#this does have a uh twitter version so to speak

[strawhattery]

utilities included: the faq

ahead of the utilities included finale, i shared my retrospring on here & twitter, and i invited anyone to ask questions about the story. you can find the answers to those questions below the cut, and i'll be updating this post as any additional questions come in!

why did you choose an alpha/alpha pairing?

i think i was drawn to that dynamic specifically because it felt the most accurate to how i interpret their canon dynamic. it also gave me a vehicle to explore sanji's identity (and queerness), which was a lot of fun.

why did you choose sanji's limited POV?

limited POV in a romance story creates an interesting layer of narrative tension ("how does the other character feel?") that i love. i also knew early on that i wanted sanji to be a chronic overthinker in contrast to zoro's more simple, straightforward approach to life, and i knew that i wanted that contrast in their personalities to be the root of the story's "conflict." so it was easy to decide that i needed to plant myself in sanji's headspace for the story—that's where all the conflict is!

why did i decide to remove sanji's ability to sense pheromones?

when i was first outlining the story, sanji was actually going to move into the apartment as a favor to his friend luffy, who was begging him to take over his lease. but when i sat down to write this, it didn't really feel like luffy to me, so i pivoted to story so luffy has already run off and nami's trying to find a total stranger to take over his lease. this is what you see at the very beginning of chapter one. however, i quickly realized a plot hole in this: if sanji could sense pheromones, he'd immediately know the place wasn't nami's, and he might not even step foot in the apartment to begin with (because i was always going to write him not liking or trusting other alphas). so. uh. i nixed his ability to smell pheromones. and that spur of the moment decision ended up becoming the cornerstone of sanji's characterization and a major part of his internal conflict. i actually forgot until i sat down to answer this question why this became part of the story because it was a decision made so early in the process that it's funny to think there was ever a version of utilities included in my mind that didn't have it!

which part of utilities included did i enjoy creating the most?

chapter 10 is my favorite chapter overall, but the pool scene at the end of chapter 3 is really special to me. it's the first time sanji realizes these people are thinking of him as a friend, and it's also the strawhats (and friends) being petty criminals in a modern AU. honestly, any of the group scenes (with 4+ characters) i had a blast writing. i love the chaos and the silliness and also being able to push myself to make every character sound distinct from one another on the page. but the pool scene is just extra special for me.

while writing sanji POV, did i think of what zoro's POV would be each scene?

generally speaking: no. when i first started writing fanfiction, i had this compulsion to cram every detail i had thought about into my exposition instead of letting the details come up naturally through conversation or character observation. there are different ways you can get out of this trap as a writer (or lean into it, if you want to), but for me the most effective method was the most simple: if you don't need it, just don't think about it! so unless zoro's state of mind was directly contributing to the plot (because of what he was saying or how he was acting), i simply did not think about it. i like to think that gives sanji's spiraling thoughts some degree of authenticity because while sanji was thinking "how does zoro feel about this?" i was also thinking "hm. i wonder how zoro feels about all this." well. to an extent. i knew that zoro was going to be into sanji from the first moment they met (he likes blades. sanji threw a blade. simple.) and i knew that their first kiss was going to be zoro's "little garden" moment where he'd suddenly go from neutrally annoying sanji to actively stoking the fires of sanji's competitive spirit (and sexuality). and i knew that when the "define the relationship" conversation inevitably came to pass, zoro was going to be just as Not Bothered about it as sanji was Bothered. that's it, that's all i planned for zoro's perspective (with the obvious exception of the epilogue). i'm a big fan of working smarter, not harder with this stuff ☺️

what did sanji first smell like to zoro?

i kind of touch on this in the epilogue, but i'll expand a bit here. for sanji's pheromones, i wanted them to reflect the duality of his canon personality: both harsh and kind. so i wrote his pheromones as being both sweet and a little burnt. when i was thinking of how pheromones "work" i was loosely using the formula of "imagine you smelled a subtle scent ONCE, then ten years later your brain had to recreate that scent from memory." so zoro's brain does something like sweet + burned = caramel / sake, another character's brain might do something like sweet + burned = tobacco. it's less about a 1:1 scent and more about what their brain associates with that scent, if that makes sense? and if it doesn't make sense, you can see why i enjoyed writing a 100k story from the POV of the one character who can't understand this crap ☺️ as for their first impressions: when zoro first walked into the apartment, sanji had been contently cooking, so the room was probably very sweet at first. then there was a sudden, sharp burst of that burnt smell when sanji's anxiety kicked in.

was zoro into sanji from their first meeting? did he have an "oh" moment?

i wouldn't call it love at first death threat, but zoro was definitely interested in sanji from their first meeting. nothing like a little adrenaline to jumpstart zoro's attraction. i don't think zoro had an "oh" moment in the traditional sense, just because i think he goes with the flow so well that he's less likely to get bowled over by a sudden surge of feeling? if that makes sense? i think he'd be much more like "damn, i was right all along" than "oh" but that's just my take on him 🙃 as for when he fell in love, i personally like to think it was watching sanji's ddr match against koby. but i'm open to all other interpretations too ☺️

how did zoro feel seeing sanji cuddling with his friends for the first time in chapter three?

this is an interesting question. i didn't really think about it much while writing the scene, but i think zoro would probably not have lingered on the moment very much. i think, to him, it's obvious that sanji would be integrated into (and loved by) the people closest to zoro. if sanji was the sort of person zoro's friends wouldn't love, zoro would never have pursued anything more with him to begin with, and they would have just stayed contentious roommates forever. but zoro knew from early on how much his friends liked sanji, so seeing them all cuddled up together like that was probably just confirming what he already assumed.

we know what happened to sanji, but what happened this siblings?

i haven't thought too much about this because, again, i don't think sanji thinks too much about what happened to them. he was isolated from his siblings as a child—at first for judge's fear that whatever was wrong with him might be communicable, then later as a sort of carrot-and-stick measure (if sanji got better, he could play with his siblings; as long as he didn't get better, they were allowed to bully him). if i had dug into the vinsmoke siblings more, i'd probably have characterized them as people still adhering to the same reductive beliefs judge tried to instill in sanji early in life. they wouldn't have been exposed to the same medical trauma, but they would have been fed a lot of misinformation about alpha dominance and what it means to be the "right kind" of alpha in this society.

are there any canon side ships in utilities included's universe? are luffy and law an item?

i think the only confirmed ships besides sanji & zoro are robin/franky, nami/vivi, and usopp/kaya. luffy and law definitely have something going on, but what that something is is never confirmed. i'm happy to leave everything about them open to interpretation!

[daymusik]

🐾 Listen, when you see it, you will see JUST HOW MUCH EFFORT I PUT INTO THIS VIDEO and you will understand why I REALLY want you to watch this one's visualizer: https://youtu.be/t7Wh1pJXhOQ 🐾 Purchase this song here: https://daymusik.bandcamp.com/track/spider-dance-daymusik-remix-2022-edit ▶ After years of self-improvement, I have remixed Spider Dance from Undertale for the final time. I am happy with this, and I better be with how LARGE this project became! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ óÓÒò 🐾 Where to begin? Well, the song itself is more or less the same as the last iteration, just MUCH more polished, and more cohesiveness, and this time I actually had an idea of what I was going for. I decided to go for a pseudo-glitch hop style as one would with a remix of a video game soundtrack. Of course, @jacksepticeye is still in this version, or rather his amateur voice-over of Muffet's in-game speech. I decided not to say "featuring Jacksepticeye" this time since this time, I decided to try and "animate" Muffet speaking. He does make an appearance as himself at the end, but that's more of like a cameo/guest appearance rather than a feature. But what do I know? I just didn't want to put him on the face of this song because I want this song to speak for itself, not because Seàn is in it. This song, I will say, has been in development for a few years. The main growl bass instrument that comes in during the drop is one I made myself. I spent SO LONG trying to make a good sound, learning new things, trying different things, until finally, this sound worked well enough. Fun fact about the ritardando into the second drop near the end: I had to shorten the length of that. It still slows down to the same temp (maybe slower, I think), but the ritardando was shortened from, like 12 counts to 8 counts because my computer cannot process ritardandos. Whenever I try playing back the song to listen to it, the whole project lags and stutters IMMENSELY that I had to shorten it, but, of course, that did nothing for me. So that's why it's a fun fact. Because it was pointless. 🐾 Now, onto the video. Hoo boy. In keeping with my previous...whatever of adding simple video editing animations corresponding to the video game sound effects that are happening, I decided to do that again. But, like...different. And, uh...I think I went a little too... hard? Listen, I am typing this at 7 am on 14 January after having started the final editing process of this song at about 5 pm yesterday. I am VERY tired and my words are eluding me. But, long story short, for some reason, I decided to MANUALLY animate Muffet speaking. I'm almost 100% certain there was a much easier way to do that. I'm about 85% certain there is a way that I actually know how to do, but instead, I went manual. These aren't gifs, by the way. I wasn't synchronizing a video to the positions or anything. The last time I made the video for this, I downloaded ALL of the Undertale sprites -- all 6800+ of them -- just to make the video. So I did that again. Each frame isn't in a sprite sheet; they are individual images. I'm not going to go on about how tedious this project has been nor will I, again, expound on how much time and effort I waste on these videos. Instead, I decided to write down some numbers, because, undoubtedly, this is the largest project I have ever made. # of plugins: 174 # of [ZGameEditor Visualizer] layer: 47 # of mixer tracks: 94 # of channels used: 252 (mix of audio, automation, and midi clips) Overall time spent on this project: 67h Video file size: 2.67GB Audio file (wav/mp3) size: 48.8MB/6.59MB óÓÒò ▶ Bandcamp 🐾 https://daymusik.bandcamp.com ▶ MySpace 🐾 https://myspace.com/daymusik197 ▶ Twitter 🐾 https://www.twitter.com/daymusik/ ▶ everywhere else 🐾 https://linktr.ee/Daymusik ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Posted using PostyBirb

[mineofilms]

Compromises to Freedom Three

“Free speech is you know; Nazis saying that; ‘uh, you know trans-women shouldn't, you know, use women's, uh, locker rooms,’ then awesome, I guess mission accomplished.” ~Fired Twitter Data Analyst

See; this is the problem I have with these Twitter employees, cough, former Twitter employees, of all makes, models, years, colors, sexes and creeds. They see something, anything, most things, very small as a macro, one size fits all mentality. For those of us that grew up in the early 00s believing computer tech/coders where these socially awkward personalities that had short tempers and lived in their mother’s basement wearing their dirty underwear. We now are seeing what this version of that is. Kids and younger adults out of college with “progressive” ideologies that feel they are owed/entitled so much from society that they feel compelled to force their views on the population regardless if one is left or right in the binary information system. Not all humans or even Americans think in those terms. Sure, some do, but not all, not even most.

They use an example like this; “White Nazis that single out the Trans community.” Does that happen? Of course it does. Are those the only groups of people that want a voice on that topic? Not even close. Twitter took it upon themselves to say, “disagreeing with what they deem as accurate, right, truth, belief and knowledge” warrants expulsion from their platform. Even if one is not making a dig at a group and simply wants to discuss why this/that is supposed to be right/wrong/normal that cannot be allowed on the platform and is flagged as if it were some crazy Nazis propaganda. They literally treat both as one in the same…

A Little History Lesson for These Now Fired Twitter Employees.

What they are/were doing is not much different than what happened in Germany leading up to World War II. Twitter has put pressure on people to have a side and use their platform to speak out where they normally would not before all this. Twitter still bullies. They still preach idiocracy at its finest. It has been the hip thing to accept these days… Take a bad idea and try to conform others to think it’s good. Car Salesman/Sheepeople Mentality and people circum to the pressure of this philosophy in fear they might get canceled themselves. I go on social media to escape these realities not have my timelines flooded with opinions that do not make logical sense forced upon me as if they were real facts and real truth other than what they are, beliefs and opinions. If Fired-Woke-Twitter-Employees want me to respect their outcry and rage then respect my right to have an unfiltered opinion about it. That isn’t what they practice/preach. They want their voice to be the only one and you must comply, agree, obey to and with it or be removed from the platform as if you broke a real law or something. Do not give them room to poison you, your forum and what is yours that is not theirs, which equals your opinion about anything. Your opinion is not theirs. It is yours.

“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” ~Albert Einstein. My opinion of those types of people; the “Don’t Matters, Generation Asshole or Generation Zero.” These labels are just descriptions by their behavior… All the triggering hateful shit these people use as their counter-argument, literally equals, ZERO. Hence, Generation Zero… THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is not, by definition, a racist country. That divide is being fabricated for clicks, for power, for money, not our best interests… There are bad people out there, absolutely. There are people that break the law. There are racist people out there widely advertising that. There are homophobic people doing the same thing… Of course there are people that are all of these things; but the country as a whole is not a racist one. Stop it with that nonsense… Just because you were treated badly for being you doesn’t mean all people like you are treated badly and those few that did treat you badly do not represent the country as a whole, specifically in ideologies.  However, I can see where someone hurt would think that based on the superficial bullshit presented by CNN and the Woke Left Mob. There are people of all walks of life here. Sure, some of them are bad and some are bad and in a position of power at the same time. That is evident. I am not at all debating that…

Most of what I know here is from the very few outlets I feel like speak objective truth based on actual facts of a given situation and that have healthy debates/conversations within that system. How can you have a debate about any subject for being banned on the platform for simply disagreeing with the original take and giving a detailed, well thought out explanation as to why one feels the way you feel? Kind of hard when you can only present something in what? 120-140 characters, including spaces?

There are bad people in this country in positions of power that want to divide all Americans into these little subgroup tribes that seem to use being offended as a recreational sport so they can be easily manipulated and controlled. I’m not LEFT. I’m not Right. I’m not pro-anything and I’m not against-anything. I believe in Live and Let Live, respect other people’s property that isn’t yours, respect the law, respect liberty, which are for everyone, and respect the fact that people that differ from you, your beliefs are probably just as confused and mentally insecure as you or me…

To Sum Up How I Feel About Politics…

Regardless of what is at play here both sides lack the ability to take a piece of poop, dress it up, remove the smell and then present that as food for human consumption. Either side will NEVER be able to convince me that the POOP they serve is anything other than POOP… LOL, Literally; AKA POOP Logic… Cancel Culture this, WOKE that, Good, Bad, Right, Wrong, For, Against, Moral, Immoral, Gay, Straight, Black, White, Asian, Privileged, Livin’ on the Streets, FK Karen…

Rewriting History…

If we change what happened before to seem lesser, we will absolutely repeat it. Like, when did "that" become a thing? As much as I do not wanna admit to this; people judge other people in life, be it social media or real-world applications, based on what they post on social media. That is the new normal we live in now. If you put your whole life, inner thoughts on social media, unfiltered, for EVERYONE in your personal, business and/or social networks, people will judge you based on that. One is free to post their thoughts, but have some “perceptional awareness.” Read the room or at least think of how your peers might think of you if you are the asshole in the crowd, not some of the time, but ALL of the time. The more you are supposed to know as an adult.

You cannot have the conversations/dialogs about topics without establishing the fallacies of the information system standards these concepts are based on. I keep seeing these as not based on logic, common sense, critical thinking and knowledge. They are based on belief and raw angered emotion. Belief is not a measurement of truth, knowledge and knowing, but at some point in all this we allowed the concept of belief to stand for solid grounded things, conceptually. When it is actually based on the stuff clouds are made up of and not solid matter.

The outrage culture cannot be met with our own version of that. We cannot fight their outcry with our own crying or violence. They are being loud for loud's sake. If we be loud it has to be grounded in something other than being deliberately offensive for offensive's sake. This is why I will roll my eyes when Kayne West does his little rants. He is basically Alex Jones at this point; where of the ten things he rants about, one or two of them have some merit of discussion and the rest are just the ramblings of someone that isn't mentally stable, and cannot articulate their arguments on those two things. So, they get emotionally frustrated with the process and say some crazy ass bullshit to get people paying attention again. No one is paying attention to the two things that could have been decent talking points for discussion anymore. They only notice the eight crazy things they just said. It is why both their careers are in the dumps now.

As History Sees It…

Hitler was often put on the back burner early in his political career; because he would stand for crazy ass things while some things may have had made some sense at the time. Eventually, he was able to strong-arm his way into power and then exercised those crazy things literally. This is why it is easy for the WOKE to label some noncrazy people as crazy people. They have adapted the same process. Hitler literally bullied and terrorized those that stood in his way till they gave him the absolute power he required to make the change he saw fit. Twitter’s approach was not much different than this conceptually. Not allowing counter points to be made just because “they” do not agree with them is the first step. Instead of beatings, Twitter just cancels the account so they cannot voice an opinion. What’s the difference?

History Lesson…

Shortly after Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany. A young Dutch communist confessed to starting a fire in Germany's parliament Reichstag building (Berlin). Hitler used this one isolated incident to convince President Hindenburg to give Hitler emergency powers where he would then declare decree suspending many civil liberties throughout Germany. Overnight Freedom of the Press, Freedom of Expression, and the Right to Hold Public Assemblies were deemed illegal. The police were authorized to detain any and all citizens without reason. The authority usually exercised by regional governments became subject to control by Hitler’s national regime.

Let’s Put That in Today’s Terms.

You have a radical politician who was previously jailed for trying to take over the government given the Vice Presidency. Another radical activist lights the Government building on fire. The VP goes to the President, who was too old to understand what was happening to gain the power of the President to correct it all. The President grants the VP this power. The known radical starts to do radical things with no one to stand in his way and with support of the 1%’ers within the government. Freedom of the Press in today’s terms would be freedom of speech all the way around. You would not be able to go on social media and complain about it in any way without having a knock at the door from the police and a government official.

Just Image if That Really Happened?

Um, as Elon Musk just said; “Let that sink in!” Freedom of Expression. Yeah do not go outside and show your feelings out in public. That will also generate the knock at the door response. Getting the people together in town halls to discuss this? Nope, same result. In today’s terms loss of these freedoms would literally be making discourse of any kind, illegal and subject to a knock at the door.

Its Ok People. Twitter Was Only at Stage One.

History at play in 2022 can be some scary ass shit on Devil’s Night (night before Halloween). Much like the Nazis, Twitter does/did this right out in the open. Not at all hiding what it was they were up to. This goes hand and hand with the POOP LOGIC concept. They are dressing this POOP up and telling us to eat it and not question at all where this POOP came from and the irony of what it represents. People get labeled for their loud rants because people are only paying attention to the raw emotion of it. Not what they say may have merit or not. The message gets lost because of the blind emotion. How many times have we seen that? Is it not a stage act? Every concert you go to. Every great speech or monologue on TV or a movie. If you are loud and passionate. People will pay attention even if the message is a bad one. That is why I do not play the game like that. I bring my arguments to such a level of a degree of logic that someone/anyone has to spend the time and deep thinking at a level they are not used to and they realize it takes too much to argue back. So they don't or they cannot. I do not just say they shouldn’t have a countering opinion. If that opinion is nonsensical then they had their chance. I do not have to even acknowledge it or respect it, but at least give them the opportunity to.

It is that frustration in the process of meaningful communication that created Twitter to begin with and why everything is in short little bursts. The shorter you can articulate something the less real meaning it has. You have to abbreviate it to such a point the actual lesson gets lost. All discourse is now are buzz words, triggering insults or GIFs/MEMEs/emojis. They may not see the actual message and intention due to the loud distraction of the offensive part that triggered them. The WOKE do not see this. They believe themselves to be righteous, but so did the Nazis. They do not see the process on how Nazi Germany won their battles to be in a position of power to begin with. The WOKE tend to not acknowledge the Nazis at all unless when they describe ANYONE that disagrees with them and that is how we got here to begin with.

The Silencing of Counter Viewpoints.

Twitter uses one example as; it is Nazi propaganda. That saying a biological male cannot get pregnant and give birth to the child was part of this Nazi propaganda. Yes, that actually happened. To simply question the statement or challenge it scientifically was deemed Nazi propaganda. Was/is there, actual, real, Nazi propaganda out there by actual people that claim to be Nazis? Probably… Or course there is. If you can think of it, it’s probably out there. There has always been a small percentage of those types of people out there with those views on the Internet.

Newsflash…

They have always been there online from day one. In the 2000s there were whole online communities for groups of all kinds of beliefs that most I would not agree with. Just because I have feelings for/towards/against doesn’t mean those places do not exist online in some areas of the Internet. What most people see/use of the Internet on a daily basis has been estimated at 0.004%. That means there is more than 99% of the Internet we have not seen and/or cannot access. So do not act like there are not hate groups out there on the internet. There are… The internet companies/communities have done a decent job over the decades keeping them away from most mainstream online platforms. They will always be some out there, but to use that as the main excuse to cancel all conversations on the subjects that absolutely warrant discourse on the Twitter platform under the disguise of silencing Nazi propaganda on their platform is absolute crazy talk. Yes, they should be fired, set straight and in the upcoming weeks we will be seeing this on the Twitter platform.

Intentionality to me is super important and Twitter should look at this as part of its philosophy moving forward with free speech. That is why I choose my form of communication as long-winded bursts of logic over being the crisis actor or the spirit Halloween costume of ‘Woke College Student’ of the day. The louder people get; the louder I turn my headphones on, because now it seems both binary sides do not care about right/wrong, but winner/loser. About competition, people will do anything to win if they become frustrated with the process of winning. ANYTHING...

“What you've seen with Twitter is a very WOKE Workforce, who had basically been, you know, ‘Shadow Banning’ conservative commentators from Twitter for a long time. We've all known this. They've also been almost exclusively banning people on the right without banning people on the left for similar offenses. It is to me, ridiculous, that Donald Trump; a recently serving president of the United States, is currently banned from Twitter, but the heads of the Taliban and Iran are allowed to be on that platform! That to me exposes the hypocrisy at the heart of what's been going on…”

“We saw the same hysteria and hypocrisy when Donald Trump became president in 2016 and the likes of Chelsea Handler, Snoop Dogg, Miley Cyrus and Cher all vowed to leave America in fury and despair, but then all stayed. So I confidently predict none of those currently screaming ‘I QUIT!’ will stop themselves from tweeting for long. They’re too addicted to the slavishly approving echo-chamber attention and sound of their own permanently whiny voices.” ~Piers Morgan

These two quotes from a man I have not always liked much but I like what he had to say here. I thought it was pretty accurate on what I am talking about here, but he goes in for the celebrities. I do not think my opinion on what I think of celebrities or former celebrities think about politics is relevant with free speech or at the very least counter arguments on a subject. It is utterly absurd to me to assume by default that just because a person, any person, has celebrity status that they know what FK they are talking about. In most cases these are performance artists and they literally give you a different experience for your entertainment as their career choice. These people may leave the platform for a time but as Morgan says they cannot help themselves. Celebrities need this stuff more than it needs them. When you have discussions and one or many isn’t really well educated on the subject but yet they want a voice that usually comes out. It does not paint that celebrity in a positive light.

Celebrities cannot handle that. They cannot handle being wrong like that. There are plenty of smart celebrities out there that do not get involved in this. They keep it about their craft and that is it. Some will throw some personal stuff on there, their personal passions and such. However, when it comes to a lot of topics they stay neutral, as they should. I would if I were a celebrity, especially if I made my money on ALL walks of peoples. I take a stance on something and I just alienated all that do not agree with that. In a binary information system someone is always right and someone is always wrong. You make a choice in that system you have about 50/50 chance of getting praise for your choice or trolled with possible cancelation. We can take that a step farther because not all people will be 50/50. If you are in an area that tends to be 60/40 or 85/15 on that subject. Now you have that to contend with. So, yeah, if one is a celebrity and still wants to be a celebrity for their art why would they even get involved?

Why Would Anyone Just Believe Them Because They Are A Celebrity?

Just because I love this guy in this movie or loved her in that. Doesn’t mean her thoughts on free speech is accurate. It is still a belief either way. Why do they get so much praise for a stance? Most of the time they do not do anything for anyone. If they do; it is because they have to write some money off. They’re publicist tells them what to say and they just say it. Some of the major celebrities do not even do most of their social media. They have companies that post on their behalf and most people just swallow this shit up. The lesson here is do not allow POOP logic to keep creeping into our society the way it has in the past decade or so. It’s been there since the inception of the Internet, chat rooms and then later social media. We have allowed and rewarded irrational bad human behavior. This is breaking one of the very first lessons one would learn in Psychology 101. Do not reward bad behavior. Yet… Here-We-Are…

“All of this has happened before. All of this will happen again.” – Originally by novelist and playwright J.M. Barrie’s line from “Peter Pan.” It was also used many times in the “Battlestar Galactica Reimagined” TV Show from 2004-2010. The message is: human kind is destined to change into something new after the fall of human kind. This Great Change is Enviable. The more we push back. The more we try to control this. The more it will hurt. We must be sadists…

 Compromises to Freedom Three Compromises to Freedom One Compromises to Freedom Two by David-Angelo Mineo 10/29/2022 to 11/1/2022 3,553 Words

[storyafterdark]

mike stop trying to seduce y/n and do your job

[1ddiscourseoftheday]

Tues 15 June ‘21

Venice MP filming is underway, romantic canalside walks and gondola ride are a GO, as seen in pap pics and many (many) videos from fans gathered on site! I’m sure they appreciated all the little sheer polo showing off Harry’s tits, who doesn’t love a good hiddies moment huh? GQ probably did too; they already wrote a whole article about the outfit Harry wore yesterday! But even they can’t say anything better about those shorts than that they look “presentable” LMAO. TAKE THAT corduroy shorts! What about those fans though? Well, they are certainly bringing us plenty of videos- Harry handing co-star David up out of a boat like a sweet gentleman, aww, Harry skipping about between shots, Harry with a lil purse, Harry just trying to live his life and like go eat food when not working, etc etc... maybe folks could take a few steps back? Looks like Harry is really getting hounded through the tiny Venetian streets and on set, by pretty large crowds, to the extent of disrupting filming, oh no. Harry signed a picture for a nearby school-- “stay outrageous”, again dating it (June ‘21) but possibly by the end of the day he was wishing people would not be quite so outrageous.

Meanwhile the antis stuck at home are frothing at the mouth trying to convince larries (or maybe themselves?) that we now ship David and Harry- uh sorry sweaty but having the ability to understand that holding hands for cameras does not have to mean that people are really fucking is actually a pretty major core component of the whole larrie thing?! But good luck with that! It makes sense that seeing Harry acting lovey dovey with someone that they know he isn’t actually sleeping with would throw them in a tizzy though, after all their whole identity is based on denying that’s a thing that’s possible... poor things, baby’s first cognitive dissonance! It can really make you question things huh, and that’s always rough.

But they’re not the only ones with things to say about Harry! Superstar of stage and screen Mandy Patinkin posted video of himself and his wife getting four minutes’ worth of lightning round pop culture trivia questions wrong, but he nails one of em- asked what a Harry song (WS) is about, he remains silent. Well done, that’s just what Harry would have said! And Selma Hayek told a story about Harry coming to her house where her pet owl (who Harry was enthralled with and wanted to hang out with him) regurgitated an owl pellet in his hair! LOL poor Harry; naturally she said he handled it very well and was very sweet. Yes, it’s possible Harry’s interactions with her were because she’s in Marvel’s Eternals; it’s also possible he was at her house because her husband is the head of the company that owns Gucci, or for some other reason entirely.

Liam’s Lonely Bug NFTs went on sale today!! Liam was excited and happy and all over the internet posting and chatting and watching it all happen. The auctions are still open for most of them so final news on that tomorrow! Today was just Liam being hype about it- “Fandom is working its magic thank you!” he said when his request to get LB trending got it up there worldwide in like half an hour, he said more interactive content will be added to the NFTs as time goes on, that Louis cooking was “very funny”, when asked to describe his NFT collection in one word he chose “liberating,” and his hair guy reposted comments Liam has been making in the discord talking about maybe going blond with a “hmmm”. Oooh? He did a long live talking about everything, patching in the other Lonely Bug creators and quite a few other NFT people (enough that at one point Liam jokes that there are enough of them to dress up as the band to satisfy commenters asking for 1D stuff). Anyway one of them compares this NFT to ‘the original Nirvana recordings’ hmmm I mean… that is another thing that is rare I guess yes, but that’s very specific and random sir? “I know for some of you this NFT world is slightly different than what you’re used to from me,” said Liam, “but your support so far has been amazing (as always!)”

And not only that- another new Liam song coming?! We haven’t even got the one yet! (or maybe this is the same one..?) Anyway, school pal S-X (Liam hyped his music a couple weeks ago) talked about him in an interview, saying "Liam is a good friend of mine and we've got stuff coming soon. I don't want to say too much as you know how those One Direction fans get [HEYYYY… oh wait yeah he’s totally right]- when I mention him I can't even open my Twitter. But we've got a song coming and it's a smash. It's sooner than you think and that's all I can say." OH RILLY?? INTERESTING! I was just eyeing him for the artist showcase Liam said he was gonna do on veeps but OKAY! He also said "We're both from Wolverhampton and I was in college with him at the same time, and going from that to global stardom at 17 is not normal for any person. To have toured the world, done stadium tours and everything, he is one of the most famous people in the world. So he will go through scrutiny from the media and whatever, but I can tell you he is one of the nicest people, one of the most genuine people I've ever met. He's a real good friend of mine."

And speaking of unexpected songs; another Zayn demo leak was posted! This time he’s singing You with Ellie Goulding; the song ended up being released by Troye Sivan.

And Anne Marie posted “rehearsals for #OURSONG live! I just love this song so much. I also miss your face @niallhoran” with a picture of them singing away; apparently she’s referring to the recording of the acoustic version which is out on Friday. Niall posted a picture of the Danish football player who collapsed during play the other day giving a thumbs up from the hospital; indeed it is very good to see that he’s all right.

[blookmallow]

massive comprehensive walten files timeline

alright i think ive finally got it all sorted out

ive been going through the walten files again and logging every time i found any dates anywhere to try to make the most complete timeline possible because i cant process numbers or dates at all,

i think im finally understanding how everything happened. some of these are probably not terribly relevant, some of it comes from the videos themselves, some from the descriptions, some from findjackwalten.com (mostly previous versions of pages logged on the wiki - i didnt see them myself, so im just trusting that the wiki has the correct information) but here's ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING i could find, in order, because im hyperfixating, and, uh. anyway

if anyone knows any more confirmed information ive missed, let me know (I haven't gone through martin's twitter or anything so it's possible there's more somewhere)

I'll update this as we get more information in the future, since more episodes are in the works still

before bon's burgers

9/23/1932. Jack Walten is born.

4/20/1934. Rosemary (Walten) is born. (I haven't found her maiden name anywhere)

1956 - Jenny Letterson is born.

1958 - Jack Walten and Felix Kranken, college students, come up with the concept for Bon’s Burgers.

(Unknown year, before 1974) - Felix Kranken marries Linda Thompson.

1959 - Jack graduates from Cleary University, and marries Rosemary.

(felix's graduation is not mentioned anywhere I've seen. we can probably assume jack and felix graduated together. or we can decide felix dropped out of college. either way, i guess,)

1960 - Sophie Walten is born.

5/15/1962. Edd Walten is born.

6/30/1964. Linda notices Felix is developing a drinking problem (or that it’s worsening.) He has some kind of breakdown.

6/22/1965. Molly Walten is born.

6/23/1965. Linda writes that she moved in with Felix “last week” - odd, if they were already married. The journal is labeled “Linda Kranken Thompson" - so it seems she was married to Felix when she started it.

Linda also mentions Jack and Felix are in negotiations with Cyberfun Tech.

4/15/1967. A BSI Company Greeting is released, from an optimistic-sounding Felix, welcoming new employees. He mentions Jack, speaking for both of them.

12/25/70. Edd and Molly receive Rocket for Christmas.

Felix’s alcoholism is worsening.

12/10/1972. A company Christmas message is released, from a still-optimistic sounding Felix, wishing everyone a merry christmas and emphasizing how proud he is of the company. Jack is not mentioned.

1/3/1973. Felix has buried himself in his work (and his drinking) so much that he’s neglecting his health, and his wife.

1974

- the first Bon’s Burgers employee introduction tape is made. it does not have a set date that I can find, but the announcer voice states that the restaurant is set to open “in a few weeks,” so most likely the tape was made before the car crash. Jack Walten is mentioned as co-founder.

5/2/1974. Linda leaves Felix. He had apparently said something hurtful “last week” that was a final straw resulting in Linda’s decision to finally leave.

- Felix, driving drunk, crashes his car, killing Edd (12) and Molly (9). He buries them in the woods. The childrens’ spirits transfer into the Rocket doll, which was left behind (intentionally or not, we don’t know.)

- Felix, wracked with guilt, makes an audio recording, confessing his mistake only to himself, to make sure that in the morning he knows it wasn’t a dream. To make sure he remembers what he’s done. He notes he buried the children in St Juana’s forest, near the road where the accident occurred, but he does not remember exactly where.

6/11/1974. Last time Jack Walten was seen.

6/28/1974. Bon’s Burgers opens.

Bon's Burgers Restaurant Era

6/30/1974. The first birthday party is hosted at Bon’s.

Felix does not show up for work at all.

Susan Woodings is killed (apparently by Bon) and shoved into the Banny animatronic. It’s possible she may have survived Bon’s attack, and actually died of starvation inside the robot afterward.

7/10/1974 - 7/19/1974. “Last Shows Before Closure”

(Note: Bon and Boozoo are seen for this subtitle, so it appears that at least these two animatronics were still active during performances at this time. Banny and Sha are not seen, though this would have been before Sha was, uh. tampered with.)

7/14/1974. Charles is killed (apparently by Bon) and shoved into the Boozoo animatronic. It appears his face was mutilated badly.

7/19/1974. Rosemary is killed and dismembered by Bon, and shoved into the Sha animatronic.

Sophie, age 14, is now the only surviving Walten.

7/20/1974. Bon’s Burgers closes, immediately after reports of a woman screaming (most likely Rosemary's death). A few families were allowed into the restaurant, but the animatronics were apparently gone.

10/31/1974. Unclear; this date is given with a picture of the Bon's building with a "condemned" sign. Possibly an indication that the place was abandoned until it was officially condemned on this date?

12/10/1974. Everything from Bon’s Burgers is sent to the K9 facility in St. Juana's forest.

- Time inconsistency; the date says "12/10/1974" but the year on the storage facility sign says "1975" - maybe because it was close to the new year? not sure if this is relevant

Bon's Closure - Project Abandonment Interval

i cant think of what to call this bit. the time between bon's closure and the relocate project where things are just kind of locked away for a while.

(Sidenote: Apparently, there were no incidents with Bon during the move, and none of the bodies were discovered during that process as far as we know, either.)

1975

1/23/1975. The animatronics are shown broken, with Bon's torso clearly torn open.

Bunny Smiles Games is founded, according to the dates on the Bunnyfarm startup screen.

1977

- According to a police log formerly hidden on findjackwalten.com, Felix is arrested for drunk driving again, and loses his license. The officer writes that Felix’s alcoholism is worsening - “the man’s a mess”

1978

Here we see "Bunny Smiles Incorporated - A Company By Cyberfun Tech 1978" - initially this was strange to me, because we know Cyberfun was not founded by Jack and Felix, it was a separate company they were negotiating a partnership with back before all this started, as we know from Linda's journal,

But if we go back to Felix's company greeting from '67, we see the company was called "Bunny Smiles Company" - so, probably, "Bunny Smiles Incorporated" refers to Bunny Smiles and CyberFun's collaboration. Still catches my interest that BSI is referred to as "a company by Cyberfun," but I don't know what that means, or if it means anything. There's also another logo screen before the "1978" one, with the last digit blocked out, "197-" but I have no idea what that's about either, or if the exact year Bunny Smiles Company became BSI is something to keep an eye on.

- During this interval between the Bon’s closure and the Relocate Project, BSI gets some merch deals, a movie, and a TV show, apparently

7/02/1978. Tape #1, in the episode 2 compilation, is made. The Relocate Project is announced. Jack has been cropped out of the founders image, and Felix is stated as the singular founder of the company.

The Relocate Project

7/09/1978. Tape #3 of the ep. 2 compilation, the Technical Support tape, is made. This tape is presented out of order - it was actually made second, but is shown as #3.

- Oddly, Brian’s BSI ID card is briefly shown, even though Brian would not be hired for several more years. Maybe the tape became corrupted sometime after Brian's death?

- The Bunnyfarm cabinet is briefly shown; probably in the works for the Relocate Project.

07/12/1978 - 07/14/1978. BSI Technicians Hilary B., Ashley P., and Kevin W. go to investigate the animatronics for the Relocate Project.

- The Sha and Bon animatronics are found, badly damaged. They both have their chests completely torn out. Hilary notes that Bon’s eyes are so badly damaged, it looks like it was done intentionally.

- Ashley comments that the damage seems to have occurred after the closure - she claims CyberFun has already made modifications to the animatronics, and must have done this to get to the endoskeleton

- Banny is not mentioned, but is not stated to be missing, either. i have noticed some weird stuff with banny but ill get into that in another post for another time

- Boozoo is found, damaged as well, but does not appear to have his chest torn out.

- Kevin declares the robots are too badly damaged to be salvaged.

- Ashley wanders off into the Backdoors. She finds some unidentified scrap animatronics (possibly spare parts), a Boozoo head, a Banny head (among unidentified others), a Rocket marionette (not the rocket doll haunted by the children, but a puppet the size of the other animatronics. The location of the rocket doll, as far as i can tell, is still unknown.)

- Ashley finds the apparently unused Billy animatronic, and a tape marked “6/11/7-“ “Discard” - the year is blacked out, but 6/11 was the date of Jack Walten’s disappearance.

The tape states: “Jack. Susan. Charles. Rosemary. Sophie”

If this tape was in fact made the date Jack disappeared, it would mean these deaths were planned, in order, from the beginning - and Sophie was the intended final target. It's possible it was taped over and modified later, but it seems unlikely that things were planned that far in advance, so probably it was either made on the same day in another year, or the date written on the tape is Jack's disappearance date, and not the date the tape was made at all.

- Ashley is killed by Bon and shoved into the Billy animatronic. Kevin and Hilary leave, thinking Ashley must have left early.

8/13/1978. Tape #2, Reprogramming Phase, is made.

Again, this tape and the previous one are presented out of order. Interestingly, this tape actually was made a month after the Billy Incident (and several years before Brian’s death), which seems to imply the attempted reprogramming continued despite Ashley's disappearance, and somehow no one else was hurt until Brian came along.

1979

- “Little Bon’s Neighbourhood” cartoon, episode “Bon’s Super Sleepover” is made. Whether it was ever released to the public is unknown. For some reason, "neighbourhood" is shown with the British spelling, and the show's narrator has a British accent, despite all this taking place in Michigan. This is not explained, as far as I can tell.

- The K-9 facility is apparently abandoned for a while.

(Brian says that Chris claims the storage facility “hasn’t been working” since 1978 or 1979)

Bunnyfarm

- At some point in the early 80s, the Bunnyfarm beta is made. The game never made it to its official release.

1982

- As evidenced in the Relocate Project tape, the new Bon’s Burgers was intended to be opened, though it does not appear it ever did.

10/10/1982. Brian Stells is hired as caretaker, and drives out to the storage facility. The Relocate Project is apparently still underway.

- Brian is killed by Bon. What happens to his remains is unknown.

- Sometime in October, “a few” test Bunnyfarm machines are distributed. One is brought to the Entfernt Hotel, where Sophie Walten (22) and Jenny Letterson (26) lived during this time (written in past tense in the video description - Anthony does not seem to know what happened to them. Also unknown why they are living in a hotel, or how long they have been here.) The game is installed in the basement.

Unknown where the other Bunnyfarm cabinets ended up. Anthony believes this to be the only surviving footage of the game.

10/15/1982. Jenny shows BunnyFarm to Sophie, having apparently played it herself before this, unaware of any connection to Sophie's past.

- Jenny mentions having heard about Brian’s disappearance a few days ago.

(very minor detail, but, at the beginning of the game, Sha mentions, “I’m sure this party will be better than last year’s, right-“ but is cut off and the screen flashes briefly... what happened last year? it doesn’t correspond to The Incident date-wise, it has been many years since then, but could be referencing it, though I doubt felix would have written this intentionally, if he was the one who wrote the story for the original beta)

- Sophie plays alone until the game crashes on Billy’s level.

10/16/1982. Sophie brings Jenny to look at the game with her again. Jenny goes to bed, and Sophie continues playing. She is met with an error, saying the file data has been corrupted, possibly altered.

(Did someone alter it? Or is this message attempting to dissuade Sophie from continuing to play?)

She plays anyway, learning the truth about Bunny Smiles and what happened to her family and friends.

( 11/11/1982. Possibly, a Bon’s Burgers plush ad is released? the video seems non-canon and silly, and is obviously referencing irl walten files merch, but it did have a specific date, and is not stated in the description as non-canon like the other shorts )

1983

According to Anthony’s description notes, the BSI company shut down in early ’83, and “vanished” - all media was supposed to have been banned/destroyed, and we are being presented with what few scraps could be uncovered.

2020

Anthony Miller finds and posts the tapes, apparently in real time, as covid is mentioned in one of his descriptions.

[tsuki-sennin]

a

That's it, no funny intro this time, I've been waiting all goddamn day to see this and I don't exactly know how to phrase my excitement.

Aside from that, here's some Spoilers, I guess...

-Also, I was spoiled on the fact that George is indeed transforming. I uh... didn't mean to spoil myself, but I follow Noritaka Hamao on Twitter and he was super jazzed about the whole thing so good for him!

-Aaaaand there he is! Ikki-nii!

-He's physically incapable of calling Sakura anything other than "Karate Girl". I mean, he's not wrong, but I assume that he might break out into hives if he does call her by name.

-Ohhhh, somebody's dying. Or perhaps truly becoming one.

-"They defy all scientific reason, but 'God damn' I hope they make it."

-Demons moment!

-Wait... from a few episodes ago... when Vail left the Demons Driver and Olteca raged about his modifications...

-He modded it for himself, didn't he.

-Hey, hey, hey, hey!

-He's not your average science man! He's basically playing god.

-His English is truly glorious.

-Hey, fellas. You okay?

-Oh, I guess not!

-Ohhhh, that's spooky.

-We're all the way back in the past. ...or at least, in what Ikki remembers.

-"No one can ever know" feels a lot more ominous now.

-Very... lovely twinkling music!

-Oh god, we really are back in the past.

-OH GOD DEMONS

-Er, that is, the Gifterians.

-This is... a lot scarier than I was expecting?

-He's having an inner struggle, he's fine.

-AGUILERA NO

-Oh, he's a douchebag fiance too! ...I mean, he is a groomer, a mass-murderer, probably very racist, and a literal demonic god, but that slap caught me off guard.

-Cults are monstrous beyond my comprehension. Fuck Gifu and fuck Akaishi, I can't wait to kick their asses.

-OHHHHH HE'S GIFU NOW

-Olteca, you mad man!

-Phase 4 then?

-Jesus Christ, I'm getting really bad vibes from these demons.

-OHHHH

-FUCK DUDE

-Man, looks like Dai-chan's already struggling.

-Tamaki, bro, pls

-George, buddy, I know you're having the time of your life right now, but you gotta rein it in a little.

-Ah, yep, looks like he took a bit too much.

-Vail's got a real twisted sense of partnership. He's basically Genta's salty douchebag ex-boyfriend.

-"Fuck the fighting. Go play Minecraft or something instead!"

-Ohhhh, there he is. A Shadow, of Ikki's true inner self. All of his Vice centered into a physical form. Insert I'll Face Myself here. Preferably the Reincarnation version, that's the best one.

-Oh he's healin'. Cheating bitch.

-You logically should know all of his moves, man.

-Remember the fam!

-Damn, these feels

-Aibou...

-Ikki stands to protecc

-They're back up!

-THUNDER GALE!

-COME ON! THUNDER GALE GO!

-Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh the wind's blowing!

-HEY HEY HEY HEY!!!!

-Revice!

-Thunder Gale! Amazing!

-REVICE DA!

-OHHHH HE FAST

-That Cross of Fire burns real hot!

-OHHH THEY SPEAK AT THE SAME TIME THAT'S SO COOL

-STOMP HIM

-Now that. Is a fucking thunderstrike.

-Not gonna do a count down? I'll do it then!

-3!

-2!

-1!

-De-merged!

-OH GOD OLTECA

-oHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THAT'S NOT GOOD AT ALL

-Guess he got everything he wanted and is going home to his apartment to smoke weed or something. He doesn't even acknowledge Aguilera.

-We're back!

-...and also we're fucked!

-Let her go, man. She absolutely needs to have a good long think.

-Hello, Daddy. You probably owe a lot of child support.

-Yeah, I don't blame you, George.

-Fuck you Akaishi.

-It seems we're all fighting from a different angle for the same purpose. Sakura with the Weekenders, Daiji with internal reformation, and Ikki and Vice on call for whatever comes up.

-There's a whole 6 stamps left on that sheet. It would seem our time with the Igarashi family has yet to come close to over.

-MOVIE WHAT

-Goddamn, looks like we're gonna have to do some funky detensioning. I hope it's not like a glorified recap episode or clipshow.

-(*Looks left.. looks right... leans into microphone...*)

-...where Jeanne super form?

[purplemonkeyzm]

hello. i am not israeli or palestinian and while i do have some education about the conflict, i'm truly not educated enough to give me a right to talk about it as your only source. and tbh you should not be getting all of your information about it off of tumblr or anywhere else. i have no interest in policing anyone's views on this because i, quite simply, am not qualified and have no energy to do so. but i can and will call you out for being antisemitic. this post is meant to be a general warning about your actions and hidden meanings, it does not discuss the specifics of the conflict or what is currently happening.

I do, however, want to issue a general statement: do not use what is going on in Israel/Palestine to be antisemitic or islamophobic. pick your words carefully and make sure they mean what you want them to.

some examples:

anti-Zionism does not mean anti-the israeli government. it means you are against the idea that a Jewish state has a right to exist. in other words, you do not believe the jewish people have a right to self determination. if that is truly what you believe, use that word. if what you mean by "anti-Zionism" is "i do not support the israeli government and its actions," say THAT. do not conflate the two, it has dire consequences for people

if you are making a post talking about this, get your fucking information right and do not use conflate Zionism and Judaism so that you can apply antisemitic tropes. once again, this has dire consequences for people, including Jews of the Diaspora. related, please please please read it before your repost. understand that what you are posting may push a narrative that ends badly for a lot of people. if you (the reader) think the post you are reposting is alright and someone later tells you that post is antisemitic, maybe listen to them. you may not know enough to see the dog whistles.

i'm not on twitter but i know that hitler was trending a LOT yesterday mostly in the context of "hitler should've finished the job; hitler was right" and other things like that, the message being that if the Final Solution had been completed, the state of Israel would not exist today. that is absolutely, 100% antisemitic. calling for the extermination of all Jews just so that the state of Israel does not exist is antisemitic. the fact that i have to explain that is truly shocking to me because you would think the use of Hitler would be enough to make people understand that.

do not speak over those who are directly affected by this. do not speak over the people who are sitting at home, worried sick, about their friends/family in I/P. you may be sitting home safe and sound but all that means is you don't understand the effect you may have and what your actions can cause. use social media infographics as a starting point and if you are truly interested, use google.

BUT this (last bullet point) does not mean you have a right to harass Jews on the internet or irl and demand their take on this. That is antisemitic. It is antisemitic to hold the Jewish Diaspora accountable for the actions of the Israeli government. Zionism ≠ Judaism ≠ support of the Israeli government.

there are people who have trauma regarding the conflict. respect boundaries. listen if someone says something is antisemitic the same way you would listen if someone said something was racist.

i am not israeli or palestinian and while i do have some education about the conflict, i'm truly not educated enough to give me a right to talk about it as your only source. and tbh you should not be getting all of your information about it off of tumblr or anywhere else. this conflict is unbelievably complex and i guarantee that whatever version you are reading in a 10 slide post is most likely not nuanced, watered down, biased, and oversimplified.

that said: i am Jewish. the existence of a Jewish state means something to me. however, just because I support the right for Israel to *exist*, i do not support what the israeli government is doing. i also do not think that the #freepalestine movement needs to resort to blatant antisemitism to get the job done. i have family and friends who i was concerned for yesterday. there are missiles firing towards Palestine and missiles firing towards Israel. personally, i hope and believe that a two state solution is one day possible, that both palestinians and israelis have a land.

i'm begging you, if you do not understand this, if your 'education' came from an instagram infographic, you are not qualified to speak on this. you are not an expert. what you are saying online may be reinforcing already in place stereotypes and ideas that, believe it or not, affect the Jewish Diaspora. how many people are seeing that? how many people are now thinking you are antisemitic because of what you posted when in reality you are just against what the Israeli government is doing? how many of those people no longer feel safe around you because they don't know how you will react to something and don't know if you are really antisemitic or just blindly posting?

uh do me a favor and if you're an antisemite gtfo my page and seriously dni. also, i said this in the beginning but i'm not debating or talking about the specifics of the conflict on here!! also- i know i mentioned islamophobia and antisemitism in the beginning but I am not Muslim and cannot speak to how this is affecting Muslims (or people who 'look' Muslim for that matter). it's not my place to speak on that so i mostly talked about antisemitism because that is my place here.

[yourpinkoverlord]

Kotobukiya is asking for people to weigh in what the next MLP character they should turn into a Bishoujo figure should be.

Assuming they’re actually listening and going by most commonly said or something, here’s my prediction on who they’ll make based on the responses and some other factors.

Ones I’m pretty sure they will make at some point:

—Starlight Glimmer, 100%. On all sites I’ve seen discussing it (and especially Twitter) Starlight was requested the most. Plus she’s basically a main character from season 6 onward, it seems obvious.

—Trixie. She was brought up quite a bit + if they make Starlight, making Trixie to match her is an obvious next step (“You want to complete the pair, don’t you? So you need to spend more money, riiiiight?”)

—Princess Cadance. Not only was she brought up a lot but she feels like an obvious choice. They made Celestia, Luna, and Twilight (although not a very princessy version). Just need her to complete the Princess set.

—Derpy Hooves. Highly requested, and she’s basically the fandom mascot. And not only that, but who doesn’t like Derpy?

Ones that were brought up a bit but I’m more unsure about them actually getting made:

—The Dazzlings. While not as much as the first four, they were brought up by folks quite a bit. They’re known for their human designs so just like Sunset they wouldn’t need to design completely new human designs, just make new poses. If they make one they’d almost have to make the other two (and I don’t know how many people would only want one) so it’s an easy 3 to make. Plus, uh, the Bishoujo line has always been a bit horny, even with the MLP line (yeah) and Hasbro might let them get away with slightly more sexualized Dazzling figures considering they’re Sirens and the way they sung and were animated in RR so that might...be more convincing? I only put them under “unsure” because they were brought up a bit less than the others, and, well, they’re not ponies. But they may not care about that and even use their merch pony designs to go with the figure, who knows!

—Queen Chrysalis. At first I was surprised with how often she was brought up, but looking back, I think she’s overall the most popular villain. I’m putting her lower than the Dazzlings since she doesn’t already have an animated human design (she does have an EqG doll tho) so she’d basically be created from scratch, and unlike the Dazzlings she doesn’t have an obvious character to go with her. Except for maybe Cadance. Actually, a matching Cadance and Chrysalis would be pretty cool. Still putting her under “unsure” because she wasn’t said as often as some other characters.

—The Cutie Mark Crusaders. They actually weren’t recommended as often as I thought they would be. I’d assume they’d be slightly cheaper since they would be smaller (unless they made their adult designs or something). They’re still possible because they’ve been secondary characters since season 1 and were still recommended a decent # of times. But judging by other recommendations if they were made it looks like they would be made pretty late. And since I brought it up earlier I wanna say, judging by the other young-looking characters in the Bishoujo line, no, if they were made they probably wouldn’t be sexualized.

—Spike. He was mentioned in recommendations more often than the CMC, so that’s something. There’s just two problems: He’s not a pony and he’s not a girl. Now, the Bishoujo Horror line genderbent male horror characters so him being a boy isn’t necessarily an issue, but I just don’t know for sure if they would do this with the MLP line. And there’s still the issue of him not being a pony. They would have more freedom in designing him since he doesn’t have any official human designs at all (let alone a female one), but at the same time they would have to start from scratch. Plus there’s the question of: would there even be much interest in this figure? People are definitely recommending him but for most it’s more of an afterthought (long lists that include Spike at the very end). And while he’s pretty well-liked now, Spike still has a reputation of being disliked by the fandom as stuff left over from the early days. But still, he’s a main character so not completely off the table.

—Discord. I saw him brought up a little bit. This could be a very metal figure, imagine how cool a (probably genderbent) human Discord could look. But I also saw a lot of people say it would probably look weird. Not a lot of people recommended him, he’s not a girl, he’s not a pony, he’s seems pretty hard to translate into a human design...there are a lot of things holding this possibility back. But he’s still a secondary character with a little bit of interest so he’s still a possibility.

—DJ Pon-3. Wasn’t actually brought up that much but she’s a pretty popular background pony and has even reappeared quite a bit because of it. Plus her design is pretty cool, that’s a plus.

—Octavia. If they make DJ Pon-3 making Octavia to go with her seems like an obvious choice. Usually when DJ/Vinyl was recommended Octavia was recommended along with her. Only problem here is that Octavia doesn’t appear nearly as much as DJ, and doesn’t have as much Hasbro love as DJ.

—Lyra Heartstrings. Was barley recommended, actually. I was surprised. But I guess it makes sense, her design isn’t a unique background pony design. Still, she’s pretty popular and has an EXTREMELY obvious character to go with. Speaking of...

—Bon Bon/Sweetie Drops. Like Lyra, was barely recommended. BUT, if you make Lyra, you gotta make Bon Bon. If you make Bon Bon, you gotta make Lyra. Two times the money. Has a spy backstory to work off of for the design. Pretty popular.

Annnnd those are my predictions. It looks like the MLP line is making bank for Kotobukiya, I mean why else would they keep expanding it? I love that they are but my wallet is crying.

Who do you think is most likely to be added? And who do you WANT to be added?

[miraculouscontent]

Ask Explosion #5

It’s almost like they wanted to be somehow vague about when this special took place? I don’t know why but that’s my guess (maybe we’ll see if they continue the “Marinette is still crazy with Adrien” in Season 4 or if the special was literally them desperately trying to reassure people that Adrienette is endgame and nothing else).

I--

wha???

She gets a pat on the back and told she’s right?? Where????

Anyway, what I saw her actions in “Reflekdoll” as her giving Chat a taste of his own medicine. I don’t always approve of that sort of thing, but Chat was very blatant in not taking any blame at the start of the episode when he almost caused Ladybug’s lucky charm to fail, and then went on about how Ladybug has no sense of humor. He also called her “Bugaboo” which she clarifies that she’s told him to stop saying.

Later, when he gets on her case for it:

Lady Noire: Now that you've used up your Lucky Charm— (blocks a beam) you've only got a few minutes left— uh! (blocks another beam) Before you transform back, Bugaboy!

Mister Bug: Why don't you try helping me instead of making fun of me!? (They dodge a beam.)

Lady Noire: Apparently, Bugaboy doesn't have a sense of humor.

Mister Bug: (jumping up the Eiffel Tower) Sounds like you're wearing the clown costume now!

It went right over his dense head that Ladybug was doing to him what he did to her. Like, “why don’t you try helping???” when she was already blocking beams, and then he expects her to pick up his slack when she already had to do that at the beginning of the episode (it’s implied, anyway).

He mocked her role as Ladybug (especially later when he gets “the lucky charm he wanted” and then brags about his “mastery”) and insisted that she didn’t have a sense of humor when she DOES banter with him and make puns but not as frequently, so as far as I’m concerned, it was fair game. I saw Lady Noire getting on his case as cathartic.

I think someone asked Astruc specifically about that and Astruc was basically like, “We can’t use the same twist twice,” or something (don’t quote me on that but I know that it was in reference to either “Chat Blanc” or Marinette getting akumatized), which is funny when I know he also talked about how Bunnyx and the way time travel existed made way for more possibilities and then it be like also we can’t do this thing twice.

And while I’m theoretically all for Chat being taught a lesson and realizing that he screwed up and learning from it (because yes), do we really want a full episode centered around Adrien/Chat.

I really like Wayzz. He’s soft-spoken but he has a bit of a silly side as well (like when he was running on the record. That’s why I feel like it’ll be a shame because he’ll either be relegated to the box, be sad about Fu, or the whole Fu thing won’t be acknowledged at all.

Ideally, if the other kwami were upset with Marinette for what happened with Fu, would be nice to see Wayzz actually speak up for her and talk about all the pressure placed onto her and how she shouldn’t be blamed.

Bonus: the caption is rainbow-colored and flashing.

I still cringe at, “I can’t imagine being Ladybug without... him.”

I think it’s adorable when one anon inadvertently answers another one.

Yeah though, I feel like shows can be a bit afraid to delve into the word “therapy,” and if they do, they won’t really show it.

Adrien being particularly confused because he and Kagami hang out all the time anyway so why was the force needed???

Lemme fix it for you:

I think Akumanette would be completely undefeatable

It took me a second because I can’t read “talisman” without thinking of Spyro.

And yes, Cataclysm destroys akuma, as confirmed in “Chat Blanc.” I feel like akuma in general might be able to be smashed/killed, but the problem is Miraculous Ladybug since that heals the damage; purifying the akuma isn’t needed for Miraculous Ladybug, but still.

jbyhdfgfdgjfdg

approved

Sabine, weakly: I-I was trying to teach you a lesson.

Marinette: Well I guess we both have learned something now haven’t we?

What a mooooood. Yeah, I felt really bad for both of them, and I enjoy Penny’s personality overall along with her interactions with Jagged. She deserved better and I wish there’d been generally just more for her by the end of the episode (plus, there was so much room for Penny and Marinette to bond over their anxiety and I’m shocked that they didn’t take it)???

I wish the look just fit Penny more too. I feel like some akuma are like--don’t really “represent” the person getting akumatized. I wish they were more like, “evil version of this person” rather than “akuma who conveniently fits around the episode.

Kwamibuster, for example, even if it’s still centered around kwami, it turns Ms. Mendeleiev into an “evil scientist” of sorts, so that’s fine (though I wish we would’ve gotten more thunder + evil laughs).

Yeah, Majestia is more tanned than her civilian form, or at least that’s how it seems to me. I don’t really get it.

The interviews are kinda generic, like when they were talking about future episodes being a “Chat Blanc” every time. Like, what does that mean?

And then Twitter is just full of stuff made to upset people.

Stormy Weatheeeeeer~

Because anime.

That’s what I really hate about these specials cause the Shanghai one is basically gonna do the same like, like wow how convenient.

Ohhh.

Yeah, I guess it depends on the person? That’s why it sometimes feels weird to respond to asks asking about certain shows while already giving their opinion because then I become a middleman who doesn’t know what’s being talked about, y’know?

[lightsandlostbells]

wtFOCK season 3, episode 1 reaction

So! It’s a million years too late, but I decided to talk about wtFOCK season 3. 

I had fairly positive feelings about S1 of wtFOCK. It was the scrappy underdog of the Skam remakes, in a way, and what it lacked in polish, it made up for authenticity. I was very willing to overlook its flaws because of what I perceived as genuine attempts to connect with teenagers. I was really, really holding out hope that future seasons would improve on its flaws. And ... well. (Disclaimer: I still haven’t seen S2. Sorry! I just failed to keep up with all the remakes and S2 is my least fave so I didn’t feel that motivated to make it a priority, even though I did like Zoë a lot in S1.)

Heads up - I didn’t care for this season. A lot of people did, and I would never, ever want to ruin someone’s enjoyment of something, even if I personally didn’t like it. So please take this as a warning that I have a lot of negative things to say, and don’t read if it’s going to harsh your buzz for a pairing or a story that you deeply love. However, I didn’t want to just be grumpy and angry the whole time, so I tried to think of constructive ways to fix certain problems I had with this season. No guarantees that they’re satisfying solutions, but it was an interesting exercise.

Also, I didn’t watch this in real time, and I paid barely any attention to fandom reactions and/or drama, so it’s very possible that I am missing context, or that pacing issues didn’t register with me quite as strongly, etc. If one of the actors ate a live dolphin on Instagram, and then got into a fight with fans on Twitter about their right to eat live dolphins, and now fandom has canceled the problematic dolphin-eating actor, I legit do not know, do not come at me if I’m like “This actor is doing a good job” with “Wow, didn’t know you stanned dolphin-eaters??? YIKES.” Honestly, for the purposes of just grading this season on a storytelling level, I would prefer not to know anything about the cast or crew unless it directly has an impact on the show itself.

Clip 1 - House party

OK, I did like this flashy intro shot, immersing us in the Wild ‘n’ Crazy Teen Party of Wild ‘n’ Crazy Youths.

Amber rejecting every dude in site … When Will Gay Vilde Rise. (I know there have been some f/f storylines in the remakes, but if there’s one involving an actual Vilde, please let me know.)

Luca saying “We’re not walking around in a high school drama” - you can hear the rimshot.

I do like the transition from the party up to the bathroom, that’s a cool shot. wtFOCK’s directing so far is more ambitious than it was in S1.

Robbe is clearly a mess and they acknowledge his problems at home right off the bat.

We go back downstairs. wtFOCK’s version of Magnus knocks his drink on Amber and she gets pissed. She gives him the finger and he falls in love. Still a better love story than S3 Daphne/Basile.

It’s a small point, but I don’t get why we didn’t get this moment before jumping up to the bathroom with Robbe and the others? It would be a far smoother transition, just on a practical level and also in the sense of fully immersing us in Robbe’s POV after a quick update with the other characters.

Belgian Magnus joins the guys in the bathtub and announces he’s in love. They roast him when they find out it’s Amber and start talking about hot chicks. Moyo starts grilling Robbe about his type of girl, in a crass, sexual way.

This is honestly not a bad start to Robbe’s story at all. Robbe is clearly more reluctant to get into his interest in girls than Isak was - Isak was more fuckboyish from the start, Robbe seems like he’s about to start squirming and doesn’t really give an answer to Moyo’s questioning. Which is fine! I think it’s fine to start off the POV character at different stages of performing heterosexuality, as long as it’s taken into account in the writing of the character’s whole arc. The fact that the boy talk is so crude and sexual just ramps up Robbe’s alienation.

I swear, I will never understand how the girls in this scene just go into the bathroom and pee in front of strange boys … like maybe I am just a ~prude but that seems like a recipe for disaster and I would not trust those little fuckers to not be secretly recording me on the toilet.

Her peeing is kind of a power move, like marking her territory.

Also L M A O at Robbe starting to flirt with the girl while she is pissing … like now this comes off as a kink thing. OK, Robbe. Jokes aside, this gets across the same meaning as the scene with Isak: he starts to flirt with her because he was encouraged by the other guys.

Uh, flush the toilet, lady. And use some TP.

Now this version of Emma seriously radiates some Natalie Portman in The Professional vibes.

She orders him to stand up and then starts kissing him. I get way less of a vibe of Robbe’s mad game with women (like how Isak negged Emma into kissing him) and more like this girl is the love interest out of an indie romcom, all mysterious and spunky. She kisses him like once after taking his jay and then leaves. The boys all crack up. Moyo tells Robbe it’s his responsibility to get the weed back which lmao, no it’s not, all you assholes were there and could have intervened.

This scene is perfectly fine and even effective! Not entirely the same vibes as OG, but it still has a purpose and some obvious cause-and-effect, and there are some nice stylistic choices.

Clip 2 - Party pt. 2

Robbe is now making out with mystery girl. We already have a divergence in characterization from OG. Isak was being performative about making out with Emma and shut it down once the guys left. Robbe is making out with this girl because he wants to be straight, I guess? If it’s not to appeal to his friends, it’s likely that this is for himself. Again, I have no real problem with this change if it’s incorporated into Robbe’s overall arc and characterization. My thing is, if you’re writing this scene, do you realize the differences in characterization? Or do you think this is interchangeable from what happened with Isak? The latter is where you run into problems, because then the writing shows lack of nuance. I bring this up here because, well, you can guess how I feel about later events. 

Luca seems rather aggro about the mystery woman, which I assume is because she still has the hots for Robbe?

It makes me laugh that we got this first-person POV as Robbe leaves through the garage, because of the “Smack My Bitch Up” song being played in the last clip (the song had an infamous music video, banned from MTV in the ‘90s, that was from a first-person POV). But again, WTFock is trying harder with the cinematography and direction, good for them.

Robbe ditches the cops by jumping on the bike with Belgian Emma. OK, I get it, Belgian Emma is too cool for school. 

I have kinda mixed feelings on that, actually. I mean, I’ll be honest - I don’t see why any Emma has to be made into someone more palatable. Definitely don’t demonize her or present her in a misogynistic way! She deserves sympathy and dignity as much as any character on a Skam. But … it’s fine if she and the Isak aren’t like, amazingly compatible except for his sexuality. The Even character is supposed to be the one who really shakes up the Isak’s world! The Isak is supposed to be lost and confused and drifting and then Even comes in and is someone he can really open up to. Not just because he’s another guy who’s into guys, but because Even’s personality meshes with Isak’s so easily while still challenging him and introducing him to new things. In a way, it does kinda diminish the effect of the Even if the Isak meets ANOTHER mysterious stranger who’s an awesome person. Or at the very least, it lessens the feeling of the Isak’s detachment from everything.

And again, this could work if the writing realizes it. You can totally craft a subtly different arc from the pieces of Isak’s season. It’s just that (speaking from the future) I do not feel this is what happened.

Clip 3 - Tagging time

I don’t think it’s necessary to break up all the parts of a longer scene/set piece into a bunch of different clips. If you start a scene at 16:00, it’s OK to have the clip take place over several hours. You don’t need to chop it up unless there’s a reason why this pacing might benefit the story. Honestly, if you’re watching in real time, I think this method is often less effective at building tension/emotion/etc. But wtFOCK is not the first remake to try this tactic.

... this part where Robbe and Noor put on masks sure hits differently in 2020.

Belgian Emma’s name is Noor and she takes him to a warehouse, or something? It’s very secret and Cool Kid. And IDK, it’s fun, but again… I think making the Emma that much of a fun mysterious cool exciting person is very much diminishing the effect of Robbe’s isolation. We had a good start with establishing that alienation while he was in the tub, but now his reactions to her rad hipness feel way too sincere and act against the major character conflict of his season. He seems nervous to go with her, but not because he’s with a girl, just because it’s a risky scenario.

Noor hands Robbe a spray paint can and leads him to tag a wall. There’s  a guy taking pictures. So I’m assuming one of the guys in masks is the Even? The POV seems to shift to the photo guy briefly, like we’re seeing Robbe through his eyes. And even though I’m not a fan of POV breakage, I do think this is a cool way to introduce the Even without really introducing him, you know? If that’s him. (EDIT from the future: Ummm, so that wasn’t Sander, right? I’m rewatching and it doesn’t look like him. Soooo that part has even less relevance than I originally thought. Got it.) (EDIT from the future beyond the future: @hellswolfie tells me that this actually was Sander, so I am just bad at recognizing people, lol.)

Robbe and Noor take off their masks briefly to kiss. Uhhhh, did the scene really just … cut off there? Because L M A O what a weird choice. We don’t get to see what Robbe creates on the wall, which could be a great way to establish his character, AND we end with him on a smiley, contented note which does not boost his POV at all. It legit just makes him seem like a guy who’s into this girl, and sorry, even if that’s his public persona at this point in time … that’s not what we, the audience should be getting at all. 

Clip 4 - Boy squad morning after

Robbe skateboards to meet up with the guy squad. Again, the directing is far better IMO than in S1.

Robbe got the weed back so that conflict is over, I guess.

He gets a call from his mom and stops laughing with the guys and gets serious. He walks away to take the call. Then he starts to open up to Jens about his mom freaking out, and then Moyo spots some girls so they all ditch Robbe to go chase girls, and WOW, Jens, please turn in your Jonas card. 

Don’t love that we didn’t hear his mom on the phone. There’s no reason not to let us hear what she’s saying since it would be in Robbe’s POV AND as it turns out, they just tell us about the situation with his mom right off the bat, anyway, so it’s not like there’s much point in hiding it. 

This was effective in a sense to establish how girl-crazy his friends are, as well as setting up Robbe’s isolation, which I was worried wouldn’t come across as strongly after meeting Noor. But I think they could have NOT mingled in his mom issues to make this part more effective. Like if the goal was to show more of Robbe being alienated because he’s gay, then that’s not entirely successful, because there are non-gay reasons why Robbe wouldn’t join his pals on the girl chase. I mean, even a horny hetero Robbe might not want to chase girls with his bros because talking to his mom is a downer, so it’s not necessarily because of his sexuality. Plus he just found a girl he liked in Noor, so apparently, he’s not on the prowl. What this part IS communicating that the Belgian guy squad doesn’t have much interest in their friend’s family struggles, which ... ehhhh, maybe not great in the grand scheme of the storyline? These guys can be flawed, for sure, but we do need them to care about Robbe’s well-being. And Robbe tried to open up here, so the flaw is not in him, it’s in his friends. I’m going to let it slide because Jens was offering to help Robbe in the first clip, so it’s not like he’s been a totally insensitive friend this whole time. 

Clip 5 - Phone call from Robbe’s dad

Noor jumps on Robbe and they make out. She shows him the garage and they talk about the tagging world or w/e. Again, not sure why they are portraying Noor as like … a legit love interest. I don’t get much of a sense of discomfort from Robbe. Isak was just not into Emma and was uncomfortable when his bathroom flirting came back to haunt him. And I don’t think it’s TERRIBLE not to follow that route, but you can’t just make this huge change if you don’t account for it in future episodes and Robbe’s overall arc. (EDIT from the future: Which I don’t think they do, otherwise I wouldn’t care.) Every scene should count in furthering Robbe’s character, especially this early in the season where we’re just getting to know his particular struggles. If Robbe is trying to convince himself to like girls, then I want to see definite vulnerability in how that’s portrayed.

I blame the directing/writing more than the acting for the lack of discomfort, since I sensed Robbe’s lack of comfort just fine in the bathtub scene.

Makeouts get interrupted when Robbe’s dad calls. Again, not sure why we aren’t hearing both sides of the conversation? Because we’re in Robbe’s POV. Why wouldn’t we hear them? This seems like they just want to create some suspense or mystery over the situation with his parents. But it’s perfectly possible to do so while still letting us in on the phone calls. In fact, it’s arguably more intriguing to let us listen to some phone calls where we get some vague details but nowhere close to the whole story. It’s not like Robbe’s dad is going to explain the whole situation to his son in an exposition dump. We can get some crumbs to tease us, while still keeping us in Robbe’s POV and not feeling like the show is cutting corners.

Robbe gets mad at his dad and tells Noor he needs to be alone. Closeup on Noor as Robbe walks away. OK … why? Why on her and not Robbe when it’s his POV? Why the focus on Noor’s feelings when we really need to be establishing our protagonist’s mindset in the beginning of this season? I’m not saying her feelings don’t matter, I’m saying that well, this isn’t her story. It would be better to see Robbe’s pained reaction as he leaves.

Clip 6 - Robbe’s dad drama

Jens comes running up while Robbe is being sad. Robbe says that it may be necessary for him to stay with Jens because Robbe’s mom has been committed to a mental health institution and Robbe doesn’t want to stay with his dad. Ah, so I guess we’re hearing that right away. Which honestly makes not hearing his phone calls to his parents even funnier - like you lock us out of his POV arguably for the suspense, but then you end the suspense anyway by just telling us what happened a scene or two later? All right. I guess there’s suspense in that we don’t know exactly what’s up with the mom, mental health-wise, or the root of Robbe’s problems with his dad.

It occurs to me that maybe they just didn’t want to hire people to voice Robbe’s parents? Or put in the time to film both sides of the conversation? I have a hard time believing either of those because it’s so lazy, but. 

I mean, just turn the phone conversations into text conversations if you’re not going to let us listen to Robbe’s parents on the other end.

They go and play football without really resolving the situation. Sad music plays while Robbe joins in. Also, someone was calling Robbe, and I assume it was his dad, but it’s not shown.

These clips are VERY short and choppy so far. You could easily combine the last two, so Robbe is with Jens instead of Noor when he gets the other phone call from his dad, leading into this conversation.

We know immediately about Robbe’s mom’s situation instead of it being a mystery, like with Isak. Which, again, isn’t inherently wrong, but then I want them to DO SOMETHING with it. 

Clip 7 - Jens and Jana

Oh hey, Jana got her braces off! IDK if that happened last season or this one, but it was something I liked, seeing a teenage girl with braces on a teen drama. That rarely happens unless it’s a joke or a plot point.

OK, they really need to film Robbe’s phone so I can actually see who’s calling…

Jens tells Jana about Robbe’s parental situation. I’ll note that first she asks if something’s up with Noor, so news of the Robbe/Noor relationship must have traveled really fast since they’ve only just gotten together. Like Robbe and Noor are clearly dating, going off Jana’s comment, and not just hooking up. Then Belgian Magnus wants to know about hooking up with Amber. Meanwhile Robbe is having a conversation off screen with his dad? Guess it wasn’t important!

And that’s the problem, obviously. It’s his POV season, anything you decide to show SHOULD be important to his storyline. 

Also … it’s fine that we’re focusing on Robbe’s shit home life since that’s relevant to his story, but almost nothing in these clips has set up Robbe’s attraction to men, and only slightly his lack of interest in girls, which was negated by him seeming very interested in a girl afterwards. And knowing how long this season takes to get going with the Even character, it’s a pretty glaring omission.

So we don’t see Robbe’s phone call with his dad, but he gets snappy about it when Jens asks. One of the boys (I can’t tell who) says that Robbe’s on his period.  Gonna be real, I don’t care for this squad so far. 

What was the point of this clip? We already know Robbe is having problems with his dad, which is the most relevant part to the plot here. We shouldn’t be wandering from Robbe’s POV so much, but even taking that into account … we already know Belgian Magnus likes Amber, so that’s not necessary to establish. And we didn’t need to see Jens tell Jana something we already know. I assume he tells her so Zoë can find out and offer a room, but there’s no reason to see Jens tell Jana this, so. Filler clip. 

Clip 8 - Zoë and Robbe at the lockers

Yeah, Zoë offers Robbe a place to stay here, but again, we didn’t need to see the news travel down the Jens-Jana pipeline. It could have been condensed more efficiently.

Robbe doesn’t want to because he says his dad wouldn’t approve. Zoë says she hopes things get better with his mom and Robbe at first snaps and tells her to leave it, then says thanks. This is an actual good interaction, writing-wise, kudos.

I liked Zoë a lot in S1 and I like her here again. I really should watch her season despite my Noorhelm allergy. The scene of them kinda smiling at each other across the hallways reminds me that this is probably the strongest relationship in the whole season, tbh.

Why was this clip so short? So many of these clips could have been combined into one. I mean, Zoë could have said, “I heard from Jana who heard from Jens...” without us needing the previous clip. Although, did Robbe really want anyone else to know about his home life? Lol @ Jens just blabbing Robbe’s private business.

So I guess they didn’t set up the Eskild situation in S2 that would lead to Eskild offering Robbe a place to stay? 

Clip 9 - Robbe gets roommates

Robbe is in Zoë’s room. He sees her “everyone you know is fighting a battle” quote next to the mirror, which is a detail I actually quite like in context with the rest of this storyline and Even’s condition. It’s a good Skam thesis overall.

I guess Zoë met with Robbe’s dad. Zoë calls him a tough cookie. Robbe doesn’t want to speak to him. They bond a little over their parental problems. Again, a nice detail.

Belgian Eskild appears and teases Robbe a little before announcing that Robbe’s dad has agreed to let him stay in the flat. Yay!

Oh, so Senne is staying there, too? At least they didn’t do a pointless Noorhelm breakup in this version.

Milan (the Eskild) tries to go in for a hug and Robbe isn’t cool with it, so at least that’s something with Robbe’s issues with men. (I think? The thing is, Robbe also does not really know Milan, so it’s not as weird that he’s not ready to be affectionate with a near-stranger.)  (EDIT from the future: Keeping the S2 almost-kiss that’s referenced in the next clip in mind, I can rationalize this moment as a continuation of that awkwardness from Robbe’s POV.) 

They chat with Lisa (Linn) who wants to direct Robbe on what he is and isn’t allowed to touch in her room, heh.  Milan and Zoë have cute interaction, and Robbe looks happy. I do like the flatmate vibe so far, they seem fun.

Clip 10 - Robbe and Milan

Senne and Zoë get cute. I haven’t seen S2 so I can’t give my opinion on their version of Noorhelm, but I did think a few things about them were less creepy in wtFOCK’s S1 than in OG. Milan talks about how they’re a Disneylike couple and Robbe laughs.

Then Robbe apologizes for something that evidently happened in S2, where Milan tried to kiss Robbe at a party? Again, I didn’t see the scene. Milan says he’d never try to do that. He offers Robbe a hug, which he accepts - tbh I don’t know if Robbe SHOULD accept based on where he is in his character arc, maybe he should have more skittishness? But it’s a nice character moment, at least. They really have to make up for lost time with the Robbe-Milan relationship, so I can get that they need to establish some closeness fast.

Not being in the wtFOCK fandom, I kinda wonder if there was backlash to that scene from before and this is damage control, LMAO.

I feel like you could’ve tweaked this to be more representative of Robbe’s issues, like have him stress here that he’s not gay, because it’s a sweet scene but again, I don’t feel like this episode built up Robbe’s internal dilemma very well. You could make this not just about smoothing over whatever bump there was in this relationship, but also about setting up some internal tension with Robbe’s sexuality issues. Multi-tasking - it’s great!

EDIT from the future: OK, I tracked down the S2 scene, and yeah, while it illustrates some of Robbe’s internalized homophobia, I really think you needed to carry this through to this clip. Because that was a very public situation, and they made a point of emphasizing onlookers’ reactions. I feel like you need to show that Robbe’s internalized homophobia isn’t just about external reactions, but internal struggles, because ... so far, that’s what it is? Like what is he doing with Noor otherwise? 

Clip 11 - Housewarming party

Party is underway. Yasmina is there and is friendly with Robbe. It sounds like they’re working on a school project together. Aaron (Magnus) and Moyo are talking about hot chicks again.

Noor arrives and the boys tease Robbe about how far he’s gone, Robbe looks pretty chill and happy until Moyo says Robbe’s getting laid tonight and you can see the nerves and reluctance take over. Okay! A character detail that actually works for his arc! Yes!

Partying, makeouts with Noor … sorry but they are wasting a lot of time with this relationship. ROBBE ISN’T INTO HER. Here’s the thing: I don’t want to demonize any of Evak’s female “love interests,” right? It’s pointless anyway because Evak is the endgame pairing, Sonja and Emma aren’t “threats” in the end, but also because they’re not bad people just for wanting to date these two guys who happens to want each other instead. And I think you can do interesting things with Sonja and Emma as characters. I’ve read Sonja fanfic that’s really good!

But when it comes down to it … this is not the story of Robbe/Noor, and there’s a point where it feels like there’s too much development for something that is really intended to be a speed bump in Robbe’s journey. 

I guess it’s a pet peeve of mine when gay stories devote a ton of time to het relationships, to the point where it begins to overshadow the main gay relationship. Love, Victor did this to an absolutely ridiculous degree. (I actually made notes for Love, Victor reactions, but hesitated to post them because 60% consisted of me typing I DON’T CARE ABOUT THESE STRAIGHT ROMANCES.) And I GET it, this is an experience many gay kids go through in their coming out journey, but also, less charitably… you don’t need het romance to dominate everything. You don’t need to make this about how a gay person being gay hurts a straight person. I genuinely appreciate that once Isak kisses Even, it’s fucking over with him and Emma, that plot thread is done. 

Anyway, Noor tells Robbe he’s so fucking hot and Robbe looks more uncomfortable, moreso when she wants to see his room and he goes off like he’s headed to Mordor.

Aaron checking out Amber … okay, again with all the het. I don’t care!!! This is not important right now!! 

Noor pushes Robbe onto the bed, ugh please don’t have them Go There.

She takes off her top and Robbe touches her boob like he’s sticking his hand into a porta-potty. We see his discomfort so at least this part is effective and relevant to Robbe’s arc. Noor is taking off her bra when the boys come into the room, wanting the weed. Okay, you dumb fucks, you’re teasing your bro about getting laid and yet you think it’s cool to enter his room when he’s with a girl? I mean, that’s a lucky break for Robbe, but his friends are extra stupid.

The mood is killed, Robbe goes hunting for weed. Episode ends.

HOW I WOULD REWRITE THIS EPISODE:

Lmao, some of my changes sounded a lot like “be like OG Skam S3.” Because Skam S3 was well-written and made sense. But I tried to think of edits that worked with what wtFOCK was presenting, not just repeating OG.

(I’m also repeating a few things in this section that I said above, btw)

While this episode doesn’t make me angry or anything, it’s got a serious problem with dithering. The first clip is a solid start to the season, but afterwards, so many of these clips feel like filler. There’s a lack of substance to them. It was hard to write about them because they ended up feeling like two minutes of nothing. 

Did we need to see repetitive mentions of Robbe’s troubled relationship with his dad? No, it’s an important plot detail but we could have established that more concisely in fewer clips. Did we need to see the process of how Robbe comes to stay with Zoë, Senne, and Milan? No, not really. Or at least not dragged out over at least three clips. 

I don’t feel like I’m in Robbe’s head to the extent that I should be  so far. Some of this is because the show just flat-out locks us out of his POV, like not showing the phone call in the Jens-Jana clip. But a lot of it is also because of the narrative dawdling. There’s just not as much to analyze unless I bring in Skam season 3 and project what we know about Isak onto Robbe. And that’s not a good way to adapt a story.

The framing of Robbe/Noor needs to change. Combine the bathroom intro with the aborted sex scene - the boys are sitting in the tub, teasing Robbe about getting laid, so he makes out with Noor and they go into a bedroom where he’s clearly not into this, and then Moyo and Aaron come in asking for weed because Robbe still actually has the weed from the bathtub at this point. Or do what Skam France did (can’t believe I’m referring to Skam France) and have the arrival of the cops interrupt the makeout/sex session and Robbe takes his cue to exit.

But frankly, it’s not great to have Robbe acting or looking too cozy with Noor, like this is a legitimate romantic arc except when it gets to the sex. The point is that this isn’t a romance. Even if you want to show some cuddly, non-sexual scenes with Noor, you have to show more of Robbe’s reluctance and fear throughout. 

Show Robbe’s fucking phone conversations with his parents!!!! Good Lord. He’s not ordering a pizza. These are important aspects of his story. Capitalize on that family tension, show us what a bad place Robbe is in at the start of this season. 

Now, about the lack of Even in this episode. Not introducing Even is a bold move, but not necessarily a smart one. Even’s introduction in Skam is not just the intro of “the love interest” - he’s the catalyst for almost everything in Isak’s story. Consider that in episode 1, Isak is seen mostly unhappy and bored - he’s distraught after kissing Emma, he’s checked out of his friends’ lunchtime girl talk, he zones out staring at his teacher’s boobs, he doesn’t want to be at kosegruppa. Isak is actually very passive and just going through the motions, doing what people tell him to do. But once Isak meets Even at kosegruppa - well, that’s when Isak wakes up. In the next few clips, we see Isak taking action. And sure, they’re small actions, searching for Even online, watching the Even video over and over, asking Vilde if there will be more kosegruppa meetings. But we can see that Isak now cares about something, he’s paying attention. Of course, Robbe’s story doesn’t have to follow the same arc. However, it does the season a huge benefit to get him intrigued by something at this point, so we the audience are not just sleepwalking along with him for a few episodes.

There’s also just the simple fact that we have only 10 episodes to establish a love story and make us care about the Even character, and it’s a very risky move to waste too much time. If you are really killing it with the rest of Robbe’s arc, this could still work, but ... well, that’s not what’s happening here.

If they didn’t want to full on introduce the Even directly, one thing they could do is subtly and indirectly find ways to include him in the narrative and create some mystery. Let’s say Robbe sees the Even’s artwork somewhere and is like whoa, that’s cool, and we can tell that it resonates with him. Or he admires Even’s graffiti, or it makes him laugh, whatever. Basically Robbe has some kind of emotional reaction to a thing the Even has created or done, which helps to set up that relationship even before we officially meet the Even.

If we want to add a little more, perhaps Robbe sees a mysterious dude in a mask tagging a wall, but they get interrupted by the cops or something and have some kind of brief but intriguing interaction with each other, and Robbe’s like, who was that guy in the mask? Or Noor takes Robbe to the tagging place, the police/security bust them, Robbe and Noor get separated, and Robbe gets helped out by the Even so he can escape. So it’s an important moment, lots of adrenaline, we can frame it like there’s a sudden ~charge~ between them (ooOOOooo the Even helped Robbe stand up and their hands touched like this was a fanfic, etc.), but he doesn’t learn Even’s name, maybe he doesn’t even see his face because Even has a mask on, so Robbe spends part of the next few episodes trying to figure out who that guy is, casually asking Noor if she knows a guy like that, keeping his eyes open. Maybe we have some fakeouts where Robbe thinks he sees the Even again but it’s just a false alarm. He’s on edge, eager to know more about that mystery guy, and so are we. Bam, we have “awakened” Robbe from his deep sleep. 

If you’ve seen Netflix’s The Get Down, there’s even a scene like this where Jaden Smith’s character gets caught tagging by the cops, he runs and flees with another young dude, and they have a moment where they recognize each other as graffiti artists they admire. While watching that scene for the first time, without any context or spoilers, without even knowing if there would be LGBT content in that show, I immediately thought, “This guy is his love interest.” Not even because it was overtly romantic. Because the way it was written and shot told us that this meeting was important. Because they had an instant connection. Something similar could have worked for Robbe and his Even. But in any case: it would have been best to establish something between those characters, even if it wasn’t an “official” introduction.

Stop focusing on Aaron/Amber when it’s not in Robbe’s POV. Reverse the scene at the beginning with Aaron videotaping and Amber getting spilled on. She gets pissed, he falls in love, and then we follow him upstairs and we meet the boy squad. That is a very obvious, very clean transition that doesn’t interrupt Robbe’s POV as it technically hasn’t started yet. So IDK why they didn’t do that, lmao.

Some changes with the Milan relationship:

Tweak the apology scene to be more representative of Robbe’s issues. Have Robbe apologize while still stressing that he’s not gay. Have Milan be chill and not question that statement, but maybe Robbe is so defensive that it comes across as unconvincing. 

Then have Milan be the one instead of the boys to interrupt the Noor almost-sex scene. Milan wanders in acting drunk, haha Milan, he’s wacky. Robbe doesn’t realize it (though the viewers do if they’re paying attention) but Milan is only pretending and is “subtly” rescuing Robbe because he realizes, based on the earlier scene, that Robbe might be struggling with his sexuality and he wants to give him an escape option. (Although I still think it’s best to combine the not-sex scene into the opening clip, but this could work, too.)

Basic questions we need to be asking, clip to clip: what is the conflict? Where is Robbe’s head right now? Why is this scene necessary? How did this scene come to be - what’s the cause and effect here? How does it advance Robbe’s story? Is it redundant? How do we tell this story in a narratively economical manner? 

[kob131]

You know Hero Hei, it’s hard to feel sorry for you (or even try to be neutral towards you) when you’re still pulling the same manipulative bullshit.

Shocked face, overexaggerated title, contrasting colors, aggressive language- I’m pretty sure if Trump’s Political ads had thumbnails, they’d looked identical to yours (and I only say Trump because every other politician follows an older version of your formula.)

‘This is a follow-up to Neath Oum’s hitpiece on me-’

There you go again. Hit Piece is defined as a disingenuous article or similar such piece of media designed to turn public opinion against a person. Issue is- this is not a public article, it’s a fucking tweet thread and it’s not made to turn people against you (and consider the replies to his tweet, it wouldn’t even slightly change public opinion of you), it was made to explain why he doesn’t like you.

We can actually see how a hit piece would sound like IN YOUR VIDEO, as Neath forgoes a lot of the manipulative techniques you use in your videos to get an emotional reaction out of his audience before even beginning.

‘I have nothing but respect for Monty Oum-’

Your numerous videos slandering his friends when the man outright told people to stop watching his show for saying one of his friends was a lesser voice actor than two others in ONE instance says otherwise. 

‘*insert a bunch of sarcastic stuff here*’

I wouldn’t bitch too much but this video is only 6 minutes and 13 seconds long and about half a minute passes without him saying of substance. And I’m keeping his shit vague because it’s meaningless and just meant to rile his audience up. 

‘It won’t negatively affect me at all.’

Cool...and Neath is never shown to intend it too. Here’s the tweet thread that Hero Hei is talking but never sources (https://twitter.com/neath_oum/status/1307345624958812160). Not once does he ever say anything about exposing Hero Hei and ends it by reiterating it’s about explaining his blocking.

Also of note-

Because his lies exacerbate conflict or generate controversy where none existed

Neath says this in his chain. Now consider Hero Hei portraying this as an attack against him...when he never says to spread his thread, use manipulative language like you do or use the attention grapping tactics you do. And now you’re just proving him right when you could have stopped this 40+ second monologue, made a title like “I respond to Neath Oum’s Twitter Thread” and used a different thumbnail. 

(Note: I am skipping from 0:37 to 1:22 because at 0:44 he says to skip that segment as it’s a catchup and I’m trying to give him some benefit so I’ll just skip it and assume he gave a neutral recap.)

‘He begins hyping this thread up and being really suspicious and vague about it!’

You mean like what people said about your original video on the subject which you dismissed and mocked them for?

To paraphrase you Hero Hei-

‘Read beyond the first sentence.’

‘In my opinion, this means nothing and so i will not comment on most of this.’

You mean opinion of the target of the so-called ‘hit piece’ who would have every reason to downplay what is being shown. After I having already seen for myself that you’re a damn liar and the very first part of the ‘hit piece’ is talking about how you lie by omission? You clearly do care because you made (an admittedly low effort) video on it and yet you can’t even address it properly? Speaking as someone who has had hit pieces made on him, you’re an idiot.

Also your ‘if you want to read the whole thing, you know where to find it!’ shit is inexcusable. It’s a known fact that audiences likely won’t seek out something that would discredit their subject. They’ll be far more likely to just accept whatever you say, especially if say...their emotions and tribalistic instincts were being played on by portraying Neath as inherently wrong and using emotionally charged language to elicit a certain reaction out of them.

“Most of this stuff is from a year ago anyways!’

Stuff which you yourself bring up before to make and support your points. 

‘This isn’t really worth my time, it’s desperate.’

I have literally heard politicians pull this, how is everything out of your mouth killing your credibility?

‘*tries to portray Neath’s beginning statement as aggressive towards people asking for proof* Well I dunno why anyone would be upset you accused someone without proof but okay-’

A. ‘ Finished some stuff earlier than expected. For those who (civilly) asked for info and proof about hero hei, here you go.’

That is Neath’s opening sentence. This is not being aggressive or dismissive or at all negative towards the people asking for proof. I can’t think of a way to be more neutral than this.

B. Funny considering you accused Pedantic Romantic of being a stalker and yet never provided actual proof, just out of context screenshots (effectively lies which is WORSE.) So clearly you don’t care that much.

‘Funny that he says he found additional evidence about this when he retweeted a thread made a month ago by another twiiter user that I debunked in another vide Man this is some worthless stuff.’

Gee Hero Hei, I’ve noticed that you like to portray this as irrelevant without saying why, continuously using those kinds of terms. Kind of like news outlets when bitching about someone they don’t like, all using similar terminology as if to subconsciously reinforce an idea in the viewer’s head. Also funny since those same news outlets ALSO tend to rely on the reader’s bias...

‘See, he even admits that he’s taking this from someone I debunked!’

Well actually, you just pointed out one single mistake that wasn’t connected to their point but sure.

‘This is so lazy Neath!’

Hero hei, you literally just take what other people say and vomit it out- You do the same shit.

‘Animelog is by Toei actually!’

No Hero Hei, it’s not. Toei justed signed up for them. It’s still operated by AnalyzeLog...which is funded by Net 10 ventures, the company Neath CITED.

Benjamin Grubbs is the founder of AnalyzeLog. In 2018, AnalyzeLog was founded with seed funding from U.S. venture capitalist Next10 Ventures. In December 2019 AnalyzeLog Digital struck a deal with Toei Animation. Shogakukan followed Toei animation deal in April 2020, and just last month it signed a collaboration with animation studio Shin Ei Animation, creators of “Doraemon” and “Crayon Shin-Chan”.

‘He tries to compare Toei being a founder of Daisuki to it’s massive investment in AnalyzeLog!’

... Hero Hei. When you found something like a business, you are INVESTING in that business. Jeff Bezos fundamentally invested in Amazon when he started it up because he had to use his own money to make it happen.

... Do you think your audience is brain dead or something?

‘*covers Neath’s screenshot of his video titles*’

Hm, pretty sure that’s the definition of ‘suspect’ Hero Hei.

‘So this vice president of Rooster Teeth did horrible things to his wife and Neath is defending this or something-’

*grabs Hero Hei by the collar*

Nuh uh, you ain’t getting away with that shit.

First, short one about Rooster Teeth, the lies I am talking about were lies of omission. These screenshots show the titles of some of his videos. Titles and screenshots are what drives viewers when deciding what videos to watch. In the titles, he used "Rooster Teeth Vice President". Using "Rooster Teeth Vice President" evokes the image of the second highest ranking person at Rooster Teeth. However, he used "Vice President of Product and Engineering" in the video description, so he knew what the person's full rank was but omitted it from the titles. By seeing the actual rank, viewers would know that the terminated person was not the second highest ranked person at Rooster Teeth. Not including information in a title to give viewers the wrong impression amounts to lies of omission.

Some will argue that he didn't lie since the full rank was given in the description, it's just click bait and no big deal. That's fine but omitting information from the beginning warps first impressions and are still lies, even if small. That said, continue reading for more of his overt lies.

This is the full set of what he said in regards to RT. Notice something? Yeah- HE’S NOT DEFENDING THE MAN. Hero Hei just shoved that shit in. With NOTHING to indicate such a thing...you know other than ‘he dared to speak out against me!’

‘He seems to be complaining about the video title-’

TITLES (multiple) which comes up NUMEORUS times in his thread but sure. And you clearly agree with him since you bitched about his opening thread (just you know, effectively lying about it.)

‘*quotes an out of context sentence from the above quoted set* No I wasn’t trying tyo give people the wrong impression!’

First, short one about Rooster Teeth, the lies I am talking about were lies of omission. These screenshots show the titles of some of his videos. Titles and screenshots are what drives viewers when deciding what videos to watch. In the titles, he used "Rooster Teeth Vice President". Using "Rooster Teeth Vice President" evokes the image of the second highest ranking person at Rooster Teeth. However, he used "Vice President of Product and Engineering" in the video description, so he knew what the person's full rank was but omitted it from the titles. By seeing the actual rank, viewers would know that the terminated person was not the second highest ranked person at Rooster Teeth. Not including information in a title to give viewers the wrong impression amounts to lies of omission.

Some will argue that he didn't lie since the full rank was given in the description, it's just click bait and no big deal. That's fine but omitting information from the beginning warps first impressions and are still lies, even if small. That said, continue reading for more of his overt lies.

Funny how context CHANGES things, like showcasing Hero Hei lying AGAIN.

‘I didn’t say that because Youtube has a 100 character limit for video titles so i couldn’t fit in!’

Yeah it does have 99 characters in it...

Except here’s the thing: you could have cut 33 characters from it even with inserting ‘of Product and Engineering’ easily.

Rooster Teeth RT Vice PRESIDENT VP of Product and Engineering ARRESTED, allegedly BEAT his WIFE Numerous Times and LAUGHED about it!

There, 66 characters and I made your video title better (by cutting out needless details) and more truthful.

I don’t trust you enough, especially with the shit you’ve already pulled in this video alone.

‘*mocks Neath for bringing up the Vic stuff from over a year ago*’

Hero hei, your channel has permanent ‘ISWV’ merch being advertised. 

*doesn’t even bother to address what is said, just mocking the use of names.*

“Neath Oum s-said mean things about me mommy, make the scary man with 2/3rds of my audience stop mommy!’

See how stupid that sounds?

In fact, let’s stop here because he says NOTHING of worth and Hero hei killed his credibility (along with any chance of me even giving him anything beyond basic human respect) at this point.

Considering the very little he DID cover ended up being just shit flinging from him AT BEST- he actually made Neath look pretty damn good. Because HH in comparison really does look like the embodiment of that ‘crying behind a smug face’ meme.

So congrats HH. I actually though the comparison was the result of personal bias against you and felt uncomfortable about. I now see it was entirely DERSERVED...if I choose to ignore how you implied Neath was defending a man BEATING HIS WIFE because he pointed out your clickbait bullshit.

[welcometomy20s]

February 7, 2021

This is Part two of the introduction of Nijisanji. I have written for an audience who has just gotten to know vtubers through hololive and wants to explore more. This part cover all of Nijisanji members who has debuted in the year 2019.

2019 Part 1 (Jan-Apr)

Warabeda Meiji - Another eleven year old, but likes FF14 and K-On! So frequently described as an 11 year old third season. But she is genuinely cute! And a really good singer, so much so that her K-On cover gets banned for being too close!

Gundou Mirei - Actually a teacher, but definitely a ditzy and lazy one, that is incredibly sexual to an uncomfortable degree, you know, a fan favorite, including of mine. Watch her 3D streams and you will be amazed. Has a ship with Shoichi as mentioned before, even though she’s a self-professed bisexual. It’s odd but, you know, it works!

Yuzuki Roa - Kind of innocent devil like Towa, but more like a kid than an older sister. Really like Belmond. Was friends with Chitose, a retired member, and got a costume based on her a bit, and maybe is retiring herself, considering she hasn't uploaded for quite a few months now. Well, whatever. She’s cute and innocent.  

Onomachi Haruka - Another of the rare, truly seiso people in the team, but can go wild if the vibe goes that way. Lost and found a llama in minecraft once.

Seto Miyako - Kind of a quiet girl who might be psychopathic... you know the type. Her true tendencies pop up during gaming. Also tweets a lot... make sense.

Kataribe Tsumugu - Basically retired, but her concept was so shocking that it took Naruse Naru’s return of old design to push her into the bottom of the list.

Otogibara Era - She’s a Cinderella if she has gone completely out the window. People routinely separate the original Cinderella side as Era, and her true side as Gibara.

God, how do I describe her. Gibara is just great. Her adult comments are something to behold, let’s say she gels with Tamaki very well. She returns to monke often, and does other types of screams too... seriously look at her gacha stream and witness Gibara in her full glory. Also incredibly lazy and definitely cannot live by herself.

But as you have guessed it, she is an incredible singer. (It might be the case that incredible singing is associated with madness) Had knockout hit with her 3D stream, trending number one on twitter and 30,000 US dollars in superchats!

Lize Helesta - Queen of Shizuoka, I mean Heleste kingdom. Usually behaves like an empress, but as with most royalty has a real competitive spirit, so she knows how to badmouth when she needs to. So, she’s a really stingy person as well... not really fitting for a royalty, but you do know some people that act like that.

She’s a strange person. Look at asphalt or a handstand in order to sleep. Friends with Ange, who was a childhood friend, even with an age difference. Also does radio stuff with Lulu as well. Reveres Mito, wonder why. Again, incredible 3D debut.

Ange Katrina - Nice low-middle voice with a smooth upper body, and surprisingly small but that got fixed as 3D started. Think she’s cute, but blushes when people agree. Just a cool gal who I enjoy very much... her streams, I mean.

Inui Toko - She’s a cerberus, and now works at a cafe. A little bit out there, but definitely a tsukkomi. Usually does little gaming outside Minecraft, so mostly talks and sings. A unique laugh and loves Ensemble Stars. Hangs out with red and blue people, like Lize, Ange, Roa, Ayame, Suisei and so on. Actually is boing boing, Ange felt betrayed.

And as mentioned above, a great singer, and can play many instruments as well!

Saegusa Akina - High tension singer, who is quite sickly and is terrible with girls. But he got better as time went on and the ship with his gen mate Manami started to sail. Actually he hangs around with many girls... maybe it’s just Manami?

Arizona Manami - Ito Life’s daughter... so you know what she looks like. Calls herself the queen of sensitivity, and yes she does very suggestive streams... but she’s pretty innocent and childish... so she’s kind of like Melody in a way. Has a very fond-looking relationship with Akina as mentioned above.

Suzuhara Lulu - Just your typical art student. She’s a rich girl, so she knows very little about the outside world. Definitely has stamina of a thousand horses, famously played 11 hours of Dark Souls, then straight onto 10 hours of Ring Fit, and never got phased. Seriously, she never gets phased. She rode the freaking snake without a problem! Apparently really beautiful in real life, really has large expressions.

There’s a rumor going around that she’s actually some kind of an eldritch god... and I don’t know where that comes from at all. Look at her, she’s such a sweet gal, look at her dancing and singing... she’s a true idol, that’s what she is... (don’t hurt me.)

Yukishiro Mahiro - First-year high-schooler. Good variety of content. Her personality is of a rude kouhai. One viewer described her as a bad-tempered chihuahua. Really likes Kanae, which is okay, I guess. There’s not much more than that.

2019 Part 2 (May-Aug)

Ex Albio - A hero from a different world. Originally portrayed as a rude snarky figure, much like Kazuma without charm or luck but with perseverance. Got his fame through his noob Minecraft experience, as with Minecraft servers, they are ripe with collab opportunities, so he started to collab especially with Ars Almal, which he thinks as a mentor... and so they both talk in high register. Eventually became a couple.

Has a thing where he questions something and immediately denies it, which is quite funny. Eventually got a dark alter version due to the imagination tournament I talked about earlier, which brings the fact that he can’t fight until tragedy occurs.

Levi Elipha - Actually only six years old, and apparently dense, like physically dense. Great singer and good physique, does some English songs as well.

Nui Sociere - A 25-year old witch, but more like a NEET with an addiction to horse racing. Very much like Megumi in terms of magic abilities, but capable of melee.

Kind of sounds like Doraemon when she screams... usually plays JRPG... and well, just look at her. Damn... well, least you have something to look forward to.

Hayama Marin - Hayame is Hayame. She’s just a little kid with a pure mind. Yeah.

Hayato Kagami - CEO of a toy company, so called that. Polite and diligent, but like a CEO of a toy company, completely becomes a boy when getting a bit excited.

Actually is a great singer, maybe a trained singer as well. As a good example of rich getting richer, fans have a tendency to throw red superchat, a typical stream might hit 10K USD, even though there’s nothing particular going on.

Yorumi Rena - Idol magician, but no actual proof of her magic abilities. Plays APEX a lot. Very much an outgoing person with lots of collab from everyone. Hakase calls her mama. Sleep promptly at midnight, except when ARK was involved.

Also makes 8-bit art proficiently, does all her loading screen. A bit of a lewd mind.

Hakase Fuyuki - HIgh school girl who likes to experiment, but it’s obvious none of it ever works. Tries to ship Yorumi and Kagami, and calls him papa. Just absolutely in her own world and everyone is just privy to it... also incredibly bad at gaming.

Mayuzumi Kai - A white hacker. Very cool, but has a thing for comedy, almost to the level of Joe Riikichi, but laughs very little himself. Make sense, since he lost his parents at an early age and lived in the system, therefore is a night streamer. Very good with kids as a result, and very kind and polite as well.

Ars Almal - A mage who specializes in lightning. Started out by apologizing, gets bullied for her round face, usually by Shiina. Cute voice with toxic words with a knack for pranks and taunts. Actually is quite boing boing. Good at Minecraft construction, but get rough and dirty under the wheel, as in Mario Kart. Became a kitsune, and then immediately got compared to Fubuki... much like Fubuki in a sense.

Aiba Uiha - Another idol who is a bit out there, has a tendency to be clingy. Also has a large physique... kind of a denatured Lulu is what I’m getting at. Sisters with Ara Chae, incredibly bad eyesight, apparently. I can see that, actually.

Eli Conifer - A flower fairy and maid with a unique phrasing. Likes to immerse herself in games, very knowledgeable, especially with teas, and also handy at housework, and superb at drawing and singing. Ryushen and Rion think she’s a badass, and they might not be entirely wrong on that aspect, actually.

Kokoro Amaiya - Dragonborn, I think. But there’s no dragon anymore. Has that mumble-speak that people really don’t like. She’s very much kid-like in a sense, uh, so get put into the loli category much like her fellow peer. Incredibly weak.

Ratna Petit - Adventurer with an independent streak. Does games and ASMR, tries to be grown up during collabs, but retreats into a kid in solo streams. Got the infamous random deletion of the account that Kiara famously got.

Nijisanji ID Gen 1

Taka Radjiman - Another CEO, this time a food CEO. Usually streams games, but much like other CEOs here, a pretty good singer as well. Obviously a good cook as well.

ZEA Cornelia - She’s an automata. ZEA is short for Z-type Executive Automation. Likes to sing, and sung many songs including La Vien en Rose by IZONE! I really like her, her streams are bit odd and ZEA can carry a stream like no another.

Hana Macchia - A design student, much like Lulu. Likes drawing as you expect, also like gaming as well. Does some barista stuff as well, a kind of the ambassador of Nijisanji ID, since her father is American and her mother is Japanese, and she lives in Indonesia.

Papa Macchia appears on stream from time to time, and apparently was the progenitor of Hana’s gaming prestige as he played Doom and Half-Life. She’s on the cute side of things, but blushes when she gets called that. Also cries in horror, but screams in excitement... just overall a well-rounded in strangeness. I really like her.

2019 Part 3 (Sep-Dec)

Sukoya Kana - Incredibly smart, but also has an otaku and perverted side. Likes acting, as you might have guessed and bad at housework. Has a quiet voice, but gets savage when a game is involved. Pretty good at english as well. Does a radio show as well.

Oh, yeah, likes to throw up. It’s a thing. Also plays drums. She’s pretty cool.

Shellin Burgundy - Before Kanata did her PPT intro, Shellin was the first one. Professes himself to be a detective, but little lightheaded for that. Good narration voice, though, which means he’s a good singer as well. I kind of like him. He’s good.

Hayase Sou - An outdoorsy girl who likes cosplay and road biking. Kind of talks like she’s middle age, but she acts pretty young. And of course she likes shotas.

Fumi - It took over a year for her to debut. She’s a hikikomori gundam otaku and a goddess. A bit airheaded and pretty bad at gaming, and since she is 67, gets called grandma infrequently. She’s fun to watch. Has a ship with Nagao.

Hoshikawa Sara - Half Japanese and half English. Definitely a cool and tough, ready to take whatever sex jokes and insults you throw at her. Hangs out with Mahiro a lot, or with male members like Yumeoi, Ebio, Shellion or Kanda. Has a wide voice range, with a wide personality as well. There’s a sense of healing to her, honestly.

Obviously gets fangirled by many, including Matsuri, whose frequently red superchats her much to her confusion and relative embarrassment.

Yamagami Karuta - She’s a tengou in training, since she is filled with desires, mostly to connect with people. This is real, apparently. Has a ship with a staff member...

Matsukai Mao - Smartest devil... no, she’s an airhead like the rest of them. Apparently she can spit out crude oil... which is pretty useless. Definitely an unlucky, miserable person who needs to be protected at all times, and she relishes that like the devil she is.

Hangs around with Luis a lot in real life, apparently. Also plays APEX and stuff.

Emma August - Demon Lord that was thrown in an uprising, living with Morinaka Kazaki, and got a new house in February of last year. An alcoholic and a masochist, who gets berated by Kazaki of all people. Definitely not a loli, that’s for sure.

Luis Cammy - An expert thief, which excites Shellin very much. Seen as the leader of the gen, but found out to be much of a kid as the gen mates, especially around Shellin. They are a couple now, apparently. Oh yeah, she did an Outlast stream with a cat outfit and invited Shellin because she was scared? Now there's a loli version of her... yikes.

Fuwa Minato - A host, but a teetotaler, because of health problems... yet drinks Monster energy like it’s no business. A bit out there, as Nijisanji people are. A bit of a trickster, a bad boy if you will... right there with being good at games as well. He’s pretty cool.

Shirayuki Tomoe - When I first saw her, she felt like one of those people in mahjong tournaments. Well, she’s a queen of the night, so night-time streamer, although she has daytime streams as well. Strong drinker. Talks about SM, but also effortlessly friendly and a lovely person. I think she’s attractive, but I can see why people call her cute. She hates bugs, loves cute things, odd thoughts... feels like an aunt to me.

Very bad at reading kanji, not that she’s good at anything else. Likes to practice, hence preserved her way in the Mario Kart tournament. Does talk and ASMR streams with a third of her viewers being women. Likes Mirei, makes sense. Oh, she’s a nudist.

And don’t forget the relationship between Kana and her. Purported to be the most real of the ships of any vtubers. I believe it’s called Crossick. I don’t know too much.

Gwelu Os Gar - Presenter for the elf kingdom, hired as a presenter, since Nijisanji got so big and there’s only so many Kakeru around. Unfortunately seen as boring, and transitioned into kind of a Maimoto character.

Already married, I don’t know why that’s significant but there you go. Oh, and an actual dad! That is pretty significant. Although Setsuna also has a child, and had to retire to take care of the little baby. Teaches math to others, so that’s cool.

Mashiro - Recent high school graduate. He’s a boy. Yes, he has heels and boobs, but he’s a boy. And yes, he is a bit out there, stealing candies from the office.

Naraka - Another oni, and a loli-baba. Obviously a fan of the fellow oni, Mikoto... which has a queen kid relationship. And yes, her chest is smaller than Mashiro... sad.

Kurusu Natsume - 19-year old college student who likes music and sheep. Very smart and very normal. Has an ASMR test stream, which was pretty fun.

Nijisanji ID 2nd Gen

Rai Galliel - An interdimensional policeman. Likes cheese, but hate porridge due to only eating one for four months. Likes baking, pretty cool personality, if a bit straight edge.

Amicia Michella - A freelance illustrator, so the drawing is superb. Like sleep but also sports. Also penguins. Likes to play horror games pretty calmly. Raises two dogs, well one of them passed away late last year. Sang a 10cm cover?

Miyu Ottavia - A business student, and likes otters and is optimistic. Mostly plays RPG and online multiplayers. Tries to be cool, but look at her! She’s very cute.

Riksa Dhirendra - A 24-year-old freelancer and works as an editor and translator. Looks mean, but is actually a very decent gut. He is pretty competitive. Plays RPG.

[gyakutengagotoku]

GS4 vs AJ:AA - Episode 1, Part 1

Look, guys! I’m being productive again! Hooray, it feels exhausting just as I remember it did!

As done before, every post I make will contain differences between the source Japanese and localized English versions of the same game, as well as further details about them, up to the following “To be continued...” screens and eventually the ending credits. As always, there are so many ways the localization can dress up certain lines in the original script to make them into jokes or at least more colorful, so I’m not going to pick out every one. It would take us an eternity longer than my hiatuses to finish otherwise.

To think it took a freakin’ indie game that's like Mafia but with astronauts and tasks to bring me back to the Ace Attorney community and back to my blog’s roots. Is this what they mean by “Circle of Life”? All I know is that I’m constantly running around in circles, both metaphorically and literally.

--

> Court Lobby

<Kristoph> やれやれ。ずいぶんカタくなってる みたいだね。 You look tense, Justice. Wound up tight.

<Apollo> そ。そんなコトないです！ カンゼンに大丈夫ですから、オレ！ W-Wound up, sir? No! I'm loose! I'm fine!

<Kristoph> 声がウラ返ってるよ‥‥ まあ。ムリもないかな。 That screeching noise... Is that your voice? I suppose it's to be expected...

初めての法廷が、殺人事件とは。 まさしく“オドロキ”ってヤツだね。 Your first trial, and it's a homicide. I guess "Justice" doesn't start small, eh?

Enter Apollo's signature "I'm fine!" catchphrase, or as it's originally known, "Daijobu desu!"

In the third box, "ウラ返ってる" from 裏返る (uragaeru) in this context is translated fairly, though it specifically refers to a "crack in falsetto" kind of squeak or screech. (Yes, squeaky Apollo.) Now, it's interesting to note uragaeru in a different context can also mean "to double-cross". To be fair, it's also a common phrase, like being "betrayed" by your own cracking voice, but the foreshadowing power...

In the fourth box, yes, they changed the name puns to suit the localized name. Kirihito (Kristoph) is just saying what a "surprise" it is for his first trial to be a murder case.

>

<???> たしか、きみは‥‥ So, you're...

<Apollo> あ、ハイ！ オレ、大丈夫ですッ！ Fine! I-I'm fine!

<???> ああ��‥“大丈夫くん”か。 Ah... Mr. Fine, is it?

<Apollo> え。 Uh.

<???> 変わった名前だとは覚えていた。 I did remember you having an odd name.

<Apollo> （さっそく、ゴカイされちまった） (Well, we're off to a great start.)

I'm just putting this here to assure everyone that Nick does first call him "Daijobu-kun".

>

<???> そろそろ時間だ。‥‥行こうか。 It's time. Shall we?

<Apollo> は、はいッ！ Y-Yes, sir!

<Apollo> （‥‥そうさ。 　今は、とにかく集中するんだ） (...OK. I need to focus.)

（オレの‥‥王泥喜　法介の、 　初めての法廷に！） (First trial, here comes Justice!)

I want to comment on how catchy Apollo's other lesser-known catchphrase is. Poor Odoroki doesn't have anything as cool as this.

> Courtroom

<Kristoph> 弁護士は、依頼人の希望を最優先 させなければなりません。 A defense attorney must always cede to his client's wishes.

この王泥喜くんは、依頼人の ご指名なのですよ。 And my client specifically requested Mr. Justice.

<Judge> ふむう‥‥わかりませんな。 Well, of course he wants justice!

現在、最高の弁護士と言われる 牙琉　霧人（がりゅうきりひと）。 But to entrust his case to this greenhorn... Why?

それをさしおいて、 こんなワカモノがねえ‥‥ I do not exaggerate when I say that you're the best defense attorney in town, Mr. Gavin.

<Apollo> （だ、大丈夫。発声練習の量なら、 　先生にも負けないさ！） (OK, so Gavin's got trial experience, fine. But does he have Chords of Steel!?)

I just love this line from Apollo. Perfect timing and delivery. Odoroki's line is good too, though comes off as a tad more innocent: "I-It's fine. When it comes to  vocal training, even Sensei can't beat me!" Though I have to say the image of Kristoph screaming during voice training is too funny to pass up.

> Enter Defendant

<Judge> まことにザンネンです。 This is truly an unfortunate turn of events.

ひさしぶりの対面が、 このようなカタチになるとは。 I'm sorry we had to meet again under these circumstances.

‥‥成歩堂　龍一 （なるほどうりゅういち）くん。 Long time no see, Mr. Wright.

<Phoenix> 忘れてほしいですね、 ムカシのことは。 Let's put the past behind us, shall we?

今のぼくは‥‥そう。 しがないピアニスト、ですから。 These days, I'm merely Phoenix Wright, piano player.

I may have mentioned it before, but I'll make a note here that the Hobohodo meme has its own version in the JP fandom: "ピアニート" (piani-to or pia-NEET), which is portmanteau of pianist and NEET, the most famous of Japanese government welfare programs for the unemployed. It's also slang for "hobo".

>

<Payne> これが、被害者の命を奪った凶器。 ‥‥グレープジュースのボトルです。 This is the weapon that took the victim's life. A bottle of grape juice.

彼のお気に入りで、 いつも飲んでいるようですな。 Grape juice is apparently our defendant's drink of choice.

Many of you already know, but just in case: The localizers never censored Nick's fave drink. It was the JP devs who had to work with such censors back home, but eventually they just kept it as a running gag to put non-alcoholic fruit juices in fancy wine bottles. It wasn't until SoJ when the devs could get away with featuring a bit of alcohol. Their previous game was slapped with a CERO-C (15+) due to graphic images, so Eshiro and co. were pleasantly surprised to see SoJ get the classic CERO-B (12+) again.

Not to mention, very expensive high-quality fancy fruit juices do exist in Japan and can cost way more than your usual middle-grade wines. Japan and their fancy fruit culture and all. (I forget exactly, but I recall there were plenty of group pictures of the devs on their blogs and Twitters over the years where someone had gotten them fancy bottles of fruit juice as Christmas gifts. The memes live on.)

> After 1st testimony, decline tutorial

<Apollo> 先生が出るにはおよびません！ ここは、オレでじゅうぶんッ！ No need for help here, sir! I think I've got this one covered!

<Kristoph> ‥‥“手下”みたいなセリフだね。 大丈夫ですか？ I think you'd better do more than think. You know it, or you do not.

<Apollo> （大丈夫！　 　発声練習は積んできた！） (I'm fine! The Chords of Steel are ready for battle!)

The differences here are subtle enough that I hesitated on including this, but Kirihito straight-up calls out Odoroki: "Sensei, you won't need to step up here. I'm enough for this!" "...Sounds like something someone unreliable would say. Are you going to be fine?"

> Press 4th statement

<Judge> ふむう‥‥ Hmm...

ポーカーといえば、５枚のカードで “役”を作って勝負するゲーム。 As I recall, in poker you make five-card "hands".

たしかに、イカサマが 起こりやすいのでしょう。 I can see how it would be easy to cheat.

<Phoenix> フッ‥‥ “役”を作るゲーム、ねえ‥‥ Heh... Yes. A game of "hands".

<Apollo> ‥‥？ ...?

Now that I find this dialogue again, it's even deeper than I'd ever thought. In both JP and EN, Phoenix's line works just as well as the other despite having different double entendres. In EN, he makes a pun between the poker hands and people's hands; while in JP, the term used is "yaku", which is normally used to refer to hands in a card/mahjong game, but in more general cases, it means "role" or "responsibility". Naturally, in this case, there are a lot of hands and roles being exchanged rather quickly.

This case is dang amazing and I regret forgetting so much of what made it spectacular.

> Press 5th statement

<Phoenix> 賭けていたのは、ただひとつ。 おのれの“プライド”だけだよ。 The only thing at stake in our game... was pride itself.

<Judge> ほほう。 なんだか、カッコイイですな！ Ho ho! Well put, Mr. Wright.

私も“ポーカー”で ヒト勝負したくなってきました。 I've got a mind to play a hand of poker myself...

<Judge> あなたの“有罪”を賭けてッ！ The stakes: your fate!

<Apollo> （“ヒト勝負”感覚で 　決められてたまるかッ！） (Um... Can we get back to the trial now?)

For once, I'm gonna go with Odoroki's line as the cooler one: "(As if we're going to decide this trial like a game of "life-or-death"!)"

> 1st witness, before testimony

<Olga> 逆居　雅香（さかいまさか） ‥‥と申します。 My name... is Olga Orly.

レストラン《ボルハチ》で ウエイトレス‥‥していますの。 I am employed as waitress in Borscht Bowl Club restaurant.

<Judge> しかし‥‥なぜ、カメラを？ Then... why the camera?

<Olga> もちろん、《ボルハチ》ジマンの ボルシチもお運びいたします。 Of course, it is my pride to serve borscht that is naming restaurant.

でも、ワタシ。他にも、いろいろ サービスをいたしますのよ。 But I also perform -- how it is said? Other service.

Just making a note here on how well Olga's lines are written. They really make it obvious that she's "not a native speaker" (for now). While in EN, they just made her English a little broken, in JP, she speaks in a very stiff and formal Japanese, as she is a waitress, but also on the occasion can sound a little off to a native speaker without being broken, per se. She also has a distinct "watashi" among a few other common words that are written in katakana to show a sort of accent.

>

<Payne> さて、証人。 事件当時は、どこに‥‥？ Now, witness. Where were you at the time of the murder?

<Olga> ワタシ、あの部屋にいたんです。 ‥‥《ナラズモの間》。 I was in room. The Hydeout, we call it.

<Apollo> “ならずものま”？ Excuse me? The Hydeout?

<Olga> 伝説のギャング“ナラズモ”が タイホされたというお部屋。 It is room where famous gangster "Badgai" was arrested.

‥‥事件があった小部屋ですの。 Is room where murder took place.

<Apollo> なんだってェェェ！ Whaaaaat!?

<Olga> ‥‥そのビックリしたカオ、 ステキです。 Your look of utter surprise... It is lovely.

あとで法廷の前に 張り出しておきますので‥‥ I will post by courtroom door later for you!

ほしい写真の番号を、みなさま お書きくださいね。 Dah, dah, photos will be numbered, and you will write which ones you want copy of.

Okay, everyone knows how bad/obvious/cringe the name puns can be in Khura'in or certain ones from AAI, but please, does anyone not remember "Badgai" here? (Tbf, I forgot too, so I'm not one to talk...)

Btw, his original name is "Narazumo", literally "ruffian", and it's completely in katakana, which makes me think it's a codename or alias. She also specifies that he was a "gangster", not yakuza as we'd assume. Japanese gangs are a bit closer to gangs that we know of in the West, especially that they're more known for foreign influence to their styles than the much more traditional yakuza.

Also, I'm disappointed there was no Odoroki pun here. Sure, she doesn't know him, so it wouldn't make sense, but still a missed opportunity. Also also, she actually talks to the rest of the court when she says "you", so she's selling photos of Apollo's freakout to everyone. Classy...

> 1st Witness Testimony, press 3rd statement

<Apollo> “ロケット”‥‥？ His "locket"...?

<Olga> あのお客さまにとっては 大切な“お守り”のようでした。 I believe it was good-luck charm, dah?

何度か握りしめながら、 勝負をされていましたから。 He gripped it many times as he played that night.

<Judge> なるほど‥‥大空へ飛び立つ チカラがみなぎるのでしょう。 Yes, he must have felt as though it might carry him to the moon and the stars!

なにしろ《ロケット》ですからな。 Though if it were small enough to fit around his neck, it wouldn't have much lift...

<Apollo> ‥‥あの。ちなみに “ロケット”というのは‥‥ Um... The defense would like a clarification: this is a locket we're talking about?

写真を入れたペンダントのコト、 なんですけどね。 I mean, a pendant with a picture in it, right? Not a "rocket"?

<Judge> 知ってます！ Of course! I knew that!

ロケットのカタチをした アレでしょう。 It was probably a pendant shaped like a rocket. That's why she called it that.

<Apollo> ちがいますよ！ カタチはカンケイないんです No, a locket's a locket! It doesn't matter what shape it is!

<Kristoph> ‥‥深追いしてはいけない。 それが、社会のルールです。 It's considered bad form to poke fun at the hard-of- hearing in our society.

<Apollo> （モヤモヤするなあ） (Hard of hearing, or hard of understanding?)

This entire conversation is just a joke on how "locket" and "rocket" are written the same way in Japanese, and I'm surprised how well it still works in English.

To clarify, Kirihito's line at the end is a bit different: "...Refraining from pursuing a line too far is a well-known rule in our society." "(Doesn't make me feel any better.)"

> After 1st Present, just before new statement added

<Apollo> （ヤレヤレ‥‥ 　慎重すぎるんだよな、先生は） (There's such a thing as thinking too much...)

（イシバシを叩いて 　コワすタイプ？） (This horse is dead, let's stop beating it!)

<Kristoph> 聞こえてますよ、オドロキくん。 There's such a thing as thinking aloud too much, too.

It's conversations like this that make me wonder if characters can actually hear what the MC is saying/whispering or if they're breaking the 4th wall to hear their thoughts. Here, it's even more ambiguous in JP than the usual between Nick and Maya in prior games. Or are they suggesting that even when Apollo is thinking, he's still loud?

> After 2nd Witness Testimony, before cross-exam

<Judge> なるほど‥‥ Ah, how many times have I heard these words:

『むしゃくしゃしてやった。 　今は後悔している』‥‥ "I done it in a fit of anger, Yer Honor, and now I regret what I done".

���‥の、パターンですな。 ...A common tale, but true.

<Apollo> （成歩堂さんは、ハッキリ言った。 　『７年間、負けたことがない』） (Methinks the judge watches too many old court movies.)

（‥‥この証言には、ゼッタイ 　“何か”あるはずだ！） (Mr. Wright said he hasn't lost in seven years, so this testimony must be wrong!)

I don't usually include entries for examples where the localizers dress up the text from the original, but this one here really bugs me. I'm not sure if it's a reference to some classic film or just a tip of the hat to classic American court drama movies in general.

If someone could help me pinpoint this one, please do.

> Press 2nd statement, press further

<Apollo> チップについて、くわしく 話していただけますか？ Maybe you could explain a bit about these "chips"?

<Olga> そ。そう言われましても‥‥ E-Explain? What is there to be explained?

<Objection!>

<Payne> チップはチップです。 Poker chips are poker chips.

いつまで待っても‥‥ キップにはなりませんぞ！ They're not fish and chips, not a chip off the old block, not a motorcycle cop, not a...

Okay, the "motorcycle cop" bit got me. I swear this was a popculture reference (was it a song? It sounds so familiar), but I don't remember exactly where it was from! Someone plz help.

As for the original script, Auchi makes a silly pun. "[Poker] chips are [poker] chips. No matter how long you wait... they won't become tickets!" (chips = chippu, ticket = kippu)

>

<Apollo> ‥‥はあ。 ...Thanks.

（セッカクだ。 　なにか聞かないとソンだな） (Now that I've pressed her I'd better ask something...)

たとえば‥‥そのチップ。 “円”ですか？　“ドル”ですか？ What are these chips worth? Are they in dollars? Or rubles, even?

<Olga> ‥‥あの。 先ほども申しましたけれど‥‥ ...Nyet. As I have been saying before, it was game, not gambling.

ギャンブルでは ございませんでしたから‥‥ Hard perhaps for capitalist to understand.

<Olga> “１０００点”と “１００点”の２種類。 Two types of chip: 100 points chip and 1,000 points chip.

おカネではございませんの。 It is not money, dah.

<Kristoph> ‥‥オドロキくん。 ...Justice.

<Apollo> はいッ！ Sir!

<Kristoph> 今の証言‥‥ ちょっと、おもしろいですね。 Don't you find her comment... interesting?

<Apollo> え‥‥ In more ways than one, sir.

<Kristoph> 私ならば‥‥そう。 証言に加えていただくところですが。 I'd have it added to her testimony, myself.

As funny as that capitalist line is, it's not found in the source, sorry, guys. Her text in Japanese is very formal, so it takes an extra box just to complete her sentence.

Also, worth to note that Odoroki here mentions yen and dollars, but not rubles, despite the restaurant being Russian-themed. Whether it's writer oversight or just Odoroki being uncultured will remain a mystery.

Lastly, Apollo's last line here makes him seem quite confident, but in the original, he seems just as confused as ever. This is made clearer when Apollo later presses the new statement.

> Press new statement

<Apollo> あの。小さい方が１００点、 大きい方が１０００点‥‥ Um. The small ones are 100, and the big ones 1,000...

で、いいんですよね。やっぱり。 Uh? Right? Right. Of course.

<Payne> フン！　 聞くまでもないでしょう。 Hah! Don't waste our time!

<Apollo> はあ‥‥ *sigh*

‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥ ...

<Judge> 終わりですか？　それで。 Is that all?

<Apollo> ええ、まあ。 Um... Yeah. *gulp*

（くそ。牙琉先生のせいで 　ハジをかいちまったぞ‥‥） (Great. Mr. Gavin made me stop her, and now I'm the one who looks dumb.)

<Kristoph> オドロキくん。 Oh, Justice?

<Kristoph> 私にハジをかかせないで もらえますか？ Please try not to embarrass me like that.

<Apollo> え！　オレがですか！ Huh? Who? Me!?

The subtleties of this joke conversation were lost in translation. After Apollo wastes time with that question, he grumbles to himself: "(Damn. Thanks to Garyu-sensei, I've made a fool of myself.)" "Odoroki-kun. Would you please not pin this embarassment on me?" "Huh! Me!?"

> After Present, select "Number of chips"

<Apollo> おかしいのは、チップの枚数‥‥ ですよね、先生？ The odd thing here is the number of chips... Right, Mr. Gavin?

<Kristoph> ‥‥なぜ、私に？ ...Why are you asking me?

<Apollo> その。念のため、というか！ Uh... Just in case?

<Kristoph> ‥‥オドロキくん。 もう少し、キチンと考えましょう。 Justice... It's your case I'm concerned about.

チップなら、写真を見れば すべて、写っています。 If you're wondering about the chips, just look at the photograph. It's all there.

老眼の裁判長さんでも カンタンに数えられますよ。 Even our judge with his failing eyesight could count them.

<Apollo> （‥‥あの裁判長なら、それでも 　まちがえるような気がする‥‥） (That's not the only thing failing the judge.)

Damn, what a burn. Odoroki in the OG script simply went: "(...Knowing this judge, he could get even that wrong...)" which is a fair effort, but not a wildfire level of damage.

> 3rd Witness Testimony, press 4th

<Apollo> 口論の内容は、おぼえてますか？ Do you recall what the men were arguing about?

<Olga> そうですね。たしか‥‥ Dah, I believe so...

被害者サマが『イカサマだッ！』と 叫びましたの。それに対して‥‥ The victim, he shouts, "you are cheater!" and then...

“異議がある”というようなコトを 被告人さまが‥‥ ...the defendant shouts something like, "I have objection!"

<Payne> ‥‥出ましたな。 おトクイの《異議あり！》が。 Shouting objection, eh? Old habits are hard to break!

まったく‥‥ハッタリづくしの 人生ですからな。被告人は。 First he bluffed his way through the courtroom, now he bluffs his way through life!

<Objection!>

<Apollo> しかし！　勝負の結果は、 成歩堂さんが“負けている”！ However! Mr. Wright lost the hand!

むしろ、アヤシイのは、 勝った被害者・浦伏さんでしょう！ That seems to cast the shadow of doubt on Mr. Smith!

<Olga> “イカサマをやった上、 　勝負にも負けた”‥‥ Humiliation from losing even when cheating...

そのクツジョクが、被告人の方の ココロに、火をつけたのですの。 That is what set fire to defendant's heart!

<Judge> ‥‥そして、火のついた 被告人は、どうしたのですかな？ So what did the flaming defendant do next?

Oh my God, as soon as I saw that "異議がある" (igi ga aru) my mind flashed back to those ridiculous Google Translated trailers of Gyakuten Saiban & Kenji on Nico Douga. Imagine if the devs at the time decided to play with Google Translate to see how "異議あり！" would look after switching it from Japanese to English and back. It would be one of the biggest brain plays by a game developer ever... which probably means it wasn't how it went, but it's fun to think about.

Anyway, I also like this snippet of dialogue for the judge's "flaming defendant", clearly alluding to "Phoenix" Wright. In JP, the bit about setting fire to his heart is just a common idiom in the first place, but who knows? “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney” had been selling fast in the West, so they could have been inspired.

> After Present, point out on the cards, examine victim's hand

<Apollo> 裁判長！　見てください！ 被害者のカードには、１枚‥‥ Your Honor! Look at this! One of the victim's cards...

ウラの色がちがうカードが まぎれこんでいますッ！ The back is a different color!

<Payne> え‥‥ええええッ！ Eh...? Ehhhhhh!?

<Olga> そ。そんなバカなッ！ Th-That's impossible!

アタシがシカケたのは、 成歩堂のほうなのに‥‥ But I put that card in Wright's hand...

あッ！ Ack!

<Kristoph> ‥‥今、なんと言いましたか、証人。 ...What was that, Ms. Orly?

<Olga> い‥‥いえ‥‥その。 アタシ‥‥わ、私は、ええと‥‥ No... Ny-Nyet! Er, I merely said, eh... Dah, I have, eek!

It's at this point when Olga's cover is blown, and in JP, it's more obvious because she stammers between using "atashi" vs "watashi". It's not very common to hear beginner Japanese students refer to themselves as the cutesy "atashi", though one who's a bit more well versed in the language or in anime may pick up on it.

> After Phoenix takes over the court, select when the cards were swapped, select "Olga Orly" who swapped them

<Phoenix> たしかに、あのゲームでは赤・青の ２種類のカードを使っていた。 Mixing a card from the wrong deck... when the backs are different colors?

しかし‥‥逆居　雅香は、 カードを配っていた張本人。 Remember that you're talking about Olga Orly... She was the dealer.

‥‥そんなミスを すると思うかい？ Do you really think she would make such a novice mistake?

<Apollo> （まあ‥‥オレでも 　まちがわないだろうな） (Actually, I have trouble imagining even the judge making that mistake.)

This is another case of the localizers dressing it up. Odoroki says here: "(Well... even I wouldn't make such a mistake.)" as if implying that he's the lowest common denominator here, haha!

> Back to Court Lobby

<Phoenix> 人間の思考・感情というものは ‥‥かならず。 Try as they might to conceal it, everyone reveals their true thoughts in the end.

身体から“情報”として 発信されている。 Their body language can become a valuable source of information.

<Apollo> そ。そんなバカな‥‥ You're kidding!

<Phoenix> たとえば。あの証人‥‥ 逆居　雅香を思い出してごらん。 That witness, for instance, Ms. Orly.

<Phoenix> 彼女は、ある証言をするとき‥‥ かならず“首筋をさする”。 She would touch the back of her neck during certain parts of her testimony.

‥‥気がついていたかい？ Did you notice?

<Apollo> い。いえ‥‥ （それどころじゃないよ、フツー） Uh... No. (C'mon, who'd notice that!?)

<Phoenix> “クセ”“コトバ”‥‥ それらが発する情報を読み解くこと。 Words, habits, twitches... It's all information for the reading.

それが、勝負に勝つ “鉄則”だよ、オドロキくん。 That's the secret to winning, Apollo.

まあ‥‥ぼくも“ある人物”に 教わったんだけどね。 Someone taught me, and now, I pass the secret on to you.

It's this quiet moment between the two of them that really parallels with how Mia used to talk with Phoenix, and it's beautifully poetic. And I'd like to note that even Phoenix's speech pattern throughout this convo is quite reminiscent of how Mia talked, but with a bit of Phoenix's own style. Though in that last line, he could possibly have meant Mia, but more likely meant a certain someone with a similar power to Apollo. Ya'll know who I mean, (W)right?

>

<Phoenix> ああ。それから、もうひとつ。 今回の事件だけどね。 Ah, almost forgot. One more thing. About this case...

ぼくはまだ、誰にも “本当のコト”を話してないんだよ。 You should know, I haven't told the truth to anyone yet.

<Apollo> えええええッ！ （や、やっぱり‥‥） Whaaaaaaaa--!? (I knew it!)

<Phoenix> もちろん、“理由”がある。 これからアキラカになるだろう。 I have my reasons, of course. All shall be revealed.

そして、ぼくの作戦には‥‥ きみが必要なんだよ。 And Apollo... I need you to be there, defending me.

きみの“能力”が、ね。 I need your power.

<Apollo> オレの、のうりょく‥‥ （声のデカさ、か‥‥？） My, um, power? (I had no idea my Chords of Steel were that special...)

The translation here is close enough, really, but Odoroki specifically describes it as the "intensity" of his voice and it's only the best answer.

--

Welp, I guess it’s back to the drafting board again and I may make this out as a daily or every-other-daily upload. We’ll see. I assure you, you won’t be waiting until next month, though!

[tonyglowheart]

Some thoughts on character naming conventions & cultural significance of name-shortening

I’m noticing a growing trend of people referring to characters from The Untamed by given name only (my theory is this is because of Netflix. Is it because of Netflix?), and while I’m starting to get more used to it and am also actively interrogating my own emotional reactions to it, I do want to provide some of my thoughts on cultural notes regarding naming conventions.

Point the first: Although in English-speaking culture(?)/American culture, naming characters by given-name-only may be the most neutral form of addressing a character, in Chinese, naming a character by full name (e.g. “Wei Wuxian,” “Lan Wangji”) would actually be the most neutral form of addressing a character/someone.

While you can call characters/people by given name only, this usually indicates usually a high level of personal familiarity (like Lan Xichen calling Lan Wangji by “Wangji” for example), or maybe a high level of disrespect/disregard (like in MDZS/CQL when characters refer to Wei Wuxian by his birth name “Wei Ying” as a sign of disrespect [e.g. we see Jin Ling do this, btw]).

Point the second: Additionally, and importantly, if a character’s given name is only one character, it would NOT tend to be called alone. I know Netflix has a habit of subbing people’s names as given-name-only, so then you get names like “Cheng” and “Ning” and “Qing”; however, in CN a single character name would not tend to be shortened alone. I’m not saying no one ever does this, but that more commonly, as a nickname/familiar form of address, something would be added to amend the single character. E.g. a “Xiao” (Little) or a “Lao” (Old, tho in this case not necessarily meaning the person is literally “old”), or “A-” as we see in canon (though I think Netflix also omits this :/), or “-er”, or doubling, etc.

One form we see in canon is “A-[x],” so e.g.: A-Yuan, and A-Ning (which Wen Qing calls Wen Ning), and A-Xian (which Jiang Yanli calls Wei Wuxian). (I think we may also see JYL call WWX “Xianxian”? so an example of doubling, too, though I’d say this version is more used “for kids” or more “cutesy” version)

In terms of name-shortening, “full-name neutral” is possibly why the prevalence in acronym shortening (the other may be the prevalence of danmei fandom on twitter [character limits]? and esp predating CQL growing bigger on tumblr? but this is anecdotal on my part, it’s also easier to type acronyms on a phone lol). Because acronyms preserves the whole name, essentially, within the structure. If you’re calling a character by given-name-only just as a way of shortening the name/for convenience, then imo you run into issues of imposing English/American naming conventions on Chinese characters, and that’s where I personally run into feeling like there’s possibly a respect issue at play towards the source culture, :’)

TL;DR : I would say “when in doubt, default to canon naming conventions,” except I think since Netflix does drop surnames in subs even though the characters are saying them, and puts in given-name-only when familial/honorific forms of address are used (like “Yanli” instead of Shijie), that might have set a certain Anglocentric/ Americentric precedent in people’s minds on the naming...

 In which case, I recommend “when in doubt, default to full names.” 

Now, I’m not saying you HAVE to refer to characters by full name only or else you’re a Bad Terrible Person, or that you are doing things The Wrong Way if you find given-name-only easier for you, nor am I saying you HAVE to use acronyms to shorten character names, (since yeah, that is an EN adaptation to pinyin also anyway), (and like, I can’t control what other people do lmao)

But I did want to provide some cultural notes for people who maybe don’t know or haven’t considered that there even would be cultural issues at play with naming conventions, and would (hopefully) like to learn more about & immerse more in the source culture instead of just going with their comfort zone, which...at worst ends up coming across as Americans/Anglophones imposing their culture on others without really taking the time and effort to respect the source culture

Edit: lol uh *suddenly remembers this thing* o yeah here’s a terminology reference someone wrote up that gives a lot of information on naming and relationship terms & forms of address

Edit 2: follow-up ask regarding use of acronyms

Another Not-quite Ask Response to an anon I got which I was going to go back to and answer “formally,” regarding name use and third person “internal” narration. (tl;dr, Chinese has all these third person self-referential pronouns/pronoun structures that I think ppl are much more likely to think or refer to themselves as, if they’re not just outright referring to themselves as “I” in terms of internal narration. imo third person narration, someone is much more likely to refer to themselves as 本人(”benren,” meaning vaguely “this person”) as a more general term, or any variation of these kinds of self-referential third-person forms of address, vs by name.) Which is to say.. I think it's a moot point as far as how it would translate, so it's not like "but how would a char refer to themselves?" rly helps. Most if not all Chinese media I've seen uses full name for narration, bc as I said, that's the most neutral form of address. If you wanted to "compromise" for English then ofc I can't stop you. But naming habits very quickly is becoming a "no brown m&ms" issue, of "does it seem likely you're trying to write respectfully, or just treat it like a China: Through the Looking Glass situation."

(under the cut if you want some more expansive thoughts/discussions)

[cut]

So. This is where I go a bit more stream-of-consciousness/a lot messy maybe, and also share some more personal feelings on this. uhh strap in if you plan to read through this I guess :’D

My reason for bringing this whole thing up is, in honestly, fueled by a quite visceral initial discomfort with seeing given-name-only forms of address in tumblr posts that keep cropping up, and especially single-character-only being bandied about all over the place. Honestly, seeing “””Ning””” and “””Cheng”””  and “”””Qing””””” etc give me similar *Kill Bill Sirens* feelings that the “””””Childe””””” translation for gong’zi that Tencent does gives me lol.

I’ve been in the process of interrogating also my own reactions of discomfort, and while some of it IS down to familiarity in form - in that I just wasn’t familiar with seeing given-name-only’s, and that I do kind of feel like I can accept it a bit more now that I’ve seen it around and gotten a bit more used to it - but another thing that I think became important to me was my reflections on how this reflects a sort of culture clash, with different cultural norms coming into play, and also how much this kind of hits home personally.

So one hand, you may say that for an English-speaking/Western audience, it’s perfectly valid for them to engage with the source media in English according to their familiar conventions, which is the given-name-only convention. However, as an Asian American, my first impulse on seeing a lot of given-name-only bandied about was that this was a form of address was too casual/presumptive and perhaps unintentionally disrespectful.

Within a sort of meta-Doylist perspective, I think it reads to me as odd because with fictional characters, an audience member wouldn’t necessarily HAVE a personal familiar relationship the way the characters within the media have with one another. You’re essentially a third-person observer on “someone” else’s life if we’re getting really meta-texual lol. It’s different than if you meet someone  in person and they/their friends introduce themselves as “Xiao’Ling” for example because their friends call them that. And a sort of example of where we DO get a familiar form of address as an introduction is with A-Jing, who is just introduced as A-Jing and is just A-Jing. (and ofc there’s an interesting cultural discussion to be had on her lack of family name and how that familiar form of address indicates her relative social status, too, since the idea that she’s family-less and is of relatively lower social status as a “blind” beggar and so more people would feel free to address her by a familiar form of address vs Lan Wangji who is the second son of a major clan and so it would be kind of insulting for people to be casually calling him “Wangji,” even)

Now, the specifics of arguing “how close are you with a character” is a point I’m willing to soften on, since like... this is quibbling something that I can’t really argue on or fully pin down to explain other than “it feels weird” (tho I was venting about some of my Kill Bill Sirens feeling with another Chinese friend and they mentioned “it’s disrespectful, isn’t it?” regarding given-name only and that kind of got me thinking), and getting into arguing “well you’re not as personally close with a fictional character to be allowed to call him by given name” is. not a kind of argument I ever want to be having lmao. and also I can see there being cases where, for example, you’re getting really emotional over a specific character and it doesn’t ping my radar - although for me, I think in these cases, I tend to default to birth names lol. Like when I’m especially emotional over Wei Wuxian, I start sobbing over Wei Ying, and I think I generally tend to call Lan Wangji as “Lan Zhan” anyway lol.

(Actually, no, I just tried calling a bunch of characters by given name only and it’s just weird to me to think about addressing characters by given name only, lol, it DOES feel too presumptive/familiar :’) it hits on uncanny-valley cultural notes to just do so casually D: this is like calling your...e.g your high school teacher by given name (like when a teacher is just Ms. [xx] but after you graduate they’re like you can call me [first name] but you just can’t?), like that just? doesn’t Work Like That? D: I think the only reason “Wangji” works for me is because Lan Xichen calls LWJ that, and it’s a cute moment, and I feel like I’m invoking LXC’s love for his brother when I do that :’) this. does get more into personal preference yeah but I do think it’s also tied into cultural concepts of respectful forms of address, especially across rank/age/level of familiarity)

But also I mean. this whole though process is a work in progress for me, too, in terms of me interrogating my own emotional reactions, and in terms of me trying not to cross over into “policing” how people engage in fandom. And like... being more honest with myself about it, yeah the acronym structure - which, although I am now more used to - is still an English-specific adaptation, and one which CAN be open to discussion/alternatives. And again, I’m not saying that you HAVE to use acronyms either, as that IS an English adaptation to pinyin anyway. But that I think there is good reason for it, and it’s not just something someone made up to personally target people or whatever.

But the other part where respect is brought up for me is a matter of respect for Chinese culture. Now, I do understand not everyone may be wanting to immerse within the source culture in that way. And I, with gritted teeth :’) say... FINE. because I can’t control what other people do ofc. But again for me, this hits home quite personally, because I DID grow up experiencing a lot of microaggressions with Asianness being dismissed as “weird” or “too foreign” or “too difficult to understand.” It’s the reason why Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans have to have “English names” that we go by, because sometimes even the pinyin of our names are “too difficult” for people to want to try to pronounce.

And listen, I’m maybe more defensive of some of these cultural notes than a Chinese person in China would be, who may be charmed or amused by what to THEM would be “funny foreign habits”; but I’ve also been threatened more for my Asianness than a Chinese person in China would have, and I have also had to work harder to reclaim my heritage from a prevailing culture which is now more centered within my identity but which simultaneously works hard to erase my heritage from me, and at the same time also alienates me from truly “belonging” without me fighting for it. So... yeah when I did see people casually say “well this is what I think works for me,” I...on one hand want to be like “okay I understand and respect that,” as I recognize to be good fandom etiquette! but on the other hand it reminds me too much of Americans going, like, “this is too difficult, do you have an English name?”

where it feels more like a matter of people aren’t putting in the effort to learn a name that is foreign to them, aren’t putting in the RESPECT to learn a different culture and thinking it’s fine to just impose their own (like this does, for me, trip into the “mmmm cultural imperialism, hm? not cute” kind of territory :’) )

And I am aware that many people may NOT realize that there ARE cultural issues at play with the naming, and that some people (lmao like me) might be sensitive to some of this.

But like. I felt strongly about it lol, and at the very least, I wanted to try to provide some food for thought that people hopefully would take :’)

And ig sort of lastly, I am ofc open to discussion on this topic! I am, after all, a single Chinese American with my single Chinese American perspective on this specific cultural topic! But I do ask of you, if you find yourself reacting to this emotionally in some way, please try to sit with the emotions yourself for a bit? I mean I know I’ve been guilty of reacting emotionally, and reacting by speaking first before pausing a moment to process the emotions. But like I’m putting it out there already that this IS also an emotionally charged topic for me, and overlaps into emotionally-charged issues relating to cultural imperialism and my own experiences as Chinese American. So I ask that if you do have a specific emotional reaction, to please pause and let it distill a little before unleashing it on me :’) This is one of those *John Mulaney voice* things I’m sensitive about :’)

And also if you do use “given name only” this is not a personal attack on you, I am not saying you’re a horrible American cultural imperialist for doing so, nor am I saying you’re being maliciously thoughtless and disrespectful. (I’m also learning more and more that there are certain cultural things I’d taken for granted/had assumed has become more common concepts in English, such as “face,” which actually are still utterly foreign to some people.)

I am just personally tired but also opinionated to a fault and want to share my thoughts on where I’m coming from, culture-wise with this.

[wolfgrowlwrites]

Tribe of Rushing Water Analysis

Since people were curious both on my thoughts about the Tribe of Rushing Water in Canon and how I’ve rewritten them in my fic Ties that Bind, here’s the massive post on it. If you read this entire thing, thank you.

--- 

Alright so I’m not much of an internet funnyman but I was an English Major and someone with a hyperfixation on the Warrior Cats series so it’s time to analyze the Tribe! The following post will include Spoilers for Watership Down (yeah the rabbit book, I’ll come back to this) and I will speak openly about the Warriors Series as a whole with the assumption that the people reading have already read the books in question. The goal of this is to discuss the Tribe’s narrative placement in the story, and what I’m doing with them in my rewrite.

Now Warriors was originally just going to be one book, and then six, and then first three books of the second arc. The weird effects this has on the narrative and tone is best explored elsewhere, but I bring this up because Midnight, Moonrise and Dawn were meant to be a trilogy ending the series. And this trilogy was based on nothing other than Watership Down, all of which is important to consider when we talk about the Tribe. The Tribe was meant to only appear briefly, which means there was no need for fleshing them out, and they are the Warriors parallel of Cowslip’s Warren.

For those of us who haven’t read Watership Down, it is a story about a bunch of rabbits who have a prediction of the destruction of their home and set out on a quest to find a new one. (Sounds familiar right?) One of the dangers they run into along the way is what originally appears to be a friendly warren run by a rabbit named Cowslip. The rabbits immediately find themselves on edge, as while this warren is exceptionally friendly there is the underlying evidence that something is wrong. When they ask questions the natives to the burrow deflect and dance around answering, and while their customs seem similar, they’re different enough to be unsettling. Behold, I’ve described the Tribe in Moonrise. And like the Tribe, the fact that Cowslip’s Warren is hiding is that there’s something extremely dangerous hunting them. Cowslip’s warren is being maintained by humans who are actively snaring the rabbits, and the Tribe has Sharptooth who is also hunting them. In fact, the snares almost kill one of the traveling rabbits, while Feathertail does end up dying to Sharptooth.

(Thank god I’m doing this on Tumblr not Twitter, god this thread would be unbearable.)

(For those who have read Watership Down, Brook is probably supposed to be Strawberry.)

So narratively, the Tribe are there to be a hinderance to the traveling cats who seem friendly and similar to them but have a danger to them that will put the traveling cats at risk. That is the role they’re meant to play, and as the series was meant to end after Dawn, the Erins didn’t need to flesh the Tribe out really beyond that.

But then money and the publishers spoke and the series continued and we returned to the Tribe except uh… huh. Honestly I kinda don’t want to get into this because it’s the same thing every time. The Tribe, who when we first meet them are described as huge and able to fight eagles, and are well adapted for life on the mountains, have encountered some problem and only the Clan cats can save them. Rinse and repeat. And as someone who has attempted to figure out the Tribe’s Allegiances, if you thought they were bad about remembering details for the Clans oh boy. For specific citations of the Tribe needs the Clans help, oh no, please see Moonrise, Outcast, Sign of the Moon, and Tawnypelt’s Clan. Sign of the Moon in particular because a Clan cat straight up choses the Tribe’s new leader. Can you imagine how the Clans would react if a Tribe cat tried that?

But it’s okay right because of the whole time-travel thing which means that Jayfeather actually founded the Tribe and named the first Stoneteller. I could write an entire essay on how much I hate this plot point, but that’s not the point here. The more important part is that some how the Tribe went from names like Stone Song, Half Moon, Lion’s Roar, Clear Sky, Gray Wing, etc. to names like Brook where Small Fish swim. I, as a white guy, don’t want to touch the racism there, I’m pretty sure other people have explained it better than I can, but the short version is that a group named the Tribe with names like Jagged Rock where Heron Nest comes off like a stereotype for Native Americans, at least from my white American experience. So, uh, solid yikes on that one, especially when those aren’t even the names they use (because of course not they’re a fucking mouthful) which gets to the world building point I’m gonna touch on instead.

The Ancients become the Tribe but somehow the names grow so long that they all have to go by nicknames that… almost resemble what Ancient names were to begin with? I understand this is because the Tribe’s naming convention got established before the time loop thing, but honestly, there is no reason they should’ve been named like that and in fact more reasons why they shouldn’t have. Between the racism and then from a writing perspective, what is the point, of having names like that if they’re never used? Like narratively it makes no sense from the start, and the Time Travel plot only makes that more obvious.

All that said, I actually super adore the Tribe! I wish they’d been handled differently in a lot of places but they had so much potential to be cool that got lost along the way. So thus, we come to my rewrite. If you’re just here for Tribe Analysis you’re free to go, but if you’re here for how I’m rewriting the Tribe than settle in.

---

In my rewrite the Tribe has Ancient names from the get go, because it makes more sense and allows for the Tribe to serve its original narrative function, that is, a place similar to what the Clan Cats are used enough to be comfortable, but different enough to be unsettling. The Tribe has ancestors not unlike StarClan but I have the Tribe’s worship working very differently. Stone Tellers are raised from birth to serve as a guiding force for the Tribe because they are the ones that can speak to the ancestors, and every full moon, when the Cave of Pointed Stones glows, they lead their tribe to speak with their ancestors, in something not unlike a gathering, but it is meant to be a form of remembrance, as they are sharing news with their ancestors instead.

The Tribe has very extreme views of their ancestors, refusing to take the Tribe of Endless Hunting’s name in vain. It is also believed that a Tribe cat that has passed cannot move on to the Tribe of Endless Hunting until a final task has been completed. This task is something the cat would’ve wanted to do while alive, but didn’t get to, so now one of their family, or a close friend, does it in their place. (To a reasonable extent, for example telling someone that the cat who died was in love with them, not settling down with them to raise a family because that’s what the dead cat wanted to do.) Those who have not moved on linger as ghosts. They don’t have stars in their pelts, and they don’t have the ability to see the future to warn their Tribemates the way StarClan or the Tribe of Endless Hunting do. They are capable of speaking to those who can see them, usually Stone Teller, but otherwise they tend to simply watch and wait for someone to help them move on.

The Tribe believes that the future is chosen by the Tribe of Endless Hunting, to challenge their omens is the most heretical thing a cat can do. The current Stone Teller decides a cat’s future when they are born, Cave-guard, Prey-Hunter, or rarely, the next Stone Teller. Those kits are taken by the current Stone Teller once they’re old enough to be weaned and raised in the Cave of Pointed Stones. Their name is chosen by the current Stone Teller and stripped from them when they become the next Stone Teller. Stone Teller is meant to be the ancestor’s conduit to the living and an impartial leader to the Tribe. However, not every leader can live up to those expectations, and should the Tribe begin to doubt the current Stone Teller’s capability to guide them, they can make a new cat leader. This cat would do the job of leading the Tribe, while Stone Teller continues to serve as the medicinal and spiritual leader. This rarely happens, and when it does it is rarely so clean cut, as no one particularly enjoys admitting they’ve made a mistake and need to be replaced as leader.

The Stone Teller is assisted in leading the Tribe by the head of the Cave-Guards and the head of the Prey-Hunters, these are seen as the cats that are best at that job and capable of quick decision making and good judgement calls. They often work together to organize hunting patrols and discuss issues in the territory, often presenting Stone Teller with their solutions alongside problems.

Honestly the Tribe won’t be playing a very large role in my rewrite as a whole, but since they have an entire arc dedicated to them, I wanted to make sure I had them well fleshed out. There’s a few details I’ve left out because this is long enough, but if you’re curious about anything I’ve said either about the Tribe or my rewrite, hit me up.