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1moremilgram-enjoyer · 5 months

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A Theory on the Kayanos' Murders

CW Violent murder, blood, mention of dismemberment

Hello members of the jury! I'm currently writing a few posts regarding the prisoners' murders and forgiveness and all that, so I decided I would explain my full theory on what the Kayanos' murders are, since while it's nothing out of the norm (I think), my exact interpretation gets a bit specific. And thus, I want to put all the evidence I have for my claims in one post so I don't sound insane when discussing these two.

(Yes despite what my previous posts may imply I actually believe Twokoto now lol. I still think Trikoto is perfectly fine, I just think Twokoto makes a bit more sense currently)

Again, it's nothing too wild; I believe Mikoto killed someone on the side of the road, the trauma from that caused John to be 'born', and then John killed at least two other people because he knew they were causing Mikoto trouble.

Claim 1: John killed people

A big part of this post is going to rely on the windows in Double. In case you're not aware, it's generally agreed that white windows are related to Mikoto while black windows are related to John. It's easy to tell from the first chorus, the start of the second verse, and the second chorus. Mikoto to the left, John to the right.

Additionally, when the windows are white, the train seems to be moving to Mikoto's left to the right (perspective from the first chorus), while when the windows are dark it moves from John's right to his left. This gives the impression that Mikoto and John are sitting across from each other, with Mikoto on the left side of the train and John on the right side. Here, I made a graph to help with the perspective because it is a bit mindfucky.

(Clarification: when I say "Mikoto's perspective" I actually mean our perspective while looking at Mikoto. Same with John. Apologies for the confusion)

Of course, that's assuming they actually are on the same train, going in the same direction, but I don't think that's too wild an assumption to make.

It's important to note this doesn't have anything to do with the window colors, which are exclusively used to differentiate alters, with the exception of the very end where John is seen with white windows long story. Rather, this perspective thing is a surprise tool which will help us later.

Anyways, now that we know the window thing, it's not hard to see how John has killed at least one person.

I mean, yeah. He sure do be killing in that shot. Black windows, so this is John. There's also this:

Although the kill itself has white windows in the background, the train compartment it happens in has dark windows.

Plus there's the whole "I saved you, right?" in the past tense. It can't be referring to John taking the fall for Mikoto's murder (we'll get there), since Mikoto hasn't been saved from that yet. Instead, it sorta has to be about John previously killing people that were stressing Mikoto out. Especially when looking at other lines like:

[Double] You’re overdoing it, you’re already broken But if you persist, I guess it’s my job to keep things on an even keel Me, the other you I’ll take it all on

The use of present tense in "you're overdoing it" implies this is being sung at a time when Mikoto is overworking, and it's now that John will "keep things on an even keel." Combined with him picking up the metal bat here, it seems he's talking about killing to ease Mikoto's issues.

Which, speaking of, I should probably say why John would kill anyone.

Claim 2: John's Motivations

[Neoplasm] Es: Can I ask… why you killed them? John: They annoyed me. Es: Who did you kill? John: Just someone who was walking around nearby. Es: … How many did you kill? John: Can't remember. I was first born back then, you know. It's kinda fuzzy.

Now, these claims aren't the most trust-worthy, but we'll get there when we get there. For now, all we have as a stated motive is "they annoyed [me]" (no pronoun used, it's ambiguous who they actually annoyed) and "to save Mikoto." The good news is that we actually did sorta see a situation where John tried to kill someone, meaning we can get an idea of what his modus operandi is.

I'm referring to the point in John Doe where John attacks Es.

[John Doe] Mikoto: I became a murderer… without even knowing it…? There's no way, no way… Es: Let's give it some time. The threads of your memory might untangle themselves eventually. Mikoto:*Gasping* Es: A murderer without memory of killing… in which case, how should I think of you… Hey, Mikoto– John: AAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!

Es does absolutely nothing between the time John starts fronting and when John attacks them. And if you look further, Es doesn't do much else. That means either John has some idea of what was going on before he started fronting, or he can feel Mikoto's resentment even though he isn't the one fronting.

This is where I acknowledge I am not an expert in DID, I'm not a system, and because of that there is a high chance I get stuff wrong, please correct me if I say anything stupid!

Although I unfortunately can't find any better sources for this than some Reddit threads, from what I understand it's possible for one alter to feel the emotions of a different alter who isn't fronting. This means John could have known Mikoto was getting really frustrated with Es, and decided Es had to die for that. However, it's unclear how much John knew about the situation, since he never says anything too specific.

As a result, it's possible John is willing to attack people because he can feel Mikoto hates them, even if he isn't fully sure why Mikoto might be frustrated at them. On the other hand, perhaps John does retain memory of what Mikoto goes through even when Mikoto is fronting. Again, I can't find good sources on how this works, but from what I've seen some systems do have alters which can share memories to an extent. I really hope I'm not saying anything horrendously stupid lol.

Anyways, the point I'm trying to make is that regardless of how it happens, John's desire to kill his victim(s) comes from Mikoto's frustrations with those people.

[Neoplasm] John: …! … I think… I might be the person Mikoto wishes he was. The person who stubbornly stands his ground, who doesn't cry himself to sleep from stress, who gives people their payback.

The fact he's represented by the Devil card, which is associated with people's darkest desires, supports the idea his actions are an extension of Mikoto's wishes.

This can also be inferred from the "neuron" scene in Double. You know the one, the one that goes "Doesn't matter if you didn't wish for it, can't get rid of me now". I interpret those silver star things to be representative of neurons, and it's animated in the way it is to represent Mikoto's thoughts (the words in blue) reaching John's conscious at the bottom (the red). I hope that makes sense.

So in short, I believe John found out Mikoto was getting bothered by certain people, and that's why he killed them.

Claim 3: Mikoto killed a guy

Alright so now the harder one to prove. Let me add up all the evidence.

Point #1: Mikoto is the Milgram prisoner, not John

This one is pretty straightforward. Since Milgram doesn't gather every single murderer in the world, John not being a prisoner doesn't mean he didn't kill. But the inverse is potentially true; if Mikoto is a prisoner, then he must have killed someone. Unless there's more alters and one of them is the prisoner, this makes some sense.

The counter-argument is that Milgram is very clearly not designed for systems, so it's possible Mikoto is only the prisoner because he's the host and no other reason. Still, it's worth keeping in mind.

Point #2: A murder on light windows

Take a look at this scene from Double.

As you can see, the way this is framed, it looks as if Mikoto is running away from John. Down to the horror movie motifs of "victim running - persecutor walking." This time, the windows on both sides of Mikoto are white, while the windows on both sides of John are black, instead of there being white and black across from each other.

Looking at the scene, which I can't really show you with still images and will need you to confirm yourself, is that John and Mikoto are moving in the same direction as the train. You can tell based on the relative speed of the objects outside. And yet, there's body parts outside of the train, which move from the front to the back. On the white windows. Which represent Mikoto. And there's an entire window between the left of the screen (where for all we know the windows could change) and where the blood appears. Here's a diagram.

So, uh, Mikoto? Who the hell killed that guy? It certainly wasn't John, especially because the body parts are outside. John was the one who got onto the train (see: cigarette), so I would argue a murder outside could imply it was performed by Mikoto, who notably doesn't usually ride trains. Although I'm not sure that reasoning makes sense to anyone but me.

However, the body being outside presents a much bigger issue for Mikoto's innocence. When John swings, and apparently causes something similar to happen, he's inside. We don't see the mannequin he supposedly hits, and God knows how the pieces ended up outside. Not to mention he for some reason swings at where the legs would be, instead of at the head like all the other attacks we see.

My point here is that this murder makes very little sense if John is supposed to have caused it. Because of all that, to me, this represents John taking the fall for Mikoto's one kill. Unlike the other John murders, which show the "victim" and make physical sense, this one doesn't show the victim and has inconsistencies because John didn't do it. The murder was originally in the white windows, and John is scrambling to make it look like it happened on the black windows, even though that doesn't really work as shown by the diagram above.

Am I taking these scenes too literally? Maybe, but even symbolically, what does it mean if blood appears when the windows are white? Surely there's at least a chance it's Mikoto doing this murder.

Point #3: 3rd Anniversary artwork

Let's first establish what the 3rd anniversary art usually represents. It's been pointed out by many before me that these pieces are closely connected to the prisoners' murders. This is clearest with Muu, Amane and Kotoko.

Muu is wearing her school outfit, but she has a shoe off, just like she did when she killed Rei.

Amane is wearing her Magic outfit, but she's holding her thunder wand, which places this image near her murder. Specifically right before her murder, as she's still wearing her black bow tie instead of her cloud medal thing.

Kotoko is holding her Jacques Roulet cap, a hat she usually only uses alongside her blue and yellow jacket. The only exception is during her murder, where she's wearing the outfit we see in the anniversary artwork while the cap rests on the floor.

The others all hold up with this hypothesis. Yuno is wearing her yellow shirt, the one she's wearing in Tear Drop near the end when she lets out a tear, presumably representative of her murder. Fuuta is wearing the hoodie and mask he wears throughout Bring it On, and he's holding his phone, which does fit doxxing Killcheroy even though it's more generic. Kazui and Mahiru are wearing the outfits they wear in the scenes of their respective lovers' death. Haruka wears his Weakness plain white outfit, which could point to any moment of his narrative, including the murder. And the only times we see Shidou physically kill (cutting off flowers), he's wearing the floral jacket he wears in the artwork.

I want to be clear. For most of them, the relation to the murder could just be because they don't have many outfits in their MVs. However, Muu's, Amane's and Kotoko's feel extremely intentional, and the fact none of the other ones contradict this trend makes it feel like it could be universal.

Which gets us to Mikoto's artwork. And in his artwork, he's holding (what looks to be) a vape pen. John smokes cigarettes, so that's definitely Mikoto. In the murder artwork. So, uh. Yeah. That certainly feels like he must have killed at least one person.

The only small contradiction is that his beanie is nowhere to be found, which is why I don't consider this definitive. However, the fact they specifically chose to make Mikoto hold a vape pen when every other prisoner can easily be connected to the murder feels... intentional.

Point #4: Swing and a hit

More Double screenshots.

So a few weird things. For starters, let's get something straight: there's two murders depicted here. Notice how the first image shows a Kayano swinging with a right-handed swing, then the second shows John (black windows) doing a left-handed swing. The important thing isn't the type of swing, but the fact they're different.

(I know I made some posts at one point about dominant hands, but as my beloved and extremely smart mutual accirax pointed out a lot of the time Milgram characters switch hands because it looks better for the animation, so they're sorta ambidextrous by default lol)

It's not hard to realize if you try to follow the motion yourself. The only way this works is if he swings one way, then the other, which doesn't fit the fact all mannequins are usually destroyed after just one hit. And it's not like it's an animation issue: you can literally fix this by flipping the image.

... Okay it does look a bit awkward but I think it works well enough. It's less weird than the swing changing mid-way through.

To me, this is similar to what I talked about before with the white window murder. John's subconscious trying to convince itself this was John by thinking back to a different murder that has nothing to do with this one. I have no idea if that makes sense.

And then there's the fact the background in the first image is pure white. This doesn't have to mean the one fronting is Mikoto, but why leave it ambiguous if it would have worked perfectly fine with black windows in the background?

Hell, actually, who says we're on the train? This is the only scene in the entirety of Double (apart from the mom phone call) where it's unclear whether we're on the train or not. And as we established, if there is a murder outside the train, it would probably be Mikoto murdering.

And don't get me started on the blood, the eye, and the noise in the background.

First, the background noise in this scene famously has baby crying noises. Could it be we're witnessing John's "birth"? Because if that's the case, then either John was born during the phone call with the mother, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense if you think about it, or John was born during or after the murder on screen.

This actually fits with the close-up of the eye. Despite the fact that "right-hand swing Kayano" seems pretty chill as he attacks the mannequin, right as the scene end, his pupils become smaller as if he's surprised by something. But what would he be surprised about? To me, it feels like "right-hand swing Kayano" was perhaps dissociating (I think that's the right term, please correct me if I'm wrong), and then John is born. Naturally, John gets surprised by the fact the first thing he sees is a dead person, explaining the odd reaction.

Funnily enough, this is actually supported by the very strange blood behavior. It's hard to describe, so bear with me. You see how there's one big orb at the center of the screen? And it starts with one small drop, which enters the orb, and then three small droplets come out the other side? Uh... Diagram?

This isn't normal blood behavior, of course (<- not that I know what normal blood behavior actually is, but I know how liquids work and this ain't it). It's imagery of something splitting, which in the context of alters, fits alongside the baby noises and the weird reaction to murder. Although I fully acknowledge the blood thing falls into the territory of "am I reading too much into this or is Milgram just insane?", so you know. Take it with a few metric tons of salt.

(Funnily enough, it does split into three things. Trikoto win? It doesn't convince me, but the interpretation is valid)

To recap, we have a strange murder with a white background, possible misdirection by showing a completely unrelated murder performed by John, baby noises, imagery of something splitting, and a reaction to the murder which could support an alter being born in that very moment. All of this could imply this "right-hand swing murder" is the moment John is born, which would mean the actual murderer is Mikoto.

Point #5: The tarot spreads in MeMe

This one is very abstract, but it can definitely point to Mikoto murdering someone. Take a look at the two different spreads we see in the first chorus (the first one flashes twice but it's the same).

These things are really complicated, and I should probably do a post about them at some point, but I'm gonna focus on the main things, that being the changes between the two spreads.

For starters, we see that the "querent" card, the one in the middle of The Wheel, is the reversed Hanged Man. Since this is the portrait besides The Fool in the water world thing, it can be assumed the reversed Hanged Man represents Mikoto. Thus, these are his spreads.

Then, the Outcome card of the first spread is the Devil. Since the Devil card on its own also flashes after the second spread, it can be assumed the Devil is also the Outcome of the second spread, as that's the only card which is not visible. Then, as stated before, the Devil card is related to John. This means the Outcome of the situation depicted in these spreads is John. In other words, this is the situation which led to John appearing.

Now we have to establish how we're supposed to read these things. I've explained it in another post, but basically, the only way we can tell how we're supposed to read the cards in The Wheel is by knowing the order they're drawn, so we can determine if the meaning is based on position or draw order (long story). We can do this by looking at the final spread, where it appears the cards are drawn Bottom->Right->Left->Top. This doesn't exactly fit any common way of drawing them, so we read based on position. Aditionally, since this is Japanese media and the card to the right is drawn before the card on the left, middle row of The Wheel is Future<-Present<;-Past. And based on the way the upright Page of Pentacles is placed in the final spread, if the name of the card is to the left the horizontal card is upright, if not it's reversed. If that doesn't make any sense to you, don't worry too much about it, I'll walk you through the important parts. You want a diagram? No? Well, you're gonna get one so-

After clarifying that, we can see that in these two spreads, while most of everything remains consistent, the Future and the Conscious change, the Challenge flips, and the Attitude is revealed. Let's take it one step at a time.

Let's start with the first spread. In the Challenge position (horizontal middle), we have the upright Queen of Swords. This card can represent anything you want tarot reading is so annoying a couple of things, including an authority figure. In the Challenge position, it could indicate there is a lack of communication, that the querent is being too "cold", in the sense they're not expressing their emotions correctly.

Then, in the Conscious position, the thing Mikoto is actively working towards, we have the Ace of Cups. This card can represent new beginnings, new relationships, good fortune, basically "good new things are coming your way." However, there is a slight change between MeMe's Ace of Cups and the IRL version, which could change the meaning a bit.

(No I don't know why MeMe calls it "Cup of Ace" that's just wrong lol)

As you can see, the IRL version has the water from the cup spilling on its own, while the MeMe version has the cup being intentionally spilt on top of a few mannequins. What I think this could mean: if you take the water spilling as a good thing (which is how it's usually interpreted, the idea is that spirituality is overflowing or something like that), the IRL version shows that new good things are coming no matter what, while the MeMe version has the water spilling intentionally because Mikoto is actively trying to cause new, good developments, such as new relationships (we'll get there). That's also why it's in the Conscious position, Mikoto is consciously trying to build a good new relationship.

After that, in the Future position, we have the reversed Wheel of Fortune. This can mean a lot of things, but it mainly has to do with a negative cycle in someone's life. In the Future position, then, this could mean a perpetuation of a negative cycle in Mikoto's life. Thus, in the first spread, if things continue as they are in that moment, the cycle of abuse Mikoto suffers at work will continue.

The Attitude card is obscured. I should note that this card can actually be read in a few different ways, but I think "Attitude" fits best here.

I'll also note the Subconscious card at the bottom of the Wheel ("so below") is the reversed Ten of Wands, which can represent Mikoto is feeling overburdened. Which we know certainly applies to his work.

Let's see here. Mikoto has a problem, possibly with someone in a position of authority, and feels overburdened. This could point to the Queen of Swords being a boss or a manager or something like that. It's upright because Mikoto isn't being direct enough in his desires; he's trying to 'play nice' and build up his relationship with the "Queen", that's what the Ace of Cups could represent. Not like I think his situation would actually improve if he told this "Queen" that he felt overworked, but still, the idea that Mikoto is bottling up his emotions definitely fits what we see of him. If he keeps it up, the cycle of (workplace) abuse will continue, represented by the reversed Wheel of Fortune. This would lead to Mikoto's darkest desires exploding; the Devil is the Outcome.

Let's move to the second spread. The Challenge is still the Queen of Swords, but reversed. This could imply the person giving Mikoto problems is still the same, but now the issue is that Mikoto is being too emotional. Again, there are a lot of ways to read these things, but I think that works.

The Conscious card is now the reversed Wheel of Fortune, which could mean Mikoto is actively aware of and possibly trying to break the negative cycle he's in.

The Future is now the Ace of Cups, which could imply there is a new relationship in Mikoto's future. This is where we acknowledge that the water can also represent consciousness, and in the MeMe version, it is being spilt over mannequins. And...

*sigh* The Ace of Cups can be associated with pregnancy, which fits the whole "newborn" thing John's got going on.

Indeed, I believe the new relationship in Mikoto's future is John, a "mannequin" receiving "consciousness." There is no other thing this could really allude to besides Milgram, which I don't think these spreads reference. However, if this really is about John, that would mean this spread is showing a situation before John's birth.

The Attitude card, which (according to most sources, there are conflicting reports on what the first card of The Wand is) represents how the querent is trying to achieve their Conscious goal, is the reversed King of Cups. This is most often associated with emotional repression, but it can also be connected to violence. Which is very interesting, because John has the same Attitude card in his spread. And we know how he approaches his issues (violence).

So all in all, Mikoto is having issues with an authority figure, and he's (possibly) being emotional about it. He's trying to break out of a negative cycle, and he's doing this either by repressing his emotions or by pulling a John (violence). In the future, this will lead to John's birth, which is why the Outcome is still implied to be the Devil.

This, by itself, doesn't necessarily imply murder. Again, the Attitude could be emotional repression and not violence. The weird thing is that the spread changed. And that means something had to happen to get the Future to change. The change can't have been John being born; that's still in the Future. And the thing we know happened is that the Conscious goal Mikoto was working towards changed, from wanting a prosperous new beginning or relationship to destroying an existing cycle.

Because of that, to me, it feels like the change between the first spread and the second is that Mikoto decided to let his emotions take over (reversing the Queen of Swords) and killed (reversed King of Cups) the authority figure who was causing him trouble, and this caused John to be born.

The final thing to note is that John's Past card is the Wheel of Fortune (upright). This could be read to mean the situation leading up to John's current situation is the destruction of a cycle, which fits the idea that Mikoto tried to destroy it before John was born.

Is this definitive evidence? Hell no! Tarot readings are so ambiguous that I'm pretty sure you can read these to mean whatever the hell you want them to mean. This is just my take on it, I don't even necessarily consider it good evidence because again, if you just take different meanings from the cards you can get whatever. But it's still something.

Point #6: John's insistence

Let's see what John says about the murders again.

So, as stated, John may have killed people without fully knowing why Mikoto was angry at them, but that doesn't mean this makes perfect sense. We know their victims weren't just "someone who was walking around nearby". Unless Mikoto regularly carries around a metal baseball bat for some god-forsaken reason, there must have been some kind of premeditation at play. John has to at least be hiding the real reasons for the murders, possibly because Mikoto might consider them shameful (more on that in a bit). This opens the door to the possibility he's hiding more than just that, and that makes a lot of his other claims seem a bit... desperate.

[Neoplasm] John: From [Mikoto's] point of view, he's being blamed for a crime he can't even remember. Es: If that's the truth, then… you're the one who committed the murder? John: Yeah, it's me. I killed them off. Es: … John: So Mikoto really didn't do it. Es: Is this really something that works that conveniently? John: Just put yourself in Mikoto's shoes for a moment! He was bottling up all his stress! He kept dealing with it all by himself the whole time, until it exploded! It's not like he just decided that he wanted to hurt somebody! Es: … John: He's not the type of person who could do stuff like that! He always looks out for others, always reads the room, always tries to get along with people around him! He can't do stuff like that… He was on the verge of exploding! That's why I was born. It's terrible, isn't it? My other self didn't do anything! Es: Even if that's true… Even if it wasn't what Mikoto wanted – someone's life was still lost. [...] John: I'm the one who did it! Mikoto didn't do it! You know that because of MILGRAM! I don't care about the law, I want to know what you think! Es: … John: Please… forgive Mikoto. I'm the one who did it.

The amount of times John tries to take the fall for every single murder is so insane it makes it sound suspicious. Why does he say it so much?

Still, I'll be honest, this might just be confirmation bias, as a lot of these lines can still absolutely be read with the interpretation that John is the only killer.

John: If I, the "John" personality, hadn't been born, I'm sure Mikoto would have reached his limit and fallen apart. Es: John… you… John: It's true that I was the one who wanted to destroy everything… and the weakness of Mikoto, who couldn't stand up for himself all alone, might have been the origin of that. But… that's all there is to it. Is that a sin?

So I don't consider this evidence at all, frankly. In fact, Neoplasm is one of the things which make me doubt the Mikoto-killer theory a bit, but I don't think it outright deconfirms it or anything. I'm just including this because I know some people think he's extremely suspicious here.

Point #7: Small visual stuff

1- The first time we see victims in Double, John's bat doesn't have any blood on it, which could imply the one who killed the mannequin(s) beside him was Mikoto.

2- The mannequin standing in for Death in the Death card is blue, a color most associated with Mikoto.

This one isn't great because you can read it more symbolically, with Mikoto being the main force of change in the system's life instead of someone who brings death. Though I'd argue the mace thing sort of implies something more violent.

3- At the start of Double, we see this:

The guy is shown as a blue and red mannequin, but what's interesting is that the blue part has a skull and the red part has a map thing. I don't consider this very important, but the blue with the skull could be indication of Mikoto having killed someone.

4- In Double, Mikoto is represented by antlers (I think that's what they are) in the same way John is represented by a crown of thorns ("savior", etc).

Antlers mainly represent strength, which feels a bit weird for Mikoto. I'm gonna be honest, I'm not confident on what these represent. But one possible interpretation comes from the fact they are always paired with the lyric (written on screen) "All I did was dream, so you find me INNOCENT, it’s that simple right?". The connection of the antlers with Mikoto's dream could imply Mikoto tried to use strength to fulfill a dream, which could imply he murdered someone to achieve something. Additionally...

*sigh* Antlers fall off after mating season, which could be connected to Mikoto "losing his antlers" after John is born, since Mikoto doesn't have to kill anymore.

I'm sure there are other interpretations, but I don't think this one is too bad.

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So, all of this, is it conclusive evidence of anything? I wouldn't say so, it's all still pretty vague. However, I believe all of it together points to Mikoto having killed one person, and this is what explains all this in the best way. Thus, I presume Mikoto did kill someone.

Claim #4: Mikoto's Motivations

CW for this section: potential stalking

I've sorta alluded to it in the tarot section, but I believe Mikoto killed someone in a position of authority over him as a result of workplace abuse. In particular, Mikoto was heavily overworked, possibly to the point this authority figure was somehow monitoring his home life and possibly even stalking him.

Let's start by the workplace abuse thing. This is an extremely important point in Mikoto's narrative; it's referenced in his Undercover silhouette shot, it's shown in the messages from "Chief" at the start of Double, the neuron scene from Double, his interrogation questions, etc. Mikoto is being overworked, to the point his boss/manager/whatever talks to him about work past midnight. It would be very strange, narratively speaking, if all of this didn't have anything to do with the murder. Also the whole "Queen of Swords is the Challenge/problem" could allude to an authority figure, which also fits this idea.

So then, what about the monitoring/stalking? Well, there's a lot of camera imagery in MeMe, for one. Most notably in the scene when Mikoto comes home and leaves his bag to the side as he breaks down, relating his stress to the idea of being watched. There's also an abundance of eye imagery in Double, especially in relation to Mikoto. This is also included in the MVs version of the Hanged Man card, which has a bunch of eyes around the mannequin. This alludes to some form of judgement or pressure, (<- Fuuta reference?) which could be connected to either societal pressure or, what I find a bit more likely, the judgement of Mikoto's higher-up(s) in his workplace.

Because of this, I believe one of Mikoto's higher-ups was heavily monitoring Mikoto's life even outside of work, which drove him to the point he felt he had to get rid of them. All he did was dream... of a better life.

This could also be why John hides the reasons for the murders. Even if he is actually aware of the full situation, he could be trying to hide that Mikoto felt tired from work, because in a way it's possible Mikoto would consider that shameful. I hope that makes sense.

Claim #5: Which is Mikoto's kill?

Assuming Mikoto only killed one person before John started taking over murder duties-

(I think that's a fair assumption, I think it would be weird if John only split after like three murders. Like, oh the first two weren't stressful enough to cause a split, but the third one is too much? What? There's something else that makes me think John split after just the first one, we'll get there)

-that begs the question: which one was Mikoto's? Well, since Double isn't exactly reliable for what the murders looked like, I'll only take MeMe's versions into account. There are at least three murders in MeMe: the Subway Murder, the Streetside Murder, and the Trash Bag Murder.

We know the Trash Bag Murder is different from the other two because the murderer isn't wearing a hoodie in that one, a fact which took me an embarrassing amount of time to notice. Unless he went home, changed, went back to dispose of evidence and still had the beanie for some reason (since he throws it away), it has to be different. And probably on a different day, too. Because of that, I'll henceforth call it the No Hoodie Murder.

Let's run through what we have. We see the Subway murder almost in full at the beginning of MeMe, where Kayano swings around his bat flippantly before killing a blonde dude with a simple overhead swing. However, right in the middle of that scene, we quickly cut to the Streetside murder, where we see Kayano hitting the victim with a right-handed swing.

After that we have a scene of John (because at this point it would be John) coming home and taking off his shirt. Since there is a Fool card portrait in the background, I'll call this the Fool Portrait scene. Notably, we never see John take off a hoodie or a beanie, meaning this is probably related to the No Hoodie Murder.

Then we have Kayano doing... something to the Streetside victim. It's unclear exactly what that is; I've seen some people say he's burying the victim, but to me that always looked like he's dismembering them to put them in trash bags. It's not too important, though.

An important fact is that in this scene we see his left cheek is blood-stained. This is consistent with the following bath scene, where we see John brushing his teeth with blood trailing down from his left cheek.

In the middle of those scenes, we see the clean-up for the No Hoodie murder. Trash bags and the beanie are disposed of in an illegal dumping ground.

Finally there's the bathtub scene, but frankly it's not very relevant to this discussion.

So, which one is Mikoto's? I'll start by ruling out the No Hoodie murder. There is an argument for it, though. It's definitely the most hidden of the murders, which makes it suspicious. Since the Fool represents new beginnings, you could argue the Fool Portrait scene shows John's "beginning". And since I said it's probably related to this murder, you could argue that means the No Hoodie murder is the first one.

However, that doesn't really convince me. Unless the Kayanos have multiple beanies (which is possible, but I'd find it weird narratively speaking), this would have to be the last murder in the sequence, while Mikoto's would have to be the first. The fact it was done without a hoodie also contradicts the 3rd Anniversary artwork reasoning, since Mikoto wears a hoodie there, but to be fair the lack of beanie makes the outfit somewhat inconsistent anyways.

Meanwhile, you could argue there's a symbolic implication that John and Mikoto have already split by the time the Subway murder happens, in the way the towers close and behind Kayano have lighting split down the middle between red and blue light.

(Yes this is one of the reasons I'm keeping the red and blue color scheme despite no longer believing RGBkoto)

No, I believe the Streetside murder is Mikoto's. It's technically the first one we see, but more importantly, the location matches Mikoto's prisoner card image, and the swing fits the Undercover kill-shot.

Since Mikoto is the Milgram prisoner, these two things would probably be related to his murder, not Johns'.

Funnily enough, you can also argue that this murder is too expressionless for John. Which sounds odd, considering John is usually the less expressive of the two, but funnily enough, the only times we see John express emotion is when he goes to do a violence, either because he's frustrated at the person who hurt Mikoto or because he's happy to protect him.

[John Doe] John: SHUT YOUR MOUTH!!! Es: *Gasp* John: YOU KEEP BLABBERING ON AND ON... I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU, YOU PIECE OF SHIT! *John continues to beat Es* John: GOING ON, AND ON, AND ON... ALL HIGH AND MIGHTY... LIKE YOU AREN'T JUST A KID! SERVES YOU FUCKING RIGHT! Es: …emember… John: HUH-!? I CAN'T HEAR YOU! YOU'RE NO MORE THAN JUST A KID. YOU UNIMPORTANT BRAT! Es: .........I'll remember you… you murderer…! John: HUH?! *Laughter* YOU PREFER IT WHEN IT HURTS MORE, HUH? Es: ......! John: THAT'S FINE... I'LL CRUSH YOUR FUCKING FACE. Es: Go ahead… and try… John: YOU DON'T NEED TO TELL ME TWICE! *Screams* [...] Kotoko: His technique is definitely that of an amateur… John: SHUDDUP!!! Kotoko: ...! *Sighs* I can't imagine that power from his muscle mass. John: ANNOYING... YOU'RE ANNOYING...! ARGH...!

This even fits the lackadaisical twirling of the bat in the Subway murder. It's one of the reasons I believe that one's John's.

Meanwhile, the one time we see a Kayano swing a bat without emotion on his face is the right-hand swing in Double, which as we established is probably Mikoto. Thus, the idea that John shows more expression than Mikoto when it comes to murdering holds up. The punch at the end of MeMe doesn't count because that's John attacking Mikoto, which is only metaphorical.

Still, this isn't exactly great evidence of anything, since John is still usually less expressive than Mikoto in general.

Anyways, which murder is Mikoto's isn't too important anyways, this section was more to satisfy curiosity than anything else.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And that's it! Again, this is just my interpretation and theories, it's perfectly fine if you believe something else. I know it isn't anything new, but I wanted to put it all in one place so I can reference back to it if, say, I'm answering an ask about whether or not I forgive the prisoners' murders (I swear I'm working on it lol). Anyways, take care!

#milgram #mikoto kayano #john kayano #milgram theory #meme mv #double mv

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twopoppies · 1 month

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But I think with hs4 will be different tho, HSH was wrote from 2019 (considering little freak and boyfriends) to 2021, so he "was dating" OW during just some months when it was finallyzed, its's easy to create another narrative, but now with hs4 he has been writing it since probably 2021, we'll 100% get something ab holivia

I disagree. I think the original intent was to market that album along with that relationship. The GP (and even most of the fans) would never have known when he wrote what if he didn't go out of his way to bring it up over and over again. He went out of his way to say Love of My Life was about London––he rarely ever says what songs are about, and that one could easily have been interpreted as being about her.

Plus, I'm still convinced that he re-recorded his interview with Zane Lowe. We had pretty good confirmation that the interview was shot and being edited in January or February (I can't remember now). And then the interview dropped and he was suddenly being interviewed at Coachella. I just think that it became clear that linking that album to her was going to be a bad thing in the long run, and they changed course. I don't see why they'd bring her back on HS4 unless maybe he's writing a song about escaping a fate worse than death or a song about a narcissistic demon. Anyway, we'll see soon enough. Perhaps I'm wrong. But I'd just be surprised if she shows up again. She's like Voldemort. Don't summon her.

#stunts #hs4 #holivia

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iwritenarrativesandstuff · 10 months

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You know what, I keep mulling this over and I think I'm just going to write it because I keep second guessing myself and I need to share.

SO. Back in my big, long Wolfwood post, I pointed out this scene below and how the pale eyes/use of Vash's name/etc shows actual concern here

The next shot is of Wolfwood's shoes running, and by the time we see these two again, they're at the hospital and have to overhear from the staff what happened to the hitman - which means that Wolfwood did not run after the shooter, he ran to get medical help. That's what I stated before.

But here's the thing: leaving Vash there while he runs to get help is... kind of stupid, because even though Wolfwood shot at the hitman, he's clearly still alive and still gunning for Vash. Wolfwood refers to him in present tense - "He is obviously a hit-man" not "he was".

Immediately after, Keele, who's moved up to the roof, says the following - "I need to get a clean shot in." On it's own, that's not a strange thing to say - he needs to finish this, quickly, before he's discovered. Except... it kind of is an odd thing to say, if Vash is still just lying there. Keele is on the roof, directly above his target - I would expect a clean shot to be fairly easy to take.

You might be thinking, "oh, but maybe there's a crowd around Vash now and he can't get a clean shot with all the people"... but this makes no sense, because Vash is only as injured as he is because Keele clearly doesn't care about collateral and fired on both Vash and the civilian woman in the car. Even if you argue that there's too many people to be "justifiably collateral" in Keele's eyes, he could still easily disperse them by firing more bullets - we don't see anyone who appears to be able to fire a gun here except Wolfwood, and he should be gone to get help at this point.

So, what's with the clean shot thing? He's never seemed to care up until this point, he was just unloading all his bullets at the guy, and a grenade. The only thing I can think of is that he needs to ensure his aim is accurate. It's likely he's firing at a moving target.

Wolfwood's arm is stretched out over Vash in the second panel of the image above. Neither one of them knew what became of Keele until later at the hospital. Vash's entire body is bandaged - he was in no condition to move himself, and we only see one set of shoes in the running panel.

Tldr; "Wolfwood picks up Vash and carries him while booking it for the hospital" is not only a perfectly valid interpretation of this scene, but also, imo, one of the most rational ones. I rest my case.

...Actually I'm probably just losing my mind. Ignore me.

#if i'm right though this somehow means wolfwood was carrying both punisher and vash.#that's a totally normal amount of weight for one normal guy to carry and still be able to run with right?#vash getting carried: 'oh yeah this is a totally normal and not at all suspicious individual.'#<-things that are probably only funny to me hdgbsjdbhv #trigun #trimax #i don't know how to tag this lol it's not really an analysis #nicholas d. wolfwood #vash the stampede #trigunbookclub #<-i thought people might like to see even though this is an old volume now but if it's annoying i'll remove the tag :)#storyrambles

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plan-3-tmars · 6 months

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"You're Just Sitting On The Train" - Double MV Analysis

There's a conversation between the two main character's in a podcast I love called Red Valley which reminds me of the imagery in Double.

"You know when you're on a train, and it's held up, and you're just stuck in the middle of a field while they get the leaves off the line or whatever, and you're going to be hopelessly late, there might be awful consequences to get stressed about but... there's literally nothing you can do about it. It's not your fault. Hopefully you've got a book or something. You're just sitting on the train."

The conversation in context with the scene is about being able to put your problems and stresses, like being late for work, on someone else's shoulders. Let them take responsibility for what's going on so you can feel some relief. It got me thinking about Mikoto and Orekoto (who I'm just going to call John thanks to Neoplasm) and I want to talk about what I think the meaning of it is!!

Trains have many, many different meanings - like almost a ridiculous amount of different interpretations can be made - but I think the meanings that are the most important while talking about Mikoto are trains representing the passage of time, destiny and loneliness.

Loneliness:

While on a train, or waiting for one, you are surrounded by people. However as shown here, most keep their head down and don't speak unless spoken too. It gives a sense of loneliness, you are surrounded by people yet completely alone.

I think this could apply to Mikoto's situation and was possibly a stress factor for him. It is implied from his T1 interrogation questions that Mikoto was popular enough, knowing a lot of people either now or back in high school, but he doesn't seem to open up to any of them. He's alone in the big city with nobody to talk to. He lies to his mother that everything's okay in their phone call and bottles up his stress. Because of this he is dependant on John to function : "But if you persist, I guess it's my job to keep things on an even keel."

The Passage of Time:

This shot showcases how long the train actually is, it flies through each carriage insanely fast, blurring slightly from the speed alone.

It's been extremely clear since T1 that Mikoto suffers heavily from dissociative amnesia, something that is a very common symptom of DID, and I think the fact this shot blurs could be representing that.

Trains representing time and how humans view the passage of time is probably one of the most popular ways they appear, we tend to think of time as one thing that moves forward constantly in a straight line, similar to an uninterrupted train on a train track, but for Mikoto (and John) time is blurry, hazy. It may seem like things move too fast to keep track of (pun not intended) or individuals with DID can sometimes describe it as feeling like you're missing hours, fronting in a place or room you know you weren't in before and being unaware of the events that led up to you getting to this point.

This feeling of missing hours is relevant to this specific scene as after the camera moves through the train the first person we see is Mikoto - not John, who was in the doorway.

Destiny:

Trains are always headed to a specific location so they can also be associated with life's journey, or in other words, fate and destiny.

Both Mikoto and John are shown as the passengers on their train, not the conductor. They are not in control over life's events, just sitting on the train and this is extremely stressing - especially for Mikoto. John says things like : "another day with that hardly barely there of a smile // You're going to break // You're overdoing it, you're already broken". Mikoto seems to find it hard to deal with life's events, aka the train ride, and perhaps feels like the end destination is unattainable at times of stress.

This point is stressed further imo by the fact that we can't see outside. The windows of the train are either white or black for the majority of the MV, sometimes light or 1 image makes itself known but never a full image of what's actually outside.

Bonus: The Train's Maps!

The map's of the train are shown glitched out, also possibly hinting to the feeling of the train's final destination being unattainable, or could also be referencing hazy memories, but I think this specific detail is about John.

We see the maps glitching out when John sings the lyric : "I don't even know the reason why I'm here." [Future Mars I now know this was Mikoto singing but um.. my overall point still stands.] I think the maps glitching could represent the feeling of the loss of purpose.

John was 'born' in order to protect Mikoto, to help carry the burden of whatever is stressing him so much, yet instead of helping Mikoto he ended up being scared of him ("hey, now I saved you right? So why in the hell are you crying?") and it was John's actions that landed them in Milgram - an environment that Mikoto finds extremely stressing, to the point of there being a chance he goes dormant in T3.

Trains are created to arrive at a certain destination, so a train with no idea where it's going (glitchy maps) has lost its purpose.

Despite being an alter 'born' to protect, John has accidently caused Mikoto more harm when he tries, so he questions his role in the system.

Edit: Journey into the Subconscious

After staring at the MV a couple more times I think there's one more train theme I forgot to mention that fits here too, which is that trains can sometimes represent a journey into the mind.

I think there's a chance that the train could represent the system as a whole, or more specifically headspace. The only people on the train are John and Mikoto and the fact we never see what's outside gives a sort of surreal, dream like atmosphere, almost as if this was happening in an environment with no psychical appearance.

The lyrics sung in Double seem to be more directed at Mikoto than the actual audience, and from the last line "I'm so sorry" we can deduce that this song is something of an apology and explanation of John's actions that he wants Mikoto to hear.

#im not rlly 100% certain on any of these points but i wanted to throw them out here to see what others think #also just wanted to write atleast 1 thing on Double because god damn it was SO COOL #also i am in no way an expert on DID - any info here is based on my own research so if there are any inaccuracies pls lmk!!#also yes thats another podcast referance in my milgram analysis. i like sprinkling them in when i find the excuse to talk about them #also sorry for calling orekoto john but im sticking with it cuz that reminds me of john doe from the malevolent podcast #and he is my blorbo #milgram #mikoto kayano #red valley pod

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tanthamorewinterfest · 5 months

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Winterfest Rules

Tanthamore Winterfest is a two month long event full of writing and art prompts based around the pairing Kit Tanthalos/Jade Claymore from Willow, brought to you by the makers of @tanthamoretober. The goal is to have some chill, flexible reasons to write during the months of December and January. This challenge also encompasses other characters and pairings within the Willow universe.

How does it work? You create fan content inspired by one of the prompts and post it during the challenge period, which starts December 1, 2023 and ends January 31, 2024. You can do one shots or string the prompts together for a multi-chapter fic, and all types of fan content are welcome: art, fic, vids, fan mixes, rec lists, meta, memes.

What prompts? We have multiple types of prompts, and you can choose what inspires you best. There are four lists of text-based tables, and three moodboards in case visual prompts speak to you more. You can pick and choose from any of these and interpret them any way you like.

Text prompts: Masterlist

Text-based: Out in the Cold

Text-based: In From The Cold

Text-based: Summer Edition

Text-based: Dialogue

Moodboards: Masterlist

Why are there summer prompts in a winter fic challenge?

Because some people live in New Zealand, okay? Or other places. Apparently there's a whole hemisphere where December and January are summer months, and if you're not feeling wintery at this time of year we don't want that to hold you back from participating!

How do I share my cool stuff? Add it to the Winterfest collection on AO3!

(Use the ‘Post to collection’ button, or see How do I add work to a collection for more info.)

On tumblr, use the tag 'tanthamorewinterfest’ so others can find it (as well as any relevant content/pairing/prompt tags.) You can also tag this blog, and we’ll reblog things throughout the month.

Does it have to be Tanthamore? It doesn’t! You can create things for any prompt with any character or characters from Willow, you can write different pairings, you can do whatever you want forever. Just make sure that your fics are tagged appropriately!

Can it be any rating? Yes absolutely! Write the most E-rated thing your little heart desires, just tag it as such so readers can decide for themselves.

Can it be any length? Sure! There is no minimum or maximum word limit.

Does it have to be canon? Nope - it can be canon, canon-divergent, or any kind of AU you would like to write!

Does it have to be finished? Nope, not at all. If one of the prompts inspires you to start a long fic, you are still totally welcome to add it to the collection during December-January and carry on working on it after the challenge is over. We will close the collection after the challenge is complete (probably sometime in the first week of February) but you can continue adding chapters to anything you have already added.

If you have any other questions, just send us a message :)

#willow fic #tanthamore #tanthamore fic #willow 2022 #willow fanfiction #willow fan art #kit x jade #tanthamorewinterfest

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tenebrius-excellium · 8 months

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Guys so I visited a medieval smithy the other day (ca. 1300s) and it reminded me a lot of Gobber's workshop... it was easy to imagine that I had just literally stepped into Berk's smithy with my own two feet... and to be honest, seeing this stuff in real life made the whole deal of Hiccup apprenticing in one of these infinitely funnier and Stoick's decision to put him there weirdly...understandable???

Let me elaborate: So you're in approx. 900 AD, you live on a tiny island under rough conditions, EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE WITHOUT A SINGLE EXCEPTION is a craftsman of some kind who has to work manually, and you've got a noodle of a son.

Also you're the Chief, no less than that. Let me tell you that this makes the whole thing just so much worse.

Looking at all those solid iron tools - mighty bellows operated by a beam larger than me, forging tongs that would have been half of Hiccup's size and exactly as heavy as this shot implies,

...swords with hilts longer than a cucumber and crude, brutal design, plus all the firewood that constantly needed to be chopped and carried around... even if Hiccup had turned out to be completely untalented at smithwork, that would have built him some muscles.

You don't understand. Hiccup having no muscles was a death sentence. The environment that he was surrounded by, which I was reminded of in that irl smithy, could - at that time! - only be overcome by hard manual labor, aided by the most basic mechanics. Even if he had become a breadmaker, that still would've built him some muscles. All the kneading, the weightlifting of flour and wood and water, the carrying, would have done the same job. Forget Snotlout bragging about working out in his parents' basement. EVERYONE on Berk was burly not because 'they were vikings' training for war or whatever for funsies every day, but because it literally was a requirement of everyday life to be able to carry something heavy from A to B, and be it only a single sack of grain.

So it's really funny to me how Stoick intentionally put this skinny rat of a son of his into the most merciless and dangerous job that probably existed on the island, just to put him to some use. Poor Hiccup. He's like a wet kitten under the command of a bloodhound. But at the same time, it makes so much sense?? Stoick didn't just put him into a job to gain some weight, he put him into a job that would teach him all about tools and weapons, how to defend himself and about the irreversible price of violence. I imagine a blacksmith would have to know how to use a sword to know what makes a good one, so Hiccup would've naturally learned swordfighting on the side. It was an important skill not just against dragons. We see the gang fight all kinds of human enemies in later years as well.

So what Stoick was basically doing was to prepare him for life. The need for abs back then is comparable to today's education about taxes and insurances. Hiccup needed some brawns to survive Berkian conditions, and not just for fighting dragons. Even though Hiccup had the brilliance to invent mechanical devices that could make life on the island easier, he didn't have electricity and he couldn't just press a button anytime he wanted the laundry done or needed some newly tanned leather. He had to work with his own two hands anyway. No dragon, once tamed, could assist the villagers in ways that an ox or buffalo hadn't done before. Despite his marvelous innovations, there's no changing that Hiccup would remain a craftsman and a warrior throughout his life.

So now there's the fact that Hiccup was a noodle. Having established that with Berk's living conditions in mind, you would basically have to avoid working any daily task ON PURPOSE to NOT develop muscles from early childhood, there are exactly two interpretations as to how Hiccup remained this scrawny for so long: a) he was disabled in some way that prevented him from doing chores, or b) he was spoiled and lazy beyond common sense.

Stoick spoiling someone is unthinkable, and Hiccup doesn't appear disabled. He could be struggling with anything from a muscle-degenerative disease to a fast metabolism to mental issues. But it's not implied in the movies. So how did Hiccup avoid manual labor And what kind of message did that send to the rest of the villagers???

Look, if they thought that he was lazy, or perhaps not quite right in the head, they were probably absolutely right. It would have been maniacal for the Chief to spoil his son to the point where he couldn't fend for himself and expected Berk to serve him and supply him with food. Stoick wanted his son to be Chief, so he would have to school him in some trade that enabled him for economics and warfare. As neither was the case though, it didn't put Stoick in a great light to have a son as Hiccup. How could this have happened - a noodle on Berk? It would have made both father and son the laughingstock.

The only reason that I can think of is neglect. Stoick may have been so grief-stricken about Valka's death that he went easy on Hiccup for a while, and then, when he got possessed by running dragon nest campaigns, he may have simply forgotten that he still had a child at home. And then, once Hiccup became old enough to get into trouble, Stoick may have remembered him because he got complaints from his villagers, and so he hurriedly stuck him with Gobber. Lol.

So that's how a skinny noodle rat with no survival skills whatsoever ended up in the weapon forge of Berk. Gobber has a point being sarcastic about it: "Oh, perfect. And while I'm busy, Hiccup can cover the stall. Molten steel, razor-sharp blades, lots of time to himself - what could possibly go wrong?"

And wrong it goes. I love it. WHAT WERE THEY EXPECTING?? XD

#httyd #hiccup #stoick #stoick the vast #gobber #gobber the belch #analysis #httyd analysis #wherethekiteflies #I HIGHLY recommend visiting any places of craftsmanship they're so inspiring #and they remind you of what's really important in life. gosh #I wouldn't say that manual labor should be this hard but it sure looks rewarding #we need more of it in our western societies again #!!!!

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bottombaron · 8 months

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theory #2

Nandor was on the balcony the whole time.

So I'm not going to waste time trying to convince anyone that Nandor Knows. Basically you do or you don't. For me it could go either way. I don't think there's necessarily enough proof in the text that he knows, just that 1. The show writers are clever enough to not actively disprove it (they do this all the time with things, it's something I admire. wwdits loves nothing more than its red herrings) 2. Im 97.3% sure Kayvan Novak was playing Nandor, post The Baron being fried part 2 electric boogaloo, as knowing Guillermo is a vampire - and that he was never coming back after fleeing. Not to get into actor objectives, etc. here, but that doesn't have to be supported by the text or something he's been told to do. As an actor you basically come up with these choices on your own by your own interpretations and what you feel would be the most interesting choice. I know a lot of people who have theories and will point to an actor's choices as proof of something that probably isn't in the text of the scripts themselves and those choices don't really have as much connection to the intent of the author as you might think. Although, I personally find an actor's choices more compelling than what’s in the text, especially if it’s an interesting one that makes for a compelling emotional arc for the character.

tldr; my gut says that Kayvan is playing Nandor like he knows; at least in the last half of this episode. But even if he is, that doesn't necessarily make it canon.

So, moving to the meat of the theory, a small thing that got me thinking is - we don't see (or hear) Nandor for a very long time during Guillermo’s confession. We don't hear him crashing around in the background, comically trying to set up a platter of blood, no insert shots of a camera spying on him while Guillermo’s voice carries over in order to give an extra weight of guilt to the words confessing his betrayal…there’s nothing. Now, again, this isn't proof. I just find it unsettling whenever characters talk about someone and you can't see where the subject of their conversation is, and yet you know that they're close by. It’s such a classic set up for the ‘oh no they were right behind you all along’. (ngl I was certain that Nandor was going to be right behind The Guide the whole time because her blocking put her hiding most of the hall from view and that had my palms itchy with suspicion). Of course tho all these things could have perfectly innocent explanations for them. That's again a big strength of wwdits that gets often overlooked: They know the tropes and either lean so heavily on them to the point of absurdity or more commonly subvert them in some way. Wwdits isn’t a sitcom, it's a satire of a sitcom. They want you to be thinking “where is Nandor?” during this scene, subconsciously, in the back of your mind. Even if it does nothing more than just to fuck with us.

A final third thing that tickled my spidey-sense is that we never see the full balcony after Nandor goes to fetch the drinks. Here is the shot set up right before, during (Nandor’s absence), and after:

Most of the set up here before Nandor leaves is in a wide shot that shows majority of the stairs and balcony. Which makes sense, it’s the best way to fit everyone, including Colin on the left of the stairs and Nadja on the right, into the same shot. But once Nandor walks down the hall that shot is replaced with mid shots and shot-reverse-shots between Guillermo and The Baron. Even at the ‘During’ point, where The Guide is speaking and we get the widest shot of the foyer - we only just barely reach over the middle of the balcony, and by then Guillermo had already confessed.

Right when Nandor comes back tho? We’re back to the wide shots that include the balcony.

Now, the hardest part of such a simple theory was understanding the house layout better in order to know how/if Nandor could get to the balcony from the back of the hallway (and not the front staircase) without being seen, since all we know is that he heads down the hall when he announces he will go get a “carafe of blood”. Logically I thought that he would head to the kitchen.

Which then got me thinking…where the fuck is the kitchen??

Sadly the floor plans released by the set designer aren't actually that helpful in answering this because it shows that kitchen on the first floor, the first door on the right. But we know that the first door on the right isn’t the kitchen due to the pilot and Go Flip Yourself episodes. The pilot shows a smaller, dimly lit area with different fixtures that is probably either a storage area or a restroom. In Go Flip Yourself, we know that the wall would have been taken out in order to extend Guillermo’s alcove into a proper room, which they wouldn’t have done if it was adjacent to the kitchen since they were ment to renovate that area too. Plus there was septic sewage seeping in under his floor which lends more to it being a first story bathroom (also because I don’t think that there is anywhere else to put a bathroom on the fist floor according the floor plans). The other doors on the left are Nandors room and the other room on that side probably leads to the basement since Guillermo exits that way from the cage he was held in season 3. On the other side we have one more door that I have no idea where it goes to but if I had to guess I would think it’s maybe Nadja’s and Laszlo’s room. Then there’s a little adjacent alcove/hallway at the very end. Here we have a lamp, a clock, and either a chair or a giant feather thing on one side. And on the other side there is a blue door.

And I only had to find all that out by rewatching several episodes and freeze-framing multiple times to the point of agony.

Making my best guess as to where the kitchen is: it’s probably at the very, very end of the hallway, past all the bedrooms and main hallway, to the blue door on the right side of the alcove. I figured this by the blue door having a similar door handle and that it opens in from the left instead of the right like all the others on the same floor.

So. The most logical thought is that Nandor went into the kitchen in order to get the drinks, right? But how does this get him to the balcony?

In the Local News episode, Guillermo makes towards down the hall with his dinner but Colin Robinson stops him and tells him not to go that way. Here we see Guillermo put his hand on the left stair banister to indicate that he is going to take the stairs up and head to the dining room on the second floor.

If Guillermo goes to the dining room from upstairs then we can make the leap that the dining room was the intended location to begin with when he was going down the hall. So - there must be a way to do that, right? In the little tag at the end of the episode Guillermo finishes his dinner and goes right instead of left like he did when he was running away from The Baron.

He then takes these little stone stairs to the first floor but right before that we have a small little peak of horizontal subway tile.

Which is the exact subway tile that we see in the kitchen.

So the kitchen connects to the staircase to the second floor in the hallway of the dining room. And, because we have just seen Guillermo run down that same hallway and take a left, crashing into the wooden frame and onto the first floor…

… if Nandor took those same stairs up, went down the hall, past the dining room, and took a left….he would be right on the balcony.

Looking down on Guillermo's confession.

And, since nothing happens in wwdits without being filmed the next question would be: well ok but was it filmed? Because if it wasn’t filmed then it didn’t happen. You can’t have the reveal. Now wwdits doesn’t exactly play fair all the time with its film crew. There’s several times when a shot is impossible by virtue of it supposedly being filmed in real time. And really, that’s just going to happen. You can’t use a lot of film language already with how wwdits is filmed and making sure every shot is in accordance to roughly 4-5 in-universe apparently human people with no reshoots is impossible. But we have been a little bit more trained to think about the film crew this season, what with them actually participating more into what we’re shown - the set up of shots, hearing them ask questions and push Guillermo to talk about his turning with Derek, the crew that followed Guillermo to talk to his mother is actually pointed out to be two people, when his aunt asks them if they're hungry. From that we can also start thinking about how there are probably two people per plot (a plot and b plot), one for camera and another most likely a producer or sound guy. And we know that just about everyone is downstairs in this intervention, with the exception of Laszlo, who is catatonic and easily visible in the library on everyone’s right. So if just about everyone is in one place you would only need two people here. The other two would follow the ‘b’ plot: Nandor. But we don’t see anyone follow him down the hall.

Well, again keeping in mind impossible shots happen all the time, I don’t think it’s a stretch to give a little weight to this shot here:

Right after Guillermo and The Baron part ways and Guillermo opens the door, frying the Baron for the second time, that shot is caught from the balcony, but it would have been ‘impossible’ considering none of the crew were seen going upstairs. Even if they had left with Nadja or Nandor when the camera had turned to close in on the The Baron and Guillermo’s conversation, both of them had gone down the hall on the first floor (most likely to their rooms) while The Guide went across, away from the stairs, probably to the library with Laszlo. So there would have been no reason for them to be upstairs if they were following the vampires like they’re supposed to.

Unless, they were already upstairs to begin with.

Conclusion:

So we have the opportunity and means for both part of the camera crew and Nandor to have been up on the balcony while Guillermo confessed:

A part of the crew, probably stuck upstairs after Guillermo had run away from The Baron, stayed up there for any number of various reasons. Damage to their equipment, resetting equipment, etc. but either way, they’re not necessary to film the gang downstairs since they are all together at the moment.

Nandor, going down the hall, to the very end, and then to the right puts him into the kitchen. From there he either can’t find a platter, cups, blood, becomes curious, who the hell knows, and decides to go upstairs using the tiny stone staircase hidden there. (maybe he is looking for a fancy platter to put the drinks on and they would be all upstairs in the dining room since they were just hosting a party).

Maybe hearing his name or anything else to spark his curiosity he walks down the hall and towards the balcony that Guillermo was just running down a few minutes earlier. There he watches Guillermo talk about being turned by Derek.

The other half of the crew that were left upstairs get lucky enough to catch it on tape and then lucky again to get a perfect shot of The Baron being fried for a second time when that happens later.

Nandor returns to the group with his platter of drinks, knowing that Guillermo went behind his back to be turned by Derek. No one but the crew knows he was ever up there.

And that is how (I think) Nandor was on the balcony the whole time.

#wwdits #what we do in the shadows #nandor #nandor the relentless #wwdits spoilers #but that’s just a theory… A GA- *gets shot*#dear god there’s no way i’m going to be able to get thru all my theories before the finale airs #these fuckers take too much time #i’ll try for one more - either The Missing Abomination or Nandor’s Pepsi Challange

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the-final-sif · 1 year

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Crack AU Idea: Sam is actually a Warden hybrid and interprets Dream’s “Warden of his Prison” idea as a proposal.

So, warden hybrid Sam’s has had this crush on his human server mate Dream for a while now, and — like — they’ve flirted a bit here and there, but there’s never been any serious attempts by either party to go anywhere serious. And then Dream suggests that he become a prison warden for a new thing he needs built, and Sam agrees even if he thinks the wording’s a little cheesy. And then — through certain lines of questioning and maybe an inhuman ability to tell when someone is being honest vs lying to his face — Sam slowly manages to piece together that this prison is for DREAM.

And — well.

Wardens in this AU have. A bit of an intense mating ritual. In which one party will basically have to capture the other and then showcase that they are powerful enough to keep the other safe and in their control. And — the gesture is just so SWEET, and he starts getting giddy just thinking about it, and he’s just — so happy and excited because this is the Warden equivalent of your long time crush coming up to you and proposing a wedding with everything you’ve ever considered for a wedding, even the cheesy cringy stuff that you thought would never see the light of day. And he plays coy as well, never directly referencing the proposal for what it is as he tries to get a handle on how Dream wants this to go. How long would someone remain prisoner here? As long as it takes? Oh this is the TRADITIONAL route, where one has to MAKE the other submit, okay. Would you — er, should the prisoner eat stake from this automatic farm I designed? …Raw potatoes…? …Alright. How should the cell — that’s it? O— Okay. Okay. You want it rough. Okay, yeah. I can do that. Sam starts to think that Dream is — uh — kind of freaky, to put it lightly. He’s a bit worried that he won’t live up to his expectations, but — okay. He can give it a shot. The Prison Arc begins. Maybe some of the other members of the server ALSO think this was a really elaborate proposal. And then it starts, and the mating dance starts in earnest.

Problem is: Dream has not proposed. Dream has not intended for Sam to interpret this as any of the above. Dream might not even be aware that Sam’s a Warden hybrid at all.

They figure it out eventually, but not before Sam ends up unwittingly doing some serious damage in his attempts to fulfill his role as the more dominant partner in a customary-Warden-mating-ritual. Oops :/

Man, c!Tommy tries to visit in this AU and just gets hard turned down like, he's over here trying to get dramatic emotional closure (in a very stupid way) and c!Sam's just like "how can I get this toddler to stop bothering me b/c im trying to court a guy here and this is really a buzzkill."

c!Quackity comes by to try to torture c!Dream and c!Sam is scandalized because excuse you this is HIS partner and also Quackity already got two??? And he's not even paying attention to them??? Get out of here???

c!Bad tries to become a prison guard and c!Sam is like "no absolutely not im not inviting a cockblock in here."

Meanwhile I think Dream would actually be having a decent time? Like, he'd be a bit pissed off about some visitors getting denied thing, but he'd be getting at least 0 torture and lots of attention from Sam. I'd imagine Sam in this sorta AU would also be a bit more attentive to his needs. Like you don't want your partner dead. Sam would probably cave on the matter of food once he realized it was having long term health effects. Starving your partner is very poor form when you're trying to prove that you're capable and strong.

At most, I feel like Dream in this AU is just getting increasingly confused about what's going on and why, because Sam's actions aren't lining up with what he expected, and he's really not a fan of that.

#awesamdream #c!awesamdream #c!awesamdude #c!dream #dreblr #dream smp #dsmp #sif answers #Anonymous #sif speaks #prison proposal AU

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commsroom · 5 months

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sorry if u answered this before but do you hc Eiffel as any particular race? I know him being white would probably match how he sees himself as the everyman. But on the other hand he gives me light skin vibes and I can't explain why. (Also no matter what he has long hair but curly haired Eiffel just speaks to me)

mm. i know you're just asking for my opinion, but that's a complicated question. and i am not the right person to be talking about this, so please take it with a grain of salt. one of the few legitimate criticisms i have of wolf 359 is that it's a show about personal identity, resisting dehumanization, and recognizing that other people navigate the world in different ways, but it tries to be raceblind. which. it can't. particularly when something like minkowski's identity as a polish immigrant is addressed.

i think one of the reasons that wolf 359 characters feel as real as they do is how collaborative the character development process was; they are really roles that are shaped by and belong to those actors. lovelace is played by a black actress, cecilia lynn-jacobs's input determined a lot of things about her, and the audience reaction to lovelace getting shot near the end of s3 was the way it was because there was an understanding of her as a black woman. whether she was initially written to be black is kind of irrelevant in that case, i think - she still is, and she resonates with people that way.

but every other main character in wolf 359 is played by, and similarly influenced by, a white person. and that's a problem. no matter how you approach it, wolf 359 is not a diverse show: if they were written as non-white, then being played by white people would be a problem. raceblindness also enforces a default assumption of whiteness. i think if eiffel wasn't meant to be read as white, then there are aspects of his character arc, his assumption of himself as the "default" person and general ignorance of how it feels to be "other", that probably could've been explored from a different angle.

i know people who see him as white because of that, and i know people who see him as another race because of how they connect with him as a character. and i can understand both perspectives on that, but i don't think there's a right way to approach it. i think the show unfortunately, in this one specific way, kind of dug its own grave. gabriel urbina has said however you see these characters, that's correct, and i can agree with the sentiment, but it's also mired in a lot of difficult context, because these are specific people, and these things should matter to them. it can't be interchangeable, and so it can't be that ambiguous. it could be handled a lot better. and based on his more recent work + politics, i wonder if he would've approached it differently, if he had all the information then.

about how i see eiffel: i've said many times before that i see him as a man who could be reasonably played by zach valenti, so the eiffel in my head is white. the eiffel in the art i commission, or the art where i'm like "oh!! eiffel!!" is not necessarily. the second most eiffel-like guy i can think of, who i also use as a reference sometimes, is iranian. but for me to say that eiffel was iranian is not really a claim i think it would be right for me to make, and i think it is probably not true.

the main features that i think eiffel must have are dark, wavy/curly hair, prominent nose, noticeable body hair, generally expressive. he absolutely cannot be light haired, clean shaven, or pale. and from a general standpoint, like... a wide variety of men could meet those qualifications. i don't want to reinforce an assumption of whiteness, but i'm also extremely wary about treating race as functionally cosmetic, since. again. it can't be. no show is removed from real life social contexts, and wolf 359 is about a lot of very real things.

i think if you do interpret eiffel as specifically a cis, able-bodied white guy, there's something very real and very unfortunate about the fact he initially ignores lovelace and hera, two marginalized women, and seeks reassurance from minkowski that they were overreacting. he listens eventually, but the person who gets through to him is presumably the Next Most Visibly Privileged Person, and that's... hm.

#genuinely i don't know. sorry you got an essay about it when you were just asking my opinion #i'm completely with you re: curly haired eiffel and i think however you personally see him like #if you connect with him in that way. i don't think that's something that needs justification.#like representation is such a complicated topic from the perspective of individual interpretation #i just. lovelace is black and that can't be said of any other wolf character in the same way and i'm not really sure #what the right approach is. or if there is one. obviously i am open to thoughts + perspectives on this. i'm not the right person for it #it's just something i wonder about a lot.#asks

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phoenixyfriend · 2 years

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Hey who wants a Star Wars/Bridgerton crossover? Too bad, you're getting one because I finished S2 the other day and I'm having Thoughts about "Regency but actual historicity only matters when it gives us cause for drama" and, of course, Ahsoka Tano.

(You probably don't need to have watched Bridgerton to understand this.)

We take some post-war no-66 AU Disaster Trio+Padme-and-the-twins and have them do a 'diplomacy' visit to a rather old-fashioned planet that was hit by Separatists (mostly they set up a base in Antarctica, but a few ships did get shot down over populated areas so...) and the sapient population is mostly humans that have been cut off from the rest of the galaxy for so long that they didn't know other planets were even inhabited, let alone so widely.

Now that they know, they'd like to trade, etc. The safest way to do that, in order to do things like 'acquire spaceships and not be raided by space pirates' is to reach out to the recovering galactic republic.

For the purposes of plot, we'll say that Earth (Terra) does have some raw materials that are useful for whatever reason. IDK. Space needs all the coal they can get for raw carbon to make bacta or some similar nonsense.

Obviously, they need to be assessed to see if they can abide by Republic law in order to be viable to trade with and gain ship access etc. This is complicated by the fact that there is not a singular planetary government, but many, many, many fractured ones. Most of the bigger ones appear to have gotten that way through imperial conquest, which is... not great. The solution is to send some senators and Jedi to make overtures to multiple governments, convince them to hold some sort of global congress (proto-UN) in order to set up at least a representative body that the Galactic Republic can interact with, in order to do things like Make America (and many others) Stop Doing A Slavery.

Padme, bringing along her former-Jedi husband Anakin (and through him, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka, who are there as The Jedi, since Anakin isn't officially a Jedi anymore, because he has a wife and children, and also some clones there as support, and a few handmaidens), is the Senator chosen to go to Regency England.

Who, since the king is... not well (he's old and has days where he thinks he's forty or thirty or twenty again, due to dementia or Alzheimer's or something), is ruled primarily by Bridgerton's interpretation of Queen Charlotte, who dresses a few decades out of style purely to be dramatic and extra af in 1800s court dress, and is also mixed race, which has led to Bridgerton-the-show's England being racially egalitarian, even though the classism is still a huge issue.

Anyway, this is Queen Charlotte:

The core of the awkward plot is that in order to get Queen Charlotte to work with them, they have to play by her rules and engage with London's court games, with all the ballroom dances and promenade, etc.

Since Ahsoka is Of A Marriagable Age, she has to attend things, and dance with people, and she can't just tell people that Jedi Don't Marry (and she's a Jedi again, she's finishing her padawanhood with Obi-Wan, the war is over and she's back and she is going to be a knight, dammit) because that would ruin Queen Charlotte's fun, so she has to play along for at least a few weeks.

There is a lot of Hot Gossip about how she's... well, she's not human, sure, but her brother seems to be wealthy, so maybe the dowry is good? And for anyone who wants to explore, marrying her would be a ticket off planet! Ahsoka at one point tells everyone that any man who wants to marry her needs to beat her at fencing, arm wrestling, or straight up brawling. Anakin and Obi-Wan and Padme all approve, and the Queen thinks it's hilarious so nobody can like... stop her.

Much drama is had about her wanting to just bring along one of the troopers as her socially-necessary escort to things, because those are men! Who could take advantage of a young lady like herself! Someone does try to get her alone for an entrapment plot but when people walk in on them as planned, she's got him in an armbar and refuses to explain why but. Whatever was happening, it wasn't that kind of inappropriate.

Eventually the Queen deliberately lets slip that actually, Jedi can't marry, and all of the money in Skywalker's hands is actually Amidala's (there might be some switcheroos going on where people don't realize that Padme's the senator instead of Anakin, because gender things in Regency England, and also she's definitely swapping out with the handmaidens to get servant secrets), and so if anyone wants a dowry, it'll have to be by getting her good favor, not just Skywalker and Kenobi's.

Something something "but you're a general, Kenobi, shouldn't you be a man of wealth and taste, like all of our great military leaders?" "...we're monks." (Various marriage-minded mamas try to get their daughters into his affections. They do not succeed. Anakin eventually drops a joke that if Obi-Wan was ever going to marry, it would have been to Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore, who is definitely still alive here, and who has basically proposed to him twice, and the instances were twenty years apart, and since that hasn't happened, Obi-Wan definitely isn't marrying, ever.)

Someone asks Ahsoka whom she would marry if she did have to follow Regency England rules, where she's got to marry Up, and she lists off just. Boys that she's managed to save the lives of, since apparently she can only marry a boy with these rules.

1. Lux Bonteri (Anakin counters that she's too good for him)

2. The Prince of Mon Cala (shot down because togruta and Mon Calamari can't procreate, and an heir is necessary for Regency rules, which they are required to follow here)

3. Korkie Kryze (Anakin decides this is the least objectionable option)

Ahsoka finishes by saying that if she had to marry but didn't have to follow Regency Rules, she'd just marry, like, Rex or something. Rex gives her a fist bump for this declaration.

"Whaddaya say, Rexter, you wanna get hitched?" "Well, I don't have anything else on my schedule for tomorrow. Senator Amidala can probably officiate. Think I can get a lightsaber if I'm married to a Jedi?" "Worth a shot!"

(They don't actually get married but man do I love Rex and Ahsoka being Absolute Besties.)

There are also Bridgerton-character-specific plots in my head that probably don't make sense unless you've seen the show but I'll describe a few with hopefully enough detail to work for the people who are only here for Star Wars.

This is Colin Bridgerton. He is the third son of a Viscount (though his father died, so now the Viscount is his eldest brother), and his big thing was that he wanted to go traveling. He did a trip to Greece and greatly enjoyed it. His primary role in the show is as a potential love interest for two young women, Marina Thompson and Penelope Featherington. He would be interested in Ahsoka possibly due to the opportunity to See The Stars. He's a much more genial kind of guy than most of the men we see, though there's still some casual Rich Boy moments. He's generally polite, kind, and even funny.

This is Penelope Featherington. She is secretly the author "Lady Whistledown," who anonymously pens a gossip column that the ton reads religiously. She is young (mid teens, though the actress is mid-thirties) and clever, but she's a wallflower who currently has no marriage prospects. She'd be invested in the opportunity to enter a society where she can earn money etc. without it causing her to lose her status and possibly being able to do things like Inherit, which she can't in Regency England.

Eloise Bridgerton! Colin's younger sister (she's the fifth child of eight) and Penelope's best friend (until an incident late in the second season), a budding activist. She's very 'baby's first step into feminism,' and she gets into a decent amount of trouble in the second season by 'consorting with political radicals' who advocate for women's emancipation, etc. She'd be very interested in Padme and the handmaidens, and learning that Padme is the chosen representative (either directly elected, or picked by an elected queen) of an entire sector.

Benedict Bridgerton (second son) is an art student who is... you know what Gil's like in Paris (Girl Genius)? Like that, but for real. I don't think he has any interest in leaving the planet or marrying one of the SW cast, but he is probably pretty interested in scoring with a Nabooan handmaiden.

Genevieve, the modiste. She's a dressmaker by trade, pretending to be French because the ton is fickle and people won't buy if she admits she's English. I feel like she'd strike up a friendship with Padme's team on the basis of providing guidance on what the Rules Of Propriety are in this period to the wardrobe team.

The Prince (whose name I forget), a Prussian royal that is Queen Charlotte's nephew. She keeps trying to set him up with an English noblewoman so he spends more time in the country instead of going back to the continent. I don't think she'd try to set him up with a Star Wars person, but I do think it would be very funny if he falls for one of Padme's girl gang.

Portia Featherington, Penelope's mother. Her family's fallen on some hard times (her now-dead husband gambled away most of their money, including the dowries), and she's very conniving and scheming and all such things in order to get her family back to a good place. She's a bitch about it, but she's also usually right, and S2 ends on a note that has her putting her daughters before everything. I'm not sure what her exact plot would be here, but getting one of the girls married off to a Star Wars person probably features.

The Dowager Viscountess Bridgerton (the mother of the aforementioned Bridgertons) and THE BITCH HERSELF, Lady Danbury.

They like to matchmake (they've twice gotten one of Violet's kids married off to Lady Danbury's... charges? Her godson, and then a family she was 'sponsoring' due to a scandal from twenty years earlier).

Lady Danbury is also something of a friend? Ish? To the Queen, and one of the only people that gets to talk back and get away with it. She is magnificent.

Anyway, I think they'd be delighted with the idea of like. Joining forces with Padme and Anakin to matchmake local girls who want to Get Out Of Here with one of the clone troopers.

#bridgerton #star wars #the clone wars #ahsoka tano #anakin skywalker #captain rex #obi wan kenobi #padme amidala #anidala #vague mentions of #rexsoka #phoenix posts #crossovers #regency au #sorta

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distant-eclipses · 8 months

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Uh- who?

Aka a deep dive of sorts on the character formerly known as Eclipse, who I'm going to dub Pseudo-Eclipse(is there a popular new name for him?) and the stuff that followed. Spoilers for part of Security Breach Ruin

Who is Pseudo-Eclipse: Most people who have the Daycare Attendant as their favorite character(s) know who this is, but even now there's probably some fans who don't know(or, if they do, don't know the fully situation)

In Security Breach there's an arcade cabinet in the Daycare Attendant's room called Balloon World

In the game you play as Balloon Boy and try to stay floating as long as possible. The game is similar to Flappy Bird, but with a few differences. One of the important ones is the day/night cycle, with Sun and Moon in the background of their respective times of day

Another difference is the purple glitches which, if touched, lead to this weird glitchy world

If you follow the weird line of glitchy squares, eventually the trail will end and this will happen

After a few seconds of this screen(which isn't a still image, but I wanted a good shot of the "good night" messages) the arcade game crashes and you get sent back to the Daycare Attendant's room

This (sorta)character eventually became known as Eclipse to the Daycare Attendant side of the fandom(I don't know how well known it is outside of that group)

Why this interpretation: Why was he called Eclipse by most of the fandom? Why was he usually called a fusion? Some people called it something related to Sun and/or assumed he was Sun if he was infected by Glitchtrap, but those people were in the minority

Well here's a clearer look at Pseudo-Eclipse's sprite. While he has Sun's rays, his face is obviously Moon's(Sun also has a grinning sprite, but Moon's smile seems closer to it). Almost like Moon is right in front of Sun, aka

an eclipse(specifically an annular eclipse). Which would explain the odd coloring(due to the moon's lack of light to reflect and the ring of fire) and the background(the redder color of the sky mixed with the virus' purple)

So because of that, he was called Eclipse. And while it's unclear if Moon is just in front of Sun or if Pseudo-Eclipse is one (fused)entity, it's funner to imagine it as a character

Fanon: interpretations of Pseudo-Eclipse can vary wildly in design, personality, and origin. But one common personality I see is him being depicted as evil, which makes sense because of the implied connection to Glitchtrap. There's also quite a few who depict Pseudo-Eclipse as a middle ground between the two(one could argue Eclipse works in a similar way)

The way he shows up also differs depending on the universe. In works that are more similar to canon, I've seen it show up in specific lighting conditions, be a security mode, or just come from the arcade. In aus where Sun and Moon are separate beings I've seen Pseudo-Eclipse be a sibling, some other relative, or just a dude that's entirely unconnected to them. Funnily enough, I haven't seen many people depict it as an actual fusion

One trait I've seen in a lot of fan designs is him having 4 arms(I even ran a poll for it, a majority of the voters preferred 4 arms), though I did see a cool design that gave him 6 arms. This fits with his nature as a glitch/fusion/generally odd being

However, while "Eclipse" quickly became a fusion name(as well as its own character in some way pre-Ruin), some designs seemed to forget or not notice why Pseudo-Eclipse was called that in the first place. I've also seen designs that, while obviously based on the arcade glitch, take a lot of creative liberties

On the more astronomy-accurate-arcade-inaccurate side of Pseudo-Eclipse designs, I've seen a lot of people make it look more like a partial eclipse than an annular one. This fits with the Daycare Attendant's half and half design and is possibly what Steel Wool chose to do with Eclipse(though it may be a coincidence)

There's also those who make Eclipse more purple/blue? Some of the designs may be based on other types of eclipses, but aside from a possible Sun-design-Moon-color for balance reasons(astronomy accuracy be damned), I'm not sure why this is

On the other side of the coin, there's those who decided to make ocs and/or other fusions

Fan characters: Pseudo-Eclipse was able to open the door to other ideas for eclipse-based designs that weren't supposed to be the arcade glitch or your average fusion. One that I've only seen a few times is fans noticing that Pseudo-Eclipse is an annular eclipse and making a design based off of a total eclipse

Another Sun-based design is "Solar Eclipse", despite Pseudo-Eclipse already being one of those. Accuracy varies, but these tend to be on the more accurate side and I've seen ones based on annular and partial eclipses. There's also those who call the "Nice Eclipse" from The Sun and Moon Show this, despite him looking like a weird Sun most of the time

But the thing about Pseudo-Eclipse is that he mostly looks like Sun. So the idea of a Moon-based design, aka Lunar Eclipse, became a thing. These designs are usually pretty blue, probably meant to mirror Pseudo-Eclipse's orange. They usually have a nice personality, possibly because of Pseudo-Eclipse usually being depicted as evil. A popular example of this is Lunar from The Sun and Moon Show

These designs are nice, but most of them are in a similar boat to several fan designs for Pseudo-Eclipse. Because while lunar eclipses do exist, this isn't an "astronomy accurate" design. Though in my experience, some people will probably be more familiar with another name for a lunar eclipse

aka, a blood moon. Which is also the name of some fan characters, though the most popular one is probably from The Sun And Moon Show

Despite both being lunar eclipses, Blood Moon and Lunar Eclipse don't seem to have any connection beyond them both working/having worked with SAMS-Eclipse

Ruin(ed) tags: When the ruin dlc came out, Daycare Attendant fans were blessed with a canon Eclipse(who is a wonderful character, but not the topic of this post)

But all good things come at a cost and this is no exception. While Eclipse is the main one showing up in search results and tags, Pseudo-Eclipse still appears a lot. On top of that, as of now there's no real way to search for(or stop seeing) Pseudo-Eclipse content and without any pictures it can be hard to tell which one a person is talking about(I don't know how ao3 users are doing, but I imagine it's a similar story over there)

"Glitch Sun" seems to be one people like(use of this name goes back to 2022), but while it may be getting more popular it's not nearly as well known as "Eclipse. It also assumes that Pseudo-Eclipse is Sun, which a lot of people disagree with. This interpretation may get more popular thanks to Ruin, but it doesn't really work for those who still view Pseudo-Eclipse as a eclipse and don't want to call it a sun

I've also seen tags used for specific au versions of Pseudo-Eclipse and The Sun And Moon Show. While designs vary, several are accurate or inaccurate enough for a lot of fans. However, these are specific characterizations of him with specific origins. Not to mention the specific settings and lore. However, too many of these would defeat the purpose of using specific tags to filter stuff out

One fan name I've seen suggested is referring to Eclipse as a lunar eclipse and Pseudo-Eclipse as a solar eclipse. But they're both obviously solar eclipses or at least solar eclipse adjacent. Also, it would just turn into "which Lunar are they talking about" for those who post about Lunar Eclipse

Ruin: While fans love Eclipse(and hopefully Steel Wool will give it more attention), that doesn't mean they're done with Pseudo-Eclipse. And neither is the game

As I mentioned in a previous post, while the arcade game is broken and unplayable in Ruin, if you look up in the room and wait a few seconds while wearing the rabbit mask

it's still there. So, that begs the question of who this is. While we know that he's connected to Glitchtrap/the Mimic's virus and is most likely not a sun, there's not a lot to work with

But at the end of the day, he's just a neat little easter egg character that fans grew attached to. It may not have a major place in the lore, but he still left a big impact

#this post is very tumblr-centric but if anything noteworthy happened on another platform I'd love to hear abt it #fnaf security breach #fnaf daycare attendant #fnaf eclipse #glitch sun #I'll tag the other fan characters/the one fan series if asked but they're not really the focus #fnaf dlc #fnaf dca #fnaf sb #dca fandom #tagging more than I usually do cus this took... longer than it probably should've

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aprofessionalwithoutstandards · 1 year

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Since someone brought up the God’s Gift thing in the comics, it makes me think that when the mercs die (at least the ones going to heaven) they get whatever they would consider paradise/happiness?

Like Sniper saw his parents (who are also dead) bc as we’ve seen in Meet the Sniper and the comics, they never approved of his profession. So, when he sees them praise him/tell him to get back to work, he’s fully content. He doesn’t need an extravagant eternity, he just wanted their approval.

Scout on the other hand had God himself boosting his ego, endless games to play, Tom Jones, and overall *attention* (I’m guessing he doesn’t see his siblings + mom bc they’re still alive). I think that interpretation is actually really nice? Like there’s no universal “paradise” just what each person would consider paradise. Parental approval for Sniper and what’s essentially a hypeman for Scout. Idk this is long sorry but it made me curious

YEAH! I think I did a post abt this actually AHGKLAHGA where I got like super philosophical and informed by my own ideas about religion and a whoooole buncha boring personal stuff u guys aren't here for LMAO but like yeah! That's basically how I feel. However, I do think SOME stuff calls into question whether or not what they see is, quote unquote, "real" - I think a lot of people take this idea and go "so because each of their heavens are different, what they see isn't 'real' and there is no God in the tf2 universe" which I'm not fond of either as a genuine perspective on religion (boring and personal) OR as an interpretation of the source material (fun and what ur here for)! I think we kinda ARE meant to understand that each of their heavens are "real." I think Scout's is a better example for arguing that God is real in the tf2 universe: Scout dies, Scout goes to Heaven, Scout meets God, God decides Scout should come back to life, Scout comes back to life. It's not like Sniper where Medic brought him back to life with science; Scout just leaves the pearly gates and wakes right back up. Also, we see Tom Jones in heaven. If this were all in Scout's mind, he wouldn't KNOW that Tom Jones is in heaven - even if he subconsciously knows that Spy is his dad and is just in denial about it (as is heavily implied), he seems to have NO idea that Tom Jones is dead! So heaven must be real because Tom Jones is there while Scout doesn't know that Tom Jones is dead.

This isn't even getting into how Medic MOST DEFINITELY goes to Hell for real, so the Devil must exist. Medic DIES. He's like, SUPER dead. He gets shot twice directly in the chest. He's DEAD. And he comes back. Just like, stands right back up. And it's implied that he previously interacted with the Devil in order to "sell his soul." And he wakes up with the fuckin pen. So the Devil is real, God is real, Sniper's vision of his parents is also probably real but I just don't have the stuff to back that one up. Sorry Snipes

#sorry for the long response lol i'm in a talky mood #ask #singularsoldier #tf2 #team fortress 2 #scout #sniper #medic #tf2 comics #i talked a lot so this gets tags!

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lightwise · 1 year

Text

Plan 99

Short one-shot fic from Tech's perspective. I wanted to show the thoughts that must have been running through his mind as he fell. The love he has for his family. The peace he has in his decision.

After the season finale, I've had a number of thoughts and posts swimming in my head. What I didn't expect was the need to make a short one-shot from Tech's perspective.

Words: 1,238.

Warnings: mentions of falling, death, life flashing before one's eyes. Nothing violent or graphic. Just emotional. Please don't feel the need to read unless you are in the right headspace. I know this week has been very tough and I don't want to add to the pain, but making this was cathartic and I hope reading it is as well.

Note: I wrote the majority of this fic, including the last lines, before coming across @luxris incredible piece that they very kindly allowed me to include here. When I saw it I knew it had to be paired with what I had written. Go check out the rest of their work and give them a follow!

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Plan 99

“Don’t you do it Tech!!”

“Hhuhhhh.” Tech looked down and shook his head, both in resignation and affection. Of course Wrecker would say that. Of course he would act out of emotion, not out of logic and a clear understanding of what needed to be done.

Tech had already scanned the probability of every possible way to keep the railcar on the tracks and pull himself up before the bomber came close enough for another round. Plan 99–the last plan in their roster, the plan none of them had ever needed to use–was the only solution both his HUD graphics and his heart were telling him. Although even that only had a 78.6% chance of success if he did not move quickly enough. He suddenly had an intrusive thought shadowing the back of his mind–if he did not bring his blaster up to his side immediately, that clear-headed logic through which he interpreted the world might start to betray him.

Wrecker was straining with all his might to hold the connection between the cable cars, dangerously close to falling himself. Omega stood a few paces behind him. Tech could not see her face clearly but he knew the exact expression of worry and fear it most likely held.

Tilting his head to the side, a myriad of sentences ran through his mind, but none of them seemed adequate. He didn’t have time for this convoluted process. The thought of Crosshair flashed before his eyes. His brother’s sniper rifle would have taken care of this situation at least 12 minutes ago. If he were here. If he weren’t the reason Tech was dangling over an open crevasse in the first place. It wasn’t his fault though. It was imperative that the others had the chance to find him, to bring him home.

Tech would have done it all over again. And suddenly he knew what to say.

His left hand firmly grasped his blaster as he pulled it roughly out of the holster, his right still clinging to the cable attached to his waist. He lifted his head, narrowing his eyes as he began to take aim. The shot would have to be precise.

“When have we ever followed orders?”

His blaster fired, shooting up through the grates of the metal above him, puncturing cleanly through the connection rod–right where he wanted it. His heart broke in half along with it. It was an odd sensation.

The weight of the released cable car pushed a rush of air down at him as he began to fall. He had never been able to hold eye contact for very long when speaking to others. But now? His eyes stayed steady and wide, gazing up at his squad. No, he corrected himself instantly. His family. Omega had taught him better than that. He knew that she and Wrecker were screaming his name after him, but the pressure of the air tunneling up around him began to bring the blood to his head and left only the beat of each blood vessel in his ears. He began counting the pulses. The blaster had already flown out of his hand and his arms and legs began to float as though they were no longer a part of him. But he kept his gaze fixed on the one thing he wanted to engrave in his mind, the last thought that he wanted to dwell on. He did not have Crosshair’s enhanced eyesight, but he could have sworn that his brothers and sister never got any smaller as he continued to separate from them.

It was a long way down and he realized he had slightly underestimated the amount of time it would take for him to reach the ground. Or perhaps he had not accounted for the weightless swimming sensation that his mind had begun to feel. He had both researched and witnessed the ways in which people met their demise many times, and even the ways in which the mind began to play tricks on you, making time stretch out on its continuum. He was not afraid of the process of death. At least, the physical process of it. Yet he had not fully anticipated the ways in which he was suddenly seeing flashes of his life with both startling clarity and disconcerting speed.

Hunter ruffling his hair, returning his goggles to him in a stark white corridor after several cadets had roughed him up for his “defects.”

A Firepuncher poking over his shoulder as Crosshair relied on him for steady aim.

Echo glancing over at him from the copilot’s seat, sharing a small grin as they heard Wrecker almost trip over Gonky in the back of the ship.

The feel of his datapad in his hands, the cables and buttons an extension of his fingers, his mind, himself.

Dirt falling from Omega’s hand as she pondered it with gleefully wide eyes after they landed on Saleucami. The granules somehow stained the white patches of fog currently engulfing him.

The faint hiss of a pod door opening and the wide eyes of Nala Se staring down at him with an inscrutable expression.

As the chill of the air around him began to pierce through his armor, his heart rate slowed, and memories began to overlap and merge together. It was like looking at a holostream, except instead of one program in linear sequence there were dozens of images swarming him at once, demanding his attention.

Long nights on watch playing games against himself, with only Gonky to keep him company. A clap on the back from Cody, and a bemused, worried look from Rex. Dozens of droids sending blaster shots over their heads, one battle interchangeable for another. A toothpick dangling from long, slim fingers. Wrecker lying prone on a medical table on Bracca, Omega hovering over him. The whine of a racing pod, and voices distantly chanting his name as he gave a calm salute. A pounding pain in his shoulder from Wrecker punching him, repeatedly, from excitement. The shock on Romar’s face as a model 2 data core sprang to life under his steady hand. A sunset dipping low on Pabu, transferring its warmth to the lights that flicked on simultaneously in response.

The brimming electrical activity in his mind and the weightlessness of his limbs created a heightened, soothing sensation.

Grey, churning waves lapping at the window outside his bunk on Kamino. The whirr of Echo’s scomp calibrating the hyperdrive. Hunter’s voice, gruff and low as he looked back over his shoulder. The glancing light of a waterfall on Omega’s face, stained blue with tears. His hand moved to reach for her shoulder, to give her comfort the way he always did.

Suddenly, all but one of the images faded away. Dark, fluffy curls and hazel-green eyes swam in front of his face, blurring and dancing in odd waves. Flashes of gold too. He thought he heard a lilting, familiar voice calling to him as his vision darkened. “I’ll see you soon, Brown Eyes.”

Those same eyes closed, red and swollen as the seal from the goggles that were made to protect them slipped. Air lashed at Tech’s exposed face and tears slid past his eyelashes and down his cheeks. As consciousness began to fade, he could almost convince himself that it was just a result of the wind. Just the wind…

What other choice could he possibly have made.

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