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kathaynesart · 1 year

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TIP JAR (every little bit is appreciated!)

R E P L I C A

LATEST UPDATE

COMIC: ARC 1 - Boot(y)ing Up - 1 - 2 - ARC 2 - The Spark - 1 - 2 - ARC 3 - Forgiveness - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - ARC 4 - Probing - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - ARC 5 - Distractions and Dilemmas - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - INTERMISSION - Checkmate - 1 - HOLIDAY SPECIAL - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 -

ANIMATICS: The Funny One Not Dead High Five

EXTRAS: Future Donnie Design Omega Design (SPOILER) No Love for You Processing Stupidity Peepaw Paradox Peepaw Paradise Peepaw Showdown 1 Peepaw Showdown 2 Peepaw Showdown 3 Peepaw Showdown 4 TMNT AU Competition 1 TMNT AU Competition 2 TMNT AU Competition 3 TMNT AU Competition 4 TMNT AU Competition 5 Feral Leo 1 Feral Leo 2 Cass and Replica Reunion 1 Cass and Replica Reunion 2 (not my art) Cass and Replica Reunion 3 (not my art) Cass and Replica Reunion 4 (not my art) Cass and Replica Reunion 5 Bootyyyshaker GIF Leo PUNCH Donnie’s Eyebrows Handsome Future Donnie

INFO: Donnie’s Scars

MERCH: Processing/Displaying Stupidity ROTTMNT General Upcoming

Finally have an official cover and title! There were some REALLY good guesses as to what the title could have been, but I can at least explain my reasons why I went with Replica. TLDR you can still call it Future Booty Shaker if you want. Usual info dump below:

There are several reasons why I chose Replica as the final name. The most obvious being that Omega is Donnie’s blatant attempt at replicating himself in digital form.

The second being that this comic is in itself is an attempt at replicating the vibe and setup of the film’s opening as closely as possible. Those first 4:05 have literally become the bible for this story and I have already had to make vast changes based off of tiny details that weren’t noticed until later on.

Ironically the cut full opening just dropped today and I do have some feelings I’d like to address. It’s obvious how substantially different the two openings are from each other. As cool as it was to see everyone kicking butt, I will admit I still like the final version a lot better. Sure it’s shorter, but it felt far more personal and intimate than the action packed cut version, and THAT’S the sort of vibe I want to replicate in this comic.

At its core, this isn’t a story about fighting a bunch of Krang, it’s a story about a family fighting their own personal battles before an apocalyptic backdrop and Replica is a vain attempt at retaining that feeling while building a story around it. Will I be successful? Who knows. I will definitely be drawing reference from the cut boards especially the appearance of their colony. I’m happy my hunch was right that they were stationed beneath the Statue of Liberty, that was already a part of my story haha.

My runner up title would have been “Fall of the TMNT” however I felt it was a little too on the nose. Though it did make for a fun dichotomy with “Rise of the TMNT”s title. Anyways that’s my info dump. Feel free to still hashtag Future Bootyyy Shaker, I know I will.

#Replica #rottmnt replica #Future Bootyyy Shaker #kathaynesart #leonardo #donatello #michaelangelo #omega #casey jones #rottmnt comic #save rottmnt #unpause rottmnt

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dbphantom · 9 months

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I'm a OP manga reader, sell me on watching G-8

Sure!

G-8 is post Skypiea filler and starts with the Strawhats landing right in the middle of a walled-in marine base after they fall from the sky island. They have to figure out how to escape this 'impenetrable fortress' with Merry without anyone getting captured or killed.

To do this, most of them go undercover and infiltrate the marines so they can buy time, regroup, and figure out a plan.

It goes about how you'd expect.

(If only Garp could see him now, lol).

The guy on the left in the above picture is this arc's amazing antagonist, Vice Admiral Jonathan.

He is so cool that he cameos in both Stampede and Film Z.

G-8 has some of the funniest jokes in the series, including this iconic scene:

The way it pairs off the Strawhats at the start leads to some great extended interactions between crew members who don't directly talk to each other too often, like Nami and Chopper + Usopp and Robin. They're all very in-character, too.

It also lets the Strawhats show off in their respective areas- Chopper ends up in the medical wing, Usopp works with the shipwright, Sanji is dragged to the kitchens...

[Spoilers in case you're not post Water-7]

It even takes time to emphasize the set-up for the Klabautermann reveal, just to make sure you remember it before the emotional gut punch that is Water-7.

[End spoilers]

It's got a really endearing and memorable cast of side characters as well, who all get roped into the Strawhats' shenanigans.

G-8 also has one of Robin's coolest outfits.

The entire arc is basically a 4D chess match between Jonathan and the Strawhats, except the entire crew is shoveling pieces into Luffy's mouth as fast as they can whenever Jonathan isn't looking.

G-8 is what I show people who want to get into OP, but don't know if they'd enjoy it. It's short (only about 11-12 episodes iirc) and it encompasses everything I really love about early One Piece. I think it's a great litmus test for if you'd like the vibes of the show as a whole. Also, it is so well-integrated into the story that most anime-onlys don't even realize it's filler unless they're told.

Honestly, I would put G-8 on the same entertainment level writing-wise as some of the better movies. It's fun to watch, the jokes are great, and the characters are all enjoyable. I really recommend giving it a go.

#Sorry sorry I tried to keep this short hahaha but definitely check it out! At least give the first 3 episodes a shot #If you don't like it after that then you probably won't #Op #One piece #G-8 #Ask #Thank you!!

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suffarustuffaru · 6 months

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so um. this is how the genderbend if is going right.

(also big thanks to @mynameisrobiniamadumbass for letting me use his really cool genderbend designs for fem otto and pridebaru <3)

#rezero #IVE BEEN COLLECTING THESE DRAWINGS FOR THE PAST COUPLE WEEKS…#genderbend #just tagging that bc this probs wont be the last time i draw them skdnd #i feel VERY strongly on drag king natsumi ok.#natsuki subaru #otto suwen #arc 7-8 spoilers #my art #also the whole concept is that fembaru has og natsumi hair and drag king natsumi has og subaru hair. yes.#fembaru doesnt have her hair completely in her face all the time ok i was just lazy to draw the other eye akdndn

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eywathemother · 1 year

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Fish Lips Part 3

Ship: Aonung x Kiri's twin sister!Reader

Warnings: Language, bullying, gore, fighting, talk of war, injury and blood, slow burn, enemies to lovers (not really a warning just some people don't like that trope), death of (a) character(s), not proofread

Words: 2,714

Keys: (y/n) = your name,,(y/i/n) = your Ikran's name,, Neural Queue= the braid extension of a Na'vi's nervous system that allows them to link up to animals and Ewya,,(y/II/n) = your ilu's name,,

Chapters; Introduction || Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4 || Part 5 || Part 6 || Part 7 || Part 8 || Part 9 || Part 10 ||

Taglist; @akinatrix , @willowbrookesblog , @lovesickbtch , @ao-sleepy , @elli-aesthetics , @ducks118 , @aeclark04 , @audigay ,@lola-bunn1 , @curlszx88 , @kidwithaheavystick ,

Spoilers for Avatar: The Way of Water A whole ass lot.

Crying cuz I forgot to mention the reader is not identical to Kiri or Grace. I'm so stupid, it's literally a big plotline and I completely grazed over it. I hope you all just assumed that cuz if not.... idk now you know.

Tell me your thoughts!! I have everything planned out like I said but I'm indecisive if I want to kill Neteyam and give the reader a darker arc or keep Neteyam alive and have the readers stay more moral so share with me which one you would like to see more.

You rubbed the sleep out of your eyes as you and Neteyam prepared for your early morning duty of feeding the Ikran. As the two oldest you have more responsibility than the others, not that you mind, you've always loved tasks that kept you busy.

" You think they'd eat this?" Neteyam whispered lifting up a bright orange fish with bug eyes. You scoffed in disgust, flicking the weird fish out of your face." I wouldn't test it. Look at its face." You poked the dead fish, watching it jiggle.

" I would never feed my baby that." Neteyam rolled his eyes, you took the Ikran's health a bit too seriously in his opinion. You didn't allow them to eat or try anything new, the fear of accidental poisoning was the explanation you gave when you were asked about your weird monitoring habit.

You finished collecting food for the Ikrans and headed out with Neteyam, who was having trouble holding his head up." Sometimes I wish we could sleep in." He yawned, rubbing his eyes and dragging his hand down his face.

" I'm sure you'll be fine." You turned around to face him, your thoughts quickly taken over by Aonung who was walking behind you with something in his arms. Your ears flattened quickly and Neteyam turned his head slightly to peak over his shoulder.

" Fantastic, just what we needed." You snarled under your beath and Neteyam kicked some sand at you." Shut up, he's the chiefs son." Neteyam scolded you and you rolled your head to the side in annoyance.

Neteyam turned back to the front as Aonung eyed you as you turned forward away from his pointed gaze. You turned your sight towards the waters, spotting Tsireya and Rotxo in the water. They seemed to be ushering something in the water towards the shallow area.

" What do you think they're doing?" Neteyam questioned, readjusting his hold on his basket. You shrugged, focusing on the path before you." Let's just go feed the Ikran's and go eat breakfast."

After feeding them their fish, you and Neteyam walked back to your Marui. You were starving, hoping there was at least a little left for both of you. Considering Tuk and her big appetite would swallow a whole table of food.

As you got closer to the stairs you saw Tsireya standing next to them, talking to her brother rather aggressively. You've never seen her look that irritated before and you watcher her stomp off as Aonung huffed and walked towards the water.

" Family drama at its finest." You shook your head and Neteyam chuckled." If that was you and Lo'ak you'd be scratching and hissing at each other." You feigned offence, holding your hand to your chest." Me? Agressive towards my brother?" You waved your hand up and down in his face and rolled your head to the side with a dramatic sigh." It seems you do not know me brother. I am truly baffled and saddened by your false accusations."

He smirked, mimicking your eye roll." Perhaps we left my actual sister back in the forest and you're a hallucination because my (y/n) religiously punches her brother in the head." He pinched you." See look my fingers slightly went through you. You don't exist."

You snorted, poking his ribcage. He pretended to not feel a thing and gasped, acting shock." No way, I didn't feel a thing!" You stuck out your bottom lip." How could I be fake? I'm too gorgeous for your simple mind to comprehend, you would never be able to create such a flawless being with that brain of yours."

You dramatically flipped your hair, but you were too aggressive, and a bead hanging on the end of one of your braids swung around, hitting your right eye.

" OW! Shit!!" You cried, covering your eye that was currently burning excruciatingly. Neteyam laughed at you, holding his stomach. His laughs got more historical as you sent him a disgusted look and tears ran out of your eye.

" Why are you laughing! What if I popped a vein in my eye!" You yelled, smacking him as you kept your eye closed. He rolled his eyes; he continued to giggle and covered his mouth with the back of his hand. " I'm not even sure it works like that."

" What? Are you calling me stupid?" You put your hand on your eye, tears continuing to fall. " What would be new about that?" You scoffed, flicking his shoulder." Anyways let's get some breakfast before it's all gone."

"Ok.." There was a pause as you guys started walking again." Race you!" He cried, not even warning you as he took off. You growled in frustration." I'm not racing you!"

" Lame-o, I'll be eating your breakfast then!" He cried and you just rolled your eyes, or eye as your other one was still burning. You slowed down your walking pace, enjoying the peace and quiet.

It didn't last long though because you felt a tap on your shoulder, a grunt following. You turned around, a scowl on your face." What?" You barked at Aonung who was holding a rag in one of his hands.

" I saw your idiot self hit your eye." He stated taking your hand that was covering your right eye and placed a cool cloth in it." I don't need your cloth." You huffed, placing it back in his hand and he groaned.

" Just take it!" He scowled, placing the towel on your eye this time, forcing you to take it and hold it. It made the burning sensation immediately calm down, it felt great, but you weren't about to admit that to Aonung.

An angry pout formed on your face and Aonung smirked at your annoyance." See? You did need my cloth." He whispered arrogantly in your face, and his smirk widened into a grin watching your face contort into disgust. " Stop flirting Aonung we still need a few more things for today's training." His sister called from behind him, and he immediately took a step back from you, giving her a scoff.

You didn't even realize how close he got to your face because of the annoyance of just him being there. You turned your head to Tsireya who held a smirk of amusement on her face. You bowed your head a bit in greeting and took Aonung's towel off your eye.

You threw it at his chest which he caught with a growl." I wasn't flirting, just trying to be nice to this stuck-up brat." He taunted you and you snarled at him. Your eye still hurt so you kept it shut, you rubbed it lightly. You hit your eye surprisingly hard so it would probably be red for a little while.

You turned on your foot sharply, lifting your chin up at him. His amused laugh rang from behind you, and you heard Tsireya smack him.

When you arrived back at your families Marui your breakfast had gotten cold. You still ate it but blamed it heavily on Aounung's 'kindness'.

" Let's gooooo." Tuk whined, pulling your face from your food as you tried to shovel the remaining fish into your mouth." Slow down, you do not want to choke." Neytiri informed, cleaning up Tuk's area and watching in a bit of amusement as you gulped down the rest.

" I just don't want to be late." You explained as you stood up as Tuk continued to pull your arm. She hummed." Have fun." She called out and you saluted, quickly rushing out of the Marui to catch up to your siblings.

You made your way to the water where everyone was waiting for you and Tuk." Finally." Aonung grumbled, earning an elbow from Tsireya." Today we will be teaching you how we transport from place to place in the water." She explained, ushering you all into the sea.

Once you got waist deep you all stopped. Aonung clicked and let out a call. An animal came swimming by, doing a circle and another one came to a halt next to Aonung. " These are ilu." He pointed his hands at them, as you watched the animal move.

"If you want to live here-" He started until a hiccup came from you, and you quickly covered your mouth. You looked shyly away from his annoyed gaze as your ears heated up in embarrassment." Sorry, ate too fast."

Although he was disgusted with the idea of him being attracted to you, he found you a bit cute in this moment. You weren't being obnoxious or aggressive, there was no sign of the aggravating girl he just met.

It only lasted for a second though, because Lo'ak laughed at you causing you to scowl. Of course Aonung doesn't like you though, one moment can't shape his whole view of you. No, no, he definitely isn't attracted to you, not even a little.

He rolled his eyes." You have to ride." He finished his sentence and you hiccupped again. His ears went slightly back in annoyance." Will you stop." He barked at you and your scoffed." I'm not doing it on purpose." You fought back and Tsireya hopped in the middle, trying to deescalate the situation.

" How about we ride now." She smiled and Neteyam pinched your ear that was still red." I will take Lo'ak and Tuk." Tsireya said with a smile, and you grumbled under your breath as you and Neteyam moved over to Aonung.

" You go first." You suggested to Neteyam, shoving his arm in the ilu's direction. And Neteyam glared at you, not liking your demanding tone. You only smirked at him as Aonung led him over to the ilu.

He began explaining something to Neteyam who paid attention inventively, unlike you who was slowly trying to back away and leave." Where do you think you're going?" Aonung questioned, he grabbed your forearm, pulling you towards him.

You sighed, as your shook your head in annoyance and he scowled. He kept his hand around your forearm forcing you in place." Pay attention." He scolded; he didn't feel like getting into trouble because you didn't want to bother to learn.

You turned your head towards Lo'ak who was already on his ilu ready to ride. You tapped Neteyam's shoulder with the back of your hand and he turned, briefly annoyed.

" Hold here." Tsireya tapped the saddle that had a place in front to grip. Aonung let go of your arm, moving closer to watch better as you and Neteyam stood there watching your brother.

" Let's bet on if he stays on or not." Neteyam whispered to you, and you scrunched your nose, with a devious smile on your face." You're on, I bet he'll fall off immediately." You snickered to him.

" Nah, He'll hold on for a little bit." Neteyam whispered to you, and you bumped his fist with yours." Okay bro, the loser has to do the other's chores for a week."

" Sweet, I'm totally gonna win this then." Neteyam laughed, as you watch Lo'ak begin to set himself up to go. " Look at his legs." You heard one of Aonung's friends snicker and you rolled your eyes. They just couldn't go a day without finding something wrong with your siblings to pick on." Hold on." Another one shouted, and surprisingly Aonung wasn't laughing with them. He seemed serious about his role as teacher.

Lo'ak sucked in a breath before moving at a quick pace into the water. Everyone ducked their heads into the water to watch and Lo'ak actually lasted a decent amount of time before he fell off.

Your ears went back in annoyance as your brother came to the surface for air. Everyone laughed at him, including Neteyam who patted your back." It's ok you lost." He smirked and you rolled your eyes.

The ilu splashed Lo'ak in the face before swimming off, and he let out a huff of frustration." You alright forest boy?" Aonung called out and you crossed your arms as he came over." Nice going, I was rooting for you to fall off immediately." You grimaced and Lo'ak rolled his eyes.

" You have that little faith in me?" You nodded immediately." Of course." You teased and Neteyam laughed, giving Lo'ak a pat." She's just mad she has extra chores now."

" You guys bet on me?" He asked.

" Of course." You and Neteyam said in unison. Aonung came over, shooing Lo'ak away." Go back, you still have training to finish." He told him and Lo'ak rolled his eyes before leaving to go back to Tsireya who began giving him tips on how to get better.

" Okay, Neteyam you're next." Aonung informed and called over another ilu." Okay so if you fall off sooner than Lo'ak did you get your chore duties back." You looked at Neteyam and he shrugged." Okay fine. If I last longer then it's two weeks."

You nodded in agreement, there was no way he was gonna last longer than Lo'ak. He hopped onto it's back, connecting his Neural Queue to the ilu's. " Ready to lose?" He teased you and Aonung rolled his eyes." Go." He demanded and Neteyam went forward.

You watched as he started off slow, then when he went into the water, he continued that speed. You and Aonung squatted to look into the water next to each other, watching his movements. He circled back still on the ilu and you and Aonung came back up as Neteyam breached the water.

You slapped the water in frustration, your face scrunched in annoyance and your ears in airplane mode. Aonung smirked at your reaction, he wouldn't deny the entertainment he got from watching you interact with your brothers.

" Two weeks now." Neteyam his smug smile pissing you off more." Aw upset you lost both bets." He teased, pulling your ear and you let out a sharp and quick hiss of annoyance. Both Aonung and Neteyam snickered at you, and you rolled your eyes.

" Okay your turn." Aonung pointed you towards the ilu which you reluctantly climbed on. " Okay last bet for funsies." Neteyam gave a smug smirk, confident he'd win another week off of chores. You turned to face him." If you last as long as I did and go as fast as Lo'ak started, you'll only have one week of my chores to do."

"Okay, what if i lose?" You asked, squinting at him." Four weeks." You thought for a moment and gave him a smug smirk in return." Fine I will."

Aonung shook his head, going over to your left side where your leg rested up high. You and Lo'ak both rode the ilu like an Ikran which was both of your guy's problem. He grabbed your thigh and forced your leg down.

You let out a squeak of surprise, whipping your head towards him." If you ride it like that, you'll pull a muscle." He warned with that annoying smirk of his on his face. He went to stand next to Neteyam as you shook your head, your ears red in embarrassment.

You hated being corrected, it made you feel like a child." Get going, win those four weeks." Neteyam teased you and you sent a glare over your shoulder as you plunged yourself into the water at a high speed.

You tightened your legs around the ilu and bent forward a bit more, gripping the handle of the saddle for dear life. You managed to stay on until the turn which made you slip your grip a bit. You quickly grabbed it with your other hand, the one you originally had gripping the handle stinging.

You came to a quick halt in front of Aonung and Neteyam with a sly smile." Guess it's just one week." Neteyam sighed a bit annoyed, Aonung was actually impressed by what you just managed to pull off. He wasn't able to achieve that speed like that until almost a week later.

He noticed your other hand a bit red, he immediately thought of wrapping it with his cloth he tried to get you to use on your eye this morning, but he fought against that thought. No way he'd do that in front of his friends and for a brat like you.

He didn't like you, not at all, he hated you.

#1atwow #atwow x reader #atwow aonung #avatar #avatar the way of water #avatar x reader #avatar ao'nung #avatar 2 #avatar movie #aonung #aonung x reader #aonung x you #ao'nung x you #ao'nung #ao'nung x reader

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rottmnt-residuum · 1 year

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Some Things You Aught to Know (this also the index)

“At the end of it all, what’s left of you?”

The long reaching ramifications of an alien invasion… it all starts here. After the Kraang were defeated, the boys have taken a back step from their usual activities to heal. Which has been surprisingly easy due to sudden lack of activity from their rogue gallery. At least, until Donnie disappears.

Hi! Welcome to the side blog that hosts my comic, Residuum. This little brain baby of mine was conceived in a dream my subconscious cooked up one night and then refused to leave me in the morning! Yes, yes, very interesting, but why is that relevant? Well, my darling reader, dreams can get really, really fucked up. As suuuch, this comic gets kinda, okay a lot, fucked up (￣▽￣|||)

So, this handy dandy pinned post is both the content/trigger warnings and where to find parts. The warnings do contain some spoilers for future installments, so I’ve put them under the read more. I do stress again that this comic is fucked, but to those who don’t read the warnings:

Probably don't read this if you're squeamish. It will contain a lot of, uh. Gore. Seriously. I'm not kidding around here.

This comic will not contain anything sexual, consensual or not. Nothing implied, either. (I can’t believe I have to say this, but no incest, and yes, I am kink-shaming you.)

Directory | F.A.Q.

Parts

Parts that have gore or the more extreme tw's will be red. Parts with mild-ish tw's will be yellow. Censored versions of extreme gore will be blue.

Read it chronologically: [censored gore] [full gore] (only works on desktop as far as I am aware. also! part 17 isn't showing up in either of the links, and i don't know why...)

(Updates every other Sunday at 3:30 pm PST) Update Progress: 0%

Content/Trigger Warnings

Subject to change, I’ll tell y’all if they change when I update. They probably won’t change much, but the creative process is annoying :)

Feel free to message directly for any reason, be it clarification or something else

Desturbing Imagery, Trypophobia, Kidnapping, Manipulation, Guns, Gun Violence, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Ableism, Coercion of Minors, Solitary Confinement, Contractual Slavery, Blood & Gore, Implied Death/Actual Death, Major Character Death, Animal Death, Animal Experimentation, Dismemberment, Disembowelment, Non-Consensual Medical Procedures, Irreversible Alterations, Cannibalism, PTSD, Anatomically Correct Organs, Lobotomy, Imprisonment of Innocents, Medical Experimentation, Body Horror, Police Brutality, Corrupt Government Institutions, Xenophobia

#rottmnt residuum #residuum

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yuri-is-online · 3 months

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Love and Deepspace Timeline: MC, Philos, and the Aether Core

Look I finished Xav's myths card. I don't regret waiting until I was done with it to post his timeline because the last two nodes have more to do with MC than him, but I am in a state so we are making this to cope.

This is all speculation and should not be taken as fact, I have done two other posts, one on Zayne and one on Xavier and I will not be doing one on Rafayel please see this reddit post by u/joonmin for relevant information about his myths card blah blah blah.

This post is less of a timeline and more here to answer questions you very likely have if you: A) decided to browse reddit and saw people saying Xavier feels like the "cannon ro" [this is a gacha game there isn't one] but have never read any of his memories, moments, or dates B) read chapter 8 and went "none of this makes sense I feel like I am missing something" or C) just generally are confused about L&D's world building and what's up with MC. I have answers for you. Wibbly wobbly soupy answers. This post also has a TL;DR in case you don't want to see me break out the string board and just want the relevant bits of information about MC you won't get from the msq.

SPOILERS FOR ALL IN GAME CONTENT UP TO CHAPTER 8, VARIOUS MOMENTS, AND ANECDOTES RELATED TO ALL 3 ROS, PROCEED WITH CARE.

Current Timeline MC (i.e. The one we are playing as)

The game starts with MC's graduation from the Academy and first day as a fully licensed hunter. We learn a few things in this first chapter, namely that MC is combat trained, has a rare heart condition known as Protocore Syndrome that has no known cure, and that her decision to become a hunter has something to do with what she experienced fourteen years ago during the Catastrophe when the Deepspace Tunnel opened and Wanderers started invading earth.

Specifically MC describes something burrowing itself into her heart. She feels helpless, like prey, and has a strong desire to never feel anything like this again. Which is unfortunate because I have a feeling a lot of someones are going to be on her trail sooner rather than later.

In Chapter 5 it is revealed that MC has an Aether core fused to her heart. This sort of human experimentation is highly illegal and it is unknown who did this to MC other than our beloved Grandmother was directly involved. Grandma appears to have taken MC away from wherever this happened after the tests started to threaten MC's life.

This is known to Dr. Zayne and Dr. Noah, though neither seem to know more than what Grandma told them. Neither of them seem to fully understand what an Aether core is or what it is doing to MC's heart. Zayne in particular seems to find this extremely concerning.

Uncovering the mystery of the Aether core seems to be what will be driving the first arc so we will not be discussing it at length here. I do want to note that Xavier absolutely knows what it is, while Zayne does not but does seem to know more of the technical aspects of how it is effecting MC, and Rafayel is at least aware of it being valuable and maybe why exactly the people in the N109 Zone want it.

At some point in the past MC met and made a promise to Rafayel. It is my personal theory that this likely took place on Hat Island during the field trip MC talks about due to some of the comments made in Chapter 7.

MC and Caleb were friends with Zayne in childhood. MC's exact age is a bit fuzzy, but the game does seem to suggest she is younger than Zayne. She does not know why Zayne disappeared from her life or what led him to become a doctor.

Comments in Chapter 4 suggests that Caleb encouraged MC to become a hunter. He seems to be very supportive of her, but Grandma seems more interested in trusting MC's protection to Zayne.

On the surface MC seems pretty normal. Her memories from before the Catastrophe seem to be gone, if she had a mother and father or other blood relatives, she doesn't remember them anymore.

Philos MC (i.e. What is Going on in the Myths)

It is revealed in Xavier's When Shooting Stars Fall anecdote that Philos is Earth in the distant future. This has confused numerous people in the notes of my Xav's timeline so I am going to be insufferable and attempt to assist with a graph:

The MC you play belongs to the game timeline, the MCs (plural each myths card features a different one) in the Myths cards come from the Philos timeline. I have tagged the Game timeline as a "potential tangent" as the events that take place in game are entirely reliant on the existence of the Deepspace Tunnel, which is created in the Philos timeline.

At some point in the Original/Philos Timeline, Earth's core ceases to function. Humanity replaces it with a new, artificial core that causes noticeable weather changes and fuses all of the tectonic plates together, and begins a new calendar counting forward from the years since Earth ceased to be and Philos was born. As a result, we don't know what exact year Earth's core giving out happened in the Original Timeline. The artificial core allows almost all humans to "live eternal." They seem to be like Tolkien's elves in the sense they can live for an eternity but they start to get tired after a while and give up on life. This is why there is a royal family that needs a line of succession. Xavier is the Crown Prince of Philos, he meets MC in school and learns she has a rare disease called Protocore Syndrome which will not allow her to live forever. He attempts to cure this by finding a specific protocore she mentions, but fails to reach her in time and is forced to watch her die. This all happens in the year 214.

At some point MC is reborn and assigned to the same teacher as Xavier. She is to train to become his knight and serve as the leader of the Lightseekers, an order tasked with killing Wanderers. At some point during or before Xavier's coming of age ceremony, he learns the truth about Philos: the planet is dying due to the artificial core never having been meant to sustain the planet this long. The Royal Family's solution for this is to occasionally feed humans to the heart of Philos in Starfall Forest. When they do this, it creates Wanderers. As if that wasn't bad enough, Xavier learns that his father and the royal family have found what they think could be a permanent solution: there is a girl who has achieved true immortality. She is the only person on Philos who can die and be reborn constantly, and while they don't seem to know why she does this, the royal family believes this girl is the life force of the planet itself.

This girl is MC and Xavier does not want this to happen. He has a plan that he does not explain to MC, but it involves traveling back in time. He says they have specific places in time picked out, but we know from Xavier's Passing By anecdote that something went wrong with his team's attempt at time travel and now there is no guarantee that the MC he left on Philos as its Queen is still there.

So now we have two timelines: Original/Philos Timeline and Game/Tangent Timeline. But all of that is just taking Xavier's anecdotes and Myths card into account... so what happens if we try to plug in the other two ROs?

Rafayel

In u/Joonmin's reddit post they mention two very important bits of information: 1) It has been 30,000 years since the sea dried up and 2) MC is a member of the royal family of Philos, not by birth but because "she has a heart that’s been blessed by the gods" and has "awoken from the depths." If all three myths cards take place in the same Philos timeline as the one Xavier leaves, we can reasonably place Raf's myths card after Xavier's backtrack mission.

So the Philos timeline would look like this. I have a note for Zayne's card there as well, but if I had to get picky with it I'm slightly tempted to place his Myths card between MC's first death and her being reborn to meet Xavier again. The other explanation would be that there are three separate Philos timelines created because the MC was successfully scarified to the Heart of Philos. In Xavier's Myths 6 MC briefly takes a dip in the space time anomaly at the center of Starfall Forest which could also explain MC scattering across different timelines, but the in game spacepedia makes a point to say that there is a chance that life still exists on Philos:

So it could simply be that MC over there has been stuck in the exact cycle of death and rebirth that Xavier was trying to prevent. It could also mean that when they add that mystery fourth love interest there is an explanation for a fourth possible myths card. Anyway all this information leaves us with a set of timelines that currently look like this:

This still leaves a lot of unanswered questions. For example, if the Philos timeline is where this all starts, what version of it is? What caused Earth's core to give out in that original timeline? Is Rafayel and Lumeria's existence the consequences of clashing timelines or are mermaids cannon to this universe? What effect on the space time continuum did Xavier's actions have? And how much of this is actually going to be answered in game?

TL;DR

Philos is Earth in the future with an artificial core that started running out of power, and never should have been made in the first place.

The royal family fed some of their long lived humans to the anomaly in Starfall forest to keep the planet running, but then they found out about a girl who could constantly be reborn each time she died and had an idea.

An idea Xavier wasn't very keen on but who cares. They thought that "when the time was right" they would sacrifice her to the rift and leave her there to die and be reborn forever. They also did not think to ask her.

Oh yeah when they fed people to the rift they turned into Wanderers. So wanderers = people as mentioned in Zayne's Still in the Dark anecdote.

Whatever makes MC reincarnate might have something to do with Lumeria, or at the very least the Lumerians in Rafayel's myths card seem to think it does.

In game MC, current timeline MC knows none of this, and has no memories from her lives, past or future. This is consistent across all her incarnations.

Final Thoughts

The only reason why I think this way about timelines is because I watched Donnie Darko in a college theater class. People like to argue about that movie and how it is supposed to be interpreted, but generally speaking they all seem to think that Tangent Timelines and the Tangent Universes they spawn get deleted very quickly, so maybe that's why the game starts by talking about "being able to leave this loop" and why Xavier seems to think something bad will be happening to Linkon City soon.

Chapter 8 ends with Xavier attempting to send a message back through the Deepspace Tunnel to make contact with someone. Interestingly enough he calls this "Traceback II." This sounded familiar to me and sure enough the game starts by mentioning that exact same thing, it is going past a black hole and is what says that line "we are stuck in this loop."

I thought in previous posts that the Aether Core is what could cure MC... but now I think the Aether Core is likely what Philos's artificial core is called... so who created it in the first place? ｢(ﾟﾍﾟ)

The Deepspace Tunnel is a spacetime anomaly likely caused by Philos's existence since it was "never meant to exist." So why was it created? And by who?

#love and deepspace #l&d #love and deepspace xavier #love and deepspace zayne #love and deepspace rafayel #as a side note i hate how the reddit girlies are like #“just finished this myth card! can anyone tell me what to think of it?”#if you gave me the details of what happened yes i could otherwise please do not waste my time #i am autistic and cannot make you a spreadsheet without the data you are denying meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

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zombee · 6 months

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I feel like the luckiest Our Flag Means Death fan in the world after the season 2 finale. By a series of incredible circumstances - including a significant metatextual realization that came in at the 11th hour - it was close to perfect for me.

This essay has everything. Completely normal behavior over a television series. Steven Universe references. The David Jenkins School of Whatever is Best for the Bit. Humbling catharsis.

First: this piece does not exist with the central thesis of “it’s okay to not like something but that’s not the same thing as it being bad.” I feel like thousands of words have already been written on this since Thursday, so I’m going to try to not get too in depth on that.

Second, cards on the table, because it’s relevant and I don’t want to waste your time if this is going to sour your ability to hear me out: I’m an Izzy Canyon hater. For MANY reasons, but from way before the concept of the Canyon existed, (some) Izzy fans pinged me in the same way as Snape/Kylo Ren fans did, and before May 2022 was over I went from genuinely enjoying Izzy’s character and place in the narrative to hating him because his fans made it impossible for me to enjoy him anymore.

(SOME! of his fans. Please don’t keep making me say this, although I’m not going to talk about the Canyon directly anymore after this. I know there are a ton of normal Izzy Enjoyers and even Canyonites, I am literally friends with many of them, please take this all in the good faith it’s intended and if you’re not One Of The Bad Ones then you’re fine! I very carefully don’t go anti-Izzy on main, and when I stopped enjoying his character, I stopped writing him into fics. I’m not trying to be a dick, I just want to be honest. Anyway.)

The season 2 finale made me weep over Izzy Goddamn hands.

ALL season long, I was disgruntled. All season long. I really, truly, DEEPLY appreciated what they were doing with his character and arc, I thought it was wildly on brand for the themes of community/queerness in the show, I saw the vision, I liked it!!! But. I wanted a fucking apology, yall. I needed three seconds of “sorry I called you a slur, Ed :/” and that would have been enough. But I had to let it go. It was poisoning my enjoyment of the whole season, which I loved with very little exception (not none!) and I just had to let it go. I wasn’t getting an apology. That didn’t negate what they were doing with his character.

Yall. They withheld the apology on purpose.

THIS FUCKING SHOW!!!

Let’s go back a bit. I was at the episode 6 + 7 screening, and the breakup shook me. Probably a LOT more than if I had watched it alone in bed at 3am on my laptop - five days of no sleep after NYCC, lots of emotions, seeing it on a big screen with a hundred other intense fans, etc etc - but I did see other folks reacting in parallel ways to me when the episodes aired to the regular public, so maybe I would have felt the same way. Regardless, I was mad at Stede and to a lesser extent Ed. I NEEDED AN APOLOGY FOR THAT FISH LINE. I needed it! “Whativah” autocorrects to “WHATIVAH” in my phone. I was going through it.

(When I rewatched the episode when it aired it was not nearly as bad as I remember, lol)

So now the episode 8 screeners go out and the reviews drop and I think I catch one half-glimpse of a “What a heartbreaking ending!” kind of snippet, and some of my friends who are spoiler fiends unintentionally drop little hints about similar ideas (devastating/heartbreaking/split the fandom) type shit.

And I was a fucking WRECK! about it.

I do love this whole show with my whole chest. I do!!! But I’m not rotted because this is an excellent television show, I’m rotted because two old men kiss each other! On the MOUTH!!! in an excellent television show. You get it, right? I’ve written 700,000 words across almost 100 fics and 98% of them are dedicated to those two men falling in love in different universes.

So it just did not even occur to me the “heartbreak/devastation/fandom split” would be about anything but Gentlebeard.

Another piece of this that was fucking me up - David Jenkins and his “satisfactory” ending biz. My brain was reacting like this show was ENDING ending, even if I knew logically! that this is just season 2!!! And I wasn’t ready for that, because what if it wasn’t personally satisfying, and I’m a mess about it? Why was I so worried about not liking it? I’d liked the whole season! Even if they didn’t nail the landing I wasn’t going to stop writing fic or hanging out with my pirate community & friends.

…is what I kept trying to tell myself, but the way anxiety disorders work is funny like that lol. What if I did stop writing fic and hanging out in pirate spaces? That would hurt much more than a show I like disappointing me. And for anyone who’s having that experience with ofmd s2, I’m so very, very sorry. It sucks and that’s where my epiphany came from on Wednesday before the finale.

Because it has happened to me before.

I flit from hyperfocus to hyperfocus, as ya do when you’re spicy, but the last thing to get its hooks in me PROPERLY like pirates was Steven Universe. And I did NOT like the way the regular season ended!!! (I actually really did like most of Future; that’s not what I mean. I mean season 5). I don’t like how they handled the Diamonds, tldr; I think the scope of their villainy got too out of hand, and I was left grieving the thing that had meant enough to me I ran a fan convention for four years based around it.

Side note: imagine if I had channeled the hyperfocus of almost a million words of fanfiction into an American OFMD con instead. We could have made magic :( I did consult with Our Con Means Death though so I am at least a teeny tiny bit of that one!

I did not like the way Steven ended… but I do respect the story they were telling and think they told it well.

I’m still sad about it. Steven is still one of my most beloved, it will always be beautiful and great to me, but that experience did and does sully my memories. There is so, so, so, SO much more good than bad from being in that fandom, and I cherish it. And I hope, if you’re having this experience with OFMD right now, that you’ll find similar comfort.

But, like I said at the top, “it’s okay to not like something but that’s not the same thing as it being bad” has been belabored already by people better at writing about it than me. I just had the incredible privilege to remember my brush with lower case T trauma and having that experience in my last REALLY big deal fandom. That’s why I had been so extra anxious about being disappointed. Because it happened to me before. It helped so much to connect those two.

So the finale happens, and it’s actually about twelve hours of me going from “eh, rushed but fun, whole season was great” to “THIS MAYBE IS THE BEST SHOW OF ALL TIME, ACTUALLY!”

BECAUSE THIS SHOW MADE ME CRY OVER IZZY FUCKING HANDS!!!!

They literally told me this was the story they were telling this season. “Men can change” “The end of piracy” “Ed leaving Blackbeard behind (ish).”

As for me? I didn’t get an apology for the fish. Instead, I got “Sorry I was a dick.” “You weren’t a dick. Life’s a dick.”

Just… fuckity BAM. THREE FUCKING SENTENCES resolving that fight. Saying so much in so little.

In real life, should these two men have an actual conversation about this shit? Sure!!! But that’s not how OFMD tells its stories!

It works in symbolism. It works in vibes. It works in an hour’s worth of content into each half-hour episode, and for how much lamenting I have done about the pacing, I would prefer that 100x to having to stretch it out too much.

I have said since March 24, 2022 that OFMD wields anachronism as a weapon. First and foremost, it’s fucking funny, but in addition to that, it’s stating clearly: “This is a fantasy world. This is not real history. This show is about romance (and so much more than that), and the rest is just VIBES!!!”

Sometimes vibes can be historical accuracy. Sometimes vibes can be true emotional poignancy. Sometimes vibes can be Ed finding his sunken leathers in the sea, changing underwater somehow, and coming out of the ocean like the Birth of Fucking Venus, because water and rebirth and mermaids and shit is all very prominent this season. And ALSO, and this is very important! BECAUSE IT LOOKS FUCKING COOL!

I don’t want to do much real Izzy meta here. It’s been said by others, and better than me. But it was telegraphed and it was symbolic – he was the paragon of Traditional Piracy in season 1, for goodness’ sake, and Traditional Piracy is Toxic Masculinity, and he was a part of Blackbeard and Ed had to leave Blackbeard behind (yknow, ish), and he got this ABSOLUTLEY FUCKING LOVELY! storyline about appreciating what a (queer) community can do, and god fucking shit fucking dammit… most of all, best of all (for me), was Buttons landing on Izzy’s grave at the end. Men can change. And Izzy DID!!! He did it for Ed. For love. For community. I am puzzled by “it’s fucked up to use Izzy to further Ed’s storyline” because… this was Ed’s season, in the way that season 1 was Stede’s. And Ed cannot be removed from piracy as a whole (neither can Stede!) so to have this old, set in his ways, coded-queerphobic character blossom to the point he can give this gift to Ed and to piracy… idk man. I just find it so fucking beautiful.

It is okay not to like what they did. It’s okay!!! It’s okay, and it’s okay to mourn, and while it’s not okay to do [insert vile behavior here], it’s okay to carefully examine what you think is “bad writing” vs “what you would have preferred to happen” and give good-faith, textually-based criticism on that.

But I want to remind you over and over and over again, this show works on vibes. It tells its stories leaving many, many, many gaps. There are many things I would have liked to see, and y’know what? I would have told the Izzy story differently. I would have personally done it differently. But it’s not my show! It’s not my show, and I am humbled and delighted to remember that, and to appreciate Our Flag Means Death for what it is and not what it isn’t.

Other words have been written better than I could about the 18 months between seasons 1 and 2 and what that does to us as rabid fans with expectations of how things will go. Millions and millions and millions of words have been written about OFMD, fictional and non, and that is going to color our expectations and experience. We had built it up SO MUCH in our minds and along the way I think some of us forgot (INCLUDING ME!!!) that it is first and foremost about Vibes.

The vibes of Izzy’s death are about rebirth and forgiveness and leaving traditional piracy behind. And he got to die in Ed’s arms, knowing (HAPPILY!) that he had been wrong, and giving Ed the gift of letting him know he is loved, and being a part of something. We had a funeral but we also had a wedding. The only constant is change. Men, piracy, Blackbeard; it all changes. And Izzy found peace in that.

Before my last point, I want to @ myself on things I felt versus realizing in the end it is (I will say it until I’m blue in the face) about vibes.

· I was convinced they left Buttons’ transformation ambiguous because they wanted to leave room for it not having been real. NO!!! It is real, until they decided it isn’t. Magic in the OFMD universe? Fucking why not!!! IT’S SYMBOLIC!!! IT’S IMPORTANT TO ED’S STORYLINE AND THE CENTRAL THESES OF THE SHOW!

· I was unhappy, and still am a little, about the Polycule Situation, but now that I realize Oluwande is Zheng’s Stede… I am less so. The Zheng : Auntie :: Ed : Izzy vibes, btw? Fuckin immaculate.

· Obviously they touched on Stede/Ed’s “killing people trauma” but I’d reallyyyy like Stede to address it, and even though I think Ed’s is left on a very satisfying note, I’d like him to dip a bit more into it as well. But if they don’t, oh well! It’s not like they ignored it, they just didn’t have a Deep Dive like I Wanted Them To!

· They didn’t deal with Ed throwing Stede’s shit away. They just ignored it! Stede started to collect new trinkets, and I believe that was as much about giving the audience back the old feeling of the Revenge as it was anything important (not to say it wasn’t also important thematically!!!). Just like Ed going back to his leathers is both Extremely Important thematically and about putting Taika back in the leathers because that’s what Blackbeard should be wearing for the epic final scenes for the sake of visually keeping the show consistent. That’s Blackbeard’s uniform.

· Stede’s frilly little outfits my beloved. God I hope they give him back some of his frippery in season 3. I think they will re: cursed suit BUT his journey this season was about something else, so!

· Ed’s stupid little non-profit non-apology, oh my god. It was so funny. And there is a transition from eps 5 to 6 where Ed is back in his leathers and the crew is more comfortable around him. They didn’t have to have him do a Real Apology, it’s implied it was all settled. What was the timeline? A day? DOESN’T MATTER, BABY, VIBES!!!

· Lots more, I’m sure, but now that I’ve tried to let it all go, I’m remembering less of what I wanted and appreciating what I got!

And, last point here, I think it is also very very very important to remember that a lot of people are normal about this show. In fact, WAY more people are normal about this show than aren’t. And that is EXTREMELY! IMPORTANT!!! because otherwise it wouldn’t be profitable and we all know what would happen then. We are the core of it, to be sure. Without word of mouth that stems from our intensity, this show would not be NEARLY as successful as it is. I truly, truly believe that.

But.

Do normies need deeply emotional discussions dissecting the central relationships? No. What normies need is Ed and Stede running dramatically toward each other on the beach and kissing. And I am happy, so fucking happy, to realize that’s what I need too. I’ve got fanworks for the rest.

I love this fucking show and this fucking fandom and its fucking creators so much. Fuck.

#our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd s2 #ofmd season 2

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a-person-whos-alive · 5 months

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Why TotK fails Zelda

Heads up, this is a long post. Ive cut this down like a motherfucker but it still reads very long. My thoughts are divided into four main categories;

1. Her relationship with her magic & tech

2. Her relationship with Hyrule

3. Her relationship with Link

4. Her relationship with the player

Also, these are my opinions, I'm certain there are people with far better analysis skills than me! I am just in love with this franchise and a little disappointed with the recent game. Zelda as a character holds a special place in my heart and its sad that her character was done dirty like this.

Theres a TLDR at the end and before I forget, SPOILERS!!!

1. Her relationship with her magic & tech

Zelda is not someone who magic came easily to, and I think BotW & AoC did a great job exploring that. They contrasted her natural interest with the sheikah technology and her lack of power and it was 😘👌

How did TotK do? With the Zonai tech being the main selling point, how would Zelda, a scholar at heart, interact with it? To my memory, the only interaction she has is to put Mineru's soul into a piece of Sheikah tech and hand it to a construct.

Well what about magic? Finding out she has light AND time powers was at first a great throwback to OoT with the Sage of Time. The fact that her Time magic awakened immediately unlike the Light magic in the last game was a nice contrast. But then, she immediately has a similar dilemma, she can't USE her magic to propel herself forward because she doesnt know how. Unlike BotW though, she has the "mother" she was lacking to teach her. This was a decent set-up. It was different enough to be its own thing but still was familiar enough. This is up to memory 4 - Mineru's Council

The issue the NEXT MEMORY, memory 5 - Gerudo Assualt shows her being even more proficient than Sonia. We don't see her train, or struggle, or even ask a question about how the stone works. She just does. It's not until memory 8 do we see her get any guidance about her powers? And even then we don't see her attempt recall at all. In the next memory she simply uses it perfectly and effortlessly.

The purpose of her strengthening Time Magic was to get back home. Yet, she gets back home by swallowing a sacred stone, that she already had the ability to do at any point. She turns into the LIGHT dragon, using her LIGHT magic to strengthen the Master Sword. Her whole arc about her magic was pointless because in the end she used the powers from the previous game for everything important.

2. Her relationship with Hyrule

Positives first! Its clear that Zelda loves her people, and during the 7? year gap she obviously took the time to connect with them and problem solve. Penn's quest really demonstrates this, and so does the Hateno school quest. (Even if the children don't believe in the Calamity). I found it very endearing that the people had such faith in her, that even with Ganondorf causing havoc with her face, people refused to believe it. The Great Fairies MUST have seen wrong because it was dark, Dorephan MUST have been mistaken, the Stable Trotters MUST have seen someone else - Zelda wouldn't do that.

I additionally liked that Zelda wasn't immediately trying to set up a monarchy again. In fact, she seemed to be doing the opposite. She wasn't living in Central Hyrule, at Looking Landing, she was living in Hateno. She was a teacher, and on some level a researcher (even if the Don Dons were scrapped ideas from the first trailer).

But the second she goes to the past, she is put back in her box. Her interests in tech are non-existant, she does not interact with anyone who isn't royalty, the King doesn't listen to her about Ganondorf and tells her to not to worry - after all she's just supposed to wear that white dress and hope her magic works soon. She's regressed back to before the Calamity, waiting for something terrible she knows is coming and is powerless to stop.

Crucially, she doesn't speak to Ganondorf once.

This is by far the most egregious waste of their characters in my opinion, and I've just deleted a 3 paragraph Ganondorf discussion - another time. But come on! This is legitimately the PERFECT scenario for Zelda to find about about WHY people opposed her royal family, WHY everyone she's ever loved died in Calamity caused by this guy, WHY she's had to go through all this. But no, if they did talk, it wasn't on screen.

Ive seen in translations of parts of one of the interviews with a developer saying she was able to see what a ruler should be like by going to the past, but until a see an official source I'm going to hope that's not true

3. Her relationship with Link

"Link is still entrusted with the role of protecting Princess Zelda." - Hidemaro Fujibayashi https://www.npr.org/2023/09/13/1199307678/zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-dlc-video-game. Maybe I'll write a post about Link sometime, but I'm focusing on just him and Zelda.

Whether you ship the two or not, the pair would obviously have a unique bond from both fighting the Calamity and losing the Champions/everyone. So, how did the pair cope with the destruction of everything the love? How did Zelda come to terms with the ruins of Castle Town, the harsh reality of all those who were dead? Zelda doesn't have Link's amnesia to temporarily soften the inital blow.

TotK explores none of this.

Similarly, there is a level of formality on how Zelda speaks of Link. When she tells Rauru of Link she starts, "He is a royal knight. He had been originally appointed for my protection, but later he became a hero by saving both me and Hyrule from a great evil". Not "he and I became close" or even "he became my friend". Zelda is talking to the two people closest to her right now,

All their interactions are the bare minimum.

Link has ALWAYS been a self insert for the player, but he's still a character, and more recently Nintendo has been acting like having emotions means a player can't project onto them. Zelda is Link's closest person, and when she returns he is piece of cardboard, at least help her up!

4. Her relationship with the player

First, as everyone who played BotW will know, many things were removed or changed in TotK to allow it to be standalone for new players. Sheikah tech was removed, important characters forgot Link, the majority of the last game was rarely if ever mentioned. Kass

However TotK does not properly establish Link and Zelda for new fans AND doesnt not elaborate for old fans. They interact twice until the end - the intro and memory 1. All of her characterisation is in that little history moment, the rest of it is 50% sacred power lore and 50% time power lore. Additionlly, anyone who is new to the game has no context for her light powers.

Actually, TotK literally retcons her light magic to be from Rauru and not Hylia. Which was the WHOLE POINT of BotW so great sequelling there guys.

TLDR: The Conclusion

Wow, you made it this far. Or you skipped to end, I would too. My main gripes with Zelda:

> She doesn't interact with Zonai Tech.

> Her arc is about learning time power to go home, only for her to not use said magic and instead use the light magic from the last game to fix the sword and be a light dragon.

> Having her worries about Ganondorf shot down by the King and not holding her ground/ insisting (did you learn nothing from Rhoam??)

> never interacting with Ganondorf him being in Hyrule as a diplomat

> nintendos approach to her and link, they dont once touch while both conscious. Not even a handshake or pat on the shoulder. See images above with prev. Zelda and Link.

> the instance on making it not complicated for accessibility to new players, but also not fleshing it out enough to be compelling on its own.

#legend of zelda #tears of the kingdom #totk #zelda #zelink #skyward sword #???#kind of #if i said all i wanted to say about skyward sword zelink it would be three times as long #i dont even ship totk zelink but im mad for yall #i hope this is readable #i do math all day #i have little media literacy #i try

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blackmoonlightexpress · 7 months

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TTEOTM Easter Eggs Part 3 - Costume and Makeup Details

I love beautiful costumes, but even more when they tell a story! Here are a few of my observations. Did you spot anything else? (Spoilers!)

(1) The two outfits Ye Xiwu gifted Tantai Jin are both quilted. The purple costume is particularly unusual in that it's constructed like a blanket. In contrast, all his clothing in the hostage prince arc are not quite thick enough for Sheng kingdom's harsh winters. Ye Xiwu is literally bringing warmth to his life.

(2) TTJ and YXW wear similar costumes in their two love scenes - (1) Ep 2 - YXW's imagination of the drugged affair which led to their marriage and (2) Ep 39, where they finally consummated their marriage on screen. YXW wears the same pink costume. TTJ in different but identical-looking mustard yellow costumes.

(3) Some viewers have criticized Ye Xiwu for not taking off hair accessories before going to bed, chalking it up to lazy filmmaking. This is not necessarily the case. In ancient China, upper class women did sleep with their hair-do and manage to keep elaborate designs in tack. How? By resting her neck, not her head, on the pillow.

Ye Xiwu / Li Susu does go without hair accessories in a few occasions: when she is traveling, ill, depressed, and in mourning. It is most likely a creative choice to create a contrast between moments where her character is in control and powerful vs. vulnerable.

(4) All of Tantai Jin's female lieutenants wear red, from Pianran (after she starts working for him) to Siying and Monu. In fact, so does Tantai Minglang's lieutenant Fuyu. Red appears to be the career woman's color in this world!

(5) After Mingye falls in love with Sangjiu, he adds the red waist scarf belt that's part of his wedding dress on top of his normally blue outfit.

(6) The costume that Cang Jiumin (left) wears when refining the Dragonheart Shield echoes Mingye's costume (right) through the red/blue colors and collar design, reinforcing the connection between the two characters.

(7) The costumes in Bo're dream hint at the characters' true forms:

Mingye (dragon): dragonscale armour & patterned clothing

Sangjiu & Sangyou (clams): pearls & shell motifs

Tianhuan (snake): gold serpent hair crown & bracelets

(8) Throughout the drama, only characters in the Upper Immortal Realm go full Dunhuang Feitian style, characterized by bandeaus, scarves, layers of drapery, sleeveless (similar to Indian clothing).

The style is used in formal occasions or to confer power or godliness. For example, Sangjiu goes Dunhuang with sleeveless draping outfits at her wedding and after she goes dark.

Similarly, when Susu and Tantai Jin become gods at the finale, they also take on a new Dunhuang-style outfit. In fact, the multi-color drapery of Tantai Jin's outfit seem to be an amalgamation of the fabric used in the twelve gods' outfits.

(9) Members of the Moon Tribe all wear long wavy hair, chunky metal and coin ornaments, and hair braiding.

Tantai Jin follows the dress code when he stays with the Moon Tribe before entering the spiritual dimension.

Guess who also loves his wavy hair, metallic accessories, and leather? Of course it's the Ancient Devil God, again reminding viewers of his connection to the tribe.

Bonus: Luo Yunxi mentioned in an interview that his characters (hostage prince, emperor, Mingye, Devil Gods) all have different hairpieces/wigs. He had to take off and reglue his hair between scenes.

#till the end of the moon #luo yunxi #black moonlight holds the be script #cdrama #chang yue jin ming #chinese drama #tteotm #tantai jin #bai lu #ye xiwu #mingye #sangjiu

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hoippu · 8 months

Text

ZoLu Fanfic Masterlist

(Guide for people who want to avoid anime spoilers)

it's in chronological order of the anime arcs but the first several ones are the AU fics

EDIT: check out the google doc for more updates on the list

Ephemerality by greatduwangs

http://archiveofourown.org/works/37446706

Alternate Universe – Demon AU

Don’t need to be caught up to One Piece tbh but still have a good amount of knowledge on some early introduced characters. If you’ve at least gotten to Baratie I think that’s good enough.

Read Roses Mean Friendship by Aki133

http://archiveofourown.org/works/44277967

Alternate Universe – Flower Shop AU

You don’t have to be caught up to One Piece either.

There’s a few characters here tho that get introduced in the anime in Thriller Bark and in Dressrossa.

Tomatoes, Spanish class and roommates by bunnylover101

http://archiveofourown.org/works/38490631

Alternate Universe – Modern College AU

Unrelated to the main story of One Piece but it contains characters from Dressrossa, post-marineford and I think Water 7.

Eternity would be a Curse (Without You By My Side) by Puppypaws54672

http://archiveofourown.org/works/47262166

Alternate Universe – Gods & Goddesses

No actual spoilers but theres a lot of characters from like the whole series lol

Splendid fanfic

Part 1 of a series

Eternity Had Cursed Me (To Be Without You By My Side) by Puppypaws54672

Part 2 of Eternity would be a Curse (Without You By My Side)

Alternate Universe – Gods & Goddesses, Reincarnation, Modern

No actual spoilers but theres characters from the whole series

The Story of Us by Mugiwat

http://archiveofourown.org/works/48543286

Alternate Universe – Modern AU

No actual spoilers but theres lots of characters again.

Warning: youre gonna hate Law In this fic lmao

catching butterflies by aquietdin

http://archiveofourown.org/works/48133825

(pre-timeskip) Takes place sometime between Skypiea arc but before Long Island arc.

You should also watch the G-8 filler arc because I think it’s referenced, but it’s okay cuz it is honestly the best and only filler arc worth watching.

Ode to an ocean by novks (thychesters)

http://archiveofourown.org/works/46906945

(pre-timeskip) Takes place right before water 7.

Chimes by drcalvin

http://archiveofourown.org/works/451483

(pre-timeskip) Contains spoilers from Water 7/ Post-Enies Lobby.

Takes place after shortly after marineford I think. Maybe wait until the timeskip begins before reading this one just in case.

Unable Are the Loved to Die by BasicallyACat

http://archiveofourown.org/works/24785554

(pre-timeskip) post Enies Lobby

Is a series

You are all I see by Anonymous

http://archiveofourown.org/works/47441071

Alternate Universe – Modern AU

Do not read until you’ve finished Marineford arc

One of my favorites

The Dawn that Rises Bloody by BasicallyACat

http://archiveofourown.org/works/27556822

a sequel to Unable Are the Loved to Die

(post-timeskip) I don’t recall reading this one yet so I cant really say up until where you should watch the anime. But definitely post timeskip

Feelings, what a mess! by drcalvin

http://archiveofourown.org/works/371473.

(post-timeskip) Very early into the timeskip. I’d say you can read when they’re on the way to fishman island.

Heliotrope by LostInClouds

http://archiveofourown.org/works/44929768

(post-timeskip) As long as you reach the timeskip and have made it more or less to when theyre sailing to Fishman Island, you should be fine.

The Things we do for Love by LostInClouds

http://archiveofourown.org/works/46912906

(post-timeskip) It’s recommended that you reach the timeskip for this one too and probably before fishman island is also good enough.

Of First Mates and Duty by Whatev3rs

http://archiveofourown.org/works/40266276

(post-timeskip) takes place in an indefinite point in the timeskip after return to sabaody arc.

Probably my favorite zolu oneshot fr

His Captain, Captivating by jirachi

http://archiveofourown.org/works/48769138

(post-timeskip) Try to read after Wholecake arc or at least Punk Hazard. There aren’t any major spoilers for Wholecake but there’s a new crewmate there that doesn’t join until then.

Kizuna by YokoHogawa

http://archiveofourown.org/works/4452800

(post-timeskip) after fishman island

The Five Times Luffy Kissed Zoro, and the One Time Zoro Kissed Luffy by EclecticIsMyMiddleName

http://archiveofourown.org/works/18994144

This one takes place throughout the story up until the end of Wano arc.

It’s preferable that you’re fully caught up because it’s so good you might wanna binge it.

However if you absolutely must here’s the time period for each chapter:

Chapter 1 (pre-timeskip) right after Arlong Park

Chapter 2 (pre-timeskip) takes place in episode 223 (I think that’s a filler arc but its short and not too bad to watch)

Chapter 3 (pre-timeskip) between Enies Lobby arc and post-Enies Lobby arc episodes 312 and 313 (don’t read the chapter summary cuz it has spoilers)

Chapter 4 (pre-timeskip) At the end of thriller bark episodes 377 and 378

Chapter 5 (post-timeskip) from the beginning of timeskip until Wano

Chapter 6 (post-timeskip) end of wano

#Zolu #luzo #one piece #fanfiction #fanfic #ao3

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