heads up i finally scrambled together enough brain power and caught up with cultivate and i am not going to be normal about it and im going to make it everyone elses problem <33

every once in a while i think about that one interview where the creators of dhmis said that yellow guy was the only character capable of actually exploring the world. it makes me think a lot. especially about the big boys.

sometimes i think that maybe red guy and duck got stuck in the big boys rooms because of how bitter they are. in the creators own words, yellow guy is the only one in the group that is willing to actually look into things without being overly cynical about everything. red guy and duck slowly give in to the world, they slowly lose faith in being good people and see no reason to be good at all. they lose their hope for anything better. they eventually end up with a “this is as good as it gets” attitude. this is why i think there isnt a big version of yellow guy. because yellow guy NEVER thinks like that. with or without his batteries yellow guy doesnt think like the other two. they think too negatively to even consider a positive outcome, while yellow guy, as bonkers as he usually is, has a more reasonable look at things because he isnt miserably bitter

i know that the big boys recognize yellow guy when he walks in, i think the bigger boys even asked him where he had been or something like that. “we’ve been waiting for you” or something. i dont think this implies that yellow guy has a big counterpart, i think this is a callback to what yellow guy said earlier in the episode. he had a whole conversation about how the other two “arent in charge of him” despite what they may think. red guy and duck think that yellow guy will go along with anything they do. if they get bigger they expect yellow guy to as well. it might be because they view him as stupid, or it could be because they’re always stuck together so they assume he’ll be apart of everything they do, but either way they expect him to give up on the world like they do. but he doesnt. no matter what happens, yellow guy has the childhood wonder and curiosity that red guy and duck are too grouchy and old to have. thats why he finds the book, thats why he knows what he does and asks what he asks, not because of the batteries, but because hes kind. red guy and duck destroy themselves and each other. they think theyre sooo fucking smart but theyre literally doing nothing. just sitting around in rooms. but yellow guy has hope despite everything. i dont have faith that theres anything better in the dhmis world. honestly, im pretty sure in the same article i was mentioning earlier (although it could be a different one) its mentioned that the audience want yellow guy to be happy but he “NEVER will be”. and the transport episode really drives home (haha get it) the idea that theres really nothing better outside of the house. so even me as an audience member has lost faith, just like red guy and duck, but yellow guy hasnt and thats so sad to me. theres a part of me that wishes so bad that he’s right, that there really is something better, but as the creators said, there never will be

unless theyre fucking with us of course, which wouldnt be surprising

idk this shits confusing its all metaphorical and sad and all that gay shit

why does it seem so impossible for theory people .. or any people really to even consider that rauru isnt the firstest of the first kings of hyrule, its been remade so many times already and the 'forgotten era of myth' might as well have included hyrule being forgotten; instead its always messing with the old titles and timeline and im so TIRED

is it rly some sort of complex to HAVE to connect the new stuff to the old titles somehow?? again i get that theorizing and all that can mean anythign but i havent seen anyone even bring up the fact that maybe, this is just a new hyrule and rauru was just the first guy on this one to call himself king, maybe the name hyrule survived but it didnt connect back to a kingdom so hey jsut thought thats a neat old name lets call it that, hell, maybe it was a surname of sonia even so he literally just called the kingdom after her not knowing its been called that since the beginning of time, wouldnt that be a cool coinsidence!! and also rly sweet of him!! like him being called rauru!! like a guy loooong long before him that no one knows of bc its been so long its long been forgotten he ever existed! isnt that cool and somber connection!

id also love if someone could just kinda ... consider botw/totk(uhg) as their own thing, like, i love the old titles, but i also love them as being done, their era has ended, this is a new era, what if we could just ... view this new era as their own thing without having to chain every little bit of dialog to the old titles

i really wish rauru/sonia never said they just founded hyrule, and zelda(i think) never called him the 'first' king bc apparently some people are unable to think oh this is a new hyrule and he was the first king of this one like i did but instead go into a rampage trying to make everyone believe totks past is somehow canonically right after fucking SKYWARD SWORD; like ... some people take every line of dialog like wayyy to literally, rauru probably THOUGHT he was the one who founded this kingdom bc he literally couldnt know any better with everything of the old stuff being so loong forgotten already, hes just some dude and not literal god who knows it all, characters can be wrong even when they believe they are right!!

(yes i am annoying about this bc i hate this on a personal level)

like .. i cant be the only one who thinks botw to be of a new era so long after all the old titles its basically a new world entirely, with no direct links to anything in the past, with references and callbacks from all old legends, but still a new world, without chains to the old, reoccuring names and happenings haunting it just the same as it did all the ones before them yet not being aware this has been happening over and over .... .. and, after it was said that oh rauru was the name of the 'first' king of hyrule, immediately thought oh shit he founded this new hyrule coolio (lets ignore how much i grew to dislike totk in general, i was hopeful still at that point) (lets also ignore how many problems totk alone has with its own damn lore for this ok, its its own mess that dragged botw into its mess but that doesnt mean it ALSO has to drag literally every single other game into its mess too)

20th century boys - scrapped reveals and plot twists?

Don't know if anybody cares about speculating something as hard to proof and irrelevant, but I had a few ideas while reading, which even if didnt come true, seemed to be getting hinted at and with how much was made on the spot I wonder if they were originally the plan...

So not really them mentionened besides random yt comments that may or may not be an alt account of me...

Spoilers of course.

Donkey was supposed to be friend?

Remember how Donkey was first introduced? As the weird kid others ostrociced and didnt really want to include, who actually was very smart and talanted all excentricitys aside.

And he was the first "friend" to die, as a classic misdirection - while having an obvious excuse introduced to fake his death "Oh all his siblings look just like him..." (Also the evil twin angel was really emphasised with the fat bully kids at the start, hmmm....)

Donkey was the one that had the skills and near supernatural abilities while being the classic story of a good kid cracking and turning - tieing the dark subversion if shonen magazine tropes.

His whole skepticism of things could tie into too with him cynically learning that "Oh people want to fall for superstitions for illusions, really friendship is fake as well, so why not start a cult, not like its hard for me to make some tricks..."

The symbol being sent by him would be than a cheeky hint, the intentional start of a goose chase, but no geese will ever outrun a donkey...Even all the showing of Donkey in the first half would not just be as motivation for the middle aged friend group, but a setup for this dark twist, while laying the seeds of the themes, maybe even having Dunkey in his twisted logic think he did it for their sake, to make them be the heroes they didnt become.

Oh and also the whole Aldrin Moon Nasa thing seems to work the best for him - with him being the stereotype of a "I fricking love science" kid (who if I dont misremeber is said to have actually wiaited till it happened and didnt fall asleep, but maybe Im misremebering that part) and also his familys lack of money stoping him from enjoying many activities with his "friends" (even having to watch tv with Kenji...)

Oh and for any "well how would he set it up, was the one injured guy lieing about what Donkey said before he threw him of??? Or was that all part of his plan??!"

And yeah its convoluted and kinda breaks the "trying to figure out a mystery without the author just lieing and pulling bullshit" part - but Urasawa does it anyways, with all the reveals obviously not being planned before getting changed again (as he admits)

Oh and also that applys to the "real" reveal (the first one) - we literally saw the friend guy have an emotional breakdown, say he knows who the real friend must be, remove the friends mask and say he isnt that and then fall to his death

So if the Dunkey twist goes against the story, so does the real one. "Ohnono, you just had to assume that he lied and hired actors for his family and then did a double misdirection plunge to the dead and-" Yeah ok Donkey could have done that too.

but for the other theory

Kiriko/the protags sister had a "virgin birth"

So remember when there was that random detail about "Godzilla being a girl and giving a birth without a father"? And how this godzilla thing getting a callback with the mom saying she is one cause her virus killed that many people?

Well isnt it weird that the actually weird part wasnt adressed? Especially when Kanna was mysterious from the start and that at the same time talks of a "Holy Mother" started, as did all the Christian imagery with saviors dieing, resurecting and the pope (with Catholics having the biggest connection with Mary...)

But then it didnt pay of - guess she really had a secret relationship with a random half-friend of her younger brother🤷‍♂️ Not saying that that is more fantastical than all the magic and conspiracys but still a weird detail, especially with the romance and relationship not being explored at all.

It even seems to be anti thetical, with the sister being very mature and selfless, while "friend" is childish and egoistical (well maybe a certain codependent weird thing makes sense now but ehh...)

Still what would make more sense in a dramatic story with supernatural elements - the model sister suddenly just having a kid and abandoning it without ever telling anyone about the father who she only found out was evil after having a consensual relationship which she didnt really have a reason to hide at the start

Or if she DOES have a miracle birth...

Like Kiriko was literally shown to be a perfect sister, doing everything for her brother, being responsible, taking everyones shit, even sacrificing her well being for her brother and others while having a stoic expression.

Maybe she actually did magically get a baby and that scared here enough to abandon it without explaining because who could believe it.

Or maybe something cause it, something she couldnt explain.

Like Friends "magic" or "science"(magic) - hence why Friend calls himself "the father" - he kinda is, in some way, indirectly, idk

Or, as a subtheory...

Kiriko was friend. Think about it, she would be "the father" if her research developed a way to create a child without a fathers DNA (I mean there is a magic anti-proton bomb, and the virus is also not really scientific), the "father" being the part of her that is the alter ego executing the plan, the magic and the tricks.

But more importantly, it would be the perfect obvious misdirection - they were so busy searching for a boy in their class, missing the obvious girl who was just a few years older, who may even in younger photos, if she could have had short hair as that other girl love interet with the dog as a kid had, may have looked as a standard early middle school boy.

And the thematic motivation would be perfect too - she allways just saw everything from the outskirts, she had to be the older and responsible one, not having a chance to ever play like her younger brother did, being resentful of not being able to have a secret base and alll, especially when the other girl could join later.

The scientific angel is there too, as the metaphor of "being in the space capsule while the others got all the fun and glory"

Also it would be a perfect hiding in a plain sight twist thing "Oh my sister disapeared and left a baby, I wonder who this mysterious masked individual is who seems to know me and my friend so much while even knowing the name of my sisters kid... Guess we'll never know🤷‍♂️" (bonus connection - the concert being "not real rock" could be the sis either trolling him on porpuse, or doing it as a intentional thing while also not understanding why it doesnt work, showing that there is this misunderstading between siblings that could get solves in the end)

Hey do you think it's possible to fix how time travel works in skyward sword so that this link can be the first hero who fought demise in the distant past? The one from the legend I think Zelda tells us (but maybe it was someone else, my memory isnt that great).

Anyways, I'm curious because I think that's what we were supposed to think. That Link became the hero in the present, them went to the past, and by defeating Demise became the hero from the past.

So, for this, you've got two options, one involving Link himself being known, and the other being Link's legend. They've got different criteria, so it depends on what you're looking for.

If you want it to be Link that's acknowledged, with the caveat that you also subscribe to the belief at the end of the rapidly-fraying timeline post, then you can say that when Fi course-corrected the timeline, that that was a side effect put into motion to make sure Link still encountered the legend that would lead him downward.

However, if you want it to be the legend, provided you also want to go along with what's intended for the timeline (because I doubt they actually put any thought into all those possible splits in the chart), then you can look to the Ballad of the Goddess.

This exists, alongside the legend of the man the goddess gave a sailcloth to. And everything up until this point-

-was pre-determined. Link was supposed to win the Wing Ceremony, Zelda was supposed to hear a call for the surface, and so on.

The Ballad of the Goddess was meant to be a hint and guidance for the hero when he first starts out. He knows what his job is, what the end result should be, even with other stakes at play. So we can reason that Hylia had at least some limited future sight ability in order to generate these prophecies.

With that in mind, the above phrase that generated my whole Mudora theory could well have been the same thing—Hylia telling her people about what's to come, but either leaving out details so they think it's already happened, or time itself distorting the tale to change it from future tense to past tense as it's retold each generation. We know from Gaepora's meeting with Fi that the stories of the past are altered and missing pieces. So if you want to stay as true-to-intention as possible, I'd say go with that.

My own thoughts on this line below the cut.

Personally, it's the past tense that gets me hung up on this bit of dialogue; that the goddess gave the sailcloth back then. It throws me into speculation mode because I'm like "no, that hasn't happened yet, so that means it's happened twice!!!" which gives me a springboard to speculate what the world before Demise might have been like. It's also a line that could have been fixed with a single word.

You know, they say that the goddess promised the Sailcloth to her chosen hero long ago.

If they'd done that, there would be no room for questioning. I do kind of want to ask @sunnylaurels what the exact wording is in Japanese so I know without a shadow of a doubt that it's a dialogue error and not a mistranslation (after BotW's journal conundrum I no longer trust localizations) but-

The fact of the matter is, regardless of what's intended, I think it's more fun to speculate about an unknown predecessor to Link. Someone who tried, who failed, who was given a second chance, who was scattered to the winds of time to fulfill a purpose. It's a whole pocket where I can basically make up what I want, and the canon is just ambiguous enough to support it, which is amazing.

However, I also know that some theories, despite how they're technically canon-compliant, feel like they betray the canon to subscribe to on the basis of the Zeldevs' intentions. I know for a fact that the dialogue was intended to reference Skyward Sword Link. In a similar vein, I know that Breath of the Wild's 10k years ago are intended to happen after everything else in Zelda canon, or that nearly everything in Twilight Princess is intended to be a callback to Ocarina of Time.

I just have a serious case of "but what if THIS tho!"

LOL glad u enjoyed! And the fur isnt something I intended to be a callback buT FUCK IT SO WORKS HONESTLY 😭 with how much macaque upholds the idea of scars lasting forever and all that it only felt right that finally witnessing a permanent change on Heavens Perfect Image would shock him into caring jus, just a lil bit more.

The idea even of him witnessing that frustration in maybe Wukong pulling another piece of the headband from his skull, blood caked gold clattering onto the stage, was another thought. The realization that Wukong is still fighting to escape from past trauma and burdens just like him (bc it Could take thousands of years to pull something like that off of your head if it was under the command of someone long dead). A chord they're forced to strike in tandem, though not necessarily by the same means. They hate drinking each other in because it's always bittersweet. [CLATTER] [SLAMS FIST] [BANG BANG] [SCREAMS AND YELLS] bro they just. Make me feel SO MANY THINGS

I WANT MORE OF THIS!!! I DO!!

GIVE ME WUKONG BREAKING DOWN AND SHATTERING AND CRYING AND SHAKING AND NOT WANTING TO BE TOUCHED

I want Macaque not knowing what he’s even looking at anymore because this is not Wukong — it can’t be! The old Sun Wukong was selfish! He never suffered! He had everything handed to him on a silver platter so why is he c — he’s crying!

Op it was a BEAUTIFUL addition to my post tysm for adding it i’m still staring at it intently /pos /pos

Mihai. Mihai my enstars professor mutual. What the heck is going on with ryuseitai

Ok so i read some liveblogs but i havent read comet show or submarine so a lot of references to those were lost on me (im waiting for them to come to engstars) and thus im not the best professor for this story.

But the tldr is that there's an agency in Okinawa (same place Submarine was held in during the ss arc), Crimson Production, that opposes ES's monopoly and that's where a bunch of ex ryuseitai kids have gone to (theyre called Antistars). Tetora goes to help these kids and the media publicizes it as him leaving Ryuseitai. Shinobu goes to find out the truth, talks to Tetora about the opposing ideologies, the next day the news state that he also left Ryuseitai. So the rest of the group go to Okinawa to see what's up. They trespass, Tetora and Chiaki have an argument and fight, but dont worry, Tetora is a spy on the inside of CrimPro and needed to make his loyalty to them believable. Chiaki opens up to Tetora about his time in the war (i realise as i type this how ridiculous this game sounds to an outsider...)

This was a distraction for Kanata and Midori to find and free Shinobu, and to find papers to destroy the company. They get caught. The 5 are reunited inside the agency and Tetora reveals he is a spy for ES but he does genuinely want to help the antistars kids who are mistreated by CrimPro for being former ES idols. So CrimPro are evil and need to be destroyed but im a bit confused at this part ngl. Something something yakuza something something they actually kill people so it's super dangerous (i think this part has a callback to Submarine that im not getting). They cant go to the local police cuz the organization has inflitrated it so the only option for Ryuseitai is to renounce ES and join CrimPro.

While making the announcement theyre actually sending ES secret messages, dangerous stuff if they get caught. Theyre gonna hold a live for CrimPro which is a distraction for ES to intervene, and while theyre preparing for that, Tetora has a self hating monologue about his own skills and merits. He's not being self sacrificial bc he's a hero but bc he doesnt mind putting his life in danger::::)

At the live they discuss about roles and who's the leader. Tetora cant become Chiaki, but he can be his own person with his own skills, and like this maybe he can even surpass Chiaki. They keep their colors but those expectations of having to fill in Chiaki's shoes are going away. So anyway, back to the live, Ryuseitai had secretly sent back to Eichi evidence to condemn CrimPro and now he's ready to bust them down (i dont know if Eichi is there personally with the police or if he's just in charge from above... i assume the latter?)

They tell themselves that they're not harming people but just destroying the environment where the evil had spread (Chiaki compares it to the war, but i think he's being idealistic...people Did get hurt in the war too. There's a cenotaph for the students who killed themselves afterall...) And uh. Then we get to the epilogue, that I haven't seen translated yet. I assume they're successful (imagine if we went through all of this only for someone to die lmao)

So. Ta daa. Thats it. Erm. I know this isnt new to enstars but i feel like things have felt more dangerous and high stakes, especially in the ss arc and 1.5 (negi just. Faked being shot by a hitman. That shit was traumatizing. This is set after that). I dont really know what other stories we could get of Ryuseitai set in our current year if im being honest. This felt like Climax yknow?

Well, im looking forward to translations of this story cuz im not entirely clear on everything just with the livetweets. And looking forward to reading comet show and submarine when they come to the english server. Hope this was helpful^_^

ok this is gonna sound like word vomit bc im stitching together thoughts and im also not great at expressing my thoughts clearly anyways but-

i think heart shaped box is about kurt cobain feeling tied to courtney love. hes maybe become codependent on her, and she knows this. courtney seems like an apathetic person, and probably enjoyed having kurt on a leash making him dependent. the lyrics "i wish i could eat your cancer when you turn black" is possibly about courtney's smoking habit, which kurt seems to have accepted isnt going away. it could also mean he wishes he could consume and destroy the "cancer" that is her beliefs and her turning "black" means her turning to the "dark side". there is a sort of "venus fly trap" element to courtneys' love it seems. he's "trapped inside her heart shaped box" because she only ever "takes him out" to show him off or for superficial reasons, and doesnt listen to him when he expresses emotions, hence the inherent irony of being within someones heart while it also being a locked box. a locked box is something only you with the key can open. "being in someones heart" is a metaphor for "always being with someone" or "being in love", but with the context of the locked box it implies hes kept for courtney's personal desires for him and no one else's. the line "she eyes me likes a pisces when im weak" i think is him basically saying she "eyes him like a fish" that she wants to eat (like a cat or a crab might (courtney is a cancer and kurt is a pisces btw)), but instead of literally eating him its more like possessing him for herself. to contain him within herself, to digest him, so no one else may have him. since they both were addicted to herion and theres plenty of poppies in the music video to hint at that being a key theme in this song, it could also very well be that he was dependent on her for the herion supply as well, making it even harder for him to leave and making him even more wrapped around her finger.

the girl in the music video, i think, is supposed to be courtney and is wearing a not so subtle kkk outfit. she symbolizes the presumed innocence of white women/girls even when they engage in heinous acts (its no secret that courtney love is a raging racist, sexist, anti feminist and bigoted in many other ways). though shes dressed in a white dress to symbolize purity and innocence, she wears the klan hood showing her true beliefs or at least the beliefs placed on her by those around her that shes adopted and begun to parrot. since the klan are far right christians they are also anti abortion, though they are pro abortion for those they dislike. which is why her jumping toward the aborted fetus's seems confusing, its both as if she's trying to grab them and throw them up into the tree, though im leaning toward the latter since people who are anti abortion end up being anti life anyways since women and the babies they birth often die in pregnancies if they're not allowed to abort the baby first or the baby ends up dying later in life as an unwanted orphan. I think it was a metaphor for how anti abortion people feign caring about fetus's while actively throwing them away, and hanging them in the tree is a callback to lynching, symbolizing that anti abortion people still hate black babies being born and want to hang them, especially, obviously, the kkk wants to do this.

the lady with angel wings also symbolizes this, pretending that she cares but only ever walking in place, never actually moving from where she is to actually help the fetus's, just posturing to care with a plastered smile on her face. she is thus perhaps supposed to be seen as an "angel of death", which would explain why her organs are exposed.

the white jesus symbolizes the jesus conservative christians worship; one who willingly puts himself on the cross to suffer. the crow shakes his head not only in disappointment in the white jesus for going along with this but also disappointed about why he feels the need to do this i.e the pressure placed on to him. the santa hat is to symbolize the absurdity to which christians twisted jesus around to fit their narrative, along with him being a white man who's a "good jew" (since many christians think "the only good jew is a dead jew") who willingly and eagerly sacrifices himself for the christians benefit or satisfaction. the girl "tossing" at white jesus symbolizes a christians eagerness to sacrifice their own god the way they sacrifice women and babies due to anti abortion laws and rhetoric, and in the same way they feign caring about fetus's, they feign caring about jesus' suffering.

white jesus is in a hospital bed dying of "cancer", which both symbolizes kurt suffering and feeling trapped in his relationship with courtney (who, need i remind you, is a cancer) as well as the legacy of jesus dissolving at the hands of corrupt rw christians that care more about themselves than any god. it's also why theres a fetus in the IV bag, because they think sacrificing fetus's by forcing women to give birth to children they dont want, or die in childbirth along with the baby, or make it likely non-white women have failed pregnancies or their babies die bc of not being able to afford taking care of them due to intentionally placed poverty, etc. will appease white jesus, or make him happy and "well", but ultimately his bed is later seen as empty, implying he died anyways, and thus did the legacy jesus tried to leave. I think the fetus in the IV bag is also a jab at the absurdity of alternative christian medicines and medical practices that are all ultimately quackery and leads to more death than it ever being helpful. the girl wearing the kkk hoodie "tossing" at the sacrificed fetus's and white jesus is also to point out to conservative christians that that is what they look and sound like when they advocate for anti abortion shit.

the white hood chasing the butterflies like a net symbolizes the alt right christians' desire to catch the image of purity, ultimately failing and the hood turning to black to symbolize the true dark nature of alt right christian beliefs. and obviously her wearing all black at the foot of jesus' hospital bed is symbolic of a funeral, or perhaps her eagerly awaiting his funeral, but the fact shes still wearing the kkk outfit symbolizes she's still engaging in her own wicked version of "worship", which is sacrificing the fetus's in Gods Name, like I said earlier, and also jesus since this obviously wont make him heal and seems more like a joke at his expense. worshiping jesus to some people is worshiping his sacrificed life for their own benefit, they gain as he suffers, and they laugh and indulge and make a mockery of his name while they do so.

at the end, the girl finally takes a break from being a christian rw nut to finally open the heart shaped box and hear her boyfriend. she finally sits down to listen to him, and its not too long later that she just lays down instead, implying she got tired and bored with hearing about his sorrows. "forever in debt to your priceless advice" sounds like sarcasm on kurts end toward courtney, because seemingly her advice was less than sufficient when he sought it out, she probably shat out the first thought that came to mind then changed the subject or fell asleep. it's disguised as praise, but in the end of the video it's clear he's disturbed with what she has to say, as per his expression.

each time he repeats this part of the song, theres a look of desperation and a vibe that hes going crazy with how unhelpful she is. "i got a new complaint" is both him bringing up more of his troubles which courtney likely loathes hearing about as well as him bringing up his troubles with her which she likely definitely loathes hearing about, so the way he's saying it is almost sarcastic and mocking her attitude toward their conversations.

procrastinating at work, speculating on jjk 220 and 233 with the leaks ive been shown. 233 english translation isnt out yet as of me writing this. putting it under a cut to avoid spoilers

i've never thought 220 was out of left field - i don't just say that as a shipper lol

you get plenty of characters reflecting on their past/their relationships to others when the focus shifts on them. you even get characters contemplating happy memories that never happened (choso, todo, hell even jogo, maybe?). reading 220 without acknowledging the context, ie: the sorcerers are all in a desperate situation, and desperate situations have a nice side effect of forcing you to take stock - would sound 'off'. but it makes sense that Shoko'd reflect on his whole spiel about being alone, being in love at one point/possibly still being in love? (translation nuances are fun 10/10).

i really wanna know if in the timegap they talked. there's roughly a month between when gojo gets out and the fight. god i hope they talked.

220 aside, with the 233 leaks on how Gojo v Sukuna is going, love being the lynchpin/revelation that possibly turns the battle all the way in Gojo's favour wouldn't be too farfetched. he's been standing apart from everyone else as the strongest for so long, and Shoko's one of the few people from his past who was there when he started detaching himself. his revelation after toji was that he was some kind of godlike being above it all. he felt nothing when riko died. maybe the new revelation is attachment/love and he feels the full spectrum of being human, all the emotion, the mess, the connection that Tengen feels. goodness knows gege likes his callbacks. wouldnt that be a callback to witness haha. does Gojo evolve into a Tengen like being? man just imagine

Sukuna's thinking about 'love' too. He doesn't understand it. Jogo cries in front of him before he dies, and Sukuna is just like "what the hell is that" in reference to Jogo's tears. (218) Yorozu gets into Sukuna's head with the "I have much more to teach you about love and ultimate strength and the solitude it brings". Then there's yorozu'ss last words. Whether or not her last words was Yorozu speaking to Sukuna or Tsumiki speaking to Megumi with whatever it was she gifted him. Is Tsumiki going to help bring Megumi out of where he's being submerged with the power of love? Who knows. But it would be some kind of full circle for Megumi to be saved by her - because in his head he's been trying to protect her since they came under Gojo's care.

anyway speculation: probably gojo gets his revelation that has to do with being connected to others/love, and probably sukuna also gets a revelation about love and probably there's gonna be some clash in these beliefs

but definitely gege's gonna pull the rug out from under us and leave us all reeling and me running to take refuge in my AUs

what's your ideal byler get together??

okay this is a big quest but ill do my best i think

warning a little angst

even thought the “ripping of the band aid” was fake will is definitely gonna distance himself from mike and leave him and el be. I want el to break up with mike like kinda mutual but i think mike would be upset and be like “I said i love you! what else do i need to do!” i want el to tell him he isnt loving her the way she wants to be loved i want her to tell him she knew he was lying in his monologue i think hed get defensive but later they’d talk and he admit and apologize and go back to being besties

for mike and will getting together i am a fan of will getting vecna’d but i think jonathan would get him out and kinda be upset or disappointed in mike and others for not knowing wills favorite song. after will gets out i want mike to be kinda quiet and upset realizing hes been a shitty friend he should have known and if jonathan wasnt there will would have died i think hed blame himself. I think mike would initiate a conversation with will apologizing for the way hes acted bringing up his trauma with losing mike in season 1 and 2. Will i think would be quiet but listening giving mike the room he needs to open up. I think mike would rant and vent not really thinking about what hes saying when hes done i think theyd have another

“cool”

“cool”

kinda thing (maybe a crazy together callback🫢)

the confession i think would come after a battle or some sort of climax (in this time mike has talked to el about the painting and had a kinda realization about wills speech) when mike confronts him about it will would be very defensive trying again to reassure mike and els relationship. and when he does mike says something like “this isnt about el we broke up anyway” and will would apologies and try to comfort him. and mike would say something like “its okay i dont think i ever loved her like i should have”

“not like i love you”(ik its kinda sappy but ekkkkkk)

will would be totally shocked and just stand there like

“what”

and mike would say

“i love you”

i think will would convince himself he meant it platonically and kinda ramble under his breath about how if course he means it platonicly and how could you even think he ould mean it any other way

and will would kinda be spazzing out and muttering and talking to himself and (im a sucker for the trope)

mike would keep saying wills name while he rambled and step closer to him and will would look up and mike would be like

‘“i mean it like i love you love you and im sorry but i had to tell you”

(ik most people want mike to initiate the kiss but i kinda like will doing it idk i love both)

then i think will would kiss him and it would really cute

this was kinda long a bad i am in no way a writer i dont have that talent but it was still super fun and idk if its my ideal or more my head cannon but it was really fun thanks so much for the ask!

🧊

:)

🧊 - Is their current design the first one?

THIS IS SUCH A GOOD QUESTION im gonna do it for vino since hes the one ive been writing about lately

not at all!!! in fact vino's design is INCREEDIBLLLYY inconsistent, most of the mayhem characters have undergone redesigning to some degree but none more than vino

originally (i never drew this design but ive been considering doing so) he had far shorter, choppy hair (a little above shoulder-length), a big scar over his right eye, and attire similar to like a rogue's outfit? he had a cloak for sure that he wore

this was just the initial design i came up with in my mind and the reason i scrapped this design was cause it didnt really make sense with the rest of the world, since everything was very modern. i also sort of threw out his original backstory/motivation/personality along with it, maybe sometime ill talk about that version of vino again. (i like to call him bloody mary cause that was actually the temporary name i gave to vino)

the first design i actually drew was similar to his current design, however he retained this short haircut and i wanted to draw him with a half-up-half-down hairstyle? but it never agreed with my art style 🙁(these drawings are recent and there are some old ones but i am NOTTTT showing them) (also this design actually didnt have this scar i just wanted to add it in these drawings as a callback)

eventually i settled on long hair for vino after making this drawing and i havent changed it back since :) (+ the redraw of this i did not long ago)

however it doesnt stop there with inconsistencies cause ive also never been able to decide on one consistent outfit for him. like i know he wears a dress shirt and dress pants but i can never decide what exactly that looks like. is it a white tucked in shirt with a black tie, harness, and black pants (my most common design)?? is it suspenders and beige pants?? is it a black shirt with no harness or tie??? its entirely inconsistent and nowadays i try reigning it in to just the first one but even then. ugh. i dunno why its so inconsistent

(some examples)

(i apologize for all this old art i know its bad)

plus for some reason his features are really inconsistent .. lately ive been leaning heavier into him being a bit more muscular and with specific features such as a bigger nose and a sharper jaw but its so inconsistent across different drawings that he looks like a different character at times (tumblr isnt agreeing with me so im gonna leave art out of this one) (plus im not sure what exactly to add)

ty for the ask!! this was really fun to talk about :)

some thoughts about pokemon violet. spoilers ahead!

there are. quite a few graphical glitches and messes whbejrvhr. sometimes trainers and pokemons eyes get stuck closed for a while, camera clips into the floor during battle, a sunflora i was in battle with and therefore Very Close To moved at a lower frame rate like other faraway entities. hough the homeroom scene..... almost everyone in that room looked so janky.

but tbh? i've been having too much fun to care too much about that specifically. the rest of the game is pretty :)

wish i could stop the minimap from spinning. i can lock the map app to north but not the minimap????

THE FOOD ILLUSTRATIONS ARE SO GOOD I WANT TO EAT THE ICECREAM SO BAD

rip pixel pokemon and item icons though </3 i find them more charming. also the icon for persim berries is too red and its bothering me, persim berries are PINK this is BRIGHT SCARLET

idk how pokemon icons on the minimap work either i'll be running all over the place it indicates and not find the pokemon its showing. i want a charcadet :(

i chose sprigatito but was THIS close to choosing fuecoco because of the first cutscenes. quaxly having to tell fuecoco not to eat the burnt orange whjegjevdj

miraidon my beloved asshole lizard who eats all my sandwiches. i gotta rewatch any and all miraidon scenes with koraidon when i'm done with the game, the first cutscene with the houndoom was SO COOL

PEOPLE WERE RIGHT ARVEN IS THE PROFESSOR'S KID

there were a couple nods to older games! a book in the library talks about someone seeing the stow-on-side mural get broken by a copperajah, another book talks about pewter crunchies, and the meditative seat art installation in artazon are items you could buy in oras as decoration for your secret base. i know every game has callbacks to previous ones but the stow-on-side one caught me offguard because thats a spoiler isnt it?? the other one surprised me too but more becaue Why do i remember this one specific base item. i havent touched oras in years

a library book also said Hydreigon and Volcarona got alt forms like donphan did and i need to see them IMMEDIATELY

as far as i've seen in the library, the pokemon that get those forms are donphan, tyranitar, volcarona, hydreigon. and Delibird. which i find hilarious bc its all these threatening scary pokemon and then. DELIBIRD.

WHY DID MY BELOVED LECHONK EVOLVE INTO AN EMO BOY

so far out of the new pokemon. the only design i dont like is spidops. spiops. i forgot how to spell it. where did my cute little yarn ball go :( maybe its just New Pokemon Doesnt Look Like A Pokemon Yet Syndrome but there is just SOMETHING about spiops's design that doesnt sit right with me

miraidon jumping is a little janky sometimes idk??? also i got stuck in a pond once and it could NOT climb out no matter where i tried. i had to fly out

i already like tera raids a lot more :') i HATED how max pokemon could shield and move multiple times and all that. i dont have online so max raids are damn near IMPOSSIBLE for me to do because the ai sucks That bad. i feel like with the time limit thing and infinite revives i could stand a chance doing it solo. this is just me talking about the early 1-2 star raids though idk how it'll go later on

i did get one odd glitch where my first attack didnt appear to deplete the hp bar, but then a few attacks later it looked like it had hp left but it fainted? my damage just. Didnt Show for some reason while still registering as damage

i think they fixed the overlevelling problem bc i was even getting my ass kicked by wild pokemon sometimes HKWBDJBF. i was cruising through fast like i'd gotten used to in xy to swsh, so i was actually underlevelled a lot. mela almost curbstomped me

THE CAR IS A POKEMON THEY WERE RIGHT ITS AN ACTUAL POKEMON

mela walks like manga emmet lmao

clodsire. thats it thats the bullet point <3

in conclusion i am having a BLAST. i absolutely adore this game so far!! i'm honestly able to overlook anything that bothers me just because i enjoy it a Lot. like of Course i still wish the subpar graphics werent subpar but Who Care look at my clodsire his name is Mousse and i love him

i've been postponing my homestuck read for days now, focusing on other work and stuff. it was only yesterday that i stop doing my little break. here's my thoughts :

-post scratch world are fascinating. everyone is 15 and the parents are now the kids and vice versa. it seems like a mix between alternia and earth! Lusus exists but concentrated on jake's island, i've seen a lot of callbacks to earlier dialogues and certain troll only things like the quadrants being mentioned, and im pretty sure the rival baking empire was headed by the troll empress who found her planet destroyed.

-anyway, the parents?!!?!?! theyre now the kids? how does that work? dirk and roxy did mention their parents are dead so maybe the sburb alpha version of dave and rose just isnt in the picture but man i wanna see i wanna i wanna see. and now everything i know about the alpha kids makes me want to go back and look back on the beta kids interaction with their parents to go Hmmmmmmmmmmm

-that being said it would be extra screwy is the alpha guardians (grown up beta kids) are actually still alive theyre just absent cunts so the alpha kids resent them and believe the real ones are dead. Oh roxy, just wait until you see your child / mother.

-my thoughts on jane crocker : heartbreaking. the AU version of your favorite beta kid is a billionare 😭. to be fair all of them becomes rich kids in this alpha timeline lol. Okay jokes aside, im very concerned for her and use of crocker tech. Im with dirk and roxy on this. She's a pretty pleasant fellow though. Most normal person out of the crew. There is something very sad about them. Like, they dont get to have a semblance of a normal life or even participate in society for reasons related to the game before the game even arrived. Theyre prepped for this one grand adventure only and its more traumatizing than actually fun. if they won, the world still ends.

-roxy is so. she reminds me of my neighbors' kid who bragged about drinking CT (a local very strong alcoholic drink) but a girl genius. im just fascinated in general. a rogue of void? sleepwalking? owns many cats? she would have been a popular wizardposter on tumblr. i can tell her favorite banned wizard council spell is greater baja blast.

-but mostly im interested in the areas she sleepwalked in. im pretty sure i saw dead dreamself terezi or nepeta and karkat with a knight of blood godtier outfit but no eyes, indicating he's dead. and ofc gamzee and equius but he's still alive. wait he's wearing glasses so i have no idea. I thought this is one of those dream bubbles thing but im even more weirded out with dead godtier karkat. is the void is more of a place for abandoned possibilities? or did i just mistook things over here? rose was there but somehow thats to be expected. she's trying to awaken roxy right? what will roxy do with her access to the void? what will she stole from the depths of the abyss?

-and dirk. wonder what he finally saw at the skies of derse. he's the prince of heart right? the only heart player i know is nepeta and we never really see her powers in action. i cant wait to see whats in store for him. also, he's actually gay? AND A BRONY???? A BRONY??? i mean yea he fucking love puppets but we knew that since act 1. i have no idea how he became friends with everybody like he cares but he's also abrasive as hell to everyone, esp when he likes the guy a LOT. im so sorry for jake.

-jake is a lot more naive than john. which is saying something. and an accomplishment because he's like constantly hunted by literal monsters and death robots. everyday he's fighting demons barehanded but stay silly. i wonder how jade and jake could even get to know each other like, theyre not even in the same timeline.

-and UU. who the fuck are they? is it lord english minions trapping the kids? or what here? They look nice and cheerful but im very skeptical here. couldnt wait to see more of them

feeling much better now having gotten some sleep (the dont trust how you feel about yourself past 9pm is good advice no joke)

of course all my criticism of totk still applies but im feeling less depressed about it, tho i will say its honestly kinda baffling how many times the game actually got me interested and excited about stuff and then just kinda drops it in a dead end, of course they were those kind of things in botw as well but it seems much less .. balanced in totk

(not even just the big things like making me want to actively do something to help zelda turn back when it just gets solved on its own in the end, but also some lil things like the fact that so many NPCs tell you about that newly discovered animal species and when you find the dongos they are just gem vending maschines)

in the end i can say, no, i dont like totk, tho i still love the graphics and the way the world is made ( botw showed me jsut how immersive and alive a world can feel i love it to death), i liked the gameplay and that it kept the freedom botw had established, the bossfights are mostly fun (tho i wish you could refight more of them), i LOVE the yiga and im glad they got more of a spotlight, the music is FANTASTIC i keep catching myself humming along, alot of the sidequests are much bigger and feel like you are actually doing something, i like how the sages are a bit more integrated into the story, the majority of the new designs are great, both the japanese and german voice acting is great, and the end fight has some of the best build up i have ever experienced, my heart starts to race when that music build up starts even tho i have beaten it 3 times already-

however, the story is both simple and incredible flat with lots of stuff that doesnt make sense especially when it was said to be a sequel, the zonau should have stayed a mystery imo, they failed to make me care about them even a little bit and often felt forcefully crammed into the world and its history, i think you could have told an incredible story taking place in the present and leave the past be the past, you easily could have connected botw and totk in a much better way than they did, i dont like how it changes aspects about botw all the while nigh ignoring it ever happened, it still feels like it was trying to be a replacement and not a sequel and all the referencing and callbacks to the old titles may have been done in good faith but that and including time travel yet again ultimately lead to people ripping each other to shreds over trying to prove its placed in the old timeline despite it making no sense at all and confusing people even more; often when the game made me care or be excited about something it was dropped in a dead end, there was a ton of missed opportunities and lost potential to tell a much more nuanced and interesting story/lore, and thinking about it only makes me sad for the things that could have been

overall i think my disappointment is outweighing my fun and the only way i can keep playing it while having fun is ignoring everything that isnt, which works quite well most of the time since im pretty much done with all story stuff but i keep slipping into my little rants nonetheless; i will say its making me a little worried about the future of the franchise, but i know im in the minority and maybe i will just have to accept that the new stuff wont be for me anymore and i should not hope for anything that interests me xD

except for some meme material or specific characters i love i dont think i will make much use of anything totk tried to establish, and i hope thats fine with the lot of you (<3) hopefully that also means my ranting days are over xD

anyway, back to making niche art i go! (sorry for making you endure these long ass rambling posts :,) )

maybe i’m still pissed that kyuubei keeps messing up otae’s spotlight. Kyuubei didn’t have to kill the Amanto targetting Otae right away. Istg Otae had enough capability to block/parry the two aliens without Kyuubei’s interference.

Sometimes otae isnt the issue, man.. overprotective and jealous characters are to blame too. I know they were all in a war, so Kyuubei was kind of valid for doing that. However if people start labeling Otae as a “damsel in distress” because someone took away her chance to fight her enemies fair and square, then we have a problem. That’s on Kyuubei being a selfish and overprotective lover, not on Otae.

Also Kyuubei’s extreme wariness over BFY GinTae just confirms that Otae, even while dying, only spoke about one thing and only one thing to her: Gintoki and Yorozuya

from an outsider perspective, Otae had been waiting for Gintoki to return for years. The moment Kyuubei found them fighting back to back, she knocks Gintoki out for being the cause of the disease that killed Otae.

Kyuubei didn’t do that for Otae. She was doing that for herself to eliminate a perceived threat to her loved one regardless if the person she attacked was an actual threat or not. She didn’t even care to ask for Otae’s opinion or care how happy Gintoki and Otae had been when they found each other. Instead she straight up kicks gintoki to the ground for no reason other than he’s standing close to Otae. (callback to her threatening hijikata with a sword in public so yeah that’s character consistency i guess)

I don’t even care if that moment was smth played for laughs. It was weird. It’s worse than otae punishing gintoki for being an an idiot with no manners or for calling her names. Gintoki didn’t even do anything wrong to Otae that time. He didn’t have to get hit by Kyuubei for smth he had no control of.

(This is just going to be some autistic rambling over here. I tried to word this properly and make it sound coherent but really it's a mess and kind of apparent i dont fully know wtf I'm trying to talk about so feel free to ignore. I just had to get these thoughts out of my brain cuz on one hand I feel like I'm going crazy like I cant be the only one who sees it but maybe I'm just dumb who knows.)

If I have one grievance with Elphelt in strive it's that her throwback skin (skin 2) is a bit of a let down.

Like this is her regular outfit/skin

White hair with pink jacket and accessories. Beautiful, they go together, immaculate.

Like the majority of the strive cast, her strive outfit is a MAJOR change from her previous design and the outfit looks more like normal everyday clothes you can find in a store rather than a costume with extra elements sewn ontop of it. (Doesnt mean I dislike her xrd deisgn tho, the opposite actually, I absolutely LOVE IT and is one of the reasons I got into guilty gear to begin with) .

Now when she was announced of course I had hoped shed get a callback to her old design and of course they did!!! However I have some issues with it...

Now it seems fine for the most part, white with pink accents/elements, which normally yes, should work, but the white jacket on white dress, (not to mention she has white wrist bracelets even though her chocker is pink) doesn't look that all great. It's all too white.

Like I get it, they want to keep the colour scheme like her xrd deisgn, but her xrd design is supposed to be reminiscent of wedding dress. The white long sleeves she has are supposed to be the fighting game equivalent of wearing a shrug/bolero to go with the dress.

In strive she's a death metal singer, thus sporting a leather jacket, choker/wrist bands fingerless gloves, and shes covered in spikes (though the petticoat puffing up her skirt also adds a bit of a "cutesy idol" look).

My point I'm trying to make is unlike a her xrd design where the white shrug goes well with the white dress, blending together in a sense, here it's like more apparent they're 2 pieces and because there isnt enough pink on it, it just doesnt look that great. I understand the sentiment of not wanting to put a full pink jacket but I feel like they could've still added some pink accents to it. (Apologises for the shitty edit below)

If they just added pink accents under the jacket and maybe even made her bracelets/thigh highs pink it would've looked SOOO much better imo because M A N. I love her xrd design so much, and while I love strive deisgn I missed her pink hair and seeing the throwback skin made me a little sad.

Tldr, idk who at arc system works did the throwback skin for elphelt in strive but they shouldve added pink accents to the jacket and such cuz the white on white hurts my eyes.