#more likely theyre some sort of cult

[ruvi-muffin]

I bet the assembly is bad in this universe too lbfr

If the suave bad guy was denied a research grant i'll riot tho

[caterpillarinacave]

Now is not the time for jumping into things rashly. You thank the friendly next worlder for their offer, but decline their couch space for now. Instead you ask them if they mind bringing the books they had mentioned to the door in exchange for the berries of your world. They accept with an air of bemusement and take their leave with a promise to return as soon as they can.

You watch as they walk away, before leaning through the door, slightly, and blowing your whistle on the other side. Nothing happens for a few minutes, so you shut the door. Waiting a moment you open it back up only to find what was once a well lit sky has darkened to night. Confused you close and open the door quickly, the sky is still dark but now a moon rests in the space that had been clear before. Time is definitely in flux between the doorway when closed...the mechanics of how that works is too confusing to parse out right this minute though, so you pack up your things to head home again and close the door.

When you reach the house you greet your friends, they seem pleased to see you, though not as if it's been a great deal of time, rather like they're happy you're back at the end of the day.

You help set up for dinner, each of you chatting about your day. It's nice, comfortable. You check them both discretely during the conversation, they both seem the same as always, not really older than when you met as you had worried what with time alterations now on the table, enjoying themselves and winding down after a day of chores around the house, familiar laugh lines and wrinkles from the older one as they describe some happening in town the other day, quick smiles and careful attention from the younger who glances at you from time to time with amusement at the story being told. It's...calming. Like the air itself is cocooning you in softness.

Before long though, you find yourself heading to bed, that strange atmosphere sticking with you. It's nice, helps you drift off a little faster. You dream of a void with lines of gold leading you to a river, as you follow the water you reach an island and on it a lone figure who sits in front of an open door, you can't tell the color nor can you see where it leads, lightning crackles with a flash inside the doorframe, the figure from before raises it's hand to its mouth, you see its lips move, it mouths without sound over the crackles from the door, the world twists, it's hard to see, with a yank like you're falling, consciousness slams back into you and you awaken with a start, sitting in bed, adrenaline running high. You steady your breathing, heart like a jackhammer dying to burst through your ribs, as you calm the blood stops rushing and you realize you can hear something. You look at the desk across the room where you have your walkie talkie resting, always on and waiting, it crackles to life, but nothing can be deciphered. You don't get back to sleep tonight.

In the morning you head back out, your friends heading in to town, you depart from one another with a wave. As you travel you pick some berries curious to see if they affect the next worlder the same way as your worlds do, when you get to the door you pause to look at your walkie, it hasn't made noise since last night, yet you still check it, opening the door you watch to see if anything happens, but nothing does. When you look through the door your friend on the other side looks up from reading a book.

"How! Wonderful to have caught you! Would you happen to understand the presence of this lovely ren?"

You look to where they gesture to see a large beautiful white deer gazing at you from the other side of the alley. Initially confused, you recall blowing the whistle through the door yesterday. Interesting. You return to your friend who listens intrigued as you explain it may have to do with your whistle. They hum in interest, and as you two talk the deer, or ren as your friend called it, seems to determine your lack of attention as a dismissal and begins wandering away. Once it's gone you both turn your attention to the books.

They show you some of the covers and chat about what they hoped each offered in terms of information, ranging from literal childrens tales to thick books of what's you'd guess is basically this worlds cryptozoology. In exchange you offer a berry from your world to your new friend and they take it mildly apprehensive and try it after a moment, they seem appreciative and note that it made them feel better just as you have observed in yourself, you offer one from this world passing it through the door to your friend, they note that it tastes like the other one you gave them, similar results. You note this and hand over the rest you picked on the way over to your friends delight, then you get started reading.

After a while you figure some things out. Like your friend said before, most stories and retellings of the door and this world, or the Inbetween as they call it, seem to think it a myth. There are written documents on people who have been taken by tall dark haired strange beings that spoke in another tongue and clicked to each other. You think that feels familiar. There's one story about a person who stepped through the Inbetween but when they came back the world had changed and the people spoke oddly and no one knew who they were, but supposedly that person disappeared soon after telling their story.

Honestly, by the end, you're equally more informed and more confused. It's getting late for both of you though so you say your goodbyes, they give you a few books to read on your own, and you head home. When you get there the house is empty, but that's not odd since trips into town can often run late. You put your stuff away and start setting up for dinner, figuring you can make something simple before your friends get home. As you finish washing ingredients you see the younger racing up to the house on one of the horse like creatures. You watch as they hop off as soon as the house is within walking distance, they race through the door. While not panicked, they tell you the other sent them back to the house to let you know there were strange people asking questions about you. From what your friend explains it sounds like the cult the book writer had described. Neither you nor your friends had thought for you to keep a low profile, it's only a matter of time before they find you here.

Do you stick around and see what they want?

Yes*

[erythristicbones]

thinking about my like 7 villains in JDK, specifically about how the others are kinda normalish/reserved and it's just Artie & Apollo that are Like That but,,,,,,,,,,what if they all were. what if they were all the most insufferable theater kids of villainy. all 7 of them are that one megamind scene about presentation or whatever, i haven't seen it in a long time and im basing this on vibes

[riveracheron]

eh. might as well post this now. a few of these are wish fulfillment rather than actual theorizing but explanations under the cut

i have an alchemy hyperfixation and all the alchemy stuff in tmagp makes me very excited so a lot of my theories are related to that

spoilers for the pilot btw

main character gets an eye injury - the image will not leave my head. in the magnus institute ruins statement there was this whole thing about redcanary having some kind of encounter with or experience with eye trauma and that feels like something thats just. gonna come up again

another mechanisms va - self explanatory, we need to complete the set. would love to hear kofi or rachel.

gwen has trauma related to something that happened with elias - this is going on the theory that she’s not elias’ counterpart, but a relative of some kind. something spooky happens to him and that pushes gwen to research the paranormal.

character referencing nicholas flamel - all the main characters have names that reference alchemists, and nicholas flamel is probably the most famous alchemist of all time. i doubt he’ll be given the smirke treatment because that kinda already happened with the transphobic wizard books, but someone could be sharing his name.

mag 114 statement is relevant - thats the. hill top road statement that deals with other realities, and anya (the statement giver) could be from the protocol verse. we could totally hear about the aftermath of her departure

alice/sam/gwen = three primes - the three main alchemical symbols on the OIAR crest, and a good sort of symbolic trio sorter. the three peimes are salt, sulphur and mercury, and are the basis for alchemy. the down to earth, reliable salt, the firey, unpredictable sulfur, and the adaptable, easygoing mercury. i think these could apply i just want to have it called out in universe

lena is a good person - i don’t think they’d pull the evil boss thing twice. i just think lena’s weird mannerisms are from her autistic swag

celia is related to or is agnes - (related to as in. her story involves agnes, not that shes like. a sister.) this comes from a theory by @/pinklotjeart, i think. basically: through the way her death was described (spark returned to the lightless flame) and some timeline discrepancies and general avatarness making it weird, agnes might not be Dead dead. and celia’s counterpart, lynne - well, she saw a fire ghost. also, both her and agnes are the only non one-off characters who have shakespeare names afaik. agnes MONTAGUE, celia from as you like it…

annabelle cane is related somehow - self explanatory, she was at hilltop road when everything went down. might have been pulled in.

a famous alchemist is robert smirke’d - self explaining, give me more canon historical figures jonny

another kitty cat - i want more kitty in podcast is that a crime

augustus is not jonah - we hear jonah’s voice as ben meredith in 193, so im skeptical that tim fearon’s character is jonah for that reason.

oiar group has a messy moment that devolves into actual physical violence - mmm angst i think they deserve to smack eachother around a bit

bonzo cult - yeah.

oiar found family - we got the group of coworkers that hate each other angst last time gimme the “hurting one to get to the others” and self sacrifice angst this time

colin dies early - mmmm i cant say much about this bc its based on one throwaway line at the MCM panel where jonny doesn’t mention colin in the main character group. so . death flags.

oiar is containing the entities scp style - this was a super early theory of mine, either this or theyre using them for power or energy in some way. even more heavy handed capitalism metaphors yay

someone gets ushanka’d - its computer horror: the podcast. that’s all

cookbook statement - a few clues in the ARG had to do with cookbooks, and alex and jonny have already said they’re getting weird with the statement formats (they mentioned an insurance report!) so. cookbook doesn’t seem too far-fetched

tiktoker/influencer character - archives was 2010s and they had a podcaster and youtuber, which were like. the big things. whats the hip trend now??? instagram and tiktok baybee

protocol editors va a small role a la mag 100 or the wtgfs cult - those characters were voiced by other rq team members (ie helen as laverne and martyn as robin) and the team has since expanded!! some editors dis stuff for cry havoc, so im guessing nico, annie, april and others will get a small role!

a villain’s goal is creating the philosopher’s stone or other alchemical thing - tmagp is heavily inspired by alchemy, and the philosopher’s stone was the main goal of alchemy!! it would grant you eternal knowledge snd the ability to turn lead into gold- which seems like a good. evil dude’s ambition

the desolation gets more focus - the institute burned down, the oiar crest has a lot of sulfur symbols (the fire element), alchemy as a whole having to do with fire, celia and her connection- it paints a very. lightless flame picture

trip to germany - a lot of the arg was set in and around berlin, and there was that exchange between sam and colin about german in the pilot! i could see a germany trip happening in the same way jon took a trip to china and america.

[theonewhowails]

IM CHEWING ON THE FUCKING FURNITURE

I HAVE JUST BEEN WATCHING THE TRAILER OVER AND OVER LOOKING FOR SHIT TO FIND AND SPECULATE ABOUT!!!!!!!!

avert your gaze if you do not wish for sins of the flesh spoilers

LIKE LOOK AT THIS!!!!! i initially thought the nakey leaf was only gonna be a thing for the nudist ritual and would happen to everyone uniformly for the same amount of time. so it is fucking SENDING me that EVERYONE HERE IS WEARING CLOTHES EXCEPT NARI

individual outfits!!!!! do you think we will find them and gift them to followers the same way necklaces are? maid dress leshy. why is he serving looks (lol) tho. is that a hairless cat in the top right corner. IS THAT FUCKING SOZO IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT????? FOLLOWER SOZO??? ALIVE SOZO??????? I COULD CRY

a tiny sozo i found in the end image....cutie

also it looks like we'll be able to upgrade our cult and temple even further!!!!!!! or perhaps customization options? either way the stone floors and stained glass in the scene are sexy and im eating them. also theres a bones interior in some shots

also why does the guy in the middle gotta pitchfork. WHY ARE THEY ALL PULLING OUT PITCHFORKS. WILL FOLLOWERS BE ABLE TO FUCKING REVOLT???MOBS???? please that would be so funny

also fighting followers??? my initial thought was that this might be a progression from dissenting and now they can kill you(whimsical) but on closer look the eyes do not look like dissenter eyes. they look more like the eyes of eldritch opponents we fight

furthermore look at this ritual??

it looks much the same as the ritual the bishops perform before going eldritch, and we're clearly leading it, but the energy isnt going to US, its going to the follower in the center??

there is something to be said about how the lamb grows stronger by defeating and consuming their enemies...... it would be really interesting if we're going to get into organic free range home grown adversaries...... when you think about it, taking a loyal follower, corrupting them with eldritch power and then defeating them to absorb the power they gained would be sort of like a more refined form of sacrifice. and also way more fucked up!!! :D

also:

if sacrifice and cannibalism was too tame for you. get ready for letting your followers ritually EAT A BITCH ALIVE. its giving The Lottery vibes but maybe thats just me (nerd)

look at this shit which looks like a fucked up commandment stone. are they sacrificing health here???? for eldritch horrors???? ooooohhh

calamari getting into a slap fight is killing me but also i am going NUTS at the prospect of expanded follower relationships!! we had the seeds of it before with how followers can become friends, some give us quest for their crush, and reading their minds shows they can have conversations that go well or go poorly, and now theyre extrapolating to their logical ends: followers can get into physical fights, can fall in love, can have children!!!! GOD there could be.... actual generations of cultists......ToT

auspistice simulator lmao. but also theres two intersting things to consider here:

follower activities that take place at night, which could make nighttime in the cult more interesting and lively

if we might need at times to step in to break up a fight. would that suggest consequences for not doing so. Can The Followers Beat Each Other To Death Now.

also killing me that while this fight is happening maid leshy is just. drunkenly swaying and making creature noises. look at him. i love him

[bee-ina-boat]

hello gay people. i mentioned awhile back about a possible concept for a tma au but its mixed with mythology/religion based stuff. i have since finished this chunk of concept/reference art of the Ceaseless Watcher for this au!!!

im dubbing it: The Magnus Mythos!! please talk to me about it i am insane

putting my rambling au nonsense under the readmore!!!!!

edit!!!: new mythos post just dropped :3

alright- bare with me because my thoughts are everywhere lol

random various au information:

the fear entites are instead more general gods, much like those from various mythologies (greek, norse, egyption, etc.) like the eye, rather than an entity that feeds on the fear of being watched, is rather the god of knowledge and sight!

all of the gods have influence over the world, some mortals will devote themselves to one specific god entirely, others will become devout to multiple, and some will simply be neutral among all 14 and live life out as they please.

avatars are mortals who have been blessed with power by the gods while creatures (like mr spider, the not them, etc) are simply beings who have been born into the world by the gods power seeping into it. artifacts are items that have either been blessed/cursed by the gods or avatars, or have been affected by the gods power seeping into the world also.

theres multiple sects, cults, and churches for each god much like how many real life religions have different sects with their own rules and standards. some have beef, others do not.

the gods themselves are entirely morally neutral, they have their own interconnected relationships with eachother, and kind of view mortals as pets in a way, picking favorites and seeing them as of lesser importance in comparison to themselves.

since the gods here arent necessarily evil and theyre actually sentient beings, their titles are changed to be more fitting (the mother of puppets -> the mother of fate as an example)

the story is set in an era resembling the early 1900s because idk. vibes are neat i guess

thats all the basic world building crumbs for now, ill go deeper into it when i have more art and story stuff ready!

for now- heres some actual lore :3c

Jonah magnus is basically eye jesus. thousands of years prior to the start of the story, the eye favored him and he became a messiah of sorts.

the House of Magnus is a church sect of the eye founded in what is now london. but it doesnt operate JUST as a simple church. many sects of the eye devote themselves to gaining knowledge of the world around them and the House of Magnus is no different there. operating with a library, research centre and all. the research not just on history and knowledge, but also the holy and divine. documenting stories that deal with the divine powers and researching cursed/blessed artifacts aswell.

its a common legend that if one tells their story under the eyes watch (either in a church of the eye or directly to an avatar of the eye) that theyll receive good fortune and foresight, and since the House of Magnus has become a well known sect of the eye, many will come far and wide to detail their accounts under its roof

all of this documentation leads down to the Magnus Mythos, a large archive under the church where the written documents are filed, curated and cared for by the head Archivist. as such, the position of Archivist has become a most sacred role among worshippers of the eye comparable to the head of the church itself.

they arent just revered for their care of the mythos (though the devotees of the eye view the care of documented knowledge to be a sacred and ever important responsibility) Theres a prophecy, hand woven by the Mother of Fate herself, one that states an ordinary archivist will one day be gifted by all 14 of the gods and awaken the great change, bringing about a new and blessed age.

but is this newest archivist even ready for such pressure and commitment? and what if the prophecy is more devious than one might think?

oooOOOOoooOO mysterious lore- i know this is heavily self indulgent but i refuse to apologize for that because im havin FUN. if you read all of that just know i love you so much and i hope you liked it ;w; im very excited and ive been working on archivist +archival assistant lore for the past few days and im excited to do art for them ;_;

[nonbinarykai]

righhhhht and she was loyal!!! she loved her dad!! she loved him and he just (would have) let her die!!!!! and later in crystalized (i think the seasons kinda blur together lmao) she talks about wanting a family?? and??? that felt so loaded to me? its not just about wanting the stability (that kai cant give, but this is not about him. i have my own thoughts about the smith siblings and their commitment issues, but thats for later) but family? she just. is a family person. she was INTRODUCED as a family person, and i know ninjago probably sidelining her wasnt some intentional thought out desicion, but i like to headcanon it as her SPECIFICALLY not joining the ninja bc. theyre so obviously a family. and. she just needs to distance herself from that a bit, to find out whi she is outside of a group (*frantically writes a 15k character study following her throughout her journey into self discovery bc FUCK it makes me (someone who grew up in a cult) a bit insane)

and and. the tattoo?? like she was marked along with the rest of his followers, no different than a pawn, a mere minion. does she still have the tattoo?? that permanant physical reminder?? bc chen changed her, irrevocably. even after she turns back from becoming a LITERAL SNAKE AGAINST HER WILL (body horror angst, anyone?) she still has a mark.

i just. i want to give her more love and attention bc god holy shit. AND SHE COULD HAVE REALLY INTERESTING DYNAMICS WITH THE GROUP!!! IF PEOPLE JUST REMEMBERED HER!!!!!

she has to have formed some sort of bond with nya and lloyd after hunted. does she talk to him abt evil dads? i want to see her bond with zane over their love of cooking. does jay ever tell her abt her role in sky bound? they could talk abt their experiences turning into snakes lmao.

and her element is so interesting!!! literally absorbing others powers how cool is that?? what are the specifics? is there a time limit to how long she can use the power once she has it.

anyway this is getting too long but you get it. she needs to come back in dragons rising. she needs to bond with jordana over being ex-cult kids following her redemption, bc that girl is getting redeemed.

(i apologize for any typos i tried to be careful)

Can’t believe you didn’t mention how Cole’s fav restaurant is canonically Chen’s noodles which means he probably has ended up seeing skylor a lot and it’s possible they became friends.

Anyways I agree. I feel like it makes sense that even though skylor was abused she still loved her father. Thats unfortunately why a lot of abused kids stay with there parents to try to make it work. But I also wish skylor had more agency in choosing to go against her father other than “boy told me to”.

Speaking of which I do wish we saw more of skylors social life outside of whatever *he* shows us. It genuinely makes alot of sense for skylor to have some connection to the other ninja in some way. The only indicator of ppl she hangs out with is chamillie and that’s it. I want to see her have a group of friends that are completely detached from the ninja. Like regulars at her restaurant.

[crushedsweets]

Does Skully exist in your AU? What about other characters you featured on your blog like Helen and X Virus?

honestly, tons of creeps EXIST in my AU, but they aren't really core components. like they'll sort of wander around the forest, or they're a killer in a random state, unrelated to the main CRPs. MAYBBEEE still infected by the operator, but otherwise unrelated.

i'd love to make skully a more notable character. since theyre some sort of ... idek how to describe it.... cryptid? spirit holder? idk thing HAHA. they'd probably get stuck in the forest as well. maybe be actively against slendy and the operator, rather than just against the operator (as most creeps are). maybe work with zalgo, since zalgo is obv anti-slendy and anti-operator... which would result in skully being an antagonist to our main cast!

Helen is also in my AU, but again, not with the core cast. He grew up in Dina's cult, had a massive fascination with Dina herself. she was his muse and he painted her endlessly, not unusual as Dina was the cult's prized possession. after dina goes missing and the cult goes into disarray, helen commits mass murder (to replicate his 1994 massacre) and kills 17 members. he'd either die shortly after, flee the state, or go to prison for life.

x virus... im really not too sure what to do with him. ive been trying to get connected to his character for a while now, but it's kinda hard cuz i didnt grow up with him as much. i think he's either an unrelated killer in a different state. if i had to force him with the main cast, he'd be a new, young proxy for toby/kate to raise after tim/brian leave. there's really only one design of him i've been super fond of though...

in general, any character could totally fit into my AU and i have no objections, but the main 16 i have are the extent i plan on creating intricate backstories/relationships with! (for now, of course)

[barrenclan]

begging some of yall not to idolize deepdark and defiance how you do. i have a friend who’s actually lived through a cult’s wrath and they r mega not cool. like i know defiance is narratively AMAZING but we. shouldn’t put it on a pedestal of “oh this thing is so cool and its leaders are amazing” because ultimately it’s safer for everyone if we start recognizing that while yea defiance + deepgang are cool… theyre still a cult. and we should not be viewing them positively at all. cults are inherently models of rigorous and severe repeated abuse, and by romanticizing them you are inherently romanticizing abuse. i don’t think you’re bad for letting this happen, raz, i just think that if you have any sympathy for cult survivors you should have stopped it before now. Especially as the comic ramps up towards the inevitable climax of the cult in it doing many awful things to the main characters. I know no one here intended to romanticize it, but by treating deepdark and other leaders of this cult as silly uwu murder cult guys we are actively doing that.

thank you for listening if you did, and i hope this feedback helps us all grow.

Well, thank you for sharing your concerns, I appreciate it a lot, as well as explaining the reasons this is important to you. Nothing you said is incorrect or invalid! I do have a few other thoughts I wanna share along with this ask.

Firstly; Defiance is fictional, and more than that it's not based on any real world cult. I obviously had to do some research and take some general real-world influence, mostly because I wanted to capture the kind of personality that exists in cult leaders with Deepdark, but in the end it's a completely made-up group. I actually based their group structure much more on a mafia-like organization than a traditional religious cult. There is a sliding scale for these sorts of things in stories of course, topics that are treated with varying levels of severity based on our culture, and everyone is going to be affected by them differently based on personal experience anyways. I refer to Defiance as a "combination death cult and mafia" sort of flippantly (which is my own fault) because just calling it a "group" is sort of vague, non-descript term. But its structure and actions are way, way more dramatic and obvious than any cult that exists today, or existed previously.

With the kind of fanbase I've gathered, I would like to believe my readership is able to separate the difference between talking about real-world cults and fictional ones. No one I've seen is actually idolizing Defiance as something to genuinely be admired, outside of talking about and making up in-universe characters who do so. Deepdark is fun, and dramatic, and over-the-top, because I made him that way, so it's natural that people like him. But no one is saying that it's good to be like Deepdark, or that he's some sort of aspirational goal (I hope! If you are, we'll have words!). I do believe that in the story itself I've pretty thoroughly conveyed how cruel and malicious Defiance & its members are. In fact I've pretty intensely tried to emphasize the insidious way that cults hurt people, and the danger of charismatic leaders like Deepdark! Maybe I've failed a bit in that regard, then.

But besides all that - your points are very valuable and worth repeating, and I will be more on the lookout for anything treating Defiance's impact irreverantly, and either delete or correct it. I have a feeling people are not going to be happy with them anyways, as they continue to hurt more of our main characters.

Real-life cults are not as obvious and over-dramatic like Defiance. Many ordinary people like you and me are deeply hurt by them all the time, and any time you joke about Deepdark's murdering or silly lieutenant shenanigans, it's always important to keep in mind that there are tons of real-life people like Deepdark out there. I never wanted to come across as unsympathetic for real-world victims of cults. Making people think more deeply about the various shades of gray and subtle acts of evil that exist in our world, as well as the inherent humanity that exists in people who do terrible things regardless, are some of my goals with creating PATFW in the first place.

[cyberdragoninfinity]

ok so multiple folks have been curious about dimensionswap AU fusion!yugo and like. What the Hell is Going On With Him so. here's a loose bit of a rundown of some of his. Things Going On 🙃 AMONG OTHER THINGS:

yeah so fusion!yugo is DEEPLY unsocialized animal. He, as is a running theme with the Fusion Dimension kids, is an atrociously lonely victim of the Academia War Cult, but with a dash of "Leo Akaba is scared of him and paranoid and has put extra effort into exerting his authority over him and keeping Yugo "contained."

(Leo actually tried to throw Yugo into the ocean when he was like 6 to kill him and it didn't work (Yugo's dragon saved him <3)

(Yugo doesn't remember that part though :[ )

He's spent most of his life being chronically ignored and kept away from other people, locked up in his dorm (or. cage. sometimes. 😬) or at the mercy of DA's questionable teaching staff. He's only really been allowed to 'play' with other kids if he's dueling them (especially when staff uses him as this sort of wild Academia boogeyman that students have to try to avoid in hunting game drills.) (there's a nonzero chance theyre kind of hoping he'll just get himself killed and save themselves a whole lot of trouble) Yugo doesn't really know how to interact with people beyond treating them like a game to win. He likes games. He's good at those!! :)

He's still got that sort of energetic competitive spirit and doofus blockhead energy of regular Yugo, but it's a lot quieter and toned down after years of..discipline from his teachers. There's also this sort of aggression and overconfidence to it. If he deems his opponent as not worth his time he'll barely give them his attention, ignoring them and fussing with his various games and puzzles instead. god fucking help you if fusion!yugo deems you 'boring' lol

he can see duel spirits and talks to his monsters <3 He considers them his closest friends.

in general his dragon's two main forms emulate two big elements of his character--Shattered Wing Fusion Dragon's wings are broken, and it can only drag itself across the ground to pursue opponents; Yugo's been 'grounded' by his circumstances and he's starting to chew his own leg off about it. He's going stir crazy. And then Shattered Wing's 'evolved' form, Perfect-Wing Fusion Dragon, has freaky radioactive uranium glass wings made of different mismatched chunks forcefully fused together--Yugo is kind of chasing perfection way more than he lets on; he thinks often if he was just a little Better, a Little More Perfect then maybe people will care about him. Maybe he can make DA properly proud. And he's willing to jam whatever square pegs into round holes he needs to to achieve it. He doesn't need anyone. He can do it all HIMSELF.

(fusing with the other yuboys is a terrifying prospect for him. to go from so so alone for so long to being absorbed into Never Being Alone Again. He never actually manages to absorb anyone himself but if he did it would probably be like Yuri in canon where the other yuboy just experiences complete ego death and Doesnt Exist Anymore.)

the shit that goes on in Fusion in this AU is a story for another time there's like 18 different things going on in there but Yugo does get the distinct good fortunate to get to kill Leo himself after the bastard tries to flee the arc reactor room and declan and the bgirls Get His Ass<3 W for yugo

postcanon dswap yugo makes me a little sicko insane he just makes me SAD. kid who still doesn't really know how to interact with people. kid who kind of isnt very sorry for any of the questionable shit he did (kid who cant even really wrap his head around how anything he did was 'wrong' anyway and is getting increasingly frustrated that people seem upset with him??! HE DIDNT DO ANYTHING :/) he ends up striking up a weird friendship with dennis as theyre the last two real 'soldiers of DA who dont know what to do with themselves now that the war is over and have trouble conceiving of themselves as "people." they hang out and play games and beat the shit out of each other like the world's dumbest fight club. do not get me started on them. <--*the only insane bitch invested in dennis and yugo friendship*

here's a baby fusion!yugo and shattered wing's card...he's been alone for a long time but thats ok. he has his friends in his deck :,) thats all he needs. he can take care of himself.

[mohavegecko]

Yay thank you for responding to my bandit au ask! Follow up question. Does Nisha surviving change the inter-bandit clan politics at all, especially with the COV trying to get everyone to assimilate? I imagine she wouldn’t play nice, or go down without a fight.

and yes hello I see you on Angel + religious something or other with the bandit clans. If there’s anything more there please elaborate. Angel cults sound interesting as hell, moreso in light of her being alive in this AU. How does she feel about her position as a religious figure?

ty for your ask! another read more situation because this ones even longer than the first. somehow.

nisha surviving does cause some problems in BL2, though because of lynchwoods isolated nature those complications are more to do with the slabs and the crimson raiders than anyone else. the hodunks are also in uncomfortable proximity, living in the dust, and the zafords juusstt out of reach in the highlands. lucky them, because even though nisha is ‘technically’ on the crimson raider’s side for the remainder of their war with hyperion, her opinions on the other bandits clans do not change. there is a sense of lawfulness and control that separates her from them. something that simply makes her Better. her anger with hyperion is all-consuming, which is what helps her integrate so well with the crimson raiders for the brief time they work together. its the only thing that overpowers the general bloodlust she displays when facing the rest of pandora. shes on a warpath because she specifically feels spurned and that is what pushes her out of the BL2’s vault hunters way long enough for her to survive. some assholes shooting up her town and blowing her bank? thats funny. her grievances with handsome jack? thats personal. also worth adding in that wilhelm lives in this AU. orrrr…he lives up until the bunker fight, at least. its always been the dumbest thing in the world to me that he gets killed off so easily in BL2. hes the actual threat he deserves to be in my rewrite. mentioning this because nisha is also there. and nisha absolutely does not go down easy when it comes to the COV, which puts her between a rock and a hard place with them and the crimson raiders. lynchwood had dissolved, as much as she can try and hold onto power within the town, its purpose is gone. lynchwood was only ever made to profit off the eridium underneath it, she admits this herself, and it was gift wrapped to her on her anniversary to ensure the mines had their protector. so hyperion goes down, the mines lose their worth, and lynchwood enters a sort of limbo. she cant keep people in because theres no money coming in from hyperion. lynchwood isnt like other bandit clans, theyre not raiders, they dont go on the offensive for resources, and even if they did, nisha cannot provide for an entire town like a billion dollar corporation can. so people starve and people leave. nisha is furious, of course. she keeps a handful of her riders, those who are actually loyal to her, and she stays in the outskirts of COV territory for her own survival. but she’s not sitting on her hands, she did enough of that already as sheriff of lynchwood. thinking of her active role in BL3…hm. again, id have to play the game to refresh my memory. its been a while! she fights the COV parallel to the crimson raiders, but not necessarily alongside them. i have a few times in my head planned where they butt heads, though. specifically her skag riders chasing after carnivora alongside the crimson raiders. which is just fun to imagine. mad max style. and now angel! my idea isnt completely thought out, but! this starts at the end of BL1, angel heralds the death of baron flynt and commandant steele by leading the vault hunters and because there is that immediate power gap, the bandits who would become the bloodshots try to find anything they can cling onto, and they cling onto her. this unexplainable voice from the radio, watching from above. a very convenient idol to turn to in their time of need!

this is ENTIRELY based off of angels siren telepathy whatever sometimes having closeups of her eyes and the bloodshot clan symbol being eyes btw. thats it thats what kicked this off. if you give me long enough i can make Anything in borderlands circle back to angel she is my everything.

and good question! seeing as how angel is ~13 at the time of BL1, at first she buys into it for a sense of human connection because of how isolated she is. shes a child, she doesnt understand the consequences of indulging these people in their beliefs, because shes too busy indulging herself in playing pretend with these new "friends" of hers. we know that angel has had contact with pandora outside of vault hunters, so why not with the bandit populations? as she gets older that opinion changes. the bloodshots solidify, and they grow, and soon it isnt just a bunch of desperate people that she can play barbies with. and she changes too- with the opening of the vault, eridium floods the planet and it doesnt take very long at all for her to become reliant on it. nothing is “fun” anymore. (nothing was ever really fun, but now she is old enough to understand it. this is also my way of explaining her playful nature in 1 becoming more restrained in 2.)

so she disconnects. this happens maybe a year or so pre-BL2, so she’d be around 17. the bloodshots lose their idol, their god has gone silent, and theyre facing blow after blow from a war on three different sides. so they turn to someone else. enter marcus! professional war profiteer. he floods the bloodshots with guns, gives them a fighting chance, and angel becomes a memory as they refocus on the war. when they get their hands on roland and try to ransom him off, angel tries to intervene, but now that they have been promised something tangible, they reject her.

and then the fight at the dam happens, the bloodshots are swarmed by vault hunters and hyperion alike, and they lose a good portion of their number. angels first reaction is surprisingly apathetic, which immediately disgusts her. these are people she has known for years now who have been mowed down by her friends and her father’s death machines. people she, at some point, felt a strong sense of responsibility for. to at first feel nothing for their deaths shocks her and (in her mind) puts her too close to her father for comfort. its another crack in the wall of angel’s rebellion, she is terrified of the apathy and potential hatred she could foster for these people, and she wants to rip it out before it takes root.

her contact with the bloodshots has been lost, though, and its not long after 2 that their population starts to wane. angel post-BL2 is set on trying to help everyone on pandora, including the bandit clans, but she is just one person, one teenager at that, and her hold on the planet feels so small now that shes no longer connected to the control core.

so, for a year maybe, or however long it takes from the end of 2 to helios falling in tales, she feels very stuck. she’s sick, still not fully recovering from her eridium addiction, and her world has gone from being trapped in the control core with satellite access to the entire world to living in sanctuary and being unable to help in a way that she truly wants to.

and then helios does fall, and she finds a way. but thats not really bloodshot focused and this post is long enough as it is so. If youd like to hear more about that i can explain! just not on this post omg

[kaetor]

KICKS DOWN UR DOOR. OC OF UR CHOICE IN RELEVANT FLAG.

hello this is my girl mercy in one of the two gay/pride flag palettes i made cos i wanted to use those

things about her because i am being given an opportunity to talk:

mercy xu she/her , transgender and 15 years old

codename jackdaw

she's part of a superhero team with 3 other members. when she was like 5 or 6 she was kidnapped by an Evil Scientist Doomsday Cult and experimented on which gave her some evil fucked up superpowers; she was used a bit as a weapon for their evil plots against the superheroes of the world but she managed to escape

she doesn't use her powers to fight crime and serves more as a batman-esque figure on the team; she hides their existence from most people because she doesn't want to be tied to her past + she can't control them well

her powers are a vague sort of reality warping scarlet witch type magic but theyre a lot more powerful than her body can handle so if she overtaxes herself doing something big they'll draw on her own energy and possibly kill her if she isn't careful. later on in her story she learns how to use them better & do smaller more specific things that don't leave her sick for multiple days afterwards

[moonshynecybin]

What do you think would be the reason of the rosquez divorce in the reverse age gap au?

hashtag hot take i think the break up would have to be pretty different in this scenario. bc what happened actually and for realsies was our vale (with his years of solidified ego built off of nine titles) looking at young upstart prodigy marc and feeling the end of his reign staring at him in the face. compounded by many other factors yes but i think that was a big one ! and in the age reversal theres a different sort of dynamic at play concerning valentino's lack of ability to manage his ego. because he's a lot younger, hes just coming into the premiere class as a little guy, and he's not the first second coming of motorcycle christ here, MARC is. so i think his ego is in a little bit of a different place here (still there lmao. still there.) and the fucked up power dynamics between them that we've seen in OUR universe take different shapes... it would be vale coming at marc with giddy impish hero worship and an older more closed off (maybe injured) marc falling head over heals but feeling weird about it.

this scenario also removes or changes a variety of valentino's complexes wrt the media, sic, the academy, his role as the face of the sport etc.... like frankly i think theyre less likely to get as PUBLICLY and catastrophically divorced. i dont see vale smugly leveraging his PR power to fuck over marc as readily. THAT BEING SAID: they are still both insane lil monsters on track and vale categorically cannot button that shit up like marc can so. i could see some sort of clash/tension/breakup happening in the heat of competition from vale's end, but all of vale's other character motivators to like. take it to the press and the public arena would be different. like the real question here is who is vale without his status as the savior/face of motogp. without as much of a cult. who is marc without valentino to model himself off of. does it make them healthier. does it make them worse. like sure marc is still obsessed/in love with vale in this and vice versa but. without those young impressionable years of hero worship is he as likely to reach out after they break up. bc in this he DIDNT have any time when his hero of many years liked him and defended his riding style. he was just lonely. who am i without you. who are you without me...

[damistrolls]

priest time!

SO ive been making this new group called the church of the lightbringers, which is centered around hunting evil creatures in order to make alternia a safer place. their war against darkness has been spanning centuries, but the church itself isnt very well known, and most who do know about it would just consider it a strange, but ultimately harmless fringe cult

their main enemies of the church are these strange, shadowy creatures that typically have sadistic or power-hungry tendencies, called umbral entities (or umbras for short). they have all sorts of varied abilities, but typically are all able to turn into and swim through shadows, can absorb a weaker being's essence to make themselves more powerful, and can alter and solidify shadows for various uses. umbras are not their ONLY target though, as they'll hunt any kind of dangerous monster, like zombies, werewolves, and vampires

the current members i have are lucius adagio and xamael akatsu, and theyre often helped out by a non-church member, laeven malady, also known as the shadowsbane

(character info under the cut)

lucius adagio (design by @dirgelwch) is an experienced member of the church, and one of the few priests who were granted powers by the lightbringer himself. these powers are a holy light that can manifest in the form of weapons or spells that heal trolls, and harm umbral entities and other undead

lucius, or as most people call him, father adagio, always has his heart in the right place, and despite his faith in the lightbringer, is not afraid to think for himself. he tends to turn a blind eye to monsters who he believes deserve a second chance, and spends a lot of time healing and helping people as he travels around alternia. he isn't afraid to put himself in harms way in order to protect people, in several cases, even going as far as to defend monsters and umbras from both his overzealous companions and other entities

while there are plenty of church members that agree with his more nuanced take on the war between light and dark, there are more that believe he is sabotaging the church due to his naivety. those above him certainly can punish him for acting against their wishes, but luckily, he cannot be dismissed, due to being one of the lightbringer's chosen

father adagio is friendly with laeven, an umbra that joined the side of light after speaking with him. they often work and travel together. he also sometimes works with xamael, another priest from his church who is a little less concerned with helping people, and more concerned about destroying monsters. though they don't always see eye-to-eye, their relationship isn't too poor, and they can work effectively together under the right circumstances. they really just wouldn't call each other friends

xamael akatsu (design by @norts-trolls) is another priest of the lightbringer church. he isn't chosen like adagio is, but honestly, what would being chosen even do for him? he doesn't need some fancy powers when he's got a pair of talking, enchanted weapons that temporarily take on powers from the blood they draw

naoto and masaya are a pair of, what xamael calls, "magatta ken", or crooked swords, that he inherited from his ancestor, who had also been a part of the church before his untimely death. they each have their own personalities, naoto being the more serious, level-headed weapon, and masaya being the more eager, passionate one. naoto is the weapon adorned with the symbol of the lightbringer, and he speaks with a quiet, even, but definitive tone. masaya is the bare one, and he speaks loudly, and very roughly, without much thought behind it

the two almost act like guides to him, naoto trying to train his patience, diligence, and resourcefulness, and masaya trying to nurture his fervor and trust in his own instincts. they had done the same with the penumbra, his ancestor, who had been a high-ranking member of the church in his time

xamael, in contrast to father adagio, is a little cold to people's individual plights. he believes fighting the darkness is important, and that he's got some kind of sacred obligation here. he WAS raised with the chruch ideals in mind, after all, but his favorite part is simply getting to kill monsters. to him, violence is its own reward, and it's just a bonus that he gets to further the church's goals and continue his ancestor's legacy

laeven malady was one of the umbral entities the church had set out to kill, but father adagio saw some good in the dark spirit, and swayed them to his side. it wasn't without complication however, as laeven's wicked brethren turned on them the moment they expressed remorse over what theyve done in the past, and considered staying out of the war altogether

the other umbras were furious, and father adagio stepped in before they could attack laeven, something no one had ever done for them before. following that fight, laeven did indeed turn their back on the dark, but instead of running from the war, they decided to start fighting on the side of light. or at least, on the side of father adagio

while the church could never know about laeven without their safety being jeopardized, they still work with father adagio on his various missions, and also on their own

in order to lower suspicion over their origins, their appearance has been magically altered to resemble that of a troll. while they can't change their blood color from it's black hue, some clown facepaint makes them into a pretty convincing everyday purple... so long as you don't listen to their nonexistant heartbeat, touch their cold, stringy hands, or look into the black, inky void that makes up their eyes, so deep and abyssal that you feel as though you could fall right into them...

[miiilowo]

Not a very simple ask so feel free to not respond but

Since the mimic thing is so incredibly dumb and the alternative is also dumb. And the entire "WOAG afton is back!!!" thing is dumb.

What do you think would've been a better direction for the story? Like as a way to continue from pizzeria sim? Bonus points if you figure out a satisfying plot thread that still involves the pizzaplex.

I personally think it would've been interesting if the game went more in the direction of exploring more varied horror settings, all within the world of FNAF and using the underpinning of agony and remnant as a way to introduce new creepy crawlies. Possibly going along with the "cult of Afton" thing. A buncha internet peeps get fascinated by the mysterious deaths surrounding Fazbear's and it's founders, so they do some searching around in Afton's stuff, y'know casual B&E. They find some scattered notes on remnant (and agony maybe?) in his old house, which was abandoned a while ago and is in significant disrepair. Proceed with delusions of grandeur and hopes of immortality, and boom! You have a death murder cult!

So the spirit of Charlie is roused from its peace and begins softly manipulating random strangers into stumbling upon the machinations of the Macheivellian Murder Immortality Cult and putting a stop to their nonsense.

First thing that comes to mind is a building that someone was tortured in and subsequently had their body cut up and strewn across the building, and their remnant placed in the rebar, that kinda shit :3

While I do really like those ideas, I think i would try to keep it a bit more contained and maybe expand into some of the stuff you've brought up as time goes on

I would forego any lore relevance that help wanted/fnaf vr has, first off, and i mean completely forego it. it might drop some hints for upcoming games, but making it an in-universe meta thing has always rubbed me the wrong way. non-canon in every sense. just a collection of games, like we thought it was going to be ! ! ! ! !

I've never liked glitchtrap, and I have also always believed that Vanny should be a copycat killer, who has absolutely no direct affiliation with afton, because he is dead. forever. and ever. never to return. him "always coming back" should be more of a 'he always comes back to haunt you' situation or a 'his actions will affect people for the rest of time' thing rather than a literal resurrection

Instead of it being a network of people, I kinda just want Vanny to be a true crime freak who got a little too invested in Afton and his business and it eventually spiraled into her doing what you something akin to what you described. I have a whole AU for this, though no content has been created beyond designs. If agony & remnant work with all living things and not just people, I think maybe she killed some small animals before, saw a glimpse of how possession worked as an experiment, and immediately bought into (and spun more) conspiracy theories surrounding freddy's and the animatronics. I don't want her to be some dark, sad, motivated villain like Afton sort of became, but instead just literally being fucked up for the sake of it. Murdering kids for fun, because she wants to be like her idol. I think this arguably makes her more frightening than William, because at least he had motivations for a bit, right? He had a reason to be doing what he was doing. She doesn't.

Of course, that would be where the pizzaplex comes in. Assuming Henrys whole fazbear-entrepreneur-package wasnt ONLY dished out to Michael, that would be why it exists. Probably built by someone who already had way too much money, but I digress. Vanessa gets a job at the Pizzaplex. It's the perfect opportunity, afterall, and she probably needs the cash anyway.

The Glamrocks would be a threat because theyre trying to return Gregory to Vanessa, as per their night mode where they try to locate any lost patrons (or ones hiding out after dark) and bring them to whoevers working the night shift. I would definitely make them less sentient than they are, with any lines being more like glamrock chica's specifically (since they actually feel like something an animatronic thats programmed to round up kids after hours and get them back home WOULD SAY)

I think in order for this to work out with security breach still sort of being security breach, we'd have to rewrite the introduction to the game. There's a few big issues here, but the main one is figuring out why he's in the pizzaplex after dark. Since William is not involved anymore, having glamrock freddy faint on stage doesn't make sense, so we would have to get rid of that--At least, not in the way he does, for the reasons he does.

One thing I would've enjoyed about security breach were the content not cut, is that the player wouldn't have a reason to believe Gregory about Vanessa. Not fully. He never explains why we shouldn't trust her, and its very likely that there was supposed to be a bit where she "turns into" vanny, which would reveal her as a threat to the player; Beforehand, it just seemed like she was trying to genuinely help us out of the pizzaplex. It makes her go from someone we can possibly trust (even if gregory doesnt) to an explicit threat. I think trying to achieve that in some way again would be cool.

We could still keep the thread that Gregory is homeless, and he just snuck in during the day and stayed after hours to try and seek shelter-And what kid wouldn't want to stay at a fucking amusement park overnight? Naturally, he would want out once the animatronics start being aggressive with him, but I think we can take another route with this too:

Start out with Vanessa being nice! She's clearly the only guard at the pizzaplex (for some reason? despite it being so massive). She offers to help, to not only get Gregory out of the pizzaplex because he shouldnt be there, but because she finds out he's homeless and he needs a place to stay. Lure the player into a false sense of security. She brings him to a back office where she says he can stay while she gets things sorted, then comes back to kill him wearing her funny little rabbit suit. Before she does, maybe she cuts the power, so none of the security cameras capture what happened. (maybe in the vanny hideout that already exists in security breach?) Once she tries, though (or maybe once he smells the decay of other dead children in the room) Gregory manages to escape through a vent, and from there it would be a game of cat and mouse as she chases him around the pizzaplex. in the dark.

Having glamrock freddy be this all-protective saint wouldnt really mesh well with this, but I do think him being on our side could be incorporated. No stomach hatch mechanic, first off, and if it ever is included, it needs to be nervewracking and evoke the same sort of feeling as the minireena springlock night in sister location. As for why glamfred doesnt just try to gank him like the other animatronics do, we could say he never entered the proper night mode like the other glamrocks did because of his mishap earlier sort of resetting his shit. I still dont want him, or any of them, to be sentient, so at most any intelligent responses could be chalked up to AI. That way, we could have some offputting, not-quite-human, inconvenient interactions with him that (at most) are a response to something gregory does or says. We could keep an element of humor that FNAF has always had that way, too.

As for why glamfred would be trying to PROTECT Gregory, we could go back to what fnaf 2 was doing with its facial recognition system: they help protect kids. if a child tells him that hes in danger, he will try to help that child. all that being said, i would want to bring the shattered freddy story beat back where the other glamrocks rip him the fuck apart and turn him into a threat like halfway through the game. Instead of him being literally destroyed (since again. vanny would have commanded them to do that and it doesnt make sense if shes the killer and theres no afton) it could be that vanny got him working in his proper night mode and so now hes in the "find child and return it to the proper authorities" mindset like everyone else is. make the player feel hopeless. and so on

im going um. way off the rails here. and im gonna continue. but i dont think the animatronics should be possessed yet for the sake of motivations and trying to keep them as lifeless as possible. I mentioned it earlier, but I think it would be good if she hasnt stuffed the kids into the glamrocks yet because she hasn't killed enough, and is keeping their bodies in her little hideout--Gregory would be the final piece of her puzzle before she can enact her plan how she wants to.

Alongside the pizzaplex being In The Fucking Dark Now, I always thought having Vanny be visible around corners and on railings due to her eyes and then vanishing once you see her would be neat. Always being watched, sorta like a g-man situation. The type of killer who likes to toy with her prey, which would eventually lead to Gregory actually escaping, her becoming a suspect, and then managing to get away at the last second and continue her antics in true afton copycat fashion.

i have more to say but im going to stop myself and summarize:

canonicity of help wanted would be done for

vanny/vanessa is obsessed with william afton and the murders

decides to emulate his crimes

pizzaplex exists due to the entrepreneur thing henry set up in FFPS

she gets a job there

gregory is there because hes seeking shelter as a homeless kid

she lures him into a false sense of security but he realizes whats going on before it happens and escapes

glamrocks have a night mode which makes them try to locate kids and return them to the nightguard so they dont camp out overnight (because lets be real, more than one person has tried to do this for their youtube channel)

glamrock freddy is kind of useless and gets turned against the player either about halfway or a third of the way thru the game

becomes a game of trying to wait it out til 6 am evading various threats

i do want to fully rewrite security breach one day for my copycat killer au (CCKAU), but heres something to chew on for now

[suffarustuffaru]

hey so not too long ago, i saw a post from rz twitter that said that during the first loop where subaru meets otto, when subaru met the witch cultists and were chanting something to subaru before they left, that these cultists left because some outsider (who's therefore an enemy to their witch and its prophecy) was nearby. And the tweet said how that "nearby outsider" was actually otto who stayed behind because he was worried that subaru, (whom he met only as a customer in that loop and otto had already fulfilled his job) would succumb to danger. And despite frufoo's warnings, it's heavily implied that otto had in fact died in that loop waiting for subaru to come back. And the replies were saying that it's common knowledge?

First of all, is that true? I can see how one would come to the conclusion that the cultists left because otto, an outsider, was nearby. But i haven't seen proof of the implication that otto died from that loop. Secondly, with this perhaps being true, does that confirm that any loop in which otto was nearby and subaru is in danger, that otto risked his life for him? Some ppl say "but the whale incident!" But like you said way earlier, otto came back to him after pushing him off, and it's implied that he died trying to save subaru. There's no loop i can recall otto leaving him to the dust, even when he doesn't know who subaru is. And thirdly, Otto get some self-preservation skills, you barely knew the guy and already risk your life for him. What the fuck.

HAH anon your ask intrigued me so much i immediately went to the anime to try and confirm this. and bc the anime is the closest bit of info i got wjdndn i dont have arc 3 ln or access to arc 3 wn (i do not understand japanese either, sadly) but!! while the anime doesnt explicitly confirm otto died in that first loop his character debuted in, i think its definitely a possibility that he died to the witch cult there. (if anyone knows the lore on this for sure though feel free to add?? yeah)

also regarding about whether this is common knowledge or not—id argue its kind of not, at least in certain circles, bc im gonna be completely real i had to double check the anime to see how well i remembered it bc its 1. been a while since i’ve watched season 1 in full and 2. when i was looking at it on my first watch i was focused more so on what the hell was happening to subaru, rem, emilia camp rather than otto, who at the time seems like just some random guy who wont appear ever again. but also maybe im a little too used to people misinterpreting rezero over on reddit ajfbdnd bc some people STILL completely forget that otto went back after pushing subaru off the wagon. and some people still forget ottos died for subaru even though its super obvious in arc 4?? so i dont think ottos involvement with subaru across loops is really common knowledge? or at the very least its not common for Certain portions of the rezero fandom bc i see ottos whole fixation on subaru gets glossed over at times. but i do genuinely think moments like the first loop with otto are probably easy to sort of miss if youre not paying attention. but also again i might be a little bit brainwashed by rezero redditors misreading things bc the amount of people that forget otto went back for subaru in the white whale loop made me doubt my own memory of that scene to the point where i rewatched it in the anime just to be sure wkdndnd. i dont really see any english rezero people talk about this loop in particular too unless theyre referring to you know, rem arlam and emilia camp dying. but anyway moving on for now…

alright!! lets go over this scene i suppose. the anime doesnt go into like. Specifics, like how the tweets you mention do anon, but it does have some interesting stuff.

in the anime, the first loop with otto happens in episode 14 to about the beginning of 15, but the focus is of course more so on subaru, rem, arlam, etc, bc rem left for the mansion and subarus trying to get there quickly so he pays otto to do that. otto takes the time to warn him before they even set off, not only for his own sake but also for subarus:

but you know, bc ottos desperate for money bc hes in debt, he takes up the job. but once otto and subaru actually get to the road leading up to arlam and the mansion, otto stops bc frufoo’s frightened and shes warning them of danger—

but subaru being subaru jumps off anyway and leaves. he says this quickly before he goes:

otto replies by trying to call out to him desperately as he runs away:

your point about ottos self preservation is super interesting anon because otto DOES have self preservation skills. he almost kind of prides himself on it, sometimes—as a merchant, especially from a merchant family, hes been raised to treasure it. to go for things that work in his favor. especially with his bad luck fucking him over too. and he can be slightly morally ambiguous at times, so he is Very aware of self preservation and staying out of trouble. but at the same time, leaving behind innocents does kind of weigh on him bc. well hes still human. that and the further into rezero you get, the more clear it is that ottos self preservation skills just get thrown out the window the moment he sees subaru. like otto takes a significant amount of time on screen to complain about danger or trouble hes found himself in, or go on and on about how the moment he sees danger, hes just gonna turn around and run—but its just COMPLETE AND TOTAL BULLSHIT SOMETIMES. he has plenty of chances Every Time to turn around and run and the moment subaru enters the picture, he doesnt take it. the only exception to this was him leaving subaru in greed if, but thats because he saw that subaru didnt give a shit about him and even then. he made that choice FOR subaru’s sake too, bc he recognizes that greed if subaru is just gonna micromanage everything and deal with it on his own. otto knows he’d just be another burden to subaru, so he leaves to lessen the load.

main route otto though? yeah youre absolutely right his self preservation is way beyond dead at this point. his self preservation is absolutely gone when it comes to subaru. this first loop is an example of it—while of course ottos you know treating subaru like a stranger bc thats what they are, he goes out of his way to warn subaru repeatedly. at first it looks like its mostly just for his own benefit bc hes Also in danger here, but then he says that he cant just accept taking subarus money and items. he talked about how hed accept subarus payment just a few minutes before this?? and we know in retrospect that he desperately NEEDS money bc hes in debt??? and subarus giving him an out right now to just leave and not look back but he still hesitates and frantically tries calling after subaru??? he has EVERYTHING to gain from just taking the money and subarus things and just leaving, but we dont actually see him leave on screen.

and then right after this, we cut to subaru running to arlam. of course, the witch cult stops him, and in the anime, all they do is circle him, then bow (to foreshadow how the witch cult + petelgeuse think that hes one of them, im assuming), and then they disappear without saying a single word.

its interesting to note though that when they leave, they run towards the direction subaru just came from. which is where otto was.

and then subaru keeps continuing on to arlam and the mansion where he finds out that the witch cult Basically wiped everyone out there. episode 15 continues this loop and then quickly ends it bc subaru is having a mental breakdown finding everyones corpses and then he promptly proceeds to die to puck (iirc?) inside the mansion. and thats all the details the anime gives about the ending of this loop. so no clear hint like the white whale loop that otto Died from this, but i think the implication is definitely there if you choose to read into it. (again, im not sure if the ln adds more details to this or not, but iirc the anime doesnt touch on this much.)

its strange that the witch cultists that find subaru just. up and leave in the direction where we Know otto likely is, bc 1. the cultists move Fast and 2. only a couple minutes passed at most, so its likely that otto is Still There, even if he did start trying to leave. even then though, i think its in character for him to still be there and try to wait for subaru. or, at the very least, otto waited there debating with himself on whether he should just leave or not. waiting there satisfies both his self preservation and the guilt he’d feel if he just abandoned subaru—he doesnt go any further to minimize the danger to himself and frufoo, but he doesnt completely leave just in case subaru comes back or if otto decides to move forward and check on subaru or something. but then we see subaru find everyone at arlam and the mansion dead, and we the audience know the surviving witch cultists left in the opposite direction (where otto is) after killing everyone at arlam, so—i think theres a connection there. as in: yeah. if otto was still there, hes probably dead.

additionally, of course later in arc 3 we see that otto gets captured by the witch cult. this time he was captured bc the witch cult caught him hurrying to get to another location for its job offer, so the witch cult captured him to interrogate him on what exactly he was doing iirc?? so in that sense yeah he was caught by the witch cult for being an outsider getting into witch cult territory while they were in the middle of doing shit (and he likely wouldve been killed if ricardo and the others hadnt rescued him) o.O

but yeah thats all the animes got regarding the first loop (aka ottos official debut into the main story as well)!!!

“There's no loop i can recall otto leaving him to the dust, even when he doesn't know who subaru is." also anon youre so right for saying this bc. yeah i cant recall any loops either bc every time otto is there near subaru. hes risking his life for subaru. hes so incredibly ride or die that its concerning. it kind of boggles my mind that some people overfixate on how he pushed subaru out of the wagon in the white whale loop and YEAH that was fucked up, but not only does he feel bad and die trying to go back for subaru later, but when you watch that scene in the anime and think about it from ottos perspective. yeah some guy you just fucking met is yelling at you about how you apparently forgot about some person youve never heard of in your life, hes yelling at you to go back and TOWARDS THE WHITE WHALE when all youre trying to do is save both of your asses, he starts trying to wrestle with you while youre both being hunted down by the whale, and then he starts rambling to himself about how maybe its his fault the white whale is chasing after both of you while you keep hearing the white whales deranged thoughts in your head the whole time bc of your dp??? its a miracle otto didnt push subaru out of that damn wagon sooner and its a miracle otto even decided to go back for subaru after all that T^TT any person in ottos shoes would be RUSHING to push subaru out of that wagon.

but like. once you think about it - yeah Every Time in the main route that ottos been near subaru and theyve gotten into danger? otto actively puts himself at risk for subarus sake. and he doesnt always die or get hurt for it, but we know that he ALWAYS goes out of his way to help subaru. hes been like this since his debut in arc 3, practically, regardless of whether or not he actually died there. bc he still Lingered around and tried to warn subaru not to leave.

so what im saying is that so much of ottos screentime is spent helping subaru in some way.