#this is just an introduction to the premise and characters it’s not the whole thing

[antisocialxconstruct]

I have written over 4500 words of New And Improved* Ghost City in the last two days

*not copyright-claimable

[digitalagepulao]

My sincere Black Myth: Wukong review

Full disclosure! This is from a recent but earnest fan of JTTW as the original novel, as well as all the social, cultural and religious layers of it. I've seen my fair share of adaptations and derivative media, from shlocky to silly to grimdark to cutesy. I'm a bachelor in visual arts, with an interest in the field of game development since high school. I am also, white and brazillian, and have talked with other jttw fans, both Chinese and not, on this game. If any of these are for some reason motive to not read further, then fair enough. Hope you have fun and continue to enjoy the game, do not let me or my opinion stop you!

Now to the review proper <3

First things first, let the obvious not remain unsaid. This game, is supremely gorgeous. In every sense of the word, and I mean this fully, it's a work of art. The sound design, the character concepts and execution, the animations, the voice acting, the visual effects, the UI design, the cinematography, the 3D scanning of actual historical artofacts and heritage sites throughout China, and everything beyond and between, are phenomenal, full stop.

This was never a debate, I'm sure, but I don't think I can in good conscience not praise them for their work. It's no news that Asian talent, not just in China either, have been often hired to supplement projects on the West, and we can all agree it's about time they got to shine in their own AAA project. My issues with the international game industry notwithstanding, I hope this brings some much needed acknowledgment and appreciation for Chinese culture and arts, both traditional and modern!

Now, from this point on, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS, so proceed with caution!

(word count: +1.8k)

I also deeply enjoy their choices in arcs to revisit. Some like the Flaming Mountain arc are classic picks to adapt but still a very good match to the whole Six Senses throughline. I don't think you can do a JTTW 2 electric bogaloo without bringing up Niumowang and his family in some way (um, put a pin on that), but the other arcs like Yellowbrow or Black Wind Mountain aren't as explored imo, so it's nice to see them being given a bit of a spotlight.

(speaking of the Yellow Ridge arc, whoever made the executive decision of Lingji Bodhisattva being a Xaanxi singer is, genius!!)

I'm also kind of in love?? with Bajie's design and role in the story overall?? Gameplay wise he sticks around just enough to not feel lonely, but not too long to be a nuisance or overstay his welcome. He's no Atreus (GoW) or Ellie (TLoU) of course, but he doesn't need to be, and most importantly, he isn't trying to be, which I feel is admirable of the devs. Given the visible inspirations from the recent God of War games, it would have been easy to lean a bit too hard on it, but I'm glad they didn't overreach.

Him having a more complex love life is also a nice touch imo. It explores more his womanizer ways in an interesting way, and I appreciate it. I love when people complicate the pig! Also, the way he treats Xiaosheng (Destined One) like a nephew?? The scene on the Huaguoshan throne??? I'M GONNA CRY!!!

I think, I've run out of positive things to say.... time for the spicy takes.

I, kind of detest the premise by default. I'm not a big fan of "Superman is Dead" plots, cus it's usually either done for shock value, or taken so lightly that the weight is totally lost. I have such a love-hate situationship with the introduction cutscene because of this. On one hand, it's phenomenal cinema, and seeing Wukong stand up to the Heavenly armies in glorious 4K high fidelity graphics is delicious. On the other hand, the whole debate they are having has me going "?????", not because I don't get it but just, why?? Why did this have to be the premise?? (put another pin on that)

Also the set up and call to adventure is kind of blergh.

Now is as good a time as any to talk about the gameplay. It's, okay. If you enjoy trying to figure out the most stylish combos, or to mash buttons, then you'll definitely have fun. I was sorely disappointed that I pretty much have been going through the bosses rather easily. Chapter 1 it was mostly the struggle of learning the controls, but I never stuck to a boss for longer than seven tries (Whiteclad Noble, the snakeman that you are). Chapter 2 I only struggled on Tiger Vanguard, because I was sorely underleveled and had missed a pathway to explore before him. After that I second tried him. Chapter 3, I have and I'm not joking, gotten halfway through first or second trying every boss.

Mind you, this is not being some godtier gamer or whatever, I'm pretty average and only a recent player of soulslike games too (maybe playing Lies of P made too OP, but I sincerely doubt it lol). No, this is me saying that if you do explore the game and not rush through it, you won't struggle nearly as much as some people have and still are. Most of the final chapter bosses can be trivialized with the chapter's Obsession Realm gimmick artifact, which isn't in itself a bad thing, just feels like an odd choice personally.

Which leads me to, the level design. So far? Preeeeetty lame! It's very pretty and fancy, but so chockful of invisible walls that it feels stiffling and discourages exploration. I can never tell what is meant to be a path or just fancy scenery, and I never know when a jump will get walled or send me to my death by fall damage. When it's not being confusing, the level design is either a bunch of looping circles, or straight lines. And so far, besides a few interactables and loot, there is not much else to look at. That is, bad level design, plain and simple.

Also, the animations are glorious, but what is the point if I can't see the enemy?? That camera is my true nemesis, and I mean that. the fact that a boss can be beyond my field of vision at ANY POINT when I'm locked on and it strifes sideways, is dreadful. GameScience, FIX IT. It is also, very hard to tell what parts of a boss will damage me if I collide with them or not. The Kang-Jin Long fight was baffling on a design point of view, same for Captain Lotus-Vision. Some clearer hitboxes would be swell.

This is the point where I say my main issue with the game lies: it's very pretty, and adoringly crafted, but it lacks substance design wise. I feel like it needed to cook more, the level design polished more so I wouldn't get lost every five minutes, and clearer.... well, everything. Mechanic explanations, level progression, gimmicks, etc. It all needed to be less murky and convoluted to understand.

It also needed more meat in between bosses. I have yet to run into common enemies that give me actual trouble, so it ends up being just a jolly waltz from boss to boss. Boss rushes are fun and great, but not as the base game experience (for me at least). I had to stop one boss away from completing Chapter 1 cus I was just so exhausted. And I had been playing for like, an hour and a half?? That left a sour taste in my mouth, I'll be honest.

Okay, I'm gonna pick open those pins now.

#1 the Flaming Mountain Arc. I'm gonna be very real here chat, that was so cringe. What do you MEAN, Red Son wasn't Demon Bull King's biological son, and Princess Iron Fan was forced to drink from the Childbearing River??? And Red Son hates him????When I watched that cutscene, I had to pause and walk away for a moment, legitimately. This plotbeat is SO WILD to me, I got nothing to say. Just, why??Soooo bizarre. And that the Flaming Mountain Keeper has such a presence in Iron Fan's life is also, weird?? Not bad weird, just Weird, but that's like a nitpick more than an actual criticism. Ping Ping is fine though, I like that Bull has a daughter with Princess Fair Fox, that's cute and interesting. Wish she was in a better plot and adaptation but lol

And #2, the premise. Now we are getting to the meat of it all.

The underlying premise of the whole plot, including the true ending, is flawed by default. The premise runs on what is sometimes called as a "conspiracy theory plot", as in, "what if the gods were bad actually??". It's reddit movie theory content in very short terms, and while it had a place during the 00s grimdark years pre-Marvel, it's become quite a jaded and boring take nowadays. Now you may say that it comes from a genuine desire to show distrust and critique to insitutions and the powers than be, and I can see that.

There is a hiccup in that though.

In JTTW, Wukong is the Mind Monkey because of the religious text and subtext of the stories. Its interwoven in the whole thing, and makes it cohesive. It still offer critique and mockery to institutions, without entirely invalidating their foundations. Not only for genuine fear of prosecution, but because, shockingly, religion and belief is a major component of human society in general. But going back to my point, JTTW is *already* a critique of institutions and the power that be. Adding further layers into it feel like angst and edginess just for the sake of it, and that feels hollow to me.

To go further, this intent also clashes with their own plot. See, they bring up that Wukong's Mind, his Sixth Sense, died. Thus they need another Mind to guide his other senses and reform him, so that he may be reborn.

For one, that is such a convoluted way to do a reincarnation plot, it feels complicated just for novelty sake. Secondly, Wukong being the Mind Monkey, as I said, implies a tie to the underlying themes of the Journey as a person's path to enlightenment. If enlightenment itself is flawed because the gods are flawed/evil, then both themes are clashing. By making a "what if the gods were evil all along" plot while also going by the laws and order of said gods, then what are we even fighting against? What is the point of this whole rebellion between Erlang and Wukong??

my friend @ryin-silverfish said it best a while back, and I'm paraphrasing here (do pitch in or correct me if needed! <3), but the issue with these conspiracy narratives is the inherent anti-religion of them. They don't believe in anything, and thus they cannot properly retell the story of JTTW through a postmodern lense, because they refuse to engage with the religiosity that runs throughout the story.

It also leaves a sour taste in my mouth, because this game will likely be many people's first genuine experience with the JTTW mythos and story, and I tend to be concerned for how much this will "sour the pot" in the conversation. The novels are sadly innacessible enough as it is; the sheer size of them scare many people away, not even to mention the amount of underlying cultural context you'll miss out without proper footnotes and commentary. Most people will not engage with them directly, and certainly not most gamers.

While the narrative of someone embodying Wukong's spirit is not new in itself, I do find that it coexisting with such a poor premise and spin on it will be a sore first experience for new fans, and I can only hope that them meeting fans of the OG novels won't cause much friction in the fandom (we have enough as it is imo).

It also concerns me that, sadly, people and gamers in particular, get too swept up in the ooh-aah beauty of flashy sfx and highly detailed graphics, and fail to notice some of the underlying issues in game design. As I said, this game is a work of art, but it has flaws, and I don't think people are speaking of them enough. No, the issue is not "lack of diversity" or whatever the hell.

It runs deeper than that, and it's an issue I've come to see in recent movies as well. I'm aware it might just be different cultural expectations of the pacing and span of a story, and it may as well be! But I think if there was more care given to the bones of a media, it would bring much needed longevity and weight to these wonderful artworks.

All this said, I wanna see what acolades this game gets and see what the devs are cooking up with the DLCs (they said at one point the game was supposed to have 12 chapters and my god, that game would be TOO LONG. So glad it didn't get like that!), and further more see how this ripples in the eastern game dev scene. While this is a flawed game with a flawed story, it can be the first on a genuinely wonderful wave of new creations, not just by GameScience, and overall I'm hopeful for what might come next!

[anthurak]

So I’ve been reading/watching a few different Helluva Boss theory posts/videos recently, and I really have to ask:

We all recognize that when it comes to serious theory-crafting on lore, character backgrounds and most other things, basically EVERYTHING from the pilot is firmly in ‘take with a grain of salt’ territory, right?

Like this is not some ‘true episode one’ or weird ‘episode zero’ thing. It’s a pilot, a proof-of-concept and basic introduction to the series premise and main characters. Now it is certainly a GREAT intro to that premise and those characters, but it’s also clear that at this point the writers were still ironing out the characters, lore and other elements. I mean just compare Stolas in the pilot to Stolas in just the first episode, or how Tilla went from being Blitzo’s older sister to being his mother.

And we can really see this dissonance all over the pilot, as well as possibly getting a sense of what earlier drafts of characters might have looked like.

For example, Moxxie’s ‘dreaming my parents were getting murdered’ line in the pilot certainly feels like it may have at one point been foreshadowing, but it also just doesn’t fit very well with what we later got in the actual show. It seems like Moxxie would have nightmares about his mother being killed, but find dreams about Crimson being murdered to be quite appealing. Instead, I think we can guess that the plan at the time of the pilot was for Moxxie’s parents to have both been murdered by the mob/Crimson, possibly leading to Moxxie being adopted (perhaps by force) by Crimson. But between the pilot and the first episode, Vivzie and the team opted to streamline things by making Crimson be Moxxie’s father in the first place and him having murdered Moxxie’s mother. As evidenced by how Moxxie’s ‘maybe a shitty dad, or a mob family…’ line in Murder Family is MUCH more in line with what we end up seeing in Season 2.

Likewise, I imagine that Tilla originally being Blitzo’s sister likely had her in a nurturing, adoptive older sister role to Blitzo and Barbie, until the writers decided it simply made more sense for Tilla to just be the twins’ mother instead.

So when I see people doing stuff like using Loona’s implication that she has syphilis as a major part of or even the whole basis for theories on her messed up background/childhood, I can’t help but feel like they’re unwittingly building up their theory on a pretty shaky foundation.

Like don’t get me wrong, I fully agree that Loona went through some major shit in her childhood. I even have a hunch/headcannon that her backstory is actually going to have Blitzo AND Moxxie beat in the fucked-up department. It’s just that I think a far more reliable source of foreshadowing on this is something like Loona’s whole ‘This kid probably sets dogs on fire’ spiel in Murder Family, rather than anything from the pilot. Particularly since we now how at least two other cases of seemingly offhand, inconsequential jokes from that episode actually being foreshadowing; again, Moxxie’s ‘maybe a shitty dad…’ line, as well as Blitzo’s ‘we’re just killing a mother…’ line.

Finally, everything I’ve said here goes double, triple and frankly QUADRUPLE for Hazbin Hotel. Whereas we only had a little more than a year between Helluva Boss’s pilot and first episode, we’ve had over FOUR years for Hazbin. And it’s clear already from the trailers and other promotional material that things have changed quite a bit since the pilot. Like I’m as hyped as anyone else to finally see this show get released, but when it comes to specific expectations, we REALLY need to take basically all but the most general, basic, broad-strokes story, character and lore details that were in the pilot with a MASSIVE grain of salt.

Things like the basic premise, general character personalities, Charlie and Vaggie being a couple, etc; those we know are still a thing. Everything else is WILDLY up in the air.

[peoplesrazor]

So, I wanted to address some of Lily's opinions in one of her videos. I know the video in the link is a year old, but I choose it for a few reasons. First, if anyone wants to claim that I just don't like her for criticizing "my show," then The Owl House is the show to do that with. Secondly, this video is about Hunter, a character I started a bit lukewarm on, myself. And lastly, the actual relevant part of the video is mercifully short. I've provided a link to the video, but I'm not going to use time stamps, since it's, again, short.

Lily's Video on Character Potential

So, after her introduction and blaming fan's reactions to character potential on theory videos (without providing evidence that is something that is happening with Hunter,) she gives us her own theory. Which is that people like Hunter for what his character could be, not what his character actually is. Then she says she doesn't like him because he has no purpose in the story.

Okay, that's an opinion. I disagree, but it is stated as more of an opinion than in later videos. She also takes the time to let us know through onscreen text that he is rendered in "every color of the urine spectrum." Lily, we know you hate white blond dudes, no need to diss the color yellow like that.

Culling through the nonsense, her basic premise is that Hunter doesn't do anything in the story and is merely stapled onto other characters. I could point out all the times he does effect the story, but let's just argue the "stapled" thing. Because I think I have a good counter for that, as him being paired with the other characters is where I started to like him and understand him as a character.

Hunter isn't stapled to other characters. Hunter is a mirror into other characters. He has Luz's interest in wild magic and inability to cast spells like other witches. He has been called a half-witch like Willow and shares her insecurity about not being as skilled as others. He is a prodigy like Gus and has the same pressures and anxiety. And he shares the same kind of abusive upbringing as Amity.

Lily claims that everyone gets overshadowed by Hunter in their shared episodes, save Amity. This happens, she says, because of white favoritism; something she has accused the show of doing before. Even if I don't feel he overshadowed anyone in any of the episodes he shares, I can offer a much better explanation for why Amity stands out more in Eclipse Lake.

It's her episode. She's the hero we are following this go around. Kiki and co are obstacles, the titan blood is the MacGuffin, and Eda and King are the sidekicks/comic relief. Lastly, Hunter is there to be Amity's foil; because the episode deals specifically with traits they have in common. They both come from a background where affection is a reward for success. The both feel that if they fail, they will be disappointing someone who thinks they are special.

Make no mistake, without the interference of Luz and the others, Amity would be this kid in two years.

She further says that she likes Hunter better when people other than Dana Terrace write for him. Hunter does seem to be Dana's favorite, or at least one of her favorites. We know he was one of the shows original characters when it was conceived and one Dana has said is a lot of fun for her to write. Still, I don't think the difference is because he's a creator's pet.

I think the episodes Lily is talking about are the ones when he's acting more like the Golden Guard. That the whole Golden Guard thing is a mask for his insecurities is something the show takes the time to point out to us. Look at Thanks to Them, for an example. He gets scared about going into the abandoned house to look for Belos and says that didn't happen when he was the Golden Guard. Luz gives him a Halloween mask they find and he bursts through the door with the same bravado and, indeed, the same line as he when he first confronts Luz. He doesn't take the mask off, either, until Luz calls him family and he breaks down.

The Golden Guard is not, and was never, who this kid is. This was who he had to be to survive his indoctrination. This is why, Lily, it doesn't matter if he had a "destiny" to betray Belos and why it is telling that he still couldn't leave until he committed treason. Did you not watch the episode with him and Gus? You show clips from it and it's one of the episodes you complain about. He was still having trouble convincing himself he did the right thing by leaving. That's how brain washing works.

The rest of the video is her rambling about other things. There is actually a whole section on Sylvanis and then one on Luz's arc later in the series that I won't go into here. Lily, if you really, really don't understand what a negative character arc is, I can go into it for you.

[yourlilkaiju]

Here is the Reason Why I Am Not A Destiel Fan Anymore:

And the reasons I refuse to go back to being one:

So in retrospect, the SuperWhoLock fandom has been by and large a pretty big fandom that has been running a good while. I don't think it's stopped. I have always loved Doctor Who, as that- alongside the works of Mr.Henson and the brilliant creations from his creature shop, were my first introductions to all things weird and other worldly. Horror was another story. I will be more than happy to talk about that another day. So as time went on, in abouts the late summer/early fall of 2005, right before I turned 13, I was introduced to Supernatural. Starring Jared Padelecki and Jensen Ackles. The person I was watching it with was bouncing up and down, all excited because "Oh my gosh, it's so nice to see you watching something other than anime." (The cow.), and because it was nearing Halloween time and it was both of our favorite time of year for two very different reasons. This would end up being the start of my enjoyment of a long running series that had a good premise, but a very confusing story line after season five. (Sorry but it felt...skewed after that point. But I stayed loyal.) In any case, I eventually started shipping Destiel because of the constant queer baiting. Which didn't exactly, idk help the situation? And with that I ended up being a shipper for a good seven and a half, I repeat, SEVEN AND A HALF FUCKING YEARS. Hardly anyone sticks with a shop that long. (But being autistic you kind of stick with a lot of things for a long ass time. *Mumbles something about a certain one winged angel from the nineties*.)

My enjoyment of the ship came to a close when I was at a fantasy convention the spring of 2016. I was at one of the Double tree locations with an ex of mine and dressed up as a fae queen, laughing, having a good time and just having good conversations with the people at our table. I was with a troupe that my ex and I had started and we were initially responsible for acting out as "hosts" for the opening and closing for these events, and even "opening the portals to the realms" 🙄. When out of character we were still expected to be gracious hosts....well, more like I was. The man could get away with spilling a punch bowl over his head while mooning an entire audience, yet still somehow do no wrong. If I complained, or made a peep in my defense, the whole world would come crashing down. Even with some of the people we spent time with. And some of the people we spent time with were Destiel shippers who liked to bring strangers into our space without asking, or without any given warning or invitation. At that time, it'd been Supernatural fans who were not only Destiel shippers....but also Cockles fans.

[I am going to pause for a moment here because I feel the need to emphasize that shipping is fine. Shipping is a great way to escape reality for a period of time and even let loose the pent up need for some sort of intimacy in ones life, regardless of the type that is needed. But to allow it to interfere with reality, to force real people into seeing each other and actually make it so that it can't be left alone for years after? That's where there is an issue. And people who can't see that need to re-evaluate themselves and get some fucking help.]

There were few things that my ex and I agreed on, and one of them had been that uninvited guests had been a nono. However, the rules at play prevented me from saying anything while in costume. He had to dismiss the person. He had to tell them it was time to go and that "appreciated the travellers journey, however it was time for the court to take it's respite." . And yet he didn't. So as these people went on, our troupe laughed and carried on with the conversation. I did my best to segue into a different topic, and tried my hardest not to show discomfort. Because to do so would be breaking the rules. The uninvited guests went on....and on...and on. They ignored my attempts and ignored the fact that I had requested two glasses of wine and a white Russian. They carried on about how Destiel was technically canon, and how Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins were secretly dating behind the scenes. I looked for any reason I could to get the hell out of dodge. And I found my salvation when I found a friend of mine standing over by the bar.

"Pardon me, my dear..." I said, with a soft lilt in my voice. "As compelling as this conversation has been, I find that I have urgent business with a friend of the forest." As bewildered as my poor guest was, I immediately left before they could say anything more. I hated the conversation. I hated feeling trapped. It felt draining and honestly, going to my friend was the best decision I felt that I could make. And when I got to him, he mentioned that I looked like I needed help. And for a man like my ex to not say anything, he was a little disappointed.

Over the next few years, I ran into several more of these shippers at events that I'd helped run. I insisted that the rules be changed, and while he did not like it, he knew that I would not back down on the issue. The same people tried joining our gathering by one of our troupe members behest, and without warning. Upon recognizing me, they grew excited and hoped to continue the conversation from the last time they'd seen me.

"Why don't we talk about something else?" I groaned. I recalled the unpleasant experience I had with them last time as they hardly allowed a word in edgewise.

There was a long pause.

As if summoning a great storm, I was suddenly accused of being homophobic and told that I only played a queen because I whined and sobbed my way into it. And I stood there, allowing the insults to continue until they couldn't anymore. I figured it was just best to let them kick dirt at a statue and smile at them exhausting themselves.

I'm sure some of you may think me a horrible person fo this. I am sure some of you are thinking "why are you telling us this? There's no point."

Because some of you need to know the extent of how some fandoms and their shippers behave.

Back then Destiel and Cockles were as bad as LDS's. Now...well they're still just as bad. But twice as aggressive. And while I was one, I don't think I ever went that far. I would often ask things like "Aren't those two married?" When it came to the Cockles fans. Or say "I'm from way south Alabama and experienced ISA, please stop." To the Wincest shippers. Every single time I would say something like this, some would try to come directly for my throat. Literally. Hell, someone grabbed me by the hair once. All because I dared to disagree.

It's a fucking series.

With fictional characters.

Played by actors.

And all the special effects are done by the crew.

But some people can't seem to grasp that.

I refuse to entangle myself back in that sticky little web and I would rather watch it burn itself out. I would prefer to see it go up in flames as it gets rejected by the fandoms it tries to infect, JUST because it is politely disagreed with.

Because it doesn't leave people alone after being told no or receiving the sense that, maybe, a person is uncomfortable.

[witchlingcirce]

A SEA OF CHANGE - My theory’s !!!

Okay SO recently we’ve been getting a lot of stuff for Matthew’s short story (I think cuz the book is coming out September-November) so I wanted to discuss some of my thoughts and feelings about it!! <33 also, a lot of this information comes from here !! <3

What the story is about:

Now I’m sure everyone knows the premise of this book! Basically just about Matthew’s journey on an ocean liner, where he encounters an infestation of vampires. Tbh from that art that she posted earlier today, I have a feeling that MAYBE this book will giving demon esque death on the Nile vibes !! Idk like, kinda giving mystery 👓👓

This art:

Now I’m sure everyone has seen this art 20 times today. But again, it’s just so pretty and vibey that I wanted to share it again and share my thoughts on it.

FIRST OFF- MATTHEW FAIRCHILD WHY ARE YOU BRINGING YOUR DOG ON A BOAT!!?? FREE OSCAR!!! Jokes aside. They look SO. SO. SO CUTE 😭😭 if anyone is Matthew’s ride or die it is 100% Oscar.

To me this picture is kind of giving that Matthew is maybe investigating something. I think Oscar is kind of the one who warns him about the shadow/demon the left side of him (Oscar is looking worried at it and Matthew looks down at Oscar ect ect ect … guys I took art class for like 2 years trust) now maybe in this scene Matthew is being set up for a trap by maybe one of the vampires???? It could be that the vampires are working for some kind of demon.

Now this demon kind of reminds me of the Cherufe demon that Aline, Alec and Helen fought in TRSOM

—>

Now there’s also the big possibility it could be an entirely NEW demon buttt just making possible connections! Could be a cute call back.

Matthew’s love interest:

Now if you didn’t know- Matthew is confirmed to be having a love interest in this novel. (Cassie confirming it!) So I’m actually really curious on who/how it will be set up in this short story!!

Obviously we won’t be getting everything of Matthew and this strange characters romance, but I honestly do think this book will Matthew opening himself up for that kind of relationship. I think it’ll be really sweet and cute, and again another part of Matthew’s journey of letting himself love and love others.

I think it’s cool to think if the character will be a downworlder or a shadowhunter. Obviously whoever it is they will probably meet on this ocean linear or wherever else Matthew travels to. Now this is a theory I’ve seen someone else say- but it could be Matthew who starts the trend of shadowhunter families moving to New York/America, so I’m thinking whoever his love interest is- will be living in America!! And Matthew will be prompted to live/visit them.

I also don’t think we will get the entirety of them in this story!! Obviously this book really isn’t that long (if I said the whole book should have been abt Matthew well… that’s another day). But I do think this is like an introduction for them to have other short stories written about them!! I’ve also always thought that TLH would get a short story book (this the bane chronicles, TFTSA, GOTSM ect ect) <3!!! I just want to see Matthew happy 😞

Anyways whoever it is- I hope Matthew gets the love he deserves 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

The snippets:

Again, if you didn’t know- we’ve gotten three snippets for this short story so far.

I think alot of these snippets indicate kind of how Matthew is holding up/dealing with the events of chain of thorns.

Especially dealing with the loss of kit, and also dealing with his sobriety. I really do think that this story will really just be showing Matthew’s healing journey, dealing with all these things and really just coming to terms with himself.

With the snippet we got today —>

It was definitely the longest one we’ve gotten yet, and probably the one where we’ve seen the more plot relevant stuff. I’m super interested to see how all this vampire stuff plays out!! And I’m very interested in Slyvian!! Is he the love interest?? Who knows.

ANYWAYS SORRY THIS IS LONG I HAVE SO MANY THIUGHTS

[crystalelemental]

We have finished the Dungeon Meshi anime. I'll type out thoughts, but I feel like I can easily summarize as "It's really good, you should watch it." I was also asked to talk about favorite characters so like. Get ready for that one.

As a whole, Dungeon Meshi is excellent. My wife has an anecdote she likes to tell about it, where before we even watched it, I told her about the general premise and that people were talking about it and it sounded neat and I wanted to pick it up if she'd like to watch. And as happens sometimes, I get the response of "I'll probably look at my phone and just watch it in the background," which is usually "I'm not too interested but put on what you want to put on." And after the first episode she was completely invested. The show is really charming really fast.

Thing is, for as fun adventure as it starts, it does a lot seriously that lands spectacularly well. The first instance of "oh wow, this show is for real" is the well-documented living armor bit. The biology that goes into these monsters is amazing. My personal favorite is still the treasure bugs and mimics interaction, which is just incredible to me, but every time they talk about monster biology and their function it's a treat.

Exploration stuff is also really cool. There's another great post that went around talking about how this party really is more of an old-school dungeon crawler party, where skills for survival like Chilchuck's are essentially the most valuable, rather than combat ability. It does really have that feel, and it's great. I also just love how some of the magic works. Things like mana sickness are cool, but resurrection is my personal favorite. They make a big deal about the black magic kind being forbidden, but watching it in action, it functions just like the stuff that's on the level; blood pools and congeals back in the body, the black magic just involved reconstructing flesh. Marcille's point about black magic not being inherently bad is fair; it doesn't seem all that different. But perceptions are really different regarding it.

They haven't delved too far into it yet, but there are tensions between the fantasy races, and plenty of biases going around. Some are a bit more obvious, like Marcille really not trusting the orcs, while others are more like Shuro's one party member who just refers to the dwarves as just "dwarf," even as she's praising Senshi's cooking. Kabru's got his own hangups regarding how the elves handle things with the dungeons, and openly admits to the imbalance in power between races and how that negatively impacts everyone. I imagine this starts to be more prominent in the second half now that all the establishing stuff is done.

As for cast...they're really strong. Laios' group is all great, I loved them all. Marcille is my favorite, personally, because of course she is. From silly magic elf girl, to oh she's actually super smart, to oh she's super smart in ancient criminal magic fuck yeah girl. Marcille's a delight. Chilchuck was the easy least favorite of the group starting out, but he's really grown on me. Izutsumi is peak cat. Laios is really interesting as a protagonist, I like him a lot. I think the conflicts he gets into are...very real, in a way. Like, he has amazing strengths that make him great at what he's doing, but the flaws in his character inform what struggles they encounter in a really believable way. I like him a lot. Senshi is cool. Falin needs more time, and you have no idea how bummed I am that the season ended with a little snapshot that Chimera Falin and Thistle are having hijinks off-screen, I need that spinoff.

The other groups are less developed, but I'm sure Aera will be happy to hear this: god damn do I love Kabru. This dude rules. I saw people talk about him on Tumblr so I recognized him the instant he showed up, but his first "proper" introduction is stupendous, showing his general people-reading and ability to gather information, and his adherence to a sense of justice that's just as much about meting out punishment as anything else. Him killing those dudes was great, loved that. And the barely concealed excitement over black magic is hilarious. Then he gets to show off that he's basically an assassin class, knowing where to strike for instant kills, has a whole chat with Shuro about recognizing the racial discrepancy in the world at large, and tries to play an entire room full of elves. I dunno, like the guy a lot. He's shrewd, and he's got moxie. I do admit that, while I get the fandom is really attached to Laios and Kabru as a ship, I...have no strong feelings about it. I do, oddly, like him and Rin. Their dynamic in the show was fairly cute, and admittedly some supplemental material I saw posted really got me invested in her. The rest of his party...I have no particular feelings about. It's just him and Rin to me for now.

Shuro's party is even less interesting. I do like Shuro, I think he's a really neat character. But his group hasn't done anything all that interesting to me yet. They kinda showed up to get bodied by Chimera Falin and drive tension as the group that first knows about black magic.

Similar deal with Namari's group? If anything I think the old gnome dude is in the running for general least favorite character. I don't hate the guy, but he's done nothing to endear himself. I have no strong perspectives yet.

For characters that need more time in the oven, there is the question of the Canaries. I've seen a tidbit about them, but my general assumption of them is the whole "Canary in the coalmine," they're the frontliners for dungeons that are sent in and risk death to assess the threat level. Which is neat, would like to know what that deal is. But #1 most invested in learning more about is Thistle. Love that design, love the general vibe he puts out, but also the reveal that he was hired as the court jester who happened to also become the most powerful mage of the kingdom is really, really good. That's both hilarious and awesome. I don't even know this guy and I think he's the shit.

I am wildly invested in season 2, and if it weren't for me working for a school and going through summer months unpaid, I'd probably be buying the entire manga like right now. As it stands I'll have to wait a bit for that, but it's probably happening. I've seen plenty of commentary about things the anime couldn't fit in that are hilarious or interesting, and it feels like one I'd like to read as well, even if I plan to fully go through the anime. Huge fan, glad we got an immediate announcement of season 2, really looking forward to more.

[creatrixanimi]

as a submas fan who recently got into hazbin I would absolutely love to hear your au thoughts!!!!

Ok ill have to try to write out everything i've got so far!

So the original premise was that ingo and emmet got mixed up and ingo got sent to hell instead of emmet as an oopsie (emmet didnt do anything overly bad in life but heaven/hell stuff is so arbitrary they probably just made a weird decision somewhere down the line lol) but i thinkkk i have switched it to Ingo gets sent to hell because Volo successfully sacrificed him in a ritual and emmet, while dying in the same place, wasnt actually part of it so normal rules still applied to him. Ingo's soul is all messed up and corrupted because of the ritual which caused his amnesia. Emmet finds out about Ingo being sent to hell after he cant find ingo anywhere in heaven and rightfully gets upset at heaven's lack of action because he see's ingo's situation as a huge injustice. So Emmet's whole thing is basically just causing problems until he finds his way to hell and reunites with ingo.

Ingo's situation is where the fun is lol. So he wakes up after spawning in hell and is just a total odd-ball. Half because he doesnt remember ANYTHING from before he died. Maybe not even his name? Which is weird. And also because he's a total sweetheart. No one can figure out why he's even there because it's not like he's a hellborn so he must have done something to end up in hell. After a brief period of wandering around aimlessly, Lady Sneasler, who is an overlord in this au, kinda adopts him and takes him places because she thinks hes so charming and adorable. Melli is just a guy that hangs around lady sneasler even though he acts like he doesnt like her? She's the poison overlord (kinda like an aqua tofana situation for sneasler) and melli is a poison guy. So they kinda just fall into the same group. So they both become friends of Ingo. After a while of character introductions and some brief fun stuff like Sneasler getting Ingo to do all kinds of fun stuff he probably wouldnt do on his own (like the clubbing thing lmao) Ingo has his first blackout, probably triggered by some sort of memory thing, and its kinda terrifying. When he has those blackouts he shifts into his full demon form and his power goes haywire causing a lot of destruction. Its a huge shock because normally regular sinner demons dont really have much in terms of inherent power and also because Ingo cant actually use his powers while conscious so there was no sign of him being capable of that level of chaos. Anyway, after he has his little blackout his body sustains damage from exerting that kind of power and is kinda down for the count for a while afterwards. His story from there on is figuring out what is going on with him and trying to stop those blackouts before it either destroys him or a good chunk of the city, whichever comes first lmao. Sneasler is kinda just there to reign in ingo and melli she just loves a good show lol Melli is kinda where i wanna connect it more to the existing hazbin characters/storyline. Because this is lowkey more of a crossover. He accidentally becomes charlie's new pet project which no one is a fan of 😂 melli did not volunteer for this at all but his character arc is learning to make friends and care about other people after pushing people away for so long because he's a huge ball of self-hatred. He's kinda perfect for the "i can fix him" thing the hotel is all about. SO he's stuck learning to become a better person and being the narrative connection back to the core of the actual show lmao. Not sure if they ever even stay at the hotel. Maybe ingo and melli could flip flop between sneasler's place and the hotel. They dont actually have places of their own so its one or the other. In terms of intra character interactions i think its like this (this is prolly set post-s1 so no sir pentious): Charlie: thinks ingo is nice, wants to fix melli and is working with ingo to do this. Her relationship w sneasler is similar to rosie in my head. Alastor: finds Ingo somewhat threatening because Ingo can read him like a book. would otherwise find him pleasant but because he has a hard time keeping up his mysterious scary image around him he avoids him if possible. Ingo really likes him because "he reminds him of someone but he cant put a finger on it", will teleport away if melli is in the vicinity, finds sneasler charming. would gossip with her 10/10. When emmet shows up they try to kill each other which is entirely unsurprising. Everyone else in the hotel is more or less "theres something not right about that ingo guy but he's nice enough i guess", "FUCK melli get him OUT OF HERE", and "lady sneasler is chill" and when emmet shows up theyre just like "oh this explains why he likes alastor so much. Now theres TWO OF THEM." I would like to develop the other character's opinions on the situation more but this is getting. so so long. misc other character stuff: 

Lady sneasler still has sneasels, usually 3 of them. they just have tiny wings and horns but otherwise look like regular sneasels. No clue what their deal is they just exist. 

Rosie and Sneasler get along great. they are kinda similar but fill different power-niches in hell. 

Rosie finds ingo SO charming. She loves his odd vintage flair despite literally dying like. in the 2020s lol. He's very popular in cannibal town because he's a train freak and edwardians love trains. He takes the cute edwardian cannibal kiddies on train rides.

im not really sure what goes on with emmet in this au i just know he's having a shit time of it and eventually finds ingo. I havent decided if he actually falls or just leaves heaven because it sucks and no one cares enough to stop him. Also only slightly related but i actually have a voice-canon for him which is will wood which works great for this au lmao. Also emmet plays killer jazz piano and alastor is so mad about it because its actually good.

emmet and alastor dont really have all that much in common besides the smile thing but its just enough for them to beef over it. really its a similar feud as alastor and lucifer, alastor sees emmet as a threat both because of his power and the smile thing and emmet doesnt like that ingo is following alastor around like a lost puppy. emmet is def way less mysterious, he's just pissed that his brother is suffering even if ingo doesnt seem to notice his own problems.

volo doesnt really come back up in this au because he's still alive. just imagine that akari is kicking his ass in the living world or something lmao. 

i cant decide if pokemon exist in this universe. It would be funny tho to have chandelure exist in a world where souls are like whole ass people who can die for a second time. worlds nicest guy's pet lamp eats people until theyre perma-dead for breakfast.

Elesa (and probably also drayden and iris depening on your headcanons) are very sad :( i like emmet/elesa so it makes it extra hard on elesa tho. there is no solution for this.

not sure what the arceus situation is here. hazbin as far as i know doesnt have a canon god design so for all we know god could be a dumbass llama i guess. its doesnt really matter besides stylizing volo's ritual

[pikolswonderland]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Urban Conspiracy...EXPLAINED!

HELLO EVERYONE!! I've been putting this off for a while now, but I think it's finally time I make an explanation post for my original TMNT iteration, Urban Conspiracy! However, before we begin, there is some stuff I need to clarify first.

This is NOT a full explanation of the WHOLE iteration, such as complete descriptions of characters and the ENTIRE storyline (those will be saved for future posts). This is just an introduction to the main premise, characters, world building, and lore. Secondly, some aspects of this iteration may potentially change as time goes on (for anyone who read my ComputerBug fic set in this iteration, there are already some significant differences between when I uploaded that fic and now). Finally, this iteration will discuss and portray some potentially triggering themes and content, including in this post. Please keep this in mind and proceed with caution. Also, this post is going to be a bit long, so watch out for that as well!

Now, with that all out of the way, let’s begin!

15 years ago, a mysterious tragedy occurred in New York City, known as the TCRI Disaster. The TCRI (Technological Cosmic Research Institute), was a government organization stationed in New York, dedicated to researching anomalous scientific phenomena and materials.

One night, however, a huge disaster occurred causing a large portion of the facility to be completely destroyed and exploded, completely out the blue. As a result, many of the scientists, visitors, and animals used for experiments were killed or went missing. To this day, nobody knows what really happened that night. Who or what caused the disaster, and what happened to the people and animals whose bodies were never found?

One thing was for certain though, something shifted within the general populous. Even long prior to the disaster occurring, there was already a famous urban legend that plagued the streets of New York. It was believed that there existed a mysterious substance known as the ooze, a bright green glowing sludge said to have the ability to turn normal humans and animals into mutant monsters. Yet still, despite the numerous reported sightings of these so-called mutants roaming the city, no concrete evidence existed that proved that the mutants and the ooze actually existed. However, things started to change after the TCRI Disaster. The reported sighting of mutants skyrocketed, and more and more people started to speculate the possibility of what was once a simple urban legend...could actually be true...and whether or not the TCRI Disaster and these mutant sighting were somehow linked.

But whether or not you actually believed it or thought it was all bullshit, what nobody realized was that the legends...were all true. A certain bunch of turtles could attest to that.

Leo, Ralph, Donnie and Mikey were all originally just normal baby turtles, born in the TCRI laboratory to be used for experiments. In reality, the ooze...or by its more proper title as mutagen, did, in fact, actually exist. The mutagen had the ability to mutate any organism within the kingdom of Animalia into hybrid of it and the last organism (also within the kingdom of Animalia) it had made physical contact with.

In the case of the four brothers, it was the humans that cared for them within the laboratory, turning them essentially into humanoid turtle people. Though in the case of their adoptive father, Splinter, his situation was a little different. Once a famous action movie star by the name of Hamato Yoshi, he just so happened to be visiting the TCRI facility when the disaster occurred and having come in contact with one of the lab rats within the facility, his fate was sealed. He was now stuck as a humanoid rat with a bunch of turtle children to raise, who just so happened to be mutated in the same disaster as he was.

Yet despite them technically not being entirely human, at least in their bodies, they were human within their brains and hearts. They had human lifespans, they thought like humans, they talked like humans, they were essentially...humans. However, the outside world was too dangerous for them, if anyone ever found out about the existence of mutants, who knows what terrible things could happen! They had to stay safe, to stay hidden. They made their home in an abandoned subway tunnel, right underneath an old 24/7 internet cafe, only occasionally leaving for quick trips on the surface. Additionally, Splinter decided to teach and train his sons in the art of ninjitsu, so they could fight and defend for themselves, just in case.

However, on the brother's 15th birthday, 15 years since the TCRI Disaster, 15 years since they were mutated, 15 years since they became this weird little family, Splinter decided to do something. He believed the turtles were strong, old, and responsible enough to go to the surface, all by themselves, without the supervision of their dear father. The four teenage boys were excited and overjoyed, finally being able to have their first real taste of freedom that night! There was only one rule, don't let any humans know about you...

...unfortunately, that rule just so happened to be broken in the exact same night. At least this teenage human girl by the name of April O'Neil is more than happy to keep quiet about the existence of mutants, especially since these four mutant turtles just saved her life as well. The only reason their secret even got out was thanks to them being suddenly attacked out-of-the-blue by a bunch of members of the Foot!

The Foot was said to be a mysterious organized crime syndicate from Japan but stationed in New York. Little was known about them and their goals, all that was known was that they were extremely dangerous and not to be trifled with. However, many people also believed the Foot were having an increasing interest in the rumors about the mutants. People have slowly been going missing without a trace over the past 15 years, and with that being just around the same time the Foot had shown up, and when the TCRI Disaster happened, there was indefinitely something strange going on. Something bad was happening, and it's going to be up to these mutant turtles and their new friend (and some future friends as well) to get to the bottom of it. From mutants, to gangsters, vigilantes, robots, crazy scientists, an underground society, and interdimensional aliens, things are certainly going to be interesting.

However, one thing is for certain, good old New York City is about to get a whole lot weirder!

Special thanks to @catonamatchbox, @glitter-alienz, and @acidichcl for inspiring me to make my own TMNT iteration and for accidentally really getting me into this franchise at all! I'll be making some more explanation posts in the future as well. Also, I encourage you to send me asks for this iteration based on this and this Ask Game as well, I tend to have an easier time explaining things by being asked questions! My ask box is always open! Until then, I'll see you all soon!

Ɀረ ዐ𐌄ዪᏵ፱𐌐ቹ𐌐ል, Ᏽ፱𐌐ረ ክ𐌄ዪ የ𐌁ጊᕓል𐌕 𐌔፪𐌄 𐋅ቻ ክ𐌙ሃ. Ᏽ፱𐌐 𐌓፱𐌍፪𐌅 Ꮦ፱ᕓየ𐌵 𐌄ዪᕓፕ𐌀ቻ ፪𐌉ዪ𐌄 𐌁ⶴ𐌄 𐌵፪Ɀዪ ፓᕓሃ𐌙 𐌀፪Ᏽ Ꝋዪ ዪᏵዪ𐌄ል𐌍ሃ, 𐌀፪ ጊ𐌍ፏᏵዪ𐌄 Ꮦ፱𐌍ፏ, Ꮦዪ ፓᕓሃ𐌙 𐌔ህ𐌀ዓ ር𐌍ቹ𐌍ዓᕓቻ𐌐. ህ𐌔 ᕓፏ ፓᕓሃ𐌙 𐌀፪Ᏽ Ꝋዪ ነ𐌁ቹ ⶴ𐌅, ፏ𐌵ዪ𐌀 ᕓፏ ፓᕓሃ𐌙 Ꝋዪ ነ𐌁ቹ ፪𐋅ቹ የ𐌵ህ𐌙ዓ𐌄ዪ𐌀. ነ𐌁ቹ ፏ𐌵ዪ ፕ𐌙፪𐌄ረ ፪𐌔 𐌁ⶴ𐌄 𐌙ህ𐌉ዪ𐌅 𐌍ል𐌒 Ᏽ፱𐌐 𐌕ሃ𐌁ፓᕓል𐌕 𐌕ቹ𐌐ዪ𐌀 ᏖህᏵ፱ᕓል ፪𐋅ቹ ዐ𐌙፪𐌁ዓ, 𐌔፪𐌄 ᕓፏ ጊ𐌍ሸ𐌐ቻ ⶴ𐌅 Ꮦ፱𐌁 Ꮦዪ ክ𐌄ዪ.

[wnchester67]

S1E1

Q: What makes this episode so fuckin good?

Well, kind of everything.

As any good narrative should, this episode sets up (even if briefly) a normal, apple pie life, and then disrupts that normalcy in a big way. There’s this sense of dramatic irony as the viewer catches on to the foreboding feeling the show is doling out (flickering lights, the MUSIC, etc) and the characters remain unaware until it’s too late. Then, the best moment of the introductory scene, “Take your brother outside as fast as you can.” I really feel like this sets up the entire premise of the show, a thematic motif if you will, wherein Dean is his brother’s keeper (KIN).

The next segment of the episode sort of repeats the disruption of normalcy, settling the viewer into Sam’s life at school while creating this intrigue by setting him up as the estranged golden child. Then we get Dean’s introduction (which is the best fucking character intro possibly ever), aka the disruption of normalcy. I could talk about this for literally ever, but for now I wanna focus on one thing in particular: the dialogue. The writer's are presented with these complex characters and history and have like one scene to start revealing the important shit that sets up the rest of the episode, and they do that via clever, efficient dialogue between Sam and Dean. Most everything they say to one another either reveals plot or characterization, and does so in a way that feels really natural. My personal favorite thing about the dialogue is how it sets up this recurring theme of the struggle between wanting a normal, 'apple pie' life, and being unable to have it (and each brother's feelings on the subject, which makes me crazy). The dialogue for the rest of the episode is equally good at revealing who each of the brothers are, and how they were raised.

Now I'm gonna fast forward to the end of the episode, not because the rest of the episode isn't great (it's really great), but because the way the episode ends is a big part of what makes it stand out so much to me. Jess's death is the perfect example of a character death being necessary to move the plot forward. The show would not proceed the same way at all without her death happening when it does and the way it does, and the way it brings the episode full circle is just... as a writer I could actually piss my pants thinking about it.

In my opinion, while the middle bits of the episode are really good, its truly the beginning and end that make the episode such a stand out. It's the perfect introduction to the series, laying out enough information to let you know what's going on while still keeping a few cards close to the chest to keep you intrigued. I've already watched the whole series more than once, and every time I come back to this episode it's just really, really fucking good.

[frankiebirds]

hii!! 11 + 17 for the ask game!!! :))

salty ask game

these got long so they're under the cut. thank you for the ask!!

11. is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? why?

I can't really think of any off the top of my head but two close answers:

i don't understand the hatred towards jordan todd. at all. not because i like her but because i truly can't imagine feeling that strongly about a character who was in eight episodes. i also really liked her inclusion for how it reminded the audience "hey the BAU is Not Normal. they are largely desensitized to the things they see (not that they're unaffected, not at all, but they deal). here's how a normal person would react." i'll probably write a whole thing about it when i get to her introduction but i think her character served a really good purpose

nathan harris. he's not hated or even disliked, but a lot of the fic about him has him coming back as an unsub (not that that isn't a compelling and plausible premise!) but i like to think that nathan goes on to lead a relatively normal life. a lot of the time, especially when it comes to the more sympathetic unsubs, the audience and the characters are thinking "if only someone had intervened before it got to this point..." and nathan is a little underutilized in fic as an example of that intervention succeeding, if that makes sense? i also really like his character for how he put reid into a role he doesn't get often, as the one providing guidance and support for a younger character. if nathan came back as an unsub, that would just put reid into the victim role, which he is unfortunately very familiar with. i just think his dynamic with reid as it is in the episode is far more interesting than him becoming a killer. (again: i have no problem with those fics. ive read several! im not complaining about their presence, just the lack of the opposite, if that makes sense?)

SORRY i know i didnt really answer the question :(( i didnt just want to say "no" because thats a boring answer so you get these vaguely connected ramblings instead

17. Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen…

TW DRUG ABUSE

i know this is a very basic and unsurprising opinion in the cm fandom but i really wish we'd gotten a real addiction arc for reid. he just kind of...stops using offscreen? it felt a little like the writers realised they had no idea how to write a character dealing with opioid addiction and just went "nvm he's better now <3" it just felt very noncommittal and underwhelming.

this is dark, but i would especially have loved to see reid hitting rock bottom. there are only so many option for that that wouldnt make him keeping his job...highly unrealistic, but one that comes to mind is him going on a full-on bender. i think that specifically could have really worked because they would still be able to relegate most of his drug use to the implied/offscreen, both for the purpose of time (because the A-plot is always the case) and to avoid getting too graphic with it, which i think may have been a concern.

now im specifically picturing an episode starting with reid picking up the phone to hotch telling him they have a case. he doesnt look Well, and when he hangs up, we get a wide shot of where he is and it becomes obvious what happened the night/weekend before. maybe it becomes apparent he doesn't even remember most of it. i think that would really fuck with him—it would fuck with anyone, but especially reid. that would be a good opportunity for ethan, too. he implied he had a problem with alcohol in 2x18 and i would have liked to see him help as someone who Got It at least a little bit.

[pinkrose787]

Regarding Creek's character in Trolls: A Twist in Time, I don't really want to portray him as malicious. Which I know is a wild thing to say after Chapter 2 lmao, but hear me out.

Creek is a self-serving jerk. There's no denying that. The whole fic is built on the premise of him altering the timeline, because he doesn't like the way his life has gone.

I want to go back to the source material real quick. The most obvious thing is that he literally sold everyone he knew and loved out to be eaten, just so that he himself would not die.

Is that a super messed up thing to do? Yes.

The thing is he did it out of survival, not malice. He didn't sell everyone out, because he wanted them all to die. He sold everyone out, so that he wouldn't have to die.

Something else notable both in the betrayal scene and his introduction, is that he generally frames what he does as helping. He framed his condescension towards Branch as him giving Branch advice. He framed the betrayal as him selling everyone out as being a good thing, because they wouldn't have lived very long.

In fact, in that scene, he tries portraying himself as some sort of martyr. "I'm going to have to live with this for the rest of my life."

I think that Creek genuinely believes what he says. He truly sees himself as a good person, despite all the evidence to contrary.

This continues in the AU. Creek thinks a world where Branch could end up being king, while he is an outcast is a dark timeline. In his mind, everyone benefits from his advice and presence. Whereas, everyone would only suffer with Branch as a king.

So, when he "fixes" the timeline, he believes that he is helping everyone by preventing such a world.

Something else that cannot be forgotten about is that he is intensely egotistical, and his life pre-Trolls 1 did not help with that. For years, he's been seen as one of the top troll gurus in all of Pop Village. Pretty much every troll saw him as someone to be admired. This fed his ego.

Which is part of the reason why he's so offended at everything that happened. His life was by no means horrible. He was still accepted back into the village. There were still many trolls willing to be friends with him. Most trolls

But his status had been lost. He was now an ordinary troll. No one looked up to him. When he spoke about peace and zen, most trolls either ignored him or rolled their eyes.

This was an intense wound to his pride. One that he could not stand.

In the fic, this ends up manifesting as him seeking out social status. When he altered the timeline, he did not intend to make himself king. What he meant to do was get back to where he used to be, but being king is promotion. One that he relishes.

Now, I do need to go onto what occurred in the new timeline. In Chapter 2, I explained that Poppy started the relationship and he went along with it. This was a version of Creek that had no memory of the previous timeline. He only gained those memories when the new timeline met the point of the previous timeline. (That isn't confusing, right?)

So, this new timeline Creek, never betrayed anyone nor does he have any memories of doing so (until later). As such, he never lost his status or his relationships. But he has a very strong desire to keep them.

Which is why when Poppy asks him out, he doesn't say no to her. Rather than looking at it as going on a date with Poppy, he sees it as going on a date with the Queen. Not only that, but he he feared that rejecting her would harm his status, especially since she's not only the queen but a hero as well. (Which I think he's wrong btw.)

Now, going back to old timeline Creek, he does feel some guilt about his marriage to Poppy. He did not mean to alter the timeline in such a way that they got married. In fact, he had zero clue she ever had a crush on her until the new timeline.

He has always thought of her as a great friend. The two of them had known each other since they were both kids. Even though the whole betrayal occurred, he never stopped thinking of her as a friend, though no longer a close one.

The thing is he has never loved her in a romantic capacity. Not even a slight crush. So, to him his relationship with Poppy is merely a way for him to gain social status.

Still, he views him being married to Poppy as being better for her than Branch dating her. (Which is insane. Would you rather be married to someone who only cares about the social status that comes from being your spouse or date someone who genuinely loves and cares about you so much that they'd accompany you to a land of giants on what they believe is a suicide quest?)

Going onto his relationship with Branch. As stated in a previous ask, Creek did have a crush on Branch way back when they were teens. Though he later abandoned said crush when it seemed like being around Branch would make him a social outcast. (Again, wrong. I'm sensing a pattern where Creek is never right about anything.)

Despite his efforts, his feelings never truly went away for Branch. His crush wasn't overwhelming like it was as a teen. It was more so passive, and would only show up if he talked to Branch.

Now, I think part of the reason that he had a crush on Branch was an "I could fix him" mindset. He saw the sad state Branch was him, and thought that he could be the one make Branch happy. And when he did everyone would see him as a hero, especially Branch.

Which is why he despises the fact that in the original timeline Branch was happy, because it wasn't Creek who made him happy. In fact, because of the fact that they pretty much switched places in society, he built up resentment.

This resentment dissipates shortly after seeing Branch in the new timeline. He's reminded of his crush, but more importantly he's reminded of just how much he used to pity Branch for being the way he was.

This also ties into why he was the way he was at the end of the second chapter. He knows that Poppy was the one who made Branch happy, and he doesn't want that to happen in this timeline. He wants to be the one who helps Branch and become the one who Branch loves.

So, he does pretty much everything he can to dissuade her from being around Branch. He pulls out pretty much every manipulative trick he knows. Does he feel great for this? No. But he feels like it must be done.

I won't say much more for fear of revealing spoilers, but there's a lot more to come.

[bestworstcase]

have you heard of and/or do you have a take on the gun theory?

unfortunately.

ok. my introduction to the g.u.n. theory occurred when somebody tagged the the narnia post ‘rwby gun theory’ and i went “the hell is that” and promptly found out.

that was two years ago jesus christ

since then it has occupied the dragon’s hoard of spurious fandom bullshit i keep in my brain to provide enrichment for my flock of scathing little carrion bird thoughts. i haven’t talked about it here because i do actually make an effort to be civil.

so.

the g.u.n. theory is underpinned by a fundamental misunderstanding of symbolism and allusion. both misunderstandings arise from the same analytical error, which is the presupposition that the text is written in code. it is, so to speak, a cryptographic reading.

before getting into the weeds i will say this: as a writer, i find this cryptographic approach genuinely a little offensive in, like, an “if you even look at my writing i will beat you to death and then eat you alive” knee-jerk fuck you kind of way. and that’s because this:

a theory that there is a second, completely different interpretation of RWBY from the apparent and generally accepted one […] that RWBY contains many, many more allusions than the creators let on. [they] are intentionally hiding these allusions […] by layering them, so that something that alludes to one thing on the surface also alludes to something else on a level beneath that, resulting in the audience easily seeing the top-level allusion but missing the lower level allusion- or allusions- unless they are paying very very close attention. [ src. ]

is fucking insulting. it is anti-storytelling. the point of a story is to tell a story, not to obfuscate itself by encoding the secret ‘real’ story in the proverbial fucking blue curtains. storytelling is communicative. storytellers WANT you to understand the story, the telling, that is the whole entire fucking point. symbolism is not a secret code. it’s a flag. it’s a trail-marker. it’s a tool for guiding attention and helping the audience connect the dots.

sometimes it’s accidental because writers make subconscious connections or just repeat a motif a lot for aesthetic reasons. (<- my thing is birds. if you’ve ever read bitter snow and wondered why everything is birds it’s because i just think that birds) sometimes it’s on purpose and sometimes it is On Purpose. but it is never, ever there to tell a secret hidden story that is not the story the story appears to be. stories say what they mean and mean what they say.

yes even allegories, fables, satire, et cetera. subtext is not “”hidden meaning“” it’s just narrative information conveyed implicitly. theme is not “”hidden meaning“” it’s the abstract ideas realized through the narrative. these are things the audience is supposed to pick up on, even if they lack the analytical skill to identify and articulate precisely how or why and even if they don’t consciously recognize it. storytellers want you to get it.

ok? ok.

takes off the writer hat.

the g.u.n. theory—like all cryptographic readings—begs the question. it’s a “method of further appreciating, understanding and even predicting the events of [RWBY]” by examining the story “as a confluence of dozens of familiar fantasy and fictional narratives and influences” because the story is actually something “completely different” from what it appears to be. the g.u.n. theory purports to excavate the deeper real story from the obfuscating “surface” story, which is an obviously insane thing to do unless you first accept the premise that the actual text—the things the characters do and say on the screen—is not what the story is.

the g.u.n. theory requires that “what happens in star wars?” is more relevant to interpreting rwby than “what happens in rwby?”

that is ludicrous. it is facile. it’s nonsense.

it would be nonsense even if the g.u.n. theory limited itself to genuine allusions (like ‘the marvelous land of oz’), because while rwby is retelling marvelous land pretty fucking overtly, you do in fact have to read marvelous land in context with a) what happens in rwby and b) specifically how rwby leverages marvelous land to construct its own story, which means you also need to read it in context with the other core allusions (maiden-in-tower tales, the little prince, cinderella) and the way the rwby narrative fits the pieces together. if that sounds complicated yes, but also no, because rwby is really very straightforward about it.

but the g.u.n. theory is the brainchild of people who think the core allusions are [checks notes] lord of the rings, star wars, avatar: the last airbender, fullmetal alchemist, and sailor moon. that the atlas arc is based on the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe (on this see The Narnia Post). that salem’s primary character allusions are the wicked witch of the west, sauron, cinderella’s evil stepmother, emperor palpatine, two presumably villainous fullmetal alchemist characters, and inexplicably maleficent?—but notably NOT rapunzel / persinette / petrosinella despite her being, yanno, explicitly the girl in the tower.

looks into the camera like i’m on the office.

what is happening here—this becomes obvious the instant g.u.n. theorists construct an argument for an allusion—is a conflation of common tropes and archetypes with narratively meaningful allusion. thus, “winter is jadis because she enters in a fancy airship, wields a sword and a smaller sword that kind of looks like a wand, there’s a stone lion-head fountain in this one scene, she’s short-tempered, and she’s from the frozen polar kingdom that oppresses the animal people” which is, um, stupid.

i am like five fucking thousand words deep in comparative analysis of salem and job arguing that rwby is a jobian narrative and i will still asterisk the book of job to hell and back as probably not a deliberate allusion because the comparison relies so much on subtext and i am waiting (very! patiently!) for salem to start talking before i’ll commit to arguing for intention. there are people who are convinced winter is jadis because her main gauche vaguely resembles a wand and she’s from the polar kingdom and, like, presents as an archetypal Ice Lady.

i just—

snarls. see the narnia post.

the point is that the g.u.n. theory’s analytical framework is both explicitly countertextual (the text is not the story) and interested in aesthetics and archetypal similarity almost to the exclusion of everything else.

joseph campbell would be proud.

that interest in aesthetics, combined with the g.u.n. theory’s cryptographic approach to analysis, is why prognostication guided by the g.u.n. theory turned out wrong with stunning regularity, and also why there are g.u.n. theory posts out there that make nonsense claims like “x symbol and y symbol have the same meaning and are interchangeable because they resemble each other and are connected to the same character” (<- snarls in ‘the broken moon = the burning rose’).

i’m glad V8 put it in the ground because if i had seen g.u.n. theorists babbling nonsense about alice in wonderland during V9 i would have been unkind

[pretty-little-martyr]

for some reason am remembering the episode from the 2003 show Dead Like Me that featured 2003's best case scenario at having cis people write a trans woman and how much I genuinely enjoyed that episode. the premise of the show for anyone not familiar (which is probably everyone) was that Grim Reapers were real, were the recently deceased who were randomly picked for the job, and had to individually collect people once they died and pass them on to whatever personal heaven they'd envisioned. the Reapers often aren't given much info about who is going to die and therefore have to talk to people around them to learn the name of the to-be-deceased. and that episode takes place in the lobby of a plastic surgeons office where there's a bunch of ladies and One Dude (character is actually a trans woman, but played by a cis man because. y'know. 2003 American cable television.). she's there to get all of the surgeries done at once (not how that works .... again, 2003 cis writers) to finally "transform into the woman she was always meant to be" [paraphrased] and it always really stuck with me because 1) the actors performance was so .. genuine. she was excited to be there because she had waited her whole life to do this. and she wasn't very young either. 30 or 40 perhaps. an extremely convincing and earnest performance from a presumably cis man. 2) the show handled her with genuine grace. it wasn't funny that she was in there, it was funny that our main character George (cis girl who goes by that name, very interesting from a trans angle as well) was like "why's a dude in here" before learning that the character was not a man just "looked like one." 3) it treated her subsequent death as a genuine tragedy. the thing is with each of the humans we get introduced to we know they're gonna die. and for the most part the deaths are silly and bizarre—one dude slips on a banana peel and gets his neck broken by a revolving door, one person drowns to death under a water cooler, etc—but this one wasn't. I don't actually remember how she died because I can't find the goddamned show anywhere and you can't buy it, either, it got canned after 2 seasons anyway, but I remember George being genuinely heartbroken that the trans woman didn't get to live the life she wanted to. and it's of course all quite clumsy and inept because it's 2003 and they clearly either didn't have a trans person in the writing room or one of the writers mayhap didn't know they're trans yet, I have no idea, but in light of how many frankly disgusting portrayals of trans people and trans women in particular I saw on TV growing up that one has always stuck with me for the tender and serious way the subject was handled.

there's probably an entire essay to be had about both that whole episode and a transmasc reading of George. that show wasn't one that cracked my egg I don't think, because when I first saw it I was too young to parse the idea (I was somewhere between 10 and 13), but it was my first introduction to the idea of being trans. I rewatched it in 2019 when it was briefly on Amazon because my college email acct gave me free Prime Streaming and god the episode hit me like a truck. I'm pretty sure I cried. I want to watch it again and really dissect it because its lack of mockery in a time when it was very much in vogue to mock trans women fascinates me.

im also pretty sure I remember that after the woman passed, the other Reapers misgender her casually because again, 2003, they're acting like she wasn't a woman yet, but I think George notably doesn't. I may be misremembering though. I do remember George being deeply, deeply upset by the unfairness of her death though.

[kimberlyannharts]

Ranger Academy: The First Arc

So! Ranger Academy has given us four issues, and as we're getting a break next month, these four issues are clearly meant to be seen as the first arc or chapter of the story. While I didn't really expect to give this series most of my attention, apparently I do have a lot to say about it, so let's discuss these four issues and my thoughts on the series so far.

Ranger Academy's kind of in a weird place, at least from my experience. As far as I'm aware, there's really not much discussion or hype for it in the fandom? Which, in some way, makes sense - the series is completely disconnected from the main series and from the beginning was stated to be skewed more towards younger readers; almost as an introduction to Power Rangers as a whole. And it does that job well......for the most part.

Before I get to the writing though, I just want to take a minute to highlight the art, since I don't talk about it enough in my recaps/other discussions. It's great! Drawn by Jo Mi-Gyeong and colored by Fabiana Mascolo, the art for the PR comics in general continues to be a high point. Every character, even the background teachers, have a distinct memorable design with a lot of personality in their poses and gestures, and the numerous settings we've already gotten - Sage's moon home, Ranger Academy's different campuses, the planet Chromia - all look fantastic. My only nitpicks would be I wish we got more non-humanoid cadets, and sometimes the way faces are drawn in profile look a little odd - especially when they have their mouths open - but those are nitpicks.

When it comes to the writing, things get a little trickier. For the most part, I think the story is good. The basic premise to all this in case you're new: a young girl named Sage lives on a remote moon with only her adopted father Rhianth and a herd of weird goat-like creatures. One day two cadets from the titular Ranger Academy, Mathis and Tula, crash-land on the moon and tell her about the Academy. Sick of living alone under her father's rules and wanting adventure, Sage stows along with them on their return journey and becomes an official student. So now instead of herding goats, she's making new friends, discovering secrets of the Academy, how her father connects to all this, and becoming a Power Ranger.

As I said, I think this is a solid premise for Boom's first ever completely original Power Rangers book (I count Power Rangers Universe as a sort of test-run for original stories, but that was still pretty connected to the main series and using established canon concepts.) The mysteries they've introduced, such as the lost Green campus, the implication that certain Ranger colors were purposefully erased from history, Rhianth's past, and Tula's interest in these secrets, all help build on the somewhat basic premise and are slowly giving the book its own identity. Sage herself is a very likable and relatable protagonist; a kid wanting more out of her lonely, isolated life so she takes the first opportunity she can to escape, but is now realizing that it's not going to be some fun adventure. The supporting cast is a little underdeveloped, but everyone's perfectly likable and I'm interested in seeing how they grow. I think for me there are two main problems that drag the book down: the setting itself being underdeveloped and the Ranger alumni cameos.

Ranger Academy itself? Meh

A criticism that immediately came out following the book's release, that I agree with for the most part, is the book pretty much follows the structure of a "magic school" story to a T. A "normal" kid who wants more out of life gets thrust into this new world by some kind of outside force. The school has a category system where kids get put into select campuses based on personality or skills. The main character doesn't fit in with everyone else until they find some friends to take care of them. There are secrets about the school that are being kept from the students, and secrets of the main character's family being hidden from them. Also, there's a bully.

During my first read of the issues, I agreed that this was a detriment to the book, but now rereading it again, I think the problem is less that the book follows these tropes and more that it speeds through these tropes REALLY QUICKLY. You can tell they want to move things along to the good stuff where Sage morphs, and I understand why - this is a Power Rangers book, and people want to see Power Rangers. But at the same time, you really don't get much of a chance to get to know the school outside of its basic layout of its campuses and that the headmaster is literally a giant floating head. You don't learn any of the non-cameo teachers' names, outside of the librarian, and that's mostly because he was part of Rhianth's old friend group. You see some of the classes Sage has to take, but there's no discussion on if each color campus focuses on a particular subject. We establish that first years are on a rotation schedule of attending classes in a different color campus each day, but what's the difference between classes in the Blue Campus and classes in the Pink?

Now this might seem trivial, and it kind of is. It does help the reader feel Sage's overwhelming new situation by not giving her, and therefore the reader, the full picture. And there's nothing saying that these concepts won't get developed down the road. Sage has three and a half years left of school, after all, assuming the book continues long enough to cover that length of time. But when it comes to these kinds of stories, the school's operation is a huge part of the charm - what makes THIS magic school stand out against all the others on the YA shelf? You basically have to turn the school itself into a character. Hogwarts is so iconic because that series does this perfectly. Ranger Academy simply doesn't have that yet - it still just feels like a generic school, really an army training camp more than anything due to the hostage negotiation and survival classes she takes, with nothing to make it stand out except for the promise that we'll get to actual Power Rangers stuff soon.

Oh, and.....the cameos.

The Cameos

So.....yeah. This is a big one for me. I think there's time for the series to fix my issue of the school itself feeling underdeveloped, but it's already too late for the cameos

Back when Ranger Academy was first being advertised, they were quick to show off that the book could cameo any ranger at any point in the franchise - the book itself accomplishes this through the Rangers using tubes as a sort of interplanetary, interdimensional Zoom........or just kind of.....showing up, as is the case with Cruger, Yale, and Katie. (I don't really know what constitutes a cameo physically being there as opposed to a tube hologram. It's another thing the book hasn't explained the rules for yet.) And for the most part, this is a fine idea. It makes sense, and fun for the simple novelty of "look!! it's my blorbo!!!" that no one is immune to.

But they get more and more out of place as the story of Ranger Academy starts to pick up.

Like I said before, the book is starting to hint that the school only having five colors isn't COMPLETELY MMPR pandering - the school is, indeed, intentionally erasing certain Ranger colors from their students' awareness. As someone who would love for the big twist to be this school and its system is inherently corrupt, this is a good start.

HOWEVER. In order to make this work, you have to assume that a) the Ranger histories that the students learn about just don't mention ANY rangers that aren't red, blue, black, pink, or yellow and b) the Ranger alumni who teach there don't mention them either. And that's just too much for me to believe, I'm sorry. For some colors like orange and white, maybe, but gold? Silver? GREEN???????? There are too many of those guys to believe they can get covered up. And I really don't see the ranger alumni being okay with erasing their teammates from history. Green is the third-highest ranking at SPD. Hello? SPD? I think these guys would have heard of SPD? Since Cruger teaches there? (And if not at school then certainly once they're out and traveling the galaxy.)

I've mentioned before that the cameos are starting to feel more like a higher-up mandate than something the author chose to do, and that'll only be supported by a lack of explanation as to how this works with the narrative they're weaving AND if none of the cameo rangers actually.......play a real part in all this. Not that I want the canon characters to overshadow the new characters, but it would feel like kind of a letdown to have access to ALL of these characters and not give them anything to do besides generic exposition (there's really nothing specific to their characters in.....ANY of the cameos' dialogue, besides the five hundredth "uh, is that a CAT???????" joke with Yale.) or not take the chance to develop some of them by, say, assigning them a mentorship role to a specific student. I LOVE seeing Katie, after BOOM kind of ignores her in favor of Jen, but is all she going to amount to is being their bus driver? I didn't even realize it was her until people pointed out that they called her Professor Walker. Nothing about her suggested that she was Katie. So I worry about the aforementioned "it's my blorbo" novelty to wear out pretty fast if the cameos start to feel more and more like just fanservice for people to post about online.

But overall.....it's fine. I'm going to keep reading, and we'll see where this goes. I don't think everyone will like this - as seen by how I barely see anyone talking about it lol. But I'm cautiously optimistic now that we're getting into the meat of things with Sage's new, FORBIDDEN!!!!!!!!! color.

(Just don't bring in Dark Specter oh god please)

Misc Thoughts:

= For all the build-up that the First Trial would be this HORRIBLE LIFE-THREATENING OH GOD HELP ME event, it was actually pretty...lowkey. They literally had no trouble until someone broke their ankle, which....could happen anywhere, at any time. Fern did that, you ain't special. We didn't even see any of those cool monsters they kept bringing up

= So after all my confusion about when and where this series is set, going back in my reread helped me notice that there IS a clue towards setting in a scene where Sage is going through yearbooks: a shelf labeled "Class of [X]498" (the first number is obscured by one of Sage's narration boxes.) So it's.....tentatively set in the far future of the PR universe?

= I've said it before that I don't blame the author for apparently not knowing that previously the books established Xybrians like Kartyr follow a name pattern of a one-syllable word (Trip, Star, Ace, Trek, etc) but it is a little funny to imagine the possibilities. Jerk, Dick, Twerp

= I think a joke could have been done with Cruger, a dog, and Yale, a cat, being in the same room together

= I hate that the Academy was founded by Zordon. It's too low-hanging fruit for me. I'll say it again that I wish it could have just been founded by some OC team

= #Lindy4Orange2024 and FUCK the Bandorian Monks!

[the-whispers-of-death]

Do They Have a No Food/No Gum Policy?

I was going to do the first chapter of the High School Teacher AU, but I'm wondering now if I should just scrap the whole Stone x Kali premise of the AU and just focus on writing the dynamics of everyone because there's just so many characters and most of them have never interacted with each other before. So for now, here is the policy about food and gum in their classrooms.

Here are the introduction to the characters in the AU.

Coach Williams- He purposefully ends his lessons ten minutes before the bell rings so students can snack and drink water. Personal fitness is tiring, so he makes sure to provide them with snacks and water so they don't feel so lethargic for the rest of the day.

Mr. Khatri- He doesn't care. While it is a science class, there's no labs being done, so there's nothing food can potentially contaminate. He also doesn't care about students chewing gum in his class, as long as they don't make those loud obnoxious bubbles or leave gum sticking on the undersides of the desks.

Mr. Garrick- Students can eat snacks if it's on the days where they're not developing films. There's chemicals in the developing mixture and it's best not to snack on those days in case students' hands aren't extremely clean of the mixture.

Mr. MacTavish- He snacks all the time personally, so he doesn't mind. He does caution against eating and drinking water/soda when drawing art projects that have to be turned in, simply because it'd be sad if a student accidentally ruined their artwork by spilling food or their drink on the paper. Same goes for gum.

Mr. Shah- It's a culinary class, he's not going to stop students from eating or drinking. As long as it's not too messy, he'll allow them to do so. He'll take it as an opportunity to tell them some very healthy snack brands.

Mr. Kumar- Eating food isn't the best thing when one has to handle music sheets. Most of the time, the students are singing, so there's really no time to eat. Only on the days when he decides to put a movie on can students eat in his classroom, and he provides them with the snacks too.

Mr. Price- If it's early in the day and a student hasn't had breakfast due to some reason or the other, he'll allow them to snack. Other than that, no eating in his classroom. He's also the type not to care about chewing gum, again as long as they don't make those loud obnoxious bubbles or leave gum sticking on the undersides of the desks.

Ms. Singh- Absolutely no food or drink allowed, though she does allow gum (if no one sticks it on the desk). This is because students are working with computers and food and drinks don't really mesh well with computer, drinks especially. The food thing is mostly because she doesn't want to spend so much time cleaning little bits of crumbs from the little spaces in the keyboard.

Dr. Greene- As long as it's not messy, he doesn't care. Don't ruin the worksheets he gives them and he's fine. Also fine with chewing gum in his classroom.

Coach Riley- This is the one thing Coach Williams and him agree on, and it's making sure students have snacks and water after a long lesson. So he too will provide his students with snacks and water.

Mr. Mishra- This man glares at students who bring in a can of soda into his class, even a plastic water bottle will make this man glare. He has a no food and no gum policy, all day every day. He doesn't have any faith in his students to not make a mess and he just hates hearing people chew gum. It is a true miracle students actually like his class.

Mr. Kohli-Petrov- He has a no food and no gum policy, but it's because he doesn't want anything to ruin the books he gets for his students. He has them read classics, spending his own money to get the books. So students don't really eat in his class, simply because they know the nice books will be taken away and substituted with books that look really ratty from students in previous years using them.