#but there is something about the idea that Genesis has one of the most powerful materia in his back pocket

[rainbowcarousels]

I was looking at the shots of the new weapon that looks vaguely like a it came out of discworld and I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something familiar about the giant ball of what looks like materia within it.

This was when I realised it looked a lot like the materia (if that even was what it was) that Minerva had in CC/CCR.

Which was about the point that I realised that this sphere looked familiar too for another reason: it looks a hell of a lot like the hibernation circle thing that Genesis sleeps in after CC.

Which in turn looks a hell of a lot like the protomateria in DoC, a special 'one of a kind' materia like the white and black materias. In this case, instead of being able to destroy or save the planet or weild the abilities of a Weapon.

We know that Genesis found the red globe goddess materia and activates it shortly before taking his avatar form. Another interesting point is that the purple stone (likely independent materia) is exchanged for a red one - a summon materia - when he becomes Genesis Avatar after the materia absorbs a crap ton of the lifestream.

So here's my question/theory: does Genesis still have this Goddess materia and if he does, is it another core materia like the black, white and protomateria? If it is, is this materia essentially the summon of the Lifestream's guardian and is this why Genesis can hibernate in a way that's not dissimilar to the weapons, only waking when the need arises?

[thestargayzingheroine]

Why A Better World is my favourite "Evil Superman" Story

So in the last two decades or so, there's been a notable amount of dark and edgy stories around superheroes turning evil and whatnot and most of them really love to do their own expies of Superman. I've never been the biggest fans of these kinds of stories.

And then there's the actual stories of Superman and other heroes being outright villains or at least just massive assholes. In recent years, this has been largely thanks to the influence of media like the Injustice Games or the Synderverse DC movies. It's... honestly become a trope I am tired of.

Because you know the damnest thing? There is a story that does all these ideas really damn well and arguably better. It is the two-parter from the Justice League cartoon "A Better World".

Now, I am aware how most people favouring the DCAU has become a bit of toxic nostalgia at times and it's something I myself am trying to work through a bit. But in this case, I do think it's the best idea of doing an evil DC story, much better and more interesting than the Crime Syndicate, who if you ask me are not very interesting, though I do remember liking the Crisis On Two Earths movie a lot, which funny enough, was originally going to be this two parter before various things led to it being canned and then later repurposed as a direct to DVD movie.

Anyway, my main crux of why I love this story is simple... The entire Justice League turns evil... and the reasons are very much in-character for all of them. You look at the scene with Justice Lord Batman for example.

As fucking evil as the Justice Lords are... Batman can't quite fully hate his alternate self for his reason for taking part in all this being basically one-step further than his own mission, that no child should ever go through what he did. Hell, I recall reading that the reason the writers had Batman drop his batarang at the end of this scene... was because he genuinely wouldn't be able to come up with an argument to that.

Superman likewise kills Lex Luthor because yeah, Luthor literally exploited the flaws in Democracy and became president of the US, threatening to kinda basically start world war 3. It's obviously horrible... but Superman is a character whose main motivation is making the world a better place. And if people who abuse the systems of power of the world are hurting people, why shouldn't Superman put a stop to that?

And yeah, Superman should obviously never kill, he's the most paragon of paragons of the DC universe, a man committed to always being better than the villains he fights... but this is him pushed to his most logical extreme. Hell, the main Superman knows this and its why Lex used his knowledge of this alternate universe as part of his plan in the season after this, to goad our Superman into crossing the line because yeah, there's a part of him that could go this far.

But right as Superman is about to apparently finish him, the big guy says this.

"I'm not the man who killed President Luthor. I wish to heaven that I were but I'm not."

Because Superman like everyone else, obviously would have those same thoughts and same urges. He's human.

I've kinda gone off Injustice a bit because to be honest... the injustice games were kinda just this but a bit too edgelordy. Hell, in A Better World, Lois Lane still lives and the whole genesis of it doesn't revolve around her getting fridged.

So yeah, A Better World is probably one of my favourite mirror universe stories because of the fact that well... it really is like looking in a mirror and seeing just how easy the greatest heroes can become evil and how they wouldn't be massively out of character doing so. But also it reminds us that as much as this darkness can tempt some of our finest, the ones who don't go down this dark path are stronger in heart than anyone else. Because when the world becomes a dark and horrible place, it becomes very easy to be just as dark. But even though it can be hard to still try and be a good person even in dark times, it's ultimately worth it. Because good always triumphs over evil.

[esamastation]

Shizuroth, part four.

-

Sephiroth's phone isn't a proper smartphone and has no internet, and he's being very brave about it.

Well, it has something. It is… kinda like a half-assed smartphone? Sorta. It's like that old flip phone his grandfather used to use - probably still does, if he's still alive, somewhere in another universe. It was more brick than a phone - no touchscreen, and the closest it got to any kind of smart features was running an email app, somehow. Sephiroth's phone is a bit like it. It has email - or just mail, apparently. It also has tutorials? Which is useful. Also online shopping? But no apps, no search function, no internet, no wikis, no websites, nothing. It doesn't seem to have photo or video options either - but apparently it keeps track of all his missions.

It's like somehow people invented most of everything that goes into a smartphone - but no one got around to inventing the internet, or anything like it. What a waste!

The tutorials are useful, admittedly, though they're more like manuals, really. Not like cultivation manuals, sadly, more like user manuals. "How to use your PHS" and "what key card opens what floor" and "missions, what are missions" and "materia, what is it and how does it work". There's dozens and dozens of tutorials on the phone, just like you might expect to find in a videogame that couldn't trust its users to remember how everything works. 

The mission roster is, uh. It's definitely something. There's categories, subcategories, levels, and then under those there's info and completion status. And Sephiroth, apparently, does a lot of missions. Like. A lot. He kinda despairs at the idea of having to keep up with it, because it looks like Sephiroth is a workaholic. Though, thankfully, half of the missions are training, experiments in the labs, or experimental training. Still! Isn't he supposed to be the Big Bad? Why is he working so hard?!

The shops' menu on the phone, though very bare bones and lacking any pictures, has his heart leaping with joy - as does the adjacent menu detailing Sephiroth's wallet situation. Which is… very good. Like, Shen Qingqiu wasn't exactly short on change either, he was the second Peak Lord of the most powerful sect in the world - but comparing the Gil Sephiroth has to the price of stuff in the various shops listed on his phone…

Sephiroth has that fuck you money. Guess that's what you get from being a workaholic Big Bad, the strongest and scariest in the evil dystopian planet-sucking mega corporation! You get money. And lots of it.

… Which, along with the details of all the clothing stores on his phone, makes his wardrobe situation even sadder, doesn't it? He should've definitely been able to afford a coat that actually fit him.

Ultimately though, what he figures to be most useful is the mail. There's a lot of it, and it looks like mailing lists are all the rage these days. Because Sephiroth's barely got anything else in his inbox.

News mailing list, SOLDIER mailing list, Shinra mailing list - professor Hojo telling him to go to the labs - another news mailing list, Shinra business mailing list, Wutai News mailing list - Genesis telling him to meet him for a spar - another mailing list, mailing list, mailing list - urgent meeting with Director Lazard - and some more mailing lists.

There are not that many personal messages, honestly. A few requests for a spar, and that's about it. Is that all he does for fun? What is Sephiroth, Liu Qingge 2.0? All he does is work and spar! Just skimming through his schedule makes him feel exhausted.

At least thanks to the mailing lists - and phone's bare bones calendar app - he'd figured where he's at, story-wise. Pre-Crisis Core, pre-Genesis' whole thing, pre… just about everything he remembers from each game.

Wutai war is still going on. And, rather distressingly, Sephiroth has a lot of Wutai missions coming up.

That's… not ideal.

Resting the phone against his lips in thought like he once held a fan, he sighs and tries to think it through. 

There's a squeak as the other SOLDIER steps out of the stall. Must've been the door hinges. "Sir," the SOLDIER says, carefully.

"Mn," he answers and tries to look as Sephiroth-like as he can while also projecting an aura of don't talk to me, I don't even know your name at the man. It works, because the man clearly doesn't want to talk to him.

It's very useful, having a villain halo.

The SOLDIER washes his hands like he can't wait to get away and then hesitates at the door. "Sir, I - there's someone -" the SOLDIER says, tentatively and then flounders at his slow blink. "Someone will be here soon."

With that said, the SOLDIER flees before he can think of a suitably Sephiroth-like answer.

Someone will be here soon? …Okay? Why? 

Making a face, he looks around in confusion and notices that one of the bathroom lights is burned out.

Oh, someone will be here for the light? Right, of course, he's the scary Big Bad here, can't subject the scary Big Bad to a less than stellar environment. Heh, guess that's an upgrade of sorts!

He… really didn't want it. 

It's all rather concerning, really. What is he actually supposed to do here? Go on missions, train, clad himself in barely fitting leather with a ridiculous amount of buckles, and go to war? Over building a life-sucking factory? By a vaguely western, very unsubtle Big Oil Allegory, at that. In what was a vaguely Chinese-coded land, too. The whole thing was very iffy, from what he remembers! He doesn't want to get involved!

And then what is he supposed to do, play out Sephiroth's life to its fiery, insane conclusion? Resurrect and then attempt to destroy the world?! Like all the good Big Bads of old! But he isn't even sure when that is supposed to happen! The timeline in these games is super vague!

At least with PIDW there was a very clear end goal, ah! It was awful and trying to survive had given him grey hairs, but there was a clear forward momentum and an end point! If he survived past it, then… then he won? Maybe?

He hadn't survived past it, though.

He'd died.

… Again.

Closing his eyes, he sighs against Sephiroth's phone, shaking his head. Depressing, depressing, it's so depressing! He'd really grown to like his life as Shen Qingqiu too! All his cute disciples, his books on Qing Jing Peak, his art works, all the things he'd got… all the things he'd done… the friends he'd made…

And Binghe…

Ah, his sweet, terrifying Black Lotus. As scary as Binghe had been towards the end, he's really sad he wouldn't be able to see Binghe grow into his own! Reading about the protagonist growing stronger and overcoming all obstacles had been his favourite part. And he'd rather been looking forward to watching it. Safely at a distance, mind you, disguised in another, unknown, body, under a new name and everything. Because if Binghe found out he survived…

Well.

Probably just as well. This is a new world and maybe, just maybe, he can now -

There's a sound that is an awful lot like an explosion, and he nearly drops his phone in shock as the restroom door is nearly blown off its hinges with the force it opens.

"What torment hath your soul suffered," espouses the runaway idol standing dramatically in the doorway, "to find the end of your journey here, of all places?"

In the immortal words of Airplane Shooting Towards The Sky.

W. T. F?

-

No System needed to gamify the world when the world is already a video game!

[quirkwizard]

So recently I have been on a huge tabletop RPG kick so I thought it would be fun to talk about Class 1-A playing their own tabletop game, both the characters they'd play and how they'd be as players. For the sake of this, I will be writing in the context of Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition since that's the system myself and others would be the most familiar with.

Rikido Sato: Half Orc Life Cleric Doesn't really get the game too much. Tends to forget the rules a lot and his own abilities. Just kind of picked a class at random. Is the king of bringing snacks and the like, all of which are homemade.

Mashirao Ojiro: Wood Elf Open Hand Monk Pretty average in all respects as a player. Not too remarkable in all respects. Doesn't realized how bad the monk is until they started playing, but is too attached to the character and their concept.

Koji Koda: Firbolg Shepard Druid Is only really here to hang out with his friends. Too shy to really do any roleplay with the rest of the gang, mostly doing small moments with his animals friends. Accidently made an overpowered build.

Minoru Mineta: Dhampir Phantom Rogue Knows the rules, but is a power gamer. Uses the game more as a power fantasy to look as cool as possible at all times, even if it is dumb, though will quickly panic if anything goes slightly wrong.

Hanta Sero: Gith Horizon Walker Ranger Really interested in all the lore and history of whatever the dungeon master came up with. The kind that dungeon masters either love or dread. Is the one constantly asking question and cracking the odd joke about it.

Toru Hagakure: Changeling Arcane Trickster Rogue Super big into the roleplay of it all and is always excited. Mostly took Changeling so she'd have the excess to play as many roles as possible. Probably makes little masks to remind people who she currently is.

Yuga Aoyama: Aasimar Glory Paladin Is insanely devoted to the role of the noble paladin, much to the detriment of everyone else. Likely says the line "But it's what my character would do more then any other player. Constantly hints at a backstory that nobody is biting on.

Mezo Shoji: Hobgoblin Gloomstalker Ranger Not the biggest into roleplay, does fairly well with the actual gameplay. Plays the typically reserved ranged. Tried to tie his and Koda's backstory together to try and take some of the stress off of him in terms of roleplaying.

Kyoka Jiro: Half Elf Whispers Bard Wasn't really sure about all of this before play and went with a bard because she liked the idea of playing music. It was a rocky start, but quickly got into it and started having fun. Will make custom songs and playlists for the party, as well ambient tracks and battle music.

Denki Kaminari: Air Genesi Storm Sorcerer Wanted to try it out because it was popular. Went with something he thought was cool and did not expect it to be so complicated. Needs to be constantly handed the book and remined of the rules in order to make sure he gets it. The amount of math hurts his head. Eijiro Kirishima: Goliath Giant Barbarian Like Denki, wanted to get into because it was popular. Bakugou helped a lot with building the character. Has a lot of fun smashing stuff. Plays his role pretty well, even if his character doesn't go beyond the nice brute whose name is very close to Kirishima's own.

Mina Ashido: Satyr Glamour Bard One of the students the most into the roleplaying. Is very light hearted and goofy about the whole thing. Can play a lot in bard stereotypes because she thinks it's funny. Another instigator, though mostly from her getting too into character at the worst of times. Fumikage Tokoyami: Tiefling Fiend Warlock Has been playing the game the longest and super familiar with all of it. Always makes characters he thinks are "cool", which means are super gothic and depress, both in class and in race. Does occasionally have Dark Shadow dress up and roleplay as his patron. Ochako Uraraka: Fairy Zealot Barbarian Ochako just wants to smash stuff. She has a lot of fun rolling dice and doing cool stuff with her friends, both good and bad. Likes playing the typically pixie before going nuts. Can be an instigator, but tends to backtrack when she realizes just how badly it goes wrong. Tsuyu Asui: Halfling Moon Druid Like Koda, is mostly here to have fun with friends. Often plays mediator both in and out of character. Does a good job with roleplaying thanks to how much she had to play pretend with her simplies. Always causes a riot whenever she becomes a dinosaur. Shoto Todoroki: Hill Dwarf Fighter Champion One of the worst players both in game and in roleplay. Played a character Izuku basically made for him. Is somehow still one of the best because he is constantly getting amazing rolls at the most critical moments, much to the frustration of Bakugou.

Katsuki Bakugo: Custom Lineage Chronurgy Wizard Powergamer, no question. He knows the rules back and forth to make the most broken build possible. Acts like D&D is a game you can win, even when it comes to roleplaying. Not a full on murder hobo, but by far the biggest instigator in the group.

Tenya Iida: Warforged Devotion Paladin Very much devoted to the rules, both in and out of the game. Gets confused when people say that he's doing a good job at playing a robot. Collects a lot of dice. One of the best Dungeon Masters of any of the students, though can be rather controlling at times. Momo Yaoyorozu: High Elf Forge Cleric A really good player with the rules though can be pretty awkward with the roleplay with how much she tries to get into it. One of the best DMs in the class. Makes custom miniatures for everyone in the party. Puts a lot of money to make the ultimate game room. Izuku Midoriya: Variant Human Bladesinging Wizard The perfect player. Knows the roles, but focuses more on making characters. Takes the most notes, pay attention, and makes sure everyone is having fun and feels included. Likely gets roped into the role of dungeon master more then anyone else because of these reasons.

[strelitzia-mystery1097]

How in the heck do Jenova Cells even work?!

I will say here and now that I haven't watched/played/read every FF7 thing in this franchise so if something I talk about is actually clarified in some obscure thing or I get something wrong, then comment about it.

So let's start with the beginning. Who or what is Jenova.

...🤷‍♀️

We honestly have no idea about Jenova'a origins beyond her crash landing on Gaia via meteorite. We don't know if she's the only one of her kind, or if she has successfully destroyed planets before (considering in FF7 AC Sephiroth talks about using Gaia to travel to another planet, that meteorite was probably a planet Jenova destroyed). She's very much your typical cosmic horror creature. But wherever she's from, it's not the planet.

So Jenova crash landed and that damaged the planet, (an injury that the planet is still healing from, hence how wacky the Northern Crater looks) and then Jenova started using her hallucinations/shape shifting abilities on the Cetra to trick them. And then Jenova turned them into monsters. Yes, all the monsters in FF7 are Cetra or descendents of what was Cetra (kind of awkward when Aerith kills them lol).

Side tangent. I wonder if Jenova just works differently on different species. Like if Aerith was exposed to Jenova like what happened to her ancestors would she just turn into a monster instead of what happens to humans? Also does that make all the monsters part of Reunion or not? What would that Cell even be called. M (Monster) Cell? C (Cetra) Cell?

But yeah Jenova was trying to destroy the planet.

Eventually the remaining Cetra sealed Jenova away until 2000 years later she was excavated and mistakenly identified as a Cetra by Gast.

Later on Hojo created Project S and Hollander made Project G in an attempt to create a Cetra that could lead Shinra to the Promised Land.

In Project S, which stands for Sephiroth, Hojo injected Sephiroth directly with Jenova Cells when he was a fetus. In Project G, which stands for Gillian, is where Gillian was injected with Jenova Cells and her DNA was mapped onto Genesis as a fetus (Angeal, while he is part of Project G, was not purposely made for it. Angeal was naturally born after Gillian was injected with Jenova Cells).

The strands of Jenova Cells even function differently after being introduced into a human system, S Cells and G Cells.

Project S was the superior Project and most SOLDIER are created in a similar way to the later created Sephiroth Clones.

Remake implies that there are Project G SOLDIERS too, but it could of been referring to the Tsivets.

So...

How does the Cells function?

Starting with G will probably be shorter so I'll do that.

Genesis and Angeal, while not as powerful as Sephiroth, were still more powerful than most. However the prime time of powerful is short lived. Both of them start to degrade into their 20's and start developing some inhuman abilities.

*ALSO NOTE HERE THAT G CELL DEGRADATION IS DIFFERENT FROM S CELL DEGRADATION*

After an injury that doesn't heal, Genesis starts to degrade. His hair and body starts to go white, he grows a black wing, and most importantly, he can created Genesis Copies.

Genesis can map his cells onto other SOLDIERS and make them copies of him with them still retaining a little of thier former skill in their respective weaponry, otherwise they are just copies of Genesis.

However Angeal is the result of Project G. He has a wing like Genesis (right white wing) but his degradation is slower and he's able to make Angeal copies out of people and monsters. He only properly degrades (white hair and all that) when he tries to self destruct kinda when absorbs all those monsters and forces Zack to kill him.

I do personally find it interesting that G Cells seem to psudo-inherit Jenova's abilities to turn things into a different form. Even Sephiroth wasn't able to do that unless he was using part of Jenova's literal body- Well until Rebirth but we'll get to that.

But there are two things that stick out to me.

One, could Genesis or Angeal experience Reunion or would it be different for them? Is that why Genesis showed up in the Mt Nibel Reactor?

And two, why is Gillian normal? Like Lucrecia was injected with Jenova Cells as a by product of Sephiroth being injected when she was pregnant with him and she's stuck unable to die no mater what. But Gillian was directly injected with J Cells and she kills herself just fine. I honestly don't think there is an explanation for this one though.

Also when talking about G Cells I should talk about the Tsivets but-

I never played DoC and I tried watching Maximilian dood's playthrough of it and I just couldn't.

From what I know is that the Tsivets wear like mako suits otherwise they die? Also they all have real weird powers like Nero (Rip Sonon in that Remake Dlc) and Weiss. Also Shulke can like dive into the internet? I dunno that game was not for me. Please tell me if any of the Tsivets have abilities that are actually comparable to other characters with Jenova's Cells because I wouldn't know.

Okay now onto S Cells woo!

So Sephiroth, probably most of SOLDIER, Sephiroth Clones, and Cloud all have S Cells. And they function pretty differently than G Cells.

For example, Sephiroth can't actually make Sephiroth copies like Genesis or Angeal. Sephiroth cannot physically change any of the people with his Cells like Angeal or Genesis either.

But S Cells are considered superior for many reasons.

Sephiroth can create hallucinations and illusions to change the copies or pieces of Jenova to look like him when needed. Also he never degraded himself.

SOLDIERS and Sephiroth Clones can but that degradation is different for S Cells. Instead of turning white and slowly dying, they become puppets that only try to go and enact Reunion.

The Reunion Theory (Hojo created it) was that if separated, Jenova would come back together, a Reunion.

Sephiroth pre-Nibeheim incident was the most powerful guy but he was pretty human (cat eyes and silver hair not included).

Then things go wrong.

Sephiroth freaking snaps due to Jenova, false information, and other existentialist crisis stuff.

Also here I should address a question. How sentient is Jenova? Is she a mind beyond human comprehension? Or is she much more animalistic and just works off of instinct? Did she intentionally help Sephiroth go crazy or was it just Reunion?

Like her backstory, we don't know. But regardless, it was confirmed that in FF7 it is Sephiroth in control because of how strong his will is. He's insane and mind broken, but he's the brains of the operation for all that happens in FF7.

Sephiroth in FF7 is able to puppet and command the Sephiroth clones, do crazy stuff like flying or going through floors, use illusions, and use Jenova's body to create crazy boss fights. Also at the end he's able to transform himself into a crazy monster form for the final boss fight for the party.

Cloud also is able to like astralproject himself to have a solo final fight with Sephiroth. I don't know what Cloud's potential is with using the S Cells to his advantage but I doubt he would able to use as well as Sephiroth. Cloud did accidentally use the S Cells to get the memories of Zack and Tifa's memories of Cloud though so... that's interesting.

Anyways jump to AC. Kadaj, Loz and Kazoo- I mean Yazoo are remnants of Sephiroth. They aren't actually made of S Cells, but Sephiroth will and power. Once Kadaj gets Jenova's head Sephiroth is able to possess him because he finally has Jenova's Cells. Meanwhile Geostigma is also caused by Sephiroth and Jenova in the lifestream. This is also the first time Sephiroth gets a wing like Genesis and Angeal. His black right wing s iconic afterall.

Okay now it's Remake time.

Sephiroth time travelled woo! Don't ask me how that works with worlds and such. I don't care if we get an hour of exposition in Part 3 as long as it helps me understand what that's all about properly.

However I can talk about how Sephiroth's powers are a bit different thus time around.

Like how in the OG he did illusions, but he couldn't make Cloud hallucination himself as everyone can't see it. I remember in AC Cloud would kinda have a mini hallucination of past memories in that one scene of him clutching his infected arm in pain with the cool Sephiroth cat eyes for a moment (and that is referenced in Remake) but that's all that comes to mind. Just with Sephiroth at least. Cloud had like multiple hallucinations with Aerith and Zack.

New ability two is that Sephiroth Clones can now fuse with monsters. Monsters would have Jenova Cells now that I think about it so... cool.

I do find it funny that Sephiroth took the wing and now the monster thing from Genesis and Angeal lol.

Again, how Sephiroth is able to jump worlds and such is not something I can quite understand yet. I honestly think that's more a Lifestream and Whispers thing than a Jenova thing. Like it's Sephiroth will power (think of the Remnants for example) that gives him that power and not Sephiroth going around injecting whispers of fate with S Cells or something.

Um...

That's all I can think of for now.

Damn, trying to comprehend the biology of a cosmic horror is tough.

[bamber344]

Whumpee intro: Jordyn's Training - 1

prev/next

masterlist

heyo ik I said the updates for this would take a while but I wanted to get this out quickly so there was some actual whump to sink your teeth into for the story. the 'Jordyn's Training' arc was meant to just be one thing but this first section absolutely ballooned way bigger than I thought it would (just over 2k words) so it will most likely be a 4-parter

Anyway this series actually has a name now! it is Project Genesis, courtesy of my brain in the shower this morning; the birthplace of many great ideas.

Lemme know if you wanna be added to the tag list btw! chapter begins below the cut :3

CWs: broken bones, whipping, emotional manipulation, vomiting, blood, meal restrictions, mentions of recovery, female whumpee, male whumper, superpowered whumpee

(let me know if I need to CW anything else I forgot about!)

Jordyn's Training, part 1: The First Mistake

3 MONTHS AFTER WAKING

The obstacle course stretched out before me, vast and daunting. It wasn’t anything I hadn’t done before, but the fast-spinning metal poles and swinging wrecking balls never failed to make me anxious before I threw myself in for another go. I’d been hit by them more than enough to know how much they hurt. Still, this sort of training was necessary for my rehabilitation, so I steeled myself and prepared to do another run-through, aiming to beat my personal best under Father’s watchful eye.

It had been three months since I woke up in that room, cold and confused, lashing out at anything that moved. If not for Father, I would probably still be in that helpless, animalistic state. He took me in when no one else would, taught me how to speak, and read and write; how to be a functional human being again. I was in an accident, apparently, injured badly enough that when I woke my mind was completely blank, bare of even the most basic muscle memory. Father’s treatment may have fixed my body, but my mind still needed hands-on work; work that he tirelessly took upon himself. He spent countless late nights with me, speaking to me, reading to me, letting me get a feel for English again. He allowed me to lean on him while I was relearning how to walk. He spoon-fed me when I lacked the coordination to feed myself. There was still a lot that I didn’t know, and I got confused often, especially when he used bigger words, but he said that was okay. I didn’t need to know everything. So long as I did good, and he gave me that warm, tingly smile, nothing else really mattered.

Apparently, I used to be something called a ‘superhero’ before my accident. I would use this strange power I had to take down criminals and bring them to justice. If I ever wanted to be able to do that again, I needed to train. My body may have been passably functional, but it needed to be exceptional, or so Father said. He always smiled when he talked about me being a superhero again, so I knew that was where I needed to focus my efforts.

“Jordyn? What are you waiting for?” Father asked, his voice gravelly and stern.

I snapped out of my thoughts. “Sorry, Father. I was just preparing myself.”

He shook his head and something inside of me shrivelled up. “Not good enough, Jordyn. Do you think the criminals will wait for you to be ready? You need to do what I ask when I ask, not when you think you are ready.”

I clenched my fists, tears stinging the backs of my eyes. “S-sorry, Father.”

“It’s alright, Jordyn. Now, go.”

I wasted no more time, charging forward as Father started the timer. I needed to do good on this to make up for my blunder before. Father had spent so much of his time and energy on me; I couldn’t let it all be for nothing.

The beat of my feet against the floor fell into a rhythm as I jumped, dodged, and dashed my way through the course. I’d been running it for over a month now, and it was quickly becoming second-nature. I knew exactly when to duck my head to avoid the spinning beams, how to deftly move between the wooden knives shot from the walls, and just which way I should step to avoid the pitfalls in the floor. The burn in my lungs and legs was distracting, but I didn’t let it slow me down. Just like Father always said: ‘Pain isn’t real.’

Something looked a little different about the second set of spinning poles, but I ignored it. The course was always the same every time I ran it; I was probably just thrown off because of Father’s reprimand. They always stung in a way I didn’t know how to deal with. 

I leapt into the fray of rapidly spinning wooden beams, ducking the ones at head-height and hopping over the ones aiming for my legs. It took a little bit more focus to ensure I wasn’t hit this time; it seemed as though the poles were spinning faster than usual. Still, with all of my practice, I was making good time. My personal best wouldn’t know what hit it.

Crack!

Something slammed into my shin and my leg buckled from under me. That was fine, this wasn’t the first time I’d been knocked down. I made sure to roll out of the way of any on-coming beams so I had a safe spot to catch my breath in before continuing.

Then the pain hit, so hard and so strong that I immediately gagged from the shock, agony shooting up my leg like bolts of electricity. It was hard to breathe. Hot tears spilled from my eyes as overwhelmed sobs tore from my throat. I looked down at my leg to see what was hurting me so bad and almost threw up. My shin had already turned an ugly purple, and the rest of the limb below that point was twisted unnaturally. My heart lurched.

“F-FATHER! HELP!” I shrieked. The pain was too much; my entire body was locking up, too afraid to move in case I made it worse.

“What are you doing, Jordyn? Get up. Keep going.”

Disobeying his orders hurt almost more than my snapped leg, but I couldn’t bring myself to move. “I- I can’t! It hurts! Father, please!”

“That’s not good enough! Use your shadows, steel yourself! The course is not over until you complete it! Get up, girl! Your pain is not real!”

The thought of going on made me want to curl into a ball, but I did as I was told. Father’s orders came before all else, especially my own comfort. I owed him my life; a little pain meant nothing in the face of that. I reached out to the shadows around me, wrapping them around my injured leg like a splint. My skin turned black, sucking in all of the light around it, but the pain did lessen somewhat. A whimper escaped my lips as I forced myself up. Shards of agony stabbed my flesh every time I put weight on my leg, but it was manageable. I could move, albeit slowly. So much for beating my personal best.

It took an embarrassingly long time, but eventually I was able to limp my way to the end of the course, receiving more than a few extra bruises from the traps I was unable to dodge due to my injury. I collapsed at Father’s feet, dropping to my knees with my head hanging low as sweat dripped from my brow.

“That was disgraceful, Jordyn. Even your first attempt was better than that.”

I bit back a sob. “I’m s-sorry, Father. M-my leg, it-”

He grabbed a fistful of my short hair and tugged my head up, slapping me across the face. “I don’t care for your excuses. If you allow something as trivial as a broken leg to slow you down, the criminals out there will tear you to shreds. You should have learned by now how to use your power to protect yourself against this sort of thing without my instruction. I’ve already spent so much time healing you; I will be very disappointed if it turns out to all be a waste. Are you a waste of my time, Jordyn?”

“N-no Father! I’m not a waste!”

He let go of my hair, allowing me to sag back down to the floor. “Hm. I expect not. Remove your shirt.”

I blinked up at him. “F-Father?”

He struck me again, hard enough to whip my head to the side. “If you cannot even follow a simple order without talking back, how can I expect you to perform well in the field?”

I didn’t make the same mistake twice, pulling off the black, skin-tight garment as quickly as I could.

He nodded his head to the side, indicating a metal pole in the corner of the room, with two handles sticking out of it on either side. I’d yet to learn what purpose it served, but I had a feeling I was about to find out.

“Grab the handles of that pole and remain on your knees.”

I shuffled over with my head down, each drag of my injured leg across the floor causing tears to spring up in my eyes. The metal of the handles was cold under my palms, numbing my fingers. The rough floor dug into my knees uncomfortably. Father was moving around behind me, and every time it sounded like he was approaching, I inadvertently flinched and shied away. Anxious curiosity burned in the pit of my belly. What was this all about? I risked a question.

“Father, wh-what’s happening?”

“You need to learn how to ignore pain, Jordyn. The only way for you to do that is to experience it. It isn’t real; just chemical reactions in your brain. You must internalise that.”

“I- I don’t know what that means, Father.”

He ignored me. “While this is because you failed today, it doesn’t have to be a punishment, Jordyn. Consider it a lesson; a lesson on conquering pain. If you use your shadows to protect yourself from this, or let go of the handles at any point, I’ll have your other leg broken and forbid the medics from repairing it. Remember: pain isn’t real.”

“Father, I-”

SNAP

All of the air rushed out of me and a line of fire lit up across my back. It was so sudden that I couldn’t stop myself from crying out. Surely that wasn’t what he meant to-

SNAP

My stomach rolled uncomfortably as the strike shook my entire body. I couldn’t help but scream as the pain echoed through me.  

“FATHER! FATHER, P-PLEASE STOP!” 

“Be silent, girl! Who told you you could speak?!”

SNAP

His command overrode even my most basic need to express the utter agony I was in, and the following scream got caught in my throat. Shadows flickered and writhed underneath me, licking up my legs out of protective instinct before I forced them back down again, Father’s warning ringing in my mind.

SNAP

SNAP

SNAP

It felt like it would never end. My vision darkened at the edges. My abs clenched and a surge of bile spilled from my mouth. Warm blood dripped down the burning, torn skin of my back, my anguish heightening with each consecutive blow.

Pain isn’t real Pain isn’t real Pain isn’t real Pain isn’t real Pain isn’t real

SNAP

SNAP

SNAP

SNAP

SNAP

Seconds passed, and no new wave of pain came. I gasped, sucking in as much air as I could to refill my lungs before it was all inevitably expelled again by another strike. My ears were ringing so loud I could barely hear anything and my entire body felt numb aside from the battlefield that was my back, which was still sending lancing aftershocks deep into my muscles even as time continued to press forward with no hint of the next lash.

“You may release the handles, Jordyn.”

I let go and my whole body went limp as I dropped to the floor into a puddle of my own blood and vomit. The movement sent arcing memories of fire through my torn-up skin, and a sob slipped from between my clenched teeth.

“Clean yourself up and report to the medbay when you are ready. After that, head straight to your room. Do not expect dinner.”

All I wanted was a warm meal and for the pain to stop. “Wh-whyyy?” I moaned.

“I will not reward mediocrity, Jordyn. You did poorly today, and as such, you will not be receiving dinner privileges until you beat your personal best again. Be better.”

His footsteps echoed as he walked out of the training room, leaving me alone to cry. This was my own fault. If only I’d been good like he wanted, he wouldn’t have had to hurt me like that. I never wanted to disappoint him like that again.

“I’m s-sorry, Father… I’m sorry.”

Taglist: @steelandblood @sapphicwhump @urnumber1star

feel free to reblog and leave a comment if you enjoyed :) I like hearing from you!

[hylaarborealove]

your god is a fiction, theist...

Very insightful, thank you. You prooved my point, you have no idea what you are talking about. Most probably not bothered to look into what Jesus theaches and what the Bible says. If you did you would know that only the fool says in his heart there is no God. Not my words but a Bible quote.

The world's religions in fact do NOT teach the same thing. Also very interesting that Jesus is the only one, every other religion mestions, respects and says is one way or another talked about the truth and preached God's words. (That might be because He is the Word in flesh).

You can deny it all you want, but that does not make it true. JESUS is the truth.

The Bible was written by 40 different people, it goes on for centuries and more, it all points to one God and to Jesus. Check out all the cross references in the entire book. It's an insame amount for people who did not even met each other. Clue no.1 that it must be something bigger than them. All of the prfecies about Jesus and His coming and saving us is fulfilled except the ones about the endtimes because by the grace of God, we are not there yet. Jesus is in everything. Genesis begins with the creation of the universe, (6days plus the one that God rested on) and believe it or not, its in the exact order that the BigBoom theorist believe all evolved and has a perfect alinement with the Evolution theory (not the part that says we were at one point monkeys obviosly). Curious. It was written 1000s of years ago... dont you find that interesting that God states something and than science runs to "descover" it.

The bigboom theory is just ridiculous. We can clearly see, that in our world everything has a cause. God is the creator, He was the cause this whole thing exists now. Now this is the point most people get it wrong. "Who created God?" No one. He is a infinite beeing, He has no cause, because He is not a part of this world that is based on the cause and consequence. He is apart from it, above it, outside of it, since He created it and it's order.

Hope this helps, of you have more specific questions and not just atheist memes to try to proove your point, I will gladly explain anything about God, anything our theology teaches, even our history. And if I don't know the answer right away (which is not due to the falshood of what I'm saving, just proof that I myself am human and can't always know everything,) then i'll do everything in my power to find the answer for you.

If you find it in yourself, I can introduce you to God, but if I still haven't managed to change your feelings or ways of thinking, thank please be civil and let's say goodbye in a conservative and considerate manner.

Love,

Hyla

[tumblingxelian]

a Question about you 12 kwamis au

If the others kwamis existed how would you write it?

That's rather tricky to answer cos for several of them I actually took their powers and fused them with another Kwami.

Tiger has her own powers & those of the monkey, Turtle got Bulls, the pigs got translated to Fox, even the rabbits could be said to have blended with Sass given I usually give them a subtle prophetic ability.

If we just go with the one's left over...

Rooster - Sublimation & Phasing, is the easiest to work with as it is the transition of a substance directly from the solid to the gas state. In this regard, its basically a form of transforming Miraculous, letting one become immaterial, an elemental or chemical gas, that kind of thing. It also still works with the red bird associations ala phoenixes without much work.

Canid - Hunt & Harvest, I think would need a revamp into something more akin to Hunt. IE, its the embodiment of tracking, hunting, capturing, the act of pursuit and retrieval alive or dead. Fetch is a way it can manifest, ensuring their prey is never out of reach, but it can also be used to locate and track down things without having touched them first, & so on. Tis goes beyond mere hunting dogs and into how ants have cultivated livestock and even slave ants.

Lamb - Genesis & Preservation is the power of giving and extending life, it is of the (Caveasphaera), IE, Animal era and holds the power to breath life into something or to heal. In essence, it is the "Breath of life" and healing hands, it cannot whisk life up out of nowhere, but more can create the perfect conditions for new life, imbue something with life, or heal something. The specifics are a little ill defined right now but I think this works.

Amusingly this means Lamb could be the second Miraculous Gabriel has, the one that they used to conceive Adrien but due to being broken that didn't pan out. (Makes notes) Damn, I may actually keep this revised list, Roosters now the weakest one but still has room to work even with my revized Renlings...

Here it is regardless:

Creation (Planck) Ladybug - Creation & Purification Cat - Destruction & Mutation Snake - Ouroboros & Time

Elemental (Matter) Rooster - Sublimation & Phasing Tiger - Combustion & Chaos Dragon - Storm & Power

Life (Abiogenesis) Peacock - Evocation & Transmutation Mouse - Multiplication & Duplication Turtle - Protection & Resilience

Animal (Caveasphaera) Lamb - Genesis & Preservation Horse - Action & Migration Canid - Hunt & Harvest

People (Conceptual) Bee - Order & Subjugation Fox - Mirage & Materialization Butterfly - Emotion & Transmission

Revised Bee, this is mostly just leaning on the concept of subjugation more. IE, Pollen represents people and thinking creatures idea of order more than she does elemental the stabilizing of neurons and atoms. Venom is simply the most straightforward example, utterly stilling a persons body. But at more advanced levels, the user can infuse their power into objects and guide them or compel people, so long as they use subjugation.

Notes:

Genesis was a problem because its basically just Lucky Charm with more control but less magic. Genesis means the origin point of a something, the beginning or creation, which doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room for reinterpretation or expansion. In some ways it'd fit with the theme I gave to mouse. Still, I like these other two so lets play.

I had the idea briefly to make Genesis a sort of scrying mechanic, seeing into the past and future (Vaguely), or to get meta with it and have it be among the fox and butterfly as to do with stories, giving one's words power. However, elements I have toyed with for the Bee can already fit into some of that so I was... Iffy.

Then I looked into lamb associations and themes and found out the Egyptian Deity known for incepting life was a lamb headed deity, and the creator of 'essence'. I leaned on that when reaching for preservation.

[cantsayidont]

June/July 1971. A vital aspect of Jack Kirby's original Fourth World books is that they were, for all their strangeness, often urgently topical. There's no more forceful example than THE FOREVER PEOPLE #3, which introduces the sinister Glorious Godfrey, preacher of the church of Anti-Life. Godfrey was inspired by Evangelical preacher Billy Graham, and Kirby's feelings about him were not subtle:

Oof. A crowd of blank-eyed, self-stigmatized believers, eager to surrender their individual will in pursuit of scapegoats upon whom to vent their rage. As we'll see, this is a call and response, part of a sermon by Glorious Godfrey:

In later, non-Kirby appearances of Godfrey and the Justifiers, DC has presented Godfrey as having supernatural powers of persuasion and the Justifier helmets as electronic mind control devices that can immediately overcome the wills of even determined anti-authoritarian types like Oliver Queen. Kirby walks a finer line in this story: Godfrey is using his high-tech pipe organ (pictured above left) to drive his believers into an ecstatic frenzy and "stimulate the brute instincts." However, everyone in his church is there because they believe in his horrifying message: "Life will make you doubt! Anti-Life will make you RIGHT!"

As for the Justifiers, the helmets in this story don't work by Mad Hatter-derived mind control circuitry, but by something much scarier: the promise of power in anonymity.

Godfrey's Justifier captain, for one, may be a dupe, but he's clearly not mind-controlled:

Godfrey's facial expressions in this story make the skin crawl. Look at his unctuous smile, full of utter contempt! Kirby, who watched a lot of TV while drawing, had undoubtedly seen Billy Graham's televised sermons, and the revulsion he obviously felt is palpable here.

This is a harrowing story — the Justifiers murder, bomb, burn books, and round up whole neighborhoods of "Others" to be carted off to concentration camps run by Darkseid's henchman DeSaad — but perhaps its most unexpected twist is the revelation that at the end of the day, Godfrey is really just a huckster. He sells Anti-Life, but not only is his pitch not driven by the supernatural force of the will-destroying Anti-Life Equation Darkseid is seeking, Godfrey doesn't really even believe the Equation exists.

Kirby draws an important contrast between Godfrey's church and the Source Wall on New Genesis, where Highfather receives the word of the Source directly, written in fiery letters by the disembodied hand of the Uni-Friend. In THE NEW GODS #1, Orion declares, "The moving hand appears! The Source gives us the irrevocable counsel!" Highfather corrects him, saying, "But it does not decide! The right of choice is ours! That is the Life Equation!"

The central conflict in Kirby's Fourth World saga, then, is not good versus evil, or belief versus nonbelief — it's choice versus subjugation, Life versus Anti-Life. Those who would remove or willfully abandon that choice are servants of Anti-Life. This is something later writers have dropped or obfuscated (particularly Jim Starlin, who can't resist filtering Kirby's Jewish ideas through his own lapsed-Catholic world view), but it's the conceptual spine of the Kirby stories.

[argentumcor]

The Price of a Bullet

You can find the whole fic posted here, covering Jason's experiences during Arkham Knight.

Notes and thoughts if they interest you:

-I do think Jason was written consistently between AK Genesis, AK, and the Red Hood DLC. There's a complaint that he wasn't, and an accompanying complaint that the Knight is whiny, but that's assuming a level of emotional stability that he doesn't have. Reading AK Genesis, it's clear that Jason's narration regarding Bruce is cope, a product of his time in captivity and the Joker's mental conditioning. Bruce does care- he's just bad at showing it. That's clear in his interactions with the rest of the family, even Dick who would have known him before the haunting loss of Jason. On top of this, Jason spent most of his life from the day he was born being told he was worthless verbally and via physical abuse. Trust comes hard to him. The Joker in the Arkham games is very good at spotting things he can exploit about people, and when Jason was talking to buy time for Batman to come save him, he probably heard Jason's low sense of self-worth (self-esteem doesn't cover it), the perfect thing to use to break Jason to harness.

-Jason's snark is present as the Knight here and there on comms. He's not stable, though, unlike his depictions in other media. The "whiny" tone people complain about is more mania coming through as he gets close to his goal and his programming comes undone. This, I think, was an interesting way to split the baby- in the comics Jason being unstable is a concern of Bruce's to rather...extreme...extent (and unfounded, he isn't unstable except for inconsistent characterization like the rest of the DC cast). What is happening in AK is someone grindingly finding himself dragged back to reality after living in madness for a long time (no way in hell did he "escape" as late as Asylum; let's say it's been five years minimum and it happened during some other breakout).

-A quiet theme in the Arkham games, and in a lot of the better Batman media, is "truth beats lies." Batman beats out fear toxin, beats out Hatter's hypnosis, overcomes the Joker's mental infection because they're all founded on things that are not true. As such, Jason- as his student and his son- is able to overcome the lies the Joker and Harley put into his head in the end.

-It's beyond clear in game he has no respect for Scarecrow qua Scarecrow or any of the other villains he's pulled into this plan. People are mad about that, but he's hyperfocused and obsessive. It's a video game (sillier, yes, I said it) version of his plan, if for different motives, from Under the Red Hood.

-Dini might not have written AK but I'm pretty sure his notes were used or something. It has a lot of the elements I associate with his Batman writing- Bruce as deeply fallible, for one, the Joker as an unsympathetic and very real threat and charismatic. I think Dini found Jason's story a well of potential, based on how BTAS Tim is actually mostly Jason, how Return of the Joker's Tim plot is AK Jason's plot, and how Terry has a lot of Jason's attitude. Dini, for all his oddities as a writer in some respects, has a real gift for spotting things to punch up a character and situation.

-It's funny to me how Tim is the 'generic Robin' of the group so his characterization just gets kind of tossed around wherever the winds are blowing. I like Arkham Tim as the grounded reliable one, but he's Basically Jason in BTAS and in the comics his characterization seems particularly up in the air.

-The Arkham games are very silly, objectively- the whole thing with Titan, the entire idea of Arkham City, the Joker disease and how Bruce beats it, and so much more- but not to themselves. It's a story about a guy wearing a bat-inspired costume and being a vigilante. It is silly. The platonic ideal of a Batman story is silly with a violent dark aspect, cynical about human nature but hopeful about the power of love (brotherly, familial, romantic, agape, etc.), and it takes itself seriously within itself. From these can flow many things, profound, funny, and entertaining alike, and they coexist smoothly. I think the important thing with fiction is to meet it where it's at, especially as a writer, and this is especially true of these IP (modern myth, that's what they are) stories.

-Going through the game for Jason's timeline has been revealing about things I think were trimmed/changed. I'm pretty sure there's a missing Knight boss fight when Batman takes down the air defenses, because Jason just bolts for no reason (I rolled with this in the fic), to let Batman do as he pleases. I also think the vehicle boss fight vs. Jason in the grinder was supposed to be more complex instead of doing the same thing the whole time, but that's generally true of the vehicle combat: mechanically, it needed another pass across the board to make it a less repetitive experience.

-The Red Hood DLC should have been Jason fighting his way to the Asylum where he saves Bruce's life at the climax, potentially with contact with Oracle or even Nightwing which would have been interesting as hell. I really wish all the DLCs would have given us something at the scale of A Death in the Family; I really like these versions of the characters.

-I recommend this sort of fic, where you follow a plot through an alternate POV character, as a writing exercise. It has the merit of having known constraints you don't have to come up with but some creative give to figure out how the POV character got from point A to point B or figured out something or why he did something.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Sometimes I feel the kwamis lore is extremely wasted

For example we know miraculous have been part of history and religion. But this brings the question: what kinds of miraculous influenced what?

There’s multiple myth of persons turning into monsters so has nooroo been miss-used for thousands of years?

what kind of miraculous created Christianity? What kind of miraculous caused all mythology’s to involve snakes to some point (hydras, Chinese dragons, leviathan, jormungandr, etc) what kind of miraculous created the idea of demons and hell?

Then there’s the possibilities of them being concepts and how inconsistent it can be at times.

Like what’s the difference of genesis and Creation? The tiger miraculous power (which I can’t rembeber) and destruction? They are all very similar. So why can’t we just say “screw it” and we get creative with the miraculous

What about Modification? Demolition? Consequences? Translation? Manipulation? Regeneration? Infection? Fortification?

Why kwamis want to help mortals? Why all kwamis accepted being in a miraculous if things like Gabriel could happen? Why isn’t there a evil kwami? (If Plagg extinguish the dinosaurs then I see any other kwami doing despicable things like causing tyrannies, destroying country’s, murder or other evil things but everyone seems totally innocent but plagg)

If there’s a miraculous of illusion then where is the miraculous of reality? Whats the relation of the prodigious with the kwamis? if the kwamis are living concepts then what could their distant cousins be?

How can someone break a miraculous? How can someone absorb that power and put it in a piece of jewelry?

Imagine if Gabriel experimented with the miraculous to make permanent Akumas, imagine if someone used the miraculous to make weapons? We know the power of the miraculous can be transported through technology so why isn’t there Cataclysm/tiger miraculous powered canons yet?

The possibility’s are there but is a lot of wasted potential

My biggest letdown was knowing a single sentimonster destroyed the order of the guardians of the miraculous when their job is to defeat the miraculous yet a simple sentimonster they themselves have written in the book killed them all

Imagine if a rouge kwami escaped because of feast and then destroyed the guardians. We could have a potential antagonist which we know is dangerous since it killed all the guardians and we know how powerful kwamis are

Seriously a kwami has a villain is a 100% times more threatening and interesting has a final threat than Lila or Gabriel. It also makes sense to have has a final Thanos like threat to defeat if they want to make Gabriel relatable. Also lila is a kid so making her the unredeemable monster and not Gabriel would be like fuel for Chloe stans to point out the classic “adult? Redeemable. Teenager? EVIL” everyone is angry for since season 3 ended

With the concept of the Miraculous being used through history, you can do one of two things:

Use it to flesh out the mythology of the world and explain how the Miraculous affected history while furthering the story.

Just cut loose and connect Miraculous to all kinds of historical events, making it clear it was done to just have fun with the concept.

Instead, all the show does is occasionally mention that the Miraculous have been used throughout history while focusing on the modern conflict. I get why that's more important, but if you're going to introduce something like the idea of Joan of Arc using a Miraculous, do more to explain how history changed as a result.

The idea of a rogue Kwami could also be interesting, as most of the Kwamis are one-dimensional characters who do nothing but spout random advice and screw around when they're not being used. Too bad we needed to give Gabriel three different villain identities instead.

[finallyfantasy7]

So... I was reading an online discussion on a different platform about why Zack is so powerful and... basically everything they said was wrong 😬

Since I don't want to ruin anyone's fun or make anyone feel bad I decided to set the record straight here where the chances of them seeing it are nonexistent. So,

misconceptions about Zack Fair,

here we go:

He was (almost) able to stand up to Shinra army because he got more powerful from Hojo's experiments under Shinra manor after he snd Cloud were captured

Hojo's reunion experiment had absolutely no effect on Zack. This is revealed in one of the research documents which Zack can find lying around after breaking out of the mako tank.

Failed Case #1: SOLDIER 1st Class Summary: Desired effect did not occur. Strong tolerance to Jenova cells due to SOLDIER conditioning assessed as cause.

It is also confirmed by Hollander in Gongaga

Hollander: His cells are completely useless!

(To Zack)

Hollander: You are a former member of SOLDIER. Your cellular structure has already mutated.

It makes no sense Zack is strong enough to become a SOLDIER 1st Class when he's not one of the three to receive Jenova's cells as a fetus

It is true not many people are physically and mentally strong enough to go through the procedure to become SOLDIER and come out alive and undamaged. Even fewer make it from 3rd to 2nd Class, and most never make it to 1st Class. However, Angeal, Sephiroth, and Gensis were not the only 1st Class SOLDIERs before Zack become one. They were just the only ones important for his story. So other people like Zack became 1st too.

Zack is not particularly strong, he was only able to fight Sephiroth because, while Sephiroth was certainly strong while Zack was alive, it wasn't until after Sephiroth died that he started taking over the Jenova cells and he became the ridiculous monster we all know and love

Sephiroth was already the strongest being on the whole planet before the beginning of Crisis Core. It was just play-fighting, but he easily fended off both Angeal and Genesis with one hand in the Virtual Reality room scene, both of whom were 1st Class and especially strong due to getting Jenova cells as fetuses as opposet to as teenagers like other SOLDIER.

Also, in an interview, now archived, Nomura said:

Tetsuya Nomura (Sept, 2007): Zack was chosen as the main character as a representative of a "Before Crisis" era SOLDIER. Sephiroth is already the strongest in the world so there's no room for growth, and we couldn't possibly see ourselves making a "game over" type situation where Sephiroth loses

One of the first parts in Crisis Core was Zack saying “you’re not the only hero”. Sephiroth didn’t single handedly win the Wutai war, he just all the credit for it.

This is mostly correct, but as we saw from Nomura's interview this isn’t just Shinra's fake Wutai propaganda Sephiroth was the most powerful SOLDIER, and actually (as far as I could tell without knowing Japanese), in Japanese version Zack says: "I want to be a hero, too," not "You're not the only hero," so it probably had nothing to do with Zack saying Sephiroth is equal in power to others.

Angeal literally sees that Zack is hitting a slump and having issue growing in strength and puts him to train under Sephiroth to get past that for a while.

I have no idea where this came from. Zack never hit a slump, never had issues growing in strength, and Angeal never put him to train under Sephiroth. From the moment Zack ran away from his hometown at 13 to when he became 1st Class, something most never achieve, less than 4 years had passed. What slump?

Zack met Sephiroth after Angeal disappeared, and we only know about the training from two short D.M.W. scenes. It is not even clear of those were true training sessions, just Sephiroth's guidance during missions, or some third option.

Zack is incredibly talented, which is why Angeal trains him personally, he saw the promise in him, it is not normal for SOLDIER members to receive such a huge deal of attention from 1sts.

From other 1sts? No. From Angeal? Yes.

Angeal mentored other 2nd Class SOLDIERs before Zack. That's just Angeal's personality. You can find this out by talking to SOLDIER 2nd Class at the beginning of Chapter 4 in Crisis Core.

(However, it does seem Zack is the only one Angeal recommended for the 1st, since this guy is still 2nd Class)

SOLDIER 2nd Class: Hm... There was something my mentor used to tell me when I was a rookie. He used to say, "Embrace your dreams."

SOLDIER 3rd Class Lv. 7: "Embrace your dreams"?

SOLDIER 2nd Class: My mentor used to help me with my missions just like Zack helped you with yours.

I feel Zack was promoted to 1st class because of lack of 1st class solders. Kind of like to boost the morale

He’s actually not as powerful as any of the other 1st class and is only promoted to that level in their absence. 

These two came from two different people, but say basically the same thing so I'll address them together.

Even if Shinra or Lazard wanted a new 1st to boost the morale, they could have chosen any other 2nd Class SOLDIER, yet they only chose Zack, for a reason.

And choosing Zack was tricky due to his relationship to Angeal. Soon after they put him out of commission for a while and assigned Turks to guard him. If they needed a random 2nd to promote, Zack was the worst choice for the company unless he was promoted purely for his skills and power.

Sephiroth doesn’t care about killing Zach and mainly wants him out of the way while the other two are well into degradation when Zach faced them in combat.

Sephiroth seemed to very much care about killing the villagers and wants to kill all humans for destroying Cetra, who he thinks Jenova is.

There is no evidence Sephiroth went easy on Zack, but there is no evidence he didn't, either. Regardless, Sephiroth is canonically the most powerful so it's not a very important question anyway. He would have defeated Zack, and everyone else in a 1-on-1 battle, either way. Still, Zack held up against Sephiroth for quite a while and Sephiroth certainly wanted to get back to mommy as soon as possible.

But the most incorrect statement here is that Angeal and Genesis were weakened by degradation when Zack fought them. According to the Crisis Core Complete Guide, degrading increases sufferer's combat potential.

Zack likely is an average first class (not counting the trio) and shows it in his skill and strength. No implication from anyone (Turks or SOLDIER) that he is anything exceptional.

Chapter 4, Hojo's combat tests:

Hojo: Hm, impressive... I think you have what it takes to be a study sample.

Zack: Whatever that is, I don't think I want it.

Hojo: You should be proud of yourself. It's only once every couple of years that we get someone like you.

Then Hojo gives him an even more advanced combat test

Hojo: Hehehehe. Hahahahaaaaa! You are a worthy study sample, indeed! You need not worry. Your remains shall become a valuable contribution to science. Now, my precious program, show him why I am great! All shall bow down powerless in your presence...

(Zack defeats the test)

Hojo: This... This is impossible... Wait... I have a new hypothesis... ...Yes. I am a genius, after all.

Zack: Ahem... I believe you were saying something about my remains?

...

Researcher 1: I didn't think anyone could beat that program... Are you really human? Aren't you actually a monster?

Researcher 2: I don't believe this... How could a human being beat THAT thing? Not even a SOLDIER operative should be able to-- Could it be a bug in the emulator!?

____________________

Ok, there's actually more inaccuracies, but I think I got the main ones and I'm really tired from typing. In short,

Zack's abilities don't come from any special procedures later in the game

We don't know how Zack compares to other 1st Class SOLDIER operatives since we never saw him compared with any other than the special trio

Zack was special. It was most likely a combination of natural capabilities (to withstand the procedure, to have strong willpower, to be hyperactive...), his great drive to become a hero (he worked out very hard, and was obsessed with becoming a hero), and Angeal's guidance. I mean, someone among the regular SOLDIER 1st Class members is always going to be the best, why not Zack?

But while I understand looking for consistency in the story, I think this misses the most important thing: Zack was extremely special not because of his combat capabilities but because of his kindness, his empathy, his drive to do good, his ability to make friends and dissuade enemies, his willingness to sacrifice his own life.

[jurgan]

Slay the Princess and Process Theology

“You’re on a path in the woods. And at the end of that path is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin is a princess. You’re here to slay her. If you don’t, it’ll be the end of the world.”

“Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” -Matthew 9:13

I recently listened to a sermon about “process theology,” a subject of which I know little. The shortest summary I can give is that it holds God is not absolutely constant but changes in response to actions of humans and the wider world. This idea has quite a bit of biblical support- both Moses and Abraham successfully argue God into changing his mind, and Jesus at one point appears racist, calling a foreign woman a “dog” before being argued out of it. The preacher kept apologizing for the subject being dry and esoteric, but I was on the edge of my seat. He stated that people often see the God they expect to see, and that got me thinking about Slay the Princess. StP is a game I have played through several times over the past few months. I don’t want to get overly specific in case anyone reading wants to give it a shot, and its meaning is vague enough that each player will see it their own way. It’s a pretty easy game to play; there’s no real challenge, it’s more like a Choose Your Own Adventure book where the story unfolds and frequently stops to give you a list of options for how it should proceed.* What is interesting is that the Princess acts in response to your actions even if she couldn’t know what they were. For instance, if you approach her with a knife in hand, she is suspicious and cold, whereas if you approach unarmed she is hopeful and warm. This is not because she sees what you are doing, but because your own expectations color how you see her.

Through multiple replays, it becomes clear that the Princess is not one thing, but that she shifts between different appearances based on your own choices. There is a give and take between Player and Princess where each affects the other and is affected in turn. The third actor is the mysterious Narrator who instructs you to slay the princess with the claim that doing so will “save the world.” While he can occasionally force you to act, for the most part he is limited to trying to talk you into seeing things his way, and the Princess conversely tries to talk you out of killing her. The power of “persuasion” is, to my understanding, a major part of Process Theology. Each time you play the game, the Princess will seem different. It becomes clear that she is not a mere person, but something greater that you can only see one aspect of at a time.

“We are oceans reduced to shallow creeks.”

Am I saying the Princess is God? Maybe? There are a lot of valid interpretations, but this one might track. You’d have to play the game to decide for yourself, but what it comes down to is that her existence is only meaningful in relation to the player. These contrasts fill our lives. In Genesis, God separates the water from the land, yet the two are never truly separate. The world is full of these contrasts that aren’t really in conflict. Matter and energy. Particles and waves. The holy and the broken. The philosopher Heraclitus (thought to be an inspiration for the Gospel of John) was taken by the idea of “unity of opposites.” The player and the Princess are constantly at odds, yet their conflict defines each other.

“There is no constant! There is no center! Everything that is exists only in relation to everything that isn’t!”

And the world around you both also changes depending on how your relationship develops. Sometimes she is powerful and godlike and the cabin becomes a temple, sometimes she is vicious and feral and it becomes a cave. Sometimes you close yourself off to her, sometimes you become so close as to be inseparable.

“Does it matter where one thing begins and another ends?”

There is in fact a sort of theology in the game, a conflict between the Shifting Mound and the Long Quiet. The former is dynamic and impermanent, the latter static and immortal. You have the option of choosing between the two at the end, and neither can be reduced to good or evil. The Quiet is the traditional Platonic view of God as “immortal, unchanging,” while the Mound is the relational God of Process Theology. But the Mound allows for change and growth, while the Quiet promises a sort of eternal dullness. And if God values relationships and growth, the same must be true of us.

*https://www.slaytheprincess.com/ for a trailer and information about how to play. It’s available on Steam now.

[aroacegundamalex]

Meant to ask this awhile back:

I'd made a comment on your post about how the GUND format could work in a SRW game, and you had responded with something about going 'full alpha series'.

So, first, I'm pretty sure that's a compliment, so thank you, but second, I'm afraid I'm not familiar with alpha series. Is it an SRW spin-off?

In any event, I will say I've definitely enjoyed it whenever SRW kitbashes a connection between two series (like High Priest Zagato [Magic Knight Rayearth] referring to Koji Kabuto's Mazinger as a 'Magine' and wishing he could have laid his hands on such power, for example), and makes for a fun intellectual exercise for fan rosters.

Interestingly though, I've noticed it seems easier to kitbash the average Gundam show with the average non-Gundam mecha, than it is two Gundam shows together.

The Witch from Mercury + Shin Getter Robo vs. Neo Getter Robo? Not a problem! In fact, they're complimentary: The Dinosaur Empire is mad at humanity for all the environmental destruction, and tragically don't realize they should ally with the Earthians against the Spacians, attacking indiscriminately instead. Getter energy has been tarred with the same brush as GUND tech, and Hayato, as a former witch, has had his work at NISAR *heavily* scrutinized by Cathedra, until they were satisfied that plasma energy really *was* nothing like Getter.

The Witch from Mercury + Mobile Fighter G? Two of the most similar Gundams, and yet it must be addressed how the quadannual Gundam Fight is even allowed, and as well as the clash between the Neo colonies and G-Witch's more traditional fronts. These aren't irreconcilable differences (Those aren't Gundams! Those are 'G Fighters'...plus the tournament is really profitable... Meanwhile, the Neo colonies are part-museum/part-theme park [a la the Texas colony], with choice bits of culture 'liberated' from Earth), but it still requires a bit more thought and sanding the rough edges to fit together neatly.

Anyway, just wanted to share, thank you for reading : )

This was wonderful! I very much agree that it’s easier to mix any given Gundam with any given non-Gundam, especially super robots, given how little their takes on machines overlap. One can easily say that real robots make up the bulk of the military and consumer-oriented machines, with any given super being a one-of-a-kind super weapon not mass produced because of cost and complexity.

I love the idea of mixing G-Witch and Getter, and I can’t believe I didn’t think of just how well Shin Getter Robo vs. Neo Getter Robo would work!

My comment about going full Alpha series was indeed a compliment— Super Robot Wars Alpha is one of the most highly-regarded Super Robot Wars series, held in high regard specifically for its worldbuilding and how well it ties every series together into a single timeline! The only translated game as of now is Alpha Gaiden for the PS1, which is phenomenal. The original Alpha is 60% of the way done courtesy of Aeon Genesis, with only the real robot route left to translate.

[duhragonball]

Neon Genesis Evangelion 17

"A solar eclipse. The cosmic ballet... goes on."

"Sir, the eclipse was last week."

"No, you're supposed to say 'Does anyone want to switch seats?'"

"I ask that every time we take the train, sir."

"No, it's a Simpsons bit. How have you never seen the monorail episode?"

"No one ever wants to switch seats with me..."

This one opens with the council of crappy old men questioning Misato about the events of the previous episode. They wanted to talk to Shinji directly, but Misato refuses to allow this due to his precarious mental state. I accidentally watched this scene early, because I thought it was Episode 16 and I clicked the wrong thing. So these guys are asking about Shinji getting swallowed up, Eva and all, by an Angel, and they want to know if it was trying to communicate with him telepathically. "What the fuck happened?" I asked, and then I realized I was on the wrong one.

So I guess I can relate to these old farts desperately trying to make sense of what's happening in this show. For them it's real life, and NERV isn't exactly forthcoming about the details. Hell, a lot of NERV personnel don't even understand any of this. Shinji was inside that Angel, maybe talking to it, and he has no idea what happened to him. The old men question Misato by proxy, and they ask some good questions. But Misato's answers mostly boil down to "I don't know, and neither could anyone else."

Like, the Angel probably contacted Shinji's mind. I think that's as valid a theory as any. Maybe the Eva was the one talking to him, but if so, it picked a strange time to do it. But I'm just speculating about what might have happened in a fictional cartoon. For the characters, this all actually happened, and they have no idea if the Angels are intelligent, if they recognize humans as intelligent, if they have the means or motivation to communicate, etc. The old man council that talks to Gendo is made up of the most powerful bigwigs in the world, from what I gather. And they only know just enough to be terrified. I can understand how they desperately wish they could just talk to Shinji and ask him what he knows, but then they'd be even more terrified to learn he's even more confused than they are.

All Gendo will say about the matter is that the Angels appear to be getting smarter, which was something I picked up on a while back. The Third Angel just rampaged its way into Tokyo-3. The Fifth Angel had a more coherent plan, and it seemed to know exactly where to point that big drill. The 11th Angel actually made it inside the NERV base and nearly won. But the 12th didn't actually attack. It's like it waited for the Evas to come to it, just so it could trap them inside itself and... do whatever it did. It seems likely that it sacrificed itself just to complete that task. If that's true, then it isn't just acting independently, as some of the characters believe. If I'm right, the 12th Angel was setting up a strategy that will be carried on by the 13th, and so on.

Speaking of the 13th Angel, did you know NERV has a second branch in Nevada? No? Well, it doesn't matter, because it's not there anymore. It mysteriously vanished, along with thousands of staff, a new Eva, Unit-04, and everything else in an 89km radius. This wasn't an explosion, so Ritsuko theorizes that this was accomplished by the same "Sea of Dirac" effect the 12th Angel used to swallow up Shinji. So it's a safe bet that an Angel took out NERV-02 in a single stroke.

There was also another Eva being built in the United States, Unit 03, and I guess that one was already completed, so they're shipping it to NERV's home office in Japan. But Unit 04 was special, I guess. They were installing some new engine in it, and that's all gone now. Ritsuko begins to despair, like she's worried that anything less than five Evas won't be enough to survive what's coming.

Gendo, however, seems confident that the NERV base in Tokyo-3 is all they need, and Unit 01 is the only Eva they need. Unit 04 and the second branch were unexpected losses, to be sure, but he sees them as being of no consequence. So why did NERV bother building them in the first place?

I think I'm starting to get the picture here. I don't know what they're talking about when they refer to the "Dead Sea Scrolls", but it sounds like a set of predictions about future events, and NERV's mission is to navigate humanity through some predicted crisis. But Gendo seems to be the only one who really understands how any of this works. Ritsuko and Clownshoes seem to have some vague grasp of his plan, and maybe Rei knows a thing or two, since she seems to be an important part of it, but I doubt any of them have the complete picture. Then you have characters like the crappy old men, Misato, and Kaji, who know just enough to be concerned.

So I think the NERV branch in the U.S., plus whatever facility they had in Europe, were originally set up as failsafes, in case Tokyo-3 ever failed. But as the plan has progressed, it's become clear that those foreign offices only continue to exist to placate frightened governments. The U.S. insisted on being involved in building Units 03 and 04, and Gendo let the baby have their bottle. He doesn't even need those American Evas, he just let them work on it so they'd have something to do while he handled the important work.

That S2 engine was somewhat important, but this doesn't bother Gendo either, since the designs are still on record in Germany, so they can always build another.

Gendo and Ritsuko discuss the arrival of Eva Unit 03 while they look at a "dummy plug". Basically they built an entry plug with a computer recording of Rei's brain patterns. The idea is to load this thing, empty, into an Eva, and it will activate without a pilot. Ritsuko is skeptical that the Eva will be of much use without a human to operate it, but Gendo doesn't care. As long as it merely activates, that'll be enough for him.

However, the Dummy Plug isn't ready for use just yet, so they still need a pilot for Unit 03, which means they have to recruit the Fourth Child. So is this what Rei's been doing inside this contraption they're looking at? Is it recording her brainwaves to upload into the dummy plug?

But how can they locate the Fourth Child in time? After all, there are very few humans with the right parameters to be compatible Eva pilots. That's why the Marduk Institute was created, to carefully screen potential candidates from all over the world-- ha ha just kidding, there is no Marduk Institute. They put all the likely pilots in the same school in Tokyo-3. And they already have a guy picked out, it's Toji Suzuhara.

I'm skipping around a little, but Misato finds the whole thing fishy, because they just happened to get a Fourth Child lined up right when Unit 03 was ready to be delivered, so she asked Ritsuko about it and Ritsuko was evasive, saying the official paperwork from Marduk would be delivered tomorrow. So Misato asks Kaji what he knows, since he's secretly working for the Japanese government to spy on NERV, and he tells her there never was Marduk Institute or whatever. NERV identifies and selects the Eva pilots themselves, and they use "Marduk" to make it look like there's some convoluted process to it.

I think it probably also struck Misato suspicious that the Fourth Child just happens to be living in Tokyo-3, attending the same classes as the First, Second, and Third Chidren. It's like they already knew he was pilot material from the beginning, and they've been keeping him close by just in case the need arose.

A bunch of people moved out of Tokyo-3 after the battle in episode 2. But Suzuhara and Big Rigg Mahoney stayed, and I'm pretty sure that was because they had family who couldn't leave the city. It's very likely that NERV quietly arranged for certain families to be tied to the city, so that their children would be here when needed.

Ha ha! Look at Ritsuko's coffee mug! That's adorable! Cat cat cat cat!

Anyway, there's a scene where Suzuhara has to deliver papers from the school to Rei, since she's been absent for a while. He doesn't want to go alone, so he asks Shinji to accompany him, although I think that one girl with the pigtails was hoping he'd ask her to join him. Suzuhara is amazed to see a girl's apartment look so dirty, but Shinji's been here before, so he's probably just relieved to see she threw out all the bloody bandages. He cleans up her trash, and when Rei finally comes in, she seems genuinely touched by this gesture. She even thanks Shinji, then later reflects on her words of gratitude. She never even said thank you to Gendo before, and she actually likes and respects him.

Also, Kaji reveals his secret hobby to Shinji: growing watermelons. I have no idea what the point of this is, except that gardening is both a source of pleasure and toil, and while Kaji finds the experience rewarding, Shinji can only think of the pain involved. Well, pain and hardship have some value in the grand scheme of things. As Kaji says, suffering can make it easier for you to be kinder to others.

So you might be wondering where Big Rigg Mahoney's been this whole time? Well, he was off on a trip. I think he toured some old battleship or something. Anyway, as soon as he comes back, Suzuharu gets summoned to the principal's office, and Big Rigg Mahoney's like "What'd you do now?" Ha ha! It's funny because he doesn't know his friend is getting drafted to fight in the robot war!

See, this episode doesn't actually come out and say Suzuhara's the Fourth Child. I mean, it's pretty obvious from the way they keep cutting to Suzuhara after conversations about the new pilot. But they never spell it out. I already know, though, becuase when I was looking up these guys' names so I could tag them on this blog, I ended up finding out Suzuhara is not only chosen to be the Unit 03 pilot, but he also dies later on. So that's why I didn't want to go any further to look up the other kid's names, and that's why I started calling him Big Rigg Mahoney.

Ironically, Big Rigg Mahoney wishes he could be the next Eva pilot. He asks Shinji to recommend him to Misato, but Shinji doesn't have that kind of pull. Neither of them know Suzuhara got the job yet, but when they do find out, Big Rigg Mahoney would probably be kind of envious. Hell, for all we know, Big Rigg Mahoney might actually get the job later on. I refuse to look it up and find out! But I do know there's going to be an opening soon...

But Suzuhara does know he got the job, and the look on his face says it all.

He's still sitting there hours later, and the school rep, who tried to go with him to Rei's place earlier, asks him to finish up his afterschool duties, but he's too bummed out. She mentions how he buys school lunches because he has no one to cook for him, and she says she cooks for her sisters and always makes too much, so...

Suzuhara offers to help her dispose of her leftovers, which is kind of this weird thing where she's doing him a favor, but neither of them want to make it look like a favor. This is powerful stuff, very subtle. Suzuhara's not looking forward to this Eva stuff, maybe because he's sat in the plugsuit with Shinji during a battle, and because his sister is still in the hospital from the Third Angel battle. Oh, right, he visits her twice a week because the rest of his family can't get out there as often, so if he gets killed (ha ha! "if".) there's be no one to visit her at all. I think he's seeing Pigtails here as though for the first time. Before, Suzuhara had his whole life ahead of him, but now he realizes he needs to make whatever connections he can in life, while there's still time to do it.

Meanwhile, Asuka tries to bug Kaji while he's working, and she find out about the new Eva Pilot. She doesn't take this well at all, which... I mean, Asuka never takes anything well, but I think in this case she's upset because Suzuhara being the next pilot just proves there's nothing exceptional about the job. In Germany, she probably believed--and might have been told-- that her compatibility with Unit 02 was a product of her skills and intellect. And she gradually came to recognize Rei and Shinji as peers, albeit begrudgingly. I mean, Rei was the first, and Shinji has the combat experience and stats to back him up.

But to Asuka, Suzuhara is just Some Guy. He didn't go to a fancy school; he's not a savant True Believer like Rei, and he's not the miraculous son of the NERV Director like Shinji. Suzuhara is just some dude she goes to school with, so how does he rate? Well, it's Episode 17, and I still don't know how Eva pilots are chosen, but I'm pretty sure it's just some sort of brainwave pattern that only so many people have. As long as the readouts are in-spec, they could slap anyone in there. Shinji had never seen an Eva before and he survived. Hell, NERV even has plans to run Evas with no pilot, save for a computer simulation of Rei's brain. It really doesn't matter who they put in there as long as it runs.

So naturally, this is huge blow to Asuka's pride. She doesn't understand. What is there to understand, Asuka? You thought you were a pilot, but all you really are is an ignition key.

And that's the episode. Once again, a real tour-de-force, which makes me wonder what the hell was going on with those first 13 episodes. At least now I understand why they've been doing that Rebuild of Evangelion thing. As popular as NGE is, it's an uneven production at best.

And the next episode looks like it's gonna be bleak as fuck. Ha ha! Misato promising fan service in that same cheery voice gets darker and darker every time she says it! This is gonna be terrible! Now this is what I signed up for!

[runwayrunway]

No. 40 - Southwest Airlines

One of my most requested posts, it's time to cover a carrier anyone who's flown in the US is probably very familiar with. After all, Southwest has for decades been the largest low-cost carrier in the world by both revenue and fleet size (though IndiGo is coming for that title).

Southwest's history is longer and more substantial than many may think, a central figure in the genesis of what we now know as the low-cost carrier. But one thing I think a lot of people know is their livery.

A common theme on this blog is trends in airline liveries - in particular, the modern trend towards the minimalist, sterile, underdesigned, and above all generic. As an anecdotal example, someone who lives near Boston's Logan Airport, the 16th-busiest airport in the US and 30th-busiest in the world, served by every major US airline and every major international carrier from countries within 787 range, were they to watch the takeoffs and landings, would be treated to the following...menagerie.

Can you believe these planes fly for different and indeed unrelated airlines?

Safe to say from 5,000 feet below it's a challenge to tell these planes apart. Even taxiing past them you'd need to pay attention. If I forced someone to squint I'm not sure they could identify them properly. How about Southwest?

Bam.

Southwest Airlines was founded in an era that borders on incomprehensible to those of my age bracket. The United States is a nation united in grumbling about Spirit Airlines, and most of Europe is constantly cursing Ryanair under their breath, but it wasn't always like that. The fact of a united enemy at all is new in the US. Back before the 1978 Deregulation Act, it was so prohibitively expensive to operate interstate flights that most airlines just didn't. Interstate flights were left to giant full-service airlines like Delta and Eastern, while international flights were the domain of an even more elite few - Pan Am, TWA, Braniff, and National (no, not that National, the other one) while the scrappier little companies flew short hops for commuters.

One airline which emerged in this pre-deregulation era was Pacific Southwest Airlines, commonly abbreviated to PSA, an initially tiny airline operating in California. You may recognize them from my icon! PSA is one of the single most important airlines in history because it all but invented the idea of the low-cost carrier. Beyond that, they were a Fun Airline. And while they were flying their grinningbirds all over California something else brewed in the background.

image: SouthwestArchive I have never before in my life seen such a profound pairing of undereye bags with the slicked-back hair and piercing blue eyes of a YA dystopia novel film adaptation villain, darting around to lock onto any sources of potential wealth ripe for acquisition.

In 1971 Southwest Airlines began operating flights. The company was actually incorporated in 1967 (as Air Southwest), the brainchild of then-lawyer Herb Kelleher (and two other people who nobody ever talks about because they're boring). They saw what PSA was doing and saw potential for the massive profits that could be gained from avoiding fees from operating interstate and charging drastically lower fees than the larger carriers. Unfortunately for them the larger carriers also realized this, and they were trapped for three years in lawsuit purgatory, with Braniff, Continental, and Trans-Texas Airways taking the case all the way to the Supreme Court, who apparently declined to review it, recognizing that 'they have come up with an idea that will make them make more money and us make less money' is not a particularly powerful legal argument.

And with that little hurdle over Southwest was open for business! Though they weren't quite starting out as a single rented DC-3 Kelleher very closely modeled the airline after PSA, who seemed to be okay enough with it if them helping to train mechanics at the nascent airline was any indication. After all, at this point they were both intrastate airlines fundamentally unable to compete with each other - Southwest was staying put in Texas with no reason to think this would change anytime soon. They brought a bit of PSA to the state, like the low fares and the stewardesses in hot pants and go-go boots.

So what was their answer to the grinningbird?

The rare and deeply cursed Southwest 727.

The mustard rocket. It was called "desert gold" but I think we all know that this is mustard. At this point in history brightly colored airplanes weren't even unusual either, so it would have just been regular ugly instead of ostentatious. (I mean...I like this shade of mustard yellow, honest, but I recognize that most people think this is hideous.)

Southwest kept on Southwesting from there. These days, they're massive, and the most common response on my questionnaire for best airline experiences. No comment, as I've never flown with them. Highlights of their journey there include getting a federal amendment passed because they didn't want to relocate their hub from Love Field to Dallas-Fort Worth, getting sued for only hiring female flight attendants, having the first Black chief pilot of any major airline in the US, technically legal tax evasion measures, having to invent elaborate work-arounds for the restrictions placed on them which could have been avoided by just relocating to Fort Worth, absorbing a bunch of other airlines, being the launch customer for both the -300 and MAX 8 models of the Boeing 737, and making approximately a zillion dollars. In 1990 they absorbed Morris Air, a vacation charter airline which developed innovative cost-cutting measures like e-ticketing, including high-up positions on the Southwest corporate ladder for the founders...

image: conde nast traveller Strange millionaires lurking in woods distributing model airplanes is no basis for an airline industry! ...scratch that, it does appear to be working.

...oh, for heaven's sake, there he is again. Yes, David Neeleman's cost-cutting acumen was indeed put to use at Southwest, meaning that between this and founding jetBlue he basically created low-cost carriers. I reluctantly tip my hat to the man. I would not be able to afford airline tickets without him. But he's just everywhere.

Here is my handwritten faMintly tree. Southwest is jetBlue's cousin once removed, do with that what you will. Anyway, let's hope I never have to add to this. (Not least because I already binned the piece of paper I wrote this out on.)

The turn of the century brought new things for Southwest! In 2000 they had their first major accident (a nonfatal runway overrun resulting in loss of the aircraft). Unrelatedly, in 2001 they released a new color scheme for their fleet, now several hundred strong and entirely composed of assorted models of Boeing 737.

The era of Canyon Blue had begun.

I mean, it's a statement. At this point a plane painted to look like a poisonous frog was in fact a pretty major statement. They were setting out to be an eyesore and I'm sure people were upset about this one, but to the modern eye it looks muted and unfinished. Still bluer than anything David Neeleman had made at that point, but not quite what we know today.

Okay. Yes. There we go.

This livery is meant to be the heart from their logo, the same one worn where the plane's heart might be if planes had hearts instead of air-conditioning systems, the colors unwrapped and deconstructed. And boy, is it almost violently colorful! It goes so far that it takes a minute to notice only three colors, plus white, are used in the entire livery. It's almost eyestraining, and I did have to turn the contrast down on my monitor while writing this because I'm fairly photosensitive. It's...less painful when pixels aren't involved.

So this is definitely one-of-a-kind. Well, it was. jetBlue has made choices recently. But this livery is definitely not one that gets lost in the crowd.

There's very little white or even silver on this airframe, in sharp contrast with...basically every airline. The rest of the livery is vivid and searing yellow and red, unusual shades in airlines, which tend to stick to slightly more muted schemes. And if you couldn't tell who they were by that, the big white billboard wordmark would let you know real quick. I think the white is a bit less legible than I'd like, but I'm not sure how to improve that without making it genuinely eyestrainy. At least it's large and visible, which is crucial for a low-cost carrier, instead of subtle and out of the way on the tail. That might work for an airline with a prestigious air, but that's not Southwest. Southwest is blue and yellow and red.

The main differences between the modern livery and Canyon Blue are in the placement of the logo and the colors used. Each shade is brightened significantly, which is why the once-garish Canyon Blue now looks pretty dusty in comparison. They entirely removed the blue from the tail, making it the airframe feel a little less like it's blue with accents and a little more like it's a circus tent. I do wish the yellow and red covered a bit more of the belly, but still...wow.

Some uses of Southwest Sans demonstrated.

The success of this design isn't by accident. Apparently, Southwest consulted no fewer than five design firms, and the font used for the livery and all their material (which I think looks totally fine) was actually commissioned from iconic foundry Monotype. A lot of airline liveries are designed in-house, and that can turn out fine, but Southwest clearly pulled out all the stops and it shows.

Southwest is a low-cost carrier, and this does affect the standards by which I judge their livery. They aren't here to be guided by legacy or decorum the way a flag carrier is - they're here to sell you a cheap ticket on an airline with funny cabin announcements. Circus tent with big lettering in a sea of Eurowhite? Nice, clean execution - I'd call that a job well done.

Grade: B