#ep: the rose crest

[asofterutena]

(Open your mouth, sweetheart.)

[maggiecheungs]

REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA 🌹 EP 34: THE ROSE CREST

[the-darkness-does-not-bargain]

👀 Top wn episodeds/? Also top Utena els? Not counting the ones I haven't watched, obv, because spoilers.

Hmm.

Favorite WN ep ever is probably s2e5, it really just delivers on everything, a perfect 10/10 score. The runner-up might be the season 2 premier, followed by the finale. 4th place goes to the pilot episode, then s1ep6 (Mary 💖).

As for Utena, I don't have a set list, but episodes 19 and 20, aka the Wakaba Extravaganza of Suffering are definitely in the top 5 as one combined entry. Alongside them are 27 - Nanami's Egg 🥚, 9 - The Castle of Eternity, 34 - The Rose Crest (no spoilers), and 37 - The One to Revolutionize the World (no spoilers). That being said, every episode of this show is a banger. It truly has no misses.

[the-apocalypse-is-upon-us]

Design Cohesion in Umineko-Part 1:The Witches

Warning:Spoilers for EP 1-EP 4 and EP 7 of Umineko

Umineko is a work that on top of having an engaging story pertaining to the themes of love,truth,grief and the multifaceted relationships people can develop towards fiction, has also character designs that not only show the personality of a character and their relations towards others ( for example the one-winged eagle) but it also serves to foreshadow traits and relations that will be revealed later. One such group of characters are the Beatrices alongside Maria.Ange's design alone has enough things to say for a whole part so this analysis will be split into multiple ones.

We'll start the analysis with Máriage Sorcerie

Maria's human design already has similarities to Beatrice's with the majority of her dress also being black, both of them wearing a darkly colored headpiece ,both wearing bows , Maria's pink blouse coresponding to Beato's pink bow and the bronze-yellowish tones of the one-winged eagle being present on both their outfits. Maria's witch outfit takes even more after Beatrice adding white more prominently to the outfit alongside yellow with the one-winged eagle staff and with a darker shade of red on the gem of her pink cravat resembling Beato's gem on her pink bow and the maroon shade of her chest area.

Now we move to Evatrice. The main colour of her outfit is light purple,which no other witch wears,but that doesn't mean there aren't similarities with the other witches. Black and white are still present in her design alongside her wearing a hat which ties into both Maria's and Beatrice's headpieces. There is an extra connection with Beato considering both their headpieces have a floral theme. Evatrice's roses also introduce a redder shade which connects her back to Maria. She also wears two bows, one on the front of her neckline resembling Beatrice's and one on the side of her dress that though resembles Maria's in placement , has a maroonish shade that relates her back to Beatrice. She also has the one-winged eagle staff like Maria which inserts Beato's yellow into her colorscheme.

Some more things of note:

Both Evatrice and Maria have the same hair color

All three witches have blue eyes. Maria's are dark blue while both Eva and Beatrice's are light blue.

Let's continue with Virgilia. All three witches have the colors black and white in common but it's easy to see how Virgilia influenced that in Beatrice as her mentor. Both have a ballgown dress with black as its main color, similar sleeve siluettes, chokers and with the edges of the sleeves, choker and opening of the dress being ruffles of white fabric. Her yellow ribbon with the one-winged eagle ties even more with Beato and Evatrice too. All three of them wear floral headpieces but only Virgilia and Beatrice wear explicitly black and white hats with roses on them. All three witches also appear to have light blue eyes.

Although due to her relatioship to Beatrice, the similarities their designs have are more easily noticable, Maria isn't the only one whose human design also resembles Beatrice's.

Eva's qipao/cheongsam is the one that resembles witch Beatrice's dress the most, both being long,black garments on which the crest of the one-winged eagle isn't relegated to just one place, but there are multiple, spread all over the garments in similar positions. It is clearly meant to foreshadow Eva's ascent to Evatrice due to her attachment to the Ushiromiya name and desire to become the head, considering the abundance of reminders that she is part and proud to be a part of the family all over Eva's outfit and body.

Speaking of which, there are other characters with the Ushiromiya symbol tattooed on them and it's pretty easy to guess what that means in regards to other things they have in common.

If there is something to be taken from this, it is that the one winged eagle doesn't bind only humans of the Ushiromiya family but witches, which Beato has stated are ultra-powerful and from far away lands,too. It'd make sense for someone like Eva to incoporate it when she becomes a witch but someone like Maria never stated any desire for it. It is another hint that the magical occurences in Rokkenjima don't exist seperately from the Ushiromiya family but because of it. The crest existed almost as long as the gold, both of which were acquired because of the original Beatrice, whose lineage and legacy inspired the legend of the gold and the witch and is resposible for both the creation of the family as its members and we, the readers, came to know it along with its near complete destruction. Unfortunately, multiple years after the Rokkenjima accident and death of the presumed culprit "Beatrice", the legacy of the one-winged eagle continues to torment the last surviving member of the Ushiromiya family and the last Endless witch; Ushiromiya Ange. But we'll learn more about her in the next part.

[stroebe2]

2022 favorites

albums/eps :

Once Twice Melody - Beach House

Ramona Park Broke My Heart - Vince Staples

CRASH - Charli XCX

CAPRISONGS - Fka Twigs

No Stylist - Destroy Lonely

Stardust - Yung Lean

Palaces - Flume

Fantasy - Jacques Greene

Icons - Two Shell

Palaces of Pity - Malibu

Crest - Bladee & Ecco2k

Cry Sugar - Hudson Mohawke

Dawn FM - The Weeknd

X - Ken Carson

Eternal Intervals - Braga Circuit

to hell with it - PinkPantheress (2021)

Agor - Koreless (2021)

Galore - oklou (2020)

movies :

The Wicker Man (1973) - Robin Hardy

Inherent Vice (2014) - Paul Thomas Anderson

All the President's Men (1976) - Alan J. Pakula

Crash (1996) - David Cronenberg

L.A. Confidential (1997) - Curtis Hanson

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) - Elio Petri

I… For Icarus (1979) - Henri Verneuil

Carrie (1976) - Brian de Palma

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) - Pier Paolo Pasolini

Suspiria (1977) - Dario Argento

Dog Day Afternoon (1975) - Sidney Lumet

Westworld (1973) - Michael Crichton

Rosetta (1999) - Dardenne brothers

Videodrome (1983) - David Cronenberg

Blow Out (1981) - Brian de Palma

After Hours (1985) - Martin Scorcese

The Parallax View (1974) - Alan J. Pakula

THX 1138 (1971) - George Lucas

Candyman (1992) - Bernard Rose

The Thing (1982) - John Carpenter

documentaries :

Blackfish (2013)

jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy (2022) (LOL 🖕 )

JFK: Destiny Betrayed (2021)

Children of Salò (2002)

Mirage Men (2013)

The Beginning: Making ‘Episode I’ (2001)

Disney Channel’s Theme: A History Mystery (2022)

Petites (2021)

Innommable - L’affaire Dutroux (2021)

books/reads : 

CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties - Tom O’Neill

THE CALIFORNIAN IDEOLOGY - Richard Barbrook, Andy Cameron

Programmed to Kill: The Politics of Serial Murder - David McGowan

La Septième Obsession - Twin Peaks

La Septième Obsession - James Cameron

Jurassic Park: The Ultimate Visual History

Les dossiers X - Annemie Bulté, Douglas De Coninck, Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck

Fire & Blood - George R.R. Martin

L’Europe de 1815 à nos jours - Jean-Baptiste Duroselle

La pipe de Maigret - Georges Simenon

Les protecteurs - Jean Nicolas

podcasts :

Otherworld

Ghost Stories For The End Of The World

Blowback

TrueAnon

Programmed to Chill

Subliminal Jihad

[absolutedestinyrevolution]

1x03 | The Night of the Ball

When Utena asks Anthy to stop calling her “Utena-sama” there’s a shot of Akio’s tower: almost exactly the same shot as when Anthy finally leaves Ohtori, walking away from Akio’s tower, asking “Utena” to wait for her—finally, they are just Anthy and Utena.

Utena’s distaste for Touga is so great. Anthy’s surprise at it is interesting too, esp when Utena defends her boundaries and pushes Touga away. Anthy hasn’t had that luxury; feels like she doesn’t have that choice in her own life. Also, Touga as a precursor to Akio is very clear; so much of the rest of the show is set up in these early episodes, with certain dynamics reappearing in different and more disturbing ways the further the show goes on. Touga tries to manipulate Utena just as Akio does, but Touga is much less successful than Akio ends up being. One could see it as repetitive, but I see it as a genius use of repetition, with Utena (and Anthy) having to go through these cycles over and over again before they’re able to break out of the world they are trapped in. (It’s both the cycles of abuse and the cycles of rebirth!)

Wakaba hearing rumors about Anthy doing something bad to a popular guy > Anthy getting slapped by Keiko and her band for “ruining Saionji” > it’s Anthy getting blamed for Saionji’s actions and failure, huh! And it’s a dynamic that appears again and again and again… It’s the heart of the series, the heart of the horror at the center of Ohtori. Very much about how girls and women are blamed when boys and men make mistakes. One thing I’m realizing on rewatch is that while this dynamic is part of the patriarchy, it’s one that can occur between anyone, regardless of gender, and in a way that I’d argue is deeply connected to what the show sees as truly “growing up” and what it means to be a real adult, but I’ll expand on that more as we get to later eps.

Interesting that Nanami almost has a Utena-esque entrance, in appearing after Keiko and co attack Anthy, asking if she’s alright, a seeming offer of friendship… which of course ends up not being something kind, but actually a trap for Nanami to humiliate Anthy. The Student Council  sent a dress of Anthy to wear to the ball (and it’s a green, a color we’ve only seen associated w/ Saionji; a color that spells trouble) which Nanami uses to embarrass her. Utean is sent a dress as well, at Touga’s request—which mirrors Akio giving Utena a rose-crest ring to draw her to Ohtori and the duels, with Touga just trying to entice her to a party. And the dress that Utena wears in the penultimate ep after meeting Akio, “her prince,” is also pink, isn’t it? Touga really is the generic version to Akio’s name brand prince. Nanami’s dress is yellow with prominent purple bows/frills, drawing her connection to Anthy. And Nanami’s humiliation of Anthy—have a male waiter spray her w/ champagne that makes her dress disintegrate, leaving Anthy almost naked in front of the crowd—certainly has a sexualized symbolism; girls and women are tarnished and humiliated thru sex (or sexual assault, in this case).

[anthyies]

hiiii esh top 5 rgu eps/moments :)

someday together. bet on it sequence

balcony scene. and suddenly everything is different they have looked at each other

the rose crest. everyone think about stories and utena and anthy right now

cantarella scene. revolution is the power to imagine a future

badminton scene

[strangeracrossthestreet]

Music List AHOY

Times Are Hard For Dreamers (Original London Cast Recording) (Amelie Musical) Stay (Original London Cast Recording) (Amelie Musical) Give It Up (from Victorious) 【covered by Anna ft. OR3O】 The Smartphone Hour (Rich Set a Fire) (Katie Ladner · Katlyn Carlson · Lauren Marcus) Purity Ring - begin again Unknown Brain - DEAD (ft. KAZHI) [NCS Release] Scott Helman - Sweet Tooth 35MM - The Ballad of Sara Berry Bastille - Good grief SAINT MOTEL - Old Soul Carla Thomas - B-A-B-Y The Commodores - Easy Boga - Nowhere to Run Focus - Hocus Pocus The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Bellbottoms Coyote Kid - Femme Fatale Malinda - Don't Make Me Roses & Revolutions - Big Bad Wolf Cypress & Co. - Underworld Matt Maeson - Put It On Me Hayley Kiyoko - Demons Louisa - YES Doja Cat - Say so Doja Cat - Kiss me More Meghan Trainor - Genetics Svrcina - Astronomical Hurts - Silver Lining HOUSE OF SAY - Be My Remedy The Family Crest - Howl Florencemachine - Howl Saweetie & GALXARA - Sway With Me (from Birds of Prey: The Album) Leeandlie (AmaLee) - Fallen Angel Egzod & EMM - Game Over [NCS Release] Rare Americans - Rhythm Kitchen Pomplamoose - Bust Your Knee Caps UNDREAM - Monster (ft. IOVA) Meg Myers - Heart Heart Head April Smith and the Great Picture Show - Dixie Boy Aurora - Heathens Aurora - Everything Matters Aurora - Blood in the Wine Aurora - Murder Song (5, 4, 3, 2, 1) Aurora - Exhale Inhale Tick Tick Boom - Therapy Editors - Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool Annella - Perfume Annella - Bass Me Baby Nothing More - Let 'Em Burn That Handsome Devil - Fire Pentatonix - Mary did you know Pentatonix - My favorite things Marina and the Diamonds - How to be a Heartbreaker idkhbtfm - choke Ciara - Freak Me feat. Tekno Night Runner - Magnum Bullets Avril Lavigne - Bite Me Woodkid - Run boy Run NEONI - Downfall NEONI - Wars in a Wonderland (ep mix) Stela Cole - Love like Mine Stela Cole - I shot Cupid Sickick - Mind Games Sickick - Serum Glee - Smooth Criminal The Toxic Avenger - My Only Chance (from Furi original soundtrack) Pearl Jam - Do the Evolution Ricky Martin - Livin La Vida Loca Waitress (Original Broadway Cast Recording) - She Used to be Mine Blackbriar - Let me In Egzod - Rise up Alter. - Hardly Gods The Longest Johns - Ashes, from Cures What Ails Ya Poor Man's Poison - Wayfaring Stranger Poor Man's Poison - Feed the Machine Poor Man's Poison - Give and Take Zella Day - Jerome Egzod & Maestro Chives - Royalty (ft. Neoni) Aliceband - Fight for Me The Fray - How to Save a Friend Kodaline - Brother Mindy Gledhill - I Do Adore [this song is so FUCKING CUTE I LOVE IT] Misery x CPR x Reese's Puffs (extended version) [I've listened to this on loop so many times...] Bitter Ruin - Leather for Hell Bitter Ruin - Stampede Bitter Ruin - Trust fin - ship in a bottle Halsey - Without Me VaultBoy - Everything Sucks ft. GRACEY (G)l-DLE - LATATA (english ver)

Now...It's time for some non-english stuff~

DREAMCATCHER [my beloved... Honestly just listen to all of their songs LOL]: BEcause Scream BOCA Odd Eye MAISON Tension Red Sun Black or White Sahara In The Frozen Daybreak Full Moon Chase Me Good Night You and I Wake up Fly High Mayday Trap PIRI Deja Vu The curse of the spider No Dot (SU A SOLO) Breaking Out 4 Memory

MAMAMOO: Gogobebe HIP Um Oh Ah Yeah Egotistic Aya Yes I am Piano Man Starry Night Dingga Decalcomanie 1 cm Wind Flower Delilah Water Color (Whee In) Butterfly (Whee In) NO THANKS (Whee In) Trash (Whee In) Maria (Hwasa) Twit (Hwasa) Spit it Out (Solar) Honey (Solar) It's been a long time (Solar)

The Rest:

Mozart l'opéra rock - Penser l'impossible Mozart Opera Rock - L'Assasymphonie Mozart l'opéra rock - Le bien qui fait mal Глюк’oZa - Ebobo Глюк’oZa - Жу-жу Глюк’oZa - Мотыльки (feat. KYIVSTONER) Inkya Impulse (インキャインパルス) Asobi Asobase Ending Full Ado - Odo Ado - Usseewa Ado - Readymade Raon - Envy Baby Raon - The Vampire Raon - King / Kanaria IU - Jam Jam Brown Eyed Girls - Abracadabra Fake Type - Nightmare Parade Maître Gims - Est-ce que tu m'aimes

And there you have it @justburnitwithfire Now you know me on a fundamental level BHGFHGBDFBGJFD Hope some of these are to your liking LMAO I didn’t want to send it in an ask because I don’t know how long this is characters wise wheezes

[ponderingrandomthings]

I was amazed (long back) to see this video. I didn't know Andy Williams sang a version (with them!) as well.

This song itself is fascinating as well. I took time (as I often do - ha ha), to read through and research the lyrics.

Apparently, these are two separate folk songs that Simon and Garfunkel put together. Scarborough Fair and Canticle.

---

Extracts from Wikipedia:

The song lists a number of impossible tasks given to a former lover who lives in Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

The famous melody was collected from Mark Anderson (1874–1953), a retired lead miner from Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham, England, by Ewan MacColl in 1947.

… the 1960s folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, who learned it from Martin Carthy.

The lyrics of Scarborough Fair appear to have something in common with a Scottish ballad titled "The Elfin Knight", collected by Francis James Child as Child Ballad #2, which has been traced as far back as 1670. [An elf threatens to abduct a young woman to be his lover unless she can perform an impossible task.]

---

Lyrics Open Text = Scarborough Fair (Text in Parenthesis) = Canticle

. Are you going to Scarborough Fair? Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme Remember me to one who lives there She once was a true love of mine

Tell her to make me a cambric shirt (deep forest green) Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme (Tracing a sparrow on snow-crested ground) Without no seams nor needlework (Blankets and bedclothes a child of the mountains) Then she'll be a true love of mine (Sleeps unaware of the clarion call)

Tell her to find me an acre of land (On the side of a hill, a sprinkling of leaves) Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme (Washed is the ground with so many tears) Between the salt water and the sea strand (A soldier cleans and polishes a gun) Then she'll be a true love of mine . Tell her to reap it in a sickle of leather (Blazing in scarlet battalions) Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme (Generals order their soldiers to kill) And to gather it all in a bunch of heather (And to fight for a cause they've long ago forgotten) Then she'll be a true love of mine . Are you going to Scarborough Fair? Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme Remember me to one who lives there She once was a true love of mine ---

List of Recordings (is staggering)

Field recordings

1939. Georgia Ann Griffin of Newberry, Alachua, Florida. Recorded by John Lomax

1958. Allie Long Parker of Hogscald Hollow, Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Recorded by Mary Parler

1966. Sara Cleveland of Brant Lake, New York. Recorded by Sandy Paton

1976. Elizabeth "Liz" Jefferies. Recorded in Bristol by Barry and Chris Morgan

Commercial recordings

1955. Actor/singers Gordon Heath and Lee Payant (album Encores from the Abbaye)

1956. A. L. Lloyd and Ewan MacColl, using Kidson's melody (album The English and Scottish Popular Ballads vol IV)

1947. Mark Anderson (retired lead miner, who sang to Ewan MacColl) - this melody was used by Simon & Garfunkel in "Scarborough Fair/Canticle".

1956. Audrey Coppard (album English Folk Songs)

1957. Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger's LP Matching Songs of the British Isles and America

1960. Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger's album The Singing Island

1965. Martin Carthy (eponymous debut album) inspired by Ewan and Peggy's songbook

1966. Marianne Faithfull (album North Country Maid)

1967. Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger's a capella version on The Long Harvest

1968. Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66

1969. Vicky Leandros (several versions - English, German, French, and Greek)

1989. The Stone Roses (their own words to the melody for "Elizabeth My Dear")

2007. Celtic Woman (album A New Journey)

2009. My Dying Bride (EP Bring Me Victory)

2012. Nox Arcana (album Winter's Majesty)

2003. Queensryche (remastered version of album Empire, though recorded in 1986)

2020. Dan Avidan and group Super Guitar Bros

---

[the-cooler-king]

The FIRST of the candle-flicker moments, before we even know what those are, is definitely when touga shows utena his ring and says "i got this so I could meet you, of course" and its such an underhanded, clumsy impersonation of akio that I dont know what to do with it. I would trade akio for touga in a heartbeat though

[tadpoledyke]

Screenshot redraw from Revolutionary Girl Utena ep 7

I love my angsty dramatic ginger lesbian princess.

(id: a digital illustration and an anime screencap of Juri Arisugara from RGU, a girl with curly orange hair and blue eyes grabbing the hand of another person while yelling. The hand has a white ring with a pink crest on one of the fingers. this is set against a backdrop of a night sky. In the digital illustration, Juri has Olive toned skin,thick eyebrows and freckles. The subtitles read: "throw away your rose seal! throw away that ring!"

[asofterutena]

(tie me to the stake and call the ashes holy)

[original comic by @asoftersea]

[maggiecheungs]

REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA 🌹 EP 34: THE ROSE CREST

[vitos-ordination-song]

I want to make a list of my fav Utena eps but disclaimer I think every ep is good and I’m not including eps I love like comedy eps, just ones that really shine to me. Okay

Nine: “The Castle Said to Hold Eternity”

Twelve: “For Friendship, Perhaps”

Seventeen: “The Thorns of Death”

Twenty: “Wakaba Flourishing”

Twenty-three: “The Qualifications of a Duelist”

Twenty-five: “Their Eternal Apocalypse”

Thirty: “The Barefoot Girl”

Thirty-one: “Her Tragedy”

Thirty-three: “The Prince Who Runs Through the Night”

Thrifty-four: “The Rose Crest”

Thirty-six: “And the Doors of Night Open”

Thirty-seven: “The One to Revolitionize the World”

Thirty-eight: “The Ends of the World”

Thirty-nine: “Someday, Together, We’ll Shine”

[wheremytwinwatches]

[Where My Twin Watches]: Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 42

Last time: Frostbite continues to not be an issue for female cast members, Ed gave a chemistry lesson, and Kimblee was just the worst. Onwards!

Al still hasn’t woken up? That’s… probably not a good thing. For now, Winry’s watching over his disassembled parts in a cabin, while the rest of the Crew huddle around a small fire. Marcoh and May are still going over the notes, seems that “gold” keeps showing up and they think it’s some sort of pattern. I dunno, maybe the author just liked shiny things?

Winry wanders over to see what they’re doing, Marcoh says they’re trying to decipher whatever code the author’s using. Alchemist are very skeptical of peer review after all, he even wrote all his own notes on the Philosopher’s Stone in recipe format to pad out the Reveal episode. For now, they’re banking on all these gold references as the- oh hey, Al’s back! Al’s brought back up to speed on what he missed (not much, they broke him down for easier carrying and took shelter in this cabin), everyone gets to play puzzle and put him back together. May’s left holding the notes, probably wishing she was helping reassemble her husband… wait, reassemble? Pieces? Aha! Winry and Marcoh are just a little freaked out at May tossing all the pages to the ground in a big mess, but then she explains that they need to physically overlap all the references to “immortality” and “gold”. Even Scar get in on all the fun! Later, all the pages are down, and… yeah, I don’t see it. But now May’s taking some charcoal to connect all the symbols in the notes, and draws… [Al]: “It’s the country-wide Transmutation Circle.” Marcoh’s not doing too well, the Chimeras are yelling at him for these useless notes that aren’t telling them anything they don’t already know. Scar’s not happy either, to see that his brother’s research ended up being the Bad Guy’s plan… wait, but these paper notes weren’t the only thing your brother wrote, or rather drew. Don’t you have a bunch of ink on your arm? Calling it now, there’s more to this than just what was written in the papers. Al seems to think so too, although not about the arm being relevant, he just thinks that there’s more hidden past this first code. “Truth within the truth”, right? Or maybe he’s just trying to keep everyone hopeful. Whatever it is, it gets Marcoh out of his slump. Alright everyone, stare at the papers again to see if anything oh for Leto’s sake, Yoki, cover your mouth when you sneeze! Now the papers are all disorganized, “you can’t even tell which side of the page is right-side-up anymore” oh I get it. Turn the pages around, see what symbol you can make on the other side! So the pages are turned around, the new symbols connected, and it’s a new TC! An Xingese Alkahestry one, at that. So what does it do? Episode 42 - “Signs of a Counteroffensive” Hello? Xingese Alkahestry TC? Any explanation there? No? We’re just going to go back to the tunnels? Fine, let’s see what Ed and his own Chimera troops are up to. That’s not Ed, that’s Kimblee, being a creep and licking his cut hand. I get it, you’re weird and disturbing, just use your Philosopher’s Stone to fix your injury for Leto’s sake. Oh hey Ed was right, Kimblee did get lost wandering around the mines. Look, can Kimblee just die already and we can get back to the Goths? They were at least fairly competent, and aside from Bradley’s sudden case of Red Eyes and Evil Gloating at The Mighty Armstrong they made for good villains. Now we’re just following the wanderings of an idiot who won’t even heal his injuries and forgot to bring a map on his hunt. And again! You know, when I see a giant red X scrawled across a crooked door that reveals a staircase winding down into darkness, that’s generally a sign that Bad Things are below and you shouldn’t go. But Kimblee ignores that and continues down even when there’s no sign of his quarry. Bones, too! Huh, looks like this is connected to Sloth’s Tunnel. Well that guarantees that the Mine Crew didn’t come this way, otherwise they would have been seen by oh hi Pride. Kimblee reports that he’s searching for Scar, Pride tells him to hold off for now, go ahead and oh crap it’s time to “carve the Crest of Blood” at Briggs. And Armstrong the Great’s not there! But on the other hand, Pride is telling Kimblee to do it on his lonesome apparently. I changed my mind, this is going to be a hilarious curbstomp. Back at the Fort, Sideburns has returned to exposit that Kimblee’s missing after an explosion in the mine shafts. Hearing that no body was found Buccy and Falman exchange a look, and ask if any Briggs troops went missing with him. Sideburns has to come to a stop to say that they also couldn’t find Kimblee’s two flunkies, and the Fullmetal Alchemist. Aw, Buccy does care about the kid who snagged his crush. Sideburns is checking in with Breda, who’s reporting that a border war with their western neighbor is racking up quite the body count. Down south Fuery, no! Don’t hurt the radio operator, I’m almost completely over my annoyance that he took away my Fuhrer Fury joke! [Fuery]: “Damnit! I’m gonna survive this! I’m gonna live! I won’t die for this-” ...Fuery? Alright, so… Sideburns is staying in touch with Roy through “a messenger connected to the Armstrong Family” hey it’s Granny Armstrong! Got some more flowers for us? Uhhhh. Sloth just finished the tunnel. That’s not good. Uncle says it’s almost time. Mid-ep pictures of Pride’s Shadows and Beard. Now we’re in a town that looks a little worse for wear, did a Protagonist come through here or something? The work crews stop to get a lunch break from a woman with pink bangs, peaceful countryside guitar music starts as a worker tells Rose wait a minute *quick search to earlier recaps* It’s Rose! It’s Liore! Aw, the town’s rebuilding after the riots the Goths started. I’d honestly written off the place as a loss, but they’ve actually survived and have that good old wholesome community vibe going on. It’s not perfect yet, with those comments about how they don’t have any meat and have to ration food, but it’s a start. Almost everyone’s working, aside from those too old or young to, or… wait, Ling? Uh what. Beard. Why are you pulling a Ling. What’s with this “oh poor feeble starving me” routine? Guys. Beard is gulping down soup at an amusingly fast pace and smiling and oh my Leto is is flirting with Rose? Seriously he’s turned into Ling, what is this. [Beard]: “Don’t underestimate yourself. A delicious meal and the smile of a lovely young lady are more help than you can imagine.”

I can’t make this up, Beard’s even getting a thumbs-up from the cook for that line. OK phew we’re back to mysterious Beard asking for direction, this is more like I’m used to. He’s looking for… aha, he’s looking for the Church of Leto! Finally, we can invoke His Letoness to smite the Goths and restore peace to this world. About time! The church hasn’t gotten the same repairs as the rest of the town, and when they go further in Beard finds a pool of toxic water blocking the way. [Beard]: “I get the feeling this was put here to keep people from going any further. So…” *walks straight forward to shock of Rose and Cook* *Transmutes a stone walkway, without any hand movements or TC?* Now he’s wandering off into the darkness, asking Rose and Cook to wait for him to come back. Obviously they’re a little perturbed by all this. So I think that Rose and Cook are going to be waiting for a little while, Beard’s gone far enough in to run into Sloth’s Tunnel. I wonder if him knocking a hole in the side will mess up the pattern? He’s walking along the tracks, impressed at the scale of it all oh yeah Pride. Well, time to see how Beard fares against a Goth! Never mind, Beard’s employing a Ciaphas Cain and getting the frig out of there. Earthbent spikes from the wall? Nope. Giant pillars to try and trap Pride? Nope. Excuse me? “I’m afraid that’s all I’ve got?” What the Leto are you talking about man, you are the original form of Uncle, how are you so intimidated by a single Goth? Admittedly it’s Pride who seems ridiculously strong even by Goth standards, but still. And now he’s tripped over a rock! Seriously dude, this is Kimblee levels of bad, can you… manage to get into your tunnel where Pride’s shadows recoil and can’t touch you? Huh. That’s… and now Beard analyzing Pride, noting he can’t reach past Central or the Tunnel, it’s his container. Pride is actually freezing, his constant disturbing motion stopped in annoyance as Beard picks apart his weakness and is he taunting the shadow demon from a foot away? [Beard]: *head tilt, slight smile* “Are you angry?”

Wow. Turns out Beard is a sarcastic little shit like Ling. Who’da thunk? Pride is claiming that he’s never angry, that he’s left all other emotions behind with Uncle. Beard lists off the Seven Deadly Sins: Lust, Greed, Sloth, Gluttony, Envy, Wrath, “and of course Pride.” Beard snarks that Pride was Uncle’s biggest trait, and his fashioning of Pride in his original Toothy Shadow appearance is just a sign of his egotistical nature. Pride insists that Beard go with him to see Uncle, but Beard takes a rain-check on that. Before he leaves, though, he tells Pride to pass on a message: “Tell him Slave 23 will be dropping in quite soon. Just tell him to be patient and relax in his chair beneath Central, I’m coming.” Uncle is waiting for him, as are his four chess pieces… wait, which one is missing? Hey, Rose and Cook actually waited? You gonna explain what happened, Beard? [Rose]: “What exactly were you doing in there?” [Beard]: “Hmmm. Sending a declaration of war.” Wow. Beard is just hamming up his role as the New Ling, isn’t he? Back to Briggs! The guard is changing up on the roof, when they turn to dramatic music to oh crap it’s the Drachmans! Sound the alarm, close the door and turn off the lights! If they think nobody’s home, maybe they’ll just drop off a few Letoism pamphlets and leave! Or you can break out the artillery, that works too. I’m assuming this guy is the Drachman CO, given his uniform bling and impressive beard. He’s noting that they’re lucky The Northern Wall of Briggs is away (because they wouldn’t dare attack if they knew she was within stabbing range), good work Mister oh. Well, that’s actually not a bad plan Kimblee. Get the neighboring country to wage war on expansionist Amestris, make a Crest of Blood without having to dirty your hands. Or since this is Kimblee we’re talking about, kill to your heart's content while disposable mooks deal with those you don’t bother with. So, those are some big cannons pointed at Fort Briggs. Let’s hope their walls are reinforced enough to are you kidding me?! That’s the end of the episode? Boo! Ok then! A very interesting episode, the biggest thing for me is Beard’s characterization. Happily chatting with townspeople, going all Adventurer into the darkness, and I honestly can’t tell if he was actually running from Pride because he didn’t want to fight or to lure him towards the tunnel edge in a case of Obfuscating Stupidity. I’m curious to see where he goes from here, and if he reverts back to his standoffish Mysterious Absentee Father mode when he runs into Ed again. A good- Hold up, after-credits scene. Zampana? Oh it’s Boar! Wait who are you reporting to WHAT THE HELL DUDE. You’re selling the Crew out to Envy and Bradley? I liked you, why’d you have to be another Raven? Boo.

[blogmediamustache]

📚 Books In this Episode:

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

Villains by V.E. Schwab

Meet Addy: An American Girl by Connie Rose Porter

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

Independent Ed: Inside a Career of Big Dreams, Little Movies, and the Twelve Best Days of My Life by Edward Burns

Rebel Without a Crew, or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker with $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player by Robert Ridriguez

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury

The Whole Town Is Sleeping by Ray Bradbury

Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine by Bebe Moore Campbell

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

A Song of Ice & Fire by George RR Martin

Sex.Lies.Murder.Fame. by Lolita Files

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Black Panther by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Chew by John Layman & Rob Guillory

A Red Death by Walter Mosley

In the Dinosaur’s Paw by Patricia Reilly Giff

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson