#its mostly just to organize interactions ^7^)/

[elegyofthemoon]

i feel like i just need to make friends tags on here LIKE i have a "friends tag" when im just uglycrying about friends here and there but i just meant individual tags for each friend :< but there are so many of you...

[octagava]

[Tumblr ate my quality... give it back :(]

Ada's dorm assignments and Explanation's and a bit of Headcanon's under ⤵️

HEARTSLABYUL

Atsushi: I was struggling with choosing between Heartslabyul and Savannaclaw for him. I think Savannaclaw would fit better (the tenacity part, and the tiger thing), but in the end, I chose Heartslabyul because he values justice, responsibility, and doing what’s right, which fits well with the rule-oriented nature of Heartslabyul.

Kenji: I chose Heartslabyul mostly based on vibes. Kenji is a cheerful and easygoing person, but also has his own unique logic that feels like the chaotic side of Heartslabyul.

OCTAVINELLE

Dazai: I don't think much needs to be said… His charisma? Cunning personality? Talent for manipulation? Straight-up Octavinelle student, no question asked. Especially with how easily he reads people, charms them, and manages to make people do what he wants by smooth-talking.

Haruno: This was a bit of a challenge to choose for her. At first, I thought about Pomefiore, but we already had so many characters in there, so I decided against it. I also considered Savannaclaw and Scarabia, but they didn't quite fit. In the end, I stuck with Octavinelle purely because of Haruno's intellect. It also felt right to make her a vice housewarden in her dorm.

POMEFIORE

Kunikida: This choice was easy, just like Dazai's. The drive for perfectionism, discipline, and ideals—he’s the literal embodiment of Pomefiore. It felt perfect for a dorm that’s known for its image-conscious students. It also made sense to make him Housewarden (and a little poke at the fact that, in canon, he’s supposed to take over as head of the ADA).

Junichirou: I was heavily influenced by his gentle yet thoughtful demeanor and the protectiveness he shows (not only his obsessive care for Naomi, but also his willingness to stand up for others). Despite being a bit of a wimp, he’s protective and supportive. He’s also a vice housewarden to Kunikida.

Naomi: To be fair, I had a hard time choosing for her. At first, I thought maybe Heartslabyul would be good for her affectionate yet mischievous personality. Then I considered Octavinelle for her cunning and strategic side. In the end, I went with Pomefiore, blending her elegant and calculating nature. She’s charming, and her subtle manipulation would suit the dorm well. It also helps that Junichirou is here, as where he is, Naomi is likely to follow. But I do think she was probably in Octavinelle first and switched to Pomefiore less than a month later.

IGNIHYDE

Rampo: Another easy choice. He’s intelligent and prefers solitude, plus his amazing problem-solving fits Ignihyde perfectly. He’s brilliant and often dismissive of what he considers unnecessary social interactions, so this is 100% the right dorm for him.

DIASOMNIA

Yosano: Diasomnia is a very fierce dorm, often associated with strength, authority, and a commanding atmosphere, which perfectly suits Yosano. Not only is she fierce and strong, but her role as a housewarden also fits well with the dorm's atmosphere.

Kyouka: She’s resilient and carries strength with her despite her tragic past. As previously mentioned, Diasomnia is focused on power and overcoming inner turmoil (especially considering the storyline of Book 7), so it’s a great fit for Kyouka.

Diasomnia overall is just a perfect choice in that regard for both Yosano and Kyouka.

I might also do other organization's in this AU if I feel like it, haha Or maybe I should do it the other way around? TWST in BSD universe???

[batboyblog]

Hi, idk if you're a Mdni page or not, but I'm really scared. I'm 15f, I live in a mostly red state, I've grown up here, and everyone I know is voting red. I was previously in the middle, I didn't care either way who won. I'm terrified of the election after reading about everything the Republican candidate did and plans to do. I wanna know if there's anything I could do to help prevent Trump from winning the election? I have a younger sister, and I don't want her to have to live in a country where her rights are being stripped from her. I just wanna know how to help. Thank you for reading and feel free to delete if I broke a boundary.

for the record I don't mind anyone sending me an ask, everyone is welcome to interact respectfully.

that out of the way, I remember working for Hillary in the 2016 election (by my math you would have been 7?) and our intern was your age and he was... he was everything he was so dryly sarcastic, smart, unflappable, could do anything, he kept us sane and he saved our asses with his can do (and tech skills) more times than I can count.

So to any teens out there who are not yet old enough to vote and think "oh there's nothing I can do" in 2016 we won a Senate race by 1,000 votes, which 100% was the doors we knocked and the voters we talked to out of our office, a 16 year old intern working his ass off saved Obamacare in 2017, not a word of a lie, you can make a difference as an intern or volunteer

Now, from the tone of what you're saying it sounds like your parents would into that, idk if you're parents are the kind of people who let you explore your own thing, or the kind of people who just wouldn't notice, or if they're the kind who would seriously object to you volunteering for the Democrats or progressive groups.

A lot of people assume because they live in Red States or Blue states they don't matter, but for example there are key Senate races this year in Texas, Montana, Ohio, and Florida (Red) and Maryland (Blue) Alaska is a traditionally red state but its one and only Congressperson is a Democrat who will run a very close race to get re-elected again this year. So where ever you live there is a key race, even if it's local. And lots of chances to call voters or send them postcards in swing states

Any ways everyone check out ways to Volunteer Run for Something also supports younger local candidates so if you live somewhere very red or very blue it can be helpful to find locals running for school board or city Council

now for you personally young person, and everyone else, have real and serious conversations with people in your life about this stuff, I can not TELL you how often I knock on someone's door and we talk politics and they tell me "oh well I'm a Democrat, but everyone around here is really a Republican" but like I just talked to 4 other people who were Democrats in their neighborhood, they just saw one Trump sign and gassed themselves up about it. People are often much more swingable than you think, feel everyone out, if there's an adult in your life thats convincible, work on them find out what they care about and bring them facts, be claim and reasonable and work on them. Each of us doing one on one work with people who know us is WAY! more impactful than any TV ad a campaign can buy.

finally if your parents won't let you volunteer for Dems, reach out to the League of Woman Voters, they're not partisan, so they're not Dems or Republicans, they believe in voting. When I was in High School I organized a voter registration drive in my school at lunch time, thats a great thing to do, call your county/town clerk's office and talk to your school, get a social studies teacher involved they love that shit, young people are much more likely to be Democrats so just registering them is helpful.

best of luck, in the words of Hitchhiker's Guide, Don't Panic.

[just-some-sorta-person]

Can I ask, who are your top 7 favorite romantic relationship's couples in books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series/etc (can be canon or non-canon) and your top 10 favorite characters ever from any media? Why do you love them all? Thanks if you want to answer....

Sure!

Ships (in rough order)

Nagireo from Blue Lock

my current obsession, going on strong for like more than a year by now. Also the first ship where I actually interacted with fandom meaningfully for a prolonged people of time instead of mostly ghosting. They’re really special to me! I think something I like about them is how core their relationship is to their story, and exploring their characters. It makes fan content and AUs really interesting and fun. In my opinion, a lot of their issues would still exist without blue lock, and they’d have to work them out in any setting, and I think that’s neat.

Satosugu From Jujutsu Kaisen

my past obsession, I spent a great deal of time with them as well before moving on to nagireo. Something I think of when it comes to stsg is the idea of an unfulfilled love that’s not lesser or weaker by virtue of being unfulfilled. I really like the idea that Gojo’s last words to geto were “I love you”, said for the first time at the end for this reason. Well, I am an angst enjoyer. I also enjoy the concept of love not being enough. Gojo and Geto’s individual relationship to power and agency is pretty cool to dive into too, the roles they had to fill in society and such. Their diverging paths. A good ship can’t be made with bad/uninteresting characters after all and I like all the character study fics out there.

those're kinda the two big ones.

Yuudai X Taisei from Sakana

Read sakana here right this moment its very special to me

Ah yes the awkwardness of drunk kissing your coworkers bestie that you're certain is way too good for you. I love love love them so much. They're just very comforting to me. Anxious eel and silly octopus (all of the cast of characters have assigned aquatic organisms). The comic as a whole deals a lot with anxiety, which is really cathartic, but I think in general its really nice seeing Yuudai opening up to people. I also like Yuudai's pessimism and skittery abrasive personality being balanced out by Taisei's optimism and cheerfulness. They also just make for some funny interactions that I've really liked reading heheh

Vanoe from Vanitas no Carte-

It’s the great gatsby vibes, the sunshine character and the deeply traumatized character who doesn’t see themselves as lovable, etc. I really love them and may or may not have made a slide deck presentation on Vanitas no carte for powerpoint night with my friends and 1/3 of it was centered around them.

Ludovica X Luck from Tiger Tiger-

Since this isn't an anime/is probably more obscure, here's the link to Tiger Tiger! Independently published by the artist and free to read, though you can also buy the first book to read in bookstores and such. I genuinely recommend it so much.

Ludovica and Luck are just so funny together, I love them so much. It's an eldritch doomsday god and the hyperfixated-on-sea-sponges mad scientist said being wants to impress. what is there not to like? its chaos x chaos but 2 different flavors. Also the source material is great, and very queer. #stealing your brother's ship to study sea sponges and getting caught up in doomsday. Also him and his 2nd mate are in love but dont realize bc reasons. Its great.

Bachirin from Blue Lock-

grumpy x sunshine always gets me. Plus their parallels and the whole loneliness thing. It’s a great ship- though what really sold me was reading fics like The Sun Will Come up. They really have so much potential.

Kide X Coel from Project Novos

another comic free to read here except this one has.. been on hiatus since 2022.. cries. I think the author has mentioned getting back to it though. Project Novos fulfills my childhood friends to enemies that dont actually hate each other to lovers dreams. The plot follows a government conspiracy and uprising but the story centers around Coel and Kide's relationship, which I do expect to be carried out romantically despite not being explicit so far (in part because it is not a mainstream manga).

This too, also follows the more optimistic character x a more pessimistic traumatized character trope... I have a type ok

... the ship list kinda turned into a bit of a rec list, but with some exceptions, my enjoyment of a relationship tends to do a lot with my enjoyment of the story its in unless I get fixated so...

hmm other ships ive liked... narumi x hirotaka from wotakoi.. hualian from tgcf, bingqui from svsss.... wait actually, there's too many lets move on.

Characters

Let's limit it to one character per show/series/etc to make this easier and avoid me just being like "the whole cast of sakana" or "the whole cast of tiger tiger" or "These characters from Dungeonmeshi..." too many options...

this is in no particular order. Also you might notice a lot of these characters come from the ships above

Yuudai Tanaka from Sakana

I like seeing characters suffer from anxiety, especially in a more ugly way, because I suffer from anxiety, and while I'm a lot nicer than Yuudai, I get frustrated when anxiety is portrayed in a way that may seem "cute" because it really doesn't feel "cute" hahaha. I mean, being anxious can mean being shy sometimes, which I can understand finding cute, but it can also mean being avoidant, skittish, or less friendly.

Ludovica Bonnaire from Tiger Tiger

She's chaotic, she's sweet, she's adorable, she's remarkably intelligent, she's fixated on sea sponges and wants to learn more about them! I really love Ludovica. She feels really refreshing as a character- a woman of science who's bubbly, excitable, and chaotic. She's kind of naive, but not at all dumb or incompetent. She falls into the mad scientist category without it defining her character. She doesn't let anything stop her but isn't somehow perfect, and she's incredibly funny. She's just great!

Nagi Seishiro from Blue Lock

Just.. look at him. he has a cactus, that's like plus 20 points

I have a soft spot for characters that are more subtly lacking in life and struggling, but aren't conscious of it. Also characters that discover that there's more to life than they first thought. Nagi seems fine on the outside, but if you look at some of his habits, they're actually rather concerning - subsisting off jelly packets, thinking life is a pain, getting a cactus to practice talking to people because he hadn't TALKED in so long. One of the nicest/most meaningful things his parents said to him that made him happy being "Don't die".. I also enjoy his disconnect from other people, and how he doesn't really understand the world around him.

I also like the space he occupies within the blue lock canon as a “hidden path”, and the contrast he presents in comparison to the other characters. I think Nagi is made more interesting by being a side character to Blue Lock than if he was the true main character. Idk if that’s a controversial take to have about your fav haha but really I think being the main character of a spinoff is the best place he could be. His situationship with the most important person in his life that he met 6 months ago is great too.

Greed from Fullmetal Alchemist

I LOVE the concept of the friendship is magic character being greed itself. I like the idea of interpersonal love being related to greed. Greed is wanting things, and it is often villainized, but wanting things is the basis of so much more than what we usually associate with greed - and in fact, some of our deepest wants are related to love - in all the forms it takes. Anyways, Greed is very special to me.

Vanitas from Vanitas no Carte

I just love a character who hates themselves so much that they won't let themselves be loved, but they don't have a gloomy exterior to reflect that (making it harder to tell).

Geto Suguru from Jujutsu Kaisen

I think I just love a guy who put so much pressure on himself to torture himself doing the right thing that he crashed out and did all the bad things. I see it as kind of the downfalls of needing everything to be simple and solvable. Geto preserved his sense of control and the livability of his own life, at the expense of becoming a bad person. That's something to explore, to me.

Him being gay (for his bff) is also a plus

Hirotaka Nifuji from Wotakoi

I have a tendency to like characters I find relatable. I haven't watched Wotakoi in awhile but I remember really resonating with Hirotaka. Because I haven't rewatched in awhile it's kinda just a vibe rn tho haha I can't really explain it.. But maybe it has something to do with the muted/quieter way he tends to express himself, despite still having his own inner world.

Anya Forger from Spy Family

I don't really relate to Anya at all, and I don't have any complicated reasons for this. She's just a cutie patootie who deserves the world

Laios Touden from Dungeon meshi

I love Laios and its definitely because I find him relatable. His difficulty connecting with people, his fixation on monsters, his appreciation of food... And I really like how his difficulty connecting with people and him being a weirdo is paired with a genuine desire to connect with them, and do good, as well as leadership skill.

I wanna eat living armor too...

Mafuyu Sato from Given

Given actually got me through a really hard time at one point, so its really special to me. Mafuyu's journey in general is very special to me, especially as someone who has had trouble expressing/processing their feelings before too.

[angelwishess]

FLOYRA MASTERLIST !

Masterlist for my main oc x canon ship, Floyd x Kyra! Mainly for organization, but this will have all of my favorite pieces of them from art to silly ramblings.

The ones listed in bold are my personal favorites and what I consider important to their relationship! :3

Tag: 🎀🦈! floyra

IMPORTANT STUFF !

Intro post || Contains a “summarized” version of their relationship timeline from their first meeting to their confession. (I say “summarized” with quotation marks because. It is a VERY long post. 😭)

Floyra Ship Template!!! 🎀🦈

ART !

Scene 14. || (Personal fav currently!!)

“First Meeting” || Floyra’s first real interaction during Book 2. (Note: this is super old and Ive made some tiny changes in terms of their first meeting… but its mostly still the same…)

“Boo.” || Redraw of an old piece from before I made this blog HEHE

“Pose!” || POSE THAT MY MOOTIE OYA SENT ME !!! First time coloring using my phone, so Im proud of it :3

“The Artist And The Muse” || Floyd being Kyra’s muse gives me LIFE.

“I Just… Wanted To Kiss You.” || Floyra as that one TV Girl album cover !!

“You and I… We Were Simply Meant to Be.” || My first colored piece of Floyra… Its pretty dated but still has a special place in my heart. :3

First Look vs. “Last” Look || that one tiktok trend !!!!!

When bro is lwkey evil but u still fw him …

Double Trouble || I just know NRC hates HATES to see them coming…

FICS / RAMBLING !

“The Look of Something.” || My very first fic posted on this acc!! Lots of yearning and chaos HEHE :3

Me being insane about Floyra. Rambling about them being soulmates !!!!!!!

“Beautiful” || Rambling about how Kyra hates being called beautiful… Except if its Floyd.

“Love Story” || Kyra running away from her feelings™️ because she thinks Floyd deserves better

“Uncertainty” || Floyd loving Kyra but unsure whether she feels the samw way

Love Story and Uncertainty are connected !! They are both Kyra and Floyd’s POVs about their relationship from around Book 6 to Book 7.

“Sea Angel” || Rambling about why Kyra’s nickname from Floyd is “Sea Angel” instead of “Shrimpy”!

“Last Name” || Rambling about how happy Kyra was changing her last name to Floyd’s :3

“Amusement Park” || Rambling about my idea of what Floyra going to an amusement park together would be like :3

“Too MANY Beds” || Floyra crackfic concept LMFAOO

Rambling rambling rambling

RAMBLING ABOUT FLOYD BEING A SIMP. ITS REAL IN MY HEART LET ME DREAM !!!

Book 7 Shennanigans || Answering an ask about Kyra in Floyd’s dream (+ Jade’s)

Random Floyra thoughts™️…

Ranmbling about why I scrapped Jamyra (Jamil x Kyra), and settled with Floyra instead !!

— Extra!

Things I think fit Floyra a lot :3

Floyra playlist!

Floyra Pinterest board (in the ‘Dynamic with Floyd’ section !!)

Moodboard

— Last Updated: December 6, 2024.

[1moreff-creator]

Danganronpa: One Shot - Prologue & Chapter 1 Analysis

Hello lovelies and loveliers! Since DR:OS’ first chapter has officially closed out, I figured it’d be a good idea to touch base and make a little analysis of all its characters and the things that have happened before moving forward! … Is what I would say, if I’d gotten this out in time. Yeah I took too long and now CH2’s started already (_ _ ///). I’m not sure I’ll do this every chapter, seeing how long it takes me compared to how fast DROS updates, but y’know. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there :v For now, let’s talk about the sillies! 

CWs: Daily Life and Deadly Life

The format here will be the same as the one I followed for my DRDT CH2 analysis. That is, start by talking about the general plot and the trial, and then go character by character, in ascending order of relevance for this chapter. Though, obviously, what characters are more relevant than others is subjective, but I'll try :v 

However, there's a few extras this time around. For starters, back when all we had of the cast were a couple of drawings and symbols, I made some early predictions about what they would be like. Though I won't go over all the predictions, I will at least make some comments on my talent predictions, so there's that. Additionally, since we know DROS has an in-cast mastermind, I'll rank the characters based on how likely I find them to be the mm, and give a little reasoning for that. I didn't really think I had enough to say on that front for a separate post, so I'm sticking it here! With that said, let's get into it!

Daily Life & Deadly Life

I don't have a whole lot to say about the Daily Life section of CH1, since it's mostly composed of character interactions that will be brought up later. I do love the "talent show for secondary talents” idea, but the prologue deserves a bit more attention since it's the setup for the setting of the killing game.

The characters’ last memories of the outside include the start of the Tragedy (back when it hadn't left Japan yet), so we can't be too far from that even when taking the cast's mass amnesia into account. Fun fact, thanks to the CH1 Bonus Scenes, we can actually place the moment the cast’s memories cut off (assuming it’s all the same time barring Mark) at some point after 4/10/2011, which is the release date of "The Son of Neptune", a book referenced in the Robert & Taylor scene. It may also be before 7/10/2014, which is when The Blood of Olympus, the last book in that particular series of Percy Jackson books, released. I say that based on how Mark and Taylor talk about the Percy Jackson series, but I could be wrong on that. Also yes I’m using non-American notation for dates because the way the US does it, as usual, is stupid. 

This killing game is also the sixth held in the resort, which is a pretty noteworthy thing even if we know very little about what its significance is. In terms of timeline, my current assumption is that this is happening after Junko's death in the THH killing game, meaning the thing is maybe being organized by Remnants of Despair, but I have very little reason to believe this beyond the fact that these people are doing a killing game in the first place.

Something that particularly interests me at this point is the place the killing game is happening in. See, at several points, it's been made clear that the organizers of this killing game really want to stick very closely to the Hope's Peak aesthetic. In particular, as Kennedy points out in her introduction, Ellis is not just called the “Ultimate Luckster” or something of the sort, but rather, they're the “Ultimate Lucky Student” even when they aren't a student at all. This is presumably because all Hope's Peak classes have an Ultimate Lucky Student, so when choosing the participants for the killing game, the organizers specifically chose someone to fit that role. 

However, if they're that committed to the Hope's Peak aesthetic, why hold the killing game in a resort and casino, instead of a school? Did they not have access to a school, or even a school-like building? Is it simply because the mastermind wanted to be more comfortable through the course of the killing game? Is there another reason I'm missing? Is there even a reason? One could also ask why the organizers grabbed a bunch of adults, instead of high schoolers, but I find the question of the building a bit more pressing. In any case, it's not something that I feel can be properly speculated upon right now. We lack too much critical information. However, I will note it down as an interesting mystery moving forward. 

But after peace comes a storm; Deadly Life time! The first case is a hell of a start, with the sheer brutality of a dismemberment setting the bar high for future trials in terms of how complicated the murder plans could get. Though I’m not really the biggest fan of gore only for the sake of shock, I think this case does just enough to instantly hook the reader with the premise of such a brutal method, without dwelling excessively in it and letting other parts of the case carry the mystery. The fact it happened before a formal motive announcement was also its own hook. Basically I like it :D

The mystery itself was fun, too! Nothing too crazy, which is expected of a first case, but things like the motion sensors and the ever present question of why the hell Cass left their room to go to the casino made for a pretty fun enigma to think about.

The trial was also very engaging, especially with how high the mini game to word ratio was. Pretty fun to play along with those things! Although I’m sending up a prayer to the creators’ Docs main page, there’s gonna be so many mini game docs by the time this ends xD The cast of One Shot is… not the fastest, presumably because the authors prefer a high ratio of minigames, but they make for a lot of pretty fun moments in the trial. 

Finally, all the more introspective sections we get with Ellis every now and then are great, but that’s mostly because Ellis is awesome so I’ll get into it more in their section :v

Alright, now to get started on the characters! 

Monoquin

Cool mascot! Though I hope you’ll forgive I don’t have much to say about him, seeing as so far he’s been more of a Thing facilitating the progress of the killing game than an actual character. Not a bad thing, he is what he is, and a mascot that’s actually pretty professional helps keep the focus on the cast in pretty much all scenes, which is a benefit. 

Harper Young

-Original talent guess: Pacifist/Activist/Make-Other-People-Feel-Good-Person -Actual talent: Philanthropist -Talent prediction notes: Well the idea was there xD -Likes: Charities. Dislikes: Vineyards. 

I mean, ve really doesn’t do much this chapter. Right now, all we really know about ver is that ve had run into Noah before the killing game doing charity work around his frat, that ve likes to knit, and that ve’s getting kinda restless not being able to so much to help people.

Noah [CH1, Page 41]: Yo, Harper? Harper: Hm? What is it? Noah: You wanna do something, or… something? You seem on edge. Harper: Oh, apologies. I suppose I’m not used to not doing anything. I’ll go grab my quilt.

(Note: All quotes from CH1 are cited with the page they're found in the full chapter doc)

This also gets reiterated a few times during ver Bonus Scene with Noah. In that scene, Noah also implies that Harper's not just rich, but a billionaire.

Noah: [CH1 Bonus Scenes, 8]: Yeah… I definitely didn’t have to struggle or anything, but I’m sure there’s a difference between upper middle class and literal billionaire.

That’s still quite a fair bit for the character who got the least focus in the chapter imo, which is cool. 

I can see ver character going a few different ways, either breaking down from restlessness or the inability of helping those who die from the killing game. Ve's been relatively calm so far, but who knows how long that's gonna last.

On another note, what beef does ve have with vineyards. They don't seem like uniquely bad businesses from what I found on a few browser searches. Harper, what did the grapes do? ToT

-Mastermind Ranking: 7/16. Harper's actually on the lower end of the people I suspect a bit. While ve has less outright disqualifying lines (aka things the mm would never say) than those below ver, ve does seems genuinely worried about what's happening outside.

Harper [CH1, 2]: Even if it isn’t something I’m required to do, I have commitments I’m worried about letting down. There are people to help.

Question: What personal belonging from the outside would you bring into the killing game?  Harper: “An update on how my foundations are doing would set my mind at ease.”

And while that could all be a lie, the extra detail that ve's restless and not all that happy in the killing game is enough for me to put ver relatively low on the list. 

Robert Smith

-Original talent guess: Blank Slate/Regular Person/Guy -Actual talent: Normie -Talent prediction notes: Actually kinda proud of this one! -Likes: Pizza. Dislikes: Mosquitoes.

Robert is a very interesting character to have in a cast so full of weird-ass characters as this one (or any fangan cast really). He didn’t do much in CH1, per se, but his normality contrasted with everyone else’s… deal… certainly helps establish how no one here is all that well adjusted. Robert’s the most shaken up over Cass’ death, just on how gruesome the murder was, for example. And given how he talks about how impressive he believes the others to be based on his CH1 Bonus Scene, this does seem like it’s going to be a recurring thing for his character. 

That said, there is also the fact that Robert seems to enjoy literature, what with him reading Percy Jackson and his secondary talent being reading a poem. And this means it’s time to go Literature Girl Insane (it’s funnier the third time! /ref), and see if there’s any symbolism in the literature my guy brings up.

The book referenced in his Bonus Scene, “The Son of Neptune,” doesn’t strike me as incredibly relevant… from a reading of the Wikipedia plot summary- look I’ve never read Percy Jackson you’re gonna have to deal with that.

There’s something to be said about how Percy being an outcast at the camp he arrives at or something could connect to Robert’s feelings about being an outcast in the presence of Ultimates (Taylor’s too), but that’s kinda all I could gather. The plot being about Percy being an amnesiac, if anything, would connect it more to Mark, unless Robert or Taylor have some kind of important memories missing as well. Or maybe I’m reading too much into it and “The Son of Neptune” just got picked because it’s a popular book that a normie would read and fits the time frame of DROS, who knows!

As for the poem he reads in the talent show, “The Road Not Taken”, it’s a little more interesting when applied to Robert. As I said in my First Impressions post for that particular part, the fact the poem itself is a bit open ended in interpretation means that it’s hard to know how to apply it to Robert’s character. However, here’s my current best guess: 

The Road Not Taken shows a person in a fork in a road, who takes one of the paths and won’t return to take the other. In the moment, it’s clear both are equally traveled. However, in retrospect, the person claims “with a sigh” that they took the road less traveled and “it made all the difference.” Whether the difference was good or bad is left up to the reader, but the main thing to note is the fact that the person’s hindsight is flawed because neither road was actually traveled more or less than the other. 

In his Bonus Scene, Robert says this:

Robert [CH1 Bonus Scenes, 3]: “I have to try so hard to pretend I’m feeling normal and not lose my cool, so that I can fit in with everyone else.”

So, Robert wants to fit in, he basically wants to be “normal” in a sense. Remember how the difference taking the road less traveled makes can be either good or bad depending on the reader? Robert would be afraid that taking the road less traveled, “not fitting in”, would make a negative difference. That means he always wants to take the other road, which is presumably what led him to be the Ultimate Normie.

However, keep in mind that both roads in the poem are actually equal. Robert does what he thinks is normal, not what is actually normal. Because “normal” is relative. In the killing game, moving on quickly from a death is “normal”, where as that likely wouldn’t be the case outside of this setting or with different participants. This sets up a possible arc of Robert learning to choose whichever “road” he wants without worrying about fitting in, because the concept of “fitting in” is sorta flawed in a sense. Cue parallels with Taylor (more on that later) and foils with Aidan, who as the Ultimate Contrarian would be representative of always taking the road less traveled, if such a thing exists. 

Or maybe I’m reading way too much into this and the poem just got picked because of the irony of the Ultimate Normie reading a poem from the perspective of someone who believes to have gone against the norm. That’s also very possible xD

-Mastermind ranking: 4/16. It might shock you to see him this high, but it really shouldn’t. Robert doesn’t have any lines going directly against the possibility of him being the mm the way some other people do, and Tsumugi from V3 gives precedent to the idea that maybe we shouldn’t trust the “plain” ones. Plus, I could see some point about how during the Tragedy, it would be “normal” for someone to be obsessed with causing despair. The only reason he isn’t higher is his squeamishness at the sight of Cass’ corpse. 

Noah Walker

-Original talent guess: Hellenic Scholar -Actual talent: Frat Boy -Talent prediction notes: I did pick up the frat bro vibes, but the Greek letters threw me off. I now know that represents his frat's "name", per say. The US is a very, very strange place. -Likes: Electric Guitar. Dislikes: Fights.

Similar to the last two, not much going on with him yet. He's talked about his dad disliking the idea of Noah failing out of college, and apparently has two sisters: 

Noah [CH1, Page 2]: I don’t think my dad would be happy if I failed out of college…

Harper [CH1 Bonus Scenes, 8]: You said you had sisters, right? Noah: Yeah, two of them.

Plays guitar, played basketball in high school, doesn't get hangovers…

Grace [CH1, 58]: I’m surprised you don’t seem to be hungover, Noah? Noah: Oh, that doesn’t happen with me. Pretty cool.

And had met Harper before the killing game in charity events his frat set up. So, yeah :v

Unlike with Harper and Robert, I have few guesses as to where this guy's going character-wise. Genuinely no clue :p

Btw, I did try to research if his frat, Lambda Omega 𝚲𝛀 (I think? The capital Lambda is upside down on his pendant for some reason, but there's no other capital Greek letter that looks like that), and I found out something quite interesting.

I really have no idea how the US works, in the slightest. I couldn't make sense of half the info I was getting :p

Apart from that, while real life 𝚲𝛀 does in fact exist, I didn't see anything immediately related to Noah. So, if it's important, let it be brought up in the story itself xD

Finally, since I overanalyzed Robert’s poem in the talent show, I may as well do the same for the others. Though Noah’s pick of playing “Eye of the Tiger” isn’t too hard to understand. It’s a song all about ambition and passion, which is very popular with Noah’s general demographic. Basically it’s the exact type of song you’d expect a frat boy to play in a talent show :p

-Mastermind Ranking: 6/16. Everything I said about Harper applies to this guy as well. He's only higher because there's less instances of him disliking the killing game environment, aside from disliking the actual murder aspect of course.

Davis Love

-Original talent guess: Romantic. -Actual talent: Bachelor. -Talent prediction notes: Close, yet so far.  -Likes: Wildflowers. Dislikes: Pick-up Lines.

Half these people have insane talents, and Davis’ is no exception. Anyone who is attracted to men will apparently be attracted to Davis, be it romantically or sexually or both depending on their sexuality. Certainly an interesting setup for a character, which we've already seen effects of with how uncomfortable he is when people flirt with him. It's worth noting he's pan and has had a girlfriend before:

Question: Most embarrassing experience? Davis: [...] I guess, really shortly before my junior prom, my girlfriend at the time…

So it's not like he's completely opposed to romance, he's presumably just had bad experiences. There's even a line where, after learning of the motion sensor trackers, Davis specifically is the one to bring up the question of why Cass was tracking their movements. While this could just be a coincidence, it's possible he's particularly concerned about the sensors because he's had some kind of experience with a stalker tracking his movements, as his talent would make that relatively likely. Maybe. We'll have to see.

Davis [Page 125]: …Cass was tracking us. Why would they…?

Though, on the topic of his talent, one thing I haven't talked about is the caveat that Ultimate Contrarian is the Ultimate Counter to Ultimate Bachelor. The talent meta goes crazy. 

Davis [CH1, 13]: If someone wants some form of a relationship with someone, they want it with me. Aidan: Really? Aidan takes a seat at the table, entering our conversation. Aidan: I don’t think I’ve felt that way. Davis: Are you attracted to men? Aidan: Yeah?  Davis: …Trans men? Aidan: Sure? Davis: …??? Ellis: Huh. That’s what happens when “Ultimate Contrarian” and “Ultimate Bachelor��� collide, I guess.

(Oh yeah Davis’ trans btw. Cool!)

What's interesting is that, maybe because of this or maybe not, Aidan and Davis seem to be getting set up as some sort of duo? The aforementioned "Contrarian vs Bachelor” scene is not the only time they're seen together. The two of them were apparently just wandering around together before the "Motive TBA” scene, and while they were investigating separately, they were also the only people in the Customer Service Desk during the Cass case investigation.

Narration [Page 62]: As I sit on the couch, I notice Aidan and Davis approaching the Movie Theater. [...] Davis: Oh, hey Ellis. We were just wandering around.

Narration [Page 84]: … I head out, and travel down to the Customer Service Desk. I see Aidan and Davis separately looking around, and am drawn to Davis first.

Davis is also the first person to compliment Aidan's clarinet skills in the secondary talent show. 

Narration [Page 23]: Once it ends, people start clapping, and Aidan gets off stage as fast as possible. Davis: That was pretty great, Aidan!

The scene about the motive strikes me as particularly noteworthy, because Aidan is not exactly the most social person around, so seeing him just "wander around” with someone is interesting. Where this particular pair is gonna go is a fantastic question, especially because I'm not even 100% it is a notable pair, but I'm interested in seeing it! Or- not seeing it if I'm hallucinating its existence, I guess!

Finally, for your regularly scheduled song overanalysis! In the talent show, Davis sings ¨Mine¨ by Taylor Swift, which is by all means a pretty standard love song as far as I can tell. Possibly the most interesting part of the song for our purposes, though, is a section where the singer and their lover get into a fight, and while the singer believes they're about to break up, their lover actually tries to mend the relationship. It's possible this hints to the reason why Davis is a Bachelor; for some reason or another, his lovers keep getting into fights with him and always break up after. Thus, Davis singing this song could be expressing his desire for a partner who is more understanding or forgiving.

However, that´s a pretty insane reach even for my standards, and I don't think anything else we’ve seen implies it, so I currently don’t think there’s much of a connection between Davis and the song beyond it being a love song :v

-Mastermind Ranking: 3/16. If you're surprised he's this high, I am too. He's kinda just here because I can't point to any single line that implies he's not the mm, something that I can do for the people below him. I don't really think he's that likely to be the mastermind, though having the mm be the guy who dislikes pick-up lines and whose talent is deeply connected to romance and sexuality could serve as a good foil to the protagonist we got going on, in some way, which is an okay-ish argument assuming the creation process of DROS even allows for the mm to be picked with the protag in mind (I got no clue :v). 

Grace Thomas

-Original talent guess: Mechanic. -Actual talent: Clockmaker. -Talent prediction notes: N/A. -Likes: Efficiency. Dislikes: Being late.

We got a fair bit of backstory from Grace this chapter, and frankly not much else. Still cool stuff!

We learnt from the little round of Never Have I Ever that their parents are strict and kinda overbearing, that they graduated high school early (well, got a GDE, don’t yell at me if there’s differences I’m omitting), etc. One thing that gets repeated a lot is how Grace absolutely loathes wasting time, hence them getting a GDE and such. We also know from the Prologue that they have a boyfriend, and from a question we know his name is Justin, he’s very popular, and they met in high school. All very neat stuff!

I… don’t have much else to say here. There’s certainly something to be said about their propensity for going as fast as possible when contrasted with people like Jeff, who seem to take stuff with a lot more chill. Grace’s main fixation right now seems to be escaping as fast as possible, so we’ll see how that develops in the future!

Well, seems to be.

-Mastermind ranking: 2/16. They’ve dropped one spot from my post-prologue predictions, but they’re still a pretty good contender in my mind. Everything I said in my original Predictions Game post in terms of themes and the like stands. Though, to be fair, we haven’t really seen the themes I speculated based on title and prologue lore alone come into play yet, so maybe the point truly is moot.

The only big sticking point some of you might have with them being the mm would be the fact that they seem committed to escaping, but that could easily be faked. It could actually be a decent strategy to discourage others from investigating escape routes themselves, if they think Grace is on it and can’t find anything. All they’d have to do to discourage looking for escape routes is say something like-

Grace [CH1, 8]: Though, I’ll hand it to the runners of this game, they’ve done a good job of eliminating any trace of an exit.

Yeah like that. 

But beyond that, there’s also one other, particular reason Grace still stands above the others as an mm candidate in my mind, which they share with #1. I’ll explain when I talk about said #1. 

Paris Hall

-Original talent guess: Tea Maker or Queen/Princess -Actual talent: Gossip -Talent prediction notes: Not even close xD -Likes: Acrylic Nails. Dislikes: Windy Days.  

Our first FTE haver! Though in true Gossip fashion, Paris hardly gives out info about herself, and prefers to discuss literally anyone else's business. All we really know about her personally is that she has a big following online, and apparently friends, though as far as I remember she's never mentioned any family. 

As for the happenings of the killing game itself, her reveal of Antonia and Cass’ beef could be the first of many instances where Paris’ love for gossip develops conflict amongst the group, which would be very interesting to see. But perhaps more interesting than that is her reaction to Cass’ murder. Or, rather, the lack of one. Paris behaves pretty much the same during the trial than outside of it, giving little indication that she‘s even all that worried about the whole thing. I don’t exactly have any real guess as to why this happens (assuming she’s not the mm), but I’m very curious to find out. 

Finally, there’s her relationship with Taylor. Although Paris keeps tabs on everyone, she’s taking a particular interest in Taylor and calling them her “bestie”… for some reason. Allegedly, the bond comes from shared music taste and their talent show performances, which is I suppose a valid reason to start a friendship. But given my use of “allegedly”, you can probably tell that I don’t trust this all that much.

Paris sketches me out, and this isn’t new. That was part of the reason I thought her to be the CH1 killer after the investigation’s end, after all. Probably doesn’t help that Ellis constantly inner monologues about how dangerous she is due to her information gathering skills, and that Antonia clearly believed Paris to be on her wavelength during their Prologue Bonus Scene. And to be clear, Antonia’s wavelength is not somewhere trustworthy people are found. Hence why I’m worried Paris’ intentions with Taylor aren’t fully innocent. Whether she’s trying to get an ally in preparation for a trial where she’s the blackened, or creating an easy target for her to kill, or something else entirely, there are many very dangerous reasons Paris could have to befriend Taylor like that.

Of course, though, it’s also entirely possible that I’m insane and that Paris genuinely just wants to befriend Taylor for the sake of friendship itself. And generally that’s what I’d assume, as I personally like to try and be trusting of fictional characters, but idk. Maybe I just can’t handle a bad bitch making friends, and that one’s on me. Who knows!

Though, on the topic of the talent show, Paris danced to "Toxic". Continuing to overanalyze these picks… this one doesn’t paint a great picture. "Toxic" features the singer speaking to someone whose love is addictive and “toxic”, which I could see being recontextualized to imply something about Paris’ relationship with her fans (be it them being addicted to her or her being addicted to them), but… Well. As of right now, the most straightforward interpretation could be that Paris is a “toxic” friend to Taylor. Just in case we needed more red flags there.

Then again, I could always just be reading into these things too deeply. Maybe venus just likes the song and there’s no further meaning, like that thing that happened with Wizardry 8 during pre-release lol. 

-Mastermind ranking: 1/16. Yep. I mean. I don’t trust Paris. This has been established. 

Her lack of reaction to murder is one of the biggest red flags here, of course, but her talent would also make it easy to gather info on the contestants for things like the “likes & dislikes” section of their profiles and potential future motives, and her propensity for creating conflict could be useful if DROS is going for the “televised killing game” angle. In the Cass-Kennedy Bonus Scene, Kennedy brings up that since the mm revealed their existence to the cast, they probably want them to speculate of who the mm is, and Paris revealing Cass and Antonia’s cross-suspicion could be helping to do just that. 

Kennedy [CH1 Bonus Scenes, 12]: If the mastermind wants it to be known that there’s a mastermind, they probably want it to inspire drama. What better way to do that than making accusations public and starting feuds?

The fact that one of the big narrative themes we’ve been seeing so far is ”secrets” (which I'll discuss mainly in Cass and Antonia's sections) could also give a foundation for the mm to be the Ultimate Gossip. 

Finally, and this is the big thing that really puts Paris above the rest in my mind; I don’t see any arc she’s going through that would be invalidated by her being the mm. Robert’s struggles to fit in, Davis’ deal with relationships and the such, Taylor’s self-image issues (we'll to those in their section), all would be kinda moot points if they’re the mm. Like, I’m sure there’s a way to make them work, but it’d be a bit difficult. Meanwhile, the main thing Paris has got going on is her relationship with Taylor, which can easily be spun into part of Taylor’s arc if Paris ends up being the mm.

This is the quality that Paris only really shares with Grace that puts both of them at the top of my list, the one I alluded to in Grace’s mm section. The reason Paris is slightly above them is… honestly just vibes xD I trust Grace more than I trust Paris, that’s the whole reasoning there. They’re actually somewhat equal candidates in my mind.

I could be wrong, of course, but well. They’re predictions for a reason!

Kennedy Rey

-Original talent guess: Conspiracy Theorist. -Actual talent: Conspiracy Theorist. -Talent prediction notes: B) -Likes: Mysteries. Dislikes: Skeptics.

Fellow insane people from Tumblr, meet our spitting image. Kennedy spends the entire chapter doing what she does best: being completely insane and constantly throwing out theories about the mm. He’s insane in a pretty fun way, and it’s always fun to have them on screen!

We learn little about Kennedy’s life outside the killing game, other than the fact that they know a little of self-defense because they’re extremely paranoid. We don’t really know what she even does with her life, frankly. But Kennedy has enough stuff going on in the killing game itself to make up for it!

As of right now, Kennedy has several noteworthy relationships with other characters. First is his working relationship with Vivi, the only person who seems to genuinely hold Kennedy’s opinion in high regard. And of course they do! She also knows what it’s like to be disregarded as insane because her methods are unorthodox, being a Mad Doctor and all. Makes me wonder if there’ll be some foiling between the oh so normal Robert and the “Mad Duo” (which is what I’m calling them now and you can’t stop me).

Cass was also a theorizing buddy to Kennedy in at least one scene, but she always seemed to be more interested in investigating on her own. See: not telling anyone about the trackers or them spying on Antonia. Their Bonus Scene has Kennedy attempting to ascertain whether Cass would be a good theorizing buddy after her whole beef with Antonia, suggesting that Kennedy genuinely enjoys having other people to discuss their theories with. Pretty fun! Shame Cass died :p

And of course, Kennedy’s legendary beef with Aidan. By virtue of being the Ultimate Contrarian who hates assumptions and uncontested opinions, Aidan is basically diametrically opposed to Kennedy, and their mutual dislike is made apparent all across the chapter. Although Aidan ends up usually looking like the one in the right in comparison to Kennedy, I’m very interested in how this rivalry is going to develop in future chapters!

-Mastermind ranking: 12/16. Way too committed to finding the mm for it not to be genuine. Sure, by his own logic from the Bonus Scene this would actually make him suspicious, but come on. There’s a limit to how much a mastermind would try to find the mastermind, surely xD

Taylor Long

-Original talent guess: Actor -Real talent: Impressionist -Talent guess notes: The comedy and tragedy masks fooled me T_T -Likes: Movie theaters. Dislikes: Rock bands. -Notes: Can I ask about the rock bands? Lol

Taylor has self-image issues, and it’s possibly the clearest issue any of these characters have lol. 

Taylor [CH1 Bonus Scenes, 2, to Robert]: I try to fit in, but at the end of the day, I’m just me, you know? The only special part about me is when I’m doing an impression of someone else. Other than that, I’m just as regular as you.

Like, I could find other examples, but this one’s probably enough to get the point across, no? Taylor clearly doesn’t have the highest opinion of themselves, so they channel other people’s energy to get the confidence they need to get their opinions out. All throughout the trial, they continuously make impressions of Cass and occasionally Kennedy to bring up their ideas. During their FTE, they constantly try to accommodate for Ellis’ tastes, constantly asking what she wants to do and what her friends are usually like.

Ellis [CH1, 38]: They, uh… they’re wild, and crazy! Always down to party. Super rich and popular, too. Taylor: Oh, I see… They think. Taylor: It really is kinda surprising that you like me, then. I mean, I definitely can do those things, but it takes me a little while to come out of my shell… [...] Taylor: Sorry, I just realized I kind of took over the conversation. Was there something you wanted to talk about? Ellis: Hmm, not particularly. Actions speak louder than words. Taylor: Oh! Then, um, do you want me to do something…? Ellis: Do you want to do something? Taylor: Um… whatever you want is fine with me!

And of course, Taylor somehow thinks that making an impression of Antonia directly after her execution is a great idea to cheer Vanessa up, instead of comforting her with their own words.

Vanessa [CH1, 152]: …Toni… Taylor: Please don’t be upset… um…  Taylor goes over to Vanessa and gently places a hand on their upper arm. Taylor: “Don’t be upset, darling–” Vanessa: Stop that!

You know, like a fucking insane person-

Right now, we mostly have setup for some kind of arc about these self-image issues, and I’m very curious to see where exactly they’re going to go with it. This how there could be some parallels with Robert and the like, which we’ve already seen explored to some extent in their bonus scene.

The other main arc Taylor’s got going on is the Paris thing, but I’ve already covered that in the Paris section, so. Yeah.

Finally, for the last of the talent show song pick analysis, Taylor dances to “Born This Way”, making a sort of impression of Lady Gaga as they did. Of course, this further hints at their self-esteem issues, as they don’t seem to believe to have any talent beyond their impressions, which makes the decision to pick a song about self love all the more ironic. And yes, I believe that’s why they lip sync to this song specifically, because their presumed character arc is likely to be about self-love. 

-Mastermind ranking: 5/16. They have a few lines in the Prologue that would read slightly weird in the context of Taylor!MM, but nothing outright disqualifying. That, combined with the idea that the killing game could be an “impersonation” of Hope’s Peak and maybe specifically the THH killing game, are the only reasons Taylor is this high. There's not much else here so far :v

Vivian Mitchell

-Original talent guess: Surgeon/Doctor -Actual talent: Mad Doctor -Talent prediction notes: Well. Close enough? -Likes: Experimentation. Dislikes: Supervisors. 

Vivi’s great! She’s just a pretty fun character. This chapter, she doesn’t really do much beyond being Kennedy’s sidekick and performing an autopsy, though I decided her involvement in the actual case and investigation warranted being a bit later in the post than those before her (look this format is far from an exact science xD). I’ve already covered said connection with Kennedy, and the autopsy thing is more a trial thing than a character analysis thing- well, other than saying this:

Vivi [CH1, 90]: I mean, I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t done a few Vivi-sections before, but on a person…? Robert: …Do you mean dissections…? Vivi: …Yup!

Which… implies she thought Cass got dismembered while they were still alive? Assuming Vivi’s using the usual meaning of vivisection (dissections on things that are still alive) and isn’t just making a confusing pun. But their autopsy should have determined that wasn’t the case, I think, so.

Look, confusing puns aside, the point is that Vivi has probably done some kind of vivisections on animals as party of the experimentation their profile says they like. At least, that’s my current theory on why they said that.

One other thing: Vivi seems to be the character who is most often pushing the idea that someone else should be coming to rescue them.

Vivi [CH1, 3]: Okay, yeah, or our families or friends could, like, do something! What, you really think all of your loved ones would straight up accept you were missing and not look into anything themselves…?

Vivi [CH1, 65]: I mean, someone’s gotta be looking. The question is whether or not they can actually rescue us, and if so, how soon.

Combined with some things said in CH2 Part 1 (I really took too long to write this :v), it seems Vivi has a pretty good relationship with her family, which is… something!

Vivi’s definitely have some other stuff going on, though. So far, we only have vague indications on what exactly puts the “Mad” in her Mad Doctor talent, so I could see that being elaborated on later, and her fixation with no one dying around her that we saw in the Prologue is something that could certainly develop into an interesting arc. Overall, pretty curious about them!

-Mastermind ranking: 11/16. The main reason Vivi’s this low is the fact that they resent their Ultimate title. 

Vivi [Prologue, 24]: It’s such a judgmental way to put the Ultimate title! I just do what I think is gonna work! And it always works. So, if you or anyone you know is ever in danger of dying or anything, let me know

Were she the mm, she would have no reason not to just call herself the Ultimate Doctor instead. This, combined with their team-up with Kennedy to find the mm, makes it highly unlikely that they’re the mm in my mind.

Aidan Ho

-Original talent guess: N/A -Actual talent: Contrarian. -Talent prediction notes: N/A. -Likes: Pop rocks. Dislikes: Assumptions. -Notes: One of the most random likes here I think lol.

For me, Aidan’s possibly one of the most fascinating characters in a cast full of fascinating characters. You’d think his constant questioning of everything and everyone around him, combined with his generally uncooperative attitude, would make him a relatively unpopular character amongst the cast (beyond possibly Davis as discussed earlier), but he manages to not piss off too many people simply by being a paragon of common sense in the crazy people place. Well, other than Kennedy, as I've mentioned. Aidan also strikes me as one of the smarter characters, and thus has a fair amount of cool moments in the trial. 

Aidan [CH1, 134]: …[Cass was] careful with their introduction, huh…? Davis: What do you mean? Aidan: Before Cass gave me her name or her talent, she led into the words “Ultimate Agent” by talking about other people’s work. They were making sure that I was already thinking about fucking commerce by the time they had to say it.

(By the way, I just noticed this now on a re-read, but why "fucking commerce"? Is he that pressed about being manipulated and lied to? Interesting character tidbit)

Aidan [CH1, 141]: Because you’re not backing it up. If belief is the only thing you’ve got, then it makes it seem like belief is the only thing there is.

Robert [CH1, 143]: She’s… making a lot of good points. Maybe we should listen to her…? Aidan: No way. Davis: Huh? Aidan: She’s cornered. Do you really want to let her manipulate you when she’s like this?

(Speaking of his apparent distaste for manipulation)

And his reaction to Antonia’s execution is fun.

Aidan [CH1, 151]: …Glad that’s over. Vivi: How can you be at all glad right now? We just watched someone die! Right in front of us…! Aidan: What, you wish she was still in the process of dying…?

That weird disregard for the horrifying shit he just witnessed is possibly an extension of the views he expressed in his FTE. 

Aidan [CH1, 6]: I know other people care, and I can respect that. If they care enough about something to fight for it– even if that thing is as simple as their life– I wouldn’t get in the way of that. Ellis: You think lives are simple…? Aidan: Caring about your life is. Isn’t that, like, basic human instinct or whatever? Ellis: I mean, yeah, I guess. But it’s not so wrong to indulge in your primal instincts, is it? He shrugs. Aidan: If that’s what interests you. Ellis: And what interests you, then? For some reason, I feel like I’ve been hearin’ a whole lot of “no” and not a lot of “yes.” Aidan: Does it really matter…? He scowls. Aidan: I really don’t care what happens with any of this. So, if other people do, good for them. For now, what I know is that I’m here. That’s all. Ellis: Exactly. You’re here! You’ve got the world at your fingertips, what with that weird Customer Service Desk thingy! You gotta figure out how to enjoy yourself! Aidan: I appreciate how unconcerned you are despite everyone else being all moody, but… no way. Either we’ll get out of here, or we won’t. In the meantime… it doesn’t really matter.

I decided to put the full quote there because it really is very strange. Aidan’s another character whose life outside the killing game is still a mystery to us, but perhaps that is because he doesn’t feel he has anything to return to. He just seems fundamentally uninterested in everything, up to and including his own life. Sure, he didn’t say he had no interests, but he may as well have. Not caring about what happens during the killing game is a very unique perspective, to say the least!

The idea Aidan really don’t give a fuck is further reinforced by the Scrum Debate:

Aidan [CH1, 113]: Like any of you want to stay. Anyone could have a motive here. That’s just how the killing game goes.

Any of you, not any of us. See the difference? Aidan probably wouldn’t mind escaping, but he doesn’t seem to mind staying, either.

Obviously this raises a lot of questions as to how Aidan came about this mindset in the first place, and whether or not he’ll grow out of it during the killing game, but right now we lack the tools to figure those things out. What we can discuss is the way this parallels other characters’ perspectives, though.

Be it Grace and Jeff’s desire to escape as fast as possible because everything that interests them is on the outside, or people like Harper and Noah’s desire to get out to return to their prior commitments, or Kennedy’s wholehearted investment in every mystery of the killing game (and yes Aidan and Kennedy’s beef runs really deep), or Ellis’ self-proclaimed (and probably fake) disinterest in the others as anything other than eye candy, or Antonia and Cass’ interest in keeping their secrets throughout the killing game… Turns out everyone has a different perspective in how they feel about the killing game, so a character who doesn't care at all (at least, that’s what they claim) stands out pretty significantly, in a way that helps bring out the others’ different interests and the things they’re focused on. 

Basically I really like Aidan and I can’t wait to see how their mindset is explored/developed :D

-Mastermind ranking: 8/16. Aidan’s general disinterest in absolutely everything could be spun into some strange kind of mm who’s just going through the motions, I guess, but it doesn’t strike me as particularly likely. Realistically should be higher, especially given his dual colored hoodie split down the middle as the black and white of the Mono color scheme, but in a sense he strikes me as too confrontational, too early. Sure, he’s not as confrontational as someone like Byakuya, but he still ends up coming off as slightly antagonistic at times just by virtue of always going against the current as the Ultimate Contrarian, and as accirax eloquently put it in her own mm predictions for other fangans (Eden’s Garden & DRDT):

…wow, the mildly antagonistic character was actually a really antagonistic character all along! It just doesn’t seem like enough of a dramatic hook to me, I guess?

Again, Aidan isn’t the most antagonistic character ever, but I still think the phrase applies. Not to say that it couldn’t work at all, just that it’d be harder to pull Aidan!MM as opposed to the other options higher than him. 

“Mark" Nolastnamegiven

-Original talent guess: ??? -Real talent: ??? -Talent guess notes: Yeah this one was easy. -Likes: Soft fabric. Dislikes: Physical confrontation.

Taylor [CH1, 137]: Are either of you worried about the fact that that leaves you as the only two suspects? Like, at all…? Antonia: Hm? Not particularly. Mark: Obviously I’ll have to prove my innocence, but from my perspective, it’s nice to know who the killer is.

Members of the jury, these two are awesome. 

If there’s any character who truly stole the spotlight during the majority of the Deadly Life section, beyond those actually involved in the murder (and Ellis), then that character is Mark. While they didn’t really do anything in Daily Life beyond repeat a few times that they don’t remember shit from before the killing game, their notable “locking in” during the investigation and subsequent trial is quite an interesting development for them. Evidently, whatever their talent was, it seems it gives them some form of edge when it comes to investigating. That obviously brings Kyoko to memory, though Mark doesn’t seem to be quite her level of Detective, which is cool. I like that the few brain cells we have are a bit more spread out in this cast.

We also got a couple of really cool character moments from Mark’s “partial awakening”; I’m particularly obsessed with the calm with which they handled the Third Party Analysis, as already quoted, and the reintroduction with Ellis at the end of the chapter.

Ellis [CH1, 154]: Yeah. You seem much more aware than when we first met. Or when we second met. You need a third meeting? I extend my hand. Ellis: Hello there, beautiful stranger. It is I, Ellis Ortiz– Ultimate Lucky Student, any pronouns. They laugh and scratch their cheek gently, a bit embarrassed. Mark: I’m Mark. Still don’t know my real name, talent, or previously preferred pronouns, but… glad to be here with you.

Really brings forth themes of renewal and the like. I really wonder if the fact that Mark is essentially getting a second chance to discover their abilities, after doing it once and forgetting through the killing game amnesia, will somehow play into the idea of “One Shot” as “one opportunity.” We’ll have to see ig.

Finally, because obviously I can’t talk about Mark without bringing this up, what is their talent, anyways? It’s most likely somewhat connected to their detective skills, but you might think there’s no way to narrow it down further than that. However, there may be a few hints we can use, alongside with the principle… of “The Funniest Possible Answer,” which states that a theory can be compelling just by being funny, if nothing else.

Take a look at this post, specifically the Mark answer.

Question: If DROS characters had the talents of the cast of Project: Eden's Garden, which one would each character have? Mark: Ultimate Pro Gamer.

Now, there’s nothing inherently interesting about this. Matching talents across fangans is always gonna be difficult, and not all of them are gonna fit very well (see: Fencer Vivi or Ship Captain Kennedy). However, there’s another post which makes me a bit more curious about this particular answer:

Question: What's your favorite animal and why? Mark: “I don’t remember, sorry…” [If allowed to, Mark would pick a Pokémon, and therefore Bulbasaur. If asked for a real animal, the answer would be a penguin.]

A Bulbasaur, of all things. Everyone else picked real animals as a first choice, but not Mark. Mark picked a video game creature. Combined with the previous answer, it almost makes it seem like Mark had a very profound interest in video games before losing their memories. Perhaps… enough interest to be an Ultimate of the video game variety?

To be clear, I doubt they’re straight up the Ultimate Gamer, because based on their behavior during the trial, there’s still presumably some form of connection with mysteries. Which gets me to a secondary point, which is: are Mark’s clothes really what they were wearing before the start of the killing game? No one has commented on having had their clothes changed, so I presume they’re wearing the last thing they remember wearing. But Mark has no way of knowing. I bring this up because Mark has an accessory with a question mark in their design, which makes sense with them being the Ultimate ???, but not outside the killing game. Unless, of course, their actual talent already had a connection with mysteries. 

Hence, we reach my current guess for Mark’s talent: Ultimate Mystery Video Game Player. Or something like that. Could also be something like “Video Game Puzzlemaster” or something, especially because I wouldn’t exactly classify Pokemon as a mystery game, but getting the exact wording right on these things is always almost impossible, so. 

Although, while we’re here, I may as well bring up the possibility that Mark may have a role similar to the Ultimate Survivor from V3, and they’re the sole survivor of the killing game directly preceding DROS. I bring this up because of Rule #7 from the E-Handbook:

Rule #7: The blackened may only kill a maximum of two people during any single killing game. 

This rule’s wording about “any single killing game” accounts for the possibility of someone having competed in a previous killing game, implying we could be looking at such a situation. Of course, we have no indication of who that would be (everyone has missing memories, not just Mark, after all), but I’m bringing it up with Mark because there’s canon DR precedent for this happening with the Ultimate ??? in Rantaro. Doubt it’s the case, since I’m not sure venus would want to repeat such a plot twist, but you know.

-Mastermind ranking: 9/16. Mark marks (heh) the start of the more plausible guesses in the list, as there’s less things going directly against the idea that they could be the mm. The spots directly below Mark, such as Harper and Noah, may have one or two lines that would read weird if they’re the mm, but I still find them more plausible than Mark simply because Mark being the mm feels… odd, y’know?

There’s many ways the mm could disguise themselves that draw way less suspicion than calling themselves the Ultimate ??? and pretending not to remember anything before the killing game. That also includes the possibility that they’re the mm but still genuinely erased their memories, because that plan would be kinda insane without something like Divine Luck from that fangan that I don't want to name so as not to spoil anyone. Neither idea is impossible, hence why Mark is still higher than many of the others, but it requires a few more explanations than those who rank even higher. 

Vanessa Bravo

-Original talent guess: Singer. -Actual talent: Announcer. -Talent prediction notes: I tried :p -Likes: Crowded areas. Dislikes: Minimalistic designs. -Notes: Who likes crowded areas???

As the reason that the talent show even happened at all, Vanessa is to be thanked for giving us some of the sillier moments before shit hit the fan. Quite a lovely person overall, though we know little of her life outside the killing game for now. We do know she has a sister, though!

Question: What object would you bring from the outside into the killing game? Vanessa: “I want my sister…”

Speaking of sisters, Vanessa got hit with one of the most severe cases of Danganronpa Syndrome (where characters get attached to each other extremely quickly to make the death of one of them more impactful to the storyline) I’ve ever seen. Less than a week in, she’d already adopted Antonia as her surrogate big sister. This is consistent with Ness’ constant push to make the killing game as comfortable as possible, setting up the talent show for example.

Vanessa [CH1, 8]: …Aw, are you guys seriously on the whole escape thing again already?! Grace: What else would we be doing? Vanessa: I dunno, having fun? This place is pretty cool, if you actually take a look around! Why do you wanna leave so fast?

And if Ness’ goal is to make the killing game as comfortable as possible for herself and others, and Antonia and her remind each other of their respective sisters, well, it’s as Antonia says:

Antonia [CH1, 43]: It’s only natural to take comfort in the things that remind you of home, isn’t it?

I do wonder how this attitude of trying to find comfort and fun inside the killing game will develop now that things have gone horribly, horribly wrong. Certainly something to look out for.

Another character trait I enjoy is Ness’ very proactive personality. She’s the one who gave Mark their temporary name, she’s the one who proposed the talent show, that kinda thing. I particularly want to highlight this scene, though: 

Vanessa [CH1, 141]: Why do you keep disagreeing with her?! Doesn’t Mark being the killer make way more sense here? Who knows what they’re thinking at any given time? Toni is… she’s her! Someone we can trust… Aidan: It doesn’t help anyone to blindly defend someone because you like them. This is where our logic’s taking us. If you want to defend her with actual logic, be my guest, but if you’re just yelling, all you’re gonna do is turn people against her. Vanessa: Why would that turn people against her…? Aidan: Because you’re not backing it up. If belief is the only thing you’ve got, then it makes it seem like belief is the only thing there is. Vanessa: Well, you’re wrong! Antonia: Vanessa, if you’ll allow me to handle this– Vanessa: No one should be accusing you like this! I’ll… convince them they’re wrong! Yeah, that’s it! Antonia: Vanessa– Vanessa: Don’t worry, I’ve got you!

Let’s quickly appreciate Aidan’s cold ass “if belief is the only thing you’ve got, then it makes it seem like belief is the only thing there is” line.

Wow… :O /gen

Alright it’s been appreciated. Now we can focus on Vanessa again. Beyond her vehement trust in Antonia, the main thing I wanted to point out is how Ness continued to defend Antonia even after Toni repeatedly told her to back down. After all, Ness’ Freestyle Feud starts directly after this. I really like this piece of characterization because I’m a sucker for this type of “white knight/savior complex” character. I just like it that’s all :>

Overall, Vanessa beats the CH1 victim allegations with flying colors, and I can’t wait to see where her character goes from here!

-Mastermind ranking: 13/16. Apart from how genuinely upset at Antonia’s death she is, Vanessa’s distaste for the way Monoquin presents everything would suggest that she is not the one responsible for creating the guy. 

Vanessa [Prologue, 18]: …the way [Monoquin] reveals information is so boring. I could do a way better job. Like, “oh, by the way, you’re Ultimates, like Hope’s Peak.” Where’s the drama? Where’s the delivery?

I didn’t mention it in the analysis, but I do enjoy how passionate Ness is over this. I can’t possibly think she’s the mm if she hates Monoquin’s announcing this much!

Jeff Breeze

-Original talent guess: (Resort/Hotel) Manager/Tour Guide/Vacationer -Actual talent: Absentee -Talent prediction notes: Vacationer’s kinda close, right? What's with the umbrella, anyways? Unguessable xD -Likes: Blue hawaiians. Dislikes: Conflict.

My guy has exactly one goal at any time, and that is to get the hell outta dodge. We hear in their FTE that they occasionally get a certain feeling that things are gonna turn out bad, and they always leave the moment they get said feeling. Other than that, and the fact he was forced to play football (er, soccer) briefly when he was younger, and that they got dragged to an amusement park at some point, we don’t know too much about Jeff. Which means there’s room for speculation!

My current guess of what theme Jeff’s character will play into is the whole idea that “you miss all the shots you don’t take” or something. You know, the thing the fangan seems to be named after, and Ellis mentions early into the Prologue. Because Jeff always ditches before the going gets tough, they usually don’t “take any shots”, which is something which could be explored in the future. Even if it isn’t, Jeff’s avoidant behavior could be contrasted (and already is paralleling) with things like Vanessa’s more proactive attitude to the killing game, or Robert and Taylor’s desire to fit in instead of distancing themselves from others, you get the idea. 

Finally, and the reason Jeff’s so high up in the “relevance list”, his involvement in the trial. Jeff just so happens to be outside when the murder’s going down, which makes sense with their “bad vibes radar” thing. When shit’s about to go down, their spider sense tingles and they get restless, so they go out to burn off their energy, and find themselves being important in the trial. I wonder if him getting dragged into situations they really don’t want to be in is going to be a recurring thing. We’ll see!

-Mastermind ranking: 14/16. I said Jeff has exactly one goal, and I meant it. He wants to leave. This conflicts with the mm’s desire to… not. Do that. So. Unless they’re lying about literally everything, this one doesn’t look very likely. 

Ellis Ortiz

-Original talent guess: Lucky Student -Actual talent: Lucky Student -Talent guess notes: ;) -Likes: Designer brands. Dislikes: Closing hours.

And we finally reach our protagonist! And what a protagonist he is. Not only are their flirtatious antics pretty funny, her attitude towards the killing game is quite the unique one.

As is common with Lucky Students, a lot of it comes from her luck. From what we understand, that luck is generally strictly positive and Ellis mainly applies it to money-making, though he seems to have a sort of conflicted opinion on it. On the one hand, Ellis trusts her luck enough to somewhat firmly believe in their title, as expressed in all the inner monologues where Ellis assures themselves they will survive the killing game no matter what. On the other, Ellis doesn’t like to attribute all her achievements to luck alone, disliking that her title doesn’t acknowledge the actual skill she believes to have in things such as stock trading and gambling. Of course, right now the audience has no idea how much of that perceived skill actually exists and how much of it is just Ellis trying to convince himself he deserves his winnings for reasons other than pure chance. Something to see in the future.

This conflict about her luck carries into Ellis’ general killing game strategy. Or at least, the strategy she’s trying to implement. He first swears to himself that he won’t get attached to the other characters and will treat them only as eye candy, which immediately fails as we see him crying after the class trial. Not to mention, they’re seemingly getting attached to Mark, at least, given their little triple introduction thing. And they're even considering switching strategy to defeating the mastermind after the first trial, as they've noticed that, if it comes down to them or the mm, they may be cooked.

In general, Ellis is pretty bad when it comes to fulfilling promises she makes to herself. There are, for example, many times in the chapter where Ellis promises not to think about things such as the mastermind, followed just a scene or two later by an internal monologue about the mastermind paranoid enough to rival Kennedy’s craziest theories. The persona of confidence and nonchalance that Ellis projects is so far removed from her inner doubts and insecurities, that she keeps switching between paranoid overthinking and complete laidback-ness with enough speed to cause whiplash.

This all comes from Ellis’ complete inability to be honest to himself about his feelings, naturally. Becoming more honest with said feelings is likely going to be a large part of Ellis’ character arc, which could parallel/contrast nicely with people like Taylor (who feels they have to act as someone else to express themselves), or Paris (who doesn’t speak too much about herself and prefers gossiping about others). Plus, the general idea of dishonesty, with oneself or others, can be connected to Antonia’s and Cass’ shared theme of secrets (again, more on that in a moment). However, other parts of his character could play off nicely with a lot of the cast. Ellis’ flirtatious attitude could connect to Davis’ Deal, their bouts of paranoia could play off the Mad Duo, their devil-may-care style of living contrasts Grace’s more reserved lifestyle, their optimism and trying to make the best of the situation is similar to Vanessa’s CH1 attitude and contrary to Jeff’s perspective, you get the idea. Fun character!

I haven’t mentioned it too much, but we also have a lot of info on Ellis’ backstory. He has two younger step-siblings who are “alright”, got started with his exploits by inheritance from his grandpa, he refers to something called the “Ellis Ortiz brand” at some points so he might be relatively well known (assuming he’s not exaggerating his relevance)*, and probably more I’m forgetting (or just skipping due to them being minor details) just because we have a lot more time to learn about Ellis’ backstory than other characters. She is the PoV character after all! In any case, it’s fun stuff.

*Yeah so I fell for the old trick of he unreliable narrator lol. She has (or would have) 5.1k Twitter followers, which is less than fucking Vivi. No one knows who Ellis is, the brand thing's exaggeration xD

-Mastermind ranking: 10/16. Although an mm protag isn’t out of the question (check tags of that post), Ellis doesn’t particularly strike me as one. See, she would need to be an amnesiac mm, the kind that doesn’t even know they’re the mm before the end of the story. And while there’s never a good way to completely rule that out, I haven’t seen any reason to believe that’s the case either.

Let’s put it like this; if you consider Ellis a potential mm candidate, you also have to consider everyone below her a candidate as well, as anyone could potentially be the type of mm she’d have to be. The only reason she’s higher than them, then, is that this particular type of mm works best with protags. The main reason to create an mm like this would be to prevent internal dialogue from spoiling the mm, which is obviously only a problem for Ellis. 

Necessary amnesia aside, Ellis’ stated goals of “get rich, get bitches, have fun” (simplified) don’t really align with the things creating a killing game would accomplish. And while it’s possible Ellis changed in the period of lost memories, we have no evidence of that, so. Yeah, not very likely :v

Cassidy Torres

-Original talent guess: Writer. -Actual talent: Agent. -Talent prediction notes: I mean. I had a pen to work with. I wasn’t getting that xD -Likes: Getting info. Dislikes: Stubborn people.

Victim coming through! And what a victim Cass is. You know, it’s always hard to make the audience care about the CH1 victim, given they’re definitionally the character who’s alive for the shortest amount of time, but having a major twist about them happen during the trial is a hell of a way to do that! The reveal of Cass’ true talent is the kind of thing that makes you do the character analysis backwards, starting at the end with the reveal and piecing it together (heh) from there.

Aidan [CH1, 134]: …[Cass was] careful with their introduction, huh…? Davis: What do you mean? Aidan: Before Cass gave me her name or her talent, she led into the words “Ultimate Agent” by talking about other people’s work. They were making sure that I was already thinking about fucking commerce by the time they had to say it. Grace: Now that you mention it, I believe they quickly pivoted to discussing sales with me as well.

Well, we saw two Cass introductions, so why not confirm?

[Cass] [Prologue, 37]: Lucky Student, huh? That’s an all-around useful talent. Still though, it’s weird… Why is no one here talented at making things, or having something to sell…? Ellis: Hey, who says I’m not talented at “making” something? [Cass]: I should clarify, I’m referring to making something physical. Something that one might, say, need someone to critique and/or help them market to higher ups. They extend their hand to me. [Cass]: I’m Cassidy Torres, or Cass for short, she/they. And, here, I guess I’m the Ultimate Agent.

Cass [Prologue Bonus Scenes, 9]: It’s great to meet you, Grace. My name is Cassidy Torres– Cass for short– and I use she/they. I’m the Ultimate Agent. After we shake hands, Cass looks at me approvingly. Cass: It’s about time I met an Ultimate who actually creates something. My talent is pretty useless without anything to market, so I was hoping I’d be able to help at least one of you with my services. As it turns out, the last person I met was the one who best fit the description.

Yep, pretty much exactly what the others said. Cass was quick to mention sales and creating products so as to now get found out, even though funnily enough Ellis almost got it. 

Ellis [Prologue, 38]: Agent, huh? So, I shouldn’t be surprised when you pull out some spy-like leather suit? Cass: Oh, it’s nothing like that. Though I’ve definitely worn my fair share of suits…

Cass is quick with it :O

Although I think Cass’ Agent skills shine most when you can see the full extent of their internal monologue. 

Kennedy [CH1 Bonus Scenes, 10]: Found you! Kennedy has, apparently, tracked me down to the Show Room, which I had assumed no one would really want to spend time in. This doesn’t contradict that data point, though; if Kennedy was looking for me specifically, as evidenced by their words, then it’s my presence rather than any qualities of the Show Room itself that led them here. Probably best to play dumb, though.

Bro. Even if Kennedy hadn’t said “found you”, you could’ve just asked them what they were doing in the Show Room without that analysis. Which you do.

Cass [CH1 Bonus Scenes, 10]: Were you looking for me?

You’re putting my overthinking to shame, you gotta relax! (Kidding, I really enjoy the overkill analysis there xD).

Cass’ skill is actually very fun to really think about. They had to come up with the cover story of being a salesperson on the spot when they got their talent, which is kinda crazy. And she still managed to come up with stuff like specific phrases and words that would always get a reaction of her cover character! What!

Kennedy [CH1 Bonus Scenes, 12]: Isn’t this a good opportunity for you? “Opportunity” acts like a trigger phrase. Right. I need to be charading as the Ultimate non-secret Agent. I make a show of sighing. Cass: I suppose passing up on a good opportunity is typically a bad thing. But, an opportunity for what?

I have no way of knowing how accurate of a depiction of secret agents this is, but I can say it's a pretty cool description to read about.

This does mean that a lot of Cass’ dialogue ends up being nothing but part of an act, a problem for character analysis. But there’s still plenty to work with, especially because her talent deeply relates to the main theme connecting her and Antonia: secrets, the things people will do to uncover them, and the extent people are willing to go to keep them. 

Antonia [CH1, 52]: From what I’ve determined, you may be the one hiding the biggest secret here, Cassidy. Cass: I’m sorry? Antonia: I know a liar when I see one~ A liar? But, what would Cass have to lie about…? Unless…? Cass: What are you accusing me of, exactly? Antonia: I’m not sure what. You could be the mastermind, or the possessor of the poison, or any number of things. All I can tell is that you’re guarded. There are things you don’t want us to learn. Isn’t that right?

Cass [To Antonia, CH1, 52]: …Fine. If you won’t tell your secrets, I won’t tell mine.

Antonia [CH1, 148]: We weren’t dealing with only the mastermind, darling. We were dealing with “secrets.”

I’ll get to Antonia’s secrets in her section, but Cass obviously had a pretty big one of their own, not to mention that her entire talent is based around uncovering hidden truths. The secrets these two keep are what ultimately creates the conflict which will end with Cass’ death and Antonia’s execution. After all, Antonia’s general suspicion regarding the fact they were keeping a secret at all is really the reason why Cass ended up suspecting Antonia so much. Because while they originally held Antonia in the same regard as Ellis or Mark in terms of mm possibility, they still end up antagonizing Antonia specifically, possibly because they feel threatened by Antonia’s immaculate liar detector. Now, make no mistake, Cass made up an in-persona reason to be a secret-keeper, so it’s not like Antonia’s lie detector is immediately damning to them, but it’s still a pretty large threat. 

Cass [CH1, 52]: …I can’t reveal everything so easily. My clients have sensitive information, and my trust with them is more important than getting to know any of you. If I feel distant, that’s all it is. Ellis: Wouldn’t you want your clients to have a friendly relationship with you, though…? Cass: Of course. But, at least as of now, none of you are my clients, so those who I represent are of greater concern to me.

Of course, though, there’s also the possibility that Cass just clocked Antonia as a liar the same way Antonia clocked them, even if it’s never explicitly stated, and that’s the entire reason for their suspicion.

Cass [CH1, 59]: I will figure out your secrets. Antonia: Of course you will, darling.

Actually, the idea that Cass felt threatened in some way by Antonia’s ability to spot liars could play into something interesting with these two’s profiles. Cass dislikes “stubborn people”, while Antonia dislikes “bad losers.” You could make the argument that Antonia is stubborn in the sense that she’s good at standing her ground against Cass’ prodding for secrets, and that Cass may be a bad loser in the sense that she may feel she “lost” to Antonia when the Dealer noticed she was hiding something, and clearly isn’t happy about it. 

[Cass’ inner monologue] [CH1 Bonus Scenes, 10]: It’s hard to say I’m anything but annoyed as I leave the Buffet. Antonia is still playing at the same games as always…

Not sure if this interpretation works perfectly, but close enough, and it's pretty cool. Eternal beef, these two.

In any case, regardless of what exactly led Cass to focus so much on Antonia, the end result is the same. Antonia figures out she’s being spied on, and chooses to deal with that issue before it could grow into anything bigger. Hence, Cass’ death. 

Although, here’s an interesting point related to the murder. Isn’t Cass a hypocrite?

Cass [CH1, 35]: Everyone, calm down! The group settles down and turns to Cass. Cass: [Someone asking for poison from the CSD] is obviously a threat, and we should take caution knowing that someone here may be plotting a murder already. However, blatantly throwing around distrust and creating an air of paranoia will only make tensions higher. Mark: Then… what should we do? Cass: The same things you’ve been doing. All you need to do is keep an eye out for any suspicious activity and engage in safe behavior. Stay in groups or well-lit areas. Don’t go out at night. Those sorts of things should keep you safe enough while we figure out the mysteries of this place.

“Don’t go out at night”, she says, a few days before going out at night and dying. “Don’t create an air of paranoia”, she says, shortly before beefing with Antonia so obviously that everyone noticed something was going on even before Paris said anything. Not great at following their own advice, evidently.

Although that second point is slightly unfair, actually. Cass doesn’t actually accuse Antonia and gang of being the mm at first, it’s Antonia herself who brings the implicit accusation to light. In the same vein, she refuses to say who she suspects in her discussion with Kennedy and Vivi and Ellis about the mm before that.

Kennedy [CH1, 32]: Cass… If you can say who you don’t think it is, that means there are some people you do suspect. Cass: I have a couple leading theories. Kennedy: Tell me. Cass: I’m not going to go around voicing all of my thoughts. Besides, it’s… not fitting for an agent to talk negatively about people. What if a future client heard of it and was worried about what I’d do with their secrets?

Antonia [CH1, 51]: I assure you, the real dynamics between different establishments are far more complex… Cass: Do you have insight into the dynamics, then? Do you know anyone who might hold a grudge? Antonia: With all due respect, my dear Cassidy, are you trying to determine if one of us is the mastermind?

The point about the night stands, though. And it’s worth noting that Cass likely didn’t have ulterior motives in saying that or anything, as she does seem to be genuinely concerned for the others’ safety. 

Davis [CH1, 58]: I take it you all were drinking last night…? Jeff: Yeah? What’s the big deal? Cass: That doesn’t sound like you were being particularly safe, given our environment.

And it makes sense. When they talk about their goals in their Bonus Scene with Grace, they specifically say that their goal can be “approximated” to figuring out the secrets of the Resort and getting out with everyone.

Grace [Prologue Bonus Scenes, 10]: What are your long-term goals, if I might ask? They smile. Cass: I’m not gonna go around talking about that kind of thing immediately, especially not with cameras everywhere. I’ve got big plans once I’m back out in the real world. But, foundations are laid here. She looks around the room, though nothing in particular seems to catch her interest. Cass: If you’re looking for what’s motivating me, for now, you can approximate it to figuring out what’s going on at this Resort and getting everyone out of this situation safely.

More on those goals in a moment, but for now, what matters is that Cass is genuinely invested in the safety of the others and wants to escape with everyone, so her warnings about not going out at night are genuine. That means the only reason they would go against their advice is if they considered themselves capable of avoiding issues, probably because of their talent.

Huh. Overly relying on her talent to keep her safe while she carries out a plan no one else knows anything about? That’d be like a Lucky Student relying on their luck to survive through the killing game, with a plan of outlasting everyone else that they don’t discuss with anyone. Wink.

Anyways, I left this question pending, so let’s get back to it. What the hell are Cass’ long term goals? All we really know is that she’s motivated to figure out the Resort’s secrets and get everyone out of there, but supposedly these are just the “foundations” of her goals. They also say that talking to Grace is related to the goal, but as they say, that’s mostly just because gathering info on those around them is helpful in their eyes.

Cass [Prologue Bonus Scenes, 10]: I’d call [talking to you about marketing] related to my goals, personally. Grace: Your goal of gaining clients? Like I said, that isn’t– Cass: No, in general. Isn’t it helpful to know people better, if you’re trying to work with them? I pause. Grace: I suppose that’s a fair perspective. Cass: Believe me, I understand. I don’t waste time talking to just anyone if I don’t believe it’ll help me achieve my long-term goals. But if I decide it’s worth it, I’m not easily swayed. Right now, I’ve decided I want to talk to you, and that’s the best use of my time.

Now, I can’t for the life of me reach anything resembling a solid answer, for obvious reasons. It’s entirely possible, for one, that these goals aren’t important and will never actually be brought up in the main story, seeing as they’re only really mentioned in a Bonus Scene. In that case, we may never have enough info to come to any definitive conclusion about it. 

However, it’s possible that Cass’ name will come up again, because her goals could very well have to do with the very foundations of the killing game and the situation in the outside world. For example, it’s possible that they were investigating the resort itself or some kind of aspect of the Tragedy, and they got close enough that the mm decided to wipe their memories of the bigger secrets and just stick them in a killing game. Depending on how much she remembers, she could very well have had some inkling about what’s really going on, enough to know that there were bigger plans outside that she was a part of, possibly focused on taking down groups doing Tragedy stuff.

Or I’m going completely fucking insane, which I think is the more likely option in this case. Regardless, I don’t really have any more concrete ideas on what the hell she was up to at the moment, so I’ll leave it at that. Dear god what a character.

-Mastermind ranking: 16/16. I mean. They’re dead. And deny they’re the mm in inner monologue. It doesn’t really get less mastermind-y than that.

Kennedy [CH1 Bonus Scenes, 12]: Then, based on my deductions, you would be the most likely mastermind candidate. Cass: Wh–?! What kind of a strategy is that?! Besides, it’s obviously wrong…!

Antonia Cisneros

-Original talent guess: Gambler/Poker Player -Actual talent: Dealer -Talent prediction notes: Wrong side of the table :v -Likes: Nightlife. Dislikes: Bad losers.

Guess who got unreasonably attached to the CH1 killer, again? This guy! 

Antonia’s fun, both because of how entertaining I find (er, found) her personality, and how many mindgames my girl actually plays. The insane standoff from her Bonus Scene with Paris in the Prologue, her constant beefing with Cass, the entire trial… that kinda thing. In fact, there’s so many mindgames and potential lies going around, we might have to take this chronologically!

The first big thing we learn about Antonia in CH1 is the existence of her little sister (also mentioned in the Paris Bonus Scene), and how this helps her form a quick bond with Vanessa. 

Antonia [CH1, 42]: It’s very charming, how excited Vanessa gets. It reminds me of my younger sister. She was always a ball of energy. Mark: You mentioned her at the talent show, too… Vanessa: Toni’s really sweet and caring when it comes to her sister, from what I’ve heard. And she sorta acts like a big sister to me, too!

However, this starts an interesting trend in how Antonia actually talks about Vanessa and her connection to Antonia’s sister. Take a look at the two other instances where this comes up:

Antonia [CH1, 138]: For instance, Vanessa reminds me of my younger sister. I would be unable to willingly sign her death warrant, even indirectly through the Class Trial.

Noah [CH1, 148]: All that stuff about [Vanessa] being like your sister… Were you lying about that, too? Antonia: Hm? Oh, no. She does, in fact, remind me of my sister. But that isn’t enough to stop me from acting in my own best interests.

Antonia never directly claims to care for Vanessa as she would a sister, all she ever says is that Vanessa reminds her of her actual sister. Antonia just says they share similarities, and doesn’t ever concretely express how that makes her feel. The only time she actually compliments Vanessa directly, she also compliments Ellis at the same time, someone who she doesn’t have the same kind of bond with.

Mark [CH1, 44]: Are we… actually doing this…? Antonia: Well, if it makes these two wonderful people happy, then I don’t see what the harm could be.

Now, I could be wrong about this, but to me it feels like while Antonia enjoyed Vanessa’s presence because of the sister thing, she didn’t do so to the extent that she led the others to believe. She simply allowed Vanessa’s enthusiasm to speak for the both of them, giving the impression of a much closer bond than what she genuinely felt, and she tried to take advantage of that flawed perception during the Third Party Analysis. Whether this lie of omission was originally just to make Ness feel better, or if Antonia was always planning to use this as a “card up her sleeve” (heh) to argue her innocence in a class trial, I genuinely can’t tell because everyone in this fangan (and especially Antonia herself) is a massive tryhard when it comes to killing game tactics. 

Then again, I could always be overthinking it.

Antonia [CH1, 43]: No worries, Mark. It’s only natural. Mark: Why do you say it like that…? Antonia: Oh, I’ve just never been fond of using nicknames. But, in your case, I suppose it can’t be helped.

Antonia doesn’t like using nicknames, which is… interesting. Wonder if we’ll ever find out why that’s a thing, if there even is a reason beyond personal preference.

Antonia [CH1, 44]: A party is… something we could consider, though I do wonder where we would hold it. Vanessa: I mean, for open space and lighting, the Casino, right? Antonia: …I would rather not.

This never got explicitly explained, right? Why Antonia didn’t want a party at the casino? It’s not like she was planning to murder Cass specifically already, since Cass hadn’t started accusing her yet. And Cass only died in the casino because Antonia could lure her there since Cass was following her around. This might be a question to ask her once we get access to ouija boards after the fangan’s over. Or maybe not, who knows.

Antonia [CH1, 46]: Aren’t we a little too fixated on what isn’t here? If we all share each other’s company, we should be enjoying ourselves. There’s no point in doing anything otherwise.

This is wild coming from the woman who ordered poison from the CSD the morning of the day this got said. Incidentally, you’ll notice this is pretty close to Vanessa’s perspective on the killing game, although Antonia’s actually referring to Jeff’s absence from that meal and not the outside world. Neat!

Ellis [CH1, 51]: Maybe it’s, like, a rival casino owner trying to incite a scandal. That sounds like something that could happen in a cartoon. Antonia: I assure you, the real dynamics between different establishments are far more complex… Cass: Do you have insight into the dynamics, then? Do you know anyone who might hold a grudge? Antonia: With all due respect, my dear Cassidy, are you trying to determine if one of us is the mastermind?

Finally, we get to the Cass beef! And even from the start, we can start gathering just how important the theme of secrets is for these two, as I already mentioned in the Cass section. By very obviously deflecting the question about casino dynamics before Cass could press further, Antonia tries to keep her secrets by stopping the line of questioning about her life outside the killing game dead on its tracks.

Antonia [CH1, 52]: From what I’ve determined, you may be the one hiding the biggest secret here, Cassidy. Cass: I’m sorry? Antonia: I know a liar when I see one~ A liar? But, what would Cass have to lie about…? Unless…? Cass: What are you accusing me of, exactly? Antonia: I’m not sure what. You could be the mastermind, or the possessor of the poison, or any number of things. All I can tell is that you’re guarded. There are things you don’t want us to learn. Isn’t that right? Cass: …I can’t reveal everything so easily. My clients have sensitive information, and my trust with them is more important than getting to know any of you. If I feel distant, that’s all it is.

But this is all stuff we covered with Cass. The question we left pending was what exactly Antonia’s secrets are, since we can be relatively sure she isn’t the mm now that she's dead.

Antonia [CH1, 148]: We weren’t dealing with only the mastermind, darling. We were dealing with “secrets.” And, while I may not want to say them here, I have things in my past I’d rather not share, especially if I were to attempt a murder. Mark: Like how you knew how to cut and sew the body…? Antonia: Something like that.

For this query, we can focus on the fact that, by saying she’d like to keep her secrets “especially if she were to attempt a murder,” Antonia implies the reveal of her secrets would inconvenience her during a class trial. Not to mention her response to Mark’s question, about the possible connection between her secrets and her dismemberment skills. And if that’s the case, then...

Mark [CH1 Bonus Scenes, 18]: I’ve given my theories. We’re about to explore the possibilities in the Class Trial. I thought your insight could be helpful. Antonia: But of course. Antonia twirls her hair around her finger with an absentminded look in her eyes. Antonia: Well, I do believe our killer wouldn’t be a first-time murderer.

Uh.

Antonia [CH1 Bonus Scenes, 18]: Does it really surprise you? The speed at which they killed, the brutality of the method, the skills dismembering the body must take… None of those are things you can simply dream up overnight. Mark: Probably true.

Ehem.

Mark [CH1 Bonus Scenes, 19]: But, based on what you were saying… I doubt this is only their second kill, either. This is someone who knows what they’re doing. Antonia: Is there much of a difference between a second murder and a hundredth? You’re already a murderer either way.

Hey guys Antonia might just be a serial killer. 

I mean, isn’t that what this looks like? She’s saying she believes the blackened had killed before the killing game, and Mark says that they probably killed multiple times, and Antonia is the blackened. Certainly sounds like she’s letting the truth slip as a hypothetical. Now, she does give an alternate explanation of why she says the things she does in the Bonus Scene: 

Antonia [CH1 Bonus Scenes, 20]: We’re simply speculating as to the killer’s mindset, aren’t we? To better understand how someone willing to take a life– no, multiple lives– might think of the world. Disregard my opinion if you’d like, but I’ve listened to many people talk, criminal and otherwise.

However, that doesn’t account for Mark saying that the killer’s skill could indicate they were, in fact, a serial killer. And besides, the best liars know when to tell the truth, because doing so removes the possibility of you losing credibility if you’re caught through tells or other means.

This is actually a pretty convenient narrative for Antonia to spin. See, if the brutality of the murder is because the blackened was already a serial killer, then it can’t be used to argue against anyone in particular, as any of the participants could realistically be the hidden serial killer. However, if you discount that possibility, then one could argue the brutality is born from a grudge the killer had against Cass. And while Antonia wasn’t the only person Cass suspected of being the mm, she sure was Cass’ number 1 rival. Thus, such an argument could land Antonia in a dangerous position. And without precedent of how this cast would act in the trial, Antonia would have no reason to believe she’d be able to defend against it in a way that would convince the others, at least not without throwing in the “serial killer” angle anyways.

I… hope that made sense. 

The point is, this is a convenient thing for Antonia to say regardless of whether or not it’s true. And of course, if this really is her secret, this would be something that she really wouldn’t want to be revealed if she wanted to ever win a class trial, and it is in fact connected with her dismemberment skills, the two aspects of the secret we discussed before.

Seeing as Antonia could very well be telling the truth in the Bonus Scene, the previously mentioned line about her secret being inconvenient for trials and related to the dismemberment thing, and the arguments brought up in said Bonus Scene about the blackened’s skill and chosen method implying a serial killer, I’d say there’s a compelling argument to say that Antonia is, in fact, a serial killer. Which we could probably also infer from the fact that, since the killer asked for the boxes the same day they asked for the poison, Antonia really was ready to dismember someone from Day 3. 

Am I 100% confident in saying that? No, obviously. But it is what I find most likely at this point. 

Another question to ask would be what reason Antonia would have to murder someone before the killing game. And, since we already established that I don’t think her thoughts in the CH1 Bonus Scene are as hypothetical as she leads Mark to believe, we can try to infer something based on that, too. 

Antonia [CH1, 19]: Well, with all of our other pursuits, do you really believe someone would kill just for the thrill of it? If we’ve all achieved great things, it stands to reason that whoever committed such a crime in the past would be doing so for a dedicated goal. Thus, killing would become a sacrifice to further that goal.

Assuming she’s not making this up on the spot, this could imply that her serial killing has to do with her talent… whatever that looks like. It’s worth noting that this “hypothetical” mindset actually does match at least one of Antonia’s own lines post trial, considering murdering people as a means to an end and a “small price to pay”:

Robert [CH1, 149]: You’re still talking about killing someone. You still made that decision… Antonia: If that’s all I have to do to end my imprisonment and guarantee my safety, it’s a rather small price to pay, isn’t it? Vanessa: B-but… what are we supposed to do now…? Antonia: It’s of no concern to me. Continue playing along with your fake peace, or turn on each other. All I know is that, eventually, someone won’t be able to take it anymore, and that person will remember that all they have to do to end it all is kill. It’s not such a large price, when you put it that way.

Obviously I don’t have any way to speculate further without just throwing random shit at the wall (eliminating Dealer competition maybe?), so I’ll leave my official theory at just that. Antonia killed to become the Ultimate Dealer, and has evidently done it quite a bit! 

Alright, so what do we do with this? Well, it’s hard to tell when I can’t even be sure this will ever be brought up in the main section of the fangan anyways. But I imagine the ideas of ambition (relating her murders to her talent) and the lengths people will go to keep secrets might come back up later, and it’ll be fun contrasting other people’s actions to Antonia’s with that in mind. Considering some of the other themes we’ve discussed, you could even tie Antonia’s desensitization to murder into the ideas of normality discussed before, where the concept of “normal” is very subjective. After all, Antonia seems to consider what she did to Cass relatively normal for her, right?

And of course, this desensitization to murder somewhat parallels Ellis’ plan of “let everyone die and dip”, since it’s effectively the same plan Antonia had, just without directly murdering anyone. A parallel which is furthered by Antonia’s belief in the “house”:

Antonia [CH1, 148]: Because I didn’t want to play with fire. The establishment wants one winner, and the house always wins in the end. One of these days, one person will win. If fifteen will die, I liked my odds of being the last one standing better when I put myself directly in the position to win, rather than waiting around for others to make mistakes.

The same way that Ellis fully believes in his ability to win the killing game by coasting off his luck, Antonia is entirely confident that the house will get its way in the end. It’s only natural for the Dealer to align herself with the house by playing the game in earnest, while the gambler tries to luck out and get one over on the house by surviving without murdering. But in the end, both of them see it entirely as a game to be won, and not so much a hardship to be overcome. How such a wonderful parallel happened when the characters are written by two different people, I will never know, but it’s genuinely super impressive.

Anyways, let’s cover a few lines here and there that are cool but I couldn’t fit into the main analysis. 

Antonia [CH1, 68]: …Apologies for disturbing all your thoughts, but… has anyone seen Cassidy this morning?

I think it’s cool that Antonia is actually the one that first brings up Cass’ absence. She needs to make sure everyone’s looking at the boxes when they open for the BDA disguising trick, after all!

In the interest of getting this post out sometime in 2025, I’m going to skip over a couple of cool moments during the trial itself, but just know that I think Antonia was pretty decent throughout, and you already know how cool I found her calm demeanor directly preceding the Third Party Analysis and her counterarguments after. Though for more specific lines:

Antonia [CH1, 106]: There actually isn’t any way to delete a message from an e-Handbook once sent, on either end. I expect this, in combination with the rule against stealing e-Handbooks, is intended to add extra challenge for the killer.

Do we think Antonia tried deleting the messages between Cass and Jeff when she had Cass’ E-Handbook? I wonder what exactly her plan would have been with that. Maybe framing Jeff by pointing out the messages’ deletion as weird? Shame it didn’t work. 

Antonia [CH1, 146]: I suppose you all think this is the answer? That I’ve created an elaborate plan to make myself an undercover killer, and that Cassidy is some eternal force of good?

I really wonder what the “eternal force of good” comment is about, but I have genuinely zero idea what it could refer to :p To me it implies Antonia didn’t think of Cass that way, but I could be overthinking it.

Antonia [CH1, 148]: I suppose… I am slightly sorry, for roping you into all of this.

For all the serial killer talk, I do want it on record that Antonia is not entirely heartless. She did feel sorry, to some extent, for her actions, and it’s pretty clear she cared about her sister outside of the killing game. That’s cool :)

Though it’s worth noting she doesn’t apologize to Cass so much as she apologizes to the others for “roping them in”. I guess it’s an extension of the philosophy that Cass can’t care about anything now that she’s a corpse, so apologies to them are unnecessary. 

-Mastermind ranking: 15/16. I’ll let her do the honors of explaining why she’s this low:

Kennedy [CH1, 147]: Was Cass right? Are you the mastermind?! Antonia pauses for a moment, then bursts into a fit of laughter. Antonia: Of course not! If I were, why would I be playing by the rules of this silly game?

-

Final MM Rankings: Cass - Antonia - Jeff - Vanessa - Kennedy - Vivi - Ellis - Mark - Aidan - Harper - Noah - Robert - Taylor - Davis - Grace - Paris

Holy hell how did I avoid problems with color coding here of all places?

-

Woo! Alright, that took longer than I expected, but 16k words later, we got our analysis! My excitement for this fangan grows with every part release, and really digging into the characters for this post has made me appreciate them all the more! Anyways, thanks for reading! If you made it this far, you’ve earned a royal flush! Ask Antonia for whatever money you just made- oh, wait. Uh. You can't... really do that. Anyways, see ya’!

[snowivyimconfusi]

Hi! I'm SnowIvy, you can call me Ivy if you'd like 🩷

I write for Once Upon a Time, mostly SwanQueen but I love and write for other ships (see below😅.)

I guess I should do an about me section? Idk I'm not very internet savvy, but anyway:

Age : mid 20's

Pronouns: she/her or they/them

Timezone: Central Europe

I don't like DNI's. Interact with me, just be nice about it or you'll hurt my feelings. Thanks. I will also not respond to minors, sorry 😅 nothing against you I'm just an adult and post NSFW.

OUAT ships and my ratings :

Canon:

1.OutlawQueen - 8/10 - I liked it, it was good, it had potential. It didn't fully realize its potential. And Robin's death killed me.

2.CaptainSwan - 1/10 - sorry it's just one of those I don't see, I just didn't see any chemistry between them, which is sad because I like Killian.

3.CharmingSnow - 10/10 - I do love them, they're so sweet and wholesome. Yes.

4.Rumbelle- 0/10 - Boring. Toxic, and not in the fun way.

5. Rumple/Cora (Goldenheart? Idk) -8/10 - THEY BROKE ME. Such a good storyline, Cora's decision to rip her heart out, Rumple's heartbreak, how that makes him harder and more ruthless. Then of course how that influences his behavior towards Zelena and later Regina. Ugh. Doomed love is so good. And they are doomed by their own characters!! God.

Kinda canon I guess? :

6.GoldenQueen - 11/10 - I like this ship in all its iterations, Rumple and young Regina, Mr.Gold and Regina, Rumple and the Evil Queen, Roni and Weaver. It's so good. The potential is *chef's kiss*

7.DragonQueen - 9/10 - this is kinda canon. Fight me. I like it as a past relationship for Regina. It's good.

8.CaptainQueen (Killian/Regina) - 8/10 - yes. Tell me they didn't give "we fucked" vibes?? Tell me that.

Not canon:

9. SwanQueen - 100/10 - perfect. Amazing. Incredible. Meant to be. I could go on.

10.GoldenCaptain (Rumple/Killian) -6/10 - It's cool, it's not something I think about, but in theory it's not bad.

11. Killian/Belle - 9/10 - YES. this would've been so much better than CaptainSwan 😭

12.GoldenSwan - ?/10 - I have never thought about this ship, it just literally never crossed my mind.

13. SnowQueen - 4/10 - no. (I'm thinking about it)

14. WickedQueen - 5/10 - Not for me, but I get it.

15. WickedSwan - 5/10 - I get it. I'm not into it. But I get it.

No number. CharmingQueen- 8/10 - NEVER would I have thought of this ship if it weren't for some awesome writers out there. Now I like it hehe.

- CharmingHook (CharmingCaptain?) - 7/10 - I love weird ships. I LOVE weird, fucked up ships.

I FORGOT SEASON 7

16. StepQueen (Ivy,drizella/Regina) - 10/10 - Give me all the master-pupil dynamics, and all the Evil to Good teaching Evil trying to make her good 😭 I want more fics of these two tbh.

17. Alice/Robin - 10/10 - I love them. No notes.

18. Ivy/Henry - 9/10 - they had so much chemistry!!! And it would've been so fun to see Henry fall for a villain 😭

19. Facilier/ Regina - 8/10 - you know I love any ship with Regina (if that wasn't obvious) I just wish we'd known a little bit more!!

I'll be updating this with all the ships I think of 😂

~~~~~

You can find me on AO3:

[leportraitducadavre]

What do you think about Rock Lee? I rewatched his fight with Gaara recently and feel very nostalgic. He was my favorite, but I only know realize that probably a lot of it came from this whole sympathy for the underdog. I wonder what you think of his character and how his story went 😊

Hi Anon.

I apologize for how long this took to reply, hopefully, my answer will satisfy you enough to oversee the time it took.

I'll be honest, I'll analyze Lee solely from the first part of the manga because it's when his character is mostly developed (I might add the second part later on, but for now, I'll focus just on the gënin timeline).

In order to organize the reply and my feed, everything will be put under the cut. Apologies for doing it but I don't want to have to deal with another claim on any of my posts.

Once this has been clarified, let's start analyzing Rock Lee

Introduction and First Impression

Lee is introduced in chapter 36 (Sakura's depression) -the beginning of the Chünin Exams. His first "interaction" with Team 7 happens when he stops Sasuke from fighting a proctor, and Sasuke notices that Lee's chakra is weird.

After that, he introduces himself to Sakura and asks her out, getting immediately rejected. By that point, we saw that the main point of the chapter is, like the title says, Sakura's depression, a condition that gets immediately fixed after Sasuke praises her.

From what we can see, Lee knows about Team 7 and each of its members; we aren't told why or how he knows, but we can infer that he looked for information of Kakashi's team when hearing of the prodigious Uchiha, as he mostly focuses on him.

After this moment, Lee seeks a fight against Sasuke likely because both of a sense of jealousy (he got rejected by Sakura not a few pages ago, and Neji was curious about Sasuke's identity); and as a way to prove to himself that he can beat those that are considered prodigies.

The reason why he wanted to fight Sasuke makes little sense, which is why I find it weird that people find Lee's actions as noble (most of it has to do with the fandom's hatred towards Sasuke), sure, they're young and their emotions can get the best of them, but considering his military training, Lee should have known better than to lash out to a boy he just met.

"I want to test the effectiveness of my techniques against the last surviving member of your legendary clan" (x)

The phrase is followed by Lee winking at Sakura, so his reasons to fight Sasuke go beyond testing his techniques. Lee, according to this interaction, knew about Sasuke's identity all along and investigated him in order to gain more information when challenging him.

Another thing we learn from his fight with Sasuke: Lee is willing to break the rules of his master and use a dangerous technique against someone younger than him and with whom he had never interacted previously if it means winning.

In addition to Lee explaining why Sasuke can't keep up with him despite having the Sharingan (x), we have the panels above: Why is Lee being so adamantly cruel to Sasuke? And no, I'm not talking about his words, he's explaining his technique -I'm talking about the move he is about to perform against him -someone who it has been proven already can't keep up with him. Lee is projecting all the frustration and hatred he has for Neji onto Sasuke, who shares the same "prodigy" status as his teammate.

[And sure, the reader doesn't know about Neji and Lee's dynamic yet -we are presented with that conflict at the end of the exams, yet the observation stands, I'm only providing the information in order to understand why Lee was so adamantly out of line].

He not only is being unfair but also abusive -had Gai not intervened, he would have injured Sasuke for no real reason other than because he wanted to prove a point to himself.

Like I said before: Sasuke couldn't keep up with Lee's speed, it had been proven that Lee was to win the fight even without using the technique he was about to try. His rival was pretty much defeated, yet Lee continued to elevate the level of difficulty of his attacks to make further and further damage:

1) Sasuke is trembling. Wouldn't that be enough reason to stop?

2) The victory had already been established previously to Lee's performing his ultimate technique. In addition, as I established before, because of its level of damage the move is strictly forbidden, however, Lee tries to use it regardless.

It's true that later on, he tells Sasuke "I was blowing smoke before" regarding the use of the Forbidden Technique. But since Gai interrupted Lee and punished him, it's not that far-fetched to think he isn't telling him the truth as of now. He even thought about it before starting the fight, so he was willing to use the "move" (we learn It was the Lotus technique a few chapters later) but was prevented from doing so.

Chunin Exams and his willingness to sacrifice himself in lieu of others

We see him again during the second stage of the exams jumping through tree branches and training (trying to catch leaves before they touch the ground to see if Sakura would love him), and after that, in Chapter 51 -when he saves Sakura from an attack from Dosu.

There, we learn that he's good enough to notice Dosu's pattern and fighting style (also being able to know when a genjutsu is in place), we also get to know how he got to learn the technique only he was able to study: according to Gai's words, neither Neji nor Tenten were able to master The Lotus (meaning, Gai seemed to have tried to teach it to all of them, only succeding with Lee).

The Lotus Technique consists of:

One use of the technique brings Lee to the brink of exhaustion, as we see here; Dosu hasn't been defeated despite his best efforts because Kazu used his sound techniques to soften the earth. Lee's speed, while inhumane, can't keep up with sound's speed. Kishimoto is quite great when writing fights, isn't he?

Lee is actually and quite literally in love with Sakura, as Tenten states, had Lee been alone when fighting the Oto-nin, he would have won. He's willing to sacrifice his life in order to save her from the Sound-nin, as she literally means "the world" to him.

The impression of Lee's sacrifice (and Naruto and Sasuke's, who are still unconscious at this point) is so significant for Sakura that she considers all of them her "teachers", and people whom she will and needs to protect. Lee's significance in Sakura's development has increased (and will continue to do so).

Later on, during the preliminaries for the Third Stage of the Chünin Exams, Sasuke shows that he was able to memorize Lee's fighting technique due to his Sharingan and also master his moves -despite not being able to keep up with him only three days prior.

In that sense, Sasuke thinks that he was able to live thanks to Lee and his moves. We are also able to see Lee's appreciation of the matter, and his new perception of Sasuke -it seems that his hostility towards the younger boy has dissipated.

When Tenten gets beaten and tossed aside by Temari, Lee jumps in order to both catch his teammate (showing the bond he shares with her) and to kick Temari for insulting her. It's something I introduced before when he fought Sasuke, but Lee is particularly emotionally driven -he's constantly reacting and giving in to his impulses. It's not until Gai tells him to stop that he does. Furthermore, Gaara calls Temari and says, "how long do you intend to trifle with that homely little prince charming?" and the way Lee looks is absolutely enraged, even if he can't retaliate physically.

Gai

Gai's character is so central to Lee that I've decided to make a separate sub-title solely for him.

1) Lee can't use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. I know that we as fans know this already, but it doesn't hurt to have it written, since is the core of Lee's character. Furthermore, as Gai points out, Lee wasn't able to do anything; he literally had no ability or talent whatsoever -not even at Taijutsu, which Gai taught him.

2) While it's commendable of Gai to teach Lee and put him on harsh training to allow him to grow in a specific field -we're introduced from the get-go that Gai's methods are questionable. He's pushing Lee to an extreme training and, as we saw during his fight with Sasuke and the time he defended Sakura, Lee often refers (or apologizes) to Gai's figure; meaning, everything he does is to make his sensei proud.

3) In addition to the previous point, he taught Lee The Lotus move (which is a technique that opens the First Inner Gate, Kaimon, or Gate of Opening), a dangerous power that, as he explains, strains the body to such extent that it leaves Lee defenseless against another attack should he fail -as it happens with Gaara.

To counteract that problem, Gai taught him to open more than one Gate (remember, every single one is a forbidden technique) to his student (at this point in time, Lee can open five out of eight Inner Gates), Lee's achievement is so incredible, that even Kakashi calls him a genius.

[The explanation of the different Inner Gates inside the body. The Reverse Lotus (the second technique Lee uses, after not being able to defeat Gaara with the Forward Lotus, which opens the first gate), opens two more gates: Kyumon, which boosts his strength, and Seimon (Gate of Life).]

As we know, Lee loses his fight against Gaara because while his attacks proved to be effective against his ultimate defense, Gaara still possessed the Gourd -which he turned to sand to protect himself.

Lee's use of the Lotus technique, in addition to Gaara's attack (Sabakukyu), put such a toll on his body that he ended up "destroyed" enough to be told that he'll never become a full shinobi.

This is a direct consequence of Gai's teachings that never gets truly explored, as his actions are immediately dropped after Lee recovers.

4) I've mentioned before that Gai's character has such importance on Lee's development that he takes immeasurable risks in order to make him proud (being willing to sacrifice his body and keep fighting), but I haven't explained why:

Gai, unlike any other character before, is the first person who trusts Lee's capacity, who thinks (and tells him) about how great/strong he can become, and that he's a genius in his own way. Without Gai's encouragement (and specific training that I've already talked about) he would have never achieved the title of "Taijutsu specialist" that Gai gives him and everyone else acknowledges.

Regarding Gai's perception of Lee, besides the great lengths he went to ensure Lee's success, we also need to point out that Gai is the only reason why Gaara wasn't able to kill Lee. He was the only one who jumped in to protect him (which is the main reason why Gaara wants to kill him after, as he witnessed an act of love that he can't comprehend). The proctor Hayate, meanwhile, did nothing, as well as the rest of the jönins that jumped before to protect Hinata from Neji. In addition, Gai calls him (and only him), his "lovable, precious protégé!" (x) Furthermore, it's directly stated by Lee himself how important Gai's presence is to him (x, x), Gai not only gave him support, but he also gave him a goal to rely on (have a rival and work hard).

"If, by a one in a trillion chance, it ends in failure... I'll die with you!"

Source

Neji

Besides Gai, speaking of Lee without speaking of Neji is also another disservice to his character, since the entire reason why Lee pushes himself to train harder is that he wants to beat Neji.

Sure, the relevance of Neji isn't really as strong as Gai's, but that doesn't mean his presence isn't important when it comes to Lee's development.

We get to see how Lee recognizes Neji's strength, how he craves some sort of recognition from him (although that objective isn't as strong as Naruto's desire for Sasuke to acknowledge him), and how he puts him as a milestone to surpass and, as consequence, reach his goal.

We are even told that Lee's commitment to learning how to open the Inner Gates was a consequence of his desire to win a match against Neji.

Lee's Perseverance

I already introduced this notion, since the whole point of Gai's character is to introduce the idea of "hard work" surpassing natural geniuses, and we find this idea again on CH 93 where Sakura and Ino find him training outside the hospital after his defeat at the hands of Gaara.

He's so driven by his goal, that he overexerts himself and ends up fainting.

Once Tsunade returns to the village, she tells Lee that he won't be able to return to his Shinobi duties, as the operation she needs to perform in order to fix his spine has a 50% success rate, which incredibly depresses him to the point where his ninja way (hard work), isn't enough to take him off of that state.

It's incredibly sad because Lee's entire dogma has been shattered and he has, again, no control over his body or destiny; as everything relies upon Tsunade. For that reason, he seeks Gai's advice, who finally tells him to get the surgery despite the possible consequences, as losing his dream will hurt far more than dying. Furthermore, Gai promises he'll die alongside Lee should the operation fail, as his ninja way was to make him a "Splendid ninja" (x).

The great lengths Lee's willing to go to (not without the support of a very questionable mentor) in order to achieve his dream, putting in line his own life is very telling of the system's (and those that live by such system) priorities, as it teaches young children that their bodies and life alike are expendable and a sacrifice to be made in order to climb within the military ranks and become "useful" to the village.

[Lee's quality of life has been extremely lowered in lieu of his wounds, that's true, however, those wounds exist because he pushed himself too hard in order to please his commander; someone hypocritical enough to question Kakashi's decision to enroll his team in the Chünin Exams as he deemed them too young and inexperienced to participate, yet saw no issue in teaching forbidden and dangerous techniques to his own student.]

Lee's fight with Kimimaro brings, to me, nothing entirely new about his character other than introducing us to his poor tolerance of alcohol. We get to see how Tsunade succeeded with the surgery and how Lee, despite having spent months depressed and having just been saved by Tsunade's skills (without whom he would've lost his entire shinobi career), is able to "forgive" Gaara, as he's a powerful ally.

[eternalssoul]

about me

hiii :) i hope my blog provides some kind of comfort or relatability or maybe u just enjoy the aesthetics. anyways whatever the reason u find urself reading this , i hope u have a beautiful day <3

infp, she/her

bisexual

heath ledgers real gf ♡

my posts are mostly going to consist of films/tv shows, girlblogging, rants, quotes, and cats ♡ (all pics are not mine unless said otherwise! dm for takedown/credit ♡)

i mostly watch movies in my free time, along with reading, playing the guitar, and journaling

favourite movies are eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, call me by your name, dead poets society, fight club, priscilla, portrait of a lady on fire, cleo from 5 to 7, breakfast at tiffany's, and the perks of being a wallflower!!

favourite shows are yellowjackets, gossip girl, skins uk, arcane, gilmore girls, the vampire diaries, and the oc (amongst others but these are all that's coming to my head rn)

favourite artists are fiona apple, jeff buckley, the smiths, frank ocean, MF DOOM, tyler the creator, a tribe called quest, sade, radiohead, the cocteau twins, and the smashing pumpkins, but i listen to almost every genre <3

dni: homophones, zionsts, rude people, p0rn blogs, trump supporters, any of the basic dni criteria

feel free to interact, send asks, or message me to become friends! no creeps please

🇵🇸 — my blog proudly stands with palestine and its people. i highly encourage you to learn more about this topic and be educated around the war currently happening. i also encourage you to learn about organizations that you can donate to in order to help the people of palestine (if you are donating, make sure its to a legit person/organization!). FREE PALESTINE! 🍉

(updated 07/04/25)

[seyemvertisepra]

Up until relatively recently in its natural history, Centauri Prime was the homeworld of not one but two sapient species, close cousins who diverged around 550,000 earth years ago. This other species was referred to by Centauri ancestors as the Xon, a word whose meaning is lost to apocrypha. This is the origin of the Centauri species' original name for itself, "Ahnxon" or "Not Xon" as the ancients viewed themselves as weaker creatures living in a frightening world where their predatory cousins held dominion over their lives.

The average Xon male stood around 7 feet in height, a considerable advantage over the average male Centauri height of 5'7". Obligate carnivores, they possessed notable meat sheering dentition and the ability to unhinge their jaws, something still observed recessively in their modern Centauri descendants. Their skull structure was more readily compared to their crocodilian like ancestors, giving them the appearance of a slight reptile "snout."

Like most members of their family, males possessed the usual six prehensile reproductive organs. Unlike the Centauri, these were more highly developed, with an extra digit evolving on each. It is believed that Xon may have used their pachiri for manipulation and grasping far more often, which aided them as predators and in navigating their more heavily forested habitats. They are believed to have been used as a threat display on occasion. Xon crests were long and laid flat on their backs, with three or four sets of quilled hair in sections, giving them a tiered appearance.

Female Xon are mysterious, as nearly all written examples describe lone wandering males who occasionally joined together to execute pack hunts.

The only clue to their existence is the occasional discovery of incredibly small Xonoid remains found deep in the impenetrable forests of the western mainland. These individuals would have stood only three feet in height fully grown and are often attributed to Centauri mythology around Whisper Folk, strange tiny women who built Creche-cities in the forest and shied away from interaction with the outside world.

It is well known that male Xon frequently interacted with Centauri Claves and Creches, with Claves favored for pack hunting and hybrid instances existing in both. The modern Centauri population contains an average Xon admixture significantly greater than that seen in humans with Neanderthal ancestors, with the highest admixture existing in the Zapata culture and mainland Centauri coming in second.

The rapid acceleration of Centauri society and its ability to defend itself began to show damage to the Xon population as early as 1500 years ago, with the last full-blooded individuals living just prior to the foundation of the Republic 200 years ago. During this time, they were often treated as second class citizens when they did manage to interact with Centauri, believed to be less intelligent and naturally violent. Individuals were often held captive for research aimed at pushing them further towards the edge of extinction.

The last major Xon population center was wiped out in a single cataclysmic event; the launching of the first suborbital Mass Driver, which was aimed at their then-home in the western continent of Eachnke. This devastating attack tore the continent itself apart, and the newly founded Republic declared the Xon race to have been obliterated in the process. High content hybrids continued to live on the mainland for some time but were mostly eventually driven out or killed, the survivors settling on the ruptured Eachnke to form the Zapata culture.

The violence between the two species has left a permanent mar on the epigenetic health of modern Centauri and is thought by many to be the catalyst for their developing xenophobia and warlike attitudes. They retain many traits associated with prey animals, such as heightened fear responses; they have a tendency to sleep in groups and an intense instinctive fear of having the stomach exposed that can induce panic attacks for many.

[midnightstargazer]

So I'm working on a WIP where Kingsley is one of the main characters, and I've come to a point where I need to decide what Hogwarts House he was in. For reasons. And the thing is, I don't really have a headcanon on that. In fact, I think there's a very strong case to be made for why he could have been in literally any of them.

Gryffindor is the obvious choice. He's an Auror, which I - like most people, I think - imagine to be a mostly but not exclusively Gryffindor line of work. He's also a member of the Order of the Phoenix, which is canonically a mostly Gryffindor organization. (No matter how many headcanons any of us come up with about the characters whose Houses aren't known, in canon there are only three confirmed non-Gryffindor members: Tonks, Snape, and Mrs. Figg.) Aside from group membership, he comes across as a very courageous person who cares deeply about doing the right thing, even when it's not advantageous for him. For instance, he joined the Order during book 5 when associating with Dumbledore could have destroyed his career, and he kept fighting during book 7 despite being a pure-blood who would otherwise have been in a position of power under the new regime.

He could easily have been a Ravenclaw as well. He comes across as a very intelligent person, and his job as an Auror seems to involve a lot of investigative work rather than just combat. He may not actually be trying to find Sirius, but the fact that he was chosen to be in charge of the search for him suggests he has been successful at that kind of work before. He is one of the minds behind Potterwatch, which is an effort to aid those resisting the Death Eaters by sharing information, a strategy that would make sense coming from a Ravenclaw (and that looks similar to what another Ravenclaw, Xeno Lovegood, was doing before the Death Eaters started blackmailing him). He's also open-minded enough to question what the Ministry is saying in book 5, and one of my headcanons is that he was asking questions and noticing inconsistencies about Sirius's case just from going over the evidence even before he joined the Order and learned for sure that he was innocent.

Hufflepuff is associated with justice and fair play, and Helga Hufflepuff was known to accept any students the other founders were not interested in teaching. Kingsley shows a similar mindset during the Potterwatch episode the trio listen to, where he advocates for wizards to protect their Muggle neighbors and argues against the idea of "wizards first." Although any decent person could have that attitude, it would be very fitting for a Hufflepuff. He's also the one who eventually got rid of the dementors from Azkaban, and his interactions with Sirius suggest that he cares more about actual justice than just enforcing the letter of the law. He's hardworking, as well; the Muggle Prime Minister speaks highly of his work ethic and efficiency, and that's regarding a job that's just a cover for his actual job. He's not blindly loyal (e.g., works against Fudge in book 5), but the same could be said of Tonks, who is canonically a Hufflepuff.

Slytherin would make a lot of sense, too, though. He spends basically a full year secretly working for both the Ministry and the Order of the Phoenix, hiding his allegiance to the latter very effectively from the former. He leads the search for Sirius while secretly doing everything he can to misdirect it and keep Sirius safe, and apparently never comes under suspicion while doing so. He's quick-thinking and pragmatic in tricky situations, for example modifying Marietta's memory. So is he cunning? I would say so. And as for ambition, he doesn't seem to prioritize obtaining power for its own sake, but he's certainly willing to take on a leadership role when needed (see: leading the Order in book 7 and becoming Minister of Magic at the end).

[didntusetowantthis]

I am new and need help

Hello! This is my first time having an actual social media account, and my first time consuming/creating social media as an actual account-having user. I have never posted anything, on any account, before, and have consumed social media on a limited basis. Before this, I only had Pinterest (which I don’t count as a social media because it’s difficult to do anything social on it; you just sort photos into categories. It took me years to realize that you could even follow people, let alone check comments) and YouTube (which is a social media, but in a very different sense than most social media). In general, I’ve only really interacted with whatever social media would let me view enough of its content without an account/app that it wouldn’t be annoying, and also wasn’t entirely dominated by short-form content; this meant I was mostly on Reddit before I decided I wanted an actual account somewhere. I like the tumblr interface the best (and the ability to make a blog/write essays for fun, as well as the apparent culture around appreciating art), so I chose tumblr.  

I’ve consumed a lot of tumblr posts via Pinterest screenshots/reddit screenshots, so I’m not totally unfamiliar with some terminology/culture/the way grammar works here (internet grammar is crazy interesting in general, and the language developed here is particularly interesting!); I’ve also looked at individual blogs and submitted asks without an account, as some peeps listed their tumblrs in their ao3s. 

With all this in mind, I have some questions! I doubt these will be my only questions, but I do want to ask:

1.) Pinterest and Reddit obviously only shows “best of” screenshots— what is something I should know (cultural) about this site that doesn’t show up in screenshots? 

2.) What is the difference between reblogging and reposting? How can I do one but not the other? Why is one (reblogging) often okay, but not the other (reposting)?

3.) Am I culturally (tumblr-wise) obligated to reblog social issues/current events? I very much do care about all of it, but that’s precisely why I’m on social media: to take a breather from it. I really am here just to talk about cool fanfics I like, share and look at cool art, and hopefully post some of my own art/fic someday. 

4.) Posts spread in a linked-list fashion, right? So only stuff I have the pointers for (tags/following people) will point me toward to certain posts, and will thus exclude me from the rest of tumblr, right? As in, the only way to see all of tumblr is to follow every tag? (To be clear, I very much DON’T want to do this— I’m just curious)

5.) What is the “dash?” People keep talking about curating their dashes, but I don’t know whether that means their blogs or the tab showing posts by the people they follow.

6.) I’m currently only liking things I really like to organize them, but everyone says I should reblog. This is understandable, given the linked-list (as I currently understand it) nature of the platform, but what should I do if I don’t want my blogs to become endless spam of stuff I thought was cool? I have made two blogs, and I’d like at least one of them to have stuff I’ve curated/eventually stuff I’ve created, or to follow a specific theme, with the occasional exception, and I’m afraid if I put all the stuff I like into it, it will both A.) spam other people, and B.) make it hard for people to find stuff I really want them to see if they drop by, like my own art or my own posts. But I also want to share in the social etiquette of this site (spreading cool stuff I like so other can see it!). Should have a “cool things I like” spam blog? Or is there another option I’m missing?

7.) I’ve saved (liked) a few posts so far, and something that comes up often (probably based on the blogs I follow?) are posts with image descriptions. I really like the concept of image descriptions— I’m not even disabled by sight, but they’ve been helpful in identifying people/places/things in cool art that I otherwise don’t know the names of. I also know a lot of disabled people in real life who have their access limited due to poor infrastructure (whether it be societal or physical), and i know what it’s like to be left our of things, so this seems like a nice thing to do for people when I have the energy. Is there a way to check if an image has already been described before you reblog it with a description? Is there a guidebook?

8.) Where in the world are other peoples’ reblogs? If I click on the reblog button, it only shows an option for me to reblog. Can you only see reblogs by following other people’s blogs?

9.) Is it impossible to delete a post once other people have reblogged it?

10.) Is there a way to get around AI with art stuff if you can’t afford a program to obscufate it? If I ever get the nerves to post my stuff here, I don’t want it to be used in AI training without my explicit consent. 

11.) is there a size/length limit for videos/photos/word counts for text posts? 

12.) Can you disable/limit dms/message ability of people you don’t know, or at least don’t follow you? Also, what’s the culture surrounding them? It seems terribly personal to message someone one-on-one, but the button is listed on a lot of people’s pages— not even hidden in a sub-menu. On Reddit, people seemed to weaponize this feature a lot, and I’m thus wary of it by nature.

13.) what is a “note?” I thought notes were comments, but I think I’m wrong.

(FYI, I’m using the website on mobile, and don’t want to get the app)

If there’s any helpful “new user guides” (other than the one I’ve already reblogged), please let me know! With that said, thanks to anyone who is willing to explain! 

[literaturereviewhelp]

School of Social Science and Public Policy: Case Studies in Policy Decisions of Affiliate Institution] Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction……………………………………………………..…………………………3 2.0 English Smoking Ban…………………………………………….……………………….4 2.1 Policy process………………………………………………….………………….4 2.2 Case Analysis…………………..…………………………………………..5 3.0 Seat Belt Legislation………………………………..……………………………………..6 3.1 Adoption of the Legislation in the United Kingdom…………………………….6 3.2 Shortcomings of Seat Belt Legislation……………………….………………….7 3.3 Case Analysis………………………………………………………………………8 4.0 The TSR-2 Project………………….…………………………………………………….9 4.1 Case Study Analysis…………………………………………………………….10 5.0 The Hydrogen Bomb………………………………………..……………………………11 5.1 Effects on the US Foreign Policy………………………………………..……..12 5.2 Implication of the US Military Strategy…………………………………..…….13 5.3 Case Analysis…………………………………………………………………….13 6.0 Hurricane Katrina………………………………………………………….…………………………14 6.1 Disaster Response and Management Policies………………………………14 6.2 Case Analysis………………………………………………………………………15 7.0 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….16 1.0 Introduction Public policy essentially refers to the processes and strategies adopted by a government in response to a generalized problem affecting the masses (Gerston, 2010, p.22). Public policies emanate from the complex interaction of institutions, legislations and organizations. According to Gerston (2010, p.3), the politics accompanying the process of policy formulation is mostly characterized by “confusion, contradictions and consternation.” Other aspects that impact on policies are issues such as advocay, path dependency and bureaucracy. Inter-American Development Bank (2010, p.203) explains that the integrity, adaptability, sustainability and applicability of public policy depends on how the policies are presented, debated and implemented. Policies go through the stages of formulation, implementation and effect (Wilson, 1997, p.12). For successful outcome policies must put into consideration four aspects; needs of the population, the opportunities available, challenges and applicability within a given environment. These issues are better conceptualized by learning through case studies. Case studies bridge the gap between theory and practice and allow students to simulate the processes of policy formulation, implementation and effect and some to the challenges and gaps that might be encountered. 2.0 English Smoking Ban The English Smoking ban was introduced after studies revealed that passive smokers were at risk of developing lung cancer just like first hand smokers. The policy issue in this case was that non-smokers were continually being placed at a risk of developing health problems as a result of passive smoking (Institute of Medicine (U.S.). Committee on Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Acute Coronary Events, 2010, p.32). The problem became a policy issue and there was a dire need to protect non-smokers from the dangers of passive smoking. For instance, studies by Hirayama 1984 and Trichopoulos in 1981 established that there were serious health risks associated with passive smoking (Lippmann, 2011, p.723). Consequently, passive smoking became labelled publicly as a health risk and a nuisance. From the evidence gathered there is a clear indication that passive smoking was placing non-smokers at a risk. 2.1 Policy Process The major policy makers are the legislators who have the mandate to introduce bills in parliament that can be enacted into law to bring about certain changes in the society (Adolino, 2010, p.135). The Labor Party had been sensitive to research trends and realized that it could use a ban on cigarrette smoking as one of its highlights during campaigns. During an age where people dread cancer, it is very easy to sway votes on one side just by introducing a partial solution that can reduce the number of cancer cases reported. The process of decision making followed the gathering of knowledge based evidence to ascertain whether there was a real risk. The risk here was established to be not only the danger that passive smoking poses to non-smokers but also the risk of cigarrette smoking to smokers. The issue of non-smokers was particularly aproached with diligence because there was no way that they were being compensated for the risks posed to them through the smokers (Ney, 2010, p.35). Despite the fact that policy makers are the major decision makers during the process of formulating public policies, the policy makers are usually very keen on the public sentiments surrounding an issue. That public policies are influenced by politics is a fact. According to Anderson (2010, 63), public opinion has the capacity to shift political alignments and voter dynamics. Anderson goes on to outline that even in “authoritarian regimes” public opinion will always be an important consideration if only to keep opposition down. In essence, the sentiments of the public is an important political tool to gain popularity even in non-democratic environments. In recent years opinion polls have become important source of information for policy makers because they give the policy makers a generalized view of the public sentiments (Dautrich, 2009, p.309). The general realization is that policy makers use public sentiments to determine the stance they will take with regard to a contentious issue Read the full article

[arogoldpika123]

Day 2 of the Kh3 jounrey ends up in Toy Box, but first we have to do some gummi ship flight. They really made it feel big, like the gummi ship travel kinda feels on par with something like Starlink flight, rather then just a minigame in the earlier games. Plus, its easy enough to try to avoid any actual combat, so thats okay!

So into Toy box! Pretty quickly you run out of the actual toy story world, into a big ol mall, which is a solid place. Around this time, I've started using the shooting star, which is my personal favorite keyblade so far. I just like the guns. Also, I've been playing on Proud mode, which has resulted in quite a few deaths to mob fights, especially when you start having to face the mech's, and there aren't any mechs of your own nearby to use. The game does kinda force you to use the mech's, as you die super easy if you don't seek to fight fire with fire. Which, isn't a problem, at first I did try to fight the mech's single handed, but then a dino mech one shot me, and i decided I should probably use the mechs.

I also got lost trying to find the vents post rescuing rex, which took me a few extra minutes.

So the story overall is pretty solid, if the mechanics of the worlds are a bit convoluted. The interactions Between woody and buzz are good, showing their strong friendship with each other. The whole thing where Young Xehanort just, split the world apart is a bit odd, if mostly just an excuse to not have humans lying around. Though it seems the organization has a purpose to be in worlds, even if sora doesn't have a clear goal, they're like doing experiments to learn how to use a heart in different ways.

Also, young xehanort isn't too good at math huh? 'if 5 hearts together are strong, then -5 friendship skill is even stronger...'

Man thinks loneliness is more then friendship. He really has never known love, Woody was on the money with that. The finals spaceship boss here was pretty easy, I think I cheesed it a bit managing to ignore any attempts to get knocked off the entire time. Annd thats toy box ! Pretty solid, 7/10, next time is the kingdom of tangled! Which is one of the two worlds that I know have a less then creative story...Man, imagine if they has tangled the series content instead...But I'm getting ahead of myself

[sitebotco]

How to Create an AI Chatbot in 2025: A Complete Guide

How-to-create-ai-chatbot-2025

Explore this ultimate guide to creating an AI chatbot in 2025 to improve consumer satisfaction and efficiency and get a high ROI.

AI chatbots are helping businesses improve their service by enhancing their user interactions, automating routine tasks, and personalizing responses. This technology has proved very useful and necessary for success. By providing 24/7 availability, tailored solutions using machine learning and natural language processing, and self-improving tools, they make it an outstanding technology.

This article will help you to make an AI chatbot in just 7 steps.

Step 1: Recognise The Objective For Digital Agent

Identifying the purpose of this agent before its creation is complementary. Choose the perfect goal according to company needs. The right agent will boost sales and increase revenue. Key areas where they are frequently used:

Automating Sales _ One of the most common uses of this bot is for sales. By recommending products, answering their questions, and guiding them like a human agent.

Client Support – Handling routine buyers with instant responses and lowers the delays with customer service chatbot.

Retail Assistant – The web store agent helps by suggesting products, managing orders, and resolving issues like returns and complaints.

Operational Streamlining – Live chat automation offers coordinate meetings, oversees order fulfillment, and effortless workforce support.

Knowing the needs of the brand will help to select the right chatbot to drive exceptional results. 

Step 2: Select The Relevant Conversational AI Tool

The next step after knowing the goals is to select the right platform that offers all the required things. It can be scalability, it can be tailored functionality, it can be smooth integration with existing system. So, pick the tool that offers these qualities. Many platforms like IBM Watson Assistant, Sitebot, and Dialog Flow offer such services for an effective chatbot integration.

Step 3: Select the Key Features

Get the elements that can help your organization reach new levels. Consider these features in your heldesk agent:

Omnichannel support:

Presence across multiple sites like social media(Facebook, Instagram), websites, Email, and Whatsapp. This enlarges the network for a wide audience.

Customized Approach:

Ability to supply customized service for building a personal connection with clients instead of generic responses.

Continuous Learning:

Ability to learn from valuable interactions for further improvements. It will increase the quality of aid.

Chat Shift:

It must be able to hand over the chat to a human agent for complex issues without any interruption and asking repetitive questions to know the matter.

User Insights:

Gathering useful data from interactions and analyzing it for future decisions.

Privacy Protection:

Data protection is the priority. Solid security measures for safety and prevention from information breaches are necessary steps.  

Growth Potential:

Must be able to grow continuously to stay ahead in this competitive marketplace.

Multilingual Support:

Overcoming language barriers by providing multilanguage support.

Consistent Performance:

Must be able to deliver constant service across all the platforms without compromising quality. So that users get the same interaction wherever they want to connect.

Step 4: Select The Communication Style

Determine the tone of the AI assistant for better engagement. Instead of using the same style for every response, it should be customized according to the user behavior to involve them just as the human agents do. The tone can be conversational, formal, informal, or persuasive. The bot must be able to respond according to consumer style.   

Step 5: Training The Digital Bot

Training the assistant is crucial after creating it to achieve target goals. It is very simple with the platforms. You can train your bot by just uploading information like mostly asked questions, website data, and all the required information to teach it. They offer easy interface customization through a drag-and-drop tool. Regular testing is needed to check out the performance metrics.

Step 6: Price Structure for Different Chat Systems

Getting a chat system that can meet your requirements and also fits your budget. Pricing varies for various bots. Here are the factors that affect the cost.

Specifications:

Simple bots with already built answers are less costly compared to custom AI chatbots, as they require more complexities and features, but investing in these agents is the return on investment(ROI).

Implementation:

Integration with the existing system through CRM also needs extra funding. It ranges for the present systems.

Charge System:

You can get a one-time purchase or have a monthly subscription.

Ongoing Cost:

Setting an extra budget for maintenance and modifications is necessary. Regular upgrading is vital for performance efficiency.

Step 7: Launching and Monitoring

After all the above steps, the last step is to launch it on the website. When you use any chatbot builder platform to make the bot, then it is very easy to integrate. The platform will give you an embed code that you have to paste into the website and then use the plugins to host it. Then, complete the installation. Within minutes, your bot is good to go. 

After activation, it is important to analyze the performance regularly to recognize the weaknesses and strengths. This will make it durable to the changing technology and it would never be outdated. so it is important to analyze and update it consistently.

Summary

AI chatbots help businesses grow astonishingly and reach new heights. Its features, like personalization, omnichannel support, multilingual support, non-stop learning and improvement, chat shoft, and instant replies, make it a must-own technology. Creating the digital agent is very easy through these steps. Knowing the objectives, choosing the right technology, equipping the essential features, designing the interface, adjusting the conversational tone, training, choosing the cost, and launching it. Following this guide will assist you in integrating your assistant instantly.

Ready to unlock the full potential of your business? Grab the opportunity and build your conversational AI agent.

[tooloudcommunication]

Harnessing Social Media to Build a Stronger Brand 

Person to person communication is more than just a way for keeping in contact with friends and family in the digital world. Business can involve it as a powerful tool to create and support their brands. Social media gives innumerable opportunities to businesses, both new and old, to interface with their target audience, market their goods and services, and create a critical brand personality. This is the way to take full advantage of social media to strengthen your business.

1. Define Your Brand’s Voice and Identity

Laying out a distinct brand identity is the most important move towards developing a strong social media presence. What standards does your brand maintain? While talking with your target audience, what tone would you like to embrace? Do you like to be happy and entertaining or somber and formal?

Tips: Make a brand guide that depicts your informing style, visual feel, and tone. It takes consistency to build a known brand.

2. Select Appropriate Channels

It's excessive for your brand to be present on each social media site because they are not all made equal. The secret is to focus on the platforms where the members of your target audience are mostly active. For example, LinkedIn is perfect for business-to-business networking, while Instagram is perfect for visual storytelling.

Tips: Figure out the platforms your audience likes to use and focus on your efforts there. A strong presence on two platforms is preferable over a mediocre one on five.

Deep down with our blog "Harnessing the Power of Social Media for Effective Branding" impacts in our next post.

3. Produce Interesting Content

Successful social media marketing requires the making of interesting, beneficial content. Consumers need material that moves, informs, or entertains them; they would rather not feel like they're being sold to all the time. Your material should be important to your audience and represent the character of your brand.

Tips: Incorporate user-created content, promotions, in the background photographs, and educational pieces to shift up your content. Video content typically does very well, especially short-form videos.

4. Make Use of User-Generated content and Influencers

User-generated content (UGC) and influencer marketing are successful strategies for laying out establishing credibility and trust. People are also persuaded of the value of your brand when they notice others — especially influencers with — using your great or service.

Tips: Work together with influencers who have the same qualities as your company. Clients should be urged to be encouraged to share experience with your brand and have their content included for your channels.

5. Interact with the People in Your Target Audience

Failing to interact with their target audience via social media is one of the biggest mistakes brands make. The use of social media is reciprocal. Getting back to clients with questions, comments, and acknowledgements of both positive and negative feedback demonstrates your  brand's attention to detail and concern for its customer base.

Tips: Make time consistently to engage with your fans. Use polls, Q&A sessions, and stories to spark interest and start discussion.

6. Make use of Analytics for Social Media

Analytics are essential for sorting out what social media strategies are effective and ineffective. You can discover the most well known content categories, the best posting times, and the top performing platforms by regularly inspecting your analytics.

Tips: To monitor your success, use applications such as Instagram Experiences, Twitter Analytics, or third-party programs like Hootsuite or Support. Use the information to inform your plan in order to enhance growth and commitment.

7. Run Targeted Ad Campaigns

While organic reach is crucial, supported social media ads can greatly increase the visibility of your brand. The ability to target audiences precisely makes social media ads so attractive. You may focus on your target audience in view of habits, hobbies, and demographics to ensure the right people see your message.

Tips: Use A/B testing to start little and see which ads work best. Improve your return on investment, raise your ads budget spending as per performance data.

8. Collaborate with Other Brands

Working with different brands can help you with contacting a more extensive audience and get more visibility. It is a win-win situation when two brands that take special care of comparable or integral audiences work together.

Tips: Search out companies who share your beliefs and appeal to your intended market. Co-branded material, helpful giveaways, and, surprisingly, combined social media campaigns are examples of collaborations.

9. Establish a Community

A local area supports a strong brand. You can set up areas via social media for your followers to engage with your brand and with each other. Your brand feels less like an organisation and more like a friend because of this sense of community.

Tips: Create networks on LinkedIn or Facebook where members will exchange their thoughts, pose queries, and give mutual help. This cultivates loyalty and trust.

10. Stay Authentic and Transparent

Also, last, in the era of social media, authenticity is most important. At the point when a brand isn't being genuine, your audience will know it. Transparency builds trust, whether it appears as taking ownership of mix-ups or providing authentic behind-the-scenes photos.

Tips: Show off the human side of your business by saying thanks to your followers with the bottom of your heart or by being open about the challenges you've faced. Authenticity and transparency are important for fostering loyalty.

It requires time, effort and planning to use social media for creating a strong brand. You have to create a strong relationship that braces your brand's online presence by laying out your brand's personality, communicating with your crowd, creating beneficial substance, and staying consistent with yourself. Your brand will succeed on social media and help you with standing apart from the competition with a touch of determination and strategic planning.