#but at the same time neos are in fact cool and also i used to get a surge of gender euphoria whenever someone he/him’d me when like playing

[gaylotusthatexists]

the temptation to start going by any pronouns.

[thewertsearch]

ERIDAN: for all that trainin you did ERIDAN: i wwouldnt be the incredible holy wwizard i am noww wwithout your help […] KANAYA: I Hope You Use Your Magnificent Powers Of Light And Hope For Goodness And Purity And Lets Not Forget Science

At this point. Kanaya is Human Sarcasming better than most actual humans.

ERIDAN: dont wworry im all ovver that shit you dont evven knoww KANAYA: Uh Oh I Hope That Didnt Come Off As Too Sarcastic […] KANAYA: Please Dont Take Too Much Offense ERIDAN: haha damn kan if thats your idea of offense bein made then i honestly gotta fuckin wworry for you ERIDAN: tell you wwhat ill givve you some lessons in dealin out the dark umbrage to repay you for your tutelage in the wwhite science

I think Dave taught Kanaya more about the art of trolling in a single conversation than Eridan could in an entire lifetime.

That guy can troll better than most actual trolls.

ERIDAN: wwhats that thing there KANAYA: The Matriorb KANAYA: I Was About To Go Hatch It In The Core To Restore Our Race ERIDAN: that sounds ERIDAN: hopeful […] ERIDAN: if theres goin to be any sort a hope for our race as the prince of hope i demand to be invvolvved ERIDAN: so dont go anywwhere wwithout me got it […] KANAYA: Fine

I’m all for the construction of neo-Alternia, but I really don't think Eridan should be on the planning committee, unless we also want a neo-hemospectrum.

Honestly, the only trolls I'd really trust to rebuild their society are the bottom half of the hemospectrum, and possibly Gamzee. The other highbloods can go sit in the corner.

ERIDAN: its not magic wwe talked about this kar KARKAT: RIGHT, IT'S POWERED BY SCIENCE, I FORGOT. KARKAT: OR HOPE. WHATEVER THE FUCK THAT MEANS

I don’t see how Hope translates to a robot-exploding beam, though.

If it was wizards he was blowing up, I’d understand, because it would be consistent with my theory that he's weaponizing his hatred of FRAUDULENT MAGIC. If anything, his Science Wand should strengthen a robot, since it's a product of the TRUEST SCIENCES.

ERIDAN: i had a harder time than anybody wwith this game ERIDAN: it wwas really fuckin unfair wwhat challenges i got saddled wwith ERIDAN: i wwoulda fuckin MURDERED for a land full of a lot a harmless brains and fire ERIDAN: but no ERIDAN: it wwas so lonely ERIDAN: hey guys anybody wwant to come hang out wwith me in the land a wwrath and angels

That sounds cool, though. Angels, I assume, are how Hope is represented in his Land, and I’m sure Eridan synergized well with its wrath. I wonder what physical form it took?

ERIDAN: anybody at all i knoww it isnt anythin like one of your flippin land picnics ERIDAN: anybody please ill evven settle for the kittycat shipper cavve girl

You can't complain about loneliness and then insult your ‘friend’ in the same breath. That's not how any of this works, and the fact that you're unaware of this should tell you everything you need to know about why you're lonely.

So Karkat does know about Nepeta’s little crush. He is a relationship aficionado, after all.

Poor Nepeta.

I sort of figured Karkat didn't reciprocate her feelings. He's preoccupied with plenty of other redrom prospects, and he basically never mentions her.

Karkat’s honestly a little too nice to Eridan. He’s being such a bro here, but what Eridan actually needs is to be brought down to size a little.

Granted, I think Eridan needs a bigger shock to the system than an angry tirade from Karkat. I feel like Terezi could tear him to pieces - but since it's unfair to expect her to put up with him alone, I'd put both the Scourge Sisters on this assignment. >:)

What Karkat is aptly demonstrating here is that there’s a difference between an Eridan kind of asshole and a Karkat kind of asshole.

Let's be real, here - Karkat's a dick. But he's a dick who holds no true malice, knows when he's crossed a line, and is willing to sincerely apologize for his past actions, and make amends.

Eridan possesses none of these qualities, which is why he sat alone in his house for a month while Karkat befriended the entire cast.

[lopposting]

Some more Lies of P translation notes!

Some cool translation details that I thought were fun that didn't fit anywhere else.

[long!]

[Spoilers]

In the Korean version, Geppetto is speaking an "old-fashioned"/archaic form of Korean to reflect the time period that the game is set in

Set around the turn of the century (late 1800s), mimicking the Belle Époque of France's industrial revolution, we can guess that the game's events take place during the late 1800s. Given Geppetto's status as "old geezer", we can guess that he's closer to 100 than not, so he would have been born around the early 1800s. I might not be completely accurate - basically, he's speaking as an elderly person might speak in current time to culturally reflect his age; other times I notice he's using some words that are now out of use.

From the game's initial trailer:

깨어나거라, 아들아. 이제 이 아비를 기쁘게 해다오. Wake up, son. Make this father happy/proud.

The word he uses for "father" is "Abi" (아비), which is an archaic word for "father". In current day, korean speakers would generally use "Abeoji" (아버지).

The -gura(거라)/-DaOh(다오) conjugation is also an additional syllable that has since fallen out of use, or is considered archaic, in current korean:

아들아, 네 심장을 다오. Son, give me your heart.

하지만 알아 다오, 나는 너도 사랑했단다. But know this, I loved you too. English VA version: In my own way, I grew to love you.

This is also apparent in Geppetto's final letter at the end:

우릴 방해할 자는 이제 없을 거란다. 너를 위한 크라트를 다시 만들어주마. (-juma, Supposedly, only a "superior" speaker can use -juma) 그때까지 호텔에 조심해서 머물러 다오. 너를 누구보다도 아끼는 아버지가.

He also uses the -Oh ending again. (although he does call himself "Abeoji" 아버지 here and not "abi" like the trailer. He uses "Abi" again in another instance when responding to a guesture)

It's a very cool detail to me. I think it's a bit missed opportunity that, as far as I know, the english version doesn't seem to reflect this! Although to be fair, I'm struggling to imagine how they would. 19th century english/french maybe isn't as different or isn't different in the same ways from "modern" english that 19th century Korean would be from "modern" Korean. [Well, my only education on this stuff is from watching episodes of Dae Jang Geum]. I haven't checked to see if any other character (like Antonia) speaks this way. [Pls message me if Geppetto also speaks like this in your or any other language version!!]

Lies of P, Blood, puns, and the P-Organ

The P-Organ, in Korean, is referred to as the P기관. 기관 (gi-gwan), however, doesn't necessarily correlate directly to the word "Organ": It's quite an interesting word to choose because it can refer to any system of moving parts, both organic or mechanical; and it can mean an organ, a machine, or even a governmental body or institute.

As you may have heard by now, the game's titular pun revolves around the fact that the english character for P sounds the word for "blood" in korean (피), making the title (P의 거짓 P-ie Geojit?) read like Lies of Blood, in a nutshell. The title Lies of Blood then fits into the becoming-real flesh-and-blood themes of the game, perhaps also suggests that the deception in Krat has cost the lives of many - and, of course, references the lying of the titular character, who is inferred to be none other than (P)inocchio! So, in Korean, the P-Organ (P기관) becomes something like the Blood Engine. Which rather sounds like a euphemism for a heart!

[Perhaps: It's also a bit of narrative that Geppetto refuses to refer to it as our heart, unless he refers to it as belonging to Carlo.]

In English, this wordplay no longer exists, and so it's rather awkwardly literally translated (as the P-Organ).

How do you say, "NEOWIZ"?

I've seen a few people ask about the pronunciation of NEOWIZ (Lies' publishing company). Hangul is phonetic, so you could (technically) say the official pronunciation of NEOWIZ (네오위즈) is Nae-Oh Wiz and not Neo (like the Matrix character) -wiz.

However [in my opinion], I don't think this matters, because when something is translated to another language, it often takes the pronunciation of the language it is read in. Kind of like how in english you would read the capital of France correctly as Paris (with an S sound at the end), and not "Pari" (french pronunciation).

Also, Krat is consistently pronounced by in-game characters as "Krot" (Long O, rhymes with "Cot" or "Not") in the english version. In the game korean releases, "Krat" is written as 크라트, which would be pronounced and read as "Krat" (short A, rhymes with "Rat" or "Cat").

[I think the devs also say "Krat" too. The rounder "O" pronunciation of "A" in words seem like more of a European pronunciation in general]

The "Youngest of the Black Rabbit Brotherhood" and Gender

In Korean culture, Age is particularly significant in both Korean social hierarchy and language, and the role/position of being the youngest in a group is a particular role known as being the "maknae" (I mean, I definitely think this also exists in the western world, people definitely would understand being the "youngest" one in your family, but it's slightly different from that).

Despite being a member of the brotherhood, she refers to her brothers as "Oppa", which is when the word "brother" is used by female speakers to an older male subject (Remember Gangnam style?) [A male speaker would use "Hyung". I debated putting this one in, because to me, it seemed kind of obvious, but I did see others asking about this.]

[Given that the developers are from a korean studio, I am choosing to believe that the subtitles provided by the game's "korean" version are the text/script as originally written intended by the developers!]

[splatsvilles-fashionista]

Splatoon 3 Version 6.1 Patch Notes Breakdown

That time of the month again! Let's take a quick look at these together, and that part is actually important, because people have cross-referenced the Japanese and English patch notes and confirmed that there are several mistranslations in the latter, so stick with me as we roll through these!

This patch is heavily focused on balance changes, and outside of those, the only thing that isn't a bugfix is of course the Mincemeat Metalworks renovation. With that out of the way, let's look at the Main Weapon changes:

N-Zap gets two more damage, which makes it combo better with other sources of damage like the splash damage from the '85's Suction Bomb. There seems to always be a completely unnecessary Shooter buff in every patch nowadays, and this is the one this time, but it's at least balanced out by the fact that this weapon is also getting nerfed further down the notes, but we'll get there.

Dynamo Roller will now deal lethal damage in a wider spread than it did previously. Splat Roller got this buff a while ago and it was pretty good for it, so this is a definitive W for Dynamo mains everywhere.

Flingza Roller gets the exact same buff, plus a buff that cuts 5 white ink frames off its' vertical flick. Some nice quality of life for sure.

Inkbrush now moves faster, cheaper. Three percent doesn't sound like a lot, but I promise you that even such a small change is going to throw your aim off quite a bit, so get ready to get circles run around you in Clam Blitz even more than you already do.

The Brella gets 13% better ink efficiency off its shots, and that's quite a lot! Brella likes to play the long game and draw out fights, and most builds for it run a lot of Ink Saver Main as a result, so this should give it some more ability flexibility.

Undercover Brella can now... do full jumps while firing? I don't think this is a very impactful change, but it is neat, and I think if used properly could be a way to get more mileage out of your shield and avoid damage.

This is a mistranslation!

The first change is actually the complete opposite of what it says in the patch notes. They did not reduce Squeezer's ink consumption when tap-firing, but increase it, making the cost tap-shots 9% more. It'll also paint slightly worse when holding down the firing button, and considering how this weapon has been utterly dominant at all levels of play both of these changes are fair.

Ballpoint gets a small accuracy decrease in long-range mode, which frankly seems a bit uncalled for, because this weapon hasn't been on top of the metagame for a long time. At least it's also kind of a paint buff?

And finally for Main Weapon changes, Stamper gets its charge slash paint cut by 10%. Compared to the changes this weapon has been getting in the past it's a bit of a slap on the wrist, but it does in fairness paint really well, and Neo Splatana Stamper does put out a lot of Crab Tanks, so this isn't an unjust change.

After that comes two Special changes, and these are very interesting:

Wave Breaker will now immediately locate enemies upon being placed for a short while. They don't specify the range or time of the effect, but I have to imagine it'll be within the same area of effect as the Wave Breaker's Waves. Giving it an immediate effect is really cool to me, it makes me think of Splatoon 1's Echolocator, which Wave Breaker already kind of felt like a rework of to begin with.

THIS IS A MISTRANSLATION TOO AND IT'S EVEN WORSE THAN THE LAST ONE

Again, this change is the complete opposite, reading the text you'd think this was a nerf to Ink Storm, but it's actually a buff, because it makes you heal faster in Kid Form when inside your own team's Ink Storms. This is essentially completely unprecedented, as we've never had anything that messes with the health regeneration system like this before, and I'm very curious to see how it shakes out.

And finally we have the Points-For-Special changes:

Neo Sploosh, Forge Pro, Luna, Bamboozler, and Zink Mini all get their Points-For-Special cut by 10 (a change Forge has been begging for since it released, seriously starting it at 210p was completely unreasonable) while Slattershot, N-Zap '85 (here's that nerf I mentioned at the very top of the list), Tri-Slosher nouveau, and Heavy Edit Splatling get another 10p added to their Special charge.

Overall I think this is a pretty good patch that has some really interesting ideas in it, but there is also a very notable omission. They went after all of the most popular Tacticooler weapons, and increased their Special charge, except for Snipewriter 5H. Snipewriter has been skyrocketing in popularity in competitive player for its' ability to serve as paint support, long-range damage, and Tacticooler spammer, all at once, and it got completely overlooked here. I suspect that nanowrimo is coming early in the world of competitive Splatoon 3, because everyone is getting their pencils ready.

[fdelopera]

Hey! Hope you’re doing well amidst everything going on. I saw one of your posts talking about Jewish history and something kind of clicked in my mind… because you’re right. I have never once been taught a single droplet of history about Jews besides the Holocaust. I want to turn that around, and learn more, because I find Judaism really cool and I want to learn more about it.

So, do you know where to begin when reading about Jewish history? I know it’s probably going to be extensive, but history is already extensive, and I wish I got taught more than just Christian ideology. This goes the same for any religion beyond Catholicism and Christianity. I really wish I was taught more about it.

Thank you!! Hope you have a good day :)

Thank you for your kind message. I really appreciate it. And thank you for wanting to learn more about Jewish history.

This past month especially has made me realize just how little most gentiles (non-Jews) know about Jewish history. It's been eye-opening, for sure.

It's also been horrifying to see the amount of white supremacist, antisemitic propaganda that people have been spreading online. Some people have been spreading this Nazi rhetoric intentionally, but many others have been spreading it because they don't have the context to understand that they are repeating Nazi dogwhistles. This month, I've seen more of Richard Spencer's Neo-Nazi talking points here on Tumblr than I ever have before. For context, Richard Spencer is this Nazi who got punched in the face.

In talking to gentiles, I often find that their knowledge of Jewish history extends to a few facts about the Holocaust. Some gentiles who have studied European history and political science may also have a general understanding of Hitler’s rise to power.

But that’s only the past several decades of Jewish history! And it's limited almost entirely to Europe!

Jews are a Levantine people from Judea (the area currently called Israel/Palestine), and our history goes back thousands of years to the Late Bronze Age.

For a good overview of Jewish history, from the Late Bronze Age to the present, I would recommend two YouTube channels. That’s a good place to start. There are many history books on the subject, but a lot of them are quite dense, and the videos from these two historians will give you a good general overview if you want to learn more.

Sam Aronow:

Sam Aronow covers the span of Jewish history, from the Late Bronze Age to modern times. It is an ongoing Jewish history project that he’s been producing for the past three years, and it is in chronological order. He is currently in the early 1900s, and he comes out with a new video every month or so (he's just released a new video this month).

Click here to go to Sam’s YouTube channel, and then you can scroll back to watch his videos from the beginning, or you can decide what time period of Jewish history you’re most interested in learning about first.

Useful Charts:

Matt Baker, PhD runs the YouTube channel "Useful Charts," and he often works with Sam Aronow's channel. He has a PhD in education and religion. Matt has a very interesting story. He converted to Judaism as an adult; when he was a young man, he escaped a Christian doomsday cult, which he was born into. This gives him a unique understanding of Jewish history, especially how the "Old Testament" is often weaponized by Evangelical Christians to advance specific right-wing agendas. (As I explain below, the Old Testament is NOT the Hebrew bible. It is a chopped up, reordered, edited, and mistranslated version of the Hebrew bible.) Matt's videos on the history of Judaism are well-researched, and he breaks down different aspects of Jewish history into easy-to-follow segments.

I) Jewish History series:

Which Bible Characters are Historical.

Kings of Israel & Judah Family Tree.

Maccabees & King Herod Family Tree. (by Sam Aronow)

Classical Rabbis Family Tree.

Judaism and Jewish Denominations Explained.

Jewish Streams (Denominations) Re-Explained. (by Sam Aronow)

II) Who Wrote the Tanakh and the New Testament series:

NOTE: The Tanakh (the Hebrew bible) is an acronym that stands for Torah (Instruction), Nevi'im (Prophets), Ketuvim (Writings). It is NOT the same as the "Old Testament" in the Christian bible. The Christian editors of the "Old Testament" cut up the Tanakh and reordered it in a way that doesn't make any sense for Jewish practice. Many Christian bibles (such as the King James Version) also intentionally mistranslate the Old Testament to advance specific religious, political, and social ideologies of their time.

Who Wrote the Torah.

Who Wrote the Prophets.

Who Wrote the Writings.

I am including links to Matt's series on who wrote the New Testament, because many people who were raised Christian were never given a historical context for the people who wrote the books of the New Testament.

Who Wrote the Apocrypha. (The Apocrypha are later-written Jewish books that are not included in the Tanakh, but do appear in some Christian bibles, like the Catholic bible)

Who Wrote the Epistles. (Paul's Epistles were written before the Gospels, which is why the Epistles are linked first.)

Who Wrote the Gospels and Acts. (The Gospels were all written long AFTER Jesus' lifetime, and AFTER the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD. They were NOT written by the people they are attributed to.)

Who Wrote Daniel, and Who Wrote Revelation. (Matt includes Daniel from the Nevi'im [Prophets] as well as Revelation from the New Testament in this video to discuss apocalypticism in Jewish and early Christian tradition.)

[hovershiplogos]

Guess who's doing rewatches again? It's me, and well, not entirely a rewatch:

Yes, that's right, it's Enter the Matrix. Because it's criminal that for a blog named for the little ship that could, I've haven't actually done a deep dive on the game itself! So I'm going to fix that!

I'm also going to play through as both Niobe and Ghost, as depending on who you're playing, the missions play out slightly different, and the cutscene dialogue varies as well. Also, not going to do like a  blow by blow kinda thing. Only going to comment on things that caught my  interest, or seem rather amusing to me.  If you want a little more context, I suggest checking out the couple of playthroughs/cut scene compilations on youtube.

Also of note, the game picks up right after the Animatrix short Final Flight of the Osiris.

Anyway, let's get to it!

AND IT'S THE MAIN REASON I'M STILL HERE, BECAUSE OF THIS PESSIMISTIC SNARKY COWARD RIGHT HERE. And he's self aware about it as well.

Also interesting to note is that according to this cutscene, Sparks has been operating on board the Logos for 3 years. Now, a standard US navy tour of duty (and I'm going with Navy rather than Army as Zion's army is referred to as a Navy fleet) is between 2-3 years. Not really going anywhere with this, but it's interesting to note.

Niobe is a 'my way or the highway' kinda person. No wonder it didn't work between her and Morpheus. It's also telling that Ghost has known Niobe for long enough to know that this is what she's like. I wonder if Ghost is the glue in this ship dynamic? As in, he knew Niobe and Sparks separately before they knew each other, if that makes sense?

And it's the little hovership that could, the little lightning bug of the fleet! Those red lights on the ship look like they're the same as the ones on the sentinels. I wonder if a bulb blows or something they scavenge one from a deactivated squiddie as a replacement?

It's not particularly clear, but I never realised that Niobe's hair is tied with what looks like string with gold in it? Maybe a metal band with gold on it? I'm not sure, but it's pretty!

Also, I appreciate that they give a reason why Niobe is going after this drop, rather than waiting for someone else (ie: Neo) to go get it.

Also, saying are you red or blue on this is a very cool in universe way of saying are you with me or not?

The subtitles are missing here, but what he says:

"You know me Niobe. It's not a choice, it's a way of life."

Ghost, you're awesome, you know that, right?

I get Sparks' complaint here, there are only two of them, and it would be a lot safer to wait for back up to help them out. But nope, you know what Niobe's like, get it done.

Also, as I remarked earlier, the fact that Niobe is willing to risk going in without support , especially given what she says about Thaddeus not using the drops unless he had no choice? And now they're all dead? They definitely need to get that package before the agents do.

I personally love Niobe's little eye roll here.

I also love that Ghost is more chill and amused by Sparks than exasperated like Niobe is. Yeah, Ghost is the glue holding the team together.

Also, a little mention of Zion funerary practices. As someone pointed out to me years ago, I suspect that the gardens is similar to the Exodus fleet's method of burial, but who knows?

Yup, words to live by!

Once again, Niobe is rolling her eyes behind the sunnies. This is what she has to put up with. Also, I would love to think that one time Sparks pranked Ghost by running some program that sent his guns soaring upward.

I always used to think that Ghost was the serious, no nonsense one in the crew, but I'm beginning to think I'm wrong on that front.

Sparks, why do you want his boots? They're too small for your big feet!

Niobe has great taste in old muscle cars. Good old 1967 Pontiac Firebird, in eggplant purple instead of black. Very stylish!

That's all for now, next up will be the post office. See you then!

[the---hermit]

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White

I noramally avoid YA novels because I know I tend to not like them. This will now be my exception. This is a dystopic horror YA novel, and it was so good. The story is set in a disastrous vision of the near future, where a christian terrorist cult took power after unleashing a virus that either kills its victims or warps their bodies. The main character is a trans boy called Benji who tries to escape this cult as his body is slowly corrupted and transformed into a monster after being injected with a particular version of the virus. I won't say much more because I went into this book knowing very little and loved slowly finding out more about the world and the characters. I will say that the main themes of the novel are a queer kid dealing with heavy religious trauma, finally finding people who understand him and also accepting and embracing queer rage. Never before reading this novel I realized how much I needed to read about queer rage, and now I want more. The dystopic world is very well crafted and it's as believable as it is scary. I do love a well created dystopic society and this book delivered. The writing flows amazingly and it gets very addictive very quickly, on the day I started reading the book I sat down to read the first page to see how it was and ended up reading three chapters without even realizing. The horror aspect of the book is mainly body horror, I am not sure if I ever read proper body horror before but I really liked how it was done here, and I would be up to read more. It's a book I will try to recommend to everyone because it was truly really good and I am so happy to have this on my shelves now. I can see myself rereading this multiple times in the future, and I am surely going to check out more of the author's writing

a few spoilery thoughts cause why not

Since I want to avoid giving out as much as I can of the plot I decided to add this little addition of things I liked that contain some spoilers so consider yourself warned. Firstly one of my favourite things is how Benji's physical change is so linked to his coming to terms and accepting his anger. The way he finally lets himself feel feelings he has bottled up as his body is corrupted by the virus was such a cool addition. And the fact that in the end the manifestation of his anger comes out thanks to the changes of his new "monstrous" form was really cool. Another detail I particularly appreaciated is how the author made sure to create a realistic group of queer kids, they definitely don't all think the same way, and have actually quite opposite opinions. I am particularly referring to the fact that another trans boy there does not approve of Benji's decision not to bind, or neo pronouns. These are unfortunately very real things that are happening in the queer community right now, and although of course it's frustrating to read about this stuff it's a detail that makes this group of people feel realisting and not idealized. Lastly another detail I particularly apprciated were the quotes at the beginning of each chapter, I think those helped make the world feel even more believable.

[synthient]

Hey, so fun fact re: suit lining, because that's a thing I Know for some godforsaken reason (that reason is hyperfixation). All the first generation Agents have the same golden inner lining, but interestingly, so does Neo when he has to wear a suit to Metacortex. (You can see it during the cubicle peekaboo sequence.) I have no idea if it means anything, but the Neo-Agents parallel runs through the whole movie, so it might for all I know. Anyway, now know it too! :)

yeah that's fascinating. I'm guessing that "some weird quirk of the costuming department" (maybe it was for some kind of special effects purpose? maybe it was supposed to add visual interest to the fight scenes, but then they walked it back/decided it looked too flashy by the sequels? maybe those are just the suits they had on hand for some reason?) is more likely than any deeper thematic reason...

but that's not gonna stop me from putting on the Deep Thematic Reasons hat. my first shot was "a piece of flamboyance/self-expression that Smith keeps under wraps from the other agents, but still allows himself when the audience is a human he's about to kill anyway (much like revealing his emotions to Morpheus)" - but that is kind of undercut by the fact that it's a collective costume design thing.

There's his gold sunglasses in resurrections, and the gold lighting he's bathed in at the start of the warehouse fight. which, if nothing else, could be a retroactive tie in with/assigning of meaning to his trilogy costume.

Also, I was digging around the waybacked version of whatisthematrix dot com, and I actually found this bill pope (cinematographer) quote:

"To distinguish the Matrix from 'reality', from the Nebuchadnezzar and the pods, 'reality' was given a cooler look, a bluer, more normal, less sickly look. The future in the film is cold, the sun is blotted out, there is no real warmth unless it is artificial heat, so that is whey they went for the cool side. Whereas the Matrix, created by the computers, is a decadent, decaying world, so it has a green hue. These are the two different colors - green and blue. The Matrix should make you feel sick, and in 'reality' you should feel a little more at home, but never comfortable. If you make it gold and warm you know that it is home, a safe haven. The other day I started using warm lights, I did this unconsciously for the first time in Neo's bedroom. It just felt right that it should be slightly warm. As harsh as that bunk is, it is the only home he has got."

Which more or less Hashtag Confirms my theories about the color symbolism in resurrections. Not that the gold suit linings particularly fit with that read or were intended as part of it

[kitkatopinions]

So a couple of things stand out to me with this little gem from the commentary for V9.

They viewed Neo as she is as irredeemable. I one hundred percent disagree with the idea that there's a certain level of villainy that makes it impossible for someone to ever come back from, and if I did believe that, it would be like 'genocidal colonizers who want to take over the world' and not like 'formerly abused disabled woman who spent the better part of her on screen time working for someone doing much worse things than her who then developed a grief-driven misguided grudge and has done technically less worse things than most of the RWBY villains even including V9.' But this does make me feel a bit better in that the RWBY writers are less likely to redeem Salem and Cinder, who are two people that even though I think they can be redeemed, they probably should stay evil.

However, them saying they did want to give Neo a bit of sympathy (which is not the same thing as redemption) because of her past... Cool, actually. Yes, it's frustrating that other characters didn't get that sympathy despite having gone through similar or worse things than Neo went through, like Adam, but I'm not gonna want a formerly abused disabled woman to not get an ounce of sympathy just because a different character didn't get it in the past. But also, this does make me think Cinder, Salem, and potentially Mercury will get similar sympathies (I say 'potentially' Mercury because there's quite a chance that the writers are only willing to extend sympathy towards the women characters based on misogyny as they seem to be sometimes pushing a narrative that the women characters are unable to have made their own choices, but also Hazel is an example of them letting men have unfair sympathies they don't deserve and getting treated with a ton of sympathy like they're not responsible for their own actions too.)

It's worth noting that they were swayed by fandom opinion. "There's this really weird line of everybody likes her as a character," they say, as if they don't like or understand exactly why fans would like a character they invented, which is a weird thing writers do sometimes. And they go on to imply it was one of the reasons they had for not wanting to write Neo to have too bad of an end.

The way they talk about Neo committing suicide like it's a good thing... They are actively talking about how Neo 'has a chance' to ''pick a different person to be.' I mean, it was bad enough with the Paper Pleasers, but at least they actually were from the Ever After where (badly done or not) the implication was that it was slightly different than for humans, but Neo? She was a real person from Remnant! She killed herself, and they're like 'dum dum dum it's a sympathetic end for her because killing herself is a good choice actually that 'gives her a chance to be something better.' Like ??? That is point blank period glorifying suicide.

It's remarkable to me that the writers as well as fans think that the ending they gave Neo is even sort of a good thing for Neo that says that they're favoring her character, whether people think that's unjustified or good. The writers might've written Ruby to act a bit sympathetic (which I see as a step in the right direction for her being a caring protagonist, unlike when she cut off Tyrian's tale,) but Neo still didn't get any sort of good ending and in fact when you compare it to Hazel, it feels even worse. She spent the last several seasons playing lacky to someone who didn't respect her while she was grieving the only person who had ever treated her well, she then lost all will to live and reason for existence after Ruby was supposedly dead, then had her autonomy ripped away from her in one of the most meant-to-be-disturbing moments in the show, and a different being talked with her mouth and used her like a puppet, and then she committed suicide. How is that a good sympathetic ending just because Ruby had a two second moment of being like 'hope she does decide to commit suicide for good and become a different person who isn't so messed up?' Hazel got to die a heroic death after 'teaching Oz a lesson' and he was responsible for tons of deaths in Mistral and he beat Oscar on screen!

Idk, I just feel like the entire narrative surrounding Neo's death feels like a big middle finger, even if MKEK intended to try to appease her fans. I thought volume 9 was going to be Neo's time to finally shine in the spotlight, but they brushed her aside to make the Cat a twist villain (like they needed a twist villain,) and then wrote the worst possible end for Neo they could have, and I feel like a crazy person because I feel like the only person who's bothered by it.

[chai-fi-rush]

Hi-Fi Rush and Capitalism

I've seen multiple posts about how Hi-Fi Rush is capitalistic/neo-liberal propaganda and like. I'm not gonna say they're wrong but I'm also going to say it's a little more nuanced than that. Or at least there's multiple angles to look at this thing and I want to do that so I will.

Also I just want to quickly say that I think that even if something endorses certain aspects of capitalism while critiquing others doesn't mean that what it does critique is meaningless, or that everything that critiques capitalism should end with a radical change in it's story's system. Sometimes things that are sort of milquetoast can be fun or make some good points, albeit not rly something to strive to.

The first thing to address which is undeniably on the side of those posts I've seen is that HFR basically assumes that capitalism is the default. It tacitly accepts that the system must function through capital, and not just at the end where instead of getting rid of the company they just replace the CEO. This comes up the most in Zanzo's level when CNMN and Macaron say that budgeting and development are a balance. There's no implication that the idea of well-managed projects shouldn't have to rely on money to be able to function, just that Zanzo himself is bad with money due to unrealistic goals and Kale's light hand as long as he gets what he wants. Honestly, this is where a lot of real life people get tripped up on. They genuinely have a really hard time conceptualizing how a world without capital would function and often think of it as some lawless world. So, even when they disagree with capitalism they often try to think about how to change it without the removal of currency.

That being said, it's more accurate to describe Hi-Fi Rush's early stages not as a critique of capitalism, but as a critique of the conditions of capitalism (I know to us red-blooded commies those things are basically the same but hear me out). The only point where money is really important to the plot is in Zanzo's level and the overarching point of Kale using SPECTRA as a market manipulation tool. There are also undercurrents of class when it comes to Chai and Kale as foils, but that point is also linked with ableism (which is linked with classism under capitalism, but the game is very purposefully vague about Chai's backstory so I don't necessarily feel comfortable making too much speculation about it). The game vlog's heavily discuss the labor and physical exploitation of their employees, such as how all of the old Vandelay units such as CARR1E are being overloaded for the sake of productivity and you know. The fact that there are three or four Mondays. But the game rarely mentions the wages of the employees. I'm not going to say it never does even though I don't remember a time, but needless to say the actual working conditions of Vandelay's labor force is a much bigger focus. It does sort of come into play when Kale talks about how he's planning on firing almost everyone once SPECTRA gets up and running (something we are supposed to consider is Bad because without those jobs those people won't have money).

Breaking all this down abstractly, HFR is a story about corrupted intentions. The game's narrative exists in two different camps, the experience of what Vandelay is right now, and how everyone talk about what Vandelay was when Roxanne was in charge. Obviously, the first one is going to be more powerful. Characters like Peppermint, Macaron and Korsica can talk all day about how cool Roxanne was, but we basically have to take them at their word. There's no reason for us to consider them untrustworthy, but lets just say that as an audience member it's hard to fully reconcile the idea without actually seeing any of it in action besides Roxanne being kind of chill in the final cutscene and some vlogs about how the company used to work (particularly from O5KAR).

But what we can glean from this narrative is that Vandelay under Roxanne was not productivity driven. You get this idea from both the Zanzo and Roquefort levels, and a couple of those aforementioned vlogs. One that comes to mind is about how production used to take the time to actually fix defected products, but under Kale they all just get immediately scrapped because it's faster to just make a new one. Roxanne was someone who wanted to make things whereas Kale just wants to sell them. I mean, Roquefort is literally crushed underneath the quarter profits. HFR has a lot of metaphors, and they never really claimed that any of them were subtle.

Something that hangs over the entire story but rarely comes up (even within meta discussions about it) is that Project Armstrong was something born out of Roxanne's love for her disabled daughter. It's not just that she came up with the implant tech and then had Kale make the project as a scheme, Peppermint specifically says in Track 12 that it was Roxanne's idea. This was something that was made to genuinely help people, and Kale warped it into something that would get him more customers because it's not profitable to just "help people."

That's the story that HFR is trying to tell. It's about a project that was good, became bad through its management, and then had people who believed in the original intention of said project (I should note that Korsica's inclusion as someone who hadn't worked pre-Kale was also probably intentional so it wasn't solely a return to the old guard). The game isn't trying to say that any company can be fixed with the right leadership, that this one had its reigns taken away for the sake of profitability. A corruption of intentions. If you're willing to accept capital as the implicit base of society, it's incredibly inoffensive, but if you can conceptualize outside of that system it becomes a hand-wavey response to the problem. We all know that "just put good people in charge of capitalism" isn't actually a solution the the problem.

It's also worth mentioning that HFR bears a lot of meta-narrative about the video game industry specifically. The director said that some of the emails were literally taken from ones that he had received. It draws attention to its relationship in several ways, ESPECIALLY with the addition of Vandelay Gameworks. It's all stuff that can be applied to companies in general, but there's still that undercurrent of game devs upset about crunch time or being forced to throw out something that they worked hard on at the last minute because it "Just doesn't work." The kind of people who love what they're working on but work underneath conditions that make it feel like hell.

Anyways, hope that made sense. Hope I didn't sound too apologetic because I also take beef with endings that handwave capitalism away as an individual issue. Honestly, I think that HFR has far more interesting things to say about disability, but that's something that has to be its own post.

[collectingthestars]

From what I have seen it was the triggered liberal woke warriors who even put a "nazi" adjective next to that salute. I've literally seen Jewish creators talk about this on tiktok and say it is not a nazi salute. My friend who is Jewish has said the same.

You can't say it doesn't matter that it wasn't done with right arm straight up extended and lifted (which IS the nazi salute).

That's in the same fucking zone as people being Niger (the country) is problematic bcs thats v similar to n-word. Or when someone on tiktok said montenegro was a bad country name bcs of the "negro" portion of the name.

Like connect two dots and accept that context matters. I am not even defending Matty Healy anymore, I am defending common sense (specifically with regard to the whole nazi salute and antisemitism accusations).

i would like to preface this by saying that my first reaction to seeing this ask was full-on laughter because i had made a post yesterday criticising people for saying 'context matters' when talking about acts of bigotry. so thanks for that anon.

since you love the idea of context so much, let's talk about it!

*trigger warning for mentions of antisemitism and nazism, read under your own discretion*

in the same week as holocaust remembrance day, matty healy is performing his song 'love it if we made it' in which there is a lyric that says 'Thank you Kanye, very cool' (recall that kanye west is infamously someone who holds nazi ideologies). now at this exact line referencing a famous neo-nazi, matty marches on the spot, puts his left arm at his head, and extends it all the way out. now you can come at me and say "diya, it's the wrong arm and the salute doesn't start at the head, he was doing a military salute". two things:

military salutes do not stretch the arm out all the way like the nazi salute does, and it's not held for an extended amount of time like the nazi salute.

let's go back to the mantra you're chanting at me: context matters. it's a lyric about kanye west, someone famously antisemitic. now this is the first time he's done the salute to this lyric, so it's not a fucking act or whatever. and it's most definitely NOT mocking kanye or as satire. this is an action that represents severe danger for jewish people and is BANNED in germany for what it represents.

ok but let's say you still don't agree with me that matty did the nazi salute and that my accusations of him being antisemitic are outlandish. that's fine, he's done quite a bit of other antisemitic stuff we can go off of!

let's take the time where matty posted on his instagram story a screenshot of a link to a wikipedia page entitled 'lists of jews'

now if you don't know what this means, it's a reference to the fact that nazis used extensive records and lists to keep track of jewish people and to hunt them down during the holocaust. this was posted in the same month matty allegedly did the nazi salute, a time when antisemitism around the world was on the rise. unfortunately, that's not it. take a look at an excerpt of a video i saw on a jewish creator's tiktok criticising matty healy:

notice how a joke about jewish people prefaces a song about death? and he seemed to point that out as clearly as he could. now maybe that wasn't his intention but the timing of it is very off and out of touch.

(also i recommend you go check out danielle if you can, they have extensive videos on matty healy's antisemitism and how harmful it is)

what i hate most about your ask is how you're comparing this situation to stupid internet discourse. it is anything but that. many jewish people have been hurt over his actions and even if you still can't believe matty is an antisemite, he has done heaps of other shit to other marginalised communities that is not worth excusing.

[songsofbloodandwater]

Witchy ask game: 1, 5, and 10

How do you perceive time? is it linear or non-linear to you?

It depends! I think most of the time, when I'm in mundane settings, time feels very linear. Past-present-future, and action-consequence. When I'm engaged in magic work though, completely different perception. I adhere to something I call mythical time which is half a cyclical perception of time (or rather, like a spiral? inwards or outwards depends on what I'm doing...) and half everything happening all at once, like a singularity. It's what I've found explains best my experiences with Spirits and the Beyond, and also the understanding that allows me to find the right strings to pull when working to achieve my purposes.

5. Do you include technology in your craft? if so, how?

Not a lot. Mostly for archiving purposes. My tradition really doesn't get along with technological advances. Something as silly as replacing a fire flame with an electric candle just doesn't work for me, because the very thing that I find power in is the flame. Electricity in general feels like a wild card in magic. Sometimes you can direct it, if you have the right gifts and proper training, but I wouldn't say it's something easy to do, and I definitely wouldn't recommend it to a beginner. Other things, like digitalizing book pages and images, I'm totally OK with, as long as there is some other form of manual effort involved. I like physically putting my hands to work on things and I get the best results that way. There's also the fact that my Spirits are very, very strongly against any changes done to your craft solely because of imperialist or colonial (even neo-colonial) influences and that includes most "Modern" technologies that were introduced by force into our lives. There has to be a really good reason, and one specifically dictated by the Ancestors, for me to actually be allowed to get involved with any of it. They find a lot of it to does more harm than good, washing down the power of our work and loosing our true, deeper cultural ties. There's power in doing things like they did, even if slightly adapted to our times, as long as those adaptations are well justified.

10. What's Spirit? What's Consciousness? Are they the same to you or not?

This one got me thinking because sometimes I use them interchangeably, but I have to admit, they're not always the same. I'd say Consciousness is part of what Spirit is, but not the only one. Every Consciousness is a Spirit but not every Spirit is Conscious.

I'll put spirit grudges as an example. They are spirits, or at least, shards of spirits (but isn't a magnet still a magnet once it's shattered? huh...). They're, more often than not, not fully conscious, rather acting on reflex. I guess it's up to debate whether that reflex could be proof of a past consciousness, lost to erosions through time, but at present incapable of holding an individualized will, a whole will, of their own anymore. It's missing parts, internally. It's also missing it's original purpose as part of something bigger. It's lacking on both fronts. Making it just an echo of past acts. I do believe that, eventually, if very specific events take place, it could gain individualized will again and be considered "conscious"... but that's rare. And very intentional. It would require some other actually conscious thing to act on it. Regardless, it should still be treated as a Spirit and disposed of accordingly if it's causing troubles. It's essence doesn't change on that matter, even if it's shattered and incomplete. Does that make sense?

I'm still working to understand consciousness (given some of the cool findings science has had in the last few decades) but right as of now, it feels like something that naturally springs forth from matter, changes in structure and behavior directly in kind with the nature and complexity of said matter (I think... there could be different kinds of consciousness being present in different levels of complexity, much like other emerging qualities associated with complexity in biology? similar to what's described in the linked video) and apparently they have to do with our ability to communicate and move/act in relation to the parts that make us, and amongst ourselves as parts to a bigger whole. I also think spirit is part of what makes a consciousness, but not the only part.

Tysm for asking!! ♡

[qqueenofhades]

Off the back of your other great politics/history posts, I was hoping to ask...do you have any insight or explanation into how the hell literal Nazis have had such a resurgence in recent years? I don’t even mean general right-wing or fascist bullshit - sadly we all know that some people have shitty shitty views - but *specifically* Nazism. As in, the Nazi imagery and ideology that every kid in the western world has been taught is Awful. Like, I know a lot of western countries didn’t care about what Nazi Germany was up to in the 1930s, which points to strains of lingering fascism around the world – but post-WW2 Nazi Germany has been the world’s definitive Bad Guy. As a Brit I’ve known kids in the *90’s* get bullied because ‘they’re from Germany and Germany was bad in the war’; from Casablanca to Indiana Jones to the Blues Brothers to Dad’s Army there are literally so many examples in popular culture of how Nazis are evil and stupid (not to mention the oft-quoted American phrase of ‘Europe would be speaking German if it weren’t for us’).

What I’m trying to get at is that throughout the late 20th century, western culture has overwhelmingly been Nazi Germany = Bad, Awful, Evil, Stupid, Had Their Asses Kicked Buncha Losers, and the Allies = Good For Standing Up To The Great Evil Thing (regardless of the nuances of historical reality). So how on earth have we reached a point where so many people see being The Evil Bastards Who Famously Lost as something appealing? And show off the Nazi tropes of as heil signs and swastikas, the most famous symbols of Bad Guys in, arguably, human history? And *then*, to top it all off, claim that they’re patriotically aligning with their countries' proud histories and traditional values...even though their countries famously fought against the people they're now emulating? How do you wrap your heads around the logical disconnect?

(apologies for the long ask, I’m just genuinely flummoxed. I can wrap my head around people falling into right-wing lines of thinking, horrible as that might be. but wanting to be seen as one of those Awful Bad Guys Who Then Were Humiliatingly Beaten Before The Entire World …how do you end up wanting that?)

As you point out, there is an enormous logical disconnect as to how you can end up wanting to associate yourselves with the most obviously Bad Guys Who Got Badly Beaten ever, but that is the poison of white supremacy for you. This mindset also still exists in America: whereas the Confederacy also only existed for five years, got its ass humiliatingly kicked, and lost, the very fact of them losing has been central to its continued mythologizing as the "Lost Cause." They were just innocent noble Southerners, they got mistreated by the evil Yankees, the very fact of them being oppressed by power shows that they didn't do anything wrong, etc etc. You can make endless excuses as to how the actual losing is a good thing, because it means the world wasn't ready for your noble virtues, so on and so forth. But as ever, it is virulent racism, and in the Nazis' case, the ability to so effectively weaponize and institutionalize that racism that they killed literally millions of people. The alt-right desires that same power and effectiveness, and they've been helped by the endless movies that show Nazis as maybe genocidal, but also cool, suave, effective, and fearsome. They want to emulate that general impression, more than being seen as the bunch of mean-spirited incel mass-shooter losers that they are.

Loathsome neo-Nazi toads like Nick Fuentes are also young, have no personal memory or attachment to WWII, and are coming from a generation of aggrieved young white men who are, for the first time, having to contend with the fact that they won't automatically get everything they want just by virtue of being white and male. They are easy to radicalize online, and are able to adopt the Nazi symbolism and mindset without having to seriously reckon with either what that meant or how it was defeated. It is also, as with the Confederacy, to strip any and all historical context from it and just treat it as the ideal institution to enact your beliefs (since after all, the Nazis WERE very good at killing people, even if nothing else). Likewise, their one and only goal is to "own the libs," and since they treat people's outrage over the Nazis as a signal that it's working, they align with the Nazis even more, just to be contrary.

Basically, as with the Confederacy, it's a project of massive historical revisionism and alternate memory, with racism (and the desire to effectively weaponize racism) at the core. They don't care about whether the actual Nazis lost, whether their own country fought against them, etc. It's an appealing way to be seen as "cool" and dangerous, to own the libs, and to effectively put their abhorrent views into practice, so they create a fantasy version of that identity and double down on it even harder every time they're challenged. Which is why we're now in this mess, so.... yeah.

[woklf54-blog]

Weiss is one of the strongest characters on Remnant and I'm tired of pretending she's not.

OK. Bold statement I know but, in this post, I will prove why I think that at the very least. So, in the show we know that Weiss can one:

Summon enemies she killed in the past

Summon just parts of past enemies (Worthy)

Can change the size of her summons (Unforeseen Complications)

Her summons can teleport through her glyphs (Dread in the air)

Make platform glyphs

Augment her glyphs using dust (there are 12 kinds btw)

Can control and manipulate dust (Ice fist the tournament and Lighting the candles in Brunswick farm)

Can use her what seem to be base glyphs to hold things in place (End of White trailer)

Can use (what I call) “Moonshot” (End of White trailer)

Has excellent fencing and sword fighting skills

Can skate on her glyphs

Use time dilation

Tactical minded (wiki)

And based on what I can gather most likely has a lot of aura since apparently according to the wiki. Semblances use aura as a power source. With how semblance heavy Weiss’s fighting style is she should have something close to Jaune’s level

Also, it can be used as power source apparently (JLxRWBY P1)

With all of this I feel as though it really just takes a little bit of creativity and suddenly Weiss can best 95% of the characters in RWBY. But Weiss has low endurance and glyphs are breakable. Is what you might be saying and honestly that just straight up doesn’t make sense like, how many years has she trained in order to be a huntress.

Fencing is not easy to learn and having a good base of endurance is necessary in order to learn any weapon because how tiring it can be to hold a weapon. Now I’m not saying Myrtenaster is as heavy as Crescent Rose or something but even something that is lightweight can become insanely heavy when you have to use it for a long time.

Now getting into some interpretation territory, why would Weiss who comes off as a hardworking studier who seems to be a perfectionist not have a good base of endurance when she knows that Grimm isn't just going to wait for her to catch her breath real quick. Some arguments I’ve seen used for Weiss’s lack of endurance are the White Fang lieutenant smashing her head into the ground and trying to decapitate her and Nora hitting her into a concrete pillar.

This is horrible reasoning in my opinion as to why Weiss has low endurance. Do you really think that the other girls could have survived that hit on the train? Do you think Blake could’ve totally tanked that hit and been fine? Ruby? Hell Yang? Yang got taken out by a weaker hit in the same fight sequence.

In Yang and Neo’s fight, Yang misses all of her punches while Neo lands a couple of hits on Yang then throws Yang into the metal roof and knocks her out.

Weiss on the other hand lands all her attacks and was then grabbed out of the air and had her fucking head slammed into the metal floor then throw into the air and almost decapitated by a fucking chainsaw. Like what, who the fuck could’ve survived that hit cus it sure as shit isn’t Yang.

And the Nora food fight once again I ask could Blake survive that hit? Could Ruby? Sure, I think Yang could’ve but that doesn’t change the fact that just about anyone else couldn't. So, in conclusion I think Weiss is one of the strongest characters in RWBY.

Also here are some of my ideas of how cool but OP Weiss’s semblance can be.

Summon a Beowulf dual wielding great swords

Use water dust to recreate a dolphin uppercut paying homage to final fantasy

Have her use any kind of dust to make copies of her friends and make them move

Use wind and ice dust to mimic a voice box and copy others voices

Use time dilation at all

Use the “Moon shot” more as that was really cool

Have a sparring match with everyone else with no semblances being used as a rule

Use any other dust than just gravity, ice, fire and electric

Have Weiss cover the ground in ice and use her ice skating abilities to her advantage

Summon an army of small Grimm to crawl on her opponents to unnerve them

Summon a really big Grimm

Summon a small Grimm and recreate old kaiju movies like Godzilla

Use her summons as entertainment like a dinner and a show

Have a butler Beowulf that has a little bowtie

Have her kill steal new enemies so she can summon them later

Have her insist that she gets all final blows to be able summon it later

Go hunting with beowulfs and Atlesian knights

Have her crush a building by using gravity glyphs

Have her throw a building using gravity glyphs

Show Weiss sewing dust into her clothing

Show Weiss doing maintenance on Myrtenaster

Have Weiss be indignant about Myrtenaster being use a charger for everybody's scrolls

Have Weiss sleep with Myrtenaster right next to her on the bed like Ruby

With how rich Weiss is at the beginning of the story have her pay people to build robots and mechs with wild and wacky abilities and have her “fight” them so she can summon them

Have her ride her summons (beowulfs, griffons, nevermores, ect)

Have her summon all of her fluffiest summons and cuddle them

Have her summon her paladin and manually wreck shop in it

Use her summons as recon in stealth situations

Use a fire glyph and platform glyph to cook food

Have her cuddle a boarbatusk to sleep

Hold an enemy in place using a gravity glyph and drown them using a water glyph

Use two gravity glyphs to break an enemy’s bones or collapse their organs

Use a gravity glyph to hold an enemy in place

Use a gravity glyph to rip the weapon out of an enemy's hand

Use a gravity glyph to shoot their bullet right back at them

Have her use platform glyphs in every picture so she the tallest one

Have her freeze tree bark so she can fix her appearance

Have use a plant glyph (yes that is a dust type) to make flower crowns for her team

Have her use a plant glyph to make poison plants appear

Have her use a plant glyph to get healing herbs

Have a gag wear she walks away and makes a rock house using a rock glyph

Have her cover the ground in rock glyphs and have them shoot up to attack

Have her mix gravity and lightning dust to make a magnet and steal peoples silverware when they're not looking

Have her blow dry her hair with a wind glyph

What are some of your ideas? and why do you think Weiss got so shafted by the writing team.

Link. To original Reddit post.

[hirocimacruiser]

Now, 80's CAR is interesting! NEO HISTORIC J's

"A specialty car is not a real thing without surprises on the inside as well as on the outside." A “super-unique couve” full of stimulation from the whole body like this will never be born again.

Text: Yoshio Ishikawa Photo: Hiroyuki Kashiwaoka Vehicle cooperation: Atsushi Yamada (Alcyone), Shintaro Nishiuchi (Piazza)

A true specialty car with a style and interior that is different from its neighbors and packed with fun

AX9 ALCYONE VX

JR120 PIAZZA XE handling by LOTUS

PIAZZA

Beautiful styling by Giugiaro

The operation system adopts Isuzu's original "satellite switch".

WRAPPING

The body was called “Kewpie mayonnaise”, but the opening is a box.

Side view and flat design designed to become one with The body with a su-surface treatment accentuates its beauty.

Based on Giugiaro's design

1/4 opening and closing headlight covers which I made good use of.

Three support risers with high mount brake light

The spoiler is exclusive to Lotus.

is also a part of Piazza.

The late model with aero parts lost a little of the delicacy of the early days, but instead gained a fearlessness. And the suspension that Lotus was involved in changed the geometry and made it 5 links, and succeeded in raising the driving level.

The flash surface structure is effective not only for the beauty of the design but also for the aerodynamics. Cd=0.36 is a good record. The grill is NERO specification according to the owner's preference. By the way, Yanase's NERO uses fixed 4 lights.

ENGINE

The engine is a 4ZCI type OHC turbo. I have a strong feeling that I was forced into it. The specs of 150 horsepower/20 kg-m are mediocre, but the characteristics of rich low and medium speed torque match the character of the car

COCKPIT

On the left side are the switches for air-conditioning, including the air-conditioner, and wiper-operating system switches.

On the right is the lighting system including headlights, auto cruise, and O/D switch.

A digital meter, which is very rare in Piazza. It's a little hard to see, but that's what makes it unique.

The ventilation on the right side of the instrument panel uses a pop-up type. In fact, if it is fixed, the satellite switch will block the flow of cool air. It was a desperate measure to avoid it.

The right door has a cigarette lighter, P/W switch, and electric remote control mirror.

Symmetrical design considering export. The electric mirror switch is a dummy.

There is a back opener and a fuel lid opener next to the P lever.

The sunroof is removable. The dial for tilting also has the Piazza mark.

An original cockpit that is as good as Alcyone.

The idea that all operations can be performed at hand with is the same, but this is a satellite

called a switch. Very easy to use. air conditioner

Optional cloth and wood panels were available for the panel.

SEAT

The rear seat is also a bucket type and can accommodate 2 adults.

Make sure there is enough space for people to sit comfortably.

In addition, the backrest can be adjusted in 4 stages.

The early model seat without board-like support transforms into a splendid bucket in the late model. Irmscher and XS/G can have optional RECARO seats.

OTHERS

"ASSO" painted on the rear fender was Piazza's show model. The logo "Aso di Fiori" is also the name of the club to which the owner belongs.

A novel style even now

Classic chassis is the bottleneck

Wagon-type cars, which are popular these days, have a strong meaning as a tool for efficiently moving people and goods. As someone who likes functional things, I don't mind the increase in the number of cars like this, but when the number of cars increases this much, it's just a bit of a disappointment. It's sad that I can't find any free ideas for individual cars, as it seems that they are riding the trend and rushing in one direction.

When I went there, I saw two coupes made in the 1980s that I encountered in Hakone this time. They were built based on free and bold ideas, and each had a rich personality, which was refreshing.

Both cars belong to the almost extinct category of specialty cars. Interestingly enough, this is the work of the third power manufacturer, Isuzu and Fuji Heavy Industries.

But this is no coincidence. The 1980s was a time when a large-scale specialty car boom blossomed with the introduction of the Soarer. Isuzu or Subaru In order to compete there, they must have thought that a “strong individuality” that is difficult for large manufacturers to create was necessary.

The Isuzu Piazza, which debuted in 1981, was characterized by its elegant appearance. The Piazza, the successor to the 117 Coupe, was designed by Giugiaro, just like its predecessor. Originally drawn for Audi, it has been shown several times as his study model at European motor shows.

Isuzu has embodied this Giugiaro original design as faithfully as possible. Of course, there were some differences from the show model, and some people said that the original design was cooler. It takes a lot of courage just to commercialize the tinged new mode. It should be appreciated. Without this decision, the car wouldn't have had the "something" we're talking about here.

In addition, he did not cut corners in the processing of details. Above all, it was epoch-making for a car at that time that the roof and glass areas were completely recreated exactly as Giugiaro intended. The Piazza was a car worthy of attention for realizing the flush surface body, which had been difficult to establish for mass production, even though we knew that it had excellent design and aerodynamic characteristics.

And one more thing, the interior is extremely attractive. The front seats have a voluminous dashboard placed in a position away from the occupants, giving a strong sense of openness. The cockpit consists of a meter nacelle protruding from the dashboard and satellite switches set to the left and right of the nacelle.

The satellite switch has everything necessary for driving such as air conditioner, wiper 1, lighting, turn signal, etc., and most of them can be operated without moving the steering wheel significantly. When the steering wheel is tilted, the gauges and satellite switches move together. Visibility is good, and the serrations of the satellite switches can be adjusted according to the size of each individual's hand. It was taken.

Since the panel area is small, it is easy to operate each switch.

Although the functionality was not good enough, once you get used to it, you can touch everything blindly, and in that sense, it can be said that it is an easy-to-use switch. Also, along with this, there are no levers growing around the column, and it is nice that the space has a really modern atmosphere.

At the time, I loved opening the door and sitting in this cockpit with that unique sweet smell (I think it smelled like solvent). It is also attractive that the rear seats are two-seaters to create a unique elegance. Until now, no other car with such a special atmosphere has been found that deserves the name "specialty car."

In the midst of all this, if I were to look for Isuzu's fault, it would be the use of Gemini's for the floor of the base. The FR Gemini, whose basic design was already outdated at the time, was chosen to be the base for the sole purpose of keeping development costs down. It's gone.

Even when I ran it, the 3-link rear suspension could not be said to have high grounding performance, and it could not be said to be sporty. However, Lotus has improved a little since it has 5 links, so if you are looking for it from now on, you can say that this is a point to pay attention to.

The engine also started with the G200 series inherited from the 117 coupe, and in the middle stage, the new generation 4 ZC type turbo was touched, which also increased the competitiveness. Personally, I don't mind anything about the mechanicals because it's a car that I drive for the atmosphere, but since it's a car with a long model life, it's definitely matured as it gets older.

Tester Yoshio Ishikawa

Yoshio's feelings about the pleasant sunlight in early summer in Hakone

Was it uplifting?

I was able to receive it. Something feels good.

BUYER'S GUIDE

To put it bluntly, Alcyone doesn't have many balls. However, if you can find one, even a 2.7-liter bottle is very cheap at around 300,000 yen. The final product is in good condition, and there are few troubles. The problem is that parts are starting to be out of stock. In Piazza, only good Lotus cars are sold at high prices, but other grades are extremely cheap. If you like style, go for it. Lotus has less MT and distance, and greens can cost more than 700,000 yen.

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AX9 ALCYONE VX

A child of aerodynamics created by a former fighter shop!

Deformation 2-spoke steering shows FLAT F

WRAPPING

Fusion of aircraft concept and car styling. In addition, the extreme wedge-shaped form that pursues aerodynamics is the first Japanese car to achieve a CD (air resistance coefficient) value of 0.29, which is less than 0.30 (0.31 for VS Turbo and others).

“Airbnb” that applies the system of aircraft

Lane type door handle. There is no unevenness of the body with the variable flap type.

Door mirrors highlight the nose of the spacecraft.

prevent turbulence on the body surface by separating the mirrors from the body.

High deck and ducktail shape adopted to reduce air resistance and intonation. Water collects here on rainy days. There is no step even for single garnishes. Both the front and rear windows have an inclination angle of 28 degrees.

At the time of its debut, it was said to have a design similar to the Honda Prelude. Looking at the details, it seems to be close to the Toyota design at that time. The front design seems to be conscious of the AW11 MR2.

ENGINE

The engine is a 2.7-liter horizontally opposed 6-cylinder engine with +2 cylinders added to the 1. 8L 4-cylinder engine. 150 Horsepower / 21.5kgm but suitable for specialty.

SEAT

The bucket seat is also similar to the Toyota FF2BOX series at that time. However, the hip part has a lot of room, probably because it was made with Americans in mind. The rear seats are oppressive and very narrow. Perfect 2+2

COCKPIT

When you tilt the steering wheel, the instrument panel moves with it. Movable range is 50mm

The steering and console system are L type

Zain. One theory is that it is a flat F.

The left side has a wiper and washer system, and the front has an air conditioning mode switch.

The door trim is an F design seen from the upside down. The position of the P/W switch in the previous term is different.

The temperature adjustment & fan lever is next to the P brake. The previous model also had a shy air circulation switch.

On the right side is the headlight system, and on the front is the rear defogger, height control, etc.

A unique cockpit design born from the concept of aircraft safety. Control wing protruding left and right of the steering wheel can be operated without taking your hands off the steering wheel.

OTHERS

The muffler is first turned from the back to the front and then put back again. This area is also unique.

The minimum ground clearance is 165mm, but the height control system increases it by 30mm. The car is terrifyingly tall.

Equipped with torque split 4WD that leads to the current Legacy

Fuji Heavy Industries is a manufacturer that continues to create unique cars with the uniqueness of a horizontally opposed engine and 4WD as weapons. It is a company with characters that are rare in Japan, and I can sympathize with the recent attitude of narrowing down and carefully finishing models that have many fixed fans.

However, there was a time when we were striving to create a lineup of flagship models before we achieved the stability we have today. Starting with the Alcyone introduced here, this is the specialty car route that ended with the SVX fadeout.

Alcyone debuted in June 1985. They probably targeted the Honda Prelude, which held a large share of the market.

It was introduced with an extremely strong wedge-shaped body that confounded many circumstances. Add a cover to the gouge of the door handle to create a flush surface and CD=0.29. Although it had a reputation for achieving a low air resistance of 2, there was no special ingenuity in the processing of moldings around the roof. I guess he deliberately closed his eyes because changing the fixtures around here would increase the cost.

Also, like Subaru, there is a 4WD setting, so the vehicle height is quite high. Airflow under the floor is also a significant negative factor in improving aerodynamic characteristics. In order to achieve the highest level of CD value at the time while carrying such a handicap, the Alcyone was styled like a wedge.

The mechanism also showed a lot of attention to detail typical of Fuji Heavy Industries. As well as the engine installed

Although it was a horizontally opposed 4-cylinder 1.8L 2 0HC, all cars were turbocharged to obtain the power performance suitable for the flagship, achieving 135 horsepower and 20.0kgm.

However, the Alcyone still had a big secret, and that is the VX flat-six engine introduced here. The horizontally-opposed 6-cylinder 2.7-liter engine produces 150 horsepower and 21.5 kgm despite being non-turbo. With this engine added in 1986, the Alcyone became Subaru's flagship in both name and reality.

As for the drive system, although both FF and 4WD were prepared for the 1.8 liter, the 2.7 liter adopted ACTI4, which adjusts the front and rear torque distribution with an electronically controlled multi-plate transfer. In addition, the suspension system itself was conventional with front/strut and rear/semi-trail, but combined with an air suspension, the vehicle height was greatly adjustable. When set to High Most, the road clearance was unbelievably large for a coupe, making it a Subaru-like all-weather/all-terrain GT.

If I were to describe the ride quality in one word, it would be something like a “magic carpet.” The floor is high, and the driving position where you are forced to lie on your back high off the ground is also strange, and the footwork that clears corners with deep rolls is a taste that only this car has.

However, if asked to name the most unique aspect of the Alcyone, I would answer without hesitation: the interior. The cockpit of this car is so unique.

Instrument panel and center console in one

The dashboard that became the body has a downward U-shape. Since a large area is devoted to the air-conditioning outlet, the space for layout of switches is small. The main switches were laid out on the side to ensure operability.

There were many parts where the consistency of the layout was marked with a question mark, such as the temperature control for the air conditioner being behind the shift lever, but the designer had a lot of fun with things like this control wing and the steering wheel with an asymmetrical L-shaped arm. Alcyone's cockpit is suitable to be called a specialty car. It may be an extreme argument, but I think that it is important for this kind of car to have a unique world that cannot be found anywhere else, rather than having good or bad performance that everyone can be satisfied with.

However, because of that. Neither the Alcyone nor the Piazza were successful in terms of sales. Here, it is easy to analyze that the Alcyone's unique but overly self-righteous mechanism and riding quality were the cause, while the Piazza's outdated driving performance was the opposite of its beautiful appearance. But more than that, I would like to focus on the fact that these two still exude a mysterious charm.

It's a kind of thing that you can't feel even now when you come into contact with Soarer and Prelude, which were popular at the time, and it's definitely not just the rarity value that only a minority has. Perhaps this is the strong personality that the maker put in as a message.

It may be time to learn from these two cars now that there are concerns about cars becoming white goods.

HISTORY

Piazza debuted in May 1980. The body, which faithfully reproduced Giugiaro's show design, was said to be a running work of art. In 1986, Irmscher was added, and in 1988, Lotus and European individuality models were added. Produced until 90. Alcyone appeared in June 1985. Initially, only 1.8ℓ horizontally opposed 4-cylinder turbo. An attempt to create a new genre called 4WD specialty was unsuccessful in terms of sales. 2.7ℓ was added in 1987. produced up to 1991

The initial model is only a 1.8-liter horizontally opposed 4-cylinder turbo. Generates 135 horsepower / 20.0 kgm. The pan bar is differentiated by adopting a 5-mile bumper only for 2.7ℓ. The small cabin is the result of pursuing aerodynamics.

Debuted in May 1981. The plain style, which is not found in the latter model without aero parts, faithfully reproduces the design of Giugiaro. Early engines were G200 DOHC and OHC.

[spinningbuster98]

Mega Man Zero 3 Part 1: The Devil Reploid

Ok so Mega Man Zero 2 was a pretty damn solid game

Zero 3 is one of the best Mega Man games in general

First off: you no longer need to upgrade your skills over time, you already have all your moves from the start

The Cyber Elf system has been reworked: now you always have with you your entire collection of Cyber Elves (which will create balancing issues later in the game tbf but that’s for later).

Satellite Elves are 2 Elves that you can equip at the same time that will not knock points off of your end level score, some are Satellites from the start while others have to be made such by feeding them E Crystals

Now throughout stages and dropped by enemies are Secret Disks, which either contain Cyber Elves, E Crystals or character bios

This new Cyber Elf system grants you way more freedom and allows you to be way more creative with them

And as you’ll see later there are new types of upgrades for Zero in store

The Volcano level is very tough but also very slick and fun (that last section is going to kill you dozens of times I assure you). The Residential level is cool because if you have the Fire Chip you can burn away the plants, discovering hidden passages and shortcuts

Also I can’t get over how this level’s music track has guitars that genuinely sound real. On a GBA!

Fun fact: the main 8 bosses of this game are called Weil’s Numbers.

This is actually a reference to how Robot Master numbering works in Japanese: you see the term “Robot Master” was coined in the US, in Japan they have always been called Light/Wily Numbers.

Also fun fact: the reason why these guys start out in a humanoid form but then turn into monstrous robots is because they were originally the Eight Gentle Judges of Neo Arcadia who, according to external materials, were the ones who banished Dr.Weil away from civilization. Weil has brainwashed them and turned them into war machines. I guess this is his way of getting back at them

Oh and we finally meet Dr.Weil!