#variations on a theme verse

[undertheopensky]

Curious about the different studies in Red 👀

Asdfgh I was so excited by this ask that I got up and walked arouind the house without even thinking about it -

Okay so! First you need to know that the Variations on a Theme series - which the Studies in Red are a part of - features Vio being stuck in a time loop where he tries to make the chips in Four Swords Plus fall in a way where everyone lives.

In the first Study in Red, Vio dies towards the end of a loop, and Red - knowing that something had been wrong with him - wishes he could have helped, somehow. And soon finds himself waking up back in the Sanctuary again as if they'd just pulled the Four Sword, and Shadow is there, and Vio is there, and maybe maybe maybe he can fix it this time -

It was supposed to just be a tragic oneshot where Red remembered one loop and did his best to help but they failed a requirement and then Red forgot in the next one and never remembered again, but, uh. Red kind of took over as leader from Green? And kicked ass at it??? So much so that I got indecisive about where to take things because holy shit it was SO GOOD -

A snippet:

Red strikes. With the flat of his sword he swats Blue – lightly – on the ear, then swings and clips Green’s backside too. Both of them yelp and stop to stare at him. “You call yourselves heroes,” Red hisses. “You’ve come across a scene you don’t understand – a disaster, a battle, the aftermath of a raid – and there’s someone in front of you trying to tell you what happened. Trying to give you information that could be useful, or just looking for help. Instead, you’re fighting amongst yourselves about who should be the leader. You should be ashamed of yourselves.”

Crimson was a version where LU happens some time shortly after a winning loop. The Colours are less than pleased to be dropped into a new adventure so fast.

Vermilion was an alternate LU intro where the Chain comes across the Colours trying to sneak out of their Hyrule and offers to escort them to somewhere safe.

Scarlet is ANOTHER alternate LU intro where the winning loop happened a couple of years ago - the four have settled in as individuals, and Vio has recovered from his experiences some.

Since Scarlet is my favourite (and most developed), have another snippet:

"Don’t worry, you’re not special,” Red says casually. "Vio hasn’t spoken in years." He feels a bit guilty at the stricken looks on their faces, but not much. He’s learned to be cutting, if it means defending his brothers. “Vivi,” he adds, "I love having you hanging out, but you know you don’t have to stay down here if the customers are annoying the shit out of you, right?” Pointedly, Vio turns his eyes back to his book, and doesn’t move. “Okay. You let me know if they’re bothering you and I’ll kick them out.” Vio tucks himself more firmly into his chair. Red turns back to the men and pastes a smile on his face. "So! What are you in for today?"

[chiropteracupola]

for interested parties, Here is the song about which I was rambling in the previous post.

[pensivespacepirate]

VARIATIONS ON A THEME MENTIONED

[mesetacadre]

I'm in no way versed in musical theory but isn't the intro-chorus-verse-chorus and similar structures some people lament being so ubiquitous in contemporary music basically analogous to the main theme and variations structure that most pieces, especially longer ones, took in the baroque-classical-romantic period? Like maybe humans just generally like that sort of structure in music and it doesn't represent some kind of dumbing-down

[speaker-of-the-void-cats]

"My mentor couldn't teach me how to interpret dreams, so he taught me in hypotheticals."

Hey all! I'm a Warlock main named Matt and I've been posting my scattershot Destiny musings, ramblings, and theories since Lightfall's release. In that time, I've really enjoyed exploring the mysteries of the lore and honing my thoughts on Destiny's story through various posting styles. Particularly, I've loved exploring topics like the nature of the Darkness, the Veil, the Witness and its place in the story, as well as the generally rhyming, looping, spiraling structure of the game's narrative. I also love Eris, Drifter, Savathûn, and Osiris!

Sometimes I get a little goofy with it, especially in those early posts, with big swings and a lot of my own writing connecting the dots in an attempt to see a year into the future. But as we've gone through the seasons and learned more, I've tried a sort of variation on web-weaving using lore entries, images, video, and sometimes song lyrics and poetry in order to evoke specific moods or convey big, hard to articulate ideas and speculation. Sometimes, I simply explore a theme or specific lore nook that fascinates me.

As we near The Final Shape, I wanted to finally compile a list of links to all my posts. Pardon the amount of repetition and, probably, off-the-wall speculation, but I hope you find something interesting if you decide to check them out! Also, keep an eye out for links. Sometimes it's simply the source text on Ishtar, other times.... something more. Please keep in mind that all these are products of the moment in time they were posted in, so topics I explored in early ones may have questions answered in the seasons since. The list will largely go from earliest to most recent, and I'll put a * next to my favorites!

The Veil, Nezarec, and Jakob Bohme

Seeing the murals above the Veil enclosure*

EMBRACE THE DARKNESS

Thank You, Verse 154i:4 - Call the Thrall

MCXLLII-I, forthcoming.

The EDZ saw paracausal conflict long before the Collapse

Pattern is system and system is sequence, but what is sequence?

Forsaken Lightfall

Deterministic Chaos*

Eight

SALVAGE THE TRUTH

Aren't they beautiful?

"What is this feeling? I do not want it."

"They desired meaning. A Winnower to shape the garden."*

"How many legends of katabasis do we have, Ikora?"*

The Sundial

The Dreaming Cities

Not Light, not Dark: Power.*

Chiasmus*

Conspiracy Theory-D

The Truth in the Darkness...

Have you ever been afraid of your own Shadow?*

[I could be wrong. Is it possible the Black Heart will beat again?]*

[The following posts contain trailer spoilers for the Final Shape]

©0RrUptIôN.*

Prismatic Hearts*

"We are unique emanations of the same shared Light."

Kugelblitz*

Final attempts to understand before the Shape is unveiled*

Paradrome

Speaker's Sight — Study the voice. Gaze into the heart.

"Focus. The Pyramid distracts. Nothing more."

It all means one thing

DECRYPTION KEY: 3136664202-777

Ruinous Effigy

There is only SUFFERING

SPOILER ALERT

Hope for the Future

It's not over

Echoing

Echoes of Deep Hidden Truth

Solipsism

Eyes up, Guardian

Reading for world-building is a skill. I have seen brilliant people, laureates, inventors, Ph.D.s, try to read fiction with deep world-building and fail completely, looping back, rereading, never following events, trapped in a sense of muddled wandering. Reading for world-building requires retaining information without context: a term, a place, a coin, a category comes up once and we know what that is—a puzzle piece—and that our task is to gather up these pieces as the author drops them, and to slowly assemble the whole. This is not easy. Human memory needs hooks for facts: a mnemonic, a story, context, something; grueling textbook rote-learning fades quickly, but a story of the statesman or the king, that's what makes knowledge stay. To retain puzzle pieces that don't connect, dropped without context, is a skill that not all have. All had it once: it is how children read, every book, poster, and headline a stream of unknown terms, far too many to ask about them all, but the child retains them, trusting that they will connect to something someday. Kids collect Earth's puzzle pieces every time they read, but as we move to grown-up books they all use the same picture, and define immediately those terms they fear a reader may not know. Thus the skill of keeping puzzle pieces fades, unless we read books set in other worlds, new puzzle pictures which make us retain the skill, as frogs sometimes retain their tadpole tails into adulthood. This—many have observed—is why most F&SF readers come to the genre young, it's hard to start in adulthood when one's puzzle memory skill has sat atrophied. We find dozens of other puzzle pieces—creatures, buried engines, monstrous plants—but they don't connect either, no explanations, no recurrences. We trust. We ponder. We wade through the clutter of clashing technologies, tales of degeneration, glories lost, but there's no fall-of-space-Rome story to connect it up. We can guess at one, as we can guess the missing end of the story of the strange plants, as we can guess at several ways rats could gain language if time passed and—click—we see it. These puzzle pieces do not fit together—rather this puzzle-maker trusts that we are puzzle-masters and know the archetypes that must fill in between (a rise, an age, a destined king.) So we spread our disconnected puzzle pieces out, not assuming that the strange creatures come from one origin, the ruins from one era, and as we spread out, looking not for direct connections but for fragments of arcs and colors, our 100 puzzle pieces let us glimpse an image so vast it would take 100,000—an image large enough to capture true Deep Future, years numbered in millions, where contours that do connect do so at scales which make the layers of Freud's Rome appear shallow as coats of paint.

—Excerpts from The Path of the New Sun by Ada Palmer, introduction to The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe

[arsprince]

prince stolas of the ars goetia, from helluva boss. based entirely on the pilot episode and original lore on the ars goetia, portrayed as the antagonist of the show. as prophesied by doll, she / her, eighteen plus.

𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄. stolas ars goetia. 𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐒. prince stolas of the ars goetia, a great prince of hell. the thirty-sixth demon of the ars goetia (in the lesser key of solomon), commander of twenty-six legions. 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐓𝐒. the owl demon. the sage of shadows. the erudite. 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐒. demon of the ars goetia dynasty. 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑. identifies male, he/they. 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍. bisexual, biromantic. 𝐎𝐂𝐂𝐔𝐏𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍. nobleman, aristocrat, astronomer, occultist, militant commander. 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒. princess stella of the ars goetia, wife. crown princess octavia of the ars goetia, daughter & heir. king paimon of the ars goetia, father. various siblings, cousins, etc. the ars goetia dynasty.

𝐏𝐇𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐁𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐒. tall & elegant, yet imposing and haunting in his beauty. lean figure. owl-like features, including a beak, talons, and an owl's tail. two sets of red eyes. huge jaws. 𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓. 10' f. 𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄. stolas favours his regal attire, opting to wear some variation of a royal uniform for his public appearances. when sprawling about the estate, he might dress down to a vest, cravat, etc. or opt for loungewear, depending on the nature of any company present. 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐂 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌. tba. 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐌/𝐒. tom hiddleston. (liveaction)

examining themes of . . . the oligarchy. decadence, hedonism, and moral decay. the conflict between duty and desire. beauty in the grotesque. gothicism. classism & the politics of hell. lovecraftian horrors, ancient evils. the conquest for power & the pursuit of knowledge.

character notes. verses. visuals.

[little-cereal-draws]

Instead of a season two of Moon Knight, they should just remake season one but as a musical

Included songs:

"Generic intro song" (As Steven gets ready/arrives at work, to show what a mess of a person he is, how he wants to be a tour guide, and how little his coworkers care abt him)

"Marc and Steven fight in the storage unit" song (Marc's verses are needlessly complicated, vague, and confusing; Steven's verses start as questions that don't get answered but changes into his line abt stake, not being able to breathe, and requests to go to the hospital, all of which are ignored by Marc. Uses Marc and Steven's musical theme)

"Layla's song about why she's upset/betrayed" (it's obvious that it's supposed to be a duet but Steven doesn't know the words so he's just fumbling and apologizing. Ends with Layla abt to storm out on him but the police knock on the door. Uses Marc and Layla's musical theme)

"Generic villain song" for Harrow (maybe the melody is deceptively happy and uplifting but words are sinister. The other cult members are backup singers)

"Marc and Layla are fighting" song (Uses Marc and Layla's theme. It starts with them undercover on the boat in Egypt when she's trying to get him to open up and it's obvious he's still in love with her. Climaxes when they reach Mogart's and the whole company comes in. They're trying to be in character but are still fighting. Ends when Mogart shows up)

"Khonshu's song" (Could be titled 'I Remember Every Night,' idk. Could be sad and abt how he got kicked out or could be lowkey evil and manipulative, depending on how you want to characterize him. Or both!)

"Steven's attempt at flirting" song (This isn't really a song. It's more like three or four lines he sings to Layla after they kiss as an echo of her song abt why she was upset. Uses a variation of Marc and Layla's theme but is still different enough)

"Marc and Layla are fighting" reprise (very short, only a verse or two, but it's after Layla finds out about her dad. Basically, she's yelling at him and throwing everything from the original song back in his face)

"Angst: part one" song (Steven sings this when he finds out he's 'not real.' It's really short and simple, only a verse wo any accompaniment, but it breaks your heart)

"Angst: part two" song (This is where you really start crying :) Marc sings this after they watch his brother drown. It's the same melody as Steven's but a bit longer, two verses, and is abt how he's so so sorry. Bonus points if he starts crying at the end and his voice breaks and he's crying, you're crying, everybody's crying. This is the song you wish was longer than 30 seconds and loop over and over during a breakdown)

"Marc and Steven fight in the storage unit" reprise (This is Marc's speech to Steven in the Duat when he gives him the heart. It's really sweet and sad and uses Marc and Steven's theme)

"Big climax fight" song (Big battle song at the end. Everybody sings. Marc, Steven, Harrow, Layla, Khonshu, Ammit, the ensemble. Obviously, Marc and Steven sing the most, finishing each other's lines, harmonizing, etc to show they're really in sync now but everybody else has at least one line. Mostly uses Marc and Steven's theme but incorporates Marc and Layla's and Harrow's as well)

"Jake's song" (At the very end of the end credit scene. Jake doesn't actually sing; it just plays his theme. It sounds similar to Marc and Steven's theme but is definitely different)

[hawaii-part-ii-daily]

Hawaii Part II Ex Theory

Hello! This is an analysis not of one specific song, but all over Hawaii Part II. What I think my theory will explain is some lines in Labyrinth, an audio clip in The Mind Electric, and give some motive for Simon sailing to Hawaii in the first place.

So, this theory originated when I was thinking about Labyrinth, and some lines in its second verse. ��Behind me my ex-girls chasing me / In front of my my next girls facing me” I found those lines weird, as there was no mention of another girl besides Stella anywhere in the musical.

This bothered me for a bit before I started to comb through HPII again to find some other instances, and the two that stuck out to me were:

Why was there mention of a lover when at the time of singing, Simon wouldn’t have known Stella yet?

The Mind Electric, the reversed part has a discussion between Suzie and Mr Holiday, why was that included in TME?

Let’s start with the section in TME, as that can start us on the explanation.

“And then they sail off and dump you on the beach of Timbuktu!”

“They couldn’t drop me off on the beach of Timbuktu”

“Why not?”

“Timbuktu happens to be in the middle of the Sahara Desert”

”Oh..”

“Yes ‘oh’”

“And please tie an anchor to that imagination of yours.”

“Okay Mr Holiday, but if you end up on the other side of the world, don’t write me about your voyage.”

“No?”

“No. Just reading about the ocean makes me seasick .”

This interaction is between two people, someone sailing off to sea and their love interest staying behind. With the repeated mentions of sailing, even if it’s not to Hawaii, we can interpret Mr Holiday as Simon and Suzie as an ex lover of his he left when he sailed to Hawaii.

This ties into the lyric “A part of thee, in the key of what we know to be every part without me” from Introduction to the Snow, which if we look at it through the lens of Simon leaving his lover, would mean that Simon’s Ex (who will now be called Suzie) still loves Simon even though her feelings aren’t reciprocated anymore.

This comes back to Labyrinth, where a question has to be asked, why is Suzie chasing Simon? As this is Simon’s subconscious mind, we could interpret Suzie chasing Simon feeling guilty for leaving her so suddenly.

Simon’s thoughts might not be correct though as in the passage in TME, Suzie asks Mr Holiday to not write to her, which could be Suzie asking Simon to not lead her on anymore. This also is supported by the use of “We” being used in ITTS, which means that both Simon & Suzie knew that their relationship was bad and they needed to go their separate ways.

TLDR: Simon had an Ex girlfriend who he wanted to leave so he sailed away to Hawaii which started the story, and also explains some lyrics in some of the songs.

BONUS MINITHEORY THAT TUNED INTO ANOTHER THEORY: the leitmotif of Simon sailing away from the consequences of his actions is the ITTS melody as in ITTS, he was sailing away from a failed relationship and in DSISM, He was sailing away from electroshock therapy. This supports the claim that DSISM is Simon reliving his whole life before he dies because DSISM is exactly 7 minutes long, and ITTS is the beginning of the musical.

It also ties into the theme of cycles, which relates to Time Machine, where Simon wants to go back to the beginning or fix things, and Variations on a Cloud with the lyrics “keep it coming back and coming back”

Another leitmotif in VOAC is ruler of everything, which another sample in TME, could connect to. Apology by Plato shows up, and the featured segment talks about poets writing poetry through sparks of genius inspitation, but not fully understanding the concept they are portraying. This is similar to a line describing Juno in Ruler of Everything “Though you try to pretend to understand / you resemble a fool although you’re only a man”. Both songs were made by Joe so it’s very likely that they’re connected in some way. I don’t know how to interpret but I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts!!

anyways, sorry for the long post, I really like this interpretation I’ve created and wanted to share it with others to get their opinion on it.

[themanwhomadeamonster]

prefacing this by saying i love dd2's soundtrack and i have some of it downloaded on my phone already. but i recognise that it gets a lot of criticism (for good reason too imo) and i am going to explore why that is without trying to sound like a hater 😭 also slight spoilers because i talk about the end credits theme

tl;dr: main title screen theme fucks up perception of the rest of the soundtrack because it's so musically disconnected from everything else

i think the problem with dd2's soundtrack "lacking a (recognisable) leitmotif" isn't that there lacks a leitmotif because there's actually two main ones, both of which stem from the end credits song. this generally isn't a bad thing, though just one is usually standard, there are sets out there where more than one leitmotif is used. the thing is though, in dd2 most of the in-game soundtracks use variations of the chorus melody (cyclops, griffin, some story cinematics, etc.) and quite recognisably too imo which makes sense!, but the (main) title screen uses the melody from the verses.

(side note: before anyone argues that even the chorus leitmotif isn't present in the generic combat soundtracks either, that wasn't the case for dd1/da either (except for the low intensity dd1 combat track) so i think dd2 can be excused on that front. i also think it's good that they didn't use it everywhere in either game because it would get annoying very quickly)

nobody remembers the theme of the dd2 title screen (don't lie, i don't either and i had to crank my brain to recall it when writing this) because you barely hear its leitmotif in-game until the very end during a handful of cinematic cutscenes. i think even the trailer music uses the chorus melody. so you have two competing leitmotifs, and on top of that, the one which SHOULD be memorable because it's the title screen theme is actually very rarely heard in-game. you wouldn't piece this together until the end of the game, AND that's if you even stick around for the credits to let it play!

in ddda, the title screen theme already plays in the first cassardis cinematic AT THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME, in a scene that was emotionally significant early on. those who hand down the story as an ending medley works because it's of two already strongly established themes (cassardis + eternal return). this didn't work with dd2's end credits theme because the two leitmotifs were not established as cohesively by that point. dd2's chosen leitmotifs should've recurred more regularly and in emotionally significant points in the game - even melve by itself and not anywhere else until the end would've been a good opportunity to use the verse motif because it's at the start of the game to hook the player + let them be able to connect it to the main theme, and it also lines up with the end credit's verse's lyrics

so musically i think the dd2 soundtrack is fine. catchy enough and imo memorable that it's an earworm. though i miss the rock/jazz/flamenco elements from the first game, the theme of dd2 as being very high fantasy instead of classic medieval low makes the folk/orchestra/occasional dungeon synth hybrid an appropriate choice to me, and this proves itself as a strength imo in its ambience. the lowkey ethereal dungeon synth of seafloor shrine and ancient battleground soundtracks + post-game ambience is atmospherically amazing. on top of that, i think its identity this time around lies more strongly in the folk instruments style for both vermundian/battahli ambience/combat music, which establishes the high fantasy folk vibe strongly.

unfortunately, the title theme does not reflect this at all LOL being a purely orchestral arrangement only - no folk instruments. into free was weirdly jpop but at least the rock elements did have some place in the soundtrack. as a COHESIVE soundtrack, it sounds very confused with its direction and that in itself is understandably more than enough to fundamentally turn off fans despite the positives. ultimately i think its musical identity would be stronger if the main title theme was changed tbh 😐 (and it did later, but by then it's too late + it only matches post-game vibes not the other 90% of the game). there's a thematic disconnect (conflicting theme/leitmotif until the end credits) as well as stylistic one (in-game folk music vs classic orchestra) which skews expectations of the rest of the soundtrack

additionally, i think due to the wack difficulty scaling - somehow worse than dd1 RIP, the side effect is that we end up hearing the low intensity soundtracks for most of the game and further ng+'s which of course are meant to sound less complex in comparison, which further perpetuates the weak soundtrack perception

[klaineccfanficlibrary]

A Kaine version of tvd with vervains, Sebastian and warblers

We've got this one, and sequel, I haven't read it so don't know if Sebastian and the Warblers are there. ~Jen

Eat, Prey, Love by SydnieAust

164 year old vampire, Blaine has come back to Lima for one thing, Kurt. Puck, Blaine’s brother, has his own agenda in Lima. What happens to Kurt when he enters a world of old love and a dangerous past? Based off The Vampire Diaries.

Sequel: Demons of Yesterday 

HERE is @hkvoyage post of vampire!Klaine fic recs

A Lost Boys' life verse by @flowerfan2 does have Sebastian/warblers.

This headline or a variation on the theme is all over social media, as they knew it would be, but the smile on Blaine’s face when he wakes Kurt up with a kiss the next morning confirms that Blaine has done the right thing by coming out. As a vampire.

 After Blaine shuffles off to the shower, Kurt lays back in bed, remembering the events of the night before….

[synodicbeauty]

ASTRALIS. NINETEEN, EST, SHE HER. hello! this is where search for long-term writing partners to roleplay on discord; in private servers for organization. below is information regarding my fandoms, roleplay style, what i’m looking for & more! this roleplay ad is always open unless specifically stated otherwise! 

my roleplay style / what to expect from me! literate to novella, lowercase, third person, past tense, multi-muse & ship, character-driven, plot-centric. fandom roleplays only, no tupperbot. i reply at least once a day, though i enjoy talking ooc consistently! expect media-appropriate themes & violence. i have a huge love for shipping, and i write both female and male canon and original characters and do all variations of shipping ( e.g. female / male, male / male; canon / canon, canon / oc ). i prefer around a 80-20 plot smut ratio. i’m huge on worldbuilding, creating lore, sharing headcanons, making ocs just for the roleplay, etc!

what i’m looking for! I would like those i write with to be somewhat active, as i am very active myself; both in writing and ooc. however, i am very communicative and i know life gets busy. talking ooc, sharing fics, making pinterest boards, etc, are all very dear to me. let’s be friends! i don’t want to write with someone who only writes women, mxf, or bottoms.

FANDOMS! avatar, avatar: the last airbender, blood of zeus, blue eye samurai, call of duty: ghosts, netflix castlevania shows, dc, house of the dragon, marvel’s spider-verse saga, overwatch, percy jackson and the olympians / heroes of olympus, rwby, star wars, transformers, voltron: legendary defender.

if this interests you, feel free to like this post or message me. my carrd has more information about my writing style & ocs, please check it out! limits, basic overview of ocs and ships, etc, can be discussed here before we move to discord!

[lilydvoratrelundar]

one thing about spiderverse is that some people have an issue with the whole "canon events" conceit, because it's self-referential, particularly in its name. however, i think it demonstrates a willingness to play with the multiverse in a distinct way to almost every other interpretation.

there are two fundamental types of multiverse in media. there's the "branching timelines" multiverse, in which every change, varying from a decision you make to the random movement of an electron results in a different branching timeline. most multiverse storylines that are about individual choice focus on this interpretation, examples including the bulk of marvel's "what if" storylines, everything everywhere all at once, the flash tv show, etc. if a show or series introduces the multiverse for a plotline which shows a potential future, asks what could have been based on one episode going differently, or makes some point about the consequences of one's actions, this is the sort of multiverse that will be introduced.

by contrast, the spider-verse films have what i call "echoing universes." in this multiverse, instead of every universe being a variation based on the timeline being different, these universes revolve around a central conceit - in this case, spider-based superheroes - but there isn't really any way in which these universes could have come about from any sort of identical starting point. however, often when this sort of multiverse is used, there will be elements of plotlines which are the same regardless, because they make for much better parallels between, for example, the ultimate marvel and 616 marvel characters. common inter-franchise interpretations of the cinematic and comic and tv versions of superheroes revolve around this concept, with the similarities being hand-waved away, because it's the multiverse, of course things happened differently in different universes, but they still have spider-man!

the "canon events" of atsv are therefore an in-universe acknowledgement of this concept. and, because this is a story that needs dramatic stakes, preventing one of these "canon events" results in the potential destruction of that universe.

as a sidenote, this is why i really appreciate how atsv has fewer peter parkers in its main cast - pavitr prabhakar has a name based on peter's, but apart from that, the main spiders are gwen, miles, hobie, miguel, margo, jess, and then peter b. it really reinforces the idea that these aren't just various possibilities for one main spider-man; this is a theme that is essential to the multiverse, however it plays out, and therefore it always happens in similar ways, and despite the vast differences between the universes, each one echoes the central ideas of the spider-people.

[fazgoo-connoiseur-1987]

Okay cus I can here's little explanations for why each song in the Bill playlist is in the Bill playlist as of today (i change it a lot).

Razzle Dazzle- song about tricking people via showbiz. Specifically making them trust you. That's all he does.

Birdhouse in Your Soul- 'ahaha you can trust me ahahha :] or can you >:]'

Hip to Be Square- Patrick Bateman. Also it's about how cool it is to conform.

Dancing Queen- The ABBA songs are on here cus I think he'd like them. Dancing Queen is his favourite.

Winner Takes it All- Also an ABBA song but it's got some Bill themeing to it like you kinda gotta play dirty to get what you want cus the world is unfair.

Can't Decide- I remember.... 2014.....

I'm Gonna Win- Spiritual successor to Can't Decide in my head. All about how this guy's never gonna give up ever. Bill literally refuses to die out of spite multiple times.

Talking in Your Sleep- Movie song. It also goes hard.

My Way- Asshole anthem and another song he'd probably like irl.

Lifetime Achievement Award- This one is more Vanny singing AT him but yeh, get revived by an obsessive fan, idiot.

Run, Rabbit, Run- Bnunny :]

Science Fiction/Double Feature- He's a freaky sci-fi guy (this is kinda a compromise for Sweet Transvestite cus I don't have the BALLS to put that in the William Afton playlist sadly).

Feed My Ego- About relationships being for his benifit only. Wonderful.

Icicles- Mostly here cus Henry is the song that leads into this one on the album. It's got the whole motif of taking people out with you though which Bill totally does.

As Your Father I Expressly Forbid It- He's a suburban dad.

Do It All The Time- Mostly here cus of the robotic beep boops and general aura of world domination.

Ruler of Everything- DO YOU LIKE HOW I-

Kiss Me, Son of God- Bill has weird religious themeing and also he SUCKS.

dancing around in circles until my little feet fall off- CLOWN MUSIC.

We'll Meet Again- He... he always comes back....

Waterloo- About loving losing a fight. Brilliant.

It's Only A Paper Moon- Another song he'd like IRL but it's also about believing something so hard it becomes true. It's also an important part of A Streetcar Named Desire which is a play I think he enjoys.

The Snake- Literally that one Candy Cadet story in song form and it goes hard.

Variations On a Cloud- WHY DON'T WE KEEP IT COMING BACK AND COMING BACK AND

Make of This What You Will- Mostly just the vibes are correct with this one I think.

AD INFINITUM- He's not beating the Spampton allegations. It was either this or I straight up just put Big Shot in here.

Under My Skin- Makes me think of remnant and loss of identity.

well, better than the alternative...- He's a suburban mum. Next to Razzle Dazzle this is the most Bill song. There's even a rabbit reference in the first verse.

VIRUS- aaoaugh the bunny is malware in myyy commpurter..

Mx.Sinister- He's a little obsessive maybe a little.

2econd 2ight 2eer (that was fun, goodbye.)- Lots of lines in this one just scream Bill at me till I start dancing soz.

Noel's Lament- Bill would fantasise about being a 20s French sex-worker I think that's in character.

Something Something Lake- This is how I conseptualise UCN.

Fairytale of New York- His ex-wife calls him a fag.

Murder on the Dancefloor- Goes hard. Also he kills people.

I/Me/Myself- Fucking.... transgender.

[naturallyexcessive]

pride, arrogance, and a melody (or four, actually)

This is a given considering that the franchise started from and is - in most of its mediums - a musical at heart, but DAMN, I’ll say this over and over, Revue Starlight has incredible music. Bangers everywhere. 

Hokori to Ogori (Pride and Arrogance) is probably one of RevStar’s staple songs. It’s one of the most listened-to revue songs and is practically iconic. It’s also a perfect example of RevStar’s usage of motifs within the franchise. I’m not great at essays but dear GOD do I badly want to talk about it. So, why not?

(Heads Up 1: I am NOT a professional when it comes to music theory!! I’m definitely using some terms incorrectly here and there so please take them with a grain of salt)

Hokori to Ogori has four main musical ideas that make up the song. For simplicity, let’s just call them Pride, Swansong, This Is Tendo Maya, and Arrogance.

(Heads Up 2: In this word dump I use the term “motif” as a sort of general term for separate musical ideas. To be honest, it’s possible these are actually themes and I’m getting the two terms mixed up, but honestly both have similar definitions and I feel like as long as I’m carrying across the general idea of what they represent I’d hope the distinction between the terms isn’t too important.)

"Pride” is the motif. You know the one. This motif is the song’s main melody of sorts and technically introduced in the very first verse, where Karen and Maya are singing together. The verse that follows, where Karen is seemingly getting the upper hand on Maya, features a higher-energy variation of this motif. This motif eventually comes back, full force and dramatic, with Maya’s iconic YORIIIII TAKAKU YORI KAGAYAKU and etcetera.

“Swansong” is the more menacing motif that plays after Karen’s verse, when Maya comes in after questioning Karen’s motivations. Maya’s next verse follows with a more intense variation of this same motif. This motif is darker and intimidating; simply, it acts almost like a bad omen, a warning about what’s to come. In the context of this song, it’s about the thrashing Karen is about to receive (hence the name Swansong). 

“This is Tendo Maya” is what I’d argue to be just as iconic to Maya musically as the Pride motif is. A simple motif of three orchestral stings, it’s heard right before Maya steps up her game. It comes back fittingly at the end of the revue, when Maya reaches Position Zero and declares that she is Tendo Maya; while albeit varied, it still features that iconic three-sting cadence. Simply put, this motif serves as an announcement of who she is, her declaration of war, a sort of “You’ve Done Goofed” in the eyes of those facing her.

Someone with a better grasp on music can probably explain this better than I can (perhaps identifying the exact chords and tonal degrees), but what’s really neat is how this motif actually doesn’t resolve until the end of the song, at the second time we hear it. It’s like one huge release of tension that started from the moment we first hear this motif.

Finally, “Arrogance.” In Hokori to Ogori, you can hear it before Maya’s final verse (from “mikansei no kakugo...” to “...sono manazashi” and right before said final verse), as well as immediately afterwards at the final breakdown before Maya claims her victory. The fanfare and delicious rhythm of 16ths followed by the simple cadence of three solid quarter notes? Ugh. Love it.

Now, this revue is ALL about pride. It’s in the name. And other people have done much better analysis on this revue as a whole in much more precise terms than I ever could and have talked about its themes precisely. But in summary, this revue is very much about Karen and Maya’s clashing skill (or more specifically the gap in between Karen’s and Maya’s skill), and this pacing of the Pride motif reflects it.

It’s introduced with Karen and Maya on supposedly equal footing, both standing proud in their ability and determination. Yet it’s Karen who attacks first, confident (perhaps arrogant) in her abilities, and therefore she’s the first to get a verse.

However, while she’s able to put up a fair fight at first, able to carry her pride (and sing the same song) against Maya for a brief moment, Karen is ultimately seen as naive and arrogant for even thinking she can win against Maya, and is quickly overpowered (it should be noted Karen doesn’t get to sing any more lines after this). Maya goes above and beyond Karen; in fact, she literally sings the Pride motif at a higher key than Karen does. This is her stage, this is her victory, this is her song. This revue is about pride? Pride is exactly who she IS. This motif IS her. Which is why it’s no wonder she takes absolute control of this song and owns it, so much so that these motifs become associated with her to the point of being leitmotifs instead. 

I’d say it’s almost universally agreed upon that Hokori to Ogori is very much Maya’s theme, as a result. You hear any of the tunes from Hokori to Ogori and your mind just flicks to her immediately. While she technically has an official leitmotif in the form of her section in PRE-CALL as part of the stageplays, I’d say at least the Pride or This is Tendo Maya motifs could outright be considered her leitmotifs. 

So, yeah! Hokori to Ogori features incredible and equally memorable and iconic musical ideas that make for one hell of a godly song, one that perfectly encompasses all of Maya’s dramatics, sheer skill, and motivations.

The best thing, though? You can hear these respective motifs beyond this song alone.

Probably the most blatant example of this is the finale of Utsukushiki Hito Aruiwa Sorewa, aka the Mayakuro Revue of Souls. The entire final section is just one big rearrangement of Hokori to Ogori; with all the previous motifs coming into play, yet having varied and changed in the face of this new context; Maya has changed - Claudine has changed her, in fact, having revealed her “true” self - therefore so does the music.

Even better, even BEFORE the rearrangement kicks in, when Claudine goes to lob off the head of Maya’s bird-soul-vessel-thing, when she sings “Right now, the stage belongs to me,” she’s actually just singing the Pride motif!

Which is PERFECT given how right before this, she was mocking Maya’s revue intro. It really emphasizes how Claudine at this moment is really stealing Maya’s thunder, how it’s HER pride that’s contesting Maya’s.

Another detail I really love is how in Hokori to Ogori, the song ends with the Arrogance motif before closing off with Maya’s self-declaration. However, in UHAS, it simply ends on the new, varied version of the Pride motif as the two declare their rivalry/love for each other. There is no arrogance, they are made for each other, there is only pride in themselves and in their rival.

What’s more is that the song ends with one final variation of the Swansong motif, before closing for good and effectively ending Maya’s (and Claudine’s) final performance within the Revstar as an anime. Again, fitting, given Swansong’s definition.

But wait, there’s more! We also hear one of Hokori to Ogori’s motifs in a very different song, and that’s during the Revue of Astral Sins, in Starlight.

That’s right, we hear it in the final revue song of the anime, long after Maya has been defeated; it’s not the first of other songs we hear in Starlight, as the song also features parts from the tracks Karen to Hikari and Elle est belle: Utsukushii Hito. It’s present at the very beginning, but the motif especially becomes prominent once Hikari starts singing. You don’t hear it past the beginning of the song/revue but it’s very much there!

Why? Thinking back to the Revue of Pride sequence, during the sections where the Arrogance motif is playing is when we’re shown shots of Hikari rushing to save Karen.

In a way, this can be compared to as being reminiscent of that, representative of Karen being here to save Hikari; their back and forth of rescuing each other.

You could also see it as being representative of the arrogance of Hikari and Karen; Karen’s supposed arrogance in her efforts to defy fate itself and save Hikari, or Hikari’s own arrogance at her efforts of keeping herself isolated and fending off Karen’s love. Perhaps to keep things simple you could also read the Arrogance motif as simply a “rush” or “desperation” motif of sorts instead, something that the two of them definitely are whenever this motif is used for them.

Yet, we can still hear Hokori to Ogori in one more piece: Bridge no Ue De (On The Bridge). It’s technically a part of the OST and not explicitly a revue song, but it’s actually the first time we hear the motif, since the first (and the only, if I recall correctly,) time we hear this play is in the sequence right before the Revue of Pride itself.

In this sequence, Karen has just freed herself from Hikari’s attempt to lock her away from participating in the revues again, arrogantly rushing off in spite of Hikari’s efforts to chase her down and get her to stop. It makes sense that we hear the variation of that Arrogance motif here, and also further supports why we hear this motif again during the Revue of Astral Sins, especially if you also attribute this motif to the theme of desperation.

But then the main Arrogance motif kicks in, and guess what’s happening?

It’s Maya having a flashback to after their first performance of Starlight, when Claudine declares her rivalry to Maya in incredible homoerotic fashion. Proud and perhaps, well, arrogant.

It’s just brilliant.

I will say though as another additional point: contrary to this entire word dump, the soundtrack doesn’t lean into leitmotif usage too extensively, compared to other pieces of media that heavily utilize it (games like Undertale and Hollow Knight come to mind). Not including Hikari and Karen, almost none of the other girls’ revue songs are referenced musically beyond their respective revues and as such they don’t really have leitmotifs unique to each of them. Maya appears to be an exception here (unless we also include Nana, who I actually do like to believe has her own theme in the form of Rondo Rondo Rondo, but that’s for another write-up).

But to be honest, I’m glad for it. Unlike the other girls where their revues focus on certain issues they have, ultimately such themes that surround their revues don’t make up their entire personalities. Meanwhile, as stated earlier, pride is almost everything Maya is, it’s paramount to her character. So it only makes sense that she gets this exception, that she gets this piece of grandiose music dedicated to her ideals, especially given how said ideals are important/parallel to the supposed ideals of stage girls; Maya isn’t just prideful because she’s a top stage girl, she’s a top stage girl BECAUSE she’s prideful, after all.

So, yeah. Revue Starlight is a musical masterpiece as we all know and its usage of (leit)motif here as a means of supporting its method of telling its story is not only handled in perfect moderation, it’s executed beautifully when it is used. It’s able to take these memorable and iconic melodies and assign meaning to them to make what’s happening in the story hit just that extra bit more. This is just one of many examples of brilliance regarding Revue Starlight’s music and one of many reasons I’m in love with it.

(Though I will say this is only one of many ways of interpreting things! Things change if you consider Hokori to Ogori actually featuring the Bridge no Ue De motif instead of the other way around I’ve interpreted it as here.)

Basically? TLDR: wow the funny yori takaku this is tendo maya melody cool and epic

[writingwithsnails]

about the snail:

i'm snail, 26, she/her but i'm not picky about my pronouns!

i've chosen the nickname 'snail' because i write at a snail's pace

plotting is the fun part, writing is fucking hard

if you dare approach the dangerous, man-eating snail... i don't respond to messages that are 'hi' or some variation of that. send me a meme! tell me about your WIP! dive right in!

there will be nsfw and dark themes on this blog, including but not limited to: murder, suicide, cults, kidnapping, domestic abuse, and childhood trauma.

another note: there's lots of christian themes here, however, i'm agnostic. i have an interest in the KJV translation for its' cultural and literary importance! any verses that i post are specifically made 'do not reblog'.

about me • works in progress • tags

thanks for stopping by!!!

[ihaveatheoryonthat]

A small handful of songs I associate with A Glint, a Spark. (Spoilers for both that fic and Memory, Heavy in My Heart.)

Arms Outstretched - Griffin McElroy

As I alluded to in the MHIMH playlist, Arms Outstretched was the song I had all but set AGAS to, for the animatic in my head. The progression of it from being kind of downtrodden, to this moment of hope, and then a happy epilogue was pretty perfect, both for the idea I actually went with, and the one I may still write.

Chapters 1 & 2

Place to Start - Mike Shinoda

Do I even have a decision? Feeling like I'm living in a story already written. Am I part of a vision made by somebody else? / Am I out of conviction with no wind in the sail, too focused on the end and simply ready to fail?

Cause I'm tired of feeling like I can't control this; tired of feeling like every next step's hopeless. Tired of feeling like what I build might break apart, I don't want to know the end, all I want is a place to start.

I don't have a ton to elaborate on with the lyrics. The first part just meshes really nicely with the theme of being unable to influence events that have already happened, and having to take them as they come. The second part resonates particularly well with the first chapter, in my opinion. I also like having a song from the same artist in both halves of the main story, and the contrasting tones.

Chapters 3-9:

The Heart of a Graveyard - Demon Hunter

Tell me that your final home is not a shot in the dark; tell me that your hopes and dreams don't end in the heart of a graveyard.

Tonally, it doesn't fit perfectly with the rest of this list, but the subject matter is pretty on the mark. There's a sense of preparing for the worst while still hoping for the best that I like, particularly in this context.

Chapter 10:

Final Battle: Malladus (From "The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks") - The Noble Demon

(The portion up to 0:46 is an intro, and not the most relevant to this list; the actual battle theme starts warming up after that.) A friend unintentionally reminded me that I love this track, and since that conversation happened smack at the climax of MHIMH, I naturally connected the dots. This would correspond to the recorded battle with Arceus, because the track for it in canon PLA just does not fit this version. I chose this remix in particular because it really emphasized the woodwind notes in parts-- which made sense re: the Azure Flute-- and because it has that underlying, train-chugging percussion. It's always struck me as a very triumphant battle theme, which fit beautifully.

Chapter 11:

Welcome to the World of Pokemon - Super Pokemon Mystery Dungeon

It's wondrous and mysterious, but gentle and a bit low-key at the same time, which I think makes it work very well for the build up this chapter, and most of the time spent in the Hall of Origin.

Mysterious Rainbow Girl - Wandersong

The same goes for this track; I was pretty torn as to which one I liked better, so I ended up keeping both for a little bit of variation.

Chapter 12:

On the Beach at Dusk - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Darkness & Sky

I had this one set aside specifically for the scene at the top of Dragonspiral Tower, where the reality of the situation is beginning to sink in. If you're familiar with Explorers, there... might be something of a parallel to be read into the situations they 'play' over.

Misc:

The yet untitled song from The Dreadful Demise of the Dinosaurs - Puppet History

A lonely life among the stars, my destination veiled and far away, but I knew one day we'd find each other. Then in the dark, a glint, a spark, the greens and blues, be still my heart-- and once I hit, that's it, I'm here forever.

While I'm here, I should probably include the fic's namesake. It's really only the one verse (~0:25-0:47), because this song has a very specific subject matter and thesis, but that one passage really stuck with me in this context. The first half definitely resonates most strongly with chapter 11, but I was also aiming to match the second to 12-- specifically "the greens and blues, be still my heart" to the scene on Dragonspiral, and to end with the promise of "I'm here forever"