Hylemxylem (likely the one that later became the moon) existed before the Accretion. The labyrinth shows us that so did the Afterlife. The pre-Accretion world is shown by the cabinets to be similar to the current one, still made of clay and containing many of the same species. Given the general language in which it's discussed, it's likely that the Accretion occurred before the events of either games. Less catastrophic accretions may have occurred since the large one, further burying Disthlarn Moon, but this is unclear.

I hope you all enjoyed this analysis! It was tough to write because basically everything is vague, and with this vagueness, it's tough to not rope in a billion other subjects and ideas. I ended up leaving out quite a few things because otherwise, it would've come out even longer and more bloated than it already is. I might make a follow up post containing every piece of dialogue I could find about the Accretion, the Sages, and their associated artifacts, just in case there's something significant I missed.

[vashtijoy]

the list of incidents in the background

This is the list of incidents that appears in the background on TV, in the 10/4 cinematic with Sae, the SIU Director, and Akechi. Let's take a look at them, one by one, to see (some of?) what's been going on.

バス暴走死傷事故 basu bousou shishou jiko reckless bus driving accident that caused injuries and deaths

This is explicitly described as a bousou—the word meaning "runaway" or "rampage" that the original name for "psychotic breakdown" uses, and the original name for Call of Chaos uses. In this context, it means reckless driving. Also shishou is "deaths and injuries"—this is explicitly a fatal accident. The game wants us to know that, even if nobody died in that subway crash, people have died in these mysterious incidents.

コンビニ爆発物事件 konbini bakuhatsumono jiken convenience store bombing incident

What? Did someone bomb a convenience store? Well, maybe not. If you're following the news, the recent incident where someone threw a smoke bomb at PM Kishida Fumio is being described as a bakuhatsumono jiken. So this could be relatively tame.

Or it might not be. The Manchester Arena bombing, where people leaving an Ariana Grande concert were blown up and many died, is also a bakuhatsumono jiken. It could go either way.

トンネル内放火事件 tonneru nai houka jiken arson inside a tunnel incident

Short and sweet. Could be another subway incident, but since it's not explicitly mentioned as being one, it's more likely a road tunnel or something? Fires in tunnels can be devastating, of course.

ヨットハーバー燃料漏出 yotto haabaa nenryou roushutsu marina fuel leak

This sounds like another one that could have been quite dramatic. Marinas tend to be places where rich and powerful people hang out, so this is likely to do with someone being explicitly targetted?

翼田リムジンバス突入事故 yokuta (?) rimushinbasu totsunyuu jiko Yokuta (?) Airport shuttle bus crash accident

Hahaha, this one is fun. First, a "limousine bus" is an airport bus—the ones that run you out to the plane. The airport is a spoof of Haneda Airport. 羽田 "Haneda", to Yokuta (?)'s 翼田—they've changed the first kanji for another one that means "wing".

A totsunyuu jiko is a car crash, but seems to be specifically a crash where the vehicle crashes into a fixed obstacle? So some poor driver smashed their shuttle bus into a wall.

新都市交通あねはづる事故 shin toshi koutsuu anehazuru jiko Anehazuru Monorail case

This one is a P3 reference. shin toshi koutsuu—"New Urban Transport", a term for a "people mover" or monorail. The Shin Toshi Koutsuu Anehazuru is the monorail in P3.

We don't know what happened there, but this may be the only indication that anything happens outside Tokyo in P5 (besides Shido getting his drama on with Joker).

An anehazuru, BTW, is a type of bird, the demoiselle crane.

内閣部サイバー攻撃事件 naikakufu saibaa kougeki jiken Cabinet Office cyberattack incident

This one is interesting because it's so unlike the rest—though there are a lot of data leaks during the Medjed arc, which suggests the conspiracy is somehow taking the opportunity to carry them out. Cyberattacks certainly don't seem in Akechi's line (though he might be responsible for locating worthwhile targets?), so this might just have been swept in with the accidents and "incidents".

An attack on the Cabinet Office, of course, makes it a political attack, and exceptionally likely to be Shido-motivated somehow.

毒薬混入事件 dokuyaku kon'nyuu jiken poison adulteration incident; poisoning incident.

The last on the list: someone, or several someones, were poisoned.

so what do we know

While only one of these, the top one, is explicitly described as fatal, it doesn't take much of a stretch to see that many of them could have been fatal—and the fact that they aren't all called "fatal accident" doesn't make them necessarily not fatal.

Plus, the list fills the screen. These are unlikely to be all the cases; they're the most recent ones, or the ones the studio thought most worthy of note.

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

I had previously been under the impression that AZA accredited zoos and aquariums in the USA are more likely to take good care of animals than those that lack this accreditation. Is this incorrect?

It's... really complicated. The short answer is: maybe? Which doesn't help at all, I'm sure. I'm working on a huge project to try to quantify a bunch of accreditation stuff, so I don't want to say anything concrete from preliminary data, y'know?

Accreditation at a facility tells you, basically, what standards they are supposed to meet and what political group / industry club they're part of. But there's a lot of issues with all of the five zoological accrediting / certifying bodies where oversight during the accreditation cycles doesn't really exist in a functional way? Either reporting systems are in place that highly disincentivize reporting (because they aren't anonymous and could be tracked back to a staffer) or just don't have formal protocols for it all.

So being AZA accredited tells you the type of expectations they're trying to live up to, and what standards they met at the time they were inspected. I have some concerns about whether the standards for certain aspects of accreditation (like aesthetic stuff, not animal care) are really sustainable for duration given how you're constantly hearing about how zoos scramble to get all the little deferred things fixed prior to the next inspection. But, that's not necessarily an issue with the zoos, and more the program - and that's something that AFAIK happens with every accrediting group, not just AZA.

There's also an aspect of how the requirements of each accrediting program kind of... self select for the type of zoos they want? AZA's application and annual fees are incredibly high, which isn't necessarily a good use of money for many smaller facilities; they also require compliance with a lot of things not related to animal care and welfare, like internal staffing structure and facility aesthetics. Again, something that either smaller facilities just can't afford - do you spend money on the animals or on paving all your pathways? - or aren't interested in getting involved with because of how intrusive it is. So most of the AZA zoos you see are the bigger, well-funded ones with city-type aesthetics, because that's what who the program is set up to encourage to apply. (There are definitely exceptions to this, but find me a big city zoo that isn't AZA or in the process of becoming AZA).

To try to answer your questions, AZA zoos are more likely to be high quality because in order to be accredited, they have to have a certain amount of cash flow. Having more funding / income tends to make regular operating issues easier to solve. AZA zoos are certainly more heavily scrutinized every five years by their accrediting body than a group like ZAA, which is mostly focused on animal care / education / conservation and isn't going to meddle in a zoo's business operations. But AZA zoos aren't perfect. Most of them don't even meet all of the AZA standards completely at the time of inspection: there was an article a couple years back about how rare it was that Cheyenne Mountain Zoo met all of the AZA standards at the time of inspection - only the 4th zoo to do so in AZA's 50-something year history. (How that works is that zoos that don't meet all the standards but are close get provisionally accredited, and then have to fix or improve some stuff within the first year to keep it). And believe me, AZA zoos can and do have problems too - look at the embezzlement conducted by the previous leadership at Columbus, or the sexual assault and conduct issues with the Director at Henry Vilas. They're just less often covered in ways that are visible to the public.

Accreditation is a good indicator what a zoo intends to be, and what animal care / conservation ethos it participates in. It isn't, however, always a guarantee that the facility is good or that the animal care (or staff welfare!) is better than at an unaccredited or alternately-accredited place.

[tetitous]

Okay, Yugo and queerness in Wakfu, part 2

Part 1 , for those who may have missed it

Are we back? We good? Okay then let’s talk about Yugo’s crushes, oki?

Yugo’s attraction: beyond Amalia:

This section has proven to be a little harder to write, because I wasn't certain on where to start.

Well let's start with the obvious: Yugo is attracted to women, he even married one.

But attraction to one gender doesn't mean the absence of attraction to another, and it doesn't necessarily mean that you're alloromantic/sexual (allo- being the prefix for the normalized sense of attraction, like cis- for gender), it all exists within a wide spectrum, after all.

Since I want to discuss the ways in which Yugo is queer, but I don't really care to assign to him any specific labels, I am going with elements that seems to indicate queerness in degrees of attraction, and towards whom that attraction is directed. I also decided to add moments that can be read into a homoerotic context but don't necessarily reflect Yugo's feelings on the matter, because these kind of scenes turn into grounds for shipping a lot of the time, and my goal is also to prove that shippers do have grounds for pairing Yugo with characters that aren't Amalia, or even girls for that matter.

Yugo’s relationship with romance and sexuality:

It’s actually not that easy to tell when Yugo is crushing on someone. One part of that may be that his dysphoria actually blocked his own ability to be certain of the way he feels about others, so bothered that he was with himself. But also, in the first 2 seasons Yugo is still a very young tween. Romantic attraction may happen, but if puberty hasn’t kicked in yet? Physical attraction won’t hit as hard.

Yugo struggled with his feelings for Amalia partially because of these 2 facts, plus the fact he has known her and felt that way about her for so long he might not even have had an “oh” moment.

“I’m not sure if it’s love.” about his s3 drama with Amalia

If you decide to take into account an aroace or bi reading, his lack of certainty makes even more sense: how can you tell you are attracted to someone when you don’t feel attraction in a conventional way, or when societal expectations tell you you should only feel that way for one type of people but not another?

Another good point towards Yugo not quite getting attraction as a kid, in s2ep12 he gets told about the story between Kriss la Krass and Maud, the “Masked Boufbowler”, and while Amalia and even Tristepin quickly identify this as a love story, he says this:

“Whoa Kriss! Without knowing it you were the best friend of Brakmar’s best Boufbowler, that’s so cool!”

So either Yugo just doesn’t understand romance at that point, or he thinks wanting to kiss your bestie is a very normal activity. If at this point he already considers his best friend to be Amalia, well, huh, and if he considers The Brotherhood of the Tofu as his best friends, well, huh.

And it’s not just hard to tell for him, it can be hard to tell for us too.

Here’s a thing you may think is an obvious sign of attraction for Yugo: blushing.

“You’re very brave. And also… very pretty.”

See, that face for example? Obviously a sign of attraction right? He’s looking at a pretty girl and complimenting her because he finds her “very pretty”. But we know for a fact he also blushes a lot when he’s embarrassed.

In s2ep14, he doesn’t just blush because a pretty girl is hitting on him, he looks towards Pinpin and Ruel smiling mockingly at him before pulling that face.

Everyone being embarrassed because a whole bar of pirates is laughing at them in s2ep19.

What’s more, this is the hardest he’s ever blushed in anime when looking at Amalia:

That… isn’t a lot. (And yes, if you have read the manga, he blushes harder in those, but the artistic decisions changed a lot depending on the format because the artist can draw the characters kind of however they want once they leave the format of animation, so I can’t really take it into account for this)

Therefore, I think Yugo doesn’t need to blush at someone to be attracted to them. But his eyes twinkling, which happens in almost all of his previously shown crush moments but are only visible in movement, may be of help for our queer reading later on, though it is more closely associated to strong emotions than romantic feelings.

To finish that take, I’ll remind everyone Yugo can only qualify as a young adult by the time of the OVAs, and while his feelings on the matter of romance are still ambivalent, by that point Yugo is at least sexually aware, or at least partially, because on one hand he doesn’t seem to care that much about pushing on Amalia’s butt to help her get out,

The literal face of innocence, genuinely just wanted to help.

on another, this is his reaction after carrying her bridal-style:

Yes. What’s under the hat is again used like a “what’s in your pants” comment. Sorry if this is a bit uncomfortable, I get it.

part 3

[genericpuff]

The LO TV show isn't happening, and here's why.

Now, before I begin, courtesy to /u/Princess_Space_Goose because they're one of the driving forces behind these observations concerning stuff in the entertainment sector and they were the first ones to make a comprehensive post about it over on reddit shortly after we got into it in the Discord and compiled everything we knew. But I also REALLY wanna talk about this and I'm surprised to see I haven't yet. They've covered reddit, so I'm covering Tumblr LMAO

Disclaimer: Long post ahead. Much of what I say below is speculation but there's a lot of damning evidence to support it. Take it with grains of salt.

Rachel has vague-posted about the show a couple times over the past few years, but very sparingly so, always stating that it's "in the works" without anything to actually show for it. This would have been fine back in 2020 or even 2021 (the pandemic did bring a lot of television/movie development to a crawl) but we're over halfway through 2023 now.

So where's the show? Who's running it? What is it gonna look like? Which streaming service is it going to be hosted on?

We literally do not know any definitive answers to these questions because nothing has been revealed and at this point in the game, that's basically a death sentence. LO has been on a noticeable decline in stats over the past year, while we obviously can't access the backend numbers (and neither can Rachel as far as I know because WT guards them with an iron fist which is a whole other topic for discussion) it's still very clear by the comic's rating slowly but surely dropping and the like count average lowering (obv the like count isn't indicative of view count but if the ratio has remained the same, that means if the like count lowers, the viewership is likely lowering too). There's also been certain behavior from WT over the past year that hints at the comic not doing well, such as its VERY aggressive ad campaigning which often undercuts other series on the platform that are far better than LO and deserve the spotlight, but lose it anyways because WT just wants to keep its golden goose on life support even after its heart has stopped beating.

So the fact that we don't know the answers to these questions still after 4 years is NOT good. We don't know anything and while that was excusable 3 years ago, at this point, it's more indicative of the project being at a standstill or dropped completely, and what we dug up and discussed in the ULO Discord (and what was later posted to reddit) proves it with some very telling information dissected from LinkedIn and other sources.

So far, the only people we know connected to this project are Rachel Smythe (the creator of LO) and Stephanie K Smith (the appointed showrunner). Showrunners are the lifeblood of television series, remember this. Here's a little bit about her:

Lore Olympus still doesn't have a network, this means it has no definitive spot to air, which is not good at this point, because the network is what primarily funds these projects. Think of "Netflix shows" - they're not necessarily made by Netflix, they're made by studios that Netflix funds and as such they're given the Netflix branding because Netflix is their proprietary distribution network and benefactor. So LO has no network or streaming service funding its production. All of her other credited works have affiliated networks/distributors, but LO doesn't.

"But what about Jim Henson Company?" Jim Henson Company bought the rights to LO in 2019 to produce it, that doesn't necessarily mean they were onboard to fund the entire project. Again, these studios need networks to back them, not just for monetary purposes, but with the promise that their project will have a place to go when it's finished, whether it's Netflix, HBO, etc. Think of it like a movie theater - the movie theaters aren't the ones making the movies, but they have deals with the studios to air those movies with the agreement that both sides will be making money.

Jim Henson Company is a production studio, not a network. Not only that, but they're primarily for-hire for puppetry/animatronic projects, they're not the same kind of studio as, say, Laika, or Disney, or Warner Bros. Much of their work is done on the backend, creating animatronics and puppets for kids' productions, monster movies, etc. Currently they're working as the animatronic designers for Five Nights at Freddy's, but that movie isn't a JHC movie, it's a Blumhouse production, which has hired JHC to create animatronics for them.

So, the fact that they were the ones to buy out LO for production rights is... very odd. Because for starters, they don't tend to buy out production rights like major studios, they're typically for hire, but they're also not an animation studio. Any animation projects they've worked on were for concept art and design, such as Word Party, but the folks at JHC primarily specialize in conceptualization and practical effects. That's their whole shtick, it's what they're selling, it's what they get hired for.

That's all early stuff though, stuff we've been speculating on for ages. What came to light recently that spurred on this whole essay was discovering this one section on Stephanie K's LinkedIn:

There are a couple things we can glean from this. First, we know this has to be LO even if it isn't being named, because LO is the only one that was bought by JHC.

This also confirms that LO did end up with a distribution network, specifically HBO Max.

But it also confirms that Stephanie K Smith, the showrunner, is no longer on the project, either due to willingly quitting or being removed. According to the time stamps, she left in April of this year.

This is especially not good because without a showrunner, there's no leader. Showrunners are essential to these projects. So without a showrunner, and without any sort of announcement of a replacement, LO's television show is a ship without a captain, a car without a driver, a Hell's Kitchen without a Gordon Ramsay.

There's mention of an "animated presentation" but as mentioned in that reddit post above, that's not necessarily a pilot, it's more likely it was this. Which can't even really be called "animation", it's just video editing, rigging and tweening, but I digress.

There's a lot more in that reddit thread that dives into some of the details of Stephanie K's stuff, including the HBO Max affiliation and how that potentially connects to the Sydney Sweeney trailer, but ultimately, all of these breadcrumbs add up to one of two things:

LO's television show is in severe development hell which it likely will not come out of for quite some time, especially right now with both the writer's strike and streaming services gutting their animation connections.

LO's show isn't happening at all but with LO's numbers declining and its audience growing more fed up with the series (look no further than the comments on Instagram about LO's recent Eisner win, people are PISSED) Rachel and WT are trying to do as much damage control as possible by dangling a carrot in front of the audience they have left in the hopes that they'll stick around long enough on the promise of a TV show happening to keep siphoning cash and views. After all, there are two things many readers are still sticking around for - the SA plotline, and the TV show, and both of those things are being unnecessarily dragged out in the vaguest way possible with no real resolution in sight.

Neither of these are good, but I think what's even more telling is that, since that post was made on reddit, Rachel has attended SDCC and taken part in a new interview from Girl Wonder Podcast, and when asked about the show, all she had to say was this:

"Um, it’s been really interesting. It’s been educational for me. So, what I—what has been done so far is beautiful. Like, if I could share it, I would. But I can’t. Because it’s very naughty."

IDK if the "naughty" bit is referring to the show or just her revealing info about it, but the fact that NOTHING was shown at SDCC is just. Y'all, I'm sorry, but the show is not happening. If you're gonna show off previews for television ANYWHERE, it's SDCC. It's like the E3 of comics and entertainment media. So the fact that she's STILL VAGUE-POSTING ABOUT IT EVEN AT A MAJOR EVENT WHERE IT'S COMMONPLACE TO REVEAL TRAILERS AND PREVIEWS OF NEW PROJECTS, like... it's just not happening. Jim Henson Company bought the rights to produce LO as a TV show in the summer of 2019. Since then, we haven't seen a SHRED of news, if you google "Lore Olympus TV show" it'll still be the same 2-3 articles from 2019 talking about JHC buying the rights and that's it. If you do further sleuthing, all you'll find is Rachel saying "yeah it's still happening but I can't say anything!" which means fucking nothing at this point. The only 'hope' I have left is that they'll announce it at NYCC which has Rachel in a top billing spot in its advertising, but I'm really not holding my breath at this point.

Animated productions take a while, sure, but LO wasn't the only comic bought for TV production in that late 2010's/early 2020's era. Heartstopper was bought in 2019, and it made it to Netflix by April 2022. And it was live action, a medium SEVERELY affected by the pandemic, unlike animation, which wasn't affected as much because a lot of animation development can be done from home. What did affect the animation sector was streaming services like Netflix gutting their connections to animation studios and putting animated projects on the chopping block... which also doesn't bode well for LO.

It's 2023 now and we still don't even have anything beyond those initial announcement articles and Rachel making empty promises. It's not happening. Don't fall for the "it's coming soon but I can't say anything" nonsense. It's far less genuine now than it was 3 years ago and it has nothing to support those claims that it's actually in development, and ironically far more to support mere speculation that she's lying or doing damage control.

And, if it actually is happening, on a shred of belief in that being a possibility, then it sure as shit isn't being marketed well. Knowing how to build hype in a product is an entire course of knowledge. Marvel is practically the king of building hype, they're why people sit until the very end of the credits now in the hopes of seeing an after-credit scene, even in movies that aren't made by them. LO's numbers are bleeding right now, so to not show anything at even the major events like SDCC is a blatant misfire. Almost like there isn't anything to show in the first place.

You can take all of this evidence as you will. Some of it you may dismiss as "overthinking" or whatever have you. And a lot of it is speculation based on the crumbs we've picked up along the way.

But let me pose you this as a final thought: how can it be a good sign when everything being asked about the show, by fans and critics alike, comes down to "Is the show still happening?"

The best time to reveal proof of the LO television show was 3 years ago. The second best time is now.

[nikitaxlee]

okay, I'm nervous but I'm going to do it because I love your support and thanks for that.

I saw you put your ateez in one of your tags so I'm going to use them instead because...BECAUSE

YUnho's natal chart indicates if he was mentally unstable he could have a desire for stalking his desired person and could also be very manipulative.

So i just have these dark intrusive thoughts of him keeping you in his home and worshipping you with care to the point you have some weird stockholm syndrome relationship with him.

It would start with little love notes and random gifts and then strategically 'randomly' popping up out of nowhere...

or what if he was your best friend that had been crushing on you for years?

and it would manifest in him making love to you, marking you, pinning you down with his strong body while you writhe in pleasure underneath him

'you're not going anywhere, I feed you, I clothe you, I spoil you, you're my princess and all you need is me'

Omg yess, I love when they aren't necessarily forceful but just good at manipulatingggg...

꒰ ⌢୨୧⌢ ꒱

Stalker!Yunho who maybe met you at a coffee shop or University and he just slowly forces himself into your life. You forgot and umbrella? Don't worry, Yunho already knew and is there to offer a ride. How? Because he took you're umbrella. He'd be so strategic and you'd never notice. You could probably marry him and never know that the only reason you did was because he strategically set it up in university.

but imagine if you started sort of coming back to reality:

I can imagine Bsfstalker!Yunho noticing you sort of start pulling away and the second that happens he's going to be bringing you back. From the kisses he would give you that you now seem hesitant to give, to the amount of time you've been spending in the bedroom... away from him. Which of course he can't have. So what will he do? Well, it's simple, give you an unforgettable night, so unforgettable that it'll cause you to never leave him.

'Baby, you want to leave me after all I do for you? You think any other man would love you like I do? No, and you know it, so don't worry your pretty head about anything'

His sweet tone was such a juxtaposition on his hard, fast thrusts and you were soaking up every bit of pleasure. He was right, every hesitant emotion you were feeling vanished as soon as he wrapped his hands around your neck and attacked your lips. Your frame being pinned down by Yunho as the backboard of your bed hit the wall with how hard he was thrusting. And you can do nothing but cry as he destroys ever inch of your mind with sweet words of how you only need him and how if you stay with him you will always be cared for no matter what.

But if you disobeyed him for whatever reason his words wouldn't be so soft,

'You think you can just go out like that? Walk over to the neighbors and talk with him like the little slut you are? Come on baby, I thought you were better than that, this isn't new. You. Are. Mine."

Definately feel like he would strap on a vibrator and edge and overstim you to the point of passing out. And you'd wake to him sliding it in

With each word he'd be fucking you harder and harder until all you could think about was when he'd be in you again. And he would devour that idea, that he was the only you thought of. To the point where you'd forgotten you had family and friends.

It was just you and Yunho now.

꒰ ⌢୨୧⌢ ꒱

@whatudowhennooneseesyou Thank you so much for sending this thought in babes! I can't begin to explain how suprised I was to see it in my inbox! Also didn't realize you're a fellow Aussie!!! Hoped you liked this and I'd love to collaborate more sometime! Love you <3

-Kitaaa *̩̩͙‧͙*˚⁺‧͙

[entamewitchlulu]

while I agree with the "using fanfiction tropes to describe mainstream fiction is annoying", I do think there's something of a fundamental disconnect between what fanfiction readers (and fandom enjoyers in general) want and enjoy, and knowing what mainstream readers want and enjoy.

Someone who primarily hangs out in fanfiction spaces is more interested in characters over most other things. Tropes mean something to them because they want to know what Situation their blorbos are in now. Enemies-to-lovers, Coffee Shop setting, A/B/O, these identifiers are important to a fanfiction reader because they define what is happening to the characters, and the kind of story the characters are experiencing. In essence, we're playing setting swap: taking the same characters and plopping them into different frames.

In my brief dips into doing genre study at work, I think mainstream readers aren't looking for that. For a lot of mainstream readers, the characters don't matter so much as the story or even the vibe does. Theyr'e doing sort of the opposite thing: rather than swapping frames around characters, they're swapping characters out of frames. Who is experiencing the story isn't as important to them as what the story is.

That's why there are so many formulaic stories getting popped out by certain presses so quickly, like at Harlequin Romance. this isn't necessarily a BookTok-centric problem, as these kinds of by-the-formula stories have existed for decades, particularly for romance. So the same tags above do mean something to mainstream readers, even if they originated in fandom spaces and were coopted by publishers. They indicate a type of story that the reader wants, and who is in that frame isn't necessarily as important as the fact that they follow a comforting, somewhat predictable path.

Where a primarily fanfiction reader wants to see Blorbo A and Blorbo B in Situation X, Y, and Z, a primarily formulaic mainstream reader wants to see Situation X over and over again. The names of the people experiencing the story aren't unimportant, but what they're looking for is a similar experience. They want to read twenty werewolf A/B/O stories, or fifty Amish romances. They aren't spending time thinking about those characters having other adventures, they want to read the adventure that's right there and then move onto the next one. Even something like enemies-to-lovers is a wildly popular trope that a lot of mainstream romance readers want to see done over and over again with different characters and settings.

So, yeah, sometimes it is annoying that publishers have coopted words that originated with our subculture to sell a lot of the same thing to people in true capitalist fashion, but I don't personally think the use of the terms is completely wrong.

We're all looking for the same kind of comfort food in the end, we're just looking for it in different ways.

[astheworldgoesonitswickedway]

I've been thinking about ASoUE again so this is gonna be a long one. Kit accused Olaf of hurting people and he responded with a tiny scoffing laugh and the line that "people hurt him" and this, this just so perfectly captures both Olaf's character and one of the main points I think Daniel Handler was trying to make throughout the series. Olaf never wants to take responsibility for his actions right, but he never tries to say his actions aren't wicked. His distinction is that he believes his wickedness is justified. He believes because others wronged him, he is justified to wrong others. It comes down to what I like to call "the circle of cruelty" We are told that Olaf's "mentors" basically took him and twisted him when he was young and vulnerable. (And of course, we can’t not mention his father’s death. Sure it was an accident but he wasn’t necessarily incorrect in perceiving this as a wrong against him. And anyways, the dart may not have been meant to hit his father, but it was meant for someone.) They didn't just teach him to be cruel, they taught him by being cruel. In The Slippery Slope, we see for once Olaf is the scared, submissive, and ingratiating one. His mentors constantly berate him, mock his attempts to please them, and they tell him "they weren't emotionally distant, he just wasn't worthy of praise." We are given indications Olaf felt manipulated by them through the entirety of their relationship and even considered it to be akin to Stockholm's Syndrome. We see as the show progresses and Olaf grows increasingly unhinged, he is more and more cruel to his own hench people. Who in turn are cruel to the circus recruits, who are cruel to the Baudelaires. Which means, the mentors to Olaf-Olaf to the hench people-the hench people to the circus recruits-the circus recruits to literally anyone they think they might be capable of bullying. So, in essence, one cruel and wicked person makes other cruel and wicked people who continue to do the same. Now here me out, this is one of the ways Daniel Handler is telling us "Look, after all you've seen you've come to hate Olaf. But he is the way he is for a reason. Horrible things happened to him and horrible people turned him inside out. But its no excuse." See, Olaf refuses to take responsibility by saying, its fine because others did it to him too. He doesn't try to say he was manipulated into doing it, he just sees it as "the way of the world". And at the end he talks about man handing on misery to man and how it deepens and you shouldn't have kids that you hand that misery on too. He handed his misery on to the Baudelaires but he warns them not to do the same, and make no mistake, the way he abruptly turned to look at them was a warning. He recognized that those who came before him had a lot to do with shaping his life, and even though he misplaced all the blame, he was right in a way. But Daniel Handler never for a moment justifies Olaf. He shocks us by unexpectedly delivering emotion and even sympathy for this brutal man we came to hate, but he never makes us say "poor Olaf" What happened to him was horrible, but the way he handled it was horrible. Its all about how you handle it, and whether or not you choose to pass on the cruelty. And its so beautiful to see that despite everything the Baudelaires endured, they broke the cycle. They didn't let Olaf drive them into becoming him. And let's be honest, isn't that part of the reason he hates them so much? Because he sees himself in them, but they made the right choice he couldn't make? After all, we get an entire scene during which he recounts V.F.D.’s injustices against the Baudelaires. But that's a different rant. The Baudelaires maintained their morals despite the hard choices they had to make, and they raised Beatrice without letting all that cruelty reach her. Its such a great way of showing us cruelty and abuse and the way it shapes people and grows, but also how every individual is responsible for their own actions. The cycle should be broken and it can be.

[urwendii]

Maedhros + eating headcanons:

I discussed this in the server a while ago but I never posted it so here's a bunch of hc I have regarding the Lord of Himring and his relationship with food.

⚠️ Tw: generic Silm angst, eating disorder.

My general headcanon regarding this is that Maitimo had always struggled with food and anxiety as a result of the mounting pressure of being the eldest son and cousin of the new Finwëan generation in a degrading context where more and more tension build between his father and his uncle. It's not something that was overly noticeable and possibly that only Makalaurë knew about it to some extent, and possibly Findekáno as well.

It got worse post Angband as you might expect. But not necessarily solely as a trauma response — even if this can be expected from such an ordeal but mostly because I have a little nice idea about the physiological impact of the Oath of the fana and fëa.

The approach would be that since Maedhros had swore the Oath, he could not fade to death. To put it simply.

Wether or not you believe the Oath was a sentient entity or not is up to you (for my part i don't.) The most important aspect here is that Maedhros truly believed in the fact they were Doomed to fulfil it — a behaviour exacerbated by the dramatic (cruel) final words of Fëanor, hence that until he had reclaimed the Silmarils, his role would not be fulfilled.

It might have happened on a more subconscious level but I love the idea that one of the reasons as to why he seemed to have survived decades on the Mountain without any indications of being fed and while his body was put through extreme conditions, is not only because Eldar were exceptionally resilient. But also because the Oath (or his belief into its finality) kept his fëa tied to his fana.

Now, the consequences of this on his physiology must have been terrible and I know Tolkien tells us, he soon healed and became ale once more etc but we aren't given a clear timeline at what exactly is considered "soon" for an elf — an immortal being...(on theory).

Alright so here's the fun bits.

What if after all his ordeal on Thangorodrim, coupled with a previous disorder regarding food, Maedhros utterly loses appetite and to such a degree that he cannot stomach food any longer, noticing that he doesn't even need to eat to be alive.

I was also toying with the idea of Melkor's sorcery playing a part in it, but I'm still unsure of this.

All in all, I love the idea of Maedhros being an oddity for surviving Angband, untrusted by most for being a Kinslayer, and to make matters worse, him losing some of his "elveness" by becoming something in between an elve and ... a not-elve.

An otherness clinging like a shameful reminder of what he had become, an Incarnate marred to such a degree, he has lost one of the fundamental needs.

Food in general, but most importantly meals are social functions and him having to cut himself from this else someone notice it, would contribute to his alienation.

It's a nice stepping stone toward his loss of integrity and honour following the Nirnaeth, when he fully turned into the blood-soaked villain we know him to be at the end of the War of Wrath.

Obviously I can see him desperate to hide this "curse" to others, enough of them mutter 'thrall' behind his back and as the head of his House, he would not want to both jeopardise his leadership (esp regarding the Nolofinwëans) and worry his brothers.

[paganminiskirt]

There are a lot of parts of GTA 5 where the creators display storytelling capabilities that one wouldn't expect from a game like this, but I think the scene where Franklin goes to Michael's house after Ending A is one of the most memorable. It's not particularly flashy, it’s not even a cutscene, but the feeling it creates in the player is unpleasant on several different levels.

Because it's tragic to see the main character and his mentor fall out over a choice you, the player, made, but it's also… cringe inducing, upsetting in a way I couldn't identify at first glance. And not necessarily on Trevor's behalf! You don't have to like him or regret killing him to squirm during that scene.

Even when you measure Michael against the twisted, honor-among-thieves system of morality favored by Trevor and his ilk - people who are so entrenched in their lifestyle that they can't imagine rehabilitation, and compensate by trying to inject some morality into the amoral criminal underworld - he doesn't emerge as some gloating, greedy backstabber à la Benny in the deleted content for FNV. He's not really a coward, and he's certainly not a monster. The game never gives any indication that Michael is lying when he says that he was worried about his young family, that he never meant for Trevor to find out about Brad's death the way he did, that Ludendorff was a difficult decision to make, but he ultimately had altruistic reasons for making it.

The first thing Michael does after the heist goes wrong is tell Trevor to run away; a choice he makes on impulse, but still out of good will. By the time he starts actively concealing the truth about Brad, the FIB have already been exchanging heartfelt messages with Trevor as his dead friend for a solid decade, rendering the time bomb effect of the whole lie that much more foreboding when it was already a likelihood that Trevor would do something atrocious if he found out.

Much of the horror surrounding Trevor's crimes is fridge horror, where what happens is implied but never outright shown, leaving the player's imagination to fill in the gaps. For the first two thirds of the game, the prospect of what Trevor will do when the truth about Brad comes out maintains the same aura of gruesome, unseen violence as what he did to Debra, Leon, Wade's friends, and god knows how many others. You can't expect Trevor himself to be happy about it, but you also can't judge Michael for lying to him. Who wouldn't lie to him. You wouldn't want to end up in the stew.

But by the time you get to Michael killing Trevor, all that grandiose reasoning has collapsed in on itself. The FIB just openly crumbled into gangland style infighting, they're not a coherent threat. If Trevor was still sore about Brad, he could've done something already - something like not going out of his way to save Michael from the government agency he ends up killing him on behalf of, an act which renders Michael's willingness to take him out particularly ironic and shameful.

The only reason Michael is alive to kill Trevor for the FIB is because earlier, Trevor stopped the FIB from killing Michael! Trevor's desire to protect his loved ones, one of his only redeeming qualities, is retroactively transformed into humiliating self-sabotage! And Michael goes through with the most overtly cruel & unusual murder we ever see him commit for the sake of corrupt, incompetent bureaucrats who strung him along and tried to kill him. People who he knows aren't worth working for, if you aren't spineless and paranoid. The whole situation is laughable.

From there, after Trevor is dead, it's no wonder Michael leans into the barebones, social-darwinist cynicism of it all. He's already forsaken what is right for what is easy in the most miserably inglorious way possible; what else is there to do but commit to the bit, just like he did when he first started lying about Brad?

So Michael just burned his oldest friend alive in front of his twenty five year old protege. He mocks him afterwards to mask his own obvious discomfort, and when Franklin reacts negatively, he tells him that he "doesn't understand," as if Frank isn't the one who presented him with this solution in the first place. Michael reminds Franklin of Trevor's nastier habits, as if the two of them haven't been actively utilizing his brutality to give themselves a leg up this whole time, rendering them directly complicit. And he spins a whole yarn about survival and the willingness to make unpleasant choices, promises (in so many words) that he'll stay in Franklin's life, then reinforces it later.

Because Michael was the one who put a gun to Franklin's head and got him involved in all of this at the beginning, all the while padding out their professional relationship with a paternalistic attitude that was reinforced by Michael's disappointment with his biological son and the absence of Franklin's biological father. Whether the two of them were codependent or w/e is anyone's guess, but their relationship certainly wasn't balanced.

And after you've slogged through all of this ugliness, after Michael's done all this talking and made these broad sweeping statements, the man just... pussies out. He stops taking Franklin's calls without explanation. He takes the easy way out again. You have to go find him to ask what's up, and when you do, you don't get a big cinematic cutscene: you get bitched at by an old man with a three day beard in his driveway, an experience which feels like being gaslit, even if that isn't necessarily what Mike's trying to do. The sequence is defined by this blunt sense of anticlimax and disappointment, like you should've seen this coming but didn't, and are now left to feel stupid for it.

There are so many things Michael's doing here. He's dodging responsibility for killing Trevor in an especially brutal way, yeah, but he's doing so by shifting the blame onto Franklin of all people. Franklin who handled that situation with infinitely more decency than he did, despite not knowing Trevor half as well - despite being two decades younger than both of them and a surrogate son figure. Michael pulled the trigger, he ranted and raved about how Trevor deserved it, he told us we did the right thing when we could've just as easily killed his stupid ass, and now he's pissy about it. He's wearing black. He's saying with complete sincerity that you need to shoulder the guilt of what he did for him. Burning a man alive. To a twenty five year old.

And we, the audience, know that this whole series of events started with a decision we made through Franklin. Extratextually, we did choose to kill Trevor. So the immediate response is to say that the scene is sad, for the reason that the narrative presents you with directly - that being that Michael is right, that Frank did do something wrong, and he should be allowed to hate him for it. But when you think about it within the universe itself, it becomes this awful new moral low for Michael. One character emerges looking freshly terrible, and it's him.

And it's not just a random act of cruelty; it's a bad end to the arc Michael had been in for the entire game, as a father, a partner, and a man. Trevor was right in a way that he never would've wanted to be right. It takes his death to fully actualize Michael as the kind of person Trevor spent the entire narrative accusing him of being already: a liar and a coward.

And the moment where that becomes clear is... infinitely crueler and harder to watch than it would’ve been if Michael had never cared to begin with. Imo.

[darkfictionjude]

Etymology nonnie here!

It's a very interesting dilemma to have, the one between having specific traits or numerical stats. Although I don't know if they are necessarily exclusive.

The thing is, as someone who knows next to nothing about coding, and has relied on Tumblr and every tutorial I have been able to find, I have no idea how to handle traits. I thought about including them, but have found nothing (then again, since I don't know about coding, it makes it harder for me to actually find things about it. Unlike with Literature and Linguistics, since I studied that on college, lol).

So, the only thing I can think about, would be to have just a numerical value system (since they aren't that hard to implement, although so far I have only used it to determine relationships and not personality, so I may be wrong) and having set ranges that show a specific trait. So, for example:

There is a bar, let's say. 0 is serious, and 100 is funny. Then, what I would do, is to have about 5, or maybe more, categories. So 0-20 can show as 'deadly serious'. 21-40 is 'mostly serious'. 41-60 is 'balanced'. 61-80 is 'quite funny'. And 81-100 being 'very funny'. Or something more personalized and thought out than this.

I think that can work as follows:

1. It can easily show how the MC ends up fluctuating. Maybe they can choose to be funny at the beginning, but then just go with serious dialogue and action options, so the bar changes their status. Tracking this could also mean character may react to MC's supposed change in demeanor.

2. You can have some nuance for dialogue options. Say you have a deadly serious character, and they choose a funny option. You could use a if statement in which it indicates that everyone looks at MC as if they grew a third head. Unable to understand if that was meant to be a joke or not. Yet, if it continues happening, such reactions stop. This means more work, however.

Basically, I would just fake the traits. You don't need to show the bar with the numerical value fluctuations, as far as I know. So the player can easily think you are just using traits. But you still get the benefits of numerical values.

I think of this based on a relationship bar tutorial of @idrellegames I found. Sure, that was for how to show relationships developing. But I think you can still use it easily for other aspects of a game, like personality traits and the like.

But maybe you have a different idea of what to do that may work better. I'm just saying what I would do from my own inexperience.

This also makes me remember a question I had yet never got to ask. Do you have hidden stats on WWC? Because I know you show how a RO feels about Crowny, but you don't have visible player stats. As far as I remember. Yet, given we have choices based on personality... I would suppose you track them, right? Like, it's not hard to have some things going on the background.

For example, in my IF, I plan to have the relationship page only show once you have met all the characters that are tracked. And have two separate relationship pages because the prologue (that is more of a chapter 0, it's basically a mini IF on it's own, send help) takes place in a very remote past and the rest of the story takes place during the 80's. Because of this, the "present" relationships are going to be shown basically close to chapter 1 resolution. While the "past" relationships are going to appear during the middle of the prologue.

But I guess you already know how to do that, so I don't know why I brought it up. In any case, I'm curious about how you handle things on WWC. Of course, you are free to remain discreet about it. Having things hidden does help with the mystique of your IF, so it's not like I want to disrupt that if you aren't okay with it.

Yeah I personally hate numerical stats 😭 it completely takes me out of a game as I become too focused on getting the right choices to boost certain stats and instead of having fun I’m just getting annoyed and many times they don’t reflect how slowly people change from being funny to serious and vice versa

But what you mention is kind of what I said for the traits anyway, that after certain choices repeatedly picked the traits would change and thus it could be noticed by the characters (although all my MCs have at least one defined trait, like Luce is quicker with a smile than Crowny)

I have certain hidden stats that are there but I’m waiting to finish season 1 to really add to them. There’s a very important stat that will influence Crowny’s demeanour and course of action in season 2 and the relationship stats the mostly are meant to influence the description of what the characters feel for Crowny romantically or platonically. Apart from that I don’t have anything else because to me this game has always been choice based

[theredengineapologist]

Now that you finished the classic era, what are your top ten favorite classic era episodes?

Apologies for this ask taking so long, but I wanted to take the time to answer your question in the detail that it deserves.

Before I begin, I just want to clarify that this is a list of my top 10 favorite episodes. This is not an indicative list of which Thomas episodes I think are necessarily written the best. They are ranked purely based on how much I enjoy them.

Anyway, Top 10 Classic Era Thomas Episodes, Let's GO!

10. S6 Ep15: "James and the Red Balloon"

Kicking off the list with a James episode (because favoritism ALWAYS wins in this house)! There's definitely a nostalgia factor to this episode, as it's one of the few episodes that I actually remember from childhood (I have the "James and the Red Balloon and Other Stories" vhs tape). But also I just love the irony of James getting jealous of another vehicle that is also red.

Also I love his sad face after he saves the balloon.

It's like "Congratulations James! You saved the day!" and then James is just like "But I didn't want to. The balloon's gonna take my job :(". I dunno, I just think it's funny. He's so silly.

Also the ending of James dreaming about flying like the red balloon is very cute.

9. S5 Ep13: "Stepney Gets Lost"

I gotta admit, I do have an interest in Thomas's darker episodes. I know that kids' shows aren't happy/pure/hunky-dory all the time, but it still surprises me when they aren't. Purely because even though I know that, I still don't expect it. And so it's always a pleasant surprise when kids' shows like Thomas and Friends are willing to venture into darker territory. Like, they LITERALLY showed an attempted murder on-screen. I gotta give them props for that.

8. S1 Ep9: "Troublesome Trucks" / "Foolish Freight Cars"

I adore James's whole character arc from the first season, but out of all the episodes from that arc, this one definitely takes the cake for being the best one. I feel like we really get to see all the facets of James' character at their best. Allow me to elaborate.

First of all, for as much flack as James gets for being "the vain one", he takes his mistakes harder than everybody. Look at him here! He's literally crying in the shed! Dude has seen the error of his ways and regrets it so hard. And that's honestly one of the things I love about James's character and that I'm glad stays consistent throughout the show. Yes he has his moments of being a jackass and a showboat. But the moment he sees that he's done something wrong, he will atone for it! He's not afraid to take accountability, and that's something very admirable.

Speaking of atoning for one's actions, I feel like being The Determinator (TvTropes lingo, means a character who never gives up in the face of hardship) is a character trait we more commonly associate with Edward or Thomas. But James sure is one too! No matter how many times the trucks make him stop, James keeps going! I love how encouraging his driver and fireman are being towards him during these moments too. Good to know he has that good support system.

Then we get to the part where James is puffing up Gordon's hill! And he's all like "omg this is so hard. how tall is this hill" and then suddenly it gets easier and he's like "Yippee! Yippee!", not knowing he's left his tail of trucks behind. Any time the engines go about their work smiling and happy unknowing that something bad just did or is about to happen is insanely funny to me.

Now we get to my favorite part of the episode, where James has to go back down for the rest of the trucks. Please excuse my 2x5 shipper brain coming out for this, but I love how Edward has always been a supportive figure throughout James's character arc. He offers to help James with his work. But then James just gives a polite "No thank you". And then Edward continues to support and encourage him to keep going. I love that! I love them!

I don't think it's a coincidence that it was Edward who brought Sir Topham Hatt to see James's triumph. Edward has been with James since his first day working after the accident. And so of course it would be Edward to bring Sir Topham Hatt to see James at his best. Like, this is such a satisfying episode and it's nice to see James win (because let's be real, the majority of his focus episodes going forward is just James taking Ls).

7. S7 Ep7: "James and the Queen of Sodor"

Look I'm gonna be honest, this one's just a really fun watch in my opinion. I love to see James try so hard to be important. Gordon really tried to trick him but James was like, "Nah, fuck you guys! I'm gonna stay ✨shiny and clean✨!" And he did! Up until the very end when Percy sneezed on him. But you know what, a win is a win (and that comes rarely for James as the series goes on).

Also I love this face Gordon makes when he asks if collecting the Queen of Sodor is important. Dude knows what he's doing and he's trying SO HARD not to be smug about it it's hilarious. XD

6. S1 Ep15: "Tenders and Turntables"

What can I say? I enjoy watching the Big Engines struggle. It's really funny XD I love how James makes fun of Gordon for getting stuck on the turntable only to immediately get spun round and round. The Island of Sodor really does have laser-guided karma, huh? XD

Also as a continuity thing, I like that we get to see how Thomas getting his branchline effects the other engines around him. It makes the events of each episode feel like they have a greater impact, something that I believe gets lost in later seasons.

5. S5 Ep10: "Toby and the Flood"

I don't think I ever mentioned it, but Toby is one of my top five favorite characters in the entire series. Right up there with James, Edward, and Thomas! Any time Toby gets a highlight episode, I know it's gonna be the highlight of the season. But this one, BY FAR, takes the cake as the BEST classic Toby episode.

For me, "Toby and the Flood" was the first episode that really made me think "Oh my god! The trains are in PERIL!" Like, this is a legit scary situation they put Toby in this time around. Not that past incidents like The Flying Kipper crash or James' multiple derailments weren't scary from the engine's perspectives. But train crashes kinda feel par for the course in the silly talking train show. Something about a natural disaster just hits different.

Like when Toby was floating in the water about to go over the waterfall, I was legitimately worried for him. Going into this blind, I had no clue how Toby was gonna get out of this. Logically, I knew they couldn't just kill Toby off. But at the same time, when Harold dropped the rope, I thought they were just gonna pull the driver up and leave Toby there. I was not sure how they were gonna save him but I'm so glad they did.

The Toby-Harold-Percy dynamic is ✨P E A K✨ here by the way. I loved seeing them work together and it's a shame we don't get to see more of it.

Aside from the story itself, the score is amazing as well. Really does a great job of setting the tone for this story.

Oh, and one more thing.

THE SETS ARE GORGEOUS!

Seriously, I think this is one of the best examples of just how GOOD the model series can look. The sets look so realistic. And when the dam broke and the water came spilling out? That was spectacular! I'd give this episode a 10/10 just for the visuals alone.

4. S3 Ep18: "All At Sea"

"All At Sea", in my opinion, is by far the most thought provoking episode in the entire classic series. After watching it for the first time, I was still thinking about it and contemplating its meaning for weeks afterwards. Even to this day, I still find myself going back to think about it from time to time.

For a while I remember I was going back and forth about whether I actually liked this episode or not. The lesson at the end is "sometimes, the best travels are the ones you can only dream about", and I wasn't sure what that meant. Growing up American, we were always taught to go out and chase our dreams, no matter the risk or the cost. But in Duck's case, not only is he not encouraged to go travel and see what's beyond the horizon. He is, in fact, actively discouraged from doing so. From a logical standpoint, it makes sense. What reason would an engine have to go sailing or travel the world. But it still got me thinking. Was it really so wrong for Duck to dream about greater things?

But after talking about it with my sibling (bless their heart for dealing with my incessant prattling on a daily basis), we came to the conclusion that it's not that it was wrong for Duck to have dreams. But instead, "All at Sea" is a story about why it's important to be content with where you are right now. Every one of us is going to have dreams. But the unfortunate reality is that not everyone is going to be able to achieve those dreams. Many of us, in fact, will not even have the opportunity to chase our dreams. And in such cases, perhaps it's best to simply be content with where we are right now. Understand that we still have a purpose in life at the place we are currently.

Dreaming is all fine and good. But understand that where you are right now is just as important and just as worthwhile.

3. S2 Ep13: "Dirty Work" / "Diesel's Devious Deed"

I love Duck's whole arc against Diesel. I think it's great. But if I'm being honest, the reason why the middle episode is my favorite out of the three-parter is because the Big Engines are absolutely ✨ICONIC✨ in this!

We get our very first utterance of "DISGRACEFUL! DISGUSTING! DESPICABLE!" in this episode. Not to mention this iconic roast:

"Duck called me a Galloping Sausage!" "Rusty Red Scrap Iron!" "I'm Old Square Wheels!" "Well Duck?" "I only wish sir, that I had thought of those names myself. If the dome fits!"

I just LOVE the drama of watching the engines be absolute Mean Girls to each other. You can't tell me that in an AU where Thomas and Friends is a high school show catered to young girls, that Gordon, James, and Henry wouldn't be the equivalent of The Plastics. I nicknamed them "The Railway Heathers" for a reason. XD

2. S1 Ep2: "Edward and Gordon" / "Edward Helps Out"

This was the episode that made me instantly like Edward. He wasn't someone that I really remembered liking or disliking as kid. But after re-watching this episode, he immediately skyrocketed to being my second favorite character.

The story does a great job of establishing exactly who Edward is with only about four minutes and thirty seconds. He's smaller than the others (though surprisingly, I noticed they don't actually mention that he's old until season 2), and is very kind. But he often doesn't get appreciated for all the hard work he does. It makes you really feel for the guy.

Thankfully, Edward gets many more wins later in the series, so it's all good!

1. S2 Ep5: "Old Iron"

Is it really a surprise to literally anyone that this is my favorite classic series episode? Of course not! It's literally the EPITOME Jameward episode.

My shipping preferences aside, I would also like to say that "Old Iron" is a fantastic James episode AND a fantastic Edward episode as well. Both characters are at their best here, and let me tell you why.

Starting with James first (because, say it with me now, favoritism rules in this house!). We all love James being a dumbass. And while he didn't directly cause his own karma this time around, we still get to see him be a little dumb of ass. Like, when he becomes a runaway at first he doesn't even realize there's anything wrong.

He just puffs along, laughing to himself going "What a lark! What a lark!"

Then of course, we gotta have the "Regretti Spaghetti" moment, in which he realizes "Oh shit! I don't have a driver! I can't stop!"

This is James's second time being a runaway. The first time, he was pushed by cars and derailed into a field. Those memories are probably still fresh at this point, except I'd argue this time is even worse because he's completely alone. No driver or fireman to check him over like last time. James is all by himself.

But who comes to save him? It's Edward!

Edward doesn't even hesitates. He's puffing and chuffing as fast as his wheels can carry him because he HAS to save James. He has to!

The chase scene is very intense. Even if you know how it ends, there's still this feeling of tension there that I'd say is palpable.

At last, Edward catches up to James! He's got him! And they're puffing along together.

"So, the Old Iron caught you after all."

Edward isn't even mad about James's insult to him. He just takes it in stride.

Still, we all know that James, for all of his faults, knows when to take accountability. When he knows he's in the wrong, he apologizes for it and makes up for it, no hesitation.

"I'm sorry. Thank you for saving me. You were splendid Edward."

Splendid is a word James usually reserves only for himself. The fact that he's giving it to Edward really means something special.

I love "Old Iron" because it shows James and Edward, my two favorite characters, at their absolute best. All their greatest characteristics are put on display right here. I would say, not only is "Old Iron" my favorite episode in the Classic Era, but it's also one of my favorite episodes of the entire series period. There's only one episode I like in the entire show more than "Old Iron", but we can talk about that another day (though feel free to place your guesses in the Ask Box).

That just about wraps up the countdown! Thank you Anon for this ask! It was so fun getting to go through my favorite episodes and talk about what makes them so great! I hope y'all enjoyed getting to hear my commentary. ❤ Until next time...

CHOO CHOO BITCHES! 🚂💨💨💨