#wild speculations

[hawky-mc-hawkface]

I have theories about what has gone "wrong" so Germany came last (or at least contributed to this). Still i dont understand it. But here it goes. Not backed up by looking at the numbers again tho. Iam still in bed.

1. As there were no Jurys in the semis, only fan favourites were in the final. This means it was harder to get many Televoting Points, especially against songs like Finland or Sweden that were massivly more popular.

2. It also means there were less jury favourites in the final, thus the Jury Points are rather concentrated on only a handful of songs. But on the other hand we knew we couldn't count on the Jurys. But at least more than 3 Points would have been nice. (Looking at you Finnland)

3. Australia got an surprising amount of jury Points, i think because while also some kind of metal for diversity in the voting of a jury, its far more "mainstream" and softer than Lotl. Don't get me wrong, i like the song. But when the Jurys wanted to honor "metal" at Eurovison, they chose Australia and not Germany.

I mean that does not really explain last place to me, i like the song, i like the band, i liked the performance. It was something out of the ordinary. I didnt expect them to win, but come on... last place? Ok maybe the people were to distracted by Chris bulge... idk...

Also the poor Austrians. Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe. It was a certified BOP! You deserved better!

[gofancyninjaworld]

Six degrees of Stench

I joke/not joke that One-Punch Man canonicity consists of canon and not canon (yet) link. Wild shit just happens because it can and somehow it works.

So, for shits and giggles, a handful of headcanons that I’m fairly sure *won’t* be becoming canon.

First degree: cute

When Genos wants to wheedle a new toy (like a kit car) out of Kuseno, he makes the old man his favourite treat: home-made doughnuts, a chocolate dipping sauce, and freshly-ground coffee made over the stove. Kuseno claims every time that it won’t work. It's never failed.

Kuseno is strict about his bedtime: from the time he retires at 11 pm to when he appears at 6 am, Genos better have a damn good reason for disturbing him. A leg dropping off does not qualify. Most afternoons, Kuseno also has a nap behind his desk. He has always claimed to be just mediating when Genos has asked.

Second degree: unexpected

Although neither man knows it, Kuseno is the reason King quit competitive gaming: there was this one mysterious guy he just couldn't beat. It still haunts King.

Kuseno himself no longer does competitive gaming: between Genos keeping him busy and missing his once-faithful rival, it's lost its appeal.

Third degree: connections

Bofoi was his old student.  They each changed their names for... reasons.

Fourth degree: Chekov's gunman... or there's no badass like an old badass

Manga-only.  Kuseno finally shows up to give his boy a hand. As Genos tells Kuseno to fall back already, the old man levels one of the suit's shoulder-mounted guns and... there's a void where there was once a dragon-level monster, not even a curl of smoke remaining.  Kuseno: yeah, I came up with this last week but I've not yet figured out how to make it small enough to install on you.

Fifth degree: Old man, you scary

Webcomic-only.  The climax of the battle sees Genos and Saitama get to the heart of the Organization and just as things are getting super tense, a third person joins the fray.  It's Kuseno, heavily armed and very much alive. That bring-back-a-dead-person-so-long-as-their-brain-is-intact technology we saw elsewhere?  He was the original inventor.  Genos: but you told me to run away!  Kuseno: And yet, here you are. Be so kind as to shelter behind Saitama-kun, will you? Kuseno (to the enemy): I don't mind if Genos gets beat up, that's how my boy learns. But you bastards made him cry...unleashes hell

Sixth degree: Cruel, cruel world

Like something out of a cruel soap opera, the reason Genos and Child Empror look a bit like each other is that they're siblings but each was so convinced the other was dead that they'd never thought to look into it. In Isamu's case, his foster parents had been very good at gaslighting him so he doubted his very memories.  As they compare notes, suddenly the random attack makes sense... it'd been intended to grab Isamu in the first place. Something else makes sense too: why Kuseno had arrived so fortuitously. Genos: Oh, I was the consolation prize.

And so...

Webcomic edition: Genos finds his inconsolable grief over losing the old man suddenly become consolable, although it's down to Saitama to accidentally on purpose to say something that puts it in perspective, e.g., by pointing out that there was nothing false about the affection he had had for him.  

Manga edition: Since the old man is alive,  Genos confronts him.  He doesn't deny it but says that he'd intended to kidnap Child Emperor alone to forestall the massacre that happened.  And yes, while to begin with, he'd thought of Genos as a consolation, he's long since changed his mind. Yes, it's true that Genos doesn't have the mind of the century, but he's got the sort of intellect one meets only a few times a decade.  His courage though?  That's the sort people write legends about. Now let’s talk about you trying harder to stay alive long enough to become one.

[frankierotwinkdeath]

Y’all want Taylor Swift to be gay so bad but you won’t even write femslash about her

[zarvasace]

All of those plus a Hyrule :) pleased with this little style experimentation! I’ve come quite far since last year’s mermay, I think. I see those Shatterproof suggestions and am currently debating how on earth to draw some of that, ha.

[pastelhooman]

- Did it hurt when you fell out of heaven?

- No. But falling for you did.

[causalityparadoxes]

A morsel for my lovely Rogue!Master truthers

[ohmerricat]

the Carrionites from the shakespeare code are really a fascinating concept to examine in light of The Post Salt-Line Era (disclaimer: i don’t like the episode as a whole for obvious reasons). powerful witches from the before-times, applying word-magic as a science. words that rhyme or sentences constructed with a specific intent have enough power to stop one of a timelord’s hearts and potentially open a space-time portal. something to keep in mind vis a vis the repeated wordsmithing motif we’ve got going on in s14: spoor “that’s a nice word”; smelted “i’ve never used that before”; ruby was was foundled “what a funny word, foundled”; semperdistans.

if ruby really is a changeling… much as to the carrionites (who were evidently modelled after historical witchcraft folklore), words hold tremendous power to the fae. that’s why there’s all this mythology of faeries “stealing names”: to them, there is no difference between signifier and signified, between a word and the real-life object that word represents, so a name is the person’s actual identity, their personhood itself.

therefore, if ruby really is a faerie child, it makes total sense for her to accidentally be affecting reality through verbal expression in the way she’s been doing throughout the whole series. in space babies, she mentions star trek and suddenly the crew appear in star trek esque uniforms. in the devil’s chord, she mentions strictly come dancing and suddenly they’re dancing opposite two strictly judges. obviously, her word-magic comes to a head in 73 yards: she reads out “i miss you” on the clifftop and the doctor disappears. she reads out “rest in peace, mad jack” and in 20 years gwylliam’s up there on the screen calling himself mad jack (we can presume the original note wasn’t about gwylliam, but an actual villager called jack). ruby speaking messages out loud manifests them into reality. she’s got faerie blood.

[xgermankittycatx--commsopen]

WILD WEST OUTFITS CAUSE I COULDN'T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD, YIPPIE :D

[apathmakerstale]

Monster Hunter Wild Characters!

New characters from the Monster Hunter Wilds trailer!

Gemma, our Smithy for the expedition!

Alma, our Handler with all the knowledge!

Nata! A survivor of whatever happened? The story seems to imply some Hunter's, a failed expedition, or maybe a guild group went missing? Enough to send us to the 'Forbidden Lands?'

The Wild Hunters and our Palico, both fully voiced acted this time!

The Wild Hunter without the armor. The flashback is really washed out, implying that it was rough circumstances that got us the lead hunter position or and emergency to be sent to the 'Forbidden Lands'.

A wider shot of the group. The little plushie hanging off her belt is cute! Maybe a new cosmetic slot like pendants? And maybe it means that Gemma may be quite experienced in smithing… since a little girl you can say… Also love the hairstyle!

An older Admiral? I don't see it as it is probably just similar design like they did with Elder Fugen. The banner on his wall is just using the Hunter's Guild symbol.

An unrevealed character too? A person from the expedition lost, a native to the land, or just another Hunter from our expedition? They don't seem to by a Wyverian either.

An image of the new starter pack monster Doshaguma. It seems it'll be a pack battle like the starter Fanged Wyverns. It looks like a bear cross with a dog of sorts. Beardog!

And the punch-froggy monster Chatacabra! Like the Pukei-Pukei it has a long tongue and licks itself like Brachy!

And our trusty mount the Seikret! Who, will allow us to change weapons mid-fight now! I was right!

[professional-termite]

nbc hannibal au where everything is the same except hannibal has a tumblr blog called i-cook-and-eat-rude-people and nobody questions or reports it because they think its just another gimmick blog

[snarky-art]

I’m going to be soooo normal about this game when it comes out I swear

[izloveshorses]

like. imagine being a Normal Citizen in a galaxy far far away during revenge of the sith. like. you're scrolling on your holonet and not only has the chancelor been promoted to emperor (hello??), a senator (you follow fan pages of her for fashion inspo) has DIED suddenly AND it's revealed she was PREGNANT !!!!!!?? the whole time??? but who was the father?? was she married?? how did she die??? as far as you know she was young and healthy and unmarried, so like?? the girls and their speculations and their memes would've been insane on the holonet dashboard that week fr

[currymanganese]

Fak is too involved in Carmy and Claire's relationship. From giving Claire Carmy's number to showing up at her job with his equally annoying brother. He needs to mind his business and stop assuming what Carmy wants. In s3 ep9 Fak tells Claire he thinks (then later says knows) Carmy loves her. If you don't know Carmy's true feelings about her, why tf are you speaking for him?

Also sometimes it seems like Carmy doesn't even like Fak like that. They rarely have one-on-one scenes together and their conversations are mostly surface leveI. I always thought Fak and Richie were closer. In s2 ep3, when Claire and Carmy are talking on the phone, Carmy says Fak isn't his best friend (but then backtracks 5 seconds later saying he's probably my best friend). Then in s3 ep5 when they are preparing for the photoshoot, Fak said Carmy was #1 on his best friends list. The friendship is obviously unbalanced. Fak is one of those childhood friends you have outgrown but keep in your life due to history and familiarity. This is just another example of Carmy being stuck in the past and not being able to let go. He either needs to set some boundaries with Fak or end the friendship.

I love your blog btw. Your analysis on The Bear are very thorough.

*EXTREMELY HOT TAKE INCOMING*

Thanks for the kind compliments / thanks for the ask, but I'm starting to think that, if my suspicions are correct, that depending on how season 4 goes, that she and The Faks may shape up to be fantastic characters, at least from a trollish comedic parody perspective - and that this may be a huge 'star making role' for Molly Gordon and the rest of actors cast as the Faks if what is being set up is executed well post-reveal, and they demonstrate that, contrary to what we have seen thus far on the show, they definitely have acting range.....

Because I'm like 88% sure now that Claire x Carmy x Sydney's love triangle is an allegory/deconstructed (in part) version of Lilith x Adam x Eve from apocryphal / Jewish tradition. And that 'Sammy' Fak may be an archangel Samael figure

Lilith is Adam's first wife apocryphally and in Jewish mysticism that left him and became a she-demon / mother of demons / the "queen of the night" after being impregnated by / becoming a consort of the archangel Samael (whose name means Venom of God and is a seducing/destroying angel).

My thoughts are too incoherent right now to make a post about this theory in its own right, but all of the above could explain why the scenes where Claire is physically intimate with Carmy are shot in darkness and low light, compared to warm /well lit scenes when Syd and Carmy are emotionally intimate; it could explain why the songs that play during Carmy and Claire's scenes are frequently morbid or are outright about death, or lyric less ambient scores that invoke the feel of psychological horror,

and why mostly love songs are played for Carmy and Syd's.

I've made some posts /edits pointing out the parallels between Claire / Carmy / Syd and these biblical / mythological figures, and a post on why I think John Cena as Sammy Fak is a case of good casting (from a comedy perspective) if the Faks are really meant to serve the function that I think they are meant to below;

but some additional similarities between Claire and Lilith are that they were 'created' in the same way, 'formed from the same dust', as their 'Adam' (whose name can also mean red clay/earth and Claire's last name means mud or muddy fortress) - since Carmy and Claire both come from the same neighborhood/highschool and, depending on how much we see of Claire in the future, they may have both come from dysfunctional homes / be the adult children of alcoholic parents.

The posts I linked below are:

1. A webweaving on Sydcarmy + Adam x Eve parallels;

2. A fan edit that I did that was inspired by the webweaving; side note: if Carmy's words to Sydney at the end of their first convo was foreshadowing for them starting a literal nuclear family of their own, and how many kids they're gonna have, I'll scream;

"We're gonna make family, it's meat, (👀) plus three, and we'll eat around two."

3. A reblog add-on to @espumado et. al's @thoughtfulchaos773 @vacationship @kdbleu 's etc. thread on the theme of haunting / religious / mythological imagery and parallels in the show in season 3.

4. Another thread on religious symbolism in Season 3 and Claire and Syd / Carmy's relationship kicked off by @vacationship.

5. Another reblog add on I made in response to @glitterslag about the episode Review in Season one possibly representing/parodying the biblical "Fall of man".

6. A fan edit that I made for clairecarmy with the intent of being humourous at first, but unexpectedly turned out pretty nightmarish / psychological horror-esque without much work because the material/ dark imagery is there; including an eye opening parallel between Claire and Donna.

7. A post on the Bear being a super deconstructed Shakespearean pastoral comedy e.g. like As You Like It.

8. The religious symbolism of Carmy's red string of fate dish for Syd possibly being a visual allusion to the sacred heart of jesus, which is an emblem of God's long suffering and passionate love, an add-on to @twokisses post

Tagging @ambeauty @angelica4equity @imliterallyjustablackgirl @devisrina @ripley-stark @bootlegramdomneess @gingerylangylang1979 @outmakingmoonshine @pureseasalt @augustmonsooning @brokenwinebox @whenmemorydies @mod-doodles @bioloyg @caiusmarciuscoriolanus @post-woke @myloveismineallmine @turbulenthandholding @anxietycroissant

@moodyeucalyptus @ago0112 @unbeweavvveable @blackjack-15 in case anyone wants to chime in.😭

[starcurtain]

Sometimes I think about the fact that we have absolutely no information on how long Aventurine actually spent in slavery.

He fled from the Avgin massacre as a young child, and we didn't see him again until he was a grown adult. I doubt he could have survived entirely on his own at that age and Sigonia's conditions seem too harsh for people to randomly adopt orphans, especially from a rival/outcast clan...

We do know that the master we see on screen was not his only master, because he was purchased from someone else, but we have no idea how many masters he had total before his final one, how many times he could have fled and been recaptured, how many times he was bought and sold...

We do know that Aventurine appears to have been kept on Sigonia or somewhere similarly tribal for those missing years, since his first request to the IPC is for Jade to take him to her "chief," but we don't even know how long Aventurine has been out of slavery. He doesn't look massively different in age from his "trial" with Jade to how he looks in-game now, and he did not rise through the IPC ranks over time like Topaz but won his role directly through his gamble with Jade and then later proving himself on Iymanika.

Basically, all this is leading to a big question: Is it possible that the Aventurine we know is only barely out of slavery? That there may be something like five years or fewer separating him from the wastelands of Sigonia? That he learned all these new behaviors, all this new information about how to operate as a free person in the universe, in what likely amounts to 2-3 years of Jade's guidance and his own hard work?

Man, what an incredible character. Really a standout among my very favorites.

[aeriona]

A ray-finned (actinopterygian) River Zora.

Unlike his cartilaginous (chondrichthyan) relatives, he and the other males turn red in the spring. They also gets very aggressive.

[utilitycaster]

The build of Ria'Doin is honestly just...such an elegant answer to so many things. Why has no one found this portal? Well, it's deep underwater in a lake that's so cold most commoners would drown or die of hypothermia just trying to find it, and as of some point in not too distant past an eldritch creature that lures people to their deaths quietly emptied out the town. It's in rural Issylra, already a place that tends to get overlooked by most larger powers...though honestly this raises the question of whether one of the motivators behind Vasselheim attempting to take over Hearthdell is if there were some documents in the vault that hinted towards a back door but were insufficiently specific regarding the location beyond "rural Issylra" and so they simply stabbed about for leyline nexuses. Another possibility is that the creature broke through in some way and created this rift, a la Vokodo, so it's a recent development, which would also explain why a town was able to grow and sustain itself and then very suddenly become abandoned.

It's also just an excellent vibe; it reads like a setting guide's plot hooks. It's a tight little D&D mystery, a fun change of pace from the scouting in a hostile environment, and it feels like the sort of classic tier 1-2 D&D setups that Bells Hells largely didn't have due to the early campaign circumstances.