#you could also do some interesting theory posting about why the framing here

[teatitty]

Look I know the reason Grell is being used with Undertaker here is just because they're the Shinigami Ciel has interacted with the most [at this point in time, he had only met William and Ronald once each] but also... UnderGrell parallel of them being the only shinigami to have tampered with human lives and gone against the death list, very romantic of them to be into the same hobbies ~~~

[beaniegaebie]

i don't really have any solid conclusions about this yet but i noticed A Thing in a rewatch and i haven't found it mentioned elsewhere yet so here we go

(apologies for the appalling image quality you're about to see, i can't screenshot easily rn pls bear with)

OKAY so in the scene where crowley confronts gabriel about "shut up and die", something about the arrangement of book stacks caught my eye a little

the majority of the books are angled so that we mostly just see the page edges and not the spines clearly, EXCEPT for a particularly shiny and familiar colour combo right here-

but nothing too weird going on there, i thought, crowley coloured books in a bookshop so what? right up until i registered crowley's line when we get a closer look-

hhhhmmmmMMmmmm yes yes "everything just the way you wanted" huh, very interesting considering that we know how much thought goes into props huh

and for most of the shots we get of crowley in this position those freaking books are just quietly nestled right there in the corner-

look at that god damn framing i fuckin see you, you glorious bastards

so i paused to see if i could figure out what the hell was up with those fuckers and this is when i absolutely lost my mind, your honour

A and C you say?? in crowley colours???? framed like this?????? localised entirely within your kitchen???

anyway long story short they're two books from an Agatha Christie Crime Collection set (24 volumes, three stories per volume) and guess whats on the mfing front covers I'm-

(its a rant for another post but when paired with this other set of initials spotted in s2 i want to scream actually)

ANYWAY back to the books, through an absolutely unhinged comparison of the formatting of gold text blobs i reckon the two we have here are:

(on top) The Pale Horse; The Big Four, The Secret Adversary

(on bottom) 4:50 From Paddington, Lord Edgeware Dies, Murder in Mesopotamia

(I'm fairly confident but if anyone has a better image to confirm/correct this pls do)

now here is where I'll need a bunch of help from some Christie-heads out there bc I haven't read any of these and I've only seen the tv adaptation of one of them, so i dont know for sure if these are like A Clue, or A Cool Thing, or if I've just fully brainrotted myself into a fun lil corner here? wa-hoo

but here's some initial stuff that jumped out at me after skimming the basics:

(some of) the titles: Pale Horse/Big Four - death's horse ofc, the four horsemen mayb? the them+adam?? ; Mesopotamia is a very biblical choice bbz ; 4:50 From Paddington- azi likes trains i guess? idk that one's tenuous lmao ; honestly no idea with the other two but Secret Adversary feels a tad ominous

iirc Big Four just has kind of an unusual history, it was initially twelve short stories that she later compiled into one, and it was published fairly soon after christie's mysterious disappearance/reappearance

in Big Four, poirot fakes his death at one point and doesnt even let hastings in on it and I'm hoping sure its totally irrelevant to the ineffable bois

part of the Pale Horse story is a group of assassins that basically try to pass off all their murders as being actually caused by like ✨satanic powers✨ which is interesting

christie knew a fUCkton about poisonings thats why she wrote so many into her work and, while i don't believe the poison coffee theory myself, it sure is an interesting link with how cyanide is associated with almond smell/flavour and that metatron chooses almond syrup in particular

(ALSO random side note that is mostly meaningless but I've worked in a good few uk coffee shops and have never worked anywhere that stocks almond syrup; almond milk yes, hazelnut syrup yes, but never almond syrup...? prob just the places i worked though lmao)

EDIT forgotten point: I've seen some speculation that the bently's plate reading "CURTAIN" could be a reference to poirot's last story, along side that alternate scene of crowley ordering the sherry for "miss marple", its just one too many agatha christie references for my melted brain to handle and I'm SUS

so this is where i run out of idea steam and hand it over to you lot because i have no clue what this could mean, if it even means anything other than a cool set feature

is there something here actually or am i yelling into the void just for fun?

who knows, who cares!

[charcubed]

Disneyland's Rogers: The Musical, propaganda that turns Steve Rogers into more myth than man, and revisionist history (possibly) to a purpose

Any of my thoughts in this post could just be me reading too far into things. I'm very aware of that, and please know that this post exists just because this sort of thing is fun for me! This is a thought exercise where we propose "What if we live in a world where the MCU is actually doing a cool and interesting thing as a longcon?" If you have anger at Marvel, that's valid and relatable, but please don't get angry at me or imply I'm an MCU stan who doesn't think critically about the mouse. Thanks!

Breaking news: I'm back on my bullshit!

A quick personal recap: I infamously hated Avengers: Endgame for a long list of reasons (and I even rewrote the movie). One of those reasons is that I've always taken issue with Steve's ending. But in the years since then, and as the MCU's phase 4 has evolved, my frustration at Steve's "ending" has turned into an ongoing and legitimate theory that the MCU could be slowly leading into a loosely adapted Secret Empire plot line. I know we've all been joking about Steve being trapped or about an imposter Steve since 2019, but uhhh, it's kind of not a joke to me anymore? It feels weirdly plausible at this point and so I enjoy discussing the potential.

You can find a full elaboration on that here, where I wrote out my "Steve was snatched by HYDRA" theory in 2021.

In that post, one of the things I mentioned at the time was Rogers: The Musical being in the Hawkeye trailer.

[The musical's] very existence is an example of how in-universe the stories of the lives of the heroes are being commodified, especially (in terms of how they’re framing it) for Steve’s. The heroes are no longer seen as people, if they ever were. They are, as Kate Bishop says to Clint in a recently released clip, more about “branding.” Sam Wilson will be redefining the shield moving forward in a Cap context, but simultaneously, the world is still enamored by Steve Rogers as a symbol in his own right. And that is ripe for manipulation as a Trojan horse to control public opinion… whether in the context of things like this by themselves (is the musical portraying Steve accurately, or is it painting an inaccurate picture of him the world accepts as fact?) or in future (is this propaganda that makes the public see Steve a certain way and continue to love him, to set up a fake or brainwashed Steve coming on the scene later?).

Now a form of the musical exists in full, at Disneyland and all over Youtube. Considering some of its baffling content – which I will break down below – this perspective seems even more strongly worth considering.

I have two main reasons for why I'm defending examining this musical so closely:

1. It is (arguably) an in-universe piece of media that has bearing on the MCU canon. It isn't like any other typical Disneyland attraction; its very existence is meta and it was in canon first. Obviously it's seen in Hawkeye, but there are also posters for it in several different phase 4 properties. It's lurking in the background indefinitely. So what can this musical tell us about what the wider public within the MCU is being told about the life story of Steve Rogers?

2. This Secret Empire graphic – which is animated in the center of the stage of a prolonged period of time – feels like a literal sign to pay attention.

Granted, this is obviously still ancillary material. 99% of the MCU audience will never see this musical, whether in person or on YouTube. But just because it isn't a vital piece doesn't mean it's automatically an entirely irrelevant piece.

They've given me an inch with that sign and I'm taking a mile.

So if you're interested, please join me on this journey :)

For the record, let me just say that I salute the creative team behind this show. It's pretty fun and the songs are catchy, the sets and costuming are cool, and the cast is overall very talented.

It's also fucking maddening. LMAO.

Why? Firstly, because of the seemingly deliberate ahistorical inaccuracies. We all know Ant-Man is wrongly shown in the Battle of New York, which originally "came from [the Hawkeye showrunner] and Marvel, as something to further aggravate Hawkeye as he watched the show, and also as a comment on how movies and articles and people always get something wrong." It seems like they expanded those meta nods, but most inaccuracies are now in service of glorifying Steve and Peggy's "love story." Yes, romance objectively makes for good theater; but again, I feel that this is worth examining considering the full context.

And secondly, Steve's ending is framed as an offer presented to him, convincing him it's the happy ending he deserves because he's tired. In my mind, these two big elements go together, and I'll walk you through the details of what happens in the musical before I tie the thought threads back around into some theorizing.

For your reference, here's a list of the main songs and story beats:

• "U-S-Opening Night" - the Starkettes (who are basically a Greek chorus) frame the show's story, and then it turns into an ensemble that loosely takes place at the Stark Expo. • "I Want You" – Steve's "I want" song about trying to enlist in the army. • "Star-Spangled Man With A Plan" – Steve performing on the USO tour obviously, and then there's a reprise with an added voiceover that (very briefly) covers the Howling Commandos' rescue + the war via comic book imagery. • "What You Missed" – Fury and the Starkettes tell Steve some pop culture things he missed while he was frozen, + they tell him about the Avengers. Then Fury goes down a list of other hero characters, including the Guardians? Doctor Strange? Wanda?? It plays loose and fast with time, because many non-2012 characters are bafflingly mentioned in this nonlinear Avengers list – including the Winter Soldier (???). • "Save the City" – this is the song seen in Hawkeye, with the civilians + the Avengers all involved, but it's slightly different here and expanded to also reference other battles. • "End of the Line" – Old Steve presents main Steve with the time stone as an opportunity for his happy ending, and they reflect on things together. (Yes, this is insane.) • "Just One Dance" – Steve and Peggy reunite and sing about their love. • And then there's basically a reprise of "Save the City," with the Starkettes and the whole cast closing the finale out.

Right out of the gate, let's address this: the main reason you're going to see some fans pissed about this musical is not only that Steve and Peggy's ~epic romance~ is made a pillar of the story... but also that Bucky's importance/involvement in Steve's life is minimized as much as possible.

And they took Bucky-related elements from canon and made them center more around Peggy instead.

• For some weird reason, Peggy is in the Stark Expo scene. When a soldier is hitting on the Starkettes ("hey sweetheart, I wanna dance!"), Steve tells the soldier to show the ladies some respect. The soldier grabs Steve and throws him down, and then Peggy swoops in to yell "Pick on someone your own size!" and punches the guy before walking away. So she's given Bucky's TFA line verbatim, and she is given the role he had of saving Steve from bullies. There is blatantly no reason they couldn't have had Bucky still serve that function and be truer to "history," because he briefly enters this scene in uniform less than a minute later to announce he's shipping out to the 107th – and then he spins off with a date on his arm. (We don't see Bucky on stage again until the full cast comes out for the finale!)

• After the Star-Spangled Man show, Peggy rushes in to talk to Steve. Steve is excited about his USO performance (???) but she urgently tells him to listen as she says that the 107th has been captured. Peggy apparently knows it's Bucky's division, and she knows Steve is going to go, so she tells him that she's already arranged transport for him. This is a subtle twist from the truth of how it went down in TFA, in which Steve recognized 107 as the number of Bucky's division, and his dogged determination inspired Peggy to relent and help his rescue mission. Here, Peggy is given a stronger role in the Cap origin story. And before Steve rushes off, Peggy sings a short untitled ballad hoping for their dance, so Steve pauses before he leaves to ask her to go on a date with her when he returns. • The most egregious Bucky-to-Peggy change of all is the song "End of the Line," in which the infamous Steve and Bucky line/promise (that broke Bucky's brainwashing...) is re-contextualized to be about ???? Peggy waiting for Steve in the past??? Old Man Steve and regular Steve sing it together. But we'll go back to that in a minute.

Again, I get it, yeah? It's for theater. Whatever. But in reality, the obvious logical truth is that Peggy is centered (to the point of taking elements from Bucky's story, and in turn Bucky is downplayed) because they needed to convince the audience that Steve going back in time to be with her makes sense. Steve's time travel ending had to be justified, so the Peggy and Steve "love story" had to be a pillar in this with everything else being given lesser weight.

And the inherent selfishness of him doing something as big as going back in time also had to be justified... which is why they do their best to convince you Steve fought so much he deserved it.

Let me elaborate on that by describing the lead-up to the "End of the Line" song.

So, right before "End of the Line" is "Save the City" – which includes Steve belting "I can do this all day!" repeatedly, of course. It's the 2012 Battle of New York as the Avengers come together to win.

As they begin to disperse, the song then transitions to a voiceover alert mentioning Sokovia being under attack by artificial intelligence (a.k.a. Age of Ultron). The Avengers group rushes back to center stage to say "Save the city! Help us win!" together for battle again.

And then things get fucking weird.

Because the next voiceover threat is "Washington DC. Attack: the Winter Soldier." This is not accurate to the order of events! The Winter Soldier events were before Age of Ultron; the public of the MCU would also know this.

And suddenly on stage Steve is now in the center while everyone else gestures to him. Instead of singing with him, they're telling him "Save the city! Help us win!"

Then, another voiceover: "Wakanda, under attack" (Infinity War) and again, Steve is centered while everyone else points to him. The ensemble says, "Save the city, help us win! Save us all from the state we're in! Got to hear you, got to hear you, got to hear you say..." as Steve is buckling to his knees under their pointing. And as the lights go down to one spotlight on him and everyone else leaves, he says "I can do this all day" one last time, but now it's subdued.

The implication is that Steve has been fighting and fighting, people leave him or he loses them, and he's tired.

And then fucking Old Man Steve arrives.

He says "On your left," because yes, they gave him Sam Wilson's line. BATSHIT.

So now there's two Steves on stage! There has been no mention of Thanos or infinity stones or anything up to this point! (I can only assume that's because in the MCU universe no one would want to be reminded of the trauma of "the Blip" – though it's pretty wild that they're allowed to know about magical time travel?)

Steve is baffled by Old Man Steve's arrival. I, too, was baffled by Old Man Steve's arrival.

As Steve questions how this is possible, Old Man Steve shows him the time stone from his pocket – and only the time stone – which Steve recognizes.

OLD MAN: "You've got to remember where you've been to know where you're going." STEVE: "Where am I going?" OLD MAN: "A date with destiny." STEVE: “Destiny. So we’re the hero till the end?” OLD MAN: “That’s the thing about endings, Steven. They can be rewritten.”

Lmao???????

Steve starts singing about how he hopes this means they "win" and calls himself a "tired hero."

STEVE: "But sometimes I wonder, who will save the savior? Can we really do this all day? So here I am, now and also then. Just a man, looking back at where he's been." OLD MAN: "The road is rough but wounds are healed by a thing called time. You can't forget what's waiting at the end of the line."

Me, watching this: the fact that he says this out of the blue makes absolutely no sense.

There's a bit more singing, including "end of the line" repetition, and then Old Man Steve pulls out the time stone to essentially show visions of... I don't fucking know. Past, present, and future?

That's pre-serum Steve, Steve with Mjolnir, and Sam Wilson as the new Cap. This is the only reference to Sam in the whole thing.

More singing, and then: Peggy's silhouette.

OLD MAN: "Can't forget who's waiting..." STEVE: "I can't forget who's waiting..." BOTH: "Don't forget who's waiting..." STEVE: "At the end of the line."

At this point I'm like, what in the hell?

Did Old Man Steve just brainwash normal Steve into thinking "end of the line" is now about Peggy? Because uhhhh, sorry, that's what it feels like!

Then Steve uses the stone to go back in time, reunites with Peggy, etc. etc. finale.

It's truly some crazy shit.

[drags hands down face]

Look... there's a lot to unpack here, and there's a lot that gets me about it. I know this is dramatized for the stage! I KNOW! But the fact that Old Man Steve shows up to convince Steve he should go back in time makes me want to gnaw on furniture.

Another person essentially uses the lure of a life with Peggy to tempt Steve into doing this, dramatized or not. That is how it's framed.

It's a hell of a way to frame it, and it makes Steve's ending stand in even starker contrast to so many other things in phase 4. Desperately trying to go backwards when you shouldn't or to bring back a lost lover is an evil temptation, and it results in a trap or negative cosmic consequences for basically all of the other characters in the MCU.

• In Shang-Chi, Wenwu is tempted by the Soul Eaters beyond the Dark Gate. They use the voice of his deceased wife to convince him to set them free. • In "What If" episode 4, Doctor Strange becomes evil in a desperate bid to save Christine and he destroys his universe. Along the way, he tries to tempt/trap the good Strange who's fighting him by using visions of Christine, but good Strange knows she isn't real. • Wanda's grief and desire to bring back Vision leads to – well, you know. • In No Way Home, Peter trying to undo things is what causes the multiverse problems.

And the fact that they frame it as Steve being tired, so basically the argument is he deserves that time travel ending (just like MCU fans who defend Endgame say in real life)... Well.

There's no way to make it hold up, especially because in "What If" they explicitly subverted that and had Captain Carter not go back in time despite how she felt she'd "earned" it.

Lastly, in this musical as Steve decides to pursue time travel as his course of action, he basically has the meaning or memory of "end of the line" rewritten for him. I refuse to not think that is some nefarious shit. Yes, it's not out of the realm of possibility that it's just some general Disney erasing Steve and Bucky nonsense.

But... this is on another level to me. I do think that it's a blatant choice that they had to be aware even general MCU fans would call bullshit on. Everyone knows it's inaccurate. "End of the line" is embedded in pop culture consciousness as being connected to Bucky. It just is! Surely that means it's not a stretch to theorize it could be deliberate meta commentary.

How, in the MCU world, would the in-universe playwrights even know the phrase "end of the line"? How the fuck would it be accidentally applied to Steve and Peggy? Not to sound like a crazy person, but who the fuck was rooting around in Steve and/or Bucky's personal business or their brains in order to obtain that knowledge and then remix it, and why? Neither of them would flippantly mention it in the public eye or interviews ever. So where did its inclusion come from?

And in the finale ensemble, this is Bucky's line when he comes out on stage and salutes + points to Steve: "Don't forget who's waiting..." And Old Man Steve completes it with "...at the end of the line."

What on God's green earth am I meant to do with THAT?

Smh.

The vibes are fucked, folks.

The MCU public wouldn't know enough to say the vibes are fucked. The MCU public wouldn't know the origin of "end of the line" as a phrase. But us? The ones who know the "true story" via the movies? We can call bullshit.

Whether the creative team behind this musical did every aspect of this consciously or not, in my opinion the fact that they had to tweak canon "history" to A) make Peggy's involvement in Steve's life more central and B) emphasize Steve as a tired hero all works as commentary on and almost a condemnation of Endgame's frustrating ending. In a way, it's also what Endgame did with the compass and 1973 moment with Peggy as well.

Steve's ending had to be convincing.

It's theater.

And so, maybe the same is true for the in-narrative perspective of this musical in the context of the MCU world. What purpose would it serve to tell the MCU public a feel-good narrative about how all Steve Rogers wanted was to no longer be a tragic man out of time and get to make a life with his best girl? To frame it as being about how he fought so hard for years and so he earned a happy ending? To minimize and nearly erase Bucky's importance in his life?

Who would want to do that sort of propaganda, and why?

The MCU civilians are given this happy explanation and maybe don't widely question it. Who cares about the details or logistics if it makes a good story, I guess. It's a stretch, but maybe they mostly applaud it. Maybe they're happy for "America's favorite son" (not unlike people who uncritically liked Endgame). In a way, it's even a rehabilitation of his image (after the Accords) like putting the shield on the Statue of Liberty. And maybe they'd even be ready and waiting to applaud if Steve ever made a dramatically selfless and de-aged return to the spotlight or a position of authority.

But mostly, the public is being conditioned to not know or to forget that anyone else like Bucky Barnes or Sam Wilson would possibly know Steve Rogers the person well enough in the modern day to call bullshit on any of this – or on his hypothetical miraculous future return.

So. Sure, it's probably nothing.

But what if it's not?

-------

UPDATE: @faeriecap added to this post with some incredible information and further behind-the-scenes context about the MCU/Marvel stuff at Disney parks! Check it out here :)

[ladyluscinia]

Izzy, Bottles, and Apologies

Izzy's arc in S2 has been a wild ride.

The S1 Izzy enjoyers are feeling vindicated as hell, many people are fully revising their opinion of him, and the people still hating him have a new criticism or off the wall theory daily. David Jenkins LOVES Izzy and is having the time of his life trying to make sure everyone else does too. They had Con O'Neill sing in drag!

And naturally I have thoughts.

This is gonna be a two part post, I think. First, as much as people are celebrating Izzy having realized his arc and come into his own - from the singing to the apparent BlackBonnet shipping - there are some threads they could pull on that might reveal more arc to come. And I am really hoping they pull them, so I'm gonna tell you why you should too!

And second, I have some minor points I dislike and concerns that this might be the end of the arc. Which would be disappointing but I think I get why, so I'm gonna discuss that too.

To start...

---

"How are you handling all this so well?"

Here's the thing about S2 Izzy - while I need to be clear his behavior is not OOC or inconsistent with S1, it is happening rather fast. I'm pretty sure that has a lot to do with out of universe reasons I'll get into later, but in-universe it stands out. Now, he's hardly the only one operating on an accelerated schedule - the timeline for this season is an insanely fast not-even-two-weeks - but Izzy's defining struggle in S1 was fear of change. That was the cause of his friction with Edward, and what made him an antagonist in the first place.

In S2 he's gone through a lot of trauma, yes, but that fear is noticeably less present than I would expect.

Izzy in 2x06 has been cleaned up from his sobbing mess phase for just over 48 hours and he faces Edward with a joke, and then that night sings a moving French serenade to the crew. The next morning he's teasing them about finally hooking up and spends the day offering both Stede and Edward relationship advice.

He's a newly realized man... shedding repression and embracing who he could be. Accepting his breakup with Edward and trying to openly support the relationship that's better for him.

It's fun!

It's also, potentially, a bit of a flag. Maybe not a red one, not yet, but... pink-ish? A bit orange?

Let's look a little closer at those frayed edges.

---

"Well, you see, I have a system..."

There's an exchange from right at the start of the Pilot episode that has echoed through the entire series so far:

"Bottle it up?" -> "No, Frenchie! No, that's the worst thing you could do!"

Not talking to other people, not addressing your traumas... that's the kind of shit that just builds and builds inside you. When the cork eventually pops, the resulting damage can be a lot. Look at the finale of S1, where all of Stede's bottled up guilt and insecurities laid waste to his relationship with Edward, and then inadvertently became the first domino in the Kraken.

S2 is quick to bring this scene back into the forefront. The first time we see the Breakup Boat crew talking in 2x01, Frenchie reveals that "Bottle it up?" wasn't just a random comment he made, but a philosophy of his:

"Ah - well, you see, I have a system for dealing with all the terrible things I've seen. There's a box, in my mind, and I put the things in the box, I lock the box, and then I don't open it again. Works like a charm."

Apparently, Frenchie is the only one it actually seems to be working for.

Now, the show has been drawing some interesting lines between Frenchie and Izzy. From both serving as Blackbeard's First Mate to being frequently shown as a duo - tormenting Navy guys together on Sunday's raid, Frenchie holding Izzy's hand, Frenchie leaning on Izzy's leg in the cell, Frenchie behind him raising the flag in 2x05 - it's fitting that Izzy echoes Frenchie's preferred coping method. First he frames the non-acknowledgement of harm from Edward as just... part of piracy. He's a pirate, so he's fine with it.

And then we get Izzy's little whittled shark reveal and the conversation with Lucius about his leg:

"I don't know what you're talking about. Shark did this... dangling my legs over the side of the ship. Served me right, too."

Lucius calls him out on the unhealthy behavior, and Izzy concedes his point:

"O-kay, that seems healthy. Using a bit of fiction to help cover up your trauma." -> "Yeah, well... not moving on is worse. Twatty."

And to give him credit, he's right in his advice to Lucius. Filling his sketchbook with pages and pages of Blackbeard trauma is Lucius's form of bottling it up - thinking in endless recursive circles about his tumble off the ship and everything that followed. We already know chasing revenge instead of living is bad - Jim and Spanish Jackie established it last season, and Pete just echoed them. When Izzy advises Lucius to move on, that's what Lucius does.

But what Izzy is doing with the shark? That's not the same thing at all. He's lost a leg, grazed a bullet off his own head, and was snarling drunken accusations at himself in the mirror... he's not moving on from that. He's bottling it up with a nice dose of self-blame.

Cutting the legs off the unicorn for not doing it's job right and saying "served me right" about his fictional shark? There's a real dark knot of emotions there.

(Recall, too, that Edward deflected his hurt from Stede's abandonment into a "fictional character" during his chats with Lucius, and that delayed the explosion but couldn't stop it.)

So... Izzy's definitely coping with trauma in a way the show does not advise and often circles back to. Can we see any signs in 2x06 and 2x07?

---

The Weight of Things Unsaid

At the very start of 2x06, Izzy gets the thing he spent all of 2x05 mentally bracing himself to never hear - an apology from Edward for his leg. He walks up to initiate conversation and begins talking like nothing has changed. Edward is back in his leathers. Appropriate, given that his penance onesie was nothing genuine, just "how long do I have to wear this fucking thing for?" And Izzy is ready for them not to address the obvious hurt, to just smooth over a few jabs and go back to normal... but even Edward's mumbled little "Sorry about your leg" is so significant and difficult he flees as soon as he gets it out, leaving Izzy to sit, incredulous, with the acknowledgement.

It's still almost definitely not enough.

There was so much between them in 2x01 - 2x03. The writers literally did BlackHands love confessions on both sides. An apology from Edward Teach - a man who historically does not apologize - is a huge first step but still only the first step. The real things unsaid are so much bigger than a leg.

We get something else, too... Edward commenting on Izzy's drinking.

"Jesus. Really putting that away, aren't ya?"

Izzy has had booze a lot this season. He lost a leg and pain meds aren't really an option, so not surprising, but notable. Edward, advocating for substance abuse to deal with bad feelings, calls him a lightweight in 2x01. When they are found with the dead seabird in 2x03, Izzy takes a pointed drink from his bottle, and then 2x04 he spends the entire episode completely plastered. He seemingly sobered up for 2x05 - probably to focus on sword training and his whittling project - but now the bottle is back again before Izzy disappears for several hours.

And a little liquid courage might explain his going all in for the Calypso's Birthday performance.

I do appreciate that the performance on it's face is something completely unexpected for Izzy, but when thinking about it... it does make sense.

We already know music and performance were available on Blackbeard's ship even before Stede. Edward learned to play shanties on the piano somewhere, and singing is a common and encouraged part of sailing culture. Izzy's choice of song to perform is something a lot more emotional, but this is probably not his first performance for a crew.

Makeup, too, is in fashion for men and women at this time, and OFMD has shown it as such before. Izzy has never worn fashion makeup, or tried to be beautiful, but the concept wouldn't be alien to him. Wee John's description of a dramatic party look might even have intrigued him specifically because Izzy has actually done "looks" before - of the terrifying "theatre of fear" kind. The Kraken did have his whole crew in makeup for their raids. Taking the opportunity to embody something a bit more vulnerable and try to bring joy to this crew that took care of him is meaningful as fuck.

And it's still a drag performance!

It's a good pair of moments - before and after Ned. Proof that all this isn't just coping method - that's not what I'm arguing here - and even if Izzy's still bottling up a lot of feelings he's not doing the same full pressure bomb thing as he did in S1. There's been growth!

(This is why the flags are only pink-ish / orange-ish right now.)

Episode 2x07 though... I'm not so sure he's doing good as much as pretending it's all good.

Showing up to make his joke in the morning is a fun moment. I especially enjoy Edward's little "fuck off" with no bite to it 🤣🤣🤣 Reminder they do live together on a ship, so this is likely not even close to the first morning-after that Izzy has gotten front row seats to. But, at least to me, there's also a very performative feeling about it. Izzy being very Look how normal I can be about you fucking your boyfriend, Ed - and Edward picks up on it too. That's why he turns to Stede and whispers "He's jealous" as Izzy walks away.

Izzy continues to make jokes and give advice through the day to our main couple, but he's... subdued. I think his fake chill also disguises that he and Edward aren't on the same page about what they discuss at the docks, hence his poor advice to "listen to it" when the "it" in question is Edward's immediate desire to run away from Stede and become a fisherman. They are talking again, but haven't resumed communicating.

I also think it's relevant that Izzy goes to try and support Stede after Edward dumps him, because we're still waiting for Stede to stop bottling things up. He doesn't talk about Badminton or feelings of inadequacy or even the babiest little olive branch to Edward about "hey my dad kinda sucked too." Edward's two exes are sitting in the bar corner together, thinking about all the shit they won't talk to him about until it kills all three of them. Exciting!

The pressure is building. It has to circle back to Stede in S3. I'm hoping at the same time, it circles back to Izzy, too.

Hoping we get to explore some of his anxiety, and his internalizing negative self-image and blame. At the moment, I think Izzy might have less gotten over his anxieties and more just let go of the wheel of his life entirely, and fortunately had people around to steer him in okay directions. It would be really interesting to explore that more.

(Even if I have some concerns they may not.)

---

Subtle as a Cannonball to the Face

Izzy's character arc was always going to be a long journey - not because he was somehow morally worse than everyone else, or required particularly painstaking growth, or even because there was going to be some great need to "hold him accountable" for S1. No, it was going to be a long journey from an antagonist start for the same reason I mentioned earlier: Izzy's core struggle is fear of change.

OFMD opens with two protagonists recklessly pursuing change in ways that harm themselves, their relationships, and others, and a primary onscreen antagonist resisting change in a way that harms himself, his relationships, and others. There's no easy morality here - they all fuck up. And they all require the entire show to actually figure out the correct balance of change and growth and facing the past.

"I think the three of them are on an arc together that's pretty inseparable." - David Jenkins (Source, 9 Oct 2023)

So... why is there a chance that everything I've mentioned above is going absolutely nowhere and Izzy's arc has been wrapped up with a bow in S2?

Well.

It's late March 2022, the fandom's age is still only countable in weeks, I personally haven't even watched the pilot yet, had only even heard of the show 3 days before... and one of David Jenkins first post-finale statements is telling people to pay attention to Izzy's POV and his and Edward's love story on rewatches (Source, 25 Mar 2022), and then soon after comparing Stede to a homewrecker in Edward and Izzy's toxic marriage (Source, 15 Apr 2022). Lots of links because this stuff was available to the fandom from the start.

By the first half of May 2022 (while poor Mr. Jenkins is still anxiously trying to get his series renewed for S2, since the confirmation won't come until June 1) the takes on Izzy have soured a lot. It's not a "homophobic gay" joke anymore. Now it's "Izzy is the embodiment of colonialism who enforces a racist and homophobic ideal of Blackbeard on Edward" and "pretending Izzy could be canonically gay is homophobic" and "Izzy bought Edward as a slave from the British". Harassing anons have already started on tumblr. No first hand experience with Twitter but I've heard horror stories. These takes are spreading like wildfire through the fandom, with a heavy backing of white fans accepting and spreading anything that sounds vaguely racially-conscious as something they just missed in their privilege and need to listen to POC about. Or listen to other white fans that say they've been listening to POC.

The anchor hoist in 1x09 (that was a complete directing coincidence, as the crew confirmed in late May) is being taken as incontrovertible proof that Izzy is a violent racist, and the relatively small Izzy fandom pushing back against any of these reads is being likened to toxic fangirls declaring Kylo Ren a poor widdle victim because they think violent white guys are so hot their brains fall out. This is happening loudly and in the public forums of social media.

Can you imagine being David Jenkins right then?

This is one of your favorite little guys, who you wrote a silly little homoerotic pirate jealousy arc for. He's kinda cringefail and tends to be a dick, but you cast a guy who you think embodies him with so much sympathy and genuine emotion. You're so excited to explore his direct relationship to the main couple of your series even more. Unfortunately, you and a lot of the cast and crew are also engaging maybe a bit too much in fandom spaces, which very few of you have much familiarity with navigating as creators. AND there's still renewal stress!

If I were him, I too would consider that perhaps my intended Izzy arc was a bit too nuanced and drawn out, and maybe I needed to clear up some misconceptions as soon as I got the opportunity.

Enter S2.

MAX reduced the budget for the season significantly and it shows - particularly in the whole thing having to squeeze into 8 episodes - and I wouldn't be surprised at all if worries over a S3 renewal / S3 budget impacted S2 writing as well. Character arcs got pinched, goals had to be prioritized... and from the looks of the season, "make sure everyone knows Izzy is not a homophobic villain tormenting Edward as fast as possible" came out as a big goal.

I mean they open with a dream sequence that literally mocks the idea of a heroic Stede rescuing Edward from the dastardly Izzy. It's not subtle.

And the lack of subtlety is kind of what's concerning me.

Izzy's arc is (I think) leaving enough threads that they can extend it into S3 with the reveal he's not actually fine and done developing, but they also seem to want his S2 arc to end in a place where maybe he is. Lots of giant signs pointing to him and saying "Look! Everyone likes him!" or "Look! He's also gay!" at the expense of some of his cringefail or dickish charm. My guy had anxiety he dealt with poorly in S1, and I do think they are trying to frontload or adjust the arc so he's basically (or at least seemingly) over that before the next hiatus.

The best way I've seen it described is that the show no longer trusts the audience to pick up what they are putting down, and so they feel the need to really hammer it in. Not necessarily OOC, but definitely de-emphasizing any of his rough edges that were originally just written to not be any worse than the other characters.

This is why Izzy gets shot by Edward in the very first episode for a bunch of complicated reasons that are really good character work and not super hard to discern, but then later they have Izzy point out to Stede why he got shot twice. It's all very "look into the camera and say the themes", because to some degree they are afraid everyone is going to get easily convinced Edward shot him for calling him a namby-pamby that one time.

It makes me worried they are too afraid of misinterpretation to commit to the arc they originally conceived of, even with the finish line in sight in S3.

And, again, I get it, Mr. Jenkins. In October 2022 he made a funny quip and a boner joke on a tweet about Edward's blanket fort and the hordes descended to scream victoriously about how he was cutting down the Izzy stans for their racist infantilization crimes of thinking Izzy would *checks notes* help hold up a blanket. It's a very reasonable conclusion that this fandom cannot read and needs to be spoonfed Izzy's arc.

It just sucks that a toxic section of fandom's misinterpretations appear to have undercut a strong - and, honestly, not that complicated - character arc so much that S2's BlackBonnet arc can be about fuck ups and backsliding, but Izzy needs at least the illusion of having no flaws left come hiatus time.

[chipthekeeper]

After many months of sporadically yelling my thoughts in various posts.........it is time.

*turns out there's like, so much competition for being the worst dad in this galaxy **a biased account from someone with their own very mid dad

Read on for an unnecessarily lengthy argument and just make sure to picture me like this the whole time

The Evidence:

Similarities/parallels between them

Shapeshifting -- They both transform so fully and easily from rebel mode to fancy rich asshole and back again throughout the show. Others do as well, but not nearly as often as they do and not nearly as sharp contrast from one thing to another

Quick tempers -- Evident from the way they snap at each other and the people they work with

Familiar framing -- There’s nothing accidental in this show. I believe the below photos draw a very deliberate, if subtle, parallel between them. We don’t see any of the other rebels using a stick like that, and Luthen's doesn't seem to actually have a function besides making youtubers believe he's a Jedi (I have a whole spin-off conspiracy theory on that we can get into some other day if you ask me)

Blonde -- Obviously. Though it seems Vel's hair is changing for season two. Perhaps a hint that she is trying to distance herself from her father's influence? (okay this part is mostly a joke but then I talked myself into something)

Also, this brand new page from the Dawn of Rebellion visual guide book that made me go !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! because, you know, proximity is everything. It would have made much more sense for Kleya to be on this page and Vel to be beside Cinta on the next page, right? Nope, not if there's a deeper connection here!

Their first interaction

Even before we meet Vel, Luthen predicts to Cassian exactly how she will react to them being there

He first tries to greet her with a big fake grin. Big time dad behavior to act like none of the past shit between you has ever gone down. But Vel remembers, doesn’t buy the act

Basically their interaction is just very familiar and informal, then breaks down quickly because of their attitudes toward each other

Vel is being very childish for most of it, pacing around, not keeping eye contact, then fully acting like a kid who doesn’t want to pick up their toys (see above picture)

Which then brings the Big Dad Energy from Luthen - "LOOK AT ME!!" he yells. The dadest dad behavior to ever dad. I can so easily picture this from my dad. "Look at me when I'm talking to you! Do what I say!" You have no choice but to shut up and obey unless you want to lose your allowance heist mission

Maybe he does actually care?

The night before the heist, Luthen is acting very strange, so much so that Kleya calls him out for being nervous. This is understandable given the stakes. BUT!

“They’re either going to be okay out there or they’re not” from Kleya is interesting. Be okay, rather than do okay. Like she knows he’s particularly worried about their safety, about one person’s safety especially?

And Vel’s mentioned in the very next line, reminding us of their connection again: "Vel's the only one who traces back" -- could be because she’s the only one who’s seen him, but who would actually be able to “trace” that??

Vel's need for approval

Veeerrryyyyy familiar to every eldest daughter constantly ignored by dad, seen most prominently in her interactions with Kleya

First right after the heist -- "Where is he?" ... "He read your message." "I really thought he'd be here?" Oh? Why's that? Why would he be there unless it was personal? Unless there was some sort of expectation of praise for the job well done, or comfort after losing so much of the team?

Later, before Ferrix, Vel won't give Kleya the information about Maarva's death until she secures the "I'll make sure he knows where it came from" promise from her

Rebellion is a family affair

"But Chip, Vel can't be related to Mon and Luthen!" Why not? There's nothing really that says Luthen isn't/can't be Mon's uncle

In fact, it might even make it easier to understand how a prominent Senator who's outwardly so centrist and careful could get Luthen's attention -- they always knew each other!

Anyway, a visual aid made months ago by @jedi-valjean, outlining the possible family tree, along with what seems to be the typical Chandrilan matriarchal naming conventions:

Vel Sartha, nepo baby

Vel absolutely does not have the experience or the stomach to be leading a mission like Aldhani. Why did he let her? That's right, nepotism

Hints to this in both her interactions with Kleya -- first "this is what revolution looks like" and then "You're off the rails. You're lucky he's not here"

She's clearly not ready and messing things up, but she's not facing any consequences for it because of her proximity to Luthen

Their second interaction

The convo on Ferrix is less loaded but still interesting

Vel looking at him and greeting him with a hint of "oh so you do acknowledge that I exist....but only because I have the information you need"

Again, the way they talk to each other is oddly informal for a boss and subordinate. Plus at the end he gives her tasks like a dad handing out chores

(also seems to like saying Cinta's name to her. supportive of his daughter's girlfriend, that gets him some good dad points)

Luthen's talk with Lonni

pound for pound, this is the most important part outside of their first interaction

As Lonni comes down in the elevator, Luthen congratulates him on becoming a father to a "healthy, beautiful" daughter. Tells him he must be pleased

Lonni thinks he's being threatened, asks "Do you ever think how it might feel from my side?" And Luthen tells him "I think about you constantly."

This. Shit. Makes. Me. CRAZY.

Because Luthen *was* Lonni. Just a guy with a daughter, trying to fight for something better

Also he sacrifices Kreegyr and all his men just to keep Lonni’s cover from being blown. Obviously that’s selfish on one hand, he gets to keep his spy, but also….Lonni’s daughter gets to keep her dad. I don’t think Luthen's just saying that to appease him. “You love your daughter," he says. The whole thing hits home for him and he thinks about it constantly

Basically the whole scene is a conversation between Luthen as he is now and Luthen as he could have been -- “Your investment in the rebellion is epic. A double life. Every day a performance.” He’s TALKING TO HIMSELF

And what does Luthen sacrifice? "...Kinship....Love" -- the love of his family? His kin? He may have his daughter in his life but they're hardly more than coworkers because of what they have to do. They're both sacrificing a real relationship with each other

"I burn my decency for someone else's future" -- he's sacrificed being a good father to fight and make a better future for his daughter!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The shoutout to his ego not having a "mirror" calls us back to Vel and Cinta's conversation, another probably deliberate thread supposed to connect them in our minds

"You'll stay with me, Lonni" can mean both that he's not letting Lonni out of this and, again, that he's always thinking of him (always thinking of that other version of his life)

The Conclusions

Putting together all the evidence and the fact that no one in the show seems to know about the connection between them, I can basically come to two possible conclusions:

Vel didn't find out this man was her father until she was already an adult

She knew him as a child but then he began making his calculations and left her and her mother

Either way, they would have gone years without interacting and thus it would be easy to hide their true connection once they've been reunited. And either way, their relationship would be as strained as it appears. Vel would want to have his attention and approval in a way she never did before, and Luthen would feel guilty enough to give her a job she hasn't really earned.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[thedaythatwas]

TW: Hegel.

So, what’s up with Shuake and dialectics? Click below to watch this user (who is not a philosopher) give this (frankly too invested) analysis a shot!

Something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is the fact that most– but not all– of Joker’s confidant routes involve some sort of transaction. Joker does something for someone, Joker gets a favor in return. Joker’s identity revolves around what he can do for others. He’s got a different mask (haha game mechanic is narrative device etc.) for everyone in his life. 

Getting a little bit in my head about this led me to a (not-all-that-novel) realization: Akechi’s confidant route is largely non-transactional. Sure, he says that he wants to meet with you to talk about the Phantom Thieves, but that more or less directly translates to just wanting to hang out with you. The “favor” that you're doing for Akechi, if we follow the logic of some of the other confidant routes, is spending time with him. (Which is of course also about getting close to Joker for metaverse recon purposes… But I’d argue that amounts to more or less the same thing in the long run anyway). Really, that’s what your relationship with him is, up until you realize the heart he needs you to change is actually one of the big-bads of the game. And at that point… Well… 

Where am I going with this? I’ve also been thinking a lot about Hegel (I’ve seen some really fun posting about Akechi and Hegel on here this past week– thank you philosophy P5R tumblr!). Akechi’s paraphrasing of Hegel goes a little something like “advancement cannot occur without both thesis and antithesis.” Hilariously, this is how he frames his desire to talk to you more, his flirting is just like me forreal I understand him etc. etc. BUT! The interesting thing here is that the game is cueing you to view your relationship with Akechi through the lens of Hegel’s dialectics.

More on that to follow, but first, I want to plug the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s page on Hegel’s Dialectics here– If you haven’t used it before, SEP is a reliable, peer-reviewed source. It’s great. I use it like. All the time. It’s good for getting the gist of big ideas when you don’t have time to read full texts. (Also if I get any of this wrong please know that philosophy is not my field and I’m totally open to constructive criticism.)

Hegel’s dialectical process revolves around three key moments: the moment of understanding, the dialectical moment, and the speculative moment. These moments can also be referred to as thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. The moment of understanding, thesis, is the point at which an idea is seemingly stable. In the dialectical moment, antithesis, this idea “sublates” itself– the idea is challenged and destabilized because an inherent contradiction in the idea has been made apparent–importantly, part of the idea is preserved. The speculative moment, synthesis, negates the contradiction. A new idea takes form, containing elements of the original idea that was sublated (Marx’s theory of history, anyone?) 

This process continues on and on. Ideas naturally reveal their contradictions, are destabilized, and resolve their contradictions through the creation of a new idea, which is challenged again. This is because the dialectical moment does not come from outside an idea. Antithesis is not an external push against thesis, but rather, the moment when thesis is forced into instability because of its own tightly-bound restriction. 

So back to what I was saying. The game kicks off your relationship with Akechi with a nod to, uh, all of that. Could this be a throwaway comment? Of course! But it’s much more fun to work under the assumption that it isn’t. So bear with me. Akechi is framing himself and Joker as thesis and antithesis. What does that mean? Why do I think it has something to do with Akechi and Joker’s relationship being non-transactional?

Previously, I’ve thought that in the context of their relationship, Akechi represented thesis, and Joker antithesis. This isn’t exactly true (at least per the criteria above) but I do think I was on the right track. 

At the beginning of his story, we can think of Akechi’s worldview as thesis. The world is a stage, and he is a performer. His entire life is dedicated to destroying Shido. It’s a key narrative element of P5 that Akechi doesn’t have confidant relationships (as contrasted by Joker, who has many confidants and becomes stronger through building up those bonds). He views himself as deceiving literally everyone in his life for his goals– his “fans,” his father, the Phantom Thieves. He doesn’t trust, because to him, trust is failure. 

Still, he’s starving for approval, and not just from Shido. You can see the inherent conflict between his desires and beliefs in just about every interaction he has with Joker, particularly those where Akechi overshares about his past. He desperately wants someone to hear him. I don’t think his (primary) aim in that was to strategically win Joker’s trust by showing vulnerability– if that was all he was going for, I doubt Akechi would have been so honest. He omitted information, sure, but he gave Joker the honest-to-god broad strokes of his childhood.  

When Joker comes into his life, Akechi comes to realize that his stable worldview might be wrong. Watching Joker and the rest of the Phantom Thieves reveals the cracks in his own internal logic. Joker has friendships and he is stronger because of them. When Akechi sacrifices himself for the Phantom Thieves on Shido’s ship, we see his moment of synthesis. If Akechi really still internalized all of what he said in his “Teammates? Friends? To hell with that!” monologue, he wouldn’t trust Joker to change Shido’s heart in his stead. To be clear– he probably would have reached this point with or without Joker’s intervention. Joker just happens to push Akechi towards self-sublation a little bit faster.

In Royal, we see a new iteration of Akechi. He doesn’t really regret his actions, and he is still very distinctly Akechi, but we can see that his original perception of the world has made a shift. He is willing to team up with Joker. While he may not place a great deal of faith in all of the PTs, he certainly has real trust in the protagonist. He’s learned that he can be recognized (dare I say loved?) without being perfect, and accordingly, his driving desire for approval has been displaced by his desire to never be so completely under anyone else’s control again.

But ok— that’s kind of an old take. Perhaps a hotter one: I’d also like to propose that Akechi does the same for Joker. 

As mentioned above, Joker’s identity for most of the game is defined by what he can do for the people around him. While a large part of this has to do with the fact that he is a playable character, this is a game, and a game needs to have things for you to do– it wouldn’t be very fun otherwise– it also seems pretty clear that this is part of his characterization. Joker is selfless to a fault. Like Akechi, he is a wildcard who can take on multiple personas. Unlike Akechi, instead of having a handful of personas directly linked to the core of his character development, Joker has as many personas as you want him to. He literally has a mask for every situation. You can equip a persona of the correct arcana to level up your relationships faster– a game mechanic, but also, an interesting meta statement about how Joker bonds with his confidants.

In Royal, however, Joker has the option to do something for himself. His greatest wish isn’t for someone else's happiness– it’s to have Akechi back, for selfish reasons, I would argue. Joker can sacrifice reality to keep him in his life, and depending on the actions you choose to take, sometimes, he does.

Loving Akechi teaches Joker to be selfish. This is especially poignant when you think of how adamantly opposed Akechi is to staying in Maruki's reality. Giving up the true reality to keep Akechi is a wholly selfish act on Joker's part, nothing altruistic about it. And if he doesn't make that choice? Well, don't forget about how Joker spent his wish.

He would have learned how to do this without Akechi– one tends to realize that neverending self-sacrifice is unsustainable sooner rather than later. Again, Akechi just pushes Joker towards effecting that self-sublation a little faster.

By spending time with Joker, Akechi learns that there are people he can truly trust. By spending time with Akechi, Joker learns how to put himself first. Their confidant relationship from this perspective is not only transactional, it’s actually one of the most transactional relationships in the game. Joker actively impacts how Akechi sees himself and the world around him, and vice versa. Their relationship is profoundly transformative for the both of them. To paraphrase Akechi, advancement cannot occur without both thesis and antithesis.

But also, we can forget dialectics for a second. Even without a fun analytical lens, Akechi’s confidant route centers two misunderstood people who find understanding in each other. That’s enough for me!

[novantinuum]

Pink Onyx AU- An Analysis and Theory Post, Part 4

[Part 1] | [Part 2] | [Part 3] | [Part 4- You are here!] | [Part 5]

~

Woo we’re almost there! This is part 4 of my analysis series on the excellent @pink-onyx-au comic made by @ceephorsshitshow. If you haven’t already, please check out the first three parts- linked above- for more information on what these posts are all about. A lot of this analysis will build on what came previously.

And with that stated, bingo bongo, an interlude-! 

__

Interlude: The analyst’s treasure is also in the tags

I’ve noticed a few little extra notes in the tumblr post tags before, but until I started this project I didn’t notice how decently common they were in the first few chapters. My jaw kinda fell to the goddamn ground when I realized the sheer wealth of vital information these tags give us about Onyx’s base personality before it even could fully surface in the comic.

There’s a few of these secret tag messages in Episode 3 while Jasper is taking Onyx on a fusion power spin as well, but I find the meaning of those tags to be a bit more tricky to summarize my take on, so I’ll just be focusing on the tags we can find peppered in Episodes 4 and 5.

Aight. So, Episode 4. We see secret tags start to crop up every few pages starting on page 11.

(Episode 4: Page 11)

Tags:  “i hear”

The meaning of this one is pretty straightforward. The budding personality of their fusion hears a name they really like. Next up…

(Episode 4: Page 13)

Tags: “why would i be nicer”

Here’s where we get to see a bit of that personality peeking through. The mostly Steven-fronting comment in the first frame is dappled with a bit of Onyx’s pink, so they seem to show some interest in the idea of identifying as an Onyx made for Earth. But also, does that mean they have to be nice? Do they even want to be “the nice Onyx?” 

Because, maybe instead… 

(Episode 4: Page 15)

Tags: “maybe i can do both”

Whatever kind of personality is developing here is one of rich contrasts. Via the tags and the speech bubbles, we can see that Onyx agrees with both suggestions that are given here simultaneously. A protector of all life on Earth, while also being a no-craps taken brute of a leader. Earth’s ultimate champion, mayhaps.

From now on, the tails of Onyx’s speech bubbles are tinted THEIR pink, even when Steven or Jasper are fronting. Onyx is slowly but surely coming more to the forefront.

(Episode 4: Page 20)

Tags: “would i be great?”

However, there’s a great bit of insecurity brimming within them. A lot of self-doubt. Would Onyx be great? It’s not hard to understand one of the reasons why they harbor these doubts. Just in this episode alone, Jasper referred to this fusion as “ugly” and was really pessimistic about their powers. I don’t think Steven is innocent when it comes to adding to Onyx’s whole little insecurity complex here, though…

Throughout this chapter, Steven’s got this leading goal of trying to heal all the damage he and Jasper caused to their surroundings the night before. Even though in later chapters he states that fusions are more than just tools, in this case, using Onyx as a tool to repair the woods is all he’s fused for. Thus, I think Onyx is innately aware of that, too… of the fact that if they don’t provide a useful “service” to the both of them, they won’t have any reason to fuse and let them exist.

Now, moving on to the two comments we see from them in the tags in Episode 5:

(Episode 5: Page 12)

Tags: “is that me?”

I don’t really have anything to add to this one, it’s just really fucking wholesome, lol. Look at that toothy little blep.

(Episode 5: Page 16)

Tags: “how do you want me to be?”

Aaaand then this one is just really sad. There’s another big ol’ chip on Onyx’s shoulder to add to the insecurity pile. One of their components thinks their “big, stupid body” is just absolutely useless? Well, how does Jasper want them to be, then? How can they prove that they’re worth her time? That they’re worth existing?

And in fact, this exact question is what plagues a lot of Onyx’s actions when they officially embark on their first long stint as themself.

__

Question Six: What do we learn about Onyx from their first big day out?

When Steven and Jasper finally form Onyx again after the events of the episode “Stuck With You,” their fusion is wracked with feelings of inadequacy and a continual drive to prove their own worth to their components. 

(Episode 8: Page 14)

This manifests in that classic sort of “gifted child” type of way. Like… they’re the fusion of one of the strongest jaspers out there and a diamond, yeah? Shouldn’t they instantly know who they are and what they’re capable of? Shouldn’t everything be easy for them?

Alas, however, they’re the fusion of probably the most mentally unstable jasper and diamond there is. So while they eventually figure out how to combine their weapons into a sick set of clawed shields, the celebration is dampened by the realization that… there isn’t much point to their existence at all anymore, is there? The weapon they wield… the niche they’ve already carved out for themself within their mind… doesn’t serve much of any purpose in this peaceful Era 3.

(Episode 8: Page 16)

Thus, what purpose would Jasper and Steven have for fusing to allow them to exist? Everything is transactional to Onyx, at this point. If they can’t prove their usefulness to the two of them, then in their head, their components will never have a reason to fuse. 

And so Onyx gets right to work trying to make themself indispensable. 

(Episode 8: Page 18)

Hey, ow. That really hurt to read you say, Onyx. 

They’ve barely existed for more than a few minutes and they’re already falling into the same pitfalls as their components.

After spending some time cleaning up the campsite and finding food for the bunnies and “Jasper’s ugly plant” (this line always makes me giggle), Onyx moves to take a selfie on Steven’s phone… only to realize that the dink friggin’ forgot it at home. Which brings them to their driving cause for all of Episode 9: 

(Episode 8: Page 21)

Sneaking through Beach City without being caught so they can retrieve Steven’s phone.

What really fascinates me about this newfound purpose is that for the first time in their whole existence, it’s a completely self-serving mission. Steven does not need his phone at this moment, and if he desperately did, they could easily just unfuse to allow him to sprint back and grab it. No, no… the reason Onyx wants to grab Steven’s phone is exclusively because they want to take a picture of themself to leave in his camera roll as a way of cementing tangible proof of their existence in this world. Even if it’s just an incognito photo of themself on a single phone. 

It’s the silent cry of a fusion who- after many nights of existing as mere whispers of personality in the background of two individuals scrambling for control in the same body- desperately wants to be remembered as an individual.

And thus begins Episode 9, titled “Steven For a Day.”

(Episode 9: Page 8)

The most basic meaning of this title is obvious when Onyx shapeshifts into a silly lil Steven double (Onyx plays Steven Tag WHEN?), but there’s a deeper meaning, too.

(Episode 9: Page 14)

Throughout this whole section of the comic, Onyx progressively hides more and more of their natural features to try and “blend in” and hide their true identity from the Gems and humans around them. First it’s shapeshifting into Steven to begin with… then a failed attempt to hide their second set of arms… then it’s closing their lower set of eyes to obscure those… next, hiding the gem on their face by letting it sink deeper into their head… then, plastering a bandaid over it to mask it entirely.

With each and every corner they turn in Beach City, they’re erasing more and more of themself.

Because instinctively, a part of them already knows (or at least, thinks) that they would not be welcome here if people were to know who they actually are.

Like, geeze. They’ve barely existed as themself for a few hours and yet they’ve already perfected the art of internalized shame.

Does this basic scenario sound a little familiar?

Well, it should.

(He would not be welcome here if people were to know who he actually is.)

To me, this entire episode reads as a metaphoric little glimpse at how Steven feels about being in public after his “meltdown.”

(Episode 9: Page 17)

I found this moment with Dewey interesting. Here’s a transcription of the text in the above panel if it’s hard for some to read: 

“Resourceful as ever. I’m happy to see that you’re doing better after everything. When I hadn’t seen you for a few mornings, I got a bit worried! People were asking. Ah, but no worries knowing you’re okay. I’ll be happy to tell them all that you’re up and around.”

The townsfolk seem very supportive and understanding of Steven- even worried when they notice he’s not up and about on his usual routines- and meanwhile, this dialogue is juxtaposed by Onyx literally slapping a bandaid over the “problem,” over what they think is making them stand out like a sore thumb… over what they fear may bring them judgement.

That’s what Steven’s been doing for all of Steven Universe: Future. And it’s what he’s still falling into the habit of doing now, after his corruption incident. He’s still slapping a bandaid over his own problems and not allowing himself to be vulnerable in discussing them, and this is a source of self-inflicted emotional harm for him. It causes Onyx physical discomfort to hide away their features in the same way that it causes Steven intense inner discomfort to deny the truth of what he went through.

Onyx isn’t just experiencing what it’s like to be Steven for a day in the flesh, they’re experiencing what it’s like for him having to hide away every shameful part of himself he fears others won’t truly understand.

Now, a quick little aside. Let’s step back a few pages to see what else we learn about Onyx in this episode…

(Episode 9: Page 13)

There IS a moment where Onyx gets a photo taken of them by a nefarious little Onion. Given this is exactly what they wanted (to secure a photo of themself, some cemented proof of their existence), one might question why they respond to this in such an agitated way.

Well, after so many nights of existing in the background whilst their squabbling components literally “drove” their body around, I imagine that personal agency is a huge priority for Onyx. They did not consent to this particular image being taken, nor did they want this image to (as I imagine Onion might use it) be circulated around town against their wishes. Intent and circumstance matters.

(Episode 9: Page 19)

The other thing I find very interesting about Onyx that’s further highlighted in this episode is their association of loud, droning background sounds with the concept of “quiet.” An arcade is absolutely not “quiet” in the way most of us would define that word. 

(Episode 8: Page 13)

But remember, from Onyx’s perspective, existing in the background of all of Steven and Jasper’s cross-talk is all they knew for a long while. And now, without those personalities at the forefront of their mind, all they have to keep company with are their own thoughts and the sounds of their surroundings.

Thus, it makes sense to me that the subdued auditory chaos of an arcade would be a comfort to their ears.

(Episode 9: Page 22)

Tragically, for all of Onyx’s efforts this episode, they never manage to snap the picture they wanted. The Gems are just too hot on their trail.

And much like what happened with Steven himself, when all the frustrations and bitter feelings start boiling over, everything they’ve worked so hard to mask thus far just unravels. 

Now Onyx (and by extension, Jasper) can finally understand just how hard it is to be Steven.

_

Look out for the final post in this series at 7am PST tomorrow. Farewell!

[thefandomenchantress]

So I know I’m a little late to the party on this one, but I wanna talk about the David MV.

I finally decided to watch that nearly three hour video on the Literature Girl Insane MV, (by @/1moreff-creator) and HOLY SHIT IT’S SO GOOD. I wish I watched it sooner and wonder why I didn’t, I watch almost exclusively 1+ hour videos about random topics I know nothing about, and now there’s one for something I care a lot about! Why didn’t I watch immediately?!?

But my lapse in sanity aside, it finally got me motivated enough to talk about the David MV!

…Except only the part about Ace because of course that’s all I want to talk about. 9 out of 10 of my posts are either about him or have him involved somehow.

Anyways! Here’s the part I find very interesting!

This is arguably where Ace is most relevant, and therefore it makes sense I want to talk about it today.

Now, first things first, the Roman numeral. V (five) is Ace’s Roman numeral, as assigned by the crossword. The line attached is:

“Right now, why do you go insane?”

Which definitely fits. Ace could easily be framed as going insane, because he has mental breakdowns at a worryingly high frequency. Him and Veronika (who this might also be referring to if color theory is to be believed) are basically assigned the role of being seen as mentally unhinged within the class.

(…Ever think about how weird it is that the title is Literature Girl Insane, implying the star of the MV, David, is going insane, yet Ace is the one getting called insane, possibly by David? I think that’s interesting. But let’s get back on track.)

As established by other Roman numerals, the words in the background when a numeral shows itself also apply the character attached to said numeral. This is most obviously shown in the line near the top of the photo.

“A cat has 9 additional lives”

This is also easily applicable to Ace, since he survived Nico’s murder attempt against all odds. If Eden and Teruko hadn’t just so happened to be on the 2nd floor and walked into the gym when they did, he would’ve died. While the actual methodology of Nico’s murder attempt is unknown, it’s also possible that him even surviving long enough for Teruko and Eden to find them was a miracle. Either way, it fits.

The last quote on-screen intrigues me the most. It’s a quote from Hamlet.

“I am but mad north-northwest. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a hand saw.”

Now, first let’s look at just those words, without further context. It’s important we know what the words themselves mean before we do anything else. Let’s start with the definition of north-northwest, since that word is pretty important to the quote.

I’m sure most are familiar with north, east, south, and west. The four main directions on a compass. As well as Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, and Northwest. That splits the compass into eight directions, splitting the sections of north, east, south, and west in half.

Similarly, north-northwest is a direction that comes from splitting the compass into sixteen parts. It’s the half of the northwest section that’s closer to north.

Next, what the hell does “I know a hawk from a handsaw” mean? It’s almost half the quote, so it’s important we know.

Well…*extremely loud sigh* Shakespeare, as you know, was alive a very long time ago. As such, he writes in old-time-y English that’s hard to understand. And this quote has the misfortune of being something people argue over the translation of, at least as far as I could tell while researching.

Some people think Shakespeare meant a heronsaw, a type of bird, not a handsaw. Others think that no, he meant handsaw, but heron, in his time period, was also a common word for a tool that holds plaster/mortar/etc..

Either way, Shakespeare was probably referring to two types of birds, or two types of tools, which have key differences from one and other. I don’t think which one the DRDTdev thought was right really matters in this instance, since the quote makes sense either way. 15/16s of the time, Hamlet (the speaker of the quote) is sane and can tell two birds/tools apart.

The quote is, in summary, saying that Hamlet is mad only when it’s north-northwest, aka 1/16th of the time (I’m not sure if that somehow connects to there being 16 participants in the killing game, but I’m going to assume it doesn’t). The other 15/16s of the time, Hamlet is perfectly sane, thank you very much.

So, without context, this quote is saying that Ace is only insane 1/16th of the time. The rest of the time he’s sane.

Next, I think another important thing we have to do is take into account the whole screenshot as a whole. By that I mean we should not only look at each line individually, but how they relate to each other. In bold is the “why do you go insane?” Line, and to the left, in a font that blends more into the background, is the Hamlet line.

There is a contradiction of opinions here. One person says, “Why do you go insane?” while the other insists they’re only a little bit insane.

This could be referring to the opinions of David and Ace. After all, one could argue it was David underestimating Ace that led to his secret being revealed. David doesn’t bother being careful around Ace in the trial, despite Ace’s volatile nature. He piles suspicion onto Ace by saying it’s weird he didn’t see him on the second floor the night before the murder, even though it isn’t. After all:

Ace was in the gym. David was in the relaxation room. Those are on opposite sides of the floor, so of course David wouldn’t have seen Ace. He didn’t even have to walk anywhere close to the room Ace was in. But David saying this information like it’s weird and suspicious makes everyone else think it is.

David thinks: But what’s Ace gonna do about it? Somehow get the whole class on his side, even though almost everyone likes me more? Is everyone really going to trust the mentally unstable (one could say insane), dumb, cowardly jockey over me?

Yes, yes they will.

All this is to say, David, in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t really care about Ace throughout chapter two. He steals Nico’s secret from him, antagonizes him in the trial, and doesn’t care. Ace doesn’t matter. Ace, of all people, can’t be the one to ruin him. So who cares if Ace dislikes him? Ace is of no use to David, and Ace certainly isn’t smart enough to figure out David’s scheme. This is what David believes.

However, this leads to him not taking Ace’s volatile nature seriously enough, believing he is above the harm of someone like him. But hey, even a pawn can play a vital part in checkmating a king.

When David pisses off Ace, believing Ace can’t do anything besides get angry, yell, and make himself look more suspicious…That turns out to be a crucial mistake that ruins everything.

…Y’know, the irony of the class idiot being the one to beat the so-called master manipulator will never not be funny to me.

Anyways, we can sort of apply this to Hamlet, too. If Ace is Hamlet, since this is Hamlet’s line, and David is Claudius, his father-in-law, we do have a pretty good parallel.

Claudius, who secretly killed Hamlet’s father and then took his throne, is secretly not as righteous as he seems. However, Hamlet finds out about Claudius being the one who killed his father and seeks revenge. Claudius thinks Hamlet to be mad, but when Claudius isn’t around, Hamlet says, “But my uncle-father (Claudius) [is] deceived. I am but mad north-northwest. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a hand saw.” Eventually, Hamlet kills Claudius. So in DRDT terms, Ace finds out about David’s manipulation, David is unaware of this, and Ace eventually kills David’s public persona. Obviously this is an extreme simplification of the plot, but still.

…Of course, there’s also a chance this contradiction of opinions isn’t about Ace and David specifically. After all, David isn’t the only one to boil Ace down to his core traits of “dumb, angry, overall not a well-adjusted individual”. The whole class does this, at least for the most part. This Hamlet quote could just be trying to say what Ace has been saying. That everyone sees him as a loudmouth, stupid, cowardly and nothing more, when in reality there’s more to him than that.

I might have gone a little overboard with this part…I got excited…Hopefully this all actually makes sense, I had to revise some of this post because it got ramble-y and overall pretty cluttered.

So yeah. Here’s my (very late) contribution to the David MV discussion. Here’s what I think Ace’s part means. If you want me to elaborate anywhere, feel free to tell me, or if you want to tell me your thoughts, I’d love to see that!

[stormblessed95]

Hi! With the new drops do we now know why JM was extra shy during his birthday? 🤔

Thanks for your hard work doing all the compilations/timeline updates! Always stay safe! 💜

OH BOY. Okay, soooo I like almost don't want to Answer this because "shippy" theories have me EXHAUSTED lately, ive been sticking myself firmly in a just vibing with the facts headspace for the past month or so. But ever since memories dropped I've had people referencing back to this ask, that I got a WHILE ago now. Where I said, ask me again after memories 2021 and I have more content to base my thoughts around over why Jimin was in his "blushing era" around JK during Fall/start of winter of 2021. And well, yall certainly didn't forget about that 😂😂 And I apologize to you, anon, in particular for making you wait for MONTHS with this ask just chilling at the bottom of my inbox lol

As I mentioned in the ask, we saw blushing Jimin start at around the beginning of September and we didn't see it much again after the last time which was during the PTD Concerts when JK got super up in Jimin's face

But after we got more content, in the form of bangtan bombs, concert dvds and memories, the amount of times Jimin was blushing (including the 2 I've shown here and the others mentioned in the previous ask linked above), there were not anymore instances. So the "theories" i mentioned having about a possible dynamic shift, I'm not so sure if it was a shift, or just them enjoying the moment and/or just enjoying each other. Plans were starting to get set into motion, everyone was discussing exactly when they would start enlisting, what concerts they would get to have and get to do before that happened. Something else to note was that during this time frame, Jimin and JK had also started to plan out and start doing fittings for their photofolios for this time. We know because in one of the preview sketches for Jimins, he was in the same outfit as a ot7 vlive they did and for JK all his piercings match up to that time frame too. He didn't have as many before and he has since had multiple taken out/closed up. And those were some sexy concepts they both participated in. With some interesting dynamics and expressionism portrayed too

And well who knows how this stuff carried over into home settings, into conversations they were having. If either of them looked over ideas/sketches together or any selcas taken and sent to each other. All that is just guess work but who knows. My partner doing sexy photoshoot concepts would be something I find enjoyable and could attribute to possibly blushing or just general enjoyment of each other (not necessarily in an 18+ only either)

So, we have incredibly sexy photoshoots they are coming home from planning and shooting and sharing with each other. We have blushing happening on JKs birthday, where we know they saw each other, spent some time together and worked on the 3J butter routine, where Jimin blushed a bit watching JK push his hair back repeatedly. Which um, where do we see JK repeatedly pushing his hair back and trying to thirst trap us again? Oh yeah, Jimins birthday video THIS year lol

We also saw a bit of an uptick in the matching accessories between them during that time period too. But as I also mentioned in the first post, it's not like JK never made Jimin blush before. He has done so OFTEN over the years actually. JK just has this affect on Jimin where he just melts like butter when he looks at him. Lol its adorable. And it also goes both ways. Soooo I guess what it's coming down to here is.... I have NO IDEA. And I'm okay with that. I don't think he was shy and blushy over things like hickeygate. I don't think he was blushing over people thinking they were boyfriends. I don't think they went off and got married and was blushy through their "honeymoon period." I don't think there was necessarily any shift in their dynamics here either.

I think they were just.... happy together and a little extra in love. Maybe because they were reaffirming their commitment to each other over those few months as all their futures were up in the air and MS was around the corner and they knew things were going to be changing. Maybe they were making sure to see each other in New light and reconnect together and make promises together through all these events where they didn't know if it would be their last ones for a while yet or not. These were conversations being had between the members for years finally coming to a head and... maybe they just made sure to give each other extra appreciation and love through it all. Which affected Jimin in this way of blushing and shy happiness. Or when JK was being extra attentive, like on his birthday when he was super sweet to Jimin all through practice and then through his VLive too. They really were just very soft those few months. It's really nice to see too.

Sorry that's not much of an answer honestly, but it's all I've got for yall at this moment. And I personally, am okay with that. I'm okay with not knowing what was going on during those months or what Jimin was thinking about during those times. I think they are cute and precious moments that highlight something a little special about their bond. But everything else above? That's just pure speculation. I'm good with just leaving it at, their bond is pure and special and sweet. And these moments give us a peak into that dynamic between them just a little bit. And I'm grateful for it.💜

^ from practice on Jimins birthday 🥰

Hope that helped explain my thoughts at least a little? It was probably really rambling, but I hope it made sense. Lol thank you for the ask and always holding me accountable to follow through on what I say I'll do! 🤣 Hope you guys all have a lovely day!

[rocketturtle4]

Eclipse in progress part 2

Okay so I've only seen two more episodes and I kind of had in my head I'd watch till the end of 8 before writing anymore because I have the time but episode 7 just one two suckerpunched my feelings so I need to go regulate.

For the record while I'm a sucker for crying I get WAY MORE OVERWHELMED when things are bitter sweet and this episode is whoooooooaaaaaa

@wen-kexing-apologist @plantsarepeopletoo @grapejuicegay also @thegalwhorants I'm basically gonna @ you cause you interacted with my eclipse stuff, let me know if you'd rather I didn't

So some thoughts

I had forgotten about Namo he could also have stolen the diary and I think logistically this makes mroe sense because he is in a different year level so not expected to be in class BUT where did he get the key? Whereas Thua being class president potentially gives him key acces idk and I still feel like there's more layers

We still really haven't gotten background on anyone which is why I wasn't going to post yet so my theories havent changed much except

TURNS OUT AKK IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CAR

Did both Ayan and his uncle have a necklace? I'm really unsure about whether or not Ayan legit saw his suicide or has just vividally imagined it but n the dreams they're both wearing it whereas I had previously assumed Ayan was wearing his uncles necklace.

Namo also seems to genuinely believe in the curse so where did this rumour come from, I don't feel like it's NEW, did Akk hear it and just capitalise on it? or has someone else being doing this in the past? Is it passed down from the head prefect

also Khan and Wat are prefects were they indoctrinatinated by candelight??

1984 stuff was WAY LESS SUBTLE than I was expecting when Akk first found that book

Ayan convincing Akk he needs to 'tell the truth' and Akk being woried about his family and his reputation is obviously legit but also feels like a coming out metaphor ngl

Khan thinking Ayan is playing with Akk and Thua but gently confronting it rather than getting jealous made me appreciate him even more

ALSO THE POWER DYNAMICS in the framing of Ayan and Neo’s convo on the stairs, Neo is SO MUCH HIGHER and yet from the loew position Ayan managed to be confident and understanding.

IM SORRY ARE THESE CHILDREN EXPECTED TO WEAR THEIR BLAZERS REGARDLESS OF TEMPERATURE????

The three prefects convo was interesting when you consider the queer metaphor of the fact that Wat (so far) ISNT queer and is the one most openly empathetic to the protests, because he doesn't have the same personal stake as our gay boys

I want to know what wanna-be-prefect Nom and Aye think of the three prefects clearly non-prefect behaviour.

FUCK Firsts Goofy Smile is nearly as good as his doe eyes

Akk is way to relatable help me

god they're so proud this is gonna hurt

As a person who silently cries VERY SIMILARLY to Ayan (and just Khao in general because he cried like this on TC as well) I feel VERY SEEN by the way his tears just fall

HOW CAN I BE RELATING TO BOTH CHARACTERS HERE

I spent way to long examining the order of the boys and realising that Aye and Namo had swapped places

and that arguably you're more vulnerable when you're sleeping

THis ENTIRE SCENE

the interchanging eye opening

they both think each other was asleep

he's never really sleeping is one of my FAVOURITE tropes for forwarding a relationship and they doube whammied it but this one was CRAZY BECAUSE ITS NOT GOING TO FORWARD IT

Khan looked SO HAPPY TO HAVE KISSED HIM WAAAAAAAAH

DOUBLE WHAMMY

I have taken way to many screenshots and I can't believe episode 6 was a dream kiss and then episode 7 left us hanging but I'm still stopping for a bit. Have a few more moments that punched me in the gut

bye for now.

[s0lar-ch3ri]

i make a new theory post on a frog (psoilers ahead)

with theories such as felipe is evil and/or working with niklaus:

(post from aethlingg, his post can be found here! note: after research they no longer do jrwi content but rather qsmp content [specifically q!bbh and q!forever from what i noticed! theyre still very cool so go follow him [heres to hoping ik how he/they pronouns works btw])

(post from redcloverf3y, their post can be found here! i cannot find if they still do post jrwi and just talk about other fandoms rn, but nonetheless go follow them!)

(post from razberrypuck, its post can be found here! they def are still into jrwi from their lil bio and shit, but theres also others things they post, like q!charlie [or qsmp in general] and stuff, follow it too!)

to theories of what demon actually got felipe:

(post by pulchrasilva, their post [correct the pronouns if im wrong, i couldnt find anything on the blog] can be found here! considering how five or so minutes ago they made a jrwi post, they def still talk about it, as well as other things, go follow them!)

to even some on felipe BEING niklaus (which i reblogged and stuff):

(post is from aethlingg again, this one can be found here! for once i cant get a full image because its a long one but ill be talking bout my tags on it too)

theres been 2 posts on how felipe wasnt the culprit (heres one by wrinklemcdinkle) (heres another by ralexsol) ive seen, so im throwing my own theory into the mix: the demon is kuba kenta and kk (or mr. kenta) has relations to both niklaus hendrix AND the compass. lets get into it!

lets start with the tags i wanted to use (i found they werent actually on the felipe is nk post, but rather on the second felipe is being framed post i linked)! theres a couple details here i mention but why do i say kuba in particular?

the only person who could actually have something against gillion straight up is jayson ferin, mainly cause he got stabbed by him twice, but jayson isnt a demon! you know who is a demon though? kuba kenta. so for jayson, mr kenta was the perfect way.

as for felipe's escape, the rope was burnt, correct? who has fire powers again? mr ferin. when felipe was being investigated or whatever, kuba contacted jayson and he got him out of there, leaving there be reason to assume felipe was dragged to hell.

yes i do think felipe was controlled by kuba to hurt gillion, it plugs up some plot holes thats for sure. so how would felipe been target if he only pulled the card the next day? because felipe probably was a target since he was born.

its important to point out the compass not only having effects like kk's scratches do (give nightmares, cause physical reactions/changes, etc), but a similar color pattern to both niklaus and felipe. (pointed out by several people before me, like aethlingg in his actual essay about evil felipe working with niklaus shown above) another interesting detail is the nk tattoo is used with a moon attached, felipe's choice of goddess to worship. he immediately finds a friendship with chip when about 4 eps ago, niklaus had been given a stick by chip (important cause of how it was harder to spy on niklaus since the stick was in his room and stuff before, i think itd also add in an idea of "greater connection with the person" and stuff). i could go on and on abotu their connections.

lets get back to the connection of niklaus and kuba. how would they even have met? probably something like chip did for his deal. as the quote above shows (found from the post by redcloverf3y, heres another link to it), people who have that desire for their goals will find him, not those who look for it. why would kuba need to strike a deal with desire daddy? because how else would he be able to use felipe. theres no way the curse would change the free will of felipe (it didnt do that for chip or gillion), so if he wants felipe to be a better puppet, he needs something to interfer with that. niklaus and kuba cut that deal, and felipe doesnt lose that curse on him, well to the others. kuba wouldnt have been able to give felipe the nightmares, anytime we see him hes with the three, so someone would have seen him get scratched! even if he got scratched in the couple months before they met him (cause felipe was six months old, not a couple days), the scars dont fade, rather theres the black ooze to them that burns, making it not a forgetable thing.

speaking of that, lets move onto the daggers situation. why the fuck would a tour guide have such dangerous daggers, poisonous ones to be exact (i heard it had poison effects somewhere, but sadly cannot find any info about that)? felipe has no need for poison daggers! he literally can spit acid! that means its only being used for its forgetfulness, which doesnt make too much sense to me since its not like being stabbed isnt just something you remember but theres the fucking pain of it too (example being, when i was younger and we were in the car getting ready to leave some place, there was this like tightness on my foot and i look at the door and [because it was one of those automatic doors and shit] it was closing on my foot. i didnt remember getting my foot in there and i still dont know how it happened, i do remember though how much of a bitch the pain was. not close to the pain of stabbing im sure, but you still remember the pain even without the memory of how it got there). that leaves one last usage: actually stabbing. again, hes a tour guide, he has no reason to need to stab people, no reason he should have a dagger that damaging, let along access to one like it. you know what has good weapons, ones with magic and shit? the navy. hell, theyre building a mechicanical leviathin! they of course have magic weapons for combat and such. and being a vice admiral, kk would have access to all of them. he gets a dagger for felipe, uses his deal to make sure felipe does whats needed, there.

so why would pulling the card get kuba as his enemy? its the magic of the cards! why would felipe hate gill? why would gillion dissappear only able to be brought back by powerful magic (whole can of worms for niklaus's abilities btw, needed to point that out)? the cards! theres also how felipe did reveal what his plans with gill were gonna be, but its probably just the cards.

i do also think the compass is related to kenta cause of their abilities being matched and it kinda fits him, a man driven even beyond the grave to reach a goal, even if that goal is only known by him...but this is long enough!

i hope i fed someones wants and if theres any contradiciting (or even more proving) evidence, lmk and ill try to counter it, bye and ill see you probably in a writing thing ive been putting off since this morning to write this

[delta-the-mando]

Alright..

Alright!

It is done! I have finally finished this rambling! Good way to start off July, don’t ya think? :D

As I’ve said in a previous post, I’ve switched from trying to piece together the odds and ends of The Cuphead Show to possibly predict future plot, to just..talking about things I’d like to talk about. You’ll see some things listed here from the list of unfired Chekhov’s guns, but I of course won’t talk about everything on that list.

It’s still a long post though, so..proceed, if ye so desire!

NOTE: THIS DOES ALSO CONTAIN TALK OF THE DEVIL’S PITCHFORK, SO BE AWARE OF THAT!

And also just quick apologies to people I’ve tagged, I just wanted to let you guys know I referenced some of your posts in this so that’s why I tagged you and linked your posts. 💙 If you want me to un-tag you or remove the links, please let me know!

The Good, the Bad, and the In-Between

"Come with me to the Inkwell Isles; it's just off the coast, maybe 29 miles; where there's good and there's bad and then there's in-between; with Cuphead and Mugman you'll see what I mean."

The intro lyrics state there's good, bad, and an in-between at Inkwell, and seemingly hints that the cupbros are said "in-between". Personally, I believe this "in-between" is referring to neutrality, grey morality, or otherwise middle ground. However, while the brothers could represent the middle ground between good and bad, the line "With Cuphead and Mugman you'll see what I mean" could alternatively mean that if you follow Cuphead and Mugman on their misadventures, you'll see the good, the bad, and the neutral all around Inkwell. Doesn't necessarily mean they're the in-between, just that these things exist all around wherever you go.

JERRY

This guy could’ve been just some random background character we’ll never see again, but the fact that he’s not only a named character (his name isn’t spoken, but his name is listed in the end credits) but ALSO in the INTRO, that clearly indicates SOME kind of importance. But WHAT’S his importance?? @dimonds456 theorizes that Jerry is out to collect the bounty on Cuphead (as well as mention other interesting things) in their post regarding the black market, but regardless of whether or not this ends up being true, we’ll definitely see Jerry again in the future.

Another question I personally have though is, what is Jerry? And I don’t just mean his profession. I have been pondering this for a while now and had a theory...but it got parry-slapped out of my hands when I realized Jerry is a bit of red herring, or otherwise wild goose chase. Now I'm running back and forth between two different possibilities that would have different outcomes in the overall storyline.

Why do I say he’s a red herring/wild goose chase?

Well, first I want you to look at his nose. It shares a major resemblance to the Devil's nose, and the noses of his imps (most of them have purple noses, but some do have red).

Jerry also has a slim body type like them, too (with the exception of Henchman). And, before you ask:

His tall hat could very well be hiding horns.

The long robe he wears could be hiding a tail.

The Devil and many of his imps don’t have wings, so he may just not have any to hide.

No, I'm not saying that's the Devil in disguise or anything, but I'm saying he could very well be a type of devil nonetheless. The only thing that would really throw the theory off is how Jerry has white eyes with black pupils, rather than the yellow eyes with red pupils that devils have. Even when the Devil himself shapeshifts into something (or someone, looking at Quadratus) else, his eyes remain red and yellow..

..EXCEPT FOR THE TIME WHEN HE WAS THE CARNY.

When I rewatched the episode to double-check his eye color, my dad said “They probably made a mistake.” And normally, I would agree. In cartoons, there’s a lot of times where you’ll see something missing for a frame or two, or something is incorrectly colored, etc., so if the Devil’s eyes were black and white for only one quick scene in that Carny segment, I could understand that and would only pass it off as simply an error in the sense that the animators wanted to mimic old cartoons in that exact way, that sometimes things are incorrectly colored, though it would definitely be weird for that to be the only time that incorrect colors happen in the show.

However, because the coloration is consistent throughout the whole Carny segment, and because of this last scene where we actually watch his eyes go from black and white to red and yellow, that right there indicates that it was an intentional choice. He can change his eye color if he really wanted to.

So Jerry still could be a devil with at least some shapeshifting ability to change his eye color.

..HOWEVER, that was my ORIGINAL theory.

I want you to redirect your attention now to this spider guy in the trailer. So far we haven’t seen this guy in any episodes, we don’t know his name, and he seems to be glaring at Jerry from across the street. He’s a blank slate character, and we currently don’t have a lot to go off of to figure out his importance in the series.

But what we can see is his appearance, and he actually shares similarities with Jerry!

Think about it:

Their noses are also the same.

White eyes with black pupils.

Jerry’s scarf could be hiding big fangs.

Jerry’s robe could also be hiding yet another set of legs.

They both have black faces and, I’m assuming, arms.

They both have those little hairs on the sides of their faces, a detail that previously escaped my notice.

Now, the one tiny problem with this possibility is, unless spider-people aren’t all shaped the same, Jerry’s body type is still slimmer than Mr. Spider here. But because we only have the one spider to really go off of, this problem could easily be brushed aside for the time being.

Could Jerry be one of these spider-folk? Are these two glaring at each other in the intro because they might know each other? Are they rivals, or just not get along with each other? Only time will tell us at this point.

Mugman’s connection with Quadratus

Now obviously some good questions one may ask would be “Who exactly is Quadratus?” or “Why’s Quadratus—this all-knowing ancient being—just..out there?”

But a more important question to ask would be, how exactly does Mugman know Quadratus and how to summon him?

Here’s what I personally think happened:

Mugman first found out about Quadratus from either a book or a story told by Elder Kettle.

Let’s say the isles have a library. I’m not sure how often the cupbros go into town or if the library would have many books about such things as this, whether Quadratus would fall under their ancient history or myths and fables I’m not sure (In-game, Quadratus is known by others, and it’s said that very few have spoken with him). But either way, maybe the book caught Mugman’s eye and he decided to give it a read.

Or better yet, he found the book not at a library, but in Elder Kettle’s house. Elder Kettle has bookshelves with both books and potion bottles (the potion from the game, anyone?). There’s a possibility one of those books is historical/fantasy with mention of Quadratus. Maybe Mugman read it out of curiosity and even asked Elder Kettle if Quadratus actually exists, and got to listen to Elder Kettle tell a story about Quadratus in response, which would also happen to include the necessary information of making the water fizzy to summon him (I don’t know if it would be in the book). Or maybe he only found out about Quadratus from one of Elder Kettle’s story times.

Elder Kettle is a war vet, so of course he has stories to tell. And how he fabricated the story of the “handle fairy”, he’s also good at making up stories. So whether or not the stories he tells are actually true, chances are Cuphead and/or Mugman will still believe them. And believe Mugman did. He never told Cuphead, probably because he figured Cup would think this Quadratus story is—and I quote—“banana oil”, which is why Cuphead doesn’t know about Quadratus in Sweater Off Dead, but Mugman does.

And the fact Mugman knew exactly where to find Quadratus indicates that he’s visited him before in the past. I believe Mugman had gone out in search of Quadratus during the night (because if he went out during the day, Cuphead might get worried when he can’t find his bro, and if Mugsy told him he was searching for Quadratus he’d probably talk him out of it, which would clearly cause obvious lack-of-sweater problems later on) and when he did finally find him, and summoned him, he probably decided to stay and ask some questions so it’s not exactly a “wasted trip”, summoning an ancient being and then like..leaving right afterwards, y’know?

I wouldn’t be surprised if Mugman had asked Quadratus about the future, and was warned of great danger ahead, perhaps even more specifically warned to keep an extra close eye on his brother. This right here could also be the start of Mugman’s increased paranoia and fear of danger. Mugman’s attention to detail and how he immediately springs into action to save Cup’s soul from Soulball, despite literally trembling in fear of the Devil moments before, would show that he already knew something might happen and he had to be ready to help his bro.

“But Del, wouldn’t he have noticed the carn-evil sign before they entered the carnival?”

Good catch, but the boys were probably too focused on having fun at the carnival and evading responsibilities for even Mugman to initially notice the sign’s a little off. Think of a time when you were too focused (or not focused at all) on something and didn’t notice something else. It happens sometimes, it’s natural.

And hey. They’re still kids. They’re going to get distracted. Also natural. :3

“Stunned” souls and Mugman’s “parry” ability

Still on the subject of Mugman, I’d like to draw your attention to how he can literally grab Cuphead’s soul and shove it back into his body, and also look at the way Cup’s soul behaves.

The only other character we've seen handle Cup's soul is the Devil.

Mugman has the apparent ability to revive someone (which is done in-game with a parry-slap).

Cuphead’s soul doesn’t actually seem to respond outside of his body, from what we’ve seen.

Souls are temporarily stunned when they first leave their bodies.

Allow me to explain Points 3 and 4 real quick:

While the first case of Cuphead’s “stunned soul” (Carn-evil) could be explained in a way that everything was just happening so quickly that Cuphead couldn’t register what was going on—

—the second time, however (Sweater Luck Next Time), he doesn’t do anything till he’s back in his body. He just stays in a dazed unresponsive state and slowly begins to float away, before Mugman jumps in to revive him again.

And I say souls are temporarily stunned because in both of these cases, Cuphead’s soul had just left his body; compare this to the other souls that were freed when the Soulball game was destroyed, that immediately flew back to their bodies. They had some time to adjust, whereas Cuphead didn’t even get the chance to before being “parry patty-cake’d” back to life.

So now going back to Points 1 and 2, while Mugman’s ability to grab Cuphead’s soul could just be used as cartoon-logic comedic factor or whatnot (like how Cuphead lassoed the moon in Root Packed), I’d instead say he legit has the ability to revive someone - something that no one else may have (though we don’t know for sure yet). The question then is, if only he has this ability, then how?

Well...remember Quadratus?

Mugman likely found out from him that he would need to protect his brother’s soul, and Quadratus probably gave him a potion to grant him this ability, similar to the potion in the game that allows us to parry (and have literal finger guns, of course, but that's another topic). It's clear that Quadratus keeps strange and rare items in his pool, such as the ball of invisible yarn made from the fur of a long-extinct creature, so it wouldn't be surprising if he had a potion in there too.

Also I’d like to point out that neither time that Cuphead was revived did he even THANK Mugman for saving him. The first time he was revived, he took a deep breath and yelled “RUN!” before running away with his brother. The second time, he just stood next to his brother, looking up at the Devil. No acknowledgement whatsoever that he had literally just lost his soul and was brought back to life.

So this leads me to another question..

Did Cuphead even know that Mugman revived him, or that Mug even has this ability?

Honestly? I don’t think he knows. Remember that unresponsive soul state? I believe that when Cup is revived, he retains zero memory of what happened during that dazed timeframe. Maybe to him he just got really super dizzy, or blacked out, or his memory just goes YEET. All he can really assume is that Mugman helped him..but what he doesn’t know is how exactly.

Nightmarish foreshadowing

I had already been freaking out over this, though @masteroffakesmiles already beat me to putting it into words both here and here.

I believe Cuphead’s nightmare in Sweater Off Dead is heavy foreshadowing for future episodes.

The first thing that happens in the nightmare is that Mugman gets taken away..

..and we see that happen in The Devil’s Pitchfork.

Cuphead next turns to Elder Kettle for help..

..and I think you see where I’m going with this.

I brought up this theory to a friend of mine, and to quote their response:

“So in the nightmare in Sweater Off Dead, like you pointed out, Mugman was taken, which could be foreshadowing, but the fact Elder Kettle supposedly DIED in the nightmare?? Look I’m not saying Elder Kettle is gonna die, because I don’t think this is the type of show to do something like that, but I am saying there could very well be a death fake-out or something.”

Sorta like what masteroffakesmiles said. We’re all on the same wavelength here.

The chances of something actually happening to Elder Kettle is still pretty darn slim, despite the show taking a more angsty turn, but making Cuphead think something bad happened? Oh heck yes, that’s going on the Devil’s to-do list.

Reminds me actually of the second Lego Movie when Emmet’s dream was foreshadowing the movie’s events. Maybe, just maybe, we’re getting the same thing happening here.

Also..remember: Ol’ Scratch may not actually know who Elder Kettle is, but Cup did slip and say his name once, to which the Devil asks “Who’s Elder Kettle?” before having a door slammed in his face. He might think about this later on..and get an idea of what to do next.

The “saving Mugman arc”

Also brought up by masteroffakesmiles here, it’s clear the “saving Mugman arc” will take at least two episodes, judging by a scene in the trailer that doesn’t appear in The Devil’s Pitchfork.

What worries me is how challenging this might actually be for Cuphead. This whole ordeal does not seem like it can easily be resolved in two episodes already (which is why I say at least two), and not only that...but when you think about just how joyful Cuphead was to zap the Devil with his own pitchfork, even tricking him by saying he was gonna give it back..then zapping him again..

...I think the Devil will play dirty and do the same thing right back.

He’ll say he’ll release Mugman…but then NOT do that..

Not only that..but it’s clear a lot of us are thinking that “vile Mugman” from the game’s bad ending is gonna be a thing. And that right there, my friends..is a whole new door to so much angst potential.

It would actually be fairly easy for Ol’ Scratch to manipulate Mugman. Remember, both the Devil and Mugman heard Cuphead say “There’s nothing you can take from me that I care about,” so poor Mugsy would still be thinking about this and the Devil would obviously bring it back up. Think something like “Oh, but you heard your brother.. He doesn’t care about you.” Mugman would then remember the day’s other events, and think..maybe..maybe the Devil is right..

And there you have it. He’s got the little mug right where he wants him.

My friend and I had dug into this and here’s a couple important chunks of their reply:

“One thing I find interesting about the entirety of (The Devils Pitchfork) is how the dynamic between Cuphead and Mugman is showcased. Cuphead seemingly wants to be more independent from his brother, but the way he expresses that makes it seem like he’s tired of him, or annoyed with him. Not only that, but instead of apologizing when being confronted with that, he goes on to say, ‘well, if it makes you feel any better…’ (…) For Mugman, throughout the day, it probably seemed like Cuphead wanted to get rid of him. This is emphasized by the fact that the last thing Cuphead said was ‘There’s nothing you can take from me that I care about.’”

“All this is to say that if it does go the route that the Devil claims Mugman’s soul, or something along the lines of the game’s bad end, he could bring this up, as a way to touch a nerve. ‘Oh, you didn’t seem to care about me before, why are you suddenly doing it now?’ And even if nothing like the bad end happens, and it turns out Mugman was just taken and nothing more, that could still be brought up, during or after the rescue attempt. Think somewhere along the lines of ‘But I thought you didn’t like me anymore’.”

There’s a LOT of potential here, and it hurts. And it hurts that it makes sense.

So now, if “vile Mugman” is gonna happen, let’s quickly talk about the next obvious thing: the missing chunk of his handle.

It’s very odd to think his handle would just..lose a chunk of itself when he turns evil. If the show does go this route, I’d like to believe something caused it to break.

Like, say, I dunno…an accidental blast from a certain pitchfork? Maybe out of carelessness, perhaps? Hm?

This would actually be a great angst point, as Cuphead, most likely the cause of said accident, would feel absolutely terrible that he hurt his brother..

And Mugman..?

Oh..How do you guys think he’d feel…that his brother hurt him?

And from Handle With Care, we know he wouldn’t..*ahem*..handle the situation well, with his handle breaking again.

I dunno about you guys….but all I’m hearing..is a big “STAY AWAY FROM ME!”

The sweater

The sweater is still out there somewhere!! This is still a key item of importance!!

Maybe it could be used against the Devil again in the Saving Mugman arc!

Or maybe used against Jerry to help Cuphead if the whole “bounty hunting” thing is true!

“Wait wait, Del, you mentioned Jerry..what do you mean by that?”

Let’s step back to the possibility of Jerry being a type of devil. So far the only devilish type we’ve seen the sweater’s effect on is the Devil himself. Quadratus said the sweater would keep the Devil at bay. That was the purpose of the sweater, as that was the problem at the time: to keep the Devil from taking Cup’s soul. But I’m curious to know if the sweater’s effect would work on just ANY devil, including the imps. If it does, and if Jerry is a devil, then that could be a way to keep him at bay too!

…Buuuuut there IS another thing I’ve been thinking about..

The Devil obviously got the sweater off of him somehow at the end of Sweater Luck Next Time. But if he couldn’t remove it himself, because he can’t touch it, then who removed it? Did Henchman? Some other imps? If that’s the case, then either the sweater doesn’t affect other devils, OR the effect can’t go through GLOVES.

And Ol’ Scratch doesn’t wear any, so he had to rely on someone else to remove the sweater.

But y’know what else?

JERRY wears gloves.

That means, even if the sweater could shock him if slipped over him like what happened to Mr. S in Sweater Luck Next Time, he could easily just pull it off and keep it at arm’s length. So much for that.

Or.. Maybe..

The shocking effect can’t go through clothes at all..

And that’s why Jerry is so darn bundled up in clothing..

Because he prepared himself for anything.

[saviolum-sanguineus]

Luna’s Ascension Arc (aka Why Joel Will Lose a Limb)

So. How are we doing after last episode, Butterfly Courtiers? If you’re an Esme, Luna, or Joel fan, I’m taking the bottle away from you and giving you a nice warm plushie to hold. If you’re a Penelope stan…you’ve done nothing wrong and we love you.

That water festival sure did sink a lot of ships, but it also gave us some interesting info that might let us peek into the future of Pheles. Here’s how Luna is going to become powerful enough to destroy the empire and why Joel is going to end the series down a hand (literally). Long post, full theory under cut (skim the bold parts for a tl;dr).

We know that Luna is a member of the dissident Binary Church—remember during the trial, when she took special notice of Phosphor’s necklace? The joining of moon and star is the symbol of the dissident church. Keep that in mind. Luna’s reaction to the pregnancy truth reveal is heartbreaking, but what she says in the subway with Ariel is particularly interesting.

“I'm alright…Nothing's happened. It's all a manipulative illusion, anyway. I'm applying to grad school.”

But Esme-mun, you say, clearly Luna was emotionally shutting down in order to process! A fair point, but her specific phrasing here sounds like she’s got something up her sleeve. The Butterfly Court itself is referred to repeatedly as “manipulative”, “deceptive”, and “filled with wonder and fantastic illusion”. Luna could very well be talking about the entire structure of Pheles that keeps the Praecian empire afloat—and we know that her knowledge of magic is rooted in multiversal mathemagic theory. “Applying to grad school” suggests that Luna isn’t just going to jump into current revolutionary efforts (though we’ve seen her do this at the protests, when she picked up the banner and talked to Amer). And “nothing’s happened” sounds like she’s convincing herself—unless Luna’s talking about a parallel universe in which literally none of that has happened. Even untrained, she was able to successfully perform a blood-magic ritual to see her fate in alternate universes.

Here’s what we know so far about Luna’s abilities: she has a passive magic sense that allows her to sense strong magic potential, she has an innate ability to touch and interact with other versions of herself across the multiverse, and even though she’s studied formal casting, her power is greater when she does natural, unrestrained casting. And as we’ve seen with Aurora immolating someone through uncontrolled casting (wow, remember when that had us all screaming?), using the Weave without structure doesn’t just mean the caster is channeling more power, it changes them. Aurora’s arms were glowing white-hot after the murder and didn’t cool down until she was calmed (and even then, it was a slow process). Joel’s magic also leaves lasting traces on his appearance (glowing hands/arms/eyes). These all have adverse effects on the casters—but Luna isn’t subject to the same kind of constraints.

Joel and Aurora are human and have to channel the external Weave by trained elemental affinity. Luna is a robot with the Weave implanted internally—her spells don’t take the same kind of physical toll on her body. With her going for further study, this potentially means we have no idea how much raw Weave magic Luna is capable of manipulating at once. Ariel has been shown to be incredibly and consistently protective of Luna. This has largely been framed as their concern as a caretaker to prevent her being harmed, but it’s looking more likely that Ariel’s efforts weren’t just about Luna not getting hurt: they’re worried about what she might be capable of doing afterwards.

Let’s go back to Binarism for a second: the dissident faction of the church uses the joined star and moon as its symbol. Religion is a source of some conflict in Pheles, but the important thing to note here is that power is associated with the celestial (Aurora’s magic potential and the dawn, the spires on the churches, “stars” as a euphemism for the Larva). Luna is pretty obviously tied to the moon—her name and her colour scheme, for starters. So who or what is the star that she needs to join with to gain more power?

Joel. It doesn’t come up as often as his healing magic, but he’s fire-aligned and heavily associated with the sun. The Algid calls him “aligned with the sun” which could just be a weird fae-speak thing; Esme compares him to the sun the morning after the Parlan incident; Penelope calls him “radiant,” “holy,” and “brilliant as the sun” a lot. What’s the sun? A star.

So if Joel is the star that Luna needs to join with to unlock her full moon potential, how is that going to happen? Romantically seems highly unlikely, given that Luna is only a little older than Penelope and we all know how hard Joel swerved that because of the age difference. It’s time to get a little abstract: Luna’s family name is Nova—like supernova, the state of star death where it explodes after being triggered by either gravitational self-collapse or re-ignition of its own core. We’ve seen the first condition fulfilled by the last twenty or so minutes of the water festival episode. As for the second, a possible cause of re-ignition of nuclear fusion in IRL stars is accumulating material from a stellar merger, or gravitationally pulling material in from a nearby star.

Speaking of last episode, notice that Joel was holding his left wrist in his right hand right after Luna’s revelation? Seems like a hint as to where Luna might get that nearby star material from—she’s got shapeshifting powers like Ariel, so it might not be something as grisly and Nicholas-style as literally eating Joel’s hand. It could be grafting or growing her own, or merely shapeshifting into Joel and causing a chain of events that ends with the real Joel losing his hand. He might also willingly sacrifice it—his martyr complex is yet another constant in the series.

Here’s where the theory branches: Joel is The Farfallan of the whole series, so let’s put on our Catholic hat for a second. The right hand is associated with honor and righteousness. Jesus sits at God’s right hand side and it’s tradition to cross yourself with your right hand: this could indicate that Joel will sacrifice himself for Luna to gain power and create a new universe branch where “nothing happened”. Maybe if they reason it as a way to achieve the revolution they both desire with minimal bloodshed?

On the other hand (heh), the left hand is associated with the fallen. Matthew 25: 32-33 says “And he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right, but the goats on his left.” Here the goats set to the left represent those who were not faithful and thus fallen from God’s grace—given that Binarism and Farfallanism don’t have the same deities, this could be a sign that Luna will somehow sacrifice/consume/use Joel’s left hand to fuel her ascension.

The left hand of God also represents judgement, however. The Archangel Gabriel sits at His left hand and is the herald of divine visions. Joel could possibly go against Luna/her ascension (judgement) and lose his left hand in the process, therefore giving Luna what she needed to reach the next stage of power.

Either way, I feel like we're going to Find Out Things next episode.

[tlgtw]

-- Second Prototaxite Incident: Hair --

Hello,

It is with great ANGER I inform you that I have been beset with another moment akin to, months ago, that I saw images of prototaxite fossils.

Some of you may recall my post from some time ago, regarding my theory (Though not presumably mine, cause frankly I'd be really surprised if I actually was the first to suggest this concept.) that the mountain Leyndell is built on top of, as well its crater, crater lake, central island *to* that crater lake, the incredibly long vertical chamber ending with the Forsaken Depths, the Deeproot Depths themselves, and the formations of the Siofra and Ainsel Rivers (Google images of 'lava tubes' and compare them to the entrance areas of Ainsel, to quickly see what I mean for those ones, specifically.) all seem to indicate that what I have been referring to lately as 'Mt Leyndell,' was in-fact, an active volcano, looooong in the past.

I have literally SO much fucking circumstantial evidence that can be framed to support this theory. It's a blast.

Come that part of "Episode 2," (I'll be announcing the new-and-improved forecast for all of that on Monday, as planned.) you'll see what I mean for yourself. So I'm not gonna go into any other details here.

The real point of this post is, just like the first time this happened, that moments ago I found another piece of what is, to confirm, literally just circumstantial evidence. The only proof is in my eyeballs, just as before, it's literally just appearances. That I nonetheless find so completely random in how precise it is, that I can scarcely imagine what else kind of reveal it could be foreshadowing.

Assuming, of course, that it *is* specifically, foreshadowing *something,* in the first place. Which is not an insignificant assumption to make.

My own literal lack of imagination is of course not a sign of any clairvoyance. The video that will include the covering of this topic itself will go over it all properly, and there is a *lot* I still haven't said, regarding my so-called 'Mt Leyndell,' and ensuing potential implications for the rest of the story, if such a thing was actually revealed. ('Mt Leyndell' isn't even the actual name of the topic as a whole.)

(And if you want to be cheeky about it, too. The four colours currently associated with the powers of the Elden Ring: Black, Yellow, Orange, and Red, are also all found in lava as well! With the molten rock itself, and then the hardened outer crust of it. And there's also the interaction between the Rune of Death and obsidian as expressed through the Godslayer equipment and, then there's the whole Capital of Ash thing, with embers falling down from the sky for days upon days proceeding it and then, uh... hm...............)

I think I am beating around the bush.

To shorten it all, then: "Get excited!" and the random-ass fucking HAIR on Marika's hammer in the E3 reveal teaser, a trillion fucking years ago for this game, is fucking pele's hair.

No shit the magic of the Fire Giants all look the way they do, then, don't they? No shit, the 'Draconian' preset, from the character creator, says they didn't LIVE for very long, isn't it!? No shit, a tree sprouting next to a mountain with a lake on top, would be given a moniker like 'the melting pot of ancient life' during the age of the ancient dragons where that same tree, during the *current* age, for no clear reason, isn't! As well as why the powers of the Elden Ring, responsible for the Living Jars, are drawn the otherwise completely random thematic connection to STEWING.

And so on and so on. I'm of course just teasing. You'll see all of this and more (and as a lot more interesting, I hope, than all this is appearing here) in that video itself.

Will it be eventually revealed somehow that my identification is wrong, and that this and everything else had actually been foreshadowing something else entirely!? Heavens-to-betsy, I'm going to be furious if it doesn't.

As they say, confidence kills the gambling heart. And I hold mine very close.

I'll Be Yours, T-L-G-T-W

[seventeenlovesthree]

Digimon Adventure Relationship Analysis: How Yamato and Koushirou, two of the (theoretically) most introverted characters, actually connect very well in the background and are emotionally and intellectually compatible with each other - depending on which canon you choose to look at and whether said canon lets them “communicate”

Like it is the case with many less visible relationships in Digimon Adventure, you might want to take a very close look on how these two interact with each other. Because, for the most part, I’m inclined to say it shouldn’t be a surprise that they’re getting along very well and are actually seen musing, theorizing an plan crafting very nicely once they’re allowed to have screentime together. I say “for the most part”, because there are a few instances in canon that make them clash. A lot. So let’s look at the fine line between “introverts connect well” and “two characters being at odds, because they’re different kinds of introverts”.

I once made a half-serious post on discord about how I felt the different kinds of canons characterized these two interacting with each other. So let’s look at these points one by one:

01: Don't interact that much, but respect each other (Yamato even opens up towards Koushirou in ways he hasn't done towards the others at that point in time, like "I want to evolve too, you know", he might even be a bit protective because he's "smol".)

Despite stating that they don’t interact “that” much, it’s still remarkable how incredibly comfortable they seem with each other. Admittedly, at first I only had “that one” episode in mind that allowed them to go looking for their crests together, since it literally is the most prominent example of them interacting at all. However, thanks to the PSP game - which I will be referencing in a minute -, there actually are quite a few instances that show that, not only are they listening to each other very carefully, but also share some quiet moments together in which they just... Interact very nicely. So let’s fuse these two canons together for emphasis:

PSP game: L i t e r a l l y one of the most prominent relationships besides Taiora, wow, Yamato is vibing with Koushirou a lot, they theorize and worry together (and Yamato offers him to teach him how to cook in one of the side stories. Wholesome).

Yamato is portrayed as very interested in what Koushirou has to say in general (and remembers things he has been ranting about in the past), indicating very early on that he values his opinion - and is also worried about him (which might be his big brother instincts kicking in here and there, since Koushirou is not only younger than him, but just a tad bit taller than Takeru). As said, this might be even more emphasized on in the game, but not only does Yamato ask Koushirou whether he’s fine on his own a lot, but they generally just talk a lot about theories - and one thing I found interesting is that these two seem to be watching TV in their free time, because they reference it a few times, so that could also theoretically be something they bond over. That - and also food. 

(This one I remembered a bit differently, because Yamato specifically addressed Koushirou here in the German dub. “Do you think this will be okay, Izzy? I’ve never hitchhiked before.”)

Then again, there obviously is the famous “Let’s go on an adventure together” episode; it starts with them worrying about Taichi and Agumon - and ends with them having one of the most genuine conversations Yamato may have ever had up to this point. Koushirou even seems a bit taken aback by just how open Yamato is towards him, asking him about why he wants to find his crest and straight up tells him that he wants to mature and discover sides about himself he hasn’t known yet. 

It’s a very honest conversation, showing Yamato letting his guard down towards someone else, which should be a remarkable development. Especially because of how it frames their interaction: Koushirou, upon getting asked why he wants to find his Crest, answers in a very typical fashion: “Because I want to know what Kabuterimon evolves into.” Of course it’s knowledge related, he’s curious and wants to know. Yamato, however, talks about his own development - and by doing so, he basically opens up towards a “friend”, displaying a moment of trust and friendship. So it shouldn’t be surprising that this is where they are finding their crests...

And even if one might have to squint to see it, this may have been the “click” moment establishing them staying communicative in the future. In the most subtle way imaginable. So not only does Yamato maintain his openly worried nature towards Koushirou here and in the future to some degree...

... It also, somewhat, establishes Yamato as the (second to) third most important person Koushirou consults (whenever Taichi and Sora aren’t available).

This is important - because this is something that carries over to 02, Tri and Kizuna. Speaking of which, let’s head over to 02 now:

02: "One braincell" bro squad with Taichi. Very soft and very communicative. Yamato can actually read Koushirou pretty well and even tells his mother that she needs to understand Koushirou only gets persistent towards her, because he worries.

The series basically opens with them still communicating - even if it happens in the back (”Yamato-san told me what happened!���), it definitely indicates a stable connection between these two, even three years later. And although 02 mainly puts Yamato besides Taichi or as a third wheel next to Taichi and Koushirou...

... It also shows how well these two actually understand each other better than expected. One of my favourite scenes in regards of them and their friendship with Taichi and Sora as a whole happens by the very end of the season. Taichi and Sora are investigating together and Koushirou is the one asking Yamato if he’s okay with not having gone with them. His intentions about asking this are not very clearly stated, however - Yamato immediately explains that he would be useless since only Agumon could evolve in case of an emergency, so Taichi was the right one to go with Sora. It implies that Koushirou has been worried about Yamato - and that Yamato himself doesn’t harbor any feelings of inferiority (or even jealousy) towards his friends. It’s just a wonderful display of trust and care between them. 

Furthermore, Kae, Koushirou’s mother, enters the scene asking what it is she could be doing to help out the group besides providing food - and Koushirou immediately tells her off, saying that she shouldn’t stay around much longer in a very persisting tone. She looks down for a second - and it’s Yamato who steps in right there, telling her that she needs to understand how Koushirou feels, since he’s only worried about her. Knowing Yamato, this is a huge deal - because he himself has always been struggling with his own relationship with his mother after the divorce of his parents and, most likely, couldn’t always tell her his honest feelings either. He reads Koushirou’s reaction here correctly - because he understands. They’ve both dealt with family related trauma and are still trying to interact with their parents in more natural ways. We actually don’t know if Yamato knows about Koushirou being adopted, but it doesn’t matter in this context, because he knows him well enough to empathize with his struggles - once again, implying that Yamato and Koushirou are much more familiar with each other than screentime might suggest. 

... Sadly though, Tri doesn’t really continue this streak of familiarity in the same sense. I didn’t summarize their relationship there with words, but with a certain dynamic I couldn’t unsee:

Tri: Koushirou: "Stop picking on Taichi-san already and stop being in denial." Yamato: "Pff, fine."

Tri doesn’t give them many opportunities to interact at all. It does imply that they’re still theorizing about things...

... But at the same time, it kinda also shows that they’re not exactly on the same wavelength at this point in time.

Nice callback to Koushirou still not being able to catch up to Yamato by the way.

Koushirou’s most prominent role in Tri - and ALSO in the stageplay - when it comes to Yamato, is: Keeping him at arm’s length before he ends up strangling Taichi. After everything the three of them went through, it’s natural that Koushirou is able to read Yamato (and his feelings for Taichi as well) and while Yamato is deeply in denial about everything, Koushirou knows (and, just like the others, is obviously done with them arguing the entire time due to teenage angst).

The stageplay actually dials this dynamic up to 11:

Stageplay: Koushirou: "STOP PICKING ON TAICHI-SAN AND STOP BEING IN DENIAL." Yamato: "OKAY, FINE!!!"

It allows the two of them a lot of screentime together - however, they’re not really on their most friendly terms here in comparison to everything we’ve seen before. Yamato is more in denial than ever before, about his relationship with Taichi as well as about the “problems” they currently have to face, being trapped in a timeloop, because they all actually want to return to August 1st. And for the first time since we’ve learned that he values and trusts in Koushirou’s knowledge and view-points, we see Yamato asserting quite an aggressive attitude towards him, demanding him to provide answers.

And since he’s so much in denial, Koushirou is visibly getting annoyed with him as well - he tries to remain calm and respectful, but the way he talks and looks at Yamato definitely indicates a certain level of exhaustion. So he basically switches between a passive-aggressive tone and softness to calm him down.

Not only that, but despite them actually theory-crafting and planning together again a lot, Koushirou definitely has to step in once more to keep Yamato from screaming at Taichi. Which, as much of a theme as this is by now, at least indicates that they’re still familiar enough for it to actually work out - Koushirou gets Yamato’s emotions and his assertiveness is what makes Yamato actually back off in both instances, as much as he fought it at first.

Kizuna, at the very end of the original Adventure life cycle, is somewhat of a cummulation of everything I’ve talked about up to this point.

Kizuna: Fairly close, very communicative (despite a little fallout), a lot of planning (and mutual protectiveness).

Yamato is seen among those Chosen that are still around regularly to fight against materializing Digimon in the real world, besides Taichi, Takeru and Hikari. Yamato is, quite obviously, still so used to Koushirou providing answers and knowing everything about everything that, just like in the stageplay, he snaps at him for not immediately knowing why Omegamon dissolves. 

Once Koushirou witnesses the circle of light around Yamato’s phone/digivice, he goes into research mode, absolutely refusing to let the departure happen to Yamato (and Taichi). Even if the mention of his name was only in the dub/subtitles, it still shows that Koushirou would actually go to hell and back to find a solution for his sake.

And after they and Taichi went through spy-like conspiracing to drive things further - with them actually doing most of the planning together -, they do tell each other to be careful... 

... Just for Yamato to eventually find out that Koushirou wasn’t careful enough. Once he realizes that Koushirou had been Menoa’s target to get the list of Chosen Children all along, he hurries back to his office, just to find him unconscious on the ground. Guilt is written all over his face since he couldn’t protect his friend here - who, by sending the coordinates to the Digital Realm to Taichi before fainting, actually did what he could to help his friends proceed.

To summarize it all: They’re having an overall good relationship with each other - when things aren’t at stake. Yamato tends to get emotionally overwhelmed in certain situations and may snap at Koushirou due to it - who, in turn, tends to know how to handle him due to them actually being on a similar emotional level. Yamato also feels generally comfortable confiding in Koushirou and trusts in and also somewhat understands him - again, if things are not in a pinch.

And speaking of a pinch - since Tri and the stageplay did portray them to be bickering/on opposing ends to some degree, I also wanted to bring up the one part of Digimon that actually portrayed them at not being compatible with each other: The Digimon Adventure novels:

Novels: Yamato: "Oh my god, you're the quiet kid that never talks, stop swooning over Taichi, we get it!" Koushirou: "You're too emotional." Yamato: "FINE. *leaves*"

Unlike in the Adventure series as stated above, Novel!Yamato and Novel!Koushirou do not communicate with each other - and it is outright stated that they don’t properly understand each other because of that. Or rather... They might actually do - and that’s why they don’t get along.

Novel!Koushirou actually does talk - but chooses to mainly do so to Taichi and Sora. Not Yamato. And Yamato seems to notice this, because, minus the general points in the story in which he obviously relies on Koushirou’s skills as well, his main impression of him is that he is “one of Taichi’s fans”. After having accused Taichi of being a “failure of a leader”, it’s Koushirou who steps up - which is something Yamato hasn’t witnessed before:

Yamato, who had accused Taichi of being “too soft” himself, is now facing the bitter truth that Koushirou saw right through him - and by doing so actually summarizes everything we’ve seen above: Koushirou, at least judging by the version of Yamato he knows, the one Yamato himself has been displaying on the outside, understands Yamato’s emotional state. And that’s why it cuts so deep.

Unfortunately, the novel doesn’t actually let them reconcile, with Yamato leaving the group due to “not getting along” with them, especially Taichi and Koushirou, whom he basically accused of being too biased (funnily enough, this also mirrors the instances in Tri and the stageplay in which Koushirou protected Taichi from Yamato). Koushirou, however, does feel remorse and would like to make up with Yamato - but isn’t able to. So, like stated above, he does confide in Taichi and Sora more thoroughly, so he actually asks Sora to apologize on his behalf, since he thought he was going too far. 

It does mean something to him and it’s a shame it was never resolved “on read”. However - it all definitely shows that, even in a universe they’re no friends in yet, it’s possible for them to learn to understand each other better. If they managed to talk. 

[sixty-silver-wishes]

If I could pick your brain for a bit, i was wondering if you had any cabinet of dr caligari theories on why alan doesn't seem to have a "real life" counterpart in the framing device/how he actually died or if he was even real at all. I have my own pet theories, but i love the way you disect and analyze the movie so i wanted to ask ^-^

I’ve thought about this a lot, and there are a ton of theories and interpretations I’ve heard, but to me, Alan represents lost innocence. He may have been based off a counterpart or just a construction of Francis’ imagination, but looking at this from both a postwar perspective and a psychological perspective, I feel this is the interpretation I like best.

Before WWI, many soldiers had never actually seen war, and so eagerly enlisted, only to be faced with a level of violence and brutality on a scale so wide that WWI was deemed “the war to end all wars”- of course, until WWII. Alan, similarly, is eager to go to the fair, where his fate will be decided. We don’t see very much of him, but from what we do see, he’s energetic, optimistic, and in love (and whether that’s with Jane, Francis, or both is up to interpretation!). When he asks Cesare how long he has to live, he does this with enthusiasm. Again, I’ve seen multiple interpretations of why this is the case, but from this angle, I think it lines up with the concept of young soldiers in WWI, eagerly marching to their deaths. (My friend has an interesting theory that Alan was a trench buddy whose death Francis felt responsible for, and I’ve also seen theories that Francis is queer, and Alan is his ideal man. I like both of these theories, and there’s a lot of angles you can go with here.)

From a different, more abstract perspective, I think Alan can represent Francis’ lost innocence. It’s never explained why Francis is in the asylum (Hans Janowitz, one of the screenwriters, didn’t even want the asylum scene added in, but it was added to soften the film’s anti-authority themes. Nonetheless, I think the asylum scene can also support an anti-authority reading, but that’s another post.) but due to a number of shared elements- for example, “Caligari” being the asylum director in both scenarios- I personally believe that Francis had some sort of traumatic experience and couldn’t process it properly, and projects his own experiences onto the people around him in order to cope. In Francis’ head, he gets to be the hero, the brave investigator to make sense of a chaotic, nonsensical world.

And yet, he still can’t save Alan. If anything, Alan has to die, or else the rest of the plot can’t happen.

Perhaps Alan represents Francis’ own mind before a traumatic event. Again, he is bubbly and carefree, before being suddenly cut down. We can also recontextualize him asking how long he has to live in this way, perhaps with his death representing the moment Francis’ innocence (and possibly sanity) was shattered. While this isn’t always the case, traumatic events can be flashbulb memories, where people remember the exact date and time they took place. With this in mind, “tomorrow’s dawn” may symbolize the moment of the event, in which Francis’ innocence is destroyed. He spends the rest of the film trying to solve Alan’s murder, maybe to give himself some catharsis- if he cannot save his own innocence, at least in his head, he can avenge it.

Also, this is strictly headcanon territory, but I hc Alan as a poet. This not only provides some contrast to Francis’ logical, at times aggressive, personality, but from a postwar perspective, adds a layer of symbolism in terms of WWI being the death of the Romantic movement. The fact that he’s killed by Cesare, whose costuming and movements suggest Expressionist art, can also symbolize the violence of WWI giving rise to Expressionism, which pushes human emotions to the extreme in a stylized, unnatural way as a response to the war, and the end of Romanticism, which celebrates the beauty of the natural world and human emotion.