#possible reference to fan theories in official works

[catulhu333]

Hordak and the Unnamed One in SPOP

As in the title, it's interesting it's specifically noted that in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Hordak started out as literally Unnamed (something noted in the series) and only took on the name Hordak some time after coming to Etheria. Making me wonder if this is a coincidence (more probable), or a reference to a fan theory that in the 1986 Powers of Grayskull storyline, Hordak was the Unnamed One, instead of Gorpo, or as was to be the case in the 200X comics (kinda) Horde Prime. (I elaborated on this theory in my discussion with @lemaistrechat here). Though as I discussed with @toonjukka , the identity of the Unnamed One in 80s seemed to had been undecided.

SPOP did reference some obscure lore, and even maybe fan lore/theories - up to for example, in Origin of Hero, the novelization of The Sword two part pilot, Octavia, in what is meant to be an offensive and insulting joke, suggested Catra (and probably her kind) are from Beast Isle...and in gbagok's fan lore, Catra was from Beast Isle, and the book possibly referenced it in a creative way...

Still, like the Unnamed, and Hordak in He-Man and She-Ra Power Tour lead Snake Men, SPOP Hordak' forces were in large part composed of Rogelio's lizard men species, being kinda Snake Men like (if separate from them), with Rogelio and the rest of his kind seemingly being inspired by the prototype design of Rattlor, as is some of Rogelio's characterization.

Still, this would be just a reference then - Hordak rather wasn't present on ancient Eternia/Preternia, seeing it's strongly implied Hordak is relatively young in SPOP/not ancient. (Unless the portal to Despondos/Etheria transported him 500 to 1000 years into the future..., but that's just a rather a pretty improbable theory).

[darkleysgarden]

Into The Alters

A Total Drama Analysis

INTRODUCTION

I have been obsessed with the whole system. I love them all sm. And because of this, I had to analyze them ofc. That's what I always do. I'll start with more general things and then deep dive into the alters and how they formed.

Disclaimer: I do not have DID, nor do I claim to know everything about the condition. I have done my best to try and learn about it and be as accurate as possible. If I make any mistakes or use incorrect terms, please tell me! I'm trying my best and genuinely hope to improve. Tyty.

WARNINGS: I will discuss ableism, child abuse, sexual abuse, overall trauma, potential murder/crimes, and other Total Drama typical things.

Also, whenever I say 'they' or 'them', I'm referring to all the alters or multiple of them.

OVERALL VIEW OF THE SYSTEM

DID often forms from trauma, and this system clearly did form that way. I'll get into it more on the alters individual parts, but the way they act and the roles they take on help prove that their pasts were very traumatic.

What is the goal of them going on Total Drama?: I believe that the goal is to move out. I rewatched it recently, and I remember no mention of the bodies parents, no mention of their pasts other than hints at juvie, nothing. But, Nico, how can you say that it's specifically to move out? Throughout the seasons, it's hinted at that Mike knows little about TD. He's heard of it. He knows general things. Yet, he doesn't understand more niche callbacks. Most of the new cast mentions being huge fans or watching the series before. Mike, to my memory, doesn't. Mike never points out his goal for the million dollars, and the last thing he wants is fame. He even goes against his psychiatrists wishes of going on the show. Why is a million dollars so important to get? To move out. The DID formed from something, right? The most obvious way to form would be because of parents or guardians. And if you don't believe me yet, the only reference as to what they will do with the money is by Mal. Mal says he wants to use the money to live out his life his way in a tower of his own. AKA, he's using the money to move into a new place and gain free will. And I'll go deeper into that in a moment.

EDIT: I just found out that it's basically canon that they were using it to move out. The Fresh TV official blog confirmed that Mike and Zoey moved in together shortly after All Stars. Obviously they would have used the money to do so.

Overall, what I am saying here is that they have a bad home life and are going onto Total Drama to escape that. Both while the show runs and when they win. They even went on two seasons even though the first was stressful enough and they weren't having a great time. When people come back, they have a reason that they detail. Fame or fortune. We never get that from Mike. Because it's personal. It's personal and not something he is willing to share on international TV.

WHAT DOES THE RESET BUTTON DO?

After much research, the reset button does not seem possible to me and I have a new theory on what it actually did.

Via my research, I could be wrong, you cannot get rid of DID entirely. Alters can not be killed. To get rid of Mal would have required Mal to comply with it, and Mal was not complying.

Integration is possible. Parts can be erased. Though, in the end, Mal would come back like seen in the show. He can not be entirely erased because that's just not how DID works. Even integration, forced dormancy, and letting go of alters would take a ton of work and time. Getting rid of Mal would be hard and would be one thing. But to erase all of them and get rid of DID entirely? It's impossible from what I've seen. It's hard to erase a single alter, especially if they don't want to go like Mal. Usually, they leave by decision or go into dormancy on their own. And it seems that usually, if an old alter is erased, a new alter usually will form that is very similar to the old one.

Alternative theory: What do I really think the reset button did? Dormancy.

This would be hard, but not impossible. Like I said before, it's a choice that leads to dormancy and erasure. Aside from Mal, they were all on board with the decision. They would be able to put themselves into hiding in the meantime while Mike sorts his life out. All 5 of them would likely be able to force Mal into dormancy together, especially considering that we know they did it before.

"But Chester directly told us that-"

Chester is not reliable at all. Nobody else knew what it did. They were operating off of what he told them. Chester is shown to have shit memory and not know what he's talking about. He could have easily not explained the button entirely correctly.

I believe that once the show is over, Mike moves out, things settle down, the alters will slowly come out of dormancy as it feels right.

This is probably me being in denial that they're gone, but idc.

SVETLANA

Omg, Svetlana. I am her biggest fan !!!!!

Sorry.

Anyway. I suspect Svetlana is a fictive. Actually, my boyfriend came up with that. I'm stealing it from him. Ask him for more details. Idrk the details.

Basically, Svetlana is extremely detailed. She holds information and memories that seem to have come from outside of the systems experiences. She is too detailed to be a randomly formed alter.

How did she form?: So, I believe the character was off of a book character? I WASN'T THE ONE WHO CAME UP WITH THIS PART. I bet you're thinking, why aren't you researching this? I'm ranting to myself rn okay. I'm just also putting it on the internet for funsies. I'm operating off memory rn. All my research has been done off random questions I've had while pacing around my room at 3AM.

UPDATE: we've changed our minds. There's an Olympic Russian gymnast named Svetlana who has won TONS of awards and holds common references with her. She was also actively competing at the time Mike would have been a kid. So he could have been watching her and wanted to copy her acts. Svetlana Khorkina, if you're interested

Anyway. Young Mike is experimenting with himself. Because that's what every kid does. This doesn't necessarily mean that he's LGBTQ or anything. A boy can try on dresses without that being the case. People experiment with their identity, especially at a young age.

However, people don't like that. Because people are bitches fsr. Idk. And I already speculated before that the bodies' parents aren't great. An alter is forming off a book character he found relatable. The character being female is part of what gave him this interest in looking at feminine stuff. Yet, he got in trouble for it. In that situation, Svetlana would form off of the character, making her a fictive. Yet, she has also become a protector. She is now there to protect the physical aspect of the body. She's the one who works out with her gymnastics. She probably does skin care and that stuff. She knows how to get dressed well. She is there to protect the physical aspect and keep the body healthy.

And she won't fail to defend them from anybody who dislikes a boy wearing makeup or anything of the sorts. Those gymnastics muscles aren't fake bro.

Age speculation: so I don't feel like researching the book more. In fact, I can't even remember if it was a book. So I'm basing this entirely off of canon.

I think she is 14 or so. Though, with her, I can see a lot of fluctuation. I used to think she was more in her 20s. But, I think it makes much more sense for her to be a young teenager. Also, just saying this now, but my age headcanons are just headcanons. So, if I don't work with your ships, you can move them to a degree as long as it isn't weird. JUST DONT MOVE MANITOBA OR VITO MUCH AND ILL GET INTO THAT.

Back to Svetlana, though, she acts a lot like a young teenage girl. We know she has participated in many gymnastics events, and I feel like she wouldn't be so active in doing them if she didn't feel comfortable with the age group, if it wasn't very similar to her own. Which leads me to somewhere teenage. And then idk if it requires an explanation, but she gives 14 year old girl energy.

Also, I have a random silly hc that Svetlana was the only girl that could beat Skye in gymnastics. Svetlana had to participate somewhere, and they're both Canadian and probably would end up at the same competitions. There may be proof to disprove this, but all I've seen is "but the body is male," but Svetlana wouldn't participate in boys' competitions, and maybe people just aren't transphobic. Idk. SVETLANA HAS A TON OF AWARDS IN CANON. SHE ISN'T JUST SAYING THAT. IT'S IN THEIR ROOM. Sorry, I'm off topic.

MANITOBA

Another one of my favorites and another fictive WOOHOO.

So the creators, from what I've seen, have said Manitoba was based on Indiana Jones. And then they took Australian aspects from two non-fictional people.

That's why I've decided to call Manitoba and Indiana Jones fictive.

Formation: Nothing huge to this one. I believe Manitoba formed mostly off comfort. Indiana Jones was a comfort character. A cool explorer who could get out of any situation (I think. Admittedly, I've never actually watched it.)

We see constantly that Manitoba fronts specifically during tough situations that are hard to get out of. He's smarter than the others in many ways. He is always able to call out Mal's slip-ups and lies. He knows what he is doing and is able to protect and save the others from tough times. That is his main purpose as an alter.

Also, I think it's interesting to note that Manitoba says that Mike gets in the way of his relationships, and then Mike said that the alters would ruin his romantic relationships. I'm just saying that Manitoba probably had a love interest we didn't get to see. Idk. Just had to bring that up when talking about him. Listen, I'm analyzing them for the system, but I'm also doing general analysis, okay?

Age speculation: So... I see a lot of people speculating that he is like 20-40. I don't believe that. I placed him at about 18-19.

I couldn't figure out if fictives are always the same age as the character they form off of. But, let's say they are. In that case, I believe that it's highly likely Mike could have formed Manitoba off of the 13 year old Indiana Jones River Pheonix played. Then he continued to age.

The reason I don't like the older headcanons is mainly because he flirted with Zoey and was implied to be in past relationships. Obviously, these people wouldn't be far off from Mike's age. Going off of a 17 year old Mike, Manitoba is only 2 years older. I also just don't see it fitting for him to be much older? I can see him acting 20-25, but like I said I prefer it younger as it makes more sense with his relationships.

We never see Chester flirt with anyone for this reason. He's too old for them. It would be weird for Manitoba to flirt with them if it was the same case. And speaking of Chester...

CHESTER

Ima be so honest. I'm not hugely interested in Chester. Yet, I do think he's interesting in the aspect that he is different. And I believe he is an introject (if that's the correct term).

Mike's parents were shit in this speculation. He would search for someone outside of them. Like a grandparent. I also want to credit deranged_royal on tiktok as she formed most of my Chester headcanons and helped further my other analyses. She also has really cool cosplays. So follow her rn.

How he formed: Mike looked up to some kind of grandparent figure who ended up dying. He was hurt by this as he had nobody else to look up to. Therefore, an introject formed. It seems that introjects of people systems know in real life often form off of people that provide them comfort or have died. So, I think this makes sense.

Age speculation: 60-80

I feel like old people don't really act differently after they hit 60 or so, so I don't really know. He's probably older because of the issues he has.

Sorry, Chester is so short. I don't have too much to say about him. We don't get a lot of him, and I feel like he is very easy and simple to understand. I love his scenes, though. He's so silly.

VITO

So we all agree Vito is the sexual protector? All right. Thanks. This one goes more into sexual assault and sexual situations!!!

Formation: I actually have two separate theories for this. They both lie in sexual assault. But I'm leaning towards a sexually abusive ex over guardians.

The reason I think this is largely based on how he acts with Anne Maria. Also, the tiktoker I mentioned earlier also noted that he only fronts when the body becomes stripped of clothing. Interesting detail....

I love Annito. I'm their biggest fan, actually. I'm working on rewriting their entire wiki rn because all the system wikis are outdated. I love them sm. Break from the sadness. Look at the cuties.

Anyway. Have you ever noticed how attached Vito gets? He meets Anne Maria, and she is all he can think about from then on. He does anything even if it annoys him just to see her again. Assault survivors tend to get attached easily to those who show them positive attention. Also, they want to take charge of the more sexual aspects. Vito starts making out with Anne Maria within about 5 minutes of meeting.

Anne Maria gives him the interest, care, and control he seeks in a relationship. And now he clings to her. And they're healthy. I LOVE THEM AHHHHHH. Sorry. They're perfect together.

Age speculation: 17-18. This one is obvious to me. He acts like every high school senior. Plus, Anne Maria was 16 in roti. He's no more than 1-2 years older than her. Especially since she thought he was the host before the DID discovery. That means she thought he was about 16. Would be weird if he wasn't.

MIKE

Wowzers. We're at the host!

Okay. Mike, I get it you have internalized ableism. This issue, however, leads to a lot of mistreatment of his headmates. He acts like he owns them, which isn't a positive thing to do.

I love Mike a lot, but I will not erase his actions.

He never allows anyone to front unless it is for use. For example, Svetlana, if it's a physical situation. Then after he fronts immediately again. They even imply that he was never in headspace, meaning that he would only ever let them co front or would fully dissociate.

He didn't let them be their own people, which is really sad. He also didn't allow them their own relationships. Though they have as much of a right to those relationships as Mike does.

Just because Mike is the host or the 'first' doesn't mean that he isn't still an alter. He becomes an alter the second an alter forms for the first time. He is now only one of the people who shares the body.

Also, this may be controversial, but I don't like how Zoey treats Mike. 😕 I don't really have strong opinions outside of their relationship on her. But, I dislike how she, even after a year of dating, seems to not understand anything about his DID. Plus, she always brushes off every other alter and doesn't try to be friends with them or anything. Instead of helping with Mal, she just acted like Mike was lying to her. I like their friendship, but I can't ship Zoke for those reasons.

I could say more about that, but this isn't a Zoke hate post. Mb bros. I probably just lost a few of you. Too bad, so sad. Mal is the best part. You're gonna miss him.

I know I have more to say on him, but I am honestly blanking right now. It's hard to say more about him as he didn't form the same way as the others. I don't really know much about the first alter, so I don't really want to say more for that reason, too.

MAL

Oh, boy. Buckle up.

Idek where to start. I'll accidentally leave out sm because I have sm...

Formation: Mal was the first alter after Mike to form. I'm confident in this for sm reasons. For example, none of the other alters knew about if Mike or Mal formed first. Let's say Svetlana formed after Manitoba. Manitoba would know he was there before she formed as they all actively communicated with each other. Though, they all formed before juvie as they knew about that whole situation personally.

Therefore, I'd say that Mike and Mal have known each other since Mike was about 6. Which makes sense with the research I've done about formation ages. And this is why they know each other so well. Mal is able to imitate Mike extremely well. What gave him away was WHISTLING. And then the bracelet/necklace thing, but like, that has nothing to do with how well he knows Mike's personality.

He knows everything about Mike. And Mike NEEDED him. That is explicitly said by Mal and confirmed by Mike. Mal was formed to protect Mike from abusive or traumatic experiences. And that is why Mal is the way he is largely.

Mal experienced a traumatic childhood. And I believe he's younger than Mike. When Mike is 17, I believe he is only 13-15.

I believe that Mal is terrified of the fact that Mike doesn't need him anymore. So scared that when Mike is put under a ton of stress on the show, Mal fronts full time to take the situation into his hands. He still wants the same goal as the others, to move away. But he is doing it his own way. Also, notice how much he targeted Zoey? He hated anyone getting close to his headmates. He wants to protect them.

"How do you explain him being so rude?"

He is a kid who had a bad childhood. Because of this, he wants to take out the pain he received and push it onto others as well. That's why he's so aggressive. And part of it is just him being a devious 13 y/o.

And, don't forget that that kid was in jail.

Speaking of, he ran the place, right?

Of course, he would want to run the place. It's a whole jail troupe for a reason that you need to make yourself feared. If everyone was scared of him, nobody would hurt him.

That brings me to what I think got Mal into juvie.

Self protection murder.

From what I've seen of the laws, I believe he could go to juvie instead of adult jail for this based on the trial. And if it's self-protection against an abusive person, he could get off with less. I believe. I'm no expert on Canadian law or law in general.

Why do I think this?

Well, Mal had to do something pretty bad to have everyone fearing him. A young kid with a body at like 13 (my guess for body age when in jail), who committed murder. Everyone would stray away. Especially if Mal left out the details and claimed it was in cold blood.

Mal likely fronted most of the time during juvie. He had to go through that rough and scary situation. He went through all of this traumatic stuff.

And then...

Mike forced him into dormancy.

He loves Mike and wants to protect him. Yet, he holds a grudge against him. Mike formed him and made him suffer, and then now tries to get rid of him.

Of course Mal would be upset.

How he acts in All Stars is heavily based on a mix of his grudge against Mike, his trauma, his young age, his time in jail, and overall the nature of the alter he was formed to be.

Mal was formed to be someone stronger and more protective. He wasn't supposed to back down. He was supposed to save them all from that abuse.

But, he's still young and still his own person. It's going to take a toll on him. Especially if he only got to front during the bad times. He now only knows how to take out his anger as a way to protect himself and his headmates.

I know I have a lot more to say about Mal, too. But it's getting late and I'm tired and blanking.

EXTRA

I suspect that after juvie, they were placed into therapy and some sort of foster care. Even if they aren't in an actively abusive home now, they wouldn't trust that it couldn't turn bad. Plus, they would want their own space and control after everything.

So, I'm gonna end it here for now. It's midnight and I'm eepy.

Tell me if I made any mistakes please!!! On canon info or on DID or whatever

If you want more details on any headcanon or have any questions or anything put it in my asks. I love receiving asks. I'll gladly rant to whoever is interested.

Though, for now, I'm tired. Night night.

Live, laugh, love Svetlana.

[kidcapes]

Shin Megami Tensei's Canon Ending

Happy 31st birthday to Shin Megami Tensei (10/30)!

To celebrate, I made a video called "Shin Megami Tensei's Canon Ending" investigating the events between SMT1 and 2 and discussing the evidence for the popular fan-theory that the Neutral route is the canon ending to the original Shin Megami Tensei.

For the video, I had a short Q&A interview with ATLUS contractor  Nobuyuki Shioda, who's worked on several MegaTen books since 1992 to see his opinion on the topic. If you're interested, I'll be posting that discussion below.

I'd recommend watching the video before coming to any conclusion based on the following information. The interview was premised around me just going over all of the evidence that points to Neutral being the canon route before asking his opinion on the topic, so there's no mention of any counter-evidence in this discussion. This will also feature minor spoilers for SMT1, 2, and Raidou 1. ——————————————————————————————————

Context

I’m not familiar with the Japanese fanbase, but the Western fanbase generally considers the Neutral route to be the only SMT1 ending that could lead directly to SMT2. 

This idea is largely based on story events introduced by SMT2. Its manual talks about how between the events of SMT1 and before the Messians gained power, Tokyo was a free society where both Messians and Gaeans were welcome. 

In SMT2 Game Boy Advance's Visionary Items, the character Madam's butler talks about having a master who was opposed to the Center and helped build Valhalla. This is assumed to be referring to the Hero, SMT1’s protagonist. In the original game, he has a statue dedicated to him in the Valhalla Colosseum and Madam is shown to work with Cerberus, the Hero's pet demon. 

Later, in "Raidou Kuzunoha vs the Soulless Army" in the Akarana Corridor, there is a spirit in the year 203X who says, “Thank goodness for the unification. My wife was a Messiah [Messian], y’know. We owe a lot to that schoolboy with the gadget on his arm, who defeated all the gods and demons.” This mention of God and the devil may be referring to Law and Chaos. 

Finally, there is an English guide for Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne titled “Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne - Official Strategy Guide” that contains a detailed history of the series which says: “It [SMT2] presumes a world where the original game’s protagonist took a Neutral alignment and founded a utopian society whose citizens were free to follow whatever beliefs they chose.” However, when I went to check the Japanese version of this guide, this entire section of the book was missing.

This is all of the evidence I can think of that points towards a possible “true” Neutral ending for SMT1 into SMT2.

Questions

——What’s your initial opinion of the idea that Neutral has to be the route that the SMT1 Hero chose which led to SMT2?

“Since Neutral is presented in a way that can be easily perceived as a so-called ‘true ending,’ it is probably only ‘theoretically possible’ that the sequel is an extension of it.”

——Do you think this evidence points towards the Neutral route making the most sense?

“As mentioned above, it is likely that regardless of whether or not the story of SMT1 ends 'in the extreme', it would have stabilized in a way that would lead to SMT2, even if the outcome appeared to be different at the end of SMT1. Likely, whether or not it ‘makes sense’ is a low priority.”

——If you agree with the previous question, why do you personally think the staff would've chosen this?

“I believe that each staff member has different views. However, I suppose they might consider it ‘undesirable’ to announce it in an official statement.”

——In MegaTen Maniacs, what did the writer mean by “royal road” [王道] in this passage: 

“If the existence that created the world is lost, the survival of that world would undoubtedly be called into question, but it can be said that daring to do so and opening up the future with one's own hands is the “royal road” to take in the story. However, the route structure of ‘MegaTen,’ which branches off into ‘Law,’ ‘Neutral,’ and ‘Chaos,’ is a severe constraint that prevents the story from being summed up in terms of the “royal road” alone. For example, although the ideal model of the Neutral route may end up on the “royal road,” an ending that is biased toward Law or Chaos would be unacceptable from the player's perspective unless a ‘different ideal’ can be presented.”  

How is Neutral similar to this “royal road”?

“The term ‘royal road’ is used as a general pattern of storytelling in ‘other (non-MegaTen)’ RPGs. I think that the form of story that the creators wanted to write is close to ‘royal road’ as the ‘ideal model’ of what should be presented.”

——If Neutral can be viewed as the ideal route, can we assume that the SMT1 Hero chose it?

“Although it is an imaginative story, and not everyone will agree with it, being unbiased is a kind of virtue, and even Buddhism respects it by calling it the ‘Middle Way,’* which I understand is appropriate for a protagonist.”

——In MegaTen Maniacs, you mentioned that you could not comment on what ending the Hero chose in SMT1. Did you have a specific reason for saying this?

“‘MegaTen Maniacs’ is an official book, but it can be said that in Japan it is difficult to appreciate this kind of content in a text. This is especially true for such a young culture as video games. I also think that ATLUS did not have enough time to examine this writing (mainly due to the lateness of my manuscript), given the limited time available for publication. In that sense, these texts are my texts that I wrote. They may be officially approved considerations, but they are not identical to what the production staff had in mind.

To answer your question, I could say that 'it was better without it,' but since the book was a publication of material that allows players to understand that such points were considered in the production process, I believe they would have deeper gaming experience if they were to play the game again with that understanding.”

——In Ayakashi Monthly Special Final Issue, a comment on the Nocturne draft mentions that SMT2 is a parallel world to SMT1. It is sometimes said that if... or Devil Summoner and Persona are parallel worlds to SMT1. Is this a similar scenario to those games? 

However, I can also see this statement metaphorically referencing ATLUS staff explaining about how SMT2's setting was purposefully meant to be vaguely set after SMT1. 

What is your opinion on the idea that SMT2 is in a parallel world of SMT1?

“This one had a generous editing period, and Atlus also took the time to check the text on top of the content checks by ‘Famitsu,’ which was also editing the book.

From the viewpoint of game development, describing it as 'parallel' means that it can be influenced by the actions of the player. This is what the use of 'parallel' means in this text, and is separate from a parallel in the narrative itself. The expression 'SMT2 is a parallel world to SMT1' has been used in promotional materials since the release of SMT2 on the SNES, and I also use it in my articles, but I think it means that SMT2 can accommodate any state of personal swing** [or outcome chosen] by a SMT1 player.”

——If we assume that it's specifically the Neutral ending of SMT1 that actually led to SMT2 based on the previous statements, do you think that this retroactively makes Neutral the "true" ending for SMT1?

“Close to it, I would say. Not completely, perhaps. I think it is something that has never existed in the history of Japanese game software.”

——What opinion concerning SMT1's "true" ending do you see the most among the Japanese fanbase?

“I think the majority of Japanese players see a 'True End' as a 'longer (in a sense) and more compelling ('favorable') ending' than the other endings. In that sense, I think SMT1's Neutral route meets the criteria. It is also, even if not consciously, the 'Middle Way'. I think that many players who enjoy MegatTen like to think about the significance of such works, but I don't think that there are many who exchange and examine their opinions (each Megaten fan may have their own unique interpretation).”

——Just to clarify, do you have any opinion on how a canon route for SMT1 may relate to those specific quotes from SMT2 or Raidou 1?

“Raidou 1 is cleverly made, but I don't think it's anything more than one part of the multiverse, as it was retroactively added to the initial conception of the narrative framework. 

SMT2 is also a story that was considered from the beginning to some extent, but changes occurred during its production, so fundamentally, there is no perfect continuity. 

It can be said that there is no such thing.”

* The Middle Way is a Buddhist concept that preaches moderation in everything as the key to enlightenment. This is referenced in Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse by Stephen. **  The word used here is 振れ幅, which means imprecision or variance, so when he says “personal variables” he’s essentially referring to someone's headcanon or fan-theory.

Original Text

——What’s your initial opinion of the idea that Neutral has to be the route that the SMT1 Hero chose which led to SMT2?

「 Neutralはいわゆる「真のエンディング」と捉えやすい形で提示されているため、続編がその延長線上にあるというのは、「理論的に可能」ということに過ぎないのではないでしょうか。」

——Do you think this evidence points towards the Neutral route making the most sense?

「 前述したように、SMT1の物語は「極論すれば」どう終わったとしても、SMT1の終わりの時点では異なるエンディングに見えても、SMT2に繋がる形に落ち着いていた、とも考えられます。恐らく、「理にかなっている」かどうかは価値観の順列としては低いのではないのでしょうか。」

——If you agree with the previous question, why do you personally think the staff would've chosen this?

「スタッフは人それぞれで異なる見解を持っていると思います。ただし、公式なステートメントではそれを発表することは「望ましくない」」と考えているかもしれませんね。」

——In MegaTen Maniacs, what did the writer mean by “royal road” [王道] in this passage: 

“If the existence that created the world is lost, the survival of that world would undoubtedly be called into question, but it can be said that daring to do so and opening up the future with one's own hands is the “royal road” to take in the story. However, the route structure of ‘MegaTen,’ which branches off into ‘Law,’ ‘Neutral,’ and ‘Chaos,’ is a severe constraint that prevents the story from being summed up in terms of the “royal road” alone. For example, although the ideal model of the Neutral route may end up on the “royal road,” an ending that is biased toward Law or Chaos would be unacceptable from the player's perspective unless a ‘different ideal’ can be presented.”  

How is Neutral similar to this “royal road”?

「王道という言葉は、一般的な「他の（メガテン以外の）」RPGにおける物語のパターンという意味で使っています。制作者たちの書きたかった物語の形が、提示すべき「理想形」として「王道」に近いのだと思っています。 」

——If Neutral can be viewed as the ideal route, can we assume that the SMT1 Hero chose it?

「 イメージ的な話で誰にでもそれが好ましいというわけではあせんが、偏りがないことは一種の美徳ではあり、仏教でも中道と呼んで尊重するところがあり、主人公としてふさわしいと理解できます。」

——In MegaTen Maniacs, you mentioned that you could not comment on what ending the Hero chose in SMT1. Did you have a specific reason for saying this?

「公式の書籍である『メガテンマニアクス』ですが、日本ではこうした内容の文章を評価することが難しいと言うことができます。特にゲームという年若い文化では余計にそうだと思います。また発行まで時間のない中ではアトラスさんには、この文章を吟味する時間が足りなかったと思います（主に、私の原稿が遅かったことに原因があります）。そういう意味では、こうしたテキストは書いた私の文章だと思います。公式に認められた考察ではあるかもしれませんが、制作スタッフの考えていたことと同一ではありません。

質問の回答としては、「それはなくても良かった」、とも言えますが、制作していく上でそういった点���考えられているということが理解できる資料を公開した書籍ですから、理解してまた遊んでいただけるなら、より深いゲーム体験になるのではないかと思います。」

——In Ayakashi Monthly Special Final Issue, a comment on the Nocturne draft mentions that SMT2 is a parallel world to SMT1. It is sometimes said that if... or Devil Summoner and Persona are parallel worlds to SMT1. Is this a similar scenario to those games? 

However, I can also see this statement metaphorically referencing ATLUS staff explaining about how SMT2's setting was purposefully meant to be vaguely set after SMT1. 

What is your opinion on the idea that SMT2 is in a parallel world of SMT1?

「 こちらの方が編集期間には余裕があって、テキストについても編集をしている「ファミ通」の内容チェックの上で、アトラスさんも時間をかけてチェックをされています。

ゲームを制作する上では、「パラレル」と表現することは、プレイヤーの行動によって左右されることも含みます。物語じょうにあるパラレルとは別のものといえます。このテキストでのパラレルという表現は、そうした意図で書いています。「『真II』が『真I』のパラレルワールドであると」いう言葉はSFCの真IIの発売当時からプロモーションの中でも表現としてあったもので、私も記事中で使っていますが、真Iのプレイヤーによるパーソナルな振れ幅のどの状態にも真IIは対応している、ということだと考えています。」

——If we assume that it's specifically the Neutral ending of SMT1 that actually led to SMT2 based on the previous statements, do you think that this retroactively makes Neutral the "true" ending for SMT1?

「 それに近い、とは言えるでしょう。完全に、ではないかもしれません。たぶん、日本のゲームソフトの歴史の上にはなかったものだと思います。」

——What opinion concerning SMT1's "true" ending do you see the most among the Japanese fanbase?

「日本人のプレイヤーの大半は、『トゥルーエンド』は他のエンドよりも「（ある意味）長く、説得力のある（好ましい）エンディング」といった考え方と理解していると思います。そういう意味で真IのNEUTRALは条件に合致していると思います。意識してはいなかったとしても、「中道」であることもです。メガテンを好むフレイヤ―はそういった作品の意味性について考えることが好きな方も多いと思いますが、意見を交換したり考察したりする人は少ないと思います（メガテンのファンは、それぞれ独自の解釈をしているかもしれませんね）。 」

——Just to clarify, do you have any opinion on how a canon route for SMT1 may relate to those specific quotes from SMT2 or Raidou 1?

「超力兵団は非常に巧く作っていますが、当初から考えられていた物語構造に後付けで作っていることでマルチバースのひとつ以上にはなり得ないとは思います。

真IIもある程度当初から考えられてきた物語ですが、制作している間に変化は生じていますから、基本的には完全な連続性

はないと言えます。」

[mudora]

unnnghhh, I just need to get this out of my system before it gets stupid.  I promise, it is a -very- silly and light criticism of current totk discourse revolving around the three Goddesses, Din, Nayru, and Farore. Honestly I shouldn’t even be negatively affected by just some fun theories being thrown around, but clearly I’m bothered by it for some reason. And I can likely explain why. (This isn’t to stop fun fan theories from being made or me being an old codger and saying NO to fans, because that’s completely rude. If those developments are genuinely exciting to you, I getchya.) 

Current talk is that at least in BoTW and ToTK, the dragons that are roughly named after the three goddesses (not my assumption) (and are referred to as she) by the Goddess statues, are Zonai who consumed their stones. So at least in this universe that BoTW and ToTK decides to be in, these goddesses were mortal in some way or somehow turned their secret stones into the triforce or... something along those lines. I don’t inherently like this line of thinking, for a few reasons. Sort of the same reasons I don’t inherently like the idea of Zelda basically being the Virgin Mary figure in skyward sword and onward. It’s just opinion, and shouldn’t affect your fun times. And for some dumb reason it bothers me and I just want to explain why. The Golden Goddesses, Din, Nayru, and Farore, were not sideliners when it comes to the entirety of Zelda lore. They made the world, full stop, and possibly other worlds that also appear in the Zelda series. They -made- the kingdom of Hyrule, and left the Triforce behind after their creation was complete. They have no official appearance in any game (these are not the oracles), but their hand is -felt- in certain ways. Even if their presence is subdued, they still call the shots on their creation. Just like them, their respective Triforce Pieces represent their philosophy. Din is most comfortable in their Power. Nayru has ageless Wisdom, and Farore gives courage to all she holds dear. Together, they represent The Legend of Zelda’s whole philosophy: As one, they are perfect, working in tandem. Apart, they are still powerful, but become imbalanced and that imbalance throws the world into chaos, as it has time and time again since the Triforce’s original separation in Ocarina of Time. The Goddesses Themselves continue to have namesakes within the series, which is where the Dragon’s names in BoTW and ToTK will become more familiar. At least since Twilight Princess, the Light Spirits that protect the world of reality from shadow, are named subtly after their creators. Faron (Not Farore), Lanayru, (Not Nayru), and Eldin (not Din). They bear the responsibility of protecting creation and the Sacred Realm from the shadow the Twili created, and naturally were eventually banished to the Twilight Realm due to their sacrosanct acts. This is, as far as I remember, the first time we hear of these names. They were created by Din, Nayru, and Farore, but they themselves are not the gods incarnate, and never were. They simply had a purpose, and carried their namesake due to who mothered them into existence.  Now, again, I don’t really subscribe that much to a timeline, and never really have regardless of the “Official” timeline existing. BotW and TotK feel wildly different in terms of what is included in them. We at least know there are *stories* of the Hero of Time, the Hero of Winds, the Hero of Twilight, etc, etc. or they are at least vaguely mentioned in ancient rites and likely moldy tomes that haven’t seen the light of day in thousands, if not tens of thousands of years. Most of this ancient era has come and gone, to the point where the Sheikah tribe of old developed frickin computers with magic powers, and by the time THAT was featured in BoTW, it was already ANCIENT Sheikah tech. But with the events of ToTK, I’m completely complacent in thinking this could be a completely different -universe- then the actual “Official” timeline.  Much like how Termina exists, It’s not really difficult to imagine several different Hyrules existing in many alternate realities, dimensions, planes, what have you. And just because the Zonai exist does not inherently mean the Triforce and the Goddesses don’t also somehow exist in this set universe. I don’t believe the Goddesses would suddenly decide to become Zonai, when perhaps they are the ones who created them anyway, much like the Hylians, the Gorons, the Zora, etc. And even if there are multiple Hyrules, The Goddesses literally made it. I doubt, in any timeline, plane, reality, dimension, that fact would somehow be different, as they are literally the ones responsible for its actual existence. The Zonai, after all are said to be -descended- from Gods, and are only seen as gods themselves due to how these Gods GIFTED these guys with Secret Stones.  This of course, brings us to the dragons in question: I do understand where people believe these three dragons could be the Goddesses. Though the Zonai consider the process of Draconfication forbidden, I don’t really think it’s as forbidden as we think it is. Where I differ from the current discourse, however, is that I don’t remotely think Din, Nayru, and Farore were somehow Zonai, and partook of their sacred stones and it became the triforce. This just doesn’t make sense with the very little we have to go on, for a lot of  reasons. 1, we have to presume Din, Nayru, and Farore already exist, and have existed for Milennia. Otherwise, the Kingdom of Hyrule -would not exist-. Neither would the Hero, Neither would Princess Zelda, Ganondorf, etc.  However. I have a theory that the Dragons are the God forms of the Zonai. Though they are a bit goat like, they also share... quite a few draconic traits on their own, no?Sharp teeth, hair that more serpentine dragons have from Japan and China. They came from the literal sky and wished to bring their bounty to the races of the land. The Zonai -revere- dragons and dragon kind. The Secret Stones themselves obviously don’t just turn Zonai into dragons, as we can see from Zelda consuming hers. I presume, that these gifted Secret Stones likely come from the God-like dragons that the Zonai likely descended from. When swallowing a stone, you are inheriting the power of presumed God-hood as defined by the Zonai. You become immortal. You lose yourself. Because mortals and Gods are profoundly different. Now, whether or not Dragons are capable of becoming mortal on their own is a good question I can’t answer, but I suspect the Zonai have -way- more relation to the concept of the dragons then they do Din, Nayru, and Farore. The same goes for the Dragons that are already within Hyrule: Dinraal, Naydraa (Wtf that isn’t even close to Nayru), and Farosh.. These guys have way more in common with their other namesakes, the light spirits of twilight princess, then they do with the actual Golden Goddesses. And they presumably also share something with their Light Spirit Namesakes. They are guardians of the springs of Power, Wisdom, and Courage respectively. However I picture this relation to be more of these dragon gods wishing to protect creation from ages long past. Perhaps these Dragons never became Zonai. Perhaps these dragons are Zonai who wished to fulfill a purpose in protecting these springs. But being the Golden Goddesses themselves? I highly doubt it. There is plenty of room within the Zelda universe to have the Golden Goddesses remain as such, and to have other gods and spirits fulfill myriad roles deemed important to the Cycles.  If anything, I would say the Zonai are an interesting addition to the many races of Hyrule, and their story is a more compelling one, when viewed in a lense that encompasses their relationship to dragonkind. Not God-kind. Or... at least DragonGod Kind. I also feel like viewing it this way is -way- easier to swallow then somehow relating the Secret Stones to the Triforce. These are their own unique goodie. ToTK, more or less, is a lesson that the Triforce has already taught many times, but through a different lens. Might and Power can obviously come from many different things in Hyrule, and a DragonGod’s essence? Well.  How could Ganondorf, one who seeks power with relentless force, resist?  In her Wisdom, Zelda chose to seek this power to protect her Kingdom from the plague she so feared.  And Link, once again, is the edge of the sword, stuck within the power struggle. Yet his courage and valor lead to the destruction of the Demon Dragon.  I don’t know about you, but the Goddesses are definitely watching. And not as dragons. 

[torturedsideblogdept]

I’m so sleep deprived, so this is truly a junk drawer post, but I’m not done talking about Taylor Swift and literary alchemy!!

Like can we just talk about the fact that the proper name for the alchemical process is magnum opus and how that term is commonly used to refer to an artist’s masterpiece that is most representative of them and their journey or the most important to them?

Is it possible that we’ll find that the title “The Alchemy” could be substituted by “The Great Work” or “The Magnum Opus”? That provides so much fuel for predictions about the song.

“Daylight” has been discussed as being connected to “The Alchemist” because of the mention of gold and to “Red” because of mention of red, but can we talk about how it specifically references ALL the colors of the three stages of alchemy in order (I once believed love would be black and white […] I once believed love would be burning red, but it’s golden”)?

And can we talk about the album colors and how they tie in to alchemy? If Reputation was the black stage, next comes white, right? But Lover isn’t white, even though that seems like the vibe it was going for—perhaps white was the stage Taylor wanted or believed it to be in her life and/or music career, but as the Apple Music “I Love You, It’s Ruining My Life” playlist tell us, Lover was mostly denial—nor is Midnights, which harkens back to the darkness. TTPD is the white stage—the purification and refinement (i.e., removing what doesn’t belong…just sayin).

What comes next, then? Either one (red, most likely) or two (yellow and red) final stages. Philosophically, the yellowing, cintrinitas represents an awakening, and the reddening/rubedo “stage entails the attempt of the alchemist to integrate the psychospiritual outcomes of the process into a coherent sense of self before its re-entry to the world” (Wikipedia). If it’s two, well, bring on the two ✌️ theories!

I think there probably are multiple correct answers here for how what’s to come next relates to alchemy, because it’s like that, and very layered (I mean, literary alchemy started as satire of alchemy before it became serious themes and tropes and story structures and the names of mentors in Harry Potter).

What speaks to me the most in regards to twos and alchemy is that she has two re-recorded albums to release to complete the Taylor’s Version project. Is Taylor’s Version her magnum opus, her hero’s journey?

If there’s just the one final alchemical stage to follow TTPD, will that yellow/red phase be the next new album and our mystery orange door? Whether or not the Karma theories have a factual basis, we know Taylor takes inspiration from fan theories, as most recently evidenced by the grief playlists. Could the concept of Karma—the orange (yellow+red) album that was waylaid by the blackening (Reputation) and burned down in the subsequent attempted whitening (Lover) which left us back at the dark stage (Midnights [leaving folkmore out because they’re not overall autobiographical and weren’t planned, so there wasn’t an intention to move/transform into the next stage, if that makes sense?])—be used by Taylor to represent that the end of this alchemical process is getting back on track for what she had planned before the Taylor Swift Is Over Party and/or Joe? Or, if that potential album indeed burned down completely with the rest of the Lover house, will whatever her next album after TTPD be rising in some way from those ashes?

Okay I’m officially deliriously tired now to where I can’t read what I’m writing as I write it, so I’m going to pause here tonight before my theories totally lose the plot, but please continue and add your thoughts/ideas!!

[yukidragon]

More SDJ Headcanons

Isn’t it great that Sunshine in Hell has finally hit the Explicit rating? I know I’ve been looking forward to it. Thank you for being such a horny touch starved clown, Jack. You gave the fic the adults only rating it was always meant to have.

Now, as I turn my attention to working on chapter 7, I’ve been musing more about the lore, both canon for the game and the canon I’m building for my fic. I figured it might be time to make another post of my headcanons. You can read the first post I made here.

Just to make it clear, the canon for the game and my story’s canon are slightly different. Let’s face it, I’m not Jambee or working for them, so I have no knowledge of the actual lore to go with, just my speculation and what I find fun. Also, it’s important to keep in mind that the lore of the game changed from the first demo to the second, and it might change again for the final game.

One thing Jambee clarified on their twitter is all the stuff posted on their twitter is basically for the fans’ entertainment, and only what’s in the actual final game or the official twitter is definite canon. As such, speculation of things found on their twitter may or may not be accurate to what’s actually going on.

Still, that doesn’t mean I can’t use those fun little possibilities for Sunshine in Hell. :3

Though I will say that not all my headcanons are set in stone either. I think a couple have slightly changed since the last time I discussed them, but that’s the nature of a developing story. Like SDJ, what comes out in the final product is canon for the story of Sunshine in Hell with everything else being a little more nebulous. That said, I figured why not share my speculations and plotting with the fandom anyway?

As always, remember Something’s Wrong With Sunny Day Jack is an erotic horror game that is for people over 18 years old ONLY. There is sex, violence, and disturbing topics in both the game and in these headcanons at times. Thus all the juicy bits will be going under a cut. You’ve been warned.

Also, there are potential spoilers for Sunshine in Hell in my headcanon theories. I’m not going out of my way to cram them in, but they’ll no doubt crop up sometimes as I discuss these theories.

Obligatory tags for @channydraws and @earthgirlaesthetic. If you want to get tagged when I make the next headcanon post, just let me know!

Setting and Themes

Jambee said in a twitter post that SDJ is going to have a strong emphasis on the entertainment industry and its darker side. This made me reexamine some details I attributed to Jack’s past in the imagery, particularly the pills and scalpels.

It’s no secret that the industry has pushed its workers to dangerous extremes, particularly addiction. Given that Jack talks about being “clean” in his traumatized moments, it might not just be about his change in identity as Joseph Cullman to Joseph Haberdae, but also a reference to him no longer having bad habits as Jack. No more drugs, no more smoking, and possibly no more drinking.

There’s also the fact that other dialogue from Jack hints that he had struggled with addiction in the past. Now, this might be related to just his nicotine habit, as that is a nasty addiction in and of itself, but the way he emphasizes how something that feels good for you can’t be bad is the kind of logic addicts use to justify getting their fix. Their drug of choice makes them feel good, so how could it be bad?

The scalpels, I suspect, might be related to plastic surgery. It’s no secret that there’s a lot of body shaming in the industry for its stars. This I’m much more iffy about since Jack doesn’t appear to have changed much in appearance from before he was an actor to when he died. It is possible that someone else underwent the knife and the results were less than... stellar.

A possibility is, say, Rory Rainberry’s actor deciding to improve his appearance through surgery. If we go back to the theory that he’s the person who murdered Jack, then it could be resentment towards Jack not needing such treatment to look pretty. With a botched plastic surgery, Rory would no doubt be replaced and filled with resentment. If Rory’s axe to grind was for both Jack AND the studio, it’s more reason for the studio to scrub all knowledge of the whole thing.

Personally, I’m still not convinced that Rory’s actor was the murderer, but I do find it suspect that he’s the only actor not shown talking about Jack years later with the other two... Something happened to him, something that had him be conspicuously left out of a retrospective interview about the ‘84 incident.

All that said, I do still think Jack’s past as Joseph Cullman plays a huge part in things going so horribly wrong for him as Joseph Haberdae.

The sad thing is that history repeats. Ian is an aspiring actor. Shaun is an aspiring director. All three love interests have heavy ties to the entertainment industry. Given the hints we’ve gotten so far, I think they’re going to be struggling under the same kind of weight Jack did. A teaser image showed Shaun looking worn out. Another showed Ian saying he has to hide the fact that he’s dating from his agent. Both don’t really say good things about the industry.

I suspect these will be expanded on in the main game. I believe that no matter what route sunshine takes, the story is going to unfold to reveal some dark sides to the industry that affect the guys very negatively. Then, of course, there’s the yandere ghost(?) who won’t let the other guys be love interests for his sunshine so easily...

Jack is a Ghost(?)

In the official game store page, Jack is called a “ghost(?)” I find that very interesting. When we look at how another ghost character is handled by Jambee, Elias Gallagher, he presents differently than Jack does most of the time. Elias is more the typical image of a ghost - faintly glowing blue, translucent at times, legs disappearing into a wispy smoke, showing signs of how he died... We do see Jack sort of like that at times when his trauma slips through, and when his wounds appear on him, but I suspect he’s not quite a ghost anymore.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe Jack is still the man who used to be called Joseph Cullman and Joseph Haberdae. I don’t think we’ve got a tulpa situation on our hands where Jack is a separate entity made from the memory of Joseph. I think that whatever means that allowed him to manifest as a solid entity to his sunshine made him change from a ghost to something a little different.

As I said in my previous headcanon post, Jack has manifested into reality because he and Alice made an agreement. Jack has a piece of Alice’s living human soul inside him, while Alice has a piece of a ghost’s dead soul inside of her. This connection between them is going to have affects on both of them.

This is how Jack is warm and has a heartbeat, as well as body fluids. This is a conditional situation due to Alice still being alive and her choosing to, in essence, share her life with him.

In a way, the agreement - this union of souls- is kind of like a marriage between them. Maybe Jack isn’t that much different from Elias after all.

This does suggest that there’s the potential for Jack to continue to change, to become stronger and have more of an impact on the living world. Alice is already giving him this much power, and I imagine it’s possible that he could gain it from others as well given he has the potential to influence other people when his yandere impulses come out to play...

As the bond between Jack and Alice grows stronger, there will be more changes that take place. In the “yes” route, these changes are positive. In the “no” route though...

Good thing Sunshine in Hell is going the “yes” route, huh? What can I say, I’m a sucker for happy endings, and in the end, I want Jack and Alice to be happy together. This is one thing that I refuse to change about the story no matter how my headcanons expand. Jack/sunshine is my OTP!

Alice and Love

On that note, let’s get to the main conflict of the story - the love life of the game’s protagonist. It’s pretty clear that most of the issues sunshine has stems from how the relationship with Ian fell apart. It’s why they are so resistant to accept Jack’s love and support, especially when it comes to Ian. In fact, they act as though they aren’t deserving of such kindness and love.

This, of course, holds true for my version of sunshine, Alice.

To put it bluntly, Alice is very scarred and twisted up inside by her relationship with Ian.

The issues don’t entirely stem from Ian, but he did the greatest damage to Alice.

As mentioned in the previous post, Alice and Ian were both very unpopular with their peers. We’ve seen Ian insulted for his looks, and Alice was as well. This resulted in self-confidence issues for the both of them. It was a topic that they bonded over and supported each other for. It played a part in strengthening their friendship that eventually led to their romantic relationship.

This also gives the two of them issues when it comes to being viewed as attractive to the opposite sex. As the two got older, there was this strong sense of disbelief that people could find them attractive. Ian’s glow up was noticeable, and it’s a part of what got him attention in his dreams of becoming an actor. It was impossible for him not to be flattered by all the people complimenting his looks and flirting with him. He had no experience with dealing with flirting, so at times it did lead to him awkwardly returning the compliments and flirting back without really intending it to actually mean anything. At the same time though he started to really come to realize that he was seen as handsome now, by more people than just Alice. He was attractive, desirable... Alice was no longer unique in wanting him. If he wanted to, he could date so many other people...

That said, Ian never intended to cheat. Isn’t that what a lot of cheaters say? It was a moment of weakness, it just happened... He was living a plane’s flight away from the only home he had ever known, all of his friends and his childhood friend turned partner. He was lonely, but he made so many new friends at his new school. He was making connections, building his dream. He missed his partner though, that support and love Alice gave him. But these new people flirting with him... that felt good too, and there were so many attractive people around him... All it took was one night of poor judgement, and he did something he never thought himself capable of.

Alice also experienced being flirted with while she was in a relationship with Ian, but unlike him, she didn’t react positively towards it. Sure, it was flattering when she noticed it, or at least it should have been, but it was much more alarming. (Much like when Nick flirts with her at the shop.) Growing up being insulted for her looks made her see herself as ugly, unappealing. What she and Ian had was special, genuine, real... or at least, she believed it was. She always felt Ian “saw past” her unappealing outer appearance to see the beauty inside her, not seeing her body as anything desirable to anyone without “love goggles” affecting the view. So anyone flirting with her outside of her relationship felt fake, like a trick. Were they just setting her up just to mock her if she agreed?

In Alice’s teenage years that did happen, unfortunately. She was confessed to and it was turned around to be a joke because she was “fat, ugly, and weird” and “who would wanna date a whale like you?” and implications that anyone who DID find her attractive must have had a sick fetish. It makes her dubious about random people flirting with her and their intentions even when she was single. When she was in a relationship, any advances were even more unwanted, but she could easily rebuff them by saying she had a boyfriend.

Then of course there’s the issues the SA Alice went through that affected her feeling attractive...

Alice knew who Ian cheated on her with. It was a female friend he made at his school, someone her friends told her to watch out for, who Ian said she had nothing to worry about. She heard that woman’s voice over the phone during the call when Ian confessed everything. That “friend” was skinnier with bigger breasts, just like all the girls in those ecchi manga Ian liked to read for “research” on how to have better sex.

Learning how to have sex via porn, whether it’s hentai/ecchi/pornographic videos/etc. is not a good way to have healthy sex by the way. Their sex life was, unfortunately, flawed.

As shown in the afterlife moment, Ian tends to get swept up in the pleasure of the act. Alice almost passed out during the blowjob because he took over and wouldn’t let her try to pull back. She let him because she loved him and wanted him to feel good. He didn’t even return the favor to her after he finished. But it was fine. He was happy. They were happy. They were cuddly and in love. Alice was too wiped out from nearly passing out from lack of air too so it didn’t matter...

Ian is very meek and apologetic in personality, but in bed he’s far more rough. Instinct and poor sex techniques come more into play than anything else, softened with words of love and apologies if things get a little painful. In a lot of hentai/ecchi, there’s this mindset of “just bear with it, it’ll feel good soon” when it comes to penetrative sex. The afterlife moment gave hints of that, and even in the “yes” route there are signs of it, as Jack comments that he doesn’t want to hurt Alice even as she’s being impatient to have him inside her.

Ian being unintentionally rough with Alice but being contrite and apologetic was something of a theme in their relationship. It was never intentional, but mistakes always seemed to happen.

So much of their relationship was Ian being sad and pitiful, needing to be comforted and reassured. He apologizes so often it’s just his thing. He is apologetically himself, as Alice thinks of him. His life was so sad and he was her only friend, and only she could be there for him. If she wasn’t there, he’d have nobody...

So Alice tried to forgive Ian. She really did. She said she did. She thought she meant it too. She just could never forget... and now she saw all the things in her relationship that were wrong... things she ignored for the sake of love.

In the end, trying to make it work despite the cheating incident didn’t last long. The cheating incident was the beginning of the end. These bad habits cycled back around again and the trust was gone. It made Alice realize that what Ian wanted wasn’t her. He was scared of losing what they had and felt nostalgia towards her, not love. He was in love with their past together, the support, stability, love, familiarity, and security she brought to his life. However, as a romantic partner she was just “convenient” for him while he had no options, and now that he has them...

Well, Alice forgave him once already. She always forgave him. If he slipped again, surely she would just forgive him again.

Shaun helped Alice realize this was likely going to happen. He helped her see the unhealthy cycle she and Ian trapped themselves in.

These revelations proved to Alice that no one would be attracted to her, not when there were so many better, far more desirable people out there. At best, she would be “just a hole to fill” until they found someone better.

So Alice, overall, doesn’t see when someone flirts with her unless it’s blatant, like being asked if she has a boyfriend. She doesn’t believe attraction towards her is genuine. Not from Ian, and not from anyone else.

This, naturally, is the biggest obstacle Jack faces when it comes to finally receiving his sunshine’s love, but he’s willing to put in the work. He’ll do whatever it takes to prove to Alice that his feelings are real and that she can trust him. Fortunately for him, their agreement allows her to actually feel his feelings, even if she doesn’t fully realize that she’s feeling it. It goes a long way in helping her heal and eventually accept that she can be loved and desired just for being herself and not some “ideal” that she thinks she can never compare to.

Shaun did have a chance of getting through the walls Alice built around her heart with his sincere feelings, but without such a supernatural empathy sharing ability, it would take him a lot longer. We’re talking years of slowly helping her trust that he genuinely wanted her seriously and not as a temporary thing or because it was convenient. Alice doesn’t assume he’d use her or cheat on her, but she just can’t see herself as someone worthy of loving or desirable for anything more than as a temporary fling.

Unfortunately for Shaun, his timing was all wrong, and Jack already came in to occupy the hole in Alice’s heart by the time he had the time to make to try and lower the walls around her heart.

Ian has no chance of getting back together with Alice. It’s not because she no longer loves him. She still loves him. She hates that she still loves him. She wishes she didn’t. She knows they’re not good for each other even if he refuses. She no longer believes he loves her, no matter what sweet words he says. No matter how guilty he makes her. No matter how many friends he convinces to talk to her about him because he’s so sorry and maybe he deserves another chance and those who knew the two of them for years are expecting them to get over this eventually... It’s why he won’t stop trying, not until things go back to the way they were...

Background Cast

This headcanon post has gotten pretty long, so I’ll just finish off with something not so doom and gloom. I’ve come up with some designs for other employees at Yogurt-topia. Let’s face it, three people aren’t going to be enough to keep the place running, no matter how much one in particular is run ragged with overtime trying to keep the place afloat. Five might not be enough either, but here are the four members of staff who work with Alice and their basic design details I’ve thought up so far.

Boss

Married man in his late 40′s/early 50′s.

Balding, kinda chubby, the typical business owner type appearance.

Certainly not the worst boss to work for, but he does pile way too many hours on his few employees.

He will delegate as many duties to the staff as possible so that he won’t have to put in too many hours himself.

Thinks Alice is the most reliable member of his full-time staff so he’ll push as much of said responsibility on her as she’ll take.

Carol

I already went into her details in the last headcanon post, so I won’t rehash those details here, but bring up a couple other thoughts that came to me since then.

Isn’t in a relationship or looking. She’s out and about to enjoy her youth by dating around.

Looks out for her junior co-workers, but will absolutely escape her own responsibilities and leave it for them.

Liz

The nickname “Liz” is short for “Lizard”.

Yes that is their legal name.

Skinny and tall, they’re in their early 20′s and work part time between college classes.

They have long dark brown hair dyed green at the ends, tied in a ponytail while at work, and bangs that cover their eyes.

Don’t ask what their eye color is. They will never let you know.

They have a number of tattoos and piercings.

They sometimes still wear the clown nose part of the uniform even though it’s now optional.

The clown nose is pierced in multiple places.

Despite being kind of a jerk, they can be a reliable worker.

They’re not exactly chummy with their fellow co-workers. Get the work done, get the paycheck, then get out to go party with their actual friends, that’s their motto.

Susan

The youngest of the staff being her late teens, she is also a part timer.

She likes to wear cute buttons pinned to her hijab and uniform.

Big bright brown eyes and glasses.

Despite being youngest, she is still taller than Alice by a couple inches.

Actually enjoys the job, loves yogurt, and finds the clown theme to be fun.

The most pleasant member of the staff to be sure. She gets along with all her co-workers very well. She’s very optimistic and cheerful.

Susan is Alice’s favorite co-worker to work with, though she does worry that the teen isn’t ready to face how cruel the world can be...

I hope you all enjoyed this second round of rambling about my Sunny Day Jack/Sunshine in Hell headcanons. I have more I could ramble about, but that will wait until next time.

[policemanofprincesspark]

I recently started reading more about psychology, and one point about parasocial relationships stood out: fans and stans often assume the object of their obsession is just as obsessed with them. You mentioning 1D getting involved with the bandana project reminded me of that. Because what if they didn’t know the deeper meaning? What if fans just gave them bracelets and they just wore them without thinking? So many other blogs i follow assume hl not only browses trending twitter tags, but follows tumblr and their blogs specifically. They’re special to us, but we’re a faceless mass to them. The more i read, the more i worry we’re seeing things where there aren’t.

The thing for me is that Louis said once on video that he "sees more than people think", he alludes to being on twitter fairly often, and he even said that he's joined fans' private DMs (I believe he said he does it under a burner account?). Harry also said something about fans being very smart about figuring things out, and he also referred to the "hiddies", which implies he does go online and see what fans are saying.

Imo, they had to be aware of certain fan projects when those projects gained a certain level of popularity, because fans would likely bring signs referring to it or talk about it to them, or at least the members of 1D would likely notice a sudden influx of people in the crowd wearing colored bandanas and wonder what's going on. I think it's very possible that they'd know about these projects, but... I do agree that them merely wearing one of the colored bandanas doesn't necessarily prove that they know of the project. You're right. It could just mean that a fan gave it to them. That's why you would probably want to sift through hours and hours of concert footage to see if you can find a moment where they might reference the project in some way. There is probably a ton of stuff we've just completely missed. But there's no way to tell if such a moment even exists unless you go through the work just to maybe find it.

Listen, I don't think the bandana project theory is the best theory. I wouldn't put it in my top 20 'Larry proofs' if I made a list of them. But I wanted to use that as an example because it was a good example of asking yourself the question: "Is Harry/Louis doing this thing a coincidence or not?". Really, it was just a quick example to explain what you would theoretically have to do for each piece of 'Larry proof' if you were to attempt to prove once and for all what the likelihood of Larry being real is.

Actually, I want to do something. Let me try to categorize, off the top of my head, the 'Larry proofs' we use. We have:

• Body Language Analysis

• Quotes/Things Harry and Louis/others around them say, and analyses on whether these quotes could allude to a relationship

• Strange coincidences [such as Louis potentially having the same laptop and wallpaper as the one in one of the pictures uploaded to the RBB&SBB official twitter account, or, again, Harry purchasing and wearing that dark blue bandana during the height of the Bandana Project and then continuing to wear it to this day (obviously it's a question of which coincidences are the strangest/least likely to be mere coincidences, and I think the first example with the laptop is less likely to be a coincidence than the bandana example, but that's all I can say)]

• Moments where they might have been 'caught' (such as the iconic "Titanic" moment or the grainy video in Wellington where Louis might have yelled "boyfriend" and then snuggled with Harry and kissed him, etc.)

And of course we have good ol' pattern recognition and gut instinct. All of this is all we have to go off of since we don't know Harry or Louis personally nor do we have access to their private lives.

[abuddyforeveryseason]

This is the Buddy for October 5th. Funny, eh? That's cause it's a trace, the original's a still from a show, see:

It's Scrubs! It was a fun show. I love comedies like that. See, in this scene, J.D. is about to kiss his girlfriend Danni, and he's not looking forward to it because she smokes so much, it's like kissing a giant cigarette. I can't say I don't relate, kissing a heavy smoker is like licking an ashtray.

The thing is... they did kiss a lot when they started dating, and it never bothered him before. Did she manage to hide the smoking before their first break-up? Or, is it more likely that she only started smoking some moment after the break-up? You see, in between those events, Danni's brother Ben died. And after that episode, Danni started being portrayed as a chain-smoking, drinking, self-destructive trouble girl.

So, a lot of fans have that theory that Danni's just lashing out at the world after Ben's death. The writers say that's not the case, though.

I listen to some podcasts that complain about fan theories, and I disagree, I think they're often pretty interesting (but if I stopped listening just because I disagree about one thing, I wouldn't be allowed to read, watch or listen to anything). In Scrubs' case, the fan theory matches the plot and works better than the 'official' explanation. That gets me thinking about the idea of Death of the Author in fiction.

Death of the Author isn't so much about fan theories as it is about interpreting works of fiction in a way the author didn't intend. There are lots of different levels of applying it to a work. Let's take a Shakespeare play for example, since those are often subject to different interpretations:

In All's Well That Ends Well, Bertram, the Viscount of Roussillon, rejects a marriage proposal from the beautiful and intelligent Helena. He also has a close friendship with the effeminate Parolles. Once he finds out Parolles is a coward, and Helena managed to trick him into giving her his ring, he marries Helena.

Some of the different interpretations of the story can be:

Bertram rejects Helena because she's of a lower class (that's the 'official' explanation).

Bertram is secretly in love with Parolles, i.e., he's secretly gay or bisexual.

Bertram is gay or bi, but he himself doesn't even realize it, which is why he's so conflicted about marrying Helena.

Shakespeare (or the story's original writer) based Bertram on a real person, and this person was gay or bi, with or without the writer's knowledge.

There's some other reason, lost within the folds of time, for Bertram to reject Helena - possibly a cultural reference that only made sense in the early performances, or some aspect of Elizabethan England culture we aren't aware of.

There is no reason for Bertram to reject Helena, other than for the plot to work. If that's the case, the writer's more of a hack than anything else.

I don't exactly believe any of those theories 100%, because there really isn't a way to know. But the idea of Death of The Author is that it doesn't really matter what's the real story, but rather what makes the most sense reading it. On one hand, that sounds seriously unfair for the writer, who might have wanted to make a point, but on the other hand, if he didn't want people to have opinions about his story, he shouldn't have published it.

So, looking at the different interpretations up there, I could say 'one is true, the others make sense, although unintentionally'. It's one thing to say a writer made a character be secretly gay, and a whole different thing to say the character's secretly gay without even the writer being aware of it. But it does happen. A writer puts on the page what he sees in the real world, after all. If a real person has a secret the writer isn't privy to, can't we say a character based on this real person might have the same secret?

Although that doesn't really apply to the Scrubs example. That case's much clearer - writers wanted to retool a character, because they wanted something that was a better fit for the actress, and because her function as a character changed (they wanted a 'bad girlfriend' character so J.D. was even less happy.) But the fan theory is more interesting, so, why exactly is is wrong to go with it?

[its-elvish-for-two]

it may be a trite question but what would your thoughts on a riyira/greatcoats/bastards/literally any other book tv/film adaptation be? are there any things you'd feel strongly about them changing/including/adapting properly? preference of cast, director, composer, or medium? would you rather they not exist at all? or do you not have strong feelings about it one way or the other?

Oops

In theory, I would love for these series to be turned into TV shows. I think TV would be better than films because there's more time to get everything in, and less worry about making it fast and snappy. Saying that, I think Greacoats might be good as a film, though how much you would lose from Falcio's internal narrative is tricky, but that's the same for film or TV.

But I'd be wary of any adaptations unless they were made in very very close collaboration with the author. There are a lot of bad adaptations out there and I'd hate for these books to be some of them.

I'm a stickler for staying as close to the original as possible. That's why I love Granada Holmes, a lot of it was quoted directly from the books, and not just the dialogue either, the actions in between, the little smiles, it's all to the books.

I'd happily watch all the little scenes that would probably be cut to make a film but add to the world and the characters. If I'm watching it with someone and they have to ask 'but why would they do that' because it's changed from the books and therefore doesn't make sense, it's not a good film (thinking a certain seven book/eight film series where whole characters are replaced and whole chapters deleted). Look, I get you've got to streamline for a film, but from a fan pov, I would sit there for a solid six hours if that's what it takes.

Cast, I don't think I mind too much, it's less the appearance and more the energy. I've got a few fancasts but that's more for myself as a drawing reference than actually who I would want to play them (tho saying that I do think Tom Hopper and Matthew McNulty would be fun as Hadrian and Royce, and I think Katy McGrath has got Valiana's mix of fighter and princess, like she did for Morgana)

Tbf, I think some of them would work well as animated series. I enjoyed how TLOVM did it, and I think it would be fun for Gentlemen Bastards because of the design of the cities and just the general feel of the series. But I think I'd prefer live action with Riyria. Greatcoats, I could be open to either I think, maybe leaning towards live action.

But I'd rather they not exist at all than be cut up and changed and made badly. They're small fandoms but there's still enough of us to get by with fan content rather than bad 'official' adaptations. I think MJS is reluctant to make any thing like that because he's very protective of Hadrian and Royce, which I can definitely understand, and I respect that.

This was, as usual, longer than I intended, but thank you for the ask.

How about you? Any fancasts for these dudes? And animated or live action?

[gadgetsboy]

OnePlus and Qualcomm Tease Big Improvements for the OnePlus 12

We're still a bit of time away from the official launch of the OnePlus 12, although this hasn't stopped OnePlus from teasing fans and potential buyers about its upcoming flagship smartphone. More recently, the company announced that it has been working closely with chip manufacturer Qualcomm to put the best hardware possible into the OnePlus 12 - more specifically, OnePlus is referring to the Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 flagship SoC, which was announced just a few months ago. Of course, this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone - OnePlus has always equipped its flagship handsets with whatever flagship Snapdragon chip is available, and it was only logical to see the 8 Gen 3 on the OnePlus 12. With that in mind, OnePlus did go into detail regarding the specifics of its partnership with Qualcomm. Kinder Liu, President and COO of OnePlus comments: "We are thrilled to continue utilizing the latest Qualcomm Technologies chipset on our new flagship OnePlus 12... We are equally honored to expand our collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies to explore the full potential of this chipset and achieve greater synergies that unlock a second-to-none mobile experience for our users." Better Endurance Of course, this collaboration goes beyond mere performance upgrades - with the 8 Gen 3 chip, the OnePlus 12 will provide users with access to optimizations in the form of CPU-Vitalization, the updated Qualcomm(R) Game Quick Touch 2.0, as well as enhanced AI performance. OnePlus adds that the upcoming phone will be the first 8 Gen 3-powered handset capable of working with the Snapdragon Spaces platform, allowing it to work with XR technologies and AR-capable hardware. With CPU-Vitalization for example, OnePlus uses what it describes as "system-level arithmetic scheduling technology" which in theory allows a device to fully utilize the performance of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 without compromising battery endurance. This comes as a collaborative result on working with L3/MPAM solutions, as well as the optimization of EAS (Energy Aware Scheduling) algorithm. Essentially, this has allowed OnePlus to extend the battery life on the OnePlus 12 by half an hour, allowing for improved usage. Gaming and AI For gaming, the OnePlus 12 will supposedly feature up to 32% improvement in touch latency with Qualcomm's Game Quick Touch 2.0, which falls under the Snapdragon Elite Gaming feature set. Other improvements include enhanced touch rate stability, reduced framerate fluctuations and touch loss during frame drops. For AI, OnePlus says that it's collaborating with Qualcomm to develop a lightweight edge deployment solution for large AI models, with the aim of gradually enabling large model capabilities on edge devices. With the combined efforts of OnePlus' AI research and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3's performance, the company aims to deliver on-device computing capabilities, including optimization of SoC bandwidth allocation, intelligent retouching effects for locally-stored images, and generative AI language models, to name a few. With all that being said, the global variant of the OnePlus 12 has yet to reach markets worldwide, and its actual real-world performance has yet to be determined. On the other hand though, OnePlus is teasing some big strides with regards to overall performance and such, and it should be very interesting to see if the OnePlus 12 lives up to the company's promises. Read the full article

[ledenews]

John Bishop: A Damn Good Man Who Prefers You Smiling

He checks on you. Makes sure you’re OK. Maybe he heard about an illness or an accident, but if John Bishop knows you, he hopes you’re OK. Now, if he doesn’t know you, he’ll still offer you the benefit of the doubt. John’s like that. He gives people a chance when no one offers trust without a background check and references. John genuinely congratulates, honestly prays, shakes a hand firmly, and the man’s word is his word. Bishop drives a truck for Walmart and he works hard, and in his spare time he officiates high school football games. Make no mistake, though, he’s a Park fan, and he’s not afraid to wear the colors or post pro-Patriots support on social media. The same goes with his patriotism following his four years and two tours with the United States Navy during Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s. Bishop – rightfully so – takes his service seriously and he supports all-things connected to veterans and the needs they have in the Wheeling area. The best part? John Bishop is NOT too good to be true. He speaks his mind, calls ‘em as he sees ‘em, and he respects opposing opinions in a world where the definition of “compromise” has lost its luster when it comes to social interaction. Bishop isn’t concerned too much with “keeping up with the Joneses” but instead feels you should “do you” and he’ll take care of his family circle, too. John and his wife, Karen, enjoy traveling, entertaining, and going to concerts as often as possible. Do people call you “weird” because you’re such a positive person? I really don't think I'm weird because of positivity. I'm weird due to Type A personality. I always want to be perfect in everything or for everyone. I always put my heart into everything. Which sitcom is your all-time favorite? My favorite sitcom. This is a toss up. Friends or Married with Children or Big Bang Theory. John served four years in the United State Navy and was deployed twice during Operation Desert Storm. What is it that you love most about your hometown? I love my friends and doing things with them like golfing and concerts, too. I love my kids and family and the dynamic of everyday things that happen in a family. I love the comedy in all of them. What I love about my hometown is simple. It's PEOPLE. Hands down it's always been about the people for me. Also, the cost of living here is really great. Not so much right now, but I believe this place has potential and with the right leadership the city will prosper. You have to take care of the people and the people will take care of the city.   Why the Salvation Army? Why the Salvation Army? I care about the people of this community and love to serve them. I believe that the Salvation Army has the same beliefs. Bishop had driven truck for several outfits in the region before accepting a position with Walmart. When you finally relax, what is your music of choice? I like all kinds of music, but what I mostly listen to is WOMP FM for the old-school tunes, but I also listen to Top 40. I grew up listening to 80' like you did, Mr Novotney! Read the full article

[wellthatwasaletdown]

The only reports of Louis watching HS1 on tour come from Larries who insisted every shadow in a box or balcony // I don’t pay attention to larries so I don’t know what batshit theories they come up with but it was the official arena that tweeted it and someone who worked at the arena that wasn’t a stan account. I just don’t see the big deal it’s sad that even solo fans won’t normalise a possible friendship without referring to Larry theories.

.

[dogtoling]

What if Ink Tanks aren't what we think?

In today's post, I've been looking a bit into the functionality of Ink Tanks and I'm here to propose an idea: what if they aren't what they seem? A majority chunk of the fanbase (including me before Dec 24, 2021 2am) seems to assume that the ink goes from the Inkling into the ink tank, and from there to the weapon. But what if it goes from the tank to the Inkling? That's what we're talking about today!

(Note: This post is speculative and there still isn't a canon answer to any of this as far as I know. Feel free to agree or disagree with the points made here and add your own input; there's DEFINITELY things I've missed and not even looked at considering there's less than a day between me thinking about this and making this post. I simply want to share my findings and thoughts on the matter.)

Ink Tank designs and their implications

Why is this even a consideration? Well, we still haven't had canon confirmation as to how the ink gets from the tank into the weapon, and we know there are no wires. While looking into this and trying to work it out, I figured an alternative possibility, which I'm exploring a bit in this post.

So first, let's look at some of the Ink Tank designs

There are at least five different Ink Tank designs that thematically support the concept of the Ink Tank existing to circulate ink INTO the Inkling instead of draining ink from the Inkling, i.e making them a kind of hydration tool. The main tanks from Splatoon 1 and 2 are seemingly based on sports bottles, which are obviously meant for hydration (drinking), the Splattershot Jr. Ink Tank from Splatoon 2 is a baby bottle, once again meant for drinking; one of the Ink Tanks in Splatoon 3 is just a plastic bottle, and probably the most obvious parallel is the fact that the main Ink Tank design for Splatoon 3 is LITERALLY a hydration pack.

Most of these could definitely just be a coincidence and are simply designed after various bottles because of stylistic choice or the mere fact that these are all containers meant to carry liquids, but there's a lot more other containers that are also meant to carry liquids that don't carry the obvious emphasis on being hydration devices. I just find the recurring theme kind of peculiar. In theory, you could also include the IV drips from Octo Expansion in this category... it technically confirms that ink is and can be injected INTO Inklings at times.

How does the Ink get around?

Now, the issue of the Ink Tank drawing ink FROM the Inkling and linking directly to a weapon.

[text: It has been officially acknowledged that there is no tube connecting from an Ink Tank to a weapon, so it isn't a case of a tube getting in the way of animations]

And aside from that, surely, if the weapons WERE designed to get their ink right from the tank and a tube was required (which you would assume to be the case, right, since matter usually doesn't teleport) SURELY the tube being too difficult to implement into animations would not be the reason it was left out, considering it would've been a key element of the whole thing.

[text: It has been vaguely suggested that the ink may get to the weapon from the hand of an Inkling, but this is VERY early and vague, and ultimately the impression is that "more research is needed" in this specific dilemma]

EDIT: Link to the dev interview

These claims are sourced from a developer interview that I couldn't find in time for this post, but it is somewhere out there, and I don't remember this issue one-to-one, but essentially: the function of how the ink gets into the weapon was asked, and it was kind of danced around. To my knowledge, it was ACKNOWLEDGED that there indeed is no tube, which implies it was never meant to work with a tube like so. The ink coming from the hand - thing was, to my knowledge, brought up as a reference to fan art where it was depicted this way, and it wasn't debunked nor confirmed, just brought up. (Edit: This is likely not in reference to the fan art but instead "according to one theory in which the ink comes from the wrist", so it may be internal.)

But weirdly enough, there's actually a few specials in favor of the ink indeed being sourced from the hand (how this works exactly is a discussion for another day), namely the Splashdown and the Booyah Bomb. In both of these specials, the ink seems to specifically be sourced to the hand of the Inkling, which would imply they are able to emit ink quickly through their hands. Which would actually be a useful skill for climbing or hunting, for example.

Issues with the "Ink-Draining Ink Tank"

Let's take a quick break to address some concepts for the Ink Tank indeed being the ammo hold for the weapon, and the issues with this concept.

Wireless Ink Technology. Maybe the ink tank has some kind of pad inside that warps the ink from the tank to the weapon. I actually ran with this theory for some time because from a gameplay perspective, it seems the most plausible all things considered - the Ink does seem to drain from the ink tank and go right to the weapon, and we know for a fact there's no wires.

There's a few glaring issues with this, obviously, the first one being that there ARE NO WIRES. Typically, liquid does not TELEPORT. Let's say, though, that we can work around this with the wireless tech, given that Splatoon does have some pretty advanced technology that we really don't know the limits of, and warp tech could technically be one thing. Sci-fi is sci-fi.

Even then, though, there's STILL another problem with this specifically. The implication that the Ink Tank needs to be high-tech to be usable, considering it needs to be able to run warp technology. And this is not a problem in Turf Wars because we know the Splatoon 1 and 2 ink tanks are VERY high-tech, as we know they even have screens built into them, but...

Right, I REFUSE to believe this plastic bottle strapped into a backpack with a tube running out of it has WARP TECHNOLOGY baked into it. The fact that this plastic bottle ink tank is suitable as an INK TANK implies that an ink tank needs to be nothing more than a container that is capable of holding ink. And if there's no tubes coming out of it, that kind of implies immediately that this isn't being used to directly fuel a weapon. (Granted, yeah, there is a tube in this one, but as far as I can tell this tube never connects to a weapon either. There's very little footage to work with...)

Obviously, the other technical problem with ink-draining ink tanks is the question of HOW they're draining ink to begin with. Probably the most common concept is that there is either a siphon or a patch on the upper back of an Inkling where ink comes out of, based on a Sunken Scroll that shows us this:

This scroll does kind of imply that the ink sac goes towards the shoulder of an Inkling, but I don't really think this works for multiple reasons. First off, there ISN'T anything on the back of an Inkling, so once again if this was a major part of how the core game mechanics work, that definitely would've been reflected in the models. And if we assume there is a skin patch on the upper back that lets more ink through, that makes very little sense considering Inklings seem to already be able to emit ink through their whole body. Having an ink sac specifically connect to a very weird and honestly not that useful spot when the same functionality is already literally everywhere else seems very pointless to me. When this specific image is considered, my guess is still that the tube would be going up to the mouth, which is the only other thing somewhat highlighted in this picture, and also lines up with every other ink-using creature we see using ink organically spitting it out of their mouth - this might also explain why Inklings sometimes have "normal"-colored mouths and ink-colored other times, ignoring that it's probably just stylistic inconsistency.

Then there's the issue with the ink actually getting from the skin to the Ink Tank, and once again there is no other explanation than either warp tech or some kind of technology in the straps that vacuums up the ink and sends it to the tank. This is pretty much grasping for straws the way I've looked at it, because in some cases (I don't know if most), the straps itself don't even connect to the tank, but are a separate harness that the tank is attached to with a clasp. In a case like this which works if you twist canon a little bit to the left to make it potentially work, it can work, but it clearly is not intended to be like this.

The other non-invasive option for the ink-draining ink tank is that the inkling has to manually remove the ink tank mid match and spit ink into it to refill it which is ridiculous, ruins the pace of a match, and also at that point, why not just do that directly to the weapon which already usually has its OWN ink tank.

TL;DR when looking at the Ink Tank as a device that drains the Ink from an Inkling and signals it forward, pretty much nothing makes sense or works, there is no way of the ink ACTUALLY getting in or out of the tank, and no tubes has been pretty much confirmed not to be a stylistic choice, but the actual canon. (Yes, the fact that the Ink Tank really has no way for the ink to get in or out does also interfere with the Ink replenishing the Inkling-idea, but this really seems like an issue that won't be addressed for a while so we just have to deal. Maybe they LITERALLY drink out of it at this fucking point)

Is the Ink Tank really necessary?

Anyway, something of a final blow for the importance of an Ink Tank as a direct ammo hold for an Ink Weapon:

[text: It's unclear how much of this scroll can be taken at face value, but it depicts ancient Turf Wars and no one seems to be using an Ink Tank to fire their weapons]

The scroll in question is from Splatoon 1, and has many easter eggs in the image that might not be historically accurate in-universe, but some of it probably still means something.

[text: Marie using her charger with no Ink Tank in the Hero Mode finale (Splatoon 2)]

-> An Ink Tank does not seem to be a requirement for using ink weapons, so it probably isn't the direct source of ink.

And this is sort of a big deal; I didn't go on a deep dive to look for every instance of this kind of thing happening, but it seems like an Ink Tank is NOT a necessity for using an Ink Weapon, which would imply that it's not where the ink for the weapon comes from. This could also be supported by the fact that there are several Special Weapons where the Ink Tank is not present, although in the case of Specials it is pretty much outwardly stated that the ink is sourced directly from the Inkling.

Inklings, the limitless ink fountains... or are they?

For the sake of game mechanics and the game working at all, they kind of are, yeah. Like, an art book directly states that an Inkling using a special weapon is somehow able to emit an amount of ink at least 20 times their entire body volume within 10 seconds. But ignoring that part for a second, let's look into how they probably AREN'T limitless ink fountains. Namely, let's look at limited ink.

Limited Ink challenges! The first game has them, the second game has them. They're quite simple; you can't refill your ink, and you have to complete a course of obstacles with the ink you have, after which you no longer have ink. It is worth mentioning that in S1 challenges, running out of ink splats the Inkling out of nowhere, which could imply they LITERALLY run out of ink... although this may simply be game mechanic. (Thanks to Copyceps for checking this for me!)

So why is the ink suddenly limited here? If we assume that the Ink Tank draws ink from the Inkling and they can just generate endless amounts of ink, this wouldn't be a problem whatsoever. You would theoretically never "run out" of ink. If your Ink Tank runs out, just fill it back up. But if it's the other way around and the Inklings DO follow the laws of physics (to at least some degree), they're bound to run out of ink at some point, what with constantly burning it into not only weapons, but ink flow on their skin, and Super Jumping for example. This is when the Ink Tank carrying excess ink that it pumps into an Inkling makes more sense.

The thing is, you CAN actually refill Ink during these challenges, but just like (presumably) the Ink Tank ink, this ink is external. Namely, you can find Ink Refills to inject ink back:

(Edit: The Refill is apparently modeled after a rodent drip feeder. The rabbit hole just goes deeper)

Cap'n Cuttlefish seems to shed some light on the matter of limited ink specifically in OE I02 - Dinky Ink Station. "Don't let that turn you into a dried-up husk like me!" (Referring to the fact that he is "dried out" and doesn't produce much ink) -> Implies the ink for the fight comes directly from the player's body, i.e. you are actively losing ink while shooting, rather than depleting it from an external source

"Excellent - now your skin will be supple and silky smooth!" (Comment after obtaining an Ink Refill)

-> This comment implies that somehow, the refill affects your physical properties directly. Makes very little sense if the ink was going into the tank and directly into a weapon, as it would do nothing to alter the physical properties of the Inkling.

Both of these comments by Captain Cuttlefish seem to imply that the ink for your weapon is coming directly from your body as opposed to an external tank, and the ink inside an ink tank or refill might be going to supplement the Inkling internally as opposed to straight into an ink tank and to a weapon.

Conclusion

It is possible, if not very likely, that Ink Tanks work to rehydrate and refill an Inkling mid-battle to make sure they do not run out of Ink, rather than the opposite of draining ink from an Inkling under the assumption that Inklings are an endless fountain of ink and the ink tank somehow forwards the ink to a weapon. This is supported not only by some niche dialogue, as well as the thematic consistency of a lot of Ink Tanks being modeled after hydration devices, such as bottles and even a hands-free hydration pack.

This makes a lot of sense from a more logical standpoint, with the assumption that Inklings DO have limits, and there is only so much that an Ink Sac can carry and produce in a short time. Inklings constantly burn through their internal ink reserves during Turf Wars not only through the passive flow of ink coating their skin (visible in swim form and for example things like Ink Armor), but also while Super Jumping, and obviously through shooting weapons. It would be pretty insane to imagine that on top of these things, they would at the same time have a pack on their backs that drains loads of ink out of them at all times. It then makes quite a bit more sense that the Ink Tanks, which can probably be filled at Spawn (seemingly endless ink fountains), hold "extra ink" that is phased into the Inkling's body to make sure they don't dry out and are able to play the sport normally, as well as allowing for larger weapons and more action in general.

Thanks for coming to my tedtalk once again, if you read this far; that's crazy. If you have something to add or discuss PLEASE do because there's a lot left untouched (Like whatever the hell "the Limiter" is, we know so little I didnt even bother mentioning it), or if you have counterpoints to some of the points here. Either way, hope you have a nice day, and above all I JUST WANT ACTUAL ANSWERS <3

[doctorofmagic]

Death of Doctor Strange #2 Review

In which Jed left me wanting.

I’ll start with the warlords.

Aggamon and Dagoth come from, Strange Tales v1 #119 and Marvel Premiere #7, respectivelly.

Tiboro was conceived in Strange Tales #129, while mommy, I mean, Umar is well-known among fans.

Except for mommy, I mean, Umar, they’re all b-villains that don’t really matter, but my bingo was right. That was a good Strange Tales reference and it shows Jed did his lesson. One may arguee - and there’s a little bit of drama happening right now because of that - that the continuity is not right. In this case, because 60′s!Stephen was not supposed to know either Dagoth or Tiboro for he already had the Cloak of Levitation at that time. But what if the narrator is regular!Stephen? Then all is fine.

Next, Stephen is a bastard as usual, and we love to see it. He doesn’t remember the banishment because he sent Kaecilius, Adria and Demonicus to the Purple Dimension back in Doctor Strange v2 - Master of the Mystic Arts #56, many many years later.

Stephen then explains that he has only seven days to solve his murder, for he sacrificed one week of his life span to be summoned in case he was murdered. It’s all about the story seen on the previous issue.

Next, Cap is calling Stephen via his Avengers card (which is not surprising but thankfully he’s considered a consultant Avenger now. He deserves better, me thinks). I wanted to zoom in the card to see the signatures but I can’t read them at all lmao. I suppose the President is Coulson, judging from what happened in Heroes Reborn? I’m not sure, I dropped Aaron’s Avengers ngl.

I HATE CAP’S REACTION HERE THO.

60′s Stephen: “The Stephen Strange you knew died. I’m from the past to investigate his murder.”

Cap: “Of course... Anyways, we need someone to stop the invasions and--”

BRO, WASN’T HE YOUR FRIEND??? The hell???? This is why I don’t trust the Avengers, you seeing this sh*t, Spider-man?

In any case, the warlords are not actually invading. We’ll learn soon with my favorite part of this issue. SHE’S COMING!!

I love my wife so much. I love how she says “I need you”. I’m glad to see that Clea doesn’t hate Stephen for what happened after v5. I love how she seeks him when she’s in trouble, which means she still trusts him.

And here’s the drama: how does Clea remember Stephen? It all lies on my theory that Stephen hid his soul on the ring which binds their souls. When regular!Stephen died, most of spells were undone, including the memory spell he cast on Clea. I’m 100% confident the ring is the key. And guys, can we please wait for the next issues? This smells flashback all the way up. We still need to learn how Clea became Sorceress Supreme of the Dark Dimension, thank you. Also, I still think the killer is the demon from v5, so continuity is still working for now.

Okay, so she says that the warlords are actually fleeing, and then the Mothers make their first appearance.

Something I need to address here:

Anon left an ask that will take me weeks to reply but since I’m breaking the issue, I guess this a good opportunity, let’s go.

Here’s a curiosity:

The reason is not official but I suppose Bl*ck Arts is a pejorative term. I can’t tell for sure if this was addressed in the 60′s or not, but there’s also the possibility that people were biased towards the term because of their beliefs (summing up, the Christian Karens). This is just purely speculation, of course. I cannot offer a proper answer.

Back to the chapter, the Avengers show up and have their asses kicked. I guess this is why the chapter left me wanting. The fight took many pages and nothing happened. The Mothers left and the mystics didn’t even fight properly. A shame, really. We learn that the Mothers are after magic to feed their son, and each one has a different style. The Crawling will have an effect on Iron Man, especifically, as seen in the DODS: Avengers #1 preview (I’ll post it asap).

And this is it.

Some people also noticed that Zelma has a continuity error in Strange Academy, in which Jericho tells the students that Stephen died and she reacts as if she wasn’t there in the main event. True, it’s an editorial mistake. But there’s no need to take that so seriously. Coming from someone who read all Secret Wars tie-ins, it’s not that important. Tie-ins don’t change a thing in the main event. It may explain a thing or two but it’s not required. It’s not like mega events that demand reading actual titles (like Infinity within Avengers and New Avengers). I promise you, all is fine. As for Clea... let’s wait and see, as I always say.

I don’t have anything left to add, honestly. I was expecting more Cleaphen and this is why I kinda needy right now. But it’s just the second chapter so...

[ourmondobongo]

Some insights about Hanji Zoë's marvelous brain and her mysterious backstory! (Parte 1/2)

Disclaimer: Hello! It's all in my opinion, analysis, and guesses, so - apart from the actual canon references used - this is about personal perspectives and speculation! And this is a bit long, too, but know that it's just because I love Hanji Zoë!

So...!

This next June 9th, we will be getting a new AOT Characters book, which means great news for AOT fans!

For those who don't know what this is, a Character Book, like its name says, is an official compilation of both known and new info/data about the characters of the story. There is a personal analysis of each character, and we are given details about how or why they were written, their stats, their importance or role in the manga's plot, and etcetera.

Also, these books include extra material explaining what happened at some moments of the story, the chronology/ timeline of important events, a few interviews with the author, discussions about the plot of the story and the world-building, details about the technology used there, and other cool stuff!

In other words, these books are indeed encyclopedias about the manga world with the author's additional POV and explanations. You can buy the English version of the oldest AOT Guidebooks and the Characters Encyclopedia (C.E.) online at Amazon, Google Play Books, or just search up the words!

Thus, I really hope we will receive some substantial info about our dear former Commander Hanji Zoë in the upcoming C.E! And I do hope we will receive at least 04 pages talking about her - just like Yams did with Erwin and Levi in the last ENG-translated book...

But while I was rereading the Character Encyclopedia, some of the Smartpass AUs, and searching up Hanji's name origin (you can read the little analysis here), I came up with my guess to what might have been part of Hanji's backstory. I also wanted to set my brains on fire while analyzing a few more things about Hans, because I love her lmao!

I'm also mostly using Hanji as her name here, and she/her pronouns because, as Yams said, Hanji's gender is up to individual interpretation. So I will stick to the way she inspired me for the past 08 years.

That said, let's start seeing into some of the possible origins of our brilliant titan scientist, SC Squad Leader, SC Section Commander, and SC Commander Hanji Zoë!

Let's dig into this!

Childhood, youth, upbringing, and environmental stimulus were major key points in the AOT world

Well, as we have seen plenty of times during the manga, the family origins have a massive influence on the construction of the characters. Either by the heavy weight of their bloodline, the way they were raised, or both, we see that each persona carries deep traits that were rooted in their childhood ties.

So I think there are hints and hunches that Hanji came from a non-noble/rich family, and together with her brain (intelligence) and the way her character was built, this somehow makes me believe her family might há been involved with the Factory City or manufacturing/craftsmanship.

Let's look at other characters' past first, though, to set up some bases for this little theory.

For example, Armin Arlert grew up within Wall Maria, in Shiganshina District - one of the cities used as bait to concentrate the titans to not attack aimlessly all along the Walls (here).

He seemed to have a great relationship with his parents and grandpa, and he received from them the forbidden book about the outside world - which leads him to be one of the biggest inspirational characters when we talk about going outside the Walls. His parents were murdered after they created a hot balloon to fly beyond the Walls (here) while his grandfather, who was a field worker, died in the fake recovery operation of Wall Maria (here). It was at this moment that Armin really got displeased at the government too!

This seems to indicate that, despite the low upbringing, having access to a stimulating thinker environment both brought by the "hidden" work of his parents and the literary knowledge of outside combined with Armin's intelligence made our young blonde to be called the embodiment of the saying "knowledge is power" (here). His stats for judgment and wits are 10/10.

When we talk about the brains in AOT world, we need to talk about our brilliant SC Commander Erwin Smith too! And his stats are big show of his brainpower in the manga: for wits, initiative and ruthless his numbers go up to 10/10. And he is praised a lot for his "big picture" grasp, and everything else we already know this brilliant, fantastic man is capable of doing!! In the page that follows his description, his grade is given as "∞" aka "infinite" (from Eren's perspective).

Looking into his childhood, we see Erwin had a higher upbringing than Armin and he lived within Wall Rose (that we might see as a form of "middle class" for their society in his case, I believe). His father was a very intelligent professor who had the brains, guts, and courage to investigate, doubt, and theorize about the history books the government fed them as the "true history of humanity". Erwin was a very smart and intelligent kid, too, and it's said his father treated him as a pupil. So one can obviously see how the match between his family creation and the intellectual environment he grew up built his character as a whole.

Another character with outstanding intellect in AOT was Zeke Yeager! His stats for smartness are 11/10, which makes him one of the few people to surpass the standard stats of their abilities chart, along with Levi (11/10 in combat) and Hanji (11/10 in intelligence).

Since Season 04 has just barely ended, there is no need to dig too deep into Zeke's past, so I'll try to do a real quick resume too.

Zeke grew up in an internment zone being taught from three powerful or influential branches of knowledge:

the Restorationist group and his parents, as meant to become the future Savior of Eldia;

his grandparents and the training corps of Marley's Warriors, as meant to become another son of demons who should fight and die for the sake of Marley;

and the most important of all, Mr. Xsavier - the man who taught Zeke all he could about Titan science, the Founder's powers, and that opened Zeke's mind to the need to keep proximity with the Scientific Groups of Marley to find a way out to save their people. And Zeke indeed did the latter (he mentions them many times, and also he is the one who knows the most about the Ackerman biology and powers). (Here)

Thus, seeing the backgrounds of these TOP heads of AOT, it's quite hard to not think that Hanji's past would somehow present similar circumstances of childhood creation and education. This because, in the AOT world, childhood and parental upbringing have the biggest impact on the way the characters grew up, and how they functioned or played their roles later came from the influence of their new living conditions and friends (environmental context).

Besides the ones I've mentioned above, we also have some other examples in:

Paradis:

Mikasa (who actually wanted to live a peaceful life in the interior rather than fighting, but she did it for Eren); we have Levi (Kuchel, Kenny, and his hard life in the underground shaped everything from his clean habits to the hard wording of his feelings); Sasha (the relationship with her father, their village and traditional hunting habits); Connie (simple, but fighting the feeling of being "scorned" by his village);

Marley:

Eren Kruger (the silent Owl, marked by the assassination of his family); Reiner (his increasing issues rooted in his mother and father' actions sucked shit especially during the Warrior training); Gabi (the toxic influences of her family and friends, and the early enrollment at the Warrior program); Annie (the ruthless training she underwent with her adopted father until we discovered he just wanted her to come back alive for him);

And the list can keep going on and on, really, but let's put a little period here.

Between different family traditions, bloodline, race, and social environments, one common point between all of them is that none of them came from a really wealthy background. In fact, the only person we know with blood and childhood ties close to an upper-class life was Historia Reiss. And we know how dirty, cruel, and bloody her past was.

So it seems highly likely that Hans hadn't a childhood inserted in a noble/super-rich context indeed. Especially when we remember that the nobles of Paradis knew about the true memories of the past. These people worked closely with the Reiss family - they absolutely kept their shady schemes in their tight silence agreement and had their personal assassins to take care of any "deviation".

In a world so controlled in terms of education, common sense, popular beliefs, the power of the Monarchy, and the government, it seems it would be odd for Yams's writing to create Hans in such risky background and never even care to mention it.

It would actually be a REALLY big thing if Hanji's family were somehow part of such a rich group because the risks of raising a child with a free mentality in such context would probably be having them end up like Erwin and Armin's families. Which, on the other hand, would probably become one of the main reasons Hans entered the SC too. But turns out neither she nor Yams ever mentioned that, and both Hanji (chapter 20) and the Guidebook state that she first entered the SC to avenge fallen comrades!

2. Some other hints that Hans might have come from an "average/normal/middle class" background

Further pieces of evidence for both her non-rich upbringing and an actual possible commoner social status of Hans we find in these Smartpass AUs (official AOT extra content written as side stories):

a) In "My first time around, Vol. 10" (here), we see it's Hans's first time around with luxury goods:

At first, she is very impressed by the luxury of the possible sponsor of SC she is visiting; (her reaction reminds me of "Pride and Prejudice" when Lizzie sees Mr. Darcy's house lmao)

Her surprise is quickly replaced by anger and distaste, though, as she notices the rich merchants are only interested in helping the SC to recover the land outside the Walls to exploit them and enrich their own pockets regardless of the poverty of the townspeople and the sacrifice of SC soldiers;

at that, Hanji mentally states like "my comrades are not dying to fatten pigs like you";

There Moblit says he has no taste for luxurious things, to what Hans herself agrees;

but she learns how to make use of people's greed over these luxury goods and how to manipulate the games of interest involved in the negotiations to bait and get more financial benefits from the rich sponsors;

(This is humanity's smartest for you lmao 💜)

b) In "Good Night, Dear and Sweet Dreams, Vol. 02 - Levi", Levi and Hanji talk about how she could have lived the rich life of an MP (here);

Levi brings up the topic that she could be living better since she made the Top 10 at the Training Corps final exam;

Right away, Hanji laughs it off - as if that idea is an absurdity because she doesn't feel fit to all the pompous life that is offered nor wishes for the conformity it brings;

She sees Erwin as one who would do well in such a case, though; he is kinda like the one to have "the looks for the social circle".

Observing this all, I particularly take that Hanji really hadn't access to wealth stuff and upper social circles until she begins working as SC Squad Leader. Besides, Levi knows her with the back of his hand as she knows him, he would know from where she came from. Moreover, even the budget for her glasses and goggles came from the money the SC got from the negotiations with the rich merchants and patrons!

However, it doesn't seem Hanji came from a poor or uneducated situation either.

Her body language, personality, natural communicative skills, overall senses around other people just don't vibe like Levi's or Sasha's, for example. In Levi's Signature smartpass (here) - where we learn that coming from the Underground, Levi had to train to improve his writing after being named Captain-, we also see that Hans had the best calligraphy out of our beloved Top SC members. This is a rather simple way to show Hans had a good education, even though we learn that her handwriting had later downgraded to nearly unreadable because of her intensive research work LOL

Then, I don't feel like it would be a reach to think that Hanji's upbringing stats were kinda "well enough" or "middle class", close to Erwin's stats.

But this still doesn't feel "grounded" - or it sounds rather simplistic for my own Hanji Stan liking - and I love theorizing! So now that things will get really interesting to wonder about Zoë's backstory because we will dive into the analysis of possible circumstances that led to the development of Hanji's outstanding brain!

3. Hanji Zoë's brilliant mind under the light of some theories of brain development

Up until the release of AOT Guidebook Inside & Outside (2014), our dear Hanji/Hange/Hans Zoë is presented as the most intelligent character of AOT - as in she was THE ONE AND ONLY character to have "Intelligence" written and measured in their personal ability chart!

(Note: read the phrase above carefully, because I'm not saying there aren't more cunning, smarter, manipulative, and contextually more intelligent characters than Hanji in AOT - I'm talking only based on the official chart we were given! For example, Zackly and Pixis* (revised*) are the only characters that had stats 11/11 out of ALL their 05 abilities, but none of them was named as "intelligence".)

So, as I've mentioned before (and you can see it below too), Hanji's stats for Intelligence were 11/10! But it's not only that - she also has 10/10 on both wits and initiative (same as Erwin), and a bonus for the 08/10 for teamwork (what is nice to point out since we know not everyone would go and work easily with our "eccentric" scientist!).

Now, I think it's really important to highlight again that our Hanji was the only character to have intelligence listed in the ability analysis because even Armin and Erwin (and also many other characters in this Guidebook) were analyzed by their wits rather than intelligence!

Since I don't believe much in coincidences - and knowing Yams made Hans also thinking in the "traces of a mad scientist" (as mentioned in the image above) - I did some searches about the difference between these two terms: wits and intelligence.

At first, it happens that these words often appeared as synonyms. But some different concepts state the following:

Intelligence (noun) – The ability to learn and understand or to deal with problems.

Wits (noun) – The basic human power of intelligent thought and perception. Usage example: he used his wits to get ahead (here)

To help a little more with the differentiation, other studies say:

Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can be described as the ability to perceive or infer information and to retain it as knowledge to be applied towards adaptive behaviors within an environment or context.

Wits: sanity.

Well, I'm no specialist in these studies, but in a very simplistic resume (and with the other things I've read), it looks like intelligence is something about your brain's capacity of acquiring and understanding knowledge, and putting what was learned into practice by resolving issues. While wits seem to be something primarily basic and inherent of humans, as a natural trait of the species.

When we bring this to the context of the development of the human brain, it gives me the impression that intelligence is more about the dedicated effort of brain use to make its power and knowledge expand and manifest in a big range of issues, while wits are about some kind of natural growing awareness or perception of the world around you, and how you respond to it.

But both of them have implications that clearly lead to the increase of their capabilities - our sanity, our reasoning, our perceptions, our view of the world and our surroundings, and (nevertheless) our personality don't just appear out of nowhere. They begin to be built during the most important stages of human brain development - the childhood - and later take force during the youth.

Thus, when we connect this building of a person with the development of their intelligence, we can find even more interesting interlinks (highlights on me):

“It is possible that due to their biological predispositions, some individuals develop brain networks that favor intelligent behaviors or more challenging cognitive tasks. However, it is equally as likely that the frequent use of the brain for cognitively challenging tasks may positively influence the development of brain networks.” - Ulrike Basten

Intelligence differences are based on both genetic factors and environmental influences. Actual brain development is a combination of potential and the ability to reach that potential. Human intelligence depends on what a person is capable of achieving and what they do achieve. (Here)

In the other words, human intelligence is likely affected by both the inherited genes (or bloodline) and the mental (or cognitive) stimulus one person is submitted throughout life - with the chances being that the more you are cognitively challenged, it's highly likely that your brain will further develop.

This makes total sense, and in fact we can see the huge impact of the educational methods or patterns of teaching and learning in childhood as we read about the background of some of humanity's most intelligent people (known for having the highest IQ).

In another quick research about this topic, I particularly noticed two things:

1) There is this group of genius people who seemed to have really combined the potential naturally received through genetic factors with the environmental opportunities they encountered or sought throughout their life;

i.e. 1) Einstein (1879) was born into a family of engineers, and he explored many learning opportunities along with his life career, especially because it seems he didn't like the "mechanical teaching". He changed from a problematic "late at talking" kid >>> to a seemingly "average student" >>> to receive "a dozen calls to be a professor" >>> to become "one of the most intelligent people who ever walked on Earth".

His revolutionary Math and Physical studies and theories changed the course of our world! What might have not happened if there wasn't this combination between genetics, the environment he grew up within, and his own dedication to the active academic engagement he kept during his entire life; (here)

2) There are rare but impressive stories of few individuals who were trained by psychiatrist parents or submitted by them to other academic professionals since they were mere toddlers in order to undergo learning experiences abnormally intense. All so they would purposefully develop more intelligent brains!

i.e. 2) Kim Ung Yong (1963) and William Sidis (1898) have/had IQ above 200/260-300 (here).

Kim showed abnormal intelligence genetic traits in a couple of months of being born, and then went through extensive studies at famous Universities and at NASA (while being only 8 years old!);

William underwent the experimental methods of learning that his psychiatrist father developed specifically for him - and it seems both his parents did pioneering work with "abnormal psychology". This latter refers to the psychopathology field, and its many spectrums - and the main base of this "abnormal" investigation was set in that Religion had demonized and supernaturalized many mental illnesses, and kinda "ostracized" people with these illnesses by deeming them possessed by demons and etcetera.

In Kim and William's cases, when they became adults, both of them withdrew from the path of abhorrent consumption of their brains they were forced upon since childhood. They firmly advocated against these types of abuses, and it is said William even was against the idea of reproducing (which totally reminded me of Zeke as soon as I read! But let's keep the focus on Zoë!).

Einstein, on the other hand, lived a "normal" life until he became an academic celebrity. Later, when his Jewish roots spoke louder, he engaged in the defense of his people as well as world peace and was even invited to be Israel's president.

It is not wrong to say then that, up until a certain degree, your family genes and your growing up environment really matters. I said "certain degree" because, of course, there is the issue of every person having their own unique personality.

4. Now, you ask me where am I trying to go with all this

Well, I can't dismiss the feeling that Isayama would go for a logical "cause-and-effect" background for Hans rather than an "odd ball" who has incredibly 11/10 in intelligence because "the plot needed". Considering how the AOT world was kinda "realistically" built in what concerns the human part of it, for Yams to do something like this would be kind of out of character.

Also, I can't shake the thought that Yams (in at least a minimal level) created Hans thinking about the past of some famous scientists (real or even in fiction) because he just loves to emphasize in all types of canon materials how Hans can be - and is seen - as a "mad scientist", "eccentric researcher", "crazy squad leader". Like, Yams love narratives built on people's past or background stories. Even the names of Hanji's titans meant something: Sawney Bean, Albert, and Chikatilo were all serial killers!

Hanji's character is not of a villain, though, so I can see her as a possible product of the healthiest path toward intelligence development. Which would mean she probably had during her childhood both the genetic traits and the opportunities that involved participating in activities that made grand and constant use of the brain. Like Einstein, his family of engineers, their profound love for Math and Physics, and their energy factory.

At this, I have two main speculations for Hanji's backstory. One plain normal, where Hans just lives life with her lively personality. And another, where she was actually quite active participating in the daily life of work of her family.

For the second hypothesis, I imagine that Hans's parents or relatives (or even their closest friends) were somehow involved with studying and working with natural life/ technology/ inventions/ creations/ craftsmanship. Having early and constant access to books, to study discussions, and to offices or work rooms filled with raw materials that later would be used to create practical objects (like mechanical clocks, portable devices, guns, steel crossbows, animal trapping, idk...) certainly could count as a way for Hanji to have "the frequent use of the brain for cognitively challenging tasks may positively influence the development of brain networks.”

Complementary, an environment like this would allow that since early in her childhood/youth, Hanji's curiosity, intelligence, creativity, and observational skills would be gradually and naturally sown (or stimulated) in her personality until it came to full bloom after she joined the Survey Corps and kicked that titan. Interacting with different people in an environment of manual work could also allow Hans to see different viewpoints of a single issue being approached and worked on.

For example, if her family worked making animal traps to sell for farmers, hunters or, idk, city pest control, they would have to analyze the habits of the animals, create patterns, then discuss ways to improve the capture, writing and sketching, and trying and failing until it worked the way they want. If you are interested enough to watch this as a young learner, I bet it would be a nice time to have the brain wandering wildly through the realm of imagination and infinite possibilities!

Hanji's crafting skills and attention to the technological developments in the Island is also something that, much like her character, hint a possible old connection with inventions, creations and familiarity with the routines and journeys of manufacturing work. For a real, proper learning experience, theory must be put in practice to cement the knowledge into the brain.

And talking about inventions and technology, something that many of you must have already theorized about too is these pages below from AOT chapter 55, "Pain". Here, we have Sannes indirectly confessing to Hanji and Levi that he and the government killed Erwin's father, Armin's parents, and Historia's mother. The only one who had no direct correlation with any AOT characters was the man who was killed for crafting this "special gun".

Yet (but also "of course"), it's the technology part that Hans singles out. She also confirmed one theory she already speculated - the government was preventing the advancement of techno in the Island.

Chapter 55

There is no strong or particularly emotional reaction on Hanji's part at that, though, which suggests there was no real tragedy related to her past with these circumstances. Which then hints she may have not particularly experienced a "traumatic" event related to the loss of a family member because of illegal acts trying to find the truth, or for tragically losing some sort of mentor, like Xsaver.

I think this is something we could say is kinda "remarkable" considering the most part of our "main" characters had in their background. But at the same time, I think this would fit Hans's lack of explanation for her backstory too, as there was no "hard lesson" to be taught out it like Isayama did with all others.

This reminds me of Annie, Hitch, and Marlowe's talk in chapter 31, where Marlo engages in a heated discussion about how he will do anything it takes to clean the Military Brigade, and be righteous to the general people.

Annie asks if something awful happened to him or his family for his thoughts and strong will be like that, and Marlo says no. Then he adds, "But is common knowledge there is evil everywhere, right?!", and "They will learn that a man without a reason is no different from an animal who defecates wherever it pleases...". So some hearts indeed were attracted to military services with wholehearted intentions of making things better for the sake of people without some huge trauma as the primary fuel.

That isn't exactly something brand new - just a bit unusual as the majority of people we were showed first wanted to join any of the 03 military forces to either 1) Get a comfortable life for themselves and/or their family; 2) Prove a point about themselves to other people, mostly related to their personal worth.

But of course, there were the ones who signed up for the "Tatakae" life seeking real change. And they were ready to go for the "Shinzou wo sasageyo" without bat an eye!

These ideas I will use as another possible connection to Hanji's normal/kinda nice/educational background as we take a look into her personality and how it reflects on her trajectory in the Survey Corps in the analysis Part 02 I'll probably post by the end of the week.

~ For those who read everything, thank you!

[lucky-sevens]

carmilla basics

recently, there’s been a lot of discussion about mischaracterizations of dr carmilla, which has led to a lot of people asking how to understand her lore! being unsure about how to start with carmilla is a completely valid feeling, given that knowledge on her is far harder to gain than knowledge of the albums or the crew of the aurora. i’ve compiled this meta due to discussion on maki’s discord about this, and it has been betaed by @stolen-stardust! in this post, i’ll outline the basics; who dr carmilla is out-of-universe, a summary of who she is in-universe, and where to find the content centered on her.

more under cut!

out-of-universe, dr carmilla is played by maki yamazaki. maki’s website can be found here and her bandcamp can be found here (it includes the solo carmilla albums, as well as music unrelated to the mechanisms that i’d highly recommend). 

all the lore about carmilla’s relationship to the mechanisms has parallels out-of-universe. (from here on, i’ll use ‘the mechanisms’ to refer to the band out of character, ‘the crew of the aurora’ to refer to the band in-character, ‘maki yamazaki’ to refer to her out of character, and ‘dr carmilla’ to refer to her in-character.) the mechanisms were maki yamazaki’s backing band, meaning dr carmilla had the crew of the aurora as her backing band. during this era, the band was technically a separate entity from the mechanisms or from the solo dr carmilla albums, and was known as dr carmilla and the mechanisms. this band began in 2010 and split up in august 2012. (see ‘a brief mechanisms timeline’ by @wickedace, as well as further confirmation by maki on her server and on the mechanisms website.) due to the increase of mechanisms fans happening after dr carmilla and the mechanisms broke up, there are minimal records of this band. 

when they broke up out-of-universe, in-universe lore about carmilla leaving was established. the crew of the aurora’s official statement is that she was pushed out an airlock (x), though we know from maki that was untrue; possibly because they lied on purpose, possibly since lore has been retconned and diverged between the groups since. 

maki yamazaki then went on to create solo music as dr carmilla, much of which seems to be things that were written and performed in dr carmilla and the mechanisms but recorded as solo versions with changed instrumentals for the studio recordings. she currently has two albums and a single out as dr carmilla (as well as, again, unrelated solo music that i’d highly recommend), and is working on a trilogy of albums with a group of people as dr carmilla and the void quartet (official band name announcement here). due to this, as well as unrelated things like the death of byron von raum, talking about the mechanisms like they are completely over and have static lore isn’t really correct.

in-universe, dr carmilla is a lesbian vampire and the person who mechanized the crew of the aurora. 

to understand her lore, analysis and extrapolation is required. i have gone further into this here, where i organize her album exhumed and {un}plugged into chronological order. for now, i’ll write a basic summary. 

at some point (when she was younger than 30), carmilla became a vampire. this could have been, but is not explicitly, what her song alive, i cried, is about. she is one of only two vampires. the assumption that many people have made and that all my theories are built on is that the other vampire was her lover, loreli. this is supported by maki saying ‘dead needs further clarification’ when asked whether loreli was alive or not, suggesting that she was undead. however, there are other theories, the main one that i have seen being that the other vampire is rocket girl, the unnamed character carmilla is singing about in her song ‘rocket girl’, who we know has more lore about her that is currently unknown. for simplicity, i’ll write the rest of this meta with the assumption loreli is the other vampire. after she was turned, or potentially before, her relationship with carmilla turned toxic and abusive, which a few of carmilla’s songs are about, most notably pin cushion. 

carmilla’s home planet, terra, was already heading towards destruction, but something she did changed it greatly. (i’ve touched on one of my theories about it here). the main source we have on terra is here, which describes it as completely destroyed. this is likely after carmilla has already left. we know there were songs about the destruction of terra (see the tv tropes page) but they were not recorded and may have been retconned. carmilla destroyed one of terra’s moons, which is likely related. we know carmilla adopted aurora as an orphan and aurora was a moon of terra, which likely meant that the moon of terra that was destroyed was aurora’s parent and this was when aurora and carmilla first met. (more on this in my aurora meta.)   

from here, her lore gets fuzzy for a while. we don’t know what happened between her and loreli to make her strike out on her own or what initially led her to make the crew of the aurora immortal. we do know she had some kind of involvement in the bifrost incident (see my eldritch mechanisms meta), which some people theorize was before she met the crew of the aurora. we also know there were failed mechanisms before the ones we know. i’ve written about my theory that one was king cole, but the others are unknown.

we get more clarity when she meets the mechanisms. this is the lore most people know about and the lore with the most controversy. we know the mechanisms overall have very negative feelings towards her and that carmilla loved them and considered them her children. i won’t reiterate what has been said before on this subject; my older meta on carmilla’s relationship with the mechanisms is here and i feel that it analyzes canon thoroughly. there are a few discourse posts on tumblr about this; i was looking for one i had a memory of seeing that addressed and analyzed the situation and couldn’t seem to find it, but i’ll use @stolen-stardust’s, here, as an example. to summarize the actual lore for people who are very new and have no basis, she made them all immortal and lived with them on the aurora for a long time. 

after leaving the mechanisms, she chased after them for a while- or at least, they believe she chased after them- and watched the events of once upon a time (in space) with the toy soldier (see: the song eleven). my personal theory is after that she went back in time and buried herself alive with loreli, which i’ve talked about in my previously linked timeline meta. however, this is not canon. what is canon is that afterwards, her song exhumed happened, which mentioned her cloning herself; more on that here. she is currently travelling with the void quartet, her new (mortal-but-likely-eldritch) band, on the silvana (a spaceship that’s likely sentient and definitely has some strangeness going on with them), through the weird (an eldritch extradimensional space). more on this will likely come to light on the release of her new albums. 

with her out-of-universe and in-universe lore summarized, i’ll link some resources for finding out more!

studio albums

ageha (prototype edition)- bandcamp | youtube

exhumed and {un}plugged- bandcamp | youtube

singles

the city {nex:type mix}- bandcamp | youtube

eleven- bandcamp | youtube

live recordings (dr carmilla and the mechanisms)

lashings- youtube (with subtitles) | transcript

homesick- lyrics video | youtube | transcript

unrelated work

made in a day- bandcamp

wouldn’t it be nice 2b human?- bandcamp

transmissions albums- 01 | 02 | 03

miscellaneous

official in-character twitter

tv tropes page

photos- (x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x) (note that she’s a lot less pale than commonly depicted; please do not whitewash carmilla in your art.) 

as said on my about, there is a specific document with a lot of lore compiled that’s exclusive to the mechanisms discord and maki’s discord server; maki has said that she doesn't want it shared outside of the discord, as most of the lore is improvised and subject to retconnings, as well as having that ambiguous status that word of god always has. more on how to join the discord can be found here.