#so can only assume this is amazing foreshadowing

[uglypastels]

Not Venetia talking about PB Shelley's dobbelganger being seen walking past a window (then drowning) and as she says it Felix is walking in the garden behind her. Cinema is peaking

#watching saltburn #for the first time #:)) #i know some stuff but not details #so can only assume this is amazing foreshadowing #saltburn

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

TADC: Thoughts on Jax in Episode 2

Thoughts on Jax after Amazing Digital Circus Episode 2 Dropped.

Massive spoilers below the cut. Just watch the ep before you read.

Amazing Digital Circus had an amazing second episode as we're introduced more to what the adventures are like, and what NPCs are like and ofc the existential horror of being a living AI only created for a source of entertainment.

Also, I love the dream sequence at the beginning, because we actually get some deeper insight into Pomni's thoughts on Ragatha. Feeling like her helpfulness is the guise of like "man, you're not cut out for this like the rest of us" which is typically something a lot of people who have been bullied in highschool perceive genuine acts of kindness and engagement. (which I kind of suspect Pomni might have been, or at least, been a shut-in and didn't have a lot of friends in her human life. )

Jax wasn't really the main focus of the episode, but it wasn't really until the end of the episode I understood his behavior and what this episode is foreshadowing overall.

Since while Jax isn't the focus emotionally, he is definitely the plot device to push things forward. And I mean, a plot device in a very active and quite literal way. He's the one that causes Pomni to clip out of the map, takes advantage of everyone and is just... genuinely an unpleasant person.

I actually really like this.

As, I know the first episode in the digital circus, many people (me included) could perceive or analyze Jax's actions as someone who is "helping" in a roundabout asshole way. Episode Two has none of that here. He just wants Bloodshed, And I love that we're getting additional context on his character.

It's hard to tell how much fan reception Gooseworx saw of episode one before episode two hit production, so I don't know how much of the fandom perception of Jax had an influence on the writing process, but I can't deny that might have been a factor in assuring us "no he's not secretly helpful, he's just an asshole" But I'm just going to assume that this has been part of his characterization from the start and it becomes way more clear as the episode goes on.

But there was something in his behavior throughout this whole episode that seemed off to me. Like Jax was taking up a majority of the B-plot, while Pomni had the A-plot. So I was wondering why Jax seemed to be the protagonist with the B-plot when Pomni was the A-plot when they seemed to be so disconnected with eachother in motivations and telling us things about the characters.

But then it hit me when the episode ended and the two plots merged together.

"who... knows... what could happen..."

And then it hit me.

Pomni finds comfort in an NPC who is going through a similar experience to her and can emphasize, despite their being other humans who have gone through the same thing, due to her self-admitting to being a loner in her human life. Well, she didn't admit it outright, but from how she perceives Ragatha's kindness as an act, or patronizing, it seems like she doesn't have a lot of friends...

Meanwhile... Jax... He treats the adventure like a videogame. Why shouldn't he? He's trapped in a videogame, right? But it really goes beyond that.

The fellow humans that Jax is trapped with, he treats THEM like they're NPCs, while Pomni treats the NPC like they're human.

Jax says to Gangle "Aren't you supposed to be the suggestible one?" Which you wouldn't typically wouldn't say to a person, right? That's something you would say more about a character that you maxed out the dialogue trees in.

He calls Pomni "His Bridge" even.

They're his objects. His tools, his own npcs he's exhausted the dialogue options on.

Jax dehumanizes the players in a way that Pomni humanizes the NPCS.

These are two opposite ends of the spectrum but what really sold it for me was Jax's reaction to the funeral.

And Jax is the one member out of the cast who doesn't even show up to the funeral. (aside from Caine and Bubble but they are AI.)

He does NOT want to think about the Players as real people. And showing that opposite perspective compared to Pomni I think is much as important going forward.

Jax was the plot catalyst of this entire episode, and served the thematic theme of the episode quite well, even if it didn't look like it on first glance.

I absolutely loved this episode and I can't wait for more.

Also... Poor Pomni can't have shit in Detroit

#the amazing digital circus #tadc #tadc jax #Jax #danachan's rants #digital circus #the amazing digital circus spoilers #tadc spoilers

[slightly-depressed-sloth]

Details I noticed in my third watch through of Nimona:

(I’m so normal about this movie)

Ballister’s sword originally had a G engraved on it which has been made into a makeshift B via scratchings.

My guess is that the sword either used to be Goldenloins or his families and Ambrosius gave it to Bal at some point as kids (given that Ambrosius is the only one I can think of with a G name)

Also about the sword: people have been pointing out the religious themes (like with the T in “true villain” looking like a crucifix) on that note the symbol on Bal’s sword in this shot looks a lot like the Christian fish

Ballister literally hopped the fence and broke into the knights practice to beat up a dummy as a kid before getting tackled by a bunch of knights

I just thought he was doing an obstacle course when I saw it before but nope! This makes everything about him becoming a knight so much funnier. Also the fact they have this footage? Amazing 100% Ambrosius has it saved to tease Bal with, no way he isn’t embarrassed about that

On a sad note; dang the institute really drilled in “do what I say, be a good kid and don’t break the rules” cause Bal as an adult didn’t even want to break the rules when his life was on the line vs as a kid breaking and entering into an ongoing knight practice while being chased

The director asks Ambrosius for a sword during the roof scene but Ambrosius looks at her and back at Ballister before telling her she needs to get to safety

He saw how angry she looked and knew she’d try to hurt Bal so he sent her away instead

Where Nimona as Ambrosius broke the wall on the miniature of the city being foreshadowing for the end of the movie

Bal batting Nimona off when she starts mocking him for caring about what Ambrosius thinks

So clearly a recurring conversation given Bal’s ‘whatever’ gesture here lmao

Ambrosius being really timid with this crowd of people and overly polite

He’s chasing down a criminal/the love of his life and barely even says excuse me 😭😭 and he half heartedly asks them to move before immediately folding and giving an autograph, we love a man whose great at public speaking but still has social anxiety

Ambrosius’ eye roll as soon as Todd shows up

(He’s so done with him)

Todd’s actual name being Thodeus

Idk why I just assumed this was a different guy the first watch through

#Nimona #nimona netflix #nimona movie #nimona film #ambrosius goldenloin #ballister x ambrosius #ballister blackheart #ballister boldheart #riz ahmed #chloe grace moretz #eugene lee yang #Nimona discussion #nd stevenson #nimona spoilers #slightlyslothspeaks

[i-am-a-fan]

So remember in the episode “The first Ring” from season 3 where Mei and Redson bump into each other and share a vision of Mei getting the samadhi fire? Okay, well something's been bugging me. (Here's the full image btw. )

First off please appreciate how beautiful the artwork is because damn. Second, what does it mean? While the different color fires could be an homage to how the Samadhi Fire was first created, we would need to see the 5 elements, not the 3 fireballs we see in the photo. (pg. 575)

Therefore, I'm going to assume this is more foreshadowing, since the LMK team is amazing at planting seeds that will only grow within future seasons. (ex. Macaque's relationship with Wukong, the lady bone demon, Mk's nature, etc etc.)

So... I'm going to dissect the hell out of this frame.

The main focus is someone in the center taking in the power of the 3 fireballs. Their form isn't clearly defined, but we can tell it's most likely someone with the standard Lego build: Mk, Mei, Redson, PIF, Tang, etc. I always assumed this was Mei, but I feel like if it was they would have shown it. The next frame shows us Mei with the fire (and once again look at the artwork's beauty.) I have more thoughts on this, but I'll circle back.

Next up we have the balls of fire. I saw somewhere that these might represent the traffic light trio. Although Redson has mostly been sidelined, I like the sound of that theory, so I am going to piggy back off of it.

Mei would obviously be the green color, MK seems to be the yellow fireball, but then that leaves a blue flame. Yet, not one of the traffic light trio has their signature color as blue. The only character that comes to mind is Sandy/ Mo, but he doesn't have the standard Lego build.

Of course, this can be Redson, since the original samadhi fire was blue. However, at no point do I remember that Redson has had any teal/ blue markings. In her flashback, Redson is shown with dark red and black, the same as Mei when she eventually gains the fire.

Unless...

Maybe they character isn’t teal yet..

Ring a bell????

That's right, the blue/teal might actually end up being Mk. Thus, giving each character a flame. (Redson = Red/yellow, Mei = Green, and Mk = Teal)

Doing some color drops, you can see that these colors are very similar, but they aren't exactly the same. That being said, they’re close enough that it raises alarm bells in my mind.

Now, circling back to the main image and the person at its center. I think we might see Mk gain the Samadhi fire next. In the image, there is a red background, green under the person's feet, and blue fire emerging from the person's back.

Personally, I think it might be the framing of a timeline using background, middle ground, and foreground. The red background would be Redson, the person who (in this universe) was born with the fire and created it as a whole. Next up would be Mei, who gains the fire in season 3, but seems to lose it at the end of the fight with the lady bone demon. So, that only leaves the future...

A future that I am personally hoping for...

Edit: I fixed some grammatical errors. Sorry y’all, dyslexia never rests.

#lego monkie kid #lmk #my art #monkie kid #speck rambles #lmk mk #long post #lmk theory #lego monkie kid theory #lmk redson #lmk mei #Of course.. I honest doubt this is the case because redson is sidelined so often #Unless Redson becomes weirdly more in the season 5 plot.. this is simply just a theory #A GAME THE- #not me adding to Mk’s trauma. #also this would make Mk ridiculously op. but shhhh shhhh #lmk analysis

[somerandomdudelmao]

i was writing this all out in the tags of one of your recent updates (part 9 of 'donatello') when i realized i might as well just send it to you directly before i hit tag limit. (i hope you don't mind haha) this recent comic really reminded me of a concept that i've seen in your work that i haven't seen commented on a lot (though i could be wrong.)

casey jr and donatello's relationship as you've portrayed it is interesting in a number of ways. one i've been thinking about recently is the aspect of physical touch, and how you use that to represent the underlying themes/ideas behind their dynamic (and the story as a whole).

in the series, donnie is generally the least physical of his brothers, in that he prefers to be the one to initiate contact. (as a fellow autistic, i relate to this on a visceral level /lighthearted.) however, in your portrayal, this rule bends for casey's sake.

you've been setting up casey to follow in donatello's metaphorical footsteps for a while now, with this coming to fruition (to an extent) in recent storylines.

but going back a bit further. there's this major theme of... i guess i would call it 'responsibility?' that has been weaved through the story from... basically, day one.

in the first comic, his conversation with f!leo following leo's brief foray as a nugget (one of my favorite lines from this series overall is "...and leo-nugget." amazing, genuinely), casey admits to him that it was scary being responsible for someone that could get hurt so easily.

in one of the following chapters, we see the question asked: 'but who is there to save you?' (this chapter being a bit of a microcosm of the theme/story as a whole haha.)

though it was a chapter i had originally assumed was just for funsies and angst opportunities, i now realize i was wrong (though, i don't know exactly how intentional you were being with all of this, so i could be missing the mark here.) it actually sets up his arc rather nicely -- with casey being the one to save donatello when he was injured/knocked unconcious.

now, bringing this all back around to the original intent of this ask: how physical touch is used to represent their narrative dynamic (is that a thing? 'narrative dynamic'? am i just making shit up right now? whatever its fine /rehtorical)

taking everything in account, i want to return to a specific moment that really struck me in the comics leading up to donatello's death. it's the time where the resistance is being attacked, and donnie, despite being sick, goes out and uhhh... extirpates the problem (its always fun to see donnie go apeshit with dangerous weaponry /positive.)

during his dramatic reveal and attack, casey is by his side, clutching onto him not to cling, but to physically support him (at least, that's how i think that moment was supposed to be interpreted? i could be totally wrong here.)

i can't help but feel this is emblematic of the larger themes at play here-- i.e., casey's arc in relation to donatello.

i can't help but find it interesting how donatello, backbone of the resistance--

(despite his soft shell... which is why him no longer wearing his battle shell when he got sick was actually symbolic foreshadowing of-- *sound of gunshots*)

[editors note: i'm gonna stop myself right there, before this goes from ungodly long to "will break your dash and ask box if allowed to continue further"]

-- and certified plot mechanic (oh, so that's why he named it convenient plot-twist serum... finally, the mystery has been solved /joking /lighthearted), who is a very independent/self-sufficient character, allows casey jr to subvert his rules with casual touch. enough so, that when he is so weak that he can barely stand, he trusts casey jr to keep him upright.

out of everyone, he trusts casey.

casey jr, who, at the very beginning of the comic, saved donatello's life, physically carrying him back to the base. and casey jr, the one who, now, has rescued donatello from a fate worse than death, only to once again bring him back to safety.

(...can you tell i'm a little bit obsessed with your comic? lmao)

[also to note those most recent panels: a return to the "norm," with casey clinging to donatello's side, also providing a nice parallel. i know it's because he is very much reunited with his uncle who has been dead for two years, but c'mon. let me have this /joking.)]

anyway, i hope this made sense, and if you did manage to get through my pretentious (and probably somewhat far-fetched) rambles about the "symbolic narrative significance of touch" in a fanwork about the teenage mutant ninja turtles (/lighthearted), may i just say: i am in love with your work, and can only aspire to tell a story as engaging, heartfelt, and clever as the one you have woven.

you are a blessing to this fandom, and i am so excited to see where you go with this story.

I have to say that I didn't specifically do the mental planning for all of this. Most of this theme is simply because I do what I feel will be right. It's more of an intuitive desire than a prescribed plan, so it was pretty surprising to me to see this thought actually being formulated haha

Thank you:>

[privateolives]

Maybe I missed it, but there's a bit of foreshadowing in Laios' nightmare that I don't see mentioned often. Namely, on these two pages:

I was reading this again, and I noticed that this monster has got to be Laios' "perfect monster" that he would later transform into, sans the wolf head that he adds later.

What struck me about this moment is a) he uses this made-up monster to literally squash the haunting memories of his dissappointed parents and all the negative human interactions that came before them in this moment. It's an early hint at the infamous moment later in the story, where the winged lion reads him like a book:

That insight completely reframed what he's doing in the dream. He's using his interests and fantasies to quite literally crush his negative feelings about humans and the terrible ways they've made him feel.

Not only that, but the moment he's dispelled it, Laios immediately rips his own human appearance to shreds, becoming a different form. Reading it for the first time, I assumed that he used his knowledge in order to think up a convenient way to change scenes and track down who he was looking for; using his insight in a utalitarian way inside the dream world.

However, what about now, that we know that Laios really wants to become a monster himself?

With the later context, it reads far more like he takes this route because within the dreamscape, he can shed the form he hates to become something more comfortable in order to do what he needs to.

It also made me think though, the fact he became the canine, instead of the monster... what does it mean? It could be utility sure, but it makes me think of something else, first.

Laios famously does an amazing impression of a dog, and demonstrates this at one point in order to scare a shapeshiter. It is convincing enough to scare the monster and have both Chilchuck and Senshi clock what he's impersonating immediately. Notably, he mentions that they "taught him how to hunt" which is kind of unusual for a dog to do. However, knowing Laios' intersts, it makes sense for him to have extensively studied their behaviors.

Perhaps the canine form is chosen in the dream because behaving like a dog is something he is simply so comfortable with doing it comes natural to him to take the shape. And perhaps it is so, because long before he chased down the monsters in the dungeon, he found a safe haven away from the humanity he hated with the dogs, and longed to be like them, much like he wants to be a monster now. But that's just my speculation.

Either way, I think that's a cool little moment foreshadowing some of Laios' true feelings about humanity at large and how he's coped by being mistreated by other people from a young age.

Possible disproval of this theory of course, with Laios reaction to Marcille's retelling of the dream at the end of the chapter:

Though, the objection he gives on the page is that he was a white WOLF, not a dog, rather than objecting to not being seen as a person during the chase in the dream.

#Dungeon Meshi #Delicious in dungeon #Dungeon Meshi spoilers #Delicious in Dungeon spoilers #Some mild theorizing on my part. #This chapter has so much character psychology foreshadowing #With Marcille's being addressed directly in the text in the later chapter's. #I've seen people talk about how the dream hints at Laios' abuse at the hand of humans #but I didn't find anything discussing these other details and I thought they were neat

[tamamoarts]

SO THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS IS AWSOME

I was watching it with some friends, and upon our second watch, we noticed THIS door in the hallway Pomni, Raggatha and Jax are walking down.

We thought maybe it was foreshadowing that KINGER was gonna Abstracted, cuz we can assume the doors that are crossed out belong to those who have abstracted- but then we looked CLOSER. THIS IS A QUEEN PIECE!

Now this very well could just be a throw away gag, but what if we just dig extremely deep into this for a sec? Because not only is this notable, but she shows up IN BETWEEN the main cast's doors. Through these shots, we can see the pattern goes Raggatha, Jax, Queen and THEN Kinger. Their ROOMS are right NEXT to each other. And why would she be smack in the middle of the main gang?

What's a King without his Queen? Maybe Kinger and this performer, let's call her Queenie, were really close! Maybe friends, siblings, or most likely even lovers? Kinger would have witnessed her abstraction somehow, right? That would have messed him up REALLY BAD, and could have led to his more serious mental decline.

#rambles #theory #the amazing digital circus #TADC #glitch productions #gooseworx

[therealmofadisneyfangirl]

Kim Possible

Tick-Tick-Tick Episode #1

Hi! My name is Deanna Winchester mulitfandom (more then one fandom) blogger I decided to

create my very first blog post review of Disney’s Kim Possible.

My author block delayed this long running pop culture review.

This is actually the first episode to ever aired but of course it aired out of order on the Disney Channel.

It first aired on the Disney channel USA on June 14, 2002. Toon Disney premiere: April 11, 2005.

Kim Possible was and is my childhood show it amazing to review all episodes. This is a fun rewatch that I actually enjoyed.

Kim Possible is one of my favorite Disney animated character, it exciting to watch this show and revisit it.

I rewatch this show i never thought though to do an episode review. This is a good idea this is also my comforting show when adulting goes too far.

The episode Disney plus synopsis is I insert a screenshot down below

We first introduced to Kim Possible our heroine, the main character but also a spy.

She also has normal life as a high schooler but has no alter ego. She is a cheerleader.

She describes as she can do anything!

Anyway let begin the first episode!

The episode start with Kim Possible anxiously being late as she rush past several people as she went to her locker as she waiting for her assignment to be printed. She is anxiously like come on print please.

Only you think it her assignment to her confusion no it just her best friend Ron Stoppable printing cheat codes for a video game. Kim rightfully so is overwhelmed she has 30 seconds to print her History assignment she is annoyed by Ron. Ron was a comedian in this episode. Ron was so entertaining.

Course as the real paper was about to print there is a paper jam, Ron is nothing to fear Rufus. The viewers are like who the hell is Rufus, it turned out Rufus is Ron’s pet naked mole rat. Kim had doubts until Rufus did his magic, the paper was saved. Yay! Kim is excited and happy that her paper is saved.

Until Kim’s luck was put to test. Kim is stressed and is under lot of pressure she can’t afford to be late.

Unfortunately she rush into the school grumpy staff member Mr Barkin.

It turned out revealed by the audience Kim has been not late for third time she is also on this guy bad side a recipe for disaster. Kim much to her dismay, is ordered detention.

Cut to the badass theme song opening. Christina is such a good singer.

Meanwhile at Possible house we are introduced to Kim family. Her younger mischievous geniuses twin brothers Jim and Tim are introduced her parents are introduced Kim herself revealed the facts her parents are brain surgeon and rocket scientist. Kim told her parents the truth she is not happy she got detention what she is good at. Kim you are good at being a spy badass!

One of her catchphrase no big was introduced

We are introduced to the first time of Wade and the communicator.

Wade assign her to her mission in South America much to her parents dissatisfaction however she gave her puppy dog eyes which be a running gag for the series

She can go yay!

New details are revealed the villain characters Shego all in the first episode.

Kim is not aware who she is yet like who is that she is good.

Kim and Ron visit the professor lab I assume it was emergency. 🚨

Kim ask what was stolen even the professor does not know

Something is fishy. Kim and Ron will solve it. Kim suddenly has an idea she saw on the footage of Shego stealing the device.

The device project is revealed to be the Tick. Course Ron screamed it brought back bad case of summer camp memories which you believe it or not will be foreshadowing for later Season one episode.

That camp and Ron are connected my dear readers. Camp Wannaweep and Ron are sinisterly connected.

The tick was not alive according to the professor it was a digital blue print it was a cyber genetic Tick will be in comparison to the real thing. The professor created a robotic tick. Ron ask why

Professor say he have lot on his time fair enough.

Who will need a robot tick? The key to your question Kim is your arch nemesis villain DR. Drakken

Cut to his evil lair

Shego fell from a trap door. Cut to Shego and Drakken dialogue which is the best banter ever.

Kim say she has wrap up the conversation soon due to detention. Wade keep teasing her until Kim say to Wade can we continue the mission. Wade was like okay.

Then Wade revealed more information about Shego to Kim i forgot to add

Drakken is furious that he reveal his evil plan to Shego to build a robotic tick.

Course Kim was interrupt by Barkin. Kim found herself in detention shenanigan ensures.

Funniest moment in this episode the clock is messed up, Kim had good dialogue herself.

Course leads Rufus to the rescue who causes a distraction. Kim managed to escaped.

She thanks Ron for rescuing her with the best plan out letting Rufus out! Course he gave credit to Rufus who was the hero,

Wade access more information about Drakken and Shego that lair is in the Caribbean. Wade say myth say the island is haunted. Much to poor Rufus who hide in the soda cup. Ron was excited about new gadgets. Ron get blasted by the gadget that disguise as lipstick for being nosy. Rightfully so.

Banter between Kim and Ron, Ron is now scared of spy gadget. Kim assures him it just regular makeup

Cut to Drakken lair. Shego shouts intruder alert course Drakken is in his own world.

Kim and Ron get captured course Drakken heard of the teen heroine Kim Possible,

Not Ron. Poor Ron. Chum is friend it least they know you and Kim are team Ron. Course Kim literally does not know who these guys are. Now it started to rang a bell. Kim say you something that does not belong to you

Course cut to Kim and Ron threatened by villains threats to be shark food. Course Ron is a comic relief he has good one liners. Kim saved the day and use the spy gadget on the shark. Kim escaped much to the villains dismay.

Shego does not know what nano technology is.

Course Shego found out they escaped cut to her and Kim fight sequence, Kim saved the day by using her spy tech the lair exploded, she and Ron jump. Mission Impossible vibes. Kim is in her cheerleading uniform. Once again Kim speak to the professor, the professor thank her. She say no problem course Barkin is not stupid another round of detention. Kim is not pleased. The nano tick somehow appeared on Kim nose. Kim escaped because it emergency

Course Drakken is on her trail, Barkin is on her trail. They leave on Ron’s scooter who is not fast. It chaotic sequence. Kim saved Barkin because Drakken is trying to get her with this evil genius ray. It a mess.

They end up at Bueno nacho. Kim has the best sarcastic dialogue at Ron who is focused on food.

Ron plus food who is shocked. Course Drakken and Shego argued like a married couple.

Course Shego and Kim have their first real fight, Wade trying to get nano robot off Kim.

Kim got the upper hand Shego end up on Barkin.

Stakes are high. It intense. Kim nose will blown. Wade is problem solving except Ron has an idea. Diablo sauce he put on Kim nose which finally is off her nose. She threw tick at Drakken device which go Boom!

Which lead to Drakken iconic villain phrase quote. The police capture Drakken and unconscious Shego long story got knocked out by Kim detention associates.

Kim is back at detention which lead to most iconic moments tough but fair call back from early scene go.

Funny moment assures , Kim is getting her detention associates now friends a manicure and Barkin get outnumber. Ron say Kim factor is not a rule for detention. The episode end cut to iconic end credits of the closingcredits.

The episode was really fun I enjoy it i rate it 10 out of 10.

💯💯💯

The cartoon Kim Possible rules!

Seen you all next time for episode two review.

Enjoy! I hope you all have a great afternoon.

#kim possible #2000’s disney life #disney plus #kim possible (character) #disney blog #ron stoppable #disney #tumblr #blogger #episodes order #episodes review

[edgy-ella]

I’m not sure if anyone’s noticed this before, but the etymology in Fnaf is actually kind of amazing? For the human characters, anyways.

Me and a friend of mine are considering doing a Fnaf project, and for it, I need to give names to some of the still unnamed characters. Phone Guy, the original owner of Fredbear’s, so on and so forth. So, I looked into how the series names its characters for inspiration—a name like “William Afton” seems too specific to be made randomly.

“William” is an English name (fitting for a bri’ish character) that means either “strong-willed warrior” or “resolute protector.” Meanwhile, Afton is a Scottish name meaning evening or afternoon.

A resolute protector of the evening.

A NIGHT GUARD.

Remember in Fnaf 2, when the only thing we knew about Purple Guy was that he was almost certainly the former night guard of Freddy’s?

Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if Scott came up with this name around the time of Fnaf 2 or 3 and just sat on it until he needed it for The Silver Eyes. That, or it was intended to be a bit of foreshadowing of “Dave Miller’s” true identity. 

After having that revelation, I decided to look into the names of some of the other characters to see if I could find any other interesting naming quirks. This is what I found.

Henry Emily: “Henry” means “home” and “powerful ruler” while Emily can mean either “rival” or “persuasive.” His status a persuasive rival should need no explanation to anyone who has played Pizzeria Simulator, and him being a “powerful ruler of home” can allude to his status as one of the original owners of Freddy’s.

Charlotte Emily: “Charlotte” means either “free man” or “petite.” I don’t see that much of a connection to the “free man” definition of the name (in fact, her being the last of William’s victims to be set free and the Puppet’s constant restraint by the music box would imply the opposite), but the “petite” part may allude to her dying as a child. The “rival” aspect of her surname can apply to Charlie as well, as she has stood against William as the Puppet since the beginning.

Michael Afton/Mike Schmidt: Pretty sure these two are the same character, so I’m looping them together. Afton is obviously a carryover from his father’s name, and I don’t think it applies as much to Mike as it does William. “Michael” is a Biblical name with a lot of different meanings, but the most common one is “Who is like God?” Meanwhile, “Schmidt” is a German name derived from the word for blacksmith. Who is like God? The blacksmith. This could allude to Michael’s relationship to William, the creator of the animatronics, as the two are father and son. However, I honestly doubt Scott had planned that as early as Fnaf 1. The “blacksmith” aspect of the name may be in reference to him “tampering with the animatronics,” though.

Jeremy Fitzgerald: “Jeremy” means “God will uplift” and “Fitzgerald” means “son of Gerald.” Who is Gerald, then? “Gerald” means “bright spear.” God will uplift the son of the bright spear. I could be reading too much into this, but this may be in reference to how you need to use your flashlight to ward off the animatronics in Fnaf 2.

Vanessa/Vanny: “Vanessa” means “butterfly.” Could tie into the “butterfly effect” of how Glitchtrap taking control of her in Fnaf VR influenced the series going forward, but that’s honestly a stretch.

Gregory: “Gregory” means either “watchful” or “alert.” And yeah, I assume you would need to be in order to dodge all of the animatronics in the Pizzaplex.

I know that overanalyzing simple names like this feels like a “the curtains are blue” moment, but as a writer who is very picky about my character names, I think it’s important to respect how a character’s name can tie into their personality and role in the story. Creating a memorable and fitting name isn’t as easy as you may think it is, so when they have meaning like this (even if it’s unintentional), we should give credit where credits is due.

#fnaf #five nights at freddy's #fnaf movie #william afton #henry emily #charlie emily #michael afton #jeremy fitzgerald #fnaf vanny #fnaf gregory #etymology #ella essays #hall of fame

[chirpsythismorning]

How the Ending of Stranger Things 3 Subtly (Blatantly) Foreshadowed the Love Triangle in Stranger Things 4

During Mike and Will's last scene together alone (essentially their goodbye), Mike shows visible concern over the fact that Will is probably gonna want to join another party after he moves. In response, Will reassures him that would be impossible, with Mike looking visibly relieved and even happy about this reassurance.

However, in contrast, as Mike is saying his goodbyes to El, only a moment later, Mike doesn't voice any similar concerns about the possibility of her meeting new people (even with the concept fresh in his mind, might I add). Also in contrast to his scene with Will, their goodbye here ends with Mike looking conflicted and confused at El's form of reassurance (love confession/kiss), rather than relieved/happy.

These are honestly such weird narrative choices on the writers part, if I'm supposed to believe that what Mike has with Will is strictly platonic and what Mike has with El is strictly romantic.

In fact, Mike even makes a point of mentioning Will's name in his plans to reunite with El during their goodbye, but he makes no mention of El when he says goodbye to Will...

Now, what should that tell you??

Even just reanalyzing these scenes from s3 in combination with what ends up happening in s4, how can anyone still come to the honest conclusion that m!leven makes more sense as endgame than byler?

El was still very new to basic experiences, let alone high school, and so although things did go horrible for her in Cali, they could've gone well in a better scenario.

She even gives Mike this impression in early ST4, saying that things were going amazing for her, and we saw Mike being fairly open and kind when it came to the topic of her new friends and new life in Lenora.

Though, once again in contrast, Mike was visibly uncomfortable over the topic of Will's life in Lenora, or more specifically, what El mentioned in her most recent letter, which was that she thought Will might be painting something for a girl he likes.

Interestingly, besides the fact that Will is painting more, this small piece of (mis)information about a girl, is the only thing we were shown Mike knowing about Will's new life in Lenora.

After humiliating himself at the airport by asking about the painting, since we the audience (and El) already know Mike knows about it and who it’s probably for, what follows is Mike making absolutely zero effort to find out anything else about Will’s new life, after now assuming El's suspicions were correct.

How very platonic of you, Mike.

We even get these hints via subtext that Mike thought El's new friend Angela could be the girl Will made the painting for.

So we’re seeing this pattern here, and it’s that Mike is actually shown to be more scared about losing Will to new people than he is scared about losing El to new people.

Then, low and behold, it turns out El was lying about having friends. In reality she’s quite miserable in Lenora.

You would think, despite the unfortunate circumstances, if Mike had actually been insecure about El moving on, only for those insecurities to be disproven, wouldn't he have been at least slightly relieved?

But we don't get that. After the truth is revealed, Mike looks even more upset and conflicted about his relationship with El than before.

He can try and say that his behavior is related to his fear that someone new will discover how special El is, followed by her not needing him, but in reality, that possibility was just literally disproven.

El had no one new in her life, and she was literally standing before Mike, begging him to need her. All he had to do was say I love you. Problem solved, right?

But he didn't. He didn't because the truth is so much more complex than he's making it out to be.

Going into the rest of the season, after El has left and it's only Mike and Will, there is absolutely no mention of Will's life in Lenora, with the focus instead being all on Mike.

Mike's trying to reveal to Will that he wants to end things romantically with El, saying their fight was one he didn't think they could come back from (even though he and the audience know all it would've required was three simple words), him even going as far as to say that he doesn't think him and El meeting each other was anything special ("IT WASN'T FATE! IT WASN'T DESTINY!" like, okay! Chill out, Michael!).

Mike is trying as subtly as he possibly can to hint to Will that he is having these insecurities about his relationship, a relationship that he believes is doomed to fail, but that he is scared of ending himself because it might mean losing El altogether.

Tragically, all it probably would've taken was Will voicing even an ounce of agreement in Mike's doubts, for Mike to finally end things with El. Seriously, where is s3 Will when s4 Mike needs him?? Will could've said anything to support his doubts, and Mike would've been throwing in the towel (no, but like literally the only time Will showed Mike any annoyance in s4 over Mike moping about El, and here Mike was, throwing El's letter in the garbage almost instantly... )

Only problem is, Will isn't letting that happen this time.

And what do you think that tells Mike? I mean, if I were Mike, I would assume that Will is definitely not interested. After all, he apparently likes girls now, despite implying he wouldn't move on last time they talked. And now he has someone else to gift his paintings too, not Mike.

Mike's probably realizing rn that he's going crazy all alone, without Will.

Because like, let's be real. If your best friend has feelings for someone, you talk about it with them.

We literally see this happening right now with Mike and Will when it comes to El. All. Season.

So why, after finding out about Will's potential love interest, has Mike made zero effort to learn more about said girl?

WHY not have Will become aware that Mike assumes there is a girl in the first place????

Matter of fact, why didn't we see Mike's reaction to hearing Will talk about his life in Lenora, at all???????

Maybe because it would've been even more obvious than Mike admitting to Will that Hawkins wasn't the same without him?

Maybe because this is a classic case of the misunderstanding/miscommunication trope, where it could all be solved if everyone just knew the truth?

Honestly, I think the moment we do finally get to see Mike's reaction to Will, maybe even just slightly implying life was better for him in Lenora, Mike is going to look... well, devastated.

And that would've been a little too on the nose for ST4, especially if their plan was to keep the general audience second-guessing Mike's feelings, up until the final season.

I do believe it's likely we'll eventually get Mike's true reaction to Will's life in Lenora though, because the lead up has been quite extensive.

In the s3 finale, they could've easily shown us Mike being worried El would find someone else in Cali, but they don’t. Instead they show us that Mike has that insecurity linked to Will.

The main insecurity I saw Mike having in regards to El at the end of s3, standing in front of Will's closet, was that it genuinely looked like he knew that if he was 'normal', he would've tried harder to fight for their romantic relationship. But he just couldn’t do it and so that’s why he looked annoyed with himself as she started walking away.

But suddenly, El's turning around, confronting him, and Mike doesn’t look the least bit relieved. He looks distracted and caught off guard. When she mentions his heart, that's when he starts looking downright panicked. Then, she's walking back up to him and kissing him, all while his eyes are wide open. Afterwards, he's silent and she leaves him in Will's room by himself, looking dumbfounded.

I would argue that if Mike did truly love El (romantically), but just didn’t know how to express it, he would have been relieved that she was making it so easy for him. After all, it didn’t even require any work on his part in that moment.

BOOM. She said she loved him too. BOOM. She kissed him. BOOM. They’re boyfriend and girlfriend again. That was easy, right?

But if them being together again was what Mike truly wanted at this point, 3 months post-breakup, then his reaction here makes no sense when you compare it to his reaction to Will only minutes before.

Which brings me back to the importance of the whole walkie/phone call/letters debacle.

What I think is that, initially, Mike intended to use the walkie to stay in touch with El, and to reserve writing letters for Will ('Love Mike'). Either that, or perhaps he was initially open minded to having equal contact with both of them, via letters and phone calls/Cerebro.

After finding out Will did want the same future as him, even getting confirmation from Will that he wouldn’t be 'joining any other parties', Mike is hopeful. How they talk is basically code for them both hoping their instincts are right about the others feelings; that they equally feel the same way about each other and that maybe, sometime in the future, maybe.

I do think they both had this realization in that moment during their goodbye. And that's what makes everything that follows going into s4 so stupidly tragic for everyone involved.

I think that talk with Will was when Mike realized he wanted to reserve romantic gestures for Will again (like he did in s2) and to go back to the more friendship based gestures with El (arguably also what he did in s2 with the walkie).

That's what was holding him back, this realization that he actually wanted him and El to stay broken up so that he could go back to this bond he had with Will.

But suddenly, El is telling him she loves him too and she’s kissing him and??? How the hell does he take back what he said those few months ago? She lost her only real father figure, she's moving away AND is revealing that she's in love with him? Obviously he’s not thinking about how in the long run, this misunderstanding will only hurt her more than just breaking it off now. He's thinking about how much she's already hurting and that he can't do this to her. And tbh, I don't really blame Mike for not having the courage to do it. I probably wouldn't either.

Quite frankly, I think a lot of the audience can't give up on M!leven because they too have the same mindset as Mike, which is that, because they feel so bad for El and everything she's been through, he's practically indebted to her, as she's saved his life countless times, and pretty much the entire world. How can he not love her? It's the LEAST Mike can do in his mind (and the audiences').

Don't get me wrong. I never wanted El to be heartbroken. I can say with full confidence that 99.99% of bylers want El to be the one to break it off with Mike. It's seriously starting to look like Mike is just going to pull a Ted Wheeler and be miserable forever if she doesn't take the initiative on this and so that's really the only satisfying way they can go about that at this point.

I do believe that El and Mike have a good dynamic, well, when they're not forcing themselves to be someone else just to be with each other. And I think s1 dynamics making a return means we'll hopefully get some of those honest interactions between them, like we did before society kind of forced its expectations on them.

But, if we're being honest with ourselves, season 4 is said and done, which means everything that happened, happened.

Mike has already broken El's heart. He's already done the very thing he didn't want to do, all because he was convinced that his only option was to lie to her, himself and everyone about the truth.

Like, there must be a reason why the writers keep showing us Mike struggling with committing to El, over and over throughout the entire series. The fact that when it's finally caught up to him, he looks downright terrified, like it all adds up, honestly. It all makes sense.

He’s also got internalized homophobia working against him, telling him, 'El is incredible, beautiful, a literal superhero and she loves you…? What’s wrong with you??'

And I think Mike’s visible turmoil at the end of s3 is this realization that he's right back where he started. Repressing his true feelings; reserving romantic gestures for El and as a result having no choice but to reserve platonic gestures for Will.

Then s4 comes around and we find out El and Mike have been keeping in touch via letters, with no mention of the walkies at all.

We can presume that they did not talk over the phone because of government surveillance, which was why Mike initially mentioned the walkies in the first place (again, remember he said this BEFORE they kissed/got back together).

We also know from Will's perspective that Mike only called a couple of times. We can assume maybe more than once, but probably no more than 2-5 times, he successfully got through to the Byers.

But we also now know from Dustin's perspective (and El's because she heard this conversation in the void), is that Mike called so much to the point where Dustin said he was 'always whining' about the line being busy.

And this will never not be the most important piece of the puzzle to me.

First of all, this line was put here for a reason. Second of all, no one outside of bylers in the fandom talk about this much, if at all, and that's probably because those refusing to consider the possibility of byler would rather not acknowledge that there's literally no other way to interpret this.

In present time, Dustin has just said Mike is 'always whining about' the Byers' line being busy, which means that even though it's been 6+ months since the Byers' moved to California, Mike presumably hasn't stoped 'whining about it' (always more so implies still/currently, not so much in the past/previously/'maybe a couple times').

So, why didn't Mike tell Will he called way more than 'a couple of times' when Will confronted him about it?

And why didn't we get anything regarding Mike and El keeping in touch via the walkie, ie, Mike's original plan?

We saw that in her room, El had a shrine dedicated to Mike, with the walkie sitting right in the middle, just waiting for him to call her. Because technically, in order for them to keep in contact via the walkie, Mike would have to be at Dustin's using Cerebro, or having stolen it (like he said he would).

But instead of seeing El being annoyed with Mike calling her constantly, we get Mike reading a letter from El, with shots of the Mike shrine, and El saying "I miss you so much I can hardly breathe, do you miss me too?" WITH NO RESPONSE and this awkward tension, seeing as what follows is nothing that constitutes an El shrine in Mike's space, the scene ending with him crumpling up her letter and moving on entirely.

We even get a scene of Dustin talking to Suzie on Cerebro directly after this scene with Mike.

So... What if this means Mike didn't follow through when it came to actually calling El on the walkie? What if she was already suspicious, not only about the letters all ending with 'from Mike' but also because she remembered Mike saying he would call so much, only for her to find out, directly from Dustin that Mike was always 'whining about' the Byers phone line being busy. Which meant all those times he could've called El, all those times she was waiting for him to annoy her like he said he would, he was busy annoying Dustin over the fact that he couldn't get ahold of Will...

What if Mike went from telling El he would call her so much she would have to turn it off, to in reality, only calling her on the walkie maybe a couple times, only to drop it all-together, which is what lead to the letters being the main source of contact in the first place.

Also WHY even have El be the one to find out that Mike was constantly calling the Byers to talk to Will, before Will himself finds out, with him still currently assuming the opposite...?

Honestly, I think it's kind of obvious, but I'll try to continue spelling it out.

I think Mike made a compromise with himself after both El and Will moved to California.

He couldn't break it off with El, not now and not this way. Maybe if he was straight and only liked girls, he could end things without feeling self conscious about the potential perceived implications behind it. But because he knows the true reason, he feels like it will give him away. Sadly, Mike also has very low self esteem and so he just genuinely believes that he should be honored to be loved by someone like El, because this is probably as good as it's gonna get for someone like him.

This compromise also involves Mike trying to keep things as platonic as possible with Will, and yet the way he goes about it still somehow tragically does exactly the opposite.

By not going through with using the walkie to call El, he's making the phone calls between him and Will 'their' thing, even when Mike tragically can never seem to reach him.

I think the idea of talking to El 'romantically' on Cerebro, only to hear Will in the background, who Mike now may have the urge to talk to after not being able to get ahold of him for weeks.?. I just know Mike cringed at the mere idea of that, like I could totally see something like that being a catalyst for why he made that separation between how he'd allow himself to communicate with them in the first place, post s3.

I also think he knew that if he wrote letters to both Will and El, there was a small chance they could end up comparing letters at some point, and the difference between how he opens up with Will in comparison to how he doesn't as much with El, would have made his true feelings glaringly obvious.

I do honestly believe that the reason they never let us read any of Mike's letters to El (beyond how they all end...) was because of this very fact, that it would have been the biggest giveaway of all.

Like, what the hell would Mike have even talked about anyways? It's literally canon that he was a 'shitty knockoff' of his true self when they reunited at the airport and then all day at rink-o-mania too (just like El), so maybe it isn't a reach to assume he also lied in his letters (just like El). Or even more likely, he probably focused on just asking questions about how she was doing/how the Byers were doing. After all, Mike has no reason to believe El wants to hear about Hellfire, or any of the things he knows aren't exactly perceived as 'cool'.

source

This is also why I'm fairly convinced they're saving showing the audience a letter written by Mike for the final season, because that's when his true feelings will be revealed (and this time, it will be a letter that ends with, ‘love Mike’...)

Though I think it's unlikely we'll get flashbacks about what Mike was thinking between ST3-4 (possibility scene in New Moon... iykyk), I like to believe that he did try to write a letter to Will at least once, maybe right after they moved, but at the very last second he realized it ended with, 'love Mike', in contrast to a letter he wrote to El ending with, 'from Mike', and that's when it really hit him.

He knew he had to set boundaries with himself to be a good boyfriend and a good best friend (in theory of course, because he failed miserably).

The biggest giveaway of all though, is Mike not being able to fully submit to this compromise he's made with himself.

Even though he reserved writing letters to El, to convince himself he was at least trying to be a good, romantic boyfriend, while also trying to convince himself that his feelings for Will were strictly platonic (SHES MY GIRLFRIEND, WILL! /WERE FRIENDS. WERE FRIENDS!), he still couldn't give in entirely; he still couldn’t end the letters to El with, “love Mike’.

It took Will giving Mike constant reassurance and support all of s4, up until the very last second, for him to finally tell El he loves her.

And now here we are! Forced conformity caused the end of the world, so now we just gotta wait for gay love/endgame to save it.

#stranger things #byler #mike wheeler #will byers #idk but #yeah the math is mathing

[fandomfaeofveryfewf4cks]

Spoilers for Our Flag Means Death finale.

I just needed to talk things through as a crew.

So, I already posted something about how I felt about Izzy's death immediately after watching the finale. Now that I've given myself more time to mull it over though, I'm not quite as satisfied with the ending as I thought. But I think I know why I'm not exactly angry about it either.

I think I just see it as an open ending for next season? Like, I can see how Izzy's death brings parts of the story around full circle. (Mainly in Ed growing out of being Blackbeard who wasn't really Blackbeard without Izzy Hands.) However, after thinking about it some and reading some other people's thoughts about it, it doesn't really work for bringing Izzy's story around full circle, does it? No, really, does it? I'm still not entirely sure.

On the one hand, I've seen people talk about how Izzy represents piracy and piracy is coming to an end, so it makes sense for him to die with piracy. With his talk with Ricky about how they may die, but they'll live on in other ways, it makes sense.

On another hand, I also see people talking about the fact that Izzy survived a suicide attempt (potentially for the reason of protecting the crew) only to end the season saying he wants to die...

This choice just makes me a bit queasy because it invalidates some of the hope I've had building up with every episode I watched, especially in season 2, where Izzy goes through the bulk of what I feel is (at least mostly) such an amazing character arc.

On a third hand, I saw someone saying that Izzy should captain the Revenge while Stede and Ed go off to run their inn. I had thought this was going to happen too until I started seeing the foreshadowing for Izzy's death and started doubting that theory.

Part of the reason this makes so much sense is because, firstly, Izzy runs the ship already. Plus, he's changed his priorities to be about the crew.

Remember in season 1 episode 9, when the crew is planning to mutiny against Izzy and are trying to decide who should be captain next. And Oluwande says,

"It's gotta be someone we can all trust. Someone who's got the whole crew in mind. Not just themselves."

Izzy didn't make a good captain in that episode because he still didn't trust them, they didn't trust him, and he was doing everything for himself.

In season 2, none of that is true anymore.

The crew DOES trust him. He DOES think about the crew first and foremost. And, we even get to see him learn to trust the crew as well. Learn that they see him as not just a part of the crew they have to deal with like in most of season 1, but a crucial part of the crew and a person they all care about.

In short, it really would have made so much sense to make him Captain.

"Okay, but why do you think his death is an open ending? Death is typically a decidedly very closed off ending."

Ah, I see the point I keep losing is back.

How many times has someone been "dead" only to come back later. How many times has IZZY "died" to come back later. Granted, Izzy going through this multiple times is part of what foreshadows the idea that he's going to not come back this time, so it's possibly just false hope to think he'll come back (assuming we get a third season).

But think about it. Izzy has died. Stede gave up his pirating dream, which seems how likely to stick? And Ed thinks he's going to be able to work a customer service job? And both Stede and Ed think they'll be good at running a business they don't know jackshit about? Ed has proved to be lousy at working a "simple" life. Ed's subconscious said so. Pop-pop said so. Even Jackie sees this as a "wish I was a regular dude phase." Also, Stede has proved that he can be a decent pirate. Zheng said so. Spanish Jackie said so. The entire Republic of Pirates said so. The Pirate Queen said so.

I guess I just have a hard time believing the creators of ofmd couldn't bring Izzy back somehow and turn out a new plot for another season if they wanted to.

At the end of season one, Ed and Stede resign themselves to a future that is not ideal for them and Lucius "dies."

At the end of season 2, Ed and Stede decide to try for a future that is arguably also not ideal for them (it's just less angsty than season 1) and Izzy "dies."

I dunno. I guess what I'm saying is, it makes enough sense for an ending, but not this story's ending. And this show actually managed to make me feel things in my mucky rustbucket of a heart and gave me hope like not many things do. I'm just not ready to give up on it yet.

. . . . .

Maybe they didn't want to make Izzy captain because then if/when Stede and/or Ed come back wanting to be Captain, they'd have to decide how to make that work? But that wouldn't be too hard to figure out, right? I mean, they already decided a ship can have two captains. Why not 3?

Here's some of those posts I was talking about:

#ofmd #our flag means death #izzy hands #ofmd izzy #con o'neill #stede x ed #ed teach #stede bonnet

[jacknickelton]

I don’t know if anyone else feels this way, but I love how the Spider Verse movies handle their lesser known characters. They know that the majority of casual Spider Fans won’t know everything about Miles Morales and his universe or just the Spiderman Multiverse in general, so they wrote and frame each characters’ appearances accordingly. They subvert what we think we know about Spiderman in ways that actually makes sense and doesn’t feel like “doing it for the sake of doing it”.

Spoilers ahoy for Spiderman: Into The Spider Verse and Spiderman: Across The Spider Verse

Doc Ock in Morales’ world doesn’t feel out of left field because of the foreshadowing and the of course-ness of her existence

The Prowler, being one of the most important characters of this obscure universe and thus plot twists based on this character will vary wildly in audience response, has a lot emotional weight to his reveal because the scriptwriting, cinematography, and voice acting is so strong that even if we know it’s gonna happen, we still feel bad and sorry for everyone involved, while also being enough of a surprise that others don’t feel like the movie is beating around the bush

The Spot slipped under most people’s radar because of how the trailer frames his encounters. He’s shown as some bumbling villain with a conveniently inconvenient skill set who only serves as an obstacle Miles has to go through during his life’s balancing act between being Miles and being Spiderman. I’m sure most people didn’t even bother searching him up, cause they assume that, narratively, he’s the same as normal bank robbers and purse snatchers. Which makes it a shocking surprise when we see his true motives and powers, leading to how god damn scary he can be

Even more minor appearances like The Renaissance Vulture and Spider-Punk are surprising, the former due to him only being referred to as The Vulture and shows up right after Spider-Gwen’s exposition intro, and the latter due to his raw personality and him subverting the typical teenage love triangle that the movie seemingly set up

And this is just me, since I didn’t know this is gonna be a two-parter, but even the ending cliffhanger subverted my expectations. I thought it’ll be a tongue and cheek joke on how movies or comics will tease their cool stuff only to jump out and say “to be continued” like in The Simpsons Movie, but they actually ended the film there. I was so mad, but I respect them, because what we got was already interesting enough, what with the cool characters and emotional arcs, not to mention how they went above and beyond with their art style and animation

I can’t wait until 2024 to arrive for the sequel, and please show your support for this. I’m just scratching the surface of the SURFACE of this movie. The themes, the allegories, the representations, and so on are amazing, and I could wipe my memories to rewatch these movies, I would

#into the spiderverse #across the spiderverse #into the spiderverse spoilers #across the spiderverse spoilers

[ipsen]

Kishou and Eto: A Tangled Web of Hatred, Fear, and Apathy

(Alternatively: Good God They Are Horrible For Each Other But Like Actually)

Let’s talk about this slow motion car crash. Buckle up, this one’s actually really long. Subtext, amirite, fellas?

This connection is fascinating. It came out of basically left field if you were like me and could not predict a story to save your life when re was coming out (even when it was foreshadowed as far back as tg 141). The two “pinnacles” of humankind and ghoulkind were working together the whole time!! Amazing. It also spawned lots of content for a brand new ship because now they’ve canonically interacted! Very cool.

And while “two broken souls try to fix the world that wronged them and maybe fall in love along the way” is a good trope and I love it, I want to talk about the aspect of this relationship that is most appealing to me that I don’t see talked about often: the story of a revolutionary who, instead of being finally given the tools to change the world, is instead yanked up by strings and thrown about by the whims of a child having a temper tantrum.

When sourcing, I use (ch X) to refer to the original series and (re X) to refer to re (there’s also some (jack X) for tg jack). And, as always, I’m looking at the official translations. Under the cut.

First, the age gap. no one talks about the age gap even though it’s like the most important part

Anyways, let’s lay the groundwork for their first meeting. It looks like this:

(re 86)

Does this area look familiar? It should:

(re 62)

This is Eto’s hiding spot when she’s 14. We can also infer that Noroi is no longer around because of a few things. Bit of a tangent, but it’s important we contextualize her mindset when she meets Arima.

Noroi raised Eto in the 24th ward, and we can probably assume she would have grown up down there with him if things had gone fine. However:

(re 66)

We can assume V interfered with that setup. Not only that, but Eto’s first appearance on the CCG’s radar was in the 24th ward, where she killed Kasuka Mado. An angry ukaku-type ghoul kills one of Akira’s parents after losing an important adult figure in their life. Now, where have I heard that before...?

(ch 16)

There it is.

The difference between Touka+Hinami and Eto+Eto again is that the former are not alone in their pain. They have Anteiku, they have each other. As a result, they are able to heal from the past and move on with their lives. Eto did not have this luxury, and the pain and rage (she’s freakishly similar to Touka) were allowed to manifest. It didn’t help that Eto was familiar with cannibalism at a young age (24th ward culture is freaky like that) and developed a full kakuja by fourteen. Horrifying thought, if you ask me.

So Eto is lonely, she is angry, she wants to change the world through extreme targeted violence. We know it’s targeted violence because Aogiri never attacks civilian areas: they only attack certain targets that can get them what they want (Kanou’s nurse, for example) as well as CCG property (Cochlea being the big one). Her hatred is reserved solely for those who deserve it, which is a pattern that follows her through her entire life.

Let’s move on to Arima.

By the time Arima meets Eto, he has experienced the events of Jack. So he is familiar with the workings of the Garden, the Washuu, and V as a whole, and has interacted with a ghoul that was a bit more sentient and aware of herself than he’d like:

(jack 7) (“Maybe they [the Washuu] want to be human...” -- Arima, from re 83)

He’s 19 when he finally encounters Eto at her shrine. Evidence:

(re 74)

So there’s a 5-6 year age gap between eto and arima when they first meet. They are basically at two completely different stages of their lives, being an extremely young teenager and someone on the cusp of adulthood (context: during TG’s and re’s run, the age of a legal adult in Japan was 20. It’s been lowered to 18 since April 2022. Flabbergasting, if you ask me).

I’ve stated this before, but the best way to look at Arima and Eto is to look at a similar age gap:

(re 142)

They are an inversion of Kaneki and Hinami. We can also highlight the similarities further because Eto and Hinami have met before and Eto implies that they are similar:

(tg 114)

Eto only ever gives out advice-- cruel and otherwise-- to those that remind her of herself. The Yasuhisas and Kanae both reflected some aspect of her that she wants to correct, but that’s beside the point.

(She’s also alluding to her collaborating with Arima with this line, as Hinami is 14 during this chapter as well.)

Anyways, we know that Hinami is one of Eto’s foils, alongside Touka. All three women are women who crave love and affection from parental figures who have either died (Hinami’s dad+Ryouko, Hikari, Ukina) or were just never there when they were needed most (Kuzen, Arata). So what we can apply to one, we can generally apply to the others as well.

Hinami takes to Kaneki very easily and very early on. She’s very lonely, even when Ryouko was alive, due to not really having any friends her age (or friends at all, honestly). Having lost her father, she is also (subconsciously) looking for an older male figure to take his place (hence Big Brother Ken, the sweetheart). In the same vein, Touka acquiesces to Kuzen’s request for her to take school because she is lonely, even though Ayato is Right There (but also he doesn’t really Get Her), because again, no friends her age as well as No Dad.

We can easily apply this phenomenon to Eto with Arima. A young, lonely girl with no real friends her age or parental figures in her life is seeking a replacement for the hole that left in her. She also wants to upend the narrative that ghouls and humans have to kill each other to survive. As someone both stuck in the middle and someone with very personal connections to the origins of that narrative, she wants to destroy the “us vs. them” mindset.

Enter the strongest investigator in the history of the universe: Kishou Arima. And he wants to help her. Unfortunately for Eto, though, the world is cruel, and Kishou Arima is not a Ken Kaneki or a Kuzen.

Let’s see how he interacts with people, shall we?

(tg 73)

(re 8)

(re 45)

Now, Arima’s not exactly mean, but he’s... overwhelming. It’s not condescension, it’s more... unawareness. Tactless.

I’m sure some of you have been in Akira’s, Haise’s, or Hirako’s shoes before. Someone who is just typically Correct and wrapped up in their own thoughts, that you have little choice but to accept it. Arima’s worldview is completely twisted around his strength as a fighter, to the point that he can’t understand others.

It’s sad, because he also craves connection and friendship and love like everyone else in the series. Unfortunately, he is also a perpetrator of that “not being good enough” feeling that goes around the CCG.

He was trained by Kaiko, after all. Heartless bastard.

So we can imply that the dynamic he had with Eto wasn’t very different from anyone else in his circle. We can also see the effect this had on Eto herself using the advice she gives out to our favorite points of discussion, the Yasuhisas and Kanae:

(tg 98) (side note: i actually wrote a fanfiction about this scene. read it here! It’s called “Toddle, Toddle” on AO3 if you don’t trust my links.)

(re 43)

So, as Eto worked more and more with Arima, she became more and more aware of Arima’s actual goals/nature, which don’t align with her own. She’s perceptive like that, but it’s likely that by the time she Caught On, it’s too late. After all, everyone listens to Kishou Arima. Everyone likes Kishou Arima.

Eto values control, but she is never the one truly in control. So she projects onto others in a vain attempt to seem like she has some semblance of control over her own actions and her own life. Such as becoming an author, one of the few things she actually enjoys doing.

So, if Kishou Arima were to say “Sen Takatsuki is a ghoul”, that’s one more thing she’d lose control over. One thing too many.

But what is Arima’s actual goal? Well, children are prone to tantrums, aren’t they? They like to break things, using what they know to do so. He’s known to use his quinques masterfully to kill. But Arima doesn’t exclusively have literal quinques. He has metaphorical ones, too:

(re 52)

While on the subject, Haise’s got an interesting pose there, doesn’t he? But it looks so familiar...

(re 69)

Not quite...

Bingo. (not to shoot myself in the foot when we’re almost at the end but they should kiss bc of this. arima’s broken toys smashing together like barbie dolls. it’s the ultimate fuck-you)

Poor girl doesn’t even have the luxury of having two arms when this happens. Arima took advantage of her weakened state to rope her into what is basically a childish rebellion.

He often goes into the 24th ward to exterminate ghouls. Ghouls that are not a part of Aogiri, presumably. However, this is counterproductive in the long run; how do you recruit ghouls into a ghoul organization if their numbers are continuously dwindling? You can’t change the world like that.

But Arima, with the OEK as his secret identity, is not actually affected by this. He will still have the praise and love he craves from the CCG. He wants both things. He can’t choose. So he doesn’t. Because no one can stop him. Who would stop Kishou Arima? Who would stop the God of the CCG? Who would stop the King?

Nobody.

It’s a childish rebellion because if it fails, then he doesn’t face any real consequences. No one would listen to the whims of Tatara or the One-Eyed Owl; they already have humongous targets on their heads, and they’re part of the Aogiri Tree, the organization with the largest Dove kill count in history (besides the Clowns, probably). If Arima actually cared, he’d at least stop killing ghouls en masse like he did with the Anteiku raid or his regular forays into the 24th ward with his squad that can see him. That’s the bottom line.

Of course, V being all over the world probably discourages him, but he could have at least tried to lean more into his identity as king instead of trying to compromise between both sides of him. But that doesn’t really matter to him, does it? None of it really matters. After all:

(re 83)

--

So yeah, that’s Eto and Arima’s imbalanced power dynamic featuring my silly little rambling. Did it make sense? Who knows!

Thanks for reading!

#tg #tokyo ghoul #tg meta #eto yoshimura #kishou arima

[highfantasy-soul]

NATLA Episode 6 - Masks (1/5)

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

An explanation of what I'm doing here and my history with ATLA.

Of course, full spoilers ahead.

<previous/next>

This is a LONG one, so strap in for many parts. I have essays.

Opening with Zuko's side of The Storm animated episode was amazing. The way the camera starts from behind and Iroh's voice-over talking about masks and former excitement to show the world your true face - before that joy is beaten out of you - was such a strong way to introduce the themes explored in this episode. A new watcher wouldn't initially know that's Zuko, and the shock of seeing him without the scar was a great reveal that this is a flashback. Iroh already stepping into the mentor position with Zuko, helping him with his armor and giving him advice just fleshed out their connection even more. The way Dallas Liu played young Zuko was so great - from the way he walked, how easily he smiled, and even the different inflection of his voice, you immediately saw this was a younger, less tormented Zuko than we had seen before. Which then perfectly seeds in the dread of finding out what turned him from this tolerably happy kid into the surly, hurt boy we've seen in the other episodes.

Zhao's take-over of the Avatar hunt is so good. All the emotions racing across Zuko's face, the way Zhao clearly never respected Zuko and then the crew letting loose their frustration at the way Zuko treats them. Even though we've been primed to 'root' for Zuko (even in the animated series, we had that weird desire to see Zuko beat out Zhao), everyone's reactions to him make perfect sense. Of course Zhao isn't going to see Zuko as an equal - he's 16 years old! And Zuko HAS been treating his crew like shit, so their anger and lack of loyalty to him is justified. The show did such a great job at adding layers even within the ranks of the bad guys.

The Crescent Island looks PERFECT! All the sets are fantastic and I adore how Aang just assumes that even though the sages are fire nation, they'll respect him because he's the Avatar. After all, that's what they're supposed to do - but how Ozai has a tapestry of himself in the temple of the Avatar, we see the hints of how the Fire Nation has been led to treat the Avatar. I really like the addition/clarification in the live-action that the fire lords have placed themselves above the Avatar as the spiritual leader of the world - they've undermined the authority of the Avatar, no doubt due to Sozin's anger at Roku for standing against his bid to colonize the world. Even cultures where religion is seen as all-important, corrupt leaders have no problem co-opting that religious devotion and placing themselves in the position of power and adulation. Of course, as with all societies that try to do that, there will always be those who condemn mortal leader's attempts to usurp the power of the divine and hold to the 'old ways'. Love how we see that in the fire sages and the one who aids Aang - fulfilling the 'true' purpose of their order rather than the twisted one the leaders of the fire nation have turned it into.

Having a devout fire sage collect relics of past Avatars to keep in Roku's temple, I think was a great addition. It also makes a lot more sense to me that Zhao would have easy access to the info (and weapon) needed to kill the Moon Spirit rather than that shlub somehow finding the super hidden library that an archeologist spent YEARS exclusively searching for. While it was a cool foreshadowing of the library in season 2, having Zhao discover the moon and ocean spirit stuff in Avatar Roku's temple in the live-action I think makes more sense. I'll get to why I also think it was a good choice to have to attack them on a specific moon phase with a specific knife once those episodes come around.

The other fire sages truly believing that Ozai is the only one who can 'bring balance' is an interesting philosophical idea that the fire lords have implanted into the culture of the nation - and their ability to skew what 'balance' even means is really great work too. Not to bring Star Wars into this, but when one group tries to dominate the world (galaxy) fully so that they can control everything that happens, that's NOT 'balance' and forces will rise up to upend that system of control. Like Ozai said in episode 3, the way they've all been taught to 'create balance' is actually just an intense form of law and order where they control everything. It's an argument used liberally today that many fall for as well, so clarifying that here in season one instead of waiting all the way to season 3 like the animated show did really grounds the story in reality and lets viewers sit with the lessons and interrogate how they see it happening in their own lives for 3 seasons rather than just a few episodes.

It is a bit iffy world building from the animated show to have Aang only be able to talk with Roku on the solstice in his temple when later in the story, he can just connect to his past selves as long as he's meditating, in their clothes, or in a spiritual place - I think the animated show just really wanted to add in the temple and manufactured a reason for Aang to have to go there specifically on that date in the animated show. Not bad, but also makes the 'connecting to Avatars at their temple anytime' fit with the worldbuilding just fine. Like many first seasons (or books) of series that aren't all pre-written, the world building of early installments is usually a bit shaky and ironed out in later seasons, so I like that they've already started to do that here.

Roku, like Bumi, was another character that they shifted the tone of for the live-action. I think they chose to introduce Roku as a more fun-loving Avatar to really contrast him with Kyoshi (and later Kuruk) as well as most of the adults who've interacted with Aang so far. I think Gyatzo took the role of the more serious mentor that Roku had in the animated show and the live-action Roku really needed to be a stark contrast from the adults in Aang's life who blamed him for what happened with the war. I think they may have overdid the jokey nature of Roku a bit but as we see in the flashbacks with him in season 3 Roku always had been a more fun-loving guy. He does get serious and gives Aang some good advice - even though part of that advice is like Kyoshi's and Kuruk's that Aang needs to be careful about his friends. Though, his advice is distinctly different from Kyoshi's or Kuruk's in that he doesn’t say Aang can't have friends or let them help him, but rather that they can become liabilities and Aang will need to make decisions that sometimes could harm his friends for the sake of the world - not letting the lives of the few outweigh the lives of the many. Including lore about the Mother of Faces (full disclosure, I've never read any of the comics or books, so I just heard about that stuff second-hand) was really cool - and also ties back into the theme about identity and masks this episode is going hard on.

I also love how each of the Avatars Aang talks with have different ways they fulfilled their duties: Kyoshi through force and combat, Roku though diplomacy, and Kuruk through protecting the veil between the spirit world and the material plane. While they each caution about needing to be more than a singular thing, we can see Aang identifying more with Roku and his mention of diplomacy - as evidenced by his plan to use the Mother of Faces statuette to bargain rather than to lure Koh out and use force to try to kill or restrain him as Kyoshi might or further anger him like Kuruk. Aang always leads with kindness and understanding, even to his enemies who've harmed him and his friends. There's no reason for him to immediately jump to giving Koh what he wants, but the fact that that's what he thought of first really says a lot about his character. Yes, he was warned about not being strong enough to 'defeat' Koh, but that he didn't initially think about tricking Koh or trapping him shows us who Aang is - and that same kindness and urge to talk it out with enemies is echoed at the end of the episode with him talking to Zuko.

Removing the comet deadline I think was a smart move for the live-action both for practical and storytelling purposes. It would add a whole lot more things the characters are needing to do prematurely - let's focus on getting to the north and figuring out the Avatar state first, then we can put a timeline on Aang's bending journey, plus irl kids age - it's just a fact of life and it's taken like, 3 years to cast, film, and get this season out onto Netflix and they haven't even started season 2 yet, so who knows how much older the kids will look once we get to season 3. Having Roku instead provide a different take on what the Avatar's personality can be, warning him about friends, and giving him the answer to the issues Aang is facing with the spirit world was justification enough to have him show up the way he did, even if he didn't give Aang the info on the comet.

Though I do miss Roku going apeshit on the fire sages who have forgotten what they're supposed to stand for, I understand through the storytelling aspect why they shifted that and didn't allow Aang to escape the temple unscathed. Again, due to the episodic nature of the animated show, every 20 minutes ends with the characters no longer in danger, having escaped certain doom. That structure doesn't flow when you only have 8 episodes, so continuing the danger from the fire temple right into June having caught up to Aang (like she did in Bato of the Water Tribe in the animated show) makes the story flow better. In the animated series, Aang gets caught as he's zipping around a mountain looking for frozen frogs to heal Sokka and Katara from a fever. Random guards see him, send a message to Zhao, and he sends in the Yuyan archers. For such a pivotal episode as The Blue Spirit is, the events that kick it off don't really connect to much - very episodic in nature. I think having it all connect with Zuko coming THIS CLOSE yet again to capturing the Avatar and regaining his place in the Fire Nation was a good choice.

Love that not only do we combine June into these episodes so it's her skill that once again finds and captures the Avatar, we also get more view points of people around the world through this time of war. In the animated series, much like Suki, June is just there to be hot, useful, and the muscle for the main male leads (plus she was there to be creeped on by Uncle Iroh in what I feel is one of the worst writing of his character of the whole show). The live-action, like with Suki, gave June an actual character - she had motivations and goals that had nothing to do with the male characters and more depth than just 'want money'. She's jaded and accepted the war, she's going to use it for her advantage.

It's also another view we get to see of how people in the world have adjusted to the lack of the Avatar for 100 years. They've had to make do without him, so the fire nation has placed the Fire Lord on that pedestal, and people like June have decided the Avatar isn't really necessary - after all, why would you think they would be if you've lived your entire life without one and have never seen a world where the Avatar does keep balance. It's hard to imagine a fundamentally different world that you've never seen.

#natla #natla positivity #avatar netflix #netflix avatar #avatar live action #avatar the last airbender

[ladysomething]

The most recent chap of where you go, I go was incredible, you are truly the most talented!!!!! I could literally fill up your inbox talking about this fic, I love it so much and I literally don’t have all the words to express how obsessed I am with it!!! And your other f1 fics!! Everything you write is so amazing!!

I love how much tension/suspense there is in wygig, and I’m having so much fun trying to figure out what I think is going to happen later in the fic based on the hints (or at least what I think are hints lol) you drop in each chapter, and just based on how each new chapter unfolds. Like, in the most recent chapter, Max made the comment about how he’s seen an omega go through mate withdrawal before, and I think that tells us a bit more about what Kelly was going through. And the way Christian seems weirdly informed about Max’s plans and intentions with Charles’ could just be Max being close to his boss, but combined with the clear distaste and distrust Max has for Charles’ current team, I am incredibly excited to see what’s going to happen once they make it to a racetrack. And then in chapter 3, Charles’ dad told Charles that alphas presentation can be triggered, and then in ch4 Max says that his path to this moment started when he was 13 and presented as an alpha? Did Charles’ trigger Max’s presentation 👀 I can’t wait to find out! youre so good at weaving in hints, that I never actually know when something is a hint though, it’s never obvious and it keeps the fic so exciting.

And I also love the way seemingly tiny details show up again (like in chapter 2 when Charles throws the flowers over the balcony and max makes note of the empty vase in ch4), it just makes your writing seem so thoughtful and cohesive.

and I’m not a writer at all, but I love learning about the behind-the-scenes process. So I’m v curious if you don’t mind sharing some details about how you keep track of everything you have/haven’t revealed, how you decide what hints to drop or details to mention, how far advance do you plan all of it, etc.? And it’s probably way too early to share anything about wygig, but if you have any fav bits of foreshadowing or tiny recurring details from any of your other fics then I’d love to know what they are!! Only if you don’t mind sharing ofc <3

this ask got way out of control, i am so sorry, I just admire the hell out of your talent and cannot contain my excitement for your writing

this was the best thing to wake up to this morning.

I'm going to answer below the cut so I don't clog people's feeds because I want my answer to be as long as your beautiful ask!

firstly ... there are a LOT of hints, even in the first four chapters. you can probably safely assume that if it made you go "hmm" then it's going to come up again at some point.

I love the examples you came up with! I will confirm that they are all hints, however .... the conclusions you drew were not all correct. some were, but some weren't. you'll just have to wait to find out which is which 😊

I LOVE that you noticed the vase thing! whenever I read stories I'm always so bad at picking up on those details, but when I write them they're all so deliberate so I'm always amazed and delighted when people see them.

in terms of how I keep track of everything ... well for this story I have the amazing and gorgeous @saiyanwitcher helping me. this story wouldn't be half of what it is without her. I would say like 1/4 is me remembering details, 1/4 is her remembering details, and then 1/2 is the very detailed outline we have. it's 10 pages long.

here is a heavily redacted screenshot of ch 1 in the outline.

from there, I just kind of ... put it together and write. and then make a note of little details that need to be revised.

in terms of how I decide what hints to drop when, I would say there's a mix of reasons. some of it is just what the plot and characters demand, but then other times it's just my instinct, and other times it's just sheer experience. I've been writing for a long time - you kind of learn along the way what makes sense and what doesn't. but I also read a LOT, and when I read I take fairly extensive notes of things I liked and didn't like, and that always informs how I write, too.

in terms out far in advance things are planned, I would say it really depends on the story. WYGIG for example has been quite meticulously planned since SaiyanWitcher came to me with the idea of an omegaverse fic. so we know pretty much everything there is to know about the fic and how the plot progresses.

I like to have written a few chapters before I post, because sometimes when I start to write the vibe changes and I need to be able to go back and adjust little details. It's also why I don't like to immediately post what I've written and instead like to have a few chapters in the can - it means I can go back and add in more/less foreshadowing, depending on how the later chapters are playing out.

but also, sometimes things just happen. I'm writing ch 8 at the moment, and only yesterday SaiyanWitcher and I were like "hey what if we do this for ch 9" so now there's a new extra chapter bc we had an idea and it fits and we want to do it. so that wasn't planned in advance at all haha. sometimes you've just gotta go with the flow!

ok now ... in terms of fave parts of foreshadowing for WYGIG. unfortunately it IS too early for me to share most of them.

BUT! one I've only seen a couple people bring up is Max's aversion to Charles reciprocating the bite - I love that one.

I also just asked SaiyanWitcher what hers are and she said the Mercedes mechanic (a great choice), and Pierre (another GREAT choice). Though he's less foreshadowing and more of a recurring plot point lol.

from my other fics ... tbh I don't think I've ever really done as much foreshadowing in them as WYGIG.

in saying that, one really does stick out .. minor spoilers for if you haven't read Give Me That Fire but I LOVED dropping all the hints about "the final night" that happened that broke Max and Charles up for good. I knew from the first sentence I wrote for that fic that it was all leading up to that reveal and how careless Max was about Arthur, and seeing people theorise about what had happened and then being horrified that the truth was so much worse than what they expected was so bloody satisfying.

also there weren't really any major plot twists in the brocedes fic that had foreshadowing, but the slow reveal of their backstory juxtaposed with cutting forward to lewis at the lestappen wedding was also a personal favourite. that fic was by far the hardest thing I've ever written, and took one of the biggest emotional tolls. so the slow build of the horror at the piece by piece reveal of what lewis and nico had done to each other ended up being a very big personal achievement. I adore that fic, even though it's devastating.

now, I think I've yapped enough!

thank you so much for your beautiful and thoughtful ask, it's made my weekend. I'm so delighted that you're enjoying WYGIG so much and I hope that you continue to love it!

#anon ask #lestappen fic #where you go i go #give me that fire #are we out of the woods yet

[overobsessedfanboy23]

Galaxy Cup is actually really good overall

I said back when the arc first finished that it was just as bad as the previous arc up until Kuaidul's introduction.

...yeah, no I don't think that's accurate to my feelings anymore. I didn't really remember the arc much differently, most of it felt very familiar rewatching it, I think I was honestly just in a bad fucking mood during nearly every episode of this arc before episode 74.

I was so burnt out by the amount of bad writing choices and overabundance of Sevens fanservice hijacking the plot in the previous arc that even though the darkness cards plot was inherently cool, I couldn't get invested in it because I just assumed the mastermind was going to be Otes and as a result, didn't care.

Rewatching this arc and KNOWING that the mastermind is actually this amazing new character pulling the strings enhanced the arc tenfold, especially the duels involving the darkness cards.

Kuaidul, and the foreshadowing and build up to him, is undeniably the best part of the arc. The final three episodes of this arc pop off so hard and are just peak Yugioh. As stated previously,

KUAIDUL VELGEAR

Plus, I absolutely adore the setup of the other characters having to defeat the protagonist who is playing right into the villain's hands without the villain even having to do anything. That is so cool and unique and amazing and HAVE I MENTIONED HOW MUCH I LOVE KUAIUDL?! HE'S A SASSY PUPPETMASTER WITH A HAND IN EVERYTHING AND AH HE'S SO DAMN COOL! :D

Um... So anyways, the rest of the arc is uh... it's pretty good. I kind of like Zaion now. He's funny. But let's be real for a moment: he was just a filler villain to tide us over before Kuaidul. Zaion was a tiny lil mozzarella stick tossed to us to make us shut up while we wait for our Kuaidul pizza. And while Zaion was a nice little enjoyable mozzarella stick, he did still feel like a distraction that... honestly still hasn't amounted to much, at least in the grand scheme of things. I dunno, the current upcoming episode at the time of writing this (A Clockwork Zaion) could change that but at the current moment, his presence in Galaxy Cup felt like a distraction and... messed with the pacing and focus of the arc a bit.

The big problem with this arc in general is that it was pretty aimless and all over the place before Kuaidul graced us with his presence. Before that... only one character gets properly taken over by a darkness card (Yuamu), which is supposed to the A plot, because the plot has to balance screentime with Zaion's furniture excursion, Yudias training Epoch, Manabu having my most hated episode in the show (again, not bothering to go into detail, we all know why it's bad) and then the fallout, Epoch learning that cheating is bad- oh wait, she never actually learned that because the arc was balancing too many plots at once and Epoch went right back to cheating in Spacetime. Ha ha oops. I don't dislike Epoch for this like I used to. She is just a kid and has other qualities that do make her a likeable character despite this but... the cheating thing really needs to be addressed.

This arc spent so much time introducing more and more subplots before the finals that to this day, it's left a lot of things unaddressed for way too long. Tremolo and co. are currently STILL FURNITURE and this arc ended in SEPTEMBER. There's just... too much going on this arc and it makes the episodes feel disjointed. That being said, the stuff that's going on is all good (except the Manabu thing). Yudias mentoring Epoch is really cute and Zaion is a funny ridiculous mozzarella stick of a villain. Most of the parts are good. They just don't completely mesh at times and makes the pacing a bit of a mess.

Seriously, Yudias getting into Galaxy Cup (something that's crucial for the finale of the arc to happen) felt so rushed and out of nowhere, as though the creators ran out of episodes to have him naturally get into the tournament with. However, I can ultimately forgive that as what it lead to was good. This arc is disjointed but apart from two episodes (the Manabu and Mitsuko ones), it's overall enjoyable and the payoff is well worth it. It definitely put Go Rush back on the right track, even if some of the problems from the last arc unfortunately carried over into this arc.

#yugioh go rush #ygo go rush #go rush #yugioh go rush spoilers #go rush spoilers #kuaidul velgear #zaion #zaion (go rush) #arc reviews