#we don't mention the fact that the first screenshot is from a completely different place in Azys Lla

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

Okay, so a friend and I went back over a portion in the Season 3 trailer last night.

Because both of us (on separate days), after having watched the trailer a few times, essentially had the question: Is that green shatterspace portal actually Boscage Maze?

When I myself watched it I felt...idk...like the shade of green was different. And then my friend mentioned (after another look at it) that the color was more muted.

And then...we let our brains run.

Mind you, before the trailer or any summaries of the season came out, my friend and I were talking over discord. We'd decided that based on the evidence (Sonic's natural eminence of prism energy, whatever makes him special compared to Shadow, the fact he shattered the prism, etc) Sonic could theoretically have a deeper connection to the paradox prism due to the energy inside him. Then, they threw a what if in the air.

Essentially "I don't think they'll do it, but what if Sonic is the missing piece to the paradox prism. So they won't be able to complete the prism and do anything with it without risking killing Sonic"

To which I said "That would be so cool! And given that I've never believed Sonic's going to have to actually make a big choice between his old friends or his new friends existing—or at least that he'd never actually make that choice and would find a secret third choice—I think a Sonic's wellbeing versus everything he cares about makes sense. That has the potential to hurt the other characters, because if need be, Sonic would do it"

Needless to say we watched the trailer the first time and I was like "No way he was right. Like, it was a good thought, but none of us thought for sure that they'd do it"

Now, with that in mind. As I said, my friend and I decided to let our brains run after feeling that there was a difference between the green shatterspace in the trailer and the one for boscage maze. We couldn't shake the idea that the colors are different, nor the idea that the shape of the portal openings are different. And we've both seen people talking here about how it could be the last shatterspace open or something (boscage maze that is), but to me...that doesn't make sense. Without special context, it doesn't make sense why it would have to be Boscage Maze of all worlds that would be the last to collapse, or why taking Sonic to Boscage Maze of all shatterspaces could be enough to save him. Plus there are other voices talking in that scene. There are other people who would need to get to Boscage if it was truly the last, and if it's just to get Sonic to the closest shatterspace, the characters would have to be fighting in the in between space (between the shatterspaces). And my friend too, from looking at it, thinks that the green shatterspace in the trailer seems like it's farther out at the edges of the place between.

So, we rushed to the episodes to get a clear shot of the Boscage portal, and then a clear shot of the one in the trailer.

Now, turns out we were right about the color difference.

But it's the shape too.

If you've been looking in the main tag, I probably don't need to tell any of you that each portal (the part you enter to enter a shatterspace) is shaped like its prism shard. The first image is a shot of the Boscage Maze portal my friend screenshotted. The portal opening resembles the shape of the green shard, and the green is more vibrant than the more muted green in the trailer.

The shatterspace in the trailer is just...a completely different shape, both in portal opening and the crystals around it. If you need another angle of the Boscage Portal to compare to the crystals surrounding the portal in the trailer, here's another shot.

So, different green color. Different opening shape that would correspond to a prism we haven't seen before.

Let's return to the "Sonic contains the missing piece of the paradox prism and is essentially a living prism shard" theory, and let us also employ the idea that after the prism shattered and each shard landed in one of our alternate green hills, the shards gave off an outburst in energy that allowed the blue shard to fill the shatterspace with water, the green with dense forest, or the purple with mountains of crystal.

Now you're probably saying "But tumblr user hadesknockedupintheunderworld, what about the red shard? We saw a flashback. The red shard didn't just start growing buildings when it landed in what would become New Yolk"

And to that I'd say...you're right! We know based upon the Chaos Council's flashback that they used the prism shard as their energy source (whether they received it when conquering or after the fact), and that they themselves built New Yolk city without using the prism shard (after all, they only knew it as an energy source)

So, I say to you back. What if upon landing in a shatterspace, the shards were initially unstable. So they either caused a major change/addition to the world they landed in, or it's energy was properly harnessed and contained. That wouldn't be so far fetched, right? Because we know that Nine adapted the power core the council built to properly contain and channel the energy of the red shard to create his shatterdrive.

Now, the idea that the shards, while having shared powers, also have specific element based powers is not a new idea to this fandom. So let's run with this idea too, for funsies. If the blue shard corresponds more to weather (creating storms, lightning, flooding) and the green shard causes plants to grow (as examples), what, then, would Sonic be?

I'd say speed. Why? Well, besides the fact that that's Sonic's thing, let's backtrack to episode 1.

As of episodes 1 and 2, we know Sonic's body produces the same energy as the red shard. Before Nine crafted tech to attach to Sonic's clothes, the energy was not properly distributing to his body. Sonic would run and not be able to stop, he couldn't control his speed, and sometimes, he'd even start running without actually wanting or trying to run. In short, he could not control how fast he was going, how soon he could stop, or even when he would just start running. Even his shoes, which can canonically handle his usual speeds, had started to smoke after a while.

Couldn't you perhaps extrapolate from this that...Sonic became unstable upon entering New Yolk, his speed going haywire, and it was Nine's tech that properly contained and channeled Sonic's (he living shard's) prism energy?

And if Sonic is essentially a living prism shard...

Let's go back to the shatterspace from the trailer again.

A shard shape we've never seen before.

My friend and I got to this point and we thought:

"What if this is Sonic's shatterspace?"

As in, if each prism shard corresponds to a shatterspace, what if this is a secret 6th one that corresponds to Sonic?

Earlier I said that the ideas people brought up (without in season context) for how or why Shadow would speed to take Sonic to Boscage Maze wouldn't make sense. BUT

If there's a shatterspace out there affected by/created by Sonic's prism energy, it may not be a stretch for the writers (and our main characters) to conclude that getting Sonic there could keep him from disappearing.

Just...food for thought.

[dichromaticdyke]

you said you werent sure where toki was jacking off in that screenshot-- the bricks look identical to the bricks in the shower room they threw toki into in s2e19 when he was drunk off his ass, so maybe there?

this is gonna be a long response, so it's going under the cut. because when i say @supersaturnnyoomkitty and i have talked about this A LOT, i'm NOT JOKING. but, yes, for a reminder to those who follow me for completely different reasons: when analyzing this scene, i threw that line in as a throwaway, because it's definitely not Toki's room, and the only important thing of note is that he's getting the fuck away from the creepy photos of his parents.

the bricks are a different color and shape, and there aren't any pictures or posters anywhere to be seen.

here's everwhere in mordhaus where we thought it could be: outside the recording studio, the room where facebones addresses the klokateers, and, of course, the bathroom* (*the bathroom theory is way more complicated than it should be).

so, we'll probably never know, because brendon small refuses to email us back, but here are some of our theories as to each of these places.

1- outside the recording room. he's listening to skwisgaar play. now i'm not just saying that because i'm a trash skwistok shipper, i'm also saying that because toki obviously has a very strong attachment to skwisgaar's guitar playing. call it romantic, call it idol worship, call it whatever you want, it doesn't matter—in the credits for Dethalbum III, he thanked skwisgaar's fingers, and his only plans for vacation post-album release were watching skwisgaar play guitar. he's got a problem. (this also goes into my and nyoom's theories about them all having jack-off songs, spawned from her fic "Sensual Playback", don't worry about it, it's not important right now.)

2- the gathering room of klokateers/full dethstaff meetings. uh. that's just. well.

how do you want me to take this anon? do you want me to be serious about this? do you want me to tell you how i've considered the possibility that toki just got as far the fuck away from the photos of his parents as he could and this is where he ended up? because that's my only theory for this. (this does also just sort of go with the fact that most of the walls in mordhaus look like this. it could be ANYWHERE. consider the gathering hall to just be a catch-all for, toki just being a little freak.)

moving swiftly on...

3- the bathroom thing is way more complicated than it should be, and here's why: there's a public/staff bathroom. we see it most prominently when they're all drinking bleach together, and it could very well be there. you mentioned this shower scene specifically:

and that scene is also near identical to murderface's own shower scene when he was scared of being gay (we even see more of the public bathroom in the background):

that would make sense, i guess. BUT—it's implied they all have their own bathrooms, right? pickles and murderface both do, anyway:

not sure why murderface would shower in the public bathroom when he's having his gay panic and you'd think he'd want to be as far away from naked men as possible, but that's not my business.

side note: i just noticed for the first time that murderface took his shorts all the way off to take a shit, but left his demonias on. this man i stg—

i find it hard to believe toki also wouldn't have his own bathroom. i'm not sure if this scene is meant to be in the public bathroom or either murderface's or skwisgaar's, but it's also something to consider:

though, as i'm writing this, i'm coming to a realization that maybe they did all have their own bathrooms prior to the attack on mordhaus. i completely forgot they renovated the whole place. they might have gutted their personal bathrooms and replaced it with a public one, which is why all the showers and bathtubs seem to be there. the shower that toki's in might have been either his own, or a public one that was later expanded after the renovations. either way, i'm positive it's a public bathroom and not one that toki would have had, and i think that for one major reason:

toki's bedroom is so super tiny. especially compared to nathan's or william's bedroom. his bed is small and snug, also. i think he's never really needed anything that big for himself. he grew up extremely deprived and abused, just having anything that was truly his own was all he'd ever wanted. plus, maybe having to sleep in a massive space all by himself might've triggered his memories of being forced to stay alone in the punishment hole for days on end. of course, that's not to say toki doesn't love excess, but given how small his own bedroom is, i don't know where he would even be able to have his own private bathroom.

not to mention, in aotd, we see he doesn't like to go to the bathroom alone. sure, he's regressing in that moment, but i still don't think he likes to be alone, if he can help it—hence the stuffed animals and pictures of his parents (regardless of how creepy they are, at least he's not alone when they're staring at him).

i think that's my thesis of the whole thing, actually. toki's not being a creepy lil guy on purpose, i don't think. i just think he doesn't wanna jack off in front of his parents, but he also has hang-ups about being alone, so he goes to random places around mordhaus. it's not a kink thing, i'm like. 99% sure. i just think he's still trying to figure out how to be comfortable with himself.

plus, the boys were all ready to suck their own dicks together in the same room. i really don't think any of them would consider it all that weird, so long as toki himself doesn't act weird about it.

[pen-observing]

dottore anon here again! YOU'RE SO RIGHT, DOTTORE AS A CHARACTER IS SOO, HE'S SOOO<3 JUST CHEF'S KISS... hes such a cool villain, not to mention hes, i think, first actual real threat to the traveler. hes fascinating too, i remember how some1 said hes a living contradiction: wants recognition, but is arrogant, he wants to belong but he cant fit in, he craves love but is so cruel... just. screams. not to mention his sexy design

also, i did read ur other dott x reader works! right after finishing that manhwa au chapter i went looking for more works about dotty on ur profile hehe and they're amazing too!! it's just that that chapter has a special place in my heart<3

OH AND THAT DOTT X READER X AYATO IDEA SOUNDS SO COOL... at first i was like umm idk when i read that ayato is involved cause hes not my cup of tea, but ur synopsis got me so fascinated by it. i hope one day you'll write it<3 and tysm for telling me this too.. i feel honored. thank u i love u and i wish u plenty of inspiration for future works. kisses u mwah

i love u too and,,, i got kithes and i am sending them right back at you !!

Scara felt like a threat too but I personally was not worried bbout how the traveller would beat him BUT DOTTORE???? Oh we gon need something too special or for him to decide he wants to be defeated/wants to switch sides like,,, that man scares me !! ahn,,, the sexcy design <3333 Dottore my beloved better be playable and with good noises while climbing, lisafy that man

HE IS SUCH A CONTRADICTION I LOVE HIM. Dottore is so arrogant and talks about the TRUE values of what it means to be a scholar and a researcher but his ass was kicked out the Academiya yet he is so obsessed with it and the students of it like tighnari + nahida's whole role as someone who rules it in a way like.,, his ass can't let it go aaaa. and he has all this vast knowledge and he did what he did to extend his life yet he has no plans to learn knowledge of emotional intimacy and anything similar.

+ my fav dottore thing to think of often under the cut:

One of the most interesting pieces of lore about that ugly but beautiful man to me personally comes from nahida's story that serves as the allegory.

i hope the screenshot is good enough,, anyway. He is called a lone monster and i always wonder is it the fact that he was the only one on that mission the reason why or because he feels no particular need for the Fatui. Sure the they became friends part can be seen as something just used to simplify the story but the thing is, later on he goes and removes his disguise and looks at his REFLECTION and calls himself a monster. Like, he is willing to ADMIT IT. It makes me think that what Dottore wanted was for someone to recognize him as a monster and for them to love him anyway because he was so different. He WANTS acceptance of some kind but hates when it is not the kind he imagines.

And the word SOLACE !! DOTTORE FOUND SOLACE !! when he saw this ugly kitten who was in no way a human. I partly think this was because Dottore could cling to some humanity in him that scara lacked completely but thats too.. i want to give him some benefit of the doubt that he was finally GLAD to have someone different like him; someone he wouldn't have to pretend around.

And all of this suffering he had waiting for his true reflection and all to be shown and accepted just made him MORE angry when this ugly cat had no issues with being different; when he didn't have to PRETEND to be something he isn't to be liked,,,it gives me,,, i don't know I just can't help but to cling on to this specific part when it comes to my dottore characterization and yes people can call it theory and wishful thinking but I think it will amount to a lot more.

DO YOU THINK ANYONE EVER EVER IN THEIR LIFE HAS COMFORTED THAT MAN TRULY? DO YOU?!! (goes insane)

[boypussydilf]

I'm going to throw you a curve ball and say Sherly and that one guy whose name I don't remember who you ship him with (I think it's Soseki?)

idont know how to say this without unintentionally sounding mean but this is the second funniest ask ive ever gotten. (i was going to say funniest, but i cant lie even for comedic purposes- the funniest ask ive ever gotten was “shouldve KNOWN an AKESHU shipper would RIP MY THROAT OUT IN PUBLIC for mentioning shusumi”) i got curious and looked at all the relationship tags for dgs on ao3 until the site wouldnt let me anymore and i can almost conclusively say tht no one on this earth ships sherlock and souseki, which, to be honest, is kind of a surprise. on my journey i learned just how dire the state of the dgs ao3 relationship tags really are. i hadnt looked that hard, and i had thought, “oh, woe is me, only about 200 of these are homumiko” There are less than 30 with the susahao tag. theres like, a Small Handful of fics with kazuma interacting w iris or yuujin. This is. This is awful. Someone needs to fix this. What’s wrong with you people? You could have filled this website with one hundred Kazuma Asougi Gets Forcibly Absorbed Into The Greatest Family fics and you’re still asobaroing away? Unbelievable. Unbelievable.

Anyway it’s completely understandable to mix up souseki and mikotoba when you havent seen a ton of them they do both . have mustaches. thank you for thr ask and also for always calling him Sherly bc its cute here we go

describe their canon relationship/dynamic

*putsmy head in my hands* they have like 2 hours of screentime interacting its hard to describe a dynamic beyond “God they are so mean to each other”. its ok though. Its ok. the concept is very clear honestly. World’s Most Hyperactive and Completely Insane Man & Completely Normal Guy Who Goes Along With It. Oh My God They Were Roommates. lets see. serious notes. they trust each other completely and implicitly (mikotoba has to find a good home for The Baby He Was GOING To Raise But CAN’T and asks sherlock and he IMMEDIATELY agrees On The Spot my god ……) look . what do u call devotion if not saying “our home” about a place youve been away from longer than u ever lived at and thought youd never even see again & acting like you were never separated in the first place. Unreal. unreal.

anyway the fact of the matter is theyre literally just another variation on the Holmes & Watson concept go read an acd sherlock holmes story and imagine if they were ace attorney characters and idk i think youd more or less have it

your ideal/headcanon version of it? how does it differ from how it is in canon & why is this your favorite version? any other alternate versions of it you enjoy?

*pulls out my giant conspiracy board and 90% of it is just screenshots of fanfic The Legendary Pair by Meowzy on AO3* IF YOU LOOK AT IT. THE NOT-REALLY-INDICATED-BY-CANON BUT MORE FUN AND COOL TO ME VERSION OF IT. it makes this A Necessary Relationship. sherlock is. smart in Some places. definitely observant. But has. 0 common sense. you would think hes never been to this planet before with his apparent complete lack of frame of reference for what is or is not plausible or likely. there is too much shit going on in his brain for him to figure out which ideas are Actually Likely without taking like 2 days to work it out. Give him someone who actually has common sense and can crossreference What Sherlock Has Actually Noticed And Figured Out with What Actual Human Beings Generally Would Do.

OHGOD MAYBE I CAN TRY TO ELABORATE IN A MORE SERIOUS TONE ON MY FUCKING “YUUJIN MIKOTOBA SILLY ARC” POST. GOD. what im attempting to drive at is thinking abt . the idea proposed of 16-years-ago sherlock being more of a prickly little bitch and, Much More Importantly, mikotoba going to britain to try and escape the Grief Of Losing His Wife & subsequent Depression That Made Him Unfit To Take Care Of His Baby . and then theyre . again, worlds most hyperactive and completely insane man, and, again, GUY WHO TAP DANCES DURINVG INVESTIGATIONS ?!!!!?!???????????

basically fuck you *gives you by chance a fundamentally life altering friendship right when you need it*

Anyway i dont think theyre that different in my head than in canon but its hard to say.

what do you like about their relationship, why is it interesting or enjoyable to you?

i like it because i think they are neat. i like it bc i love families and fuck dude they sure do have one. i like it bc i am a dgs sherlock holmes kinnie and this drives my behavior,

what about the individual characters involved? what does this relationship mean to them, what makes it unique among their relationships?

*SCREAMS* BESTIES. anyway,

sorry for once again saying serious concepts in the dumbest fucking ways possible but Pov u are yuujin mikotoba age 26 leaving ur home to try and run away from the deepest pain of ur life & deciding not to stick with ur very close friends uve known for quite a while as you do so? For some reason? AND IT WORKS ???????????? in some part bc of this weirdo freak u moved in with impulsively who keeps almost blowing the fucking house up?

This is basically something i already said in this post earlier and i STILL . cant think of an actual good way to say it. I guess just . as many people on this blog may have noticed. me wh. me when stories involve the way positive connections with others help people <3

Also basically the only 2 reactions sherlock seems to invoke in people are “this guys insufferable” and “this guys insufferable but i also admire him” - god the trajectory of this train of thought just changed drastically im laughing so hard Bear with me . mikotoba is of course in th second camp bc thats where all sherlocks Positive relationships are. this is known to us. see: thr dialogue where hes like “Well your methods are unusual but ive always been willing to try them :)” (and then sherlock yells at him for being stupid.) anyway thats wonderful and its also Wonderful. mikotoba shortly after meeting sherlock watching this man rip up a handful of grass an d just eat it and then solve an entire mystery and mikotoba has to work out if this guys a genius or insane. He quickly realizes it is both. Anyway i guess to yuujin mikotoba sherlock holmes is his dear friend and partner & also the guy who cursed him to occasionally think “i DO wonder what that grass tastes like” at inopportune times

I don’t know WHAT the fuck i just rambled about for like ten minutes. So anyhow. sherlock describes mikotoba as “the only person i could truly call a friend” so shoutout to this friendless man i guess . no but literally hes a little weirdo freak and people dont tend to. like him. societal perceptions of ND people are not conducive to sherlock holmes having close friends . (Also he might not be. or might at some point not have been. particularly social in the first place - But this is my extrapolation based on acd canon and nothing in dgs at all so it cant be counted as anything other than my female hysteria.) and like. epic win for him finding someone who can Tolerate Him Enough To Live With Him and not just that but like . Actually Likes Him. Actually Likes Being Around Him And Would Like To Be His Friend. Congrats! also a win 4 him having like, a normal human being around. who can keep track of him and yknow. Help him remember important things. make sure he actually sleeps and eats instead of spending 42 hours straight trying to make The Sequel To Toasters (It’s Also A Juicer!)

favorite interaction they have in canon

oh,my god you know the thing is theres not a Lot of them but what there is is Really Good Actually.

on one hand we have the shit from the legendary pair scene like “:/ only JAPANESE mice go Chu. make a RUSSIAN mouse noise” or “YOUR BIRTHDAY? THATS FUNNY BC AS OF TODAY YOURE DEAD TO ME :D” “measured as always.” On the other hand we have the part from the scene after the last trial where sherlock thanks mikotoba for leaving iris in his care.

Basically i dont know how to decide. im going to say the Other part of the scene after the last trial where sherlock is excitedly telling mikotoba a story about something he did. With mikotoba. like a day before. and mikotoba lets him get through thr whole fucking thing before going Yeah i was. i was there.

favorite interaction they have in your head/a situation you want to put them in

OH GOD I DONT KNOW ACTUALLY. what is there to say beyond the Default List Of Every Homumiko Fans Shared Interests. its all been done. “Remember That Time They Raised A Baby Together For A Month”; “Have You Heard Of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Adventures of Sherlock Holmes? Great Here’s My Adaptation-“; “Put That Beast (Sherlock) In Japan LOL”. i will say that like. i dont remember where but theres some tiny bit of optional dialogue where iris says that sherlock playing the violin was a detail she wrote into the stories for fun and then after that he felt obligated to actually learn. i think a lot of people dont know this or dont use this. which is fine its a tiny random one off line i wouldnt even be able to track down. and a lot of people have the order of events go sherlock has violin -> mikotoba learns to tap dance, Look another musical thing matchy matchy :) . which again is FINE. BUT. isnt the other order of events - the order that it’s only reasonable to assume is canon - more fun ? Sherlock goes HEY GUESS WHAT I LEARNED VIOLIN NOW WE CAN MAKE MUSIC TOGETHER. He has not seen mikotoba in person in 9 years

thats the end of the post thank you i like the dads

[mellometal]

Is it time to tear ANOTHER Dhar Mann video to shreds? YOU BET.

I've been sitting on this one for a bit because I wanted to make sure I talk about this tactfully. The subject of parents abandoning their disabled children is a very touchy one.

Parents abandoning their disabled children simply for being disabled is way too common. Like, I understand that not everyone has the resources to care for a disabled child (which is why you reach out for help, and why people like me, who work with disabled people, exist), but it doesn't mean you just walk out of their life. There are exceptions, like if you truly didn't want children or something like that, but just flat-out walking out of your kid's life BECAUSE they're disabled is fucked up.

I know someone personally whose biological mother abandoned her when she was born. Why? Because she's disabled. Physically, and mentally, to a point. I work with this woman on a daily basis. I don't really know WHY exactly her biological mother abandoned her, but I do know that her being disabled was part of it. It's sad. It doesn't affect her, thankfully. I'm happy that she's got her biological dad, her brother, and another maternal figure in her life, at least.

ANYWAYS. Before we get to the topic at hand, I need to put an obligatory trigger warning, like I do with EVERY Dhar Mann post:

This post will be talking about parents abandoning their disabled children simply for being disabled, treating disabilities like they're tragedies (in this case, we're talking about autism...again), divorce, and some SPICY ableist bullshit from an allistic (nonautistic) PIECE OF SHIT.

If any of this triggers you or makes you uncomfortable in any way, you don't have to read this post. This isn't worth putting yourself in a bad state mentally. I would never ask for any of you to put yourselves in that position all for a post. Put your mental health and well-being first. Consume media that sparks joy for you.

As far as my response goes, it's definitely more calm than normal. Funny....since this video is about autism spectrum disorder again. (Third time's the charm, huh, Dhar Mann? NOT.)

LET'S FUCKING GET IT.

The video starts off with these two parents (Gwen and Allen) in a psychologist's office. The psychologist tells the parents that their son (Chance) is autistic, and she tries to explain what autism is to the parents, but Allen cuts her off. Why? Because he teaches at a prestigious university, so he AUTOMATICALLY knows what autism is from that fact alone.

Um, excuse me? Just because you're a teacher at a prestigious university, it doesn't mean you're an expert in everything. It doesn't make you an expert in ASD or anything like that. Unless you SPECIALIZE in that area. Even then, shut the fuck up. The people who know about being autistic are AUTISTIC PEOPLE THEMSELVES! SHOCKER.

Hey, Dhar Mann! QUIT WITH THE VIDEOS ABOUT AUTISTIC LITTLE WHITE BOYS AND YOUNG WHITE AUTISTIC CISHET MEN! I'M SICK AND TIRED OF IT. It's annoying, ignorant, and it feels like you're doing this on purpose at this point to piss people off. If you're so uninformed about autism in women and girls, FUCKING ASK AUTISTIC WOMEN AND GIRLS! DO BETTER RESEARCH THAT DOESN'T INVOLVE AUTISM SPEAKS. The Autism Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) and the Autistic Women and Nonbinary People Network (AWN) are great organizations to go to for any kind of research on ASD in women and girls. STOP GOING OFF OF THE BRAINS OF AUTISTIC WHITE BOYS AND AUTISTIC WHITE MEN.

I don't feel I need to go too deep into the fact that autistic women, autistic girls, autistic nonbinary people, autistic BIPOC, autistic AAPI, autistic LGBT people, autistic teenagers, and autistic adults exist. Y'all already know.

Gwen asks the psychologist if that means Chance isn't healthy. (I understand not knowing about autism, but don't treat it like it's a terminal illness. Please.) The psychologist tells her that Chance is fine, but he just learns differently and might need more support compared to his peers.

Yeah, autism can affect how you learn about certain things (limited and repetitive patterns), but there are other disabilities that can affect learning as well. Like how dyslexia can affect your ability to read, dyspraxia can affect your ability to do math, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can affect your ability to focus or on impulse control. Autism affects how your brain is developed, it affects you socially, behaviorally, and how you communicate.

Allen is upset, says that he can't have a son "with a learning disability" (ASD is a neurological disability, not necessarily a learning disability), and treats Chance like he's stupid for being autistic. Gwen tells her husband that autism doesn't make you any less intelligent, WHICH IS SO FUCKING TRUE. ABSOLUTE FACTS. I was totally with her until she began that little monologue with "Just because a person HAS autism". SAY "JUST BECAUSE A PERSON'S AUTISTIC" INSTEAD! IT'S NOT HARD. PERSON FIRST LANGUAGE ISN'T WHAT EVERY DISABLED PERSON PREFERS. Allen says that "they could have another kid" and "put Chance up for adoption". Gwen obviously wasn't down with that. Allen gives his wife an ultimatum that it's either HIM or their son Chance. Gwen says that she can't choose between the two, but she will stand by her autistic son. Allen gets up and leaves the office, saying he wants a divorce.

Years pass by, Gwen is single and taking care of her autistic son Chance, and Allen has a new life with a ✨perfect son✨ (Samuel). He never mentions the son HE abandoned (Chance). He's completely forgotten about Gwen and Chance. (YOU OWE SO MUCH CHILD SUPPORT, ALLEN.)

Hey, Allen, how much do you wanna bet that your ✨perfect son✨ Samuel is autistic too?

There's the SATs, they're announcing a winner, and guess who it is? IT'S OBVIOUSLY CHANCE, OF COURSE. He's got the highest score in the country, with Samuel in second place. Allen is PISSED.

Chance gives a speech about how his mom really helped him, he struggled with autism, how Allen LITERALLY ABANDONED HIM, and THE CROWD GOES FUCKING WILD. Samuel, instead of being a sore loser, APPLAUDS FOR CHANCE. Stay humble, Sam.

My thoughts on the video? If you cannot tell by my tone throughout this post, IT WAS DOG SHIT. This video was insensitive to the true reality of parents abandoning their disabled children just because they're disabled. What do I expect from Dhar Mann at this point?

Here's my response to his video below. Don't worry, I will fully type out my response soon for anyone who cannot read the screenshots easily. It's a lot easier for me to do that on the desktop site than it is for me to do it on my phone.

For anyone who can’t read my response, I’m typing it out for you. Like I said, it’s easier for me to type it out on the desktop site than it is for me to type it out on my phone. It’s a real royal pain in the ass. But because I’m trying to make my posts easier to read for people, I’m doing this anyway. /lighthearted

First, second, and third screenshots (broken up into paragraphs):

Hey, listen, I appreciate the message you’re trying to go for, but can you please stop putting autistic people into a box? Can you stop treating being autistic like it’s a tragedy? Not every single autistic person is a little white boy in elementary school who’s considered “wild and unruly” or “super quiet and makes no friends”, nor are they a young white cishet man who’s a super genius or is how Chris Chan was before she came out as trans. (For anyone who doesn’t know about Chris Chan, there are many documentaries people have made on YouTube, and I highly recommend Geno Samuel’s docuseries, if you’re really interested in learning about Chris Chan.)

Autistic women, girls, nonbinary people, BIPOC, APPI, LGBT people, teenagers, and adults all exist too. 

It’s very apparent now that you get your resources from Autism $peaks, a hate group that spends the vast majority of their money on funding eugenics instead of helping autistic people like they claim, claims that only little white boys and young white cishet men are autistic and ignores all other autistic people who don’t fit that description, have no autistic people on their leader board or on any board for that matter, have members who have actually fantasized about k1lling their autistic children, treat autism like it’s a tragedy or a disease someone can catch (completely false), act like autism should be cured (there is no cure, and ABA therapy is a total shit show in itself), and treats autistic people like they’re broken and need to be fixed. Also, not every autistic person is a Super Genius(tm). That’s so demeaning to autistic people who aren’t seen as intelligent in any way. I’m autistic and seen as smart; however, there are subjects I’m stronger in than others.

If you can’t handle the possibility of having autistic children, or just disabled children in general, DON’T HAVE CHILDREN. If you can’t handle working with or alongside disabled people, including autistic people, maybe find a different profession. Even if you do that, you’ll never get away from disabled people. Disabled people aren’t a disease. We’re human beings just like neurotypical and able-bodied people.

Fourth and fifth screenshots (broken up into paragraphs): 

I would highly suggest getting resources from reputable organizations for ASD, such as the Autism Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) and the Autistic Women and Nonbinary People Network (AWN). Talk to any autistic person who isn’t a little white boy or a young white cishet man. 

Instead of using the puzzle piece, which is a symbol that many autistic people, myself included, are offended by (because of Autism $peaks and other organizations before them using it, plus it symbolizes that only autistic children exist and that we’re “missing a piece” like we’re broken), use the rainbow infinity sign (for all neurodivergent people) or the red and gold infinity sign (just for autistic people). Instead of “lighting it up blue”, light it up red or gold. Do both if you want. 

I’m actually really sick and tired of seeing just autistic little white boys and young autistic white cishet men being represented in the media, and y’all manage to fuck that up too. 

Before anyone mentions Sia’s movie “Music”, that’s also very poor representation of autistic girls. Besides, the actress who played the autistic girl isn’t even autistic. She MOCKED autistic people. I know she’s a kid, but that’s still super fucked up. I hope she’s able to turn that around. 

If anyone would like to discuss this topic with me or ask any questions, feel free to. I’ll answer as best as I can. Thank you and have a good night.

Before I get attacked for mentioning Chris Chan in my response, I bring up Chris Chan because allistic people think that every autistic person is like her (especially before she came out as trans). That person is part of why I wasn't open about being autistic or talking about my diagnosis until this year. I didn't want to be grouped up with Chris Chan because I do have very similar interests to her, I've been seen as cringey for having said interests, and just the way Chris treated autistic people who were formerly diagnosed with A$p3rg3r$ $yndr0m3 (like I was) really made me feel even more alienated.

Also, S1a supports A$ (Autism $p3aks). She's not a very good person to support. Some of her music is good, but her as a person....no. Her movie "Music" was gross, from what I've read about it and seen pictures of.

If you've read this far, thank you so much!

[nashibirne]

Painkiller -4

Here we go again. The date was a disaster and in chapter 4 Henry and Ella deal with their feelings and get some advice, even if they don't want to. I hope you enjoy it - likes, reblogs and comments are much appreciated, so feel free to let me know what you think!

Paring: Henry Cavill x OFC (Ella) Summary: What do you do after a disastrous date? You get unasked advice from your brother and your friends. Warnings: slight angst, that's it Unbeta'ed! English ist not my first language, so sorry in advance for mistakes in grammar or spelling. Credits: The pics for the moodboard are from pintrest, except Jax's pic, that one is from a screenshot from an app (moments - choose your story). If I violate any copyright, please let me know.

Previous parts can be found here: Nashi's Masterlist

Taglist: @hell1129-blog @lunedelorient @inlovewithhisblueeyes @willkatfanfromasia @mis-lil-red @agniavateira @omgkatinka @legendarywizarddetective @summersong69 @taebfada @xxxkatxo (let me know if you want to be added or removed!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

4

Later that night when Henry was back in Kensington, sitting on the couch in his living room, having a glass of whiskey, he couldn't stop his thoughts from running through the night's events again and again. He was disappointed, he was angry, he was sad - he simply felt terrible. Kal was lying beside him, his big head resting on Henry's lap, enjoying a bit of tender love and care. 

When his phone beeped, his heart skipped a beat. 

Ella?

He took a look at the screen and closed his eyes with a sigh. Charlie. His brother knew Henry had a date tonight and now he was trying to tease him.

"Hey, supes...how's your date going. Already saved the damsel in distress? Holding her in your arms rn?"

Henry considered ignoring the message but he decided to answer anyway.

"Nope. Back in my fortress of solitude. With empty arms."

His phone started ringing only seconds after he'd sent the message.

"Hi Charlie." Henry greeted his brother not too enthusiastically.

"Hey, Hen. What's up? You're already back from your date?"

"Yeah...."

"You don't sound so good. What happened?"

"I fucked it up, Charlie. That's what happened." Henry pinched the spot at the root of his nose with his thumb and middle finger. He felt a bad headache coming. He was going to need a painkiller.

"She turned you down?"

His little brother sounded much too amused for Henry's taste.

"Well, we had kind of a Daenerys-Ser-Jorah-moment..."

"Ouch...she friendzoned you?"

"Yep." 

Charlie laughed.

"I can hardly believe it. But good to know even you can't have every woman you want. I mean normally they jump you before you can count to three."

"Oh shut up. That's not funny." Henry snapped, his voice loud and sharp.

"Okay, okay...I'm sorry brother. No need to get mad."

"But I am mad. Mad at myself." 

"Why. What did you do?"

"I didn't listen to my intuition." Henry said with a deep sigh of exhaustion and disappointment. "You know when I asked Ella out and she agreed my gut feeling told me to take her to a simple Italian restaurant, nothing trendy, nothing too expensive. Just a normal place for a normal date. She even suggested going out in Uxbridge because she knows some nice restaurants in her neighbourhood. But my ego knew better. It was like...make this date different. Take her to a place ordinary guys don't have access to. Let her see how special you are and what you have to offer...and my intuition was beaten."

"You wanted to show off to her" Charlie stated the problem in one sentence.

"Yeah. I wanted to impress her. Of course I chose the Aston Martin and not the Audi or the Tesla. And I took her to "Gianni's"..."

"Oohh...Fort Knox..." 

"Exactly. The food was great, she loved it, but she was intimidated by the atmosphere and the exclusivity. She was tense and felt uncomfortable and our conversation was dragging and uneasy. It didn't help much that I made a fool of myself, trying to make her loosen up. On set the director would have stopped me for overacting. And I don't know what happened when she went to the toilet but when she came back she was pretty jazzed and somehow distressed. 

And now she thinks our lives are too different, that she doesn't fit into my world and that we're better off as friends. Oh and she mentioned not being completely over her ex but that was probably an excuse to make me feel better. To put it in a nutshell, I was bragging and it totally backfired"

"But why? Bragging is not much like you."

"Honestly? I don't know. There's just something about her that puts me off. And that's crazy because she is really down-to-earth, humble and nice. I'm sure she's not the kind of woman that's impressed by status symbols, money or fame. I knew that the minute I met her. But I have this irrational need to show her what I've got. Maybe it's because I subconsciously think that all that's left when I show her the real Henry, without all the luxurious and impressive extras, is an ordinary, average, nerdy bore." 

"You can hardly call it subconscious when you can name the core problem so accurately." Charlie threw in.

"Shut up, smartass. That's not the point."

"No, it's not. The point is that somewhere underneath all these muscles and this superman aura you're still the insecure teen, who always had the feeling to be not good or cool or attractive enough."

"Oh come on, Doctor Freud. Don't try to analyze me."

"There's not much to analyze, Henry." Charlie sounded serious now. "You have this tendency to feel bad for who you really are. An ordinary guy who likes pc games, books, animals and sports. But that's not nerdy, it's perfectly normal. You're a home loving man in his late thirties who prefers a netflix marathon to a wild night out. That's not boring, it's what millions of people our age do. But it collides with your public image, with your looks and the characters you portray, so you play this role when you date women and they're attracted by the man you pretend to be, by all the glamour, money and VIP stuff and when you can't live up to their expectations when a relationship evolves it doesn't work and they leave or you leave or whatever."

"Are you done with your psychological profile?" Henry was annoyed and Charlie could almost hear him rolling his eyes.

"Not yet. What your little brother is trying to tell you is the following. When you're not showing your true self you attract the kind of women you actually don't really want and who don't really want you. Physically maybe but not for the real thing. So the fact that Ella doesn't want your jet-set self, that she doesn't like all the glitter and gold, shows that she's perfect for you. For the real Henry. Got it?"

"I don't know. Sounds a little complicated to me. But even if you were right. The damage is done. She just wants me as a friend."

"Then be a friend. Spend time with her, talk to her, show her your world outside the biz and when she gets to know you better she'll realize that you're not a poser and maybe there'll be a second chance someday."

"Mmhhh..."

"That's all you have to say?"

"I'll think about it, Charlie."

"Good. Maybe, just for once, you listen to your annoying little brother."

"Yeah...maybe."

*****

Jackson took a big bite of his slice of pizza looking at Ella with a frown. Ella had invited him and Katie for a crisis meeting at her place and they had shown up with lunch exactly after Ella's taste: Pizza and donuts. Ella had put them in the picture about last night and now they were discussing the events.

"But I don't understand why you're not willing to go out with him on another date. Why not give him a second chance?"

"Why would I? This one date was enough to tell that I don't fit into his world."

"You're just scared, he's really 10 inch." Jackson teased with a lewd expression and Katie started to giggle.

Ella made a face at him but she couldn't help but grin. "Why would I be scared? Have you seen your brother naked lately." She asked with raised eyebrows and a smirk.

"Eww...Elsie...gross" Jackson made a puking noise.

"You started it..." She gave him a friendly nudge.

"Guys..." Katie laughed. "Back on topic, okay? I understand Ella, Jax. Maybe his lifestyle really isn't what Ella's looking for in a man."

"You can hardly judge his lifestyle after one date. Maybe he tried to impress her and went a little over the top. And Ella, I'm not saying I know the guy but what I've seen of him on set was all humble, decent and very friendly. No signs of airs and graces, no extravagance.

"Yeah, maybe. But it's not just the car and the restaurant and his VIP friends or his job. I really think it's too early. I'm not ready for something new...after Craig." Ella nibbled a donut, shaking her head before giving Jax a shrug.

"That's bullshit, Elsie, and you know it." Jackson replied, his tone pretty annoyed. "You had zero problems fucking my brother only two months after the break up. And now you're trying to tell me you're not ready to date after one year? He wasn't asking you to marry him. He was asking for a second date. You have to be open minded if you want to move on" 

"Oh, stop lecturing me, Jax. That's not what I need right now." Ella got up from her chair with an angry snort. "I need to pee." She left the room and slammed the door behind her.

Jackson took a deep breath and rolled his eyes.

Katie turned to him with a soft smile. "We both know you're right about Craig but don't be so hard on her."

"I'm not hard on her, Katie. She's hard on herself. Why does she make such a fuss about a little swagger? He tried to impress her, so what? Isn't that kind of a compliment that he tried so hard? Truth is...she's scared to be not good enough for him...that's all. Elsie thinks she has to be glamorous and  extravagant to fit into his world. She feels not special enough, not beautiful enough, too average or whatever strange fantasies are running around on her mind. She is afraid that he loses interest soon but instead of taking a risk she chickens out and just wants to be friends with him."

"Maybe it's for the best...A bird in the hand...you know. I don't want her to get hurt…"

"No, Katie. You didn't see them at the party. There was this chemistry between them...it was incredible. Like in a movie, you could almost see the sparks and little hearts fly from their eyes. They're meant for each other. As lovers, not as friends." Jackson let out a sigh. He sounded just as frustrated as helpless. 

"Yeah...I thought so, when she told me about it. The way she talked about him, with so much enthusiasm, it was remarkable. But Ella doesn't see it that way. Or she doesn't want to." Katie shrugged. "You know how stubborn she is. And how much a cerebral person. Reason tells her that he's out of her league and that his world is too different from hers, from ours. She won't let us tell her otherwise. So just let them be friends and if you're right, if they're made for each other, destiny will find its way."

Katie patted Jackson's knee giving him a comforting smile.

"Yeah. Or maybe she wastes the chance of finding the love of her life and ends up on her own..."

"That's not our responsibility, Jax."

"What's not your responsibility?" Ella asked, entering the room, obviously in a better mood again. It was typical for her. Close to throwing a tantrum the one minute and back to cool, calm and collected the other. Her temper was unpredictable sometimes.

"Your happiness." Jackson replied, giving her an apologetic smile. "I didn't mean to lecture you, Elsie. I'm just trying to help."

"I know, doofus. And I didn't mean to snap. It's just...let me handle this my way, okay?"

"Okay, at your own risk." Jackson got up and hugged her.

"At my own risk." Ella mumbled into his chest.

~~~~~

tbc

[yuvon-writes-letters]

Hey Yuvon, Jake.

I am sorry if this letter becomes shorter than the last one, I am on my way to work for..yeah probably the last time for now. At least till it is safe to go.

I am a bit nervous, but I can go through it. Everything is done, my clothes, tickets, motel (for the moment, I have the feeling that staying in one place wouldn't be good. Dangerous.). Only the afternoon has to come...And that means I have to somehow get home without anxiety when I see a guy in mask near the street I live in. But that's fine. I have Jake and Max this time. It won't repeat itself.

As for the deciphering, I would say I'd love to try and help...But if you can't do it then I don't exactly know if I could either.

Yes, I imagine Yuvons behaviour could be because of Jessicas last letter. I really can empathise her actions if it is because of that. I'd love to do that, too, but then everyone who gets a look at my flat thinks I'd be kidnapped. Yah, no thanks.

You're right, I didn't think of that yet.

[A mini paper is taped above that, as if the sentence was just added later] (It seems Jake already did! But didn't get the chance to test it yet.)

No problem about the word association :) Even though I needed to stop, I got a bit dizzy again. Maybe I really need to live a bit healthier in the moment. Cannot say I ate and slept enough in the TSB timeline.

Yeah, I know you understand Yu. If it gets to bad, tell me, yeah? Then we can write a bit 'alone'. Like...Detective Inc. talk, okay? [A small girl giving a hug to another girl is scribbled, but far less detailed and sketchier than normal]

You never mentioned those two words? Are you completely sure, Yuvon?

(Jakes, if anyone except for my counterparts would kindly stop reading here as long as I write in purple)

Yuvon, are you really okay? What do you mean with 'You have no plan'. I am worried about you.

Dang, I don't have much more time. But Jake wanted to adress you again real quick :)

Lis🐾🔥

[Again the screenshot of Jakes message is glued to the back of the letter]

The 'part of who you are since birth' is something I completely understand. Social anxiety made my life much more difficult, but without it I wouldn't be where and who I am today. It is always interesting to figure out things in which we are similar to each other.

I am not overly concerned either, thanks to you I got some advantages. Also that we, thanks to 'Goldie' and the TSB timeline, know that the Man without a Face is possibly a hacker, too.

I am honestly not completely sure what to think of the word association. You also noticed how Liskas writing changed, right? And that she suddenly stopped.

How did you get the idea to give her this word association? And what did you intend on figuring out?

As for your last part...I don't think we should be that surprised about defying the laws of physics anymore. It becomes far too normal.

~ Jake

(There are eraser marks in the margins again.)

Lis,

You'll make it, I know you will. Just one day, and you can get out of there. Stay safe, stay alert, and stick to crowds where possible, and you'll be just fine.

Yeah, I took a glance at the cipher over Jake's shoulder and I've got nothing. It's just scribbles to me. I might get something on a closer look, but I sort of doubt it.

That letter thing would be cool to test sometime, but like Jake said earlier. Priorities.

Make sure you're drinking enough, okay? Especially if you end up going someplace sunny. But I'm sure the dizziness isn't going to be anything too important for the moment. We can address it later, when you're safer.

Thank you, Lis. I might take you up on that offer to talk later. But I can't now. And I never said those two words. Nor do I have a plan. Gur ragvgvrf znl or noyr gb ernq zvaqf, naq gurl qrsvavgryl pna ernq gurfr yrggref.

—Yu

(The handwriting changes to Jake's.) Hello, Lis.

As Yuvon said, exercise caution when returning to your workplace, but if all goes as expected and as planned you should have no issues. Once you are done, if you bring your phone on your vacation, do not answer calls from numbers you do not know, and especially do not answer the kidnapper's calls and messages.

Thank you for the offer of help :) However, I will manage alone eventually. It will simply take time. A lot of time.

At least I know the cause of her behavior now. I am somewhat at a loss for what to do about it, though. I will do my best to lighten her mood, but given that I am a living reminder of the issue, that may prove difficult.

I second Yuvon's suggestion of hydration. Dehydration has been proven to have several negative effects on the body.

That is all for now, Lis. I will speak to you later.

Jake,

As Yuvon was the one to come up with the idea, I will let her explain her thought process behind the word association.

(The handwriting changes to Yuvon's.) Lis said something a bit weird in the last letter. She was talking about how Goldie had likely helped things settle in the TSB timeline and mused that Goldie probably did all they could. Then Lis' writing grew neater (hope Jake showed you the word association thing so you know what I'm talking about) and she wrote "Like they always did..." before mentioning being dizzy, and seemingly forgetting she wrote that entirely.

I've known for a while that Lis had some memories relating to Goldie she couldn't access for one reason or another, but I hadn't seen the block waver until then. I theorized that I might be able to bypass the block at least partially if I approached it indirectly, and it seems I was right to an extent. It's only too bad I can't do anything with scents, scents are heavily tied to memories.

I didn't have anything particular in mind to uncover at the time, but I figured that if Lis let slip characteristics of Goldie or snatches of memories, those could be useful later. I hadn't expected to nearly get a name, though— see how the first letter is capitalized? Definitely a name. I think I have an idea what the name is, but I don't want to say or write it until we want Goldie's attention. It's probably Latin, though, and you might want to check the root of the alchemical symbol for gold on the periodic table.

I think the words we can safely associate with Goldie, however, are: best friend, past, safety, familiarity. Silver is another possibility, but that may just be an association with gold.

...I wonder when Goldie's going to send me the pissed-off letter yelling at me for meddling in the secrecy of their identity XD

Because I have such a good track record for respecting privacy and secret identities.

(The writing changes to Jake's.) I am back.

The similarities and differences are quite fascinating, yes. If only we could conduct some sort of study where we could learn how Jakes differ and how they remain the same from universe to universe. But that would require that they trust we are who we say we are, and that their Detectives actually open the letters we've been sending. So it seems unlikely that will ever happen.

Yes. The news about the kidnapper being a hacker is still troubling to me, even all this time later. He must be quite skilled, for the likes of us to only realize from his own mockery that he is one. We will need to remain on guard. I will also need to begin monitoring the situation in Duskwood again. If the kidnapper has been freed from the stasis, I will need to work rather hard to keep that group safe, especially now that I do not have all my equipment. And very limited Internet access.

I really should not be shocked at this point, especially given the experiences Yuvon has recounted to me and the fact that I have not needed to eat nor drink since coming to this place. I suppose that was simply the first time I directly saw the lack of logic, other than in Yuvon sending the letters.

I have little more to say. Goodbye for now,

Jake

(The letter tucks itself in the paper clip with the others.)

[bunny-heels]

of course im talking about that graffiti screenshot im not a fool

so Valve had released three new in game screenshots for Half-Life: Alyx on their twitter. the most important one (aside from the one that features our lord and savior ERROR) is this;

under a bridge, classic blue truck on the edge, headcrab on a stick in the back, and of course, the fucking beautiful graffiti on the sides of the tunnel that are just, glowing in the dim light. for reasons outside of graphics and map structure, this is the most important screenshot we've gotten lore wise. here's a good run down as to why.

first, the graffiti on the far left;

depicted is a large Citadel placed in between a Vortigaunt and a tall skinny human. the interesting thing is that the Vortigaunt and Citadel have their own defining features to them, such as the Vortigaunt's individual small eyes placed above their big one in the center of their head, and the Citadels ropes connected to the ground and the small outward unfinished parts that havent been constructed yet. however, the person on the far left has no defining features to them.

people have speculated that, because what is depicted is a Vortigaunt and the Citadel, the human figure might be Gordon. this could also be because the figure itself is bulky, so you'll see it more as a male figure. however, I have high speculation myself, from analyzing the little details we had on them, that the person is Alyx.

similarities they share is not only what seems to be the crooked belt she has around her hips, which is even crooked in the same angle as her actual belt, but also, the crudely drawn Black Mesa symbol on the chest.

of course, this is only an analyzed assumption, but i believe that since the game is literally going to be about Alyx, it's safe to guess that its her.

as for what the entire image is suppsoee to mean, that can't be made certain just yet. it could be a foreshadowing to the Vorts getting her and Gordon out of the Citadel in the beginning of Episode 1, but then I don't understand why Gordon wouldn't be depicted in the image as well. alternatively, it could just be a general depiction of her reaching the Citadel later in-game once you've seen this graffiti. nothing is concrete, though.

next, is this;

depicted, on the top of the wall is the honeycomb like Antlion's ness, surrounded by Antlions. at the bottom is a group of Vortigaunts reaching towards one that is resting on the ground. behind that resting Vort is what looks like a pile of eyeball spheres. what they actually are is unknown.

the graffiti as a whole is much more important than what it can be first guessed. if you were to remember the Antlion mission in Episode 2, where you are to collect extract from the Antlion's nests with a Vortigaunt on your side, the Vort mentions that their kind used to perform 'husbandry' with the Antlions' larvae. meaning they farmed it for the extract.

what should be noted is that this is an 'ancestral practice', meaning a pre-evolved version of the Vorts commonly farmed the extract, which then got passed down to their more evolved counterparts. they likely couldn't continue the farming due to the Combine invasion of their homeworld.

as well, the Vortigaunt says it 'dissolves false veils that divide the vortessence', and that 'all this you(Gordon) shall witness when-', then is cut off. then, when at the table, the Vort that traveled with you eats the extract, and they, including the others around the table, begin to glow purple and gain blue eyes. the same energy is seen in the beginning of Episode 1. the vortessence that is 'divided' described by the Vortigaunt is that shared energy they use when doing very powerful things, such as bringing people out of a frozen time state, stopping someone like the G-Man (albeit having to use over 10 of them to hold him back), and bringing someone borderline back to life by connected them with a lifelink of another human.

i think it's extremely important that we recognize, as well, that this piece of information is very, very briefly mentioned in Episode 2, and could've been easily forgotten about. but it wasn't. so you can have high hopes that they bring back other briefly mentioned details that you may think they'd forgotten. what this also means, obviously, is that this particular piece of lore to the Vortigaunts' history is going to be very important, more than we thought it was before.

one last detail, if you look above that wall, you can see what looks like eyeballs on that curved part of the under bridge. however, it looks much more different brightened up;

they seem to be relatively flat disks with an iris and pupil lookalike style on the flat part, and they are coming out of the wall by a thin rigid stem to keep them attached. they almost loon like satellite dishes, without the signal spikes. they could also resemble cameras. it seems that they also look similar to the pile of eyes behind the resting Vortigaunt at the bottom of the wall. still, what they fully are is completely unknown to use.

to add some more speculation, i would like to add this screenshot from the trailer in relevance;

me and my bf have soeculated this being a Vortigaunt made base, due to its structure and the eye image on the door.

what it actually is, in terms of the area and who inhabits it, are not confirmed. but, i believe with the graffiti on the wall, which already look to be done by the Vortigaunts due to its telling of their history, this could very well actually be a Vortigaunt base.

finally, as you can see in the whole screenshot, there are orange rhombus shapes around variously placed glowing green large dots, and coming out the wall, in the best way i can describe it, look like vertically squished down mid-eruption volcanos. i, personally, have no clue what this is supposed to mean, let alone what it actually is. so there's nothing i can really say on it other then, artistically, it looks cool.

thats all i can really get out of the image. a reminder that all of the speculations i made are not concrete to what could actually be in the game's story. as well, i don't claim any of those speculation to be fact (even though i probably wrote the sentences in a way that makes it look like i claim them as fact but i'm a big stinky doo doo brained ADHD chick so just bare with me here man i'm trying).

if there's anything that i might've missed or you believe i have speculated incorrectly, or you just have general theories of your own that you believe in strongly, i'm open to reading them.

[fly-pow-bye]

Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Brainlord”

Written by: Jake Goldman

Written & Storyboarded by: John Martinez, Andy Cung

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

Should have done the noodle dance.

This episode starts with Townsville under attack by a monster. If the Narrator was here, this could be an opening of an original episode. It's not just any monster either, but it's Gothra, a monster that first appeared in Bucketboy. Giving the reboot some credit; the original never really had a recurring monster in their rogue’s gallery, the reboot introduced two of them. For this episode, they add something else to this potential beloved villain other than his looks: vocal cords!

Gothra: Roooooar. Once I destroy you poser humans, you will finally understand how sad and empty life is!

Honestly, the monotone and yet loud roar would have been just fine, but they really wanted to show off that Gothra is a goth. At least he has a personality, and he will hammer in with every line he says.

Also like the original, the Powerpuff Girls show up to beat the stuffing out of him. Blossom tells him that they're going to turn his frown upside-down. Smiles are a goth's worst enemy...I think that's what she were going for?

Unfortunately, the Reboot Puffs show their usual failure here, as, of course, this leads to a Monster Punch, Girls Down. Womp, womp. Not even a minute into the episode, this even including the opening theme song, this living pun manages to punch the Powerpuff Girls into a crater, them completely helpless from the wrath of a goth moth.

One of two things can happen from this: the Reboot Puffs get up and use a different strategy than just rushing in and punching him, or they stay helpless before someone else gets to save them from their peril. If you picked the former, welcome to the reboot. Before Gothra can crush the Reboot Puffs like his dreams, get it, goth, he gets blasted by this episode's knight in shining armor.

In comes Brainlord, a superhero that can shoot lasers out of his gigantic brain, wearing a costume with white and purple stripes and a big purple cape. Using his almighty brain power, Gothra explodes in an explosion of justice. As in, the cloud even spells and whispers the word "justice."

The Powerpuff Girls awaken to see their savior, and before you can say "Major Competition", which is not exactly what this episode is ripping off but I wouldn't blame anyone for assuming at this point, we get to hear his origin story.

He was the hero of a planet called Braintopia, beating up the bad guys, and rescuing the overly large brained people. Unfortunately, the Braintopians had a custom to keep their heads super shiny, which blinded them all from a meteor bigger than their entire planet. He survived, not because he was chosen to be put in a rocket before the big cataclysmic event, but because he was in another galaxy to get his car washed.

In other words: Superman’s origin story, except with jokes!

The Powerpuff Girls didn't find it funny, though. In fact, they found this origin story so sad that they get tissues, and Buttercup outright says that this is the saddest origin story she's ever heard. Even sadder than Bliss's origin story, apparently! Yes, it is pretty sad to know that all of his friends and family are dead, but why show this? Is it a joke on how the Powerpuff Girls are saddened by this silly story? Is this just a way for them to force a tear jerker moment? It's not working.

After hearing that sad, sad story that they really wanted to let you know is sad, Blossom decides to offer this total stranger dinner at the Powerpuff home. I mean, he's a fellow superhero, and he just saved them from that 90's Hot Topic customer! What could possibly go wrong?

To be fair to Blossom, there is no hint that something is up other than this person's costume looking a little similar to a certain arch-nemesis. They can drag this on until a big reveal in Act 2, but they don’t wait that long.

Brainlord: Yes, see you tonight...

Discount Jojo: (changes face back to his own) ...for your doom! Hahahahahaha!

...they just reveal immediately that Brainlord is actually Discount Jojo in disguise. There is a point to this: it's to make this episode a Discount Jojo-focused episode where he gets to live along with his arch-enemies. It's just like Not So Secret Service or Quarantine, and those episodes were so good that I was overjoyed to see another one of...I can't even complete that sentence.

Even in the Brainlord costume, his voice is just Roger L. Jackson doing a different voice. There are a few times where he goes a little too close to the Jojo voice, and that actually works in this episode's favor.

His main plan is to infiltrate the Powerpuff Girls' home, earn their trust, enter the Professor's lab, and blow up the Professor's black hole machine with a bomb. This is all shown with pen and crayon drawings. I kind of like this, actually, it reminds me of that other arch-nemesis.

The first thing Brainlord does at the dinner table is ask where the Professor's latest invention is, as he claims he was a minor celebrity on his formerly existing home planet. The Professor decides to show him exactly that, though it turns out he invented something else since the black hole machine: spaghetti and meatballs a la Utonium! He is not too thrilled about this, until he decides to take a bite.

We then get the "Buttercup really liking Jojo's waffles" scene from Not So Secret Service, except instead of stock footage, it's a bunch of random scenes where Jojo is happy. It is better. After that glorious dinner, the Powerpuff Girls decide to sing him a song teaching him all about the place they live. Wait, could this be some much needed worldbuilding?

The Puffs: Welcome to Townsville, Brainlord!

We hope you're not plain bored!

Too late! They then sing the many different reasons why Townsville is great. They mention that the beach should be checked out, how the mall is neat...and that's it. No, not the song, but that's the only two reasons we get to hear, as they instantly skip to number 487, which just says that’s the end of the song. Missed opportunities all around, I'd say.

What gives this "overly long song" joke far less of an impact is that Brainlord was not even phased by the length. In fact, he was so charmed by this song and dance, that he asks for an encore! Before we can get a song about the 487 reasons why Citiesville sucks, Brainlord says that this song was such a blast, reminding himself that he had a Powerpuff-destroying scheme to do! He asks to go to the little Brainlord's room.

Brainlord turns his face back into Jojo, and he tells himself that while the Powerpuff Girls being such great hosts almost makes him not want to, he wants to go through with this plan anyway.

The Professor really had to step the security down from the one he once had, because the only thing between dastardly villains and Chemical X, dangerous transmogrification rays, and black hole machines is a security question. Specifically, it asks what the Powerpuff Girls' favorite thing is. Jojo, using the utmost of his genius, decides to make a perfectly reasonable guess.

Discount Jojo: The Powerpuff Girls' favorite thing is...being destroyed by Mojo!

Obviously, that wasn't the answer, and if he gets the question wrong again, the lab goes into total lockdown. Suddenly, Bubbles shows up, and Jojo has to put on his Brainlord face. He puts on a facade that he's just thinking about his home planet and how much he misses it. Bubbles tells him he can stay at their house, and maybe they can show him their favorite things! Brainlord responds by evilly laughing, but Bubbles doesn't pay it any mind. In fact, the scene just changes immediately after he laughs; we couldn't even get a joke out of Bubbles' obliviousness.

The next day, we get montage #1, where Brainlord goes to a carnival. There's really no jokes here, it's just Brainlord and the Reboot Puffs having fun on all the rides. It's very pedestrian; I would have loved to see them enjoying these rides and games in a superhero way, like, say, Brainlord attempting to use his brain lasers on the bottle game. Maybe they were worried about copying Despicable Me...but when has that stopped them?

After all that fun, the Powerpuff Girls suddenly start talking about how family is so important to them. Oh, and Buttercup says this.

Buttercup: Yes, blood is thicker than water, blood rules!

I get it, like related by blood, but I can't say I didn't enjoy how they just shoved in the phrase "blood rules" into at least one episode. Bubbles ends this family talk by saying family is their favorite thing, and Brainlord suddenly runs off to the Powerpuff home.

Thanks to Bubbles' big mouth, Discount now knows the secret password and gets it right the second time, giving him full access to the lab and that black hole machine. Using a stick of dynamite with a timer on it, he's going to destroy the people that gave him entertainment, because he is a bad ape!

While cheering, Bubbles calls down to Brainlord that they're going out for ice cream! Wow, the Powerpuff Girls are just having the best day of their lives, and Jojo doesn't want to miss out on any of it!

We get another montage that has the same purpose as the carnival one, with most of the same problems. The only difference is that we get scenes where Jojo has to keep extending the clock because he just doesn't want the fun to end.

Well, okay, I guess there is a scene where Brainlord gets his fingernails painted. Oh, that Discount, while he's learned a few more jokes, he's still finding some way to do something feminine.

In the end, the Powerpuff Girls offer this scrapbook of all the times they had. This is the part where Jojo finally decides that maybe the Powerpuff Girls aren't worth destroying after all. I mean, being with the Utoniums has been a total blast for him! After saying something along the lines of that, Brainlord suddenly realizes he may have forgot something.

It's here that the episode finally figures that there has to be some sort of problem that isn't caused by a one-joke moth, as the bomb explodes, causing the black hole generator to make a black hole. They don't seem to think about how this black hole generator suddenly activated or got destroyed, though that might have taken a backseat to them holding on to a door frame to save their own lives.

The black hole generator can only stop if someone goes in the vortex and blows it up. The Professor also happened to be carrying a bunch of dynamite just for this purpose. That's just something he carries around. You know what they say, better to have it and not need it than vice versa.

Blossom: I'll go!

So Blossom decides to let go, not realizing that everyone was holding her leg. Thanks to Blossom's mistake, everyone goes into the vortex and ends up floating around in the vastness of outer space. Discount and Sitcom Dad die, and eventually, the Reboot Puffs stopped thinking. Oh wow, I guess there really was a satisfactory finale for this series!

No, I'm just kidding, of course it's Brainlord that ends up taking the dynamite and sacrificing himself. For all the Powerpuff Girls knew, their family friend just had the time of their lives, and is now going to suffer what is most likely a painful death...or is that really the case?

There is a slight twist to this, and I usually don't spoil the twists, but I have to talk about this one. Right before Brainlord lets go, Bubbles drops this bombshell.

Brainlord: Remember me!

Bubbles: We will, thanks, Mojo!

Brainlord: Yes, and never for, wait, you knew?!

Outside of this one little scene, nothing is made of this sudden revelation that Bubbles knew this whole time. It feels more like something they just threw in in the last minute to give the episode some sort of a big twist.

Some may also ask how Bubbles knew Brainlord was Jojo. Honestly, with his constant yelling of his plans throughout the episode, the Powerpuff Girls would have to be deaf to not figure it was probably him. If that was the case, why did they not do anything to stop this from happening? Whatever.

Oh, and that black hole just leads to a dumpster. This reboot sure loves putting their characters in the garbage; feels like a hidden message.

Does the title fit?

Name of a character, and one that doesn't even use his brains.

How does it stack up?

Out of all of the "Mojo Jojo has to live with his arch-enemies" episodes, this is probably the least worst one, but it's still not anywhere near mediocre. While Not So Secret Service couldn't find a plot and stick to it, Quarantine was just horrendous, this one's just mostly boring.

I debated on giving this a really low Neutral or a really high Disgusted. I wouldn't lie and say the montages weren't charming, if they were a bit too pedestrian to my taste, but that’s really all this episode has. Sorry, Brainlord.

Next, it can't be worse than Foodfight!, can it?

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[lizzybeth1986]

Quick Thoughts on DD Book 1 Chapter 4

• Jesus, this book is expensive.

• Like I assumed Chapter 3's one accomplishment-one-or-two-LIs-or-a-family-member thing would be a one-off, just to introduce us into the system/ease us into the story, but no...they've (sort of) repeated it this chapter. I was hoping they would spread out the accomplishments at least, but perhaps they want us to have at least most of the accomplishments worked out before we leave for London.

• I really hope this doesn't become a regular thing because it will only cause players to lose interest in the books for lack of affordability, in the long run. As it is the book largely caters to a niche audience...alienating that audience by having them lose of on half the story won't bode well for the book.

• Title: Best Foot Forward. Man, this one is easy. Of course it refers to dancing. And quite a lot of dancing is done this chapter, that's for sure!

• Sooo...the Earl has decided to introduce us into society in Edgewater with a garden party. Lots of hobnobbing, some dancing, a few games and you meet at least one 'suitor'.

• Did You Know: According to writer and garderner Kim Wilson, who wrote a book titled In the Garden with Jane Austen, gardens were viewed as markers of social status. In an interview with The Scotsman, she says, "each family's garden reflected not only their needs but, if they had enough money, their social aspirations". The poor cottagers of the time were mostly concerned with growing food and having a place to keep their chickens whereas wealthier families would have had kitchen gardens, but also often extensive pleasure grounds, which were places to display their wealth and taste. (from an article about Jane Austen's love for gardens in The Scotsman).

• Last chapter had us learning (optionally) the art of the fan from our Lady Grandmother, so it makes sense that what happens in this chapter is this:

Lololol just kidding.

• So the chapter begins with the MC and Briar talking. Briar is excited about the fact that a Duke (who, she reminds us, is "one step below a Prince Regent"), and the MC can either choose to be excited or very confident. Interestingly, if you're excited, she reminds you to "not forget your roots", which I think is a recurring theme in this book. After all, that was the last thing the MC's mother told her on her deathbed.

• Dominique enters the room and both she and Briar present us with a pretty pink lace dress that is sure to improve both our social standing and catch everyone's eye at this introductory garden party.

• It looks quite pretty, actually. But that's because I love lace.

• We head downwards, finding Annabelle performing for herself in the foyer and having a thoroughly good time.

• I'm wondering if I should have a tally for the number of times she says "a thousand pardons" (and for the record, I think her way of saying "fiddlesticks" is adorable xD).

• Our third "accomplishment" (and our second paid one) is presented to us here: dancing. It's not like the MC doesn't know dancing - she does - it's that the country dances (this might be a reference to the English Country Dances that were popular among all classes) are different from the ones Annabelle has learned, and indeed the popular ones for the aristocracy that are coming in from other places, like France.

• Annabelle mentions a couple of dances that were popular for its time: the cotillion (originated from France), the Quadrille (also from France), and La Boulanger (also French). If we choose the shoes the Lady Grandmother got made for us, Annabelle wastes no time in teaching us the last one.

• Annabelle speaks to us about the Quadrille being new. She isn't lying. The Quadrille became fashionable in England around 1815.

• Again, the good thing about the accomplishment scenes is that they're meant only for learning the skill, and Annabelle can develop in her individual scenes independent of this. Though I'm not sure if cramming both her individual scenes and her accomplishment scenes in the same chapter, two chapters in a row is a very good idea.

• Another marker of how new the MC is, lies in her interaction with Mr Woods (who is perhaps the only member of the housing staff we see at the party. Briar disappears completely after she's done her work of getting the MC ready, and Luke doesn't appear either). Mr Woods is surprised the MC deigns to speak to him in public, and Henrietta uses her interaction with him to point out how little she fits in, what with talk of the MC's "roots".

• Lol the exchange with the Earl if you bought the scene with the Lady Grandmother is quite funny haha. He speaks about Dominique drilling him into learning the names of all the families and the MC - saucy little shit that she is 😄 - looks at her fan and says "oddly enough, I know exactly what you mean".

• Ernest Sincliare makes his appearance after two chapters, and there's some banter about compliments if you're wearing the pretty lace dress I think. She teases him about it and he retorts that since he passes compliments so rarely, you can be sure that when he does he means every word. I can see that logic in that, Sinclair, but must you look like a child who has accidentally sucked on a particularly sour lemon when you do? 😂

• Throughout the chapter, you get references to the Season in London, and each time the MC by default takes it for granted that she will not be going there. Sinclaire hosts parties in London, Annabelle Parsons will be going there for the Season. Up until the end of the chapter, the vibe given overall is that she won't be seeing the two for a while now that they will be leaving Edgewater, and she won't.

• Did You Know: The London Season was developed to coincide with the sitting of parliament. During the months when parliament was in session, members of both Houses needed to be in attendance in London and came to the capital bringing their families with them. The London season grew up in response to this influx of upper class people who needed to be entertained.

Amanda Foreman, in her biography on Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, stated: "the aristocratic "season" came into existence not only to further the marriage market but to entertain the upper classes while they carried out their political duties. The season followed the rhythm of Parliament: it began in late October with the opening of the new session, and ended in June with the summer recess.” of course, later on this period of time gradually began to shift.

There also seems to be something called the "little season", but that seems more a fixture of the Victorian age than the Regency one (as mentioned in the article on the London Season from the Regency History website).

• The Earl and Mr Sinclaire share a more than cordial relationship: the Earl treats him with considerable warmth and Sinclaire shows a genuine respect and regard for him. You have a choice of asking him whether it is the Earl - or you - he has respect for (and the second option leads to a romantic moment), but it is what he says about the Earl, and his later interaction with Duke Richards that intrigues me:

What happened to Ledford Park that the Sinclaires almost lost it? Why does his statement towards the Duke about Ledford sound so accusatory? Why is there such a strong undercurrent within the latter interaction? I want to know what the story behind Ledford Park is, and how the Earl helped save it.

• One of my favourite Sinclaire-related sequences is an additional scene featuring the fan, as taught to us by the Dowager Countess the previous chapter. I tried the last two with Florence, the MC who has no interest in Sinclaire:

(the first four screenshots are from the "friends" option, and the next four from the "go away u suck" option)

Meanwhile, Marianne just goes in for the kill, fam. Homegirl didn't learn all those thot moves from Grandma for nothing 😄

I do like that extra bit of sexual tension in this scene. I'm not very into Sinclaire yet, but I can see the appeal he'd have for someone who would want the Mr Darcy type of Regency male LI character. You also see a fair bit of it in the scene where the MC asks him if it is her he respects:

• Sinclaire, dude, what is it with you and Italics??

• We now interrupt our regular programme with a game of Skittles. I'm not sure how many of you assumed Regency-era aristocrats were going to start passing around fruit-flavoured candy but I sure did 😂

• So this is skittles, played with nine pins. Very much one of the precursors to present day bowling from what I've read. Playing this game, and beating a champion like Mr Sinclaire at it will not only allow you to spend time alone with him, but also increase your social standing.

• It's simple enough: hit the red pin in the centre, and if you want you can distract the hell out of Sinclaire after he's fired his first shot.

• Twice this chapter, you see our resident comic relief for the day: Miss Theresa Oh-My-Smelling-Salts Sutton, and Mr Edmund Do-I-Look-Like-I-Care Malcaster, and I've decided I like them both (I wanted to add screenshots, but tumblr mobile sucks and won't let me put up more than ten images 😒)

• So we meet the "handsome", "titled" eligible bachelor our Lady Grandmother wanted us so badly to marry and...

...um. lol. ok.

Handsome? Charming? When was the last time you looked in the mirror dude, 20 years ago?

• You have a choice of how to respond after Duke Richards insults Mr. Sinclaire. You can either choose the Manners option, or you can choose to outright sass the man. If you don't sass him? The Lady Grandmother will do it for you.

• With the Manners option we find out that the Duke is 51 years old.

• With the non-manners option we find out that the dude likes saucy little minxes.

• @ the last panel in Florence's playthrough, Grandma even you can't deal with this dude for two minutes without nodding off. Why are you dumping him on my head then? (don't tell me. I know the answer 😐). See, this is why Florence will eventually kiss her inheritance goodbye lol.

• Jesus can this man just...speak two words without touching me??

• FINALLY. Miss Parsons. We choose a hiding place to get away from the Duke and then she offers to show us a new part of the estate: the lakefront. The great thing about gardens, esp in the writing of the time, was that it provided privacy for people at the time and allowed them to interact in ways they couldn't in public.

• Did you know: Austen herself used gardens pretty extensively in her writing. Mr Knightley confesses his love to Emma close to a shrubbery. Elizabeth jokes to her aunt about deciding to marry Mr Darcy after seeing the grounds in Pemberley. Fanny Price of Mansfield Park remarks, “To sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure, is the most perfect refreshment.” Catherine Morland of Northanger Abbey falls in love with hyacinths, Marianne Dashwood of Sense and Sensibility has a passion for fallen leaves in an autumnal garden, while Anne Elliot of Persuasion is always inspired to think of poetry when enjoying the beauties of nature.

Susannah Fullerton in her essay "Jane Austen and her gardens" (for the website Garden Drum) says: "Many proposals [in Austen's novels] take place out of doors where lovers can find some privacy amongst the gravel walks and flower beds; garden improvements are planned by some of the characters; and her heroines all enjoy going into a garden to think". 

• Makes sense then that one of the special scenes of this largely "forbidden" relationship (if you choose for that to happen) would take place in greenery, close to a lake. If you notice, it's quite in keeping with the times that most of the romantic moments this chapter happen either in an isolated section of the gardens or while dancing, both of which allow for some measure of interaction between people interested in each other.

• Miss Parsons, the legendary hero of a Duck Prophecy xD

• I love her in this scene. Sure she gets shy when she receives attention she's not used to from us, and she's kind and educative and sweet, but she's also boisterous and passionate and not afraid to pull punches when she needs to (case in point: the shade she immediately throws Henrietta's way regarding her "tutelage"). This scene has her stealing cake from the party to feed the ducks, getting exhilarated from the race and her new friendship with the MC, and feeling extremely confused by her feelings if you speak to her romantically.

• The first half of this scene is pure fun, but the second inevitably shows the two women experiencing a sense of loss that their connection will be cut short - whether they are friends or whether this is a budding romance.

• What I do love about both the romance scenes are the extra touches added to both in the coding. In the skittles scene with Ernest, Marianne is spoken of by default as brushing her hand against his before giving him the ball, whereas Florence simply passes it to him.

• Even with Annabelle, if you acquire romance points with her, the ending of that scene is written quite differently:

I absolutely love this part of the scene. And given that very often the female LI is treated like just the default best friend with some stray romance options attached, it really does feel good to have that sexual tension acknowledged.

• Florence, babe, what is it with you and Italics??

• TIME TO PUT ON OUR DANCING SHOES GUYS (if we bought them).

• So we're doing a dance called La Boulanger...which kinda looks like this:

You dance in a circle, then keep switching partners.

• Did You Know: that the Boulanger was one of the very few dances mentioned by name in Jane Austen's novels? (Pride and Prejudice Chapter 3. I think the reel is mentioned in another).

• I have two left feet unless someone is heavily choreographing a flash mob and spends ages teaching me the steps lol so this looks pretty complicated to me 😂

• You have an option of choosing between Mr Sinclaire, Miss Parsons and Duke Richards. The first two are the usual you'd expect from romantic dance scenes if you choose either of the first two, impressing them with your dance moves and then catching their eye when you're dancing with Edmund, your stepbrother. With Miss Parsons there is an additional show of boldness in that there is a danger of making their affections public.

• The Duke Richards option, which I managed to see thanks to @i-dream-so-i-write ...seems pretty okay actually. He doesn't seem as handsy and creepy as he does in our first meeting (there is a moment where his "hands skim your waist" though, and he tells us we've been apart too long [a couple seconds, tops]), but he's also still talking our ears off. If anyone is interested in seeing it, I can attach the screenshots!

• This man is so freaking extra I can't even.

• The chapter ends with the Earl announcing that he is changing his will, and that the MC is heiress to Edgewater Estate now, which makes it essential for her, then, to make her debut at the London Season, and begin searching for prospective bridegrooms.

• There is a catch though. You get the inheritance if you marry someone of suitable rank. In short...at this point in the story, Marianne is doing alright, but Florence is well and truly screwed until there is a twist somewhere (and surely there will be at some point). Sorry Florence.

• Henrietta has something up her sleeve, and Edmund, who was expecting to inherit, is sad and tells the MC so. You get a relationship point with him if you tell him you understand how it must feel, but he reiterates that you probably won't. We have time, we can still get this dude (and his palpitating fiancée) on our side. Maybe.

• Looks like we'll be starting our journey to London straightaway, and making our debut in London at Mr Sinclaire's party by Chapter 6. Alsooo from the spoilery chapter descriptions it looks like Mr. Marlcaster will try tripping us up at least once, or more than once. Also looks like we have two more skills on our accomplishment board to learn. So far we've gotten needlework, music and dancing - we now need to see what the other two are. I THINK one of them is painting.

General Thoughts:

• Good chapter. It's a little slow which is fine, because I think all the action will actually happen during the London Season instead. We meet only two suitors, one of whom we have already met in the first chapter.

• I feel like the extra scenes that we'll get with the unlocked accomplishments will include other styles of the same art. We initially learn the piano, but I feel like unlocking it will lead to extra scenes with other instruments, and unlocking the dancing shoes will show us extra scenes of Annabelle teaching us other dances (the waltzes, the reel, etc). I'm not entirely sure about this, it's just a theory I have. I mean, once we're in London we'll need to learn waltzes and the minuet and stuff.

• Luke doesn't make an appearance this chapter, but then again nor does Briar as soon as the MC gets ready. I think we'll see more of him now that we will be traveling to London.

• Donna Hatch's (who writes a ton of historical romances, esp Regency) essay on the London Season lists the months active in each year for it, and in 1816 it was from February to July. In the story it's now the beginning of April. Usually it's best to go at the very start if you're looking for marriage prospects, but given the MC's particular circumstances this time of the season isn't too bad either I'd reckon.

• Remember how I told you guys last chapter about the inclusion of Mary Brunton's Self Control? And how she criticizes the popular "rake" figure in Regency fiction? I'm not sure Duke Richards adheres completely to how rakes were depicted at the time, but he definitely does seem to be channeling Colonel Hargrave a little here.

• I wonder what the Duke seems to be hiding. Besides of course the truth of his equation with Sinclaire. Why is he so focused on this new woman? I think there might be more to this. I also can't wait to see the other suitors, like the viscount and Mr Chambers.

• I do like how we learn more about Sinclaire and Annabelle here. Annabelle largely has the role that Hana had in TRR, and there are some similarities - but she also has a lot more wiggle-room and seems to be bolder and a little more outgoing. She has grown up with the limitations placed on women at the time, but unlike Hana, hasn't faced as many restrictions in her upbringing.

• As I've mentioned before, I love Annabelle and I love that they're trying to do a better job of her. But I'm not entirely sure if cramming two separate scenes of hers in single chapters of an already expensive book is a wise choice, or if it will harm her development in the long run because people find it too expensive to spend on her. IMO the accomplishment scenes should be a little further spread out in the books.

• Now that the MC is going to be a future Countess, what is in store for her? In her rightful home Edgewater, she has a limited audience and not as much expectation to live up to...what will become of her now that she will be participating in the Season in London? Guess we'll find out today, or in the coming weeks xD

• Tagging: @boneandfur @liamraines @thespiritpanda @alanakusumastan @ernestsinclairs @mrsthomashunt @private-investigator-nazario @bcdollplace @queenodysseia @mcbangle

If you'd like to be tagged in one of the QTs, please let me know!

[time-scar-webcomic]

Hey I read somewhere on your blog that you believe that Sans doesn't remember the resets and just figures out that it happens. Since I'm on the side of Sans remembering resets can you show me what evidence or argument you have for your opinion. I want to find out which is more likely to be cannon (cause I don't think Toby said anything about that).

EDIT: I wrote this about a week ago and thought I’d completely lost it. But I managed to find it today so I’m posting it now. I’m not bothering to re-read it however. So this was written a week ago so my mood was probably in a different place than it is right now (aka more combative and aggressive). Anyway here ya go. Hopefully I wasn’t THAT big a jerk here;

I haven’t finished my Pacifist run through yet so I don’t know if he says anything in that playthrough, but considering most of the direct contact you have with Sans is in the Genocide run through it may not matter (Please don’t correct me if I’m wrong. I’ll get to Pacifist when I’m ready myself)

At the end of Genocide, (If you’ve played the game before obviously) Sans reveals a lot of info about how much he knows regarding the resets, and it’s very telling as to HOW he got the information.

When he confronts the human in the Hall of Judgement at the end, it’s because he’s reached the conclusion that the human will not stop and nothing can change that based on him just watching the Genocide run from a distance. He’s also come to the conclusion that the human is impossible to stop, THIS he mentions based not on what he remembers, but by what he’s discovered himself.

He mentions talks a lot about “our Reports” and stuff. (forgive me if my exact wording isn’t correct) as well as “their analysis”. He mentions how “they” have been monitoring the situation and have “noticed a lot of flux in the timespace continuum” and how timelines keep changing and altering, and through analysis “they’ve” come to the conclusion that he human is the one responsible for the changes in events, always in the human’s favour.

(That seems like a very strange question to ask if he knew for a fact, isn’t it?)

If Sans simply remembered the timelines and knew the human could reset things then why the hell would he need data and analysis to know all that?

He has residual memories, but then so does everyone else. He mentions that “He can’t help but feel that we were once friends”. He mentions this not as a memory, but as a lingering feeling (much like Toriel remembers which kind of pie you like although she’s not sure HOW she remembers or even knows that). Sans has a feeling that there was perhaps a friendship between the human and himself, but he cannot really remember it. Which is PART of the reason the whole thing has him so despondent. He realised that a reset doesn’t just take away what could have been a happy ending; it doesn’t even have the decency to let you REMEMBER the happy ending.

So he uses that residual memory as a weapon to literally backstab you. It’s another ploy to cut you down because at this point Sans is pulling out every trick he has the longer you’re able to keep up with him because he’s just fucking done with you. Later on if you KEEP coming back and fighting him he says “if we ever WERE friends, don’t come back.”

People seem to forget that Sans is a LIAR. He lies throughout most of the game. And a LOT of the things he does are deliberate ploys to misdirect or hide the truth. Most of the time it’s not malicious, most of the time it’s legit just a survival strategy, sometimes it’s just to be a bit of a jerk because Sans is a practical joker by nature, but if you start becoming a problem in a genocide run, he doesn’t magically start telling the truth all the time. He only starts mentioning a memory of being friends with the human after he starts sweating and getting tired in the fight. He realises you’re not as easy to put down. and only THEN does he even bother mentioning the possibility of being friends before. It’s another ploy using what little info he has. Even Sans’ info says he’s “the easiest enemy” which is an obvious lie. People forget that Sans is all about misdirection and blatant lying in various degrees which is part of the reason his fight is insanely frustrating. He keeps telling you things about his attacks or what’s about to do which are either misleading or just outright untrue.

So Sans has residual memories, but that doesn’t mean he remembers anything with clarity. He’s no different from the other monsters. He just happens to be insanely smart, and he’s extremely scientifically minded. I’m not sure who the “They” are that he talks about. My first instinct would be he’s talking about Alphys but he never mentions her by name so I’m unsure about that one.

But again, the point is, why the hell would Sans talk about reports and data to “figure out what’s going on” if he remembered and could just say “oh shit! The human’s resetting to get the odds in their favour!” you don’t need all this science hoo-ha for THAT! If Sans remembers the resets and decided he needed to do a bunch of science to figure out what’s going on… he’d be kinda stupid wouldn’t he? And Sans has shown through VARIOUS other situations in the game that he is ANYTHING but stupid.

People mistake Sans’ deductive reasoning for “oh he remembers!” and for the life of me I cannot understand why. If people actually listened to what he says instead of memeing about bad times maybe this wouldn’t be such a problem. But honestly, if you’re somebody who actually played Genocide (unlike me who watched it on youtube I guess) I can kinda understand missing some of this, since you’re so stressed out by the fight and trying to survive you may not be absorbing Sans’ conversation. (Much like I had people tell me they actually completely missed Papyrus leaving the Royal Guard when he calls you in Waterfall because the person playing is so busy trying to survive Undyne’s attacks that that little bit of info often goes unnoticed)

Why would Sans be such a special snowflake to remember things when literally NOBODY ELSE (besides Flowey but he’s a special case) remembers anything but residual stuff? It just doesn’t make sense.

Long story short; Sans is smart and figured it out using the tools he had available to him. He didn’t need a “special circumstance” (ie memory) to get the answers. He had exactly the same info as everyone else, but was intelligent (and distrusting) enough to look into the situation a little deeper since he had the resources to do so.

I had to watch a little of this fight for these screenshots and I hate watching this fight more than anything in the world so I hope you’re happy)

[scummy-writes]

(1/2) I don't know if you've been asked this before, but what are your thoughts on the story and script quality of MM? Personally I thought it was fine, a good balance between drama and comedy, until the secret endings. The secret endings felt awfully like an effort to "rail-road" the story, to the point of reducing MC's role to less than a bit character, and the resolution itself was kinda rushed. I do agree with your opinion on V that, ultimately, it was necessary for him to die in the story

(2/2) But his character suffers because of the terrible handling of ANOTHER character: Rika. It's obvious that she was meant to be a tragic, sympathetic character but falls short of the "show, don't tell" trope because the game never shows us why, only spelling it to us via the other characters that she used to be a sweet person (and even that is dubious). Compare Saeran, who comes off as crazier but garners sympathy by *actually* showing us how he used to be and why he's like that now

(3/3, got longer than expected) The complete lack of consequence was more of a pet peeve, as I find it unlikely that after the meltdown at Mint Eye hq there wasn't any police investigation or testimony sheding light over what happened. That could have been easily handled by showing Seven or Jumin intervening (they would). So yeah, sorry for barreling you with this lol, I just love discussing narrative tropes and found your thoughts on V and Rika very interesting

It’s okay! I like trying to discuss this kinda stuff! It’sfun! I think they’re called Metas?

This might be a little long! As a side note, this is just mypersonal onion about the whole thing. In no way do you have to agree, nor do Iexpect anyone to. 

In terms of storytelling and scripts, I think that for anotome phone game it does a good job. Maybe arguably great, but nothing ‘superduper amazing!!’. Don’t mistake my words though, even though it might not bethe best, doesn’t mean I don’t love it to death. I have just seen freebiegames, even with hardly any dialogue, show a more concise and followingstoryline than MM does.

Granted, I think some obvious faults come from translationerrors, or maybe forgotten notes on characters. A small example that I’ve knowngo around a bunch is Yoosung complaining that he can’t type well on histouchscreen, when in CGs and the RFA handbook we know Yoosung has a flip-phone.So, excluding those kinds of mistakes, which I believe can happen when you havemultiple people working on one game, the main storytelling is a little messy attimes. I think a lot of that has to deal with the fact that they tried to makeeach route vastly different.

For replay value, and to make each route special, they didhave to have them different. And I think a good way to see it is that all ofthe characters routes are AU’s against the True Route, which is Seven’s.Because of this, we sometimes run into the characters acting vastly differentat times, and we’re left to scrape up all these ‘facts’ and try to use those tobuild-on to these characters. At times this is difficult, because they cancounter each other. Usually its small things, but I think there’s a bit ofinformation that gets missed about Rika because of this. Like with the factthat she was adopted by Yoosung’s aunt and uncle, apparently. I think that’sonly mentioned on one route, and referenced in the VIP book where her sectionof family is literally scribbled out, but if we didn’t run into that, we wouldbe left to assume that Rika is Yoosung’s cousin by blood.

Which…Is weird because I think he may say that he’s relatedto Rika by blood during a moment where he’s angry at V.

(Don’t even get me started on how Rika isn’t even her name?Apparently??)

In a way, the storytelling is a bit creative on a wholebecause of that. They change it up so you’re not bored replaying new routes,and so you get to possibly see other sides of characters, but it does fuck someinformation up about the characters themselves at times. There’s probably moreexamples than what I gave.

Though they did manage to make each character soundrespectfully different through the dialogue alone. Not the voice actors, butthe written dialogue. I know there have been many times where I’ve seen ascreenshot of a phone call with no context on the caller, and it’s been very easyfor me to figure out who it was in just a few seconds. That takes some skill!

But to tackle the True Route after ends. Unfortunately tosome, Seven is the true route, since Saeran is the main ‘antagonist’ for awhile, next to Rika. In order to give context for Saeran existing, his motives,and to explain Rika’s absence, they made Seven the True Route. (I’m assumingso, anyway). Now, it is true they could have found a way to include each of theroutes to display the information that Seven’s does, but I think it would havebeen a huuuuge fucking mess. It’s much easier to follow and make if they have a‘True Route’. How the game is needed to be played if you want the ‘full’ story.The other routes are just AU’s that can possibly fill in some gaps ifyou know what those gaps are first.

Annd this is where Rika falls in with your ask (that took mesome time ahbfhs). If we don’t play the True Route, we’re left to assume Rikawas a sweet and helpful person who had an aching heart of suffering shewitnessed, and also suffered from what seemed to be depression since shecommitted suicide.

Now, I don’t know about any of you, but because I’m afiction whore, I called that bs out when V always dodged questions about herdeath. Am I always doubting fictional characters since I play detective gamesmainly? ….Probably, but in all honesty I figured there was more to it thanthat.

Then we get to the True Route and the mess that happens inthe After Ends- V revealing she’s not dead, she’s alive, she’s a cult leader,etc etc. We all know what happens in that mess, though with some randomprevious information, we can infer a few things about her that we weren’tdirectly told.

She was most likely very manipulative from the start. Idon’t know if this would be a learned behavior from Rika’s true family, or thereasons she would be adopted later on, but it is briefly mentioned (I think)that her adopted parents regretted taking her in.

She was possibly using V the whole time, and didn’t actuallylove him.

She used the RFA as a front to get Political Leader’s infoto officially jumpstart her ‘perfect’ world one day. (KINDA obvious but Ididn’t realize how serious it was until a bit after I had played the AfterEnds).

Buut, we never know what led to these thoughts and behaviors.We’re just left to assume that it’s either A) Her MIs, or B) A combo of thatand her real family.

There is a high chance they didn’t write a full fledgedbackstory like we get with the others, about their childhoods at least, becauseof the chance of portraying MIs very very very very verypoorly/stereotypically. It could be argued that it was handled poorly as theyhave it now, but it’s still not nearly as bad as other cases I’ve seen.Instead, like you said, we get second hand info from Yoosung and V mainly, abit from Jumin as well.

As for the dramatic throwdown that happened at the HQ, Ithink that went well. It’s true that it could be possible that Seven or Jumincould have had better timing, stopped Saeran from shooting, stopped a lot ofstuff from happening, but I always assumed that they were unable to reach V dueto all of the members blocking their path, and any general hubbub that couldhave been happening due to Jumin’s security slamming in. And, as we’ve noted,that I still think for the story V couldn’t have survived.

However, with the police investigation, I think it’smentioned they purposely avoided that because of the Choi Boys existence. Theywere never supposed to be alive, and were doomed to hide who they were fortheir life. A police investigation would have brought forth that, and for Rikato be arrested and tried, and if that also happened, Choi Boys (again) are atrisk.

I can see how it’s all “There def should have been one”, butunfortunately to some, money can stop that from happening, especially if itskept under wraps. It seems like Jumin, Seven, and the cult members familes tookcare of the others that were affected…I think that’s what happened.

And in terms of MC being kinda pushed to the side during the After End of his route, I think they had to happen in order to tell the whole story. Because the stuff that happened to Seven was never about us to begin with- We just managed to stumble in and make the Choi’s reunion actually take place, but from that point on it’s all about Seven’s past and Saeran’s past, explaining the whole plot of MM. 

I mean, granted, it might have taken years if for them to reunite again, if they ever did, without us. But at the same time, at that point, it’s still not about us or our choices. 

Does any of this make sense? It’s a lot longer than I meantit to be...;;;

[fly-pow-bye]

DuckTales 2017 – “Friendship Hates Magic!”

Story by: Francisco Angones, Madison Bateman, Colleen Evanson, Christian Magalhaes, Bob Snow, Rachel Vine

Written by: Rachel Vine

Storyboard by: Stephanie Gonzaga, Victoria Harris, Vaughn Tada, Brandon Warren

Directed by: Matthew Humphreys

No ponies here, headless or otherwise.

While we've seen a conclusion of at least one part of the Della plot, one other little thing from the season finale hasn't really been elaborated on outside of the occasional mention of Magica De Spell. Specifically: while we know whatever happened to Della Duck, and have a clue on whatever happened to Donald Duck, we never really found out whatever happened to Lena since she became Webby's shadow. Needless to say, it's a long story.

This is the episode where that plot continues. I will say this: Lena plots don't have good track records with me. I liked Jaw$, and The Shadow War was great, too, which was pretty much a foregone conclusion since it was the season finale. However, there's also Terror of the Terra-Firmians and The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck, two episodes I almost gave a Disgusted Donald to. Granted, neither are because of Lena in particular, but still. Which column will this episode fall in? We're about to find out.

Our episode begins with Webby going to the library, because she loves the smell of thinking in the morning. Gotta get that reference out of the way. Oh, and Lena is here now, as an invisible, unhearable shadow being. While nobody else can see or hear her, the audience sees her as this black and green version of herself. Lena says that she's fine with her current situation, though it's quite clear from the tone of her voice that it's more in comparison to any alternative.

Webby doesn't want to do that even if she could hear Lena, so she's continuing her impossible mission to find a book at the library that can teach her about the shadow realm. Yami Yugi is nowhere to be seen, but we do get Mrs. Quackfaster. I guess Scrooge isn't paying her enough so she has to double as the amount of libraries she works at to get that sweet retirement at Birdaydos. Er, Bird-baaaaaay-dos. She tells her that she can't offer the particular book she's looking for.

It's because this new character already checked it out. Webby is shocked, because this book is only in Ancient Syriac, but this "odd girl" happens to know a lot of ancient languages. She introduces herself as Violet Sabrewing, and, after bonding over knowing conversational Akkadian, she offers to stay at her place, possibly overnight. In other words, and eventually Webby's: a sleepover.

Webby, of course, accepts, but Lena does not.  It's almost as if she's read Disney Now's description of this episode, which refers to her as this "suspicious new friend". Then again, it may be because of the way Webby's last sleepovers ended. She wouldn't be the only one to remind her of this.

As Mrs. Beakley gives us the excuse for why we're not going to see Scrooge or the boys in this episode, they're busy in the office for Bin-ventory Day, Webby barges in and tells her grandmother she's having a friend come over for a sleepover. Mrs. Beakley is proud that her granddaughter wants to do another sleepover after the last two ended with money sharks and unicorn fights in the other bin. Gotta love those casual previous episode references that could still work as fantastic off-screen adventures to those who don't know.

Lena is excited that Mrs. Beakley could talk her out of this, and tries to jinx Webby again by saying "cancel the sleepover." Needless to say, that jinx doesn't work out like the library one, as Webby has a different idea.

Instead, Webby decides to have the most normal sleepover ever, as she tries to hide everything that is supernatural in the house, and try to just be normal. Mrs. Beakley attempts to say that the best way to make a good impression on her new friend is to be herself

Mrs. Beakley: ...barring from that summer undercover in Paraguay.

Webby brushing aside what is most likely the origin story for one of her parents, hey, we were all thinking it, she tells her Granny that she's not like her, because she needs friends. After Webby walks away, she tells her to name one person she doesn't get along with.

Enter Launchpad McQuack, inept pilot and ruiner of any plan to make this the first DuckTales episode with only female characters. To disprove Webby's accusation, she decides to invite him for a "sup", and spends a little more time than she wants explaining what she meant. Lena episodes sure seem to love the B-plots that, for the most part, never really seem to converge with the A-plot. This will be another one that fits with the "for the most part".

Going back to the other planned meeting, Webby is all done storing magic rocks in the attic, and her new friend has arrived for the normal slumber party for normal people. She tells Duckworth to get the door, and then realizes that ghost butlers don't help out at slumber parties. Surprisingly, that's not one of the Bailey School Kids books.

After slicing Duckworth's ghostly form in half, him not appreciating it in the slightest, she opens the door to Violet and her totally normal pie. As Webby shows her awkwardness with this whole situation, Lena is not amused, saying she isn't buying it. See, I didn't pull that out of nowhere, Lena hates this girl. I mean, maybe it's a bit convenient that this girl happens to have the same shadow realm-related interests as Webby.

Violet is then brought to Webby's room, and Violet looks around to see all the places that clearly used to have mysterious objects in them. She just says it looks clean, but I can imagine she did not miss that.

Meanwhile, Launchpad tries, and struggles, to drink pea soup from a straw. Mrs. Beakley tries her best to deal with this.

One section she was focused on was this section about Tulpas, an actual concept in the world of mysticism. This whole concept sort of reminded her of that one time all the shadows came alive and...

Webby: Who wants Baggle?!

Violet actually does want Baggle, but wants this obvious distraction some other time. Webby responds that it's just her way to get to know each other a bit more, and suggests asking some ice-breakers. Violet's first icebreaker:

Violet: What do you know about Magica De Spell and the Shadow War?

Lena, feeling completely vindicated, tries to tell Webby that she said the "M" word! I wouldn't say she forgot that nobody can hear her; she's like those people who yell at the characters while watching TV. Heh, nerds. Webby has a different "M" word in mind: makeovers! Violet is clearly not buying this at all, but goes along with the makeovers anyway.

Violet ends up leaving her backpack behind, fully opened, and Lena notices something that definitely shouldn't be in there if she was an ordinary girl who just happened to really like shadow people: Magica's amulet! She runs off to try to warn Webby, and...okay, maybe she still thinks she can hear her, even though she never once acknowledged her existence. She does end up at least finding Webby, except she's now a zombie, complete with one of her eyes falling out.

That fake-out turns out to be Violet and Webby's idea for a make-up session. Webby praises her best friend's make-up, saying that she looks just like the demon named Rakshasa. She's definitely a great friend, I don't know a lot of people who would take kindly to being told "you look like a demon!" Webby should know what Rakshasa looks like, because she met him in a previous adventure, and she has proof...that is definitely not in the attic. Oops.

Webby relents and lets her into the attic, as this cover was completely blown. She was obviously interested in these things, so she doesn't mind that Webby happened to have some magic rocks. They never really explain what those magic rocks are, and I'd like to think I am a little beyond the obvious joke there. She also notices some ectoplasmic energies from that friendship bracelet.

The scene switches from their point of view to Lena's in a neat way, where Lena still thinks she can alter anything here. Sadly for her, Lena is also intangible. Thankfully for her, Webby distracts her from that bracelet, and offers that game of Baggle again. Violet agrees on one condition: they need to use Demogorgan runes. I don't want to reveal that I'm just looking up every one of these words on Wikipedia, so I'll be quiet.

Meanwhile, Launchpad tries, and struggles, to color a coloring book, and then eventually tries to get Mrs. Beakley to get into Darkwing Duck. Mrs. Beakley tries her best to deal with this.

...okay, maybe I shouldn't just brush this off for this running gag, since this scene has quite a bit of lore to get into Jim Starling's eventual big role in The Duck Knight Returns...but maybe I'll wait for that one.

Back to this game of runes, it just so happens that book has the right chant to make those dice-like runes glow green. Lena tries what might be her 50th attempt to actually affect anything as a intangible shadow person. She's shocked to find that it actually worked this time!

She then tries to rearrange the runes to spell out a message. Unfortunately, since these people are nerds, they think it's the writing on the runes that have any meaning, and not how this layout is shaped like the words "don't trust her." Not getting anywhere with these mysterious messages about rat messages, Violet tries another shadow spirit summoning trick: humming this melody. It works...but only Lena can see these white spirits ominously creeping out from the dark. She has to think of something.

She tries to manipulate a white sheet in a form of a ghost. This actually works, because of ghost cliches that even Lena is aware of, but it doesn't solve the "they can't hear me" problem. Violet decides to use a weapon against the one evil spirit they can see, and it turns out this weapon happens to be Magica's amulet. One side effect is that this amulet allowed her to actually see and hear Lena for a second, which is enough to clue Webby in on what is really happening. However, that is only the second most of her worries.

The main side effect is that it finally gets Webby to realize that maybe this girl may not be what she seems. Just like Lena wanted her to, she starts to question their future friendship, and asks everything she knows.

It’s here that we finally get her backstory, or at least her claimed backstory. She was just an ordinary Muggle, having no interest in magic or anything else of the sort. Then, everything changed when the Shadow War happened, and. Oh, and she just stumbled across Magica's cane, which turned back into the amulet. That's pretty much it. We don't know if she's completely telling the truth...

...but Webby buys it completely, to the disappointment of Lena, and they start to do a seance. You see these shadow beings that look like the shadow of Magica De Spell. This, of course, gets Lena to attempt to grab them again.

I hate to spoil this, but I will say that this seance does lead to Lena being able to drag Webby and Violet into the shadow realm. No, not that one, thankfully. We get a big reunion, but this hug doesn't get to last long, as Webby and Violet finally get to see those white shadow ghosts.

That was spoiler enough, so I'll run through this: a big chase scene happens here, and it all leads to a good conclusion to this episode. Even the "tulpas" from the earlier scene comes up, as that turns out to be a little bit closer than one might guess from the opening of the scene. Here's a hint: they don't just stay in this Magica-like form.

In a sort of fake-out transition from that mayhem, we see what is the conclusion to the Launchpad trying to get Mrs. Beakley into Darkwing Duck plot. Turns out, they both got really excited over a cliffhanger ending. Unfortunately, in this universe, that was how Darkwing Duck ended, with a Woody's Roundup-esque cliffhanger. I usually don't talk about future episodes, but this will be given more detail in The Duck Knight Returns.

What were those shadow beings? Will Lena ever learn to trust Webby's new friend? Should Lena ever learn to trust Webby's new friend? Most importantly, while we got the reunion, will it last? At least some of those questions will be answered by watching the episode. It was a treat to see one of those answers in the end, something I thought I wouldn't see until the end of this season.

How does it stack up?

This episode didn't give me anything to dislike, and a lot to like. The biggest challenge this episode had was introducing this new character. I'll say this, without spoiling anything: while she doesn't have any Earth-shattering twists like Lena did, yet, she has potential.

I kind of skipped over the Launchpad bits, I can admit they're all pretty funny. Obviously, it wasn't going to be something as big as the A-plot, but just something minor and maybe even a little bit cute.

In the end, it's definitely in the Jaw$ column.

Next, I actually find a way to talk about The Powerpuff Girls...and not those ones!

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