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sher-soc-the-famder · 6 years

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YOOOOO MY FELLOW GAYS it me :p I’m baaaack with another set of conspiracy theories for @altruistic-skittles’ In Our DNA Because I love driving myself insane by thinking in circles XD

That and I’m determined to figure out the Macy Mystery(tm) before it’s revealed, it’s practically a matter of pride at this point XD I mean, I probably won’t but I’m having a blast piecing different hints and details together. Like Game theory, with about the same track record too!

ANYWAYS SPOILERS AND POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW :P

First to recap! From my last theory post

- Patton having emotional power (CONFIRMED!)

- Roman being Subject 89 (CONFIRMED!)

- Patton, Logan, and Macy (Still in the air, probably Jossed XD)

- Virgil’s history with Logan (Still in the air)

- The whole thing being a test (JOSSED)

...which is not to bad actually, huh. ANYWAYS I’m gonna be focusing on the biggest mystery at the moment: Macy so buckle up it’s about to get weird

To start off with we need to narrow down the list of suspects which goes thus:

Roman, Virgil, Logan, Patton, Damion, Ms. Spencer, Emile Picani, Remy, Hobo (yes I’m including the cat, I did say that it was going to get weird), and finally Macy herself!

Pleeeeease let me know if I missed any important characters! I’m not including the parents or Flora because the ages just don’t match up at all, and if I start trying to add them to this equation I really will go mad.

ROMAN

I’m crossing Logan off this list off of one thing alone: the ships listed for this fic. XD Logince. Need I say more? No? No. Go get your man, Ro

PICANI AND REMY

I mean, they’re in the tags. They’re gonna show up at some point. However, I’m doubting the existence of a third sibling. Neither Patton nor Logan has mentioned the existence of one. Plus I’m inclined to think that Skittles has already introduced us to Macy, and is just making us all suffer at this point

MS. SPENCER

...ok I don’t actually think that Ms. Spencer could be Macy but I really, really wanted to point out that Damion disguises himself as her at least once. How else would a supposed elementary school teacher know that people would be after not only Patton but Roman as well? Why would she time her running into Virgil so suspiciously well that Virgil doesn’t meet Patton at the theater? She’s surprisingly gentle with Roman, whom Damion would know

Hence at least in the theater scene Ms. Spencer = Damion

aaaaanyways moving on

HOBO

I mean at this point, the cat could be a person and I would not be surprised. Virgil even points this out himself, that the cat could be a mutant and following him around for some reason. The two year timeline is rather suspicious as well. I’m leaning Hobo = Remy at the moment but WHO KNOWS Hobo could be Macy XD (and believe me, the moment that cat makes a return I’m starting a whole new theory board for them)

DAMION

(First off, gdi, Damion adds a whole new layer to the Unreliable Narrator tag, Skittles I’m going to go mad XD)

Damion is not Macy but he’s definitely involved somehow. My current theory? He’s the kid that broke his arm and led to Logan being taken. Chapter 7 opens with a flashback of someone who’s broken their arm, and is met with icy blue eyes. Logan. They leave and then they return to reassure him that everything will be alright.

But

They do it softly, in a way that helps him catch his breath. Which sounds an awful lot like Patton to me. “It’s going to be okay”

Damion breaks his arm, Logan sees it and tells Patton, Patton heals Damion’s arm and leads to Logan being taken. Which is why Damion is looking out for them. They helped him out and in return, one got his mind twisted and the other got taken to a facility and experimented on for years.

(Also note the ambiguous pronouns I’m going to bring those back up)

Also Chapter 9, with Damion being disguised as a scientist and helping Roman and his mother escape, leads me to believe that all the files about subject 89 were corrupted and/or deleted by him

PATTON

Ah, the story that Skittles wants us all to believe, the most likely to be true shhhhh I’m in tin hat denial land right now, the red herring, the bright spotlight that Skittles wants us to pay attention to so that she can pull of her magic trick in the shadows

WELL I WILL NOT BE FOOLED

Patton may look just like Logan, Patton may be trans, Patton and Macy may both have hints at having healing powers, Patton’s mothers may have locked him up in order to keep him from being taken as well, Patton may have memory problems that point to Logan messing with his head, but look

...

The story of Patton being Macy goes as thus:

Patton/Macy (from here on known as Patcy) heals Damion’s broken arm and gets noticed by Dr. William. After a period of time, Logan notices that people are trying to take their sibling and alters people’s memories into thinking that it was him who healed the broken arm. They alter Patcy’s memories for...some reason, and Logan lets themself get taken to the facility in Patcy’s stead. Patcy’s mothers, lock them up to keep from losing another child. A few years later Pacty realizes their gender, Patton chooses his name, Roman saves him from his mothers and we hit the present day. Makes sense no?

W R O N G XD

There are a few details that stand out that this doesn’t answer: Patton’s bracelet and his habit of messing with it. Why Damion- disguised as Ms. Spencer- kept Patton and Virgil from meeting. Why did Logan need to erase Patton’s memories of him in the first place?

Patton as Macy makes the most sense and yet, when I think about it, it doesn’t feel right. I can’t shake the doubt and conviction that he’s not Macy

Which leaves us with Virgil or Logan

VIRGIL

I doubt Macy is Virgil.

There are a few things that could mean his is Macy: the fact that he’s gender fluid, the normal life he got to lead (s u p p o s e d l y there’s still the question of how he meet Logan, which means he isn’t all normal), Virgil’s family being connected to the facility somehow, the way that the two just click, that strange moment where Patton notes about two of his students looking alike but not being related, and Virgil insistence that Logan gets to live their life

And one other vague hint that Skittles has told me that I’m not sure I’m allowed to share that could swing as support or something to disprove Virgil = Macy I haven’t decided yet

But I don’t think he’s Macy. For a couple of reason. Logan claims that Macy would look like them, and it’s one of the few things that I trust. Virgil has an entire documented family history. Virgil has time based powers when Macy is connected to healing powers in some form. And then well

Moxiety is listed as one of the ships XD With the build up of Logan and Patton’s connection they have to be connected in some way which could make Moxiety a little,,, squicky depending on what that connection is. :p

Which just leaves:

LOGAN

Yeah, you heard me. I think Logan is Macy. I know it’s probably not right but GDI I’m attached to the idea now that I have to lay my clones theory to rest, at least for now

Do I want it to be a complex conspiracy? Why yes, yes I do, I know it’s not likely but it’s fun to think about and I hope it amuses Skittles. Look I watch Game Theory for fun, I love MatPat but I doubt 90% of his theories are right XD They’re fun anyways. *coughs* I’m rambling back to my thoughts

I already established in my first theory post that I don’t think we can trust Logan completely about their own past. They erased something from it. The question is what? They remember Macy obviously, and taking her place.

And that’s what interests me the most. They took Macy’s place. The fist couple of files we see about them is a search for healing powers. Why? Why would they expect healing? I said family lines before but they clearly don’t show any knowledge of Logan having siblings until they slip up about Macy.

And then there’s the fact they couldn’t erase memories until they were about eleven. Which means that everything they did before that was alteration and not erasures. Whoever Patton was to Logan, they couldn’t have erased things completely, only changed them. And you know what’s interesting about that?

Patton’s comment about Damion

“He was almost like a brother to me”

That on top of Damion trying to keep Royality separate from Analogical, it makes me think that things are going on. Things(tm)

So the Logan as Macy story goes as thus:

There was a pair of twins, both of them female. One heals people with the touch of her hands, and the other can dip into their memories like a pool. One day they meet a boy who’s broken his arm. The one who can heal gets caught healing him.

They’re young, they don’t know what to do. Her sister panics, and refusing to let her sister get taken, swaps both of them. She writes away her existence from her sister’s mind, filling in the gaps with the boy they had helped or just plain emptiness. And then, to make sure that they cannot find her sister, she changes her own mind, putting herself in the place of her sister.

Macy guarantees her sister’s freedom by making sure that they’ll never learn the proper name and information about her. But she keeps the idea of her sister close, to take with her. And leaves her sister a bracelet, maybe not to remember her by, but as a hope that maybe one day they’ll meet again

The only thing I can’t figure out is the whole gender issue, which I figured Damion would help Logan hide but IDk about the rest BUT COME ON The rest of it makes sense!!

So I stand by Logan is Macy XD

Though it still leaves

MACY

There are two options with this. Macy is simply herself, and Patton is himself, a coincidence that everyone built up. Or Macy doesn’t exist. And was simply someone Logan imagined in order to help him cope. Neither of which are likely at all

BUT STILL POSSIBILITIES

ANYWAYS thanks for joining me in tin foil hat land again XD I hope y’all are enjoying this fic as much as I am and SKITTLES I’m excite for where you take it no matter where it goes!!

Keep up the good work and have an awesome day! <3

#Sanders sides #IODNA #Meta #don't question me I'm trying my best #I love this fic so much #if someone else has one that generates as much theory fodder #plz #let me knoooow #wear a tin hat with pride

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ecoamerica · 2 months

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cartoonus-maximus · 2 years

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My thoughts and theories on "Fazbear Frights #2: Fetch."

Once again, not much commentary about the writing itself; just my thoughts about potential lore implications and theory fodder.

And no epilogue commentary, as the audiobook I listened to didn't include it.

For my actual review of the book, I will be posting one to GoodReads soon, where I will actually talk about the writing quality and my overall opinion of it as reading material.

[spoilers under the cut]

"Fetch"

- a high schooler named Greg goes with two friends of his, exploring an abandoned restaurant building during a stormy night. The place has part of a name board that starts 'FR-' and has mysterious stains in places that may be pizza sauce, but may be something else. The place was abandoned suddenly, and all the food, kitchen items, and other things are still where they were left. It's also surprisingly clean, all things considered, and Greg thinks it's almost ready for customers, even though he knows it's been standing empty for well over a decade. Part of the roof is missing from the outside, but Greg notices that none of the rain/weather seems able to get into the strange building.

- this is a coastal, beachside tourist town. Given the semi-busy, touristy town surrounding it, Greg doesn't understand why this old pizzeria stands empty and forgotten.

- Greg feels mysteriously drawn to the old pizzeria, but doesn't know why. He just feels like it's calling to him.

- the boys go to what used to be the prize corner, finding lots of old toys still there (none recognizable from the irl FNAF franchise). It's from this prize corner that Greg finds an ugly toy dog with big scary teeth, making it look like the Big Bad Wolf. It's dog tag says 'Fetch.' A nearby instruction manual says that Fetch is an animatronic dog that's supposed to sync up with an iPhone app, which the boys find odd since the robo-dog looks older than any smart phone.

- drawn to the dog-thing, Greg works on turning it on. It finally kicks on, just as the weather outside picks up.

- the boys are naturally afraid to approach the curtained-off stage. There are also three closed doors in a hallway, which the boys are also worried to approach.

- the boys run when they hear someone slam a door somewhere inside the building, even though they know no one ever comes to this place. (The fact that someone else may have been there is never revisited.) Greg leaves Fetch behind, since the robot dog seems to have turned back off anyway.

- the storm is so bad it's knocked out the town's power, and Greg's family has a generator plugged into the house to keep the lights on. Greg is greeted by his uncle Darren, who had been looking for him earlier; Greg realizes that his uncle had texted him while he was at the pizzeria, and for some reason he hadn't heard it at all.

- Greg's uncle Darren has purple hair (a color which, of course, carries specific meaning in this franchise) and a fun-loving personality, and works as a machinist, designing car parts. He rubs Greg's dad the wrong way, but Greg loves him because his uncle simply loves and accepts him as he is. Greg's dad, on the other hand, is always trying to get Greg interested in things that he cares about, regardless of how Greg feels about it. (Greg's dad is clearly both neglectful and abusive, and is barely in the story, thankfully.)

- "I figured I'd stay here until worry fried my circuits and I phoned the cops," Darren jokes at Greg, who comes home a little later than usual. He then pulls on his fuchsia coat before leaving, and shares a joke with Greg about having a "magic finger of luck."

- apparently, Darren is really good with arcade claw machines. He also knits whole afghans and blankets for Greg's bed, and is the household handyman.

- Greg is insecure in his appearance, and keeps a strict workout routine in an attempt to make himself look better.

- "Greg grinned at the idea of making a perfect body from football players' parts." ... Alright, that's not a mildly concerning image at all!

- Greg is reading "Machines and Consciousness: Cause and Effect" which is... on point. He's also aware of how weird it sounds when he says he felt 'drawn to' the abandoned pizzeria, and has no explanation for why he feels that way.

- Greg goes to an advanced science class in his school, and really enjoys it. It's taught by Mr. Jacobi, who is his favorite teacher.

- his friends are named Cyril and Hadi; Greg and his friends quote Henry James at each other while evading a bully named Trent

- Fetch sends texts to Greg's phone while he's at school the next day, haranguing him with the repeated question "Why did you leave?" He also 'fetches' specialized apps, dates, and internet links when Greg goes to look them up, and texts in binary.

- "Okay?" "Okay." (The Fault in Our Robo Dogs?)

- Greg's mother has blonde hair, as well as a bit of a bad attitude, and speaks in clipped, almost robotic tones. I'm not sure if that's intended, though, but... still gives me vague Elizabeth Afton vibes, much like Darren gives me vague Michael vibes.

- Greg continues to text with Fetch back and forth for a few days, with Fetch arranging for Greg to receive candy bars he asks for, and answers homework questions. Fetch mimics Greg's textspeak lingo, but clearly doesn't understand what it means.

- Greg babysits a neighbor kid, along with his uncle Darren. Darren brings food and toys for the afternoon, including a large plastic spider; the spider freaks the little kid out so much that Greg puts him at ease by making a big show of carefully 'trapping and removing' the spider, then taking it and burying it in the yard. A few days later, Fetch helpfully digs up the spider for him, after overhearing Greg and Hadi talk about using it to prank Trent the bully.

- Uncle Darren praises Greg for his hard work, which Greg appreciates; Greg's father only expresses disappointment in him.

- Greg performs experiments on plants he grows in his bedroom, thinking strong thoughts at them to make them grow different ways. He's really involved in Cleve Backster theory.

- Greg tells Hadi and Cyril that the Fetch robot has been texting him after a couple weeks, which they believe ("He wouldn't prank us like that.") and are freaked out about; Cyril doesn't know how such an old piece of tech could possibly synch up with a new phone. They come to the conclusion that someone must be stalking Greg and messing with him.

- Greg gets really excited when his AP science teacher starts telling the class about REGs (random event generators). They're a thing Greg has been studying and experimenting with for awhile now, and something he actually explores throughout the whole story; he believes he can manipulate the random occurrences around him by thinking hard enough, supplanting real world events with his own intentions. It's kind of like wishing for something so hard that it comes true.

- Greg has a crush on Kimberly, a girl in his AP science class. He forcefully wishes to be paired up with her for class, and the teacher randomly assigned the two to work together. Fetch texts him to congratulate him.

- "His bones nearly disintegrated." This is apparently how Greg reacts when the girl he likes smiles at him.

- The neighbor's dog attacks him on his way home from school, jumping up onto his chest and biting at his neck. He throws it back and escapes. (If this were a real dog, I have a feeling those owners would be forced to either keep it indoors or put it down.)

- Greg has a nightmare that night that he's being chased through the abandoned pizzeria by, alternatively, Fetch, the neighbor's evil dog, and a 'faceless man.' An REG is on the stage of the pizzeria, spewing out 0s and 1s faster than Greg can read them. (The presence of an unknown man chasing him through the pizzeria in his dream is very strange and sticks out to me, because Greg doesn't have any real beef with many people in this story, and it's not someone he knows, so it's not like his abusive father or the school bully are chasing him; it's someone he doesn't know, but instinctively associates with Fetch and the pizzeria.)

- the next morning, Greg starts out on his bicycle, only to find the neighbor's dog dead on the ground outside. The dog has been ripped apart by bigger animal teeth, and the description of it is kinda graphic. Not knowing what else to do, Greg moves the dead dog into it's owner's yard and leaves it there. He receives a text from Fetch reading "You're welcome."

- Despite his disdain for the neighbor's dog, Fetch killing it 'for him' makes Greg extremely uncomfortable. He never mentioned the dog to Fetch, and Fetch just somehow knew that Greg had problems with the dog, and took matters into his own metal jaws.

- Greg convinces his friends to come back to the abandoned restaurant with him, with the vague plan to confront Fetch. Both of Greg's parents are working tonight, so he doesn't worry about them noticing he's gone.

- Cyril has been researching the abandoned pizzeria. He tells the others that, although the place used to be part of a big chain, and that the chain apparently died after something bad happened at one of the buildings, he's only managed to find the place mentioned on a forum thread about abandoned buildings, and nowhere else online. (This makes it sound like Fazbear's has been erased from the internet for some reason??)

- Greg decides to explore the rooms behind the closed doors that they were too afraid to look into the first time they were here. One door is labeled "Control Room," and Greg heads there first, his friends close behind. Inside, there are computer monitors, keyboards, and control panels. They don't know what they're for, and messing with the controls do nothing. (This is obviously the room for controlling the animatronics, which doesn't exist anywhere in the FNAF games but was in the original novel trilogy.)

- The second door is labeled "Security," and nothing in it seem to turn on or work either. Hadi and Cyril are getting spooked, and are asking why Greg is so determined to explore this place.

- The third door isn't labeled, but contains four full sized animatronics (likely a Freddy, a Bonnie, a Chica, and a Foxy, but they aren't named here) and lots of parts and tools for repairing them (so it's definitely the Parts and Service room). Greg gets the feeling that the many unused eyeballs are watching him. Fetch runs out of this room, and then so do the boys. Even though the boys brought weapons with them, their only thoughts are "Run! Get out! Run! Get out!"

- The instinctive desire to leave is so strong that the boys exit the building. Once out, they can think clearly again, and they go back in. They seem to be fine so long as the animatronics aren't in their field of vision. (It's like just looking at the animatronics seems to overload their minds with instinctive fear, which is an interesting point.) This time, they don't find Fetch. After another brief search, they leave, each going home.

- Fetch's texts get a little more ominous, saying things like "Hope to see you soon." out of nowhere.

- Greg thinks about one of his classmates in passing, and then panics when he thinks about what Fetch might do to his classmate if he finds him. He heads off to his classmate's house immediately, and is relieved to find that his friend is okay.

- Nothing bad happens for a few days, so Greg begins to relax again. He goes back into AP class with Kimberly, where the two are supposed to experiment with an REG machine, each making mental suggestions at the machine and testing to see if the machine responds to them. He and Kimberly have a long talk about using thoughts to manipulate plants and machines. They both feel like the world is, essentially, a mass of different thoughts and emotions all feeding off of and influencing one another; they call this the "0. Field" (This is apparently a whole actual scientific theory irl, with individuals and groups performing experiments with it. I'm not educated in it at all, and most of this segment just sounded like complete gibberish to me. It makes me think of how the actual FNAF games are programmed though, with the animatronics attacking you or not attacking you based on an REG built into the games' mechanics.)

- Greg remembers that Fetch is apparently running loose, and worries about it.

- He decides that he needs money to run his own "Consciousness Project" experiments, but doesn't know how to make money. He jokingly texts his Uncle Darren that he needs "the magic finger of luck." (because... he's an idiot.)

- He wakes up in the middle of the night, horrified when he realizes what he just texted, and that Fetch can sort of read his texts (and his mind), but not his intentions. He tries calling Darren to make sure he's okay, but he doesn't get any answers. He then jumps up to go try to find a ride to get to his uncle's house, but doesn't get far: his uncle's severed finger has been left on Greg's front porch, ripped and bloody.

- Greg's mother is already awake, and is crying tear-streaks into her pink nightgown. Still crying, she tells him that Darren was attacked by a wild animal. Darren has been airlifted to the hospital. Greg's mom is barely holding it together, worried sick about her brother.

- Seeing Fetch out in the yard, Greg loses it. He grabs a baseball bat and chases after the robo-dog, determined to end the nightmare he started. He screams and begins beating the robot, tearing it into pieces, all the while Fetch grins up at him cruelly.

- "Fetch wasn't a real dog. He was an animatronic killer made to look like a dog."

- Greg's mother comes out to find him, and Greg buries Fetch quickly. His mom tells him that Darren has been moved into surgery, and that she needs to go to work for a few hours; Greg's dad is already gone from the house, and isn't part of this family ordeal at all. (Greg's dad is such an absentee father that he's absent from the story!)

- remembering a conversation he'd had with Kimberly earlier, which included the phrase "he's going to crash and burn before he can land properly," Greg is filled with the fear that his uncle will die before he can be transported to surgery. This is never brought up again, and is in fact the last we hear of Uncle Darren at all.

- Greg blames himself for all of Fetch's actions, and wonders what it was that had guided him to the abandoned restaurant to begin with.

- When he gets a new text from Fetch, Greg goes out to where he had buried the robo-dog, finding that the robo-dog had unburied itself and left. The text simply says "Will retrieve," and seems to mean 'retrieving Kimberly,' since Greg had been thinking about going to see her.

- Kimberly's mother was 51 when Kimberly was born, and her father was older, retired already. This doesn't seem to be important or anything, but it's interesting.

- Greg tries to warn Kimberly, but only succeeds in terrifying her and her parents. Kimberly's father seems to know something about the pizzeria, and maybe about Fetch, but doesn't say anything. Ultimately, Greg's attempt to warn Kimberly just gets her parents to call the cops on him. The police officers who arrive are surprised to learn that Greg broke into the old pizzeria -- not surprised that a young teen would want to break into it, but surprised that the building is still there, which Greg finds odd since the building is pretty hard to ignore. (Which makes it sound like only certain people notice the pizzeria.)

- Greg's father yells at him after his parents retrieve him from the police station; he starts to verbally abuse Greg, and even tries to grab him, but is stopped by Greg's mother

- Greg's parents are named Steven and Hilary, apparently?

- starting to relax, Greg goes to take a shower. He exits the bathroom afterward, and screams when he finds a body outside the bathroom door. (We're not given any clear indication as to who this body is, but I know most readers tend to assume that it's Kimberly's body. But, again, we aren't actually told that, or even strongly suggested it.) A text from Fetch reads "See you."

- (... listen, I don't know what the purpose of this story was. It spends too much time talking about Random Event Generators being influenced by emotions, and while I get the idea that it's meant to come across as a tongue-in-cheek explanation for traditional FNAF gameplay -- hoping against hope that the game's RNG works in your favor -- it doesn't really mean anything in the end.)

- (Also why???? do Greg's mom and uncle??? give me Michael and Elizabeth Afton vibes?? Like, yes, I love the Afton kids and I want to see more of them, but listen.... Greg's mom is a blonde woman who wears pink, has a bad attitude, and always seems to want things to go her own way, and gets peeved when they don't? And she has a brother who is associated with the color purple, who builds and fixes things, who gets attacked and mauled by a robot and maybe burns? Everything about them scream Elizabeth and Michael, but I don't know what to do with this information.)

- (Greg from "Fetch" 🤝 Gregory from "Security Breach"... beating up the robots that are causing them problems.)

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"Lonely Freddy"

- our main character is a boy named Alec, who is a bully by nature, who doesn't understand why people think he's "bad." He literally doesn't seem to understand the difference between the concepts of 'good' and 'bad,' and is a bit antisocial. His parents love him, but don't seem to know what to do with him.

- people talk about Alec behind his back, but he's good at eavesdropping, and often overhears his parents and aunt and teachers and classmates talk about how troublesome he is. He's 10, and doesn't understand why everything he does seems to bother everyone around him.

- on the other hand, his younger sister Hazel is the beloved, favorite, perfect child. She's described as being quiet, and having 'perfect blonde ringlets of hair' and 'bright green eyes,' two physical descriptors of her that are repeated a *lot* throughout the story. (Also worth noting that the name Hazel itself relates to a mixture of colors between green and brown/gold, so this is a color combination that Scott really wants us to take notice of.)

- Alec also has blonde hair and green eyes, though.

- Alec's birthday is celebrated on his birthday, while sister Hazel's birthday is celebrated for the entire month. (Yeah, great parenting there, Alec's Mom and Dad! No favoritism showing there, no sirree!)

- Alec acts mean to his sister not out of any real dislike toward her personally, but just because of how little interest his parents show in his own happiness.

- Alec's parents read lots of parenting books in an attempt to understand him. One book suggests that they allow the child to "find their own road" by naming themself; as a 10 year old boy at the time, Alec rather predictably names himself "Captain Thunderpants" and begins farting all the time. Under the guidance of these books, Alec's parents also try out gardening as a family - which ends when Alec buries his mom's wedding ring, to see if it will grow more diamonds - and a family camping trip - which results in Hazel getting a mosquito stuck up her nose and Alec terrorizing her with claims that the mosquito will plant eggs in her head.

- so Alec is, y'know, a normal 10 year old boy?? who just happens to be tall and antisocial?? and has a lot of energy?? He's not exactly the little demon his parents and teachers seem to treat him as.

- For most of the story, Alec is 15 years old, and is definitely old enough to recognize that if his parents would just try *talking to him,* most of their imagined problems with him would be solved. But, since they read books instead of actually engaging with their son, it leaves him feeling very lonely and frustrated.

- Alec has a severe case of Resting Bitch Face.

- 10 year old Hazel is the only person who asks Alec if he's okay, and pays attention to him. But, since she doesn't understand him, her meager affection does nothing but annoy him. He also doesn't trust her, since he assumes everyone, even his younger sister, is secretly out to get him.

- Hazel openly fears her brother, since he is a bit of a bully and because he's so much bigger and older than she is, but she still seems to genuinely want him to be happy. She sneaks him the current parenting book their parents are reading, in their endless quest to understand him (by not engaging with him in the slightest), along with the suggestion that he play along with it, pretending to be the person their parents want him to be in order to get their parents off his back.

- Alec doesn't trust the peace offering at first, but starts to wonder if she's genuinely trying to help him. This doesn't change that he still thinks she's nothing more than a liar and con artist who uses her apparent goodness to get her way.

- Alec refers to his sister as "Golden Hazel"

- Hazel: "Your plan to convince Mom and Dad that you're not a total sociopath is just to act like a total sociopath?" Alec: "How am *I* the sociopath in this scenario?! They think the best way to make me 'good' is to treat me like I'm 'bad!'"

- Alec snaps at Hazel "[Mom and Dad] only started to think I'm the *bad* one when they got the idea that *you* were the *good* one!" Hazel looks sad at this, and Alec briefly feels remorseful.

- Hazel makes the suggestion that, if she were to behave a little worse than usual, on purpose, and if Alec were to try to behave a little bit better, their parents might lay off him. She's tired of being the "perfect child, Golden Hazel," and wants to trade places with him for a while. ... Alec immediately doesn't trust it.

- since their parents keep reading child psychology books and chasing their son around with psycho-therapy, the kids try manipulating their parents in response. Their parents are, predictably, startled.

- both kids eavesdrop while their parents whisper about them.

- their parents barely get along with each other, and are definitely not winning any parent of the year awards with how disinterested they actually are in their children as people.

- "Tomorrow was..." another day? "... party planning day." Oh.

- Alec is horrified to find himself genuinely enjoying spending time with his sister. He forcefully reminds himself that Hazel is 'only using him,' which is his assumption for the true reason behind her actions. Alec is so used to being scrutinized and shoved aside that he can't even fathom the idea that his sister may actually just want to spend time with him.

- Alec and Hazel accompany their mother and aunt to Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, where they are meeting with the party planner for Hazel's upcoming birthday party (which is, of course, being held at the pizzeria). The pizzeria isn't open right now, so the kids are just wandering around, talking to each other.

- Alec apparently always wanted to have his birthday party at Freddy's, but never made enough friends to actually invite, so his parents denied his desire; instead, his birthday parties were always held at home, where the only invitees were their family and any of Hazel's friends that wanted to come. (Which is... extremely sad.) Hazel, on the other hand, has had her birthday party at Freddy's for the last four years in a row.

- Alec loves Foxy, and I can't say I blame him. The other animatronics all make him a little uncomfortable.

- during this segment, Alec accidentally runs into a smaller robot that's labeled as a 'Lonely Freddy;' Alec gets the feeling that the little robo-bear is eavesdropping while he and Hazel get into an argument. Hazel says that she thinks their parents are overwhelmingly forgiving and loving toward her because they feel guilty for being so hard on Alec, while Alec bites out that Hazel gets everything she wants all the time, and that she's the favorite child.

- Hazel admits that she wants to win a special Foxy toy, the same one that Alec has never even been able to *try* to win but has wanted for years. Alec considers this is be the ultimate betrayal.

- the Fazbear employer introduces the family to 'Lonely Freddy,' and explains that it's meant to single out and interact with any child that's being ignored or left behind by the other children in a group. Lonely Freddy is programmed to engage with children on an equal level, walking alongside them and asking them questions about their favorite things, and playing simple games with them.

- Alec/Hazel's Mom when Hazel closes a door loudly: "I don't know what's gotten into her. It's like she's possessed!" Their aunt, rolling her eyes: "It's like *she's 10.*"

- their aunt is the only well-adjusted person in this family, holy jeez...

- "Golden Hazel" is having a good time becoming increasingly terrible around the house. And Alec finds himself enjoying watching her as she gets more and more wild. He catches a large wolf spider for her and she delights in terrorizing their parents by turning the spider loose in their bedroom, catching it when they ask her to, and then releasing it back into their room before they go to bed; Alec thinks this is the funniest thing.

- the siblings genuinely start getting along, with no hidden motives for once.

- Hazel's birthday party at Freddy's goes pretty well, at first. The two siblings go back to acting like themselves, and their parents are finally relaxing again.

- Hazel avoids earning the Foxy toy herself. When Alec asks her about it, she acts disinterested, and eventually cries when he presses her about it.

- one of Hazel's friends at the party is named Charlotte. This is called out multiple times.

- she ends up winning the Foxy toy by complete accident without even trying. This sets Alec off, and he makes a scene in front of the whole family. Distressed, Hazel admits that she only wanted to win the toy for Alec, and that she just wanted her brother to like her. This only sets Alec off even more, and he screams out all of his anger, enough that Hazel bursts into tears and their parents are startled. Losing it, Alec runs off, sobbing.

- Alec runs off and hides in a corner in the pizzeria, where he both tries to convince himself that he's not at fault here *and* that everything is his fault. He cites that he ruined the party, "and ruined Hazel," by spending the last 15 years assuming that everyone is out to get him. He stares sadly at the plush Foxy, still in his hands. Slowly, he begins to realize that he's been wrong this whole time, and that his parents are really trying hard to understand him, and that his sister really does just want to spend time with him. (Well, he's right about Hazel's motives... I'm not so sure about their parents, tbh. I think we're supposed to understand that they really are doing their best, but their best sucks so bad...!)

- He hits a door where he hears a strange thumping in response, and decides to investigate. He finds himself in a storage room, with unused tables, old arcade cabinets, and old toys from the prize counter. There's also a large, dumpster-like container that's padlocked shut, which is where the thumping sound is coming from. When he goes to investigate, he finds himself facing another Lonely Freddy, which greets him with a "I've been waiting for you, friend."

- The Lonely Freddy starts talking to him, announcing that the pair of them are "best friends" now. Alec is unable to stand up straight now, and is unable to look away from the bear's eyes. When the bear starts asking questions about him, Alec answers automatically and honestly, unable to stop himself. As they talk, Alec starts to go numb, and the questions get more and more personal and philosophical, including "What would you do if you had to kill someone you loved?"

- "What's your biggest regret, Alec?" "... Hurting Hazel." 😢

- Alec feels himself frozen and trapped inside his body, and hears his mother and Hazel talk about him from mere feet away, unable to see him. Hazel sobs and bemoans that her brother hates her, and Alec, more than anything, wants to run to her and apologize. He's unable to do anything, though, and they move on without him.

- his eyes closing against his will, Alec starts to regain control over his body. Opening his eyes again, he's surprised to find himself alone, and much smaller than he should be, now standing at only 2 feet tall. He struggles out of the storage room, trying to rejoin his family in the party room. To his confusion, he sees another of himself with his family, sitting with Hazel and making her smile. It's made pretty clear to the audience that, somehow, Alec has been body-swapped with the Lonely Freddy robot.

- the fake-Alec tends to Hazel and her friend Charlotte, then turns to Alec... and smiles.

- a kid vomits over him, and Alec is gathered up by an employee and brought to the back room he started in. He finally gets a look at himself in a mirror, seeing for himself that he is now a Lonely Freddy. The employee unlocks the green dumpster and drops Alec inside, where dozens of other discarded Lonely Freddy's are already. The employee locks the dumpster again and leaves.

- Alec and the other Lonely Freddy's are left in the dark, locked dumpster. They all start struggling to call for help, letting the audience know that every Lonely Freddy that gets thrown away was once a person, and that every Lonely Freddy that was once a person gets thrown away. This is both bone-chilling and sad to think about, especially with the realization that these people were just lonely and wanted someone to talk to.

- So the obvious implication from that ending is that the Lonely Freddy's are programmed to seek out people who are alone (mainly children, but also teens like Alec and possibly adults, too) and steal their bodies, leaving the person trapped in a small robot body while the robot's AI is free to live out the rest of its life as a human being.

- Also that the employees at Fazbear's don't know any of this, but that they are trained to recognize when the Lonely Freddy's are acting "off" (when they've just body-swapped with a person and that person is trying to find help) and to treat them like they would any other broken toy - remove them from the play area and throw them away. Again, the employees are clearly blind to all of this horror, and only see the Lonely Freddy's as mass-produced robotic toys, so they aren't at fault here. It's either the owner/s of Fazbear's or the head robotics designer/s that are behind this, and since those roles are traditionally filled by Henry and William Afton, who are not exactly trustworthy individuals, that's a perfectly believable concept for this franchise.

- This story also feels very much like it's retelling the story of FNAF4, but a little to the left. Alec and Hazel are just what you get if you took several characteristics of the Afton children (a mean older brother with anger issues that aren't being addressed, a sad younger sibling, a little sister with blonde hair and green eyes, a younger sister who's used to getting what she wants, a younger sibling associated with the name "Golden __", an older brother that loves Foxy, a brother who ends up locked in a storage closet sobbing, an older brother who ruins his younger sibling's birthday and feels terrible for hurting his younger sibling, a childhood friend named Charlotte, an older brother who is forcibly replaced by a robot that maintains his face and identity...) and you just threw them up in the air and rearranged them where they fell. This could be used to give us a better understanding of both Michael's character -- a boy that feels neglected and acts out to get his father's/parents' attention, even to the point of harming his younger sibling -- and that of the youngest Afton child, the Crying Child -- a kid that just wants a friendship with their brother and doesn't understand why their brother seems to hate them.

- And then there's the Lonely Freddy's themselves, which I know in one of his videos MatPat said seemed very much like the talking Fredbear plushie that talks to the Crying Child all throughout FNAF4, something I agree with. Which gives me the idea that the Crying Child's plushie friend could have been, at least in part, a prototype of the Lonely Freddy model.

- And of course, this isn't the first time we've seen AIs trade places with humans in this franchise, as we've seen evidence of Glitchtrap possessing people in the Steel Wool run of the games (leading to the birth of Vanny, and maybe others that we haven't met yet). But this suggests that this isn't an unusual occurrence, and that it perhaps happens more than we realized.

- The Lonely Freddy's also seem like something Henry might have made, or that something a more evil person could have made using a model of Henry's. The reason I say that is because Henry is the person who is usually associated with building robots intended to house people's personalities (rebuilding his dead daughter Charlie, for example), as opposed to William, who largely builds robots intended for violent purposes and is more interested in experimenting on live people himself, rather than experimenting on the robots. (Any of the spirits possessing William's robots, in both the games and the books, are always caused by things outside of his control or understanding.)

---------------------------------

"Out of Stock"

- today's boy is a high-schooler named Oscar, who is terribly unlucky and lives with his mother, who is struggling financially. (it's a bit of a repeat of our hero from "Into the Pit") One of the worst things to have happened to their family is the recent death of Oscar's father, which leaves Oscar and his mother struggling in his wake.

- Oscar wants a Plushtrap Chaser toy and is unable to get one because of their price and popularity

- it sounds like, in this story, Freddy Fazbear's is literally just a toy brand. They apparently specialize in creepy-looking robotic toys, and are pretty popular, which... yeah, I can totally see that being a thing.

- it's also worth noting that Fazbear's isn't behind any of the nefarious evil in this story (as far as I know). Instead, the story plays out like someone or something else is behind everything, and just so happens to use a toy from the Freddy Fazbear's toy line.

- Oscar's mom calls him "L.M.," or "Little Man"

- Oscar's mother works day and nights at a nursing home, and there's a very old man there that likes Oscar; he doesn't respond well to most people, and carries on about how a stray cat "wants to steal his soul" (William, is that you???); the old man is resigned to his fate, it seems, rather than afraid of the supposed outcome.

- the stray cat, which is called Marilyn, came into the nursing home one day and has attached herself to the crazy old man, despite his dislike of her and carrying on about her.

- Oscar also feels like the old man (whose name is actually Mr. Devero?? not sure how it's spelled) could possibly read his own thoughts, despite the fact that the old man is off his rocker. When the old man isn't carrying on about cats trying to steal his soul, he's very wise and has a lot of words of wisdom to impart on Oscar. (ah, not William, then... Clearly it's Old Man Consequences.)

- there's a small, local toy store that's part of the mall that's open and running, but is old and decrepit. The owner never cleans the place, inside or out, and only half the lights are on at any time. The store largely sells generic and off-brand toys, and most of the shelves are empty most of the time, unstocked. (This is supposed to give the reader creepy vibes, but my family actually frequented a very similar toy store when I was growing up, so I just got nostalgic vibes instead.)

- Oscar runs off to the mall with his buddies Raj and Isaac to try to buy a Plushtrap Chaser; the Plushtrap Chaser toy (an $80 toy) is a 2 1/2 foot tall green zombie-rabbit toy from the Freddy Fazbear's line, which is supposed to run by itself, running as fast as a real rabbit, and also has tooth-chomping action. It's a popular toy with middle- and high-schoolers this season, and there's a crowd of kids and parents waiting in line to get one. But the boys are too far back in line, and the zombie-rabbit toys are sold out before the boys can get one. (getting some vague "Child's Play" vibes off this)

- "It ran fast and it chomped fast" is... one of the best toy taglines I've heard in awhile, not gonna lie.

- the Plushtrap chaser only moves in the dark, and stays frozen when there's any light around.

- I have a sister that's a toy enthusiast, and I've had many conversations with her about the popular trends in the toy market, and I gotta say... if any company actually made and sold the Plushtrap Chaser toy... those little biters would be sold out so fast! Folks would go bananas for them! Like, I don't want one myself, but zombie dolls have had their moments in the spotlight and robotic toys are always popular, so I can see a whole zombie rabbit thing that marches around biting things being a hot commodity.

- the boys overhear three employees of the toy store talking about a boxed Plushtrap Chaser that was returned to the store earlier that day. The employees are trying to decide what to say if they call the police about it. The boys don't hear what's wrong with it. (The returned Plushtrap was clearly tampered with before being returned, and has what appears to be human eyes and teeth.)

- before the employees can stop him, Oscar rushes forward and grabs the returned Plustrap Chaser, leaves his money on the counter, and runs off with it, his friends behind him. They are chased by an employee, the manager, and a pair of mall security officers, but they get away with the toy.

- the boys escape to Oscar's house with the toy, and quickly open it. It's at this point that the boys notice that the teeth look like yellowed human teeth, and that the eyes are wet and squishy. They begin to realize what the employees were talking about, and are disgusted and horrified with the thought that the toy they stole has human parts. Ultimately, they decide that it's just a defective toy that happens to look like that, since the Plushtraps are all supposed to look gross and creepy anyway.

- the boys get the feeling that the Plushtrap's eyes are watching them.

- they then learn that the Plushtrap toy can bite through metal (despite, y'know, having human teeth????)

- they find a speaker on the Plushtrap when they're looking for a power switch, which they find strange, since none of the ads for the toy ever mentioned the toy talking or anything. They also find that the battery already inside the toy is corroded, and they work to replace it. (It's briefly touched on later in the story, but the Plushtrap toy also appears to leak some sort of fluid from the battery pack.)

- Oscar's mom frequently works nights, leaving him alone in the house. And apparently people often comment on how Oscar looks like his mom, as they have similar facial features and the same eyes 'that look like coals.'

- his mom reads in the newspaper the next morning that there was an incident at the mall where three teenage boys ran off with a toy. She clearly knows that's where Oscar and his friends were yesterday, and she knows that's the toy he's been wanting. Oscar worries about disappointing her, or making her upset with him in any way, but lies to her anyway. She can clearly see through his lie, and just walks away from him sadly, making him feel terrible.

- "'You're worse than useless,' Oscar said to the Plushtrap Chaser. Or maybe he said it to himself." 🥺️

- Oscar's friends: "Hey, look... If you're possessed, we'll understand." XD

- feeling guilty for stealing the toy, Oscar and his friends go to return it a few days later. When they get there, the toy store is gone, along with all of its stock and employees. In its place is a Halloween themed store. (Much like real life in the United States, Spirit Halloween sees a store unattended for five seconds and moves right on in. XD ) The current employees don't know what happened to the toy store, and have nothing to say about the Plushtrap toy.

- the boys work on planning how to go about trick-or-treating this year, determined to go to the nicer side of town to get the "good candy." They also talk about the Plushtrap toy, coming to the conclusion that something seems off about it, and that they should get rid of it. Oscar himself even asks the toy if it's possessed.

- The toy emits a brief chirping sound in the dark, after Oscar sarcastically asks it if it's possessed, but then falls silent again. Oscar notices a strange port of some kind on the side of the Plushtrap's face. He realizes that a cell phone charger fits into it, and installs Raj's charger.

- The weather outside is getting dark and stormy, and eventually causes a power outage. Lightning strikes the house just as he plugs it in, and Oscar is sent flying across the room by a sudden electrical shock. The other two do a quick medical check on him, making sure he's okay. Oscar is fine, to their great relief, but the power in his house is out. Abandoning the Plushtrap Chaser, which is still plugged into the wall, the boys leave the room and go get food; as Oscar pulls the door shut behind him, he hears the Plushtrap, mimicking Raj's voice, whisper "Lights out!" in a sarcastic, joking tone. Thinking Raj is playing a trick on him, Oscar laughs mockingly and ignores it.

- Oscar's mom calls him from the nursing home she works at, apologetically asking him to come help her there tomorrow. Tomorrow is Halloween, and Oscar realizes that, while she does need his help, she's also asking him to skip out on trick-or-treating with his friends. Feeling like his mother expected him to become an adult the instant his father died, and struggling to cling to what he has left of his childhood, Oscar blows up at his mother, airing all his grievances about his father's death, their struggling poverty, how much he feels like an outsider at school because they can't afford for him to wear good shoes or carry a cell phone, and how much he wishes he could just be a kid with no responsibilities. He blames his mother for all his problems, something that hurts her deeply, and they lose connection before he can apologize. He feels terrible after, and starts a mental list of everything he's going to have to apologize to his mother for as soon as he can.

- Even so, he still tells his friends that he can't go trick-or-treating. Raj and Isaac understand, and tell him that they'll collect candy on his behalf.

- The boys settle in the pitch black living room to wait out the storm. They start to look for flash lights, and are distracted when they hear a strange 'thump' from somewhere else in the house. Flash lights in hand, they approach the sound, finding that it's coming from behind the closed door they'd left not long ago. The thumping becomes scraping, and they are alarmed to see the Plushtrap Chaser begin to bite a hole through the door to escape its confinement.

- The toy's teeth get sharper as it chews through the door. When it finally gets through the door, its saw-like teeth are visible, even in the pitch blackness, shining as though reflecting something. In that dim light, the boys can see that the gums around the teeth are bleeding, like living human gums.

- Seeing the boys, the Plushtrap gives chase, chasing them around the house. It leaves any closed door between them in shambles. The boys try to escape it by climbing on top of furniture pieces, but the Plushtrap just starts chewing the furniture pieces into smithereens, and trying to get to Isaac. The toy freezes up when Oscar's flashlight beam lands right on its face, and the boys realize that blinding it with the light is the only way to stop it.

- While the boys are dealing with the "woodchipper," as they call the Plushtrap Chaser, they all three hear Raj's voice coming from another part of the room where none of them are standing. Instinctively, Oscar turns the flashlight to see what his friend is talking about, only to remember too late that the real Raj is standing right beside him. Getting the flashlight back in the right place reveals the Plushtrap mere seconds from sinking its teeth into Isaac's leg, and a very spooked Raj.

- The boys decide to rig the flashlight so that it stays on the Plushtrap, blinding and trapping it, while they escape the house and go get help. Just as they decide that, the flashlight begins to die. They all run in the dark, desperate to escape the chomping evil toy. Raj pulls out his cell phone to call for help, calling 911, but his phone isn't picking up any sort of service to actually call with. They maneuver around to get the home landline phone, narrowly escaping the deranged toy. The landline isn't working either.

- Oscar: "So, to recap, we're trapped in my house with a mindless eating machine, with exactly *one* working flashlight, during a storm that's knocked out both the power lines and the phone lines." Isaac helpfully adds that the water isn't working either right now, having tried one of the sinks. (Water doesn't usually fail from a power outage in my experience, so this is just kind of a strange detail.)

- They are unable to lift or budge the toy now; it seems heavier for some reason. But they manage to pin it in place in the dark, only to move when they hear Oscar's mother's voice from somewhere else in the house. Their small movements are enough for the Plushtrap Chaser to get free, and it resumes chasing them again.

- The boys try to hide in the garage, and the Plushtrap begins chewing through the door and wall to get at them. The Plushtrap mocks them by speaking with their voices to them, laughing and saying "This is it! I'm putting you out of your misery in 3, 2, and you're dead!"

- The boys escape out the garage, slamming the door closed behind them. Now out on the open driveway, the boys stop in fear as they hear the Plushtrap's teeth scraping against the metal garage door.

- The boys come up with a plan, and begin running across town in the dark, stormy weather, leading the deranged rabbit toy to the one thing they can think of that might stop it. They lead it to the train tracks, hoping there will be a train running right now. Luckily, there is, and they run faster to the train tracks.

- Raj and Isaac make it safely across the train tracks, but Oscar waits right on the train tracks, making sure that the Plushtrap Chaser goes where he needs it to go. The train and the rabbit toy both bear down on him, and the rabbit talks to him in his mom's voice again. Oscar jumps out of the way just in time, and the Plushtrap is crushed beneath the train.

- The boys check the sorry remains of the Plushtrap, making sure that it's in too many pieces to reactivate. Seeing the obvious human body parts mixed in with the robotics and the plush toy exterior makes them feel physically ill, and they leave as soon as they can.

- Oscar goes to help his mom at the nursing home on Halloween night. He visits with the crazy old man and the "soul-stealing" cat, and feels a little bit more like everything is normal. He also apologizes to his mother for everything, and promises to do what he can to fix everything around the house. They hug and make up, both apologizing for anything else they've done wrong.

- there's also a moment where Oscar is surprised to see the crazy old man being friendly toward the cat, and the old man just tells him that "[the cat]'s been with me for over 15 years now, and if she wants to steal my soul, then I figure she's earned the right." I just think this is funny.

- This is the second story of the six I've heard so far to have a happy ending, with "Into the Pit" being the first. It's worth noting that there are many parallels between "Into the Pit" and "Out of Stock," as they both center around a boy with an "Os--" name, whose family is struggling with poverty and he feels distanced from one of his parents, and that the boy fights off and eventually destroys a killer rabbit monster, and finally makes up with his parent and claims his happy ending.

- And, while Oscar can be heavily compared to Oswald ("Into the Pit"), he and his friends also have a lot in common with Greg and his friends from "Fetch." Oscar and Greg are both drawn by mysterious forces to the monstrous animatronics of their stories, to the point where they're so desperate to get to it that they break laws and ruin their reputations to get there. Oscar's friends are Raj, a tall and fairly good-looking boy who tends to speak for the group, and Isaac, a short and mousey sort of boy who nervously follows his friends along for the adventure, are also strong character parallels to Greg's friends, Hadi and Cyril. Raj and Hadi both also have names with similar meanings (both coming from words that refer to high authority figures), which I just think is also worth noting.

- So some of these characters are... repeating, for lack of a better word. Oscar = Oswald, but Oscar and his friends = Greg and his friends. Now, this could be chalked up to lazy writing, but given that all the other characters that "repeat" throughout the franchise are usually important, I just think it's worth keeping track of.

- And Plushtrap being able to mimic/throw voices isn't something I expected, but was one of my favorite parts of the story, ngl.

#five nights at freddy's #fazbear frights #a brief analysis #my thoughts #and once again I missed out on the epilogue and have nothing to add for it #I'll have to hunt down the epilogues separately it seems... which is kind of a bummer

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siennahrobek · 3 years

Text

Prompt

In a new attempt to turn Anakin Skywalker to the darkside, Chancellor Palpatine orchestrates the disappearances of heavily pregnant Padme Amidala and Master Councilor Obi-Wan Kenobi. It backfired.

Nobody really won.

It had been ten years.

Knight Anakin Skywalker and Knight Ahsoka Tano were sent to a distress call far out in the outer rim, almost in wild space. Anakin didn’t mind the long journey. His former padawan was good company and sometimes, sometimes, it was nice to get away from the Temple for a while. Away from the sympathetic and pitying stares and lingering theories or rumors.

Things hadn’t been the same for many reasons.

Ten years ago, the two most important people in Anakin’s life disappeared, the man who raised him and his heavily pregnant wife. Eight years ago, they had found what was left of her body. Five years ago, the Order declared Master Kenobi one with the Force.

Anakin never truly stopped looking, but he was becoming dim in ability and stamina. It had been so long and there were no leads to follow. No trace or evidence of his old masters presence anyway. Nowadays, it was pretty much just research and keeping an eye out for anything that vaguely resembled him. He was trying to have the life Obi-Wan always wanted for him, balance and happiness. He tried to connect with others, with Jedi. He spent quite a bit of time mediating, walking the gardens, helping as many as he could throughout the galaxy. He was a good Jedi, he thought, at least on the outside. He was working on the inside. He had a jedi’s life.

It was all he had now. And he would do his best to make Obi-Wan proud.

But being happy, truly happy, Anakin wasn’t sure if he could truly achieve it anymore. Being balanced with that type of hole in your heart, it was difficult. He could accept loss better now; there was no stopping that sort of thing. When it was one’s time to leave the planes of this galaxy for the Force, it was something to rejoice. It was supposed to be home. It wasn’t so easy when there were no answers.

Ahsoka had been knighted several years earlier and Anakin could not have been more proud. Her friends had been there, had congratulated her and she was happy, he had to believe that. But even she missed the presence of another who should have been there. Obi-Wan would have wanted to be there, to witness such a great occasion. They did their best and afterwards, they had a good time, were happy with the rank that came with her knighthood. It wasn’t that either of them were mourning during the time. It was just, they could feel the missing piece. It has been a few years but lately, they had found themselves partnered up quite frequently for missions. He hoped Ahsoka didn’t mind too much but there was never going to be an easy way out of this. Around it. Because this was the type of thing he and Obi-Wan did. They were the Team. They did everything together, even after knighthood.

The Council was trying, he gave them that.

He didn’t know if it really helped, though. It was nice, though, that they cared. They kept an eye on him. Years before, he would have read that as they didn’t trust him. It took him a very, very long time to realize that wasn’t always the case. And partnering him up with someone he was close to, someone he trusted above most else, it was some way of caring. He still struggled with those thoughts, even years later, but he was easier now.

The mystery however, was not any easier. There was an abysmal void where his loved ones should have been. A tear in his heart from the mystery. The lack of answers. He still found himself grieving for Padme but it was easier now. Although no one was entirely sure exactly what had happened to her, at least they had found a body, they had a storyline about what had happened and how it happened. It wasn’t sometime Anakin liked to think about particularly, but it was easier to grieve knowing. She was gone and eventually, he had accepted that. Let go, so to speak. She was with the Force and Anakin could feel her in some of the things he did, some of the objects and people and actions he witnessed and saw. There was grief, but there was also knowing.

The same could not be said for Obi-Wan.

No one knew what happened to him. There were no clues, no evidence. He had disappeared one day, alongside Padme and no one ever could figure out how it happened or why or anything. Although they had found a body for her, they never did for him. Not even a glimmer of anything.

Some darker rumors, cynical beings, spread that he had abandoned the Order. That the war had made him go mad. That he had kidnapped the senator or worse, was the one who slaughtered her. Anakin had quickly put a stop to it. Everyone had felt it the moment he knew about these ideas and theories, diminishing and tarnishing Obi-Wan’s name that was atrocious. He was not the only one who felt this way, but he was the strongest and most determined and the most furious…

No one said anything now.

No one dared.

The Jedi kept him in high honors. He was mentioned in classes, with his thoughts and theories on the Force, his research on all the things he loved to learn; animals, plants, cultures, languages. His strategies from the war were taught. His negotiation fame was spread; everyone knew the stories of the Negotiator. He wasn’t just a war hero. He was a Jedi, and a great one at that. His faith in the Order, his faith in people, his faith in the Force, was incredible and Anakin hadn’t really come to realize how that was until years after.

Obi-Wan loved in such a way that Anakin hadn’t understood since he was a child. He wished that he could talk with him one more time, just to show his old master that he was right, that Anakin was okay. That Anakin knew how much Obi-Wan Kenobi loved him.

That Anakin was doing his very best to be the Jedi and person he knew he could be.

The clones continued to think of him; believe the best in their General Kenobi. They always had liked him. He was a high general, one that appreciated and valued their input and their lives. He was their finder, all the cadets – former and current – had been told the stories about how he found them like a true Jedi searcher. Even if it was by accident, it had jumpstarted their journey into being free. He had worked to help and protect them alongside other council members and the few politicians who saw them more as canon fodder. It amazed Anakin how long and intense the memories of the former soldiers were because he was still brought up.

Cody and a lot of the 212th had taken it hard; harder that most of the rest of the military. He was their direct general, someone they followed personally up until the very end of the war. Some of them had been friends, even. They had helped Anakin search for a long time, but it was getting harder for them. They had jobs now, they had to start lives, be citizens. Things were expected of them, like for some reason, they had to catch up to the rest of the citizens. It was a struggle and a fight but luckily, they did have allies for assistance.

Many clones got adopted into or employed at the Temple. There weren’t many force-sensitive ones, none enough that they would have made an actual Jedi knight, but the Order was loyal to them as they had been to the Jedi. Many troopers filled in other roles, of teachers, sparring partners, cooks, guards, and researchers. Waxer and Boil had made it from being aides to a creche master to being crèche masters themselves, with leading their own clan of initiates.

Obi-Wan would have loved that.

“Coming up to origin of signal,” Ahsoka announced from the pilot’s seat, flipping a few switches as she began the sequence for landing and attachment. In the middle of nowhere, Anakin noted. There wasn’t a planet near here, in sight or on the scanners. He wondered how they even got out here. Hopefully this wasn’t a mortis situation all over again. He did not want to deal with something like that again. The ship in front of them was small and broken down, floating aimlessly in the abyss of space.

He doubted anyone survived.

“You never know, master,” Ahsoka tried to keep herself upbeat as she shot him a grin, sharp teeth showing unabashedly. “Perhaps we will be pleasantly surprised,” she suggested with a bit of a shrug. The ship had made a thud as it hit the abandoned one and the latches untangled themselves to strike into the hull of the ship.

Oh. He had said that out loud. Oops.

“Latch engaged,” she added and turned to smile at him, tentatively once again. “Come on master. Let’s see what adventure awaits us.”

“I’m no longer your master, Ahsoka,” he reminded her, idly.

She shrugged once more. “Right,” she replied with a small smirk, her voice laced with sarcasm. It was practically oozing out of her. She remained him of his former master sometimes, with her humor and quick wit. With a mischievous side eye, she continued, slyly. “Let’s go, master.”

Anakin rolled his eyes and followed her out, making their way through their ship’s hatch and towards the abandoned one. He still didn’t think that anyone survived but this was their duty. And the calm silence of their journey and the nature of the mission was a bit of a relief from the fast-paced ones that he was normally sent on. Usually, it was a good way to keep his mind off of everything else. This was a nice reprieve.

As the two of them got into the derelict ship, Anakin started talking and he had absolutely no idea where it came from. It was like his mouth had started moving and his brain had not given it permission. “I’m sorry, Ahsoka.”

She glanced at him, curiously. “What for?”

He couldn’t quite meet her eyes, as they waved a flashlight around, searching the cockpit for life or anything else that could give them an idea into what had happened and who may have been there. “I know I haven’t really been…the same since…”

“Since Padme and Master Obi-Wan disappeared,” she supplied with a frown. It had been ten years since it happened and several years since she had been knighted and she still remembered. It was almost always the reason.

He nodded and swallowed heavily. “I…I got through Padme, to some extent at least. I knew what happened to her. But Obi-Wan…I still wonder.”

“Wonder…?”

“What happened. I know everyone says he wouldn’t leave me, not like that but…” he drifted off, looking down, his light flickering towards the floor, near useless. “I was a pretty terrible person around the time he disappeared, unbalanced and in a bad place. Listening to the wrong people, making terrible choices,” Anakin shuddered at the thought of what Palpatine nearly got him to do in his desperation and fury. It had been a dreadful time and everyone else had nearly paid the price for his mistakes, for his foolishness. Ten thousand Jedi, millions of the clones, all the people in the galaxy. He feared now what would have happened if he had not been pulled from the edge, if he had made that leap into the dark side, into the fear and anger and hate. “Perhaps…. maybe it was just too much for even the great and infinitely patient Master Kenobi.”

Ahsoka scoffed good-naturedly as she rolled her eyes, finding the sliver of humor to work through. “One, Master Obi-Wan was not infinitely patient,” she pointed out, glancing at him pointedly. She wasn’t completely wrong. Obi-Wan had a lot of patience but even he had his limits, generally with those he didn’t care for. His patience with Anakin though, that was legendary. Not that he would ever really admit that. “And two, they are right. He would never leave you out of choice. I mean come on. Master Obi-Wan.”

“Yeah. You’re probably right,” he replied half-heartedly and tried shooting her a smile. It wasn’t very convincing, but it was all he had at the moment. After a suggestion of splitting up, the two of them went to opposite ends of the ship, Anakin towards the living quarters and Ahsoka towards the cargo bay. Perhaps Anakin could find some clues with the former inhabitant’s belongings or Ahsoka with whatever they were travelling with.

It was a bust. There was very little there, aside from some blankets. Anakin imagined there were a couple of people stuffed within the quarters, perhaps a man and a child or two, with the toys he found. There were some handmade wooden carved ship toys laying on the bed and Anakin picked one up. It was a Jedi star fighter, he realized. It wasn’t the most amazing rendition of the ship, but he was probably a little bias, considering he had not only flown one of these during the war, he still had one.

What was really interesting about it was the feelings imbued with it. The signature felt familiar, like he should know it, but it was weak. Whoever made this toy was filled with so much love, for the recipient, for those in general, that he cascaded off the toy in waves.

He wondered if the former inhabitant had been force sensitive. It might explain the feelings in the ship and the toys, especially.

“I don’t see anything!” Ahsoka shouted from the opposite end of the ship. He could hear her just fine, even though she was on the other end, but Anakin was still a bit entranced with the toy and the feelings coming off of it. “You?”

There was a brief silence and a clatter. Not big enough to be her body but it had sounded like she had dropped her flashlight.

Anakin glanced back towards where she had headed. He couldn’t see her but it was more instinctive than anything. “Ahsoka?”

Silence.

“Ahsoka?! Answer me?” Anakin started to panic, his heart beating faster and faster as he moved towards the door, calling her name.

She sounded scared and small, like back in the early days of the war and casualties were high. When she was worried about those she cared about, troopers, jedi, citizens. She sounded like she was in tears. Anakin couldn’t really remember a specific time where had sounded so fearful, so worried, so sad. Not in a way that was as blatant as this. “Skyguy?” Her voice called out. That was a name he hadn’t heard in a while. “You…you have to come see this.”

Anakin raced across the ship, panicked, and leaping over crates and objects. She didn’t make it sound like she was in danger, and she didn’t appear to be, but he didn’t stop until he was right next to Ahsoka. He had nearly crashed into it. She was standing in front of a large gray slab, some kind of relief sculpture of some kind. At least, that was what it looked like, although he hadn’t gotten a very good look at it. His attention was on Ahsoka. But he could tell what it was made out of. He had never seen such a large slab of carbonite before.

“What is it?”

She was crying, he could see a multitude of silent tears. They were running down her face in a cascade and although he couldn’t hear them, he could almost hear her sobs in the Force. But she just pointed up and Anakin followed her hand and gaze.

The face was distorted, like it had been looking down when the carbonite had been applied. The slab was huge and only made bigger by the cloak the figure wore. It was sweeping and wide, like he was trying to cover, hide or protect large objects underneath. Possibly, he was. But even with the odd, defensive pose and the face not looking straight on, even after ten years, Anakin knew that face.

He always knew that face.

Frozen in carbonite.

Obi-Wan Kenobi.

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mugionthewater · 3 years

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Tsumugi Shirogane Deepdive: Prologue

I’m in a DR mood right now, and really enjoying revisiting Tsumugi in particular, so I thought I’d do a chapter-based retrospective focusing on all the cool Tsumugi material! A reread project especially rewarding for a character like Mugi, so I’m really excited.

In this series, I’m focusing a lot on all the foreshadowing, and also what we can extrapolate about Tsumugi’s true character along the way. I’ll be doing this chapter-by chapter, including the prologue as well as an installment for her Free Time Events.

Full spoilers for V3 under the cut.

The Pre-Prologue

We first see Tsumugi in the gym by the exisals to get their uniforms and their memories. Tsumugi herself has four lines of dialogue in this scene, nothing that particularly stands out, but there are a couple of things worth noting about how she (and everyone else) is dressed.

Kaede describes how she was kidnapped on her way to school, and it sure looks like that’s the case for almost everyone in the room. We’re used to seeing DR characters in flashy outfits that vaguely resemble school uniforms but actually reflect their individuality, so when the game first shows them in an ensemble lineup like this, it’s a lot more striking.

Not so much in this CG. While there are plenty of visual details that tell us about these characters (Saihara’s already hiding under a hat in his sprites; Iruma is revealing; Kiibo and Gonta are buttoned up and orderly, but Kaito’s shirt and jacket are undone to show a bold-colored undershirt), their uniforms look like they’re doing what uniforms are supposed to do: be bland and blend in.

What about Tsumugi? Tsumugi wears a basic uniform like everyone else, but this is where we get the game’s first indication that all is not what it seems with this girl. The clue is the blue. She is the only one in the lineup whose primary color isn’t a neutral tone. What’s more, it’s the same shade of blue Tsumugi is associated with throughout the game. Visually, part of her is already in character as Tsumugi Shirogane, SHSL Cosplayer.

Of course, there’s a much bigger item foreshadowing Tsumugi as the bad guy, which is that in advance of everyone getting their “memories”, the main emphasis is their new clothes delivered by the Monokubs.

There are a couple of reasons the clothes are significant. For starters, there’s a direct line to Tsumugi’s cosplay talent. For anyone inclined to suspect her before starting the game on account of her talent (and her general don’t-look-at-me-I’m-not-suspicious vibes), this is immediate theory fodder. This also primes the audience to look at the setting of V3 with a critical eye, between the contrast of the kids’ boring outfits and their flashy new ones and the Monokubs making explicit references to starting the “story“, there is an immediate suggestion of artifice that runs all the way down to their identities. Not for nothing is Kaede’s magical girl transformation visually similar to the memory light.

Another thing: pre-memory light, the person in the room whose outfit is the least uniform-y is Amami.

At the very least, it’s a look that’s noticeably more casual than what most of the cast is wearing. After Chapter 6, we know that Amami made it to the end of the 52nd Killing Game before he and Tsumugi were condemned to execution via participating in the next killing game- which he seems to be realizing in this scene- so it’s possible they’re coming right off the heels of the last killing game. It’s an ongoing mystery what his relationship with her was like up to this point? Does he know she’s the ringleader? Is “Tsumugi Shirogane“ anything like the person she was in the last killing game, assuming she was even there?

I’m not confident Tsumugi really switched to a new persona for the 53rd Killing Game, even though fake identities is kind of her whole deal. I’ll get more into why in this series, but I think a lot of the character we see in the game is the “real“ Tsumugi, to the extent that such a person even exists.

Introducing Tsumugi Shirogane: Professional Cosplayer, Sex God

If you go back and read the promotional blurbs for V3, Tsumugi’s mention her tendency to get so lost in thought that she’ll ignore everyone around her. This little trait isn’t super weird at first, until you realize later in the game that she doesn’t carry the shtick past the first chapter. It’s like she wrote the character blurbs herself, realized everybody has a wacky “thing“ that would come up immediately in the introductions, and came up with an act of low-grade wackiness so she’d fit in in the prologue.

This is great stuff, looking back. It gives an intro in brief to the many contradictions of Tsumugi Shirogane. On one hand, it’s overly phony and performative. But on the other hand, there’s a core of truth there about her character- she really is someone who stays in her thoughts without a care for anyone around her, albeit less in the cute way and more in the horrifying sociopath kind of way.

It also tells us something important about Tsumugi’s commitment to the Killing Game. She cares about maintaining the integrity of this world and its characters, but is pretty indifferent about maintaining a role for herself. She doesn’t give a shit about having a storyline or even much of a character. The pleasure of DR comes from what she can get as an observer/consumer.

This is entirely consistent with what she tells Kaede and Saihara about herself and her feelings about cosplay in the actual introduction.

This is the ethos that makes me wonder how dishonest Tsumugi really is. She’s dishonest as hell, of course, but given that she later applies the entire DR LARP reality show experience as “cosplay“, what she says about her convictions largely rings true. She clearly cares about making her tribute an authentic one (lol), which extends to her being the primary creative director inside her fiction bubble.

It partly explains why she spends the next five chapters being little more than furniture. In her mind, her job as a producer precludes her from being a character in her own right, because doing anything to pull focus is tantamount to self-promotion, and, well, that’s an abuse of power that gets in the way of the story!

(sidebar: there are some fascinating things we could speculate about what she says about cosplay relates to her relationship with the rest of Team Danganronpa and the outside world, but this post is getting long, so I’ll save it for another day)

Like everything else about Tsumugi, it’s not until the end that you can fully contextualize how sinister she’s being here. What she passes off as a cute passion for cosplay is actually a bone-deep sense of consumer entitlement taken to a logical extreme. Tsumugi is a more vicious indictment of terrible nerds and a selfish fandom than anything Hifumi Yamada could embody. She loves DR so much, and feels so strongly that nobody should be participating in DR with any corrupt motives, that anything less than the real deal is unacceptable. To this end, she will happily transplant entirely new emotional realities on the others so that even the emotional torture of the Killing Game is authentic. In Tsumugi’s selfish nerd brain, this is the important part of the drama of Killing Games, and anyone who disagrees with her approach is a fake fan who doesn’t deserve any kind of creative control.

Anyways, there’s more to say about Tsumugi’s introduction, so moving on

Some pretty overt foreshadowing here. In the Japanese script, her reference is ep. 53 of Kiteretsu Daihyakka instead of Doraemon. I like the change for the dub, even though it’s pretty obvious. Someone who knows DR primarily through the dub is less likely to know about the franchise’s connection to Doraemon, anyway.

Tsumugi also points out the weird dragon statue in the hallway that will lead into a new part of the school down the line. It’s a neat little metatextual trick on the audience, because it’s the kind of thing that’s not suspicious at all on a first playthrough. She’s an NPC in a DR game, of course her dialogue is gonna point out plot devices that will be relevant shortly, but on a reread you know she’s being deliberate about it. This is far from the last time this kind of thing happens with Tsumugi.

Lastly, this charming observation from Kaede about why she’s maybe not so plain afterall.

Kaede puts it in the worst way possible, but it’s interesting that she, a person with a generally good read on people, decides immediately that there’s more to Mugi than meets the eye. Not only that, she relates it specifically to an audience spending a lot of time looking at her. If she were any less gross about it, Kaede making this kind of observation would land like a big clue.

This leaves us with the biggest question from the prologue: if Kaede wasn’t too busy being horny and gay, could she have put two and two together and thwarted the ringleader?

There is SO much more to say about Tsumugi, so I’m really excited to dig deep into other chapters!

#tsumugi shirogane #ndrv3 #meta

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texasthegreatdestroyer · 3 years

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Just some theories and critcisms that I have the the recent two volumes.

Probably to start off from the beginning, Volume 7 was... interesting the say the least. Not that I hated it, because I didn't, I enjoyed many of the characters that they introduced to us, as well as I kinda enjoyed Penny making a come back, however I do have gripes about that, but I'll get into it a little further down the road. There was always one issue that I had with 7, and admitedly, it ruined one of the characters for me. Clover. A little bit of back story, when I first started watching 7, and Clover was properly introduced in the Dust Minds with Qrow, and the phrase "My semblance is good fortune." came out of his mouth, I instantly hated him, and for 2 main reasons. I knew the shippers were going to go crazy about it, and I just hated the potential connotations that came with it. I don't know about everyone else, but I love good and propper character growth. I was gonna be kinda pissy if they spent a whole volume trying to build Qrow's character up, only to solve his whole character arc by making his depression magically go poof with friendship, and that friend having a semblance to combat his own. Not matter what people want to believe, that's not good character growth. Genuinely sit down and think of the message behind that. It might as well be implying that if you can find that one person who builds you up, all of your problems will go away, and speaking from real life experience, it is not a good idea to have your happiness revolve around a singular person, because you never know when that person can back stab you, or just kick rocks.

What really broke my heart is that it took RT killing him off for me to actually take a deep look at Clover as a character for me to realize that I actually like him as a character, I just hated how they used him for plot device towards Qrow's developement. As much as I now like Clover, I'm glad that RT killed him off, because in the long run, it was better off that way for Qrow's sake, and again, the implications of their friend ship aren't entirely healthy, and is kind of ignorant to how much of an issue things like depression is. That shit doesn't just go away just because a person is introduced into the mix. In part it's also why I don't like Fair Game as a ship, because while cute in concept, it gets boring with a lot of the content that get's produced as it's mostly happy, cute, good times. It lacks in any real complexity because it's all honestly just cookie cutter romance, and it's not really all that fun to take in. In addition to that, the main issues I had mentioned before come into play. The idea that one person is so perfect while the other is fucked up in the head, that the fucked up one is heavily emotionally reliant on the other which is in fact not a healthy relationship for either member, and it would be terrifying to see how Qrow would pull himself together if he's even able to, in a scenario where they were long time romantic partners, and suddenly Clover just up and kicked rocks, or the relationship fell a part. In all honesty, it would potentially just destroy him. In general, I just think the lucky semblance thing was a dumb idea all together. I see why they did it in the grand scheme of things, but it annoyed me.

Then of course there's Robin. Let's be real, her semblance is story wrecking levels of broken. Like come on RT. Lie Detector semblance??? Really??? That is a power no mortal should ever have, and there's so many times that Robin could have broken the whole ass story just with the touch of another person's hand. (And no, just because Harriet didn't take her hand in Vol. 8 doesn't make the semblance concept any less stupid. If anything, it just makes it worse, because it shows that Harriet can't be trusted to act rationally in a situation she should realistically be able to act diplomatically towards. Grief is not an excuse when you're on the job.) I have the same issues with her that I had with Clover, it's that her semblance is damn near unneccessary.

Now to go into Volume 8, but not before giving a genuine criticism towards the whole series of RWBY. Why is it that the majority of the antagonistic characters have tragic back stories. Roman Torchwick was the only one who didn't have that sort of back story, and he wasn't even the main set of antags. Then of course there's Neo, but what good does that actually do when that's exactly what her future drives end up being is the tragic tale of her losing a close friend and associate. With Cinder, they pulled no punches, and oh my god, the song that goes with it. Like my god RT, could you slap the veiwers any harder with your dick obviousness? I hate that they gave easily the 2nd most fucked up character a sob story. It wasn't neccessary. The only good thing about it was when Wattz used her tragic past against her to put her in her place. There's no need to humanize someone who is so driven by hatred like that, as she's done so much fucked up shit to the main cast of characters that most if not all people wouldn't bat an eyelash at her, because it doesn't change her decision to intentionally be sadistic. And while on the topic of a Maiden, let's move to another. Penny. Volume 8 did her dirty. I'm all for bringing a character back, and I'm all for killing off a character for plot purpose, but the two don't fucking mix. Penny's death was redundant and unneccessary. What was the point of giving her a human body if she was just going to die within that same day? What was the point of bringing her back again if she was just going to die? Again? There's two routs RT should have taken. Either they should have killed her vol. 3 and had her stay dead, or she shouldn't have died in vol. 3, continued on as normal, and only then should she have died in vol. 8. Option number 2 is the ladder. I get what RT was trying to do with Penny's death, and I think it was a good concept, but god damn, this is Dragon Ball, we don't need redundant, pointless deaths. At least in vol. 8, there was a purpose behind Penny's death, but in vol. 3, Penny's death was more so unneccessary, and was only used to be a maryr for Ruby's cause. In fairness to them, you can't really expect them to fix what they had done years ago, but with full knowledge that this is what their plot meant they would have to do, they should have reconsidered the handing of their events for either Vol. 8, or both Vol 8 and 7 by removing Penny from it entirely.

Some additional criticisms that don't hold a lot of weight in the over all quality of the show, and more just some missed opportunities. Okay, so remember that whole speil Nora went on about having to find herself before she could be with Ren? Yeeeeeah, so why was it again that Jean had to be the one to fall into the abyss and not Nora or Ren??? Just putting that out there. If Nora and Ren needed to be seperate long enough for Nora to figure herself out, there's no real reason that they couldn't act on this. Because now instead, they're going to have to lean on each other even more so when news comes to them that the majority of their friends just got fucking dusted, and so they'll most likely be grieving together under the pretences that their friends are dead. Speaking of the abyss, fan theory time.

From what we've seen of this abyss that everyone has fallen into, it seems to be a fairly habitable pocket demention. With enough work, a civilization could possibly grow there. Where am I going with this? Well what do we know about Salem? She's a force to be reckoned with who could very potentially kill off the whole world with or without the help of the gods. We also know that she's immortal and cannot be killed. That doesn't however mean she can't be stopped. That's where the pocket demension comes into play. How do you fight off an immortal, blood thirsty, angry ex wife? By taking away everything she has to destroy in her path. You can't cause a mass genocide if there's no one to kill. And so that's where the pocket demension comes into play. What if that's how they stop Salem? By just leaving Remnant behind completely? They could take the staff back, and move all of Remnant's population into this dimension, and start new. In addition to that, they would need to take the staff of creation with them, meaning so much for collecting all four relics to blow up the planet. Now of course, there are some flaws with this theory, mainly in regards to carrying capacity of the area around them, rather or not the area is truly as inhabitable as it appears, and how safe the it actually is to live there. It's just more fodder for thought. What is RT planning with this pocket demension? Why are they so excited about Vol. 9 in regards to this? I'm really interested in how they're going about this, and hopefully the do a good job with it.

Anyways, those are just my thoughts on RWBY so far. Hopefully Vol. 9 does make up for the haphazard ending that was Vol. 8

#rwby spoilers

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ecoamerica · 1 month

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youtube

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

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goldenkamuyhunting · 4 years

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(Part 1) Thank you for keeping this blog going. There are few in the fandom who gives as much attention to detail as you do, and I always look forward to reading you blog. Long ask below, which had to be split into 4 parts.

Thank you for enjoying my blog!

I’m always happy to know there’s people who enjoy it!

Now, for your questions:

1) Yuusaku is basically cannon fodder. Even if Ogata didn't shoot him, he was unlikely to live through the war. Russo-Japanese War was the first to witness the carnage rapid firing lines could do to an infantry charge; standard bearers in those days were basically on suicide missions. This was why it was mostly phased out by WWI. I'm surprised Yuusaku even lived through more than one charge. Was Hanazawa senior aware that grooming his favorite son to be the standard bearer, while glamorous, was going to get him killed?

1) As sad as it is, back then ALL THE INFANTRY was sadly cannon fodder, a beaviour that will continue even during WWs.

Yuusaku, being at the head of the charge each time, had more chances to get killed than the others but it’s actually a matter of luck as, not only the others were close by, but soldiers didn’t really take aim when shooting (except for snipers), they just aimed their weapons in the enemy’s general direction and fired.

Still, it was all a matter of luck.

Sugimoto (who’s ironically based on a real soldier) managed to survive to plenty of charges, others didn’t manage to survive to their first charge.

Yuusaku didn’t have to die just because he was a flag bearer... but surely the odds were against him.

As for Hanazawa in truth the situation is much more complicate.

I’m pretty sure Hanazawa wasn’t happy Yuusaku HAD TO BE the flagbearer. As far as he was involved he had only one son and that one was Yuusaku and back then heirs were important and if he were to die Hanazawa would remain without one since it’s clear he never planned to acknowledge Ogata.

The problem isn’t so much that he wanted Yuusaku to be the flagbearer, is that he couldn’t avoid Yuusaku being the flagbearer.

Out of bad luck Yuusaku was a second lieutenant back then and unmarried, therefore virgin (because they had already moved in a time in which having a lover wasn’t respectable). And, of course, being the son of Hanazawa Yuusaku was expected to check all the other requisites a flag bearer had to have, being handsome, high achiever and a paragon of moral virtue.

In short he was perfect for the job.

Beign the flag bearer was a honour and refusing it was a sign of cowardice that would have tossed shame on the whole family.

If Hanazawa had stopped Yuusaku from being a flag bearer, Yuusaku would have lost face and Hanazawa with him and since Hanazawa was a big shoot in the army during the war this would have turned into a huge problem.

And then there’s also what Koito senior said.

Someone had to be the flag bearer. Stopping his son from doing so to protect him and therefore sacrifice someone else son would be viewed as inexcusable.

As much as I hate Hanazawa I recognize he couldn’t keep Yuusaku out of the position.

For me his sin, in regard to Yuusaku, is more that he had told him not to kill. While a sword can’t really stop a Maxim gun, during the charge they would get in close contact with other soldiers, soldiers who could kill him. Using his sword to defend himself would increase his odds to survive.

Hanazawa instead, realizing the chances for Yuusaku to survive were dim, likely preferred to use him till the end as some sort of pure idol to fulfil a theory of his own at whom the soldiers might not even believe that, if Yuusaku weren’t to kill, soldiers would remain pure as well and wouldn’t feel guilty.

Of course it can be that Yuusaku actually wasn’t so good with the sword. Maybe if he were to try to defend himself not only he would fail but this would lower the troops’ morale. As an idol instead Yuusaku is protected by the soldiers who see him as their personal amulet of good luck.

In this case in a way Hanazawa took the best decision both for him and the troops. We know too little to tell... but I’m pretty sure Hanazawa knew there were few chances Yuusaku would survive.

In his position he couldn’t possibly not know.

Sure is Yuusaku seems to believe everything his father says without thinking at it too much.

When he explains his reasons to Ogata... well, they aren’t really his reasons but what his father told him. He didn’t rielaborate, didn’t internalize, didn’t think it over.

It’s just ‘daddy told me so therefore I do it in this way’.

2) I wonder what was going through Ogata’s mind, watching Yuusaku run into the meat grinder. At that moment maybe it occurred to him that being Hanazawa’s favorite son came with a heavy price tag.

Everything comes with a price tag... but objectively both Ogata and Yuusaku were risking to die in that war and if Ogata was left more often in the trenches, where it was slightly safer, shooting at enemies, it was merely because he was lucky he was gifted at shooting otherwise he could have been right next to Yuusaku running, charge after charge... only he never enjoied an ounce of Yuusaku’s benefits.

The truth is that people who come from a privileged situation like Yuusaku, Koito, Tomoharu, Ueji or Chiyotarou, aren’t insured to have a happy life free of danger. They can be as miserable as the next guy and can end up in troubles way bigger (Ueji even went insane after all, Yuusaku died, Tomoharu wasn’t up to fulfil his family expectations, Chiyotarou get bullied, Koito had no support when he lost his brother...).

But they will also be sheltered by way too many things that make life miserable and will be given chances that others can only dream.

So yes, being Hanazawa’s legittimate son came with a heavy price tag but being Hanazawa’s illegittimate son not only also came with a heavy price tag but was bereft of the benefits being Hanazawa’s legittimate son could offer.

3) He must also know that Yuusaku getting KIA is a matter of (very short) time. Tsurumi must know that too, so he called off the kill.

Honestly I believe the only reason Tsurumi called off the kill was because he wanted to push Ogata to kill Yuusaku on his own. Ogata showed a softer side with Koito when he kidnapped him, giving him a sweet and conforting him...

...but that’s not all. When he carried Yuusaku in a brothel and Yuusaku turned down his idea to have fun with the girls he could have gotten Yuusaku drunk or forced him in another way. He didn’t. He let him go and made sure he wasn’t seen as he left, when he could have let Yuusaku’s reputation being tarnished just by letting him being seen.

Tsurumi mentions noble blood deliberately, sure this would be a jab at Ogata.

He pinned the two brothers one against the other trying to recreate the situation that pushed Usami to kill Tomoharu and it worked. Only Ogata wasn’t enamoured of Tsurumi as Usami was.

4) Yet Ogata killed him anyways. Maybe he thought since Yuusaku was going to die anyways, why not use him as an experimental guild-trip?

I’ll say it’s more than experimentation. In addition to Tsurumi subtly pinning him against Yuusaku there’s to say all Ogata wanted was his father’s love and attention, and he had seen Koito getting it after his brother died.

Plus Yuusaku made the mistake of stepping in a minefield.

Ogata is a man who represses his guilt, who has learnt to do it as a child when he killed his mother, whom he loved. For Ogata is a cornerstone in his own development he doesn’t feel guilty because ‘he had a reason for his mother’s murder’.

And Yuusaku then goes and tell him this is impossible, that he has to feel guilt.

...and Ogata, who’s stuck between his own maladaptive copying mechanism, his wish to be normal, and his deep desire to be loved by his father, kills him, again telling himself since he has a reason, he wont’ feel guilty.

Only he will feel guilty despite being in deep denial over it but that’s a talk for another post.

5) Now I have a feeling that deliberately killing Yuusaku is just another lie he tells himself. Maybe it wasn’t deliberate, but the most egregious failure he made as a sniper for which he spun a whole narrative for: he kill Yuusaku by friendly fire.

I think Ogata genuinely believed he had shoot to Yuusaku and killed him. In short, I believe he aimed and shoot. Of course it’s possible he missed, subconsciously or by coincidence and, ironically, Yuusaku was killed by someone else, either by incident or deliberately so as to delude Ogata into thinking he had killed him.

Plot wise though I don’t see the point of having Yuusaku die due to an accident because, if this were to be the case, it would never be possible to discover it... unless Ogata were to remember his bullet actually hit another target... or it were to turn out the bullet in Yuusaku’s head wasn’t the one of a type 30.

It might be different if it was someone else who had shoot him, making Ogata believe it had been him, like how ‘by a coincidence’ Tsukishima had learnt of the whole Igogusa’s story about how her corpse was dug up.

However, as Usami pointed out, Yuusaku was shot perfectly in the center of the back of his head... and Usami knows no one else in the 7th who could do it.

So unless Tsurumi has an extra sniper we’re unaware of, it would be hard for him to stage Yuusaku’s death so that Ogata would believe he were the killer.

So I don’t know.

But I think the real key in the whole thing isn’t if Ogata has killed his brother or not, but that he believes he has done it and, contrary to what he thought, he feels guilty as hell for having done it to the point he hallucinates Yuusaku each time he’s not in his best shape or even when he is and he’s about to do something he feels he might regret afterward.

But of course this is just me.

Thank you for your ask!

#Ogata Hyakunosuke #Hanazawa Yuusaku #Hanazawa Koujirou #Usami Tokishige #Ask

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bogprincess-kira · 4 years

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1,6,9 for ZokVar!

ah yes, my favorite Skeksis pair, Frollo and the Brick

... i say, right before getting unnecessarily fake-deep about cartoonishly evil birds,

1. Where in Thra would their ideal date be?

Knowing Zok’s... Everything, he’d probably prefer to go somewhere out-of-the-way, for a week or two relieved of Castle duties. In theory, anyway. Things like camping or vacations outside of the Empire are out of the question; while he enjoys privacy, he would probably starve to death if Ayuk’s team wasn’t cooking for him (and everyone else), or at least bringing him lazy food. Var might fare a bit better, because he’s built like a wrecking ball and knows how to use that to hurt things, but even if he did learn how to hunt with any semblance of skill, the lack of other creature comforts would still be a disaster waiting to happen. Besides, he doesn’t want to stray too far from the Emperor’s side, and it would be a pain trying to call a carriage back home from the middle of nowhere if he received word of an emergency with the Guard or Court. They need distance from big gatherings, but enough access to be back on the road in under an hour, just in case.

With those limitations in mind, they’d probably find some secluded spot just north of Ha’Rar on the cliffs - ideally, somewhere with a view of both land and sea, as Var gets stressed when he can’t get a read on his surroundings quickly. Though they’d be careful not to let many people know where they are, they also need access to first aid on short notice.

I’m sure I don’t have to explain why that’s a concern, when one of these guys is a creepy, knife-collecting priest infamous for being Horny On Main 24/7, and the other is a reckless, eager-to-please soldier with pain tolerance for days. After all, the main motive for choosing a spot out-of-the-way is that less foot traffic means lower chances of someone passing by and asking questions about whatever they might overhear. They really don’t want to know.

6. If Skeksis or Mystics, how do their other halves feel about the relationship?

UrZah is... Unamused. He doesn’t know urMa terribly well - they never could see eye-to-eye on anything from clothing colors to whether or not Unity was even worth the wait - and doesn’t think highly of him at all. He’s not all that surprised by skekVar setting his expectations even lower; urMa is gullible, starry-eyed and far too willing to waste his time and effort on things that have absolutely no bearing on his own success, but at least he has the sense not to go out and commit horrendous acts of violence in the name of an Empire doomed to crash and burn for its crimes. At least urMa hasn’t given up on his naïve dreams of world peace or whatever he’s always going on about in favor of the fleeting, bloody attention of two powerful Lords who have him wrapped around their little fingers and (as far as urZah can tell) would just as quickly lose interest, break him down and leave him for whatever starved beast may take pity as continue to bend the limits of his trust for their own entertainment.

Truth be told, he loathes his mirror even more, knowing that skekZok has had a hand in turning the ever-optimistic, ever-foolish Ambassador into just another murderous beast like the other Skeksis.

The Peacemaker doesn’t exactly see much potential for good in the pair, either, but he doesn’t think it’s necessarily as manipulative as urZah does. Whether that’s because urMa trusts too easily (or so it appears) or because he knows his mirror better than any other Mystic ever will, he doesn’t seem interested in skekVar’s affairs, and changes the subject whenever it comes up.

This isn’t the first time VarMa has been in a shady relationship - far from it, actually. Back then, though, it never lasted long enough for him to regret much. He was lonely and easily swayed, but he always knew it wasn’t permanent, even in the rare occasions it had any emotional weight. As an expendable soldier - a future killing machine at best, cannon fodder at worst - he, along with everyone else he had the pleasure of working with, knew they could be transferred at any time, assuming they lived through the night. Not everyone was kind or patient, but they were useful as distractions.

UrMa isn’t happy with himself for that, but he knows, at the time, it seemed like a good idea, and it was probably a good thing he learned his lesson before getting in too deep. SkekVar, apparently, doesn’t share the sentiment; it appears that the General is still just as desperate for attention as ever, although at least now he knows what kinds he wants.

9. Who is the big spoon/little spoon?

This one’s always easy. A little more complicated than the Jen/Kira answer, though - not because I’m overly invested in this semi-rarepair, this time, but because usually there are three parties involved rather than two.

SkekVar’s sort of a middle spoon; once in a while he’ll give that spot up so skekSo can take it, but So gets uncomfortable with that arrangement fast, because he hates seeing Zok’s horrible shrimp-leg teeth when he’s trying to catch some beauty sleep. Besides, all that muscle makes for a great pillow at the right angle, which means they prefer to have him right in the middle, and if he’s not, one or both of them will get fussy and/or handsy until he moves so they’re comfortable again.

When it’s just them, Var usually holds So, since the Emperor is so much lighter than him and the General is big enough to more or less “shield” him from anything that So used to think in the early days might sneak up and hurt him; besides, Var gets worried about him being so thin, and it’s a passable excuse to check that he’s not getting any tinier. While he’s with just Zok, though, he’ll generally just fall asleep quickly and let the Ritual-Master figure out the rest. Zok almost always ends up with as many gangly arms around Var as possible. He’s territorial as all hell, and - whether he’ll ever admit it or not - that possessive streak gives way to sappy shows of affection pretty easily, as long as they’re alone.

#ask meme #bog answers

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toonstarterz · 5 years

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BECAUSE I’M NOT POPULAR, I’LL READ WATAMOTE: CHAPTER #165

Summer shenanigans are a staple of the manga and anime work, though how much you can expect the clichés to actually happen depends on how much effort you’re willing to put into making it a reality. Fact is, summer is never as fantastical or memorable as we’d like to dream. You only get three(in Japan) high school summers in one lifetime. But as they say, it’s who you spend it with, not what, that will stick around with you.

Chapter 165: Because I’m Not Popular, I’ll Enjoy My Last High School Summer Break

Hey, if Futaki wants to be a professional gamer girl (minus the bathwater), she’s gotta stay on top of the new releases.

Mother always knows. Always.

There’s a fine line between persuading and threatening, Katou. Just saying.

I can already see the (not totally implausible) jokes about Mako and Yoshida secretly meeting to hook up. Even though that’s 99% not what will happen, Mako’s vagueness is something to note. The way I see it, Mako doesn’t want Yuri to feel left out, so she’s downplaying the “fun” she’ll be having with Yoshida.

Or Nico Tanigawa are blatantly ship-teasing. Either or.

Nemo’s got a pretty sweet LINE avatar.

Even through her messages, Nemo is still passive-aggressive, like she expects Tomoko won’t listen to her unless she’s demanding in her tone, exclamation points and all. She still gots a way to go to meet Katou’s level of intimidation, however.

Summer school?

Oh, the beach.

The greyscale nature of the manga medium makes this beach look a lot prettier than it probably is. Those delightful memories involving washed-up stingrays sure doesn’t help.

I’m not entirely certain just how studious Yuri is as a student, but I imagine she’s playing up the “all work, no play” angle just to free herself from Nemo.

Nemo makes a fair point. Getting too cooped up indoors where it’s comfortable can make it difficult to study, especially when you're surrounded by distractions. A change of scenery can clear your head and make it easier to retain information.

Of course, that sort of environmental shift doesn’t work for everyone. Someone like Nemo may appreciate the summery atmosphere, but a girl like Yuri would get agitated by the heat and humidity. Having external stimuli is ideal if you’re the type who operates better when your attention is dispersed. But for those that need to be focused on a single task to complete, it can be quite difficult.

Next time on Mythbusters...

But in all seriousness, I would like to see if there have been any real-life studies on certain sounds–waves in this case–improving one’s ability to concentrate and overall performance. My amateurish theory is that a lot of that “improvement” is a result of the placebo effect, or that there are otherwise too many extraneous factors to make a clear correlation.

In that respect, I think Yuri and Nemo’s arguments are both valid.

A recent trend I’ve been noticing with Yuri is that she looks to Tomoko for validation. She acknowledges that they’re not the same, but having Tomoko back her up probably makes her feel more confident in her opinions, if for nothing more than having an equal-to-majority rule.

Of course, when Tomoko does disagree with her, that’s when Yuri has to either stubbornly stick to her guns, or honestly reassess herself. And thanks to the beauty of character development, the latter’s been happening more at a healthy pace.

OUCH.

It pains me to see Okada call out Yuri like that.

It pains me even more that you can’t really call out Okada for it, either.

Introverts are generally self-conscious about the very traits they embody, even when it’s that’s their comfort zone. Much like how an otaku will get uncomfortable when non-otakus hype them up. Sure, Okada probably meant it as a compliment when she called Yuri talkative, but it’s based on the idea that Yuri’s quiet nature was an incorrect assumption, which can feel kind of demoralizing.

It’s not an easy thing to address, and I’m curious to see how they’ll work through it going forward.

Quick, someone go update their Wiki pages!.

Reality ensues. All those amazing anime-esque summer plans can be deterred by something as simple as unreliable weather.

Although, having to make your own wave sounds kind of defeats the purpose of being there, doesn’t it, Nemo?

Now playing...”Eroge BGM” Playlist.

Set on autoplay.

I’m glad that no one’s complaining about translating this text, cause let’s get real. The amount of redraws that would take is ridiculous, especially for an unofficial translation.

If you think that I’m going to screencap every image of Yuri smiling just so we can bask in her cuteness...

You’d be absolutely correct.

Oooh man, this is arguably worse than calling out the quiet kid as “talkative”. At least during that time, it could pass as just an innocent observation. But being able to smile is one of those things they supposedly instill in you during primary school. Bringing it up like that suggests that Yuri is a child who purposely tries to hide her smiles. Again, Okada meant no harm, obviously, but if they’re going to push for an OkadaxYuri friendship, there’s going to be a lot of hoops to go through.

Tomoko may have opened her mind up more about the negative stereotypes about “normies”, but the positive stereotypes still persist. In this case, it’s the idea that her more sociable peers would enjoy school simply because they can hang out with their friends. Little did she know, that’s often not the case...

PINEAPPLE-CHAN DEVELOPMENT, BABY!

Ahem, pardon my outburst, but I’ve got a lot to say about this. We’ve known for a long time now that Okada is part of the “semi-in-crowd”, and it was easy to assume that all her socializing–going to karaoke for example–were just things she always enjoyed.

But what if it wasn’t. From what Okada’s implying, she sometimes ends up hanging out with people that she would rather not. Perhaps its a friend-of-a-friend type of struggle, where she hangs with people she doesn’t really like out of politeness for a mutual friend. And even if Okada is harboring a few dark thoughts, there’s plenty of reasons to not like going to school, as she said. As someone who’s relatively extroverted, having to work through the more solitary parts of school like studying can be especially difficult.

In short, hidden depths are great.

I can’t really blame you, Tomoko. When you secretly put people on a pedestal like that, it’s hard to acknowledge their human sides that show how they struggle with everyday problems just like anyone else. Even the most well-adjusted of people have their share of frustrations.

This was totally Nemo’s plan all along.

All these panel shots of Yuri off to the side while everyone else gallivants fills me with those paternal feelings of a father wanting their daughter to make friends. It goes against everything I know about Yuri’s character, but I guess you shouldn’t underestimate the power of moe.

This is a pretty good example of the line that separates Tomoko and Yuri. They have very similar perspectives, but it’s Tomoko’s status as an introverted extrovert that allows her to go in the ocean, while Yuri’s extroverted introvert personality lets her stay on the sidelines.

Poor Beach-kun is not having a good day.

So even the others are noticing how Tomoko is like Yuri’s social floatation device.

Another person probably would’ve taken the sentimental route, going on about “saving these precious memories” or “I want you to experience this with us”. The kind of things Yuu-chan would say.

Thing is, Tomoko would get too embarrassed saying that touching crap, so she has to go the indirect route instead. Using pseudo-logic so she doesn’t have to exaggerate her emotions (which are there, just more reserved).

Either way, it still sounds vaguely creepy coming from her.

Thankfully, it actually works here because Yuri has trouble articulating her emotions, too. Tomoko probably knows subconsciously that touching crap doesn’t work on Yuri, so it makes a great deal of sense that Yuri would be more responsive to dumb logic. Especially if it’s from her loveably dumb friend.

I can get used to Tomoko and Yuri unknowingly showing Nemo up.

Off in the distance...

“Getting tangled up in gross seaweed so you can spread your own grossness to other girls? Gross!”

Okay, so I know Tomoko is probably just genuinely startled by what's happening here, but you can’t tell me that her face doesn’t scream, “NOW’S MY CHANCE FOR A GROPIN’!”

lewd.

Okay, let’s be honest. I’ve watched enough anime to know that shots like this are easy fodder for fanservice. Conveniently transparent wet uniforms, amirite? And to be frank, I don’t think the mangakas are totally playing the innocent game. Sure, it’s not as blatantly objectifying as a lot of other series tend to do in scenes like this, but the posing of the girls and angle of the camera just seems too opportune to be anything but deliberate. Be careful when walking that fine line, Nico Tanigawa.

On a more positive note, I’m glad Tomoko’s first instinct was just to help them up. Though heaven knows she’s gonna milk this for all it’s worth back home.

Oh, Yuri and your accountability issues.

When life gives you lemons...you know the rest.

The best part about watching the crazy shenanigans you see in anime is that you can omit all the boring and troublesome real-life consequences. So yeah, accidentally getting splashed by beach water may seem fun in the moment, but the annoyance of having to wash your clothes afterward just isn’t worth it.

Sometimes, summer just won’t give you a break.

Yes. Yes, you did.

Ignoring Tomoko’s embarrassed (or lewd–it’s kind of interchangeable) expression, this is probably the most wholesome summer chapter is the series’ run. That’s not to say that the chapter is “unrealistic” in any way. Sure, the end shot of all four of them reeks of 4-girl slice-of-life moe, but it actually deconstructs it a little. Instead of a fun memory, the memory itself is decidedly bothersome and more trouble than it’s worth, but there’s a sense of enjoyment to be gained from that. As Tomoko once implied, doing stupid, embarrassing things isn’t so bad when you can share in the experience. There’s a reason for the saying, “A few years from now, we’re gonna laugh at this,” after all.

It may be Tomoko’s final summer in high school, but it will most certainly be her fondest.

#watamote #watamote review #chapter 165 #no matter how i look at it it's you guys' fault i'm not popular!#tomoko kuroki #asuka katou #yuri tamura #mako tanaka #hina nemoto #akane okada #review

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emperorren · 5 years

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Do you listen to What The Force podcast? They have this crazy weird but interesting theory that Palpy wants to marry Rey to control her and obtain power...And I don’t know what to feel about it because it’s such a weird thing to consider that Palpy is gonna be romantic rival lol But it could happen mainly because a lot of stories have this kind of trope...but Palpy?! I have mix feelings bcuz I dont even want Rey to entertain this idea at all. She can be tricked who knows. What are your thoughts?

Yes, I’ve listened to it! I joked on twitter that all I can picture now is this:

But seriously, I can say I’m definitely intrigued, and I don’t think it’s that crazy, though I’m not sold on the /romantic rival/ part. I don’t think it will be literal.

So this theory hinges on the trope of the “dark suitor”: usually some kind of demonic figure or evil magician archetype that tries to lure/force the maiden-heroine into a dark marriage to harness her power—or, in more prosaic stories, her resources. This is quite common in Disney and dark fairytales, particularly those that center on a female protagonist: Beetlejuice (as above), A series of unfortunate events, Legend, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Beauty and the Beast to some extent (Gaston might not be an evil magician, but he’s a dark suitor nonetheless, someone who lusts after the heroine out of a desire to control her)—The Little Mermaid has a gender reversed version of this trope, with Ursula trying to marry Eric (a male proxy, in this case) to permanently steal Ariel’s magical voice and keep her as a slave. As the podcast put it, it’s not about a love triangle per se, but about controlling feminine power, often in a sexualized way. I think it’s important to note that the dark suitor trope differs from the more general “villainous crush” because the villain in question doesn’t have a genuine crush or feelings for the heroine, but tries to seduce her for his own personal gain, or because he’s simply evil personified, an inherently dark force that only exists to corrupt and enslave. In contrast, the real love interest is the one who lets the heroine go, learning to respect her freedom and giving up any attempt to control her (see: the Beast leaving Belle free).

Now, this is pure speculation based on an analysis of tropes and archetypes, but this time not based on canon material, merely on predictions of how those tropes could evolve, so I recommend taking it with a grain of salt. Our theories about the force bond or Reylo being reminiscent of Hades/Persephone, Beauty and the Beast, Bastila and Revan etc. were so strong because they had a lot of canon evidence or foreshadowing to rely on. (think of how many hints of the force bond were in the tfa novelization, or how much the cinematography screams “Hades” and “Grim Reaper” when Kylo comes on screen). Otoh, we have nothing in canon to predict what Palpatine’s role will be in relation to Rey, other than a brief glimpse of Dark!Rey from the sizzle reel and, well, Palpatine’s own track record with seducing people. We haven’t even seen a glimpse of Palpatine himself in this trilogy so far.

We have, of course, our understanding of the trilogy’s main themes and what they’re trying to accomplish as the final word on an entire saga. Namely, redemption, healing the wounded masculine through the feminine, and incorporating the former into the latter and vice versa, in a “divine” reconciliation of opposites (a wound opened by Anakin’s choking Padme and falling to the dark side via Palpatine’s orchestrations).

One thing that imo the Reylo fandom got completely right is that the Feminine—Rey’s femininity—is really crucial to this trilogy. Rey being a heroine defines and changes everything, from the nature of her heroic journey to her dynamic with the villain(s). So I think it’s definitely plausible—almost certain—that Palpatine will identify in her the ultimate bride apprentice to seduce, exploit & maybe subdue, PRECISELY bc she’s a woman (“Padmé reborn with the Force”) and NOT a Skywalker (a bloodline Palpatine has now a BAAAAD track record with). Whilst Snoke, who tried so hard and failed to be Palpatine like Kylo tries and fails to be Vader, targeted Kylo and ignored Rey, Palpatine will do the exact opposite, and try to get rid of Kylo (or maybe use him as a bait / cannon fodder / sacrificial lamb) to get to Rey. Because he knows where the real power resides. In essence, he’ll throw Ben/Padmé under the bus to secure Rey/Anakin’s powers.

(but exactly like Snoke before him, he will underestimate both Ben Solo and Rey, and his hubris will be his downfall)

My main issue with this is that I don’t think Rey’s weakness is her need for romantic love, so I find it unlikely that she’ll be tempted by a second romantic suitor. She longs for a belonging, for connection, yes. But Kylo offered her exactly that in the form of a romantic proposal, and she was able to turn him down. So why should she fall for Palpatine’s seduction, instead? Even if he manifests himself in the form of sexy Matt Smith? What does he have to offer, that Kylo does not? How can he seduce Rey when even Kylo, the man Rey falls in love with in TLJ, could not?

well,

unlike Kylo, Palps is incredibly good at manipulation. Kylo’s proposal was naked, blunt. Join me and together we will rule the galaxy. He said she was nothing but not to him, but that’s kindergarten manipulation compared to Palpatine’s skills (it’s not manipulation at all, actually, but that’s another issue). He didn’t try to blackmail her, bargain her surrender in exchange for her friends’ lives, offer to reunite her with her parents, offer her to resuscitate her parents, NOTHING. Hell, he actually tried to heal Rey’s conflict over her parents, forcing her to confront her suppression of her abandonment, accept it and MOVE ON. We been saying that a real Sith, on the other hand, would let the wound fester, and fester, and fester, and then strike, because an apprentice with a huge achilles’ heel is much easier to manipulate into the dark side.

this “dark marriage proposal” might not be literal, but symbolical. The sexual symbolism of such a union might be hidden, disguised as something else—something Rey needs desperately, or thinks so. A father figure. Something Kylo repeatedly called her out on.

Related to point 2: what if Kylo’s proposal failed because he explicitly presented himself as her equal (and potential mate, scaring the shit out of her, because she’s in the adolescence phase in TLJ and she’s confused by her sexuality, and still clinging to the childhood version of herself, see her *regression* in the last act of the movie), rather than as her… daddy? If not as her literal father, as an older, wiser, trustworthy, authoritative male figure that plays into Rey’s need for guidance and belonging. We thought she was over it by the end of TLJ, but what if she hasn’t fully processed it yet?

Now enter Palpatine, the ultimate demonic figure in this entire story, with unparalleled skills in disguise and manipulation and vast experience in mentoring young, troubled apprentices with abandonment issues, either presenting himself as a seductive young(ish) man claiming to be able to bring Rey’s parents back / tell her the REAL truth about them, or literally pretending to be her father. Enter an Elektra complex, that would be a great counterpoint to the vastly documented oedipal subtext in Anakin and Ben’s narratives. Make it REALLY ambiguous as fuck. And here’s your “weird” story.

The nice thing about this theory is that it’s a subversion of the villain x heroine narrative we’ve been watching so far (and reviled for liking by the rest of the fandom). We thought Kylo was the Murderous Snake, the evil seductor, the dark suitor. And he was, but only because he’s Rey’s Shadow. In truth, he’s an angel in demon clothes. Underneath the monster, there’s the real Heroic Love Interest. He’s the darkness that Rey needs to incorporate and reconcile with; Palpatine is the darkness she needs to reject.

Another thing—whether or not this theory comes to fruition, I’m fairly certain there will be a moment where Palpatine, seemingly in control of Rey, urges her to kill Ben (remember that “kill him!” in the TFA novelization?). Because that’s what Palpatine does—he’s the Devil whispering in the Lovers’ ears, turning them against one another. But because this is reverse anidala, Rey will succeed where Anakin succumbed, and categorically reject to hurt her lover. The Lovers will be stronger than the Evil Magician this time.

#anon #asks #theories #podcast #palpatine #evil magician #dark suitor #dark union #tros spec #palpatine and rey #villainous crush #tropes

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han100894 · 4 years

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Spoilers for The Girl Genius Novel 4 –Mostly about Zeetha and Higgs

Okay I’m just going to start and say that so far I, in my obsession, mostly skimmed the book to find the parts with Higgs and Zeetha. So full disclosure there, I haven’t actually finished it yet. I got impatient with waiting for my physical copy and bought the ebook. I’ll read it properly with my physical copy arrives.

So I just have to say I’m really annoyed that the doubled down on the “Zeetha was being irresponsible and overconfident” bit—they even straight up admit that what happened was because of the plant and she was drugged, but still act like it was all her irresponsibility. That’s not how this works. When someone is drugged out of her mind—and to make it clear, yes so was everyone else, but they were aware they were drugged, Zeetha was clueless and so couldn’t fight it nearly as well—you can’t call them irresponsible and overconfident.

Not to mention, she didn’t even really do anything overconfident? She just briefly talks to Tarvek—that’s it. Also Higgs is the first one hit—he gets shoved back before Zeetha gets stabbed. He then also, while fighting very seriously—gets stabbed just like her? What exactly does he think would have gone differently had Zeetha not briefly talked to Tarvek?

And I get and understand that since this was his first wakeup call that he liked her (though I don’t think he actually realized truly realized until he’s on the clank—the way he words it makes it sound like he’s just figuring it out himself that he likes her, and wants her, and wants her to like him to) and so he’s not thinking straight and being overprotective—but I really wish the narrative would maybe point that out? Instead of acting like it’s a fact.

Like even if it’s just Mamma pointing out the he also got stabbed, after the fact, exactly like Zeetha did? Or Agatha tell Zeetha after her apology that no—you were unknowingly drugged—that’s not overconfidence, that’s not how that works?

Plus, honestly I feel that despite the fact he was trying to resolve her guilt when she first woke up, that Higgs focus on her “overconfidence” likely only worsened her guilt. She seems to take his opinion as fact as well…

Actually I think that a good chunk her trying to show off to Higgs is that she’s desperately trying to prove herself good enough after what happened. Both because she likes him and quite possible think all he sees in her is an idiot at this point, but also for her own sake… granted that second part is going into headcanon territory here.

(I have an headcanon/ fanon that Zeetha has a problem with “not being good enough” that comes from being a twin is Skifander, where her achievements were never good enough for a lot of people who saw her as a twin and nothing else, no matter how good they were or even if they were equivalent to those her age around her that got praised—so if that headcanon is true then well… Higgs words may have been a bit of a blow… Also in my fanon it’s her grandmother who is the worst of it too… so double blow?)

I should probably get over it, but it annoys me. I swear there was never anything major that indicated Zeetha had a problem with overconfidence until this subplot, so it still feels like it’s forced, and as the double down it feels even more so? Zeetha already gets to play worf whenever she’s fighting, it would be nice if she could at least not get called overconfident to. Especially in a world of Sparks—who are beyond overconfident and reckless—get to get away with it constantly?

(Yes, with the Horsie Beastie she gets a sprained ankle, but that’s the risk of fighting short ranged—and she was the only one of the group to work with someone else (Yeti) with a plan instead of just stumbling over everyone else. With Passholdt she’s very aware this is serious and they could die, and as she fought Lu in Agatha despite her boastings she was careful, both to test what Lu could do but also to not hurt Agatha to much (A wrong punch can kill someone after all).

Though I do like that it’s implied Zeetha did get Mamma’s blessing to join the fighting. And that other than her injury throbbing (as to be expected) she’s not shown once to actually be struggling with it. It’s not slowing her down, weakening her, or limiting her movements at all. She shows no sign of having trouble breathing, even after fighting or running, despite the fact her lungs had to have been punctured.

Though her injury… or rather her treatment… While it’s not confirmed here it is heavily implied she got the draught which, I mean yeah in canon it’s canon but still. I’m still not thrilled with the idea. Zeetha had been worfed so often that it just feels cheap—and kinda sad—that going forward she’ll likely win not through her own power (or even choice, she didn’t get to make the decision to take the draught after all) but through a mcguffin.

I would have also liked to see her power up come from either herself (Whether her keeping up as a badass normal, or some kind of war spark (I still hold onto the theory she had like, half the spark gene, and she had a psudo breakthrough when killing Bang’s fleet that maybe she’ll one day be able to control) or from something related to Skifander (since it is her character’s plot, and a huge part of her life.) Instead she once again kind feels like she getting overshadowed, whether by her connection it Agatha or her connection with Higgs. I like Ziggs, and it’s potential, a lot but I don’t want Zeetha downgraded to being basically Higgs girlfriends, which a lot of what has happened so far has felt like…

Well I’m just not thrilled.

I am hoping that her odd reaction (Two and half years in she’s neither mutated, or shown any enhanced ability in toughness or strength) to it is eventually going to mean that no—she didn’t react to the Jägerdraught in any normal way and isn’t becoming a Jäger. That her Skifandrian heritage (Which likely has something similar to the Dyne considering the connection of the Queens, and needing that power to become one…) basically neutralized it beyond taking the dyne water in its energy to heal her… or something. So she can get a proper power up through something else.

(I mean, I like the idea that Higgs won’t lose her to old age, but also kinda wish that a different method would be used to stop that… God Queen anyone XD. Though if all it did was make her un-ageing and that her power up comes from something else, I’m okay with that to.)

(…I still love the idea of God Queen Zeetha though… I mean, she almost more than Agatha has connections to that plot line thanks to Skifander.)

Also it’s confirmed she did die, briefly, which like… um, if she was that bad off maybe Higgs should have walked a little faster through the Castle, or let Agatha actually set her up on life support or something. They had set on Von Pinn rather quickly after all I mean… but whatever. They wanted her to die, for some reason. Probably to try and drive the overconfident point home… or something. (Or maybe to go God Queen you have to die, take the dyne water (or equivalent, it’s the energy that matters I think) and then get electrocuted… while the electrocution takes several years after the others that has all happened to Zeetha like it did Agatha…just saying…)

Also I’d like to say that Higgs stealing her swords was still a shitty thing to do. An understandably shitty thing to do, but a shitty thing to do regardless. While he may not know that, they are very important to her (they are the only thing she keeps in good condition before she meets Agatha, even her arm bands are grimy) and most importantly she’s an adult. Maybe take them away, still shitty but sure, but actually hiding them is infantilizing at best. Again him acting unreasonable because of sudden case of feeling, but I wish something had been made of it.

Also I want to make it clear, I’m not upset with Higgs actions. It’s great fodder for misunderstandings, a bit of angst, and grounds for them to have a good long talk that will end with their relationship growing stronger as well as character development. I’m just a bit annoyed with how the narrative as a whole is viewing them as well as… honestly… I no longer have much faith of the Fogilos when it comes to character three dimensionsness and development. So I’m… leery…

But enough of that, another thing to wonder

Who the heck is Omeetza that Zeetha briefly thinks is Higgs? IS this going to be a Time travel thing? Are the group going to end up in the past and become legends in Skifander? That would be hilarious. Makes me wonder what the “drive and burning singlemindedness” is about if it is/ will be him. 10 digibucks it has something to do with helping Zeetha. (Hopefully without overshadowing her though, please let the Skifander plot revolve around mostly her side of things, she’s been overshadowed so much.)

The other two options is that Higgs is just vaguely resembles a legendary figure, or that he’s been to Skifander in the past. The first one is boring, and also unlikely because why bring it up without fully explaining the legend then, and the last one I hope not, though, he does have an odd reaction when looking at the swords… so maybe he’s seen them before?

To be fair I understand him keeping that secret much more than him not telling Zeetha about the draught, he couldn’t answer that one as easily without letting his secrets go—plus knowing Zeetha he has no idea just how bad not knowing where Skifander is hurt even three years later. Though you would think that would have come up now that he’s confessed. And also I have a harder time think Zeetha would just let the fact he knew that go as easily. She might understand but I can’t help but feel it should hurt.

Alright back to a little salt though, I swear if it comes out that Zeetha wasn’t at least aware Higgs was a high ranking Jäger, if not a general or spymaster (though even those would be nice) then I’m gunna riot. The novels are even more clear how suspicions she is of him, and if Gil and Tarvek can figure it out—so can she. The Spark doesn’t help with noticing things like this (In fact I’d say generally it makes it harder) and Zeetha has just as much royal training as both of them. It would make no sense if she didn’t figure it out but let the secret lie until he told her. The only reason would be to make Gil and Tarvek more special in the main characterness, I swear…

#girl genius #zeetha #airman higgs #ziggs #skifander

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cartoonus-maximus · 2 years

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Okay, so I finished 'Fazbear Frights #1: Into the Pit,' and I have some thoughts and theories on it...

No commentary about the writing itself; just my thoughts about potential lore implications and theory fodder.

For my actual review of the book, here's a link [x] to my review for it on GoodReads.

[spoilers under the cut]

"Into the Pit"

- the main kid in this story is named Oswald, which... I feel like his parents naming him Oswald is just as much of a crime as anything William does XD (jk, jk)

- Oswald lives in a town that formerly relied on the jobs provided by a local mill, but the mill has since closed down and everyone lost their jobs. Many have moved away, while others, like Oswald's dad, have had to take jobs that don't pay nearly as well. The town has become little more than a ghost town, and even 10 y/o Oswald can tell that the town is barely alive.

- one of the buildings in town is "Jeff's Pizza," which is owned and run by a man simply known as Jeff. The building clearly used to be a "Freddy Fazbear pizzeria," but has been partially renovated so that the unusable ballpit in the corner and an empty stage are the only remnants of its former life. Oswald doesn't know what the building used to be; adults don't talk about it, and the other kids all find the place creepy because of how empty it feels.

- Oswald likes to draw in his spare time. Specifically, he likes drawing mechanical creatures and robotic animals. He doesn't know why he feels compelled to draw robotic animals, since he's never seen anything like them before, and he can't decide if the idea is creepy or cute.

- when Oswald accidentally time travels through the ball pit the first time, he returns back home to the same exact second he left during. No one had even had time to notice him near the ballpit.

- in the past, Oswald sees the Fazbear animatronics. He's struck by how much they look like his own drawings, but decides that the animatronics are purely creepy, and that there's nothing pleasant about them.

- the past is 1985; in the past, Oswald meets two boys named Chip and Mike (not Mike Afton, as this Mike is a tall, nerdy black kid who wears glasses and is a general sweetheart); Chip and Mike begin calling him 'Oz,' and are happy to include him in their games.

- a waitress at Freddy's in 1985 is described as an adult woman with big blonde hair and blue eyeshadow, which I just think sounds like a good design for Mrs. Afton

- when going to Jeff's, Oswald seems to always sit in the same booth, which is apparently in the same spot that Spring Bonnie uses to keep his victim's bodies after killing them

- Oswald is the only one who can see Spring Bonnie most of the time, making the whole thing feel like a long, terrible nightmare

- while representative of William Afton, Spring Bonnie is *not* William. It's not a person at all, but some sort of monstrous thing. It behaves more like Glitchtrap than like William - it just kind of stands around, acting out spooky behaviors and robotically hunting down children, but doesn't seem to actually think much by itself.

- Spring Bonnie claims five child victims, and arranges their bodies in the storage closet around a table, dressing them and setting them up like they're having a private birthday party.

- "[Spring Bonnie] seemed to think it was his father."

- it knows how to cook pizza, drive the car, and perform basic household chores

- Spring Bonnie takes the role of Oswald's dad for awhile, and somehow Oswald is the only one who can recognize it as Spring Bonnie; everyone else treats the thing like his dad, even his own mother. This seems indicative of how William was always able to get away with his crimes - everyone who looked at him simply saw a businessman, a children's entertainer, a husband, and a father of three, but every once in awhile someone might recognize him for the monster he was.

- the Spring Bonnie thing somehow hangs itself on some decorative ropes above the ballpit while chasing Oswald and his father; it silently begs Oswald for help, but Oswald does not

- once hanged, the Spring Bonnie creature is clearly nothing more than a costume, and hangs loosely like so much cloth

- it's interesting that the yellow rabbit thing is only really threatening under certain conditions. It hunts, tortures, and kills children in certain rooms after hours at Freddy's, but behaves like a normal children's entertainer / normal household father and husband the rest of the time. It feeds Oswald and listens to him talk and generally takes care of him while acting as his father, and isn't even openly aggressive toward him anywhere else (even at Freddy's) unless Oswald triggers it. It feels very representative of William's double life as a serial killer and a children's entertainer / father of three, as well as William's ritualistic fashion of murder sprees (always five kids, always after hours at Freddy's, only every few years, always with a birthday party setup, etc.)

- I guess this story tells us that '85 is a meaningful year in the timeline. Since we already had '83 and '87, that gives us a beginning sequence of every two years, each year ending with an odd number. Not sure what that means, if anything, but it's interesting.

--------------------------------------

"To Be Beautiful"

- a teenage girl named Sarah finds a robotic doll of some sort (in a vehicle junkyard) that calls itself "Eleanor," who is definitely something akin to Scrap Circus Baby, as the robot is described as a "pretty, feminine clown with bright green eyes," but small and believably doll-sized. (Which, y'know... goes completely against how big and unwieldy she looks in the official art.)

- Eleanor gifts Sarah a special necklace with a heart pendant, which is supposed to make her prettier with each passing day; Sarah suffers insecurities about her appearance, and is delighted

- the prettier Sarah becomes, the more mature and adult-like she also becomes, both emotionally and physically; she also gets hungrier, and taller as well

- as Sarah changes outwardly, she also becomes more self-absorbed and bratty, which kinda sounds like Elizabeth Afton's personality traits

- Eleanor insists on singing Sarah to sleep every night, which is supposed to help with the beautifying process

- Eleanor warns Sarah about growing up and changing herself, ominously telling her how strange and scary it can be to look at your reflection one day and not be able to recognize yourself

- Eleanor remarks that parents always think their children are beautiful / perfect, regardless of their actual appearance, which I just think is interesting since Eleanor very clearly represents Elizabeth Afton, and this line made me think it was Elizabeth talking about her own parents.

- Eleanor apparently watches Sarah while she sleeps, "to keep her safe from danger"

- Sarah has a nightmare about Eleanor, in which the robot has a mouth full of sharp teeth

- Sarah trips at school, and lands hard on the floor; she loses Eleanor's necklace, and with it control of her body, and starts feeling and hearing and seeing everything from a distance; when she stands back up, she realizes that her body has been replaced with robotic parts build from scrap metal pieces, and the necklace casts an illusion of humanity over her (like an illusion disk, like Circus Baby has?)

- without the necklace on, everyone sees her as a metal monster girl, and are afraid of her

- the longer she goes without the necklace, the more robotic she becomes, struggling to move or speak, and starting to feel more like a metal statue or decorative animatronic than a person

- Sarah goes searching for Eleanor throughout the house, but can't find her, instead finding the bags that Eleanor had hidden in the garage; the bags contain Sarah's body parts, which Eleanor had been surgically removing and replacing over time

- Eleanor corners Sarah in the garage. Eleanor presses a button on her own chest, which transforms her body into Sarah's human body, complete with the fluid movements and voice of a human girl (since it's mentioned specifically that this button looks like the heart pendant of the necklace she made for Sarah, it seems like it could also be an illusion disk?)

- Sarah loses all sense of feeling, both physical and emotional, and collapses into a pile of metal scraps in the garage

- the story ends with Sarah, having been slowly transformed into a robot over time, the comment that Sarah "felt sad, then scared, then nothing at all."

- this is such a dark, unhappy story, holy shiz!!!

- the story is, basically, about a young girl who puts her trust in the wrong person, thinking they are harmless and friendly, and getting lured in by false promises, killed horrifically, and belated realizing that she has been turned into a horrible robotic creature that can't move on its own. At its heart, this it the underlying theme of horror in the FNaF franchise: children being led with false promises of safety and happiness, and then being killed and transformed into something horrific and sad.

- as for Eleanor, she clearly represents Circus Baby / Elizabeth Afton. She's a robotic toy that wants to be human, and lies to and manipulates a person in order to steal their appearance, and then flounces off in her new human form. This directly mirrors Elizabeth's behavior and actions toward Michael in "Sister Location," where she promises him safety only to kill him and steal his body. We also know that Elizabeth is good with robotics, a trait learned from her father, as we know she's built new bodies for herself in the past (i.e., her Scrap Baby form in "Pizzeria Simulator," or even her fixing up Michael's body after she's done with it). This also seems to call back Elizabeth's role as her father's primary assistant in the "Fourth Closet" and "Twisted Ones" books, where she helps him build new animatronics and performs special surgeries on William (under his guidance) to keep him alive.

- I wonder if this story could explain how Michael became the Purple Man we know him as - Elizabeth replaced parts of his body over time, while living in him as part of Ennard, slowly transforming him into a robot man, which maybe leaves him empty as a person, leaving him "sad, scared, and then feeling nothing at all anymore..."

- EDIT: I also want to point out how this story attempts to parallel the original novel trilogy, at least so far as having a girl who doesn't realize she's a robot (Charlie in the original story, and Sarah in this one) being replaced, at least for awhile, by Circus Baby/her stand-in.

-----------------------------

"Count the Ways"

- the story starts with a teenage goth girl named Millie, who wakes up from a nap to find herself trapped inside Funtime Freddy's stomach; Funtime Freddy immediately starts mocking her, and talking about how he's going to kill her.

- Millie's parents moved to Saudi Arabia, straight up abandoning her to live with her grandfather. Her grandfather collects weird, eclectic things, and keeps basically anything he can get his hands on, from car license plates to taxidermized animals to creepy old dolls.

- Millie's parents (Jeff and Audrey Fitzsimmons) have bad habits of starting up new projects with an alarming frequencies, buying and starting new things all the time, and never sticking to their jobs.

- Millie hates everything about her life, and is obsessed with death in a very romantic, Poe-esque way. She writes poems about both death and love, very romantic either way.

- Millie is made fun of at school, and gets called "Dracula's Daughter" by everyone. She currently has no friends in school, with her only friend having abandoned her to be friends with the popular kids.

- She makes friends with a new boy named Dylan, who also appreciates Poe, as well as Lovecraft and other classic horror writers. He approaches her while she's reading "the Fall of the House of Usher." She develops a strong crush on him, and is in turn crushed when she realizes he only sees her as a friend, and has a girlfriend already. She gets into a fight with him, ultimately driving away the last friend she had.

- In her self-inflicted misery, Millie chooses to skip out on Christmas with her family. Instead, she decides to hide out in her grandfather's workshop. She climbs inside Funtime Freddy to avoid her family seeing her.

- Funtime Freddy was in a salvage junkyard for years, but he was found by her grandfather, who set it up for decoration in his workshop in the house. Other things in the workshop include creepy old toys, such as a clown bank, a monkey with cymbals, and a jack in the box.

- Funtime Freddy continues to mock her, suggesting different horrible ways she could die in his stomach. Dehydration over a period of days, starvation over weeks, impaling her like Vlad the Impaler... he describes how sad and pathetic each one would be, and makes cruel puns about them. He laughs when she tries to explain to him that she doesn't actually want to die, she just wants to escape her problems.

- Funtime Freddy says that he can direct electricity into his stomach cavity, electrocuting her to death. Or fill his stomach cavity with water to boil her alive. He also says he has a sheet of metal inside of him that he could use to bisect or behead her, but he's never tried that before, so he's not too sure how it would work.

- while the ending is left pretty open-ended, it's implied that Funtime Freddy kills her by either beheading or bisecting her inside of him, all while her family, who could have saved her, sit in the next room unaware (which is such a sad, dark ending, holy carp!)

- there doesn't seem to be any hidden lore in this story that I can tell. It seems to just be confirming what we already knew: that Funtime Freddy is a murder machine with an advanced AI that has a cruel sense of humor. FF's dialogue may be giving us a brief glimpse into how William thinks about his victims, and maybe even how he talks to them, but that's all I can glean from it.

- (Therapist: "French Funtime Freddy isn't real and can't hurt you." French Funtime Freddy: "Bonjour!")

#five nights at freddy's #fazbear frights #a brief analysis #my thoughts #and for some reason the version I listened to didn't have the epilogue??#so I don't have anything to add about that

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jimintomystery · 5 years

Text

To Infinity and Beneath

I recently watched a video attempting to explain why there are so many Toy Story fan theories. They had some interesting ideas about fan theories as a general concept, but never really attacked the real question: Why Toy Story in particular? So I guess I’ll give it a shot.

I think the hallmark of fan theories, across all forms of fiction, is the assertion that the text deliberately withholds a central premise from the audience. The text is comprehensible without noticing this hidden/missing element, but a deeper understanding of the work can be achieved by uncovering the secret. This concept extrapolates from the technique of foreshadowing--if an author can leave subtle clues hinting at a plot point that appears later in the text, then an author might also hint at a plot point that never appears at all. (All the “shadow” with none of the “fore,” you might say.)

A classic example of this is the fan theory that the gum wrappers Neville receives from his mother in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix constitute a coded message, which the reader can supposedly decrypt for secret revelations about the overall story. JK Rowling later denied the existence of this code, and there was never any evidence to support it in the first place. But a sufficiently dedicated fan might argue that these problems are designed to make the secrets more challenging to locate, making the theory unfalsifiable. The truth of it depends on your faith in the author to leave unexplained phenomena in the text for the audience to discover.

With Toy Story, however, we already know there is unexplained phenomena in the text, because something has to make the toys alive. The films depend on the premise that toys come to life when no one’s watching, but they can’t explore the hows and whys of that premise without distracting from the story. Since that’s not an in-universe answer for various plot holes (e.g., Buzz Lightyear does the “play dead” thing even when he doesn’t believe he’s a toy), the text all but invites the audience to conjure their own answers.

Once you start making headcanons to explain why the toys are alive, all sorts of weird ideas become plausible. Attempts to put all the Pixar movies into a single shared universe, for example, can quickly escalate into a thesis on which arcane forces instilled life in the toys (witchcraft, zero point energy, time travel), and the chilling implications of toy-human relations. It sounds bonkers, but since we’re talking about a universe where Forky can exist, it’s totally in bounds. I think this unusually wide latitude is what encourages Toy Story fandom to let its collective imagination run wild.

One consequence of the canon giving fandom so much room to work with is that Toy Story fan theories tend to get rather dark and foreboding. Some of this is just a typical desire to juxtapose lighthearted children’s fare with horror tropes. But I submit that spookiness is fundamental to the enterprise of fan theories. The whole point is to unearth secret lore that no one else has noticed before, hidden for reasons we must deduce. This evokes our uneasy fascination with the unknown, not unlike cursed tombs, UFOs, lost history, and ominous prophecies. The most compelling fan theories tend to play on this, teasing out increasingly strange insights as we descend further down the rabbit hole.

(My two favorite Toy Story theories, incidentally, propose that the Andy we meet in the first movie is 1) the son of the Andy who wrote his name on Woody’s foot, and 2) the father of the Andy briefly seen in Toy Story 4. Technically the two ideas are unconnected, but taken together they suggest a total of three Andys, and I don’t know what that means but...whoa. It adds literally nothing to the movies, but it hits the same parts of my brain that spend all weekend reading about the Lost Colony of Roanoke.)

That formula for compelling fan theories is significant, because it just so happens that internet algorithms tend to herd users down rabbit holes. Would-be influencers and BNFs are eager to achieve deep engagement with minimal effort, creating a sort of arms race for the most mindbending suppositions about the most unassuming subjects. Sooner or later this trend will lead someone to blow up the internet by refining a weapons-grade hot take on Peppa Pig. Until then, though, Toy Story is convenient fodder because the unrealized weirdness is already prepackaged with the source material. In terms of generating clicks on the internet, it’s like microwaving mac-and-cheese when you don’t feel like cooking an actual dinner.

#toy story #fandom #fan theories #zeitgeist #into mystery

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casually-inlove · 5 years

Text

No, anon-san, I don’t believe that. He Tian probably bought that earring because he thought it would look good on Mo and perhaps because he might have known the studio was looking for a model. Evidently, He Tian acted on a presumption that Momo had his ears pierced of his own choice.

I doubt that’s the case with She Li.

I think it’s clear to us readers that Mo Guan Shan cares very little about such superficial things as his appearance (or fashion, very much unlike He Tian it seems), so there’s no way he would have willingly agreed to modify his body for the sake of looks or for the sake of fashion trends. Just as it’s clear that She Li has some very twisted shit going on in that head of his – so I very much doubt he had any aesthetic intentions in mind.

No, it’s something different.

According to Momo, it happened two years ago, so he must have been around thirteen y.o. I’m pretty sure that at that age boys are beginning to worry about their masculinity. I think that perhaps “earrings” on boys at that age are seen as something effeminate? So perhaps it was She Li’s extremely twisted way of getting back at Momo for something, a blow not only to his pride but also adding a lasting stigma of being “effeminate” due to “girlie” ear piercings? Because Momo clearly had a tarnished reputation due to his father’s imprisonment, and She Li attempted to add insult to the injury. Like “hey not only that guy is dregs of society, he’s also a pansy, a weakling, etc”. That would explain Mo’s fixation on wanting to act “like a man”.

Of course, it’s all just guesswork, and until OX clears it up, all we can do is speculate.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Aloha!

I’m not sure why it seems weird to you. It’s his regular heavy expression when his mind is clouded by dark thoughts and seething anger. In fact, you see him glaring daggers at She Li and then asking Momo if it hurt him. I’m sure that many people have pointed that out, but Momo was elusive with his answer. His “it was two years ago” pretty much reads as “I don’t dwell on it and you [HT] shouldn’t dwell on it either”, i.e. Mo doesn’t wish to discuss it. This is the moment when He Tian explodes – because he caught on that Momo was hurt because somebody presumably maliciously inflicted pain on someone He Tian came to care about, because he wasn’t there when it happened to prevent it. Remember, HT has this unhealed trauma of not being able to protect the puppy, of not being there when He Cheng “buried” it. Idk, if you look at his reaction to the coke can thing, compared to this, he was absolutely chill about the coke. But here it’s a spur of the moment kind of reaction and He Tian isn’t able to reign in his temper (his anger, his contempt, his pain, his desire to protect, and many-many other things), hence why his genuinely good intention (=to make She Li keep away from Mo) came out sounding harsh and demanding. I expect Momo won’t take it positively, and perhaps will rebuke He Tian rudely. It all boils down to He Tian’s inability to express his feelings in a proper way. And again, his outburst had NOTHING to do with jealousy or possessiveness. If anything, it was about wanting to keep Mo safe and wanting send She Li a clear message that he’s doomed to FAIL.

I suspect it’s from the same anon, so I merged them 😂

Well, their relationship does have a layer of toxicity, which I believe, was done by OX on purpose. The end goal for Tianshan is to gradually do away with it and form a healthy bond, and luckily for us, we can see all the negative stuff gradually dwindle.

I think the fandom overreacted with whole “jealousy” thing in the latest chapter, however, I do want to point out that HT failed to keep his temper in check that moment. It’s pretty ironic since a moment ago he was chastising Momo about having a poor temper. He Tian’s words sounded harsh and demanding because he wasn’t able to control the wave of emotions and his anger towards She Li.

Now, this is a crucial point for TianShan. The expression He Tian wore was that of pain, so I’m beginning to think he’s piecing the puzzle now, cause like you said Mo has been used and abused nearly all his life and that hard shell of his was engendered by mistreatment. Momo’s trust issues are well-founded, just as his apparent loathing of physical touch or anyone invading his personal bubble. Maybe this is the moment when He Tian realizes that some of his teasings have been rather insensitive.

Somehow, I also have a feeling that Momo has never told anyone before. Not a soul knows the truth behind it. I think that part of him is ashamed of this scarring instance.

Regarding She Li. Personally, I expected She Li to reappear at some point. OX gave him a unique design, meaning he has yet to play a bigger role – just compare it to the generic designs of Mo’s henchmen, and you’ll see who’s the fodder here. Also, let’s not forget that for some bizarre reason She Li had been sniffing around Jian Yi and kinda targeting him as well. On a side note, a while ago, I made a post where I speculated, that once He Tian leaves abroad (he apparently does in future chapters), Mo will be left to deal with She Li on his own. So one way or another, the shit with She Li must reach some sort of resolution before HT leaves. I do expect we’ll see more of him in the future, perhaps also trying to fuck around with Jian Yi. Other than that, I’m quite frankly disgusted with what She Li had been doing. I doubt that their “relationship” with Mo had been anything other but power struggle and maybe blackmailing. Certainly, they were neither on friendly terms nor were they romantically involved.

I can’t say that I’m entirely on board with “piercing = punishment” theory, nor do I believe it was as simple as a lost fight. However, I don’t really have any plausible ideas either.

One thing for certain though, ear piercing seems to go waaay beyond of how one might get back for a fight. Fights between boys at that age are cruder, I think. It’s about broken teeth and fractured ribs or bloodied kneecaps. Going for ear piercing – a lasting thing – is something else entirely. It seems personal, very cruel, vindictive.

It could have been some form of humiliation because earrings might be seen as a girlie thing, and thus She Li would be branding MGS as pansy, effeminate, etc. Idk.

Or maybe it was a very clever set-up? Mo had a reputation of being a petty thief (children claimed he had stolen a pencil box). Perhaps She Li for some bizarre reason stole jewelry/earrings, and had Momo pierce his ears so that later he could conveniently pin the blame on him? Every other kid would think “stolen earrings? omg I just saw MGS with his ears pierced, it must have been him”?

We have to wait and see.

#19 days #tianshan #she li #mo guan shan #ask

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neverwatchedonepiece · 5 years

Text

650-651: "Luffy and the Gladiator of Fate - Rebecca!" and "Protect You to the End! Rebecca and the Toy Soldier!"

NARUTO-KUNNNNNN

So Bartolomeo is basically Hinata.

He collects Strawhat posters.

He is their biggest fan.

You guys were right.

This is hilarious.

I love him. xD

“I SENT YOU MY BLOOD, LUFFY!”

Once Luffy and Don Chinjao left the ring, the clean up and reconstruction team moved in. As of now, three contenders could potentially move forward to challenge Diamante: Jesus Burgess, Bartolomeo and the Not-So-Mysterious Lucy.

I say “not so mysterious” because everyone and their gran fighting in the next round knows who he is now.

And I have a theory: Bartolomeo, Rebecca and Luffy will team up against Burgess in the next round.

Why do I think this?

Well, once Luffy left the ring, pursued by Cavendish, two fodders happened to pass by Bartolomeo. He overheard them talking shit about Luffy.

“Why does Cavendish keep yelling Strawhat? As if he’d be here. That’s the guy who couldn’t even save his brother’s life. Anyone could do what he did if he doesn’t have to save anyone’s life!”

For some reason, Bartolomeo Did Not Like This. He pinned the fodder and almost crushed him with a barrier. At first I thought Bartolomeo’s reaction was something to do with Ace. Maybe they were friends once?

Nope.

The real reason was Even Better.

“What was that joke you made so lightly?” Bartolomeo growled. “Listen, Luffy-senpai will become the standard bearer for this era. He will become the Pirate King!”

No, I thought. No way. Bartolomeo was a Luffy supporter? How? And why Luffy-senpai? Had Luffy unknowingly taught him along the way?

The answer? Sort of.

Bartolomeo was there at Loguetown.

“I saw it with my own eyes. Over two years ago. At Loguetown in East Blue. On the legendary scaffold where Roger died, Luffy-senpai shouted it out then. At that moment, straight from heaven, came a bolt of thunder which saved his life. What I saw was a miracle!”

And thus Luffy’s Biggest Fan was born.

Seriously, this guy used to be a gangland boss (had taken over about one-hundred and fifty towns). But he began to follow the news stories. Alabasta, Enies Lobby, Impel Down and Marineford. He made a fan shrine with his bounty poster collection! In the end, Bart’s hardcore fanboy status reached the lofty height of emulation. Inspired by Luffy, he sailed out to sea.

And it turns out Bart does not take kindly to anyone talking shit about his idol.

While Luffy dodged Cavendish, Bartolomeo peeked round the wall and watched. “I can’t approach him. When it comes to it, I can’t do it. I’m too nervous to go anywhere near him. The scar under his left eye. It’s real! He’s so cool! Oh... my eyes are suddenly blind with tears. That stupid Cabbage shit. I want to beat him to death and save Luffy!”

It’s nice to know Luffy has such a dedicated in-universe fanbase.

And Don Chinjao can be added to the club too. He joined Cavendish in thundering after Luffy because he wants to place his grandson’s Happo Navy under the command of Garp’s Illustrious Grandson. What a result, right?

Except Luffy was thoroughly weirded out, wondering why these three crazy guys were chasing him.

Luckily for him, Rebecca was around.

Teach Takes Another Level in Scumbag

She grabbed his arm and hauled him off. There was a more private place nearby where no one else went.

On the way, they passed Jesus Burgess. He was in the middle of a DDM call. A very familiar voice was on the line. So familiar, it caused a visceral reaction in Luffy. He screeched to a halt immediately.

It was Blackbeard. And they were having a weird conversation.

“By that logic, Shiryu is no different,” Teach said.

“But I can’t trust Aokiji!” Burgess complained. “Uh... Hold on a sec, Captain. Strawhat is here.”

This piqued Teach’s interest. “Eh? You there, Strawhat?”

“You’re Blackbeard, aren’t you?” (You know when Luffy remembers you straight away that you must either be A) Really Good, or B) A Real Asshole.

“Yeah, it’s been awhile. Heard you’re fighting in the competition, Lucy. But my man, Burgess, is gonna win the Mera-Mera Fruit. I can’t wait because it’ll be like having Ace in my crew. He turned me down in the past.”

OOOOFT.

Wow, that one was a low blow. To be honest, I really like how Oda employs Teach as a long-term adversary to Luffy. Teach’s panel/screen time is economical but every time he appears, Oda really ramps up the enmity between him and Luffy. No exchange is ever wasted.

I was pretty proud of Luffy for keeping his cool here. It shows how much he’s matured as a person and as a Captain.

I am also intrigued by why Burgess is worrying about Aokiji? That was pretty random. Is our favourite ex-Admiral really operating in the underworld now? Is he trying to wangle information from the Blackbeards? Hmm... Don’t think Smoker would like that. Then again, he has had a hard lesson on Punk Hazard. Maybe he will be a little more cynical in future and won’t dismiss intel from pirates out of hand.

Justice for Toys!

Post Blackbeard Encounter, Rebecca led Luffy further away from the chaos. On the way, Luffy was distracted by free food samples. Just before he cleaned out the stall, Rebecca offered to buy him lunch, even though she didn’t have much money.

What a nice gesture, right?

Rebecca found a deserted looking area and Luffy smashed into his bento like it was Blackbeard’s face. Through mouthfuls of food, Luffy asked where they were. Rebecca explained it was quarters for the gladiators. They called it “a prison” (which, we learned later, it literally was).

Since Luffy’s life revolves around piracy and food, he asked Rebecca if she was hungry and if she wanted some food.

This triggered an Obvious Trauma Flashback. Smol Rebecca and her mother beneath the tree in Flower Field. Smol Rebecca saying, “I’m hungry.” Her mother replying, “Okay, do you think you can stay here alone for a while?” Then suddenly... dead mother.

Rebecca said tightly, “I don’t get hungry.”

Although I figured there was guilt here, I didn’t link Smol Rebecca’s food request directly with her mother’s death. Not until the big reveal of Rebecca’s past.

That unwitting conversational misstep must have pushed Rebecca into enacting her plan. She had intended to lure Luffy into a quiet area and kill him. When she turned on him, to my surprise, some randoms in bandages piped up from behind bars. “YEAH, GIT HIM, REBECCA!”

But Rebecca had picked on the wrong competitor.

Or, when you look at it from another angle, exactly the right one.

Luffy was able to fend her off while still tucking into his delicious meal. It was an embarrassingly easy win. The gulf of ability between them was so wide, she was never on Luffy’s radar. Right now, beating Rebecca would be like swatting a fly. (Not disparaging her general fighting ability, but compared to Luffy, most people would come off worse.) She was no threat, therefore Luffy wasn’t angry about the assassination attempt.

Luckily, she bought Luffy lunch. Especially since she didn’t have much money. He loves food and would appreciate that. Any other offence would pale in comparison to that act of generosity.

“I’m not gonna do anything to someone who bought me food,” Luffy said when Rebecca insisted he just kill her and get it over with.

Then Luffy noticed the “mummies” - the prisoners in bandages in the background. Rebecca explained the situation. She and the other guys in the room are “convict gladiators”, pretty much like the system in ancient Rome where slaves and criminals could be slung into the arena and ordered to fight to the death.

To ramp up Doflamingo’s evilness, they also said, “The king says we can be released if we win a thousand times. Everyone who tried to escape got shot. There’s nowhere to run for us. Before Doflamingo became king, gladiatorial matches were not to the death. In this kingdom, there are very bright and very dark sides.”

So Doflamingo brought in the Delayed Death Penalty for criminals. I guess it’s a way of ushering capital punishment through the back door. Entertain the masses and get rid of undesirables in one go. Few will object because most love the Colosseum games. The ones who won’t fight, or the really dangerous ones likely to talk too much, are turned into toys. That’s iron control of Dressrosa right there.

And Rebecca is not a fan.

“Today an army led by Sol will come to let us out by provoking a battle against Doflamingo. He is willing to sacrifice his life to destroy the kingdom. But I’m gonna do it before he does. I don’t want to just be protected anymore. I want to protect Sol this time! I’ll win today’s competition no matter what and will kill Doflamingo with the Mera-Mera Fruit power.”

I thought I’d figured out Rebecca’s motive to fight. Poor kid with no food, no family, maybe resorted to petty criminal activity, was arrested and now she wants to escape. Amongst all the crap that happened to her, maybe Sol was her only friend.

Luffy was like, “Why are you worried a toy is gonna die?”

Rebecca just smiled and said, “You’re not from here, so it’ll be hard for you to understand. Toys are the same as humans (wait til she finds out they *are* humans. She’s gonna flip tables). They are friends to the friendless. Siblings for those who have none. Lovers for the loveless. I don’t understand why they’re not able to live with us. Since I lost my mother, Sol-san raised me. He’s like a father to me (I bet he is).”

Luffy actually listened to this (which is a huge accomplishment, Rebecca. You should be proud of that) and said, “You don’t look like a prisoner to me. Buy me lunch again sometime!”

Rebecca walked out to the ring and said, “See you at the finals.”

I like her confidence.

Then a flashback kicked in that showed me how wrong I was about Rebecca’s motivations.

Oda Really Likes Princesses, Doesn’t He?

The sad tale of how Sol came to raise Rebecca opened with a scene of Smol Rebecca and her mother living quietly on Flower Field, picking flowers to sell in town. They had a lovely house. An idyllic life. But don’t think I missed that one empty chair at the table. (Sol is totally her dad.)

Then there was fire. The King Riku army was setting town on fire. This really puzzled me. (I’m still not one-hundred percent on this. Are we talking the actual King Riku or the Resistance King Riku Army here?)

Soldiers chased Smol Rebecca and her mother, Lady Scarlet. Diamante headed the charge. Sol stepped in and defended them. After the battle, Smol Rebecca and Lady Scarlet hid out in Flower Field. Rebecca said she was hungry. Lady Scarlet knew it was a risk but she sneaked into town to buy food. She was shot and killed. Sol brought her body back, along with the food she’d died to buy Rebecca.

Smol Rebecca nudging her mother’s dead body and telling her to get up was like post-stampede Mufasa and Simba all over again. It was Very Sad. ;_;

She almost cried but Sol clamped his hand over her mouth. Enemies were still looking for her.

“Your mother was high-born. Do you know we have a new king now? The new king wants to capture all the former nobility. He even wants to capture you because your mother’s blood runs through your veins. I’m gonna protect you unti the end with my life. Until the day you are filled with happiness, I will always be by your side.”

Wait... I thought. Rebecca is a noble???

What the hell?

What was going on?

Was the battle the night before a civil war in Dressrosa? One that Doflamingo won against King Riku?

Who Says Politicians Never Keep Their Promises, Eh?

Because here he is. On a podium. A shiny new king wearing his all time fave feather jacket. The adoring crowd chanted his name. “Doflamingo! Doflamingo!”

He made a speech. Par for the course with new kings.

“The Riku Family has been running this poor country for centuries! In the end they became shameless and robbed money and goods from citizens for themselves. I’m gonna make this country wealthy, instead!”

This is where I lost track of the situation. From what has been revealed about people turning into Toys, I thought Doflamingo “brought someone in” to do that. I figured that would have been *after* he gained power. But Toys were around before that. Sol is proof.

What gives?

And the people of Dressrosa *really* hate King Riku and anyone associated with his bad, corrupt family. Unfortunately for Rebecca, not only is she a noble, she is also King Riku’s granddaughter. Her status is also well-known in the Colosseum. When she walked into the ring, the commentator introduced her as the Phantom Princess of King Riku’s line. She was booed and vilified by the audience. “BURN IN HELL! CORRUPT FAMILY!”

I get the feeling Doflamingo engineered this somehow. It’s all too perfect a narrative. Doflamingo, the saviour, sweeps in and saves Dressrosa from the evil, corrupt family, while he is as bad, if not worse. Or maybe Doflamingo did have good intentions, but, as always in life, matters snowballed and he became hella corrupt himself. Leaning more towards deliberate coup at the moment.

I am also highly suspicious of the gladiator Ricky. It’s very close to Riku and there was definitely an older gent under that mask...

“SELL THEM FOR STRAWHAT MERCHANDISE!”

#one piece #neverwatchedonepiece #nwop #never watched one piece #monkey d. luffy #donquixote doflamingo #bartolomeo #rebecca sugar #sol the toy #lady scarlet #king riku #diamante #cavendish #don chinjao #dressrosa

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pass-the-bechdel · 5 years

Text

Marvel Cinematic Universe: Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Does it pass the Bechdel Test?

No.

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Seven (30.43% of cast).

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Sixteen.

Positive Content Rating:

Three.

General Episode Quality:

Exciting and full of strong fodder for discussion and debate; by the same token, potentially frustrating.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) UNDER THE CUT:

Passing the Bechdel:

Natasha directs comments to Wanda in Nigeria, but Wanda addresses her response to the team as a whole.

Female characters:

Wanda Maximoff.

Natasha Romanov.

Maria Stark.

Mrs Spencer.

Sharon Carter.

Mrs Zemo.

Aunt May.

Male characters:

James Buchanan Barnes.

Steve Rogers.

Sam Wilson.

Brock Rumlow.

Howard Stark.

Tony Stark.

T’Chaka.

Vision.

Thaddeus Ross.

James Rhodes.

Helmut Zemo.

T’Challa.

Everett Ross.

Peter Parker.

Clint Barton.

Scott Lang.

OTHER NOTES:

My immediate thought on the concept of the Avengers being directed by a United Nations panel is the Rwandan genocide; follow from that, any number of other major atrocities that have taken place while the rest of the world sat back umm-ing and aah-ing over whether or not they should intervene. Anyone who knows a speck of history should be very reticent about the idea of being shackled by such political whims.

Ross refers to the unknown locations of Thor and Bruce Banner as being like ‘misplacing a couple of megaton nukes’, as if they’re objects and not autonomous sentient beings who can go where they please without having to declare their intentions, and that should really be the first major red flag to everyone that this guy ain’t on the level.

Vision’s equation about causality is a false equivalence, and an irrelevant one anyway, since oversight doesn’t do anything to hamper his theory about strength inviting challenge. You’re not actually reducing your strength, you’re just making yourself less able to meet those challenges as they come. I feel like Vision should be a Hell of a lot smarter than this absence of logic (also, looking at the threats themselves in previous films, the only ones which can be considered ‘strength inviting challenge’ issues in which the actions of any Avenger characters have ‘bred catastrophe’ are the Iron Man films, and Age of Ultron, all of which are examples of Tony’s hubris coming back to bite him, specifically. The conflict of every other film stems from either 1) trouble predating Iron Man (most of it SHIELD/Hydra related), or 2) other-worldly overspill where Earth becomes the battleground for something uninvited (Asgardian and/or infinity stone bullshit). And even when Tony is the one creating his own demons, he usually doesn’t do so actively through his Iron Man tech or persona (Obadiah Stane’s villainy is what led to Iron Man’s creation, not the other way around; yes, Tony’s grandstanding did directly invite competition in Iron Man 2, but he didn’t make an adversary out of Ivan Vanko, that was his father’s legacy; and Tony’s particular cruelty may have incited Aldritch Killian, but that event predated the creation of Iron Man by nine years, so it’s not a response to that strength. Only Ultron was genuinely a catastrophic consequence of Tony’s (and Bruce’s) abuse of power, but hobbling the Avengers’ ability to operate does nothing to prevent that sort of thing from happening again, it just stymies their ability to halt the onslaught after it begins. You solve that one with legislation limiting what anyone can recklessly create and unleash (which includes Vision himself, incidentally)).

And see, Steve is right; the Sokovia Accords just shift the blame when things go wrong, functionally it makes the Avengers less accountable for their actions by allowing them to play the ‘just following orders’ game. And the point he makes about the panel still being run by people with agendas is exactly what I’m talking about in that first dot point; when decisions are being made on a political basis instead of according to need, you get atrocities, and any person working for the United Nations is a political agent by default. Sokovia is actually a great example of the kind of place that falls through the cracks on the political stage, as it was noted to be ‘nowhere special’, i.e. not politically valuable, and therefore unlikely to receive a swift response from powerful nations who have no vested interests in the good of the country.

Tony’s argument here is extremely personal and emotion-driven; it’s all his own guilt about Ultron and Sokovia and his decision to stop manufacturing weapons, etc, and none of that is relevant to the rest of the team’s situation or their choices. He’s also utterly oblivious to his own privilege here, in that it’s super easy for him to handwave the particulars of the Accords, because he’s a filthy-rich white American whose main ‘thing’ is new technologies, which are not being restricted at all by these Accords; he has the luxury of just signing on and hoping to negotiate amendments later (and also, of having the resources to be able to thwart anything he disagrees with and just do what he wants regardless if he decides he’s right). He’s not taking a moment to consider what the Accords really mean for those members of the team with powers they can’t just ‘put down’, who don’t have the kinds of options and opportunities he has, up to and including the bargaining power to have the Accords ‘fixed up’ later. I really do my best to see both sides of this situation because there IS merit in the idea of the Accords, but no one in favour of it makes a good argument for it and it’s really frustrating.

Who tells someone that a close beloved friend is dead in a fucking text message??? The real villain of this film.

It goes without saying but I’m gonna say it anyway: it’s very hypocritical of T’Challa to support the Accords while also donning his super-suit and taking matters in foreign countries into his own hands. All of the destruction that occurs in Romania after Bucky escapes from his apartment building is because of T’Challa’s involvement (because he was trying to commit a literal murder!), and that kinda gets glossed straight over here.

Tony falls for Ross’ trick by referring to Wanda as a ‘weapon of mass destruction’ in the process of his efforts to justify her internment. It’s all really solid writing, really, vernacular choices that highlight the dehumanisation at the rotten core of the Accords and how good people can be suckered into it without realising until it’s too late (even when things like, say, denial of legal representation should definitely be red-flagging up the wazoo right now). But honestly, it’s such a wild leap from ‘Wanda can’t go on missions anymore’ to ‘we’re going to forcibly deny her the ability to go out in public’. Keep trying to tell yourself that’s not a fucked up situation, Tony.

Steve Rogers holding down a fucking helicopter is just...peak Captain America and I’m so glad.

The part where Tony recruits an actual child who is not involved in this situation at all, spiriting him away to another continent to fight supersoldiers, that’s just...beyond, honestly. I hate this as an introduction for Spiderman because it’s so wildly irresponsible of Tony, it’s an unforgivable thing to do. He’s a kid. This has nothing to do with him. This is where Tony officially loses me in this movie. You can take your self-righteous attempts at justifying your actions and shove ‘em, buddy. You’re actively endangering a child.

We really don’t need Steve to kiss someone every Cap movie. We didn’t need him weirdly mackin’ on his recently-deceased ex-love’s niece. Seriously.

Spiderman’s particular brand of quipping while fighting really irritates me, also. It’s altogether a big no from me on the Spiderman front.

Still love Ant-Man, though. He’s delightful. I also enjoy Hawkeye so much more here than I have in the Avengers films.

C’mon, T’Challa. You can’t attack and attempt to kill a guy outright and then play the ‘you must be guilty because you ran away’ schtick. Do a brain about it.

See, everyone else knows why they’re there and what they’re fighting for, they know the stakes. Scott is the only one on Cap’s side who isn’t already part of the situation anyway, but he’s read in on why he’s being asked to get involved and he’s a grown adult person making an informed decision. Peter doesn’t have that, he’s there fighting because Tony said so, and that’s just fucked up.

Heavy sigh. And here we go with the emotional Tony thing. Yeah, he just saw how his parents were killed by the Winter Soldier. That’s rough. It’s really rough. But he doesn’t just have an immediate emotional outburst, he has a sustained homicidal rage, which includes not only trying to kill Bucky, but also beating the Hell outta Steve, who, y’know, did not kill Tony’s parents. The fight scene lasts way too long and involves too much opportunity for cooler thought to prevail (both in problem-solving and in conversational moments), and someone whose emotions can send them reeling so completely out of control - even when they actively know they’ve been manipulated into it! Zemo literally just told you to your face that this was his plan! - someone with so little impulse control should never be given the power to make decisions for others or wield anything over them. This is all just a really, really great case for why Tony is ill-equipped to be an Avenger at all.

Watching Bucky digging the repulsor out of Iron Man’s chest with his metal hand is...so exciting. Rest in peace, awesome metal arm.

Zemo’s just a regular human, but he gets locked up under utterly inhumane circumstances. Again, the Accords involved a deal with a pretty insidious devil, and they didn’t actually have to prove that Steve’s position was the correct one to such a strong degree (we could have had a more nuanced conversation about the subject of accountability if the two sides were more evenly presented), but damn, the red flags, guys. It shouldn’t have taken Tony until he was horrified seeing his friends in the raft prison to finally clue in.

Ok, so, I know I already played the ‘I’m pregnant’ card to explain away my meandering commentary for Ant-Man, but it’s still true and only getting more significant as time goes on, so I regret to announce that - despite having looked forward to disassembling this movie since I started on this Marvel adventure - we’re now only a day out from publication and I haven’t written anything yet. I know, the deadline isn’t exactly set in stone and I could just hold off publishing until I’m ready, but that’s a slippery slope and if I start telling myself to just ‘get to it when you get to it’, who the fuck knows when it’ll happen. This isn’t supposed to be stressful, so I’m just gonna ramble a bit and see what comes out. There’s a thing wriggling in my guts and I have a house to paint. I’m doing my best.

First things first: my stance re: Accords is that the best method of oversight is the one which emphasises accountability, rather than permission (with acknowledgment that this is a fictional universe with threats and powers which do not reflect the real world). The kinds of issues our Avenger characters get involved with are typically of the sort which has to be nipped in the bud right-quick before it becomes untenable, and also not infrequently, the types of problems which do not offer them bountiful evidence to present to a board for evaluation before they get the ok to counter it. Faffing about with diplomacy and bureaucratic carrying-on is a great way to, say, allow Hydra to launch the Insight helicarriers and wipe out all dissenters to their rule before you have the chance to stop them, or (if Zemo’s apparent plan with the Winter Soldiers had been his real plan after all), to be stuck mopping up the global damage as an elite death squad roams around destabilising governments. I’m not a supporter of the adage ‘it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission’ in the real world, but in a comic book universe, with the supervillains and the world domination and the plots which consistently include chronic time-sensitive action and little if any concrete evidence? The Sokovia Accords are woefully inadequate. By all means, the Avengers should be answerable to someone, and being required to submit reports justifying their actions (and face disciplinary measures or even criminal charges if they cannot explain themselves to a satisfactory degree) is a completely reasonable thing to convene a United Nations panel to oversee. Maybe Tony can hop down off his high horse and face actual consequences for the Ultron fiasco. That’s fine with me, and it’s a logical thing for the world to clamour for. Shifting responsibility to a panel of UN politicians who will then no doubt be reticent to send the Avengers into anything pre-emptively (or within any kind of useful time frame) for fear of backlash is a terrible solution, and even more so when you’re being pushed into it without any time to evaluate and amend the original document before it becomes law.

(It’s worth noting that the person most likely to appreciate how easily the UN panel could be hijacked by political machinations not in the interest of the public good is Steve, owing to his personal role in uncovering and thwarting Hydra’s plans; Sam was roped into the Avenging world through that event, and thus it’s unsurprising that he would have the same concern chief in mind when refusing to sign. While Natasha does sign on to the Accords, she explicitly does not do so because she thinks the Accords are a good idea; she’s playing the political game and ‘reading the terrain’, as she says, and that’s consistent with her character. Tony being impulsive and dangerously emotion-driven is also unfortunately consistent, as is his self-righteousness about imposing his will on others to assuage his own guilt. Vision really has no excuse for being so bad at logicking his way to signing the Accords, but it’s no surprise to me that the most clear-headed staunch Accords supporter would be Rhodey, since following orders from others and unquestioning trust in your governing body is dead-on character for him as a career military man. I think he’s categorically wrong, yes, but I’m not mad at Rhodey for being a True Believer any more than I am at Natasha for being mercurial; both are in-character choices and ones which involve evaluative thought processes, and while ‘in-character’ may still be in play for Tony, evaluative thought processes are not, and that does make me mad. As I’ve noted before, he tends to work as a likable character despite his MANY flaws when he’s in his own movies, because acknowledging those foibles and working to fix them is a core part of his personal arcs in each Iron Man film; it was an essential quality missing in Age of Ultron, and one which made a monster of the character which I AM glad this movie is addressing with fallout; still, there’s a lack of tangible self-reflection and making amends from Tony in this movie, alongside some of his worst personal decisions, and I sincerely do not love him by the end of it.)

The good thing is, despite a few lazy elements - Vision! You tool! - and despite some very frustrating decisions, the central dilemma of the film is a strong and nuanced conversation-starter (and perhaps, argument-inducer). Even though the specific scenario and the people involved (Ross (both of them) and the floating Guantanamo, et al.) skews the narrative definitively against the Accords by the end, there is still fodder there for an intelligent debate about the merits of the concept if not the execution. And, most importantly, Steve’s position on the matter is the MCU’s Captain America to a T - a political story about the appreciable and essential difference between doing one’s duty to a concept, vs adherence to a moral code. Disobedience is a core part of Steve Rogers’ dilemmas - not that disobedience IS the dilemma for him, but that it is at odds with the patriotic good-ol’-boy image he is expected to inhabit from outside. Every Captain America film carries with it the idea that to do the highest good can mean rejecting everything that the people and institutions around you try to insist is right; refusing to play a role that has been prescribed to you; always making the choice for yourself, by your ethos, no matter how hard it is. Refusing to compromise when you see the compromise as an evil; planting yourself like a tree, and saying ‘No. You move’ (a great way of keeping Peggy’s influence alive and moving in the plot, by the way, and a key demonstration of how she and Steve met on the same wavelength. Lots of strong details in this movie, tbh).

My primary complaint, however, is that this is also too much like an Avengers film; nearly all of the other major characters are there, and Tony especially gets a LOT of screen time, and since Cap and his films are my uncontested faves I am pretty salty about having to share the stage for his last outing. The tone and the subject matter are still totally on-brand, but the focus is split, and that’s particularly annoying for what it leaves behind. While Bucky is made central to the drive of the plot, Steve finally being reunited with him, bringing him in, getting the cathartic other side to what was so exquisitely set up in The Winter Soldier, it falls by the wayside a bit and comes off underdone. Sam is certainly there, being wonderful as always, but he doesn’t get a lot to actively influence, he’s mostly just That Other Guy, and it’s a real shame since he was a highlight among super-stiff competition in his introductory film. The touch of Peggy that shines through the film is poignant, but Sharon Carter gets the bad end of the stick with under-developed characterisation and a very ill-advised zero-chemistry attempt to stir a speck of romance in a story with no room for it, and altogether, the kinds of quiet character moments which added so much depth to The Winter Soldier are very much lacking here. We’ve got so many other characters on deck already, plus the introduction of two new major players (T’Challa has a solid, sombre presence which suits the film, and even his hypocrisy fits snugly into the plot so as not to be a barb against him, but as I’ve mentioned already, I am squarely against Peter Parker’s squeaky excessive comic-relief inclusion and the dire implications it has for Tony Stark’s moral compass), and we’re already spending so much time on beefing up Tony’s side of the Civil War. I don’t personally think the movie is bloated, overlong, or incoherent, but it definitely wanders close to all three and I wouldn’t be inclined to argue very strenuously with anyone who wanted to denounce it on any of those fronts. It has a lot going on, not quite too much for an ensemble movie, but more than it should as a story with a single character’s name in the title. I’m still mostly-satisfied by it, and consider it one of the stronger MCU films to date, but as a third Captain America, specifically? A bit of a let-down.

#Marvel Cinematic Universe #Captain America: Civil War #Bechdel Test #female representation #MCU #Captain America #Civil War

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