#there are many ways to interpret v2 and this is one of them

[mipexch]

comic about v2 and the goal they'll never fully reach alongside a dissatisfying conclusion. intimate rivalry and all (alternative ending comic. V1 dies instead of V2 during 4-4. V2 is narrating. V1 is dead.)

[killerrobot-killingmatch]

V1 Propaganda

it's literally a war machine powered by blood. after the fall of humanity it ventured down into hell to keep searching for fuel, and has since been on a warpath and emptying out hell. it managed to defeat its successor (V2) and has also managed to give an angel a religious crisis thru the power of homoerotic battles

OH GOD PELASE PLEASE PLEASE This is THE MURDER MACHINE ok I need to calm down.. Every machine in ultrakill’s world is fueled by BLOOD. MANKIND IS DEAD BLOOD IS FUEL HELL IS FULL V1’s mission is to literally kill EVERYTHING in hell, DEMON, HUSK, MACHINE, ANGEL V1 KILLS ALL OF THEM V1 was built for war, but never made it to mass production as the war ended and there was no need for it now.. so V1 is the only prototype to exist. It is a one machine army capable of, as I said, wiping out the entirety of hells denizens. Which is what’s happening right now in game!! V1 is so powerful that it’s beat up an angel TWICE. The creator, Hakita described it as “imagine losing to an ant” because angels are that powerful! And V1 is THAT POWERFUL Uhhh idk how to describe this goodly but: The game has an SSS-style mechanic, uknow like getting a really cool combo kill streak going on, and killing enemies real stylishly. This isn’t canon canon but you could deffo see it as canon: I love the thought that with the inclusion of the sss style meter, you could interpret as V1 having that in its systems. So it’s a really cool stylish murder bot who kills you really coolly! And V1 could also be a reflection on the player, in that YOU the player are having fun killing, so by extension.. V1 also enjoys killing. No offence but this thing is literally so powerful , with an unnameable kill count as Hell has the majority of the human population, plus other uncountable machines down there too!

V1 is a supreme machine built for war—purging all life it comes across to satiate its (literal) thirst for blood. Though its exterior plating doesn’t offer much protection, it has the advantage of being able to refuel and repair itself on the fly, rejuvenating on contact of an enemy’s blood rather than through a separate refueling process. Its lack of durability hardly matters, as oftentimes its movement capabilities combined with its ever-growing arsenal are able to reduce an enemy to ribbons—whether they be human, husk, demon, machine, or angel—before they get a chance to land a hit.

"MANKIND IS DEAD. BLOOD IS FUEL. HELL IS FULL." is the tagline the game opens up with. V1, the playable character, and other robots like it are more than implied to be one of the major factors in humanity's extinction in the Ultrakill universe. It is stated in a terminal that it was built for war. A key mechanic of the game is the ability to absorb fresh blood of damaged/killed enemies in order to regain health. One of the things you're graded on at the end of the average level is how many enemies you killed. I would add more but it's highly unlikely that I'm the only one to submit it.

killer robot literally fueled by blood, on a trip through hell killing everything in its path and having fights with the archangel gabriel that are gayer than gay sex

V1 was built during a time of war. It's a hyper-efficient killing machine that runs on blood. Due to the subsequent death of humanity, it has ventured down Hell to look for fuel. Its main advantage is its unique exterior plating, which allows it to directly absorb blood splatter, instead of having a separate refueling process like the other machines. V1 is the only machine that was built this way. This does make its armor weak and flimsy, but its abilities make up for it. V1 is very agile with the ability to slide, dash, and jump extremely high (if we consider slam storage to be canon). It wields five different gun types, 20 weapons in total with the variants, and four (currently three in game) different left arms. It can also ride on top of the rockets it shoots out!! It's also very silly with its built-in style system. If you do cool tricks and combos you get rewarded. This robot has the ability to feel whimsical fun when mass slaughtering enemies isn't that so cool?! V1 was able to, with the help of other machines, purge all life from the first three layers of Hell and is currently continuing its path of destruction. Its notable victories include: -Beating Heaven's most respectable angel and the Righteous Hand of the Father, Gabriel, twice. And genuinely making him atheist (possible third fight? #early access game) -Defeating its successor, V2, and then killing it during their rematch with no remorse -Killing both Minos Prime and Sisyphus Prime. Prime souls are a manifestation of sheer power that don't need a physical vessel to exist. These two are hardest bosses in game It's the most killer robot that has ever killed in my opinion :D

They run on fresh blood. ULTRAKILL itself begins with a short text ending in MANKIND IS DEAD / BLOOD IS FUEL / HELL IS FULL. Literally the entire game is just them slaughtering enemies as quick and stylistically as they can, and finding more creative or clever ways to kill things, especially in numbers or in midair or with a combination of different weapons, is heavily encouraged by its mechanics!! Ranking up your Style and Kills meters to the max are needed to access certain parts of the game!!

In a tournament full of bloodthirsty robots, here’s a robot who actually runs on blood. All of humanity died and was sent to Hell, so for V1 to continue functioning, it enters Hell and slaughters everything in its path so it can absorb blood. It also beat up an Angel so badly he turned atheist after he lost to V1 twice. Funny little bloodthirsty GoPro 

Literal killing machine made for war and built to be fuelled by the blood of the enemies it kills, but, humanity dies out one day so it simply goes to hell and tears it up down there in order to get more fuel! V1 is capable of killing angels, hellspawn, and even other machines down in hell using a variety of weapons it collects!!! Its also a silly guy :]

it's just a silly little guy who is rampaging through hell killing everything in its path to obtain the blood it needs for fuel. it's even gay

V1 is capable of killing everything in Hell in the most elaborate bullshit ways 

This robot literally runs on blood to survive. It's a short and tiny killing machine, and good enough at fighting to make an angel question his sexuality. It can (debatably) compose music too!!! Right now, it's undefeated. But that may lead to its demise when it finally runs out of blood.

sure your fav is a killer robot, but do they have a style meter that encourages them to kill with as much swag as possible?

I LOVR V1 SOO MCUH. THEYRE A VAMPIRIC SECURITY CAMERA MACHINE WHO SHOOTS COINS AND PUNCHES BULLETS

[reds-ultrakill-brainrot]

Universal Heacanons

character headcanons that are included in my other works (included V1, V2, Gabriel)

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V1 - is unable to speak. they were not programmed with speach in mind due to being a model for war, they are able to understand most languages but do not have any form of voice box - as previously stated they enjoy painting with blood. in a form one might compare to graffiti they tend to paint as a way of tracking where they have been, and for their own enjoyment - their enjoyment of art and painting started as a method of self expression and a form of connection to their creators, as this particular V1 model had only ever seen a handful of humans before arriving in hell - can record and capture photos of things they see, this was yet another vestige from their original purpose. they often record fights with more notable opponents for reference in subsequent battles

V2 - is not inherently programmed with the ability to speak but is equipped with a voice box. i imagine that they were at one time planned to speak however it was not finalised in this model. there are however vestigial limbs of that design plan, and if sounds are uploaded they would be able to speak - after a certain amount of time in hell they do find a way to synthesise speech. it is a bit janky, but once they find a way to speak they don't stop. literally. please shut them up dear god - similar to V1 they have the ability to capture photos of what they see, however their ability to record was removed from this model due to privacy concerns. Unlike V1 V2 rarely takes photos of things, they are still intent that they are leaving hell and want as few reminders of the place as possible - they contain many images and pages of information about human cultures in their databanks which was intended to better inform them about the humans they would be guarding and interacting with, helping them serve their role as bodyguards or security

Gabriel - while i always love seeing other's interpretations of what Gabriel's face look like i do not believe that he has one in a traditional sense. i believe that the armour he wears is actually part of his form, and that removing it would be a sort of beheading him - before his fight with V1 he disliked the sight of blood and gore and avoided being around it as much as he could. it is not as if he couldn't stand it, he simple didn't like to be reminded of the realities of what Heaven's justice looked like for the average person. after his fall from grace, he is no longer phased by it, if anything prefering it to clean surroundings as a reminder to himself that he did the right thing - with the father's light Gabriel was technically immortal, as long as there was some part of him left he would eventually ressurect. as a soldier of god he was designed to be able to fight evil, unlike the council members (which is how they were able to be killed so easily) TW Self Harm v - has not been given many positive ways of dealing with traumatic situations and as such has resorted to using battle as a form of self harm. he sees his physical wounds as a karmic payment for his misdoings ^

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many thanks for reading, i will endeavor to update this with my headcanons for other characters where i am able to. as always feel free to send your own headcanons in, i love learning about how others interpret the same characters

[muzzleroars]

hc V2 almost met Gabe in Gluttony but they heard the 'Machine, turn back now...' and decided that they had to obey the one authoritive human voice they heard in hell and backtracked to Limbo.

How do you think their friendship would develop when they do meet? V2 would probably be glad to talk to someone who is somewhat sane, and maybe they would appreciate Gabe's human form or would that be a source of awkwardness?

sjdhfgfg absolutely love the idea that for ONCE gabriel's whole little speech...works. like the only reason he does it is just a left over of his chivalric values even though it seems to have no meaning to the machines - give them the chance, he guesses, but it's become an automatic script of no consequence. until v2 is like "oh...ok. understood." it's glad in a way to get some direction while gabe is like ???????? IT LEFT?????? and he can sort of feel good for a bit that maybe his words mean something to somebody still. even some machine. at the very least, it was worth keeping it up until then.

i've talked about what i think their relationship would be like a little before, but i genuinely believe they have a lot they can relate on if given the chance - they are both based in violence yet are meant to act as protectors...and ultimately, they have both failed. however, this common ground hardly means they would get along at first - they see all of their flaws in the other, they see what they perceive as their own worthlessness, and that causes plenty of friction at first. what is v2 good for, still chasing after peace down in hell? humanity is gone and it has no one left to protect, yet it's still adhering to orders and programming that has absolutely no place in this world. it's small wonder v1 bested it twice. and what is gabriel good for? an angel without a god, still behaving like some kind of knight when heaven itself as rejected him and hell is being destroyed by machines. it's no wonder v1 bested him twice. they hate seeing themselves reflected back so plainly.

they wouldn't keep it up forever as they both come to terms with their realities, both taking one too many shots that just gets turned right back on them by the other. and gabriel would eventually see it's ridiculous, how he wants v1 to have a relationship with v2 yet he refuses to be civil; and v2 realizes how dumb it is to keep throwing insults at the one guy left in hell that might still appreciate the finer parts of its mind, the part that dreams, that has aesthetic senses no other machine does. And so they would slowly become more open to one another, the ice melting between them as they find more to share in than just their failure. yet there is something comforting in that foundation, one they don't touch for quite some time - they were both made for a singular purpose, and that purpose is now gone. they exist as beings never meant to be adrift, beings that should be discarded the minute they are no longer useful.

however, i think what proves to be most important for both of them is the far more human-like connection they find in one another - v2 was trained on human social models far more than any other machine and gabriel comes from the same creator as humanity. no, neither are an exact match as v2 is still very much ai, still a war machine with a coat of paint applied, while gabriel lacks much of humanity's creativity and power to fully self-direct, but it's a far closer approximation than either would have otherwise. v2 can finally talk about its imagination, about its dreams, with someone that understands (and even helps it interpret its more metaphorical simulations)...and honestly, i think v2 would like seeing gabriel's human face. he would apologize for its appearance now, knowing that the frostbite might be jarring - v2 doesn't really mind that either, though it does have protocols telling it how it should help him it has to keep ignoring lol it likes listening to the stories he tells it, describing all the humans this face knew and the simple things he would do with them even as an angel. over and over gabriel speaks on the kindness of the humans he met (of course, he was sent from god), how he was invited into their homes and shared food with them, how they always insisted he leave with a gift no matter how he refused. it's clear he misses them in a way many angels don't, but a way v2 does despite never really getting its chance to know them. so really their connection is one filled with a lot of mourning, a lot of grief for who they were and what they lost - it's outlet for feelings that had no other place before they met.

[inventors-fair]

The Number of Followers: Runners-up ~

Our runners-up this week are @bergdg, @deg99, and @mudthing!

@bergdg — Thought Sparker

You mentioned in your submission that this card was for a theoretical "hand size matters" kind of deck. While I respect that, I feel that your card unfortunately does everything right in a way that makes me question how that set would look mechanically. Cards like Ensnaring Bridge could have fun with that manipulation, but what would red and blue care about equally? Having an exact size? Changing the board? I'm sure there's room for interpretation and for greater adhesion in the scheme of things, but I love looting, I love counters, and I love activated abilities. Whoops, this card has all of them.

Small note: The first ability could perhaps use Nantuko Cultivator's wording, e.g. "...enters the battlefield, you may discard any number of cards. Put that many +1/+1 counters on Thought Sparker." But, Mind Maggots says "For each card discarded this way" so who knows! It hardly matters. This card is great for the draw power and excellent for the potential flashback/madness that can come along the way.

@deg99 — Reflections of Valor

Well. Holy crap. I'm not gonna call it "adamant typal" because that would be silly, but man, that would be very silly indeed. Just like before(in the winner's post), this is one of those cards that you get, you look at, and either you're never going to touch it or you're going to dedicate your life to breaking it wide open. This is a massive amount of text and it only impacts the 3+ mana spells that you cast, but damn if it doesn't do just that. And for each! That means if you have something like Casualties of War... WHOOF. Or three Ur-Dragons. Yikes.

I won't say that this card is flawless, because it is asking quite a lot to make it pop, but essentially copying every spell thereafter with mana value three or greater is worthy of a six-mana mythic no matter what your techniques. Perhaps its that that's making me put it on the fence: this card can just be good by sticking no matter what deck you play it in. Perhaps it's not an autoinclude, but it's powerful enough that I'd be nudging people towards it all the same. I like how all the permanents are temporary. That's good balance.

@mudthing — Sunmaw Ignition

And I'll say for sure that this is the weirdest one I've loved so far. Well, is it too weird? The thing is, as soon as I saw it, I thought about my girl Zirda. She's a lovely little foxbeast and she's been one to court activated abilities before. I think that that amount of precedent is hardly enough to call an archetype, though, and this kind of card is indeed asking for an archetype. I think it's balanced enough, and perhaps it's a little slow, even, but it can ramp up quickly—especially in a cycling deck. Honestly, I didn't think about that until typing this, but there you go.

Is this just cycling archetype v2? It's possible. I want to call it weirder than it is because I was just thinking about creatures on the battlefield, but all the same. That said, cycling hasn't seen as much love since Ikoria standard, y'know. I wouldn't count on this card to push it over the edge. It's certainly a good'n and it's certainly well-made for what it wants to do. Perhaps it speaks to a greater cycle of counters-mattering on certain permanents, two-color shenanigans, etc. Maybe I just like the name. Maybe it's easy for me to see the kind of deck that can be made from it! All of the above, then, a compromise.

Commentary will follow as we get to it! @abelzumi

[wolfbetweenrivers]

If you could change 1 thing about RWBY what would you pick? Personally I'd remove that entire Jaune chasing after Weiss thing from v1&v2 cause yikes

As much as I hated watching him do that to Weiss, from a narrative standpoint, I feel that this was important in establishing the difference between who was then and who he is now. Jaune started off as someone with very toxic ideas of masculinity that he is strongly implied to have picked up from his father, and one of the common attributes of toxic masculinity is not taking no for an answer, especially when it comes to flirting and seeking a partner. This is reflected in his repeated attempts to flirt with Weiss, even in spite of her explicitly not showing interest, to which Jaune, with his not so healthy views at the time would likely interpret as her "playing hard to get". Yes, it was very unpleasant to watch, and I absolutely do not like this behavior, but I kind of see that as being the point, because one of the main points of Jaune's entire story as a character is being a subversion of the common shounen protagonist boy tropes, dismantling all these cliches and harmful ideas, and growing out of them and getting closer to setting an example for a more positive and healthy masculinity.

Now if there was 1 thing I could change about RWBY, as far as Jaune goes, it would be shortening the whole story of him getting bullied by Cardin as I feel it took up way too many episodes in the volume, especially compared to the ones that were supposed to focus on Ruby and Weiss' relationship as teammates, and Blake being revealed as a Faunus. While I understand the importance of those episodes in the overarching series, I simply think the story it tells should have been given equal attention to the others instead of more.

[citadelofmythoughts]

I don’t know if the Bees we’re gonna be a couple from the start but V2 is where it begins for me if you look at it. And it’s only in hindsight bc we didn’t know much if anything about Adam. But we of course learn that he and Yang have similar semblances. The Roman fight in V2 is when Ruby tells Blake that Yang taking hits means she can come back stronger (that’s what makes her special). So the comparisons were already being made by Blake in her mind. Then we have burning the candle tho I think that came first? The order of events doesn’t matter too much since it’s all V2 so it happens in the same timeframe for them. Then of course the vital festival and Blake saying “I had a partner once who said the same thing, they started as accidents or self defense” but of course Adam was lying. At least later on in their relationship if not from the start which. Probably from the start or near it. And she decides to trust Yang. She makes Yang look her in the eyes and promise she was truly aching in self defense. And Blake decides to trust her. Not an easy thing to do considering her not so recent past at that point. So while the physical touch part of their relationship and being more open started or took place in V6, Bees we’re not just a random pairing they took off with to please fans. Hell even in V5 Weiss said she knows she and Yang aren’t as close s her and Blake (but she will be there for her too they are a team made of love actually). But it’s very clear that Blake and Yang have a separate dynamic from the others. (My one and only wish was that we got more Blake/Ruby and Weiss/Yang and Weiss/Blake bonding moments just in general but that’s a bit off topic haha)

Yeah, It *might* not have been planned from the absolute beginning but then again, it might have too. We have no way of knowing for sure. But it was obviously headed that direction as early as V2.

As I've said so many time. if it had been a m/f pairing there wouldn't have been the slightest doubt but two girls in love? Don't talk crazy! You're exactly right about Blake & Yang's dynamic. You can see it in the way they look at each other, the way they move around each other, the casual contact. I don't see how anyone can interpret that as anything other than two people who are into each other romantically.

[significant-ace-nnoyance]

how long did it take you to watch the van scene the first time? about how many times did you rewind? did you catch the lip glance right away? did you think it was heading in a byler positive direction when mike was talking? how about when will was talking? were you happy/disappointed by the painting? how did you feel by the end of it? how devastated were you by will's crying?

OMGMGMMYY SO MANY QUESTIONS

bestie i’m gonna be completely honest my memory is absolute SHIT bc yay trauma response but ILL TRY TO REMEMBER FOR U

how long did it take you to watch the van scene the first time? about how many times did you rewind?

i watched the van scene once the whole way to like no pausing or anything the first time because i had to watch both v1 and v2 all in one go the nights they came out in my room until like 1am so that it wouldn’t get spoiled for me and also bc i was like leaving for a trip the next day and didn’t want to watch them on the plane where i couldn’t scream. since then i’ve watched SO MANY analysis videos but i don’t think i’ve had the chance to actually rewatch it by myself just bc my family doesn’t allow much watching of the tv lol so i end up engaging a ton more with fandom than reexperiencing canon? but i rly want to omg omg

did you catch the lip glance right away? did you think it was heading in a byler positive direction when mike was talking? how about when will was talking?

at this point i’m like 94% sure i didn’t get byler on my own at least consciously because i was kinda sad and disappointed by s4 and the heteronormativity goggles were STRAPPED ON but i will say that it literally took me less than a day of acquiring a tumblr account to hop on the byler train because i think subconsciously i definitely picked up on it BC HOW COULD YOU NOT and once i stopped intentionally explaining it away to myself as them being “special friends” or accepting heteronormative relationships as the only possible norm without need for explanation or backing I WAS FREED and here we are now :) BUT i will say i do still learn something new every day here on byler tumblr bc y’all are TOO SMART and there’s honestly so much in this show you physically cannot over analyze it there’s always more to discover and recontextualize and find different interpretations of

as for the mike/will thing i think it took me a bit longer to realize that mike was actually more proof of byler than will lol because there’s a lot more heteronormativity to unpack to analyze and understand his character but at the same time learning about that side of things is what fully convinced me i think along with just learning more about the actors and the duffers message in the show etc. because before i was worried that it would be representation through will just bad representation 💀

were you happy/disappointed by the painting? how did you feel by the end of it?

similar to what i said before i was unable to really see byler beyond my protective biases towards will as a queer person who saw myself in him and preemptively prepared myself for how i thought he was going to be treated and so my attitude through the whole thing was mostly one of “omg will 😭😭😭 aw omfg my poor baby 😭😭 AW WILL 😭😭 LOOK AT HIS LIL PAINTING IM SO PROUD OF HIM BUT ALSO 😭😭😭 oh god i really hope they aren’t using the gay character to push the straight ships arc omg will ur so gay that was so gay of you OMG NO HES CRYING 😭😭😭 HES TEARING UP 😭😭 ONFG HES CRYING HES CRYING OMG JOHNATHAN KNOWS HE CAN SEE OMFG 😭😭😭😭 THIS IS SO SAD WILL” and mike was like not even in my thought process 💀💀 because my lil queer heart was really going through it

BUT!! now that i’ve removed my biases about how i expect queer characters in st to be treated every byler scene is lowkey painful to watch because THEYRE SO GAY??? IT FEELS PRIVATE I FEEL LIKE IM INTRUDING BUT ALSO IM AN ABSOLUTE GIGGLING MESS BC SJNDBDBBEBE

how devastated were you by will's crying?

DEVASTATED. OMFG. i think i sensed wills queerness for a while but as soon as that pretty girl touched his ankle and he was like 🧍‍♂️😐 i remember SCREAMING ‘gay!!!’ and then i JUMPED on the will byers is my gay child train and so the rest of s4 GUTTED me and i think that’s partially the reason it took me longer to see the mike thing is because i was just so pissed at him for putting wills in pain at the airport and the roller skate rink (partially also because his dismissal of will and wills feelings at the airport felt personal to me as a sort of reflection of the dismissal of will and his happiness that i expected from the ga and the storyline due to predominant representations and treatment of queerness and queer characters in past media so i was IMMEDIATELY put off and hated everything mike did 💀💀 no one talks to my blorbo that way)

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so sorry i wrote like an essay for this and idk if i answered any of your actual questions because like i said my memory is worse than mike wheelers self esteem but THANK YOU I LOVED THIS ASK I HOPE YOU HAVE A LOVELY LOVELY DAY <333

[magpiejay1234]

I will do over Days in a much, much later date now. We'll likely be moving to Tag Force 5.

****

Anyway, back to Days, due to BBS Volume 2 concept trailer, many people assumed Ventus moving away from his Chamber was him becoming Roxas. This is a particular pet horse of Frustrated Jacob, who very unambigiously dislikes the character, and everything he stands for. This is a common trope for KH1-primary fans, or as I like to call them, Genwunners of KH.

However, the game proper has the whole Shadow the Hedgehog style red herring of him being a replica, with the implication of Kairi's memories of Sora being the thing that allows him to leave the Org., so Nomura's original idea was something different, something we don't know, and probably never know, as many plot points in BBS V2 were repurposed in other games, primarily KH3.

So this is seemingly another case of Jacob forcing his interpretation, rather than Nomura's actual intention. Which is fair I guess, we end Xion's death with the whole Asuka hand to cheek pose in EoE, so a decent chunk of Days is meant to be up to interpretation.

Either way, it seems with the The Truth About Naminé thing, the whole ambiguity around Roxas seems to be intended by primarily by Kanemaki who wanted bring back her favourite character Naminé back, and since Xion is basically her OC, she needs to bring back the person she self-shipped herself with. And obviously as an easy out it is, the Replicas of characters without bodies is a consistent way to achieve this.

****

Since game crashed, I cannot say a full verdict about Days's storyline as I cannot get to the post-game stuff, but what I experienced so far up to Day 358 has been quite good, and gave me a similar experience to KH2 FM, despite Days having a more uneven script at parts. I consider the game version to be superior to movie version, due to added context for the rest of Org.

Do I consider this game deserves a remake? Sure.

Would I expect it to be as good? Not with current SE, and Nomura's current priorities (we would need add stuff to tease next game in MoM arc).

Would I expect this game to be remade over Re:Coded? Certainly not. As others noted, Re:Coded has a much better balanced gameplay, though I probably won't prefer it since it doesn't have the sheer power experience of the late-game Days has.

Considering the fandom's current disdain for the platforming, adventuring, and RPG aspects of KH over the character-action-combo gameplay against human bosses, I don't expect a game like Days to be ever made. Western Fandom really, really wants Final Fantasy franchise overall to become Devil May Cry with better writing, and that is nothing but a pure nightmare concept for me, and one that will further degenerate KH's plot structure for centuries.

Would I recommed this game? It will take a really long while you to get full hang of this game, since this game is the anti-Speedrun game due its visual novel structure, but if you are into visual novels over speedrunning action slashers, this game is the Kingdom Hearts game for you. Due to Kanemaki's influence, the story does better justice to the visual novel formula over BBS, and Coded's variants, not to mention there is tons of added context to KH2.

So yes, get a good setup, and play this game, and document every oddity here, since the stuff introduced here are the ones Nomura digs the least through, which means more people will be bamboozled when they come back.

Now we wait for the inevitable Strelitzia game, where you play as the Specter Nobody, playing the events of CoM from Marluxia's perspective. Just like CoM was partially based off SotN mixed with Castle of Illusions the Strelitzia game will be GBA Castlevania games with Soma Cruz mixed with the old DuckTales game.

[wack-ashimself]

My memory has been going. Not short term. I oddly remember a lot of shit on command that even I go 'I don't know why you held onto that.' More long term. The past....10 years alone have been a blur. Not bad, not good. Just...helped me evolved, but nothing was 'THIS WILL DEFINE ME FOREVER.' Most of that came from when I was a kid, and I'm glad. Because I didn't know as a kid, I WAS mean and stupid in too many ways to count. But...all my dumbest things I said/did were in my past. And I only remember as to not repeat; not so much define me.

I just...ya know that question 'what's your happiest memory?' I don't have one. Anytime I think of happy moments, they all blur. Sure some better than others, but kinda like my fav song/movie, I do not have one. I have....my best memory of THIS, of THAT person, or a vacation etc. And...I'm glad. I used to use my memories as prep for the future; expect every situation, conversation, and whatever drama follows. But in being over prepared, I was never in the moment, sometimes didn't react quick enough, or, again I wasn't in the moment, didn't react appropriately. Cuz I was too in my head 'Oh they said X, so Y v2 is what I need to say.'

What I am saying is I have lived in my head almost my entire life. It's why my memory was so good; it gave me something to do up there. And yeah, I am still in my head most days, but more...for right now and/or whats coming. Not reflecting or worrying about my past. It's weird. Cuz I feel different, the world looks different and...part of me is thinking 'how many years did I waste living in my memories?' I dunno. I am saying this more for myself. When I talk outloud or type, I get clarification that I normally wouldn't just in my head. Maybe cuz this is hard, finite, and not open for interpretation. Draws a line in the sand so I can see the sand, ya know?

I just see so many people who are entirely determined by and living life by their past. They are never here in the present, and have NO HOPE for the future. They kinda hate themselves, but blame the past/other people for it. As if those people are standing next to them yelling 'be as miserable as you always were.' I refuse to do that. I ain't perfect, I fucked up, but...I believe I won't fuck up again. At least not in the ways I have before. I want to fuck up in new ways! lol Seriously. You don't learn if you're always right, and you never learn if you aren't willing to take a chance. On existence and yourself alike. YOU determine yourself and this reality; quit giving power to the past or others in your present.

End of the day, fuck your religion: NO ONE KNOWS. The only thing we do know is you die. This is YOUR LIFE. I ain't saying live it selfishly, but I am saying LIVE IT YOUR WAY, RIGHT BY YOU. Nobody is promised anything, so promise yourself a good life not hindered by things that do not honor you. I mean, why the fuck not? What else do you have to lose? YOUR LIFE? If you're gonna die, which you are, why not live first?

[krixwell]

This is going to be a bit long-winded, but hopefully it'll be enlightening for anyone interested in Norwegian.

So I've been thinking about Norwegian sentence structure, and I've come to the conclusion that Norwegian is actually much better described as a kind of VSO language than as an SVO language or even a V2 language. Except there's a twist to it that is responsible for 90% of the confusion new learners have about the order of words in Norwegian.

Let's start on the confusing end.

== THE BLATANT LIES OF SVO ==

Many sources will list Norwegian as an SVO language, which is to say that the core elements of a sentence come in the order subject (who does), verb (what is done), object (who is it done to).

This is true for most basic sentences, but it breaks down very quickly the moment you add something as simple as an adverbial phrase (something about the manner, time, reason, etc).

Example 1:

EN: I eat breakfast in the morning.

NO: Jeg spiser frokost om morgenen.

Breakdown: Subject, verb, object, time adverbial.

This seems reasonable enough. That's a basic SVO sentence with an adverbial phrase at the end, SVO(A). But sometimes you want to put the adverbial phrase at the beginning of the sentence. Look what happens:

Example 2:

EN: In the morning, I eat breakfast.

NO: Om morgenen spiser jeg frokost.

Breakdown: Time adverbial, verb, subject, object.

The subject and verb switched places with each other, just because something was added before them. This (A)VSO sentence makes very little sense as SVO and looks like a strange exception, but this happens any time you put something at the beginning of the sentence besides the subject.

To make matters worse, this is still a correct sentence:

Example 3:

EN literal: Breakfast eat I in the morning.

NO: Frokost spiser jeg om morgenen.

Breakdown: Object, verb, subject, time adverbial.

What?? This is OVS(A), the exact opposite of SVO. The fact I'm using "jeg" and not "meg" still makes it unambiguous that I'm the one eating the breakfast rather than the other way around, but you can do this with plain nouns, which don't mark whether they're subject or object, too.

Example 4:

EN literal: The cat feeds my sister.

NO: Katten mater søsteren min.

Breakdown: Object, verb, subject.

The only things marking whether this is SVO or OVS are context, common sense and sometimes intonation. Both readings are grammatically correct, though the sister is probably feeding the cat.

== THE LINGUISTIC SHRUG ==

Because of all of these apparent "exceptions", more advanced sources will tell you Norwegian is a "V2 language". This is a fancy way of saying the verb goes second, no matter how everything else around it is arranged. (A)VSO? The verb is second after the adverbial. SVO, OVS? The verb is second so it doesn't matter.

That still has a couple significant flaws, though. For one thing, V2 is essentially throwing your hands up and saying "I don't know how this works, so here's the one thing that seems consistent." It doesn't explain how anything else in the sentence works, such as why (A)VSO is allowed but not (A)VOS.

And for another, there are plenty of times where the verb does not come second. A particularly frequent example is yes/no questions, where the word order (and tone) is the main thing setting it apart from a basic statement.

Example 5:

EN: Does your sister feed the cat?

EN literal: Feeds your sister the cat?

NO: Mater søsteren din katten?

Breakdown: Verb, subject, object.

Orders are also given with the verb first:

Example 6:

EN: Feed the cat!

NO: Mat katten!

Breakdown: Verb, object.

Subclauses tend to be SVO, but the specific type called relative clauses can be SV or VO. Admittedly the logic behind this one is tangential to my overall point in this post, but it does put the verb in a non-second position within the subclause:

Example 7:

EN: My sister, who feeds the cat, eats breakfast.

NO: Søsteren min, som mater katten, spiser frokost.

Breakdown: Main subject, relative clause marker, subclause verb, subclause object, main verb, main object.

(interpreting "som" as a stand-in for the subject of this kind of relative clause causes more trouble than it's worth)

The third flaw of V2 is it doesn't explain WHY we sometimes flip our sentences into forms like OVS.

== SO WHAT THEN? ==

So I've established that SVO is no good beyond basic sentences, and V2 is better but flawed. It's time I propose what I think is a better solution.

I think Norwegian sentence structure is best analyzed as "TVSO".

The T stands for "topic" and is essentially the main focus of the sentence. It can be the subject, the object, an adverbial phrase, or even the verb. This element is moved to the beginning of the sentence to mark it as the topic.

In most basic sentences, the topic is the subject. The subject moves to the beginning of the sentence and we get the familiar SVO.

Remember in example 2 how the subject moved behind the verb when we put something before it? That's because the subject stopped being the topic and jumped back to its default position. The adverbial phrase became the topic, changing the nuance of what the sentence is about:

Example 1 (SVOA) is about you and what you do (eat breakfast in the morning).

Example 2 (AVSO) is about the morning and what happens then (you eat breakfast).

Example 3 (OVSA) is about breakfast and what is done with it (you eat it in the morning).

In a similar vein, example 4 (OVS) is about the cat and what is done with it. "Katten mater søsteren min" is the kind of sentence someone might say to explain how the cat is going to be handled when they're going away on vacation.

Example 5 (VSO) is what happens when the verb takes the topic role, because the sentence is about the verb and whether it actually happens. Similarly, in example 6 (VO), the sentence is about what needs to be done, and the subject is an implicit "you".

== CONCLUSION ==

Most Norwegian people don't consciously think of this "topic" marking as a feature we have in our language, but it's 100% a thing we do constantly, and in my opinion, recognizing that the default order is VSO (but with the option to pull any element to the front to make it the topic of the sentence) rather than SVO makes Norwegian word order make a whole lot more sense.

I really hope I'm not the only one who thinks that, and that this helped you understand the quirks of the language better. Hopefully I didn't just confuse you further by overcomplicating things.

[diirthara-ma]

“On Skyhold” Codex Entry Translation

The codex entry “On Skyhold” contains elven writing which references the elven name of Skyhold (“Tarasyl’an telas”), found written underneath a pillar in some of the older parts of the fortress. The Skyhold archivist notes that the writing is “old but still [written] long after the place had been built over.” Only part of the writing survives:

Var'landivalis him sa'bellanaris san elgar

Melanada him sa'miras fena'taldin (word missing)

Nadasalin telrevas ne suli telsethenera

Tarasyl'an te'las vehn'ir abelath'vir (word missing) 

The translation provided was put together by the archivist, with the assistance of Solas. The archivist notes that, even with Solas’s help, they still “managed only a partial translation.” Here is the translation given in the codex entry, along with the archivist’s notes:

Our belief transformed into everything. (assertation/problem? uncertain)

All time is transformed into the final/first death (uncertain),

Inevitable/threatened victory and horrible/promised freedom in the untorn veils, (uncertain)

Where the sky is held up/back, where the people give/gain love that is an apology/promise from/to....(missing subject, uncertain)

While I think the archivist’s translation here isn’t actually *incorrect*, I thought it could be interesting to break this down word-for-word and see if anything new can be gleaned from it. As the archivist even notes in this codex entry, “Elven is often a game of intents, not direct mapping of phonetic meaning. That means it's a mess.” Additionally, the fact that Solas helped them translate makes me think there are potentially parts that he purposely simplified or concealed the meaning of when translating.

My word-for-word translation and musings are below the cut:

Var'landivalis him sa'bellanaris san elgar

“Our belief transformed into everything. (assertation/problem? uncertain)”

Var’landivalis = “our belief”; an elision of var + glandivalis

var = “our”; Var Bellanaris is translated by Keeper Gisharel as “our eternity” (from the quote here); Emma solas him var din'an is translated as “Arrogance became our end”, literally “____(?) pride became our death-place” (from the codex entry Tracing from the Temple Doors)

glandivalis = “belief”; in the poem “Where Willows Wail” we see the line Ir tela’ena glandival, vir amin tel’hanin translated as “When we could no longer believe, we lost glory to war”

him = “to become/to make (into)”, “to transform”; as I discussed here

sa’bellanaris = “____-eternity/forever”; possibly a contraction of sa and bellanaris, “one eternity”?

sa = “one”; it’s entirely possible that this is actually a shortening of a larger word, but sa is so short it’s hard to even guess at what the full word would be

bellanaris = “eternity”, “forever”, “many years”; the elven dictionary in World of Thedas Volume 1 translates it as “eternity”; Var Bellanaris is translated by Keeper Gisharel as “our eternity” (here); the Dalish translator in “Torn Notebook in the Deep Roads, Section 3” translates it as “forever”; Asha’bellanar, the name the Dalish give Flemeth, is translated by a Dalish elf in The Stolen Throne as “The Woman of Many Years”, asha = woman and therefore bellanar means “many-years”

san = ????? San doesn’t seem to play a direct role in the arcanist’s translation, and while we’ve seen the word like a half-dozen times it’s not clear from any of those contexts what the word actually means? I’m going to try to puzzle it out in another one of these elven language posts at some point in the future.

elgar = “spirit’; it’s strange to me that this word doesn’t seem to factor into the archivist’s translation at all, this seems like a definite sign that his translation is incomplete

Thoughts:

I’m not sure why elgar doesn’t factor into the archivist’s translation at all? Or why they translate sa’bellanaris as “everything”, unless they’re interpreting “one-eternity/forever” as meaning “many”? Like an infinite number of things? Maybe they’re translating the whole phrase sa'bellanaris san elgar as “everything”?

Some possible translations include  “Our beliefs transformed our eternal spirits” or “Our faith/belief [in Fen’Harel] transformed our immortality and spirits”---referencing the elves losing immortality bc of the actions of Fen’Harel and his people?

Or perhaps “Our beliefs transformed our spirits into eternal/immortal ones.”---referencing the beginnings of the elves? That they were once spirits, and then became immortal, physical beings?

Melanada him sa'miras fena'taldin (word missing)

“All time is transformed into the final/first death (uncertain)”

melanada = Something to do with time; melana is translated as “time” in the codex entry In Uthenera; da as a prefix normally means “little”, that doesn’t seem to be the case with it here, as a suffix?; Melana + nadas? “Inevitable time?”; melana is also translated as “now” in the codex entry Tracing from Temple Doors, perhaps melana + nadas = “it is now inevitable?”

him = “to become/to make (into)”, “to transform”

sa'miras = I’m not sure if this pairs with the next word and *together* the archivist takes them to mean “final/first death”, or if this is separate and just means “into” or for some reason doesn’t factor into their translation?; clearly another contraction, sa + miras ?; it’s possible that if the sa here means “one” that this word means “first”

sa = as previously mentioned, sa means “one” but we don’t know if this is actually an elision and, if it is, how how much of the first word was lost

miras = possibly related to mir, “my”?; to my knowledge we don’t have any other words that would be related to this

fena'taldin = This is clearly part of what the archivist is translating as “the first/final death”, given the word din

fena = ??? the only related word we have is fen, which obviously means “wolf”, but I’m not sure that’s relevant? I guess it’s possible that fena’taldin is referencing death caused by the Dread Wolf, but that doesn’t seem likely to me; it also seems unlikely to me that either sa’miras or fena’tal translates *literally* as “final”, given that both halam and din are already used to mean “final/end”

taldin = something to do with death (tal + din); the only word related to tal that I know of is Keeper Marethari’s surname, Talas, which we don’t know the translation of

(word missing) = Given that there are so many unidentifiable words in this section, it’s hard to make even a wild guess at what could be missing here. Potentially something about the Veil? Or uthenera?

Thoughts:

This section has so many unidentifiable parts it’s difficult to make even a guess at a translation beyond what is said by the Skyhold archivist. The only parts we can reliably translate basically give us “Time(?) become/transform _____(?) _____(?)-death.” 

From the archivist’s translation, I’m assuming this is about the elves losing their immortality, hence “final/first death,” referencing that people started dying of old age for the first time?

Nadasalin telrevas ne suli telsethenera

“Inevitable/threatened victory and horrible/promised freedom in the untorn veils, (uncertain)”

nadasalin = If this elision breaks down the way the archivist seems to think it does, it should be nadas + enasalin; it’s interesting that the archivist also suggests “threatened victory” as a translation, perhaps from the general tone of the sentence they get the impression that the fact that victory is inevitable is bad?

nadas = “inevitable/inevitably”, “something that must be”; from the elven dictionary in WoT v1

salin = from enasalin, “victory”; the codex entry “Enasalin” translates Enasalin'abelas as "sorrowful victory", literally “victory-sorrow”

telrevas = Translated by the archivist as “horrible freedom” or “promised freedom”, it seems to be a contraction of tel + revas, so literally “not-freedom”. Therefore I think the definition the archivist is trying to get at is a sort of “false freedom,” a promised freedom that turned out to be horrible. Another possible translation might be “un-freedom,” as in the opposite of freedom, so potentially “slavery”?

tel = “not”; Wisdom says Tel’abelas to Solas during the quest “All-New, Faded for Her” and it’s translated as “I’m not sorry”; Tel garas Solasan is translated as “Come not to a prideful place” (“not” + “come” + “pride-place”) in the codex entry “Tracing from the Temple Doors”

revas = “freedom”; from the elven dictionary in WoT v1; in The Last Flight, when Isseya sees that her griffon is named Revas, she thinks to herself that “it was an Elvish word: ‘freedom’”

ne = there isn’t much precedent for the word ne, one of the only places we’ve heard it is when Solas tells Abelas Malas amelin ne halam, which Solas translates as “I hope you find a new name,” but the phrase definitely doesn’t *literally* translate to that; perhaps this is what the archivist is translating as “in”?; potentially related to nae, which means “no”?

suli = we’ve not seen this word anywhere else; we’ve got a lot of elven words that start with “sul-” (sulahn, suledin, sulevin) but it’s difficult to know which, if any, of these words suli would be related to; perhaps this is what the archivist is translating as “untorn”?

telsethenera = tel + sethenera, something like “not-Fade” or “the absence of the Fade”? I think this word is the part the archivist is translating as “veils”

tel = “not”

sethenera = another name for the Fade?; setheneran is translated as “land of waking dreams” by Tamlen in the Dalish Origin, he says Hahren Paivel uses it to refer to places where the Veil is thin/weak; in “Where Willows Wail” from WoT v2 sethen’a is translated as “the land of dreams” (it’s noted that a “form of lyrical shorthand” is used in this song, which might explain the shortening of sethenera to sethen’a); theneras is translated as “dreams” in the codex entry Torn Notebook in the Deep Roads, Section 3

Thoughts:

A possible translation is “The inevitable victory of the (untorn? untearable?) Veil brought nothing but a false freedom.” or “The Veil was a false freedom and a pyrrhic victory.”---the victory of Fen’Harel and his people after the Veil went up ended up not bringing the elvhen people the freedom Solas had promised, but instead cut the elves off from the Fade. This had catastrophic effects on elven society: it destroyed buildings, caused people to start aging and dying, cut many elves off from magic, etc.

Tarasyl'an te'las vehn'ir abelath'vir (word missing)

“Where the sky is held up/back, where the people give/gain love that is an apology/promise from/to....(missing subject, uncertain)”

tarasyl'an = “Sky-keep/hold-place”; this is what Morrigan says the ancient elven name of Skyhold was, and she translates it as “the place where the sky is kept”

tara = “sky”?

syl = I’m curious if this is the part that means “kept/held”; this would match up with Sylaise potentially being literally translated as “hearthkeeper”; however it would also potentially conflict with Dirthamen literally translating as “keeper of secrets”

an = a suffix that denotes that the noun is a place; Solasan is translated as “prideful place” in the codex entry “Tracing from Temple Doors” https://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Codex_entry:_Tracing_from_Temple_Doors)

te'las = In the last addition to the “On Skyhold” codex entry, Solas says that the name of Skyhold is not just tarasyl'an---“some simplistic allusion to holding up the sky”---but that the full elven name is tarasyl’an telas, meaning “the place where the sky was held back”; therefore I think te’las translates to something like “not shared” or “not given,” making Skyhold’s full literal name something like “Sky-keep/hold-place not-given”

te = from tel, “not”

las = “give/grant”; in the codex entry Tracing from Temple Doors, Melana en athim las enaste is translated as “Now let humility grant favor”; in the codex entry Torn Notebook in the Deep Roads, Section 3, the phrase Mythal las ma theneras is translated as “Mythal gives you dreams”

vehn'ir = given that the archivist translates this as something to do with “people”, I think this might be a misspelling? I think it’s probably meant to be vhen’ir

vehn = probably meant to be vhen, “people”; as seen in words like vhenadahl, “the tree of the people” (from the codex Vhenadahl: The Tree of the People) and elvhen, “the people”, as seen in the elven history section of WoT v1

ir = ???? as I mentioned here, it’s difficult to tell if ir is meant to be a pronoun (either “I” or “we”) or a verb, potentially “to be” or ”to have”; I feel like in this context, especially with the archivist translating this part of the sentence as “the people give/gain”, it would make sense if ir is being used as a verb, potentially “to have”?

abelath'vir = “way of sorrowful love”, “path of loving apology”, “love through sorrow/an apology”; as this is made up of three words (abe + lath + vir) it can combine in many ways

abe = from abelas, “sorrow”, “to be sorry”; from the elven dictionary in WoT v1

lath = “love”, “love of being”, “to be in love”; from the elven dictionary in WoT v1

vir = “way/path of”; Vir Tanadhal translates as “Way of the Three Trees” (from the codex entry Vir Tanadhal: The Way of the Three Trees)

(word missing) = I feel like Fen’Harel would make sense here; Evanuris could also possibly fit

Thoughts:

It’s interesting that the archivist is certain that the *subject* is missing from this sentence. I wonder how they came to that conclusion? Elven doesn’t seem to properly follow any specific word order, nor do noun declensions seem to be demarcated in any noticeable way, so how would they be able to tell? There are several other nouns here that could all be the subject of the sentence. I wonder why they specify what type of word is missing here and not in the other phrase that’s missing a word?

One possible translation for this would be something like “Where the sky was held back, people give love as an apology to Fen’Harel”---Perhaps saying that, after the Veil was created, elves continued to travel to the site to essentially try to convince Fen’Harel to take the Veil back down? Like, they would give him “love”--offerings, worship him, etc.--hoping it would make him change his mind and put things back to the way they used to be? Solas was presumably asleep at this point, and potentially wasn’t even aware yet of the ramifications of the Veil, but assuming that many elves still didn’t understand he wasn’t actually a god maybe they thought he was purposely ignoring them?

Another translation that would have a similar meaning is “Where the sky was held back, the people give love as an apology to the Evanuris.” That maybe people tried to reach out to the locked-away gods from the place where the Fade was held back, hoping that somehow they could reach them?

Another possibility, basically coming at the sentence from an opposite perspective, would be “Fen’Harel held the sky back, as a loving promise to the people.” Perhaps whoever is writing this sees what Solas did as a good thing, despite the ramifications? Or they’re trying to explain Solas’s motivations?

I’d love to see what other translations people come up with! 

[h4lcyonism]

Apparently, sharing a bed is now a verified bumbleby trope! But for me, the most obvious one has always been "friends to lovers", and I can entertain myself endlessly by imagining different points in time along the volumes where one of them had that moment of, "oh shit, I think I love you, ohshitohshitohshit."

sharing a bed is a headcanon trope of mine, just because i like to believe that in atlas they frequently shared a bed during the night when nightmares got too bad for both of them and they always found comfort in each other’s arms. though v9 might change that, since there aren’t exactly gonna be many great sleeping options on the island... 👀

they definitely had a few pinpointed moments throughout the show and imo it’s broken down into three: the “i have a little crush” stage, the “oh shit i think i might love her” stage, and the “i’m completely in love with her stage”, so i’ll break it down just to share my own thoughts.

yang:

crush stage - right before/during burning the candle in v2

i love her stage - “what if i needed her here for me?” (that was her own way of saying it) in v5

i’m in love stage - the handholding scene in the airship during the v6 finale

blake:

crush stage - sometime while she was away on menagerie during v4

i love her stage - the abandoned cabin talk in v6 when they talk about adam and blake says she’ll protect yang

i’m in love stage - when she grabs yang’s hand and says they’re protecting each other also in v6

i’ve said it before but just because of their difference in experiences and personalities, yang was definitely quicker to acknowledge how deep her feelings ran than blake was, but once blake knew, she was a goner.

i really hope we actually get some sort of mention in the show of when these moments might’ve been for them, but there’s plenty to choose from, so really it’s up to interpretation!!

[make-an-undertale-blog-why-not]

different versions of sans.

here’s a list of what they say about you if you want (not 100% accurate):

smol - you and me think the same pal. unless you draw “smol” as a low-effort way to portray him in some sort of reddit x 4chan-style joke where sans shits on the floor and calls papyrus a slur. but as long as you’re not like that then you’re probably good. your main source of undertale content can vary, though it likely could be from your own thoughts on the game. what kind of person you are varies a lot here and i couldnt tell ya anyway because i draw sans like this.

classic ol sans - you don’t want to go off-model by much. you care about source material and likely try not to put too many “stretchy” headcanons in any media you make. this basically means you take what the game gives you, even if it’s like, unused stuff or posts toby fox made on twitter. nothing too outlandish. you might make a lot of theories based on only what you see in the game, and fact-check other theories in your head, but still learn new things from them and apply them to your own understanding of the world. your main source of content probably comes from the game itself and others’ let’s plays. what kind of person you are varies a lot here and i couldnt tell ya anyway because i draw sans like this sometimes.

fanon v1 - you take creative liberties and change small things (color the eyes blue, add dots, fluffen up the hood and slippers). you like fluffy content and probably follow a few undertale au blogs. you like the edgy side of sans and tend to focus more on that maybe. chances are, you tie sans’s eye thing to his emotions for some reason. you color the hood white because that’s what everyone else does so at this point it’s weird seeing the hood with any other color. you’re cool and good probably. your source of content is very very very likely from other creators’ comics and art. probably also undertale vine compilations. you’re most likely an alright person.

fanon v2 - you focus on the “haha funny skeleton man” side of things rather than the “strongest enemy and doesnt think anything he does matters” side of things. you leave his shirt off to express his laziness, because that’s how you interpreted his sprite, or because you saw that one page of concept art and decided that was the canon look. you give sans sneakers and a blue hood because that’s what he has on the steam card. you see sans as a comedian who tells jokes so bad they’re good, drinks ketchup all day, and annoys his brother. your content might come from joke comics and what you see in the game. but it gets a little hard to see where content comes from at this point. you’re probably cool. you probably either relate to sans more than fanon v1 or are just, like, less emotional i guess. like, yknow what i mean probably.

uncle sans - i probably love you. chances are, you follow the guy who made the dunkle sans comic and were inspired by that type of sans. either that or you came to the conclusion the same way that guy did. i have no idea where your undertale content comes from, but you like to imagine sans as a guardian-type figure for the human. you probably think sans gives great hugs. you’re probably either a big ol softie or you want sans to be your dad.

realistic - you either received a commission, played undertale once or twice, saw the popularity of the character, or were attracted to the design and decided to make this guy look more realistic. what i’m saying is that it’s unlikely that you are a knowledgeable fan of undertale like some of these other people. not saying it’s impossible, just unlikely. if you show sans with both the white pupil AND the flashing eye, you either like it like that or haven’t done your research. assuming you are a fan of the game and have made other content for it in the past, i guess this is just.. how your art looks. which is cool and good, i love me some realistic cartoons. i dont know what kind of person you are, all i know is that you intimidate me. i’m scared of you. you have a power not many people possess.

sexy tall sans - (stick to the end if none of what i’m saying applies to you) fuck you. i hate you. burn in hell. you probably ship fontcest or you ship sans with the human. let the man be short and chubby. but DON’T put some sort of stupid magic blue slime as his fat. do not. no. none of that shit. and stop giving sans a tongue. he doesnt even fucking open his mouth, you can’t make out with him. he’s not a sexy guy. he’s the least sexy guy in the whole game. don’t like, actively change his design to be sexier. why dont you go after a character who’s already sexy, like heats flamesman? it’s as a very wise guy once said, “sans the skeleton is not real. you’ll never be his wife.” chances are, you’re a bad person. you may seem nice and friendly, but your morals... filthy... your main source of undertale content comes from porn. if you happen to be a good person with good morals and you still lust after sans like this, just.. keep it to yourself, and don’t hang out in the wrong crowd, okay?

[eirikrjs]

Random tidbits, volume 2

1. A while back somebody here was looking for a book they saw here with Baphomet on the cover. Don’t know if they found it already, but if they haven’t, I’m pretty sure it’s the one from this post:

https://eirikrjs.tumblr.com/post/181340263562/brionacブリューナク

2. Judging by Lilith’s Megaten Wiki page her compendium entries often include this bit:

She became a demon after leaving Eden. There are several theories as to the reasons for her fall, but all note her unfaithfulness.

Or a variation of this bit. Where does unfaithfulness come from? From what I can tell, depictions of Lilith as lustful and Succubus-like are very divorced from context of an ongoing relationship, where concept of unfaithfulness can even exist. Is it a case of her refusal to be subservient to Adam somehow getting mistranslated as unfaithfulness during either localization or writing of whatever book ATLUS used for reference?

3. In regards to this post, I think I found a perfect candidate for toku-esque design (or at least Doi/guest design). The Manichean Archon of Smoke as described in Kephalaia of the Teacher, chapters 6 and 27 (at least as the book “Pentadic Redaction in the Manichean Kephalaia” presents them). Pure golden body, insect-like, with various animal and demon heads all over the place. You can basically combine Ultra Odin and YHVH V2 from SMT4A. A couple of touch-ups to ensure the right heads in the right places, and this should be a very source-accurate design.

Come to think of it, there was never any Manichean stuff in Megaten, was there? Think that could make for a good addition?

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1. Damn! That has to be the one. Dictionary of Demons and Devils / 悪魔事典:

Sure is one gnarly Baphomet. Thanks for helping that one anon out!

2. There may be a couple of things going on here. First is that there is precedent for “unfaithfulness.” Here’s a Lilith entry from Tree of Souls:

Here Lilith famously refuses to have sex in the missionary position, because of its symbolic meaning. She then says “YAHWEH!” and buggers off. As for whether that’s really unfaithfulness, the second point is that this Lilith profile is pretty old and the translation might be off, or at least “unfaithfulness” might be in Japanese a term up for interpretation. I don’t have access to the Japanese profile so I can’t say for sure. At least that profile doesn’t seem to get much use anymore.

3. Manichaeism should be the next big thing for JRPGs after they wear out Gnosticism. So... any time now.

I’m still of the opinion that you should do anything other than ape toku cliches before you default to them but between the example you gave and how the Manichaean Prince of Darkness is described as consisting of many (specifically: 5!) animal-headed archons like it was some combiner robot of justice (though that might not be literally happening in the original intent) means it might be impossible for these to be interpreted any other way in SMT or other Japanese games. I’m not even that familiar with Manichaeism but from this and other examples it just seems crazy weird. Perfect for an overwrought JRPG plot.

[fieldtomatoes]

oh no I dropped my monster documentary masterlist I use for my magnum social distancing

[Titles marked with * are restricted to Canada, but might be accessible through a proxy/vpn, any one of them could be on American Netflix/Amazon Prime/Hulu I just don’t know, and if all else fails, most are available on one rental platform or another although I know that’s not ideal.]

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World - 1h43m Covers the influence on all genres of music by Indigenous musicians including Charlie Patton (Blues), Mildred Bailey (Jazz/Swing), Link Wray (Rock), Robbie Robertson (Rock), Buffy Sainte-Marie (Folk), Jimi Hendrix (Rock), Randy Castillo (Metal), Jesse Ed Davis (Rock/Blues), and more, with interviews from Robbie Robertson, John Trudell, Taj Mahal, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Iggy Pop, Martin Scorsese, and more. Probably the best documentary I’ve ever seen. Trailer Available: a slightly abridged version (20 mins shorter, not sure what it cuts out) here, Kanopy, or rental services

The Island President - 1h38m Follows former president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, who was elected after 30 years of dictatorship as he fights for his people’s survival and to end the rising sea levels that are washing his country away at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2009. Trailer Available: here

Angry Inuk* - 44m Provides the Inuit perspective on seal hunting; how they have been the victims of propaganda spread by animal activist groups and how increasingly restrictive bans have affected their culture and way of life (obvious tw for footage of raw seal meat, blood, and organs). Trailer Available: here

Genderize* - 13m Comparative interviews from 2012 and 2016 with a sibling trio about their understanding of and experience with gender and growing up. Personal endorsement, Chase is one of my profs and he’s literally the best instructor I’ve ever had. Available: here

Kumu Hina / A Place In The Middle - 1h17m / 25m The story of Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, a teacher and community cultural figure who is Māhū (embodies femininity and masculinity; is in the middle). “A Place In The Middle” is the abridged version that focuses on the story of Kumu Hina’s Māhū student, Ho’Onani, joining the all-male hula troop, which is the B-plot of the original documentary. Trailer Kumu Hina available on: Kanopy or rental services // A Place In The Middle available: here

I’m Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas* - 52m Chronicles the writing of classic Christmas songs such as “Silver Bells”, “The Christmas Song”, “White Christmas”, and many others that were actually written by Jewish composers, with integrated performances of said songs by Canadian musicians including Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies who has contributed his fair share of amazing Christmas songs as a Jewish musician. Trailer Available: here

And We Knew How to Dance* - 55m Contributions of Canadian women during the First World War, told by the women themselves from interviews conducted in the early 1990s. Includes women who moved to the prairies to take over farms, were nurses and ambulance drivers on the western front, and became floor managers of factories, among other jobs, and discusses the sexism they faced. Available on: National Film Board

Reel In The Closet - 1h22m Showcases and discusses the home movies of LGBT people going back to the 1930s, and how they documented their hidden, but full, lives. Trailer Available on: Kanopy

Reel Injun* - 1h32m Examines the portrayal of Indigenous people in film throughout the 20th century and the evolution of the “Hollywood Indian”. Features interviews with Adam Beach, John Trudell, Charlie Hill, Sacheen Littlefeather, Robbie Robertson, Graham Greene, and more. Trailer v1 / Trailer v2  Available on: Kanopy or rental services

The Legacy Of Brendan Burke* - 45m Discusses homophobia in the National Hockey League and the awareness that was brought to that topic when Toronto Maple Leafs’ GM Brian Burke’s son, Brendan Burke, came out on TSN with a message of solidarity with all of the closeted players in the league. Features anonymous testimonies from gay players as well as interviews with Mark Tewksbury, Patrick Burke, and Georges Laraque, among others. (Important to note: the NHL is the only major sports league in North America to have never had a player come out, either during or after their career). Available: here

Tab Hunter Confidential - 1h30m Tab Hunter recalls what it was like being a closeted gay man in the 1950s, while also being one of the biggest stars of the golden age of Hollywood. Provides insight on the lengths that pioneering movie studios went to to conceal their LGBT actors’ sexualities. Trailer Available on: I found a free version after a google search, or rental services

Jon Richardson - A Little Bit OCD - 47m British comedian Jon Richardson, often mocked for his “OCD tendencies” investigates the disorder, how it affects the lives of nearly 1 million people in Britain, and whether he might be one of them. Available: here

No Sad Songs - 1h02m An Aids Committee of Toronto (ACT) film from 1985 that profiles Jim Black, a young man with AIDS and documents the gay community’s response to the AIDS epidemic through interviews and artistic interpretation. Considered to be the first major documentary about AIDS. Available: here

INVASION - 18m “In this era of ‘reconciliation’, Indigenous land is still being taken at gunpoint. INVASION is a new film about the Unist’ot’en Camp, Gidimt’en checkpoint and the larger Wet’suwet’en Nation standing up to the Canadian government and corporations who continue colonial violence against Indigenous people.” A feature length film is coming later in 2020. Available: here

More resources:

PBS

CBC DOCS (imo better selection and layout than PBS, worth using a proxy if you’re not Canadian)

National Film Board (if you go to a Canadian university, go through your library’s database link for more options)