#my only real objection to his arc is that I think it’s quite lazy to be like ‘UGH popular kids are SO EVIL Al’

[ap-trash-compactor]

Back to ST4 posting

Having seen the entire season now, I can comfortably say that the scene where Erica, the middle school aged child, keeps trying to close the door to her own house after saying her brother isn’t home and Jason, the power tripping, murder-minded, athletic high school senior who is like 2 feet taller and at least 100 lbs (probably more like at least 150 lbs) heavier than her repeatedly refuses to let her? Was far and away the scariest scene of the whole season. The one where Erica is literally fighting for her life against one of Jason’s goons only ranks lower because Genre Savvy(TM) told me she wasn’t actually in danger there, that her peril was just to amp up the tension but she’d be fine because the real focus of the scene was elsewhere — whereas the doorway scene was focused entirely on the two of them and his threatening behaviors, and really felt like a fork in the road between two different directions the story might go, and one of them was significantly darker than the other.

[appleflavoredkitkats]

Analysis of the “Fundy’s Mind” Stream: A Showcase of Repressed Memories and Repressed Insecurities

i. INTRODUCTION

Hi! This is going to be… something. Funny how I focus on this rather than my research homework, but I have a MASSIVE Fundy brain rot right now and I’d love to share my thoughts on Fundy’s newest stream. Fair warning, I am not the Messiah, so don’t take everything as fact. I’m open to constructive and objective discussions in replies or in DM’s, so feel free to hmu!

All of this is /dsmp and /rp by the way!

Heavy trigger warnings for derealization, parental neglect, neglect in general, self-deprecation, self-neglect, low self-esteem, death, manipulation, abandonment, loneliness, trust issues, torture mention, blood mention, and broken friendships.

Word Count: Approximately 10k.

ii. PRE-LIVESTREAM ASPECTS

Before we begin deep diving into the mind of Fundy, I do want to emphasize two major themes of this stream: 1.) Fundy’s insecurities, especially when it comes to abandonment and trust, and 2.) Fundy’s future predicting abilities. A ton (but not all) of statements uttered by the books and Fundy himself tend to have double meanings that apply to both of these themes. 

We can further discuss the future predicting powers later, but to give a little background on Fundy’s insecurities: Fundy is notorious for heavily depending his self-worth on the recognition other people give him. Despite his immaturity, a lot of Fundy’s character is rooted in being heavily underestimated. This could be observed during the Pet Wars when his safety was constantly being threatened by Sapnap, inevitably making him lose a duel against him. Another way we can see this is through Wilbur’s early treatment of Fundy where he constantly infantilized him because Wilbur believed Fundy was a child incapable of being independent. This caused Fundy to appeal a lot to any type of compliment from any person- it began with Quackity ensuring him that he will gift him a lot of cookies if he votes SWAG2020, then to Schlatt complimenting him to the point that Fundy almost gave up on spying and siding with Pogtopia, then to the Butcher Army where he unhesitantly followed Tubbo and Quackity’s lead no matter how many times they made fun of him. While he revels in any type of recognition given, oftentimes, those who seem to care for Fundy tend to leave after he grows attached to them; first with Wilbur, then Niki, then Schlatt, then Eret and Phil, then Tubbo, Ranboo, and Quackity. In the Dream SMP, Fundy is very lonely and has dealt with abandonment issues left and right, but typically, he never does anything with his loneliness, as the last time he lashed out against someone who left him, nothing positive really came out of it (this is when he got mad at Ghostbur). 

(Everything else is under the cut! I worked so hard on this, so please read it if you can, it’d mean a lot!)

So, with all that laid out, I want you to keep this all in mind as it is important for understanding why Fundy feels the way he does in the stream.

Now, let’s begin the analysis. First off, I believe it is important to denote the title and the tags of the stream. The stream is titled “Fundy’s Mind”, so we have to denote that this isn’t merely a dream sequence- the stream is meant to explore the complexity of Fundy’s mind. This includes his thoughts, insecurities, repressed memories, and so on and so forth. Additionally, the stream is tagged “Permadeath”, something different from what Fundy typically tags his streams. There is no clear explanation as to what this could mean, but the possibilities are:

It is hinting that the death system in the Dream SMP could be rigged, and someone is messing with the semantics of death and how it works.

It is hinting that someone will face a permanent death, and most fingers are pointed at Fundy as this is his stream. If not a permanent death, he might at least lose one of his canon lives which was hinted later on in the stream (will discuss later).

It is hinting that he was killed by the end of the dream. Not really a solid theory as we don’t actually know the repercussions of killing someone who is actively dreaming, but it is a possibility.

iii. PROLOGUE

A thing to question at the beginning of the stream is if the entire introduction was part of the dream or not. Seeing how Fundy has the same inventory from this to the next scene, it is plausible, but I don’t think it provides anything if it were a dream. 

Anyway, other things to denote are Fundy’s hotbar! First noticeable thing would be the 38 baked potatoes. The website angelnumber.org explains that 38 means:

“The combination of these two numbers makes the number 38 a number which signifies joy and optimism, courage, finding creative ways to materialize abundance, reality, etc.

The essence of the number 38 in numerology are different kind of relationships, such as romantic ones, business partnerships, teamwork, cooperation, diplomacy, etc.

Number 38 people have a talent for dealing with people in a caring and creative way. They are born team-workers. They need interaction with other people to fully enjoy their lives. They are usually optimistic and have a gift of inspiring others to action.”

So far, the number 38 is viewed to be positive. It signifies financial success and cooperativeness, which is interesting if Fundy’s future arc potentially ties to working with Quackity. To further add onto symbolisms regarding success, dreamastromeanings.com says the following:

“If you dreamed of baking or roasting potatoes, that dream is a good sign. It usually indicates your finances increasing over time.

Possibly you have made some investments and now you are beginning to reap the fruits of your efforts and risky activities.”

or,

“If you dreamed of holding a potato in your hand, that dream is a bit of a warning. You might soon receive some lucrative opportunity, possibly work related.

It is advisable to think fast and accept it because you might not get a second chance.

It could also indicate that you are a bit lazy when it comes to taking chances and missing opportunities because of that.”

Both explanations refer to business opportunities and possible investments. If we combine both the explanation for the number 38 and carrying potatoes, we can assume that Fundy will be receiving a business opportunity that would be too good to miss. These explanations also imply that nothing too negative would occur, but instead, Fundy can achieve success through this business opportunity. The only arcs in the Dream SMP which I think could provide a business opportunity would either be 1.) a new warden at the prison, 2.) new member at Snowchester (low odds), but the most likely occurrence would be 3.) Quackity offers him a position at Las Nevadas. With the Quackity smiley face at the end of Fundy’s stream, we can safely believe that the job opportunity at Las Nevadas would be the most likely occurrence.

Another explanation for this is that because the 38 potatoes were brought from the seemingly real world, it could possibly pertain to something that had already happened in the past. This could possibly allude to L’Manberg, especially when the explanations behind 38 potatoes are presented to be more positive, something the current Las Nevadas arc isn’t.

Second thing to notice about the hotbar: Fundy is currently at level 5, with his EXP bar 1/18 filled. To reach level 5, one has to gain 55 EXP, and to reach level 6, one would need to gain an extra 17 EXP. If the bar is merely 1/18 filled, 1/18 of 17 would be 0.94, which when rounded off, is 1. Add 1 to the extra 55, and we would approximately get 56 EXP. The website angelnumber.org says the following:

“The number 56 symbolizes teamwork, coexistence, family, relationships, adventure and expression of freedom.

Number 56 people have diverse interests, some of which they have an in-depth knowledge of and some just general understanding.

They try different approaches in relationships, trying to keep them alive. If everything they’ve tried fails, they simply walk to another relationship.”

This could mean a lot of things. The second sentence could imply that Fundy doesn’t fully comprehend the complexity of his mind. Some parts, he may understand, some, he does not at all. This could imply that there are also more secrets hiding in his mind that we couldn’t get to see. The third sentence is more interesting as Fundy’s entire character arc involves him and his broken relationships with other people. It’s a quite accurate description of Fundy, describing how he desperately tries anything to make a relationship work, and if it fails, he could easily befriend other people even if there is a possibility that that relationship would fail like the previous. 

If we ignore the number of EXP, we can merely focus on the number 5, which means the following:

“When angels are sending you number 5, they want to encourage you to have hope and to be ready to accept all the changes that are coming. Also, if number 5 has appeared just at the moment when you have been thinking about something important in your life, this number could be the answer or the solution for your problems. You should pay attention to number 5 and think of its secret meanings.

If number 5 keeps appearing by your side, it means that changes are already happening in your life. If they have not happened yet, don’t worry. They are on the way and you will feel them in the next couple of days or weeks.”

This can be connected to both the EXP number and the stream as a whole as Fundy begins to accept the gravity of his abandonment issues instead of suppressing his negative feelings towards it. Throughout the stream, Fundy is shown rejecting the idea that he is being neglected by others, but by the second half of the stream, he rejects it less and less. This could be the change the explanation is referring to as Fundy realizing his negative feelings towards his abandonment issues are valid and he needs to take them more seriously rather than brushing them aside. 

With number symbolisms finally aside, we can begin analyzing the actual sequences! Fundy is seen to be approaching his “Not A Secret” Base with a sigh, asking chat if they can go to sleep so that he can go to sleep too. Fundy immediately doubts the possibility of the others in the server following through his request until Ranboo responds with a simple “okay” while Niki responds with “yiss, am asleep”. Fundy quickly flashes the members list on the screen, showing us that only Niki and Ranboo are online on the server before he showcases his new bed, claiming that he likes it.

Two interesting notes about this: 1.) he decides to sleep, which is odd enough in the Dream SMP, and 2.) him having three new beds despite only using one of them. For the first point, I’d like to refer you to what Fundy said at around 26:08:

“I just gotta sleep and then, it’s gonna disappear! And then everyone is gonna appear out of a bush and they’re gonna be ‘Surprise!’, and I’m gonna be like, ‘You guys…! You’re always pranking me, you’ve always been there for me. Every single time… except sometimes… when I needed you the most.’ I just go to bed, I just go to bed, and none of this ever happened.”

While I understand that he is referring to the dream, I also believe that this statement would be one of those types I mentioned earlier that may have a double meaning. While “I just go to bed,” could refer to him wanting to sleep and wake up from this horrific dream, it could also refer to how he easily shuts down to his abandonment issues and goes to bed instead of handling it head first. Knowing this, him going to bed in the first scene could imply that he is in this type of  abandonment predicament, especially when we connect it to the second point. The color orange is meant to represent joy and warmth, and even without the symbolism, we all know orange is Fundy’s favorite color. He sees these three beds and says that he likes them, but I can’t help but feel like the other two beds are meant for two other people. I don’t think Niki and Ranboo being the only other two people on the server is coincidental; they have to relate to the two extra beds in some way.

Niki and Ranboo are two prime examples of close friends Fundy had before breaking off after a misunderstanding. Niki fought with Fundy after he had to burn the flag she made in order to gain Schlatt’s trust, while Fundy fought with Ranboo after Doomsday when they had conflicting beliefs about neutrality and sides. After both incidents, Fundy never really made his way to apologize, but Fundy has awkwardly met up with these two after a certain point. With Niki, he was forced to team with her at the beginning of the November 16th War, joking around with her and Eret, while for Ranboo, Fundy had to talk to him and Philza when they were joking around in the SMP. The meet ups definitely relieved some tension, but it never fully resolved the conflict Fundy had with both characters, so there was never a chance for him to rekindle the close bonds he had with both Ranboo and Niki in the past.

Fundy going to his favorite beds with two extra spots next to him could represent how he does cherish the friendships he shared with Niki and Ranboo, but never has the guts to actually bring back things the way that they were before. So, instead, Fundy sleeps, not wanting to think about them any further.

iv. FIRST DAY

When he wakes, Fundy checks his inventory before exiting his base, saying “Uhm, I don’t actually-” until he cuts himself off once he spots the desert. I don’t actually know what Fundy was supposed to say here, but because he checked his inventory beforehand, I believe he was trying to say “I don’t actually know where my things are,” but I could be wrong. To be fair, this isn’t too important, so we don’t have to focus on that. What we can focus on is the misplaced desert that was obviously not there before Fundy slept. We can easily infer what deserts could symbolize in dreams, especially when it comes to loneliness and the feeling of being deserted, but for better insight, consider what dreamstop.com claims about deserts:

“A dream of a desert is about something that is devoid of any feelings or care for you. It is all about them and nothing about you. Does someone show you a lack of respect? Is there someone or something in your life you dislike and adds no meaning to your life? Do you feel invisible? That no-one cares about you? Deserts represent an empty, barren place you may be trying to fill.

Desert dreams may appear when a relationship or friendship breaks down, or when you feel totally alone. You may have moved recently and have not yet made friends. You may feel homesick for all you left behind.

Being lost in a desert refers to your feelings that a situation is hopeless. You may have a problem you feel no-one cares about, even though you tried to reach out. You may feel there was no support and are feeling hurt and alone.”

You don’t need much analyzing to connect these meanings to what Fundy is experiencing. The setting of a “desert” merely pads the idea of Fundy being incredibly lonely to the point of him believing that he has nothing left to lose. Back in Doomsday, he was an optimistic nihilist, claiming that he doesn’t care much about what occurs from this point onwards as long as he can have a little bit of fun. On the stream where he created the Cube, he claimed that most people hated him anyway, so the least he could do was to make himself so hateable so other people could unite together in their hatred of Fundy even if it meant Fundy would have no companions left. Let it be known: Fundy is incredibly, incredibly lonely, and he is miserable in his loneliness, especially when his self-worth depends on how much people recognize him.

Another thing this desert could be eluding to would be Las Nevadas as it is set in the desert. I do think the desert’s main purpose is to showcase Fundy’s loneliness, but the connection to Las Nevadas is plausible.

Additionally, the dark skies Fundy sees doesn’t really need much of an explanation either. I couldn’t find a website exactly defining what it means to find a dark sky, but most of them speak of it as a negative thing, often symbolizing something terrible to come. I don’t think I need to explain that part, so we’re moving on.

Fundy is, understandably, very confused about this entire predicament. He quickly moves around his base to figure out what is going on, even messaging in chat to see if anyone would respond. Climbing up the ladders, he stands atop his base, spotting the silhouette of the Camarvan from afar. He continues to be confused, claiming he has no idea why he’s here in the first place. He claims he is “freaking out”, continuing to ask questions about where he is, and why the sky turns dark. He denotes that he isn’t at least completely alone as bunnies swarm around the desert. He begins to follow this sandstone path, every few blocks or so passing a fence with a torch stood atop it.

Here, we can infer that Fundy seems to have never seen this place before, or has no recollection of it entirely. Fundy doesn’t seem to be immensely freaked out just yet, especially since he hasn’t asked any questions about how no one is there, mostly focusing on his location and asking what the place is about.

Fundy then asks why the van is here, then zooms in on the nametags he sees at the back of the van. It is notable that something nametagged “Fundy” is shorter than another thing that is nametagged “WilburSoot”. Fundy tries to reach out for them but is unable to enter the van.

We can easily infer that this scene was meant to represent Fundy’s childhood in L’Manberg when he was being taken care of by Wilbur. Despite the lack of silhouettes, we can easily determine that Fundy is young in this scene because of how his nametag is in a much lower position next to Wilbur's, implying that whoever owns that nametag is much shorter. We can denote that by the beginning of the L’Manbergian Revolutionary War, Fundy was, in fact, a child. 

Another question some of you might ask: why is the Camarvan here in the first place? While I believe it could be representative of the part of Fundy’s mind that tackles past memories, I do think it also serves another purpose which I will explain later.

Moving on to the next scenes, Fundy continues following the sandstone path while typing in chat, asking if anyone was actually there. He gets confused by the path for a moment, wanting to go to the ominous building, before realizing that the path does connect to the building, it just swerves a little to the left.

It is notable that when Fundy cried out for help, he doesn’t call for a name in specific-  he calls out for ANYONE. The fact that he is calling out for “anyone” could denote that he doesn’t have any close friends or family members he would want to specifically call out for. 

Continuing on, Fundy follows the path to the building, still very immensely confused about where he is. Opening the door, he sees that the inside descends into an underground room with its flooring made out of chiseled quartz blocks. Fundy gets scared at first, immediately closing the door, looking back in, and going back out once more.

Fundy denotes that there is absolutely nothing out here as he walks around the building. He then gains the courage to descend the staircase, wondering what it is, and at the bottom, there are a lot of misplaced sandstone blocks with small lights illuminating at certain corners. The path leads to the left, showing 10 pieces of red carpet on the floor, and 8 pieces of yellow carpet on the table. He approaches the wooden table before looking to his right, spotting a skull on the floor next to a piece of redstone, which I believe is meant to resemble blood.

I don’t think we really need to research a skull to check what it might represent, but my theory so far as to what the skulls mean in each building would be that it’s meant to represent Fundy losing a canon life. I don’t know if this was intentional, but the corner room where the skull is somewhat reminds me of the Final Control Room with the redstone in the middle representing the button. That is, after all, where Fundy lost his first canon life. 

One of the theories I subscribe to is that the skulls in these buildings are meant to foreshadow Fundy’s death before he ever reaches it. Earlier in the day, we saw Fundy pass by the Camarvan with a younger Fundy which could possibly imply that they haven’t gotten to Eret’s betrayal yet, but the skull creeping up at the corner could represent that it is, in fact, coming. How this ties in to the entire future predicting thing, I will explain later, but for now, keep an eye out on the skulls.

Terrified of the skull, Fundy opens the chest and hesitantly picks up the book and quill inside of it. He opens it and is introduced to another Fundy writing to himself. Other Fundy claims that they’re not exactly the same person, but this Fundy is a part of the real Fundy. Other Fundy claims that Fundy cannot trust this place as it is not real, then begins saying that Fundy himself is not real repeatedly. Fundy’s heart rate suddenly increases when he sees the words “wake up” appear slowly in the book, and after page 34 is shown, Fundy wakes up to a new day in the dream world. 

First thing to denote is that the book has 87 pages, and 87, according to affinitynumerology.com means as follows:

“The numerology number 87 is a number of family, organization, and prosperity.

It's also a number of harmony and idealism, the ideal generally related to a harmonious and prosperous family relationship.

87 has parental instincts. It assumes responsibility for the welfare of others it considers to be family.”

The explanation implies that Fundy longs for family and cares deeply for those who he considers as his family. As much as he hated Wilbur after he died, Fundy still continuously expressed how much he needed Wilbur to be there. He is absolutely attached to anyone who poses as a possible family member, especially to those who he views as parents or guardians. Even outside of Wilbur, he is still practically attached to Phil, even if Phil refuses to consider Fundy as family. Fundy also got immensely angered by Eret when she didn’t show up to sign his adoption papers. I’d even say his attachment to family would even reach people like Sally and Schlatt. Fundy has a tendency of casually talking about Sally, and whenever a character talks about eating salmon, Fundy becomes deeply offended. For Schlatt, Fundy kept Schlatt’s netherite sword after he died, considering it to be an “heirloom”, something that only gets passed down onto different generations of the same family. Fundy is incredibly attached to the sword, and whenever he loses it, he’s absolutely desperate to get it back. As much as Fundy gets abandoned, he still deeply appreciates a lot of his family.

87 is also very reminiscent of one of the books in the Inbetween. A lot of the phrasing in the books are actually quite similar to the Inbetween, but we aren’t sure if Fundy and the Inbetween are directly affecting each other or if these places merely work in similar ways. The main similarity between Fundy and the Inbetween is that it involves something related to time travelling, so the similarities could be pointing towards that rather than imply that Fundy is directly affecting the Inbetween all together.

Secondly, the book stops at Page 34. The website angelnumbers.org express the following:

"Most likely you are leaving your projects unfinished because of fear for their destiny after you finish them.

Will they be rejected or accepted by others?

Because you would rather not find out that and possibly have your ego hurt, you consciously or subconsciously sabotage your work and leave things unfinished.

When this number starts appearing in your life frequently, it is a reminder to acknowledge you have a problem and start dealing with it.”

This is very reminiscent of the paragraph I made earlier discussing Fundy’s relationship with Ranboo and Niki- and this could honestly apply to any other relationships Fundy has as well. Besides Fundy’s relationships, this explanation could apply to Fundy’s hesitance of finding out the truth of his mind. Earlier on in the streams, Fundy is immensely confused about the dream, not wanting to discover its truths at all. This eventually changes on the third day, but we’ll discuss that in a bit.

Another thing I’d like to discuss would be the identity of the book authors and why they wrote the books the way they did. I’ll explain about this more in-depth later, but I do believe that another Fundy is, indeed, writing these books. As this was set in Fundy’s mind, it’s quite impossible for anyone who isn’t Fundy to be meddling with the books. What we can denote, though, is the reason as to why these books were created in the first place. The book itself seems to be harmless at first, quite inviting towards Fundy in the first few pages, but once it had to introduce what this world is, it seemed to hesitate. There were a couple of disjointed pages, as well as blank pages, before it began claiming the world wasn’t real, and that Fundy wasn’t real. It turned a complete 180, which seemed to be very odd to me. In past events of the Dream SMP, derealizing statements like this tend to be tricks of the mind, but these statements seem to be intentionally put there by those who wrote the book, especially since later on, we see another book completely give up on saying these triggering statements, saying that “It’s not going to work.” (32:05). 

What this implies is that whoever placed these statements are attempting to scare Fundy in some way, possibly heightening his insecurities and terror so that he can be truly terrified of the place. The constant statements of “you are not real” may not only refer to the Other Fundy trying to make Fundy spiral downwards in derealization, but it might actually represent how neglected Fundy feels to the point of feeling invisible, to the point of feeling that he “isn’t real”. But why is this Other Fundy trying to scare Fundy, and who, specifically, is the person behind the writings, you might ask? This question will be answered later on when we go more in-depth with the other books, as the bigger picture is very much needed instead of explaining it all by the first book.

v. SECOND DAY

Fundy wakes up in his base once more, evidently confused. We don’t really know why he wakes up in his base, and why the world changes every time he wakes up, but let’s just say this is all part of his dream to make sense out of it. This time, he sounds more broken, and definitely more unhinged. He calls out for any other member in the chat, telling them that whatever they’re doing is not funny. This is the first we see of Fundy believing that the others may actually just have been pulling a prank on him. He opens his chests frantically before venturing outside once more. He claims that he doesn’t believe the book, saying that this dream sequence feels pretty real to him. 

This time, Fundy puts a bigger emphasis on asking why he is alone, and why nobody seems to be here with him. Fundy seems to be more shaken up by the idea that he’s alone over the idea that he does not know anything about where he is at all. He approaches the van, and when he zooms in, he sees that Wilbur’s nametag disappeared. 

Transcript of this following scene:

“I knew you were there. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no- you can’t fool me! No, I knew you were there Wil. You were there, right there! Where did you go? Are you being- he’s being funny. This is funny! This is great. Aw, this is amazing- it’s just a prank! It’s April Fools soon- that’s why! Oh, I’m just being pranked… right?”

Now, this was… sad. This is one of the other statements that could have a double meaning. Fundy insisting that Wilbur is supposed to be there could not only be him comparing this day to the previous, but it could also imply his true feelings towards Wilbur, especially since he’s disappeared for a good portion of Fundy’s life. Fundy believes Wilbur is supposed to be there for him, but the reality is that he wasn’t. Instead of facing reality, Fundy concludes that all of this was a harmless joke instead of believing that Wilbur might have possibly left him.

Fundy attempts to enter the van once more, but his attempt doesn’t work. He then follows the path on the side directing to the ominous building only for him to realize that it has gotten closer.

The building getting closer to the main base actually has a lot of symbolism behind it. The building itself stores a lot of secrets, especially when it comes to the truths about this world and the different insecurities Fundy has repressed. Those writing the books have laid out all these secrets in every single book found in this building. The fact that it’s underground is meant to represent that these secrets are meant to be hidden in the depths of Fundy’s mind, but the fact that the building is getting closer to the main base makes it feel like 1.) the stored secrets about this world that Fundy may have forgotten about might finally seep into his consciousness, making him aware of them next time he wakes up, and 2.) the insecurities Fundy repressed deep down are seeping out more and more as it reaches the main core. Once it’s there, Fundy won’t be able to reject the truth about his abandonment issues any longer.

Fundy nears the building, still quite nervous. He opens the door, and the layout of the inside seems to be slightly similar to the previous day, but there are small details here and there that are different. Instead of 10 red carpets, there are 6, and instead of 8 yellow carpets, there are 6. Additionally, the skull seems to be closer, this time directly next to the table.

While the carpets were quite subtle, I do think it symbolizes a certain decrease of something. Red symbolizes the color for passion and love, while yellow is meant to represent happiness and positivity. Earlier, we saw that Wilbur disappeared from the Carmarvan, so the decrease of rugs for each color could represent Fundy’s love and happiness decreasing.

For the skull itself, I don’t know if I’m right, but this is what I infer from it: On the first day, we saw that Wilbur was still standing next to Fundy in the Camarvan as the first skull underground was still very far away. On the second day, when Wilbur was gone, the skull got closer, standing next to the table instead of it being far away. I theorize that if the skull is closer, then a canon death has already occurred in the time period the day wants to present. The first day presents a time where Wilbur was still taking care of Fundy, so Eret’s betrayal may not have happened yet, hence why the skull merely stayed hidden at the corner. On the second day, Wilbur has actively left Fundy, similar to the period after L’Manberg’s independence when Fundy had to partake in the Pet Wars alone. During that era, the betrayal has already happened, which is why I believe the skull is much closer this time. 

Continuing on, Fundy opens the book and begins reading. From this point onwards, I do want to go more in depth with each of the books, so I’ll put transcripts here and there with my thoughts added onto it after each transcript.

“Hi me!

Welcome back!

Yeahh, second time here? or third?

not entirely sure”

So, this is confirmation that this might not be the first time Fundy’s having dreams like this. A good question to ask is if the book was written a long time ago and has presented itself the same way it does right now, or if this book was written recently. I don’t think the stream gave a definitive answer, but it is something to keep in mind.

“Listen to me Fundy

and you should trust me because,

well you know why

There are two things you can do right now

Walk back to your base, jump in bed, fall asleep, and you will wake up as if nothing ever happened

Or you can keep reading…

And I will tell you what I know”

The book pauses for a bit then continues saying “You are not real” ten times, “You dont want to know the truth” fifteen times, and spams “WAKE UP” until the 38th page, a number we analyzed earlier because of the 38 baked potatoes. 

For the book itself, whoever is writing the book seems to be a bit hesitant when writing. It doesn’t seem to want to explain what this place truly is to Fundy, and as much as it clarifies that they are, indeed, Fundy, they never expound on how they were able to write these books and why Fundy should trust him. Other Fundy saying “you should trust me because, well you know why” is actually quite ominous, and I can only think of two reasons as to why they would say it: 1.) Other Fundy is implying that Fundy can trust him because he is, in fact, the same person, or 2.) Other Fundy is hinting that Fundy trusts too easily as seen with the people Fundy trusted in the real world.

Additionally, the Other Fundy seems to emphasize on the fact that they WANT Fundy to go to sleep and wake up in the overworld. They phrase it so that sleeping once more is the more logical option, while they basically scare Fundy with the other option, evident by his quickened heartbeat. The Other Fundy seems to know about the intricacies of this dream and its world, but seems to be very hesitant to tell Fundy about it. The continuous threats imply that the Other Fundy doesn’t want Fundy to know the truth at all.

Basically, this Other Fundy knows something, something our Fundy doesn’t know about, and wants to emphasize that it is something horrific. He will do whatever he can do so that he can stop Fundy from knowing the truth, even if it means he has to scare Fundy.

Additionally, to me, it feels like “WAKE UP” could possibly have two meanings. If the underground structure is meant to represent things that Fundy constantly represses to the back of his mind, not only would the secrets of his dream reside there, but his own repressed insecurities may reside there as well. The way Fundy treats the truth about his dreams is actually quite similar with the way he treats his insecurities- he tends to reject its existence and pretend that everything is normal. This dream isn’t just a dream, it’s an exploration of Fundy’s mind, and telling Fundy to “WAKE UP” doesn’t just refer to not knowing the truths about the dream, but it could also refer to Fundy not knowing the truths about his own insecurities hidden deep in the depths of his mind. 

vi. THIRD DAY

Fundy wakes up, breathing heavily. He paces around his room before opening the door frantically, seeing that he is still stuck in a desert. He begins to laugh, repetitively telling himself that all of this is a “joke”. He continues questioning why he’s still in this dream, and when he opens the door, he sees the ominous structure observably closer to the base. He claims that he’s actually stressing out, and Fundy goes on a tangent about this dream and reveals a bit about his insecurities:

“They’re toying with me, they’re toying with me. They’re actually- everyone is toying with me- they are ALWAYS TOYING WITH ME. Everyone is! I’m always being played with. Why? Why always me- no! Why does it always have to be me? Every single time. I don’t wanna- (sigh). I don’t wanna keep dealing with this- I just wanna- no- do I just… Do I just… Do I just go up here and listen to- wai- okay. The book said I have two options: I can wait here until it’s night time. Wait until the sun sets and I can go to sleep, and when I go to sleep and wake up, none of this is real. None of this is gonna- it’s gonna disappear. None of this is real, none of this is real, none… It’s not real, it’s not real, I am currently not real, this is no- how is this possible? How is this- wha- how did- how… None of this is real. I am not real. All I have to do is wait for midnight and just sleep, and all of this would end, right? All I have to do is… wait until night time and then… it’s all gonna be over, it’s all gonna be done. 

I just gotta sleep, and then, it’s gonna disappear. And then everyone is gonna appear out of a bush and they’re gonna be ‘Surprise!’ and I’m gonna be like, ‘You guys! You’re always pranking me… you’ve always been there for me (sniffs). Every single time… except sometimes… when I needed you the most. I just go to bed… I just go to bed, and then I wake up, and none of this ever happened. And we’re gonna go back to my old life where I have fun and join parties and join groups and only see them disappear in front of my eyes as I start to get attached to them. Y-yeah, that’s- that’s- that’s the choice I’m making. Go back to that... (sigh). Just… or you know…”

LOTS to unpack here, and I’ll go one by one explaining certain aspects of this because it’s not just something that showcases Fundy’s insecurities.

Firstly, interesting how Fundy believed that the book was toying with him like how a lot of other people do. That’s what makes him afraid of the book- the feeling of being pushed around. The book is actively trying to use Fundy’s insecurities against him in order to make him more and more afraid of the truth. This is interesting because Fundy is known to be ignorant towards his actual issues (just look at his monologue), but the Other Fundy seems to be acutely aware of them. I will explain why he is aware of them later on.

Secondly, this is the most observable point, Fundy seems to be aware that he is quite frankly, alone, but tends to ignore it. He copes with his abandonment issues by treating his abandonment like a joke. He believes that every single person who’s left him did it as a prank. Even if he laughs at this idea, he is also evidently hurt by it. It hits even harder when you realize that Fundy is quite the dependent character, often sucking up to any person who gives him recognition. If Fundy depends on others to dictate his self-worth, how do you think he thinks of himself right now when he literally has nobody?

Putting emphasis on Fundy’s loneliness is going to be interesting because I do think some characters in future arcs are going to exploit that. If Quackity is going to use and manipulate Fundy the same way Sam does, then there would be no doubt that he will use Fundy’s loneliness against him. Even if it’s not Quackity who approaches Fundy first- even Bad, Sam, Dream, anyone, really, could use Fundy’s loneliness against him, which will make for an interesting plot point.

Lastly, not a lot of people spotted this, but this monologue also gives us insight as to why Fundy continued looking for the truth about his dreams instead of staying in his base and waiting for night. When talking about what to look forward to once he wakes up, he talks about how much “fun” he is going to have. Slowly, you see his denial start to dwindle as he finally admits that people leave him just as he gets attached to them. As much as Fundy wanted to wake up from this horrific dream, he realizes that, once he wakes up, he has nothing to look forward to either. That’s why he hesitates when he says “Yeah, that’s the choice I’m making,” because he realizes waking up isn’t as ideal as it seems. This is why Fundy immediately goes outside afterwards with no hesitation- Fundy has nothing left to lose, hence why he chooses to venture forth. Fundy is driven to do things because he feels like his life is purposeless anyway.

Fundy then begins to head outside quietly, zooming into the ominous building while walking right towards it. He then detours for a moment, walking towards the right of the building, and approaches a giant crater filled with obsidian and blackstone.

The explosion could symbolize two things:

Any of the L’Manberg explosions. With the obsidian and blackstone combination, my guess is that this is either the first Doomsday event (L’Manbergian War of Independence) because of L’Manberg’s walls, or the November 16th War because of Schlatt’s Podium. Why the big amount of blackstone and obsidian? Well, I’m not so sure when it comes to L’Manberg as its walls didn’t have obsidian, but for the November 16th war, I do think that the abundance of blackstone and obsidian is meant to represent how Fundy is reducing the November 16th war to Schlatt’s Podium. This can be alarming as he was the one who made Schlatt’s Podium, so reducing the war to that one building might symbolize that he blames himself for the war.

Another theory, which is the theory I subscribe to more, is that this is actually depicting an event in the future that we haven’t seen yet. Namely, the prison. If you zoom in on the explosion, the block pattern is quite reminiscent of the block pattern present in the prison.

While I’ll mostly discuss Fundy’s future predicting powers later, I do think that there’s a possibility that Fundy saw a vision of the future, unlike the past two days where he saw visions of the past. The prison might possibly be nuked in the future.

Fundy then proceeds to walk back towards the building, repetitively saying “no”. He claims he needs to find out, sounding more determined than before. For this, even if the explosion could represent many things, I do think Fundy is generally reminded of the explosions he had to witness throughout the history of the Dream SMP. Perhaps he believes that finding out the truth could prevent more explosions from occurring, perhaps he figured out that this was the prison and he needed to know why it exploded, perhaps him walking away from something that’s reminiscent of real life represents his choice of wanting to learn more about his dreams rather than sticking to anything similar to real life. 

Moving on, Fundy enters the building, saying he wants to know what’s going on. The underground room seems to have changed a bit, as the chiseled quartz floors changed into quartz bricks. The place also seems to be littered with end stone blocks and bricks. The place is much darker as well, and the carpets on the floor and table seem to be gone entirely. Two skulls can be observed near the table.

My brain actually can’t reason as to why the end blocks were there, or why the quartz blocks changed. My guess is that the end stones will eventually connect to a future plot point relating to the End, but again, I’m not sure. The carpets being gone could represent that the love and happiness (red and yellow) that Fundy had disappeared completely. The dishevelled state of the room could represent that the secrets being held inside this underground room are finally breaking free as its confines tear down more and more. 

Now the skulls- if we go by the theory I presented earlier, then the skulls are meant to represent canon deaths. If the skull was tucked into the corner, then that means death is to come, but if it’s near the table, then I believe the canon death already occurred. If two skulls are next to the table, then it could imply that whatever time period the day is set in should be around the time Fundy loses a second canon death, which hasn’t occurred yet. Again, this is all speculation, so I might be overthinking, but if the explosion is meant to represent the prison getting nuked, then there’s a possibility Fundy would lose a canon life before the prison gets destroyed.

Now, onto the juicy bit: the book. The book reads as follows:

“Hi. again.

...Why are we so persistent

...Why are we so stubborn

...You have been here before, but you keep coming back

...Why?

WHY???

You dont want to know the truth

It will hurt you

I dont want to be hurt again

YOU dont want to be hurt again

I KNOW WHAT YOU WANT

PLEASE JUST LEAVE

GO TO BED

FALL ASLEEP

ENJOY YOUR LIFE

ENJOY THE FUN THINGS

THE TRUTH ISNT WHAT YOU WANT

PLEASE

STOP THIS

STOP!!!”

The book tries scaring Fundy by spamming “WAKE UP” across multiple pages.

“It’s not going to work, huh..

Listen to me Fundy…

Your mind is not safe…

You are not imagining this…

This place might not be real…

But he is.

Spare yourself.

I need you to listen carefully.

Do not join him.

Whatever he asks of you.

Do NOT join him.

his plans aren’t as nice as they sound.

his intentions aren’t what you think they are.

he will use you

he will destroy you

everything you ever loved

everyone you ever cared about

do not join him.”

Before I explain this book, I think it’s best to also note down what was said in the next book as well so I can better explain what’s going on.

“note to self

hello

I just wrote this book to remember who I am

To remember what is happening

All the books I just found are indeed written by me

Listen to yourself

You suffer from a very odd illness

You suffer from a form of insomnia, within your own dreams.

Now the effects of this aren’t really known, and even I don’t fully know what is going on.

but let me tell you

somehow, this world, these actions and events, are linked to reality.

things that happen in these so-called “dreams”, tend to leak into the real world

they will actually happen.

you might wonder how exactly this is a bad thing.

the ability to predict certain events from happening, sounds pretty cool.”

Fundy then stops reading the book, seemingly overwhelmed by the influx of information. Analysis time, boys, time to unpack what this all means.

Firstly, I believe that this dream has happened before. Multiple times, actually. If certain “events” in the dream are meant to predict the future, then the moments involving the Camarvan on the first two days could imply that Fundy has seen this place before during the L’Manberg era where he could’ve predicted Eret’s betrayal and the loss of his father. If we think about it, the books could honestly be given to Fundy at any time period and it would work. Look at the entire section of the book describing someone who Fundy can’t trust- this “him” person could honestly be… anyone who abandoned Fundy? If the book hints at someone who might possibly hurt and use Fundy, then Eret, Wilbur, Schlatt, and Dream could also be considered. These people were nice to Fundy at first before betraying him one way or another. There is a possibility that this dream has warned Fundy about these people in the past, only for Fundy to forget about the dream. What about this time though, who is this “him” that’s going to betray Fundy during this time period? Well, the easy answer would be Quackity, but Bad could be a possibility as well. With the hint towards Quackity at the end, I do believe that Quackity would be the main suspect, but it’s also good to keep an open mind as we don’t know much of who Fundy’s involved with in Season 3.

Now, why would Fundy be able to forget about the dreams, though? I do think that whoever is responsible for writing the books are doing their best to prevent Fundy from uncovering the truth. Who do I think are the book authors? Well, I don’t think they were lying when they said that they were Fundy. I believe that, just like the Dream voice in Ranboo’s head, the Fundy that writes books would be some sort of conscience or subconscious in Fundy’s mind. This part of the mind holds certain memories repressed by Fundy, as well as some of the insecurities he chooses to ignore. They are aware of all of Fundy’s past visits of this dream, and they know the dangers of it, which is why they want Fundy to not uncover the truth. 

The signed book claims that whatever Fundy sees in the dream will seep out into reality. Knowing this, I believe Fundy’s subconscious is trying to prevent Fundy from seeking out the truth to prevent these future visions from happening in real life; this especially applies to events that involve Fundy possibly being hurt. There is a possibility that this Fundy has seen past Fundy’s discover events like the Camarvan and the loss of Wilbur occur in dreams way past before it occurred in real life, so they feel afraid that our Fundy would uncover more and more truths that would become reality. While we don’t know if Other Fundy’s beliefs on future predicting is true, this gives us a better understanding of why they want Fundy to go to bed and wake up. (Additionally, the Other Fundy has placed emphasis on saying that the truth may hurt Fundy, so there is a possibility that these future events might involve something that heightens Fundy’s insecurities more. That’s why this Fundy seems to be so aware of Fundy’s insecurities- they have witnessed Fundy’s insecurities being used against him in certain visions.)

For the memory thing, so far, I believe a part of Fundy’s mind is actively suppressing all the memories Fundy has of his dreams. Fundy already represses a lot of his insecurities, so using Fundy’s insecurities against him might actually enable them to keep Fundy’s memories about the dream locked in the corners of his mind. The place where the book is kept in is underground, after all, but we do have to keep in mind that the building is getting closer and closer to Fundy’s main base. This could symbolize that Fundy will remember his dreams more once he wakes up.

So basically, so far, Fundy has dreamt this dream multiple times in the past, and during each dream, he witnesses an event in the future that could possibly happen in real life. Fundy’s subconscious, or possibly past versions of Fundy, are trying to warn future Fundy’s to not uncover too many truths about the dream as they believe this could possibly manifest terrible events to happen in real life. To get Fundy to go back to bed, they try scaring Fundy, using his insecurities against him, only this time, Fundy is a bit more disobedient because, again, he feels like he has nothing left to lose. 

Another theory I have which I’m not 100% sure about is that this Other Fundy, as much as it has good intentions, may have committed a mistake when they tried to get Fundy to bed by using his insecurities. If anything in the dream may happen in real life, them heightening Fundy’s insecurities might pass over to the real world as well. While scaring Fundy could prevent him from uncovering the truth, it might’ve also been a double-edged sword as Fundy is more aware of his insecurities more than ever.

Continuing on, Fundy decided to leave the building, seeing that it’s night time. He sounds relieved knowing that he can sleep and that he can wake up from this dream. He celebrates for a moment, throwing the book away, but then he hesitates, saying he wants to know the truth. He picks the book up again but doesn’t read it immediately, claiming that he could just sleep instead of knowing the truth.

Fundy seems to revel in the idea of waking up for a bit until he mentions how much of a “blast” he can have with everyone once he wakes up. After mentioning this, he immediately picks up the book with no hesitation. This is the second time Fundy is shown to be motivated in finding the truth about his dreams because of him realizing how unfun the real world is. Again, Fundy is seen to be motivated by the fact that he has nothing left to lose, and as much as he is scared of this dream, he seems to prefer finding this world’s truth over going back into the real world where he’s practically alone.

Moving on, the book continues:

“however…

while this might be the case of dreams…

this is also the case for nightmares…

this is your last warning Fundy

please… for the both of us…

just wake up”

This part of the book simply affirms all I’ve theorized about earlier. The Other Fundy hints that some events that Fundy might witness in his dream would be detrimental to Fundy, which is why he doesn’t want Fundy to continue exploring. He knows that Fundy will possibly manifest an event that will ruin him in real life, so he wants Fundy to sleep instead of accidentally manifesting his demise.

vii. FOURTH DAY

Fundy then wakes up once more, complaining that this dream never ends. He goes outside, seeing a black, hooded figure slowly turn around and chase him. With a quickened heartbeat, he runs up his stairs to sleep in a black bed placed on the roof. Fundy screams as we see the hooded figure approach, and the screen fades to black. A white smiley face reminiscent of the one on Quackity’s skin appears on the screen as casino slots sound effects play in the background.

Now, what do I make of this? Well, firstly, we gotta point out that his bed at the end looked EERILY similar to a gravestone. A lot of websites claim that sleeping in a gravestone or seeing a gravestone could indicate change, especially when it comes to overcoming one’s sadness or problems. In a literal sense, we can think of it as something foreshadowing a future canon death, especially if we think that the person chasing Fundy is the grim reaper.

Speaking of that person, I do have a couple of explanations as to who this person is:

The person is death themselves, the grim reaper. This is the common conclusion everyone believes in, especially when we consider this “him” person possibly hurting Fundy, and that second skull in the underground room. Quackity is the main culprit for now, especially with that smiley face in the end, but there could be other possibilities! Like, what if someone takes Fundy’s canon life before he joins Quackity, which is why the smiley face only popped up after Fundy’s dream death? Mayhaps someone affiliated with Quackity might be doing the dirty work for him, so Bad, Sam, Dream, and anyone, really, could be responsible for Fundy’s future canon death. Moreover, the fact that this death occurs affirms the beliefs of the Other Fundy. The Other Fundy merely wants Fundy to be safe from possibly manifesting his demise in real life, but Fundy’s curiosity got the best of him, and in the next sequence, he was killed, proving that the Other Fundy was right in saying that Fundy should’ve just slept.

A theory I made up which I’m not 100% sure of is that this figure is actually Fundy’s subconscious trying to get him to sleep. When Fundy was being chased, we heard a quickened heartbeat, and where was the only other time we heard that? When Fundy was reading the “WAKE UP” and “you’re not real” messages from those books. We can view this as the Other Fundy’s attempt in trying to get Fundy to actually sleep by using another scare tactic against Fundy. And well… it did work! Because Fundy was afraid of this figure, Fundy went to sleep. There is also a possibility that this occurrence is what makes Fundy forget about the dream because his subconscious got a hold of Fundy and forcibly made him forget, but I’m not 100% sure about that one yet.

Lastly, the face! That should already allude to Fundy possibly joining Quackity’s lore, and with the “38 potatoes” symbolizing business opportunities, I expect Fundy to be joining Las Nevadas as a possible employee. Quackity does, in fact, prey on people who are insecure, and can easily get them to do whatever he wants because of his words. If he can get Sam to give him the tools needed to torture Dream, Quackity might exploit Fundy’s loneliness into making him do whatever Quackity wants from him. 

Another face that this could possibly connect to is the face in the Egg lair! While I’m leaning more towards Quackity because of the casino sounds, I do wanna say that the Egg and the Eggpire could possibly be connected as well, especially when the Egg could provide Fundy anything he wants. Just like how Quackity could prey on Fundy’s insecurities, the Egg preys on those who feel like they’re missing something, so as much as Fundy could be manipulated by Quackity, he could also be manipulated by the Egg. Additionally, business opportunities could apply to the Eggpire as well as they’ve contacted Purpled in the past to assassinate Puffy, so who’s to say they won’t try adding Fundy to the Eggpire?

TLDR; This entire stream showcased both Fundy’s insecurities and Fundy’s future predicting powers and how this “Other Fundy”, aka his subconscious, wants him to repress them because they believe that if Fundy uncovers the secrets of his dream more, then Fundy would accidentally manifest his demise in real life. Additionally, Fundy is very lonely, making him vulnerable of being used in the future because he is desperate to get any type of recognition from anybody. In summary, be afraid of Fundy’s future lore streams, be very afraid.

viii. ADDITIONAL NOTES

Even when I finish this, there’s a lot of questions to ask about this stream that I want you to keep in mind:

How many times has Fundy encountered this before?

How does Fundy forget all the information he got from the dreams?

How does Fundy write to himself?

Why is there so many details connected to Karl, and what does it have to do with time travelling?

Why does Fundy return to his bed every time his heartbeat quickens when reading a book?

Was the first scene part of the dream or not?

Could the underground room’s structure actually mean something?

And there’s probably more, but just saying, keep an open mind about this entire stream because there’s definitely a lot more to uncover.

I want to reiterate: I am not the Messiah, so don’t take my word as the truth and the absolute truth. I’d love to hear your thoughts about Fundy’s stream as a lot of it could be up for speculation! The entire thing is filled to the brim with symbolisms, so there could be a lot of interpretations to consider. If you enjoyed this, feel free to like and retweet because I worked my ASS off with this one. 

Special thanks to the following:

Fundy and any of the Dream SMP members because that stream was INCREDIBLE. Go give them your love and support.

kingjem for always being there whenever I want to discuss any ideas I have about the Dream SMP. One of the smartest bitches I know, go follow them.

To all my betas who reviewed this document since I have a TON of grammar mistakes (thanks English): prismartist, bootsforthebootsgod, Finni_june (twt), ender-hyperfocuses-on-things, and Dngertosociety2 (twt)

And to all of you who like this post and would share it to other people! All support is appreciated. :D

[flyingupward]

critical role - bell’s hells - arc 1 sentence starters

all sentences taken from episodes 1-23 of the third campaign of critical role. feel free to change pronouns, phrasing etc. to fit your needs!

“Kids like fun scary. You’re scary scary.”

“What time are you going to wake up? You’re being lazy.”

“Smiley day to you!”

“All right. We’re done talking in front of you. Let’s go.”

“She’s effective. You’ve just gotta be careful around her.”

“I’m immediately concerned about the creepy ass bitch 40 feet away dripping with goo.”

“Do you want my face to wear off after a few minutes?”

“There is no thinking here tonight.”

“Of all the isms, optimism is the most optimistic!”

“The rat makes sense.”

“Plan A is shit now. It’s Plan B.”

“Does no one crime?!”

“God, I miss cartilage.”

“We hate furniture.”

“So your hobbies are baking cake and covertly protecting the realm from evil. What an odd retirement!”

“Jazz I don’t fuck with.”

“Every once in a while, you need to see the sun rise. It might be that night for me.”

“I’m glad the noise has stopped for you. I’m glad you’re at peace.”

“I get headaches just listening to people chatter out loud. I can only imagine the dumb shit people have rolling around in their heads.”

“Why does everyone think I need so much sandwich?”

“Don’t backseat rope hold.”

“They say that goodbye is the hardest word to say, but it’s not. It’s Worcestershire.”

“That is delightfully fucked up.”

“Well the head got up and the head got hit.”

“Did you kiss them? Did you kiss the beef?”

“Should we get a late lunch before murder?”

“You don’t want to do murder on an empty stomach.”

“What are the chances we’re going to wander into two terrible things in one day?”

“My telekinesis is much stronger than I am.”

“I’d love to see your insides.”

“I thought it was gonna be otters!”

“Inanimate objects! It’s a conspiracy of inanimate objects!”

“You should poke it. We’re pretty sure it’s dead, but there’s only one way to tell.”

“Oh, you’re all sorts of fucking crazy.”

“I’m just saying come correct or get corrected.”

“I don’t want to make this awkward, but I have this group on toy retainer so…”

“You’ll figure it out. I don’t have time to put you through business school, fuck.”

“All of them are going on a date with the cook.”

“That’s got to be a record. We did three clusterfuck break ins in one day.”

“I feel like we resort to the B&E route quite a bit. I feel like we should mix it up.”

“I was going to say it’s Tuesday, but that’s not real.”

“I’m getting my wood’s worth!”

“I’m not disappointed, I’m just angry.”

“How can you make something so nice still sound so creepy?”

“Let’s go do some crime, fuck it.”

“Think of it as a very complicated vacation.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I am appreciative. I’m also gonna fuck off in the morning.”

“You know, I thought I was the king of cagey. What is it about this group?”

“You silly, silly noble.”

“As harsh as the world may seem at times, there are good people out there. It’s easy for them to be drowned out by the noise.”

“Those who are loved are never lost.“

“Those who are loved are never lost… Unless it’s like your keys.”

“You can accomplish anything if you believe in yourself or if you have wealthy parents.”

“Friendship is pastries!”

“I don’t fuck around when it comes to wood.”

“I kinda hate it and I kinda love it, but I mostly hate it.”

“Have you ever, in your entire life, been bumped so hard your ring fell off?”

“Y’all came in with weird energy and you done fucked me up.”

“Paying his debts? In the bathroom? That sounds like a lot of work!”

“I feel like this is a pretty open and shut nightmare.”

“You are a cup.”

“May the hair in your ears never fall out.”

“As you said so yourself in your head probably, we’re a bunch of bumblefucks.”

“When you aggressively whittle wood behind the bench like that, it looks like something else.”

“I’m gonna protect the dead lady.”

“Lick salt, fucker!”

"Anything worth doing, anything really really complicated, should not be done quickly."

“I love other peoples’ problems, please.”

“I feel oddly comforted and it disturbs me.”

“I’ve been up for a while just kind of looking at you.”

“Do you want to eat our face off?”

“You should never have to run into the storm alone.”

“Trees: Nature’s titty tassels.” 

 “If you’re looking for a book repository, we’re in a fucking swamp.” 

“That is so mean and I am so proud of you.” 

“It just turns out I’m really good at killing wood.” 

“Is it cake or is it death?” 

“Who’s Santa now, bitch?” 

“Fuck this haunted house.” 

“I’m a big, shiny rainbow motherfucker right now.” 

“I know where you power down.” 

“Right feels weird.” 

“Did I just mention that because I love it or because we’re contractually obligated to? Maybe both.” 

“I often find a little bit of understanding helps in easing the fear.” 

“Anybody can be grumpy if you work hard enough.” 

“I thought you were a healer. You cut me deep.” 

“Just cause you have a soul doesn’t mean you know how to use it too good.” 

“It has been nearly two weeks and I have forgotten how extremely strange you all are.” 

“Okay, goodnight, I’ll watch you sleep.”

[kuiperblog]

Feel-good “bad ends”

Movie protagonists are often breaking the rules. This is true even when our protagonists are on the right side of the law: after all, nobody’s perfect. (And if they were, we probably wouldn’t like them as much: after all, it’s hard for a character to have a “growth arc” if they start from a place of perfection. And making occasional mistakes reminds us that, just like us, they’re only human: they’re more relatable.)

But when our protagonists break the rules, it often leads toward one of two different endings: either they get caught and punished for their transgressions (which can make for a feelbad ending), or they get away with it scot-free. Most movies opt for the latter, but it can often feel unsatisfying, because there’s a real sense in which we want to see our protagonists reap the consequences of their actions.

Usually, it’s not a problem for them to suffer the consequences if their transgression is minor. For example, if the main character says something mean to his love interest, he can get a slap in the face -- and having paid for his transgressions, he can then immediately be rewarded with whatever feel-good conclusion the audience is in the mood for.

However, sometimes the protagonist’s transgressions are more dire, and demand more dire consequences. Recently, I’ve found two movies that manage to end with something that is, in an objective sense, a very bad outcome for the main characters, and exactly in proportion to what they deserve for their significant transgressions during the film, yet still allows for a “feel-good” ending. Naming those examples would by itself probably be a spoiler, so...spoilers for an Edgar Wright movie and a Pixar movie (and a Rocky movie) below the fold.

Heist movies are the classic example of a movie formula where the protagonists break a ton of rules and, in the case of a feelgood ending, basically can’t suffer any consequences. Either they get caught and it’s a moral aesop about how crime doesn’t pay, or they get away with it and we’re happy that our characters, who are really quite morally virtuous apart from their tendency to commit acts of robbery, are able to enjoy the spoils they’ve absconded with.

Baby Driver is a movie that I think strikes the perfect balance.  In the end, our main character Baby doesn’t get away with his crimes. He’s committed a lot of crimes, and been involved in a lot of robberies. And not the non-violent kind, either!

At the same time, Baby was always “one of the good ones.” He was never the guy who held the gun; he was always the one behind the wheel. In fact, for basically his entire criminal career, he was blackmailed into it. Of course, the lazy method would be for the judge to have pity on him -- he was forced to commit crimes! But that would be ignoring the fact that the entire reason he got blackmailed in the first place is that he happened to steal a car from a criminal kingpin -- Baby was boosting cars well before a villain put a gun to his head and forced him to do it.

But as we see Baby marched to his prison cell, it’s intercut with testimony during his trial. Everything that we could have said in Baby’s defense is articulated by witnesses speaking in his defense:

“He got himself into a bad spot. I was just trying to get him out. I believe the defendant is of good character. He didn't deserve what happened to him.”

“It was the strangest thing. Before he drove off, he threw my purse right at me. Then he actually said ‘I'm sorry.’” (A delightful callback to a comedic moment earlier in the movie: Baby might resort to carjacking when he’s in a pinch, but he is the most polite carjacker you will ever meet. He doesn’t need your valuables; he just needs a getaway vehicle.)

“He made a mistake when he was younger, and it's haunted him ever since. When he tried to get out, he was pressured even harder. It was never his fault. He's got a good heart. Always has. Always will.”

Maybe it’s the fact that Sky Ferreira’s cover of Lionel Richie’s “Easy Like Sunday Morning” is the musical bed for this scene, but there’s something about the scene that feels incredibly cathartic. Baby Driver might be our protagonist, but he’s not innocent in all of this. His actions have consequences, and he gets sentenced to prison time for them.

At the same time, we’re left with the distinct impression that he has a life waiting for him on the outside. At the very least, Deborah is there waiting for him.

We can rest assured that Baby has no desire to return to a life of crime -- he and Deborah will be content with a modest life together. Indeed, a “modest life” is never something that either of them would need to settle for. Having a quiet simple life has been their aspiration for as long as they’ve known each other. Baby ends the movie knowing that he has years of prison time ahead of him, but also knowing that he’s on the start of a path to redemption. It’s enough to put a skip in his step as he walks across the prison yard.  (Well, maybe not a literal skip in his step, but at the very least, it’s written on his face: he feels good about the path he’s on.)

Baby Driver came out in 2017, but I’ve already lost count of how many times I’ve watched it. I think the ending is a big part of what keeps me coming back to it. I love this ending -- there’s really nothing like the catharsis of seeing Baby held to account for his actions, while also having his virtues acknowledged. Those virtues might not be enough for him to avoid punishment, but in a way, his virtue its its own reward.  It’s a heist movie that ends with the main character getting caught and spending years behind bars, and yet it’s an incredibly feelgood ending that just leaves you satisfied for all the right reasons. (After all, we’ve seen the fate of Baby’s confederates: we know that he could have encountered fates much worse than prison.) There’s really nothing like it.

Well, almost nothing. Last night I finally got around to watching Monsters University.

It’s a fun movie -- the central plot is the classic “underdog sports story.” Mike Wazowski has no talent for scaring -- according to the bigshot jock voiced by Nathan Fillion, the only way someone like Mike could end up working at a place like Monsters Inc is in the mailroom. Of course, because this is a prequel, we know that Mike’s story ends with him and Sulley being best buds together working at the Monsters Inc scream factory, so the odds can’t be that stacked against them, right?  After all, the stakes are too high for them to fail: besides the fact that they need to be ready for the events of Monsters Inc, Mike is able to parley for a chance to get into the university’s scare program only because he makes an agreement with the Dean that if he fails, he’ll leave the school. With stakes that high, it seems only inevitable that Mike and Sulley will fulfill the classic underdog trope and lead a team of lovable losers to victory through sheer force of will (and the power of friendship).

Except, as we find out, force of will and the power of friendship aren’t enough to win you the big game when the thing you’re being tested on is talent and athleticism. Mike gets to experience the triumph of victory...but quickly learns that it only happened because Sulley cheated.

Mike and Sulley both bit off more than they could chew, and made a number of poor choices along the way. Sulley, unable to accept loss, cheated to achieve victory. Mike, unable to cope with experiencing loss, breaks into the university’s door department to mope around in the human world -- which is strictly verboten and extremely dangerous. 

But...in the course of solving the problem that they’ve created themselves (combining their efforts to escape the human world by using scare techniques the likes of which have never been seen before), we learn that Mike and Sulley do have what it takes. The Dean recognizes it, too. It almost feels like she’s about to offer them leniency. After all, this is a prequel movie: we know that all of this has to end with Mike and Sulley working at Monsters Inc in the scare department, right? That means the Dean has to let them back into the university’s scare program! Surely their acts of daring and bravery show they have what it takes to make it in the Monsters University scare program!

And so it comes as no surprise when, at the end of the third act, the Dean comes out just as they’re about to depart. We see what looks like a smile on her face for the first time in the movie.

Except, of course, it would be crazy if they got off scot-free. Mike broke into the human world, which is about the worst possible thing a monster can do. And if the cheating scandal weren’t enough to sink Sulley, there’s also the fact that he followed Mike into the human world (his intentions were noble as he wanted to save his friend, but still extremely dangerous and just as verboten).

The Dean has nothing but kind things to say to them. But that doesn’t mean she’s going to rescue them from the consequences of their actions.

The two get no leniency. We feel an odd mixture of elation and defeat. On one hand, they got the validation that they craved: the Dean, who thought it was impossible for Mike Wazowski to ever be a scarer, now admits that she may have misjudged him. On the other hand, their lives are ruined. They must now reap what they have sown. What will become of their dreams now? And maybe more importantly, how the heck are we supposed to get from here to the events of the original movie that takes place several years later in the Monsters Inc chronology?

And then, Mike remembers something.

“You know, there is still one way we can work at a scare company. They’re always hiring in the mail room.”

Mike and Sulley start at the absolute bottom rung of the corporate ladder. But there are worse fates than doing blue collar work. After all, the entire theme of the underdog sports story that got us to this point was to show that Mike (and, with Mike’s encouragement, also Sulley) are the kind of monsters who will do whatever it takes to achieve their dreams, simply willing it to happen through sheer enthusiasm and force of will and, of course, the power of friendship. After all, anything can be fun when you’re doing it with your friends. As Sulley says, “This is better than I ever imagined!” They approach the job with an enthusiasm that tells us that they’re on their way up within this company.

The rest of their journey is shown to us in montage: 

They’ve got that ambition, baby. This week they’re mopping floors, next week it’s the fries:

Of course, it’s only a matter of time before the company holds “try-outs” for the scare team, and from there, the rest is history.  Plus, if the original movie is fresh enough in your mind, you’ll appreciate the easter egg references to the girlfriend that Mike met during this time (and the constant beratement he constantly got over needing to file his paperwork): 

Over the course of the movie, they made some good decisions -- mostly the ones relating to the power of friendship and hard work. They also made some bad decisions -- mostly relating to playing fast-and-loose with the rules of their institution. Their college careers come to an unceremonious end.

And yet, even though the movie ends with them getting kicked out of college and spending “the best years of their lives” working blue collar jobs, it feels like an undeniably happy ending for the two of them. They reap exactly what they sow -- for worse, and for better. They don’t get to hide from the consequences of their actions...but that doesn’t mean things have to end on a dour note.

There’s something I really dig about that. It feels exactly like the first Rocky movie: Rocky is an athlete who trained and tried and fought as hard as he could -- and still lost. And yet, though he lost the big boxing match, there’s dignity in his loss. And in the end, he succeeded at the thing that really mattered.

In all three of these movies, it feels as though we as the audience are being set up for a specific happy ending. Of course Baby Driver has to end with the getaway driver getting away. Of course Monsters University has to end with Mike and Sulley graduating from the scare program. Of course Rocky has to end with our main character winning the big climactic boxing match. But in the end, we don’t get these “obvious” endings, because getting them wouldn’t really be a reflection of everything that led up to that point. And yet, we don’t walk away disappointed, because we somehow get something better. These characters may not get the “obvious” reward, the thing that they thought they wanted (and the thing that we, as the audience, thought that we wanted). But they get the things that really matter.

[thattimdrakeguy]

I couldn’t finish Batman and Robin 2009. It was just... mentally exhausting and I stopped shortly after Bat Dick put fake Bruce in the Lazarus pit. Based on his appearances in Teen Titans, Bruce Wayne: Road Home, as well as his big fan base, I assumed Damian’s character development was executed nicely in his own series. But then again in Gates of Gotham (literally read it just for Cass) he’s impulsive, arrogant and rude to Cass both to her face and behind her back-even after she saved his life 1

Don’t get me started on the sexist things he’s said to Steph. I want to like Damian, but writers don’t make it easy. I got into comics because of batfam fanfics and he was a fave of mine. Dude was extra violent and displayed borderline sociopathic tendencies in his first appearances, cool beans. There’s a lot they can do with a character like that. I just felt like his bad behaviour was never properly dealt with before B&R, and I couldn’t muster the energy to see him through his own series. 2/2

IMO, Damian felt like a Gary Stu at times.

I don’t know if that last one was from the same person or not, but I just got the feeling it is, and if it’s not, then well it blends well enough and don’t feel the need to answer it separately.

Like all I can really say is that I don’t really like Damian. A lot of people confuse that for me thinking he’s an evil monster. I imagine cause I have a Tim icon and other Tims do rage on about that every now and again. As well as just plain taking things I say the wrong way (though I have probably said things in the moment I imagine). But I just plain don’t really like his writing, and if I can’t really read a comic he’s in that I actually like. Idk, I just find it weird to say I like him, when all I really like is what he could be. I don’t feel like that really equals me liking him, cause when I think about it, I kinda realized that meant the opposite, and didn’t wanna project the wrong idea.

But I wanna say this about Damian. He is insanely inconsistent as a personality and character. To this very day. So, as I do with every character, I start from the beginning, figure out what was meant to be by the writers that helped develop them, and figure out what’s in-character and out of character from there. I just feel like it’s the most objective way I can look at anything if I want to review things with standards that are more than just “I like this” or “I don’t like that”.

And in the case of Damian he’s never not been inconsistent. Like one of the main reasons I reread Batman and Robin (or at least Morrison’s run) was for plans of a post about flanderization in the Bat-Family, cause it was pretty rampant in the 00s and still continues often to this very day, and I think is the cause of a lot of lost sales and unhappiness and overall fandom diminishment.

However also to say it, I liked to see a lot of what Damian could be within B&R 09.

But anyways, basically just because I can’t really do a part of the post on Damian without trying to figure out what he was like to begin with, and what he was supposed to be per his creator.

Cause you can’t really tell in fandom. Cause his most popular comics are from stuff that isn’t in the main universe and was purposely a lot lighter, or in the main universe from writers that really surprisingly didn’t get the character despite the popularity--which continues my thinking on it was less about the quality of the writing and more about the lazy fan service. They honestly really flanderized him in a similar yet opposite way then what they did with Tim in the 00s.

And while I can’t act like the sexism and homophobia wasn’t an actual part of the character of Damian at the time--he shows both of those traits in the series (at least the homophobia, cause I’m now realizing that I might be thinking of another series for the sexism). He was flanderized even then by other writers from the different series.

Like how he’s written in Red Robin, is not freaking Damian. It’s not Damian to me. I don’t accept it as Damian. Even a lot of the content of him in Batgirl I even less feel like is Damian--besides unfortunately some of the sexist comments, but they never really proper developed him on that as far as like--actively showing that, at least that I can recall. So all I can really say is it’s uncomfortable, and how they don’t delve into it is the only real reason I say “That actually sadly does fit in with him”. But it’s not like it doesn’t make sense, he was raised to fight, not to handle emotions or feelings, he probably would do and say really creepy things when he has a crush--I just wish they’d actually acknowledge that what was going on rather than sacrificing a good story for more fan service.

The other writers make him too much of a bratty, snotty, kid. And I found that, that is an absolutely terrible interpretation of Damian, because beyond his origin, he isn’t a typical brat, and he doesn’t really act like a kid (in some ways yes, but general mannerisms and personality no). And even then he was a different kind of brat. He was entitled and bitchy in his origin, not immature (at least in the same way) and snotty. They have him act more like some spoiled brat from next door rather than a kid that was abused into being obedient to be what his abusive mother wanted (Talia shouldn’t be abusive, but like I said before, I think the series sucked overall for reasons like that and more).

(I also find that stupid line cutting scene in RR where I presume he was trying to kill Tim to be even stupider, cause Damian wouldn’t freaking do that at that point. They make Damian come off as so stupid in that issue, I hate it. Cause it was all just a cheap way to force sympathy for him, but it doesn’t even make sense when you think about it and is a huge stretch.)

Damian doesn’t make jokes when he’s written better--it’s like his thing. He’s got quite the temper, and understandably why of course. He’s violent with criminals, but he’s also mostly just stoic as his base state when not in a stressed situation, and even shows remorse (which is a big stretch from his origin, but I blame that on the writing which could be very rushed and lazy). He was treated like just another adult for the most part, and it had a weirdly endearing quality despite the maturity of it, and general edge of the series. It was Damian’s place and it worked really well. It just felt right for their dynamics. Damian’s a unique kid, and they respected him for who he was. He just needed help on his morals and stability.

But other series didn’t really get that. He would still be really rude like his origin, and not really the same tone of rudeness (I’m not sure if I can really explain what I mean by that), he’s aggressive, but putting him in Teen Titans never made sense to me, because I don’t see Dick doing that. Dick had a lot more respect than to force Damian to do something like that. Dick was more patient, and while he did lightly smack (not any kind to hurt him any. literally to demonstrate without pain. more taps really) him to teach him a point about aesthetical weaknesses in his costume like the hood, it was mostly done out of finding a way to teach him that would speak to him. So just forcing him to do something he didn’t want to do--which would clearly not work on him--was just contrived and plain bad writing wise. Something they did more as a stunt so they can say “TITANS NOW HAS THE SON OF BATMAN” than to use him well or continue his story in a natural way.

With Cass I can’t say anything, because that’s like the one time he talks to her, and that basically shows their dynamic. So that’s just them, I can’t really say anything on it. If he felt challenged by her I could see him being a total jerk. It really depends on the scenes themselves. I never read the series myself cause I genuinely really don’t like that Batman Reborn era of Bat-Family. Too much of it was just done for publicity and random changes, and for the most part didn’t work much to me.

But overall, at the same time, despite me singing the praises of what Damian could be, and was for a little while. The overall writing for the character arc was super lazy. Stuff just kind of happens, and way too quick to fit in with what they introduced. He just kind of goes “this is right, now”, which makes his whole brainwashing thing feel a bit--useless, and makes how he went from chopping heads off to that in very little time sort of cuts out depth that could’ve really made the series more rereadable. Damian actually comes off surprisingly as a very flat character for stretches of time in the issues because his character arc is never focused on as much as you’d think until they need to be like “Oh yeah...uh, here’s an emotional moment”. Which just felt really cheap to me.

So the series to me isn’t worth it if you want a good story. None of the stories were good to me, I think I was questioning each one cause it was either schlocky, out of character, or both. I know people like Grant Morrison, but they aren’t for me, I’m not a fan of their writing. Damian was a Gary Stu a lot, which they try to explain with the League thing--but having the League give him experimental surgery so he could walk the same day (or next) after being legitimately paralyzed was just way too freaking much to me. But he does make mistakes, so he’s not at base a Gary Stu really--the writing just really stunk badly sometimes.

This isn’t me putting in a bid to say “OH YOU JUST NEED TO READ THIS, AND YOU’LL FREAKING LOVE HIM”, because to be freaking honest, when you already have a bad taste in your mouth, it’s best to just wait a bit till trying again. I read the fandom recommended comics and felt there was so many problems that I couldn’t read Damian for literal months. And he still has a lot of the problems you said. I’m just saying Damian is surprisingly different when written by his creator than others, cause honestly nearly every single other writer for him has gotten him wrong. Like mind-blowingly wrong. He does not feel like the same character anywhere else. It’s nuts.

To put it another way, it’s a generally speaking bad series, but if you want to see what Damian was meant to be like before they kept regressing him, and diminishing him, and turning him into more a joke, and see what his dynamic with Dick and Alfred was meant to be like, it’s a brilliant and perfect series to read it for.

It’s better for learning about them--then it actually is to enjoy it. Because it’s most likely not a series I’m going to be returning too often unless to research something again.

[starstruckmyths]

Tender is the Love of Yellow and Green

For @stuckys-hot-dogs​, who inspired this little plot bunny to come hopping through the meadow of my head. I blame you and your annoyingly gorgeous piece of magnificent art. This is all your fault. 

                          ┍━━━━━━━ ♡ ━━━━━━━┑

                                                   Chapter 1

                          ┕━━━━━━━ ♡ ━━━━━━━┙

Light scattered, wavelengths expanding and multiplying, and the complicated tapestry of soul and mind broke, only to grow back together in the midst of a wonder of colors, displayed beyond the borders of his soul. The universe reflected in his eyes, twinkling with the thousands of stars, planets and supernovas, all forming patterns from their joined energy, shattering like the stained glass he saw his reflection in.

With the stars still twinkling in his eyes, he closed them, light scattering once more and all joining back together to form a body, two bodies, the many patterns like a kaleidoscopic configuration, reflected in all mirrors around.

In his hand, he clutched his trunk, the new leather pressing hot against his palm. The large thing offered a comforting presence, a certain weight that grounded him while they spun; a sign in the dark, one of safety. Watching the world form around him, was like watching a child fill in a coloring page, only with so much speed it left him slightly disoriented.

A white canvass flowed out before his eyes, lines appearing rapidly like a sped-up video, colored in with green hues; a field of grass. Dark blue streaked above, the night sky forming like wool knitting together, painted by a great big hand that held the brush tightly. 

Beneath his feet, a stone road unfurled, stretching out until it touched the closed doors of a large building, a castle. There was a short flash, no more than the light of a camera when it captured an image. He stumbled forward, feet a second too late to catch up with him, his hands thrust out to catch himself before the fall would ensue. 

The trunk that he had been gripping so tightly, dropped from his hand, the weight gone, nothing to hold on to anymore. As he swayed his arms to regain his footing, the trunk hit the ground, a heavy thump spinning up at any ears close enough to hear. The air around him was hot, though the gentle breeze did much to compensate. There was dust hanging around him, a wet scent of dirt adding something he was not quite used to. Carefully, he stood straight; muscles, fibers, cells, all disoriented, all new to the sensation he just went through.

A deep breath; a new smell; a new experience; a new way of being. He blinked again, eyes slowly opening and closing, turning all that existed dark for the mere half of a second, nothing to be seen while he did. Once reopened he looked into a set of worried eyes, crinkled at the corners by years of age long past.

"Are you alright, mister Rogers?" the woman asked in the dark robes asked, looking him up and done as he stood unsteady on his feet.

He nodded, though still a tad hesitant. "Yes, professor. Just a little dizzy."

She hummed in response, watching him take his trunk before they approached the large building, the castle, mumbling something under her breath about certain dangers and passing by Poppy later if he was still dizzy. Knowing the low murmur of words was not meant for him, but for herself, he kept quiet, stepping alongside her firm stride with a funny feeling rising in his stomach. Something that had nothing to do with the fact he had just been pulled apart at home, and put back together again somewhere completely else.

They entered the large castle, and he felt as if the two eyes that he possessed were not enough by far, and he widened them to take in all that expanded around him. That which they walked through was so tall, grey stones rising like mountains everywhere he looked, covered in a sea of paintings. The echo of ancient magics flew like a spring breeze through the air, and he could feel brush along his skin. The gentle wisps of energy caressed his cheeks like the touch of an old lover, purring as it sensed the new source of magic entering their domain.

The faces of the paintings looked at them curiously as they passed, stretching out their necks and even rising to their feet to grant themselves a better look at the newcomer. He supposed it was strange, the two of them walking around the castle while the rest of the school was readying themselves for the Beginning of the School Year’s Feast in the Hogwarts Train, and the First Years were fluttering about in excitement for what soon would come.

Truth be told, he had rather seen himself arrive here with all them, watching the landscape blur by as he stared out of the window while sitting on the couches of the famous train. Sadly, various reasons and delays had made it impossible for him to arrive at the right station at the right time. Judging from her demeanor, professor McGonagall had rather seen it differently as well, though it was also clear that she did not fault him in any way. She told him to put down his trunk in the corridor at the beginning of the large stairs that led towards the main hall, not offering an explanation why, or what would happen to it.

Their steps echoed around the corridors, the professor held her wand before her, the tip glowing by an unspoken magic spell, that Steve knew by memory. He contemplated taking out his own wand as well, whispering Lumos to it just to see it light up, but he did not. Some of the paintings grumbled and muttered, angry about the bright light that was not quite yet needed, and he wondered how something that was painted could ever be bothered by a light. The evening was falling, and soon it would be dark.

Eventually, they stopped before a large stone gargoyle, standing tall and proud before them, though he had his doubts about the construction. Art was as beautiful as the observer’s eyes saw, but he could hardly think of anyone who would find this piece of work appealing. The professor stopped, watching the stone creature.

"Licorice coins," she said, then she waited patiently.

It moved.

Like a real creature of flesh and blood rather than stone, the gargoyle unfurled its wings and snapped its beak towards the two standing in the hallway. It looked at them with a large eye, moving to the side to reveal a large wall behind itself, which split in two. The gargoyle snapped its stone beak again, arcing its neck with a curious glance towards the two. There was a spiral staircase behind the wall, moving smoothly upward, much like an escalator.

The two of them stepped onto it, the wall closed with a heavy thud, and the gargoyle was out of sight. They rose upward in circles, higher and higher, until at last, dizzy again, Steve saw a gleaming oak door ahead, with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffin. It must be the headmaster’s chamber. Professor Dumbledore’s chamber. Professor McGonagall raised a hand, fingers curled to a slack fist, and then rapped on the door.

"Come in," said a voice, sounding so old and yet so strong at the same time.

As if by itself - which, at this point, wouldn’t surprise him at all - the door opened ajar, far enough for professor McGonagall to take the handle and open it further for the both of them. Steve saw a flash of a most beautiful, circular room, full of funny little objects that shimmered and shone in various lights he could not yet see.

McGonagall stepped inside the room as sure as her whole stance always suggested she was, and, after taking a deep breath, much less certain and confident, Steve followed.

                                                    𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 

When the time came for the First Years to pass through the large entrance hall that awaited them, the thousands of delicate candles, as they floated so gently in the air, seemed to curl and flicker as if to greet them warmly, and the stunning sight did much to the nervous flitter of bugs in Steve’s stomach.

The flames of those pale yellow candles twitched in that vulnerable, yet so powerful way fire does, the bright flames pushed by a breeze from the newly opened door. They twinkled in the dawning darkness of the ceiling above, that looked as if it was a window opened to the very heavens themselves, sparkling with a thousand stars, and lazy clouds sailed by. The candles swayed through the air like a sea of lights above their head, and briefly Steve did wonder how they managed not to drip any wax on the students below. That question was soon answered with the very one word that explained everything around here. Magic.

Those flickers and flutters were caught in the shine of golden goblets and plates that lay perfectly placed on the long tables in the hall. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years - and Steve - up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver.

Feeling like an odd fish out of the water, standing there taller than the rest of the First Years, Steve averted his gaze to the floor as to refrain from having his heart clench in his chest upon the sight of mocking grins. The thought that no one would mock him for being the older one among the First Years had not yet come to mind. Then, he looked at the four-legged stool that professor McGonagall silently placed before the table of the professors, in full view of the entire hall. On top of the stool, she put a pointed wizard’s hat. Steve frowned slightly at its patches and frays, and overall how dirty it looked.

Still, he could feel the magic ooze from it as if it were a river of ancient spells.

When the hat did twitch and twist, his brows raised, and he truly thought that this would be the most strange it could get. Of course, he would be surprised many more times, but though the spells he would learn, and the facts he would memorize, and the creatures he would see were all special and mind-boggling, none of them could be quite as weird as a moving, living hat. When said hat then opened a rip near the brim wide like a mouth, and began to sing as well, Steve could only stare.

Once the hat had finished the song in its deep, surprisingly melodious voice, the whole hall burst into applause. With something that could only be described as a smile, it bowed to each of the four tables before falling to a motionless silence. With a thick swallow, Steve gave the hat a fleeting glance, then quickly looked away.

"We only have to try on a hat, thank goodness," a young voice piped up next to him. Steve turned his head, regarding a young kid who was wobbling and twitching on his feet, hands unable to keep still as they plucked at his robes. The kid’s hair was messy, almost in complete disarray, and his bangs hung in front of his large, brown eyes. The kid was looking back at him, looking positively thrilled to be here. So much so, that he was practically jumping in place with his feet on the floor. "I’m Peter, by the way. Peter Parker."

"Steve Rogers," Steve answered, mustering up a smile to ease both himself and the kid, "Nice to meet you, Peter."

The kid’s jaw dropped.

Professor McGonagall began to read the names from a large scroll of parchment that she was holding. Peter’s head perked up shortly, but hearing that they started with ‘A’, he did not pay much more attention to it. By his side was another First Year, a chubby kid with dark hair, who had been looking left and right into the large hall, but once he heard Steve name himself, his head snapped their way, eyes equally wide as Peter’s.

"Steve Rogers?" he whispered, rushed, breath thin, "You mean, the Steve Rogers? The guy who- umph!"

"Shhh, Ned!" Peter shushed while jabbing his friend with an elbow, a little too loudly, which earned them a pointy look from one of the teachers at the table.

Curious to the teacher, Steve lifted his head, seeing that the man was much, much smaller than the other teachers, having to sit on a special chair to reach the table. He had a shock of white hair, and was wearing green robes. The two of them crossed eyes, and the man’s lips curled up, nodding just slightly before clapping for a student who had been sorted into Ravenclaw. 

Right. The ceremony. He spared a brief glance to the two kids, who now whispered furiously to one another, before looking back at the hat. He dreaded his own turn.

"Rogers, Steven."

Stepping forward, his breathing thin and almost painful, Steve went to sit down on the stool. Whispers broke out like fires across the hall, heads whipping around to meet up with others, and as he sat there, he could just see them look surprised and crane their neck, before the hat was placed on his head. 

The wide brim slipped across his eyes, showing him nothing but a darkness made with old fabric.

"Well," the hat spoke up, like a hush of voice in the back of his head. Somewhere, Steve hoped that the other students would not be able to hear what was said. Like a strange bird on his head, he could feel the hat move. "This is interesting. Very interesting. Hm-mh. You’re a rule breaker, aren’t you? Yes. A reckless one, but in service of others. The greater good, that seems to be reoccurring. I see talent here, certainly. A need for friends. Hufflepuff would give you friends, give you what you need."

Steve gripped the edges of the stool, bowing his head and closing his eyes. He could not care less about where he would end up, he just wished for it to be over. He wished that Hogwarts had no houses at all, so that the sheer dread and fear that slithered coldly through his stomach like a worm would not rear its ugly head. Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Gryffindor, he did not care. He was alright with every single one of them.

He wished the hat would just pick one and be done with it.

"You have ambition, that’s for sure. Needs to be discovered yet, but that’s alright. A brave heart, oh yes, so brave. Selfless. You need to get your head right first, a purpose. How about we go with that?" Unsure if it was a question or not, Steve gave a minute shrug of his shoulders. He did not know. He just did not know, and it ripped his heart. Almost as if reading his mind, which it probably did, the hat said, "That is alright, young wizard, you will figure out where you belong. They all do. Until then, how about we just put you with..."

The hat was silent for just a fleeting moment, then it shifted again and called out, "Slytherin!"

A roar of cheers rose from the hall, most so from the table of students wearing green scarfs. The hat was lifted off his head, but the pressure had not gone away at all. If anything, it seemed to have become even heavier. He could not bring himself to smile as he walked to the table, though he knew it had nothing to do with the house he had been sorted in. Slytherin was fine. Hufflepuff would have been okay. Gryffindor would have been alright.

A few of the students quickly scooted over to make room for him, and he settled down next to a girl who had hair that was even brighter than the flames above, and redder than the banners of the Gryffindor table. The locks curled around her face to pool across her narrow shoulders like lava pouring from a volcano, and her bright green eyes took him in both curiously and openly. Her scarlet lips curled up in something of a smile, and she reached out her hand to lay it, oh so gently, on top of Steve’s.

"You’ll figure it out," she said, her voice somehow perfectly audible through the pandemonium of cheers and voices.

Steve swallowed once more. "I hope so," he answered.

[alltingfinns]

The Hounds of the Baskerville

Holding a phallic object, splattered with a body fluid and breathing heavily.

“Well that was tedious!”

And as if that was too subtle, he keeps playing with the harpoon even after it and him has been cleaned off and he’s switched to one of his robes.

John taking just two seconds to pretend considering to give in, just to be a little shit.

Also I am pretty sure that John has a secret scrapbook just for pictures of Sherlock in the hat.

Oh look, begging for mercy. Twice.

I just really love this scene, the manic energy of Sherlock and the calm sass of John gives us some of the funniest moments of the entire show. Also Ben needs to do more physical comedy.

Here he mentions a blog entry on perfume identification which plays out in HLV, so I’m a bit disappointed that the blogging on textile tensile strength in TEH didn’t feature in s4. Maybe some shirts get ripped in s5?

It’s so mean, but my favorite bit really is the mocking of the little girl asking for help finding her rabbit.

The wagging from side to side “please please please can you help?”

“Like a fairy!” with accompanying high pitch and hand motions.

Followed by a look from John that suggests he doesn’t think a lack of substance is Sherlock’s present issue.

And then suddenly he’s like “wait this actually does sound better than nothing”

And Cluedo. “It was the only possible solution”

Trivia note: the Swedish name for the game is also Cluedo, except we pronounce each vowel seperately. Clu-e-do.

It’s so domestic how they say “client” together. Apparently there’s a certain way frequent callers would ring the doorbell that differentiates clients.

Sherlock’s mainly looking at Henry looking at the video, don’t think I’ve noticed that before.

John’s irritated already when Sherlock begins listing things he noticed. Maybe he feels it is a bit too similar to when they first met, meaning he might be jealous that Sherlock does it with others or irritated at his past self for being as mesmerized as Henry is.

Sherlock inventing aggressive passive smoking.

Sherlock is so annoyed that Henry keeps thinking he’s in a horror story rather than a detective story.

I wonder what kind of poetry John wrote. He probably tried to use his feelings for Sherlock to simulate the romance his girlfriends wanted, which is why it is extra exasperating that Sherlock found it “funny”. Although that might be because he’d find the poetry mismatched to the girlfriends and/or the emotional investment John showed them.

“Childhood trauma masked by an invented memory. Boring!”

The parallel has been pointed out before but it bears repeating. Even if they hadn’t planned ahead by the time this episode was written, why go ahead and use an already discarded plot device they themselves called boring?

Interestingly the plot of the episode does more or less lead to this being the solution but not quite. The memory was invented and masking the real events, but it wasn’t Henry’s childhood brain doing it (at least not without aid). Might be worth comparing these plots. If only for the meta moment of it wasn’t you who imagined what you saw, someone made you see it. And then they tried to drive you into fear and doubt to keep secrets hidden.

“The vanishing glow-in-the-dark rabbit! NATO is in an uproar.”

That :( face is so funny every time.

Hound is a bit tricky in Swedish as the Swedish word for dog is hund. So the subtitles just go with spökhund. (Ghost dog)

“It’s cold.” John doesn’t even say anything but he still makes Sherlock self conscious.

Wonder why they showed us the therapy session?

John standing by the counter looking at Sherlock just looking very soft.

Doesn’t even complete his denial. And was that a single key, or were two keys just so closely held together? I’ve never been fully sure if they shared a single room or had one each. John’s incomplete denial would suggest separate rooms (it’s okay because they’re not actually a couple).

John showing his detective skills. And for once it won’t play out like the cats in TGG. It’s an important reminder that John is a smart man overshadowed by a genius, instead of the common enough Everyman and/or bumbling oaf that some believe of Watson.

“And the ruddy prisoner” probably the full extent of the subplot from the novel.

“Is yours a snorer?” “Got any crisps?” Pretty high pitch there, John.

There is sort of a running theme of characters waxing poetically in vague spookiness and Sherlock just scoffing at it. Reminder that the novel is a horror story starring a detective outside of his normal trappings.

“We’ll get caught.” “No, we won’t. Well not right away.”

More exact words from John as he pulls rank and activates Sherlock’s military kink.

The timer doesn’t start ticking at the gate but at the building itself, wonder why. Or maybe it has been ticking, but now there’s atten paid to it?

“Enjoy it?” Just something to file away in the John wing of his mind palace.

I halfway expected one of the elevator buttons to be key activated for the really tippy top secret secrets.

I see one monkey has seen Raiders of the Lost Arc. That or it’s still upset that it didn’t get the part.

“Stapleton?” He may have mocked little Kirsty, but he still remembered her name.

“People say there’s no such thing as coincidences. What dull lives they must lead.” But the universe is rarely so lazy? Of course rarely does not mean never, and looking at the forebears website Stapleton is a 1 in 3600 name in Devon. So the only question is if Kirsty listed her whereabouts on the forum. Not in her message but maybe in the profile she made.

The dramatic reveal of BLUEBELL.

Sherlock deducing the inside job while John just repeats “the rabbit?” is as good a summary of the show as anything, honestly.

Mycroft’s exasperated “goodammit, Sherlock!” look is almost too loud for the Diogenes club.

I think I read on tvtropes that the Major’s beard isn’t regulatory. Acceptable breaks of reality for the sake of original reference.

“It wasn’t my hat.” I love how the hat is used as a summary of the artifacts attached to the character. The trappings that come from adaptations and parodies and whatnot. Like Igor, who apparently wasn’t even in the original Universal Horror film but its sequel.

Exactly how does John expect Sherlock to turn off his cheekbones? Also the idea that Sherlock is turning up his collar to “play cool” as they’re leaving Baskerville kind of shows that it’s mainly for John’s benefit. Like his later choices to wear the hat. Sherlock starts off wanting to impress John, and by s3 it is about playing a specific Sherlock Holmes role. And again, John betrays his real thought by mentioning the cheekbones. “Stop being so attractive, dammit!”

“Has she been working on something deadlier than a rabbit?” “To be fair, that is quite a wide field.” Cue the killer rabbit jokes.

John’s awkward “are you... rich?”

In the original story the wealth was far more plot relevant, here it’s just a bit of dialogue fodder.

Not spelling out “in” this time?

Pretty sure those are IKEA mugs.

The plan sounds bad, but it is perfectly sound. They have done as much preliminary research as they can at the moment, and by going all three of them they do stand a decent chance should the beast be real. Of course Sherlock still doubts it’s real, which is the main plot for his character.

With the exception of this episode and episodes of Midsumer Murders I hadn’t really heard fox screams before. Imagine not knowing that’s what it is and just hearing this almost ghostly screech specifically when watching English mystery shows.

John just wandering away from the others without alerting them, and then he’s surprised that Sherlock and Henry has continued on without him. If he has a survival instinct it is in a coma.

Umqra. John knows Morse, which I honestly have found tricky trying to learn.

Taking a break here.

[bigskydreaming]

Lemme get the timeline right, so Dick was about 15-16 when first Teen Titans happened, then he came back to Batgirl's debut, some time later he left for college & that was the issue where Bruce is kinda teary, looking at Dick's prizes, Dick teases him a lil? Or was that golden age? Then he's recruited by Raven, NTT happens, but the firing... I'm confusing these parts. He got fired after getting shot by Joker? He was Robin then so before Jason, but was he with NTT or in Gotham?

LOL don’t worry about being confused, because it very much IS confusing thanks to so many continuities and retcons.

Personally, I tend to go with pre-New 52 timeline and then just later stories like that timeline never ended and just kept going with New 52 and Rebirth stories....with any discrepancies being like....’flashback stories’ retroactively inserted at the appropriate point in the characters’ histories. That’s just my approach though, doesn’t necessarily work for everyone.

But pre-New 52, the ages up until Dick is around 16 or 17 are pretty flexible.....you can kinda pick and choose when you view the first Teen Titans having formed because there aren’t any hard age milestones to use as a marker. So regardless of what you go with, up until Dick was about sixteen, maybe seventeen, he lived full time in Gotham with Bruce, was Robin, and ‘moonlighted’ with the Teen Titans, who in their early years were kinda more an excuse to hang out with their superhero friends rather than like....a specifically focused team.

THEN is when it gets confusing, because enter the Age of Retcons:

ORIGINALLY, pre-Crisis of Infinite Earths, aka Retcon-Palooza, Dick went on to become Nightwing while he was still on good terms with Bruce. Bruce took Jason in and adopted him, but there was zero conflict with Dick over this....in fact, at this point in the comics, Jason was ALSO an orphaned circus acrobat whose family had been friends with Dick’s family, and DICK was the one who helped him after his parents were murdered, and took him to Bruce, which led to Bruce adopting him. 

(Fun fact, and part of why I side-eye people who dismiss retcons as ‘not counting’......Jason’s extremely iconic and well-known history as a street kid who Bruce found stealing his tires......only spanned about TWELVE ISSUES. Before his death, he literally only existed with that origin for about a year’s worth of comics....as opposed to pre-Crisis, when he existed for SEVERAL years worth of comics as the plucky acrobat who adored Dick and was always doing his homework and saying “Robin gives me magic” and stuff. Fandom lives mashing these two versions of Jason together, which is fine, but they have zero problem plying his twelve issues of having grown up as a street kid for angst, while being dismissive of other characters’ retcons, and that’s right up there when talking about Things That Make Me Go HMMMM).

Anyway, so originally, pre-Crisis, Dick moved on to become Nightwing when HE was good and ready, of his own volition, because he felt he was entering a new stage of his life and wanted to reflect that. And then HE gave Robin to Jason HIMSELF, like, literally bequeathed it to him, brother to brother, with Jason being appropriately grateful to HIM for that rather than crediting Bruce with it, who had absolutely nothing to do with it other than looking on fondly and proceeding from there with Jason as his partner. Dick then transitioned to living and working with the New Teen Titans full time in New York. 

He also briefly went to college at this time, but dropped out after just one semester or one year or so......which other people often skew to make it sound like he’s lazy or spoiled or just wanted to live off Bruce’s money all of which makes me gnash my teeth, lol.....nah, he already had the equivalent of several college degrees just from growing up being trained by Bruce. Dick dropped out for one reason only: nothing he wanted to do with his life benefited from a college diploma specifically, and none of the jobs he went on to work later required one. He’s a kid who comes from a family who never went to college either because they didn’t NEED to in order to do what they loved....and Dick was no different. People love to cite that Dick was already fairly old when his parents died and that’s why ‘he didn’t need Bruce to be his parent as much specifically’ or whatthefuckever....but then they turn right around and act like he should live his life more according to the expectations and standards of Bruce as opposed to.....in keeping with his first family and their priorities and whatnot. BUT I DIGRESS.

But anyway, at this point, he mostly lived in New York and came back to Gotham every now and then to visit or to help with cases. Babs had at this point been Batgirl for some time, before he became Nightwing, but again, the timelines are messy, so the only real marker that’s important IMO is that her history with Bruce and Dick as Batgirl predates Jason joining the family, AND post-Crisis, when Jason had his street kid origin.....I think she interacted with that version of Jason maybe once?

My point there is there’s a lot of piling on the angst and pointing back to Dick as the ultimate culprit, with people making a big deal about how Barbara and others were constantly comparing Jason to Dick and resenting him for not being Dick and this made Jason’s childhood even with Bruce especially difficult....but again, nah. The vast majority of the time Babs/Batgirl co-existed with Jason/Robin, it was pre-Crisis Jason, which meant that he was on great terms with Bruce AND Dick and Dick was on great terms with Bruce, all of which means....NOBODY WAS RESENTING ANYBODY OR COMPARING ANYONE TO ANYONE ELSE, THEY ALL COEXISTED JUST FINE.

NOW.

ENTER THE RETCONS.

This is where it gets messier and more complicated, because JUST LIKE the comics retconned Jason’s origin to make him a street kid - and which NOBODY has trouble acknowledging or balancing......the comics ALSO retconned Dick’s departure from Gotham. Now it was because there was a story in which Dick was shot by the Joker, Bruce freaked out about his safety, and decided the best way to express this was by firing Dick as Robin and alienating him. Dick lingered for a few weeks, its said, in the hopes that Bruce would change his mind, but when Bruce didn’t, Dick finally packed his bags and left to go live with the Titans full time, where he became Nightwing. Its further said that this was the last contact they had for about a YEAR AND A HALF.....with Dick being the one to make the first move to resume contact.....when he found out from the papers both that Bruce had taken in a new kid (Jason) and adopted him already, AND made him Robin.

(A name which no matter WHAT origin you go for in terms of what it means to Dick, is regardless HIS CREATION, the mantle HE made for HIMSELF, and was never Bruce’s to give away, whether or not you go with the take that it was Dick’s mother’s nickname for him, or it being a reference to Robin Hood, Dick’s favorite childhood hero).

Anyway, Dick confronted Bruce about this, and Bruce basically just....acknowledged this without actually ever putting the words “I’m sorry” or “I messed up” in there, and that was Dick’s one and only ON THE PAGE interaction with Jason post-street kid origin before A Death In The Family....which occurred like two story arcs later. 

(However, something I like to point out is the issue where Dick and Jason meet after both their respective retcons, was a FLASHBACK issue. It literally starts the issue off with the caption “One year ago”.....meaning that even though Jason died only two story arcs later and we never saw Dick and he interact on the page again, that issue was deliberately scripted in such a way as to allow for a good couple years to pass IN UNIVERSE....which, IMO, is where Dick and Jason’s sibling bond and dynamic had more than enough time to form. Just because Dick was on bad terms with Bruce doesn’t mean he ever took this out on Jason, and we know from later stories that they at least interacted a few times we never saw, like when the two of them went skiing together - so while people act like they barely knew each other because Dick was never around, IMO there’s literally no reason to assume that Dick wasn’t just as good about reaching out to Jason and forming a sibling bond with him after that first initial meeting, as he later was with Tim and Cass and Damian. In fact, given how familiar Dick and Jason seem to be with each other after his return to Gotham years later, IMO the thing that ACTUALLY strains credulity is the idea that before Jason died, he and Dick only interacted a bare handful of times. Nah. That doesn’t track.)

ANYWAY. That’s how all that played out those two different times, and why there’s so much confusion, BUT I maintain a huge part of that confusion is artificially produced.....by people deliberately trying to mix and match continuities in a way that just flat out doesn’t work. Sooooooo many times over the years, we’ve heard takes on how Dick ‘quit’ being Robin and then Bruce made Jason Robin and Dick resented both of them for this, but uh.....that’s the one version of things that DIDN’T ever happen. There were two distinct ways it played out. In the first, Dick quit voluntarily, and then made Jason Robin himself, and he and Bruce and Jason were all on great terms. In the later version, (the definitive version, because just like Jason’s street kid origin, it was the retcon, yes, but it was also never refuted or contradicted, the way it would have to be to ‘reset’ canon to that earlier sequence of events/state of affairs) - but yeah, in the later version, Dick was fired, Bruce made Jason Robin, and Dick resented BRUCE for this.

But people keep trying to play mix and match so Dick both quit - thus ‘giving up his claim to Robin/theoretically having no basis to object to someone else being Robin’....AND Bruce made Jason Robin - thus getting ‘credit’ in Jason’s eyes for giving him this mantle, responsibility and trust - with Dick then resenting Bruce for giving away the thing he ‘gave up.’

And that’s so disingenuous and obnoxious, when people try and play that game. They don’t want Dick to have ‘the right’ to the same complaints they have about Jason and Tim being ‘replaced’ but they also don’t want him to get credit for giving Robin to Jason because that would imply a strong brotherly bond and connection between them, one in which Dick clearly loves his little brother, and its just....uggggggh. So annoying.

BUT I DIGRESS.

Anyway, that’s the scoop, the buzz, the happening.

[commentaryvorg]

entirely fair and accurate takes on kaitos love suite event, honestly one of main reasons kaitos event is my favourite is because it doesn't get uncomfortably nsfw vibes like some of the others' (especially considering they're all teenagers AND it's pretty non-consensual... big yikes). but also, as his "ideal", the best outcome would be the object of affection returning his feelings, but in the fantasy, again, his "ideal", he didn't believe it would happen. that seems pretty bad.

Yeeaah, I’ve very deliberately never read a lot of other characters’ Love Suite events and am even more sure about never ever doing so, based on what I’ve gathered about them. Compared to those, I’m sure Kaito’s really is pretty tame and reasonable and one of the better ones, not that there’s a very high bar here.

I get what you’re saying now about how he theoretically should expect his feelings to be reciprocated at least in this “ideal fantasy” where he gets everything he wants - I didn’t quite pick up on that specific point before. That’s an interesting thought, but after considering it… I’m not entirely sure that’s how the fantasies work?

If it really was 100% perfectly “ideal”, then every single thought and action should be something that makes the character happy. But if that was the case, then it might just come across as too perfectly ideal for them to even be able to feel like it’s realistic at all. I went and reread some of the other tamer scenes that I’d read before to check how this is generally handled (Rantaro’s, Ryoma’s and Gonta’s are all nicely platonic), and, yeah, they’re all like this. Rantaro’s sisters are still missing and he’s having to abandon his surrogate younger-sibling-figure to search for them; most of Ryoma’s loved ones are still dead and he outwardly insists that his former manager wouldn’t want to stay with him; Gonta messes up in his attempts to be the perfect gentleman because he knows he still has a lot to learn. The events are still bound by that person’s reality and by how they expect things to work for them. They’re getting a nice reprieve from their troubles, but things aren’t completely perfect and happy. (The one partial exception to this is that Maki never became an assassin in her fantasy and seems to genuinely not remember that part of her life during the dream. That’s interesting, but I’m not sure if there’s actually a significant reason for why she’s the only one, given that Ryoma’s problems are just about as bad as hers. She’s still an orphan, though, so things still aren’t perfect for her.)

So I don’t think that the fact that love-suite-Kaito doesn’t expect his feelings to be reciprocated is any more meaningful than him hypothetically not expecting that in real life. The hotel’s magical dream powers (usually) don’t actually warp a person’s outlook to make them see the world any differently to how they normally do, nor to expect things they wouldn’t reasonably expect in reality, no matter how much they might want them.

(anon also added some tag commentary in their reblog of the initial post that I want to respond to a bit as well)

#i never really thought that the love suite events were *really* that character heavy so mostly the ask was a sudden realisation p late

I agree with you that evidently most of them really aren’t that much about the characters at all (well, presumably, though of course I’ve only seen some of the tamer ones). But here’s the thing - at least some of them could be, in theory, and a couple of them are. Rantaro’s and Ryoma’s are really pretty good - they’re relevant to their issues and give some more insight into their backstories and how they deal with their difficulties in ways that we don’t get to see much of in canon, considering that they both die so early on. (Rantaro’s in particular I might even go so far as to call my favourite piece of Rantaro content - when I reread it earlier I found myself having some Thoughts that may turn into a post of their own.) The “ideal fantasy” concept has potential to be more than just a lazy excuse for romantic and sexual stuff and to actually be used as a tool for some interesting character exploration. It’s just that, unfortunately, most of the time that either didn’t occur to the writers, or they just didn’t care.

It’s kind of like how most characters’ Harmonious Heart events are about something reasonably superficial or at most the character worrying about something they’d already told Shuichi about in their FTEs. Nearly all of them just range from almost no character insight at all, to maybe some but not much more than what we got from their FTEs. …Then there’s Kaito’s, which makes absolute maximum use of the potential of the “Shuichi gains inexplicable mindreading powers” premise to explore the core of Kaito’s issues and allow Shuichi to help him with them to an extent that is simply not possible in any of Kaito’s more regular content, and it’s the best. And, sure, I don’t think anyone else quite has such stubbornly-hidden issues that practically require mindreading to fix them to the point that their Harmonious Heart events could ever be quite as good as Kaito’s. But there’s definitely some characters who I feel could have had one that’s more relevant to their most interesting issues than what they actually got, if the writers had really thought about using this concept to its fullest potential for them.

So, well, I do think it would have been possible for Kaito’s Love Suite event to genuinely be really character-driven (and if that were the case I would personally have also preferred it to not be romantic at all). There are things you could do with the “ideal fantasy” concept that could absolutely be very deliberately about his issues.

What if it drew off Kaito’s deeply-buried subconscious need to have someone he could safely talk to about his weaknesses and worries, without having to be afraid of letting them down by telling them all this? And then, as Kaito vents to him about his worries in the dream, Shuichi realises with dawning horror that he’s the person Kaito’s terrified of admitting any of this to in reality, and that Kaito has no idea that Shuichi’s actually hearing every bit of it right now. And to keep up the “ideal fantasy”, because Kaito reacts very negatively if he tries to do otherwise, Shuichi has to just play along and agree with Kaito’s unhealthy outlook and be all, “Yeah, don’t worry, I won’t tell any of this to your sidekicks, your secret’s safe with me,” even though he wants to do the exact opposite because he knows that’s the best way to help. (That’d be a neat deconstruction of the dodgy non-consensual aspect of the place in a way that didn’t even have to get all nsfw about it.) …Admittedly this would be along rather similar lines to the Harmonious Heart event Kaito already has and probably not quite necessary next to it, but, you know, just as a proof-of-concept example.

Or, instead of that, to make it something different, they could have still made it about the rival thing, but not have the romance be the main point (or not even there at all). Instead, we’d actually spend the scene properly exploring the concept like you talked about: that in some ways Kaito feels more at ease around a rival than a sidekick because there’s no expectation to be completely invincible, that if they’re evenly matched then he’s supposed to lose sometimes as well as win, to be weak as well as strong, and that’s okay. We could even sort of combine this with my previous idea and have Kaito end up kind of accidentally venting a little to his rival about his worries, and then saying, “Y’know, it’s weird. I could never tell any of this to my sidekicks. But it doesn’t matter if you know all this, ‘cuz that doesn’t change the fact that I’m gonna beat you!” Or something like that. Your asks made me realise that I’d actually really enjoy some proper exploration of how Kaito feels about the concept of rivals, and it makes me so frustrated that the only time the game does touch on this topic to any extent is unnecessarily focused on obligatory romance and not really about his issues at all.

#anyway thanks for answering my ask i really loved your commentary it really made me think about why i liked kaitos arc so much

You’re welcome; I’m glad you enjoyed the commentary! Again, I am so happy I could help people who already liked Kaito realise even more of how great he is. :3

[kinetic-elaboration]

August 9: The 100 2x01, The 48

Okay, settling down to rewatch 2x01, the start of my favorite season...

I love this Clarke so much. Badass Clarke, sneaky Clarke, a Clarke who will fearlessly do what she has to in order to escape and to get to her friends. A Clarke with convictions and guts.

How DO they know everyone’s names lol? Is that ever explained? (ETA: Monty was obviously the informant.)

Mount Weather is one of my favorite parts of this show, honestly. I love that their mission is in part to preserve the beautiful things humanity created, like art; they gave their prisoner Starry Night. The ORIGINAL Starry Night. I just find that very moving. All of these non-essential parts of being human... the show has abandoned them and that’s part of why it’s so hollow for me now, I think.

Level 5: where it all begins and it all ends.

The Clarke/Maya relationship could have been so much more, tbh. Like they had their good moments, like threatening to kill each other etc., but they could have gone deeper.

Surprise! Underground executive branch family dinner! This is the sort of twist I can get behind.

Haha remember when actual delinquents still existed? I joke but truly the later canon has ruined parts of this show for me.

I forgot Tristan survived into 2x01. Not for long. Such Grounder hypocrisy: “That’s one. I lost 300.” He makes it sound as if Finn marched into a village and killed 300 people--they were fucking soldiers on the attack you dum-dum.

“Only our warriors speaking English.” Well that sounds like bullshit based on literally everything we see after this point.

The statue of Lincoln is “the place we go to settle disputes.” First, please don’t say they settle disputes to the death or some nonsense, and second, that’s his namesake... Significant? I mean, objectively, no, but can I make something out of it somehow?

I disliked Luna but she COULD have been so interesting and she and Lincoln COULD have had quite a dynamic. I headcanon them as exes. I want to know their whole backstory tbh. When they met. How. If he wanted to go with her to the sea. If he did perhaps and then came back.

Drink every time someone cauterizes a wound.

You know what else they should have done? Story line about the meeting of Grounder and Sky People medicine. Oh wait that would have taken away from the repetitive war story lines never mind.

That dropship is so fucking impressive. WHERE ARE THE AWARDS FOR THE SET PEOPLE?

And the costume people for those awesome masks.

Am I supposed to feel bad for this Grounder and his charred friend? I do not. Next time, don’t attack the children for no reason and you won’t get burned to a crisp. Easy.

The thing is I can never get behind the Raven + Murphy friendship 100% even though their S5 dynamic looked interesting because he literally fucking shot her and that’s just not a bygones are bygones thing. But they do have personalities that mesh well together so in that way it’s sort of a shame. Also he 10000000000000% had a crush on her don’t even try to argue.

She fired that gun at him. I forgot that. She fired but was out of bullets, that’s the only reason he didn’t die right there. “Yeah I would have shot me too.”

I’m p. sure that’s the real Mount Weather?

I know the Mount Weather people have no leg to stand on when it comes to the Grounders and that they’re...pretty obviously racist, but in their defense--the Grounders were written to be pretty savage, so “savages,” while unforgivably racially tinged, is a fair descriptor of them.

I know I’ve harped on this before but Mount Weather has a judicial system of some sort and it’s possible to press charges there. Somehow. The world building on this show sucks balls.

“They also said you were their leader” is like some retconning, okay. Because you will not convince me that for most of S1 BELLAMY wasn’t the leader in the eyes of the delinquents.

“Kiddo.”

Fucking love Dante. Where are my Dante + Clarke mentor/mentee or ex-mentor/mentee or different-gen-rivals fics?

“We prioritize safety over sentimentality.” As Maya takes blood she absolutely doesn’t need but is having just in case and that she knows comes from someone else’s tortured body because she’s accepted this as something they do, because she’s not sentimental. But she already feels guilty.

Clarke is already using the word “capture.” I had a discussion with someone once about Clarke’s vision of Mount Weather versus, say, Jasper’s, and why it was different and I said some poorly phrased stuff that didn’t really reflect my thoughts and opinions and it still haunts me but I feel like this is...relevant to that. How she immediately feels ‘captured,’ trapped.

Clarke’s devotion to her friends and her people was still so pure and right here.

Dante really does believe he “saved” them. I wonder what his thought process was... I really hate the “savages” so I must save these children? These children look interesting, let’s meet some new friends? She’s right of course that if they were really guests, they could leave.

Multiple crash sites over 100 square miles = I should go on google maps to confirm my Pennsylvania/Farm Station theory but I’m too lazy.

GOD THOSE CLOTHES. I love that Clarke picks the pants and the high heel shiv.

There’s no way there’s actually time for natural selection to work that fast in 97 years and also I’m pretty sure the Sky People are genetically modified because their original pool was way too small for the process Dante is describing but whatever this show is all la-di-da science.

Also: this is how you run an underground Bunker OCTAVIA.

Dante was the only rival/antagonist/whatever Clarke has ever had that rivals her instincts and intelligence yeah I said it; fight me. I know she needed to be on the outside for this season to work but he should have been her mentor. He basically set her up to be mentored and then she ran off and into L who basically destroyed her and she’s never recovered.

THAT REUNION. Heartwarming. Though hard to watch too because this show did both Jasper and Monty so dirty. (Yeah I said that too WHAT OF IT.)

“Dying. Same as you.” Murphy gets all the good lines. That’s why people like him, forget this “redemption arc.”

The Grounder Raven killed was Murphy’s guard and honestly--hilarious. He abandons his post, realizes all his friends are skeletons, pickpockets one, then is shot by what he must initially assume is a dead body. Better character than almost anyone introduced from S3 on.

This cake scene is the most iconic. Jonty were scene stealers stfu. They’re children--basically. They get to act their age. They get to be happy and silly and they loved each other so much.

“Pretend like you’re happy to see me.” / “We are happy to see you.” See? Adorable. I know he’s no cinnamon roll but gosh, adorable.

And then Clarke comes in like secret espionage time and they just look so Tired TM.

I feel like Monty knew, or suspected on some level, that Jasper wasn’t just ‘bummed out’ by Clarke’s suspicions, he was panicking a little.

I can’t believe Jasper and Maya have known each other for like 10 seconds and she’s already seen his O face.

“Clarke’s the only reason we survived.” Um ex-CUSE me but I know you didn’t forget Bellamy’s existence, Jasper.

Clarke’s so smart!

Maya brings out the big guns, literally.

“I’m the one who fired the rockets. Should I not have done that?” is so heartbreaking. Mostly because of the delivery. I love this entire scene. There are like 8 different scenes I love in this episode, like whole-heartedly and truly love.

Clarke’s suspicions really do look like paranoia. Like I see what she’s picking up on, saw it even the first time I watched this ep, but there’s a sense in which she does appear irrational.

There’s actually something kinda funny about Bellamy running out with a spear in one scene, looking around blankly, and then getting chained up as a prisoner in the next scene. At least he inspired his little protege Monroe. Scenes like this are the reason she joined Pike in S3.

Tristan’s like “Who are these fucking children running at me and screaming?” Then he gets shot in the head. Goodbye Tristan you won’t be missed.

“We’re here now. Everything’s going to be okay.” This sounds like Kane playing out a hero fantasy he’s had since he was a child. Except he’s talking to two mud-stained kids who are looking at him skeptically instead of, like, a captured heroine or something.

I feel like they set up this conflict where the adults/Sky People elite come in and, like Kane says explicitly, assume they’re in charge and everyone will fall in line, but then the delinquents don’t see it that way or want that: they have their own priorities (their friends) and their own relationships (Finn and Bell don’t even LIKE each other but they’re still communicating by look) and their own knowledge (the pipes that allow them to move through the dropship camp quickly and without permission). But then... it sort of plays into the rest of the season...but not that much?? Not as much as I would like.

“You are not animals. There are rules. Laws. You are not in control here anymore.”

This show sacrificed a lot of complex relationships to just either make people buddy-buddy who had no reason to be or just arbitrarily assign relationships to scenes or episodes without regard for continuity at all.

Raven took Jasper’s goggles.... never over this.

How was bringing Octavia to TonDC faster than collecting some beetles for her to eat?

“Loss, pain, regret. Time eases these things.” I’d say this is the sort of line the show should be repeating but God when it gets a line in its teeth it never lets the fuck go so I guess it’s better this one remains pristine.

I find Dante very sympathetic but also so creepy.

They weren’t really patrolling for other people, were they? Because like...surely they would have found them. They’re at the dropship and close by. He was just bullshitting here. But why don’t they want to make even more new friends?

Dante’s stationery is presidential themed lol. Glad we stocked up the bunkers properly with the important stuff.

The crashed Alpha Station is beautiful. I believe this was the first time it was shown on the show? Ugh, this whole sequence with the music, it’s perfect and so touching.

Jaha is the most tragic and heartbreaking figure on this show. He also doesn’t get the appreciation he deserves. Just...the image of a man alone in space, talking to his loved ones, hoping they can hear them, not knowing if they can... I almost can’t handle it. I used to be very unsure if I liked where his story line went after this (seeing it in its entirety, I defend it) but surely he could not have died this way.

....I really gotta sleep now.

[celticrune]

And here is part 2 with all the Keiji/Tahir(/Mason) prompts! Tahir again belongs to the lovely @somescribblesblog while Mason is another character from The Wayhaven Chronicles by the superb @seraphinitegames. These three prompts are also all up on AO3 under the name good things

Under a cut for length, and also the Keiji/Mason prompt turned into Keiji/Mason/Tahir because I don’t know how to read

Keiji/Mason/Tahir: Lazy morning kisses before they’ve even opened their eyes, still mumbling half-incoherently, not wanting to wake up

Keiji’s warm, and comfortable, and he’s not sure what woke him up but he’d very much like to ignore it and go back to sleep.

     Life offers no such mercy. There’s the brush of lips against his cheek, a breath of laughter when he only grumbles in response. “Keiji, baby, you have to get up.” Tahir’s voice, whisper-soft but laced with amusement. The bed dips further and Keiji frowns, whining a complaint when Tahir brushes a messy lock of hair behind his ear and burying his face deeper in the pillow. He is in denial, he’s so not ready to wake up yet, fuck you.

     Tahir’s warmly amused laughter is counterpointed by Mason’s hoarser, sharper chuckle as he drapes himself over Keiji’s back, blanketing him and pressing him deeper into the mattress. No doubt meant to be annoying, but with Tahir being, well, Tahir, Keiji’s had a lot of time to get used to being squashed cuddling so he adjusts to the weight and determinedly keeps his eyes closed because maybe he can get through this and still fall back asleep through sheer persistence.

     “Wake up before I push you out of bed.”

     Or not. “Bite me,” he mumbles, unable to summon any real venom to his voice.

     “If you insist.” The smirk in Mason’s voice is audible and Keiji opens his eyes to sleepily glare at him from the corner of his eye before he can think about it. Mason, the emotionless asshole, doesn’t even take a second to relish his victory before he rolls his eyes and sits up, taking the blanket with him and leaving Keiji to hiss a protest at the sudden rush of cool air. “There, he’s awake,” he says with bored indifference, and turns to get out of bed.

     Keiji rolls onto his back with a sigh, throwing an arm over his eyes to shield them from the low light filtering through the windows. “No I’m not,” he protests, his voice hoarse with sleep.

     He can’t see Tahir, but he doesn’t have to to recognise that it’s his hand cupping Keiji’s cheek, his smile Keiji can feel against his lips. “There’s scrambled eggs with bacon in the kitchen,” he promises.

     It’s obvious bait but that doesn’t mean it’s not effective. Another kiss to the corner of his mouth when he pouts, and he definitely doesn’t lean into the affection. “Fine,” he sighs, shifting his arm up so it’s resting against the pillow and he can squint up at Tahir. “Guess I’m a little awake.”

Keiji/Mason/Tahir: Kisses meant to distract the other person from whatever they were intently doing

“Dark-matter satellite? You sure this isn’t a sci-fi thing?” Keiji asks, squinting down at the article on Tahir’s phone.

     “I could explain it to you, if you’d like?” It’s as much genuine offer as it is a comeback, because Tahir is stubborn about these things even though they both know Keiji’s not going to take him up on it.

     He straightens up so he’s leaning on Tahir’s shoulder with one hand instead of almost draped over him. “Wouldn’t you rather do something fun?” he shoots back, true to form.

     “I am.” The deadpan delivery can’t quite hide Tahir’s grin and Keiji looks at Mason over Tahir’s head just in time to see him roll his eyes.

     He slowly runs his hand from Tahir’s shoulder down the front of his chest, bending down so he can press a kiss behind Tahir’s jaw. “Something more fun?” he purrs, smirking when Tahir shivers under his touch.

     A smirk that flickers and fades when Tahir doesn’t even put his phone down. “So you do want me to explain how Chinese scientists have launched a satellite to try and detect dark matter from Earth’s orbit?” he asks, his shit-eating grin audible.

     “Fine,” Keiji sighs with theatrical finality. He pulls away completely and saunters to the couch to drape himself against Mason instead. “Have fun on your own, enjoying your science which I cannot learn. Too many complicated words! They’ll melt my brain, it’ll be terribly sad.” He rests a dramatically appropriate hand against his forehead as he swoons back against Mason.

     Tahir at least has the decency to play along, curbing his laughter into a bright-eyed amusement that doesn’t last long before he returns his attention to his incredibly boring article. Mason has no such misgivings, scoffing at Keiji’s theatrics even as he curls an arm around his waist and shifts on the couch so Keiji can more comfortably lean against his side. “You speak five languages,” Mason says drily.

     “Yeah, cause I’m making up for my vampire boyfriend who speaks one, seriously, what kinda vampire are- hey!” Keiji splutters when Mason shoves him, though he manages to get a foot on the floor and catch his balance before he slides off the couch entirely. There’s a grin on his face when he looks up at Mason, who’s smirking like he got one over Keiji even though there’s a ready tension to him, like he’s expecting some form of revenge.

     He would be right. Despite many, many attempts Keiji has not yet managed to figure out where Mason is ticklish (but he has to be, considering how defensive he gets about it and how sensitive he is) but that doesn’t stop him from trying now.

     Keyword being try, as he doesn’t get very far at all before he’s flat on his back against the couch in a movement almost too fast to follow, his wrists held above his head and Mason looming over him, a thigh between Keiji’s. The look in his eyes is no less smug and it makes Keiji’s heart beat faster, his breath hitching when he struggles against Mason’s one-handed grip on his wrists and is effortlessly held down for his trouble.

     It’s more than a little disappointing when Mason doesn’t immediately kiss him. His gaze flicks away and Keiji follows it to find Tahir watching them both, the article he’d been oh so very interested in now forgotten. Keiji doesn’t have to look to know his immediate smirk is mirrored by Mason. Keiji doesn’t look away from Tahir as Mason dips his head down to trail lingering kisses and nipping bites along his throat. He doesn’t have to exaggerate his enjoyment much (Mason knows him well, and he’s always been a pleaser) but he still does, arcing his back and gasping in pleasure as he puts on a show for Tahir.

     A dark blush is spreading across Tahir’s face but he doesn’t look away, his phone clutched in a white-knuckled grip. He looks frozen, barely even breathing, and while Keiji wonders how long they can keep him like that he’d also like Tahir to get over here now, thank you very much.

     Turns out the key is moaning Mason’s name when he leaves a sharp, stinging bite against the crook of Keiji’s neck at the same time as he presses his thigh harder between Keiji’s legs. Keiji only closes his eyes for a second but when he opens them Tahir’s phone is left abandoned on the chair and Tahir is crossing the distance between chair and couch in a few short steps so he can drop to his knees next to it and draw Keiji into a hungry kiss.

     It’s not a development Keiji’s complaining about at all, but he still finds time to pull away and murmur, “Guess we’re more fun after all?” against Tahir’s lips with a teasing smirk.

     Mason’s chuckle is muffled against the crook of Keiji’s neck but Tahir’s exasperated, “Fuck you,” rings loud and clear, only somewhat undermined by how hungrily he kisses Keiji back.

Keiji/Tahir: Staring at the other’s lips, trying not to kiss them, before giving in

     When the captain announced that, with Reele gone, detectives Salit and Shimizu would be the ones to represent Wayhaven PD at the annual policeman’s ball in the city, Keiji’s first reaction was to sigh deeply and bury his head in his arms. His second reaction came with the realisation that a dress code of fancy would mean he’d get to see Tahir in a suit. Reaction three was to bury his head in his arms again when he remembered that he would have to wear a suit.

     The party turned out both better and worse than expected.

     Better: free drinks, decent food, a far more lenient crowd than he’d expected based on his family’s Christmas parties, and Tahir rocking a suit.

     Worse: mingling, having to represent the Wayhaven police force, having to do anything other than just hang out with Tahir and make fun of people, and Tahir rocking a suit while Keiji can only look but not touch.

     Not that he’s bothered to keep his hands to himself at all throughout the evening. He’s been subtle about it, sure, sort of, even if Tahir’s colourful, hissed reprimands and frustrated blushing were far less so (and all the more satisfying for it). It sure was subtler than crowding Tahir up against the wall in a secluded hallway, which is about where he’s at now.

     If there’s one thing a tie is good for, it’s so he can mess it up and use it to pull Tahir down to his level. Tahir’s sharp hiss of his name goes summarily ignored in favour of the dark blush that’s spread up to the tips of his ears and the way Tahir’s gaze flickers down to Keiji’s lips when he smirks. “How long d’you think we have before they’ll miss us?” he asks casually, like he doesn’t want to just kiss Tahir already instead of teasing him more.

     “That’s- I-” Tahir splutters, but he doesn’t try to pull away.

     Enough encouragement for Keiji, who sidles closer until their bodies are almost touching. The murmur of the party ebbs and flows as doors open and close but there’s no sound of approaching footsteps or voices so he pays it no mind (not that he would have, otherwise, but it’s nice to pretend sometimes). He makes a show out of wetting his lips, his smirk widening when Tahir’s eyes are drawn to the motion then stick, his throat working as he fights whatever objections he could have. “Two bros chillin’ in a hallway, definitely not five feet apart cause they’re really super gay?” His voice rises into a singsong cadence tinged with laughter even as he tries to keep a straight face.

     Flustering Tahir is good, but seeing Tahir crack and hearing his muffled laughter when he hides his face against the crook of Keiji’s neck is just as good, and it gets even better when Tahir affectionately tells him, “You’re awful,” and kisses him, letting Keiji taste the faint traces of champagne on his tongue.

[ryqoshay]

Happy Life: Of Angels and Kittens

Primary Pairing: YohaRiko Words: ~1.7k Rating: K AU: Angelic? Time Frame: Late college? Young adult, post college? (May change as I write more) Story Arc: Stand Alone

List of all HL scenes AO3 Link

Author’s Note: Whew... just barely made it with a few days to spare.

“And now,” Yoshiko intoned, “it is the moment you have all been waiting for. Baited breath and anxious anticipation most surely hath abound. It is time to unleash upon the world the hallowed secret that hath been buried until now.”

“Hallowed?” Riko raised an eyebrow. “Not unhallowed?”

“Indeed.” The fallen angel replied solemnly. “Ever the perceptive one you are, my Riri.” She began making a series of complex gestures with her hands. “Behold!” From seemingly out of nowhere, she suddenly produced a small white object.

“Yocchan… it’s…”

“’Tis the fruit of the combined labors of Yohane and one of her favored little demons, Watanabe You!”

“You-chan?”

“The one and only!”

“She helped you with this?”

“The design, mostly.” Yoshiko’s voice began to return to normal. “And material selection. But I wanted to make sure I did the bulk of the work actually making it.”

“Is that…” Riko leaned in closer for inspection “supposed to be… me?”

“It is.” The blue-haired girl confirmed. “Do you… like it?” She asked a bit more timidly.

“It’s cute.” The redhead replied. “Really cute.” She reached forward. “May I?”

“But of course! Of course!” Yoshiko allowed the item to be taken. “I made it for you, after all.”

Riko turned the small plush over in her hands. The auburn cloth for the hair was almost an exact match for hers. The white dress certainly looked like something Riko might select for herself on a sunny summer’s day. Clutched in the doll’s arms was a small, yellow star that looked like it was probably supposed to be a pillow. And though expressive detail was limited by the felt medium, Riko sensed a distinct air of peaceful joy; the type of simple contentment one might find in spending a lazy day in the company of a loved one.

“Yocchan, this is really good.” She turned it again to face her. “But why…?”

“It’s a little angel.”

“Well, I can see that…”

“For my little angel.”

Riko blushed.

Yoshiko grinned. “And what do mortals do with angels this time of year?”

Riko’s gaze found the Christmas tree the couple had finished decorating a few moments ago, or mostly finished, it would seem. “Put them on top of their trees?”

“Exactly!” the younger girl cheered.

The older girl’s cheeks flushed even more. “You made an ornament of me for our tree?”

“Well, Riri is my favorite little angel,” Yoshiko explained, “but I don’t think you’d fit up there yourself… So I made this as a proxy.”

“I see…”

“She’s definitely cuter than some generic angel we could buy in a store.” Yoshiko exaggerated her pronunciation for effect, specifically of the word generic.

“True…” Riko conceded. With the classes she was taking, her girlfriend was becoming more proficient with needle and thread by the day and this was definitely a good example of her talents.

“But not as cute as the real Riri.”

“Y-Yocchan…”

“So now that the secret has been revealed, would you allow me the honor of placing the final ornament on our tree?” The blue-haired girl bowed slightly as she reached forward for the angel.

“Sure…” The redhead replied, handing back the ornament, though still unsure how comfortable she was with the idea of a representation of her being displayed on their tree.

Yoshiko grinned as she climbed onto the chair by the tree and began humming to herself as she fussed with top branches to ensure proper alignment.

As Riko watched her girlfriend, she thought about the new ornament. Surely, it wasn’t that much different than multitude of pictures the couple had on display around the apartment, right? And Riko was fine with the pictures, so the angel should be fine as well. And there was no doubt her girlfriend had poured her heart into the project to produce a professional quality product to show her feelings in what she believed to be a meaningful way. A smile crossed Riko’s lips at this realization.

“Perfect!” The younger girl exclaimed, holding her arms out in an exuberant display. She hopped down from her perch and spun to face her girlfriend. “What do you think?” She inquired through a broad smile.

“I love it.” The older girl replied. “Thank you, Yocchan.”

“So what’s next for decorations?”

Riko turned towards the box of decorations. “Let’s see…”

Movement out of the corner of her eye caught Riko’s attention and she glanced towards the source.

Nothing.

Strange. She resumed her task of stringing garland across the window. But a moment later, she thought she saw something move again, this time accompanied by what might have been the rustle of artificial tree branches. She turned once more towards the source but was unable to definitively discern what was going on.

“What’s wrong, Riri?” Yoshiko asked from where she was setting up a small holiday themed display on a nearby shelf.

“Didn’t you hear that?” The redhead returned a question of her own.

“Hear what?” The blue-haired girl blinked at her girlfriend in mild confusion. “All I hear is the music.” She tilted her head in the direction of the mp3 player.

“Nevermind.” Riko shook her head. “Guess I’m just imagining things.”

Yoshiko shrugged and went back to her display.

However, no sooner had Riko turned her attention back to the garland than both the movement and the noise occurred again.

“Phobetor!” Yoshiko suddenly scolded.

Sure enough, when Riko turned, there was no mistaking the black cat who was poking his head and front paws out of the uppermost branches of their tree. The young cat made eye contact with both of his owners for a brief moment before climbing the last few inches to his goal.

“What are you doing?” The blue-haired girl demanded, stalking her way towards the tree. “Stop that!”

Unfazed by the command, Phobetor reached out a paw and pushed the angel from its position. As though he had practiced it a hundred times, he caught the ornament gently in his mouth before pulling himself onto the upper limbs. Amazingly, without disturbing the rest of the ornaments – at least not to the point of jostling any loose – he leapt out into the room

“Hey!” Yoshiko cried as a black blur dashed past her. She spun on her heel and gave chase.

For her part, Riko merely sighed and stepped down from her chair. Another day, another adventure living with two eccentric individuals. Casually, she followed her girlfriend and pet into the bedroom. She wasn’t about to let herself get swept into things this time. Not like that was a common occurrence or anything… No, Riko was definitely the most levelheaded being in the apartment… definitely…

“Give that back!” The fallen angel commanded as Riko walked into the bedroom. “Angel thief! Kidnapper!” The younger girl was on her hands and knees, reaching desperately under the bed. “Phobetor!” She whined. “That’s Riri’s!” She looked up at the redhead. “Help me!” She begged.

Riko made her way to the other side of the bed and knelt down to look under. There she found Phobetor crouching just out of arms reach of Yoshiko. But since their bed was small, he was well within Riko’s range. However, as soon as the redhead moved her hands towards the cat, he scurried towards the foot of the bed, forcing both girls to shift their own positions. Upon depleting the available cover from the bed, Phobetor jumped up onto it instead.

“I’ll get you now!” Yoshiko proclaimed, pouncing onto the sheets.

The agile feline dodged around the larger human and was back under the bed in seconds.

Riko started laughing. “Yocchan.”

“Huh?”

“Phobetor is being quite persistent in his desire to keep the angel.”

“And I’m quite persistent to get it back.”

“I know.” Riko continued to giggle, as she took a seat on the edge of the bed to watch her girlfriend’s futile attempts to retrieve the ornament. “But perhaps we should just let him keep it?”

“What?” Yoshiko’s head popped up.

“He seems to like it.”

“But I made it for you.”

“I know.” The redhead nodded. “And I still love it. But as you’ve probably seen, he’s become more attached to me as of late. Maybe he likes it because it reminds him of me?”

The blue-haired girl pursed her lips in thought. “He did claim my figure of Benzaiten which I bought because it reminded me of you…”

“Exactly… oh, hey there, pretty kitty.” Riko turned her attention to the cat that suddenly appeared by her side, angel ornament still in his mouth. She smiled as Phobetor rubbed his head against her hip before climbing into her lap. “See? I think everything is fine.” She began running a hand across the kitten’s back as he settled down and began to purr.

“Spoiled cat…” Yoshiko grumbled.

“Like pet, like owner.” Riko reached out to pat her girlfriend’s head. Yoshiko pouted, earning a laugh from Riko. “Besides, you spoil him more than I do.”

“Well, yeah, I can’t help it.” The younger girl admitted. “He’s too cute not to spoil.”

“I could say the same about you.” The older girl grinned, still petting both cat and girlfriend.

“Maybe…” Yoshiko said, moving to a position beside Riko before leaning into her.

“Not maybe.” Riko corrected. “Definitely.” She slid her hand from the other girl’s head, down her back and finally around her waist so she could pull her closer.

“You know I think he understands us.” Yoshiko said after a moment.

“Probably.” Riko agreed.

“I mean he came out immediately after you said you weren’t going to take back your angel.”

“I’ve read that cats are supposed to be smarter than dogs.”

“I’ll make another one for you. We still have time before Christmas.”

Riko chuckled. “Phobetor would probably just take that one as well.”

“No.” Yoshiko shook her head. “I’ll tell him not to.” She turned her attention to the cat in the older girl’s lap. “You hear that, Phobetor?” The kitten in question opened his eyes and blinked at her. “I’ll let you have that one, but I’m going to make another that will be for Riri, alright?”

The cat’s ears twitched and after a moment he stood up. He stepped down from Riko’s lap, carried his angel across the bed and curled up between the pillows at the other end.

“Well now that that’s settled,” Riko spoke up, “shall we get back to decorating?”

“Definitely!” Yoshiko replied, cheerfully as she sprang to her feet. She then grabbed her girlfriend’s hand and dragged her back to the living room.

Author’s Note Continued: Another scene centered around ornaments and Christmas decorations, but writing HtHaN’s First Tree was what gave me the idea for this scene, so here we are.

Also, if it isn’t obvious enough by now, I love writing about the antics of Yoshiko and Phobetor. Introducing the cat has been a boon to my idea stockpile for HL, even going so far as to indirectly give me ideas for scenes that take place before he is adopted by the angelic couple. For example, I probably would not have introduced the idea of the girls moving into an apartment with a soundproofed room had it not been for me introducing Phobetor. This, in turn, has lead me ideas for HtHaN, so I guess the little kitten is affecting that story as well.

[lightandwinged]

HOO BOY.

(non-spoiler: my Carrie spent the entire film kicking me like mad; I think she knew. Isaac, on the other hand, seemed to sleep through it all)

(there be spoilers within)

I am trying to decide how much of my feeling right now is “I really liked that” and how much of my feeling right now is “AHAUHSUHASUHFHGUHH CARRRRIIIIEEEEEEE” because I do not know. Because it was, objectively, a good film. Really well shot, really well acted, no more plot holes than the OT and pretty good writing overall (I heard somewhere that Carrie script doctored it, so of course the writing was good). I just don’t know if I liked it.

So let’s go through it, shall we?

First of all, if you’ve been venturing into spoiler tags like I have (I can’t not be spoiled, I’m sorry, I did my time with Lost and Harry Potter and feel I’m worse for the wear), everything is true. Luke milks some sort of naked space sloth slug thing and it’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen. Luke also dies, but I don’t know how you’d recover from that milking scene, tbh. Like he just milks the sloth and then he drinks the blue milk and looks at Rey like “wut” and LITERALLY THAT SCENE IS AWKWARD AND TERRIBLE WHY WAS IT IN THE MOVIE.

Sorry.

The other rumors are true, too. And I’m going through the smaller ones first because I’m still processing the big ones.

Leia flies through space like Superman, and honestly, it is the most awesome thing I’ve seen in my entire life. Every fake fanboy in the world has been like “SHE DOESN’T EVEN HAVE THE FORCE” and I’m like you fakers, you know nothing. And that scene was awesome and 100% how I imagine Carrie Fisher ascending to the heavens to watch over us all and bring sexual predators to justice. My only regret about that scene is that she wasn’t flipping off the First Order as she flew, but Disney and all that.

Porgs were... look, I don’t like the noise, but they weren’t obtrusive. They did not redeem themselves enough to receive billing alongside like. R2 and BB8, but they didn’t kind of reach out and poke you in the eye and force you to enjoy them. They just were there. 

Like the SLUG SLOTH THING OKAY I’M SORRY I’M MOVING ON.

it makes a sound like it’s aroused and it’s like RIAN JOHNSON WE DO NOT NEED TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR LACTATION FETISH YOU WEIRDO

The subplot with Finn and Rose... it wasn’t a complete red herring, and it was interesting enough, but I think it’ll end up having way more payoff in the next film. Finn, Rose, and Poe aren’t as sidelined as a lot of spoilers led me to believe, and honestly? They have the most fun of anyone in the entire movie. ...well, Finn and Rose do. Poe kind of mutinies against Laura Dern because something or another, which

Actually, I rather liked it. Poe got way more characterization in this film than he did in the last, where he largely served to sort of follow orders, shoot things, and think naughty things about Finn. You learned things about him that you probably could also learn from reading the novels, but lbr, not everyone’s going to read the novels. Poe (and everyone, really) got a real arc in this film and got to be fantastically dynamic, and honestly, as much as I love and want to protect Finn and Rey, he’s my favorite of the new trio.

Back to the Finn and Rose plot. I felt like... you know, I felt like a lot of it was kind of the emotions that have been surrounding life since the current administration took office. There’s every form of resistance out there, and Finn gets a fantastic arc about that, where he’s initially just selfishly looking out for himself and Rey, but Rose kind of gives him some deeper insight into “look we’re not just rebelling against the First Order because it’s cool; if you just peel back the surface of all these places that seem to be doing okay with them in charge, you’re going to see that NOBODY IS FUCKING OKAY.” In a sense, she’s able to show him his privilege, and ultimately, his compassion gets him to a point he didn’t quite reach in the last movie--where he’s fighting for the Resistance/Rebellion (it kind of changed names at some point? Why are we quibbling about this?) not because Rey is there and it’s the thing to do but because he honestly believes in it. And that’s awesome.

Finn and Rose’s little smooch at the end was kiiiiiiiiinda weird, we’ll have to see where that goes next time. But Rose Tico is literally the cutest most wonderful sweet thing in the galaxy and please let us all protect her at all costs.

And then we get Rey, Luke, and Crylo Ron (who is ACTIVELY THE ACTUAL WORST see below). I’m still processing all of this, honestly, because it’s like... even though some unexpected things happened, it went pretty much exactly like you’d expect and hit all the beats you’d expect. And it wasn’t all filmed as well as the rest of the movie, which... bugged me. The rest of the movie looked really awesome, but these sequences just smacked of a director who was like “...I legit have no idea how to do this, so let’s just do it this way.” 

For example, the Rey/Crylo braning thing (HEY MOVIES STOP DOING MY THING). It was weird, but it also like... wasn’t filmed well? You got the idea of how they were acting like crazy people in the real world, talking to and shooting at nobody, but it didn’t feel like they were talking to each other just like... I don’t even know. There are great ways of making that sort of scene work, and instead, it all just felt very lazy. 

As a plot point it was... eh? I can see where the R3yl0s are coming from, but I’m also 7000% not on board because half the lines that nightmare douche used on Rey were lines that were used on me in the past by abusers. “You’re nobody. But not to me.” Like holy shit, you piece of garbage. You just get right to it, don’t you? He was literally every abusive piece of shit I dated in college telling me how broken they were and letting me think I could fix them. And bless her heart, Rey fell for it, just like we always do when we’re young and haven’t been bruised that way before. And bless her heart, she stopped herself from falling and was like... “yeah no, you’re the worst, byeeeee.”

(like literally slammed the door in his face)

So I mean, ship what you wanna ship, but I’m not going to jump on that bandwagon, and I’ll be honestly pissed if she does redeem him because what a sick fucking idea to perpetuate... that yes, you are the one to fix this awful person who’s told you that you’re nobody, your heroes are nobody, that they’re the only one who can make you awesome. NO, girls. You are awesome on your own; don’t listen to that stinking dump heap.

Anyway.

Luke’s arc was way better than I expected it to be, and I think Yoda helped with that along with the final scene (with the kid and the broom that I saw and was like SAMMMMMMM and that was not the last time I cried). I vastly appreciated his impact on Crying Rong because MY GOD DID IT REMIND ME HOW AWFUL HE IS. Like much props to J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson for taking the literal worst male human in existence and turning him into the villain he is. It’s extraordinary. He’s so hateable. 

BUT ANYWAY. His impotent raging against Luke, against himself, against everybody... boy is going down hard in the next film. He’s not going to get his ass redeemed because he won’t allow himself. He sees going full dark as the only true success and he will not let anyone turn him... not even Leia (which was my pet theory but now can’t happen, sob). And our entire theater whooped and cheered when it was revealed that Luke wasn’t actually on Crait. I mean, they also whooped and cheered when the lights went down, so that’s not saying much, BUT STILL.

Luke’s arc closing made me absolutely sob and it was... you know, I’m satisfied with it. Knowing that he was at least partly responsible for Ben turning, even if only because of an instinct, that made his self-imposed exile logical. It wasn’t that he’d failed; it was that he’d almost succeeded and by coming that close to succeeding in preventing Ben from going dark but ultimately failing, he made something worse than he could have imagined. Leia and Han would have forgiven him in a heartbeat, but he couldn’t forgive himself, and that was where his storyline went. 

And what Yoda pointed out, and the gasps of delight and surprise when Yoda appeared on screen were fantastic.

Um. What else. 

Hux kind of gets shafted, but oh my lord, Huxlo has wayyyyy more ammunition now than R3yl0, I AM JUST SAYING. I was half expecting him to say “choke me harder Daddy” when Crying Rain was taking over the First Order. I am not kidding. 

Phasma got RIPPED OFF.

Snoke proved himself to be about as useful as a lamp covered in bubblegum, which was... annoying, honestly. His death was awesome, and the Praetorian Guards were SO COOL, but Snoke was useless. Absolutely pointless. And everyone applauded when Kerler Rern killed him but I was like nope. His death was preceded by Snoke telling Kerler Rern to complete his training, and I turned to Kyle and whispered, “Sith complete their training by killing their masters, shame nobody told Snoke that.” And sure enough...

I couldn’t find the Gary Fisher stand-in :(

BB8 is still the most precious and wonderful of things.

Laura Dern goes out like a badass, which made up for how much she bothered me to start. Poor Leia’s Purple Girlfriend :(

The dedication to Carrie made me sob while we all applauded. 

And now I am dead. We’re taking Sam this weekend, so I’ll likely have more to say on Saturday.

[acetokens]

My (post game) opinions on the ndrv3 cast

Alright, before the game came out I made this post where I basically vomited out my opinions on how I felt about the newly revealed ndrv3 cast onto a post and it was 50% jokes, 50% venting at fangirls. But now I've actually played the game, delved into the fandom and looked at the changes between the Japanese and English versions, I feel I can make a more genuine list of how I feel about all these good kids that deserved better. I realize my opinions are just that, and I’m probably yelling into the void here. But I felt I had to do a followup to the last post because MY GOD WAS I WRONG ABOUT (MOST) THINGS. I've listed every character in ‘favorite to least favorite’ order for convenience sake. Also this post will contain Spoilers. You have been warned.

Placed under a break for your skipping convenience. Ya’ll are welcome.

1. Himiko Yumeno - I absolutely adore everything about Himiko. Her design, her lazy attitude, her voice (NYEH), her development across the game to become a more driven and energetic person...I found her really funny, really cute and oddly relatable. Himiko is probably in my top 5 DR characters of all time. Which is even crazier when I remember she’s one of the few survivors. I've never had a favorite character who survives a killing game before. So unlike past Dangan Ronpa games where my interest sorta dies off by Chapter 6, Himiko kept me fully invested in everything until the end. She’s a special bean and I love her.

2. Gonta Gokuhara - Continuing the DR trend of a Big Guy who’s a Big Friend, Gonta was so good and so pure and so friendly and deserved so much better. He was always trying to do his best and protect everyone until the very end. R.I.P Gonta. You were a true gentleman. Chapter 4 can suck my ass.

3. Tenko Chabashira - I literally D E S P I S E D Tenko when she was first revealed. I hated her stupid, sexist guts. But come Ndrv3′s release and Tenko turned out to be a dorky, kind, protective and strong willed girl who was skilled enough to be admirable but pathetic enough to be pitiable at the same time. I loved her undying adoration of Himiko (even if it was a bit creepy at times) and the two make a really cute ship. I was expecting some kind of tragic backstory in her FTE’s to explain why she hates men (I believe she mentions a drunken father at one point, and I really wish they went more into that), and the lack of a reasonable explanation for such a strong hatred is what prevents her from sharing (or even taking) the top spot in my book. But misandry aside, Tenko is a Great Gal and I wanna hug her. Although she’d probably bodyslam me.

4. Kirumi Tojou - Kirumi was my favorite when all the characters were revealed at first. I made multiple posts about how I’d die for her and how she was beautiful and whatnot and I was confident about two things when the game came out: 1) She’d be my favorite. And 2) She’d die - following in the footsteps of all previous ‘best girls’ before her. And well, I did really like her. Just...not as much as I thought I would. Kirumi is efficient, brave, elegant, caring and has a really cool design. But her talent occupies most of who she is as a person, and she isn't too dissimilar to most maid characters in anime or manga. So it made her quite predictable at times and I feel they could’ve done so much more with her..ah well. Kirumi is still a super awesome maid and a great Mom. Even if she hates being called that.

5. Kaede Akamatsu - Ahh...I remember when I was wishing someone else would be our protagonist when she was first announced...I think I cursed it. Because Kaede was just *incredible*. She was headstrong, perceptive, kind and left such a big impact on me after Chapter 1. You know that ‘Do It For Her’ meme? Yeah, that about summarizes the rest of Ndrv3 for me. Also Kaede is a huge gay and all the Ndrv3 girls are her girlfriends, pass it on.

6. Ryouma Hoshi - Congratulations to Ryouma for being the only non-standard design character not to be terrible. Far from it, in fact. Ryouma is a badass! A lil’ badass with such a depressing backstory and death that when they showed his motive video, I let out a single manly tear. Or several. Or many. I just...I just want this man to be happy...

7. Miu Iruma - Miu has zipped up and down my lists more than any other character. I had her ranked highly pre-game, lowly during the game, and mid/high post-game. Her design and talent are really cool and she makes several neat inventions over the course of the game, but her personality was so damn prickly and vulgar that I found her really offputting while she was alive. It was only after finishing her FTE’s and seeing her Love Hotel scene that I realized holy shit this girl has some serious trust and abandonment issues. It put all of her behavior in perspective and I began to feel really sorry for her all of a sudden. The hurt/comfort potential here is just WAITING to be uncovered but, alas, most Miu fanfics I've come across are just smut or crackfics. Out of all the Ndrv3 girls, Miu deserves the most headpats. Lots and lots of headpats.

8. Kaito Momota - A good, supportive friend and an effective comic relief. His optimism was a bit grating for me now and again (I never like it when DR plays the ‘’Oh we should just believe in him/her because s/he’s our friend :)’’ card because of how biased it always is. Like, DR will sometimes bend over backwards and completely 180 its own rules to make sure certain characters survive. In a game where finding the truth by objective evidence and fact is key, the times where it just says ‘’nah fuck the truth who needs proof just b e l i e v e’’ just feel so...stupid). But criticisms of the series aside, Kaito is a bro and he’s great. Who doesn’t love the luminary of the stars?

9. Kokichi Ouma - I realise putting the most popular character at 9th is going to make hoards of fangirls despise me but!!!! I don’t dislike Kokichi. In fact I like him a lot. His character is probably the most enjoyable to analyze out of everyone, his interactions are hilarious but also disturbing, the Kokichi memes are funny, and I too think the changes they made to his dialogue in the English translation was utter bullshit (almost as greater character assassination as Mukuro in the DR3 anime). But, I really love most of the characters in the game which leaves characters I’m torn on (like Kokichi or Kiyo) hovering at a position which makes it seem like I dislike them when actually I enjoy them immensely. Just...not as consistently as some of the others. Also Chapter 4 was an kick to the nads that I can’t get over. Sorry Kokichi.

10. Korekiyo Shinguuji - I was prepared to LOVE this guy so much. Seriously. I was ready for the moment where it would turn out creepy noodle man would be turn out to be a Wholesome noodle man. But uh, I think I’m with the rest of the fandom when I say that Korekiyo’s reveal as the SHSL incestuous serial killer made me drop him faster than Kirumi dropped in her execution (sorry). So, now I've establish Kork is the *real* Worst Boy...why did I put him at 10th? Why not 15th? Especially considering he killed Tenko? Truthfully, it’s the memes. Just...the Kork memes. And the fact he’s such an awful person and so obviously a murderer that it becomes genuinely hilarious to me. And his design is my favorite out of all of them. I’m so split on him. So, so split...

11. K1-B0 - Keebo made me laugh a bunch of times, and I enjoyed him more than I thought I would initially. Also his upgrades in Chapter 6 were badass as fuck. But I just don’t really feel the same affection for him like I do other characters. I’m afraid cute robot girls will always be my weakspot. Cute robot boys...not so much. (Although I’m all for Agender! Keebo that’s my jam).

12. Shuichi Saihara - This is the point in my list where I finally reach true neutral. I have no feelings on Shuichi either way. He’s deeper and has a more interesting plot arc than Makoto, which makes him a more effective protagonist in my opinion. But Hinata will always be the best protagonist in my book. And I just keep picturing what it would’ve been like if Kaede survived instead...

13. Rantaro Amami - I never understood why he was uber popular before the game came out and I don’t think I understand why he’s so popular now either. I have no negative feelings on the guy; he’s mysterious and has a ‘big brother’ attitude that I like. But the poor dude just died too quickly for me to feel anything for him. 

14. Maki Harukawa - I only dislike three characters in this game. Maki is one of them. I knew *exactly* what kind of character she was going to be and I knew I wouldn’t like her much and I knew she was going to survive. I didn’t guess she was going to be an assassin! But outside of that, There isn’t much going for me for me. The tsundere is never an archetype I like and the fact the deaths in Chapters 2 and 5 are partly her fault and no one calls her out on it is kinda frustrating also. 

15. Angie Yonaga - Angie’s creepiness is her most appealing trait to me. That should explain how low the bar is set here. Its difficult to write what I feel about her without coming across as a salty atheist (because most of her problems revolve around her use of her god to manipulate people) so I’m just going to leave it there.

16. Tsumugi Shirogane - Y’know I distinctly remember labelling Tsumugi as ‘’Hifumi but likable’’ on my previous Ndrv3 opinion post. I was wrong. She was hovering around mid/low level for me while I played the game, and I often forgot she existed (kinda funny considering her self admitted plainness) and her references were quite obscure a lot of the time so I didn’t find her funny either. I didn’t dislike her, I just forgot her. Then Chapter 6 happened and everyone knows the rest. It’d be difficult to truly ‘like’ Tsumugi after her reveal as the mastermind, after all. Although she was certainly entertaining when she started cosplaying as all the previous characters and I did like how her eyes glowed when she went all DanganRonpa crazy. I did actually consider putting her above Angie for those reasons, but if I dropped Kokichi’s placement because he killed Gonta then I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t slamdunk Tsumugi into last place for technically being responsible for everyones’ deaths as well (well, responsible as part of Team DanganRonpa. I understand it wasn’t *entirely* her behind it all). You know there’s a problem when *Hifumi* looks pure in comparison...

If you read through all of this, then congratulations? I don’t know how to end long ass posts like this...just pretend I said something witty. 

I need sleep.

[thattimdrakeguy]

Young Justice #10 review - How not to change a character’s identity.

This is finally the issue were Tim Drake becomes “The Drake” (or maybe just “Drake”), and honestly, it’s just lazy as could be. People were already fearing the issue, and it’s actually kind of worse than expected.

They made every bad choice they could’ve.

It is genuinely horribly done.

Most times when a character changes their identity it means something to that character. It’s a defining moment in their character evolution, and the name actually means something to that character.

Nightwing came from Dick Grayson trying to find himself as he grew up. Gaining the name from a trusted friend who told him a story from his home-world, that helped give Dick Grayson inspiration.

The Red Hood came from Jason Todd literally getting killed by Joker, a person that formerly went by the Red Hood. The name was practically a taunt, but an emotionally charged one that was connected to Jason’s story.

With this name  and costume change, it means NOTHING.

They don’t even explain where the suit comes from. He just shows up in it, and unless I missed it, no one even acts like anythings different, or brings up the costume at all.

Previously I just assumed the costume would spawn from a reasoning that had something to do with this Earth. To actually give a reason for it.

Like how a gang was insulting Tim’s colors.

But that gang that randomly attacked Tim in issue 8 went no where. Making the inclusion of them almost pointless besides world building, but in their defense, world building is important.

I have no idea why Tim thought it was important to change his costume, considering Earth 3 Drake pretty much wears a normal Robin costume.

Making the change in costume even more pointless and meaningless.

Costumes are meant to say something about the character in some shape or form. This costume has no introduction, no one brings it up, and it’s quality alone is shoddy. The colors stand for boring, and dull, in a few panels the red in it comes off almost as clashing, and the lack of any character-based details makes it terrible.

In the most objective way to consider the costume, even ignoring how Tim only wanted to be Robin, this costume was horribly made on the standards set by what costumes are supposed to do.

Costumes are suppose to tell you something about the character.

Tim’s last costume showed he was a boyish, tech based, ninja. Due to character details like short sleeves, built in tech, and ninja toes. Those details showed exactly what his character is, but this new one doesn’t come off like that. The new costume says absolutely nothing.

The logic of Tim choosing the new name is also completely horrible. He has no reason to change his name. Bart just started saying he should change his name to “Drake”. Why? I don’t think he actually says.

Why would Tim want to change his name to match someone who wants to kill him and is evil? Logically, he shouldn’t.

Why would Tim want to change his name just because Bart told him to? Logically, he shouldn’t.

Why would Tim want to change his name while on an alternate Earth? Logically, he shouldn’t.

Why would Tim want to change his name at all considering his character? Logically, he shouldn’t.

Tim Drake’s character always said that if he stopped being Robin, he would stop being a hero. That only changed when he got kicked from the role and felt he still had to save Bruce.

So now that he’s Robin again, why would he leave that role? He finally got back to being Robin like how he wanted, which actually felt good, but they never even explained why he was Robin again. In fact they implied he was still Red Robin, despite all the marketing and character’s saying he was Robin. Causing a massive inconsistency with just that.

It’s just plain out of character for him to change his name, and one of the biggest flaws you can ever make when writing a story of any kind is having one of your characters, especially one of the main characters, act out of character.

The name as well, while using the characters’ own logic, is out of character.

Tim Drake was always told to keep his secret identity hidden from EVERYONE. Even Barbara Gordon didn’t know Tim’s name until Batman told her (although that was mostly because Tim thought it was cool Babs knew Superman’s real name but not his).

In 90s Robin there was an issue were Stephanie Brown as the Spoiler comes close to finding out Tim’s identity. If Tim Drake went by the superhero name “Drake” and she cared enough to search harder, it would only make it that much easier to find out what his real name is.

You could say that the name is so dumb that’s why it’s so great, because anyone trying to figure out their identities wouldn’t expect them to be that dumb, but when the Bat-Family is so protective of their identities, why would they ever take the risk? That’s out of character.

This isn’t the only way this issue was lazy either. This issue constantly uses singular panel pages, as if they’re just trying to fill up space.

There are 4 entire pages dedicated to just one panel. In a 22 page comic, that means there’s only 18 or so pages that don’t go to mostly waste.

When you have a page like that, it’s suppose to be exciting. The first issue of Wonder Comics Young Justice used them excellently, but also, they had 44 pages I believe. So they worked well with the pages they had to tell the story.

In this issue they just overused them, like they were just getting lazy. It feels like a comic that was written during a hangover. Something Bendis might’ve done last minute when he realized he forgot to write the script.

Regardless if that’s not the case, that’s what it feels like.

The dialogue by itself isn’t much either. Mostly feeling rushed as could be, or only generic funny moments.

This is an issue, written of the quality of a comic that knows it’s going to be cancelled. I don’t think that’s the literal case for Young Justice, but that’s the vibe it gives off. It’s written so lazily, like it knows there’s no point, but it’ll use cheap publicity stunts like changing a character’s identity to get any sort of attention it can get.

However one thing the issue does really well, is establish why Jinny sticks out and is important.

It actually makes me want to read a Jinny Hex solo adventure, because Bendis seems much more interested in her than the rest of the team.

Like I love this snarky, queer, magically teched out, cowgirl.

I’ve never been more disappointed by a comic in general in my entire life though.

The first issue of this series capped off like the original series never ended it. It felt right at home, from the art style, the costumes, the writing, the energy, the fast pace. They really captured the magic of Young Justice. That first issue felt so genuine.

In this: the art style was changed due to there being a new and unfitting artist, they’re already changing the costumes to stuff much blander, the writing has become forced and rushed, the energy is zapped, and the pacing is so bizarre because of the constant usage of single pages.

If you want spoilers on the only events in the current day Earth 3 story, here you go: They fight Earth 3 Young Justice (Young $#@%ers? I guess.), Jinny finally uses her magical items, they win, they go back home.

In the flashback story of Jinny: She gets cheated on, we find out she’s a natural hero, we get a sense of her family’s history, and we finally learn more about the mystery of the chest.

There’s so much more character building involved, and she gets to feel like a real fully fleshed out person because of that.

--

If you wanna see the best bit of character usage in the main story, and I’m not being sarcastic when I say I like this part. Is this:

As simple as it is, it uses Tim’s character and the world around him to make a simple moment actually be pretty funny, because it uses the basics of character writing.

Compared to the rest of the Earth 3 story’s over-usage of cheap generic dialogue that anyone could say, and while you could argue anyone could say “Noooo... thank you.” like Tim did in the above panel, it works best with Tim because he’s already been shown as the most awkward, yet moralistic member of the team.

It actually uses his character.

--

I think the above panel is a good showing at the weird choice Bendis has made.

Earth 3 Steph is a more fleshed out character with a purpose than pretty much the entire Young Justice team in this story. When this is only the second story in this run of Young Justice.

Shouldn’t it be more important to keep fleshing out and focusing on the team itself? 

It doesn’t even feel like this is the first time these characters been together in a long time. They act as if they never been separated. Conner being stranded on Gemworld were he helped raise a kid doesn’t feel like it ever happened anymore. It affected nothing. It feels ignored. It makes the comic feel disjointed just from the last story arc.

Young Justice’s dialogue is almost entirely generic. Practically anyone could say what they have, and it would work just as well. There’s no character put into them, besides maybe Bart being immature and mouthy, but the whole team besides possibly Tim when he has his brain cell on is pretty immature and mouthy, and even then, Tim isn’t Captain of maturity, he mostly just forces himself to be because he felt obligated to be leader, he’s still a doofus kid.

--

An issue should never be written as badly as the Earth 3 story in this.

While the Jinny Hex story is actually really well-written as far as character building is concerned, the Earth 3 story is bottom of the barrel as far as quality goes, and that’s the story that actually has the whole team involved.

Bad dialogue, horrible out of character identity change, bad usage of page space, bizarre pacing, lack of story that actually feels worth paying attention too

This issue would personally be given a 3/10, and that 3 only comes from Jinny’s story being quite well written as a character piece.

[therealdragonnerdagain]

S7 E7

"Maybe it is all cocks in the end."

At first I found that hilarious. Then I realized it was just more typical men thinking their dicks are the center of all happiness in the universe.

It's funny how Grey Worm found happiness without a penis (then later, Theon finds courage without a penis), while Bron and and Jaime are both miserable wretches with penises in tact.

The saddest part is, there are many men just like them in real life, who think life must be awful without a dick. In fact, that line of thinking is the entire basis of misogyny. Us poor women. So "inferior" because we don't have cocks.

I like that Brienne and the Hound had their little conversation. Somehow, it was nice to see that. It was also interesting to realize how each of them view Arya: The Hound knew her when she was a helpless child; Brienne knows her as a fierce assassin.

Bron has gotten really cocky. I never before realized it, but he deeply resents having to get by on whatever gold purses are dangled in his face by various pampered lords. Now he gets to play the role of "lord" and could give less than a shit about Tyrion. Kinda sad and funny at the same time.

I guess he only cares about Pod now, as he removed him from the negotiations to protect him.

"Am I gonna die in this shit city?" Lol.

I also love that the Hound called Tyrion out with "This is all your idea." About time someone said something. How stupid was this plan? And why in FUCK did they agree to it?

So does Brienne return Jaime's feelings? When she saw him, I swear she got flustered and short of breath.

Then that look Cersi gave Jaime and Brienne.LOL.

Cersi didn't even blink when the dragon landed. Lmao. Stone cold.

Cersi has got a court wizard who brings people back from the dead. Why did she believe them? They could have had a more powerful necromancer pull that off just to scare her.

Euron is such a bastard but an entertaining bastard. Lol. I like when Jaime got defensive of baby brother Tyrion.

Then Euron cheks out, to no one's surprise.

Jon Snow makes me miss Alistair, haha. Alistair was based partly on him, but David Gaider is white, so no one accused him of "stealing." See, white people are "inspired" when they copy things and black people are "theives with no imagination or writing skill of their own."

I also realized for the first time tonight that Anora was obviously based on Cersi. No wonder I love her Cersi(again, as an entertaining character, not a person).

And man, that was hard seeing Jaime be mean to Brienne. "And tell her what?" sneered at Brienne, like he'd never felt anything for her. I think it was hard for him to finally accept that Cersi is terrible. Throughout the episode, we can see him struggling to accept the truth, and his dismissal of Brienne is his attempt to battle that. He would rather go on believing Cersi is good and misunderstood than embrace the fact that she is actually quite awful and Brienne is the better woman.

So they went through all that trouble and lost an entire dragon just so Cersi could refuse to call a truce . . . sigh. Dany said the same thing I was thinking. Her dragon died for Jon and he threw its sacrifice away (because he's in love with Dany).

And what REALLY drives me crazy is that after Tyrion's plan failed, everyone turned and looked to him for guidance  . . . WHY.

Even Varys, the fucking Spider, doesn't have any ideas? Why does everything always rest on Tyrion? Why do D&D have such a boner for him?

I was kind of . . . angry when Tyrion said the only difference between Cersi and Dany was him. It's ironic coming from me, I know (I used to criticize Show-Dany a lot). But seriously? Dany made mistakes when she was a child. Because the books and the show are a bit different, it's easy to forget that Dany made mistakes out of youthful naivety (she was suppposed to be a teenager in the beginning) and not because she was an awful person.

Meanwhile, Cersi is just an awful person.

The level of arrogance it took for Tyrion to give himself all the credit, to act like Dany was just a horrible, impulsive (irrational wimmenz!) Cersi-with-a-leash . . . it's astounding.

I never thought I'd get to a point where I actually stopped liking Tyrion but really . . . Tyrion is starting to sound like a misogynist. He thinks women are wild, impulsive, irrational creatures to be controled by rational, reasonable men . . . entirely ignoring the existence of Jon Snow, who is the living embodiment of emotional impulses. Hell, the entire reason he had to talk to Cersi one-on-one was because of Jon Snow's lovelorn outburst at the negotiations. Jon might as well have shouted, "I love you, Dany!!!"

In short, Tyrion is a misogynist. He's the lowkey kind. Because I don't mean that he actively hates women -- he just doesn't see women as people. He supports Dany simply because he thinks she can be controlled while Cersi can not. To him, Dany is a tool to make the world a better place. He sees her as a person about as much as Jorah, which means not at all.

Interestingly enough, in the very next scene, Dany talks about how a dragon is not a slave. She talks of how her famliy tried to control their dragons and the dragons wound up wasting away. It's basically the same thing Tyrion and all her (male) advisors are trying to do to her, she just doesn't realize it yet.

Sansa calling Arya "Aria." Sigh.

I loved it when Dany basically said "Shut up, Jorah." HaHAha.

Theon, bout time you tried to save your sister, you piece of shit.

While it was great seeing Theon learn from Jon Snow to do the right thing, it was also annoying that -- yet again -- a great female character was regulated to the role of plot device just to motivate him and carry his story arc.

So in essence, Yara was objectified. She became a goal, an object to be rescued, a damsel in distress, moved off the stage so that little Theon could have his story arc.

Sansa and Arya were working together after all. Holy shit. Awesome!!!

Little Finger on his knees begging Sansa to spare him, tears in his eyes. God yes. Hahaha. This made my week. Seriously.

Now we know why Arya handed Sansa that dagger: she was offering her services.

Ayra. So cold. Little Finger: "P-Please, Sansa -- !" SLICE

So that's why Sansa sent Brienne away.

Um . . . where is Robyn?

Cersi is so racist. Calling the Dothroki "monsters." The real monsters never realize they are the monsters. That's actually the basis of racism: zero introspection. I mean, us black people are amoral monsters and lazy criminals. We don't commit crimes because white people oppress us or anything.

I have to hand it to Cersi, though: if Dany and Jon Snow combined can't stop the undead army, what difference will her pitiful armies make?

So Cersi was working with Euron. Shit.

Cersi almost killed both her brothers in one episode.

So Sam was listening to Gilly after all. And Jon's real name is Aegon. Because it's not like Rheagar already had a son named Aegon or anything.

Jon and Dany got it on, and Tyrion didn't approve. (Seriously, Tyrion. Why are you hanging around outside her door in the middle of the night?) The sex scene was also super awkward.

I was shocked by Little Finger's tears. I think Sansa was too. And she knew him longer than Arya, so she had more pity.

"You're still very strange and annoying." Lmao.

Now the Night King has got his own dragon and the undead have arrived.

Some part of me wishes season 7 was the last season.