#if that’s the case there’ so many characters we have to reevaluate—

[devilbeez]

….would genderbend version of feminine male character be masculine female character and vice versa or am I doing this trope wrong

[velvees-archive]

At 20 years old, Miles Edgeworth’s only mentor tells him never to step foot into his opponent’s territory lest he fail to crush them in court. 4 years later, Edgeworth enters Defendant Lobby No. 1 to warn opposing counsel Phoenix Wright about Redd White’s decisive testimony.

Some post-AAI1 reflections + how Phoenix unravels Miles from the very moment they meet again.

After playing through the original trilogy, up to 4-2 on Apollo Justice, and all of Ace Attorney Investigations 1, I couldn’t help but jot down my (admittedly incomplete) thoughts about Phoenix and Edgeworth’s relationship, especially as it pertains to Miles’ “unraveling,” or his departure from von Karma’s teachings.

We already know von Karma had no love for Edgeworth. Crushing the late Gregory Edgeworth’s legacy under the guise of mentoring his son (and eventually ruining his career at its peak) was von Karma’s last act of hatred towards the departed.

From Miles’ perspective, however, von Karma was an accomplished teacher to whom he owed his gratitude and career’s success. This is important because Edgeworth’s actions are fundamentally motivated by his desire to express his “gratitude,” repay debts, and honor legacies.

His debt to von Karma compels him to strive for the perfection his mentor obsesses over. Achieving perfection takes the form of absorbing von Karma’s teachings, among them the AAI1 screenshot from earlier: only face your opponent in court, and make sure you crush them when you do it.

We know for a fact that the “demon prosecutor” internalizes von Karma’s teachings. He follows them to a T.

So, following 15 years of indoctrination, 4 years of putting the von Karma creed into practice, and an entire childhood AND early adulthood’s worth of gratitude, you’d THINK Edgeworth wouldn’t dare dishonor him…

Until he does, by coming to the defendant lobby to speak to his “enemy.”

Prior to playing AAI1, I thought the impetus for Edgeworth’s character development was 1-3, wherein he reevaluated the facts of the case and helped Phoenix get Dee Vasquez a guilty verdict. I still think 1-3 was the first time he consciously acknowledged the possibility (keyword: possibility) that his prosecutorial upbringing wasn’t..sound…(lmao!)

But with this AAI1 von Karma and Bratworth interaction, I now believe it was 1-2—with Edgeworth subconsciously disregarding his mentor’s teachings and Phoenix acting as the catalyst—that shows us when he first strayed from the path of a Von Karma.

An aside: Do I think AAI1 Bratworth was perfectly characterized? Not at all; he’s much too noble for that era of his life, though I don’t think it affects my case.

Edgeworth is a man full of contradictions. He comes to the defendant lobby to tell Phoenix his case is hopeless, though he has no obligation to disclose—nor has he ever set a precedent of disclosing—decisive witnesses’ information to his opponents.

He tells Phoenix he’ll do anything to get a guilty verdict, yet he warns the defense that his witness’s testimony will be considered infallible, prompting the player (Phoenix) to dissect the following testimonies with more care.

He tells Phoenix not to expect any special treatment from him, yet his very presence in the defendant’s lobby is in direct opposition to his respected mentor’s wishes.

It takes just one appearance from Phoenix for the filaments of von Karma’s indoctrination to unravel. 4 years into his career, Edgeworth has met many attorneys—most notably, Mia Fey—who embody Phoenix’s faith in his clients, yet none could shake his foundations like Phoenix Wright.

Edgeworth may have not been ready to turn a new leaf upon his first encounter with Phoenix, but the fact that a loose thread from his childhood (that’s emblematic of his innocence, his dreams, and dare I say his father’s drive) ultimately leads to his unraveling is poetry if I’ve ever seen it.

TL;DR Phoenix deconstructs Edgeworth like he was born to do so. The moment Phoenix decided to chase after him, Edgeworth had already lost.

[thefandomenchantress]

A Very Long Morgie Analysis

Warning: As the title says, this is a very, very long post. You should fear that keep reading button. /j

So I watched Descendants 4 with pretty low expectations a week or so ago, since I heard a lot of people criticizing the film. I’d watched the first three Descendants and thought they were a very fun kind of over the top, and figured that this one would be similarly kinda cheesy but hopefully in a charming way.

The first time I watched the film, I liked it. While I thought the beginning of the movie’s plot dragged slightly only for a far too hasty conclusion, I figured that with a supposed part 2 coming, things could possibly wrap up nicely in the future. That was my mindset throughout almost the entire film…Until suddenly Morgie got a scene.

This is a post mainly for people who’ve seen the film, but just in case I’ll explain the scene. Morgie, son of Morgana, is assigned as look-out during the villain heist. He then makes an amusing comment about what the signal should be if he sees Merlin, and no one answers him. We leave his character for a bit before coming back when Merlin returns to his office, about to catch the villains. Morgie does his signal as planned, and when Merlin looks at him, he hides behind a branch as though that’s going to do literally anything to hide him.

By the end of his little dose of screen time, I was quite amused and wondered how I hadn’t really noticed him earlier in the film, since his character archetype seemed right up my alley. After a day or two, my curiosity peaked and I decided to watch the movie again, but this time pay lots of attention to him whenever he was in a scene. I both wanted to appreciate his character more as well as reevaluate the movie after my first viewing, wanting to decide if it really was ‘bad’ like people said it was (spoiler alert: I had fun watching it the second time as well, while it is flawed it’s a fun movie and I like it and I will die on this hill—).

On my second watch, I realized that Morgie is surprisingly pretty well-characterized for a character that doesn’t have too many speaking lines. And I really wanted to hyper-analyze his character and all that, so now I’m making a very long post about it. I really just need to ramble for a bit because for some reason I have become deeply fixated on this character and NEED to blurt out all my thoughts.

So without further ado, how about we watch this movie for a third time and point out every single little thing about Morgie and appreciate it? Let's go!

(There's also my theory about how the new and old timelines work below all the movie analysis, in case anyone just wants to see that).

YAY HE SAID HIS FIRST LINE WOOOO!!! After a whole 48 minutes, the best character has finally entered the movie /j.

Now on to actual thoughts and stuff. Morgie's first ever words in this film are, "Son of morgana", which, from an out-of-universe perspective, can be easily explained by the movie needing us to know who he is, since he's one of the two completely unheard-of characters in the villain gang.

But Uliana, notably, only has her relation to Ursula mentioned after her verse. So the "son of morgana" line didn't have to be the first thing to ever be said by him, but it is.

That could just be because it flows best from a music standpoint, but in-universe, I think it could possibly represent how Morgie got into the villain gang in the first place.

You see, while I was trying to dig up all the Morgie information available before I made this post, I found these blurbs:

(From an official Descendents book, 98% sure it's called "Descendants: The World Of Auradon: Royals And Villains").

Notably, Morgie's entry says he isn't the most well-liked in the group. But in that case...How is he still in the group??? The villain gang don't exactly seem like the types to keep someone around just to be nice. So here's what I think the reason is.

Uliana wants to be the most feared person at the school. She wants to surpass even her sister when it comes to being mean and scary. And that means that her gang has to be mean and scary. And when she hears that the literal son of Morgana--Morgana, in this universe, seems to be a very powerful sorceress who almost took over the world--is attending her school, she knows that having him on her side will definitely give her more of a powerful, evil image. Afterall, if the son of one of the most powerful villains was willing to follow her, people would think that she must be very mean and scary.

Of course, she needs people to know that Morgie is the son of Morgana, so I wouldn't be surprised if she asked him to mention it the first chance he got, and he listened to her.

This was all a very long way of saying that Morgie says this line first possibly because Uliana told him to, since having evil, scary people on her side makes her look better. And it's also interesting that the first words he ever speaks are about his relation to someone else, not his own character, unlike all the others in his group.

But we're not done with this shot yet! I also want to add that the Son of Morgana's name is Morgie, which means that Morgana has joined the long, long line of Descendents villains who basically just name their children after themselves, (probably because they view them as a sort of mini-me). I wouldn't be surprised if his name was actually Morgan, though, and Morgie's just a nickname.

Also, something I noticed is that, if you look at the book-pictures above again, Morgie's paragraph is in past tense, while Morgana's is in present tense. Morgie's being in the past tense makes sense, since we know that in the future, the villain gang in Rise of Red no longer exists, all of them being their own solo acts. But Morgana's paragraph being in present tense means that she is still alive, powerful, and presumably still wants to take over the world. So I guess that means she's technically a candidate for antagonist in the next movie. But I'll get back to speculation about that sort of thing later.

Now we can finally talk about the next moment, haha.

(Morgie is the one singing the line here)

The first time I watched this I didn't catch that he called Uliana hot but--Yeah, he did. Which means that he either thinks she's so hot he must declare it to random strangers, or Uliana specifically asked him to say that she's hot. Either way it's kind of hilarious.

I am genuinely unsure as to whether they are trying to get us to ship Morgie and Uliana because:

-On one hand, we've got Morgie not being well-liked, and him "desperately wanting Uliana to like and respect him". Which seems to imply that, at least to some extent, she does not like or respect him, or at least not as much as Morgie wants her to.

-But on the other hand, we've got Morgie calling her hot, staring at her longingly, and Uliana calling him 'honey' later in the movie. Disney what do you want from us--

Personally, after reading that Morgana is cruel person who doesn't care about innocent people and who's first priority is world domination, I guessed that Morgie probably didn't have the most loving upbringing. It could've possibly been something like Red's, where his mother could be 'kind', but only if he did what she said and helped her take over the world and all that. In this scenario, Morgie tries his best to follow her lead, but most of the time still doesn't do well enough to satisfy her and fails to get much validation or love from her. When he goes off to school, he tries to get validation and love and respect and all that from Uliana instead.

But that interpretation sort of implies he sees her as a stand-in mother figure, which makes me think that no, them being a couple doesn't feel quite right.

But it's not like that interpretation is canon or anything, it's just something I came up with. So it can't prove that he has no romantic interest in Uliana and that's why he's so desperate to please her. But I did want to share my thoughts on that matter, so here you go. :)

Aside from Morgie getting hit by Uliana's tentacle and falling over being really funny, there is something else interesting that this moment made me notice.

I read somewhere that a character being lower in frame than another, or lower from a high angle in general, can symbolize them being less powerful. And I noticed that there are a few scenes where Morgie does crouch or appear at a lower angle than the other villain gang members, which reinforces the idea that he isn't the most powerful/well-liked member and is at the bottom of the totem pole in the group.

I don't know if I'm reading into that too much, and I don't know a lot about film-making techniques so maybe that's not completely accurate, but I thought that was interesting.

There's nothing too important about this one, I just think that all the villains frowning or glaring while Morgie goes :D is really funny. He looks so head-empty in this moment.

Morgie uses 80's slang confirmed!!

Also, Uliana lets Morgie call her Uli. Considering the fact that Uliana says her full name (Uliana) is what will strike fear into people's hearts, her letting Morgie use a semi-cute nickname is fun. It proves they're at least a little close, since she didn't sock him in the face for calling her that, especially in public. She cares a lot about her image, so her not minding definitely seems to imply she cares for him at least a little bit.

I don't have much to say about this one, I just think it's amusing.

Though the fact that so much of Morgie's dialogue can go unheard/unnoticed without captions on or on a first viewing is interesting. I couldn't actually hear the 'wicked' line, I'm just trusting the captions. And both this line and the last he says while not on-screen, which seems to put the other's reactions in more of a spotlight than what he's saying.

I suppose this is part of the reason I found Morgie harder to notice and keep track of when I wasn't putting my undivided attention on him. Throughout a good chunk of the movie, he's treated as nothing more than Uliana's lackey. Him not having too much to do besides follow her is true to his character, though. His entire role is all based around doing anything to gain her affection. He cares about her more than anything, and sometimes that leads to him not being a character of his own. Which is pretty cool, if done purposefully.

Hm, I've noticed that Morgie's main ship in this fandom seems to be Hook and him, and is this one moment the reason for that? I've heard people say they have chemistry on-screen, but after watching the movie a few times, they only have a few close moments from what I can see. This and introducing Uliana are probably where their friendship is most prominent. Hook and Morgie definitely seem the most dedicated to Uliana, so they are similar in that regard. And the ship is cool, don't get me wrong. I suppose I just wonder if there's some sort of logic behind it, or if it was more of a "ah yes two conventionally attractive men it's shipping time" situation, haha.

This is an interesting frame, because Uliana is suffering as she's turned into a...uh...flamingo-squid-human hybrid? And you'd think that Morgie, since he cares so much about her, would be the most distressed. Instead, in this moment he seems to be smiling (not sure if you can tell as much in this screenshot, though). This could mean a few things:

As stated in the Descendents book, Morgie is rather dense and still hasn't realized that Uliana isn't fooling around anymore and is in genuine distress.

He is happy Uliana is in distress because that means he gets to help her, and she will feel grateful for that and like him more in result.

As shown later in the movie, he likes animals enough to even learn how to mimic the sounds they make, so he's just happy that two of his favorite things are being combined, haha.

Some sort of theory about him secretly not being super loyal to her, though there's not much of a case you could make for that other than this moment in particular, as far as I'm aware.

I'm not sure which one I believe, though I think I'm probably leaning towards the first one, even though possibility 2 would be quite interesting. After all, he looks very visibly worried when she falls into the fountain later, so him just not realizing at first probably lines up the most.

Not too much to say about these two moments, besides the fact that they once again showcase how desperate Morgie is to please Uliana. First by him being the first person to try to help her (but he fails and falls over, which he seems to do a lot). And second by him being the first to sprint out of the courtyard after her. Though it seems Hook caught up and got him to stay with the others to cut off Bridget and Ella at the other side, since we don't see him running behind Uliana anymore in the next shot, and then we see him standing beside Hades after we move to the fountain scene, implying he went the way Hades did instead.

(Side note, I think that Morgie's the one who shouts 'Uli!' but the captions just say student so maybe not, I can't tell).

Okay, so, the captions claim that Hook says this line, but not only can we see that Hook has his mouth shut as he pushes branches out of the way, not speaking, the voice also sounds way more like Morgie to me. Originally, I was going to use the nickname Uli as evidence that it was Morgie, but then I remembered Hook also calls her Uli earlier in the movie. So I guess I can't prove anything, but I'm 99% sure this was a mistake on the caption-er people's part.

To get on with the actual scene, Morgie compliments Uliana in an attempt to comfort and please her, though it doesn't seem to work like he'd hoped it would. Other than the last scene of the movie, this is probably the only scene that remotely shows that maybe she doesn't like him as much as some of the others, like the book claims. But more on that later.

I had a hard time getting a good frame of it, but I wanted to point out that Morgie kinda froggy-hops on the first two stones in this scene, before jumping across them normally. Whether he stopped because he realized the others weren't doing it or because he simply remembered that he is Not A Frog, I found it to be a fun detail and wanted to point it out.

Pfft, he's so eager to participate, his worryingly excited vocal delivery never gets old to me here. You could also argue that this is another lower-in-the-frame moment, since he sort of crouches and then rises up here.

It's noteworthy that Morgie is the only one of Uliana's gang to not come up with his own idea for a way to get revenge on Bridget. Which at first glance seems like a strange choice, since all the members getting individual lines is a chance to characterize each one a little bit more. And that's especially valuable with a character like Morgie, since most kids probably don't know a lot about Arthurian legend and therefore Morgana. And Morgie's not even actually her, he's her son. Meaning in his limited screentime, they really need to put the effort in to make his general personality clear.

But the fact that Morgie just copies someone else's answer does characterize him. Like I said earlier, at least to me, Morgie seems a lot more eager to participate in the conversation than to come up with ways to punish Bridget for what she totally definitely did. In fact, he begins to climb on top of the rock-thingy to jump off it and excitedly repeat Hades' idea before Hades even has a chance to finish his thought (he's still on "we could"), meaning Morgie was probably going to excitedly parrot whatever Hades said no matter what it was (or maybe that just happened because the actor didn't have enough time to climb up, jump, and say the line if he waited until Hades finished speaking but shhhhhh).

This would imply that Morgie doesn't really care as much about evilly getting revenge and whatnot as much as he cares about getting to be included in the conversation and following what the others are doing. This may be getting into more headcanon-y territory, but Morgie seems to crave the love and companionship of his friends, and I think this scene sort of demonstrates his want to do what they deem as good and acceptable and what will make them happy rather than come up with anything on his own.

I suppose that's one thing that makes his character morally grey to some extent. Sure, he doesn't seem to take as much direct joy/satisfaction in torturing Bridget, but he still cares far more about his friends' approval than her well-being. As long as his friends are happy and want to keep him around, Bridget and anyone else's happiness doesn't matter.

I have no idea why they put in a random shot of Morgie jumping in the middle of the song, but it's really amusing to me so I'm happy they did. I just needed to mention this really quick, I find the hard cut to Morgie dramatically jumping off something way too humorous not to.

Off-topic, but since it's sort of implied Morgie likes animals at the end of the movie, I like to think he feeds this guy sometimes, and when asked why he'll say sadly, "No one comes here besides us anymore, so he hasn't been able to eat any innocent people in a long time :(" like it's this terrible, tragic backstory. Idk I just think it'd be funny. Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Ah yes, the scene I keep mentioning. The one that made me go, "woah, he's funny and has a discernable personality :0". The one where he asks what the signal should be and all that.

This scene finally shows us what the Descendents book from earlier kept claiming, that he wasn't the most well-liked among their evil clique. When Morgie talks, Uliana rolls her eyes in exasperation and walks off, not answering his questions. And the others follow suit, ignoring him.

For most of the film, Morgie seems to be on even ground with the other members, and at first, I thought maybe that wasn't on purpose and they just wanted to shove this in at the end, like how most of the ending was rushed. But now I'm thinking that maybe the reason Morgie isn't as well-liked is being shown throughout the scene, revealing why it's only more obvious now.

You see, Morgie's easily excitable personality fits in when Uliana and the gang are all just messing around, like how they were laughing and making jokes at someone else's expense earlier in the movie. Morgie just has to cackle evilly behind Uliana and be supportive. But when they try to do more 'serious' evil things, like this heist, his attitude doesn't translate quite as well.

Uliana wants to be taken seriously as the threat, and I assume the other villain gang members do as well. They want to be evil and scary and tough and all that. But Morgie doesn't really have a more serious, threatening mode. Well, he does, like when he's trying to be threatening during his introduction. But when there's no bystanders to impress, only his friends, the real Morgie isn't the serious type. He's still energetic and excitable, even in situations such as these. And the others find this a bit grating, since they want to be real villains. They don't want all of this to be childish or a game, they want to be taken seriously as villains. They want to be real villains. And Morgie's demeanor isn't as cut out for that sort of environment. Or at least his natural demeanor isn't, and he has trouble reading when they want him to be more serious.

Side-note: I swear I love every line this character delivers, something about the way he talks makes my ears happy. So I just wanted to point that out really quick.

"Ah yes, this extremely small branch will guarantee that no one will see me! >:D" I find this very funny. I want to say this isn't very smart of him, but I mean it works and Merlin doesn't see him so you can't argue with results--

Anyways, Morgie impersonates a few animals and hides behind a small tree branch. I thought about screenshotting all the animal noises but they're pretty straight-forward and for this you just need to acknowledge that they happened, so I didn't.

Morgie is the son of Morgana, and presumably has the capacity to be an extremely powerful magic-user like her. Which means there are a lot of cool magic things he could be doing. So I think the fact that we are directly shown that shape-shifting and mimicry are the skills he focuses his energy on the most, is important. Well, I suppose it's possible he isn't using magic to mimic the animals, but I've always assumed he is. And even if he isn't, the fact that even in scenes where he's completely alone he's still mimicking something else is rather telling.

...

...Oh, wow, we finished analyzing the actual movie! Yay! Time for one last thing, then!

Apparently, there was a deleted after-credits scene where Morgie finds the sorcerer's book. Unfortunately, I couldn't locate the original post, which supposedly came from Morgie's actor. It's not that I doubt it's real, I don't know how someone could fake this photo, but I would've liked to see it and know what he said about it.

(Warning, a lot of this gets even less objective than it already was, and most of it is just me theorizing with varying degrees of evidence to back my statements).

So what implications does this photo have? Well, it confirms my suspicions that Morgie being forced to stay behind wasn't for nothing and was setting up something else. I heard there was a lot of cut content in Rise of Red, and the fact they thought the 'Morgie barks like a dog scene' was important enough to keep over other things seemed telling.

If there was a scene dedicated to him finding the book, then him finding it must somehow be important. But in that case, I'm guessing we'd have to assume that Morgie can open the book. After all, if he can't open it, what's the point of him finding it? And it sort of ruins the original timeline, too.

If Morgie can't open the book, then that means all of the villain gang couldn't open it. And in that case, how would they prank Bridgette in the original timeline? They couldn't, because none of them would be able to read the recipe and give the cupcake to Bridgette.

However, if Morgie can open the book, then things make more sense. I wasn't sure if I was going to share my whole theory here, but so far I haven't seen anyone have the exact same idea as me (though I haven't read every Morgie post out there, so it's possible), so why not share it?

What if the thing that changes the timeline isn't that the villains were able to get the book without getting caught by Merlin, it's that the villain gang knew Morgie could open the book?

Let me explain.

Let's start with the fact that I don't think we often acknowledge, at least in my experience, how random of a choice putting Morgie in this movie was. They could've chosen any classic Disney villain to be in this movie, yet they chose Morgana. A character who has never even shown up in any Disney project, besides a live-action film and Sofia the First. They could've chosen to round out the pirate trio from the second movie and added in Gaston, or chosen one of the core four's parents from the first movie, or picked literally any famous character from any Disney movie ever. And yet, they decided to go with not just Morgana, but the son of Morgana.

And personally, I think that if Morgie really was just a throwaway character, they probably wouldn't have gone through the effort of making a whole new character instead of just choosing an already established one, like with Hook, Maleficent, and Hades. There has to be a reason they did this, right? Anything Morgie did in this movie could've been accomplished by anyone, since his only large contribution to the plot was being a look-out and failing.

And there are two things I realized. One, that being the child of a villain basically gives you automatic redemption arc privileges in this franchise. The core four, the pirate trio, and Red in this movie are all proven to be good deep down in the end, and we're supposed to see them as heroes. And for some reason, they decided their new character couldn't just be Morgana, it had to be the son of Morgana.

My guess is that they want to be able to push the "Oh their parents taught them that being evil is right but deep down they're a good person" angle they did in all the other movies with the Descendents. Especially since it would parallel Red, who's basically the main character of these movies, even if Chloe is at a close second.

The second thing I noticed is that even if you read just the first paragraph of Morgana Le Fay's Wikipedia page, it says that a significant aspect of her character is her unpredictability when it comes to being good or evil. She has the potential for both, and since they seem to have decided to just make Morgana evil in this universe, I'm guessing that trait is being handed down to Morgie.

They needed a morally ambiguous villain who could open the book in order for the timeline to work properly, and choosing a villain we know is 'evil' thanks to their movie, wouldn't allow that. So obscure villain's son it is.

Alright, so if we assume my logic makes sense and isn't just incoherent rambling, Morgie can open the book. How does this tie into the way Chloe and red changed the timeline? Here's what I've come up with:

In the new timeline, Red and Chloe steal the book for the villains and the villains take it, opening it in front of them just to brag and getting frozen. Red and Chloe take the book and, assuming that Uliana and her friends can't go to the dance, leave the book behind off-screen. In the deleted scene I think they left it...Is that their room? I genuinely can't tell, but Morgie finds it. Possibly via following them after seeing them leave the building, since we know that the trip from Red's room to Merlin's office is in direct eyeline of the tree.

But even though Morgie found the book, the prank isn't enacted in this timeline. If Morgie can open the book, why is that? After all, he could just do the prank for Uliana, right? Well, here's what i think happened:

Uliana and the gang don't know that the book is enchanted so that non-good people are unable to open it. That's why they try to open it without a second thought. Which means there are two possibilities going forward:

Morgie did indeed follow Red and Chloe back to their room so he could get the book back for Uliana, and overheard their conversation about how the book proves Red is a good person and won't turn out like her Mom, etcetera. When he finds it, he's aware of what could happen when he opens it, unlike his friends.

Morgie doesn't know about the enchantment on the book when he finds it, because he didn't follow them or couldn't hear them through the door or something else.

Both options, for my theory, garner the same outcome, it's just that things take slightly longer to happen.

If we go with the second option, Morgie is unaware that opening the book with no side effects means anything and after he opens it, he decides to show Uliana and the others the book whenever Merlin gets the spell off of them and all that. But when they do meet up, Morgie asks how they got caught before he shows them anything. And Uliana's answer would be something along the lines of, "That stupid book was enchanted and froze us in place! Only some goody-two-shoes could open it without that happening" (she would know because she heard Chloe's explanation of the spell when her and Red were talking). And Morgie takes a moment to process that...Uh oh, wait, that didn't happen to him. Why didn't that happen to him? Cue Morgie having an identity crisis as he realizes that the book doesn't seem to think he's a bad person, even though that's what he's supposed to be. He's the son of Morgana. He's part of a group that knows their actions are bad and they don't care. His entire motivations are around getting his mother, Uliana, and whoever else to give him validation for being good at being a villain.

But according to this book, he's not one.

Morgie tries to play it off and decides not to show them the book. Uliana and the gang are all about being evil, and they are all he has. What if this was the last straw and they kicked him out of the group because they think he's not evil enough? He'd have no one left.

He's decided that he can't tell them about the book, but what if they figure out that he has it? As long as he has the book, it's a liability. So, he does the only thing he can think of.

Burn it to a crisp.

And with the book destroyed, the prank can't happen. The recipe that can turn Bridget into a monster is no more.

If we went back to those first two options and say Morgie knew about the spell when he opened the book, then everything is the same except the book gets destroyed sooner, the night Morgie's friends are still frozen and won't be able to catch him actively sabotaging their revenge plans.

So that's the new red-and-Chloe timeline. What about the old timeline? Well, in that timeline, let's say Uliana doesn't feel the need to show off and open the book in front of Red and Chloe, so they escape Merlin's office unharmed. That means they get to meet up with Morgie, and whenever they open it, they're around to see that oh, Morgie isn't frozen, that's weird.

And they can't know for sure why, since they don't know what the enchantment is or what its qualifications are, but they do know that Morgie can read the recipe and do the revenge plan, so Morgie is able to read the instructions and they're able to prank Bridgette.

And ta-da! That's how the timeline got changed! At least in my mind, there are probably tons of other possibilities, but this is the one that made the most sense in my head.

And with that, the post is finally finished! I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts or ideas on this! Despite this being an analysis, a lot of it is dictated, at least slightly, by my own opinions. Morgie is the centerpiece of the timeline changes for a reason, haha. With such a large fanbase compared to some other pieces of media I like, I'd love to hear what the masses have come up with and like or disagree about in this post.

Thank you so much for reading if you've made it this far! I can only imagine that if you have read all this, you're some sort of Descendents or Morgie super-fan, and for that you have my respect.

[starmocha]

This is just a love letter to the devs, because they are not celebrated enough for their achievements and genuine love for the game and players.

With the recent announcement of the upcoming update and new love interest's debut, It's truly been amazing to see how far the game has come from their years in development to the official launch to now, six months later. The game has evolved in ways unimaginable with no true comparison to other otome games on the market. The strive to always improve, to implement new features, to take into consideration their audience's critique and criticism is truly admirable.

The thought, care, and planning of just not the main story, but also for each individual love interest is unlike any other otome games I have played in the past. They are truly wanting to create an immersive experience—actual memories—for their audience, and it is working. We have grown attached and fond of the characters from the main love interests to even the side characters.

Take into the fact that LADS is a global game, the coordination that went into making sure news and trailer releases are happening concurrently for players across different regions is mind-blowing.

As with any company, controversaries will happen. They could easily ignore any controversaries that come along, but instead they have chosen to be transparent with their players, which in this case was about Sylus' leak. They weren't obligated to address the issue, write letters to the players, or even share the first unscheduled preview, but clearly they have discussed within the company on how to handle the issue and have concluded that this was a decision they felt comfortable with and was necessary on their part.

For all of the jokes and jabs about personal financial woes, I am truly happy to see where my hard-earned money is going. I've played otome games for years, and have rarely ever been a F2P player, so from a spender's POV, I feel satisfied knowing my money is going to the hardworking people that have developed this game and being reinvested into the game for the future.

Elaborating further on the previous point: we have writers for the story, artists, programmers, video developers, voice actors, marketing team, musicians, etc. Truly, I can't wrap my head around just how many people are involved and feel sorry that I can't personally sing praises to them all.

With all of the new features we are getting in the upcoming update, that alone makes me feel happy to see that my money is not just going to a business to make a profit, but that it is being reinvested into the game.

With so much contents being developed behind the scene, I have no problem being patient when it comes to the main story. The next development looks to be a truly exciting one well worth the wait.

Even the planning of the livestream was a joy to witness. Using the kitties (giving them personalities and voices), creating a "news broadcast", the script for the livestream, and the personal letter at the end from the LADS team—everything about it felt so immersive and the letter was truly touching to read. We are being spoiled in so many ways and it's truly disappointing that there is even a small group that can't see this.

Now with such a big update around the corner, they will most likely release another survey for players to partake in. Please remember that surveys can be used to voice your thoughts on the game: constructive criticism and suggestions allow the devs to reevaluate what is working, what needs to change, and what can be explored in the future. Don't ever feel like your voice is not heard just because you don't see any immediate changes. Let the devs know what you like, what you don't, and what you hope to see in the future. It truly does make a difference.

If you made it this far in my post, then I also want to acknowledge fellow players: you have all made being a part of this community a truly wonderful and joyous experience.

Thank you to the artists for the beautiful artwork and comics shared.

Thank you to the writers for their stories, headcanons, theories, and other works.

The jokes, the memes, and the downright silliness of this fandom have brought many laughs. We're such clowns, but we are clowns together ❤️

Thank you to the people who help share the news, address questions and concerns, and offer game help to players. This has truly been a very welcoming fandom, and let's strive to keep it that way. 🥹

Thank you to everyone who has ever interacted, even if it's just a reblog, dropping a comment, gushing in the tags, etc. The genuine joy and love for the characters and game is one of the reasons why I personally am still invested. I am always happy to see people showing excitement during events, reacting to posts, etc. I am especially truly pleased by the respect the Tumblr community have for each other. Let's continue to make this a safe and welcoming place for current and future players! ❤️❤️❤️

Feel free to hijack my post. I encourage everyone to add their own thoughts. It's been a wonderful almost six months with all of you. I hope this continues. 🫶

[asherlockstudy]

I'm a new Rhett and Link fan and saw your post about your thoughts on the 40 years friendship Ear Biscuit episode and I was wondering if you could explain Link reaching his limit with the plexi glass kiss and suddenly turning their world upside down?

I'm so fascinated by the story of their friendship but I'm still not caught up on everything that's happened over the years so when I saw you mention that I was really curious of what happened

“Reaching his limit and turning their world upside down” is of course part of my own theory and speculation.

This too however is based on actual facts.

I am referring to what happened after the notorious Newsical plexiglass kiss, around the late fall of 2013. In case you are very new and haven’t watched this episode, first of all WATCH this episode. But if you know, well to refresh your memory, they re-enact some funny newspaper article as a musical and in the end the character played by Rhett (a female) invites Link’s character to a kiss. You could absolutely tell that this was genuinely an improvisation by Rhett, perhaps he had thought it already, but he caught Link entirely off guard. They share a fake kiss through plexiglass and Link, despite it being a gimmick, is a changed man afterwards. It was so evident, so strong that ALL the comments are about it, people, even casuals, even heterobros saying Link was reevaluating his entire sexuality there.

Fast forward many years later, during Link’s spiritual deconstruction, he decided to read an entry from his diary. This particular entry was his last where he was speaking to Jesus (Link used to maintain a relationship/ communication to Jesus almost literally) and he was finalising this spiritual connection, saying he wasn’t able to do it anymore and he was about to continue his life by cutting his ties to religion and Jesus. All fine so far.

The key is that one good soul here on tumblr took note of the date of this very entry (Link disclosed it himself obviously). And… it was the day right after the one the Newsical episode was released. So Link wrote he couldn’t do it anymore and had to cut his ties to Christianity and Jesus the day after the episode where he kisses Rhett is released. Which means he probably watched it, revisited the memory and then was struck with thousands of comments saying he was rethinking his sexuality after kissing Rhett. And then he wrote that final farewell entry to Jesus.

Which might be a coincidence that these two things happened one after the other within 24 hours or so but it would be ONE HELL of a coincidence if you ask me.

Then after that slowly slowly they both start changing, they become more touchy feely and hearteyed with each other, then of course we have the Puzzle video by late 2015, almost two years later, and soon after that things start getting straight out horny.

So yeah it’s just a theory that Link had enough and really took matters into his hands and then there was a fast development of events after that, but given the context provided, is it that wild of a theory? 🤔

I am not really asking. Just… food for thought.

[red-balloon12]

Everybody Hates Lila (And Why It’s Concerning Sometimes)

Lila Rossi is not a stranger in the Miraculous fandom. In fact I’d argue she’s more infamous than Gabriel in some cases. She’s despised by nearly everyone and while some reasons are more justifiable than others, she’s all around not a good person and a mid at best character.

But here’s my deal with it. The fandom hates this girl to I’d like to say an….unhealthy degree. Like the amount of salt this character gets is unmatched. And I feel like the causation of all of this salt doesn’t really live up to the response.

Lila is a liar who causes characters to act out of character very often. And not only that but she also is Marinette’s main rival now and is a jerk to her. She’s underutilized and her lies aren’t that convincing and yet the story wants to convince us she’s more important than she really is pre butterfly miraculous.

This is Lila’s character summed up. At the most I’d expect is frustration mixed in with mild dislike. Reasonable but not over the top. Instead though, I see SEVERAL people make so many salt fics and talk so much shit about her that I just have to sit down and say….y’all need to chill. You all seriously need to chill.

The fandom talks about this character like she’s the spawn of Satan, something we’ve been criticizing Astruc for doing with Chloe, all because she doesn’t have as many redeeming traits as her. Did we forget that they’re BOTH kids? Both of them still have room to improve on themselves.

And I’ll admit it, I was one of those people who kept on saying “Why demonize Chloe when we have Lila” but thinking on it now, neither of them deserves to have that fate. If we REALLY need a character to do the whole “people don’t change” thing, why not Gabriel?

It’s so much better to have this lesson taught to adults to not be like Gabriel, to accept change and loss and to be better. To teach how heavy the impact of a lost love can be and how old age isn’t an excuse to be “stuck in your ways”.

Plus the lesson works better for someone who’s older than for teenagers who’s literally at the stage of their lives where change is everything. And I’m not saying Lila needs to be redeemed or she isn’t allowed to be a villain. What I’m saying is that the over salting on her character, a character that can be easily fixed and patched up, is kinda dumb and kinda annoying to see…especially when some people do like Lila.

SPEAKING OF WHICH, don’t think I’ve forgotten what happened years ago with that one fan that claimed that they loved Lila. That’s what happens when you take salting on a character WAY too far. And I can say that it’s only gotten a little better.

I just don’t understand why people can’t spend their energy talking about how to make a character better instead of salting on them 24/7 and this goes for all of the characters in ML.

I’m gonna be in the minority when I say this but Lila doesn’t deserve to be salted in as much as she does. She deserves reevaluation and a true villain arc. The constant bashing and insulting her at any chance ain’t it.

But you wanna know the thing that frustrates me the most about the Lila salt? How she started getting salted on in the first place. Aka, her being another barrier to Adrienette.

If y’all don’t know already, I don’t like the lovesquare and even back then I didn’t like it. And when I started seeing people hate Lila for this reason, I got very annoyed. It’s the same reason as to why people hated Kagami and it’s a stupid reason (imo). At least the other reasons why she’s hated had some foundation and sense.

TLDR: Lila is a mess but she’s not a mess that’s beyond repair but the constant salting on her and her character isn’t going to do anything. (If you really wanna salt on someone, salt on the writers for making her writing so subpar)

[tigreblvnc]

BLUE LOCK MATCHUP — @m1ckeyb3rry

Your match IS...

— Chigiri Hyoma

✦ …………………………………..

✦ …….. I rewrote the whole matchup……

✦ …… because I realized halfway through that my first choice wasn’t the right one at all :D

✦ YAY.

✦ I think this is the first time I’ve ever done a complete rewind like this.

✦ It doesn’t bother me because I prefer being accurate in my choices, but wow, I didn’t expect it, lol.

✦ SO.

✦ Back to square one.

✦ I’ll explain at the end of the post why I changed direction, but essentially the only other choice that came to mind while reading your description was the red panther. It perfectly fits all the traits you love and hate in people. Honestly, my choice could be summed up in just those few paragraphs since your lines scream “princess” more than any other character…

✦ In this case, you two share a lot in common, which leaves no room for any other potential match. I can only see Chigiri by your side :) Believe me, he’s a great partner, both from what we see in the manga and what I interpret about his character off-screen.

✦ Let’s start with the common points!

✦ "I’m quite smart but I don’t really try to be?? Like I mostly play on my phone or watch shows/read in my classes but I have perfect grades anyways." Without calling Chigiri lazy (far from it), he easily succeeds at what he sets his mind to. When it comes to sports, he's a smart guy with a sharp, critical, and curious mind that quickly grasps things and learns easily. We know that from an early age, he made a breakthrough and gained popularity because no one could rival his talent. Nature also blessed him physically, but we’ll get back to that later, Monica Bellucci.

✦ "I’d say I’m also pretty quick-witted and good at thinking on my feet BUT I’m kind of judgmental." Yes. Chigiri.

✦ "I was the one in high school who knew ALL of the tea because people would just tell me their secrets unprompted." Well, it’s not quite the same for Chigiri, and this is where things get interesting: for him, it’s the opposite. Since he’s so talented, many have high expectations of him, and he has high expectations of himself too. His knee injury was a taboo subject at the beginning of the manga until Isagi brought it up and got Chigiri to open up – though I like to think it was Isagi’s therapist-like aura that encouraged Chigiri to confess everything.

✦ This is where you complement each other well. Highly talented and productive people often hide their failures and vulnerabilities, and when they do confide, it’s a real sign of trust.

✦ For this reason, I think one of Chigiri’s love languages is quality time.

✦ Another reason this match makes sense: you two naturally balance each other with your respective temperaments. But there are also striking similarities, like your general popularity. People gravitate towards you both, seeking your presence.

✦ And honestly, it was when I reached the “likes/dislikes” section that I completely reevaluated my choice for your matchup because everything you mentioned just screams Chigiri. That’s what ultimately pushed my original choice aside and made me rewrite everything!

✦ "People who are passionate about things, people who are very kind/gentle, they NEED to have a sense of humor though so definitely someone very comfortable being sassy or sarcastic, people who are on the calmer/quiet side because that balances me and my high-maintenance self out, people who don’t get angry very easily." I’m quoting this because it almost directly describes Chigiri. To me, he’s a boy who started off very confident and arrogant, but his knee injury taught him humility and introspection. This balance brings a lot of nuance to your relationship. He knows how to switch between being highly competitive and cocky on the field, yet he becomes very calm and kind off the field. Chigiri is the type to dish out sarcastic remarks without getting upset by them.

✦ There’s a little note about him that says, "He thinks his strong point is that he's proactive when it comes to things he likes or wants to do." Sure, most of the Blue Lock characters are passionate about what they do, but the fact that Chigiri is the only one with this specific note in his canon profile shows how central this trait is for him.

✦ "Traits I dislike in others: people who explain things I already know because nothing makes me crash out like a mansplainer, people who are overly pushy, people who are way too nonchalant and don’t pay attention to me, people who are overly blunt to the point that it becomes mean, people who look down on me or are condescending, people with no social awareness." Similarly, Chigiri strikes me as one of the most balanced characters in the Blue Lock roster, and I see him as someone who would be respectful in everyday life. In fact, I think this applies to most of the manga’s characters, but once they’re off the field and not in high-pressure situations, they’re just regular humans like us. Well, most of them.

✦ "Hobbies: Horseback riding (I do dressage, which is kind of like horse ballet)." Why do I feel like this is a sport Chigiri would absolutely enjoy? Maybe it’s because dressage requires technique, precision, and elegance—qualities that define Chigiri well.

✦ "Writing." If I remember correctly, Chigiri enjoys reading. Short stories, specifically. While I see him sticking to his preferred genres, your love for writing would definitely pique his interest. Writing is a pretty personal activity, and not everyone is comfortable talking about it, let alone sharing their work. Since Chigiri is receptive to art in many forms, he’d be intrigued and would want to know more about your writing style, your characters. You can learn a lot about a football player’s mindset from their gameplay; similarly, a writer’s work reveals much about their inner world.

✦ "Making tea." I’m picking up on all the tiny details because everything aligns so perfectly with Chigiri, and I’m still wondering why he didn’t come to mind during my first attempt. Also, I remember reading that you love autumn, which creates a fun link with Chigiri: "His favorite season is winter because he enjoys drinking tea and eating sweets while sitting under a kotatsu."

✦ "Doing makeup/hair/skincare." Chigiri again :) Along with Aryu and Kaiser, Chigiri is one of the characters whose appearance is meticulously maintained. He genuinely cares about looking good.

✦ "Taking pictures (both of myself to post online and also just of scenery/animals/flowers/pretty things)." Except for Nagi, Shidou and Sae (surprisingly), we don’t know much about most Blue Lock characters’ online lives, but I can easily picture Chigiri scrolling through Instagram, checking out fashion, beauty, and wellness accounts. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a Pinterest board for home decor, hairstyles, and inspiration.

✦ "I like being told that someone loves me and I also like being looked at." Funny you say that because there’s a line about Chigiri: "He likes when he is praised for his talent or admired for how fast he can run." You two were definitely the queen bees of high school, huh?

✦ "In terms of giving, I think it’s gift giving because I love finding little things that remind me of someone." Spot on. I think Chigiri would love receiving gifts, especially books, clothes, or stylish items. He strikes me as someone whose house is the most well-decorated out of the whole friend group, and everyone loves visiting.

✦ When it comes to public displays of affection, I see Chigiri as someone who’s more reserved. He might be with his partner in public, but you wouldn’t know it by the way he acts—he keeps it private.

✦ So… YES. I said I’d get back to appearances, and now is the time.

✦ … Monica Bellucci is one of the most beautiful women of her time, and nothing and no one can convince me otherwise. The fact that she speaks more than six languages (including Italian, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Persian) makes me absolutely crazy. And honestly, if people compare you to her, it means you’re turning heads just like Chigiri :) So yes, the couple goals are present, and that’s why I rewrote this entire matchup to highlight it on my blog.

✦ Cancer and Capricorn have one of the best compatibilities in the zodiac, thank you and goodnight.

✦ And just because the analyst in me can’t help but dissect every brain: the ISFP and ENFP combination is very interesting and draws heavily on creativity. Both types are known as free spirits who don’t like to conform to norms, and they want to create and invest in things that resonate with them. These two types share Introverted Feeling (Fi) in their cognitive stack. It asks, "Is this good? Bad? Do I like this?" Your ideals guide your decisions and preferences. You can’t be forced into something you’re not in tune with, or you’ll become unproductive—or worse, completely stuck.

✦ I haven’t even touched on the headcanons yet, so the curtain rises now :)

✦ You met at the end of autumn, early winter, when the season was still clinging to its russet leaves, but the white of the ground had already started to appear.

✦ Back then, Chigiri still had short hair and ran faster than light. You, as usual, were surrounded by people, admired by the teachers. Good grades. Your profile was enough to make others envious, but it was so distant from you that it didn’t really affect you.

✦ In any case, it wasn’t a concern you showed.

✦ The fact that you didn’t speak right away, even though you probably knew Chigiri from afar—everyone talked about him. People talked about you too, but it was hard to tell if Chigiri was aware of you. In truth, apart from soccer, there wasn’t much that could hold his attention for more than five minutes.

✦ … And you liked that. The fact that he always gave everything for his passion. That he was bold, laughed in the face of the slower ones. There was a part of you that didn’t necessarily approve, but another part that admired this confidence. Only the best can afford to act like that.

✦ You watched him play from the stands. Soccer wasn’t something you always understood—the rules or the appeal—but the team spirit, the way people fought hard to score goals; that you liked. You understood the excitement of gathering around the field to cheer on one side and then the other. It was a moment shared with others.

✦ What eventually made Chigiri approachable was, ironically, the very thing that shattered his rise.

✦ During a match, his leg twisted, and you didn’t see the redhead on the field again after that.

✦ You were there. You saw what happened.

✦ And you also noticed how everything changed for Chigiri once he returned to school, without the weapon that set him apart from the rest and elevated him above others. His knee now had a brace.

✦ Most people scattered, lost interest. The strongest had fallen, so there was no point in orbiting around him anymore; there were other heroes.

✦ You saw him, sitting under the isolated tree behind the school. He was alone, and instinctively, you knew he wasn’t seeking company.

✦ But you couldn’t help it.

✦ You joined him, announcing yourself politely. You were alone, so it was easier for Chigiri to accept you sitting beside him.

✦ From your backpack, you pulled out snacks from the konbini—you knew Chigiri liked them. He always opened a pack after training.

✦ The fact that you remembered this moved him deeply. Everyone only defined Chigiri by his abilities on the field, never by what he liked. You remembered that he liked sweet snacks and even brought some tea in a thermos.

✦ You shared the food while talking until sunset, and even now, that remains one of the best autumns Chigiri had ever known.

✦ Even at the end of high school, when your paths diverged, he kept in touch by phone. He regularly sends pictures of landscapes he finds beautiful. Cats he finds on the street. Cherry blossoms in spring.

✦ Time and obligations sometimes keep you apart for long weeks, even months, but you always end up crossing paths again in the shopping streets of Tokyo. More specifically, near the clothing stores.

✦ You both followed each other on Pinterest and enjoyed pinning photos to your shared boards. You smile when you notice a new picture added and see the other’s name beneath it.

✦ "Look, this reminded me of you."

✦ Skies with changing colors are your favorite photos.

✦ Even with his busy schedule, he always comes to see you during your horseback riding performances. These shows are particularly beautiful, and his respect for your understanding of horses is immense. Anyone good with animals is undoubtedly a good person.

✦ He claps without shouting, always with a smile on his face. He knows you’ll spot him in the crowd.

✦ He keeps the little trinkets you give him, attaching them to his phone, keeping them in his fanny pack.

✦ When he’s in town, a thought of you always wanders through his mind, and he takes out his phone: "I’m near the mall. Want to meet up? It’s time to see who’s kept the best fashion sense."

✦ Always a slightly teasing remark, but never mean.

✦ Like you, Chigiri remembers the little details and the things you like. He’s even become surprisingly good at gifting you the best stationery—cute and colorful pens, notebooks, everything.

✦ When he was able to run again without fear of injuring his knee, you were the first person he told.

✦ "The match against the U-20 is coming up soon. You’ll see me on the field, Mira, and I’ll be running."

✦ ONE SHOT TIME.

The match against the U-20 had passed, and Blue Lock had won.

Blue Lock. You hadn’t heard much about it, only what Chigiri had told you. And Chigiri wasn’t the most talkative guy in the world, especially when it came to his own affairs.

But one thing was clear: he had joined the program and was running again.

Running.

It was something that defined the one who earned the nickname of the Red Panther. And you had seen him dash faster than anyone on the field. There was something beautiful about watching Chigiri play, whether it was his fluid, controlled footwork. His straight trajectory along each wing of the field while everyone else was crowded near the goal. His red hair gleaming above his shoulders like a dancing flame.

You had found Chigiri in all his former glory.

When the final goal was scored, signaling the end of the match, everything inside you tightened with joy. Your first instinct was to suggest to Chigiri that you meet up in the city during the break, at the café you used to go to in high school. The sign hadn’t changed, and luckily: you could still enjoy your favorite dishes there.

The Cat’s Corner welcomed you with its Parisian café tones, its wooden tables, old paintings, and tiled floors.

Chigiri had just arrived at the table where you were already seated.

"Hey, champ! So, you’ve been hiding the fact that you’ve become super strong from me!" You say with a big smile, opening your arms to welcome your friend in a hug.

"I’m just saving the surprise to make my comeback more epic, what do you think?"

"You were amazing. That was an incredible match, I can’t believe it!"

"Me neither, you know. It wasn’t looking great at first; we were all a mess."

Chigiri sits down, reaching for the menu, but your hand stops on his wrist.

"I already ordered! Karinto manjuu and green tea for you, sir."

"Wow, what a memory! Good thing I haven’t been getting that for ten years!"

"Tsk, amateur. You think just because it’s been months I don’t remember what I brought you under that tree?"

"You remember that?"

"How could I forget? With your funeral face, it looked like the world was ending."

"That’s pretty much how I felt."

"And now, how do you feel?"

"Now…"

Chigiri glanced away, looking at the passing crowd. The constant noise rocked the rhythm of his thoughts.

"… peaceful, I’d say. To be able to… play like before. I’m not scared of blowing out my knee anymore."

"What happened then, while you were stuck in a new block with just guys?"

You smile, and quickly, a teasing expression crosses Chigiri’s face.

"Don’t start imagining things—it’s just teammates, nothing more!"

"Yeah, yeah… We all went through the yaoi phase in middle school, Hyoma!"

"Maybe you did. I was training to be the best."

"And now?"

"Nothing’s changed. I’m still training hard. To beat who I used to be… and to finally be the best striker."

Chigiri’s order arrives, and the steaming tea seems to plunge him into deep thought.

"This time, I won’t slow down. I’m not afraid anymore. I’ll give it my all to get there, even if it costs me my tendon. Hey, Mira. Will you follow me in this new ascent?"

There was no need for an answer to understand the obvious, which only made your smile grow.

A word about your match: As I mentioned, I revised my choice because I believe that with Nagi, the spark just won't catch. There are too many differences between the two of you, and even though I love opposites-attract dynamics, considering the traits you like and dislike in someone, Nagi is, rationally, not a good match for you. Nevertheless, I still posted the matchup I had originally planned with him (because, well, why not) HERE in case the draft analysis I made interests you. Enjoy!

© TIGREBLVNC 2024 | SEPTEMBER '24 MATCHUPS EDITION.

[construingseacats]

Umireread: Turn of the Golden Witch - Chapter 1: 'Furniture'

The following contains spoilers for the entirety of Umineko. Please do not read if you are yet to finish it.

And so Episode 2 starts… With a flashback inside of a flashback! Umineko is my favourite slice of life story.

That’s a very loaded statement when the broader implications are considered. On the one hand, there’s the gender identity angle, with Yasu considering herself a normal girl (to which we say, hell yeah), but it’s also batting away the notion of furniture which we know to be abnormal (in the sense of being non-human). Either way, considering what she’s been through, Yasu being able to view herself as “normal”, even if it has to be through the lens of Shannon, is pretty heartwarming.

Oh, and sure enough, the notions of furniture are mentioned 5 seconds later. I’m always relatively pleased when a line of thinking I have is immediately reinforced by the plot once I continue.

So there was a pretty rapid succession of thoughts here - the immediate reaction was “here we go, Yasu’s at it again”, but then I took into account that this isn’t necessarily in the realm of the message bottle, so this could just be a scene that was entirely reality. But then I realised that we’re in Shannon’s POV, so yeah this is entirely Yasu exacerbating Natsuhi’s pain once again.

So far we’re getting a healthy amount of suggestion that, romantically, George was just “there”; that Shannon’s feelings for him didn’t particularly develop due to his character, but rather for just being an eligible option in the right place at the right time (similar to how Jessica saw Kanon).

Do they, though? My mind wanders to the many tales of how fake sommeliers can convince wine tasters of unusual methods of appreciating the wine; how people just assume a several hundred dollar bottle of wine must taste nicer than a cheaper vintage, when the difference could be entirely miniscule. Your perception is muddied by what you inherently believe must be the truth. It seems like an odd thing to focus in on - a rich family having expensive tastes - but when Umineko is so concerned about reevaluating your axioms, questioning why you believe the things you do, this does feel like another microcosm of the plot.

Meanwhile, Krauss joins in with Eva to bully Natsuhi regarding her headaches. An indication that the Ushiromiya blood is closer with each other than the borrowed wombs they parlay with? Or another case of Yasu inflicting as much misery onto Natsuhi via the narrative as possible?

“Pretty sure” is a funny phrase to use here - it’s meaningless at a glance, but once again, it’s hammering through the themes of glossing over reality with a layer of fantasy. Did he? Who knows. But we can believe he did to improve our view of him, can we not?

As someone who doesn’t remember the intricacies here particularly well, does JESSICA implant the ideas of romance into Shannon? That’s VERY interesting if so.

I suspect a good majority of early Episode 2 is going to be Ryukishi intentionally wounding anyone who is here for a re-read. The Furniture connotations hit hard.

And so the true villain of Umineko shows itself! Heteronormativity!

I’m using that term a little loosely - in truth, I should really be using the broader sense of “societal expectations”, since that’s the crux of what’s going on here. Shannon mentioned being a “normal” girl, but what does that mean, exactly? What is “normal”? Generally, a concept decided by the wider views of the society that surrounds us, rather than something derived from within. However, heteronormativity is a huge factor in the dangers of social expectations that Umineko highlights, as the expectation for people to enter a monogamous (straight) relationship, rampant in your teen years, can greatly shape and warp how you grow as a person.

You may think I’m talking from my own experiences there. You’d be right. You may be inclined to believe that heteronormativity greatly warped my sense of self, growing up as an asexual teenager who (at the time) thought they were strictly a cisgender male. You would also be right - I won’t be getting specifically into the personal issues I faced because of this, but you’ll definitely see a hard bias against the concept on my end (which, fortunately, Umineko also ensures to chastise).

This was a lot of words to say that “Jessica growing up believing she had to be a girly girl who likes boys warped her as a person and was the first domino in this ensuing tragedy”.

“If George were to appear at a time like that, she’d have no chance of keeping her cool.”

Anyway, here’s George.

Did they, eh? The start of Episode 2 is fairly ambiguous when it comes to the place in the timeline, so it’s interesting getting details that can help pin it down. I’m hesitant to say that this is fabricated - there’s no way Eva would go along with a fake Kinzo appearance, so surely we’re at least 2 years back?

After mentioning generational trauma and the cyclical nature of abuse in the Episode 1 Wake, it definitely stands out more whenever the mentions of abuse crop up. Thanks Kinzo.

And here we are - THE moment that the feelings take root.

One thing which I think is important to address before we progress is the nature of Shannon’s feelings - I, personally, don’t like the Shannon-George dynamic, and a big part of it is this sense that she’s only pursuing him because she wants a “normal” romance in her life, and that the walking definition of milquetoast finds himself as the most eligible option in her position. She doesn’t love George, she loves the idea of George - and of course, that can develop over time, but that’s a questionable foundation.

But here’s the thing - does that matter?

There’s an excellent video from Philosophy Tube centred around Brexit (of all things), which raises a great point about people voting when they have been misled or deceived - while they have made an “incorrect” judgement based on what they knew, does that necessarily mean that vote is invalid? Are those feelings invalid?

In my personal opinion, yes - I’d say so. But as with most philosophical questions, a personal answer is not a true answer; my thoughts are not reflective of a greater truth of the universe. You can argue that, if someone is fed lies, and they make a vote based on those lies, then that vote is still perfectly legitimate. I might not agree with you, but the argument is there to be made.

I bring this up because it’s reflective of Shannon’s situation - because I think her feelings for George developed in the “wrong” way, I’m not supportive of the relationship. But does that matter? Shannon still has those feelings, regardless of how they developed. My preconceived notions cannot override that. As before, going forward, I’m likely to be critical of George and Shannon - but my distaste does not override their legitimacy. Anyway, moving forward.

Very funny to see the narrative also writing George off as “average”.

I think it’s worth mentioning heteronormativity again here in terms of George being influenced by it. Again, the choice word is “unfortunately” - completely telling of the expectations that George has thrust upon himself. He, too, is weighed down by society demanding that he enters a normal relationship; and that’s before any of the Ushiromiya expectations factor into it.

Highlighting the use of “Irresponsibly” here.

Honestly, this scene is actually kind of phenomenal on a reread - fueled by society at large, Jessica’s desire for romance causes her to ship George and Shannon together - pushing them close even when they may not have been otherwise - which in turn causes her to spiral and doom her away from Kanon. I am a sucker for tragedy and we are delivering right now.

And here we juxtapose societal expectations with familial. Not only is George expected to marry and start a family, he’s expected to enter a political arrangement, with him being used as a vessel for the Ushiromiya that cares not for the human behind his position. The former expectations twist and warp the human; the latter ignores it entirely. Which is worse?

Eva’s discussion about how she grew to love Hideyoshi rather than marrying because of it is an interesting parallel to the discussion we’ve just had regarding Shannon falling for George for just being there. It might just be my interpretation of it, but it feels like Umineko wants to paint that Eva-Hideyoshi dynamic as a negative thing, which is an interesting reflection of how it doesn’t seem to do the same for Shannon-George. But again, maybe that’s my preconceived notions tainting the scene - it very well might just be alluding to it while passing no judgement.

Not content to dehumanise just her own son, Eva has it out for the servant girl as well.

There’s a line here about George being in college and getting “wonderful grades”, so that probably places him at about 20-21? He was born in March, so that would have made him one of the youngest when he started school in April, so he’d have entered university at 18 and graduated at 21 or 22 depending on whether he went for a Bachelors or a Masters. So with Kinzo alive, we’re probably 2-3 years in the past?

I probably shouldn’t care about this too much - Ryukishi tends to play fast and loose with the span of time in his works (fall of the Soviet Union, anyone?) so trying to pin hard numbers on this is likely an exercise in futility.

Interesting - engraving into your heart conjures the same phrasing that “Kinzo” gave Natsuhi during her study scene in Episode 1. A sly hint that such an exchange was fabricated by Natsuhi, given her use of the term here?

It’s interesting how the POV bounces back between “I” and a third person “Shannon”. Possibly Yasu taking time to distinguish or dehumanise herself?

It’s interesting how Kanon is used as a way for Yasu to express the internal emotions that she’s not allowed to paint onto Shannon. There’s quite a few scenes where Shannon isn’t allowed to react and Kanon does it for her.

And so Yasu was so perturbed by Eva and Natsuhi’s words that she added a new voice to her internal dialogue.

Did you know that the answer is love? I wonder what happens if you extrapolate that idea to the plot as a whole. I’m sure there’s no relation.

So what’s the implication here? Yasu is giving herself a pep talk into using the bombs to destroy the shrine? But if that’s the case, that narrows the window significantly, since Kinzo died pretty much immediately after Yasu solved the Epitaph, right? So either this takes place at a very specific moment in time 2 years ago, they somehow faked Kinzo coming down to get George to leave but somehow Eva didn’t become suspicious, or the timeline isn’t consistent.

Ah, so it’s about conformity - an amusing sister topic to our previous discussion on societal expectations. It’s about Yasu needing to do something drastic, to ensure that something will change; that the life of furniture does not continue forever. Blowing up the shrine, and the eventual Epitaph Murders, are a chance for her to wrestle back control of her life; to have a say in what happens, rather than be a lower life form working around others. Eva and Natsuhi were the tipping point; the moment she starts to think more of herself, they both try and rip it from her, and she’s no longer willing to sit back and let that happen.

There’s a time limit on this as well, which almost certainly contributes to this being the inciting incident for the birth of Beatrice inside of Yasu. A perfect storm of pressure on all sides.

Kanon’s arrival here is fun to think about - after all, scenes with all 3 of them are still just a raging internal monologue. These should be very interesting to think about going forward.

I wonder how much of this is reflective of reality - of course, none of this could have happened, as it was a mutable mark that healed in a few days regardless; but it’s more interesting to think of fantasy adorning reality rather than replacing it. Perhaps Yasu burnt herself with cleaning chemicals - as an act reflective of willpower. To injure oneself and feel the pain; after all, furniture cannot feel pain, so it’s a pledge to herself to be human.

And from that moment on, Shannon was tormented, doomed to suffer the curse we know as being human.

[biblioflyer]

Five Episodes Later: Reevaluating Picard

I started this rewatch to refresh my memory so that I could tackle the question of whether the fandom had judged Picard too harshly and if it was as dark and dystopian as was commonly accused.

Through that process I have discovered much that is praiseworthy, some implications that bother me, and more than a few questions that pivot on one’s own subjective response to particular cues about whether and when the protagonists are objectively correct or if there is far more room for them to be messy.

For more like this check out my other essays reevaluating Star Trek Picard and interrogating the widely held fandom criticism that Picard made the Federation into a Dystopia.

The Dystopia Question

Ultimately what I’ve found is that Season One is less of a deconstruction of core ideas about Star Trek, than a richer exploration of the premises of Voyager and Enterprise: what happens when decent people are caught in ambiguous situations and without the resources of an entire Federation behind them? 

The backdrop of the failure of the Romulan resettlement effort after the destruction of Utopia Planitia also has resulted in a schism of sorts in the fandom wherein most people are horrified and immediately saw fit to draw analogies to Brexit or the Trump administration, while a disturbing minority shrugged off the catastrophe as the Romulans getting what they had coming to them and have argued the Federation had no moral obligation to help the Romulans.

My own examination of the evidence has led me to feel that there is a strong case for a murky middleground. We could presume for instance that Admiral Clancy is a reactionary who is overstating the case for Starfleet minding its knitting and having too many domestic obligations.

On the other hand we could steelman her case with a very large body of evidence consisting of a vast number of instances where it falls to Starfleet to provide timely disaster relief and protection to the Federation’s vast and underserved frontiers. We need look no further than perhaps dozens of TNG plots to support the idea that an overextended Starfleet would come with a bodycount.

This certainly pushes back on the metanarrative of the Federation and the implication of limitless resources. Although that has always been exaggerated. There’s material abundance enough to provide everyone who doesn’t intentionally seek to rough it on a colony with a comfortable life, even if you’re a disgraced former attache to an embittered former hero turned recluse. What there isn’t enough of is whatever handwavium and skilled personnel are needed to snap one’s fingers and produce a new rescue fleet without depriving others of humanitarian relief and protection.

Again, that assumes we steelman Clancy. There is a lot of narrative weight pushing us to trust Picard’s assessment of the situation post-Mars: he is the hero after all. The hostile interview of the first episode was loaded with a lot of not so subtle triggers for humanitarian minded viewers that seem very intentionally designed to place them in the emotional space of that creeping dread that empathy is dead, having been replaced by an unapologetically narrower conception of who is deserving of respect, comfort, and even life.

However, I think that given Picard the character will spend the first five episodes questioning his own place in the narrative of his life and the lives of others, I think the Federation as a character is owed a serious examination of whether we should simply throw out everything else we have ever known about the society the first time someone is rude to a father figure to many of us. 

That doesn’t necessarily mean the Federation was actually in the right to leave the Romulans twisting in the wind. It wouldn’t be the first time a judgment on which many, which few, and what needs results in painful and potentially unvirtuous choices: just ask the Maquis. 

Radical Kindness in a Dark World

If I could sum up the theme of Picard the series, this would be it. In the very first episode Picard the character is moved from despair to man of action by the opportunity to help a troubled soul. 

This message is something I think that really got lost. The part of the audience that was offended by the callousness of the Interviewer and Clancy and the implication that to be risk averse and reluctant to risk being the frog in the story of the scorpion and the frog was already primed to be irked by this theme. 

I suspect that the element of the audience that felt itself keenly under threat by forces outside the Star Trek setting that the series was gesturing at may also have missed this theme in their annoyance at sci fi Paladin, Jean luc Picard, being portrayed as defeated, depressed, and content to marinade in luxurious misery.

Quite a few people seem to react poorly to being told that a minimum level of mercy extended to a known villain might be virtuous and a long term investment that might create conditions of real peace.

Nor does anyone like being accused of sequestering themselves in comfort and nursing their grief when direct and easy solutions to vast and pernicious problems don’t miraculously appear.

So in this way, Picard called out a lot of its potential audience practically in the first episode.

These are hard questions to grapple with and I don’t want to trivialize them. When do we risk our safety to take advantage of an opportunity to end a conflict, make an ally, or even to simply show mercy with no expectation of benefit? 

We can't know with certainty when we're playing the part of the frog in the parable of the scorpion and the frog after all. Read that again with different emphasis.

How harshly should we judge others or ourselves for not being able to imagine a better world or being unable to find the steps we could take to make it happen when the easy steps like voting, protesting, signing a petition, or threatening to resign fail?

If TNG primed us to expect simple answers, those aren’t found in Season One. There is a mostly self consistent moral clarity that mercy and kindness are praiseworthy but the show’s world building doesn’t support the idea that these are always going to lead to just outcomes. 

The people who adhere to these ideals are generally, in my opinion, the more fun hang but whether they’re always right or not according to the narrative is troublingly ambiguous at times.

I have a suspicion that part of what appeals to people about Season Three, aside from the fact it brought back beloved and relatively uncomplicated legacy characters and largely benched the characters invented for the show, is that the morality of the show is just generally way less ambiguous. Unless you’re taking Shaw seriously that is.

Notably, the show by the end of episode five does step on this message just a bit. The midpoint of the season leaves us weighing whether or not Seven executing a gangster notorious for chopping up liberated Borg is harm reduction or a reduction of her humanity. The implications of this I found rather uncomfortable for the way the bleaker side of the scale seemed to have a lot more narrative weight.

Character Housekeeping

I have largely not really discussed Jurati, Rios, Elnor, Soji, and Narek up to this point. The reasons for this are relatively straightforward. None of them have really done anything that I feel the need to explore more deeply. This is not necessarily a dismissal of the characters, if you adore them we are not enemies, I’m simply just less interested in them than other topics at this point in the season.

Rios is a fun character and I love his holograms….and that’s about it. Up to this point he is interesting in terms of his relationship to Picard and what it says about Picard that he can clock a troubled ex-Starfleet officer within a minute of meeting them and, like Raffi, Picard seems to be inexorably drawn to people he can try to remold in his image.

Elnor is himself not very interesting to me, I don’t dislike the character, but he seems to function mostly as a narrative device to illustrate Picard’s failings after Mars and his tendency to struggle with expressing authentic emotions rather than praising people in the modality of a performance evaluation. He is also, if I recall, rather underutilized and developed as his own person going forward. He is almost entirely muscle and comic relief in episode five instead of making any meaningful connections to any other characters.

Soji was originally interesting the first time I watched the series largely because of the mystery she represented but I know the ending already. The character herself doesn’t provoke any response from me. That doesn’t invalidate someone else’s experience and if someone wants to write up a comprehensive analysis of Soji’s identity crisis as a metaphor for dysphoria or whatever, have at it. That’s not really my wheelhouse though and I’m content to let the people for whom that is a passion project do it infinitely better than I ever could. 

I may revisit Soji later because I am still troubled by her and Dahj’s story due to being somewhat unconvinced that it was necessary to conceal their memories and identities from themselves. It's unclear to me if there was a plan in place to recover them and then permit their true selves to reemerge in a gentler, more compassionate way after their mission was complete.

I’m far more sympathetic to Jurati this time around because I think her performance of being deeply disturbed by the Admonition is well done, but like Soji, at this point in the narrative I just don’t see anything I really care to talk about in any greater depth aside from observing that Jurati is a good surrogate for a particular kind of fan. Her performance of being unmoored by Oh’s psychic shenanigans was strong, but on a meta level if you feel like Maddox’s death was largely for shock value and unnecessary “edge” then I’m moderately sympathetic to you.

Screw Narek and his affected mental distress and gaslighting and double dumbass on his weird sister. I still don’t know who thought the implied incest stuff was a good idea or if there’s just something I’m missing, but its incredibly distracting.

Unanswered Questions

What is Seven’s arc like for the rest of the season? I don’t actually remember. Oh I remember what she does, I just don’t remember how it feels and to what degree it moves her closer to the less rampagey version who seems to be clinging harder to her humanity in Season Three.

What was the Synth plan? As Agnes notes, Maddox got a little “secret planny” so does this mean that no one else was in the loop for the plan to send Soji and Dahj out to uncover the truth behind the attack on Mars and the subsequent Synth ban and thus Maddox’s death screwed everything up? Was there a plan to recover them and restore their identities without the need for the traumatic rediscovery of their true selves through crisis and stress?

After Seven decided to solve her own personal trolley problem through summary vaporization, where does that leave the default moral assumptions for Star Trek Picard? Is this still a show where what is good is what is just or is virtue a luxury and justice is liquidating a mass murderer who can’t be practically brought to justice?

Is everyone, both the characters and the fandom, right about the Federation? Has it been irredeemably debased? Or is Picard, the character right, and what’s needed is to find the right sort of appeal to conscience?

For more like this check out my other essays reevaluating Star Trek Picard and interrogating the widely held fandom criticism that Picard made the Federation into a Dystopia.

[kulemii]

mkay, i usually dont do this. i usually mind my own business and shit talk in my head but i'm not going to lie i'm so annoyed, i really need to get it off my chest before i go about this the wrong way.

hating female characters because they dared to be your fave's CANON RI IS NOT CUTE! and at alot of yalls big age, it's kind of embarrassing and pathetic.

i'm 25 and i am into a character that has at least two canon love interests and one that pined after someone. i'm not going to lie and say that that doesn't bother me on a mild jealousy level- i am saying this to put out there that i am NOT shaming any adult for having crushes on their faves and getting a little put off by them having CANON RIs.

I'm not and anyone that knows me would know that. (just wanted to say so in case this reaches anyone that doesn't)

what i AM shaming though is when yall are childish about it and go after these CANON RIs and rip them to shreds because let's face it, it's not you. at this point it has nothing to do with the characters not having enough character development, not having enough time with the character to make it make sense, not having a likeable personality or whatever bullshit yall have used as excuses to rip these typically female characters apart for having a CANON relationship with your faves and i'm tired of being nice about it.

yall sat there and HYPED YUKI UP when she was just an awkward girl that might or might not have had a lil crush on someone- which so many people decided to ignore and box her into the sibling category, just like the rest of the hostesses when it's obvious they all fell for him. and yall like to go 'oh lol those things aren't canon' because it's not in the main story- BITCH IF THE ORIGINAL WRITERS WROTE IT IT'S MOTHERFUCKING CANON! but let a substory or something come up that feeds into whatever fucking idea you've been feeding yourself yall will shout from the roof tops how it's canon and no one can take it from you.. i'm not gonna take it from you, but at some point, i hope you realize how hypocritical you sound.

yall sat there and hyped yuki up FOR YEAAAAAARS and the second she gets casted as kiryu's love interest you wanna bring out the torches and burn her at the stake??? it was never about the character, it's always been about you. and your jealousy that you're too emotionally immature to realize is JUST jealousy and you make it every fucking female character with romantic ties to every fave you've ever had's problem. i mean think about it, if you can sit here and smash characters together that have never so much as stood in the same room as the other, is it really about canon chemistry? it's not and you know it's not and you should learn how to reevaluate your relationship with these characters before you CONTINUE to make a fool of yourself because it's pathetic and i no longer have the patience to rationalize what you 'really mean' anymore.

something i want yall to remember when yall get mad at these girls for being there instead your selfship oc or another character you are clearly attracted to, at the end of the day, that's HER man. and YOU are stepping in where you dont belong. not her.

grow the fuck up.

and where i stand on this personally? oryo and ryouma are a cute ass couple and it's the ONE time we get to see kiryu end up with someone and be HAPPY about it! oryo and ryouma had a whole year of history together before you even saw them and when you did see them, they had something!! they had plot! you even got to spend time with her unlike other LIs. WHY NOT BE HAPPY FOR YOUR FAVE???? and if oryo existing bothers you soooo much, dont make it her fucking problem. write an oc and ship him with them but dont spend 12 pages bitching about why oryo wasn't good enough for him as a RI.

[solarasnotions]

From Burnout to a Fresh Start.

Burnout is trending across social media as a mood that we embrace to cope with overwhelm and loss of interest in what we once deemed good. To overcome it, we tend to put a band-aid on the cuts- but they’re too deep to not properly treat. So, how do we treat these wounds? Most importantly: when we are exhausted from life and when it is time to reevaluate, where do we start?

By deconstructing yourself, it is possible to see how multi-faceted and important you truly are. We all have roles in the realm of our mental reality and what we perceive as our physical world. Some of us are mechanics, some of us are teachers, and some of us are retirees. We are childless bachelorettes, involved fathers, and orphans. We are different roles to different characters in all of our collective stories- perhaps you are a daughter to your mother, but also a grandmother to your grandchild. We cannot be limited to being only one thing in this life because we are, without debate, a million different things all at once. We are brother, we are uncle, we are employee, we are slave. We are whatever we choose to be, yet we are also many different roles; many of which, ultimately, we have no choice in.

“We cannot be limited to being only one thing  in this life because we are,  without debate, a million different things all at once.”

So, who are you? In your current state of being, are you a mother? Did you, and do you, choose to be? Are you a baker? Do you like that about yourself? Are you a writer? Are you good? Are you successful? Are you fed? Are you a caretaker? Are you ugly? Do you bring hope to others? Are you a failure? Are you a thinker? Hello! Are you even there?

To better understand who you are, it is important to include who you are to others. Our relationships should, ideally, motivate us toward happiness and peaceful existence; however, this is not always the case. Perhaps you are the villain in someone else’s story- perhaps that is a title rightfully earned or wrongfully earned. If you can examine, without bias, exactly who you are to others, you can ask the next big question- why?

“Perhaps you are the villain in someone else’s story- perhaps that is a title rightfully earned or wrongfully earned.”

We all make choices, and they are part of what makes us our own unique identity. As for me personally, I made the choice to have a baby when I was eighteen years old; I also make the choice every day to care for that baby, who is now in the second grade. That makes me a mother. Why am I a mother? Because I choose to be. Why do I choose to be? Because I feel like my child will benefit from my involvement in her life. Why do I feel that way? It is part of my value system to put my child’s wellbeing on a pedestal… and so forth.

The lists of “what’s” and “why’s” can go on endlessly, but you can stop once you are confident in the truest definitions of the roles you play. Upon learning and describing who your character is currently, you might delve into your past a bit, dipping your toes in the water of what was good, bad, ugly, or melancholy. Events and experiences trigger reasoning for the choices we make, giving us our concrete “why” answer in many cases. Don’t get stuck in this segment of self-reflection, however; spend most of your time in the present, so as not to suffer repeatedly for mistakes which have already come and gone.

“Events and experiences trigger reasoning for the choices we make, giving us our concrete “why”.”

When you know your what and why, you can define your character. You can edit your avatar. You can decide what you want to keep and what you want to delete. You can dye your hair periwinkle to signify a new chapter with this well-developed character, or you can simply take a deep breath and then walk onto the next page with nothing but a feeling of knowledge-of-self and hope to carry you forward.

When you are stuck in a rut, sometimes it is better to deconstruct yourself before the world can deconstruct you. Feel the moment, but move past it. Remember your why, remember who you are, and embrace the next variation.

[pizzapasta23045]

Ok it's the point in the night where my brain gets silly and. I am about to go to sleep BUT. I'm dying to know what your opinions on the Imunlauker clan are, if you have any?

(Or any opinions/thoughts you have about niche lore characters because I for one will go rabid over some character that's litearlly only been mentioned in like two artifacts and an archive book,, I love the lore characters so bad it's insane I'm super curious if you've fallen down that rabbithole or not)

So, I cannot offer you any lore/speculation on the imunlauker because I don't know much about Dragonspine.

But I can tell you about Mr Nine!

So, Mr Nine is the only known authors of the book we find in game. He's the writer of both Flowers for Prinsess Fishl (which you may know because of, well, Fishl) and The Shattered Halbered" (the book from Xingqui's story quest) and it's claimed in a world quest that Mr Nine is his actual name, not a nickname.

Now, why should you care? Well, let's start from the beginning.

After 3.3 many theorist have reevaluated all the books in the game, especially the alllegorical ones, as they could very well be a hint to actual history being recorded without Irminsul modifications. One of the most interesting is, in fact, the Shattered Halbered.

Now, a short synthesis.

This story is set in a world where there were nine realms, each a world of its own. The realm of humans was known as the Zhongzhou, while the gods reside in Shenxiao. At the end of the last calamity, a war between the gods broke out. The God King fell. The realms have now been born anew but Axus mundi is obstructed, meaning you cannot travel between the worlds anymore.

This dude mir finds this woman as they're both pissing (this is not a joke, they are actually both in need to piss), who is possesed by the spirit of the daughter of the Celestial emperor, she's serching for this meteor that belongs to the celestial emperor but was stolen and used to create cursed weapons that drain people's intellect. Mir is trying to cleanse his family name from his father's Mi Tingren... embezzling scheme...

It's revealed that the meteors are part of this divine Halbert which can cleans the world, snapped into pieces and turn into nine cursed swords.

then this is said:

"The Court of Imperial Entertainments [The place Mir's father worked at] is dedicated to worshiping and making sacrifices to all you divine beings up above. Serving you is my family's job." And in any case, when the gods make their move, what can mere mortals do but look on helplessly and accept their fate?

Which, yeah, it's a thing.

Then it's revealed that Mir's father actual name is Khan the Asura from Jotunheim. Legend has it that the Celestial Emperor once went to war with the Asura. To prepare for the war, the Celestial Emperor selected soldiers from three realms and made them ascend to become his celestial army after death, they would then which was referred these soldier's "job" as "hunting from above."ù

They collect most "offscreen" and one remains.

It turns out that the sword his father had left him as inheritance was the greatest cursed sword of all, that had once burned the entire world to cinders: Laevatain. The sword had extinguished after the world was burned, but having been used by Mir, it burned bright once more.

The woman then claims the world has been destroyed again.

At this point the Celestial Emperor, now described as mad says "The world is beyond repair. It shall be born anew from the ashes of the last." and sententeces the world to an harsh punishment.

This is how it ends:

"Oh my daughter, the one in whom all my hopes are placed! Did I not bring you into existence that you might one day pierce me with a halberd?" Awakened at last, the God King floated in the heavens to the claps of thunder and the dancing of the wind, rejoicing at his return. But she was no longer afraid. This was the moment she had been waiting for her entire life, the moment she had been made for all those eons ago. No — that was not it. The true source of her courage was the time she had spent with him. The first Divine Halberd, Irmin, once pierced the Axis Mundi and connected the nine worlds. Now, its replicas had proliferated across the heavens. Fearing the madness that would ensue following his death, the God King made one final Divine Halberd, and named it the Prinzessin der Verurteilung. In this moment, it — nay, she — could finally unleash her true self.

Now.

Firstly, the 9 realms is both a parallel to norse and chinese mythology and later in the story Jotunheim is mentioned, aka the land of giants in Norse myths. Plus Mir's full name would be Mimir, a norse god.

Mimir is a god with an insane amount of knowledge killed during the Aesir-Vanir war, a war between two different parts of the norse pantheon. Odin carries his head around so it can tell him of the world's knowledge because he's weird like that.

Khaenri'ah seems to be at least in part ispired by norse mthology in multiple ways so it'd be fair to assume that Mr Nine is from Khaenri'ah or knows about Khaenri'ah in universe.

Also Irmin is the name of the king of Khaenri'ah, which is weird because in the book he's described as divine and stuff and as someone whom, in his death, allowed for the world to be opened once again. Which is interesting because if this is, in fact, a direct comparison to the actual history of the world it'd imply Irmin is a god or similar.

Not an archon. A celestial god.

The axis mundi is a concept in comperative mythology of a place that connects each of the world's realms. It is often a mountain or a tree. In norse mythologhy it's a tree that connects all the different realms.

Which is a very similar to the concept of Irminsul in genshin, since it's also a tree of Knowledge. Now, this would imply that the only way for us to leave Teyvat is through the tree.

You see? It all connects! Which is why I so strongly believe in the time travel theory and why I think Kaeya's clan is aware of Irminsul changes.

Also, another reason why Irmin could be a god which would destroy the pride of humanity thing.

Now, my speculation.

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that you wanted to erase Barbatos from the records of the world. It'd be hard to remove him entirely because he's funamental to the revolution.

But, if you were to replace any mention of Anemo Archon, for example with Lord Barbatos what would happen? There would be some misterious ruler named barabatos whom appeared once in the hisotry, maybe twice during the revolution against the aristocrats. But people with the same naems exist and if you had a national hero it'd make sense to name your son or daughter after him.

You wouldn't know, is the thing. There wouldn't be an empty governement position for no reason, nor would the written hstory stop to make sense. You could just erase him.

It'd be much harder to replace Morax. Still possible but harder.

Now, what if Irmin was never the King of Khaeri'ah but that was the easiest way to replace his original title while making most texts make sense nonetheless?

[wykwryt]

ok things i know they have to preserve in the new game

the rougelike genre obv and with it the boons system (we straight up saw nova strike in there and dash, attack, special, and cast magick are still here as are status effects and basically just all of that stuff) edit 2: okay wait actually upon reevaluating casts and magick are not the same thing, cast is still a thing we just also have magick. so all the same stuff plus being a witch!!!!!!!!! i wonder what we can do with that... what buttons would we even press.... wait maybe it's more like a god gauge. yeah that'd make sense. maybe we don't quite get godly summons like zagreus did because we're a disciple of hecate but there's something else we can do as a result?????? gah too many theories.

some kind of home base with plot progression and stuff after death

probably a three tiered + bonus level design. i wonder if the bonus will operate differently than the temple, that’s totally a thing they could completely change

keepsakes????????????????????? there must be something like them but they’re such a zag thing to have what with his whole god of bonds and blood thing (god i fucking loved that i love this game so much)

i wonder about the mirror. i think mel in the myths is one of nyx’s kids although obv not here. i think a canon aspect of zag was always tied with hades but i don’t think that’s the case for mel. man that’s funny, he thought he was nyx’s kid but actually wasn’t and she’s not but actually is. idk ignore me i’m babbling. anyways the mirror. i hope nyx is there actually she seems like a good character to keep her role as it was. i really hope we see chaos too i love them. they also provided such a unique boon service, they must come back as is.

FISHING MINI GAME HELLO

oh hey what about the house upgrades? home base will need to be important enough to have that kind of customization make sense. at this point i’m thinking we’re simply going to be in the house of hades for all this. maybe we’re doing repairs again from the damage of whatever kidnapped hades (ha). or maybe they do get rid of this entirely? it’d be a loss of a whole way to spend currency though.

the codex. bet hecate gives it to her maybe. see this is the weird thing to be because it seems like she is to mel as achilles is to zag but unlike him she’s an important character to the main plot.

different weapons for different play styles. we saw her blades already what else? (please give her a sword swords are cool. i feel like her daggers will prolly operate a lil bit like the fists. fists and sword are my faves <3) something to strengthen the weapons too like the aspects (i hope there’s one like the shield of chaos that talks to you but that’s just me) edit 3: ok the trailer shows just the daggers and what seems like a magic staff. i'd say the magic staff could be comparable to the spear but the spear doesn't do magic. there's a lil thrust action but it's all obviously spells. realllly wondering how the magick works because there's way more than just an attack and special here, she's got so many spells. too little here to really tell but it looks like the big difference between the daggers and the staff is the daggers involve more mobile magic and attacks while the staff seems more stationary but with bigger magic effects not to mention all the area attacks. there's no way we can't do magic without the staff so maybe the spells in our inventory are different depending on what weapon we choose. so far the staff looks significantly more powerful than the daggers, i wonder how they'll balance this stuff out. and other weapons???? oh hey wait i bet the spells are dependent on the weapon aspects or whatever they'll be called in this game. yeah okay that seems like it lines up.

bosses. i know this is obvious but i’m giving it a bullet because now i’m wondering who they are. they wouldn’t be any of the underworld staff probably so. wait actually who are the enemies we’re fighting in the first place if not dad’s employees?? so much of this hinges on whether we’re actually in the underworld or not. if we’re dealing with kronos then maybe we’re fighting to go down deeper into tartarus rather than up and out? the game reveal still makes it look like we’re above ground though…

replayability!!! for the three dozenth time idk what to think about this because i have no idea what the story will be like. i repeat, family or fight? and what would keep mel continuously doing the dungeons past the end of the main plot the way zag does it as official head of security?

ayo wait can we have skelly back? please he has to, we need a practice dummy room and there’s no reason to invent a new character when he’s right there. yeah no way they’re gonna get rid of skelly.

speaking of iconic characters… eurydice? need a new iconic ashley barrett song (as well as both her and darren korb song?) yeah ok whatever songs there are they’ll probably be attributed to eurydice and orpheus in game even if the characters themselves aren’t in there. wonder if we’ll be able to buy and collect the soundtrack… OH MY GOD A NEW SOUNDTRACK HOLY SHIT. I MEAN THEY’LL PROBABLY KEEP SOME ICONIC SOUNDS LIKE WHAT WAS IN THE REVEAL TRAILER BUT HOT DAMN NEW MUSIC WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

bonds and something to forge them with. she may not be zag but nectar and the like must still be a thing. (heyyyy any romancable characters?? the dora shade looked interested)

ok the more i keep thinking about this and trying to discern the shape of the new game and add more bullets the more i just end up tracing the original so things that could be different? :

like previously stated, the mechanics of the final level (the temple of styx in the original) edit 4: ok it would be so sick if the bonus level is zagreus boss fight where they slowly bond and then eventually zagreus trusts her and they get along and then they keep doing the fights for fun like in the og after the main plot is over

something is probably going to replace keepsakes. idk how but it’s such a specific thing and very specifically relevant to zagreus’s characterization, this’ll prolly change

the currencies

special rooms like shops and characters. moros and dora’s rooms looked like these although who knows how they function. also the timed rooms and than rooms (very curious if he’ll show up what with the whole time and death thing being the big things in this game edit 1.5: ZAG THAN ROOM).

EDIT: CERBERUS PETS??? where would i be without giving cerberus pets every run? absolutely wild that petting him 10 times was a rare achievement, you guys suck at playing this game.

[allthebeesforcas]

Law Firm Branding - The Risk Of Fanciful Brands

Throughout recent years, we have seen advances in law practice innovation, the extending jobs of paralegals, and the reevaluating of legal work. However in spite of these expense cutting and efficient benefits, many law firms, especially the huge ones, stay battling for their actual survival.

Just a decade ago, law firms were getting a charge out of surprising degrees of development and prosperity. Firm cash safes were full and firms were burning through huge amounts of money on elevating themselves to enter new business sectors and procure premium business. A few firms even began trying different things with branding. Back then, branding was generally seen as simply one more type of advertising and advancement. In truth, firm authority rarely comprehended the branding system or what the idea of branding was really expected to achieve. Be that as it may, it didn't really make any difference, revenue was climbing and profitability stayed solid. In any case, what so large numbers of these firms didn't expect was that, in only a couple of years, our economy would be shaken by a profound and wild recession, one which would shake the financial underpinnings of even the most profitable of firms.

For law firms, the recession that began in 2007 had, by 2010, entered the most holy of realms-the proverbial benchmark of a firms standing and accomplishment profits-per-partner. For many firms, especially uber firms, the decrease in law partner profits were arriving at record lows and it wasn't long until the legal landscape was covered with bombed firms both enormous and little.

In attempting to redirect further misfortunes, firms began to lay off partners and staff in record number. Be that as it may, the issues went a lot further. There basically were such a large number of lawyers and insufficient premium work to go around. It was an unmistakable instance of overcapacity, and it was likewise clear it was not going to improve at any point in the near future.

More than twelve of the country's significant law firms, with in excess of 1,000 partners between them, had totally flopped in a range of around seven years. Against this foundation, law schools were all the while producing large number of eager law graduates consistently. Profoundly prepared young fellows and ladies who were famished for the opportunity to enter a calling that once held the commitment of riches, status and security.

As partner profits dwindled, partner infighting became uncontrolled. Partner would contend with partner for a similar piece of business. The collegial "group driven" personality and "moderate culture" that firms burned through large number of dollars advancing as their firm's remarkable brand and culture had evaporated as fast as it was made. While financial circumstances were difficult, in truth many of the large firms had the assets to survive the slump. All things being equal, partners with huge books of business were deciding to take what they could and joined different firms-discouraging those abandoned.

To comprehend the reason why this was occurring, we must initially remove ourselves from the particular setting and inside governmental issues of any one firm and think about the bigger picture. The disappointment and decline of firms was not just an emergency of economics and overcapacity, it was likewise an emergency of character, personality, values and initiative. Unfortunately, the brand personality many of these firms articulated as their own didn't coordinate against the reality of who they really were. As such, for many firms, the brand personality they made was fanciful and deceptive brands ultimately break in the midst of financial pressure.

[ylenia-pron-eeleneea]

why do you like philouise? :0

The speech is long so sit back and read well 😉

There is a character,Phillip , who has had his traumas in life and his patriarchal upbringing from his father, has given him a distorted view of life. A rigid life, without pleasures and love, solely linked to the duties imposed by society and common sense (trying to find a mother). It is no coincidence that he marries Marina and becomes the Baronet of Romney Hall without him wanting to, simply because it is his duty to his family and his brother George, the only person he loved who died in the war.

And then there’s Eloise who’s always lived in a loving environment she’s comforting but unlike other women in society she’s looking for the perfect man, she wants the perfect story and the perfect ending, but dreams are shattered with cruel reality: her best friend is getting married and she realizes she’s 28 years old and hasn’t found a husband yet and time is getting out of her hands. But all is not lost thanks to her knowledge with Sir Phillip.

Both in the beginning want different things: Phillip wants a mother for his children and Eloise love and this is the “narrative problem” that starts the story: they both want different things, they are different people and they have had different lives but in their imperfection they find the right and perfect ripples to complement each other.

The Philoise story is about a love that is born between two people despite their flaws, traumas and diversity. It’s not lightning strike and it’s not even the letters (also important) since they take up a very small part of the whole story. It’s that kind of mature love that leads two people to grow up and reevaluate themselves, to accept the fact that even if we’re different that doesn’t mean it’s not the right love. But only different and that in a healthy and mature relationship we need to compromise.

This is the nectar of all healthy relationships, loving not out of duty, not because there is desire, but loving how to care, and the fact that Phillip is a botanist to me is a symbolism of the whole story: Phillip is not a perfect man, but he tries to change himself for Eloise and the same goes for Eloise. He tries to be a better man for her and his children, he always tries to grow up as a person, a little like what a botanist does; grow up and take care of plants.

An example is when Phillip, after the scene of the swim in the lake, asks Eloise to join the family to swim when she makes him realize that he must be less terrified of the idea of being with Amanda and Oliver and that he could not hurt them (this is always related to his traumas) Or when he apologizes to Eloise and goes looking for her at My Cottage at Benedict’s because he feels guilty and wants to make up for it. Anyway, there are so many times when Phillip tries to be better man and father and do the right thing. Although he doesn’t even know what the right thing is since he never had a reference father/man figure

Eloise, on the other hand, learns that sometimes you have to compromise, that always fighting for everything and everyone is no more important than the people you love and that sometimes there are priorities, as in her case the priorities are Oliver and Amanda when she sees Charles, Benedict’s son, who is about to die of a fever.

Most Quinn stories tend to have a kind of imaginative cloud of love born out of passion and that resolves into some chapter in some way (like a kind of fairy tale) but this story instead is much more realistic: it’s a love born in the 19th century, they don’t marry because they’re in love, it’s true, but it’s the most realist story she could write Because they learn to love and support each other (Below is a clear example that Phillip appreciates and trust his wife skills)

And then there are small scenes that I find adorable and that have been put specifically to lighten the work and make it more enjoyable and fun like Amanda and Oliver’s jokes and Eloise revenge xD. Or when the four brothers decide to break into Phillip’s house to strangle him; when the brothers make fun of Eloise but Phillip takes it very seriously and despite them being the majority and just kidding he has no problem making a big voice to defend her duty u.u

[biblioflyer]

Thoughts about Admiral Clancy and Starfleet Antagonists, Picard s1e2 Rewatch

Narrative and (Un)Reliable Narrators

Should we always trust that the protagonist is right in Star Trek? Was this true in the pre-streaming era of Trek? Is this still a safe assumption? I don’t personally think it has ever been completely true and it definitely isn’t wholly accurate now.

This is part of a series of essays reevaluating Star Trek Picard and interrogating the widely held fandom criticism that Picard made the Federation into a Dystopia.

A topic I’d like to discuss at length is Admiral Clancy’s meeting with Picard. This scene is one of the most hotly debated in some circles as to whether or not the Federation presented in Star Trek Picard has become a dystopia or if the situation was one of those slow running tragedies that happen in environments of terror and limited information.

Clancy is very much taking up the same role as the Interviewer from the previous episode in that she provides more exposition about the Federation’s apparent abdication of its interest in the outside universe and the Romulans in particular. She also acts to reinforce the audience’s perception of Picard acting alone against a hostile and fallen Federation.

I think there’s every reason to think that Clancy is a good faith actor. 

Let me explain what I mean by that. She greets Picard warmly and seems to start off by being cautiously interested, if not concerned for him as one might for a friend or mentor who just lost his chill on live interstellar tv and has had a bit of a cloud hanging over him. Her frustration with Picard doesn’t seem cynical or calculated, she seems genuinely convinced that Picard is waving off inconvenient facts in pursuit of some wild conspiracy theory.

Narratively, Clancy definitely seems like she is supposed to present as self assured. 

Against the broader backdrop of the Star Trek universe, ought we, the audience, to agree with her? 

On a surface level, certainly not! 

After all, Picard is the title character and our hero, therefore he should be unquestionably correct in all things, right? Right? 

As I’ve said before, I think that this show may either intentionally or accidentally be presenting a more complex moral question and thus is pulling its punches when making the case for the Federation’s isolationist and martial turn in order to make it that much more plausible that it can ultimately reclaim its idealism when proven wrong.

Sympathy for the Devil

Characters who narratively function as obstacles may be antagonists, but not bad people.

One of the frustrating things about life, in the real world, and life in the fictional world is that we don’t always know people’s motives or background. What do we know for example about Admiral Clancy’s motivations?

To be frank, we don’t know. Yet if we wanted to conjecture a sympathetic character whose narrative role is to be an obstacle to Picard, it really wouldn’t be hard. Perhaps she’s someone whose experiences in the Dominion War hardened her.  Perhaps she was never a hero in the conventional sense. Perhaps she rose through the ranks commanding depots and shipyards, ensuring supplies got where they needed to be and refits finished on time. 

How many Starfleet officers actually spend their time thumbing their noses at space gods and how many do milk runs to out of the way colonies delivering subspace relays and industrial replicators?

Perhaps one might think that having to resort to starting so many sentences with “perhaps” is a sign of bad storytelling or bad worldbuilding. Perhaps the audience ought not to have to rely so much on imagination or invention. 

Is there a difference between a streamlined narrative to ensure good story momentum and a plot hole? I personally think so. Maybe I’m just a crusty old compassionate soul, but I guess my instinct is to be charitable to fictional characters and non-fictional writers, directors, producers etc.

Author's note: I found myself with a sort of Mandela effect wherein I could have sworn that after looking it up, Admiral Clancy was Admiral Yancy, but when I re-looked it up, it was Clancy. If you see any lingering Yancy's, then I am a variant and please don't report me to the TVA or Starfleet Temporal Affairs.