#puppetmaster talks

[puppetmasteronastring]

Bojan "hearteyes" Cvjetićanin

[puppetmasterer]

just caught the jere and joker out insta live, any ideas for a finland tour fic? that was...something 😀

HAHAHAHA do i?

DO I?!?!?

do fuck off, my love♡

(of course i do. some in "Afterglow", some separate oneshots. some filthy, some angsty, some both)

((help the live melted the rest of my braincells))

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

ok so

the instructions were for Wally, not the whrp/qa/You. which is especially interesting, because I think we all assumed they were instructions from Wally - after all, he's the one telling the whrp that they have work to do, he's sending envelopes (assumedly), he's sort of the driving force behind the whole in-universe project. he calls the shots, in a way. he's the one with the phone.

so who the hell is giving Wally instructions?

is it related to the distorted "extra" voice under Wally's in some of his hidden record audios? is it related to Sally's "monster"? is there someone else in Home?

just... there's a whole 'nother layer underneath Wally that i think is really scary. there's something else there, i feel. i Fear. i wonder if Wally is aware of it, or if he isn't quite as aware as we all - including him - like to think. how aware can a puppet be if they can't see their own strings (so to speak)? it's one thing to know what you are, and another entirely to understand what that entails.

[tri-pofdeath]

I'm LATE at this point but goddammit i want to talk about the Vash/Leonof fight and the Wolfwood/Ninelives fight, how their visuals contrast each other, and what these artistic choices say about the characters.

So, first and first most, as a general rule the panels in Vash's fight are very light, in wide open but barren spaces that span across several areas in the ship. There is a lot of physical distance between him and the Puppetmaster, and the fight feels very tense and contemplative. For Wolfwood's fight with Ninelives, it's just about the opposite- it's very dark, close quarters, and brutal. It takes place in a small enclosed space that Wolfwood makes even more tight by trying to close a door on Ninelives. To get a quick idea of what I mean, look at these pages side-by-side.

Wolfwood's pages at a glance just. have literally more ink on the pages, and all of the panels are almost entirely filled with the characters within, and with the exception of Ninelive's splash page there, you don't get a chance to sort of , step back and take a good look at them persay. It's all hectic, with sound effects and intense speech bubbles filling a lot of the sparse negative space.

The pages with Vash's fight, on the other hand, are mostly white and a very light gray-tone, with more focus on the environments than on the characters. He spends a lot of the fight assessing threats, looking for the puppets, exploring- it's very suspenseful.

First off, the location and the framing of the panels works very well for what's actually going on with these fights- Vash's fight with Leonof involves everyone on the ship (at least as far as he knows), so the "camera" being far away (like the reader is observing from afar, hiding perhaps) works well, but so does the focus on the notably empty environments. This place is a paradise compared to the rest of No Man's Land we've seen - there's grass! Nice houses! Working ship rooms! This place should also be teeming with people happy to see Vash, too! It's deeply wrong that this place is so empty.

The barrenness of these places is also reflective of how much Vash has lost very quickly- he gave up his life with Lena (and as far as he knows they're either in danger or Gone, they were used against him) , he hasn't seen Meryl and Milly in years and I imagine is unsure if he Will again, and has to

Meanwhile with Wolfwood- this is a fight between two people on the same side. Their peers, and they're mad as hell at each other (well, Wolfwood is more mad as hell in general, but y'know.) If Ninelives gets out of here and it gets back that Wolfwood has properly totally betrayed Knives, as far as Wolfwood knows, that could be very bad for him.

Not only that, much of Wolfwood's current inner turmoil has to do directly with violence and his humanity, and he is having a hell of a time coming to terms with that. Vash's words have had a real effect on him, and even if he's not necessarily taking them to heart, they're certainly getting under his skin

(This happens before the fight, but still, the mindset of "completely pre-occupied and haunted by a moral crisis" is how he goes into this ) Wolfwood is definitely one to go all in on fights, but even this one is especially brutal and violent- he's definitely taking things out on Ninelives. His fear of Vash/Knives, fear of what happens next in the grand scheme of things (ik that's vague but YKNOW) , the whole aforementioned Moral Crisis- It's definitely notable that Vash is Not present and there are no witnesses to this fight except for Ninelives, his equally damnable peer who went down the same awful path (working for Knives/Legato) that he did.

also. not related to the bigger point I was making here but I have to say, I really really love inkwork and Nightow does a lot of cool stuff with like, high-contrast lighting or really stylish use of spot-blacks in Vol 3 and 4 and I am putting them directly in my mouth. Look at that WW up there!! Look at this one!!

The way a lot of him is just left Implied bc the light is that bright but you can still tell exactly what's happening, even with such an extreme angle as this is just, chefs kiss, beautiful

AGAIN while i'm here I want to talk about this page too, right before their fight starts, this is GREAT. The movement in this page is great- the explosion smoke leading into WW's cigarette smoke, which leads into him throwing aside the cigarette and getting ready to Fight. And how the side of his jacket blends in to the background of this big panel? SO COOL, very stylish and fun, I can only imagine Nightow felt like a god when he planned out this page

[everythingsinred]

Family and the Institution of Alice Academy

Was thinking about this ever since someone (I forgot specifically who, sorry) posed a question like this in the GA discord, asking about (I think) Natsume's extended family or something like that. It was a really interesting concept that I've been thinking a lot about since it was brought up, so here are the thoughts I've accumulated. I'll try to be concise but I have a LOT of thoughts and my brain is messy.

My general opinion at the end of all this thinking I did is that I don't think Academy students typically have very close familial ties after graduating.

I think the most apparent reason for that would be that students are expected to graduate when they are twenty years old. Our main four are exceptions to the rule, coming to the Academy pretty late in life. Most children are taken early, as toddlers or even babies. Natsume, Ruka, and Hotaru's families did all they could to avoid Academy scouting. Mikan was entirely accidental--if she had never met Hotaru, she might have never even found out she was an Alice to begin with. That being said, most kids were separated from their families at a very young age, only to be allowed to reunite with them once they're already adults. For many students, they've been away from their parents for close to two decades.

On top of that, the Academy doesn't allow visitations or phone calls and severely restricts letter communications. Only one child from each class is allowed to return home for one week each year, and that one week does not do much to make up for all the time spent at school.

My point is that by the time students are allowed to see their families again, that familial bond has already been severed, for all intents and purposes. That feeling of closeness and protection no longer exists. Students will feel more closeness and connection to their classmates and even to their teachers than to their parents or siblings, and as a result, I can imagine many graduates not even bothering to visit their families.

While I was pondering this, I made the connection between Academy students and the real life example of a similar situation with Janissaries from the Ottoman Empire. Basically, Janissaries were children stolen from the subjugated people under Ottoman rule. They were taken for the purpose of a "child levy", also known as a "blood tax." Some children were even willingly given by their families due to the possibility of socially advancing, and because the children were promised first class status (sound familiar?). Essentially the children were taken, forced to comply with Ottoman standards and traditions (including forced conversions and circumcisions), and then trained for military service. These soldiers would actually end up being incredibly loyal and efficient, despite likely never seeing their families again.

(Edit: forced circumcisions are particularly heinous when you consider that the children were typically at least 10 years old at the time they were taken.... so.... uh.... not pleasant.... But also interesting that the Janissaries were typically much older than the Alice children at the time of being taken.)

That level of separation doesn't endear ties; it severs them. These Janissaries--very often forcefully taken from their families--ended up growing up with very little connection to their parents or siblings. The feeling of belonging to their previous communities was gone. Absence does not always make the heart grow fonder. This was done as a means of creating a strong military force but also to disillusion subjugated communities and tear away their hope. Their children could always be taken; their communities could always be crushed, even without the use of physical force. It's a very effective tool to oppress a group of people.

(There's actually a lot of similarities between Academy children and Janissaries beside the separation of children from their families. They were also paid for their service and were high ranking; the Academy students are given an allowance and many of them, despite being stolen from their families, have a sense of superiority over non-Alices. They feel like they are treasures, and are of higher value and rank. Additionally, Academy students, especially in the DA class, are highly trained and efficient child soldiers, much like the Janissaries. Janissaries are actually a super interesting historical topic and are worth looking into!)

We can even see the effect of this distance when Yuka escapes the Academy and runs away to her family. Yuka was essentially sold to the Academy, with her parents trading her in exchange for money and status. She was very young, far too young to really understand that her parents had abandoned her. As a result, she romanticized her bond with them, and the longer she was separated from them, the more that bond became fantastical. She made many attempts to escape the school to reunite with her parents and she fantasized about seeing them again. When she finally is able to, it's nothing like she imagined. They're cold, and unfamiliar. They don't recognize her. She doesn't know her brothers. They're related, but there's no real connection.

"I shouldn't have come here."

Yuka's is an extreme example, but I'm sure she's not an exception. For most Academy students, the almost 20 years of separation from their parents would be too much to ignore. They would not recognize each other, or be close. I'm sure many parents did not sell their children like Yuka's family did, but the bond between child and family had not been nurtured the way it should have been, resulting in coldness and distance.

Because of that, I doubt most students even bother seeking their families out, or even if they do, it's to visit a few times before starting a new life with a career. That familial bond, now broken, is difficult to repair. The connections people often feel with their families or hometowns is something Academy students instead feel with each other. They are all Alices, all in the same boat together. That feeling of superiority that many kids feel means they view each other as on the same level, and I'm sure that could interfere with family connection as well.

Thus, I don't think there's many multigenerational Alice families out there with close bonds. I don't think families like Natsume's have strong ties with grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. Even the sibling bonds at the Academy are stunted, with the Imai and Shouda siblings being the prime examples of that.

The Imai siblings have a significant age difference, yes, but additionally the Imai parents had a very different approach to Hotaru after seeing what happened with Subaru. They refused to hand her over as easily, wanting to show her important things in life and build happy memories for as long as they could. Even when Hotaru does enter the school, it's more than six months before she even comes across her brother, since the high school and elementary school are not integrated with each other and they do not belong to the same ability class. Similarly, the Shouda siblings are in different ability classes but they have a much smaller age gap. Despite this, Sumire refers to her brother very respectfully, indicating that there isn't a particular closeness.

The Imais fight against this divide, and put in genuine effort into rebuilding their relationship, but it's a difficult process, and one they struggle to admit to for a long time and for various reasons. Familial closeness is not encouraged, not even within the Academy.

(Though Natsume's bond with Aoi is exploited and the school does rely on him caring for her to take advantage of him, but ultimately he is kept from seeing her. Thus, that bond is also severed despite being exploited.)

Additionally, it would make sense to me if many Alice graduates decided to, upon having children, avoid scouting, like Natsume's parents did, and thus ended up moving around a lot to escape Academy notice. Moving around like that and laying low means that you're not going to be hosting huge family reunions or inviting relatives over often, even if all the other points were moot.

Finally, I think all this creates further obstacles for Yuka's wish to "have a family." At some point she says that, for normal people, the desire to settle down with someone and start a family is a pretty modest goal, but for Alices it's almost impossible. Escaping from the school, or even graduating, is a struggle. And you can have a kid, but it's likely that child will be taken from you, just as you were taken, and by the time the child graduates, they will have no connection with you. Wanting to be a potential grandparent, for example, might seem like a definite impossibility, since being a real parent is impossible.

It's even more proof that the Academy exists as an institution to subjugate and undermine Alices, as children and then as parents. Ultimately, an Alice never has control, not as a child and not even as an adult. The pain doesn't end once you've graduated; in fact, it never does.

[oliveroctavius]

I just look through your oliverspidey stuff and love it! While I pretty sure it doesn’t happened in the story, what would Oliver hypothetically look like in symbiotic suit? Maybe even a sketch?

well hmm

[mishkakagehishka]

Rip Nietzsche you would have loved enstars

[aro-ortega]

"angel just got rizz idk" - my partner, on how angel managed to get argent to kiss him in the hospital rather than scar them or take her eye

[storyteller-ish]

Something that I find interesting about Kim is how he never outright tells lies, he's very good at getting by on omission of the truth instead of relying on lies. It's almost like through knowing all the tells of a liar along with being around calculating and manipulative people all his life he's learned the best way to get what you want and keep yourself safe isn't through outright lies, but through diverting away from the truth with either a different truth (bringing Korn a snack while searching his office) or with silence (the koi pond scene with Tankhun). It's so easy to get caught in a lie either bc of a tell, forgetting the lies you've told or any other matter out of your control where the truth could come out. Deception via telling the truth and diverting away from truths you don't want to reveal is a much less risky move and he seems to really live by that.

To add to this, it's interesting how he and his father are probably the best at manipulating people but they're complete opposites in how they do it. Korn masterfully tells lie after lie on the spot, convincingly, multiple times even with a gun to his head. Kim doesn't tell a single outright lie (that i can remember) but he’s still able to more or less accomplish his goals. Interestingly Kim's method made it so he got caught in only one "lie" meanwhile Korn's pile of lies landed him in the midst of a hurricane of chaos and even went as far as to fake his death to escape it.

idk where i'm going with this i just find it an interesting detail.

[nbsidestep]

The "playing along with Ortea's HG theories" path is intriguing to me. Ruby is my Sidestep who I think could go the distance re: not revealing a thing (or more likely so I can have someone in my pocket for the late game reveals), so I'm considering having that also as one of his lil side paths? He's also gunning for the regenerator so ??? it's possible he might swing it

[puppetmasteronastring]

I will never recover but have this

[puppetmasterer]

Hi, for the fic ask game, in the midsummer universe :

14, 21 and a very self indulgent 27

Thank you, I loooooove your writing!

14.Who does fashion shows after a mall trip and who watches and compliments them?

Bojan does fashion shows and Jere stares with heart eyes. Bojan is also the one that sends a million pictures of their new stage fits and for someone with a pretty limited ability with the english language, Jere sure does come up with a LOT of compliments.

21.Which of their friends/family pokes fun at them for them getting flustered/affectionate?

For Bojan, all of Joker Out. There are different flavors, but they all find great fun in the way Bojan gets flustered so easily(especially when Jere's around). Jere is also fully aware of this and doesn't mind when his boyfriend blushes like a schoolgirl. Kris is, however, Bojan's #1 bully[affectionate]

Jere himself embraces it when someone tries to poke fun at him when he's being affectionate. His default answer is "yes i kiss and cuddle my boyfriend. and?" which takes a lot of the fun out of it for the (loving) bullies. Thus Elina moves on to bully Bojan because his reactions are more fun.

Mikke will groan and roll his eyes whenever he sees too much PDA, but it gets less and less serious as time passes.

27.Who would propose? What would their wedding be like? 

Now this one os a headache of mine. Because I know for sure they'd both plan on it, it's more about who manages to do it first(probably Jere because Bojan is a little ball of anxiety and would take too long to try and think of every possible outcome, while Jere's more like "it's a yes or yes question we WILL get married")

I feel like their wedding would be quite small and intimate. The closest of family and friends. Not a "rustic romantic" type of barnwedding but something a bit more modern. They'll leave the tull and jute cord details and lantern centerpieces to someone else.

But it would be in two parts. The "official" one in Finland, and then a second party in Slovenia. Mainly because not everyone can make the trip between the two countries.

Thanks for the ask!

[revasnaslan]

anyway that season was so not worth getting up at 3 am for, but my cat was bothering me so I watched the whole thing anyway

[deepfriedseagullfeet]

anyways. ideas i have about my Jack that scare me a tad bit 

jack locking up anti in his basement and uses him to go out to do stuff for him. he makes jameson to keep anti docile, and to threaten to take something away from him if he doesnt comply. the other egos have no idea that this is going on 

jack not giving a single shit about jameson. telling him the day of his birth that hes nothing but antis slave from that day forward and if he doesnt do what anti asks of him he should kill himself 

jack being into drugs and roping anti into his addiction to help him get the stuff he wants, threatening to replace him and make someone new if anti doesnt help him

jack telling the other egos how much he hates anti, then going behind their backs to help anti live his human life, giving him money and a car and even bringing groceries sometimes 

jack standing around doing nothing while anti beats the shit out of jameson. and when jameson reaches out for help, jack turns on his heel and walks out the front door 

jameson gripping onto jack with white knuckles when they go to anti, and jack just peels jameson off him and throws him on the floor like a sack of trash 

jack making the ‘non canon egos’ before he made the modern egos. they arent around cause jack “got rid of them” 

jack being emotionless and cold. hes been alive for far, far too long and he creates men from nothing to keep him company and to do things for him cause he, much like anti, likes the control too

[impossible-rat-babies]

thinkin about *spins oc wheel* cassiopeia ig

[blaqsbi]

Post: #puppetmaster

#puppetmaster https://www.blaqsbi.com/5NaN