#this is in general btw unrelated to my last posts

[yourhoeshorses]

Wait a second... can someone with more understanding of fandom cultures explain something to me?

Do people ship characters because they believe they are going to be a cannon thing????? I thought it was just for fun?? I'm like, oh these two characters seem fun together, what if they dated. I just be mixing and matching these bitches I legit dgaf if it actually happens or not.

Maybe it's just whatever weird end of tiktok I'm on, or maybe it's just something I never picked up on until now, but like,,, people will say, "oh these ships are invalid cuz they won't be cannon" OK????? AND??? It's just fun

Like I remember being a kid and watching shows and my friends being like oh did you see that (insert ship name) scene???? Like girl I don't care. Two characters could never have interacted and I'm gonna ship them.

And that's all I thought it ever was? Is it like,, different now or some shit?

[emmitaaa4]

Minor HOFAS spoilers ig?

The Walmart bonus chapter just leaked and good lord some people need to be for real. I'm so tired of people picking and choosing evidence.

So you're telling me that *gasp* Azriel's shadows seem to dance when he hums?? they react to sound/music?? no way. people from all sides of the fandom have been saying that for years (and use it for different arguments), and looks like ppl are still tying anything they can to feed their ship--which is fine but at least make it somewhat accurate.

The above is the last page of the Az/Bryce/Nesta chapter, and just as a refresher, this is the oh-so controversial phrases from the Az bonus chapter:

"(...) one of his shadows went out to dance with it (gwyn's breath) before twirling back to him. like it heard some silent music." and "(...) he could have sworn a faint, beautiful singing followed him. could have sworn his shadows sang in answer."

I'm confused, which is it? Was the shadow's reaction to her breath & the singing he heard all metaphorical, thereby hinting at a mating bond between gwyn & az (as in "music between souls")? Or was it rather azriel's shadows reacting to a literal sound coming from someone who has arguably been hinted at having some voice/song-related abilities? Because if it is the first, then this new HOFAS excerpt is completely unrelated. Well unless Azriel has a mating bond with himself? pleaseee make it make sense I beg. And if the second is true, it would mean that for someone to be able of making his shadows dance, they'd have to have similar powers as him... its just gonna fuel the lightsinger theories (which btw approx 5 ppl are saying means that gWyn is eViL) so this literally changes nothing. nada. absolument rien.

Oh also.

"He says no partner right now, aka NO FUCKING ELRIEL. ELRIEL IS DEAD." (no hate to whoever posted that btw)

He literally rushes out that answer. Idk about you guys but to me the poor man still seems internally dead over the whole mate existential crisis, which as far as we know was left with him wondering "what if the cauldron was wrong". Sidenote but if I understood correctly, this all happens 2-3 months post acosf and Bryce spends ±5 days in Prythian, so it is very likely that it is all set during Acotar 5, and that the events of HOFAS in general are happening while Az is separated from the other MC (ie. the acotar5 FMC).

Regardless of all I just said, I am going to ask people once again to be for real. cause this whole chapter Azriel keeps glaring at Nes when she is about to reveal too much info, so WHY would he be mentioning Elain (or literally anyone he cares about) to someone who he is said to be highly suspicious of? make it make sense x2

Almost forgot. Last thing.

"Azriel said that Nesta killed the King! He didn't credit Elain!"

... no? for context, this is what Az said:

See my second point above. He told Bryce exactly what Nes did, and nothing more: she beheaded Hybern. We could speculate about what his look at Truthteller made him think of... but tbh I'll leave it to someone else cause perso I dont really see the point.

I am getting tired guys... guess who finally understands what "fandom fatigue" is.

-----quick edit-----

I don't mean to sound hypocritical by tagging ships, cause tbh i dont even wanna put acotar ship tags to this, mais bon c'est la vie et j'en peux plus. this fandom is kind of a mess. Goodnight loves ♡

[absolutely-not-my-main-blog]

Random Risk E. Rat Notes before I go scrolling my dash at last

-The gang all singing together in the opening, I am kissing them on the lips

-The timing of that opening felt off though, the pacing/timing of the whole episode felt a little off.

-Dennis vaguely mentioning the noises in there, no I am not gonna blow this out of proportion and daydream overstimulation scenarios, I'm not, I'm not (that's a lie).

-Kinda dog-coded Frank again with the water, can't wait to read the essays on that.

-I find it really interesting they decided to team up Dee and Frank once again this season, though I'm too tired to formulate thoughts on why, I just... it's interesting. There's something there... something.

-Charden kicking the wall together, they're so stupid (affectionate) <3

-You can do whatever you want, the parents not around, I wonder if Mac's parents would just like dump him there so they wouldn't have to deal with him for the day and he'd end up in that timeout room a lot because he was angry, he needed a way to let out his anger... the fake gun he wanted to get with the tickets, oh guns again this season, I've got thoughts now for another post, don't mind me, very unrelated.

-I find it interesting the different levels of awareness, how they're all still stuck in the past because it's what they always knew, but on some level can understand why things had to change, especially when confronted with something they recognize as bad that say Frank still doesn't, yet they still cling to it because that's how it's been done, tradition, legacy, they don't actually want what what was there, the punishment? the guilt? even the rat boobs, but they want to cling on to it because they fear change, because if it changed, that means it was wrong, like how it changed from Frank's day, and then they have to face that their childhood memories of this one safe haven were not all roses, so they try to force the past back into the present to prove it was better then... and things go horribly wrong, because some things are better left in the past... seen through rose coloured glasses, but what happens when they do come to the surface, when they see it in new context, just like the whole show lately slowly becoming more tragic in hindsight with each passing detail. This episode reminds me of Big Mo in a way.

-Partly on that above note, for real, Charlie and Dennis sound so unenthusiastic/uninterested in those rat boobs, like an ace and a gay man looking at them just because they think they should, they think that's how it's supposed to be.

-Mac in the feelings room saying he's angry, and he feels misunderstood, unheard, just in this instance or in general, throughout? (Unheard, as he's not supposed to speak.) Misunderstood as our perception of him and his actions this season may not be as it seems. I also find it interesting he's separated from the gang again... And he still feels the need to be punished and feel shameful... maybe he thinks he doesn't deserve that relationship with Donald or Dennis, or... idk, just... much to think about. That theme of denial... needing to deny and look back to cope. To believe his parents still loved him, feeling guilty and being punished is what kids are supposed to go through and he’s not allergic to nuts and Dennis isn’t Johnny. (Also, off topic, Mac with his lil juice box, adorable.)

-Sending Dennis to the Feelings Centre immediately btw

-"I don't 100% understand what satire means." Dee, voice of Reddit today.

-In my mind, Dennis took the ear plugs :) noise sensitive dennis real to me

[melodiousmonsters]

I'm updating how I do my monstiary pages! And more stuff about the monstiary.

Hi everyone, I have ended my break of doing monstiary pages as I have gotten my motivation back and hopefully won't loose it again : ]. With my break I came up with some ideas to make the pages better than they were before so I shall explain how they will work from now on.

(There's art under the cut I promise)

Firstly I made a standard layout for the monstiary pages that all of them will follow from now on, Sooza was used as an example because it's one of my favorite monsters.

Btw I will be making my own drawings of the elemental sigils because I feel like giving myself too much work. Of course the pages will be colored I just did sketches for the examples because, for the third time, lazy. The first thing spoken about in the monstiary posts will be a general description of the monster, followed by random biology facts, then some ecology if I have some.

Secondly I made a character to be writing all these pages in universe! Mons. Booksby (Mons. is used as a suffix [or something idk what that type of thing is called but you know it's like Mr. or Mrs.] to proclaim an individual as important) a chipper fluffy Bowgart who had an interest in monster/critter biology and art. I don't have a first name for it so I will only refer to it as its last name. They were alive during the very early ages of the modern monster world and also technically the very late ages of the time period directly after the dawn of fire because they were turned into a statue by the events of the cataclysm. Long story, unfortunately it doesn't remember anything from before they were a statue other than that it was taking art classes.

I did a little comparison in that doodle page of a standard Bowgart and Booksby to 1: show the unique traits of Booksby and 2: to show how much individuals tend to variate from the standard individuals shown in my monstiary pages. Also that's it at the beginning of its monstiary project, it was very VERY old at the end of the project as shown in this self portrait with the finished monstiary (don't mind me I just wanted to try out a more painterly style real quick, also forgot the tuning pegs on the horns, oops!) Also btw all of my msm characters use it/its pronouns unless stated otherwise as it's the closest to the translation of the monstrous pronouns used for referring to a sentient being, but because they don't know English nor have an idea of genders or whatever they don't mind being referred to as other pronouns if you feel like it I guess.

Not a lot is actually known about Booksby as an individual as it wrote very little about itself, taking pride in its inpersonal writing style for its academic work. Also as a totally unrelated side not that did not cause me to make that previous decision about the character, I suck at writing character specific dialogue. Though they did add little notes to some drawings they made and that's the closest anyone has to any personal information about it.

Finally I will now be using the tag monstiary for anything relating to the monstiary to make it easier to access. idk how to end this lol bye come back tomorrow to see monster taxonomy and some explanation of that because that's what I'm doing next!

[chernikastan]

I keep seeing people believe, quite firmly so, that Gou is gonna leave the series once Scarlet and Violet release. But... the only reasonings I ever see for that boil down to "because that's what it's always been like". So now I decided I will list all the reasons why I don't think so and why Anipoke fans should consider the fact that yes, the series is perfectly capable of not sticking to status quo, which PM even repeatedly proved throughout its run so far. Have fun reading my rambling xhfhfhfgf

- Shortly before the announcement of PM, anipoke_pr was created to advertise the new series. While also just a sensible decision in the online world, this marks a notable difference in the marketing of the series.

- Among the advertisements, the sentiment of this time there being two protagonists got highlighted. Gou was the first new character to be introduced. Back in Diamond and Pearl, Dawn was advertised as the second protagonist too though and she visibly took over that role.

- When he got announced, anipoke_pr also showed a concept art from Ken Sugimori, the main character and Pokémon designer for the games since the beginning. Although not all of them have been designed by him, every canon character and Pokémon in the main games has an official artwork by him. Alongside Gou, the only anime-only characters to have that are Team Rocket. As far as I know, the post never specified if Sugimori also designed him, but the artwork does look like a (at least finalised) concept artwork, so it's pretty likely.

- Due to the begin of the Reiwa period in Japan, the directors of the anime said that the series went back to just being called Pocket Monsters to mark the new period. The last time the series was just called Pocket Monsters was the very first season. (Thus why I call it PM in this text instead of Journeys)

- Ever since PM, the anime had a couple notable changes to the storytelling: Satoshi (Ash) does not own any of the new starters, he did not catch the regional bird Pokémon of SwSh (Rokidee), the story takes place over all regions, not just Galar, he owns Pokémon that fans have been hoping for him to have in a long time (like Lucario), he doesn't take on the regional gym challenge, despite Galar emphasizing on gyms more than ever.

- Notably, the episode about how Gou and Tokio (Horace) met is the first episode in the entire series that doesn't even mention Satoshi or Pikachu. Keep in mind this never happened before in over a thousand episodes.

- Gou is, very boldly so, based on Pokémon Go. So unlike any of the previous companions, he is not based on something specific to the new mainline games, but a massively popular mobile game that exists alongside them. Since Pokémon Go adds a new generation each year, by 2024 it will be the only game that lets you catch every Pokémon. Just like Gou's goal. His sweater is by the way a permanently available clothing option that you don't have to buy extra in the game. Him being based on an unrelated game also means one should question why, if he leaves at all, it should be tied to the mainline games' releases.

- On the 25th anniversary date, anipoke_pr uploaded a special video focusing on Satoshi. In it they showed, in chromological order, every moment at which he met one of his Pokémon. Then at the end it highlights the moment he met Gou. Gou is the only other human character to appear, let alone be highlighted, in that video.

- There's a bunch of notable storytelling aspects: The series focuses mainly on showcasing and developing the relationship between the two. They very boldly want you to know that Satoshi and Gou have become very close friends that desire to share a future together (v gay btw heheh). The end of the Mewtwo episode shoves it into your face with Satoshi correcting Gou and saying the future lies in both their hands whilst crossing them. Aside from that being a blessing for shippers, it makes it very clear that this is meant to tell others these characters come in a pack now. There's no Satoshi without Gou and no Gou without Satoshi, they both take the main role together and keep it. Alongside that, we have episodes highlighting and paralleling their goals. That happens in the one where they have to lead a group of younger kids through town as well as in the Project Mew episode with Drake. Back in AG, Drake's advise to Satoshi was very important for the story. Same here, when Drake inspires them by saying that once he reached a goal, he'll just look for another one, because the journey is what matters, not the goal.

- I've seen a lot of people say Project Mew is a means to write Gou out of the series. Why exactly that should be the case, I'm not sure. He has joined the project now, yet has still more than enough time to watch Satoshi's tournament. It has been shown that the next thing Project Mew has to face is Regigigas, with Mew still not in sight. Dropping Gou at this point would mean dropping the entire plotline of at least facing Mew, which would be an incredibly strange decision after having hyped it up for so long.

- Talking about weird decisions, anipoke first and foremost exists as a big advertisement to sell the games and merchandise. It's part of why Pokémon is such an enourmous franchise. Creating a character to advertise their super popular and lucrative mobile game is a pretty smart idea. Dropping that character again after three years after having deliberately designed him for that purpose isn't. I've heard people argue that "Pokémon Go is popular enough, it doesn't need advertising", but by that logic something like McDonald's can stop advertising too because everyone knows McDonald's. However the fact that they keep advertising is how they make sure they keep driving in new customers as well as maintaining the ones they already have. Same with Pokémon. The franchise is so extremely successful exactly because they keep advertising towards new kids (and people in general) despite the already existing success. In other words, from a marketing perspective, it makes no sense to create a character to advertise a game, then drop him just because despite said game still being relevant. More likely than not, Gou will exist for as long as Pokémon Go is a thing that's getting updates etc. So good luck getting rid of him, haters, the gay cartoon boy you hate so much is here to stay.

Idk if I have missed anything now. If so I might just add it to the list. But yeah, I've wanted to do an extensive post about this for a long time. Because we know people who hate Gou try to find any excuse under the sun why he's gonna leave because they want it to happen so badly. But I am also mildly disappointed in the people that do love the character, but instead of doing their research just blindly believe the haters when it comes to this. Because I've really tried to find reasons to believe him leaving so strongly, but all that happened is that I found out how much the "Gou stays" arguments outweigh the other side lol. I guess thanks for encouraging me to do research to make me prove my point.

Now granted, of course it could still, despite everything, be the case. But I just want people to know that it's not the obvious outcome that many think it is. So I'll just keep sticking to my points and if they drop him after all... I'll go on with my life and keep drawing whatever I like, what do you expect me to do dgdgcgdgsg

Thanks for reading my little rant to the very end ugu nya

[crowtrobotx]

I didn’t know if you were comfortable having your last post reblogged or if it was personal but i just wanna say i absolutely agree. i find myself doing the same w comparing kudos and comments and hits with other works that have more ‘mainstream’ tags and pairings. and it sucks. not only since i don’t like comparing creative works but because those works also deserve appreciation. they just get a lot more attention than works with the same passion and dedication behind them that just. don’t fit the rest of the fandom’s very limited focus.

i’m not gonna put myself on that list bc i have a lot more practice to do when it comes to novel-style writing (i’m better w scripts or just crafting stories in general) but the amount of god tier fics (like your own) have so much genuine love put into them that get crumbs of praise of what they wholly deserve when compared with other stuff. IT SUCKS. i wish fandom would start encouraging people to explore different stories or just. like you said. find stuff past their comfort level. AND THEY MIGHT FIND SMTH THEY LIKE. either way they’ll make a less appreciated author really happy someone checked out their stuff.

also unrelated but people would have a much normal approach to fanfiction if they branched out. people have a very limited view on derivative fiction bc they don’t search past the occasional smut one shot.

Okay now that I am not dead and deceased I can formulate a response. 💀 but YES these are my exact thoughts! esp the last part!

Like I obviously don’t think folks who create for whatever’s popular in the moment are somehow Bad - and I completely understand why artists in particular who make a significant income on their comms/fan art have to stay abreast of the current hype trains, as sucky as it is - but I dunno. I see those posts go around from time to time like “let’s hear it for the under-appreciated works!” and they get SO many likes/reblogs and it’s like….. lmao okay but where are all you people on AO3/in the notes of the fics posted here???

I know I’ve been posting about the same game/old man for over two years now so me saying ‘maybe folks should branch out’ might sound hypocritical but truly, I do fear that the very narrow focus in some fans/fandoms, as you said, is pushing even professional creators to start making things that feed into those desires. Because it’s profitable and guaranteed to have reach, which in the end results not in art but a product.

I so appreciate your compliments btw and I am gritting my teeth trying to accept them without insisting that I am undeserving lol. Your fic is honestly so wonderful too and I want to run around holding it up to everyone I see like Patrick doing the “YOU LOOK AT IT” scene in SpongeBob. Ily thank you for always ranting with me in my inbox, our galaxy brains are truly not appreciated in our time.

[xyilous]

long post ahead, im now sure how cut down the post so you have the option to read it rather than needing to scroll a bunch on mobile :((

art but with lore this time !!

copy and pasting this from my twitter so if it’s sloppy it’s because i’m too lazy to proofread my infodump

lore time but i’m nervous and awkward!! bit of backstory before hand, max (dragon dude) worked at the palace from a young age, up until lucio’s death

since he was an ass he was in the dungeon quite often and julian was more or less his caretaker during those times. part of his punishment for being a hateful was fighting in the coliseum, this specific time he was made to go against muriel and got carried away, ended with a spear through his shoulder (cause of big scar in pic)

the whole ordeal sent him into shock and he wouldn’t let julian heal him (wouldn’t let him close enough and was aware of how bad it’d hurt him) but dummy eventually passed out from blood loss

anyways i’m sure it’d be the dumbest idea to put someone who’s bleeding out in water but,, idk it was a good idea at the time

slightly unrelated, but more background info

during his years of working at the palace he was more or less used as lucio’s trophy to earn pity points. any kind of resistance or “rebellion” was seen as him misbehaving and he’d be sent to the dungeon, he got progressively worse as he got older, esp after atlas’ ( @maxoltoll ‘s oc) died from the plague, and ended up being a suspect for lucio’s murder as well as julian because of his irritability, appearance, and the general idea of him being able to use/cast fire magic (technically true, v ooc tho)

Atlas fits significantly more into the player’s role in the game btw, he worked with julian during the plague but wasn’t around max a ton

the two of them lived with asra, but max worked at the palace under the promise of keeping the shop up without having to pay for it. he knew what he was to lucio and used that to his advantage

forgot to mention this but in the dungeon he had to deal with valdemar a LOT, no unnecessary surgeries or possibly fatal procedures/medicines could be done or used but other than that anything was on the table

ALSO nadia kept lucio in check/from overdoing it but she was busy a lot so she wasn’t there to save the day very often

the event in the drawing specifically was one of those times she didn’t get the chance to step in and not much could be done since it was so fast

last thing for now, i like to think that the memory the mc and julian saw of muriel in the coliseum is max, julian, and atlas in the au and they’re watching the whole spear in shoulder thing happen in real time

id love to make a comic of it but alas, bitchez are fatigued </33

[thekaijudude]

Alright, seeing as you told me that I should make an art blog (which I already basically have, just not on Tumblr) in my last qn, this qn will be about a different topic from the previous one, though it’s still a topic pertaining to Milave.

Basically, after you told me Milave’s base form design looked more like a Orb/Geed/Z type fusion rather than a pure fusion, I tried to come up with reasons I could give for why his design looks that way. But, then I realized that, with the plan I’ve had for his nature since ages ago, he really isn’t either of those types of fusions: he’s more or less both types at the same time.

Long story short, like the Orb/Geed/Z type fusions, he is a character completely unrelated to his components, yet he’s also like the pure fusions because his components need to all be present to fuse in order to form him. Also, before you say he’s just the same type of Fusion as Taiga Tri-Strium… I disagree: 

—On one hand, Taiga Tri-Strium is very clearly a form of Taiga. Titas and Fuma seem to just be there to empower Taiga and thus Taiga is in complete control of the fusion.

—On the other hand, Milave has a mind of his own, and is in control of his own actions: his components are only there to give him advice and guide him, and while they may be empowering Milave, the empowerment gained would be more like that which other Ultras receive from the bonds with their hosts than the empowerment Taiga gets from Titas and Fuma in Tri-Strium.

And that’s all without mentioning that one of Milave’s forms, Milave Perfection, is the result of Milave 1) creating temporary copies of his components, 2) separating from the original copies of his components, and 3) fusing with the entirety of the rest of Team MLV, including both sets of his components. Btw, considering Milave would fall apart without his components supporting his power, Milave Perfection is only possible because of the first step.

Anyway, onto the actual question: is there any fusion Ultra in official media that you can think of that seems to have the same nature as Milave? If not, what would you call the type of fusion that Milave is? (Something like ‘pure fusion’ or ‘impure fusion’.)

Btw, I used ‘official media’ instead of ‘canon’, because I want you to include both media that is a known part of the mainstream canon and media that is considered non-canon but is still officially licensed as Ultraman (such as Ultraman Story 0, Another Genesis, the 2011 Ultraman Manga, etc.)

Technically that's still TS/TSR since Fuma and Titus were still able to communicate seperately from Taiga even as TS (See Taiga Movie), dude literally also has Quattro Squad Blaster, which is basically weaponizing their bond with Hiroyuki iirc. And as I've mentioned before that the Taiga Spark is a seperate line of fusion technology of the LoL seemingly to mimic the Orb Ring, with this branch following the idea of Ultra Overlapping rather than the Riser line. Because pure fusions require a great deal of synchronisation from all the components as pointed out by Zero back in the Ginga S Movie. In fact, I think the idea behind the Taiga Spark in general was bascially to "weaponize" bonds which was elaborated more in detail in the Blue Phantom Novel which I also detailed out back in 2019 but I can't find the post anymore, u can just read the novel online to see what I mean.

Beyond this would be going into unconfirmed territory, but by interpolation, pure fusions based on Ultra Overlapping seems to also count (made a whole essay post on this before iirc), which includes Super Taro and Mebius Infinity, due to the fusion forms resembling the Ultra who the other components all "pour" their power into. But of course as mentioned, we don't even see them communicating with anyone at all, much less himself, so this remains unconfirmed.

I also brought up the same point for Reiga back in 2020 as we see the same sequence for Ultra Overlapping and the Taiga Spark seems to also facilitate this process (as is literally still attached to Reiga even after fusion, which should technically not be possible if it were a pure fusion, Ultimate Bracelet otherwise for Saga since its a Legendary Ultra's item) but due to the same reasons as mentioned above, its not confirmed.

Tho I just recall that Mebius PB might also be something like this since in both of his appearances, he also fuses with the GUYS members. Actually come to think of it, Glitter Tiga kinda works the same way too based on what we saw in the final episode, but he isn't a fusion.

I know someone is gonna mention Fused Camerra cause I believe someone sent an ask about this some time back and it generated quite abit of discussion, but iirc it was never confirmed if whatever the sphere was that they left behind were simply their power or their actual spirits. But even if they were fused, they were still unconscious and can't communicate either way so this point is kinda neither here nor there

(We'd most definitely get a confirmation if Dargon/Hudram comes back in UGF4 or sth)

Speaking of which, I actually answered something very similar to this, but it was more geared towards kaiju-fusions here:

Othwrwise, can't speak for Another Genesis tho since I've never been able to read it, and I don't there's anything like this in the other sub-franchises (that I can rmb off the top of my head anyways)

Thanks for the question!

[asterocky]

Hi, I actually had some more questions, lol. Thank you for answering the last one about Eunwoo and his relationship with the boys.

What happened to Moonbin, he took some time off and it seems like people don’t think it was a shoulder injury, but rather that he needed some time off for his mental health?

I was also wondering what happened to their last management or team? I saw Eunwoo speaking out again about how they were treated? What did their last team do or not do? I don’t remember his exact words but it was something to do with their company.

hello there again!! ^^ it was my pleasure, feel free to shoot any other questions you might have. sorry i'm a bit late with this answer, i was thinking through what to say.

regarding moonbin's hiatus.

i believe that fantagio never said anything concrete - they just said moonbin went to a check up and the doctors advised him to rest and get treatment. so no particular health concern was mentioned, so i can't give you a concrete answer. the mental health narrative might have come from some vlives moonbin did, since he was very vulnerable and obviously not in a good place mentally before blue flame era (like this one or the general conversations they had during their gateway era win vlive). i wish i could give you a more concrete answer, but unfortunately i was not too active since i work full time, so there might have been something concrete said by moonbin about his mental health after blue flame era once he came back. since the fantagio issues happened, astro developed a habit of going to aroha whenever something is bothering them. hopefully someone else can give a more concrete answer.

fantagio issues.

there's a lot to discuss here. i will try to shorten the entire situation the best to my ability but i did follow the subject closely and if you want to read into it more, feel free to go into eliot's fantagio update tag (i suggest starting from this post if you want to get into details). meanwhile i roughly summarized the situation below.

so fantagio music is a subsidiary of fantagio entertainment. and fantagio entertainment a few years back was owned by this chinese corporation jc group (they were the majority shareholders, which means that they had the majority vote during shareholder meetings). one day allegations came out in news portals that:

the board of fantagio dismissed the co-ceo and founder of fantagio na byeongjun. wei jie, who was the ceo of jc group, was instated as the new ceo;

the corporation credit cards were taken away from the staffs, so most of the activities fantagio's actors and idols had were funded out of the pocket of the staffs and idols. rumors circulated that astro and weki meki ended up paying for their fans' meals during isac out of pocket, too;

jc group was pooling the money fantagio made to an unrelated hong kong company also owned by the group;

fantagio organized a crisis meeting and settled with 9 demands for jc group, which included reinstatement of the former ceo amongst other things, as most worried that since jc group is pooling whatever fantagio makes into a hong kong company, that jc group will start selling their artists for profit.

(this is why moonbin always says he's the oldest standing fantagio member, idols and staffs included - the ceo was not reinstated and many staff, including astro's manager, left the company)

so staffs were fired and replaced by jc group (they have nothing to de with entertainment btw) staff. it should be noted that wei jie became ceo of fantagio entertainment, but not fantagio music. at the time, fantagio music's ceo was woo youngseung, so aside from the company card limitations, the artists weren't affected that much. however, all hell broke loose when jc group fired woo youngseun and wei jie (i believe) became the ceo. that was the exact moment fantagio music started operating illegally, as based on south koren laws, the ceo of an operating entertainment company has to have a certain entertainment license and ceratin experience. the new ceo was not registered in the korean entertainment management association, which was also a problem. at this point there was no choice but to stop all idols' and actors' activities because everyone that was under contract with fantagio entertainment, which did not have the required licence, would also be considered to be operating illegally. basically everyone under fantagio was forced into a hiatus because of all of the shit jc group caused because of their incompetence.

then the korean entertainment management association reached out to an illegally operating fantagio and gave them 45 days to appoint a new ceo with the relative registration and experience or fantagio will be removed from the association entirely. with all that happening, actors started going through court to terminate their contracts with fantagio. in general there were many uncertainties with the artists under the company, some news portals going so far as to say that "fantagio has no future".

for a while, fantagio (jc group) threatened their actors who went against them (terminating contracts) with court and ignored any korean entertainment association complaints and lied to press that they WERE operating legally. however, many contradicting articles came our and entertainment associations publicly announced that memebers of the associations (which is basically most of the korean entertainment industry) are banning fantagio and basically no one within the association will be working with them.

but then karma came to bite in the ass and the main vilan wei jie who was the ceo was arrested for illegal funding activities (which probably includes the before-mentioned cash pool in an unrelated hong kong company situation). also, the former kbs ceo was appointed as a new fantagio music ceo. a bit later the second main vilan of this story - jc group - sold their ownership of fantagio back to this other shareholder l&a holdings (i believe, don't quote me on this)! which was highly celebrated because fantagio became it's own company again. later fantagio did have a dispute with l&a holdings, but it was nothing too major.

as of today the company is fairly stable and doing well, the largest sources of income being ong seongwoo, astro and cha eunwoo. recently, there has been a dismissal of the management once more and a new management for fantagio music was instated. everyone had war flashbacks for a moment got scared. but it turns out the new management seems eager to put their people out there, as right after the announcement of the new management, astro announced their astro x aroha festival, comeback and all members finally had their own schedules to attend to. and right now all of astro seem to be working on something as the management cleared their schedules, also we got astro zone - to put it simply, we had not seen so much activity from astro for a while so this new management brings hope. also, fantagio was said to be getting more funding and expanding more into acting industries (i think they released more shares, too, which usually means expansion of the company), the financials of fantagio for 2020 have been the best in comparison to the last three years. so as of right now, we can be happy it's in the past and look forward to what fantagio can bring in the future.

also, it's worth mentioning that astro stayed really strong throughout the period and whenever we expressed worry about them, they always tried to calm us down and say that everything is okay and they're doing well. however, once the whole thing was over astro came out with always you, lyrics of which express just how NOT OKAY astro were throughout the fantagio issues and how hard it was behind closed doors, the song dedicated to the fandom. they were very emotional and open about what happened, a lot of fans left throughout the period (as they were on hiatus for a year basically) and astro ended up thanking the ones that stayed with them. there's also this video from astro star light where each member shares a little bit about what went through their minds, from uncertanties, fright and feeling thrown out.

[my-personal-multiverse]

I saw your anti-Bangel I Will Remember You post, and if I remember correctly, didn’t Angel ask the powers to swallow the day because the Powers That Be told his Buffy was going to die? And him turning back time would either allow him to help her in the battle to come, or prevent her death entirely? Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but isn’t it about Angel being selfless and giving up the one thing he’s always wanted to keep Buffy safe and alive? Love you blog btw

I think that before that point he's already fucked up by even going to them to talk about all this without having talked to her first. That's the whole problem, he thinks it's up to him to protect her like a little child as though she doesn't deserve a say in the matter. All this concerns her. Even if they hadn't swallowed the day and just turned him back he still should have talked to her. Because he's making decisions that will severely impact their relationship and as such her life because he thinks he needs to protect her (which she has said he doesn't) without consulting her. Or even telling her. Like "hey Buffy I'm going to ask them to turn me back" "but angel then we can't be together why???" *insert bangel drama*. End in the end Buffy would have ended up agreeing with him if he had been like "I need to do this to protect the people" because she understands that. ( on top of all this there's the fact that angel simultaneously is like "can't be with Buffy as a human because I need to be a strong vampire to protect her and would only get in the way" and also "can't be with Buffy as a vampire because she needs a normal human guy and life" like should Buffy just stay single forever.) 

I think one of the reasons I am so incredibly mad at angel in this episode and this episode as a whole is that it starts with this conversation:

(I took the dialog from the transcripts wiki because I didn't want to have to rewatch the entire thing myself.) 

Angel: "Well, umm, it's good to.. Can I get you anything?" 

Buffy: "How about - an explanation? - Who do you think you are coming to my town and following me around behind my back?" 

Angel: "I'm sorry." 

Buffy: "What is this? (...)" 

... 

"(...) What are we playing here?" 

Angel: "We're not. I'm not playing anything. I wrestled with this decision.." 

Buffy: "Which you made without me." 

(this line is so important to me. They start the episode with this and then instead of really exploring this and maybe dealing with the persistent problem in Buffy and angels relationship where he doesn't allow her to make these choices or communicate with her they just ignore this and let him continue to do the same bullshit she calls him out for and then try to make it romantic. Wtf) 

Angel: "I tried to do what I thought was right. It's complicated how this all happened, Buffy, you know? (...)" 

... 

Buffy: "You didn't feel that I was important enough to even tell me that you were there." 

Angel looks at her: "I'm trying to explain. It's because I felt that you're important that I didn't tell you."  (what are you on about angel?? "I don't tell you things because I care. I go behind your back because I care." what kinda Kindergarten "he's mean because he likes you" bullshit is this) 

Buffy: "I'm a big girl now, Angel. I'm not in High School anymore. A lot has happened in my life since you left." 

Angel: "I know. I respect that." ( maybe show that by not doing the same thing again angel) 

Buffy: "And I don't need you skulking around, trying to protect me. (...)" 

I really don't know how much clearer she could be. Don't make choices behind my back trying to protect me. She literally traveled to LA to tell him this. That's how much it bothered her. 

Also the fact that he leaves while she's sleeping without telling her. Like yes he is human now and the curse isn't in effect but that doesn't change the fact that she has trauma about sleeping with guys and them not being there in the morning. He might not know about Parker but he knows what happened the last time they slept together and he can't be that oblivious to how that affected her and how him just leaving in the night without waking her or even leaving a fucking note is just fucked. It's fucked. And if he really doesn't understand this he doesn't understand her and lacks basic fucking empathy.

Buffy: "Where is Angel?" 

(some back and forth) 

Cordy with a sigh: "He told me not to tell you." 

What the fuck angel?? Not just not telling her but explicitly telling others to not give her information and keep her out of the loop.???. That isn't some oversight oops I forgot that is an active choice to keep her in the dark about things and not allow her any agency to make choices. 

(side note: I generally love cordy but "(...) And anyway, it's your fault that he went to fight that thing by himself without..". Yeah no. Don't go blaming Buffy for angels choices. She's not responsible for any of this. She didn't make this choice. Angel made sure of that.) 

And about the oracles 

Angel: "The Mohra demon said the end of days had begun. That others were coming, soldiers of darkness. I need to know if he was telling the truth."

Man: "As far as such things can be told." 

(super vague and literally my point. "as far as such things can be told" nothing is written in stone. Prophecy gets misinterpreted. It is not fact.) 

Angel: "What happens to the Slayer when these soldiers come?"

Woman: "What happens to all mortal beings. Albeit sooner in her case."

Angel: "She'll die? - Then I'm here to beg for her life." 

(she was prophecied to die and survived it before. Like you can't take any of this at face value. And she gets brought back the next time too and him being or not being a vampire has nothing to do with it) 

The Oracles turn and walk away: "It is not our place to grant life or death."

Angel: "And I ask you to take mine back. (The oracles stop walking and turn back to him) Look I can't protect her or anyone this way, not as a man."

Woman: "You're asking to be what you were, a demon with a soul, because of the Slayer?"

(they don't say shit about him needing to be a vampire to save her life or him being able to better protect her or him being able to avoid her death if he isn't human. He makes that assumption. And they are just mildly intrigued by the whole situation but they are not saying he's right) 

Man turns to leave again: "Oh, this is a matter of love. It does not concern us."

Angel: "Yes, it does. The Mohra demon came to take a warrior from your cause - and it succeeded. I'm no good to you like this. I know you have it in your power to make this right. Please." 

(they consider doing it after he let's them know that he will also be no good to the powers that way. But this is unrelated to Buffy and this is the thing that then makes them think of a way to do it. Because they realize him being a vampire is good for them. Not Buffy. Yes Buffy is his motivation but they just vaguely talk around it and never confirm to him that as a vampire he can save her life. He just wants to believe that because it fits into his martyr complex. And again. He can't actually save her as a vampire. ) 

So basically I hate angel in this episode and I hate that the episode frames all of his bullshit as romantic. 

But thank you for the question anon. Ranting about angel is very cathartic for me. 

[mysticjupi]

Umineko: When They Cry Review - Episode 0

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Part 0: Notes

This post can't be as aesthetic as I would like due to only having a phone; however I'll make do with what I have. Hello! Thank you for taking the time to read this; assuming you read my info on the header of my blog page, you should also know my dream is to be an author...and that takes me here, to Umineko and the WTC series in general. I finished reading the Umineko Visual Novel, and have watched the Higurashi Anime, and I plan to read the Manga for Higurashi soon.

The following posts will be about my thoughts, experience, and love for WTC, however this post 0 will be about WTC in general, along with miscallenous things.

Needless to say, SPOILERS!!!

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Part 1: When They Cry

My first experience with the series was years ago, when I was a child; and coming across some of the more gorey scenes from Higurashi on youtube, I was curious yet I never persued more of this media. Years went by and it remained nothing more than a afterthought in the back of my head, however, a friendgroup who was big into Higurashi made me watch the anime, and I decided on my own to read the Umineko novel, and since then...I've been very into the fandom for a few months.

I took two months to finish the Umineko VN...

And as you can tell, some days I read very generously. That being said however, it was all time well spent.

Ryukishi's writing has become an inspiration and something I think about greatly, his ability for creating and characterizing his characters in both dynamic and subtle ways has stuck out to me, as well as how he handles abuse and sensitive topics authors usually avoid delving into. This aspect will be discussed more when I get around to talking about characters.

However, the thing that sticks out the most to me is his...lessons. How he makes you think about mortality and the negative and positive aspects of people and their situations. Higurashi and Umineko identify and share their themes strongly, while leaving some leeway for the reader to think about it themselves. God knows I've been rethinking and pondering a lot of Umineko's plot.

Without Love, it cannot be seen. Is a new philosophy I have started to use, for example.

That's where much of my love for WTC comes from, and before you ask, I know nothing about Ciconia but I plan to read it once my technology situation is sorted.

I think that's enough for my introduction, and now you know where I stand on this series that's wiggled it's way into my heart.

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Part 2: Music

Before I discuss the Episodes of Umineko, I'd like to dedicate some to discuss one of my other favorite aspects of the Visual Novel, which is of course the amazing soundtrack that I cannot get enough of.

I never knew a Visual Novel about victorian ladies fucking with people would carry such a banger OST. I'll link some of my favorites:

Patchwork Chimera

Death From Stupefaction

Golden Sneer

Haze

Dream End Discharger

Deep Blue Jeer

The Girls Witch Hunt

Kina no Kaori

Reflection Call

Last End Conducter

I never realized how big of an impact music had on your enjoyment of a story, but Umi's soundtrack compliments scenes extremely well. There isn't much to say here but it's an extremely good listen and one of the major perks of the visual novel. Kudos to the various composers who worked on the soundtrack.

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Part 3: Artstyle and Design

The last thing I should have to say for this post, and of course this section will be talking about the original novel Artstyle, however the others will be mentioned.

Umineko's designs are stand-out and very unique yet remain alluring. This goes both for the hair and face of the characters and their outfits...

And of course, the fact many of the outfits are taken from actual goth fashion being displayed at around the time or Umineko's original releases. Some of my favorite examples:

Wonderful, I think. I can easily tell these characters from their silhouettes which always means good design. Somewhat unrelated but Ryukishi seemed to really enjoy thigh gaps when designing, (Chiester Sisters, Dlanor's Group, Seven Stakes...) and whatever you would consider Gaap's Gap. However this isn't a negative by any means. Most of the men's outfits are suits, however I can appreciate a formal and crisp style and at least everyone has their own suit aesthetic. Original Battler is the best style btw.

To make mention of the other Artstyles Umineko has...

Pachinko: It's...good? Some characters look better like Lambadelta or George but some were...proportioned oddly? Kyrie and her immensely inflated chest definitely put me off. I had the Pachinko sprites option during my read so I swapped between this and original depending on who was onscreen.

PS3 Remake: Very good and faithful rendition while also modernizing and streamlining designs, though it didn't quite capture the rawness of Ryukishi's expressions in the original Artstyle at times.

Manga: Amazing. The Umineko manga expressions are absolutely amazing. Raw, detailed, the anount of time spent on those illustrations is obvious, up there with the original style.

Anime: It's alright.

That said, the expressions of Umi are stunning, which makes sense considering how gritty and fucked up the story can be at times, nothing beats the little laugh that accompanies these expressions in the visual novel.

(Original Novel) Finally, while the backgrounds in the novel can be pretty simple, Ryukishi truly does his best with what he has and works with, and I think the simple backgrounds work well to not detract focus from the characters and text, however I wish he made the glass shatter screen transition a bit less abrupt?

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That covers everything I feel like I should discuss, next I'll be taking a retrospective look at Episode 1 of Umineko...Legend of the Golden Witch.

I think one or two posts a day covering a episode will be how I'll write the rest of this review, I hope you enjoy!

- Jupiter.

As some last notes, feel free to interact with me in dms or asks or anything! I'd love to discuss this story with anyone because hearing differing opinions or just bonding over media is one of my favorite things! I'd love to make friends

This of course is all opinion and not objective! I love seeing different views and all opinions are valid to me!

Have a nice day!

[felassan]

Hello! Been reading the wonderful lore posts about Solas' funky new mural in the trailer the last week and, as I was replaying Inquisition I came across this in the Fade.

Never held much significance before but now it makes me immediatly think of the post you made about the Evanuris, as well as the Old Gods. Do you think it might relate to either or none? I'd be interested to know what you think either way, your lore posts are a delight to read ^^

Hello! I love how the newest mural generated a bunch of discussion along with a whole heap of new speculative and theorycrafting posts! And thank you very much 😊 The rest of this post is under a cut due to length.

Edit: Sorry, not sure what’s up with the coding/layout of this post!

Back in the day, before Descent released, I originally assumed the Whispers were ‘echoes’ - if you will - of the imprisoned Evanuris. endure is quite elfy (suledin/endure, and the song of that name). “Crippled” and “polluted” and the red lyrium stuff in general work well if you subscribe to the theory that the Evanuris were tainted and/or red lyrium-corrupted when they were locked away (see tale of Andruil returning from the Void with armor made of darkness etc), or that they became that way or became similarly twisted after being trapped for so long, especially if said prison is the Black City [a Tainted place]. Linking it to the Evanuris also always makes me think of that one dialogue line from Cole when he’s talking to Solas: “They sleep, masked in the mirror, hiding, hurting, and to wake them - [gasp]”. Both that line and the Whispers contain similar elements like waiting, sleeping, hurting in a manner of speaking at least, and being woken up.

I haven’t been sure of that for a long time. Assuming no link between the Evanuris and the Old Gods for the purposes of this line of speculation, it could instead be to do with the Old Gods as you say. The remaining slumbering Old Gods have also been ‘there’, waiting and sleeping and being awoken in turn. Though it’s not quite “Whispering”, they do in a manner communicate with other beings while trapped - the darkspawn who hear their song and relentlessly search for them - and in their time they used to whisper to ancient Tevinter humans. However, a strike against it pertaining to the Old Gods would be the fact that the lore says they aren’t Tainted until the searching darkspawn find them. Like, I wouldn’t instinctively describe a still-sleeping Old God as “polluted”? A further strike could be that red lyrium isn’t something that automatically leaps to mind when thinking about the Old Gods, unlike when thinking about the Titans (see below) or even the Evanuris (the Andruil stuff again).

Another possibility is that it’s to do with the Titans. Stone endures, and the Titan in Descent had recently stirred. Titans sing (communication), there are other Titans out there and there’s a reference in the lore to a Titan awakening during the time of King/Paragon Orseck Garal. Blue lyrium is the blood of Titans, and a Titan with red lyrium blood or that had been afflicted by the Taint would certainly count as a polluted entity. 

Finding dreams again and being crippled/sundered is also dwarfy language actually, despite the fact that dwarves don’t dream and the fact that it was elves who became sundered from themselves and the Fade when Solas made the Veil - consider Solas’ dialogue line where he says “dwarves [in their current state in modern Thedas] are the severed arm of a once mighty hero, lying in a pool of blood, undirected, whatever skill at arms it had gone forever. Although it might twitch to give the appearance of life, it will never dream”. When Valta connects to the Titan in Descent, although she ironically now no longer sleeps (which is usually a prerequisite to.. dreaming), she’s really reconnecting, regaining the connection to a Titan that dwarves used to have (like a severed limb being reattached). That’s where the sundered stuff comes in. At the moment most Titans, and Titans in general, are sundered from their children, the dwarves. In this way both the Titans and the dwarves are crippled, two separated halves of a whole.

After reconnecting, Valta writes in her journal about the world that once was, “before everything changed and the dwarven race broke in two” (i.e. before the dwarven race was sundered). And although she now no longer sleeps, when she closes her eyes she now sees glimpses of things that used to be, glimpses of things the Titan is showing and singing to her - what’s that, if not a form of dreaming? It’s not daydreaming per se, but the Titan is clearly showing her its memories, or dreams if you will, of what once was, and stuff, probably of what it hopes to see one day again too (given the loneliness in its song).. and ‘dream’ as a word has a broader meaning than just literally “images you see when you sleep”. 

Anyway, the Evanuris or some of the ancient elves describe connected dwarves in Old Elven Writing as “workers” of the “pillars of the earth” [Titans], “scurry[ing], witless, soulless”, but how do we know they really were witless and soulless? It reads like one part propaganda and one part incorrect assumption, which isn’t a surprise because in that passage the Evanuris/some of the ancient elves were basically preparing to hunt the Titans and by extension mercy-kill some of the connected dwarves, who they perceived as witless and soulless. But reconnected Valta clearly isn’t witless and soulless, she just has a different manner of existence to what the ancient elves (spirit-adjacent as they were) had. Dreaming also comes up in relation to the dwarves as lyrium, the blood of their Titan ‘parents’, bridges the gap between the mundane world and the Fade, which is the world of dreams ("It is possible—even likely—that the "emerald waters" Andraste refers to are the substance of the Fade, which began as an "ocean of dreams””); this is what Valta regains, “its blood now flows through me” and now she sees the things it shows her when she shuts her eyes.

It’s also important to mention the Torn Notebook from the Deep Roads in Trespasser, Section 3 -  

Trying to remember that old bedtime song about Mythal. My mother sang it the night before the darkspawn came for my clan. It's the last time I ever heard her voice.

Ir sa tel'nal, Mythal las ma theneras. Ir san'a emma. Him solas evanuris. Da'durgen'lin, Banal malas elgara. Bellanaris, bellanaris.

Written beside each elven line is a corresponding phrase, likely a translation:

I am empty, filled with nothing(?), Mythal gives you dreams. It fills you, within you(?), Making our leaders proud. My little stones, Never yours the sun. Forever, forever.

Hahren said we had lost some of the old words. What if they have changed? Durgen'lin from durgen'len? Little dwarves, never yours the sun? What did Mythal do here?

as here is dreaming, or gaining dreams, cropping up once again in relation to the dwarves. What Mythal “did here” btw was striking down the Titans and “rendering their demesne to the People”. A demesne is one’s domain or land. In this context it probably also refers to resources and their very forms, as we know that the Evanuris were mining the bodies of Titans for lyrium and “something else”, the something else probably being their hearts/cores (which probably can be made into power sources, the foci). This sounds like an unrelated disjointed ramble sry but it’s relevant because of the end part:

Then the runes crackle, as if filled with an angry energy. A new vision appears: elves collapsing caverns, sealing the Deep Roads with stone and magic. Terror, heart-pounding, ice-cold, as the last of the spells is cast. A voice whispers:

"What the Evanuris in their greed could unleash would end us all. Let this place be forgotten. Let no one wake its anger. The People must rise before their false gods destroy them all."

Their greed was the mining for resources and power. What was unleashed and had to be sealed away is often theorized to be red lyrium and/or the Blight. In this reading red lyrium, and by association the Taint, is maybe something like the Titans’ defense mechanism against being hunted, struck down and mined by the Evanuris, or perhaps something like an immune response or a natural consequence of the action, like how when we as a species pollute the natural world this often comes back to bite us in the ass with disasterous consequences. And like the angry energy and elves collapsing caverns in that passage, there’s also the “terrible presence” the Arcane Warrior’s soul in DAO remembers.

Given all this stuff, as well as the prevalence of red lyrium in the DA4 marketing thus far and apparent prevalence in its plot, its continued spread, the Titan/dwarfy beats touched on and set up in Descent (self-explanatory) and continued in Trespasser (the ‘death of a Titan’ mural etc), the [possible] corrupted beating Titan heart, the danger corrupted awakened Titans could undoubtedly pose to Thedas, and the theory that Solas is trying to prevent some cataclysm befalling Thedas and believes that he has to do this to save the world and that he’s running out of time, I think I lean towards the Whispers being to do with the Titans, specifically ‘red lyrium/corrupted/Blighted Titans’. Here I also wanna point out the similarity between the Whispers and Codex Entry: The Profane:

We who are forgotten, remember, We clawed at rock until our fingers bled, We cried out for justice, but were unheard. Our children wept in hunger, And so we feasted upon the gods. Here we wait, in aeons of silence. We few, we profane.

—Found scrawled on a wall in the lost Revann Thaig by explorer Faruma Helmi, 5:10 Exalted. Unknown author.

- the Profane being Rock Wraiths, creatures who are believed to have once been dwarves, that wander the Deep Roads, corrupt and living an undying half-life, probably feeding on lyrium (Titans being somewhat akin to dwarven gods) as they go. What if Valta is what you get when a dwarf connects to a normal Titan, and a Rock Wraith is what happens when a dwarf connects to a corrupted/Blighted/red Titan? Side note: It’s iiiinteresting indeed, isn’t it, that the Profane were calling out for justice, given that justice is one of Mythal’s ‘domains’ and considering her prior involvement with Titans and the dwarves (“adjudicator and savior!”, Mythal and the urtok, “Once I was but a woman... crying out in the lonely darkness for justice” etc). 👀

The last thing I have to say on this topic is that it’s also possible that the Whispers are one of those things that the writers just cooked up and threw in there for kicks/flavor, because it sounds cool and mysterious, and in so-doing it’s written in such a way (a bit generic) that 1) fans reading it can speculate about it and link it to several different things and 2) down the line the devs could retroactively decide to give it a meaning, or retroactively change what it was in reference to. This was the case for Eleni Zinovia’s prophecy:

David Gaider said Eleni Zinovia’s prophecy doesn’t refer to Fen’Harel. He can’t remember who wrote it in there or what it refers to actually. It was most likely just intended as flavor and he was even a bit surprised by it, like “What is this?” There’s a lot of things like that in the games, not everything has a ~grand meaning~. Sometimes such small off-hand things are picked up on by fans and the writers then make it into something bigger and more meaningful after the fact. This is what happened with Sandal (all the fans being like “Ooh, what does it mean, what does it mean?” about him). It’s possible Eleni will be picked up on like that in the future, but at the time it didn’t mean anything really. A lot of the way these stories are put together is that they put a lot of questions into the world, scattering possible/potential plothooks, and they don’t necessarily know where they lead at the time, but in future games they could come back to them and come up with an interesting backstory. Sometimes they pick it up and sometimes it never gets answered or ever mentioned again (the Wardens taking some of the blood from those who didn’t survive their particular bout of Joinings and putting it in a vial to remember them is an example of one of these things). It’s pretty rare that you’d get a situation where something is mapped out from beginning to end. Sometimes we the players get a revelation as we play and we’re like “Omg!! This is all connected! They are masters!” and the writers are like “Yes, toootally… It was that way alllllll along. It certainly did NOT get decided three quarters of the way through development…” [source]

You know, like there are, as is evident from this post where we go through various possibilities, lots of different ominous mysterious groups of nefarious beings waiting and sleeping and lurking Ominously in this setting!

Not a particularly coherent answer I know but hopefully interesting for you to read. :) tl;dr I lean towards it being to do with the Titans, specifically red lyrium/corrupted/Blighted Titans.

[amethystroselily]

(This was originally written on Twitter and that’s why it’s so bad. (Now with unnecessary censoring!!!) I don’t go on tumblr enough to know the general consensus on Geto here. This might only apply to Twitter. I don’t know)

I don’t know why everyone on Twitter thinks none of Geto’s actions were his fault or even immoral. He was a deeply flawed person who made terrible decisions and that’s what makes him such a good character.

EVERYONE at jujutsu high was in similar traumatic situations as him, he’s the only one who decided to lead a r*cist m*rder c*lt. And while I understand why he did it, it definitely wasn’t a GOOD or honorable decision.

And his daughters. He loved them, but he also literally raised them in a c*lt. I’ve heard ppl say he wouldn’t have cared if they didn’t end up following his ideology, but, like, he did attack an institution full of ppl he was once very close with for that reason, so while I Don’t think he would have killed them or anything, I do think he would have been p*ssed. So I think he tried very hard to instill his ideology into them. We know he was doing that to other people, bc y’know, c*lt leader, so why wouldn’t he be willing to teach that to his kids? Even ppl who are usually against forcing their beliefs on people, instill their beliefs In their kids. So why wouldn’t a guy who thinks he’s SO right that he thinks EVERYONE should follow his beliefs also instill those beliefs in people he raised? He would have thought it right and moral thing to do, and that’s the problem. I think ppl tend to think he’s a “good person” bc he can explain his thought process in a way most people can empathize with, but that doesn’t mean he’s a good person it just means he’s a good character.

Him being right isn’t about whether his emotions were valid or not, it’s about how he handled those feelings and whether he helped more than he hurt. And he definitely did more of the latter. While he did tend to rationalize things as a way to help humanity, he was more driven by anger, bitterness, and self righteousness than his desire to help people. I think that’s why he never actually accomplished anything. He seemed fixated on revenge and ki/ling people, and a lot of his plans were about kil/ling non-sorcerers, rather than saving sorcerers from them. I think he let his hatred get in the way of his original goal of saving people. I don’t even think it was about saving sorcerers by the end there. He was completely willing to kil/l sorcerers just so he could kil/l non-sorcerers, and I think that takes away a lot of the validity of the reasoning he pretends he has. By then he’d spent a decade in his little echo chamber of hate, so at that point maybe even he would acknowledge it was no longer about saving people.

Also can we talk about how stupid his plan in vol 0 was? It’s kind of unrelated, but he is not the genius some of you think he is. (Affectionate, this time) The man was running on pure self-righteousness at that point (probably the result of only surrounding himself with ppl Who worship him for the last ten years) Maybe Kenjaku’s kind of blurring ppl’s perception of Geto? He does seem to be using Geto’s cursed technique much more efficiently than Geto was. But that’s probably bc he’s ancient and knows a lot of information Geto didn’t.

Anyway, back to my original point, his ideology was blatantly flawed, he’s just charismatic and really good at deflecting, so it seems like it makes more sense than it does. Bc it does make sense to him, and ppl like him, they want to agree with him bc he’s charming, and likable, And Tragic tm, so they do (both his cu/lt and readers) , but like, his ideas are pretty flawed (and borderline eug/enics-y?) and the narrative doesn’t want you to agree with him, it just wants you to understand why he’s the way he is. I guess Gege did really well at writing a cu/lt leader at least. Bc I swear some of you genuinely agree with him.

Like how happy did he think everyone was going to be when the vast majority of the population was de-ad??? Including a bunch of their loved ones? What was he going to when someone had a baby who was a non-sorcerer? Ki1l it? What was he going to do if ppl revolted bc he murd/ered all their loved ones? Kil1 them too? There’s only going to be like ten people left on the planet. I refuse to believe this b1tch thought that through.

I actually think KENJAKU’S plan may actually be more ethical. At least their end goal isn’t literally to k1ll people, and allows far more people to survive than Geto’s. Ppl dy/ing just happens to be part of the process rather than the actual goal. And oh my god, that’s such a LOW bar. Kenjaku may actually be helping ppl more than Geto, which isn’t much, but like I said low bar. He’s just less motivated by emotion and doesn’t have a tragic backstory (YET) so he comes of as more ~EVIL~. But it’s actually hilarious that people see Kenjaku as so much worse than Geto when they’re about on the same level. Kenjaku is considerably less outspokenly m*rderous and Geto is a better friend, so it evens out I guess? I would say it’s bc Kenjaku’s trying to ki1l the mcs and Geto wasn’t, but that’s not even true. Geto literally tried to kil1 all of the second years, and Kenjaku couldn’t care less about whether anyone lives or di*s, he’s just just trying to “evolve” ppl. He took Tsumiki h*stage But as far as he knows or cares she could win the culling game, Geto would have literally kil1ed her for being a non-sorcerer. (He attacked a elementary school, he wouldn’t care that she’s a kid, don’t lie to yourself)

And, yes, a lot of Geto’s traits could make him a good person, but those same traits are the ones that make him such a bad person. (Passion, charisma, even empathy at times, bc he empathizes so much with select ppl that when non-sorcerers (who he no longer deems ppl) hurt them He feels wronged and lashes out at the things he deems not worthy of sympathy)

Anyway it’s ok to acknowledge his flaws, or even feel neutral on him, he doesn’t have to be perfect for you to like him. (This isn’t a Kenjaku defense post, btw, it’s just funny that that’s true) I’ve seen way too many posts claiming the only bad thing Geto’s ever done is hurting Maki, and like, that’s nearly objectively false. And like half of them were completely unironic. A sympathetic villain isn’t the same thing as a hero.

This isn’t even Geto hate, I LIKE him, but the widespread perception of him being completely justified just feels so wrong. Why do so many people feel SO protective of him? Is his c-ult leader charisma just that effective?

I actually think pretending none of his flaws exist takes away SO much from his character. It strips away his agency and turns him into this tragic can-do-no-wrong figure that he just isn’t. He’s someone who couldn’t handle their own tr*uma and decided to take it out on the world. The way he decided to handle that is no one’s fault but his own.

[chaosintheavenue]

Yep, we're doing this!

If you're not sure of what a Bang entails, I feel like the best way to explain would be through the planned timeline for this event...

November 3rd - 6th: Sign-up form open. A prompt list will be made available for any writers who wish to use it during this period too, but there's no obligation to do so

6th - 15th: Writers make a start on their projects, and send a summary of their ideas for the whole project to me by the end of the 15th. I'd recommend to make this fairly detailed if you can, but you can always provide more information at a later date if need be

15th - 16th: Pairing up artists with writers based on the summaries

16th: Artists are provided with the summary written by their writer, which they will use as a prompt to create either general fanart or magazine-style cover art for the fic (their choice). All participants are also told who their partner is, and is free to contact them directly to discuss any details. Writers are free to send parts of the WIP itself to their artists if they wish (generally the artist doesn't see a full draft in Bang events though, btw)

16th - December 3rd: Writers write, and artists art!

December 3rd: All pieces associated with the Bang are published (if you're not comfortable sharing publicly, there will be an option to privately send your finished piece to your partner instead. Please let me know that it's been sent this way so I don't end up getting in touch with you for not posting!)

-

A few things to note:

I know a lot of people- myself included!- are pretty busy at the moment, so I've decided to keep this event on a small scale in all respects. Writing should ideally be kept to oneshot length, whatever that may mean to you (I'm not going to set an official word limit, since different people can have very different writing styles and speeds). I personally feel like something in the ballpark of 1000-2000 words would work well, but there is wiggle room there.

I don't anticipate a large number of public announcements being needed during this event, particularly after the initial sign-up period, so I will be posting all information and details to my main and only blog right here. My primary method of contacting participants will be through DMs, though.

Please consider whether you will be able to realistically produce a piece of writing or art in a short time period before signing up! There will always be an option to withdraw from the event if you do find that you've bitten off more than you can chew or circumstances change, of course, but ideally we want to keep last-minute changes to a minimum.

Selecting the 'both' option for the question asking what you will be producing for the event will sign you up twice, to produce two unrelated writing and art pieces. It's entirely your choice, but be warned that this could be a heavy workload!

OCs are welcome! Please provide references to your artist

No NSFW in either writing or art, please

Once again, I'm sorry for the short notice on all fronts! If this mini-event is a success, I don't see any reason why I won't hold more of them in future with longer time frames.

If you have any questions, issues or concerns at any point during the event, then please get in touch!

Also, to the awesome peeps who offered to co-moderate this event: I don't think I'll need to enlist any extra mods unless the sign-up somehow gets a lot more attention than the expression of interest form did (in which case I might be in touch!). Still, thank you so much for the offer, and I'll bear you in mind for any future larger Bangs I may host if that's alright with you.

[redxblueihateloveyou]

Hey!! 👋🏽😄 I know you said in your last rant about SK8 and Reki and Renga that you were one of those people that always looks up and learns from others, but after your last Langa edit, I just wanted to remind you how immensely talented you are. I might have not seen your first attempts at editing, but I know how it looks like when you're barely starting something, and I'm sure everyone is proud of the progress you've made and many people looks up to you as the level of skill they want to achieve. You're doing amazing! 💖💖💖

Hi, my love!!!!!! ASDFSDFGHG that’s soooo sweet, thank you so much for saying this, it really means the world to me <3 Oh, haha I’ve deleted most of my old videos so it wouldn’t hurt anyone’s eyes lmao T_T I’m still a bit nervous each time I’m uploading my vids to the day to be honest, even with so many subs rn, but at first I really didn’t have any supporters at all and my god I sucked at this, but I guess the love for my fav ships was stronger apparently haha. So I always get silly happy at each nice comment and feedback, so thank you seriously. 

I really love love love vidding, Idk why but when smth comes out the way I wanted it’s a super addictive feeling for some reason, but many times I just looked at the final result and just threw it in the trash and started over and my god how many times SonyVegas crushed and didn’t autosave the project. I’m like Suga now, I’m pressing the save button each 2 minutes, cause don’t want to lose anything xD Being someone’s inspiration is truly an honor to me, I’ve got some messages that hit me too hard. Still feels weird bc I’m like “but do you know that I can’t even use photoshop tho, how do u like me now then?” lol.

I’m always drawn to talented characters, bc they amaze me, esp the humble ones. Like those who hate Haru or Lanaga just buffle me honestly. I understand that they’re pretty and talented and everything, but they’re also the sweetest and loveliest human beings, so like...??? And I adore those who don’t whine and get what they want. I just can’t help it. I’m a strong believer in the fact that "you can do anything if you put your mind to it”. So far it worked in real life so suck it lol.

People are also saying like Langa doesn’t deserve to win this and Haru doesn’t deserve to be in Olympics, like Langa didn’t snowboard since he was 2 and Haru wasn’t swimming every day since he was born. I’m like.. and you need to check in the mirror if your face is a shade of green. BTW I’ve also been in a professional sports for quite a long time since I was a little kid, ballroom dancing and adored it back then, and I did not get jealous at ppl who were talented than me, I was watching the tapes actually with a popcorn. And oh god those large competition events when you sit there for days and give it all, but then you’re like 296 out of 1000. Why was I proud instead of being sad? Idk xD It was fun.

So thanks for liking the vid, cause I even regretted uploading it a bit yesterday. Sadly everyone already knows that we lost this fandom to the middle schoolers being extra, so they do not care for anything each episode except for this ship, so that’s what I got for posting a just Langa vid:

And etc. and that just made me sad, cause I do not like such fandoms, like it’s not even related to the video, that I’ve been making... with love.  Also thanks for the "sama” title, I’m flattered, but editor only wants to vid matchablossom for now, so like there’s no need for any warnings. I’ve been in such horrendoes fandoms, that I’m immune to this. I also in fact didn’t know some keep ruining Langa’s page and saying that he steals Reki’s screen time... cause he’s aparently the only main character...? ...lmao? I didn’t even know Langa can be hated tbh. I wasn’t really ready for all the drama that followed me making a vid about him.

I’ve already deleted some comments, cause I’m like what this even has to do with the vid about Langa? No, I am not obliged to make a vid about Reki, too. What if I post a matchablossom vid, everyone will only start commenting “do renga”, cause fuck your efforts? I’m like... I hate such fanbases, seriously. I do not even know where this is going, but their fans are already pissing me off. I’m still trying hard for this to not affect my point of view about the ship, cause it’d be kinda unfair to them, but its getting harder each week istg.

And I maybe can’t take requests, but I love when some try to get me addicted on their ship with passion and great arguments. It happened to me with some nice ppl. But def not with agression and stupidity haha.

Cause apparently its one of the fandoms where you can’t NOT care for the main ship, even if you accept it for the only possible Langa ship (cause he doesn’t give a shit for anyone else, so like what’s the point), but it doesn’t do anything for you. I’m like... thanks for threatening. This will make me on board ASAP. Like it’s not the epitomy of love to me... I’m sorry? LMAO 

Some anon even sent me a “you’re dense” (literally thats it) ask after that Reki ask. I was tempted to write smth like “oh I’m sorry, this is the most epic love story of my life and his character is the most complex in the world and he’s the best friend and the most inspiring human being that ever hit my screen. can I become undense now? xD”. But you know I do not know if they’d realise the sarcasm and my pride sadly never allowed me to sell my life values for a bunch of 12 years olds to love me lol

My sister always laughs and jokingly says “but you’d probably get much more subs if you made a vid about this or that, but at what price that would be lmao”. Cause yeah, I never could make myself vid smth I do not like, cause I love vidding and do not want it to be associated with things I do not like, plus it’ll most likely turn out ugly, if I do not care. My mom says that she can feel love I put in my shipping vids that’s why she loves them. I really don’t think she’s wrong. But that also kinda makes me an idiot technically, cause I’m not into many of the popular ships, and some popular animes I just find really basic. 

Also I’m like 100% sure it ain’t happening, but even if they miraculously suck each other’s dicks while sitting on a skate board, I can still have the rights not to care at the end. Like did I sign some form where I’m obliged to love each and everyone canon gay ship even if it’s not what I like? Like gay is not the type of love in relationships. You can only care about his ass like Lan Zhan for example or you can only care about your ass. Like that’s different types of relationships, and whatever you like you like. So get all the way of people’s backs, please.

Also do ppl know that you do not need to be blind to the bad sides of the characters in your ships? Or you just gonna be like “I suddenly can’t see” for forever.

So really thanks for such wonderful message and liking the video and for the boosts when I need them and not being an ass to me if I’m not being obsessed with smth, when you like it. (like I think we have different ship in bnha, right? but we’re still doing great tho, thanks for being an angel <3)

I still didn’t expect this becoming a Voltron 2.0. situation tho. We in our twenties see everything differently, I guess. I do get extra about “their love is everywhere”, but I do not get extra by anonymously attacking ppl, threatening creators and yelling “queeerbating psychotic blind assholes if these two aint fucking by the end of the season I’m shaving my head and jumping out of the window and shoot the director. you do not ship it HARD? YOU DUMB FUCK. THAT’S THE BEST LOVE STORY IN THE WORLD”. Like damn, take your blinders off and see the world, kid. Firstly, it’s definitely not, secondly, ppl see love differently in general and at each age too.

Ah, also you must kill Adam, cause he’s a pedo apparently. Like he ain’t even a threat to your ship, unless you’re blind, but they’re still at it, like they do not know that this kind of age difference is literally nothing for an anime? And that there are canon ships with a huger age difference left and right, too. It’s like its their first time approaching an anime or smth. Like in anime world character can literally kill 1000 ppl with his bare hands and bathe in their blood and we can still stan them, depends on their story, ok? Also Langa couldn’t care less for his advances, so like separate Adam from your ship pls. Like, fuck off, if someone is interested in his character. Yeah, he’s a weirdo for reasons, but anime kind of weird do not apply to real life. Stop acting like you’re some purist, when later you’re gonna ship smth else and it suddenly will not apply. Also rules do not apply to animes, everyone knows they do not apply. These are not western cartoons, my god. And 24 years old flirting with 16 year old is defiinitely not the weirdest shit anyone has ever seen in the anime. Chinese BL has characters who were 14 and 30 when they met and happily married. Also FICTION is not life. Literally no one cares. If you’re scared for your saint eyes, do not watch animes, you’re gonna have a heart-attack from what you can see there. Also we’ve seen gayer bromances in animes, who are just bromances, so pls do not shoot anyone if it’s not canon.

So basically I was kinda pissed yersterday, cause fuck them for ruining the tag, but after chatting with my hommies and your ask, I’m okay again, I just have to avoid this fandom and stick to a tight community xD. I just got used to my nice fandoms and forgot for a bit about the precautions you need to take if you’re in one of those. You know. Who make a circus out of lgbt, instead of supporting it, and make other ppl hate being in fandoms.

P.S. sorry for this partially unrelated rant, your messages really always make my heart bloom, so thanks for supporting me, and I know you’re proud of my progress, too <3 and this makes me happy. LY

[cat-boy-tits]

14, 17, 27, 33, 42, 44, 49, 55, 60, 65, 69, 73, 92, 93, 95, 💯

(any and/or all, dealer's choice lol)

14. If you could go back and change something in the past 5 months, would you?

oof, uh. yeah actually. i’d tell my sister’s partner to go to a doctor immediately so as not to end up in a shitty new jersey hospital where he fucking died for reasons entirely unrelated to his illness. fuck.

17. Do you know anyone with the same middle name as you?

no but also...yes! funny thing about russian middle names, they’re patronymics. so your middle name is a derivative of your father’s name which translates roughly to “of (insert father’s name here)”. plus the ending changes based on the gender of the person being named and there are only two options, which is fun. so technically my sister has the same middle name as me. but it isn’t really a middle name as americans understand it. basically any russian person who is afab and who has a dad named boris has the same middle name as me. it’s “borisovna” btw.

27. Do you dry off in the shower or out of the shower?

both? i invert my head and scrunch my hair with a dry and clean t-shirt until it is no longer dripping wet. i vaguely towel so the rest of me isn’t going to drip on the floor, then i get out, apply a little leave in conditioner (further scrunching, gotta preserve that hair texture!) and towel the rest of the way dry. then i leave the bathroom to spend a million years lotioning in the bedroom because that is where my lotion is and i gotta sit down after a shower because being chronically ill is fun. that’s more info than the question required but there you go, my post shower routine.

33. Do you prefer warm or cold weather?

cold. i hate heat. i hate overheating. i overheat very easily and then i throw up. very attractive, i know.

42. What is wrong with you right now?

the weather has been dropping into low pressure over and over so currently i’ve got vague pre/post migraine symptoms. like i just got over a migraine but i will definitely have another one very soon so the post and pre migraine shit is just overlapping right now and i am in heck.

44. Does anyone disgust you?

yes. like physically or morally? but also yes to both. sometimes it’s me.

49. Has someone recently told you something you didn’t want to hear?

i think i’m supposed to interpret this as meaning something i needed to hear but didn’t want to but i am going to take it literally because my father in law went on an anti-trans rant recently while on a video call with me and my partner and that was...not great. he doesn’t now i’m not cis and doesn’t even use the right words for the people he hates and every word out of his mouth is like a slap in the face. we hung up on him. he doesn’t even know i’m not straight because why would i ever tell him.

55. Have you ever liked somebody and never told them?

yeah, all the time. i am, and have always been, the fat ugly weird kid. so anyone who found out i liked them did so against my will. only exceptions are my long time crush from high school who i told years after i was already basically married to someone else. and my partner, i tell him i like him all the time. this is not to say that the people i liked didn’t know. i was extremely obvious. i thought i was very stealthy but i had the tact and social grace of a steam engine.

60. What do you carry with you at all times?

my guilt

65. Did anything “cute” happen in the last week?

my cats exist, so yes.

69. Do you have any stickers on your car?  

i can’t drive :(

73. Do you like diet soda? 

no, ew. the “zero” coke sodas are okay.

92. Have you ever made out in a car?  

i don’t think so? if it ever happened it would have been in glompcat’s car and i cannot remember a time when my partner and i were in that car for an extended period of time by ourselves.

93. …Had sex in a car?

hey glompcat and i borrow your car? yes, the car your cat has pooped in several times.

95. What were you doing last night at midnight?  

reading really bad BL doujinshi, for science. no really.

i wanted to see if the rumors that kumiko suekane’s most well known yaoi doujinshi is basically just narumitsu fanfiction were true. the answer is no, and yes.

(it’s more that when hired to design rivals for a visual novel she went with her favorite character aesthetic. as in, one is silly and has spiky black hair and one is suave and has floppy light hair. so if anything, ace attorney is just a lawyers au of suekane’s work lol. i don’t recommend reading it though cause it’s got all the really shit tropes and is generally not enjoyable.)

100. Are you friends with people on facebook that you actually hate?    

i deleted my facebook to get out of these kinds of situations. also i just really don’t like social media except for tumblr, which doesn’t even count.