#idk if anyone's posted this theory yet but probably

[unlettered-heathen]

You know, technically Ludy could have been rescued from an Aeor stasis bubble by the same team in Molaesmyr that brought back the creepy tree sample and later caused the Savalirwood to get cursed and the city to fall (figuratively in this case).

This would mean he'd still 1) experienced the Calamity firsthand, 2) been a part of the original Malleus project, and 3) not needed to extend his lifespan via necromamcy.

[red-dead-sakharine]

Raphael defeated Ketheric by using Yurgir

idk if this is common knowledge or not, but I puzzled it together only yesterday because I always missed a crucial NPC to see the whole picture. So here it is:

From the architect of Moonrise towers - the Infernal Mason you encounter in the House of Hope - you learn that:

Ketheric at some point, after the death of his wife, forsook Selûne and became a Shar worshipper. He had an army that he sent to war, to spread the darkness.

The architect saw his master's evil and made a deal with Raphael: His soul, for the destruction of Ketheric's army.

Raphael kept his word, and Ketheric's forces were destroyed by fiends.

Now, from the Elder Rothé near the Grymforge waypoint you learn that:

Ketheric's army consisted of Dark Justiciars.

A "hellbeast came with the mask-men" and destroyed the army.

And of course we know that Yurgir is trapped in the temple of Shar because his contract forces him to kill all Dark Justiciars.

So now, you know why:

The Architect made a deal with Raphael to stop Ketheric's army of Dark Justiciars.

Raphael contracted Yurgir (who brought his Merigons) to fulfil his own side of the contract.

Yurgir destroyed the army, but because one Dark Justiciar escaped with Raphael's help, he got trapped.

Why trap Yurgir?

We don't really know - unless I've yet to find it. We do know Raphael considers Yurgir dangerous, so it could be simply security. Trapping a dangerous asset, until it's needed again. He clearly had plans, since he makes Yurgir commander for presumably the conquest of the hells.

Why help Lyrthindor hide?

To trap Yurgir, but also

Yurgir claims that Raphael mentioned an aasimar

Theory: Raphael might have known, that only a Sharran/Dark Justiciar can kill the Nightsong. So he kept one alive, in case he ever has to kill her.

Why though? He probably knew Ketheric was kept immortal by the Nightsong, so the question would be: Why did Raphael want to keep Ketheric alive? Did he see this entire dead three plot coming? I wouldn't put it past him.

I shall keep investigating, and update this post as I learn more. If anyone has more info, please lmk!

Additional musings:

Why does Yurgir have Raphael's boots??

👉 more on Raphael being a bard

[mrs-monaghan]

https://www.tumblr.com/not-goldy/735797281675264000/omg-goldy-your-post-where-you-mention-catching-a

Shaz finally, all our questions have been answered🥺 THIS was why jikook limited their public interactions and then suddenly they stopped hiding themselves. The buddy system had to be approved first and they couldn't afford to be suspicious. They've been thinking and planning for a long time

I once had a theory as to why they were laying low. Chalked it up to MS. While it did have something to do with MS, it wasn't for the reasons I thought. It absolutely seems like what Goldy's anon is talking about is what was going on behind the scenes. They were working on getting the buddy system approved. And once that was over and done with, they went back to being loud again...

Can i just say I still can't believe they did this?? While some antis and vermin are in denial that Jikook enlisted together, I too sometimes, simply cannot believe it actually happened. It's so surreal, you know? I mean, I was so close but the idea seemed nuts to me at the time.

These 2 have done alot over the years...and I mean alot. But this, if I didn't believe they were in a rlship before, I definitely would now. They are mad, mad for doing this despite knowing how it looks like. Like, insane.

I've always said satellite Jeon (Jikook) is my number 1 reason for believing in Jikook so I probably shouldn't still be in shock, but alas!

Allow me to just.... can we see that one more time?

Yoooooooo....

I ain't never seen this from a couple before... ngl. There is a need here that needs to be met... fulfilled. So when we really think about it we shouldn't be shocked that they're serving together... 🤔

This last one though 🤭

First of all, JK, why?? 😅 2nd of all, he could have stood ontop of literally anyone else. Heck, V is right there. This mofo has been choosing Jimin for so long idk why we still fighting with other shippers atp. They ain't never gonna c it if they haven't yet.

Anyway, I digressed but umm... yes anon. I completely agree! Jikook is so real. So real!

[cuephrase]

Of the DC comics you've read so far, what would be your top recommendations for people to check out/what have you enjoyed the most?

when i tell you i have been thinking about this all day- i have been thinking about this. all. day.

so disclaimer, as of writing this, i have only read 31 runs from start to finish and 18 arcs/events outside of those runs. on top of, everything i've read so far has been strictly robin-centric, so dick, jason, tim, and damian. (i have read all of steph's robin appearances lol, but i haven't gotten to reading material for her, like say batgirl 2009, yet.) i've also decided not to rec from any run i'm currently reading, so for example, you won't see any batman: gotham knights recs here. because i'm most well-read on the robins, i'm only going to rec for them.

also, i'm going to operate under the following assumption: you've got a basic knowledge of the robins. none of these are where i would necessarily recommend anyone start reading about the boys, but i do think they'd be pretty interesting if you're already somewhat familiar with them and don't want to commit to reading whole character backlogs. does that make sense? i hope that makes sense.

alright, let's do this!

DICK GRAYSON

oh god. this one is actually so hard because he has so much great stuff, but then also i have like a love/frustrate relationship with so much of it. like for instance, i really enjoyed The New Teen Titans, but also lowkey can't stand space adventures so whenever that went down i was like 😀👍. but okay. hmmmm.

i have two preboot recs, with explanations + caveats.

devin grayson's mob!dick arc, so Nightwing 1996 #99-100, 107-117. caveats: it doesn't really get to finish playing out/wraps up weird because of editorial changes/infinite crisis. but!! it's a super interesting look at how dick handles...failure. how he values himself in light of that failure.

tomasi's run, but specifically #147-153. (listen, i love the dick and tim moments in 'freefall' but the whole eternally pregnant lady thing was too weird.) this is classic, hyper-competent dick, okay? he's such a bad-ass. and an idiot- bro literally flops his severely injured ass over the bars of his glider and rides it UNCONSCIOUS back to the batcave. i can't with him. poor alfred. anyways, he deals with two-face, always a good time. and then at the end, as a treat, he cries because bruce is dead. so fun!! what was my caveat here? oh yeah, he has a girlfriend. i don't remember her name, she serves like...very little purpose, the whole relationship is very minor/background okay, but like it was so unnecessary. he can be single, dc, it's okay.

for post re-boot, just read tom taylor's run!! it's the best thing ever!! zero complaints!!

HA. yeah, just kidding. that run is very like/frustrate for me lol. oh man i'm struggling here. it's not all bad okay, i'm just really picky, and i haven't re-read any nightwing n52 and onwards since my first foray into comics (8 months ago) so my memories of these are the foggiest and i'm not sure how i feel about all of it in light of what i've read now. yk what, i'm just going to...not rec anything. sorry!!

JASON TODD

his comics either go so hard or they're absolute ass, why is there no in between. istg, i can't figure out why writers struggle with him so much?? well. i mean, i do have theories. but you didn't ask for those!

pre-boot:

detective comics #569-574. robin!jason in the hands of writers who like him is so much fun. which, don't get me wrong, i don't flat-out hate how starlin writes him, but i think you get a more well-rounded view of jason as robin when you also see him in 'tec. jason and bruce tangle with the joker, scarecrow, + mad hatter, and all of those adventures are...idk if they were intentional foreshadowing okay, but reading those and knowing where the story goes? oof. especialllllly #574. caveat: #572 is pretty light on jason, but he is great when he's on panel!

reboot:

probably a very basic answer but rhato rebirth (2016) #1-13, annual #1. i abhorred n52 rhato so i almost skipped rhato rebirth since it was still written by lobdell, but i'm really glad i didn't. i really enjoy jason's relationship with bizarro + artemis, but especially with bizarro because i think jason struggles a lot with feeling like a doomed creation, so yk, parallels. i want to say more but i know i'll get too wrapped up in discussing jason so i'm just going to stop myself.

i actually really enjoyed task force z, too. i think about tfz #8 so much, jason is such a manipulative little shit and i love it. he's so- i can't. i can't get into this rn, it deserves its own post(s).

overall for jay, i need people to read something other than utrh/lost days/b:ul 1-6. i love those, i do, but they aren't the only good pieces of jason content!!

TIM DRAKE

MY BELOVED!!!!!!!!!! in my heart of hearts, i just want to rec his whole robin run lmao. dick was my intro, okay, he is why i decided to start reading comics, but tim, specifically his robin solo is why i'm still reading comics. hooked me fr. and young justice 1998, ugh love. but it has been a minute since i read these as well, so hmm. okay okay okay

pre-boot:

batman: prodigal. short version, tim is robin to dick's batman. super fun. there's a solid amount of dick and bruce angsting too, which, love. tim is honestly just thrilled that jpv is out of the batsuit and even happier to working with dick. very cute.

robin #46. listen. they're all superheroes okay, they all feel pressure to save people. but tim...losses get to him. the amount of times that he gets shoved to a breaking point and then...gets back up. keeps going. *screams*. anyways!! this is not tim getting back up, okay? this is him being shoved way, way down. it's so good.

teen titans 2003 #20. tim's dad has died. he shows up for his weekend at the tower anyways. he is not okay. that's it, that's the pitch. i did not like...mmm at least 80% of this run okay, but a few of the issues HIT and this was one imo.

reboot:

*deep sigh*. look. tim is not tim for like basically all of n52, although there are moments here and there were he feels like himself. i did not like his 2023 solo, the best parts of young justice 2019 imo are the character designs, (except for his drake costume, what was that omg), and i haven't read any rebirth batman/'tec yet. except for zdarsky's run. which. tim is good there! but yeah, not really a whole lot of material to work with + very limited reading experience atm.

DAMIAN WAYNE

god, i love this kid. nature vs. nurture fascinates me, and so much of his story digs into that on top of trying to figure out who he is apart from all of that. i will say, i'm not a huge talia fan and by that i mean, i have no idea who she is "supposed" to be, like i have no frame of reference for that atm, so if you are a huge talia fan these recs might not hit for you because from what i've observed from her fans she is not well portrayed a whole lot since becoming his mother? i think one of the things that is normal is dick absolutely disliking her though, which cracks me up. there's this older batman story (batman #322-335) where bruce works with talia and dick goes running to selina and i was so entertained. what were we talking about? oh! damian!

preboot:

batman and robin 2009 #10-12. damian is struggling, with a lot of things. the fact that bruce might be alive, what that means for him and dick, and his mother's puppeteering. there's this line that kills me: "can't you just love me for who i am? not what you want me to be?" and the thing that gets me, is the use of who vs. what. because he could have said, "not who you want me to be", but he doesn't

reboot:

batman: shadow war. this is post-alfred's death, and honestly, most damian stuff post city of bane is pretty juicy, but there's this specific moment in shadow war: alpha #1 that had me speechless. just like 😧 i love bruce, but that man has some of the most chronic foot-in-mouth disease. oh but fair warning, for whatever reason they don't draw dami's mask connecting?? it's so- it drives me nuts.

JUST FOR FUN

these are just two issues that i enjoy for the brother content!

nightwing 1996 #25. dick and tim's relationship makes me ILL. *ahem*. this issue is mostly just super cute and fun, (there's like 0.2 seconds of angst when tim asks dick if he ever thinks about jason 😭) and i adore it sm. fun fact, it's actually one of the first comics i ever bought!

batman 2016 #16. unfortunately, tim is not here for this, but duke is! jason and damian's interactions in the background of bruce's Very Serious Speech are excellent. bruce is so dramatic and his kids are so unserious.

what i've most enjoyed

i've enjoyed the majority of what i've read, even titles/events i wasn't particularly looking forward to but had on my tbr for whichever character. i'm going to break down most enjoyed into two catergories, arcs that i loved top to bottom and then the guilty pleasures. this is not an exhaustive list, just what immediately came to mind.

top to bottom

bruce wayne: murderer?/fugitive. shocker, ik. but it's just, it's just so frickin good. i've said before, and i'll say it again, gotham war could NEVER. this right here is peak batfamily drama. the tension? the mystery? the angst? i knew nothing going into this okay, and truth be told, when i started it i was like "oh joy. another event." because i was just trying to read the 1996 nightwing run, but i'd committed to reading in full all the events it crossed over with. but i was invested so quickly. and like, i loved how the narrative supported the possibility that bruce was the murderer, because like, you know there's no way, but the more that comes out the more damning it is, and so you're like really dying to know what actually happened and i feel like the reveal was satisfying.

batman: city of bane. i'm going to cautiously put this here, because there might have been something i didn't like but i cannot recall it for the life of me right now. something about me is i love when the heroes lose. infinity war, empire strikes back? love. and ik bruce takes back gotham, but they lose alfred, okay, they lost. i also didn't expect to like this arc, i decided to read it because i wanted to know how alfred died. and first of all, i was shocked, even though i knew it was coming because i expected it to like happen towards the end. but nope. just *snap*. and then later when bruce is back in the manor and is confronted with alfred's body and his good-bye message? oh. my. god. i was bawling. despite my penchant for sad narratives, i don't tend to cry that much, but this got to me so bad. like i had to pause because i couldn't see. amazing.

red robin. his cowl is so ugly, but i really do love the run. i see a lot of discourse about it and also a lot of...interesting fanfic takes, so i don't really talk about it a lot here because it feels like most people are kind of tired of hearing about this run, which fair. i really enjoyed it as a sequel to his solo robin run. tbh, i almost put this in the guilty pleasure catergory, because there are a couple things i don't totally love, but like if the others are 10/10, this is 9/10.

young justice 1998. i love this comic so, so much. i don't even know what to say, i get so overwhelmed with joy when i think about this comic. nothing has hit the same way with this group since either, which is a crime. i need a title with this team so badly.

guilty pleasures

these are all runs/events i know some/most? people cannot stand and i totally get why, and i have problems with them, so i'm probably never going to rec them in good conscience but also like i can't lie and say i don't like them. these are not recs, okay? okay.

robin war. is it a hot mess? yes. but there is not a whole lot of canon content out there with all the boys working together, okay? so much of that event had me banging my head into a wall, but for me, there were a handful of pearls in there. i mean honestly, if i listed out pros and cons the cons list would be way longer but those pros are very precious to me.

batman and robin: eternal. very similar reasoning overall to robin war. plus cass finally came back!! i missed her. i love robin!dick and batman content, and the kids working together. this is probably my least favorite guilty pleasure though, okay, it's on thin ice.

grayson. listen, i love janin's art sm. i'm pretty neutral about spy stuff, so like i don't engage with it a whole lot. meaning, although i've heard it's tropey af in regards to the genre, i'm not familiar enough with the genre to be like trying to dig my eyeballs out with blunt spoons at the cliche of it all. the constant sexualization of dick got old super fast, and her name may have been helena but she wasn't- my list of dislikes is lengthy. but idk, i had fun with it. and imo it does have some genuinely great moments, i love dick in the desert with the baby, the ache i felt when dick wanted to come home and couldn't get ahold of bruce, issue #12 stabs me in the heart- the dick and dami reunion? stoppppp. i feel like this run and the ric grayson era are dick's most out there lmao

so yeah!! thank you so much for this ask, i had sm fun answering it. if you have any recs for me, feel free to drop them :)

[lalalian]

I always think to myself, "I'm out of ideas... I'm out of actually cool, creative ideas, will I have to shut all my shit down? How am I supposed to continue posting if I've got nothing..." but then, the next second I'll come up with something that genuinely could be a whole ass dr

...

here's a dump of some of the drs I've been wanting to make into filled scripts for awhile now, but I haven't even started designing the scripts for them yet.

Some of them are literally just titles, but idk I just know I can work with it yk?

since I finished some prototyping hw today, I'll put in a little more effort sectioning this post

some of the ideas in question

cloud catcher: steampunk reality based on a cloud city, you've got a job as a cloud catcher, your job is to catch and sell different kinds of clouds, have a cloud shop

inedible edible cafe: inedible things here (in our OR) would be edible in this dr.. Initially I only wanted to include slime as a dish, but now I want to make dishes with different ingredients, like puffy sticker cereal or sum shit

shifting school dr: okay so this actually was a trend on shifttok for a sec, it was called a 'mysterious school' idk why. anyway, this school was supposed to be it's own dr, but I think i may include it in my dreamscape dr

magitech engineer dr: ngl this idea was in the fucking basement of my mind-- ain't nobody gonna wanna shift here besides for someone that actually likes crafting things. idk i just feel like it’s a niche idea

number magic: uh so no, that's not the title for this dr-- I just really wanna make a dr with this kind of system. idk I was just in world lit class and I realized the poem I was reading was repeating the number 5. we were supposed to analyze the poem, but my dumbass just started daydreaming... anyway, next idea

fantasy cosmetic makeup maker dr: so like imagine handmaking make up with like... mermaid pearls or like ground unicorn horns (sourced ethically of course-- unicorns will shed their horns like baby teeth throughout their lifetime. I cannot imagine depriving a unicorn of its horn... imagine doing that... what a psycho😨) you could make like a mermaid line, a sky beauty line, IMAGINE THE PACKAGING. STOP. WAIT. FLOWER KNOWS. AHHH.

guardian flame: I have so little down for this DR lmao 😭😭 essentially like you're some sort of being that's been assigned to protect another, probably someone who isn't as strong as you. the kinda oddball part about your drself in particular is that you have to go to school to train how to be a good protector, but like you've already got a person you need to protect. nobody is assigned to protect anyone until affffftteeerrr graduation, but ur stuck with an idiot

futuristic skater/futuristic biker: self explanatory! I also wanted this to be in a high school setting. this idea stemmed from me just wanting a high school futuristic dr, cuz like yk I was curious about what high school students would need to learn. what would be considered important to learn about? would all students be taught about how to make technology we would find difficult to make today? what about psychology class? what new theories would arise? what would students think about our generation (in our CR) today? would they think we're stupid, crass, or selfish? anyway, initially I just wanted to go to school and walk around... but, I had a dream about living in the future, more abt that in the next idea (this idea is getting long). Instead, I think I wanna deviate a bit from what I would usually do here and in literally every other school dr I have-- I want to experience what it'd be like to be a... deliquient? idk, growing up i kinda just was just that quiet girl that listened to her parents... soooooooo why not do smth different? I'm still not gonna drink or do drugs tho, boooooooo ik so boring 🙄🙄 oh also I was gonna have a group of friends that were also skaters or bikers and compete in definitely legal biker/skater competitions

futuristic entertainment district: anyway more about that dream, essentially everyone was wearing these levitating rocket boots that looked a lot like roller skates (they had those wheels at the bottom of the shoes). the city was like a huge pot hole filled with stores on the side, but like it seemed like parts of the land was broken apart and floating around-- even those had advertisements and people singing and dancing on them. like this pot hole city was filled to the brim with advertisements, shops, stores, entertainment places, literally I remember that there was a huge section of like idol shit. there were a lot of people darting around the place using those levitating boots I was wearing, but there were also futuristic floating cars. imagine cyberpunk but if it was located in a big ass pot hole. yah, that. idk i just wanna explore

dystopian futuristic dr: similar to cyberpunk in the fact that it's a world dominated by companies; I want to join an underground group that wants to overtake the gov and make the world less ass

singles inferno - introvert ver: I actually have all the contestants scripted + designed a script for this DR, but I haven't worked on this script in a whiillleeeee. I wanna be song jia. not literally, but like I want to have her charm, yk? ok so the introvert part-- a lot of the game will take place in a group chat room. you do challenges in-person and in this chatroom to get a date, sometimes it's a random date, but most of the time it's like your choice. very heavily inspired by a game called picka!

a minecraft roleplay dr: I know at least one of yall cringed so hard at this, trust me, I knooowwwww-- but I really want to be like the next aphmau or smth. oh except I don't want to make kid vids, tho I'm sure yall knew that right. I want to recreate aethergarde academy in minecraft (ALSO ALRUNA TOO OMFG) but then I also wanna do other things that aren't dr related. idk I just know that this DR's gonna be sooooo fun. I haven't even decided on a channel name yet 😭😭

...

uh so I prob got more, but these were just the ones that came to mind

I'll prob make a part two when I'm lazy with posting

if anyone wants to use these ideas, please do credit me! if one of yall see someone using my ideas without credit, plz plz tell me, ty!

[witchlingcirce]

A SEA OF CHANGE - My theory’s !!!

Okay SO recently we’ve been getting a lot of stuff for Matthew’s short story (I think cuz the book is coming out September-November) so I wanted to discuss some of my thoughts and feelings about it!! <33 also, a lot of this information comes from here !! <3

What the story is about:

Now I’m sure everyone knows the premise of this book! Basically just about Matthew’s journey on an ocean liner, where he encounters an infestation of vampires. Tbh from that art that she posted earlier today, I have a feeling that MAYBE this book will giving demon esque death on the Nile vibes !! Idk like, kinda giving mystery 👓👓

This art:

Now I’m sure everyone has seen this art 20 times today. But again, it’s just so pretty and vibey that I wanted to share it again and share my thoughts on it.

FIRST OFF- MATTHEW FAIRCHILD WHY ARE YOU BRINGING YOUR DOG ON A BOAT!!?? FREE OSCAR!!! Jokes aside. They look SO. SO. SO CUTE 😭😭 if anyone is Matthew’s ride or die it is 100% Oscar.

To me this picture is kind of giving that Matthew is maybe investigating something. I think Oscar is kind of the one who warns him about the shadow/demon the left side of him (Oscar is looking worried at it and Matthew looks down at Oscar ect ect ect … guys I took art class for like 2 years trust) now maybe in this scene Matthew is being set up for a trap by maybe one of the vampires???? It could be that the vampires are working for some kind of demon.

Now this demon kind of reminds me of the Cherufe demon that Aline, Alec and Helen fought in TRSOM

—>

Now there’s also the big possibility it could be an entirely NEW demon buttt just making possible connections! Could be a cute call back.

Matthew’s love interest:

Now if you didn’t know- Matthew is confirmed to be having a love interest in this novel. (Cassie confirming it!) So I’m actually really curious on who/how it will be set up in this short story!!

Obviously we won’t be getting everything of Matthew and this strange characters romance, but I honestly do think this book will Matthew opening himself up for that kind of relationship. I think it’ll be really sweet and cute, and again another part of Matthew’s journey of letting himself love and love others.

I think it’s cool to think if the character will be a downworlder or a shadowhunter. Obviously whoever it is they will probably meet on this ocean linear or wherever else Matthew travels to. Now this is a theory I’ve seen someone else say- but it could be Matthew who starts the trend of shadowhunter families moving to New York/America, so I’m thinking whoever his love interest is- will be living in America!! And Matthew will be prompted to live/visit them.

I also don’t think we will get the entirety of them in this story!! Obviously this book really isn’t that long (if I said the whole book should have been abt Matthew well… that’s another day). But I do think this is like an introduction for them to have other short stories written about them!! I’ve also always thought that TLH would get a short story book (this the bane chronicles, TFTSA, GOTSM ect ect) <3!!! I just want to see Matthew happy 😞

Anyways whoever it is- I hope Matthew gets the love he deserves 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

The snippets:

Again, if you didn’t know- we’ve gotten three snippets for this short story so far.

I think alot of these snippets indicate kind of how Matthew is holding up/dealing with the events of chain of thorns.

Especially dealing with the loss of kit, and also dealing with his sobriety. I really do think that this story will really just be showing Matthew’s healing journey, dealing with all these things and really just coming to terms with himself.

With the snippet we got today —>

It was definitely the longest one we’ve gotten yet, and probably the one where we’ve seen the more plot relevant stuff. I’m super interested to see how all this vampire stuff plays out!! And I’m very interested in Slyvian!! Is he the love interest?? Who knows.

ANYWAYS SORRY THIS IS LONG I HAVE SO MANY THIUGHTS

[rulerzreachf4n7]

Fight me all you want but huntlow/lumity antis are the weakest links in the toh community,

HEAR ME OUT...

...unless you don't have ears idk block the haters

SKIP IF YOU'RE NOT INTERESTED IN SHIPS WARS IT'S HONESTLY EMBARRASSING I HAVE TO SAY THIS!!

All this slander is coming from the goldric/huntmira/lunter/guster/amiter shippers, yes that's a mouthful, and yes I'll be blocking you if you're a toxic shipper, if your not, good! except if you ship amiter, fuck off you lesbianphobic bitch, anyways back to my rant, also sorry if this comes out as insensitive, rude, or if I sound over dramatic I just really hate these types of people

If I had a dime for every toxic shipper I've encountered since I first came into the toh community...BITCH ID BE RICH CAUSE SOME OF Y'ALL ARE WILD ASF 😭🙏, this is based off of a rant I got below this post so yeah credits to anon it was very helpful pookie

Y'all toxic ass shippers will go FUCKING PARAGRAPH LENGTHS TO DEFEND YOUR SHITTY SHIPS, and this is targated twords lunter and goldric, again, if you're not toxic this ain't for you I don't mean to offend anyone, cause tell me why there is this account on Pinterest, I ain't afraid to say their name it's something like TheGoldenCoven, or some shit like that, BROS A LUNTER FAN ACCOUNT 💀, and a toxic one too, dw I got some proof

How the fuck do you normalize the TWO MAIN COUPLE OF A SERIES??? Hunter was never intentioned to date Luz and vice versa, this is a perfect example of toxic a lunter shipper, and not only are they toxic they're...LESBIANPHOBIC!! I know it was probably from 2021 and they've moved on buuuut they did post amiter art, and they're not even a nice person although having in their bio "I'm nice you if you're nice to me" or some bullshit idk

As for toxic goldric shipper accounts I haven't seen any Pinterest or Tumblr accounts so that's good! But majority of the shippers are the most insufferable human beings on earth, their only excuse for shipping them is "they want a mlm couple and they're the same age" noting against wanting a mlm couple it'd be super nice...buy may I remind you this is post early season two...HUNTERS NAME WASN'T EVEN CONFIRMED YET 😭🙏, And let alone having only two or three minutes of screen time makes the ship have an even worse reputation, and the shippers are just bitchy and biphobic, always complaining that Hunter should be canonically gay instead of literally anything else so he can be shipped with only Edric, and I know huntmira shippers exist but I've actually never had an interaction with one, hopefully they aren't too bad

Y'all will come out withe the stupidest excuses not to ship huntlow/lumity, also sorry I got off track 😭😭, for lumity, don't know how it exists, but it's either "it's abusive" or "it's toxic" brother ew 💀, name one way Luz or Amity have hurt each other and DO NOT say it's by how Luz always makes stuff mess even though it's literally apart of her personality or by how she didn't wanna tell her about the portal door in S2 or how she accidentally helped Philip/Belos, I'll wait 😊, and I see the point of how Amity's personality downgraded to only being Luz's gf but she still did have her family problems but I guess they just didn't wanna make it an episode, I mean we got Clouds on the horizon that counts ig?

And for huntlow I keep hearing the same shit "I-Its a crack ship, I-Its forced, t-they have no chemistry 🥺🥺🥺" yeah I can see your toxic ass shipping a 12 and 16 year old together don't think you're slick bitch, and just because huntlow was rushed doesn't mean it's necessarily bad, you don't know if Dana had intentions on it but because of the cancellation it was forced to be rush, and I'm sorry to y'all hearing the shortened s3 excuse but it's true since there's literally no other explanation, also don't come into the comments saying "B-But you don't know that!!🥺🥺" it's just speculation my brother in Christ 😭🙏, merely a theory put together with brain cells which almost everyone in this community doesn't have, another weird double standard is how everyone ships gustholomule and veesha even though there's very little evidence it'll be canon was supposed to be canon but since it's a more noticeable and popular ship no one bats an eye for some reasons even though huntlow is too a popular ship, but these are the more bigger ones so I'll more obscure like cameda or aladarius which where probably never meant to happen and totally fandom operated

Anyways that's all, I'll block haters/toxic shippers in the comments so don't think you'll get a reaction outta me with some half baked and barely thought through argument you found in a Reddit post

[the-burd-lord]

Heavily inspired by @deafenedsaltwater 's concepts. Idk what was in that post, but it sparked me to make a whole heap of sketches and ideas. Dunno how far I'm gonna roll with this concept, but for now it's rollin kinda far.

Loads of info below:

Four is the math teacher with X as his TA. Four's one of those teachers that really knows the material, but because they know it so well he thinks it should be easy for anyone to get. So they're kinda harsh with the students if they get something wrong.

Whereas X gives more positive reinforcements for students, and isn't as harsh with them. X doesn't know as much of the material, and probably looks to the teacher's textbook if they're lost. One of those teachers who kinda learns with the class.

Airy is the school's nurse and teaches the Home E.C. class, and he's awful at both jobs. When he's not starting fires or teaching the course like it's some kind of wilderness survival camp, he's mainly works as the nurse.

As a nurse, he misdiagnoses things constantly if it's not an obvious injury, and uses a bunch of herbal remedies for the few things he does know how to help with. Mainly scrapes and stomach aches.

Two often times subs in for him when Airy has to take care of a sick student, who often times will fake being sick so they can get Two to teach the class.

MePhone teaches coding and AutoCAD as an extra circular, and probably typing for lower grades. I keep slappin' a bunch of classes onto 'im cause I remember taking so many throughout high and middle school.

He doesn't enjoy teaching coding or typing since he doesn't see them as creative as making actual models for things in AutoCAD, even though the other two can be used creatively. MePad's kinda left to teach those classes despite being a TA.

Also it's a very hands off class where he gives them the basics of how to use the program, and the rest of the class is leaving the students to make whatever thing fits the assignment.

He's the kind of teacher who's real in tune with internet culture and reality tv so he uses a bunch of modern slang phrases or casually gives hot takes on shows if he overhears the students talking about them. Everyone thinks it's cause he wants to be "hip with the kids" when in reality he just has brain rot.

Clock's the history teacher. He discusses each history point with the same tone and enthusiasm, and remembers the years and eras with pinpoint accuracy. Kinda put too much emphasis on the dates, and how long events lasted, over the content of those events.

He's the teacher you can get to go on a long side tangent about something unrelated to the material, but they'd always find a way to bring it back to history.

Idk I also think it'd also be funny if he co-taught an economics class with Four (thinking there'd be a lot of math involved) when it's really more so about theories.

Out of all the teachers, Four and Clock are the most knowledgeable and could probably teach college level courses if they wanted to.

Animatic is the PE teacher with too much energy and gives the harshest workouts but thinks they're easy. Mainly cause he does them alongside the students and always has energy after to run laps around the school. Two would have probably told them to tone it down.

Speaking of-

Two is the health counselor and sub for Home Econ., but also has a bunch of unofficial jobs. They're the unofficial vice principal mainly cause the rest of the speaker boxes are kinda incompetent at their job, and they have to mediate not only students but teachers too (mainly Four and Animatic). As well as sub in for Airy, or even act as a supervisor, when need be.

Some other ones I haven't drawn yet are Daddy Long Legs as the music teacher, Popcorn as the theater teacher, and Hourglass as the English/Literature teacher.

The speaker boxes are the principle/VP/admin. They all kinda interchange with each other, considering how similar they all are also cause they switch out a lot in the original show.

Dunno who the science or art teacher would be, cause I'm mainly going after object shows I've seen. Honestly I may just swap some roles around.

Mainly doing this as a thing for funsies, but boy howdy is it a rapidly rolling snowball.

[uyuforu]

Oh i almost forgot. If you have many theories about Jk's chart of fs you should also consider opening your own blog about it :) Don't take it personally, but it would be a shame that all of your theories only gets credits on my blog rather than yours :/ Think about it ^

I would've done that but i like to be anonymous and I dont have any problem with your blog getting credits because I'm here just to learn and have fun.This isn't my main focus in life but I'm free for some months because of maternity leave(I'm 7 months in yayyyyy!!)I'm probably the oldest person on this blog too ig because i dont think anyone on this blogs a 92liner.

I came up with something more and this is something i'd REALLY like for you to give your more than two cents on.

So I started this study like a year ago and its about the possible placements your fs can have.i kept doing it for a while and then i thought about how juno,bride,groom,dsc PC's would be much better to guess the fs chart.

By studying his bpc and his NC I have a few guesses about his fs' possible placements/dominants.

1.she IS definitely having strong cancer placements.(no explanation needed)

2.it can also be that she may have strong 4h placements OR can be moon dominant.(if not the 1st guess then this)

3.mars in 10h or cap mars or mars in a cap degree.(guaranteed success)

4.leo placements or degrees or prominent 5h placements.(creativity,childlike,fame,etc)

5.sun in 10h or sun at leo/cap degree.(same as 3 and 4 guess)

6.pluto-venus aspects,Venus/lilith/pluto in 8h/1h.(magnetism,envy,jealousy,obsession,inference,rich spouse)

7.virgo rising or its degrees on asc.(she's blunt and a bit sharp)

8.gemini Venus or venus in Gemini degrees.(this venus sign is compatible with libra venus and he has geminivenusin bpc too also talking about her having venus-pluto aspects this sign kinda suits it)

9.Sun/moon/saturn aspects.(daddy issues)

10.jupiter in 2h,4h or 11h.(rich family background,big communities, finances and luxuries)

11.this one is random but i see her with a leo mc or an Aries mc OR mc in those degrees.the possible risings with these mc's could be cancer,leo,Libra,scorpio.

12.the above 4 rising signs make the most sense to me.when it comes to his fs I imagine someone soft but sharp.she MAY have these rising signs with virgo degrees.

I have more guesses but they're random.

Talking about the age gap thing,my husband has two stelliums of scorpio and virgo with Libra Moon and I'm 7 years younger than him so ig we wont have to worry too much about Jk's age gap choice because i dont think he'll go for someone MORE younger than 5-7 years of age gap.

Uyu your more than two cents juseyo.

Oh by the way i just wanted to tell you that you don't have to post everyday or keep researching on it daily because it takes up alot of time and energy,it is very draining too so take care of yourself and I hope you and your bf's fight has been resolved yet or will be soon.

✌️anon.

Congrats on your pregnancy! I hope it's going very well for you! Yeah Im a 99liner lol! You're not alone, Seokjin's in your team lol!

-> Cancer placement is big to me as it's literally his DSC and the Sun in the BPC! So the spouse will def have cancer placement in her big 6! Otherwise it can't be her lol! And it has to be something that Is very significant in her chart, something you can see on her easily. Like "you give me cancer vibes" stuff like that lol

-> She def has placements in her own chart about success and fame, she literally is destined for that

-> Leo placements are crazy lmao, that's why I always sensed some Leo vibes from JK, now I know why lmao

-> Yep, Leo sun, or sun being in the 10H I agree, it's one of the first factor when it comes to fame or success without using asteroids. North node in Leo can be a thing too, it's also part of it.

-> For the virgo, def on her big six, idk about ascendant because she gives me the vibe of being so beautiful, and I'm not saying virgo asc aren't pretty but asc Virgos have that cold and stoic beauty. They look pretty distant. To me she maybe has that mysterious beauty like scorpio rising, or charming beauty like libra rising. Could also be cancer or pisces rising! Virgo rising can be a thing but it wouldn't be my first guess. but don't mark my words on it, I wasn't very successful at guessing people's asc lmao

-> For the Venus, it would either be an air one (libra, gemini, Aquarius) or it would be something that aspect his sun (either conjunct so virgo Venus, or another one that aspects his sun). Or also libra Venus for the conjunction or another that aspect. JK will def have that sense that she is the one for him, so anything aspecting his Venus or sun will work out. (a good aspect too so conjunct, sextile or trine)

-> For the age gap, I don"t wanna assume things but it doesn't seem like jk will marry that late and I saw some readers say they'll have 10 years of difference of something but in I absolutely don't see it?? On his chart, I saw placements that indicates 1-2 to 5 years of difference max? She is not that young compared to him. She LOOKS very young, but she isn't, this is what I see! The cancer placements are always very tricky lmao! And if people keep saying they'll be together in 2027 (JK's Saturn return, he will be 29) so 19 if ten years of difference???? idk that seems odd to me, I don't sense it. I feel like she'll be working and be in her successful time at the time!

Thank you for your analysis! And sorry for taking so long to reply, it takes me time to concentrate and give proper answers :)

- uyu

[charmac]

Do you think Rob's gonna eventually go down for dumb straight white male bs? ngl going off his vibes, some of the things he says, and the occasional random tweet/reddit comment from people that say they have worked with or met him....I can't say I would be surprised, but idk. There's been no official statement against him from anybody yet, so I'll hold off actual judgment until then. But the DEI comment and the "everyone is lucky that's all I want to say" part ....yikes

I think it's plausible considering all his past controversies and continued stupid BS very much comes from the fact that he can't recognise his position in Hollywood is very much built off his privilege as a straight white man, but the thing about Rob being called out is that someone has to actually have the power to do it.

It's one thing to see tweets making it clear Rob is probably a shitty boss who acts from a position of white male privilege (and has no idea how to run all of these stupid businesses he's trying to capitalise on), but I don't see anyone who quit working for Rob calling him out any further than airing grievances. Unless something major happens publicly, trying to take down someone with his status would not be worth the career jeopardy that might create minor tabloid buzz. (But who knows, maybe if he and Ryan Reynolds break up something comes out /j)

I feel bad for Brittani for sure, I can't help imagine what it must have been like to have Rob "didn't care about my public image until 5 years ago" McElhenney directing you to control everything that gets posted about him online and micromanaging all his own content. That's gotta be like one of the worst jobs to exist. (And thankfully it seems like she got herself out of there and is onwards and upwards!)

(Honestly my main theory as to why TASP isn't happening anymore is because Rob just can't filter himself and was sick of having to deal with all the buzz and articles random stupid things he said on the podcast would generate online.)

[inkdragon1900]

I’m rewatching TDP all the way up to S5’s release. So as I’m watching the credits for S2 ep 4 (because why would I skip them) this shows up.

I remember thinking this one was funny and a cute reference to The Great Gatsby when I first watched it. But since then I’ve read and watched Gatsby more times than I can count. Genuinely my favorite classic.

And it got me thinking. Why??? Why would they specifically reference this?

We all know they’ll throw in stuff in the credits we get to see or understand in the future (Ethari, Queen Aditi, etc)

So why this?

Time to combine two of my hyperfixations.

Most of this will be in reference to the 2013 adaptation of The Great Gatsby directed by Baz Luhrmann since that’s where the scene of Gatsby toasting in front of the fireworks comes from.

So how does Gatsby’s story work with Aaravos’s?

Well after mulling it over I can actually think of quite a few.

So in S2 episode 4 we get basically our first actual introduction to Aaravos sure he’s got no actual dialogue yet and we did see a flash of him in the episode prior. But this is narratively our first actual introduction.

Now interesting enough we as viewers find out we have seen him before. Multiple times with the intro we see his hands, and in the first episodes backstory we see him in the background and he’s the narrator.

So if it’s not necessarily our first introduction to Aaravos then who’s is it?

Viren.

Viren I’m going to insert in Nicks role in TGG just cause it makes sense narratively.

Now in TGG this scene:

Happens directly during Nick’s first actual interaction with Gatsby.

Now it should be mentioned this is not the first time they’ve seen each other. In fact it’s stated that Nick was being watched by his neighbor Gatsby for…idk a while.

And like Nick knew it he’d catch a glimpse of his hand in the window from time to time he just didn’t know it was Gatsby.

But anyway once again this fits with the fact we know Aaravos has been watching Viren from the other side probably the entire time.

So!!! Why does this matter.

Because in TGG no one knows shit about Gatsby. The mother fucker is elusive.

Literally at the party Nick is trying to track him down to thank him and LITERALLY no one knows what he looks like they just showed up to the party. Nick is literally the only person to have been invited because Gatsby just thought he’d show up like the rest of New York.

So while Nicks looking for Gatsby we get introduced to the most WILD theories about this man.

So anyway after getting shitface Nick and this woman Jordan (who’s a friend of his cousin Daisy) jokingly go exploring the house “looking” for Gatsby. (They’re not they’re just drunk af and having fun)

Anyways while exploring they end up in the mansion’s library. As they’re goofing around this older guy browsing the stacks starts telling them that they won’t find him and how the house and everything in it is an elaborate facade. (He’s right of course) so Jordan says she’s met him. And the guy asks them which version? The prince? The spy? The murderer? And goes on to say that he can’t find anyone who knows anything real about Mr. Gatsby.

And like if that’s not true for Aaravos, I don’t know what is.

Because all we know about Aaravos narratively has been told to us. We haven’t seen anything. Not really.

So who is he really?

Plus Gatsby’s main flaw is his attachment to the past his absolute refusal to move on.

And idk Aaravos more or less can’t actually move on since he’s imprisoned. But even narratively he stuck mentally where he was before imprisonment.

And that’s just another one of the many parallels I can draw.

Hell we don’t even get Gatsby’s backstory until the end of the movie pretty much and we barely know anything about Aaravos and we’re already headed into season 5.

Anyways I have a ton more thoughts on the comparison to Aaravos and Gatsby. I don’t want to spoil the ending of TGG for anyone who hasn’t read/watched it. GO READ OR WATCH IT. So I might eventually make a separate post.

Oh one other thing. The new money vs old money narrative in TGG could easily be reworked to fit Human’s learning magic (dark magic or not) and being born into an arcanum. And like Gatsby is new money which fits with Aaravos managing to connect to all the arcanum’s

[the-martyrfication-of-the-matron]

Episode 34 has a lot for me to talk about… so…

Context for post: ‘player’ refers to a ‘playable’ character, Aka, not an NPC or villager. Like Aphmau or Castor.

Also, disclaimer, this is all speculation for the fun of it. I don’t think I really put much weight to anything I’m saying in this post, it’s just something I’ve been thinking about as being a little haha funny. It’s something I just want to discuss and consider. Not something I want to state is true or canon, or try to impose on anyone.

This is the episode that introduces the concept of Descendants of Irene, with the Elder Wyvern suggesting Aph might be one (though I don’t believe Irene is actually named in this exchange). I think this is when they’ve fully decided to ditch the concept of a ‘player’, as I’ve previously stated that all player characters in previous episodes are then later translated into descendants of Irene.

Also, with this, it’s implied that only descendants of Irene are capable of talking to Wyverns. As Garroth at one point implies that Raven and him actually have forms of communication outside of Raven passing around letters, I… wonder if they were trying to do something with that.

He isn’t a player character but he has been aware for… presumably ever. Even in Malik’s diary entries, he seems to be aware then. Malik says he’s acting ‘Different’ but we don’t really know if different is in comparison to his own behaviour or the behaviour of other villagers.

But we know not all descendants of Irene are players (if even briefly, like Vylad). Levin would be a descendant of Irene and yet is only ever ‘aware’, not as hyper aware as we are led to believe Malik was, and see Aphmau to be. And so this can’t really be a disqualifying factor. Unless you want to argue that Levin probably isn’t then a descendant of Irene, which then calls into question his parentage as we know for a fact that Malik was.

Bringing up Levin, with the amount of jokes and jabs made at the idea that Garroth could be his father in canon, and yet also a pretty solid answer of yes to the question of if he’s a descendant or Irene, if we are to assume that the Dadroth theory was something that Jesson were implying in early MCD, then… we would also have to assume they’re also implying that Garroth is a descendant from Irene. I think it would be a fun little plotline, very telenovela, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing (especially since MCD pays homage to a multitude of other show mediums, like anime)

I think it would be THE way to do a dadroth storyline, to put in bounds that imply that it cannot be true, only for it to be revealed that the secret mystery man has secrets, and one of them makes it so that the child can, after all, be his.

I think it would work well with Garroth’s storylines too. We know that descendants of Irene are often made lords because they’re assumed to be suitable, and so people who want to be lord will fake their heritage. But Garroth is someone who was born to Lorddom and denies it. So to have that heritage, to be born with it, he would have to hide it so firmly alongside every other aspect of himself, because people will either force him to rule, or hate him for squandering the opportunities he has. And he doesn’t want to be hated, or to rule. He just wants to help people.

It would probably be on Zianna’s side considering Vylad’s various stints of non-npc behaviour.

Idk.

I’m just saying words.

I just think it could be neat.

But also it could just be a general ‘descendants from the divine’ thing so what do I know huh?

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

This is probably a really stupid question, but I feel like people are all over the place with theories regarding what feels like a relatively straightforward situation to me, so I need to ask: where is the idea coming from that Fyodor is going to come back possessing someone like Nikolai or Sigma?

Forgive me if I'm just telling you things you already know/is obvious, I don't mean to sound arrogant I swear 😭, but to me it's pretty clear that Fyodor bodyswapped with the helicopter pilot after he died? Just going by the face alone, the eyes have the little vampire possession lines, he has the same eyebrows, and overall the face looks just like the pilot's to me. The pilot stabbed and killed Fyodor the same way the guard did in the castle flashback (to make us connect them in our minds), and after the guard got Fyodor's blood on him he started being affected a bit after Fyodor died. We can then surmise based on the final page of the chapter that Fyodor eventually resurrected in the body of the guard, said body taking on Fyodor's likeness/face (without the scar he had previously anymore), and the guard's face being swapped onto Fyodor's previous body that's now dead. With that in mind, the same thing happened here; Fyodor's been revived in what was previously the pilot's body, and the two bodies swapped faces, effectively making it so that the pilot is the one that's now dead/died, and not Fyodor. This post describes it much better than I just did asdlfkgld (additionally, also saw a theory that the swapped face of the person Fyodor bodyjacks takes on all the scars/injuries Fyodor has ever had, hence all the strangely deliberate looking scars on the pilot's face he definitely didn't have before). Having said all this, I don't think anyone else is in danger of being possessed by Fyodor right now? I definitely think there's juicy and terribly tragic potential for Nikolai to suffer that fate if he one day tries to kill Fyodor (which may be why he's even wanting to do it in the first place, if he's the only one who knows Fyodor's deal.... Idk, this reveal opened up too many possibilities for Fyolai and all of them fucking destroy me), but the pilot's face seems to prove to me that he or anyone else isn't at risk right now. That being said, I have no idea what exactly Fyodor's blood is doing when he just randomly kills people while he's still alive, since he doesn't need to resurrect then... can he clone himself in others while his main body is still alive?? Would he do that?? 😭 I doubt it, we haven't seen that yet, which is why I think his blood's/ability's primary usage is bodyswapping to revive himself after he's killed, and so since his target for that right now is clear, I don't think Nikolai etc are in danger yet (emphasis on yet). ...I hope this is coherent and not mansplain-y 😭😭😭 don't get me wrong, I definitely LIKE all the theories for who Fyodor could possess, they all have such great potential and I'm excited to see whatever havoc he ends up wreaking now; I've just been confused as to where all these ideas are coming from for the current situation, since to me he clearly bodyswapped into the helicopter pilot.

Ok, so I hadn't seen Soup's analysis here - that's a very good explanation of what Fyodor's ability likely is, and I'll be sticking with that until something comes along to contradict it.

Not to worry, it's very coherent! I did say at the top of my original post that the most likely possibility was that he was going to end up swapping with a vampire guard anyways, I just... think it's a bit boring, is all. I also, admittedly, forgot what the pilot looked like since I hadn't looked back at the previous few chapters. It definitely looks like him. I suppose I, and many others, are just a little miffed that the helicopter fucking landed in a fuel tank fire and Dazai just pulled out an intact, non-burned body, and Fyodor apparently got away with the body of the helicopter pilot. Somehow. It's just. Ugh. So, I'd rather have some fun thinking about who could get demon possessed that actually has some stakes on the cast other than "oh no, Dostoevsky still isn't dead" - because we all knew that lmao

Well, now this has me curious why the arm was severed. Probably to intentionally leave a body part (the wounded hand in particular) as a way to throw Dazai off the mark. As for how he got out of the helicopter. I guess we'll find out. It feels kind of pointless to theorize. The only thing I could think of would be that Nikolai used his ability, but that would be incredibly annoying because that would make his reaction to the severed arm... an act. Just like pretty much everything else in this arc. And honestly, I'm not sure how many more "at least it was funny"s I have in me. So, here's to hoping Fyodor was able to get out on his own somehow.

Having said that, Soup's suggestion for the nature of the ability is actually very fitting with the themes and makes Fyodor a hell of a lot more interesting. It's somewhat better than just "he escaped again" and if this is truly what his ability is, then I look forward to seeing it get elaborated on in future arcs.

Any further thoughts on the ability from my end has to do with me trying to figure out the nature of the scars on Fyodor in the flashback, Hawthorne, Ivan, and now the pilot. I still think brain surgery with a blood scalpel is a funny answer.

[cuephrase]

from the questionnaire:

are there any results that really surprised you or that you didn't expect?

oooooh good question!! for me personally, no, not really? at least nothing that automatically comes to mind, so yk, don't quote me on that if i share data later and say "this surprised me/i didn't expect this!!" lmao

ummmm, hmmm. well actually okay, so i did expect Tim to be the Most Disliked Robin, but not by such a margin, if that makes sense? more like, logically one of them was going to be the most disliked even if only like 10 people disliked a Robin and my bet was that Tim would have the most votes, by process of elimination/other hypotheses. i wasn't upset by the results, if you've seen the post you know i was incredibly entertained.

there were definitely some results that were a relief? like they aligned with my personal predictions, but it was still really nice to see them.

oh, something that did surprise me was the amount of commentary i got on batcest!! there is zero discussion of shipping in the questionnaire, which is mainly why i wasn't expecting so much commentary, and there's not really a whole lot of ship discussion apart from batcest stuff that i remember- i did think i might get a couple mentions of it but i got a lot more than a couple lmao.

in favor of and against, to be clear, and to be even clearer to anyone reading- this is not an invitation to share your thoughts about batcest with me, i truly do not care. not to be rude, either, like i don't care if you love it or hate it, i just have zero interest in discussing it since a) my blog is mostly gen and b) i don't see any benefits in engaging in discourse about batcest 🫶

on the individual response level, there were some things that surprised me in isolation, but made perfect sense in the context of the responder's answers, like for instance one person said they didn't see Dick as brothers with any of the boy Robins except for Damian, because "he doesn’t really interact with a lot of the other robins in canon", that being said, the only eras they said they read were pre-crisis and rebirth. makes a lot more sense in that context. like i was thrown for a loop, but then i saw the full picture and i was like, "oh. okay."

let this be your daily reminder that the statement "i read comics" means basically nothing lmao. and i don't mean that as a dig at that responder, not at all, just that if you're someone who reads comics you cannot assume that someone else also reading comics means that you guys will be on the same wavelength. not because canon is nebulous and unknowable imo, but just because there's a lot of it!!

also!! a decent amount of people said i was brave?? that freaked me out a little, because i hadn't really...i didn't think i was stepping into shit, okay? in hindsight, i realize that that was naive of me, but idk. i wasn't thinking about the results in that way, and i also really didn't think i was going to get much interaction either- i was floored by the engagement the questionnaire got. but yeah, idk, i was just genuinely curious to see if my theory had any weight, i wasn't thinking about the broader implications of what the data might reveal. whoops.

and here's what surprised my wonderful data-crunchers:

@chinajousama: Hmm, I think one thing that did surprise me was how little the types of Robin media actually impacted the results [of the Most Disliked Robin]. Aside from that pocket of Jason hate from the post-Crisis fans, everyone was remarkably consistent. Also, it wasn't really a surprise, but it was extremely funny to see how big the gap between tim and literally anyone else was, dislike wise.

(we got an ask about if the media/eras consumed impacted which Robins were disliked, so that math has been done, but i haven't shared the results yet, sorry!!)

@tevyaa: Lots! Off the top of my head: - I was sure that the clear winner of the most disliked Robin poll would be Damian. He's the only one I've ever really seen hate for - probably because I entered fandom through Tim-centric whump fic 😂. I was shocked that it's actually Tim who the fandom is most annoyed with. - I was surprised how much of the fandom does actually read comics! I would have guesstimated that the comics/non-comics fans were something like 50/50, and was shocked to find out that only 15% of fandom doesn't read comics (and only about 4% doesn't interact with canon at all, including comics/ games/ animation)

(dw, we haven't released any data apart from the MDR yet, but you'll be able to see the breakdown of comics read/canon interaction eventually!!)

ty for the ask, anon!! i hope you enjoyed the answer!!

[mental-illness-bingo]

TW Sophieinwonderland, cult discussion

For anyone with expertise on cults, does it seem to you like sophie may be going in that direction? Reading their recent posts after *that* post, it sounds to me like it’s going there - whether or not she intends it to.

Her posts constantly include her not just advocating for endos and attacking anti-endos, but actively trying to pressure people to be plural. She’s probably successfully making some people realize they’re a CDD system by traumatizing them with the things she posts. She’s definitely trying to get a group of people behind her and encourage them to follow her and get even more.

She talks about how wonderful she thinks it is being plural, and REALLY wants everyone else to be in on it. So much so that she’s willing to make it seem like people were toxic to their imaginary friends as kids for trying to control them and then shoving them away. In her pinned she has something she wrote where she actively says that she’ll convince “at least one of you” that your imaginary friend from childhood is sentient and you just forced them to hide.

She literally said, and this is a quote “Speaking as the person who started The Future is Plural, and a tulpa, more created systems (and tulpas specifically) have always been baked into the slogan. Yes, it's about acceptance. But acceptance will result in more created systems. And more created systems will lead to more plurals. Higher numbers of plurals leads to more power. And more power will let us spread more acceptance.” That post was tagged with “we are legion”.

And then there’s that post where she actively was asking for ideas and articles she could use to make a fake conspiracy theory to use as “a Trojan horse in the conspiracy theory community” to convince them everyone was plural before a coverup happened. Dragging Egyptian mythology into it too, which is incredibly disrespectful. She is actively making up fake stories of some past where there were a bunch of people like her and the group she’s creating and that everyone not like them is either secretly like them or is against them and actively trying to cover up their existence. This fake past (that she openly posted about making up to infiltrate conspiracy theorists and get them to believe) that she’s then going to try to use to get even more people to join her bc she’s “awoken” something in them.

I definitely don’t think she’s there yet; like I said I think it’s just going that way. Especially with that explicitly stated desire for power which she would then use to spread her message further which would get more power for her and her followers and so on in that cycle.

BITE model analysis below the cut (idk if there’s a more recent version than this as I stepped away from learning about cults a while ago bc I just wasn’t there in my religious trauma journey to hear so much about catholic adjacent ideas)

I’m not at all set in stone on this idea. I just want to know if I’m reading too deep or if this really is why her followers saw that post playing into paranoia and threatening anti-endos as somehow the same as not believing in endos and how they think blocking her is some extreme offense. Someone on my post asking what it was she said in that post that went around (I hadn’t seen it since I had her blocked already) said that I shouldn’t judge her by that or by anyone else’s opinion on her. It was giving “if you just meet and talk to our founder, you’ll understand why we do everything we do” vibes and I wanted to look deeper into it. You are/gen encouraged to counter or disprove this with actual critical discussion. “She’s not making a cult you’re stupid” isn’t critical discussion. “Here’s why I don’t think you’re right” is.

Please note, for the analysis using the BITE model I will be phrasing things using what she says. I do not believe any of what she says but it’s easier to communicate using her terms and more effectively explains it rather than shoving “supposedly” and “what they call” into every single sentence.

B/Behavior control:

Promote dependence and obedience ✅ - you’re “pluralphobic” or a “sysmed” if you disagree with her trying to push people to become plural and force this idea of a future she has where everyone is plural. Even if the actual singlet involved doesn’t want to, she then pushes the idea that you’re actively emotionally hurting someone by not following her ideas, someone you cared about as a child. Imaginary friends are often foundational to children’s emotional attachments as it allows them to freely practice social interactions and connections without risk of messing up, so attacking someone’s feelings towards their imaginary friends is likely to drag them to her side whether they want to or not.

Modify behavior with rewards and punishments ✅ - anti endos are threatened on that post with emotional harm and told there isn’t a way they can escape it unless they stop being anti-endo and start pushing plurality with her.

Dictate where and with whom you live, Restrict or control sexuality, Control clothing and hairstyle, regulate what and how much you eat and drink, deprive you of 7-9 hours of sleep, exploit you financially, restrict your leisure time activities, require you to seek permission for major decisions ❌

Requiring major time spent on group indoctrination and rituals, including self-indoctrination on the internet ❔- while not exactly required, sophie isn’t unclear on her message that you should be putting pressure on people around you to be first accepting of and then consider actually being plural. She also has EXTENSIVE reading in her pinned post and recommends various other sources throughout her posts

I/Information control:

Deliberately withhold and distort information ✅ - any sources that go against endogenic systems are from “bigots/sysmeds/pluralphobes” and the only things you should be listening to are the few and far between biased “research” she’s found pointing to the existence of endogenic systems. For the most part, these don’t exist so instead she appropriates tulpamancy which is a closed practice separate from any definition of a system (according to people who are part of the closed practice I’ve seen speak on this), which does have research into it being that it’s a long standing religious practice.

Forbid you from communicating with ex-members and critics ✅ - the paranoia inducing post directly states that she will get your friends and family to stop speaking with you without ever telling you why. She claims she will entirely isolate anti-endos and destroy their support systems.

Restrict access to non-cult sources of information ❔- not that I’ve seen other than trying to pressure people into thinking they’re biased against them and therefore inaccurate.

Compartmentalize information into insider vs outsider doctrine ✅ - everything she’s doing is Us vs Them, pro-endos vs anti endos isn’t a discussion anymore it’s a *personal attack* and shouldn’t be discussed it should be eradicated. This isn’t a conversation to her at this point, just a way of leaning into her desire to push fake plurals even further.

Generate and use propaganda (“the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person”, Merriam-Webster) extensively ✅ - literally her whole blog on tumblr and on whatever site it is those links go to

Use information gained in confidence against you ❔not to my knowledge

Gaslight (“to psychologically manipulate (a person) usually over an extended period of time so that the victim questions the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and experiences confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, and doubts concerning their own emotional or mental stability”, Merriam-Webster) to make you doubt your own memory ✅ - the whole concept about how she talks about imaginary friends and the idea that they were people you emotionally mistreated (haven’t seen her use the word abuse but wouldn’t put it past her) is based on trying to convince people they weren’t really imagining them. She tries to use things such as dreams to prove something can be autonomous within your own head and drives this idea further by attempting to reshape childhood memories. All children at some point believed their imaginary friend was separate of them because it’s the subconscious trying to help you run simulated social experiences, but sophie wants you to believe your subconscious isn’t responsible (and in fact doesn’t - at least in the post about sentience in her pinned - acknowledge the subconscious at all) but an entire other person in your mind. There’s a reason children realize these aren’t real people right as they hit the age where they can both understand reality’s fiction and when they realize they’re capable of imagining things at all (both fundamental developmental milestones). It’s just that they aren’t capable of understanding that they’re in control of it yet because their neurology allows for playing pretend but not for comprehending pretend.

Require you to report your own thoughts, feelings, and activities to your superiors, encourage you to spy and report on others’ misconduct, big brother surveillance ❌

T/Thought control:

Teach you to internalize group doctrine as “Truth” ✅ - as I’ve mentioned earlier in the post, she marks all sources that agree with her as correct and all sources that disagree with her as incorrect AND bigoted against her and people like her. If you are to avoid her threats, you have to agree with what she considers the truth, regardless of the vast majority of psychological studies that say different.

Instill black vs white, us vs them, good vs evil thinking ✅ - extensively covered above

Change your identity, possibly even your name ✅ - she wants singlets to believe they’re someone else. Multiple someone elses. All with different names and opinions but most importantly all who have been shoved away by you and want to be free to do what they please which just so happens to align with her desire to push more people to do the same.

Use loaded language to stop complex thought ✅ - most examples of this are rephrasing something to put emotional weight against disagreeing with it. One such example given when I looked it up was the transfer from anti-abortion to pro-life. This is all over Sophie’s posts. She’s got three different terms she’s throwing around all emotionally loaded to make you feel disgusting for disagreeing. Sysmeds (which she constantly pushes to conflate with transmeds and actively compared anti-endos to homophobes), pluralphobes, and outright use of the word bigot - all used to replace the term anti-endo and make it seem disgusting and horrible and just morally Wrong to be anti-endo.

Induce hypnotic or trance states to indoctrinate ❔ - she does seem to push some methods adjacent to meditation but I wouldn’t call it a trance state, though she does heavily believe in forcing people to dissociate and create systems that way so up to you if you see this as a yes or no

Teach thought-stopping techniques to prevent critical thought and reality testing ❔ not in any classic cult way I’ve seen where they have a phrase of some sort to stop those thoughts, but the fear of punishment technique is in place. Her followers saw how she spoke to anti-endos. The threats weren’t released in any isolated way. The people who agree with her saw what would happen if they changed their minds. I’m willing to bet it didn’t just cause paranoia in people already on the anti-endo side.

Allow only positive thoughts ❌

Use excessive meditation, singing, prayer, and chanting to block thoughts ❌

Reject rational analysis, critical thinking, and constructive criticism ✅ - extensively covered above

E/Emotional control:

Instill irrational fears of questioning or leaving the group (phobia indoctrination) ✅ - more of what I was speaking on above; her followers also saw the threats that anti-endos got. This could very well keep someone on her side for fear that she would cause them isolation and emotional harm if they were to disagree with her.

Make you feel elitist and special ✅ - all over her page she talks about how great letting your imaginary friends take over is and how being plural is such a great thing. I’ve seen her reblogging things going all the way to saying extreme pain was made bearable (from 100 to 10) from one of their “headmates” holding their hand. This has neurological basis in CDD systems but it doesn’t have any basis without the different usage of the brain that comes with a CDD system. It’s basic “mind over matter” but it’s being rebranded as some special thing they could do because they fed into this. She convinces them they’re better than others who continue to shove away their imaginary friends. She also says they’re better than all anti-endos because they aren’t being bigoted. The future is plural is pushed because being plural is better in her mind.

Promote feelings of guilt, shame, and unworthiness ❔- not to her followers which is what I think this refers to? She does this to people who don’t agree with her though and to an extreme degree (The Post, you know the one)

Elicit extreme emotional highs and lows, label some emotions as evil, worldly, sinful, or wrong, teach emotion-stopping techniques to prevent anger or home-sickness ❌

Threaten and harass your friends and family ✅ - if we are to believe her, this is what she would do given the opportunity. This is what she threatened to do. I have no doubt that she would absolutely do this to any anti-endo in her real life. It’s not a risk to us because she has no access to our information and our families. But given that access? I don’t think she’d be above trying it (at least until it got her in trouble where she would go whine to a judge about how they’re mean to the people she supposedly made up and decided to keep in her head)

Shun you if you disobey or disbelieve ✅ - just as she tried to make anti-endos believe she’d isolated us, so too would she do to one of her followers who became anti-endo. She wants anti-endos to believe we have no support network so we join her side. By extension, that likely means she wants pro-endos to believe that they would have no support network if they became anti-endo.

Teach you that there is no happiness or fulfillment outside of the group ✅ - she has several things she’s reblogged or posted from her asks discussing how miserable anti-endos must be, one even claiming that the reason we’re anti-endo is because our system wants us to continue doubting the existence of our alters so they push away her beliefs. She either firmly believes herself that we are all miserable and mean or she knows better but wants her followers to believe it.

There’s a lot of X’s there. She’s definitely not there yet I don’t think, and I don’t even know if there’s sufficient evidence to say it’s going there. There IS sufficient evidence in the way her followers reacted to and defended that post (or completely ignored its existence while continuing to follow her and act like it was completely normal) to say that people are being swayed and controlled by the ideas she’s pushed. There’s a reason we have to do so much damage control on that post - because she wanted people to be scared and enjoyed that it worked.

She is, bare minimum, high on a power trip. She’s willing to avoid blocks and harass people to get her message across, and the message is that no one is to disagree with her.

I don’t agree with and don’t appreciate the existence of the endogenic “system” community, but Sophie isn’t representative of all of them. She’s her own issue separately and maybe more pressing than them.

I don’t know what if anything can be done about this if it is the case. I just know that I saw a pattern I recognized from an old hyperfixation on cults and some… experience from a short period of my personal life dealing with this kind of thing and I wanted to see if others see it too.

Edit: addition based on something I saw on the sophie filter blog (avoid this at all costs it’s intentionally triggers and traumatizing to read AND is used to intentionally filter everything terrible people on the internet have sent to her into one place to try and make anti-endos look like a hate group)

If you don’t do what she says, you are punished. If you post in tags she decided were theirs, you are punished. “Stepping out of line” is the phrase she chose to use.

[squishlordkiwi]

Did a 15+ hour road trip with my fam twice a little ago and I drove a good chunk of it. Used AA/DGS music to keep me awake bc music psych is a blessing sometimes. Anyway, just a roundabout way to say, I have discovered some fun things in the music that made me 👀👀👀 Idk if anyone else has noticed any of it (and I will say I have minimal music theory knowledge but I'm an English major with the tendency to read into symbolism way too much), but feel to keep reading if you're interested! Spoilers for DGS2 are in here, fair warning!

I'll try and include links to the songs when I can! It'll probably be a mix of Spotify and YouTube hyperlinks so bear with me. Fair warning, this is super long because I decided to cram everything in one post oops lmao

The Funky Time Signature

The first thing I really ever noticed was that Sholmes' "Dance of Deduction"s were weird in terms of keeping beat. It's not in common time aka 4/4 aka 8-count; I think it's in 7/8 time (so you count 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 etc. etc.) which is a struggle to maintain counting since people are so used to 3, 4, and 8-counts.

Dance of Deduction - Type A

I found sheet music for easier counting! It says it's in 7/4: https://youtu.be/51vTmoQzwI8

Originally, I thought it was just because he's Weird and Silly™, but I ended up listening to "Partners - The game is afoot" which plays when Sholmes and Yuujin are on the S.S. Grouse trying to deduce where Jigoku is.

Partners - The game is afoot!

This one is surprisingly in 4/4 aka common time (you count 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 etc. etc. [though I have seen sheets put it in 12/8, which is close-ish, but it still has an even counting pattern WHICH IS WHAT MATTERS]). So in actuality, Shomles' Dance of Deductions aren't in a weird time signature because he's our favorite eccentric boy (okay, it might be part that too); it's because he's missing his partner after he left and investigating never felt quite right without him. Once he and Yuujin get to investigate together again, he's whole and happy. And it's just so fucking gay I can't.

Harpsichord

The big thing I noticed while I was driving (because there was nothing else interesting on the road) was the use of harpsichords in certain Londoner themes, specifically Stronghart, van Zieks, Iris, and Kazuma's prosecutor theme, as well as some of the final songs during 2-4&5.

If you don't know, this is what a harpsichord sounds like! Yes, I know I'm a nerd for being able to pick it out and name it while driving lmao

You can hear it a lot in Stronghart's theme, specifically around 0:38-0:49 (it's pretty in the background so you kinda have to strain your ears but it's there), but it's also pretty present throughout his theme.

Lord Chief Justice Stronghart - Time-Keeper of the Law

There's also a lot of it in van Zieks' theme as well; it's right off the bat and it's one of the prominent instruments throughout the piece.

Barok van Zieks - The Reaper of the Bailey

You have to really be listening for it, but it pops up occasionally in Iris' theme as well! You kinda have to strain your ears during 0:16-0:30 to hear it, but it's definitely there. It's more hidden compared to van Zieks'.

Iris Wilson - Young Biographer

I know Kazuma is Japanese, however, since he became a prosecutor in Britain, it still counts and it makes more sense once I tell you why it's all related (if you haven't guessed yet). ANYWAY, his theme also has a lot of harpsichord in it, even in the parts that were from his original theme.

A Prosecutor, Reborn

This could all just be a stylistic choice too, but do you see it yet? All the people who correspond with these themes are directly related to the Professor killings. van Zieks and Kazuma have the most prominent because we know by 2-4 the obvious connections they both hold. Iris and Stronghart's are more in the background since both of their involvements are big reveal-type deals by the end of the game.

Bonus points: the actual theme that plays when anything related to the Professor is mentioned also has some background harpsichord to connect it all.

The Professor - A Spectre Revived

I will note that I didn't notice anything in Gregson's theme, even though he played a big part in the false conviction. Courtney Sythe's theme also has some harpsichord, but I can't remember how she's related to it other than the fact that she helped with the autopsy (which probably means I should replay the games again lol).

Other game music that proves the connection:

Enoch Drebber - Rondo of Science and Magic

The Great Gateway to the Truth

The Prison Warders

The Great Closed Trial - Court is Now in Session

Reminiscences - The Fruits of Ambition

Others I probably completely missed

A Prosecutor, Reborn

Speaking of Kazuma's prosecutor theme, one of the really cool things about its composition is the warring back and forth between itself. It starts with the completely new theme, blending his usual string accompaniment with drums/cymbals, singular bell tolls, and harpsichord. When it gets to around 0:47, you hear the bells and then it switches back to his original theme from Adventures, though it's a lot grander now and lacking a lot of the traditional Japanese elements it once had.

A Prosecutor, Reborn

Kazuma Asougi - Samurai on a Mission

And it bounces back and forth like that until the end of the song, the bells signifying the shifting. It goes to show this internal struggle Kazuma is having between finding the truth even if it's something he won't like (his original theme) and following his emotions to falsely convict van Zieks as revenge (the beginning chunk of his prosecutor theme).

I also think it's interesting how dominating the harpsichord is, again especially over the chunks of his original theme from Adventures. In connection to it being related to the Professor, aside from the obvious connection to his father, it also shows how much influence and manipulation Stronghart had over him, with him being the BBEG.

Siblings

One of my favorite things I noticed was Susato and Kazuma's connections through themes, though not the one you're thinking. Kazuma's official theme I'm sure has a few connections to Susato's (but I haven't listened closely enough to hear them), however I really noticed how intertwined the two were when I listened to Kazuma's unused theme they provided in Chronicles.

Susato Mikotoba - A New Bloom in the New World

Kazuma Asougi (Unused)

Many of the same instruments are used, as well as note and chord progressions. They have the same peaceful/serene vibes too, which is understandable in why Kazuma's was scrapped (even if I do like it a lot). But if this ended up being Kazuma's actual theme, I would've noticed the familial relationship they share instead of my initial thoughts of it purely just being professional.

That's all I've really noticed for now, but I'm sure I'll come across more things as I listen to the soundtrack to study. I will, however, shut up now and let you get back with you day/night/whatever time of day it is for you because this is getting l o n g. If you did read this far, thank you for indulging me and listening to me be a complete nerd ^w^ And definitely feel free to share your thoughts too; I love talking about this stuff if you couldn't tell!