So uh... How do you feel about Nikol's existence?

I technically shouldn't know who that is yet but... I do. And. Well. You can probably guess by how you worded this ask hahaha.

Not surprised at all, if you like them as a couple then good for you and hope you're enjoying the DLC, you don't need me on your side because they're canon so that can satisfy you content-wise plus my opinions are silly and don't matter, etc etc, all I've said before applies here.

Honestly, if anything, the only unique thing I have to add here* is how his design really demonstrates how much Shulk and Fiora look like siblings lmao. There's even a (really cool!) fan mod to alter Fiora's hair and skin color to look more like her (actual) brother, so I'm not alone in seeing this haha.

So, Nikol. He sure does exist. Dude looks just like Shulk because his dad and mom both look like Shulk so what else could he look like. That's about all the thoughts I have haha (at least until I actually play more of 3 and see what he's like).

Non-ask-related ramblings under the cut because it's me, of course I rambled haha.

As I really don't like to nor want to rain on anyone's parade, as well as enjoy talking about the ship I like (because of course), I've made an effort to mentally retrack my train of thought (? idk how else to describe it lol) whenever my NOTP comes up by converting it into an opportunity to talk about my OTP instead of complaining. (See also my comment on What If We Kissed In The Weapons Development Lab where I mentioned going back into my fic and adding more details of Shulk being enamored by Melia whenever I came across Shiora while writing it lol.)

So, Shulkelia kids! I'm personally not one for creating OCs, in general or for media I like. Not that I dislike them or even the thought/process of making them! It just doesn't come to me as easily or interest me as much as digging into canon details and playing around with them. But I did come up with a couple rough concepts for what they might look like and how their parents might decide on their names... if they even would want to have kids in the first place, that is, I'm still unsure about that haha. But fanfiction can be whatever you want it to be and that's the fun of it, so maybe sometime I'll try developing those small ideas into something more (especially if it's something people are interested in reading)! If anything I'm most attached to my little blurbs I wrote about how they and their kids would interact with Reyn and Sharla and their kids, lots of cute potential there :)

(*Well, I can add something more, and I originally was going to do it! Not to contradict my whole don't-like-raining-on-anyone's-parade point, but again I want to stress, my intention with this is I just really enjoy analyzing details and understanding why I react to things in the way that I do. But I did mention to a previous ask that I have in-game writing reasons for why I dislike Shiora, it's not just personal experience from my life outside of the fandom or in observing it. In fact on my first playthrough of the game I was all for it and even saved a bunch of fanart of the two together on my phone, I see it when scrolling through my gallery all the time! It really fascinates me how drastically my perspective shifted after just one small moment at the very end of the game, and then on replaying it everything fell apart like a house of cards to me, wild stuff I can't compare the experience to anything else haha. Anyway if anyone's interested in seeing my take on that aspect of their writing, once again, feel free to send me an ask about it!)

"There is more proof of Dracula being a nicer person in the games before Lisa's death"

Where? No really, where?

Because he kind of adopted a bunch of orphans? Yeah sure, on the pact that they'd swear alliegence to him and learn a cursed magic, essentially just using them as yet another tool to tell God to get bent

Because we don't see him bathing in the blood of innocents like we see N!Dracula do in that one flashback? Just because we don't see it doesn't mean that we can't infer a similar behavior by virtue of him being a vampire who needs human blood to live. The dude ruined the life of his best friend by having him kill his own girlfriend just to further his own plan and felt no remorse about it, even kind of gloated about it. Do you really think he'd be above doing the kind of crap N!Dracula used to do? He was already calling himself the King of the Night and was welcoming demons of various kinds into his castle, including a succubus who, like you mentioned in another post,was about to get down and dirty with one of his supposed proteges who was 15 years of age

And while you are technically right about the issues between him and Lisa I'd argue that the biggest issue is the lack of actual scenes detailing the relationship. I'm pretty sure the implication is not that Lisa is scared of her husband, but rather that she knows what he used to be and fears he will slip back once hit with such a massive blow. Had the show given us actual chemistry between the two it could've been nice, rather than making it look like Lisa just saw Dracula as some sort of patient to cure rather than a person to love, since, as it stands, the only thing the two seemed to have bonded over was their mutual love for science which, when coupled with Lisa's lack of care for Dracula's actions in the ending, makes her look like a borderline psychopath who cares more about knowledge than people even though the very reason she sought Dracula's knowledge in the first place was to help those in need

And I cannot in good faith criticize the show for going the whole "bad boy/good girl" route because, like it or not, it's one of the few instances of the show being relatively faithful to the games, where Lisa wasn't even a character, just the archetypical angelical woman who's basically a saint and almost managed to rescue Dracula's soul were it not for her death. The main issue there is that we never actually truly see Lisa, so her thought processes about Dracula are unknown to us, but no matter what we cannot avoid the implications that she knew her husband was a monster, it's practically impossible for her to not have known. Hell, the fact that she had to tell Alucard not to harm humans in and of itself implies that she feared the possibility that he might do so in a fit of rage due to his half-vampire nature. Now where do you suppose that fear might stem from?

For all intents and purposes the show's depiction of the relationship should've been better as Lisa was given some actual screentime, it's just that the show's shoddy writing turned that positive into a negative, but some of the fundemental issues that you mention are baked into the very idea that was already present in the games, they were just far less visible due to said lack of screentime

My bad, I meant to say "nicer" than N!Dracula. I know he's still a dick :P

The issue is pretty much what you said. We sadly have very few details of Dracula and Lisa before she was killed. What we do know paint him in a generally gray light - most obviously the idea that he sheltered rejected humans for the sake of teaching them dark arts, a sort of "selfish kindness" if you will. The show had the chance to give us more to really convince us of the idea that Dracula had good in him, especially since the entire angle chosen for him was "tragic complex villain you can't really blame". And they made things even worse.

We don't know if Dracula went on violent killing sprees for trivial reasons. Maybe he did, or maybe he didn't and found other ways to feed (the games, admittedly, gloss over the very concept of vampires needing humans to feed on). We know that N!Dracula did, and even better we learn this in a scene where we're supposed to feel sorry for his depression: that is the thing I take issue with.

(btw, in that scene N!Dracula didn't kill people for the sole purpose of eating, which would be understandable for a vampire. He took great pleasure in dismembering some merchants for "disrespecting" him. It was a show of power. Again, we don't know if Dracula did the same power flexes, but the implication is that he stayed in his own castle 24/7 and he was merely a legend. IGA confirmed that before Lisa's death, Dracula had no issue with mankind in general, only with God, and he lived a peaceful life: N!Dracula was already a misanthrope before he met N!Lisa.)

We don't see the details of Dracula being a kind, loving family man to Lisa and Alucard. The only line we can go with is the arguably-canon Grimoire of Souls where Alucard says that Dracula regained his humanity with Lisa. Same goes with the show because god forbid a flashback gets in the way of N!Alucard being a dick, but N!Lisa's behavior really suggests the worst. Maybe he didn't beat her or yell at her, but I still think that kind of fear should be unwarranted: N!Lisa has been with N!Dracula for nearly 20 years, she made him travel all by himself, she trusted him with a son, but she thinks (and correctly guesses) that one blow would make him regress to the savage impaling beast he used to be? Why did you stay with him, then?

As for Lisa's final words, I don't read them as clear-cut as it is in the show:

ENG: "Do not hate humans. If you cannot live with them, then at least do them no harm. For theirs is already a hard lot."

JP: Do not blame humans. She said that those unable to forgive mankind will walk the path of their own destruction. Those who do not belong to that world shouldn't do anything...

They're very different, even if the core message is the same. In the English version, yes it can be read as Lisa fearing that Alucard might harm people, but she is mainly urging him to find forgiveness and compassion in his heart (yes it's very Jesus of her, I know). In the Japanese version, that's where she acknowledges that her son isn't fully human, but notice that what she's concerned about is not that they'll kill, but that they'll destroy themselves.

But fair enough about Draculisa fitting the archetype in general. Undeniably the series has an issue with the portrayal of women :P I think that what mitigates it is, again, precisely the lack of details, which makes us come up with our own interpretations on what happened between the two.

I could have explained myself better, but I see a difference between "bad boy/good girl" on its own, which can be cliché but inoffensive, and the idea that a good girl's job is to actively try to fix a bad (read: toxic) boy, like the responsibility is only on her shoulders. We don't know if Lisa saw Dracula as a beast to be tamed: maybe she did, or maybe she simply saw his best traits. We know N!Lisa offered herself to teach N!Dracula "some manners". It's explicit that she wanted to fix him, and clearly she didn't do a very good job at it.

Preliminary Poll

Everyone

Submission reason:

Original Leverage had excellent character, story, found family, etc. 10/10 all around. In the reboot, the stories are less interesting (several of the cons feel like they could be done with half the cast, like a lot of them just aren't doing anything a lot of the time and it feels overcrowded) and the characters all feel a lot flatter? For example: Eliot. The most haunting scene for his character in the original is when the rest of the team learns he used to do work for Damien Moreau, the super evil guy they're currently trying to take down. We get this interaction: Eliot: The worst things I ever did, I did while working for Damien Moreau. Parker: What did you do? Eliot: Don't ask me that Parker. Because if you ask me, I'm going to tell you. So don't ask me. We never find out what he did. There is a strong implication it involved killing innocent children, the families of targets he was hired to take out. There may have been more. We don't know, and that's what makes it such a chilling moment for his character- whatever it was it was bad, so bad that it doesn't need specifics. In Leverage: Redemption, we get a scene where Eliot is captured by evil security company lady (I don't remember exactly who she was, but one of the main bad guys). She injects him with a drug that is described as making it easier to bring up traumatic memories somehow? and triggers a traumatic memory by saying "Operation Kansas". We then see footage of Generic War Flashbacks (with no detail as to what that actually was or any stake we should have in it, we're just told "it's traumatic"). He also starts branching out a lot more from the team looking for romance (and struggling with it) which is a lot more depressing than where he was at in the original (the team is his family). Granted this probably has something to do with Hardison's actor not being available and not wanting to focus too much on Eliot and Parker's relationship lest that read as cucking the black man, but it does weaken the found family of the original (it has a bit of the vibe of "we're growing up and growing apart" when the original was "broken people finding strength and community in each other"). They also don't seem to know what to do with Sophie exactly- in the original, she was the heart of the team. There's a line one of the others has about how they trust Nate to come up with the plan, but they trust Sophie to make sure they're all okay. For a lot of the show, this is more focused on Nate than the others because he's the most off-the-rails, so with his character gone there's a gap that isn't really adequately filled.

The support relationship she had with the trio is also weakened because in the time since the first show they've all become even more competent and successful without her, so her taking on a teaching role with them feels weird (they mostly do this with Parker, which has the awful effect of making her seem less competent than she did in the original). Her relationship with Harry works the best in the new show, but since Harry's problem is entirely born of lack of experience/competence with this sort of crime, she can't really play off him in the same way as the others- it's all very teacher-student. It was also established in the original that she's a grifter, and she's not actually interested in running a team so making her character the leader after she's been out of the game for years feels out of place. And Parker. Beloved Parker. She's Word of God canonically autistic, and it was done SO WELL in the first series, which makes the massacre in Redemption so much sadder. Parker's arc in the original series involved her learning to open herself up to the world after closing off so much of who she could care about due to repeated trauma throughout her life. She shows so much growth throughout the series, and ends up implied to be the leader of the team after Nate and Sophie leave. She's weird and kooky but this isn't a flaw and it doesn't detract from her competence as a thief and teammate. And while she does struggle with certain things (grifting especially because of the social component) she does learn and improve with the help of the team. And then in Redemption, there's just. an enormous backslide. She's been at least co-leading teams around the world with Eliot and Hardison for years, but when Sophie comes back into the picture she gets implicitly demoted (it's not emphasized, but Sophie being promoted to solo leader implies it) and within the team dynamic, she is paralleled in skill level to Breanna, Hardison's 20-something sister who just joined the team (for comparison, Parker should be mid-30s at this point and has been doing this sort of crime for over a decade).

Still, Parker is put in the same category as Breanna; that is "good at her specialty, trying to be better, still has a lot to learn". She maintains her character growth from the original in regards to opening up and caring about others, but her skills and competence feel a lot lesser- despite the fact that years have passed offscreen where presumably she'd continue to learn. Ultimately she comes across as much more childish and immature which really does not sit right with the wonderful autistic representation she was in the original. Harry and Breanna I have less to say about because they are new for the reboot, but I think they also could be done a lot better. Harry's entire thing is that he used to be exactly the type of Evil Guy the team would take down but he's had a change of heart and wants to fight for what's right. And like, he did do a lot of evil fucked up shit! But the extent to which the other characters will like. Rub his face in it? Feels excessive.

Maybe this is just me having a lot of thoughts on "how to effectively de-radicalize someone" but like. For example, there's a point where they're deciding how to run a con and he offers some information as to how these guys work (I don't remember specifics unfortunately) and the rest of the team is like "Oh. And how do YOU know that? Right, because you were EVIL. 😒" when like??? He was literally already acknowledging that? And constantly shaming someone for their past when they are actively trying to improve is bad practice. As for Breanna... I want to like her. I do. And there are a lot of good things about her character. But they also kind of make her a Millennial Mouthpiece at times, where like she just expresses the opinions that Kids These Days and Our Generation have without any weight behind them. There's an episode about Fake Magic the Gathering where she gives a big speech about kids who didn't feel like they fit in, but there's nothing personal about it, so it ends up feeling empty. Character building in the original was heavily focused on specific personal details and experience, and she doesn't really get much of that which takes away a lot of potential depth. Also I would be remiss if I did not highlight this comparison because it's a big part of why I had to stop watching the reboot: In original Leverage, there is a scene where the con has spiraled out of control, and Hardison and the mark were caught on a US army base with a camera. The team is trying to figure out how to get them out without blowing the con and Hardison says "Damn the con! I am a black man caught on an Army base with a video camera! I am going to jail forever!" They manage to get him out safely, having him stall so they can break him out without blowing their cover. But that one line highlights the fact that his race does put him in more danger than the others in that scenario, and the show knows it. Even if it doesn't play out, the awareness is there. This is one of many cases in which this is emphasized. Redemption has an episode, The Great Train Job, where the mark is the head of a group of white nationalists. Breanna is one of the teammates on the train, and there's a point where she says she's going to try something and Eliot reminds her to be careful because she's in more danger than the rest of them. This is the sum total of acknowledgement of that danger, aside from some quippy lines about the evils of white supremacists. A few key things: Also in this episode, while Sophie is grifting the mark, he comes onto her very strongly in a private train car, getting way too close to Actual Sexual Assault for comfort, in a scene that was genuinely unpleasant to watch. In the original, while the stakes were often high, there was never the fear of "they're really not going to make it" or even "they're going to experience something genuinely horrible" (beyond like, "getting shot" level of injury). This situation for Sophie was new and unexpected, and because of that I no longer trusted the show not to cross another line. And because they highlighted the racism present on the train (by having the white man remind the black woman about it, which isn't inherently bad but I don't love it), I spent the entire episode on edge waiting for something bad to happen to Breanna. Nothing did, but fundamentally I did not trust that. The quote from Hardison, among other scenes, did make me feel safe in the understanding that the writers knew the gravity of the situation and would tread carefully. But the casualness of the line with Breanna, coupled with Sophie's awful scene in the same episode did the opposite. This is less of a character complaint and more of a structural one, but still.

Propaganda:

A lot of my gripes with Redemption are about the show as a whole, so idk how well this fits this poll, but the characters are a huge part of that because it's such a character driven show. Anyways I'm genuinely curious to see how this does because I am so strongly pro-original and so strongly anti-reboot, but I have the impression that a lot of people really like the reboot.

Random idea for an IF that popped into my head

I don't know if I've ever talked about this but my mind tends to wander. While working on Onryō, my mind got distracted as usual. And I ended up coming up with this Idea for an IF that I quite love. Of course, Onryō is my main focus, and I would want to finish that first before seriously beginning work on this, but I just wanted to ensure the idea was out there and to see what people thought.

(Please note, this is all subject to change. I still haven't worked out all the details, but the core idea is set.)

18+ due to violence, sexual implications, and other themes that may be triggering.

This idea stemmed from me wanting to combine my two favourite genres: Superpowers and Sci-Fi, so here it is:

Working title: Child of Sin

Your father is the Galaxy's most infamous supervillain. He is responsible for many incidents on planets across the Galaxy. You are the youngest child of 4, and while your father does love you dearly, the thing is, he is a supervillain. So naturally, you are expected to be a pawn in his plans.

The first half of the game will involve you accompanying your siblings on expeditions to various planets to train your powers (your powers will be able to be selected from a list of three, of which your Father has them all), and to just generally sow chaos. Saying that, here are the characters: Earl Astatine: Patron of the GAFEE (Galactic Alliance For Evil Enthusiasts.) Your Father, Earl Astatine (real name unknown.) Is the most infamous and powerful supervillain in the galaxy. He is famously hot-headed, yet can back up his words with his immense combat skill. Despite his short temper, he is highly intelligent, and the plans he cooks up have brought many a planet to it's knees. He has the powers of Telepathy, Pyrokinesis, and Telekinesis.

Rose: The gentle and loving oldest sister with thorns.

Your oldest sister, Rose. She inherited telepathy from your father. She is the one who took care of you as you grew up, and as a result is the closest to you. But she treats you like a baby in need of protecting. It's up to you whether you prove her right or wrong.

Despite her gentle nature, when matters do not concern her siblings, she is incredibly cold and calculating. She frequently speaks in metaphors, and sometimes acts as tactical advisor to the GAFEE. However, she is is still skilled with an energy blade. If anyone dares threaten her siblings, especially her beloved youngest sibling, their blood will run in the streets.

Gabriel: The second oldest. An angel of blood and love.

Your only brother, Gabriel. He inherited telekinesis from your father. Backdoor deals, political assassinations, one-night-stands. Gabriel is a diplomat at heart, and is perhaps more ruthless with his words than his powers. On any one occasion, a crowd of love-struck men and women can be seen following after him, proclaiming that he told them "You're the only one for me, sweetheart!". (He told that to all of them.)

But he is no stranger to getting his hands bloody when the situation calls for it. If a backdoor political deal goes wrong or out of his favour, the next day the police might just discover a body crushed by intense force. He is fond of his youngest sibling, but mostly lets Rose coddle you.

Carina: The third oldest. The flame warrior with a heart of fire.

Your second sister, Carina. If there was one of your siblings who inherited your Father's arrogance and hot-headedness, it is most definitely Carina. Combine this with the fact that she inherited his Pyrokinesis, and you have a recipe for destruction the likes of which most planets have never seen.

Along with her axe forged from a dying star, she is without a doubt the strongest fighter of your siblings. Unfortunately, her temper often gets her into arguments with your elder siblings, though she does try and hold back against you. But she is content to let your siblings and father make the plans, so long as she gets to burn something.

I am not sure if I will add romance options at this point, as I want the IF to be a sort of slice-of-life focusing on relationships between siblings in a situation such as the one I have presented, but it is not off the table.

Along the way, you will be able to choose which sibling you are closest to, if you dislike them, etc. You will also be able to decide whether you want to betray your father, or work wholeheartedly with him. Depending on your relationships with your siblings, you might be able to convince them to join you if you choose the former option.

The final half of the game will involve your Father's quote on quote, biggest plan to date, and this is where you will have your right of passage as an official member of the GAFEE. Betray, or serve. What is more important, Family, or Obedience?

I hope you like this idea as much as I do!

@curlyparmesan replied to your post “hi! guess who's alive! this is just the page from...”:

You made that?? It's so good!! I know nothing about Hollow Knight but it looks so pretty.

​BWEH THANK U 😭-

but also oh man okay now i have to yell because this game. it's like. ok. so the game is about this little bug

(absolute creature. unauthorized fucking thing.) known variably as "the knight", the "little ghost", "pale thing", "small friend"- the point is they don't really have a name, or an identity, or any memories, or any personality, or anything. (spoiler alert: they have all of these.)

the game starts with you entering "Hallownest," a deteriorating subterranean kingdom of bugs that has been slowly rotting for an unknown amount of time as a mysterious infection consumes it from within. the king is missing; the queen has barricaded herself into her home out of an unspecified grief; all but a handful of citizens are dead; and nobody wants to sleep, because if you do the infection will come to take over your dreams and drive you mad. and dying doesn't free you from this because it just fills you with goo and puppets your corpse around! fun.

so your job as this little creature is to find out what's causing the dreaming sickness and put a stop to it.

there is a way you are supposed to put a stop to it. this is the easiest, worst, and most horrifying ending.

describing the story any further would delve into spoilers that are absolutely more fun to discover (and going lore-hunting is at least half the fun of the game - make sure to explore everywhere), but like. these little 16 pixels will RIP your HEART from your BODY. they will cause AGONIES. you'll be on the floor crying about bugs and you WILL like it.

as far as gameplay goes, it's a 2D sidescroller/metroidvania style, which put me off it for a long time because i haaaaaaaaaate metroidvanias. i actually started it, got past the first boss (which is a testament to how good it is in and of itself, because usually i get to the first enemy and am just like "nah"), went "oh right I hate metroidvanias," and gave up. and then about three days later i was like, "...but I want to know what happens next." as it turns out, it's actually highly moddable, so I stuck god mode on and played through the entire thing three times in about a month. I've actually weaned myself off of it for a couple of encounters, which is even more impressive! Troupe Master Grimm also headlines my very very very short list of "bosses I not only tolerate, but actively enjoy" (alongside essej from control + tom and hel from ghostrunner. that's the entire list.) combat is... still hard, but can be rewarding - it's mostly timing-based and there's a parry mechanic whose window is so fucking microscopic but actually managing it is really satisfying.

(also, like-

-i can't even go into details because it's BIIIG spoilers but like. the way two of the characters parry. like their stances and stuff. i'm screaming and wailing and tearing out my hair over the Implications of that-)

and the MUSIC too. the THEMES and MOTIFS. the way certain characters' leitmotifs creep into different areas or into other characters' themes... POETIC CINEMA. i could, have, and will continue to listen to the main theme, dirtmouth bgm, and city of tears bgm on repeat for hours. (also bonus favorite boss theme. the fact that this man is not a Tumblr Sexyman(tm) continues to boggle me-)

another thing I really like is that you're not the only adventurer in the world. there's not really a companion mechanic (though there are some upgrades that will give you little minions, and you can kill a clown and he'll give you his son as a reward), but there's a couple of other characters you can encounter periodically across the game who are on their own quests, which depending on your actions you can help bring to fruition or not. it just feels like the kind of thing you don't see very often? but this kingdom is known in-universe to draw adventurers, and there... actually are other adventurers. idk. it's neat.

anyway. play hollow knight. it will hurt you but you won't regret it.

Can Yoshi-P please stop justifying skin colour changes in his games with awkward walls of text?

First it's that "It's fantasy, but also reality."

But now it's "It's fantasy, so we're doing what we want."

The FF16 one is at least understandable considering the subject matters the game deals with, but it's still imperfect because you can do PoC without that baggage.

Saying "we mean no harm" after all of those flimsy excuses with Y'Shtola feels so dumb to me.

I can absolutely understand the 2.0 lighting issues. Fine. That change wasn't that extreme.

And I even defended this because in a bunch of in-game artwork in ShB she's still pretty tan, but I'll believe it when we see a concept art saying she's by design supposed to be tanned, not PoC.

I'll even believe they pay this detailed attention to character design.

It's so annoying because in a new panel for Dawntrail they also say they're paying special attention to PoC representation for this expansion because they've not always done it right in the past.

And there they mentioned it's fantasy, but there is the need to still respect the irl cultures they draw from.

It's a inconsistent mess because whitewashing is still fairly common and "they're just tan" is a pretty common excuse that Japan isn't immune from either, even if it isn't entirely delibrate or conscious. (In Japanese context there is also making characters "more Asian" by removing their tan.)

And then there are some of the disrespectful outfits in Mogstation.

I still get the sense the underlying implication is that the game got more popular and Y'Shtola's tan became "less appealing" from a marketing standpoint, but they just can't say it.

But hey, going by a good faith interpretation, they better be consistent with it.

Everyone should just be tan after Dawntrail.

Then I might believe it.

FFXIV has many good to great PoC characters with complex, complete storylines, but it still falls into some pretty annoying tropes.

Most of them either die (Teledji, Ilberd, Conrad, Ahewann), are written out after their story is basically complete (Hermes, Lahabrea, Ericthonius, Lolorito) or are pushed to minor roles or were minor roles to begin with (Raubahn, Pipin, Gaius, Arenvald, Lyna).

Truth is, Y'Shtola is the only character that truly has gone through this pretty noticably, so this adds credence to her "just being tan", but I think she's also the only main character who could be 100% read as PoC along with any PoC WoL designs because she was "tan" for so long.

Currently, only Arenvald, Raubahn, Pipin, Gaius, Vytra, Cyella and Lyna could potentially become relevant in the future without "bringing them back" and as said, half of these are pretty minor characters or also have pretty complete stories.

Erenville looks to have a more major role in Dawntrail, at least.

And I think Cyella and the entire group on the First might end up getting a secondary plotline restoring the 13th along with Zero after Zeromus is defeated.

(That 6.5 screenshot is super intriguing.)

XIV is probably better about PoC than 90% of popular fantasy, but it still has its flaws and wierd justifications like this really don't help.

I was originally going to write an entire rant about the treatment Skip Woods gives to his female characters across both his outings in the Hitman franchise. I started going through Hitman (2007) with the intention of studying how Nika was portrayed as a character with the sole purpose of ranting about problems I saw in the way Woods handles women, female leads in particular (to be frank, there are few other female characters of note in either film; Diana is grandfathered in as an important character, but as I've ranted about before and will do so again, Katia's mother doesn't get the grace of a canonical name despite haunting most of H:A47). But, as I was doing that, I realized how similar the films are overall, at least in how they set themselves up.

One of the big points for me was the similarity between Katia and Nika, not in minute details but in overall character sketch: a woman in a bad position in life who is in need of rescue and (perhaps by necessity of genre convention) sexy. But not just any kind of sexy, she also has to be exotic. Nika is a Russian sex slave, a stereotype that may have flown in 2007 but needed necessary updating for 2015. So, Katia's mother is Sri Lankan Tamil. (She's initially implied to be mixed, which would slot her into the But Not Too Foreign trope where acceptable love interest territory lies, but when the story shifts gears to sibling team up mode and John is revealed to be a straight up antagonist, Katia is directly stated to be the product of mad science. It's highly probable that but for necessary modifications, she is a direct clone of her own mother--"You are the reflection of the woman I loved.")

There are other points I observed, too, mostly in setup (the details of deviation allow for the films to run different courses in their second halves). The prologue of the program that produced 47, the placements of any flashbacks (they taper out by the half-way point), the entire plot of "initial hit kick starting the action, followed by find the girl (whether that was an original goal or not), followed by kidnap the girl and deliver to her a series of key revelations, followed by drag her along to help on the mission". I don't watch enough movies (action movies in general or Woods' work in specific) to know whether this is scènes à faire or if H:A47 is really just Hitman (2007) with a different coat of paint. But I also don't think it's a bad thing. Lots of creatives have pet themes that make it into almost all their work.

The similarities also make it really easy to see where I think one version did better than the other. The prologue and flashbacks 47 has to getting tattooed from Hitman (2007) are something I prefer over H:A47, for example. Instead of the clinical sterility of medical exams, we get glimpses into the actual training the boys were given, including the implication that they were the ones responsible for shooting any of their number who tried to escape. 47 fixates on the tattoo because it caused him a lot of pain. There's a similar moment in H:A47 but instead 47 is asked if it hurt, and says yes. Coupled with the fact that in the 2015 version of the prologue, we do see 19 get his number, and the machine doing the stamping... gets it done in a couple of seconds and 19 doesn't even flinch. In the 2007 version somebody is using an actual tattoo gun, forcing him to keep a steady hand and 47 to hold as still as possible to not mess up the lines. To quote Dan Olsen: "inference is dramatically inferior to being shown."

(As a random aside, the monks in the 2007 version go completely unexplained. I think they were only included because in the second game 47 briefly converts to Catholicism and lives in a monastery. I have a web of theories about how the movies and games play off each other; this and 47's wearing the stripe tie from Blood Money for the first act are on that pin board.)

On the other end, I think Katia is an improvement, character wise, over Nika, and that boils down to one specific change. Katia is 47's little sister, a product of the same experiments that produced 47 himself. Because Katia also has Agent abilities, this handily allows her to participate freely in the action, in part because 47 spends the second half forcing/teaching Katia to use her abilities for combat until she can manage without prodding. Nika, for her part, acts in her storyline in spite of 47. She's told over and over again to stay put and not wander off or interfere, and she wanders off and interferes (though she does only interfere once; 47 scared her straight after that). Nika's primary story function is... teaching 47 to love? It's unclear, and her method half the time is to attempt to seduce him which, given his explicit rejection of the idea, counts as assault. Making Katia 47's sister eliminates the need for any weird "romance" dynamic involving 47 himself, and makes them much more equal in their interactions.

I want to make another point of comparison, too, and this is going to bring in ideas from the games. It's 47's relationship to his own name, which has clearly changed as time goes on. In Blood Money (which I'm certain influenced Hitman (2007)), 47 states "Names are for friends, so I don't need one." In Hitman (2007), he tells Nika "The place I was raised, they didn't give us names, they gave us numbers. Mine was 47." Both of these statements imply that he doesn't view 47 as a proper name but as something imposed on him (there's an argument to be made that in the 2007 film, the Organization used numbers as a means to strip their orphan charges of identity to keep them in line and foster loyalty).

However, in H:A47, he has this exchange:

Sanders: "So why don't we start with your name." 47: "47." Sanders: "That's... not a name." 47: "No, but it is mine."

Additionally in the prologue sequence of Hitman (2016), he has this exchange:

47: "I believe they called me... 47." Diana: "That's not a name." 47: "So make it one."

The acceptance of "47" as a name in its own right implies a version of the character more at peace with his clonehood and circumstances. In H:A47 especially, there are implications that the clones had a sort of subculture, or cultural identity among themselves (47 outright states that while each clone gets barcoded at birth, they only get the corresponding number stamped on them "when [they] become Agents", and if that's not a rite of passage I'm a wheel of cheese). One could surmise that their numerical identifiers were given appropriate significance, and I have nothing to go on here but I do think they lined up in numerical order for everything that required them to assemble in an orderly fashion (which is everything they could have been required to do at the lab).

The point I'm trying to make here is that as the Hitman franchise has progressed, the character of 47 has changed his relationship with the fact that his name is 47 (and everything that implies). Here I'm not going to say one or the other is bad, but I do think it's interesting and worth further study.

Explain the lore of a random animation

WOOAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAA

Yes, I can do that right away, thank you.

I don't know if this is for anything in particular, but I'll start off with Dragon's Lair and if there's something else you want me to talk about like Space Ace, those scrapped games, or something else, go ahead 👍👍

(I'm so sorry for how long this is. And also this is just tying canon together with headcanon, so take it as you will)

Alright, before we begin, let's establish something. Even though he comes off as a very underrated character in the franchise, the games and its spin off material seems to do its best to establish the character of Mordroc (not to mention getting a lot more of a canon description and backstory than Dirk, Daphne, and Singe). It's mostly established through canon material that he is the main villain, as Singe and the other goons are just souls he owns (or the dark kingdom residents). Most of the levels and villains support this motive that he's just building up his power and kingdom.

Another thing established through the games is that the castle is likely very infamous, and it's often implied (more so little details and once in the comics) that knights have been set out before Dirk. So then why do you not see bones and armor of past knights littering every once of the castle? There's 3 explanations for this.

1. You do actually see knights, one being the Black Knight(Phantom Knight?) and the invisible armored figure in the floor-tile level. Despite his ghostly implication, the Phantom Knight has a lot of once-human qualities; like his figure, his voice, and still having a horse. You can easily assume because of this, that these were once knights for the actual kingdom on the other side of the land.

2. In the lava level, you are introduced to the Lava/Mud-Men, who are fairly strange creatures- but don't seem to actually be aggressive towards Dirk at all. While they do cause and appear in deaths, their intent is not to cause them. In the first and most prominent death they're seen in, they work together to push Dirk into a geyser full of mud. As soon as they emerge from it, you can see all 4 smile, with brand-new one frowning in the middle that so happens to be wearing Dirk's helmet (Aka they were once people). In the second death, Dirk falls into a tide and is pulled to the edge of the river. From the side, you can see the mud-men gather and watch him as he goes down in a concerned manner.

And finally 3. Apparently it's cannon that if you get cut, stabbed, slashed, or electrocuted in the DL universe, you have a 90% chance of blipping from existence. It's fully established with enemies, but you do see it happen to Dirk a couple times in his deaths- so it's just an overall thing instead of just working on the enemies.

So yeah, the Lair itself has this function and motive behind it. You can probably assume the majority of the characters were caught and forced to reproduce in the dungeon (Giddygoons), were once people (Knight characters, and Mud-Med), or was brought as an egg and raised (Lizard King, and probably Singe)-as a ploy to build up the support of the 'dark kingdom' and its riches.

Anyways, let's talk about the other half of the story before I forget. From across the land, the real kingdom resides. From a distance their rulers bare no prominent issues. However, on the inside, the castle and its staff 'suffers' because of the princess not putting enough heart into her land. Princess Daphne is a unique individual, often stepping out of the boundaries expected for a young lady at the time (also showing more than what would be allowed in a dress + wearing heels before women were allowed to). Her mother, despite being past a point of having an adult child, resents this behavior and always looks out to correct it. However, from Daphne's perspective, she was raised to do something she never had a passion or attention span for, and often fancied herself for the lives outside of royalty. She was corrected constantly no matter what, and often scolded by her piers with the phrase 'A good princess is seen and not heard'.

Eventually, Mordroc's dark castle eventually caused a major issue for the kingdom's people, and a neighboring kingdom generously transferred one of their best knights to subdue the issue. Dirk, or 'Dirk the Daring' was born in raised in a far-off and small village by his two parents on their farm. His parents were not that well off despite the farm, but were very humble with what they had nonetheless. When Dirk was very young, his family's previous home was taken down to some freak accident with him in the middle of it. Because of this, the parents found that he was suffering from Noise/Damage-Induced Hearing loss. As the boy had no outward sources to recover at the time, he began to lose his motive, voice, and personality. After seeing this decline, his parents invested almost every last penny with physical trainers, signing classes, and medics to restore the boy to his former glory. This paid off well down the line, as Dirk was able to enhance his natural instinct, skills, and graduated quickly from squire to local knight because of it. Through his pay through quests and journeys, he funded it all back to his parents and moved on from any kingdom that needed his assistance.

Once the transfer came through, Daphne's overall confidence was gained back again as she finally had someone to talk to without being scolded or told to act feminine. It wasn't a love at first sight thing, but rather two friends who supported each other well and didn't mind if the other had something to vent or talk about. The kingdom suspected something before they did, as there would be a point where you couldn't see one without the other tagging along. Sooner or later, the friendship broke-and was kept in private due to how they expected others to react to two different classes coming together.

The Queen eventually found out about it and embarrassingly announced it to her people to throw shame towards it. Because of this, the Queen did everything in her power to split the two up. Despite scheduling multiple useless meetings and suitor dates appointments for Daphne, and threatening and isolating Dirk- even to the point of greatly lessening his pay-nothing seemed to prevail. Even as she grew even more desperate, she frequently sent Dirk out on su1c1de missions-becoming the more impatient as he finished each one- unscathed.

The desperation grew outside of her morals, as she feared nothing more than her bloodline not carrying through the kingdom- or having to suffer a 'peasant' being a prince. At once, she called for a meeting in private with Mordroc, who was infamously known amongst the kingdom. The Queen made a deal he couldn't refuse, as she requested for him to separate Dirk and Daphne to allow for kingdoms and suitors to throw their hat in the ring of claiming and marrying daphne. For his reward, Modroc was offered to be announced 'redeemed' amongst the kingdom-and offered a place as the royal mange (Local Mange-Mordroc is seen/supported in some scrapped spinoff material). Mordroc agreed, with intention of either a. corrupting the castle from the inside and claiming the entire land or b. having the plan backfire a little and either have a disfigured princess and/or knight(s) to add to his kingdom's collection (as interpreted by the fact that writers don't seem sure if Mordroc and Singe are in it for catching Daphne or Dirk-and can't seem to make up their minds) (Also a handful of the deaths show Dirk getting captured, so it could be a double motive thing-as supported by the Phantom Knight paragraph)

Taking it way too far, Mordroc sent out his biggest Drake Dragon to retrieve Daphne, allowing for one of his goons to announce to neighboring villages and kingdoms to send their best to save her. While waiting for Daphne's safe return, the Queen ordered her men to blindly do what they can to subdue Dirk from going out to have her. Eventually, the kingdoms lost a good amount of men trying, which began to worry the Queen of her daughter's safety. Her desperation overcame her and she sent out the majority of her men- having none of them come back. Unintentionally, she got rid of what was keeping Dirk out of the way, so he immediately went out to save his princess.

After barley succeeding- Dirk was able to slay the Drake and save Daphne. She eventually caught on to what went on, and denounced her role as princess because of how twisted and uncaring her royal family has shown to be thus far. Dirk purposed at some point during this period of transfer, and they agreed to live in his hut and live off of what pure vigilantism would bring. While this did have a steady decline in pay compared to what they had before, they eventually made little successes as the years passed by; having only a few kids of their own, but becoming a safe and open home to adopt children with unsafe, abusive, neglectful, or non-supporting households. (Aka, why they didn't age much between 1 & 2, and why Daphne's body isn't hormonally wrecked from having 10+ kids)

The fact that they were building up a family of their own with no apparent regrets leaving the kingdom upset the Queen greatly. She became desperate once more, asking Mordroc to help once more with no further elaboration. After being upset from the last 'deal' not paying off at all and costing him most of his goons, Mordroc took it his own way and decided to split the two by marrying Daphne for himself. When they were least expecting it (likely when Dirk was out of uniform), he took Daphne and disappeared with her across time. Mordroc placed the beginning of a banshee spell on her, which is further inflicted on the subject by mourning what is lost (aka why he rips her from her time to one where Dirk and their kids aren't alive) and the placement of a sacred wedding ring (you may recall that this also supports the habit of Mordroc mutating and disfiguring all of his subjects)

The Queen being behind this is also supported by a couple things in the first scene of DL2

If it just happened, why did she hear about it. It's the 1400's. Are we really going to pretend like doves are that fast?

Also if she did hear about it, it would likely be from Dirk asking her to take care of the kids. She literally neglects the kids for the majority of her screen time, and just focuses on killing the one guy who can save her daughter.

Without an ounce of explanation, she targets Dirk for staying back and not leaving an unstable hut full of children (in the middle of a dark forest) who just lost their mom. The game and attraction show that her intention isn't to help him or get him out-but she literally breaks into their home to traumatize a bunch of kids by trampling their house-their dinner- and yelling at and murdering their father right in front of them. This could just be a ploy to just get rid of him while Mordroc is executing the other half of the plan (Okay-you can also say that the majority of the villains are voiced by the same guy also as evidence, but that also extends out to the time machine so... eh? 🤷)

(Uh-yeah. The little DL lore 'expert' here; I have no idea how to explain why Mordroc's mother gave birth to a time machine, or even how a time machine gave birth to Mordroc. There's literally nothing that alludes to the time machine being once-human. Honestly I don't think he was supposed to talk originally-but then they just had to explain partially why a wizard and a guy from the 1400's can time travel. No other material seems to talk about the time machine brother. Dirk just acts like he doesn't hear it- and maybe I don't either because its literal existence makes no lick of sense)

Mmmmm. I don't know how to end this honestly because there's two endings to DL 2. One is the normal one where Dirk breaks the curse and places it on Mordroc; instantly turning him into an indistinguishable mass having to be put out of his misery. But in the directors cut I have no Idea what happens because Daphne's curse only goes as far as knocking her out and turning her purple once- and then Mordroc just screams as the ring is flung onto him. I don't know if 'Director's Cut' is the director setting the bar to how far Mordroc would go or not, but overall the first ending doesn't seem out of place or character at all. The full release even calls that ending 'Full Mordroc'-but I still have no clue what that means because it literally lessens his pay-off and motive. Maybe they didn't want him to die in the end to open for a #3-idk.

Anyways, that's about it.

Thank you so much for asking that was fun to write!!!!

Anyways, hope that was alright.

all of this said while it's easy to pretend the twins parallel, they obviously don't, and I'd sooner argue Amane has elements of Ras and Lio inside of him (though I will be real that he's very 'Lio' in his 'role' in a way)...... within the Snow White cast, there is a distinct, hmm-- there is a pervasive inhibition, between all individuals. Neige, Lio, Ras-- all are arrested from honesty, all are liars, though I would say Ras comes the closest to spilling his feelings. He hides a lot more out of 'ah, nobody cares' than anything manipulative or self-preservational, though (Lio and Neige moreso lie to protect their self-image or internal values.... or sense of control/power)

I can see how Iro-san describes it as impossible to truly write these characters flirting and making out, as much as it would be wanted.... that there can't be such a simple and easy culmination. Aida always wants fanworks that imagine closeness, too. They were designed to struggle and the game is very much designed to end with ambiguity, because Iro-san couldn't reach any conclusions about these dynamics ... I enjoy that a lot, as it's a potent springboard, which I feel is appropriate for a VN. 'Go forth and imagine what could happen!'

BUT... Tsukasa as a concept is so new and refreshing, it's incredible. ONE character who is a BASTION of indulgence, honesty, perceptive to heart's desires, unable to accept lies of others and unable to tell lies of his own. Unwilling to do anything but what he wants. Wanting to see you do what you want. Willing to wig you about it. And THIS is the one whos name implicates him as 'ruler' or 'leader'. Imperial force, LOVE, DESIRE!! TSUKASA!

a pleasure-haver who has no reservations towards desire (anymore). This is completely absent from any other works of theirs I have imbibed (though you could argue Noscia has a touch of it, she's not interwoven with the more grim aspects and is 'outside' of major conflicts, whereas Tsukasa is the CENTER of so much).... Tsukasa really feels like a brand-new dream, and.... in the context of every other work, somehow it makes so much sense this character is what comes AFTER a murder-suicide is achieved between lovers. Tsukasa exudes... "I know exactly what I'm worth to you!"

So much insecurity and resistance in Snow White or MDLD or Fox-Masked Guardian Spirit, so much "ah... aren't you better off, somewhere else?" .... I'm glad Tsukasa won't let Amane get away with that thinking. It's good there is someone who knows the little resisting force that deeply. Though Lily deserves credit for doing her best, in her narrative. It just ends before we can see where it developes to. JSHK really goes... 'farther'.

Tsukasa so lucky to have the sort of narrative where he can come out the other end after experiencing the force.... and then do some fate-directing.

The Tsukasa before the shinjuu though, I'm more interested in than ever, and he may surprise us in his.... problems...!

So anyway. Tsukasa really excites me as a 'new' agent in Iro-san's little mind. How on earth did you come up with this??? Is this what someone suchas Lily or Ras could become, if only given the extended narrative, and all the gritty details of how insane their other half is for them? Ahh, it's so easy to see how it would be like... mania-inducing... haha.

There Came an Echo

In Season 2, there's a melancholy, relaxing song that plays in three different scenes: In S2E2 with Will/Mike's Crazy Together scene, then leading into Jonathan tucking Nancy into bed, and then again in S2E7 when Eleven and Kali are just meeting.

It's called Outside the Realm, and it's from a 2015 video game called There Came an Echo. Synopsis information isn't easily available online, but I just watched a playthrough of this game and wanted to summarize the bits that felt relevant both as context to this song and potentially implications to Stranger Things. While this post won't be a total synopsis of the game, spoilers are ahead (enough to ruin pretty much most of the interesting bits of the game) so be warned.

The Game

So again, this isn't a full synopsis, it's just the bits that I think are interesting or could relate to Stranger Things.

Basically the game revolves around this futuristic technology which is capable of capturing someone's brain state in detail and then at a later time reconstructing it (think 3D printing a brain into a body in the right configuration) such that the resulting clone believes it's the same person that was scanned. So effectively, it's technology that supports save/restore points in consciousness.

An organization in-game develops this technology and then uses it (first just through simulation) to raise a child with the perfect upbringing - whenever anything goes wrong, they just save/restore until it goes right. The end result (which they do 3D print into a body) is this super genius.

Unfortunately, unbeknownst to everyone, they're living inside a massive simulation ("The Realm" of the song's title) and simulating this level of intelligence unchecked would cause such a massive power drain that the simulation would have to be shut down. So some outside forces basically ruin that person's life to reduce the energy drain (saving the other life forms in the simulation from shutting it down).

At some point they escape the simulation and meet the steward of it, who is a creature from some ancient civilization which, filled with existential dread, has basically created lots of simulations to try to bring about other intelligences and add meaning to their world. The creature is kind but fair, and basically a goddess from their perspective. The song plays when they're outside the simulation interacting with this creature.

Finally, the game flirts with religious topics (and honestly, not very intelligently in some ways - it was pretty offensive towards atheists in particular). It dealt a bit with souls, because of course that's the question with this new technology: is the clone lesser because it (the characters assume) doesn't have a soul?

...

Possible Ties to Stranger Things

Honestly, I mostly don't think the game ties in much here, unless I'm missing something. There was however one line in the game that jumped out at me in big, bold letters:

"You can copy her cells, her brainwaves, but she isn't the same. She's just... an echo." - Grace, There Came an Echo

When the characters learn that one of them was this super genius that was 3D printed after being cloned over and over, a couple of them aren't too impressed. Several characters don't think that the clone is the "same" as the restored creature, that it's worth less (because of it lacking a soul seems to be the reasoning behind it).

This is especially interesting to me because even before I got why the game was titled "There Came an Echo", I was thinking that "echo" is a perfect way to describe how I see Eleven's sometimes empty-feeling imitation of others. Like there's something missing there, like she's constrained to produce only what she hears (like a Kenku), in a way that I don't think is simply because of her overly restricted upbringing (though I totally accept I could be wrong, it just feels like a hint).

Then combining it with my theory that Eleven came from the Upside Down, that she potentially died in the water tank, and her psychic reflection became real by passing through the Gate just like the Demogorgon, completely fits with the theme of this game. The version of Eleven we know best clearly has the memories of the Eleven from the tank, but I'm suspecting it's a copy, and isn't completely the same. That the quote above directly fits Eleven.

I guess time will tell...

...

Usage of Beyond the Realm

I don't however see a tie between the video game and the meaning of the song they used in the show. Perhaps Kali is closest to tying into it - the goddess's name is Iris in the game, and right when the song starts in S2E7, Kali's imaginary butterfly cycles through the colors of the rainbow on its wings (yet another rainbow appearance in Stranger Things). But that's only 1 of the 3 times the song was used, and evidently not the usage the show cared most about:

https://www.pcgamer.com/au/stranger-things-season-two-features-a-song-from-this-voice-controlled-indie-strategy-game/

"It's funny because the show is developed under a code name and while the description of the usage is in the contract, it's really super vague, so even with 'context' I didn't really know anything.  Stuff like 'two friends are talking and comfort each other.' So you can imagine how thrilled I was when I learned that the mystery show was actually Stranger Things 2."

If I were to summarize what the three scenes have in common, it seems to be about like someone's missing half. There's also a longing there I think. And there's ambiguity (in this context alone) with Byler vs Mileven there, because the song kicks on when Mike is speaking about Eleven.

Pragmatic Lucidity

So what are some practical methods for exploring lucidity. Some of you have said that you have attempted to investigate some of the practices I have advocated, using methods I have supported, but to no avail. What happened?

That's probably because you are attempting to utilize those practices with the wrong application. These are not endeavors that are put towards gaining knowledge. We use these practices to try and make a breakthrough in lucidity. And that's no easy realization. Mainly, the practices are an attempt to gradually decrease the attention from being stuck to the illusion. And that's difficult, because the attention is very easily pulled by the details of illusion. And whenever we loosen that adhesion, the details come at a stronger intensity; to test the detachment, and also attempt to nullify it.

Illusion is provocative. It constantly lures for desire. It wants and loves attention, and will fight to keep it, but, oddly enough, is turned off by attachment, and will trounce all over the desperate. Kinda strange isn't it? It loves attention, and even loves walking all over the desperate, but what it doesn't dig: is waning attention. It wants to attract the indifferent, and cocoon and destroy the invested. Only when the invested begin to try and break free from the prison of illusion will it then return to provoke once again, in an attempt to delude and dissuade you.

So why is any of this important?

Well, it's important because lucidity depends on what the center of attention is focused on. Focusing the attention on the seen, fosters delusion. Focusing the attention on the seeing, fosters lucidity. There's not any facet of the seen that will lead to clarity of mind. This is something key to remember. There's not any aspect of the seen that is conducive to lucidity. Just know that everything in the perceivables is going to constantly try and distract you from the fact that this reality is a creation of the mind. Not the brain, not YOUR mind, but THE mind.

So practices related to refocusing the attention from perceptibles, to the awareness itself, is what facilitates lucidity. Questions arising from the brain about the implications of such an endeavor, only serve to keep you bogged down; another pitfall of illusion. Never mind thinking about what happens to the extrinsic once the realization is made. That's the kind of thinking that keeps the attention trapped on illusion. Realizing full lucidity doesn't mean existence vanishes. It doesn't mean other people become one with you, or that the universe unravels in a domino effect. This kind of thinking is rooted in the illusory premise.

Lucidity, put in a more pragmatic way, just means that awareness becomes aware of itself, aware that it is the source of the projected reality. And this can only be accomplished through refocusing the attention, which is a break from it's conditioning. So this is why it is called unlearning, and why the acquisition of knowledge won't get the job done.

So then comes another common question: what do I do once I become lucid? And again, it's a query postulated from a delusional standpoint. What do you do? What you? What do? You's and doings are only applicable to non-lucidity. There's nothing to do at that point, because what's the point? There is no longer any point. Points are points due to illusion.

Illusion doesn't relent easily. Lucidity isn't an all or nothing game. It's very gradual and entails several depths of breakthroughs. So, in a sense, there is such a thing as half assed lucidity. Actually, the half assed lucidity can be the most enjoyable trials of the journey. There's no rush. Let it come smoothly in increments.

Now what about the plethora of teachers, gurus, and Mystics who have claimed to have awoken?Can any of these people help you in your attempts to realize lucidity?

Remember: Anyone can claim anything. Doesn't make it true. But there's no way to fake it. You can more often tell if they are full of shit if you have had some progress in lucidity. But for the uninitiated, it can be difficult to discern and this can easily lead one to further missteps into delusion. So until you have gone through some empirical undertakings with lucidity, a general rule of thumb is to avoid guides who reference the development of any inventory item as having significance to enlightenment, and your body and brain are included as inventory items. These guides mean well, but know not what they do. I wouldn't say they have malicious motives. They are just not lucid yet, so they are caught up on offering help that is generally concerned with self improvement.. that is, the development of your character and your character stats.

And this of course brings up another question: is there anyone out there that deliberately tries to lead people into delusion with malevolent intent? No, not deliberately. It's a result of a conditioning, and all matters of power obtained within an illusion come from a foundation of unrealized delusion. Power over others is very similar to the idea of self improvement. It stems from a false self identification. There are no so called anyones, "out there". Any anyone out there is only anyone out there because of awareness fixating attention on them. With lucidity comes accepting responsibility for all projections and accepting them unconditionally.

Nothing can enslave you but your own unguided attention. A slave grip is a condition which keeps attention focused on phenomenon, and thinking of the phenomenon as extrinsic. This is the way to self disempowerment. It isn't the case that there are OTHERS who are employing tactics to enslave you, no. The intent is the intent of illusion itself. This is the nature of illusion. It isn't a weapon wielded by a dream character. Everything is part of the dream except awareness itself.

“Wait. Everything?"

Anything on the seen side, yes. Not the seeing itself. So you, the character, the physical body, the ego, the persona, yes. Illusion.

"But what's seeing other than me? That’s what I can't see."

What's seeing doesn't look like anything. The mistake is misidentifying this "me", with this illusory character.

“But isn't my awareness tethered to what you call the illusory self?"

Not really. Death shows you that. It's a temporary identification of awareness. It's just an association.

“But what about the awareness of other people around me, and all the past and future people? Is their awareness illusion? Are these people fake?”

There's only one awareness that you need attend to, and that's the awareness that you are aware of. From that center of seeing, reality is projected and it's the same for any awareness. Awareness is always whole, always one. A multitude of subjects isn't an indication of separateness or independent existence. It's an indication of illusion. It's like, if you poured 19 cups of water, none of the water in any of those cups is distinguished. Only when the water self identifies as a ‘cup’, does the trouble arise.

You are awareness, not a perceptible. You are every awareness that ever was, or ever will be. Through the "universal mind", aka the collective subconscious, you could access experiences from ANY life. Physicality and time are elements that fool you. Time is illusion. Physicality is illusion. There's only one time. Now. Past and the future are right now. But thinking of things like this: past lives, future lives, time; this is all the trappings of illusion. There is no past or future in a dream. And there is no "other" to need worry about. You could be any number of personas, but none of them are a true self. No persona is the self.

The always so, is always so. Mixing it up, matching it, breaking it into pieces, masking it, making it whole again, doesn't make it otherwise. You can really look at "other people" as different aspects of yourself, projected outwards. That's why unconditional acceptance is key to self recognition. Unconditional acceptance doesn't mean agreeing to accept an "other", as is. It means accepting responsibility of the totality, as it is, as the self. This helps with lucidity. If you are everything, then there is nothing that isn't you, thereby you lose distinction. This is why you don't actually exist. This is where you get close to seeing pure potential. The mind trick that's fooling you is forgetting reality is a creative mental projection and then being at the mercy of an undirected fate of ignorance.

ThunderCats Roar - “Mandora - The Evil Chaser”

Co-Executive Producer: Victor Courtright

Supervising Producer: Nate Cash

Producer: Marly Halpern-Graser

Written by: Joan Ford

Teleplay by: Cait Raft

Directed by: George Kaprielian

MAN-DOOO-RAAAAAA!

The episode begins with Snarf and Lion-O catching butterflies in jars. Being the Lord of the ThunderCats, he knows very well that the act of catching butterflies requires the best of stealth, as he perfectly shows off.

Lion-O: Be careful, Snarf! Butterflies scare easy, so we have to be super-duper-duper quiet. (yelling) Ooh, butterflies, HOOOO!

See, the joke is that he's doing the exact opposite of what he said he was going to do. This is going to be a constant through the first half of the episode.

This act of butterfly catching gets interrupted when a huge pod lands on Earth, with voices calling out to pull the lever. Obviously, that must mean they were just scared little voices that just needed his help.

Lion-O: Scary voices, definitely scary voices...

Or, he can acknowledge that the voices are scary. He decides not to open the cage and let out all of the scary voices, and the rest of the episode is about him catching butterflies. No, of course not, the plot wouldn't advance if Lion-O didn't let all of those scary voices out by pulling a lever because those scary voices really wanted him to do that. As one of the space criminals tells him "thanks, hot stuff", he just waves his hand and says "you're welcoooome!" in a sing-song voice despite being literally steamrolled over by one of them.

But hey, maybe it was a mistake, and those people with the scary voices were just nice people that were mistakenly put in a jail cell. One person certainly doesn't agree, as that person makes a dramatic entrance on a flying motorcycle.

As the cool motorcycle person on the cool motorcycle makes a cool motorcycle landing, Lion-O widens his eyes so hard that it becomes 80% of his face. I didn't really want to screenshot that, so here's a screenshot of our titular character-of-the-week: Mandora, the evil chaser, a character from the original cartoon. In fact, this plot is actually a parody of her first episode, also named "Mandora The Evil Chaser", which also features the original Lion-O ignoring obvious danger signs and let loose a bunch of criminals from a prison pod. Being Roar, this is exaggerated for comedic effect, and they decide not to reference "curiosity killed the cat" here.

This exaggeration also applies to Mandora, who was a no-nonsense cop in the original. Roar turns her into a super serious cop with a scowl not too dissimilar to Judge Dredd. As Lion-O criticizes her way of showing her badge with her picture upside down, Mandora makes the correct assumption that this bumbling lion is behind the prison break and arrests him. Snarf brings out his weapons, including a chainsaw, and we can only wonder what would have happened if there wasn't a prime directive against fighting interplanetary cops.

Lion-O tries to defend himself from these accusations by saying he's an evil chaser too, bringing up that fights these guys called the Mutants that are 100% evil. As another space criminal runs out of the jail cell, Lion-O, still handcuffed, hops right on top of him. The criminal does explain that his only crime was tax evasion, and Lion-O considers letting him go because his crime was so minor, but Mandora tells him that getting in the way of streets getting funded.

Despite his unwillingness to capture that crook, his help with capturing that tax evader does convince Mandora that he's on the side of righteousness, though she does consider him an oaf.

Zooming into his very tiny brain reveals that he thinks "oaf" is an acronym for "officially awesome friend", and is overjoyed by the compliment. Mandora then gives him a badge, declaring him a "deputy oaf". She had that badge ready this whole time; it's possible this is a common occurrence for her. Considering the general silliness of everyone not named Tygra in this reboot, that's not too hard to believe.

In order to Mandora to not change her mind on how heroic he is, Lion-O has to prove his status as the deputy oaf by capturing all of those criminals he let free. I would say accidentally, but he called them "scary voices" and let them free anyway.

As Mandora and the oaf zoom past by on her bike, we see Molly Lava, the space criminal that called Lion-O "hot stuff", hiding behind a bush. Other than her possible attraction to Lion-O, which only seems to come up twice in this episode, she just looks like a tiny little rock monster that doesn't seem like much of a threat. This means that most of the episode is going to be about capturing this particular criminal. In fact, all of the other criminals are caught rather easily. How?

With a montage, of course, complete with a song that exposes the might that is Mandora. The action scenes do prove that, with Mandora swatting giant flies with giant flyswatters, zapping lake polluters clean, and fighting people with laser whips. It's pretty cool, and a good contrast to how little Lion-O helps out in this montage.

Sure, Lion-O does help out slightly in a few of the scenes, but for the most part, it's just him looking at Mandora in awe of her abilities and dancing various dances. Yes, this does include doing the Booty Scooty at the camera, but I feel like it's less offensive when he did it than when a certain other group of superheroes did it. For starters, I think Lion-O is supposed to be an adult here. Well, maybe. They could de-retcon that in the future.

After the montage, Mandora does at least show appreciation for Lion-O for making her job marginally easier, and that is actually an accomplishment. Definitely a back-handed compliment, though not an undeserved one, but Lion-O takes it with pride anyway.

Something has to ruin this somehow, and it's not just because he missed that one villain. One of the criminals informs Lion-O that he shouldn't take pride in being called an oaf, and asks him if it even knows what it means. After getting what looks like a Speak N Spell from Snarf, he finds out he's been called an uneducated, clumsy person. It's not wrong, but don't tell Lion-O that.

Mandora finds out she hasn't caught Molly Lava yet, and Lion-O suggests that it would be easy to catch that cute little thing. As anyone could predict, that little cute thing is the worst criminal of them all. It would be even more cliche if she decided to call her "the destroyer of worlds"...which is exactly what she does.

Because of his newfound knowledge of what an oaf is, Lion-O offers that if he captures the cute little thing, maybe Mandora can consider him something that isn't an oaf. As Mandora tries to explain that a deputy oaf couldn't possibly defeat the destroyer of worlds, Lion-O decides to commit grand theft cool motorcycle. But hey, maybe he might be able to capture that small little rock before she leaps into a volcano and become a monster worthy of being called a destroyer of worlds. That could totally make up for that!

Unfortunately for that handsome guy, Molly Lava ends up diving into that volcano. Worst of all, Mandora shows up and realizes what the oaf has indirectly done by not letting her use her own bike.

Lion-O tries to defeat Molly Lava at her full power in, I'm not going to lie, a really impressively animated and creative fight scene. Not only is he trying to show his heroism, he also wants to look good in front of his new idol. I also like the call back to the fight in Exodus, as he repeatedly makes his sword bigger as he realizes he needs more power to defeat her with his strategy of cutting those lava arms off of the lava monster. Sadly, he doesn't seem to realize cutting off Molly Lava's arms isn't doing anything.

Exclaiming himself as Lord of the ThunderCats and King of All Thunderians, Lion-O leaps right at the giant monster's mouth, getting ready to swing his sword right into the monster. Well, something went right into the monster. Or, rather, someone.

It's here where Mandora seemingly has a change of heart on that oaf. Mandora may have only seen him as an oaf, and he pretty much was an oaf, but in her heart, she knew he wasn't lying about being a king. A king that would sacrifice himself for his people, and, while he was a dummy, he was a very brave and apparently regal dummy. A lot of emphasis is put on the king part, as if to soften what is a complete 180 on her character.

She exclaims that she would shed a tear for this sacrifice, but she knows she can't cry when she's on duty. She then takes out her time card and swipes it so that she can go on a break. Or, in this case, a "cry time." Was this really a good time for a joke? Well, anyone could assume Lion-O would still be alive since the show would have to end prematurely, so it's not like we need to take this super seriously. Still, I'd say it works.

To avenge the fallen king, Mandora gets ready to fight, her music playing as if she's about to do something really cool. This all changes when Molly Lava starts getting a big bump on her head, as if someone was coming out from the inside.

Unfortunately for the people who judged this show as horrendous because of that teaser and that Teen Titans Go crossover that the ThunderCats Roar team had nothing to do with, it turns out Lion-O is okay, spinning his sword like a propeller right out of Molly Lava's gigantic lava body, with Molly Lava herself in tow.

In the end, thanks to his bravery, the deputy oaf gets promoted to officer oaf by Mandora. As she slowly walks towards Lion-O and stretches her arms out around Lion-O, he also gets something else, too...

...for grand theft flying motorcycle, hey, I wasn't too far off, he gets a mugshot. Lion-O is still smiling at this, though, because nothing phases him now, not even when Mandora spells his name wrong. One can't forget that all important hyphen.

How does it stack up?

At first, I thought this was going to be yet another Boggy Ben, where the animation is awesome, the music is awesome, but everything else is just "lol Lion-O is stupid" humor. This one also has some great animation and a pretty cool song, and I think the plot works pretty well.

This is as good as Prank Call, and I gave that a 5, so...

Next, Lion-O has to save the ocean.

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