#esp and dream analysis

[themyscirah]

Complaining abt Suicide Squad yet again but the fact that they have Waller exposing the alien community to space racist attacks and talking abt how she got to her position through deceit and being a terrible person and stuff is just. Ahsfiwueh JUST SAY YOU DONT KNOW WALLER.

Anyways literally the 3rd mission of the Squad ever (and the first framed as smth Waller picked and not orders from above) was the Squad discrediting and stopping a rogue vigilante who was only arresting POC and funneling white people into white supremacy groups (of which he was the most prominent member) in SUICIDE SQUAD #4. and it's explicitly framed as this mission being personal for Waller that she's hiding from the government bc its illegal like. Guys. Please why are we having her incite (space bc comics) racist attacks now

Also the whole "Amanda got her position through deceit and being a terrible person" NO. she KEPT her position through being shitty and playing complicated political games!!! She wasn't always that way like there is a difference and it is IMPORTANT ppl PLEASEEEE. In Secret Origins #14 we learn Amanda's backstory and she used to be a normal, caring person! Like even after she entered into working in government and politics she wasn't automatically morally bankrupt like please people. She was originally given control of the Squad by Reagan (*sigh* 80s comics...) to distract and get rid of her because she was so successful at pushing progressive social policy in Congress. Acting like she's this static pillar of evil is such a waste of her character and so fucking uninteresting and disrespectful to her arc it drives me MAD.

Like I am NOT saying Waller is all sunshine and rainbows, she fucking SUCKS (said w love <3) but like there's a human being there. It's a progression, she has a character arc like please, DC, please!!! They've fucked up Waller so bad and made her so opaque and uninteresting she can't even be the protagonist of her own story for fucks sake!

Like I don't know how many times I have to scream it until DC hears me or remembers but WALLER IS THE MAIN CHARACTER OF SUICIDE SQUAD. ITS HER BOOK. yet right now she's a cutout to be used as the villain wherever the writers please. Even in her book we get none of her perspective really displayed, no exploration of her thoughts with any kind of understanding of the role she traditionally has played and was made to play in the story.

[radio-zephyr]

(I wonder/thinking about) how the pet humans watching alien stage feel, especially in the final round, watching those who are as trapped as they are, but appear to be so high above them. Look, here's luka, here's till. look, here is what all humans should aspire to be. look at them, look at their talent, look how they shine, so fleeting, so bright, so above you. Look at them, look at their radiance, be blinded to how they are so so beneath the aliens, just as you are. Look at them. Aren't they beautiful? Beautiful, fleeting, gone? You who are just a pet. They who are just a pet. Look, look, look.

[swagtomomo]

mmmmmmmrowww

[lets-jam]

ever since i watched that critique vid of 2077 so long ago like it does bring up such a great point about how participating in an execution for profit/commercial exploitation and encouraging a clearly delusional person to do so despite him clearly being unwell would truly sincerely change a person not to mention adding on all this blasphemous religious flavor on top of it all. like for a merc that so blindly or apathetically kills for profit i think participating in something far more intimate and hands on would like the video said fundamentally change someones views on participating in such things (hired killing) even if they operated under a basic 'well they deserve it'/'self-defense'.

interesting to me more so to have this be a revelatory moment too because the only system of justice that night city operates on is revenge/eye for an eye and i think its a good wonder to have a character actively question that and possibly even try to leave that cycle or be an arbiter of it due to personal reasons. for a system/society/culture that operates on 'deserving' what would it take for someone to want to move beyond that/away from it. and then even more fun questions of is not participating in such a system anymore meaningful? does the personal choice to no longer want someones life or death to be up to you cause anything to change? even when its clear that someone else will fill the vacuum? is it enough to say/do 'this culture of revenge sucks so im gonna hit da bricks from it' esp fun to examine in such a natural-end-of-capitalism world where violence to enact change has become almost 'necessary'? not that theyd necessarily try to in response organize and develop strategies for a justice that doesnt require death in response, but like at least be one to finally wonder if something else can exist in the place of revenge in this stratified world of extremes

and even more so to have all this happen when johnny is a FIRM beleiver in that people really do deserve death and that one is righteous and always justified in doling that out, including enacting such violence for justice on a MASSIVE scale. would being stuck with someone who had such a profound experience and decided to just stop the death with herself change him? actually cause him to question such ideas? even if its begrudgingly so? even if he thinks its the stupidest most pathetic way to do things?

of course this is all undermined by generic videogame ludonarrative yadda yadda cause we need faceless goons to kill for combat always supercedes such conflict exploration but hey at least in oc lala land one can dream.

and its so funny that in the game proper v does do something the game portrays as feeling extremely WRONG for v (and johnny) but then you snap back into videogame land to kill swaths of nameless 3d models who were all probably forced into violent crime in order to survive without thought

[lavyyulu]

EXAAACTTLYYY I've been screaming about this to my friends and a little bit on twitter recently but Gibeon and Friede have a frankly weird amount of connections for characters who should on all accounts be unrelated.

First off, Friede worked at Exceed (and even researched the rakurium itself for a short time!) and though he went his separate way Crave points out he still shares the same goals at the company, which are Gibeon's goals. They are so strangely similar in both values and their profession and knowledge, yet they couldn't be further apart in their roles in the series.

Second off, they're both characters who went on a journey in pursuit of something, be it mysteries, freedom, a legend or specifically rakua itself, and in the end they both end up falling prey to these things. Or more specifically they end up overreaching and ironically their dreams become their ''demise''. Gibeon falls in a fissure due to the Rakurium expanding, and Friede falls out of the sky. It could also be interesting to mention how their attempt at achieving their dreams, either being brute forcing his way at getting the rakurium or modifying his ship to reach dangerous altitudes, contributed to their ''demise''.

I also find it interesting how that modified version of the Brave Asagi is named ''Infinite rising'' when he has some inspiration from Icarus.

Ugh, i just find it so fascinating that Rakua's tragedy repeats itself.

Have some art i made of their parallels all the way back in march but was too much of a coward to post.

Something, something about Gibeon and Friede being the two characters who fell at Rakua.

[callizinc]

Ena in Dream BBQ and Work Culture

HELLO Dashboard!! Ever since i first played DBBQ i've found the entire game endlessly interesting (as have most people, LOL) But one of the most interesting, and in my opinion, most Potent things, is Ena's character and how she relates to the game's commentary on modern work culture.

So for anyone as much of a #SICKO as me 😭 Here's an embarrassingly long analysis of just that! There's SO much to talk about with this game, and even when I'm trying to focus on one specific idea with this post, I'm sure I'll still miss things, so just stick with me best you can OK? 😭 😭

My aim for this post is to allow you to understand Just how deep in the torment nexus Ena is, and to want to say "she should be at the club" Only to realize she can't even go to the club. She can't even go to the club. Because of Job. (Among other, hopefully more intelligently articulated things!)

SO, Let's just jump right in :D

First, to state the obvious—Ena's literal entire life is her job. The only moods she expresses under normal circumstance are "smooth talking salesperson where every line is about working or trying to sell something" and "Stops keeping up the veneer and gets frustrated and pissed because she hates her stupid job."

This permeates every aspect of her character—I don't think there's a single line in the game so far where she says like, Anything about herself. There's nothing about what she may want or what she may like. It's all about her fuckass job or the fuckass Boss.

And of course, even in gameplay aspects, you literally don't get a chance to choose whether you accept a job or not, like the thought of doing anything besides giving her time and energy for other people or her job's benefit doesn't even occur to her (Or, it can't occur to her—I doubt the Boss would want to allow her reprieve from anything at all, and I'm sure Ena would know this).

(^ Ena's reaction to being told to find a mythical figure that she maybe didn't even know existed cause Froggy sure as hell didn't to do a stupid job for Froggy's stupid ass. Like)

Maybe i'm reaching here, but I even find it interesting how her red hand has no fingers (besides a thumb). I feel like that represents a lack of individuality she has when she's in Salesperson mode, or at least, a lack of individuality she's been allowed. A lack of having a defined being cause it's all about this stupid job.

There's lots of avenues to go from here, but let's start with another big point of the game: Everybody hates her. Except for like, three characters, every NPC in the game either insults her, talks down to her, blatantly doesn't respect her, or Literally tells her nobody should be punished for being born except her. Typical day for Ena.

I'm not going to get into why I think this is—for me there's not enough evidence to speculate with surety right now—but I think this does tie strongly into her commitment to her job. Ena working her ass off in every aspect of her life and earning nothing but disrespect for it is very reminiscent of real life work environments.

Think of how almost every NPC claims they are "the Boss" in such a way that many of them seem to want to be the Boss, like he's some kind of well-known or respected figure. The description for the game on Steam even says as much: "Play as ENA as she searches for the Boss that everyone wants to be."

(eg: "I am the B-O-S-S!"):

People wish they were the Boss, they want to be some kind of rich capitalist with power and fame, but when looking at someone who actually works for him, and probably is the reason the Boss has profit and success in the first place, they insult her and demean her no matter how much she gives herself to them and the Boss. I'm sure you can see the real life parallels here.

It's even possible one of the reasons Ena works so hard in the first place is as an attempt to earn respect from these people, or to make up for whatever everyone thinks she did that made everyone hate her so much. Especially considering...

Our society is one that tells its people that Work is unequivocally Good. Committing yourself to work is what everyone, no matter who they are or what they face, is what you have to do to be a valuable member of society, and to have any respect from other people in the slightest. It tells its people that you only have value as a living human being at all if you give your life to work.

Even though this blatantly isn't true. If people think you're the Wrong type of worker, or if people think your work isn't valuable, helpful, or that it doesn't require skill, you can work as hard as you want but you'll still be treated like shit. But, hey, work is still your duty as a member of society, right? Stop bitching and whining and pull yourself up by your bootstraps, right?

Needless to say, it's easy to see how this whole idea is being represented in DBBQ. She even knows how much she's sold herself to this, she just... Seems to have extremely casually accepted it all LOL, which, I mean... What else does she have the power to do?

This very casual and nonchalant acknowledgement of her lack of autonomy connects to another big point: Ena doesn't value herself, nor does she even know how to exist without being in a constant state of working.

Let's talk about the Purge: There's a LOT to get to here in terms of Ena herself LOL, but the intrigue starts before she even enters the party. Literally Froggy just saying she's about to enter an "Event" stops her in her tracks and worries her. Not to mention the next line...

This feels like an indication that despite how much she commits herself to it, Ena does "crave freedom" from her shitty job, although she can scarcely admit this anywhere else so far. Then, if you talk to this slime guy, you get some strange text.

As far as I know, the text for interacting with things doesn't look like this anywhere else in the game. And given that it looks exactly the same as how Ena's lines do in the Purge, it's seemingly the only peek we get into her internal monologue, and it is. Quite worrying! She literally can climb up a hellish freezing floating mountain and yet this is by far the most freaked out she gets in the entire game.

And then to actually get into the Purge, an Evil eye Ball tells her that she needs to give a literal arm or a leg to get in. And she just does it. Like no hesitation no further questions she just gives it away to the evil eye ball. Presumably for Good? Because the only reason she regains the arm later is because of Genie magic? Like Ena. Girl. Are we gonna talk about this at all.

But so many real life work environments expect you to give every part of yourself in order to be allowed to exist and live in society, including your physical being and critical parts of your personhood at all.

(Let me also say I find it intentional that she gave away her white arm. Whereas her red hand literally doesn't have fingers, the sharp claws she has on her white hand represent the individuality and unique identity she Does have. However, it's also the part of herself that's in conflict with her ability to be a Good Worker, that always does exactly what she's supposed to do, and never complains, and never gets in the way of her duties.)

She was already very distressed here, but it's a clear indication of how little she values herself. It was a motion to lose a part of herself just to reach the Genie, both for her stupid job, and possibly for the possibility of "freedom" from it all. And your average job these days—no matter how important you are to your cause—will drill it into you that your ability to be a good worker is infinitely more important than your existence as a person. It's easy to see how Ena may have internalized that.

And then she goes to the club one time and this happens

I won't get too deep into her dialogue with the NPCs here because I think their intention is pretty clear; Being in a place so antithetical to a work environment, and a place where she's supposed to let loose and have fun, is so distressing and impossible to even fathom for her that This Happens.

(see: "H-How can I leave this stupid event? M-my lame schedule is full,")

Like, everything at the Purge is insane, but this is a particularly heartbreaking line for me. One because of her job's shitty environment that's broken her down so much—do you think she EVER gets a break, because I sure don't—but also because of how it's conditioned her to not even believe she can "afford another minute of joy." Ena :[

Note how she's covered in these branches that started growing during Froggy's phone call, which look very similar to how she looks in this gag with the Shaman—it's literally her nervous system. In her scene with Mitu she even says she's feeling "sick," She's literally freaked out of her flipping Gourd with her goddamn Nerves On The Outside

Hell, even though Meanie's speaking (which, I mean, no shit, in another line she literally describes her job as "deplorable" 😭), these sprites in the files are actually labelled "Anxiety", suggesting that she's SO freaked out by being somewhere supposed to be so opposite to her work she's become another variant of herself, a la Drunk Ena from Season 1.

I won't get much more into this, because @cube-cumb3r has a PHENOMENAL post I'll link in the notes that goes deeper into this stuff from the Purge and the "Anxiety" thing, And also gets more into theory territory than I do here! Please please go read that post, it is so damn good.

In any case, I think the scenes with the Purge NPCs are the biggest examples in the whole game of how much she hates her fuckass job, yet she can't be allowed to be anything besides a wage slave to it. And just as she's internalized everybody in her world's dislike of her, she hates herself for it.

So:

We've established that Ena's shitty job parallels the real life work conditions that plague our world, and that these conditions have caused her to devalue herself and believe she can't have any reprieve from them... but, what even is her job?

Apparently she's a salesperson, but what is she even selling? She tries to offer a "divestment opportunity", and tells the Witches she can show them how to "grow [their] own [boss]" which definitely falls in line with the Sales thing, but besides that it's still not clear, even when she talks to Froggy.

I suppose the "grow their own boss" line does sound a lot like the phrasing used in MLM schemes, with how they lure people in by telling them they can "be their own boss." The Receptionist also calls Ena a scammer and a conman, so maybe she is a sort of scammer, but, I also don't exactly think the Receptionist think she has the most reliable opinions of Ena LOL

She also calls her a "pink-collar slug", pink collar meaning a job traditionally associated with women, which. ??? I don't fully know where to go with that.. like ...Nothing she does harkens to... Any kind of job expected to be done by women, imo?? Um. Yeah idk i just thought that may be significant??/ 😭😭😭😭 Listen man I can't know it all

Anyway. Maybe I'll be proven embarrassingly wrong when we receive more information in future chapters, but I think the lack of clarity on what she's supposed to be is representative of the games themes. The constant disrespect Ena receives makes her seem likely to be a low-tier worker, someone at the bottom of the ladder that people have no problems walking all over.

Because these types of jobs will treat you the same no matter who you are or what you're supposed to be doing. She's doing what the world tells her she needs to do in order to be a respected member of society, and yet she's also someone people feel comfortable treating poorly because she's at the bottom—because has no power of her own. It doesn't matter what she's supposed to be doing, it matters that she's the Wrong type of worker.

And how is she supposed to ever say anything for herself? It seems virtually baked into her Salesperson side to completely ignore past all the rude things these assholes say to her. After all, not only would that probably just make most people ruder to her (and impede her ability to complete jobs for them) isn't the customer always right?

...OK I will say her whole "Understood! Aim for the target!" line DOES seem like her overall job here is to fucking kill the Boss, but this is long enough already and the likely theme of Ena having a violent streak and whatnot is another beast entirely that I am NOT getting into here 😭😭

Besides, maybe she has no clearly defined job because we've already seen exactly what it is. To sell her life, time, and emotions to whatever all these clowns ask of her, and to receive no reward besides another goddamn job to do.

I think future chapters may delve more into Ena's true feelings on her situation, and possibly even how she'll get freedom from it. Allow me to mention the scenes with Theodora, wherein if you try to "aspire to receive a blissful life" Theodora just tells Ena "You can't aspire for more than what you are capable of." (LIKE OKAYYYY.... RUDE MUCH????)

Until, finally:

How is her mind—containing a desire for freedom—supposed to be in harmony with the letters it spits out, when she's been so conditioned that the only thing she's allowed to be is a worker?

Now, even I still have a lot of questions after this. Like: What has happened in Ena's past that made her this way? How and why did she take this job in the first place? What is up with the "Guys wait, I'm not doing what you say I'm doing" scene I literally didn't even mention that once here. Why should nobody be punished for being born except poor damn Ena, and does it relate to any of the themes I just talked about?

I... don't know. Like I actually truly have no idea. But I have confidence, even if it's in a delightfully vague and abstract Ena-typical way, that we'll find out eventually.

[croquettish]

We often talk about Henry's side of the Hansry romance in terms of joy. Of Hans unlocking a joy Henry has buried inside him and has difficulty accessing since Skalitz. But I think there's also a side of- purity that he finds in Hans, and I know that sounds ridiculous but gimme a moment.

Henry is on a revenge quest. He goes from Mama's Boy to Papa's Avenger, and like, there is a developer mysoginy aspect to that, but if we read it within story, he is not trying to be who he was when he asked his mom to heal his wounds, someone who asked for comfort and protection. That boy let everyone down. That boy could only run away. He can't quite reconcile with the boy who was his mama's boy with who he is trying to be- so he is his pa's son, or Radzig's son. He doeesn't know how his mother would act with the person he is trying to be.

And Henry does not want to let anyone down. Does not want to run away. These are core values. But he also wants revenge- that part of the equation gives him motivation to move forward he might not otherwise have. Depending on how you play, Henry is gonna let that need turn him into someone, arguably, monstruous. Someone who repeats the harm done to him. Someone merciless. Someone who pa seems disconnected from in his own dreams.

And here comes Hans, and on the one hand, he loves the boy from Skalitz. He lets Henry relax. He lets Henry exist in a space where there is no underlying mission in the back of his mind. And he has a lot of idealized notions that either remind Henry of who he was when he was happier or of who he is trying to remain- the kind of person with notions of being a hero and doing good. On the other hand, Hans is someone who will often engage Henry with moral questions, but very rarely be unwilling to understand him, even when Hans does disagree. Hans is also someone who admires Henry's force of will, a.k.a. the changes Henry is embracing, and from the perspetive of being a "damsel in distress" narratively, someone who must, even subconsciously, let Henry act out the dream of not letting anyone down, of not running away, and of protecting, while not evoking the uglier emotions of revenge- though Hans would support him, as we know from Hans' declaration of willingness to gang up on Istvan, but not to the edges Henry himself dislikes, like burning down Maleshov.

So Hans is purity as both someome who appreciates the person Henry remembers being and the best of who he is trying to be, with a simplicity of goodness in his support.

Hans is someone who I think, as a romance option, appeals to aspects of Henry all around, while other characters appeal to very specific parts of him only. Theresa, Katherine, and Rosa don't quite engage with the multiplicity in Henry. (My take- no hate to the other romance options. maybe they dont hit as many notes because they are simply not as woven into the story.)

Okay so I actually really love this analysis esp bc I actually haven't heard the Hans : joy comparison. That is so lovely. But I also love the bits you mentioned about Henry's parents, since this really got me thinking about them. Incidentally, I've been debating streaming a "mom's approval" KCD2 run on twitch if people here had any interested in that whatsoever.

I also love that you pointed out this change in Henry, from mama's boy to papa's avenger, in part because it's actually a very good way to contextualize how little his mother does show up (outside of the misogyny, which, don't get me wrong, is 100% a factor here). Because she represents for him a childlike innocence he not only can never return to, he doesn't think he deserves it. Like I despise the fact that she doesn't have a name as much as the next person, but even that is something that could be explained (to a minimal extent, I'm not letting them off the hook here) through that lens. Until you're an adult your parents aren't their own people and don't exist outside of their roles of (for Henry) mother and father. But in his father he could see someone who had once fought and traveled the world. The association with the sword itself feels very poignant here.

Not to mention that, if Radzig hadn't named him, we as the players wouldn't have known Martin's name until we met Samuel, who of course knew him only in the context of that emotional (and physical!) distance between them. (That said I do find it interesting that Radzig only refers to Henry's mother as such, and I think it has to do again with that emotional closeness. Of seeing Henry in his love for her. She's not just a name, she's the person who gave him this son he was forced to love from afar for a very long time. And lbr here, he most likely only ever expected to get to love him in that way, from an acute distance.)

Your interpretation of Hans as being representative of this purity (more like his mother than his father in that regard, if I'm reading what you're saying correctly?) is also very interesting. I definitely see what you're saying! I'd go even further and say that Hans is acceptance for him just as Henry is freedom for Hans. Hans clearly wants to be a savior to Henry. But he can't be, so barring that he wants to at least be a safe space for him. And in doing that he is, in fact, acting as the savior he wants to be so badly.

Even though he acts as a moral compass for Henry to a certain extent (such as with burning down Maleshov, as you yourself said), even if Henry turns into someone truly monstrous over the course of KCD2, he still loves and accepts him in the end. Henry's other love interests have… what I would call a rather limited view of Henry. They only get him in small bursts and only see him in very specific contexts. It's also why (!!) it would be so difficult for those relationships to continue, because a relationship that only ever exists in one context can only rarely be removed from that context no matter how badly Henry might want it to be. Meanwhile, Hans could be with Henry 24/7 (and often is!) and it would only make him love Henry all the more for it.

And I mean, listen. I love and respect everyone in this fandom including people who ship Henry with the ladies but also if that is their ship of choice I would sincerely wonder why they were here following me specifically. It feels like this place would not be somewhere where they would have a good time?? Unless they also ship Hansry in which case WELCOME! You will probably enjoy your time here!!!

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

A Good day to you, and I hope that you're faring well. Now then, without further ado, here's my question: What I would like to ask is how you would have structured Playful Land. If I remember correctly, you're rather unfond of how its story 'wastes' too much time (not how you described it, but I'll use it cuz of the word limit) and how it does a 'disservice' to its characters by not exploring their themes, etc., more. Your post on magic elitism was esp notable for that, imo—ran out of words ಠ╭╮ಠ

[ Referencing this analysis (and this follow-up!) ]

I’ve talked at length about my thoughts on Stage in Playful Land! Small correction: my main issue with the event isn’t that the story “wastes time” (although the pacing is still not great) or that it “does a disservice to its characters” (although I do think there are missed opportunities and the SSR trio don’t feel as necessary as they should have been). My main issue is that there are numerous gaping plot holes left unaccounted for. There are definitely some aspects I enjoyed about the event (like the creepy atmosphere!!), but the plot holes are so many and so significant that I cannot take the event as a whole seriously.

I’ve honestly really struggled to do a whole rewrite of Playful Land because of the abundance of plot holes 🧍‍♂️ Here’s one iteration I’ve considered (though it’s not totally perfect):

I would lean more into the themes of growing up and losing childhood innocence and hope along the way. I feel that this would not only enhance Fellow’s character motivations, but also make our SSRs the perfect fits to challenge Fellow. I’ll get into more detail on how later in this post, I’m just pointing my intentions out here to preface what to pay attention to.

The opening of the event would be similar; Fellow runs into the NRC students while in Foothill Town. What would be different is the context behind Playful Land. In the original, Playful Land is said to be made by skilled mages, which calls into question “who” and “why” if it is used for the horrendous crime of human trafficking. In my rewrite, Playful Land was a failed project by a powerful mage (not sure if it would be one of the current top 5 mages or not; it could be by someone who is dead now).

The intention was to make a magical destination where you could feel like you’re in another world and you’ve returned to childhood (so you can still get your silly “Wow it’s just Disney glazing its own parks” jokes in). However, the mage kept running into trouble with the magic they wanted to infuse into the park. The project became incredibly expensive and was never able to finish because the funding ran dry and no investors believed in the creator’s vision after so many failures with the spellcasting. In despair, the park creator was forced to sell the land and property off to a mysterious benefactor (ie Fellow’s boss), who was the only one looking to acquire it.

Fellow’s boss takes advantage of the park’s preexisting structures and, with some touch-ups from his own magical hired help, twists the park into the version we see in the original Playful Land. The idea is that the park creator, paralleling Fellow, had big, innocent hopes and dreams, which were ultimately crushed by money problems. Then that lost childhood dream is stolen by greater forces and repackaged into something sinister.

Anyway, Fellow could sell the park to us as something of an urban legend, similar to how it’s presented in the original. The added effect of its new history, however, makes it sound like a creepypasta which I think adds to the Halloween vibes. It’s a theme park that was never completed, newly renovated and now opening for the first time to the public?! How could that NOT be intriguing?

Fellow invites the NRC students and, in this version, he still encourages them to bring more of their NRC friends. (I’ll explain later why he’s so confident about not being caught or pursued in the new version.)

The same events play out from here; 11 NRC boys plus Yuu and Grim come out and take the boat out to the amusement park.

During the middle section in which we’re exploring Playful Land, I want there to be specific attention given to how Fellow engages with Kalim, Ace, and Ortho. In the original event, I feel these three hardly make an impact as the SSR trio, and I want to fix that here. Given the new focus on corrupted childhood innocence, this would reframe Fellow and the SSR trio’s exchanges with one another.

In this new version, each of the SSR boys represents a stage in life. Ortho, who just recently gained sentience, is childhood. Ace, the brat, is adolescence. And finally, Kalim, who is a big brother, the oldest of the three, and the one who ultimately convinces Fellow to change his ways, is young adulthood. (Follow me on this, I swear this will make sense!!)

Ortho will express a lot of curiosity when exploring the park. He has never had the chance to experience these things before, after all!! Fellow has to explain these things to Ortho (albeit he does so with the intention of luring the kids deeper into this mess), but there should be a scene where Fellow has a little aside with Gidel and reminiscences on the time in his youth when he had the same curiosity and eagerness for life.

Ace causes mischief around the park, be it teasing his friends or causing mild inconveniences for the employees. Fellow will laugh and play the part of a “responsible adult” that swoops in and corrects Ace. His aside with Gidel here will have Fellow being frustrated that he has to be nice to Ace. He’ll say something along the lines of, “That brat’s in for a rude awakening…!” (What you’re meant to pick up on here is that Fellow is cursing the fact that Ace can afford to goof off because he doesn’t yet have adult responsibilities like taking care of a child or earning money to feed oneself.)

Finally, Kalim is supposed to be the ideal and Fellow’s polar opposite: a boy who manages to develop into a young man that manages to retain his sense of wonder and belief in the world in spite of all the changes that happen, in spite of all the bad things that plague him. Maybe Kalim has some issues crop up in his park trip but he just shrugs them off like it’s nothing. Fellow’s surprised that Kalim can be like this, but behind Kalim’s back he chalks it up for the safety and security Asim family wealth provides him. I want Fellow to increasingly become bitter towards Kalim for having all the things he doesn’t have—both money and his childhood innocence intact.

The night portion in the park is roughly the same as the original. Us NRC students break the park rules and, one by one, we’re captured and brought to the stage area until only the SSR trio are left. One addition I’d like to make here is that, while exploring the park at night, we uncover the origins of it and learn about the creator and how he lost sight of his dream. Maybe there’s leftover documentation or some plans they find from the creator?? Not entirely sure.

At some point, some of the influential/wealthy boys will bring up the fact that people will come looking for them. The documents they find, however, will reveal a terrible secret about the park: the very reason why it never got off the ground to begin with. The creator was so ambitious, they wanted to make a park experience in which you could literally disappear into its world… so anyone kept in the park for an extended period of time (uhh, let’s say 24 hours or so?) is erased in the memories of the people on the outside. The creator couldn’t perfect the magic, which led to this… flaw, a flaw that Fellow’s employer sought to tamper with and take advantage of for his own means. (The “you turn into a puppet if you break the rules” thing can be something Fellow’s boss has added.) The strange effects of the park is also meant to invoke the idea of a person being left behind or forgotten by the larger system, which is how Fellow feels when he is rejected from a magic school.

Anyway, let’s fast forward to the SSR trio confronting Fellow!! This is where he really lets it out on the boys, berating them for their foolishness and their privilege. Ortho and Ace both try to use underhanded means to beat him, and Kalim’s the only one who keeps pushing for amicable methods and giving Fellow a chance.

Fellow is able to get his hands on Ortho and Ace’s tickets and tear them. When it comes to Kalim, he tries to talk some sense into Fellow, maybe even offer a hug or to talk it out. At this point, Fellow’s pathetic and worn out from chasing the kids around all night so he’ll go in for the apology hug and use that as a fake-out to steal the final ticket. I want Fellow to use underhanded tricks like Ortho and Ace did to show how many grow up and lose their wonder, becoming adults like Fellow who have to do whatever it takes to get by.

Insert a scene where Fellow, upon winning, brags to Kalim about his victory. This entire time, Fellow had beef with his cluelessness about how the real world works and, wanting to break Kalim’s spirit, proceeds to rub salt in the wound. And you know what? Kalim still holds out (maybe this would be a good opportunity for him to bring up the park’s creator and how their dream still lives on even if they’re not here anymore). That not only angers Fellow but scares him. Because if Kalim can still keep smiling in despite all of this, despite not having any of his wealth or connections helping him, then what was all of his suffering and slaving away until this point for???

I want to point out, we would retain the scenes where we cut from the free boys to the puppet’d ones speaking positively of their school lives to Fellow. Again, Kalim mentions the fun and possibilities he has at NRC with everyone (sort of in a last minute “It was nice knowing you guys” way).

In this moment, when Fellow is emotionally and physically beat down, shown there’s still hope in people like Kalim and the still-standing park, that’s when the boss’s phone call rolls in. We can still have Fellow’s breaking point + snapping here, as well as his declaration at the end for him to make his own way in the world, but I feel the latter point makes more sense with the newly introduced elements. In the original, it felt like Fellow suddenly became hopeful again (when he was JUST at his lowest) for little to no reason.

Anyway, the NRC students and Fellow team up the break down the park. It’s symbolic of tearing down past expectations the world placed on you and finding your own freedom again. With the park destroyed, it restores the public’s memories of the prior victims (and this doesn’t necessarily have to be confirmed, but we could get a line about how the authorities will want to investigate this).

Like in the original event, Fellow will state his intentions to start his own school, one where he can teach practical life skills. In this version, he’ll also stress the importance of never losing your wonder in the world—because even without money, you can never lose the ability to enjoy the little things in life. Maybe we could have Ortho or Ace say they have to report Fellow Honest for his complicity in the crimes, only for him to pretend to look at his watch, go, “Oh, is it that time already?! I’ve gotta hit the road, boys!”, and the skedaddle into the sunset with Gidel.

nxjsbwjwjwow Like I said, this rewrite isn’t perfect and it definitely feels clunky in some places but I think overall the new narrative works. The only other thing I’d add here is that episodes 1-5 should roughly have the same amount of parts in it; the original event had really odd pacing where one episode would have only 11 parts and then another would be nearly double that.

Those are my thoughts ^^ Feel free to let me know if you have any of your own ideas to fix Playful Land!

[girldriveroscar]

Re: size of landoscar. Love your write up haha. Truly any narrative can be validated bc every pic looks different ‼️I do have two pics that are crucial landoscar comparisons imo:

https://www.tumblr.com/answerringg/770682515577077760/their-size-difference-oh-lando-is-getting

This pic is a screen grab from a vid but just in general he looks huge this whole video 😭 like you mentioned I think his bad posture eventuates that + optical illusion but wow. What a satisfying visual re: him vs Lando. Like FINE I’ll buy into the whole ‘Lando’s so small🥺’ that both Lando and Oscar like to perpetuate🤷‍♀️

there’s also a vid of Oscar+ a fan and the comments/fan all mention how surprisingly tall Oscar is. Like Lando said in that first Mclaren vid… Oscar doesn’t seem tall.. but he is. (tall being like 5’10/11 lol)

https://www.tumblr.com/mara-xx/770330916757372928/needed-a-last-minute-birthday-cake-so-i-called-up

^ And this one is just self explanatory 💗

Anyway sorry for the length but my last random thoughts — even as someone who’s never paid attention to lando til like 5 seconds ago, I can tell he’s gone through a massive glow up. And to make this rpf bc why not, how lucky for oscar —the guy who’s been a fan of forever— to experience Lando in his prime (thus far). Oscar said #invest #manifest 

THIS and THIS for ease…

THESE SUITS WERE SO. fuck that ugly ass diagonal suit broOAUGH. this era..peak landoscar size diff cus like oscar Jus grew n lando had Not.

but ok like they r Literally always changing sizes. frm the front to the back to the outfit to the angle

i could find a Billion examples atp !!

why doesnt the big twink eat the little twink seeing this Reformed my brain n the way i see them bc. from the front they r so

0 and o

like oscars small horizontally (again FROM THE FRONT!) while landos smaller vertically. but theyre both Small Basically. (#f1drivers)

but at the same time. theres a lot of muscle mass packed into their frames. and as they shift arnd / have better or worse posture / flex and unflex. theyre either Twigs or Big.

its shrödingers landoscar… theyre big and small… i think the only real conclusion for this wld amount frm seeing them in the flesh. which i dont intend to do or ever report on. LOL. probably.

i fully believe oscars taller than he looks tho. ESP after this year. end of 2023 vs start of 2024 and end of 2024 for reference. i think its a slight growth spurt maybe i am… being kind to oscar though…

anyways thank u for the oscass pic. that photo genuinely makes me Claw and rattle the bars of my enclosure like he is so Perfectly bouncy in that. n lando is my pancake in a way…

and bc youre landoscaring im landoscaring. Under the cut tho.

the fact oscars not even.. big… n they stil BOTH push this narrative of lando is sooo itty bitty…

the way sue Cs it oscar is so giddy about being in on the “lando is the small and fiercely dominant” joke after following said smallest boys career When He was Actually the Smallest… like he is living out his 15 yr old dream please excuse his excitement he Literally is just in on the joke now. of course hes milking it. ijsk he wanted to b george russell soooo bad. hes Crazy. let him have this bit.

lando i think leans into his smallness as a shield bc its all hes ever known and been told. but thats a whole deeper convo. still cannot bring myself to edit that lando analysis Very apologetic the thoughts might hv to die in my drafts <\3

the #invest made me LOLLLL. hes so true. following a guy frm his feeder series bc u Saw the potential in him. Watching him get to F1. Moving frm adolescence leaving everything familiar to u behind to kart with the same team. Stumbling behind in his footsteps. Getting to F1 right by his side. And then u won a championship w him. brought glory back to ur team through the power of Literally Just getting along.. and u have these weird charged events of tension that Somehow get ironed out Somehow.. And ur so completely the opposite of everything he knows and yet the longest teammate he has Ever Had..oOh My Goooood

we rlly dont… give enough time and energy to JUST HOW crazy of a coincidence that is. js think ab how exciting it is for Us when the F2/F3 driver ur following makes it into F1 !! like if Luke Browning or Fred Vesti ever got a seat im Doing Actual Backflips. IT RLY IS LIKE. #invest #manifest now add on everything else??? LIKE WHAT!!!!! god they make me crazy. and somehow lando got super stupid hot and hes a race winner and can actually groan out loud when he fucks instead of whimpering pathetically. that’s crazy man. 🚬🚬🚬🚬

[femmesourdough]

Its so revealing too about how one sided the sympathy for characters' own trauma and internal lives is for these people because um. I don't know how to tell people this but Lucienne has had to watch her entire home crumble to dust and everyone she loves besides him, either flee or crumble to dust. Her library, her pride and joy, the project she has dedicated MILLENIA if not millions of years of her long lifetime to, is gone. She has been in total isolation, wandering the crumbling ruins of the only home she has ever known for MOST of her existence at this point, for at minimum, a few years now. All of this happens because Dream was held captive. Like, y'all think this wasn't traumatic for her?? Really??

So when he comes back and immediately is like "right, need to go leave to get my stuff, even though I'm still basically at 5% power instead of 1% so anything could happen to me. Again"...yeah, of course she's freaking out internally and overruling his insistence to make sure she isn't stuck there without any way to reach him or know wtf is happening. Yeah, she's "not really listening"...but Lucienne is traumatized too.

But I guess only Dream gets to lash out and act badly. His trauma is the only trauma that counts. Hell, according to ppl who posted and agreed with that take, it's like they only even remember the existence of his trauma in the first place in their minds. Sure. Fine. Whatever. Cool

this is all reminding me of that post on here about lucienne not respecting dream’s boundaries re: having a new raven. as though she wasn’t 100% in the right and faultless and he wasn’t being a little bitch. this really does happen every time huh

[angeldeviloshi]

So gotta talk about the chapter title again and the way 有害 is translated.

In the JP version it's written 有害な二人 (A Harmful Pair) translating it as toxic works too since people do talk about manufactured products being toxic as well as it being a reflection of the unhealthy nature of Asa's and Denji's life and relationship as it stands.

I find it noteworthy that Asa uses this to describe herself like the bun, in that she is herself containing something harmful.

Esp wrt the bread analysis I've done recently in mind, the bread as representation of love, desire, satiation through the framing of Denji's dream, normal life and family.

(Bread analysis for easy access)

The roles AsaYoru currently plays for him while he too acts as lover and parent for Asa to fill her void of companionship and mourning, keeping each other fed.

Money and the dead brought up again. They afford this small luxury between them through theft, living off the dead in the wake of their destruction via Yoru's shooting and the Chainsaw Devil horde. What they robbed the masses of.

Denji telling Asa not to eat the bread if she minds it so much also calling back to Asa eating the dried fish Denji made despite being averse to eating fish because of the weight death holds for her. Asa swallowing the bread as an acceptance of her hellish circumstances and Yoru emerges again.

In a way, the consumption of the bread also reads as Denji and Asa coming to terms with this as their newfound normal with the pain and harm it carries and Chimerasaw Man's appearance here questioning if it's alright for Denji to be having this brings to mind Makima and Barem's judgment on Denji for enjoying a normal life despite his sins.

Asa herself expressing her discontent and grudge towards her peers for seemingly living a normal life as she suffers but they were likely just trying not to think about it, just like what she's taken to doing with Denji. Quanxi's ignorance is bliss.

Speaking of Quanxi, her answering Yoru's question at the devil containment centre about Denji being stronger than her by saying that Denji isn't stronger but he's more fearsome.

And I kinda see it as a way of saying that Denji isn't necessarily as tough and aloof as Quanxi (model of the hardened devil hunter as Kishibe's ideal) but there's a deeper horror to Denji as a person in the ignorance he employs both selective and genuine and what it leads to because of how much he feels and the lengths he goes to numb it.

Something something the devils inside Denji and Asa as reflection of their heart emerging as their thorns.

[atopvisenyashill]

Why do you think Jaehaerys sexually assaulted his own daughter?( I'm genuinely curious)

I have two dedicated tags to this if you want to dig in a bit more - "gael and the bard" and the newly added "jaehaerys the cruel" tags, with this meta here being the kind of jumping off point into that whole theory/analysis. gael and the bard is more focused on gael targaryen herself and the mystery surrounding her pregnancy and suicide; there's a lot of bael the bard imagery surrounding her, being called the winter princess, gael being one letter off from bael, the father of her baby noted to have been a singer, and her status as like, an eternal maiden because of her relationship with alysanne. the jaehaerys the cruel moniker is just a reference to maegor the cruel - i think the play between maegor being outwardly monstrous and jaehaerys being privately monstrous is very interesting! but also it's not like a fun tag name lol so i might change it, haven't decided yet!

but i guess to break down my thought process here - i have never liked that man lmaoooo, i am an og jaehaerys hater. my lil journey here is, i read this series in high school, roughly around the winter of 2012, but i didn't read twoiaf when it came out in 2014, i read that just before i started this blog, so like....idk 2 years ago, roughly, but i was Aware Of Its Existence (they didn't have it at school, the library was kind of far, and it felt like a stupidly expensive book to ask for at the time). i had kinda skimmed over the short stories the princess & the queen and the rogue prince (don't ask me when they came out, icr), and had read all the twow preview chapters so it wasn't like i wasn't up on all the asoiaf world stuff, i just hadn't been able to get my hands on twoiaf, which I do think impacted my view of jaehaerys because the thing is...i just didn't understand the jaehaerys appeal. i won't get into the wanky aspects of fandom (i mean i will if someone asks but idk if you care lol), but i would say in the like 2010-2014 era the fandom was p staunchly and loudly pro targaryen, and not just in a "i love the rot" way but in a "they are the promised heroes" type of way and i never jived with it. i did not enjoy the vast majority of dany's chapters on my first read, nor did i enjoy this weird "well if you like the starks you're a NORMIE" takes that i was constantly seeing, and the sansa v arya war was insane (i'm blocked and have blocked just so many people lol).

i say all that because everyone was UP jaehaerys' ass. i won't name names but i remember a common rebuttal to the "well george is kinda critiquing incest-in-fantasy here and i'm not sure this series is going to end with an incestuous targ restoration" stance was "well if incest is so bad why do jaehaerys and alysanne exist huh? check AND mate incest hater" and it was like............alright, so this is a fandom of deeply unserious people who like to think they are the Expert On Themes instead of just another schmuck with a blog like everyone else. it was just a very condescending tone, always, and it turned me off the targs but especially turned me off jaehaerys.

and it was also like....but what has he done to be so beloved in this fandom??? again, this is pre twoiaf, and then post-twoiaf but pre f&b, so all we know about this dude is that he was called the conciliator because he pardoned the people who sided with maegor, he "protected the faith", he married his sister who gave the watch the gift, he abolished prima noctus, he built a dirt road, he was besties with barth. okay? i always thought the move with the gift was annoying and goofy behavior & i feel very vindicated on being right there esp if aegon’s dream was real, and i’ve always thought the marriages for his kids were kinda weird once we got those in twoiaf and WHAT DO YOU KNOW. like, pre twoiaf everyone was hyping him up as this great king, this paragon of valyrian supremacy, oh he’s so smart and politically minded but he’s not overly cruel, and it was like. we know little about this man in his day to day life though. we know damn well whatever good robert did as king was largely jon arryn's influence so Why are we pretending like just because jaehaerys passed a few good laws it means HE was the one responsible for those ideas (and again I WAS RIGHT). is what he’s doing even that good??

AND THEN FIRE AND BLOOD CAME OUT. and everyone was crying screaming throwing up about how stupid he is, how cruel he is, how weird he is about his daughters, and then people started saying “well you’re being unfair if you don’t like him because-“ i don’t give a shit because i’m validated for not liking that man’s vibes thanks!!!! like…yeah he IS a paragon of targaryen supremacy and this is not a good thing! and especially when you factor in how often the patriarchs of the series have these deeply rooted, very disturbing flaws, i thought the backlash to f&b re: “he ruined jae & aly!” so silly. of COURSE he was weird about his daughters, he eloped with his 12 year old sister and when confronted over it basically said “i do what i want fuck you” that’s not romantic it’s INSANE BEHAVIOR and i’ll stand on that forever!!! marrying your siblings is deranged and idgaf about what magic or political reasoning they have ESPECIALLY when jaehaerys himself refuses a valyrian marriage several times over when it makes more political sense to go that route (in both his own marriage and in the marriages of his grandchildren).

so! i always thought he was boring and weird, then f&b came out and i was vindicated. the thing is, as i read, i guess i was also like. but what is the fuckijg POINT of this guy! he dominates the f&b narrative when there’s way more interesting characters, he has no redeeming qualities, every good thing he does is usually overshadowed by his reasoning being heinous and disturbing, but this book is pushing this idea that he’s the good one, he’s the blueprint, so is it JUST an exploration of like, what ~being a good person~ really means and how reputations & history are very malleable depending on who is recording it??

And then i really started to dig into Saera. Her isolation, her drinking, her sexually tormenting the court fool, the way jaehaerys is always giving her gifts and "indulging" her, the way she's brought before the throne instead of in a private room because what she did is considered like, treasonous basically (what she did being, of course, having sex without her father's permission, lmao!), her very hysterical confrontation with her parents, Jonquil Darke forcing her to watch her boyfriend be murdered, Jaehaerys' insistence on refusing to forgive her and calling her a whore, and of course this weird exchange:

“What have you done?” the king said, when at last the princess ran out of words. “Seven save us, what have you done? Have you given one of these boys your maidenhead? Tell me true.” “True?” said Saera. It was in that moment, with that word, that the contempt came out. “No. I gave it to all three. They all think they were the first. Boys are such silly fools.”

"They all think they were the first." they all think it. i don't think any of those three boys were the first - i think she'd lost her virginity well before she started fooling around with them and when I first read that part my first thought was "I think Jaehaerys knows damn well who she lost her virginity to" and I started spiraling from there.

I decided to do a write up of Jaehaerys Being Deeply Weird Towards His Girls and while there's some things I would change - in particular, I think I'd add more to the Alyssa, Viserra, and Gael sections - there's a reason that the Saera section in particular seemed to really spark off a lot of conversation (not to toot my own horn here lmao) and that reason, imo, is that a lot of people read about what happened between Saera and jaehaerys and go "now what in the goddamn hell is THAT about." Saera more than any of Jaehaerys' kids is imo the canary in the coal mine, so to speak - whatever George intended with F&B, I do think he meant for us to look at the way Jaehaerys talks about Saera and go "this guy has some fucking ISSUES." I don't know that he meant for it to go all the way up to "Jaehaerys is molesting his own kids" route but I do fully believe he meant something in that realm of "Jaaehaerys is cruel to a sexually abusive point to his children" the same way that like, Tywin and Cersei sexually abuse Tyrion but don't outright rape him themselves. I think Jaehaerys was always meant to be aman who is remembered fondly but was an absolute monster in his private life, in contrast to both the kings he succeeded (maegor and aenys) and as a point of comparison to our "modern day" patriarchs who have their own hang ups surrounding their daughters in Tywin, Doran, Ned, Robert, Jon, and Hoster.

[danothan]

this analysis by @mezz000 is everything i was hoping to find in the smosh & the furious tag and more, so ofc i had to join the fun ^__^

(irt the difference in pressure being put onto the siblings:) despite always falling behind, or perhaps bc of it, charlize is motivated by Winning; she switches gears to a dif field and follows her passions to success (“feels good to be number one for once.”). but JR, for all his arrogance and achievements, digs his grave in the family legacy bc he’s motivated by Fear (“daddy would be mad if i didn’t win more.”). it’s a fear of losing that only comes w the kind of success that JR has faced, but it even extends to charlize too (“what’s daddy gonna say abt this?”). there’s a learned helplessness in the way he stays behind and destroys his life while charlize defines freedom for herself and learns to truly live for the first time.

the siblings don’t have a strong rivalry, but that’s primarily due to charlize’s own detachment to the legacy. jumping off of the gender bias analysis (not a stretch at all imo), charlize was always at a disadvantage as the younger and only daughter, so she had less of a dog in the fight. whether her popstar dreams were born out of a self-fulfilling prophecy knowing that she could never beat JR or an intrinsic passion to express herself after being dismissed all her life (or both), she never cared abt winning over her brother. the rivalry was always an external force from the family.

on JR’s end? he taunts her like the rivalry is real, like it’s equal—and it’s not. he loves and cares abt his sister, in a way that i’d even say subverts the sibling rivalry trope, but unlike her, he very much has a dog in this fight. this is seen in the way he trash talks her: “y’know baby sis, maybe this isn’t what you’re supposed to do,” yet gets upset and even concerned when she agrees w the very thing he suggests. i don’t think JR cared abt beating charlize, that was frankly never a real risk, but the rivalry isn’t an external force for him like it is for her. there’s smth else at play here, smth internal.

“i’m winning like i always am, and you’re in the back like you always are,” are very interesting choice words. in favor of a dramatic reading, there’s a bitter undercurrent in saying “always.” it speaks to a greater history.

in a later scene, JR calls back to that history w the racing practice he and charlize used to do on the farm, and while their father was probably training them both, i doubt that he was making them “shear the backs off of tractors” for “practice.” it’s more likely that the siblings were doing these things on their own—separate from training. alternatively, their dad gave up on charlize a long time ago but JR kept her involved by upholding the rivalry (which would also make sense if we follow the gender bias theory). either way, JR recalls this memory almost fondly, using it to instill confidence in charlize’s abilities in their moment of crisis (“i believe in you, sis! we practiced this back on the farm!”). it begs the question of why someone would’ve ever been so supportive or possibly even trained the person that was meant to be their rival, esp someone like JR where the stakes of winning are so dire.

unless it was never abt the rivalry. unless this was always supposed to be a way for them to bond and connect w each other. racing is the only life that JR knows, so when charlize left, it wasn’t just the racing life she was leaving behind.

there’s smth so tragic abt charlize begging JR to come w her, to finally break free and still reach out to her brother (“i’m always saving you.”) vs JR implicitly begging charlize to stay w him, for whom leaving was never a real option (“dad just taught us how to race.”). they only wanted what was best for each other, and they both felt abandoned by each other in that moment. why else did it take the government to get involved for them to start talking again after nearly 5yrs?

and ykw? despite the hurt, despite their different paths, they kept true to their word. in those 5yrs, when charlize left everything behind for her music, she was writing her songs abt him. and when JR was at his lowest, abandoned by everyone, he was listening to her the entire time.

[vsa-pieldepapel]

I definitely enjoy Susie's and Ralsei's relationship much much more than hers and Noelle's. But on the topic of predicting where the plot will go, I am more on the Suselle side rather than Ralsusie (knowing Toby the way I do, I don't think he'll necessarily have the two of the girls just turn at the screen and say "we're dating", but I expect at least clear intent from them to commit to the relationship)

Speaking of committing, the way I see their relationship right now, despite of how Noelle has 10 more obvious crush on Susie, I think Susie already shows more committment to the relationship than her.

First off, Susie does show a crush on her in the hospital. Whether she is shy in front of Rudy or she is genuinely making up a defense mechanism (is interesting, but) is irrelevant to my point.

I suspect that at the moment, Noelle takes her own kindness for granted, and is still one leg in the dream land of "Oh Angel, my dream girl spending time with me, it must be a miracle" - and she is expecting to be at the receptive end of the relationship. I think the next step would be her to realise the she has to commit, and that she has something that she can offer Susie.

Regarding your prophecy analysis, it is a interesting thought, but I wouldn't go writing off Suselle out of it yet. There are 2 views to consider:

One, the prophecy seems vague, and at times mildly contradictory, and it could be that we are working off wrong assumptions (or that the prophecy is vague to allow multiple alternative ways to fulfill it (or that it is vague to allow multiple ways to fulfill it at different time periods)). Point is, the plot could turn around on us and make it that Susie and Noelle coming together IS defying a prophecy. Hypothetically.

Two: Noelle's line:

Maybe Susie will somehow end up thinking that the relationship wouldn't be normal, natural, if it's prophecised. But Noelle will ensure that the ferris wheel doesn't matter.

Since you said that you have a bias against Suselle, I thought to ask for you to elaborate why you think it is less likely than we think.

I don't interpret that bit at the hospital to be necessarily indicative of a crush given she immediately goes "sucks for her lmao", i see it as susie having a pair of eyes and being surprised that a girl like noelle who is pretty, superficially appears as if she has her shit together, is rich, and is a top student is not already going to the festival with someone. It's an easy assumption to make that people would be swooning for such a bachelorette, but following it up with the "wow that sucks for her" dismisses intent and is especially notable because rudy is obviously insinuating "ask her out"

I find it funny that you say it reflects "commitment" given this is the same chapter where susie holds ralsei's face with her bloody hand and tells kris that her dream is to be able to stay friends with them and ralsei because that reads sooooo much more as commitment than just acknowledging that Noelle has a lot of qualities that should have ppl lining up to ask her on dates lol :D

I think the prophecy being minorly inconsistent with Lord of the Hammer and Dragon Blazers is simply adaptational differences, esp given gerson emphasizes stories retold. After all, all of the beats that Gerson mentions describing Lord of the Hammer are consistent with the prophecy save for minor wording differences or reinterpretations.

Ultimately though? You may be right. If that is the case, I consider that bad writing. I consider that an atrocious setup for a relationship because it's bland, lacks emotional depth even 4/7ths into the game, is mostly skippable. I would be shocked and disappointed in Toby for writing something so boring, especially with everything surrounding it that is compelling and has a lot of emotional depth. Before it used to be like "oh, it's just two chapters, a lot can change in five chapters" but now we are past half the game with very little progression or change in tone. If he wants to turn things around hes running out of time!!! (Though with ral and susie the emotional stakes have risen every chapter and their relationship keeps developing at a pace that makes sense... which makes it even more shocking that it's happening with one relationship, and not the other...)

[maleyanderecafe]

Hi! I love your blog and reading your game recommendations (really grateful to find some hidden treasure!!!) so I want to send you a recommendation as well! Recently the demo for the game "Snow White Ashes" by endysis has been updated, and though yandere elements are so far, quite subtle, the hints are there (esp in bonus scenes). Not to mention the stunning artworks, the original soundtracks, and the lovely writing weaving one gothic horror fairytale-like story. I'd love for you to enjoy it and share with us your analysis of the game! Have a good day and once again thank you for all of your recommendations!

This game really does embody a tragic fairy tale (which, originally a lot of fairy tales were like this) inside of a visual novel. The artwork is beautiful, the story is sad and the soundtrack is very nice to listen to. The yandere actions in this game aren't as prominent on Gabriel's side (and in fact are a bit more so on the female lead's side). There are about three routes that can go about that also unlock three different extra scenes. If you are interested, you can find more at @endys.

The story starts out with a woman walking in the cold forest. She seems to be out luring someone to her to kill them, as evidenced by the knife in her pocket. She decides to either draw blood or sing to lure them out, both of which brings out a man dressed in white to come to her aid. Seeing that the woman is cold, he offers to let her stay at his place as the nearest town is too far away. She graciously accepts his help and she brings her into a cabin in the woods. As they walk, they ask for each others names. The MC's name is Michelle and the man introduces himself as Gabriel. She seems to want to expose Gabriel for the monster he is, though so far he doesn't seem to be at all. The two converse, talking about the Mist Queen, a mystic person who seems to be someone inhumane terrorizing the town. While talking she mentions a family that she was accepted into, though now it no longer is something that exists. We learn that while he is a hunter now, he used to be a doctor and was married happily for a long while until the plague happened or we learn about how he and his wife met, with him tending to her wounds after she fell. Michelle then talks about either her fondness of singing or her fondness of sewing. They end up getting to the cottage after they hear some wolves.

Upon going to the cottage, the two are about to make out when Gabriel ends up pulling out the weapon from Michelle's clothes. He seems to know that she's lying to him about her name and identity. She cannot lie to him and reveals that she is indeed the Mist Queen, aka, Gabriel's former wife. She bites back at him, asking why he was bringing back girls to his cottage, where he retorts that he knew who she was the entire time. Gabriel retorts that she has taken a new body accusing her of murdering a young girl, when Michelle reveals that she only took the body of a girl who was already dead. She continues stating that the girl (and many others) have been found dead, likely because of one of their kind, accusing him of killing them. Gabriel tells her, (Selene is her true name) that he wouldn't do that and that he's been loyal to her for centuries, also revealing that she was the one who made him immortal like her. Gabriel leaves to see if what Selene said is true, which leaves her alone in the cabin. She can either decide to stay or leave, and if she stays, she has the chance to destroy his lyre, which if she does, will cause her to feel immense regret afterwards. Even if she leaves, she will end up being saved by Gabriel after she is almost attacked by wolves. After looking around, she ends up finally resting, which leads to a dream about her past.

She first has nightmare about the two girl's skin that she stole, Myia, and the one where she first met Gabriel and the one she is wearing now, Calliope. We see a flashback of when she first met Gabriel. Having gotten a new body by chance, instead of eating it, she decides to pretend to be her and live in the village. She later attempts to hunt for food, but ends up getting hurt, causing the person she was hunting, Gabriel to help her. Although she is pretty annoyed at his help, she ends up accepting it nevertheless, with Gabriel even carrying her back to the village. As time goes on, the two of them grow fonder of each other, until Gabriel ends up proposing to her. Initially she refuses, afraid that he will eventually find out who she is and will eventually outlive him. However, despite all of this, knowing that she is not actually the girl whos skin she wears, she ends up accepting and living with him as his wife in the village. Later on, Gabriel ends up losing one of his patients during childbirth and the two end up adopting her surviving son. Selene ends up making a doll for her new adopted son, with Gabriel impressed by her needlework. As time goes by and Gabriel ages, Selene's body does not, causing rumors to spread across her village. This leads to a fight with her and Gabriel as she feels incredible guilt that he will eventually die leaving her behind while she lives as essentially a zombie. As they resolve the fight, Gabriel promises to never leave her side until his death. A few years later, a plague starts to form in town. Gabriel tries to make Selene and their son leave so they won't get infected, while he wants to stay behind and do his job as a doctor. However, as she wants to be by his side, she sends her son off to safety while she stays behind with her husband. As time goes by, Gabriel gets sicker and sicker, even losing his arm, having Selene chop it off for him. Slowly he begins to die, and Selene's body also starts to deteriorate, and to keep him alive, Selene finds dead bodies and sews parts of them back onto Gabriel as his body decays. After this, she ends up giving some of her blood to him, causing him to live again. Gabriel initially doesn't recognize her as she's had to change bodies, but also is equally as frightened by his new body. Then afterwards the two live together for a bit before separating for thirty years. After the two of them wander in isolation, Gabriel returns to Selene, devoting himself to her as he cannot bear the isolation any longer, only asking for her to kill him if he goes mad for blood.

Upon waking up, she seems worried that she might have to kill him to keep the promise she made to him. She finds that Gabriel had returned, even making her food in return. Gabriel tells her that he indeed saw the things that she spoke of, and we see that he even kept one of the pieces of clothes she made him. After being fed (or not) the soup that he made. The two argue for a bit about the entire seducing thing in the beginning, with Gabriel being hesitant because she's not in the original body where they first met. They hear a knock at the door and upon opening it, see the body of Myia talking to Gabriel about how he missed her and how she missed him.

There are three extra scenes. I'll go from the first one Lullaby to the last one, Monsters. These are all from Gabriel's point of view, likely something that happens while she sleeps.

In Lullaby, we see that he is surprised to see her wear another skin. He seems to have a bit of body dysmorphia, not even recognizing his new hand despite everything, thus wearing the gloves he always does. He seems to have a lot of self loathing and ends up humming a lullaby to her at the end.

In Suffering, Gabriel wonders about how his wife is feeling, desperately wanting to touch her face but not allowing himself to. He doesn't want leave her side or have anyone take his place. It seems he believes he has to stay by her side no matter what, and that he needs her more than anything. This is probably the extra that encapsulates his more yandere nature in a more clingy manner.

In Monster, Gabriel seems to find it weird that his wife was able to live like this for so long. He is especially angry in this one, wondering if she knows how easy it would be for him to kill her as she sleeps. This extra is the one that is the most possessive.

The story itself is rather melancholy in tone, much like the original Grimms Fairy Tales, with a lot of inspiration seemingly being taken from things like Snow White and the Ice Queen, which you can kind of tell from the title. The artwork is extremely beautiful with moving parts of the backgrounds like leaves and snow, and there is a feeling of bitterness between Selene and Gabriel despite the love they clearly have for each other. The work is written in a more fanciful tone, and has a lot of mourning on Selene's part as she is essentially an immortal zombie/vampire- never really truly quite human and never really comfortable in the skin she's in (quite literally). The music is lovely too, very quiet but impactful which really gives the whole vibe of the game being a more sad retelling of a story.

Both Gabriel and Selene have a sort of attachment with each other and both of them are obsessed/possessive with each other. On Selene's part, while she did try to break away from Gabriel when they first met, she wasn't able to, and when she did get the happy life as a human, she very desperately didn't want to let go of it, claiming Gabriel and their adopted son as hers. In the backstory especially we do see that she internally is very possessive over Gabriel, considering this is the first time she's properly fallen in love with someone and is fully aware that she can't live this life forever. We also see this in the current time with Selene accusing Gabriel of luring other women into his cottage, even though he knew it was her in the first place. Despite this though, we can see where this idea comes from, as Selene is always pretending to be someone else as she's always in someone else's skin, and immortal, meaning that she can never fully enjoy a human life as herself. She knows that Gabriel will likely die one day and she fears being alone again, and losing the person she loves. On both sides there is a strong attachment with each other. Gabriel, even before turned in the creature that Selene was already devoting his life to be with her, loyal to the very end of his life. And even after when Selene turns him, he returns after many years to devote himself once again, wanting to stay by her side forever, much like the knight like family he was raised in. We see this more in the extra stories where we see Gabriel's point of view, seeing that he's obsessed with being with her because he has nothing else and that she is his, though we also see that it is part of a mix of other emotions such as his fear of being lonely and his feelings of dysmorphia due to the body parts stitched onto him. He still maintains his strong loyalty to Selene, but it is also filled with anger as she turned him against his will, even if it was in an attempt to save his life from disease.

I'm not really sure who this new person that comes in at the end is. She very clearly is using the body of when Selene and Gabriel first met and knows about their relationship. It is very likely another one of their species, though why she seems to specifically be targeting these two is still a mystery. We're also not sure who or what is causing the death of the many maidens, so it could actually be her depending on how long this story is. It's a good mystery and cliffhanger that invests you in wanting more.

But overall, a pretty beautiful game. The yandere moments are definitely much more muted and I'd even argue that currently Selene has more yandere moments than Gabriel mostly due to her feelings in the past, but it is nice to see a couple that is loyal to each other, even if they have bitter feelings towards each other. A complicated thing. If you are interested, please try it out.

[robo-milky]

hiiii ive regained consciousness n tis time to talk abt ClochEpel🫵☺️

im gonna be so honest w u i rlly dont know much abt it😅 if u saw me rummaging around ur clochepel tag that was me trying to refresh my memory on their relationship. hnstly tho, that js mostly got me hooked on ur occult au, but that’s a diff topic—

siiigh, js thinking about how cloche n epel both developed their infatuations mainly off of projecting an image onto the ones they're taken with. siiigh, thinking of how they both end up eventually getting their delusions shattered. siiigh. ClochEpel rlly is one of the slowburn of slowburns, i think. n as much as i lowk love cloche, idk what epel's built out of to be able to withstand the humanized ver of katy perry's Hot N Cold(except it's more like Lukewarm N Cold). from the tidbits ive seen of them, though, cloche does seem almost more comfortable? receptive? towards him than most. found the ship analysis(YIPEEE) n it kinda confirmed my thoughts that cloche accepted him partially bc she found him beneficial to some degree. epel does seem to have a bit of a hero complex, w most of his image of her stemming from him thinking 'damn, she's js like me fr,' n so i do sorta find the same kinda parasocial aspects as RookLoche (esp since cloche acts a bit impassive towards him n despite that he still holds feelings for her) except they're projecting different people. n look, a part of me pities epel but then there another part of me that begs the question of what he was thinking? i get that he's young n naive n has a crush on her, but from what i've seen she warned him of what'd happen n he still pursued her after rejection. sad lover/loserboy hours but also he kinda walked right into it, even with warning. srry if this comes across as harsh to epel, i js have personal beef w the notion of pursuing even after being told otherwise n that’s js kinda projecting onto epel now that im reading back😅 mb

so i saw the post abt what happened during chp 7 that rlly turned their relationship around n that's been festering in my mind. ok, question, do they ever get to see cloche in epel's dream? ngl, that post did make the smooth marble that is my brain go ‘ooo’. n im js a sucker at the end of the day. but i also do wonder if that post is still valid in regards to the newest chp 7 lore drop. and abt chp 7, what order does cloche's dream fall in? it's stated that the cast is there, so is cloche's dream js a bit down the line or closer to the finale? subtly trying to sneak in my chp 7 questions here despite this being a ClochEpel ask, teehee

JSBSHDJDJD TYSM FOR YOUR THOUGHTS!! I honestly wasn’t expecting a separate ask or so much but every word is cherished! I’m so sorry with how much you had to piece together considering how little I actually have of ClochEpel compared to the other ships 💀💀 Feeling even more guilty since this is the “lore” ship 😭😭 One day I might bring back the Occult/ClochEpel Horror AU (still lives rent free in my mind but I’m overwhelming myself with ideas now- anyways…)

Oh Epel… Pel-pel, Eppy… What would our boy be if not sorted into the dorm based on the Beautiful Queen’s tenacity? Though in regular, off-screen interactions, Cloche is simply indifferent and wouldn’t be as mean as she’s been shown— aLL THE FRESHMEN ARE WONDERING THE SAME EXACT THING (seniors too-). Epel is a force of nature, pure spite and grit stuffed into that lil body of his. When Epel gets into shit, he’ll stick to it— whether if it hurts him or not. It doesn’t matter, he will tough it out one way or another. Take Epel’s bet with Vil to be his “poison apple” for the VDC, or when Epel was given what was supposed to be an “impossible” task from Crewel in his lab vignette. In both situations, Epel was disadvantaged (collecting lanternblossom nectar that took 2-3 years to bloom or defeat a literal dorm leader), but he stuck to his guns with pride to see it through (whether he succeeded or failed but he worked his damn hardest). Even in Epel’s dorm vignette, he wasn’t exactly thrilled to decorate a blastcycle for Vil’s movie and had the first one rejected, but he redid it anyways. Time and time again, Epel’s been thrown into the mud yet he climbs right back up. Of the TWST cast, Epel might be the only one (in)sane enough to keep persevering even after Cloche’ constant rejections (red flag irl). You are on the mark about the projection part! Ultimately, Epel’s projection on to Cloche can extend to him wanting to break through her shell— (or at least he thinks Cloche isn’t as indifferent as she leads everyone else to believe she is). In that aspect, Epel had always been wild but had to reign himself now, whilst Cloche seemed to have never let loose before (or at least willingly).

Cloche’ reception towards Epel is veiled. The best example to encapsulate this is the valentines comic! Even though Cloche initially wanted to give Rook the chocolates and went to Epel to ask— she ultimately placed Epel’s wellbeing first. We’ve seen Cloche be ruthless before, she could have let Epel starve to keep searching, or tell him to leave and eat, but she didn’t. Epel’s function, as a love interest, is to pull Cloche down with him— to make her compromise, learn to cooperate with and care for others, and be grateful with what she has. As mature and put-together as Cloche tries to be, she does need to learn how to commit before searching for an easy way out. Though I’ve yet to show when Epel has had enough of Cloche’ games, it will be on her to take responsibility and mend their relationship again. This is why ClochEpel is the main story ship to me— Epel challenges Cloche in a way that forces her to grow. Does Cloche use Epel? Absolutely 💀— but in a way, her begrudging acceptances could be read in the lens of her using that manipulation as a front (Cloche can still be prideful in the wrong ways 💀 Say Cloche did develop feelings for Epel earlier, she’s still going to be in denial about it).

Ahhhh the bit about Cloche as Buffpel’s GF in the dream 💥💥 Yeah that’s still valid, I just never got through finishing the comic 💀 If I’m interpreting the question right, there’s no fantasy version of Cloche in Epel’s dream. The moment Cloche and Silver/Sebek/Grim/Ortho pop into the dream and bump into Epel— he just yoinks her right there and no shame. Insert the whole “I didn’t know you two were a thing” reactions.

Cloche’ dream falls somewhere closer to the end! I’ll have to check through the story again to find a specific segment. Ideally, I’d like all the freshmen to be gathered (as they’d be the most relevant to her), but the most important witnesses of the dream (besides Silver/Sebek/Ortho/Grim) would have to be ADeuce.