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#i feel like characters when they appear in movies are sometimes a mash up of two characters rather than just staying true to one??

1moreff-creator · 8 months

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A Summary of the Levi!Accomplice Theory + How We Got Here (DRDT CH2)

Hey there! So a while ago I made a post about the CH 2 murder method, but I missed some pretty crucial information. You might know me and @thebadjoe had a pretty long thread back and forth talking about the murder, which lead to me reworking a lot of the original theory. However, that thread is extremely long and frankly quite confusing to read, so I thought it would be good to summarize what the final theory actually looks like in a separate post. This was sorta inspired by thebadjoe making a similar post about his own theory (which is Eden working alone, but disguising herself as Arei at one point), which I absolutely recommend you read as it’s probably one of the best DRDT-related posts I’ve seen on Tumblr.

If you’re here simply for a summary of the Levi!Accomplice Eden!Culprit theory, then simply skip to the Closing Argument of this post. You should be able to understand it on its own. However, I think it would also be nice to explain how I reached the conclusions I did, which is what the start of the post will be. Othersie I'm gonna look completely unhinged, and that's not good, I'm only kinda unhinged! If you’re interested, then I hope you enjoy!

CW: Murder, betrayal (Eden!Culprit), hanging (including geometric depictions), suicidal thoughts, one mention of self harm.

(Also, the Ace almost-murder won’t really be touched on much here, but there is a thread where me, venus-is-thinking, accirax and thebadjoe all went crazy trying to explain the blood on the wires. It��s about as difficult to follow as the other one, but eh)

The First Step Into Madness

(This part goes over a bit of the same from my OG post, which is why it sorta ignores other theories. There may be some assumptions made which are not necessarily true under other theories. Feel free to skip this if you read the first post and don’t need a refresher)

It all started when I made the original post where I discussed the murder method. I was left very intrigued after watching DRDT for the first time, so I wanted to see if there was some way to figure out how the murder was carried out, and to see if that pointed to any culprit.

-The first thing to note is that EP 11 cuts off when Charles is about to confront David on something related to the time of death, based on when he cuts in. This would imply the murder did not happen the night of the third day as the characters had assumed. Seeing as Arei was last seen at noon of that third day and I wasn’t aware of disguise theory, I figured the murder actually happened at 7:30 AM the morning of the day of the investigation, which I still believe. The fish could have been simply taken before nighttime and kept in the water jugs.

-What this means is that the culprit had time to set up an elaborate murder mechanism overnight, which is what the rest of the evidence around the crime scene would appear to imply.

-One of the reasons to believe a mechanism was involved is the flickering light of the playground. For a while, I genuinely had no idea how the hell that would happen. Even if there was a secret passage from the Movie Screening Room, proving that in trial would be nigh impossible.

-However, sometimes to solve a mystery, all you gotta do is mash random things together until something sorta looks like it fits. And what was a thing I didn’t know how to place? The ball of clothes.

-The idea here is to attach the rope to the ball of clothes and throw it over the railing, that way you can get the rope to go over there without having to get up there yourself. On the way up, the clothes would hit the light and displace the lightbulb, causing it to flicker.

-But why would you need rope over the railing? Well, if you were interested in creating a pulley system to make something go high into the air, you would need the rope there. And a pulley system is the first thing I thought of when I saw the spinny thing had tape on it, and thus was likely involved. This is what I envisioned.

Note how the rope is first looped between the handlebars to make sure it actually does the thing it’s supposed to. There may be other ways to set up the pulley, but the important thing is, a pulley was likely involved.

-So we got a pulley, but what are we pulleying? Presumably Arei, getting her higher up so her neck could snap instantly when she dropped down. As Veronika stated, her neck wouldn’t have snapped unless she weighed more or she dropped from higher up.

-Unless she weighed more, huh? That’s an interesting thing to specify. How would she weigh more? Unless, there was something which weighed her down.

-One thing which always struck me as odd about the water jugs is how oddly the handles are snapped.

-After thinking about how that could have happened, I realized maybe they had been snapped due to the action of rope. If you tie rope around the handles and pull hard, they would snap just like that.

-And what’s the deal with that? As I said, perhaps Arei was weighed down by something. And here is the answer. Since we know there were two pieces of rope (one found around Arei’s neck and a longer piece under the spinny thing), I believed the jugs were attached to her via rope to weigh her down.

-That way, the culprit could further ensure Arei’s neck would snap once she fell and the pulley system was stopped.

-Because yes, the culprit would need to stop the pulley system from spinning back all the way, otherwise Arei would just fall to the floor. And since her broken neck is the only injury apart from red marks on her wrist, that clearly didn’t happen.

-And my answer for that… was frankly just brute forcing it and stopping it by hand. See, I was sorta coming in after watching a cool video by Ocean Unknown, and I was already kinda thinking Levi was probably the culprit, which is why this feat of strength didn’t seem too insane for me. In retrospect, I may have been underestimating the strength required to do that.

-Anyways, the rest isn’t too hard to figure out. Make the note, ambush Arei when she arrived at the playground, with the ensuing struggle resulting in the scuffed floor, put tape on her wrists, put the noose around her neck, pulley, let her fall a bit and stop her so her neck snaps, prop her up so the murder looks vaguely like a suicide, throw some stuff in the trash, profit. You may have noticed I didn’t talk about the fact Arei doesn’t have her glove in the BDA, because… well, frankly I just hadn’t noticed that at the time. The fish are to confuse the time of death, and the tape was likely taken from the gym and used to have a better grip on the spinny thing as the culprit spun it.

…

The tape was taken from the gym?

The Curious Case of the Tape Thief

(Or: BY GOD IT’S THEBADJOE WITH A STEEL CHAIR! /lh)

So, what you may have noticed is that the method I came up with doesn’t really point to anyone in particular, but there’s a detail I hadn’t noticed when I first made that post. The time the tape was taken.

Thebadjoe had already pointed it out on his blog, and was kind enough to reblog my own post with this information. Turns out, he realized that in Ep 6, at around the time Ace wakes up, the roll of the tape previously on the floor disappears from the background. Which means it was taken by someone who was at the gym at that point.

Now, you might be wondering if maybe that’s just an animation error. After all, it’s not like this is evidence that can be brought up in the trial.

Except, it can be deduced. With lockdown logic. Let’s look at the facts:

-The tape was on the floor after Nico leaves the gym.

-The last people in the gym before the lockdown begun were Teruko, Ace and Eden.

-No one but MonoTV could enter the gym during the lockdown.

-Rose and Teruko are the first people to enter the gym after the lockdown, stated explicitly by MonoTV.

-But by the time Rose and Teruko are there, the tape has disappeared. And there is special attention brought to the fact the tape’s disappeared.

So the tape couldn’t have disappeared during the lockdown (unless MonoTV took it out, but why would it do that), and it can’t have been taken after since Rose and Teruko were the first people there after it ended. Since that roll of tape was still on the floor when Nico left, that means the tape disappeared when only Teruko, Ace and Eden were in the gym.

Teruko couldn’t have taken it, protag privilege.

I’ve seen Ace thrown out as a possibility, but it just doesn’t really work. Teruko was inspecting his body right before he wakes up, and she never has a reason to look away after he wakes up. She never saw him pick up the tape, though, so it seems unlikely he did. Not to mention the lack of blood on the tape when Ace had blood on his hands the whole time, or the general weirdness of him taking the tape and, like, pocketing it in the first place. Why would he do that? If he wanted a weapon, he’d have taken the wire which was nearby, right?

So, the most logical answer is that Eden took the tape. In fact, she gets knocked down to the floor right around the time the tape disappears from the background.

So, now we ask, why did Eden take the tape? The issue is that there really is no reason for her to do that, unless she went down to the second floor specifically with the intention of picking up the tape (and maybe some other stuff). However, she never tells Teruko she wanted to pick up the tape, which combined with the fact she takes it sneakily and without anyone noticing, would suggest she wanted it for nefarious purposes. This is where the Eden!Culprit theory comes from.

There simply is no good answer as to why she took the tape otherwise. Even other theories I’ve seen, which suggest perhaps the killer intentionally used the tape to frame Eden, can’t really explain why Eden would take it without warning in the first place.

Thus, the only issue left is… would Eden really do this? How can the nicest person in the killing game betray a friend like that? Well, it’s not as impossible as you may think.

Of Motivations And Narrative Consequence

(Or: venus and accirax come in clutch)

You may have seen this post by DRDT Tumblr’s dynamic duo of @venus-is-thinking and @accirax circulating around, and I recommend you read it if you want a full exploration of why Eden!Culprit works from a character and narrative standpoint. They explained everything way better than I ever could, so I’m not gonna dwell on it too much and just ask you do your assigned reading if you’re interested.

However, as a short summary of the main points:

-Motive: Eden is a very caring person, who has several people she’d want to return to outside of the killing game. Her family, which she speaks about with Levi in the first scene of the chapter, and possibly even the girl mentioned in her secret. The incident with Arturo could have scared her into taking more drastic action so she could go back to the real world. Note the secret quote on her page is “You can’t go back, no matter how hard you try.” She’s likely not secretly evil or anything. And the fact she kept trying to go against the killing game, but ultimately never achieved anything, could have led to her feeling completely hopeless.

-Why Arei?: Because it was the easiest option, most likely. It was implied in the ep 10 flashback that Eden may not have believed Arei when she claimed she wanted to be friends, and that she may have only realized she genuinely did during the trial. Also worth noting, they’re paired together in the CH 1 recap, which implies they’re at least important to each other’s stories.

-Wouldn’t this just prove Teruko right? And wouldn’t that be narratively redundant?: Oh, yes. It would very explicitly prove Teruko right.

Teruko: Sooner or later that kindness of yours will have you breaking down, until you’re too overwhelmed with grief to be able to act. That’s not how I plan to live.

But the thing is, Teruko has already been proven right this chapter. Even beyond all the scuffles around the secrets, you have Nico, seemingly one of the most harmless people in the killing game, admitting to trying to kill Ace; and you also have David, who almost everyone trusted and viewed as a sort of leader, being revealed as a liar and a manipulative asshole.

(Yes I know both of them are a bit more complex than that but that’s not the point.)

In fact, Teruko was explicitly right about David too. Not to mention, someone killed Arei or J if you’re inclined to believe that, which won’t exactly do wonders for trust in the group.

The point, as venus and accirax pointed out, is to show the audience how Teruko’s life usually is. Full of betrayal and misfortune. This is to set up the theme of fate and change that runs deeply through Teruko’s character, and that I’m not gonna explain here.

And while you could say Teruko doubling down on not trusting anyone would be redundant, you have to consider the rest of the group as well. While they mostly held it together after the first trial with a few exceptions, Eden being the killer, combined with everything else that happened in the chapter, would cause way more damage to the whole group’s sense of trust, leading to a very different atmosphere for chapter 3. So I don’t really think it would be redundant at all.

-What about the handwriting sample?: What about the handwriting sample? The note is in cursive, Eden writes her sample in print.

Obviously it's gonna look different. If anything, the fact she specifically writes in print could be seen as her hiding her cursive handwriting, which looks suspicious to me.

-Why help piece together the note in the first place? And why would she fight back against the idea of Arei committing suicide?: Because she would presumably want to build a narrative that she and Arei were friends, to make people trust her more. I mean, it worked, since people immediately jumped on Arturo when they first heard the full story.

-And more! Again, read the full post for more details.

So… now we circle back. Eden’s probably the killer, but what does that mean for the method?

A Method In Shambles

One of the main issues this brings to the method is Eden’s strength. She’s very weak, as has been established in both the most recent QnA and in the series itself (see: arm-wrestling scene, where Arei specifically excludes Eden for being weak). She wouldn’t be able to pull Arei + water jugs up with the pulley system herself.

…Or maybe she could? But it would be very tight, and I think we’re not supposed to pull out the physics and calculators to figure out it would only be the equivalent of lifting like thirty pounds as accirax implied in one line of this really good post. Point is, it doesn’t look like she could, which is more important imo.

Even then, it would also be really difficult for Eden to prop up the body like we see in the BDA.

Speaking of BDA, that’s another issue. The BDA rule states it takes “three people who did not witness the murder” to see the body before the announcement plays. So how did it play after only Whit, Teruko and Eden had found it? Surely Eden as the killer would count as a witness with the method I established earlier.

But the biggest issue for Eden!Culprit are actually the fish. Because while Eden doesn’t have an alibi for the time of death, she does have an alibi for the time of the fish’s disappearance. Think about it: Nico fed them presumably at around 7:00 PM, since they later see David going down at around 7:30, and 7:00 is likely the time when communal dinner ended as it’s also the time Eden and Hu begun washing the dishes together. We know from Nico the fish were still all there by the time Eden’s alibi with Hu begins.

And that alibi lasts all the way until nighttime, when the relax room locks down for the night. And it doesn’t open again until after the murder was supposedly committed at 7:30 AM. So Eden couldn’t have taken it the morning after.

The fish in particular are an issue for Eden!Culprit, because while everything else is odd, this particular thing makes it impossible for Eden herself to have set up the crime scene as we see it. And unless Ace is lying for no good reason, Arei was still alive the night of the third day, so it likely wasn’t set up by anyone uninvolved in the murder.

In the end, although Eden feels like she should be the culprit, she couldn’t have done everything alone.

…

She couldn’t have done everything… alone.

…

The Rise of the Accomplice

Eden is a very trusting, very sociable person. So if there are things in the crime scene she couldn’t have done alone, is it unbelievable to assume she may have had an accomplice?

Let’s ignore the “who” for now and see if this idea holds up. The accomplice would be in charge of taking the fish out of the relax room during nighttime, a tactic to confuse the time of death and give Eden a fake alibi. They would also be in charge of overpowering Arei when she first arrived at the playground.

After pinning her down, wrapping her wrists with tape and possibly her legs too if needed (there were two pieces of tape in the trash, when strictly speaking you would only need one for the wrists. Arei has long socks, so marks wouldn’t be visible on her legs), the accomplice would also be in charge of lifting up Arei into the sky. The exact logistics of how the accomplice would go about this are a bit awkward (they would probably have to run quite fast to the spinny thing so Arei doesn’t get a chance to stand up and try something), but I don’t think it’s outright impossible.

Now, here’s where the trick comes in. Since Eden was the one who likely planned the murder (she had been preparing since Night 2, after all), the goal would be to make her the blackened. Here’s how I think that would be done.

The accomplice would hand off the spinny thing to Eden once Arei was high up enough, and Eden would be the one to let go off the carousel so Arei’s neck breaks. But how does it stop?

Well, you remember the second, shorter piece of rope, which I had originally said would be for the water jugs? Instead of that, they would use it as a stopper rope. The idea is to attach one end to the swing set near the spinny thing, but leave the other end by itself. Then, once Arei was high in the air, one of the two culprits (let’s say Eden) would tie the unused end to the spinny thing. That way, when they let Arei fall, the shorter rope would tense before she went all the way to the floor (you can make sure this happens by using a lot of the rope on the knot on the swing set), and stop the carousel abruptly mid fall. This is what would cause Arei’s neck to snap.

(Ignore the text)

This means the water jugs would need to be attached to Arei in some other way. Possibly by making the noose in such a way that you have rope to spare and you can put the jugs there?

Looks a bit wonky, but I think it can work! Or, at least, Eden could conceivably think it would help, which is all that’s technically necessary.

If you’re not convinced, there could also be a third, extremely short piece of rope being kept in Eden’s fanny pack which was used to put the jugs at Arei’s feet. I don’t quite like this answer too much, since it relies on evidence we don’t have (Russel’s Teapot and all that), but it’s there.

——————————————————————————————————

Surprise! Alternative Method Bonanza!

So you remember how thebadjoe has a really good theory on the murder which is Eden!Solo? That means he has a different method for the murder mechanism itself, as Eden sort of can’t do my method herself.

And I am gonna steal it! Like a thief!

Essentially, if you’re not convinced by the hanging method, you can instead copy and paste joe’s method to my accomplice theory, with a few modifications.

Joe’s method takes my idea of a stopper rope, but instead of attaching one end to the swing set, it’s attached to Arei’s neck. The pulley system is instead used to pull up only the water jugs, the rope attached to their handles, which Eden should be able to do herself. The idea is that, after pulling the water jugs up and attaching the shorter rope to Arei’s neck, when you let them fall, if Arei’s neck is secured in place, when the stopper tenses, it will snap her neck.

Now, in his method that involves knocking out Arei with turpentine (long story) and securing her with tape, but with the accomplice idea, and since I don’t think Eden has turpentine, it may be better for the accomplice to just hold down Arei’s body themself. Though that runs into the issue of “why put tape on her wrists then”, which isn’t a method with joe’s original method and rather an issue of translation to the accomplice idea.

Because of that, and because there’s a particular thing I’ll talk about in a moment, I think my method is still slightly more plausible for the accomplice idea, which is why I won’t bring this up again, but I did want to point out that it’s technically a possibility.

——————————————————————————————————

Any other changes? Yes, actually.

-You remember the starch on the ball of clothes? Well, joe suggested it may come from the enriched formula used in the relax room, as starch is often used to stimulate plant growth or something along those lines. Meaning the clothes spent a night inside the relax room. I agree with this, as I have no idea why starch would be there otherwise.

The question now is when the clothes spent the night. It can’t be Night 3, as Arei died before the relax room opened again at 8:00 AmM. So it would have to be in the second night. And where was Eden that night?

Eden: I noticed you didn’t take any of your new clothes, so I was going to deliver them to you!

Ah, right. On the second floor. In the dress-up room. Totally not suspicious behavior.

Basically, I think Eden went to the second floor to put the clothes in the relax room and pick up the tape, but once nighttime begun, she realized Ace was still in the gym, and decided to wait it out so as to not be spotted in a suspicious place. Unfortunately for her, Ace was busy getting murdered by Nico, so she ended up getting caught by Teruko, and had to course correct.

But why would she need the ball of clothes? Couldn’t she have just grabbed, like, anything else to throw over the railing?

Well… yeah, but. It may have been hard for her to find anything more convenient than the ball of clothes. I’ve seen the roll of tape suggested, but the rope may not have been able to fit through the hole in the middle. Maybe yes, maybe no, depending on what’s most convenient for your theory. That’s not sarcasm, it’s just that there’s no good way of checking how big the hole is.

Throwing a ball of clothes would be a lot easier than throwing a lot of other things. Maybe it’s a bit weird, but I don’t find it completely unbelievable that Eden considered it the best option.

-To make the whole ordeal easier, it would be best to make sure the “noose” end of the longer rope dangles from the railing over the seesaw, closer to the entrance, so they don’t have to move Arei around too much. They could easily do this by just throwing the ball of clothes around a couple of times.

-The BDA is an issue, since the accomplice would also be a “witness” and thus not count. But this can be solved quite simply. For one, there could be a loophole where if Eden just looks away when Arei’s neck breaks, then she’s not a “witness” and she counts. If that sounds too stupid, there’s another answer. To make absolutely sure Eden would be counted as the blackened, the accomplice would leave the room entirely while Eden holds Arei up in the air. That way, the moment they enter again, they would see the corpse without being a “witness” to the murder, and so they count. Add to the accomplice/Eden the view of Whit and Teruko, and you have the three you need for the BDA.

-That’s also my answer to why Eden shouts “Teruko, wait!” right before Teruko opens the door to the playground. Logically, she knew the BDA would play, which is why she didn’t act nervous when Teruko first offered to search in a group of three, but she second-guessed herself right before they got there. I’m sure we’ve all had an experience like that before, where logically we know one thing will happen, but we still get nervous right before the thing happens because we’re worried it might go wrong.

-The Achilles Heel of this theory is the missing bowling glove from Arei’s left hand. I have exactly one explanation for it, and it’s kinda stupid. Essentially, I believe the accomplice took the glove for themselves, to reveal it during the trial if people start accusing Eden. The idea would be that showing people that glove should hopefully get them to vote for the accomplice without thinking about it too much, but since Eden is the real blackened, they would lose and Eden would escape.

Imagine a big reveal, with a little animation like David’s “guilty as charged”, where the accomplice takes out the glove from their pocket and they say “I killed Arei” or something. That’s kinda what I’m envisioning.

So… that’s basically the method. And now, we have to answer the age old question:

but, like, why though

And this, this is the question that makes me believe the accomplice idea more than any other. Because it gives a proper reason for why the method had to be so complicated.

See, there is one fundamental contradiction in the evidence we see, one which has to be solved in some way. Arei’s wrists were bound, but given the rest of the evidence, there was a mechanism involved in her murder.

Why is that an issue? Because if you bind her wrists, then there is no reason not to just kill her in a much easier, simpler way. And there’s no reason to bind her wrists after killing her, either. So why would the killer go through all this trouble?

demodraws0606 (not sure they’d want to be tagged) suggested in this post, under Levi!Culprit, that maybe Levi was trying to frame Eden, and to do that, he had to make sure the BDA wouldn’t rule her out. And while that’s a really good post and a pretty interesting idea, the main issue with the plan of framing Eden in general are the fish. Levi maybe wouldn’t know for sure whether or not Eden would have an alibi, but just in case, it would be much safer to just fill the water jugs with water from a sink or something. The fish could only ever exclude Eden, never incriminate her.

Joe’s method assumes Eden simply used a complex method to distance herself from the murder in a way. Working on mechanisms would calm her as a clockmaker, so she feels more comfortable with murder if she can do it with a mechanism. This is cool, and while I personally think it’s a bit underwhelming, it could work. But it only works if Eden!Solo works, and then you have to explain the fish again. Joe says David brought them there, but, I don’t agree. Doesn’t mean it’s wrong, obviously, just that I personally don’t see it given what we have. I think David genuinely thinks Arei committed suicide because of him.

David: Of course. Of course this would happen.

So, yeah.

And because the why is so hard to explain, I think it’s important to explain it. And wouldn’t you guess it, my method does explain it.

It goes back to the origin of the accomplice idea. Eden couldn’t have done this on her own.

Let’s be clear; an accomplice is a huge leap in logic. One that I feel comfortable making given everything, but one which would take the characters a while to figure out. One which they may reject in principle. There’s no benefit for an accomplice after all, right?

I’ll address that in a moment, but let’s get back to the main point. Eden couldn’t have done this on her own, and because of that, the method in itself is an alibi for her.

Think about it. Because she is clearly not strong enough to lift Arei up into the air (or at least, that’s what it looks like), what happens if someone starts pointing fingers at Eden? Well, all she has to do to absolve herself is insist they speak about the method, and guide them in the general direction of the right answer. Once they start thinking the murderer would need to be strong enough to pull Arei + water jugs up into the air, they would instantly dismiss Eden as a possibility, until the idea of an accomplice is revisited.

This is, by the way, why I think the Hanging Method works better than the Neck Stopper Method under Accomplice Theory-

(ok the nomenclature is starting to get out of hand)

-, because it requires more strength to use the pulley.

But the point is the same. This method actually provides an explanation to why a mechanism was necessary when Arei’s wrists were bound. It was to give Eden a defense.

And that’s also where the fish come in. Because the most straightforward explanation for why the fish would be there would be that the killer would want to confuse the time of death. But why? The time the fish were taken is the same time frame the characters currently believe the murder happened at, so the alibis don’t change. If the killer wanted to give themselves an alibi for the supposed time of death, they would need to have an alibi for the time the fish were taken. But if they have an alibi for the time the fish were taken, they couldn’t have taken the fish!

Provided Nico is telling the truth about the fish, but I really don’t see why they’d be lying. I really doubt they’re the killer.

Thus, unless the fish somehow got there through a third party entirely (which I find unlikely, as Veronika had an alibi and no one else would really want to hide that they found a dead body for a night), it’s very possible the accomplice brought the fish to give the real killer an alibi.

So, that’s the big reason I have for believing there was an accomplice. It’s the best explanation for the fish and the motivation behind the creation of a mechanism I can find, but of course, that’s my opinion. There’s a bit more to it actually, but before we get there, we have to ask:

OMG, Who Did This?!

What we know about the accomplice for now is that they must not have an alibi for the time the fish were taken. This leaves us with Ace, Nico, Rose, Arei, Levi, and David. We can also add Hu to the list, as her only alibi is Eden, and, well.

Out of hand, I'm gonna eliminate Nico, Ace and David, as I really don't think their characters fit the accomplice idea at all, I hope you can forgive me.

I gave Arei a fair bit of thought, since narratively I could see it working, but I just don’t think it’s physically possible. One of the things which got me to believe there was an accomplice was that it would be really difficult for Eden to string up Arei’s corpse herself, and Arei wouldn’t be able to help with that on account of being dead.

So, then there three.

Was it Rose?

An interesting possibility. She was the first one to suggest looking in the trash, which helps Eden build the narrative she and Arei were friends, and she was one of the people who suggested voting for David on Ep 11, claiming she didn’t want the trial to go on any longer. However, that’s pretty circumstantial, and I don’t think there’s much else connecting her to the crime. I also don’t know how much stronger she is than Eden, but that’s neither here nor there. Overall, a possible candidate, but not extremely plausible.

Was it Hu?

Hey, have you ever thought about how weird it was that Hu and Eden never spoke during the conversation Teruko, Charles, Whit and David had right before David went to the relax room on night three? They were supposed to be cleaning up after dinner at that point, according to their alibi, so what gives?

Well, frankly, I just think they weren’t in the kitchen, but probably just cleaning in the cafeteria itself. But maybe Hu and Eden are lying!

Hu could work as an accomplice, given her caring nature and the fact she probably has the “hopeless child” secret, meaning she’s attempted suicide. Thus, she may be willing to throw away her life for Eden’s, which is the biggest obstacle for the accomplice idea.

Her secret quote could allude to it. “I want to pay for what I’ve done. But even then, I still want to live.” The issue there is… well, that could be referring to quite literally anything else, so.

I consider Hu the second likeliest candidate for accomplice because of all that, but… frankly, I still don’t see it. The way she acts during the trial doesn’t suggest she’s doing anything of the sort, and there are reasons she wouldn’t want anyone to get away with murder. Mainly everyone else’s lives. Also, she has even less arm strength than Rose, seeing as she lost at arm wrestling with her.

There’s probably more discussion to be had regarding Hu as an accomplice, but frankly, I don’t think it’s necessary for now. Because there is one person who fits the bill much better than Hu, and has much deeper connections to both Eden and the murder.

You read the title of the post. You know who I think the accomplice is. Let’s go.

Yeah, it’s Levi

(How’s that for a callback?)

Levi is probably the most widely believed culprit theory, and for good reason. He acts very suspiciously all throughout the investigation and the trial. He is the first to call up MonoTV to start voting after David’s reveal, he throws accusations quite liberally, his profile states he dislikes unpredictable people like Arei, the ball of clothes and even the missing glove being involved connects him to the method through his talent…

The main thing is the secret motive. Not only did Levi receive Arei’s, without the context Arei gave David and Teruko in the playground, it is widely speculated that Arei received Levi’s secret through sheer process of elimination. Won’t get into it here, many people have already talked about it, so just trust me bro.

Not to mention the whole “good person” fiasco. Essentially, Ch 2 has the title “All That Glitters”, with the secret title “A Good Person”. Clearly, put together you get “Not All That Glitters Is Gold” -> “Not All That Glitters Is A Good Person.”

And as far as I can tell, there are only a few people who have been referred to using the specific words “good person” in this chapter:

-Teruko: She dissuades Whit from calling her a good person because she’ll feel bad when she’s not.

-David: Hu calls him a good person right before his Ep 11 heel turn.

EDIT: I misremebered, the line is actually "good friend." Ah, oops.

-Eden: Levi calls her a good person in the beginning of the chapter.

-Arei: Says she will prove to Eden she can be a good person.

-Levi: Eden calls him a good person at the beginning of the chapter.

Hopefully I didn’t miss any.

You’ll notice the common thread is plot relevance in CH 2. Teruko’s the protag, David pushed the plot forward by getting people to reveal their secrets and also had his heel turn (EDIT: But he wasn't called a good person so), Eden has been a huge part of the chapter and she might be the killer, and Arei is the victim.

The outlier is Levi, which would suggest he’ll come to be plot relevant soon enough. I don’t think just getting his secret revealed would be enough to put him up there in importance with the most influential people in the entire chapter, so he’s probably heavily involved in the murder. And since I don’t think he’s the killer, accomplice it is, baby.

There is even a particular moment we can point to as the moment Levi may have given up on the group as a whole.

Levi: Why do I even bother?

Right after Ace refuses his help after almost getting murdered. And Eden’s right there.

Finally, his secret quote is “I always believed that a person is defined by their actions alone. But maybe that’s just a poor excuse for my heartlessness.” That’s interesting, because in this context, it could be he never believed Arei wanted to change, as her previous actions contradicted the words she said to Eden. But maybe that’s a poor excuse for his heartlessness, as Arei did want to change.

There’s more I could bring up, like the fun fact Levi’s profile states he likes suckers (candy) and Eden’s states she likes sweet things (that’s insanely circumstantial and confirmation bias-y, but sure I’ll bring it up), but I think venus and accirax may be wanting to make a narrative defense of the Levi!Accomplice theory, so I’ll leave it to them, since they’ll probably do better than I could. Lord knows they did better on Eden than me.

Not gonna lie I’m kinda making this so they can just link back here instead of the insanity train the original thread was-

Final Issues

No theory is perfect, and this one isn’t an exception. While I think the theory mostly covers all the evidence in the scene quite satisfactorily, the explanations for the BDA, the glove and the shape of the scuffed floor (but how do you explain that shape) are a bit shaky. There’s also a few awkward moments of timing and character’s actions, like the whole Ace almost-murder situation being sorta awkward with Eden’s presence in the second floor, and in particular that Arei apparently spent almost an entire day inside her room. That’s sorta gonna be an issue for everyone unless you believe Ace is lying about the day her conversation with David happened, which… okay, isn’t as insane as it sounds, read joe’s theory, but I still consider a bigger leap than simply assuming Arei took a real long nap.

And of course, as much as I’ve ignored it, it’s still insanely risky for Eden to work with an accomplice, and we have to assume Levi was willing to die and get everyone else killed just to get Eden out of there. I’ll try my best to explain how I think that could happen in the Closing Argument.

However, it’s all in all, in my opinion, not too bad. Everything is pretty physically plausible, there are narrative justifications for practically everything, and the few inconsistencies aren’t too large or obnoxious for me to consider damning. I’m still open to other theories, of course, but for now, this is the thing I believe.

So, now that we’ve established how I arrived at my conclusions, it’s time for what everyone’s been waiting for!

Closing Argument

Keep in mind character motivations and especially unseen dialogue could vary quite a lot. The main thing to take away is the actual method, everything else is sorta flavor text. This… really is a lot longer than it has any right to be. I kinda got carried away trying to show how I think the characters would act. Sorry.

I’ll mark with “>” the parts which are mostly just for spice, “~” the actually important parts, and just for fun I’ll add predictions to how the end of the trial will go with “+”.

I am extremely sorry if I mischaracterize anyone. I’m not good at writing dialogue, but I think it’s worth trying to give a better impression of what’s going on in my head.

(Days start counting after the start of CH 2)

Second Day, Afternoon

~Eden wanted to return home.

>Of course she did! Everyone did, in the killing game. She kept trying to look for ways to end it completely, and while she hadn’t found a good solution yet, she’d surely find it soon enough!

>But for now, they had to keep strong! And fight against the motive! David had suggested talking to the people whose secrets they’d all received so they could share it and ease tensions, and Eden thought it was a great idea! She went up to Arturo, and told him what she’d received about him.

>…

>She almost died.

>That was the only thing running through her mind as Arei got Arturo away. Eden had almost died, and if it weren’t for Arei, she most likely would have. A small desperation began to grow in her heart, longing to get out, get out, get out-

>Arei tried to talk to her, apologize for the things she’d said in the playground… but Eden couldn’t believe her.

>Arei had shouted in her face that Min’s death was her fault. Even if it was, to say it like that… Eden wanted to cry just thinking about the things Arei had said. Eden may have been nice, but she wasn’t naive. Someone like that could never be a good person.

>Still, a part of Eden wanted to give Arei the benefit of the doubt. So, she hugged her, told her how much it meant, and went on her merry way.

>But those doubts had firmly planted themselves in Eden’s mind. What if Arei was just manipulating her? What if Arturo attacked her again? Would someone as weak as her even be able to stand up to the killing game, when she couldn’t stand up against some bullies?

>Slowly, the gears in her mind started to turn. An idea was brewing, an idea which scared Eden to even think about, but one she was desperate enough to entertain.

>There was a way for her to end the killing game. By winning it.

>I mean what? No! Eden would never kill anyone! …

>But if she were to, hypothetically speaking, how would she go about it?

>By the second night, she didn’t know all the details, but she was going on autopilot, her body moving practically without her thinking. Just like she used to get lost in her work while making clocks, she was now beginning to get lost in the preparations for a murder.

>An accomplice, she would need an accomplice, if she wanted to do it. Probably something with the rope in the storage room, she was good with mechanisms. Maybe the railings on the playground, a pulley system… she needed a way to get the rope up there, and a way to secure the grip of her accomplice on the carousel.

>Hypothetically, of course.

Second Day, Almost Nighttime - Nighttime

~She went to the second floor, grabbed some of Hu’s and Teruko’s old clothes, and put them in the relaxation room to cover them in starch. She wanted to make a ball of clothes, it was the best way to get the rope over the railings.

~She also needed tape from the gym, the roll people used to replace the grippy tape on the pull-up bar when it got too sweaty.

~Slight issue: nighttime had begun, and there were still a few noises in the gym. Eden didn’t want to be caught doing anything too suspicious, so she decided to wait out until the noises stopped.

~Slightly bigger issue: Teruko arrived at the second floor, spotted her, and now Eden needed a cover story. She just told her she was looking for Hu’s and Teruko’s new clothes, sure, that works.

>Eden told Teruko her and Arei had made up, and asked if she wanted to pry. In retrospect, she wasn’t sure why she’d done that. If Teruko had heard the story of what Arei had said, she would just tell Eden what the uglier parts of her psyche were already telling her. That Arei was lying, trying to manipulate her. But maybe she wanted the confirmation, to justify to herself why she was thinking the thoughts which were running through her head.

(It’s almost tragic, really. If only Teruko had pried, maybe Eden would have learnt of Arei’s breakdown, and everything would have ended there)

~The two decided to head back to the first floor, and Eden figured she would just take the tape tomorrow-

~Oh shit, Ace got murdered.

>Seeing that convinced Eden. The killing game was too dangerous, when even the seemingly harmless Nico was able to do something so brutal to one of the strongest participants physically speaking. She had to get out, and now. She couldn’t disappoint her family, her friends, and her.

>So, she resolved to do something about it right after-

>Oh, hey, Ace wasn’t dead! That was… good. Even if he knocked Eden down to the floor when he woke.

~… And while she’s on the floor, she may as well pick up the tape she had come to retrieve.

~[Cue Ace running to kill Nico scene]

>Wow. Tensions were… really high. Ace had collapsed, and even then Teruko had just walked away as if nothing had happened.

>But Eden was more curious about something Levi had said. “Why do I even bother?” What had he meant by that? She decided to speak with him.

>…

>Levi had lost all hope.

>There was just no way to reason with the people of the killing game. All of them were erratic, nonsensical, unpredictable people. And he loathed unpredictability in people.

>None of them wanted to accept help when it was offered. None of them knew what the hell to do about anything, but refused to just be nice and patient with each other. Practically speaking, pretty much the only normal person around was-

>Oh, Eden wanted to talk to him. Sure, he could do that.

>Eden was checking in after the whole Ace fiasco. How nice of her.

>But after chatting for a while, Eden directed the conversation towards an encounter she’d had with Arei. She explained what the bowler had told her, looking for advice. She asked if Levi would believe Arei, seeking confirmation on whether or not she really could be trying to get better. And Levi...

>Levi was pissed.

>Because it was such an obvious lie. Such a horrendous attempt of manipulation. To try and take advantage of someone as nice as Eden, truly despicable.

>Eden seemed taken aback at his intensity, asking why he was so certain. Levi debated internally for a moment, before deciding Eden deserved the whole truth.

>"Blackmail, rumors, lying, stealing, slander. You did everything you could to ruin your sisters' lives." That was Arei's secret, the one Levi received.

>Eden looked horrified when Levi told her, and it seemed she agreed with what Levi was already thinking. After all, they both loved their family a lot, even if Levi had been disowned. Someone like Arei, who would do something so horrible to their own family, couldn't possibly be a good person. If Arei did all that to her own sisters, who's to say she wouldn't do the same to Eden?

(In retrospect, Levi would always regret jumping to conclusions. After it was all over, he would try to explain. “I always believed that a person is defined by their actions alone. But maybe that’s just a poor excuse for my heartlessness.”)

>And in all that anger, and hopelesness, and desperation... Eden revealed an idea. A very strange, almost outlandish idea. To help her out of the killing game.

>Levi wasn't a fool. He had seen how the group had handled the first trial. Eventually, someone was going to get away with murder, and that would be how the killing game would end. It was predestined.

>And if someone was going to win, it may as well be the kindest person in the group.

~He agreed.

Third Day, Noon

>Everyone was yelling, and Arei's stomach was twisting.

>Nico had tried to murder Ace. They hadn't outright admitted it, but Levi's and Ace's accounts were enough to get her to believe it.

>But she wasn't thinking so much about the incident itself, as much as she was thinking about what had caused it. The secrets. David's plan was backfiring massively...

>Except, maybe it wasn't. As she saw everyone arguing, the secret she had seen Whit receive flashed in her mind. David's secret. "You exist to manipulate others. Everyone else exists to be taken advantage of."

>Was he really that evil? Was he really trying to instigate a murder? Was anything he had ever said even true?

>Had he lied to her, too?

>...

>She didn't feel like speaking much that day. She'd rather go to her room, and contemplate. Maybe sleep for a while. Maybe lie in her bed, and maybe cry a bit.

>She didn't leave her room until it was time for dinner.

Third Day, Afternoon

>Ace was fucking pissed.

>Of course he was, he'd almost been murdered! By Nico of all fucking people! And now he couldn't even look the fucking gym without getting nervous, like the motherfucker would show up any time and finish the job!

>But it's not like that was gonna stop him from exercising. He wasn't a fucking coward, he wasn't afraid of Nico. (Or at least, he told himself that). So he'd train anyways! He'd raced on horses he was terrified of his whole life, a little exercise was nothing!

>Still, to his chagrin, he couldn't help but feel nervous whenever he heard any noises in the rest of the floor. Even the very light noise of the elevator felt like thunder in his ears. So when someone came down and started speaking, Ace couldn't help but overhear.

>Yet, the conversation was interesting. Arei was saying David had lied about his secret? This was worth hearing.

>Ace snuck in closer and listened in. Apparently David's secret was that he was a manipulative bastard, the dick. He had gone quiet when he heard that, too, so it must have been true.

>"David! Say something!"

>David went quiet for a bit, and then... Ace got bored.

>So what? David was an asshole, big deal. Breaking news, everyone! Every single participant in the killing game sucks dick and balls! Who could have seen that coming?! It wasn't anything Ace didn't already know. So he left. He didn't really feel like listening to David try to lie his way out of that. He just went back to the gym and stopped paying attention.

>Meanwhile, the conversation went on.

[THE FOLLOWING WAS WRITTEN MOSTLY FOR FUN. I HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING HOW THIS CONVERSATION ACTUALLY WENT]

CW FOR AGGRESSIVE CONFRONTATION

>David was fucked.

>"I... I don't know what to say to that" David managed, covering his eyes with his hand. "It's... well... How do I put this?"

>"Just tell me, please. Did you lie to me?"

>"..." David sighed. A small, sad chuckle rose from his chest. "Yes. I'm sorry"

>"..."

>"I apologize for the false hope, Arei, but... people can't change" David continued. His head was firing off alarm bells, years of deception warning him not to continue, but he ignored them. "I have seen so many try. I have seen so many fail. In the end, there's no avoiding it. If you could improve yourself to be a better person, all that means is that you were a better person to begin with..."

>Arei fought back tears. "You're wrong"

>David had to stop himself from laughing in her face, but he couldn't help a sharp exhale. He would probably stop there, but... he had lied for so long, he almost wanted to speak what he actually believed for once. "No, I'm not. I'm the Ultimate Inspirational Speaker, Arei. If people could change, I would be the first to see it"

>"That's not- You can't be serious. Just because you haven't seen it, doesn't mean it can't happen!" Arei snapped.

>"Is that so?" David raised his voice, and glared at Arei. He smiled nervously. "Then tell me, Arei. Do you think I can change? That I can become better? Look at what I've done. I've lied for years, and now Ace has a permanent scar on his neck from the murder I almost caused!" He put a hand to his chest. He shouldn't be doing this, he shouldn't, but, but- "Do you really think people like me, like us, can ever be good?! If you do, then you're a bigger idiot than I thought"

>He didn't mean that. He didn't mean that. He didn't mean that. Why was he saying it?

>Arei snarled at him, her face growing red in anger. "You...." She took a breath, and her gaze grew defiant. "I'll prove you wrong. You're the idiot here. I will become good. I promised Eden I-"

>"Well, Xander promised he'd be my friend, and look where he is now!" he almost shouted. Why was he even thinking of him now? "Don't you see it? You're lying to yourself. That's the only thing to come from my speeches. Lies. And now you're repeating a degraded version, like it's gonna be any more true just because it's coming from your mouth!" He needed to stop. He- "Are you that arrogant, or did your sisters cause you permanent brain damage?!" What the fuck was he doing?!

>"..." Arei looked horrified, and angry.

>"You don't even believe it yourself, you hypochrite!" Stop! He smirked even wider. "Otherwise, why don't you go talk to your sisters, and get them to change?" She looked so sad, why was David doing this? He had to- He couldn't- It felt good to let it out- He felt horrible- Stop- He laughed. "Oh, right! You can't! Because you're a monster and destroyed their lives! And you, won't, change"

>"You-!" Arei shouted, and rushed forward to push him. Her heart clearly wasn't in it, but David retaliated and pushed her back.

>"Out of my way!" he snarled, and began walking out of the room. He couldn't- he wasn't thinking straight, he needed- he needed air, he needed out. Arei almost slipped into the pond, or maybe she did? David couln't tell anymore. His mind was a fucking mess and his only coherent thoughts were screaming at him to leave.

>Meanwhile, Arei was left alone, and hurt. She shouldn’t listen to an asshole like David, she knew that, but, but still…

>She didn’t have much of an appetite anymore. Maybe she’d just go back to bed.

CW OVER

~Later, Levi would arrive at the relaxation room to fill up two water jugs, making sure to get the fish. At the same time, Eden was discussing ways to end the killing game with Hu, securing an alibi for the time of the fish’s disappearance.

Third Day, Nighttime

~Levi and Eden met back up at the playground, and the preparations began. The materials they were working with included two pieces of rope (one longer, one shorter), the ball of sticky clothes Eden had prepared the night before, the tape Eden had taken from the gym, and the water jugs with the water and fish Levi had gathered.

~First step, with the tape from the gym, they covered the bars of the carousel, to have a better grip when they used the mechanism.

~Then, they grabbed the longer rope and put part of it through a few of the handlebars of the carousel, before tying one end to one of the handlebars.

~After that, they tied the other end to the ball of clothes, and Levi used his strength to throw it up above the railings. In doing so, he accidentally hit one of the lights with the clothes, displacing the lightbulb and causing it to flicker. Once it fell, he also threw it up to the railing in the middle, so the unused end of the longer rope would end up around where the seesaw was.

~Meanwhile, Eden tied one end of the shorter rope to the swing set near the carousel, leaving the other end unused for now.

~After removing the ball of clothes, they fashioned the untied end of the longer rope into an odd-looking “double noose”, with one of the nooses, the one closer to the end of the rope, tied around the handles of the water jugs.

~With all the preparations in place, they took the ball of clothes to the dress-up room, and Levi went to sleep. Eden wrote the note Arei would receive, telling her to meet in the playground at 7:30. Then she went to sleep as well.

Fourth Day, Morning

>Arturo was a fucking asshole, Arei decided from the moment she saw the note.

~Obviously Arei followed it, because she was trying to be friends with Eden.

>And as suspicious as the note was, there was no way Eden would betray her, right? If she did…

>…

>Well, Arei didn’t really want to think about it.

>She arrived at the playground, and… why was there so much rope around? Eden was standing near it, contemplating… a noose?

>Oh god.

>Arei didn’t even think. She rushed in and tried to stop Eden from doing-

~Levi, who had been hidden besides the door, attacked. He ambushed Arei from behind, and used his weight to pin her to the floor. Arei screamed and struggled, scuffing the floor around her, but she obviously wasn’t able to do anything to fight off Levi.

[Oh great more dialogue]

CW for emotional confrontation, feelings of betrayal and suicidal ideation.

>”What the fuck are you doing?! Eden, get him off me!”

>Eden looked downcast, her expression somber. She was evidently lost in thought. “I’m sorry it has to be this way”

>Arei didn’t get it.

~Levi grabbed Arei’s hands, and roughly pulled out her glove to better get the tape around her wrists. This was to make sure she didn’t struggle too much after the process began.

>”Hey! Eden! What’s going on?! I thought we were friends!”

>”As if. We’re not that naive” Levi spat from behind her, and she could practically feel that murderous edge he always used when threatening Ace.

>”Huh?! What are you talking about, you-?!”

>”I’m sorry, Arei. I just can’t believe you” Eden spoke softly, fidgeting with her hands. She grabbed the noose, which weirdly had- wait. “I know you’re lying to me. You don’t have to keep pretending you like me”

>…

>Arei’s entire world crumbled in that moment.

>”H-Huh?! Wait, I- I never lied to you! I want- I wanted to be friends-!”

>”Don’t lie” Levi snarled. “We know what your secret is. What you’ve done to your sisters. I can’t believe you. You know, actions define people, and you have been nothing but terrible your whole life”

>Eden bent down to put the noose around Arei’s neck. Because of course, of course it was a fucking noose. Eden hesitated, however.

>”Don’t fall for her crocodile tears, Eden” Levi warned. Oh, Arei was crying? News to her.

>”R-Right” Eden said, putting the noose around Arei’s neck. Eden then positioned herself to pin Arei down herself as Levi stepped off and went towards the carousel.

>”Eden, please… please don’t listen to him! Don’t be scared of him! I’ll beat him up for you, just-!”

>”I’m not- I’m not scared of Levi” Eden frowned.

>”But- But, he’s a murderer without remorse!” Levi stopped in his tracks. “That’s his secret, Eden! I received it! Do you really want to help someone like that?!”

>Eden seemed to hesitate for a moment, but shook her head, and looked at Arei with glassy eyes, smiling nervously. “I mean… I- I can’t really judge him for that. I… I was the one who came up with this idea, you know”

>…

>Huh.

>So there really was no point, then.

>David didn’t believe in her. Eden didn’t believe in her. Fucking Eden. And now, even the nicest person in the entire killing game had decided Arei deserved to die.

>…

>Arei stopped struggling after that.

CW OVER, mostly. There’s still references to suicide after this point.

(God I really hope I’m not horrendously mischaracterizing these people)

~Levi begun to spin the carousel, which worked as a pulley that started dragging Arei up. As he spun it, he likely had to adjust it slightly so it wouldn’t slide off the wrong way, hence why he needed to be able to better grip all the handlebars instead of putting tape on just one. [I don’t know if that made sense]

~As the rope started pulling up, Eden stepped aside and ran over to the carousel.

~Levi stopped spinning it once Arei was high enough, and Eden attached the unused end of the shorter rope to the carousel.

~Eden grabbed hold of the carousel, and Levi ran out of the room.

~Now, neither of them had thought of asking MonoTV how to determine the blackened in the case of an accomplice being in play, so they took all the steps necessary to make sure Eden would be the blackened.

~She was the one to put the rope around Arei’s neck, she had been the one to come up with the murder plan, and she was the last person holding her up. Levi running out of the room was extra insurance: how could he be the blackened if he wasn’t even a witness to the crime? However, the final trick would ensure Eden would get the title of blackened.

~Eden let go of the carousel, and gravity made it spin as Arei fell. It spun for only a little bit, however, as the shorter rope soon fully tensed, and stopped the carousel in its tracks. Because of the height Arei fell, as well as the extra weight from the water jugs, her neck snapped in the moment the shorter rope tensed. At the same time, the handles from the water jugs snapped, and they fell to the floor.

~With this, it could be argued the act which caused Arei’s death was the letting go of the carousel, for which Levi wasn’t even present, meaning Eden was indubitably the blackened.

~And when it was all said and done, there was one fact which stood. Because of the strength the mechanism had required, Eden could not have possibly done it all alone. Unless the class somehow figured out she had an accomplice, just the strength necessary for the act would rule her out, give her an alibi. That is the reason behind the complexity of the murder.

~After that, Levi came into the room, fulfilling another nice benefit. Because he hadn’t technically witnessed the murder, he counted as a “body discoverer” for BDA purposes.

~The last step was setting up the scene as we saw it. The fish they spread around would confuse the time of death and give Eden an alibi, and hanging Arei from the swing set would make people initially believe she had committed suicide. Levi had to be the one to do that, as Eden was too weak and short, adding an extra layer of misdirection.

~”What if I just take her glove?” Levi asked.

>”Eh?”

>”I could take her glove, and then if someone spots me with it, they’ll vote me out and you’ll win” Levi explained.

>”That’s… kinda silly, isn’t it?”

>”…”

>”… Okay, sure”

>”Very well” Levi nodded sagely. Eden remained very confused.

~They took the longer tape and hid it under the carousel, then threw the tape which had been on Arei’s wrists and the jugs in the trash, as well as the note after ripping it up a bit.

~With that, they left to go see the supposed announcement of the motives.

Investigation

>Pretending to be surprised at Arei’s absence wasn’t as hard as Eden thought it would be. Just make a horrified face and say nothing, easy!

>Eden knew the BDA would still play if just Whit and Teruko discovered the body, which is why she wasn’t nervous when Teruko first asked her and Whit to go search for Arei together. Still, she second guessed herself just as Teruko swung the door open, because she would be in big trouble if the BDA didn’t play. Thankfully for her, it did, as Levi had already “discovered” it before. Honestly, it was pretty good luck (and bad luck on Teruko’s part) that Eden got to be part of the “discovery group.”

>On the side, David looks at how the body was positioned, and instantly knew what had happened. “Of course. Of course this would happen” he muttered. Arei killed herself because of him. What a monster he was.

~After pretending to be sad about Arei’s death for a moment, Eden offered to investigate with “braincell haver” Teruko, but got shut down. So instead, she joined Rose and Whit as they put together the note in the trash, to make sure they got it right. It was an important part of the plan, after all.

>Levi just went to look at the secrets because he didn’t really have to do anything specific.

Trial

>When people begun discussing the possibility of Arei helping her killer, Levi thought it would be a good way to misdirect the cast, so he started pushing the idea. Though with the slight freudian slip of saying Arei may have been her own “accomplice.”

>On the side, David held his tongue. Once MonoTV revealed the condition to be the blackened was that you were “someone alive who we can blame for her death”, any doubt dissipated in his mind. He had caused her to commit suicide, he could be blamed for her death. And he was the blackened, then.

>However, Eden needed to go against the idea of suicide, because she was supposed to sell the idea they had been friends once the note was revealed.

>When that happened, they had agreed Levi would push on the idea that Eden was the killer a bit, to “force” her to explain the note she wanted to explain anyways.

>Levi also added he’d protect Eden no matter what, but Eden responds “Don’t say stuff like that.” To the others, that was because Eden was worried Levi would end up like Arei. To Eden and Levi, it was a subtle way of saying ‘shut up and don’t link us together!’

~Eden explained the note, making sure to act like she was very distraught by the situation and genuinely believed Arei had wanted to change.

~She also provided a “handwriting sample” to look more innocent, but she intentionally wrote it in print instead of cursive to separate it from the note. Somehow, no one noticed.

>Meanwhile, David was starting to break down. She really had been trying to change, but the naive idiot had believed in David. And nothing good happens to those who believe in him.

>What a reprehensible killer indeed.

>But David’s breakdown was having an impact on Eden, who begun to think that maybe, just maybe, she had been wrong about Arei.

>She was in too deep, though. She needed to continue. She couldn’t turn back the clock now.

>When David is accused of everything, he decides he might as well enjoy the last of his life, of his killing game. He breaks down the same way he did when Arei confronted him, becoming insulting and dismissive to prevent any vulnerability from showing through. The words he said, he believed for the most part, but the smile on his face as he said them was perhaps his biggest lie yet.

>In other news, that’s pretty convenient for the murder duo! If they can just get David voted out, then…

~But that wouldn’t happen. Not if Teruko and Charles had something to say about it.

Chapter 2, Part 2

[This is just for fun]

+Charles realized the trick of the time of death, and the cast decided to start speaking of the murder method.

+After a bit of discussion (where Eden was surprisingly helpful!), they realized the murder would require inordinate strength, and they start pointing the finger at Levi.

+The secrets are revealed then, as some have realized what most of the remaining ones were. David deduced Hu must have the “hopeless child” secret, Teruko deduced Veronika must have the “self-harm” secret, Veronika in turn figured Teruko must have the “dead family” secret (that wasn’t hers, but it still applied to her life, so they didn’t question it too much. David bit his tongue), and… well, they somehow realize the “poison” secret must be Min’s.

+As Levi’s secret is narrowed down, he finally admits.

+He takes the glove from his pocket, and dramatically confesses: “I… I killed Arei”

+All going according to plan!

+The voting time is almost about to happen, but Veronika pipes in. She wants to talk about the Ace case for some reason, and while Teruko tries to deny her, the horror fanatic throws the luckster’s own words against her. “The more cases we solve, the better we’ll be at solving them in the future!”

+Reluctantly, Nico starts speaking about what they did. It was… an odd sequence, but it wasn’t too wild.

+Except, Rose pointed out something odd. What happened to the tape?

+Nico says it was still on the floor when they left. Rose says it’s impossible. Eden’s getting nervous.

+And Teruko goes dead quiet, as she runs the math again in her head.

+The lockdown… the lockdown meant no one should have been able to take the tape during nighttime… MonoTV claimed it wasn’t the one to take it… and she knew neither Ace or herself had taken it… so… It must have been taken by…

+”Teruko?” someone asked, but she wasn’t listening. It was clear now…

+She couldn’t resist the maniacal laughter that escaped her, as the adrenaline of realizing how close they’d gotten to dying (scratch that, she wouldn’t have died, but the others might have), and she realized she was right. She couldn’t trust anyone.

+The others looked at her in concern, but she just explained the simple truth.

+It was chaos. No one wanted to believe it. But the more they thought about it, more questions arose. Why would Levi make such a complex mechanism, when he could have just killed Arei in a much simpler way?

+Whit had an idea. He asked Levi which direction Arturo had ran after leaving the infirmary. And Levi answered wrong. He hadn’t listened on the conversation, then. It would be impossible for him to write the note. Charles further verified by asking Levi and Eden to spell “responsible”. Levi spelt it right, Eden spelt it wrong. “Responsibel”, the same misspelling as the note.

+There was a scrum debate, people went crazy, but in the end. They arrived at the answer, and voted for Eden.

+It was right.

+They asked for further clarification and Eden admitted everything which had led to her decision.

+”I feel terrible. Arei really was… I should have believed her. But- But, at that point, when I finally realized the truth, it was too late” Eden explained. “I wish I hadn’t done it, I want to go back… but time only moves forward. You can’t go back, no matter how hard you try”

+She hugged Teruko one last time, pleading she wouldn’t close herself off even further. But Teruko wasn’t having it. She asked MonoTV she was using a MonoCredit to get Eden away from her.

+And MonoTV obliged, starting the execution right that moment. [Credit for the idea to venus and accirax]

~This was the truth. A tragic misunderstanding, a horrible mistake. Call it whatever you want, one thing remains the same. The blackened of the case, who committed the crime with the help of Levi Fontana, the Ultimate Personal Stylist, was none other than Eden Tobisa, the Ultimate Clockmaker!

…

And right before dying, Eden reveals the name of the girl she had kissed was Mai Akasaki-

Conclusion

Yeah, this was longer than it really had to be, but I had fun writing it. This will probably be the last post I make about this case, at least until CH 2 Part 2 comes out. Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading, hope time only brings you good things! Take care!

#drdt #danganronpa despair time #fanganronpa #drdt theory #eden tobisa #levi fontana #arei nageishi #drdt spoilers

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johannestevans · 4 months

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Whats your perspective on names?

Do you have any specific thoughts about them? how did you find yours? did it take long to? how many have you had? also your characters! obligatory "I Love Your Work!" (and i enjoy riffling though new and also rereading old), So from amaethon to cecil to danny to the King family and the Laithes family, their names are one aspect that have always stuck out to me because they all integrate into their stories while still feeling unique in contrast to each other! i dont miss that a lot of it is influenced by your interest in fae lore and your welsh heritage either. where does the name come in during your writing process, is it the first or last thing you think of? do you have a mish-mash of where you find them? any pettier more low stakes opinions on names?

(all this started bc i'm struggling to find a name, and want the perspective of another trans person :) !)

I changed my name when I was about 15 - it comes from a similar biblical root as my deadname, so basically I shortened my deadname and then looked for other names that it could be a nickname for.

For me, it really wasn't a long or involved process - it happened quite smoothly and easily, and I've never felt like I needed to try other things or find something that fit me better.

Johannes is a Dutch and German name - it's an older form of John and is like Ioannes / Yiannis in Greek, and it comes from Hebrew for God is gracious. It can be shortened to Johann, but generally my actual loved ones either call me John or Johnny, or they call me Hannes.

"Johannes" in German is kind of a stereotypical old man's name? A German friend was laughing a lot about it because she said that to me and I was like "Yeah?" and she was like, oh, yeah, that fits, lmao.

I do play around a lot with names, and I'd say that I take them from a lot of different sources and get creative with them. Multiple times I've called a character "Henry Sutton" without realising I've done it multiple times, which is why I've got a few Henry Suttons knocking about.

For more established characters with deeper backstories, I play around a lot with the naming process - I normally have a particular mouthfeel or aural impact I'm going for, such as a certain number of syllables or a particular "flavour", like a name that has a feel of a particular class or country or profession.

With that said, I think most of my names I pick quite quickly and feel out early on in the process - it's rare that a character of mine is more fleshed out and lacks a name, because I find a name is such a useful part of someone's identity and informs a lot of how they move in the world and are perceived and treated. Something like their appearance is far less important, funnily enough.

I like to employ some literal stuff - Valorous King, for example, is very aptly named in a way that can sometimes feel like a curse to him; Amaethon is actually one of the children of Dôn, but people don't really know old Welsh gods and goddesses very well, so it just feels like a random elf name; Ganymede Cavendish is named for a beautiful young lover of Zeus, and he is just as beautiful and victimised in the same way as his namesake.

Other times, I go with more irony or play with juxtapositions - name a character for joy or ease when they're generally miserable or tortured; name them something small when they're very big or vice versa; name them for darkness when they're very light, etc.

I'll often take forenames or surnames from things I'm watching or playing or listening to - when I want to pluck a name out of the air at random and am worried I'm using too many of the same names, but want like, "real" names that real people use and live with, it's fucking great to pick names out of the credit sequences of TV or movies and mash them up.

Sometimes I scroll through census records and stuff, but the problem with the number of characters I have is that I can't always do that - as much as it's realistic for many characters to be called Jones or Evans or Williams, I'd need to make a thing of it in fiction. Census records are great for older characters, especially from the 1700s-1900s.

The ones that are actually hardest for me is Latin names - Greek ones I'm a lot more comfortable handling, but my Latin grammar is fucking dogshit, and I often worry about mishandling a name or reusing one that's too commonly written already. Medieval Latin is alright to play with, but when I'm writing old Roman characters I just feel like I'm kicking my own ass the entire time.

I will say that some shit in that regard is just fucking lazy. I abhor the lazy tendency in fiction to introduce a Black character and call him Mr White or Mr Chalk or something similar, especially when it's contrasted with an evil white character and/or that character's best friend who's named Black or Ebony. It's not in itself that awful, it's just the fact that it's so overdone and clichéed, and comes from a really basic humour and sense of irony that doesn't really build on or create anything, just lazily says "haha, this guy's Black and this other guy's white, isn't that a thing?"

I don't actually have a problem with reusing some names a lot - John, Henry, Daniel, etc - and I will often just search "common names [country]" and play with similar names that jump between and change from different languages or change throughout history. It can be worth looking up legends or stories from a certain region or like, old wives' tales and stuff, because like...

Sometimes, the benefit of a common or uncommon name is in its cultural impact - a name like mine, a name like John, is ubiquitous, but that means you can draw loads of parallels to it; on the other hand, if you grab a word that's very much not a name, but is a place, an object, a common noun, an animal, a turn of phrase, etc, you create a tension around that character with the other characters around them, even if people aren't commenting on it directly and even if you don't tell the reader immediately that their name is unusual or noteworthy.

When you're playing with a name that has a lot of cultural impact within a culture you're writing, as a name or otherwise, it can be fun to have a name that will have a lot of resonance for the characters you're writing, but doesn't inherently have that same impact on the reader (or only has that impact if the reader is already familiar with them culturally, or is familiar with the niche historical/religious subject you're working with).

An obvious one in mine is Esben's pets, for example, are called Kottr the dog and Hundr the cat - Kottr in Old Norse means cat, and Hundr, dog. A lot of English speakers will notice the cognates there if they think about it, but I've had people who speak Nordic languages comment on it a lot because it's just a fun little thing.

Gellert Osgodby has named himself after Gelert the dog - but in Welsh, we don't use two Ls to make an "l" sound. In Welsh, his name would be pronounced more like Geshert (the ll sound isn't easy to transcribe in English). He's fucked that up, and that's part of how you can tell he isn't Welsh himself, and isn't a Welsh speaker.

I definitely am influenced most by Welsh and Irish mythologies and stories, and I do tend to play with some Jewish cultural elements a lot as well, if not directly with Jewish mythologies.

Part of that, I regularly say, is because of the way that Welsh and Irish stuff tends to be treated by US American creators who identify as Welsh/Irish/Scottish/ "Celtic" or whatever and just go for random butchery of everything in sight - it's not their fault they don't have any sense of cultural respect, because that's not the culture they were raised in, but it does irritate me, and like...

Because I get so snippy about Welsh stuff, I try to be a lot more careful handling other cultures, particularly in various ways oppressed or minoritised ones, especially who are often misrepresented in media in similarly clumsy, lazy, or just entitled ways.

For names in cultures I'm less familiar with and coherent with, what I actually do is regularly search the full name I'm using, but also like, search Wikipedia entries for famous celebrities that use that language, come from that country or culture, and are of the same caste, religion, or ethnicity as the character(s) I'm working on and basically just read a bunch and contrast and compare.

Sometimes I very explicitly go against a lot of cultural stuff depending on which cultures I'm drawing from - Velma Kuroda, for example, has picked a name very much at odds with the more traditionally Japanese name her brother has picked, and that has to do with family beef that I'll get into later in Little Devils.

In Derek Landy's Skulduggery Pleasant, people have three names - their regular name, their magical name, and then their true name written on their soul, by which they can be commanded and coerced; in T.S. Eliot's The Naming of Cats, cats have three different names - the name by which their human family call them, the name by which they're known to other cats, and then their secret, most innate name, known only to themselves.

Many of us have multiple names and go by different names in different circles - many Jewish people have a Hebrew name, and gerim might pick one when they convert; in Ireland, a lot of people have their names as Béarla different to their names as Gaeilge.

Some people go by their middle names or are called a completely different name to the one they were named at birth - Hell, some people don't even realise until they're adults that the name everyone's always called them isn't their official documents name.

And that's not even considering queer people and how many names we might cycle through, feeling out the ones that fit or don't, using different names in different circles or for different personas, using different names online or offline.

There's a lot of power in a name and in a naming, but there's also a lot of leeway and flexibility, and one name isn't the same to all the people who might use it - I try to reflect that living quality in lots of the characters I write and play with.

With a name, I would say it's important to think about how it feels in your mouth and in your hands - how it feels to say your name, how it feels to write it, how it might feel to write your signature, what spelling you choose or what characters it's made up of, what your initials might be, etc. What nicknames you might or mightn't like.

How does or would the name strike people, depending on who they are or where they're from or how old they are? Are you named for someone - someone people would or wouldn't recognise? A figure from myth, from TV, from books, a historical figure, a religious or cultural figure, someone you love, a relative, an ancestor? Is your name usually a name at all?

I know so many people with so many beautiful names, many of them unexpected, either because their parents or family chose them, or because they chose them themselves, and I know there's a lot of choice out there, but good luck with the hunt! I hope you find something that fits, and feels like it sings to you!

#musings #writers on tumblr #anonymous #writing

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littlemisstfc · 1 year

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EARTHSPARK IS SO GOOD, YOU GUYS. OH MY FUCKING GOD. 😩

Hello boyos, gorls, and nonbinary pals. It’s been a while since I’ve written a huge writing on this silly platform, huh? Lol.

Anyways, quick updates: I’m releasing a new video sometime this month, which is me ranting about the misogyny of the Bayverse. Fun times. Fun times. :D Also, I’ll be at TFCon LA 2023 next week for Saturday and Sunday. Feel free to come by and say hi to me. :)

Back to the review…so….the 2010s to early 2020s has been a very weird decade for Transformers. Not only for the Bayverse movies (my beloathed), but for the tv shows. While Age of Extinction is my guilty pleasure and Dark of The Moon is legitimately good, the movies are declining in popularity and quality, thus resulting in a huge reboot to fix up Bay’s mess. That resulted in Bumblebee (2018), a gem that was the light at the end of a very frustrating tunnel. Transformers Prime started strong, but then turned into a mish mash of wasted potential and became a frustrating chore to watch by the end. RID 2015 is a show that exists. Rescue Bots is great, and Academy is fine for what it is. If you read my review of BotBots before the accidental deletion, that show is pretty good. However, it’s a show where someone might gotta have to take it or leave it. In the middle of the downward spiral of the Aligned continuity and the movie universe rebuilding itself from Bayverse’s mess, Transformers Cyberverse is the true outlier. It’s so great I made an entire video about it that you can check it out in the link below. 🤭

youtube

Now, I wanted to bring this up when talking about Earthspark because ngl, I was worried about the potential likelihood of the show falling into the pittraps of the Aligned continuity in the first round. Now that I’ve watched the show, I can confidently tell you that IT’S EVEN BETTER THAN I EXPECTED. WE HAVE A FUCKING MIRACLE AT THE END OF A TURBULENT DECADE.

This show is thankfully so much amazing and cool and wholesome, JUST LIKE IT HAS NO RIGHT IN BEING THIS GOOD. True, like I always say, there is no such thing as a perfect show. This show definitely have flaws, but they’re not detriment to the show’s quality. It’s basically everything I ever want from a Transformers show, including even subversions of the Transformers formula like Cyberverse.

Let’s go on this little journey together on everything I like and dislike about the show. Spoiler warning here since this show is best experienced blind and I’m not like some people who decided it’s a good idea to not put spoilers behind a tag or filter. Don’t be like these people. Don’t spoil the show for those who cannot access it. Don’t do it. 🙂

Anyways. 3, 2, 1, Pingu.

The Good, The Bad, The Skullcruncher:

Let’s get the elephant in the room clear: the art style is…an art style that exists. It’s not for everyone and it did take me a while to warm up to it. However, over time, I’ve gotten used to it since the amazing animation and fight choreography are great enough to make up for the art style.

The school episode is meh. It’s nothing interesting of note except the Terran parts and frankly, I find the two bullies pretty annoying. However, it does deserve points for having the amazing Daran Norris back in a Transformers show. At least it is not boring, but it’s not worth noting.

The humor sometimes doesn’t land, especially since modern humor such as the iPad environment we’re in is a delicate line these days. The humor is Yeessss tier most of the time though.

I’m glad that Hashtag didn’t keep her weird accent when she first appeared. That’s a plus. 👍🏽

Bee did come across as a bit of an asshole at first, which was admittingly something I wasn’t vibing with. However, thanks to the power of good character development, I warmed up to him. However, a counterpoint is that it’s a unique subversion of how Bee is introduced from other Transformers media.

I have no idea how to feel about Mandroid. It feels like he really doesn’t have much of a significant impact on the story, since GHOST are the main antagonist and the Decepticons being more of a morally gray chaotic neutral type characters. After the end of the first part, I only have questions of where the hell is he. It’s such a shame, since he has a lot of interesting potential and he has a banger voice actor behind him. At least he came back in the finale episode for reasons I’ll get to in the positives section of this review.

Anyways…yeah, that’s all I have to talk about in terms of critiques. Let’s move onto the good stuff: EVERYTHING ELSE. 🥳

A Night of a Thousand Bumblebees:

This show gets points for referencing the Optimist Prime and Negatron meme.

The main characters are just so charming and lovable, I WILL PROTECT THEM WITH MY LIFE. The Malto family is the main human characters done right. Dot is such a badass with such an enduring friendship with Megatron, along with being a loving mom and best wife to Alex. She’s also really great disability representation, showing that even with the prosthetic leg, she’s still a badass. Speaking of Alex…this man has no right in being such a lovable dork who loves his family and having so much swag. I want that Bumblebee suit. Mo and Robbie are very likable and adorable, especially regarding to their relationship with their Terran siblings. Speaking of the Terrans, they’re just utter darlings and a joy to watch. Twitch is hyperactive and cute, Thrash has a lot of funny moments and a likable personality, Hashtag is surprisingly enjoyable considering her powers of the Internet, I would die for Jawbreaker, AND NIGHTSHADE IS THE AUTISM CREATURE. I fucking love them, not only for being already being great nonbinary representation but also has a lot of relatable quirks such as their mechanic hyperfixation and their difficulty in having social interactions with other people. And…THE SCENE WHERE THEY SAY THEY ARE THEY/THEM HAD ME SOBBING SO HARD. It’s just amazing to see the franchise that helped me out so much throughout my life validate my existence and the existence of so many others like me. ✨😭✨

LOOK AT FLUFFY EARS. SHE’S SO ADORABLE. 🥺

ELITA IS MY PINK WIFE. I FUCKING LOVE HER. SHE CAN TOP ME. ✨😩✨

Bumblebee took a while for me to warmed up to him, but he eventually becomes the Bubblewrap we all know and love. Also, his relationship with Breakdown, although brief, is so wholesome. 🥺

Other things I love is the voice acting, including the welcomed returns of Transformers alumni such as Steven Blum and Roger Craig Smith, the animation is beautiful, the fight scenes are bonkers and well choreographed, the humor is yeesss tier, and overall, the messages such as having a good relationship with your family and good teamwork. Delicious food. ✨

I really love what this show is doing with Megatron and Optimus. Their relationship is perhaps my favorite part of the show. You can definitely feel not only how close they are as fwiends, but you can see both sides of the idea they represent: what if every bot deserve second chances? I appreciate the nuance to the Autobot vs Decepticon conflict, something that is definitely built up from Cyberverse. Here, it explores in depth about the more gray and complex areas of the conflict, where neither side is right nor wrong. However, it’s a reasonable two sides of a coin story that is explained well enough to appeal to both kids and adults. I also like how Megatron and Optimus are willing to hear each other out even through their disagreements. Optimus is also very likable and adorable, being a big ol dork you cannot help but be charmed by. Now…let’s focus on Megatron now.

I thought “Decay” was my favorite episode for exploring Optimus’ and Megatron’s relationship in depth, and bitter divorce ex Soundwave…until “Warzone” came out. This Megatron manages to fix the main issue of Autobot Megatron: it makes sure that he has to work hard to earn trust in his journey of redemption. He is someone with a lot of regrets over how much destruction and devastation done to Cybertron, because of his actions. It doesn’t sugarcoat the realities of his redemption: there are people who are not gonna accept that he wants to end the war nor understand how much the war costed the Cybertronian people everything. The cherry on top of his lessons to the baby boo boos about not repeating the same mistakes the Transformers did is the presence of the flowers from the IDW. Quick summary: they represent how much lives are lost in a conflict. Just…the way it fell from the monument at the Spacebridge Memorial to Megatron gently picking it up and putting it back on it, symbolizing how much he truly changed for the better. After the fight with Shockwave, including all the heartbreaking LAYERS of the gravity of Megatron’s redemption, it concludes on a beautiful message that many people came learn from, especially in these current times. you cannot change the past, but if we learn about it, we will be able to not make those same mistakes ever again. Thus, “Warzone” is my favorite episode in the entire season. In fact, I want to dedicate an entire essay to how this series portrayed Megatron once everything is done and finished. We’ll come back to the topic soon, lads.

Also, I really love how the show is exploring the not so bright side of having bots on planet Earth. The finale episode is perhaps the episode that rivals “Warzone” for not only bringing more amazing nonbinary representation in the form of Sam (looking forward to seeing her and their relationship with Nightshade in future episodes), but for managing to tell a story of how to deal with racism (through the Terrans being treated as outsiders in the big city) without sugarcoating it and telling it in a way that kids can understand. Hashtag feels the most pain in being treated as an outsider, even with her family there to tell her that everything will be okay. Then…perhaps one of the darkest scenes of Transformers as a whole is when Mandroid took over her as an attempt to get rid of the baby boo bops and try to get Bumblebee’s parts, and feeds into her insecurities over whether or not she has the right to live on Earth. Through the use of mind tricks, he is a representation of all the disgusting ignorance and stupidity plaguing our real world right now, trying to “prove” that marginalized people, who are represented by the Terrans here, have no right to exist. However…then the Malto kids used the power of the Green Prime to reach out to Hashtag and let her know that everything will be okay. True, not everybody is going to be compassionate and understanding of people who are different from them. There are genuinely evil and hateful people who will never be negotiated with and will never understand the concept of being a decent human being. However…it doesn’t mean that you should let them get to you. You deserve the right to be yourself and live your life the way you want to live it. You are surrounded by people who love you and understand what you’re going through. You are not alone. You are good enough. In a time where we experience such amount of racism, misogyny, and homophobia in places in and out of the Transformers fandom…we need this message more than ever. We should not follow Mandroid’s hateful ideology. Instead, we should be the Maltos. Love will triumph over hate, and no matter how much the world tries to crush you, you are more than meets the eye in beautiful ways.

Conclusion: This is number three on the Transformers ranking list as of the time I am writing this. 💕

Transformers Earthspark is incredible. It has no right in getting everything so right. It’s a fantastic love letter to the Transformers franchise as a whole. Let the haters talk smack. I am confident in saying that this show is the ever rare Ultra Yesss tier 10/10.

Please check it out if you have accessibility to the show on any platform. I promise that you’ll not regret this fantastic start of a promising new future for Transformers. ❤️

#transformers #transformers: earthspark #transformers earthspark #val talks #Youtube

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faejilly · 10 months

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a while ago i watched someone react to 1.03 and were praising izzy for being an ally and like i love izzy but almost every time she brought up alec’s sexuality it made me super uncomfortable bc who would really want to be constantly in fear that your sibling is going to out you in a very homophobic society while trying to be supportive? and like there’s no way that izzy doesn’t know that the clave is homophobic and she still brings up it up all the time, it just seems weird that she can understand that the clave is racist but can’t comprehend that it is also homophobic, and she never really dropped the topic despite alec being uncomfortable with it

#mood

HOWEVER

The question arises... was Alec uncomfortable, or were pretty much all the queer viewers uncomfortable?

There's a thing with most media, but TV shows & movies especially, which have so many people involved in making them, and so many constraints behind the scenes that we the viewers may or may not know anything about, that sometimes the way a scene appears to the viewer is NOT the way it was intended/the way the characters take it.

Shadowhunters is a particularly egregious example of this, being a (relatively) cheap YA melodrama on a third-rate network whose entire production staff got swapped out between seasons 1 and 2, so 'lol what is consistency or planning?!?' is visible everywhere.

SO.

Is Izzy in-universe actually clueless/dangerous Straight People™️or were the writers/showrunners clueless Straight/White People™️who had no idea that half of their 'rule of cool' / 'quick banter' / etc. came across as micro-aggressions to the audience?

You can go either way, it's all a question of which you think is more fun/interesting/necessary for your own peace of mind/enjoyment of canon. (Fandom is supposed to be fun after all.)

A lot of people settle on 'they are that bad in canon' and write a lot of fix-it fic or 'nephilim have to deal with CONSEQUENCES!' fanworks, and those are great! A lot of other people go with "clearly everyone else in canon acts like they have positive relationships, so this is a failure of execution and I'm going to write fic/make art assuming that these people are who they SAY they are, and figure out what that looks like to me" and those are also great!

Just decide which one you're doing when you start, because combining both in one fic gets... a little weird? Hard to follow, at least. 🤣

SO: Is Alec uncomfortable? How does he deal with that, what does that say about his relationship with Izzy, with other nephilim, with the Clave & Council & Alicante? How does that contrast with how he feels interacting with the downworld, which is canonically a lot more self-aware and accepting of queer people and minorities?

If Alec isn't uncomfortable with Izzy's behavior, if no one else seems to pick up on it, why? Do we go with other people's reactions in canon and assume that she is in fact very careful with what she says where and it seems overt to us the viewers because we're allowed to see it? (Much like inter-party banter over comms in heist movies or tv shows; no one else ever hears it or sees it, so we can see and hear it for storytelling purposes, not for 'reality' purposes.)

If that's the case, what does their relationship look like to people in public? How different are public-facing Alec & Jace & Isabelle from what we the viewers see of their private relationships to each other?

Do you want to assume some mish-mash of both? It's more subtle in the setting than it seems so we can see it, and also Alec knows she means well even if we don't? OR SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY?

IDK, I have no conclusions here. I mostly assume that the show is a disaster, and these people all seem to like each other, so how can I write them that fits the results rather than all the dumb-ass details? (I like a lot of authors/artists who go the other way though.) This is encouraged by the fact that the technical/magical worldbuilding is nonsense so I'm making up shit all the time anyway, might as well add characterization to that too! 🤣🤣🤣

#jilly answers #Anonymous #sh critical #my sh rambling #isabelle lightwood #alec lightwood #lightwood family feels #shadowhunters #tangential tuesday #sort of #sh meta

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archivebottles · 1 year

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hi hi!!! I'm absolutely insane about your art lolz

what kind of stuff goes into your art? I'd love to get some insight on your style bc I'm definitely so normal about it hahaha.

anyways have a nice day!!! :3

hmm good question! i do actually put a lot of thought into my art (although sometimes it doesnt feel like it when im drawing it lol)

i dont have a fancy tutorial or infographic for my inspirations but for me though a lot of my inspiration is just 'what i think looks nice' i saw thicker lines and i thought 'oh i like that on my art i dont think i like using thin ones' or 'oh textured brushes feel much more fun to use!' ive been drawing for a long time and esp recently ive been taking a lot more time to test out new things and also i have been drawing digitally for a LONG time and that time has helped me figured out my art style

although it appears no matter how different i think im making my art looks people seem to know my style in some spaces ha ha

honestly my biggest think i look at many different things for inspiration. Mediums have all sort of genres in them! books! music! games! movies! other peoples art/art history! dont be afraid to mash things together. think fantasy could have something more? make it from a creatures perspective because you loved to read warrior cats as a kid. i really like character design! and concept art i remember looking at the concept art for metroid prime 2 echoes and being so amazed as a kid and because i like thinking about concepts and 'building on an idea' i like to make redesigns of my fav characters (and also i have ocs of my own ofc lol)

for me it was one thing to build a character from the ground up(i never liked taking an existing character and making them my oc by tweaking some stuff) and its another to say 'hm how i can i add something i like to this design that already exists on its own?' (which i think is such a fun exercise)

as for how i come up with designs that where it gets a little complicated. i sort of got into the habit of doing these designs bc i was reluctant to look up refs so i liked to guess to fill in the cracks. this isnt exactly ideal and i dont do this to so much of a degree now but having a hug backlog of inspirations sets me up for a launchpad on where to look for something i think fits that character (color, setting, style, etc)

unfortunately i do not have a list of famous artists i take inspiration from i played gacha games during my college art history (sorry) but i do like the use of horror vacui in art! its the fear of open spaces so its a lot of patterns and designs all cramped together its my fav thing but im also trying to force myself to leave more spaces open lol

uh this post is long as hell i can be more specific if you need me to the tldr is 90% of my art decisions are 'i think it looks nice :)'

#ask #the jokey reason is my art and designs look like this because i played a lot of sa2 battle when i was a child #if you have a specific design you are like howd you come up with that i may? be able to tell you but a lot of things are mostly #tjat it feels right lol #even if u cant like for example play a game there are always videos abot it t owatch too etc etc like who cares if u experienced undertale #thru a lets play if u still got meaning from it yknow?

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thepoorplayerwhosheardnomore · 11 months

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Five comfort characters, five tags

Well, who would've thought I'd be tagged in something like this... not me 😂

Thanks @kindaconfusingme for thinking of me. Though I have to admit this task turned out to be rather hard for me, especially since I approached it with an "easy peasy lemon squeazy" kind of attitude. Turns out I got a lot of comfort things: books, movies, music, food, clothing... but comfort characters? A character that gives me comfort solely by existing and not as part of a story? Surprisingly, I had trouble naming even one character, let alone five...

Now, enough whining about my sorrows concerning this tag game. Please, enjoy this list of comfort(-ish) characters I compiled in no particular order.

Luke Skywalker (Star Wars) - he was actually the first to pop up in my mind when thinking of a comfort character. A few years ago this would have surprised even myself since I've always enjoyed Anakin and his dynamics with other characters far more than Luke. But since Disney keeps shitting out new material Luke made his appearance again and I have to admit that I was deeply moved by his appearance, it had a feeling similar to coming home after a long journey. It just felt good and comforting for some reason. So congratulations Luke, you earned yourself a place in this tag game.

Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce and B.J. Hunnicut (MASH) - I simply adore this series for several reasons but these two are clearly one of them. I love how they use jokes and pranks to make their lives in a war more bearable, their sharp and biting sarcasm, but how they still know when to be serious and show vulnerability, their humanity, which sometimes is hard to maintain in a war. The way they take care of themselves and their friends when they are about to break and shatter from what's happening all around them is very moving for me.

Alicia Gris and Juan Manuel Vargas (The Labyrinth of the Spirits) - not sure whether these two (who count as one by the way) really fit the term "comfort" character but at least they have lived rent free in my head ever since I read the book. Regarding all the pain and unhealed trauma they just ignore and never talk about the "comfort" part might not be fitting but I love them and their dynamic so incredibly much that they earned their spotlight here. (My fave BroTP/OTP... can't decide which is better (Both. Both is good))

Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Assassin's Creed II, Brotherhood and Relations) - my video game husband. Do I need to add more? The Prince Charming is cute, funny and knows how to stab people. What else would you want??

Erend (Horizon Zero Dawn) - this might be my latest hyperfixation speaking but so what.. big, tough guy strong enough to swing a battle axe as if it were a toothpick who is actually kind of a cinnamon roll and a sweet dumbass trying his best? (He's a little confused, but he's got the spirit) Sign me up! Also a fan of whatever is going on with the hair and the beard.

This took and turned out way longer than I thought, so thanks for coming to my Ted talk, I guess.

As for the tagging: everyone who reads this and wants to do this as well, feel tagged. Apart from that, @book-full-of-dreams have fun.

#tag game #comfort character

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thecomposerofstories · 3 years

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Information on Amy.

(Be warned it's a ~little bit~ long, any other pieces of information you want to know I'll gladly answer if you ask.)

~General Information~

Fandom: Toy Story.

Name: Amy the Ragdoll.

Nickname, if any: Amy, Ames, and Doll-Face(usually by more villainous characters or used in a joking manner).

Gender: Female.

Sexuality: ??? (I mean I know the gender of who she has a crush on, but I'm unsure on what her actual sexuality should be tbh)

Age: Mentally, mid-twenties in the first story second movie, thirties to forties in the third and fourth. Physically, she doesn’t have an age, but in regards to when she was made (the 1950’s) makes her fifty to sixty.

City they currently live in: San Francisco, apparently that’s where Toy Story takes place.

Any pets: Would Rex count? He just follows her around like a nervous puppy.

Current occupation: I mean she’s practically a therapist, but she’s a toy and she only treats Rex so it probably doesn’t count lol

~Physical Appearance~

Height: 10 inches.

Body type: Stocky, but a bit gangly too, similar to Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Eye colour: Black.

Skin tone: Light.

Clothing style: Pale green/turquoise shirt with short puffed sleeves, with a denim dungaree dress with a daisy print in the centre over it. She wears yellow rain boots.

Hairstyle: No style, it’s just there. It’s messy and gets in her face easily and is made out of dark brown thin string.

~Speech/Language/Communication~

Amy speaks quietly and politely, rambles a bit if left without a reply or under pressure, very nervous in front of intimidating characters.

First language: English.

Learned languages: A bit of Spanish (Ya’ll remember Toy Story 3!)

Accent: American.

Pitch of voice: High, but soft, not quite annoying, unless she’s stressed, then it gets very pitchy and shrill.

~Behaviour/Habits~

Amy tends to just stand there when she can’t find anything to do, and will immediately try to find Rex, Hamm, Buzz or Jessie if surrounded by strangers (Though she’s not sure if it’s for their comfort or her own) Amy is very polite.

Spending habits: She doesn’t like to be made a fuss of at all, the very fact of someone giving something to her is unnerving (even if the thing never costed anything at all) and she feels compelled to give the giver something in return.

Morning routine: She gets up same time as the others, but wishes she could stay in bed a bit longer though. Before she came to Andy’s room, her sleep pattern was all over the place.

Bedtime routine: Similar to above, now she goes to bed the same time as the others, but before she just slept and got up willy-nilly.

Nervous habits: Amy will try to find Rex if she’s nervous, and she’ll pretend it’s because she’s worried for him, which is quite true, but she also just feels most safe with him. Speaking of, Amy will let Rex hold her hand and squish it whenever he or Amy is nervous, it’s calming to the both of them.

Bad habits: Not a very good exerciser, but then again, she’s spend basically half her life in a small attic, so I’ll give her a break.

Skills/talents: She’ very logical, mind-over-matter, (mostly, very good at calming others down and/or convincing them. She’s very good at spelling and knows quite a lot of words, some of which others haven’t even heard of.

Hobbies: Reading, talking (especially with Rex, Jessie or Hamm), and generally just lazing about or walking around somewhere, on her own or with a friend.

~The Past~

Amy’s first owner was a little girl called Alice. Alice loved nothing more than to read Amy stories (Mostly fairy tales), but of course, Alice grew up like all kids do, and she left Amy in the attic for someone else to have her.

Amy waited for many years, and all that time she’d never given up that someone would find her.

She thought she’s hit the jackpot when Andy and his family move into Alice’s old house, but they don’t go up into the attic to collect her. Some weeks later, though, Andy’s mother brings a set of boxes filled with junk into the attic and leaves. Woody, Buzz, Slinky, and Rex were trapped in one of the boxes (Call me a cheater but this part was actually inspired by a Toy Story comic, where those four toys get stuck in the attic that way and have to escape. It struck me odd that they never met at least one new friend there, so I made one. It was also my first story, I needed some inspiration!)

Amy, in a fit of panic, goes and hides.

But then she’s found by Rex as he and the others try to find a way out.

They then decide to let the strange, dust-covered ragdoll come back to Andy’s rom with them. (well, Rex did, anyway.)

Home town: Would Alice’s old room count? But it’s now Andy’s Room, so it won’t count will it?

Happy or sad childhood: Pretty normal to be honest, as normal a life as a toy could have anyway. And as for sadness, having spent all that time on her own for all those years, having missed out on so much, is a little sad. But Amy made sure she never became bitter over it or used it as an excuse for anything.

Earliest memory: Waking up in her toy store, with a friend of hers for company (a ragdoll Prospector, a much as she remembers) and as she gets bought by Alice’s Auntie, she says she hopes he gets picked up by a kid. (Unbeknownst to her, she would meet him again in a while to find out he never got to experience it)

Saddest memory: One, being left by Alice, yet being so happy for her and how much she’s grown up, if she could cry tears of joy for her owner, she would. Two, some (or most) of the days she spent waiting for a new owner to arrive. And three, watching Rex have a mental breakdown of anxiety.

Happiest memory: One, the time she and Alice went to the park, (Amy absolutely adores nature) Two after sliding down a drainpipe to get to Andy’s room, and three, having known she’d helped her friend out.

Significant events: Being bought, being left in an attic, being rescued from the attic, while gaining some new friends.

~Family~

The entirety of Andy’s room, whether they like it or not, they’re all in this together and are some kind of mish-mash, found family in a sense.

Siblings: I’ve been thinking of giving Amy a brother (since I based her on Raggedy Ann, a matching bootleg Raggedy Andy seems reasonable) bur I’m unsure about it, since I’ve already mapped out Amy’s entire series of stories (Around six or seven all together, so far I’m currently writing only the third) and I can only fit him in the fifth or sixth if I can.

~Relationships~

Romantically? I’d like to say she has a crush on Rex, I don’t know why I thought of it, I was contemplating it one day as I sketched a rough (and terrible) sketch of her, and I drew Rex too because he’s just so fun to draw and I wanted to make a scale for Amy’s size, and one of my friends (who had been watching me) immediately said “I ship it!” and well, the rest is history, I made the decision to ship it too.

Friends: Jessie, Hamm, Buzz, and Rex are her closet friends, but she’d like to say that all the Gang are her friends. Later on she becomes good friends with Mr. Prickle Pants, Buttercup, Trixie and Totoro, and she absolutely loves the peas and Forky.

Best friend(s): Hamm, Mr. Prickle Pants, Jessie, and Rex.

What do people like about them? Amy��s pretty easy to talk to, she’s polite and attentive and will sit in companionable silence with someone if they need it. But she won’t hesitate to give hard truths and advice if it’s needed.

What do people dislike about them? Amy is quite a doormat, if someone is rude to her or breaches anything she just lets it happen, and sometimes she’s too indecisive about her own stuff, unsure whether she’s going to offend others or not over the smallest things, which annoys others quite a bit.

~Mentality/Personal Beliefs~

Amy is a toy of logic, and though she believes others can do it if they set their minds to it, she doesn’t quite believe in herself. She believes she must follow the rules of being a toy at all times, no matter what.

Phobias: Dust. She hates it. It took a good five weeks to brush all the dust out her hair and clothes, and even so there’s still some in her pockets and places she can’t reach. And being alone, too. Now she can’t be alone for more than an hour before she starts to get antsy and nervous. And for a short time books gave her a strange tiredness, after reading them for so long and for so many years she couldn’t even stand the sight of them.

But of course, not for long, since Amy found out Andy had a copy of Red’s Dream by a Mr. William Reeves.

Optimist or pessimist: Depends on the situation really, if her mind can’t come up with a solution, then there’s no point in trying anymore. Unless someone else can think of something, that is.

Personal philosophies: “You are here to make good things happen. No person here is made for one reason only, or even only one. There’s no point in pretending to be someone you’re not just for the attention of others, no matter how cool they are. We should find are own meaning, as we’re the only ones who have control of it.

It’ll take a while, but I swear, it’ll be worth it.”

Biggest dream/wish: Amy wants nothing more than to find meaning for herself, but finds it rather hard to do so. Of course, that doesn’t mean she’ll settle for someone else’s meaning. As cheesy as it sounds, she just wants an adventure. She doesn’t necessarily want to be the hero, though, she’s just happy to go along with the ride so long as it gets her out the house for a few hours. She also, above all else, wants Rex to find meaning too, even if she never does, it would be nice to know that he had.

Greatest strength(s): Persuasion, story-telling, logic, and good grammar.

Biggest flaw: Despite being a ragdoll, Amy can’t sew because of her fingerless hands, which are just soft mittens in shape. Amy is also quite a doormat, as I said before, so if her calm persuasion and reasoning doesn’t work, she’s left to be walked all over.

Regrets: Staying in that dratted attic too long, the window was open, she could’ve just climbed out, but no, she had to stay there for some mind-rotting decades. But if she had just escaped, she would never have met her new friends. Amy just wishes she had met them a lot sooner.

Achievements: Escaped the attic, slid down a drainpipe, leapt onto the windowsill (though nearly knocking Woody and Buzz over in the process) stopped her friend from having a panic attack, and managed to remember the entire Dictionary and is able to recite it down from A to Z, and even Z to A.

Secrets: Not much, just strange feelings for one of her friends, but it’s not much of a secret, Bo knows, and Mr. Potato Head and Hamm could see it from a mile away, and the others have their suspicions.

Goals: Read the entirety of Andy’s (and later Bonnie’s) bookshelves, become more confident in herself, have her own book-worthy adventure, and figure out what those strange feelings for her friend is.

~Likes/Favourites~

Favourite colour: Even before meeting Rex, Amy’s favourite colour was always green. Every time Alice had taken her to the park, Amy adored watching the sunlight pour through the leaves with a golden-green glow.

Favourite book(s): Because it’s sentimental to her, being her owner’s favourites, she loves Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and The Wizard of Oz. They all hold similar plots (a little girl in a blue dress goes to a fantasy land, has a few adventures, and then leaves said fantasy land to go home to her family and responsibilities) but it reminds Amy of her old owner Alice (who was actually named after Alice from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland) and their playtimes together.

Favourite Book Quotation(s):

“Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises.”

“There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is facing danger when you are afraid.”

Favourite movie: Amy does much prefer books, since they allow her to imagine the setting and characters in her own way, but doesn’t mind movies, and isn’t picky on what they watch, though she does quite like horror films.

Favourite song: Amy likes any kind of music, new or old.

Favourite game: Amy never really cared for games, the competitiveness always bothered her and stressed her out. But she’s more than happy to watch Rex play his video games and cheer him on.

~Relationships with other characters~

~Rex~

- Hit it off pretty quickly.

- Amy helps him with his anxiety, and helps him find confidence in himself, she acts as a certain therapist to him.

- Both become very stressed without the other around.

- Rex will hold and knead at Amy’s hands sometimes; it calms him down.

- Rex will let Amy ride on his back if she’s tired or needs to see something (Because she’s so short).

- One of them can basically be talking about the most boring-est things ever, yet still the other will hang on to their every word.

~Jessie~

- Became friends pretty quickly.

- Will drag Amy along anywhere.

- Get along fairly well.

- Jessie does the talking and Amy does the planning.

- Jessie always pranks the other toys and makes Amy tag along (along with Hamm).

- Introvert/Extrovert dynamic for sure.

- Both were left in alone for years so like to find solace in each other.

~Hamm~

- Hamm begrudgingly warmed up to the timorous ragdoll.

- Surprisingly good pals.

- Have full conversations without saying anything.

- Like to sit and look out of the window together.

- Hamm makes Amy laugh when she really shouldn’t (mainly when he makes fun of the other toys, mainly Woody).

- Hamm makes fun of Amy having a crush on Rex every once in a while, though he doesn’t mean any harm.

~The Potato Heads~

- Mr. doesn’t really interact with Amy much, but finds her surprisingly tolerable, if a bit high-strung and annoying.

- Like Hamm, Mr. makes Amy laugh at the most wrong moments.

- She and Mrs. Are quite good friends, and she sometimes lets Amy take care of the aliens if she and her husband are busy.

~Woody~

- Are aquianteces.

- Don’t exactly interact much, even though the whole room practically revolves around him, in Amy’s opinion, though she would never say it to his face.

~Buzz~

- Amy thinks he’s super cool (then again, he is Buzz Lightyear, he practically invented coolness)

- Both are just as clueless as one another when it comes to social cues and interactions.

- Amy helps him with vocabulary and spelling every once in a while.

~Mr. Prickle Pants~

- Are absolute BFF’s.

- Go back and forth with book quotes to the point of driving the other toys insane.

~Bo Peep~

- Amy's not exactly sure if Bo has befriended her or not.

- (She has)

- They later become good friends.

- Amy misses their talks, Bo was one of the only toys she could talk to that could keep a secret.

#amy the ragdoll #toy story #oc #toy story oc #character information #original character #oc's #ocs #character development #fan character

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sapphicscholar · 2 years

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Miranda Priestly and Ted Lasso for the character meme. Weird combo but I won't apologize...

Hehe I'm all about the random mash ups!

Miranda Priestly

My favorite thing about them: this one's a little harder because so many of my favorite things about her are the elements implicit in canon that fanfic authors have pulled to the fore and spun into beautiful character studies, BUT to take something that's full on, front and center in the film: I love her drive and ambition! She's not particularly kind or nurturing or empathetic or all the other buzzwords that get tossed around when people at publications like the WSJ try to do half-assed advocacy for "women in leadership," but she's good at her job, efficient as hell, and has inspired as much loyalty as she has for a reason

My least favorite thing about them: somewhat related to what I like most about her, actually, but the willingness to throw those closest to her (Nigel, Emily) under the bus when it suits her based on the assumption that they'll be loyal enough not to turn on her. Fandom offered a lot of different paths for how she might move forward with healing those relationships in ways that rewarded that loyalty, but sticking within canon, we're left with two very hurt people abandoned in her wake

My favorite canon relationship: since we don't get anything outside of ended or ending marriages for the more traditional romantic sense of relationship I've been using to answer this question so far, I'll say her working relationship with Andy if only because (within the hour and 45 minutes or whatever of the film that counts as canon) it's the one relationship where there's clear growth. I love how fandom has expanded on her long-standing working and social relationship with Nigel in particular, but given the note the movie ends on, it feels more apt to lean into that growing respect she feels towards Andy (and her increasing sense of identification with her). Plus, it makes for really interesting canon divergence fics in which Andy doesn't quit in Paris!

My favorite non-canon relationship: her and Andy (romantic)

The sexuality I headcanon for them: this is another one where I don't necessarily have a set label I associate with her outside of the delightfully undefined umbrella of queer

What I’d do if I could spend the day with them: I am *certain* I'd hate myself a little during, but I would want to get my wardrobe revamped by the expert. Like yes, go for it, dress me in all the things that are probably very interesting and stylish that I'd never have even contemplated in a store!

Random fact about them I like: that she, master of control and fashion and appearance, has a giant, drooly dog at home

Ted Lasso:

My favorite thing about them: the willingness to see the good in everyone even when (and perhaps especially when) it's hard and maybe only visible in the realm of potential

My least favorite thing about them: the willingness to see the good in everyone sometimes at the expense of seeing and acknowledging problems that need to be addressed

My favorite canon relationship: since we haven't actually seen him date anyone in canon for the more "traditional" sense of relationship, I'll go with his long-standing friendship with Beard--they sold me with the whole let's pretend we don't know each other if we see each other in our dreams bit on the plane in the pilot

My favorite non-canon relationship: either the Love Square or Ted/Trent (now independent)

The sexuality I headcanon for them: within canon S1 I'd have probably said pretty straight, but post S2, I veer towards queer in some vague, undefined kinda way

What I’d do if I could spend the day with them: for not at all the same reasons, I'm offering the same answer as I did for Rebecca in that I'd want to let him plan the day! I'm not particularly impulsive and would probably think of some predictable, nice-enough things to do, but letting Ted loose with the vague "let's have a fun day--low stakes, no pressure" could be very fun

Random fact about them I like: that he knows how to make some killer shortbread cookies - I once had a work husband who I'd have coffee and crumpets with every morning, but damn would we have killed for a biscuits with the boss dude

#character ask meme #chainofclovers #ask me anything #ted lasso #miranda priestly #dwp

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tronrpg · 3 years

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what are Sirens?

what are Sirens? we just don't know.

but i'm getting ahead of myself.

To my knowledge, there has never been an officially-released Tron pen-and-paper RPG. There certainly would have been a market for it around the original film's release, had it done better at the box office. And assuredly there have been dozens of homebrew splats and rulesets shared between fans and friends over the years. The Fract, in an ideal world, would eventually be a complete RPG system, enough to fill up a corebook and run a game. But in thinking about worldbuilding, I've run into a storytelling problem that, if not unique to the world of Tron, is certainly still a sore-thumb kind of issue.

Tron--that is to say the OG 1982 Grid, the New Grid, and whatever metatextual setting that the Fract takes place in--is neither science fiction nor science fantasy. For those who aren't clear on the delineation between the two, the plainest I can describe it is to say that "Star Trek" is (generally) science fiction, and "Star Wars" is (generally) science fantasy. Science fiction is nominally supposed to adhere to scientific rules or at least bend them to a reasonable degree in order to tell a story. Science Fantasy bends and breaks those rules, sometimes with impunity, because space wizards waving laser swords around speaks for itself.

The setting of Tron, taking place as it does outside the Grid, is a simulacra of a modern-day "real world" as we know it, with science and computers behaving the way we know they normally do. Except for in the Grid itself. We have to assume that both the Old and New Grids were special in some way, or at the very least that Grid-like systems with sentient programs are few and far between; because computer systems and programs as we know them do not behave like they do on either Grid. If they did, why would Flynn have bothered to create a new one if there are Grids within every computer in the world?

And that's where the science fiction of Tron falls down. Stephen Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird were not computer experts, and they wrote the original screenplay during a time when computers were widely known but not widely understood, particularly by the common person. They can be forgiven for leaning hard on the fantasy and spirituality elements that make Tron a work of more consequence than oh, say, Computer Warriors. But by the time Legacy was released, the world was a very different place, and the ubiquity of computers and technology meant that the average person had a basic knowledge of how a computer works and what it can do; and the OG Grid does not fall into those parameters. So it's hard to say that Tron is strictly science fiction, where rules have meanings, or science fantasy where rules are up for grabs, because each of us carry around a real-world analogue to the Grid in our pockets all day and by now we are all pretty sure that Google Chrome does not, in a metaphorical or spiritual sense, fight for us.

(This, incidentally, is where I feel Legacy did the right thing by having Flynn starting from almost-scratch with the New Grid instead of attempting to apply real-world IT logic to the Grid like Tron 2.0. Divorcing the fiction from things like emails and spreadsheets allowed Legacy to retain some of the spirituality and potential of 1982; and inasmuch as Tron 2.0 is a great game that I intend to revisit soon, I find the "real computer" stuff to be kinda cringey.)

And here's where we come around to Sirens, finally. What the hell are they? Aside from being conventionally-attractive female-coded Programs in white vinyl outfits who appear to have largely representational or ritualistic roles in the New Grid, it's not entirely clear what they do or what separates them from a garden-variety Program. We see Gem and the three other Sirens in Legacy, there are a handful of Sirens in Uprising, including Lux, who appears to have been a...battle Siren? Maybe?

When it comes to putting together an RPG, you have to lean on rules. You have to nail things down and say, outside of GM fiat, a dice roll does that and a stat means this and an attack is performed thusly. So in thinking about squishing the world of Tron into an RPG format, which unlike most video games does not contain a single linear storyline; you have to think about making the world digestible and processable by squaring the edges and making definitions. You want the players and the GM to be able to exercise the vastness of their imaginations, but you want to set the parameters of the playing field, or else why have a themed RPG at all?

That's where I started thinking about how Tron's mish-mash of science fiction/fantasy elements make it a unique challenge to format as an RPG setting. Would it be better to emphasize the fantasy theming, or would players prefer a more grounded approach with real-world computer elements? Is it possible to have a balanced approach? How do you color in the missing information about how the Grid and Programs work, the stuff that the original works never really explained? Just what the HELL are Sirens anyway? Is there some sort of unspoken caste system in the Grid? Are there male-presenting Sirens? Can they suit up and play in the Games? Can they all do that synchronized-walking-backwards thing? Do Sirens just show up when Programs are about to compete at something? Why so much eyeshadow? Why does it rain in the Grid? Why did Flynn serve Sam and Quorra a roast suckling pig? Why does Clu 2.0 look more like Lord Farquahd than Jeff Bridges? WHAT HAPPENED TO RAM? IS HE PART OF THE JUNKY RECOGNIZER NOW OR DID HE TURN INTO THE BIT OR WHAT? KEVIN FLYNN, WHERE ARE YOU NOW?

...okay, got that out of my system, thanks for bearing with me. The point is that there are a lot of fill-in-the-blanks when it comes to worldbuilding lore in the Tron universe, and that may be by design. I love Star Wars, but the industry that has been built up over the last 40+ years to make sure every puppet, alien and CGI blob with a nanosecond of screen time has a full backstory and Wookieepedia entry, I find, largely detracts from the magic of the original movies. Not having everything explained adds to Tron's lasting allure. On the other hand, it makes a project like the Fract a product of guesswork and blue-skying.

So let's say I was creating a Tron RPG, like you do. And I wanted to make Sirens a playable class (which I intend to). Based on the information given to us by the canon, which isn't much; I'd say that Sirens are, first and foremost, specialists. They have specific skills that they hone and adhere to and do not deviate from to take on other roles, which makes them in-demand as bodyguards or enforcers but their specialization limits a players' build choices. They are also largely recognized in the Grid as having ritualistic or shamanistic public roles, perhaps representing the link between Programs and Users. (Maybe Dumont was a Siren 1.0. He could have had on a white vinyl singlet under that getup, who knows?) Maybe they're like priestesses or shrine maidens, maybe they take vows like nuns. This might make them like Monks in D&D.

You see how narrowing the possibilities of what Sirens are in order to fit them into an RPG character class box also reduces their potential in canon--but of course canon's not being contradicted here; this is a fan work and is not intended to overwrite the creative work of others. I just hope that if it ever gets completed, it plays enough like the work that inspired it, so that other fans can get the same rush of imagining what it's like to be on the Grid.

#tron #tron 1982 #tronblr #tron lives #tron legacy #rpg #flynn lives #worldbuilding

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thessaliah · 3 years

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The reunion with someone you love, thanking someone who was unrewarded, saving of the pitiful who cry for help: universal themes in events and their connection to Roman and Olga

Benienma's charming New Year event ended and there were lots of good moments. Specially for Fionn fans who finally got their favorite to take the spotlight. Fionn is in Ireland, the equivalent of King Arthur, just like Cu Chulainn is the equivalent of Herakles, so the way FGO has handled him was horrible so far but he came around in this event and got impressive feats on his own. But I won't talk about Fionn, others have done before this. When this event dropped years ago, I and a lot of japanese players felt certain uncanny emotional parallel with Beni's old man and Mash's situation with Roman. A man who never knew happiness for themselves and always thought about the happiness of others, cloaking themselves in big lies, misunderstood alive but grieved in death. Who still died smiling because others were saved and happy, yet still they want to thank them and set things right, even if it's an impossible wish.

Mash is the one who speaks up, while she doesn’t overtly voice her parallel, we know it exists.

If I am to only fulfill my role between larger gears, There isn’t much to worry over, If “only” is good enough.

I’d like to try living, in the time I was granted. I don’t fight to suffer, Just like you said. Please, let the gentle rain fall upon me, upon our will. When I depart, I’d like for you to quietly see me off.

When I was done crying, I could no longer hear your voice. That’s how you urge me on, I see, telling me that there’s no road back.

I was born into this world to live. There is no other definite reason. I don’t need a mission or a meaning. I will live! I don’t want to Let my memories with you end in sorrow. Just like you said, The conclusion can be repainted, always.

Cut for length.

This is the song for her mental and emotional state after what she lost at the end of part 1 (Roman). It’s called Blank Space, it shows that, like Benienma, she’s continued her duty for the chance to see Roman again. This post isn’t about Roman, but also about Olga, since the prologue of Part 2 there are two heavy losses that weight Mash’s heart (also the player but Mash’s more vocal about it): first is her guilt of being unable to save Olgamarie (which was discussed and was the reason they went to save Goredolf) and the other is her sorrow with the separation with Roman whom she didn’t even properly thank for everything he did for her (was hinted how she is comforted by his room in Missions before being tore apart from it in the prologue where she had a breakdown and refused to leave). Events in FGO sometimes don’t exist in isolation, they connect to major plot arcs: Ooku continues CCC and is about the major plot of the Beasts, for example, Oniland and Christmas 2020 with Karna supply dragon lore which surely will be important in Britain Lostbelt or when Arthur confronts the Beast of Revelations. Plenty of events to build the Greek Pantheon and characters. As such, there are these small emotional catharses of events that are sometimes connected to the main characters (Mash and Guda) own desires and wishes. The desire of Guda meeting the one(s) he loved and lost again is ever-present, even in interludes:

(Abigail interlude)

The person singled out for this is always Roman. Aphrodite's song illusion in Guda's heart led toward Roman and is a mere possibility he was around (even without a blank without body, even without understanding what he's saying) what broke in Guda's defenses. It was always when they gave in about the doctor when the loop was allowed to continue. It was also the source of strength to break out of this. Because Guda can't face Roman unless they are proud of their answer and path, in death or life, they can't thematically meet again (exceptional events aside) until Guda is satisfied with their actions. Events sometimes feature this Roman-loss theme, or rather about being reunited with someone you separate from and lost what is the conclusion of one's journey: Sitonai reunites with that Berserker in Oniland, Beni with the old man, and there's that movie singularity that was all about a man who was misunderstood and made a villain by people who after his death realised their mistake and understood he loved his foster daughter's future and would protect it with his life. Mash was personally touched by that script (so was Roman, who was included by Nasu changing the original novel that was going to be published, to help the cast reshoot the movie for Mash's sake) and wanted to ensure to preserve it, the end of the movie is the daughter living well while the father is watching over, apparently alive, but with a different appearance who one day might meet his daughter again.

The other point of emotional struggle is to help or save those who pitifully want to be saved. While the reunion is nearly always involving a man (sometimes a father figure or someone who was a guardian), the saving part is almost always about a girl, usually, a girl who is doing evil actions and needs to be put down for the sake of others but Guda and Mash (if she’s around) refuse. Imaginary Scramble features two of them: "Gogh" (Clytie) and Yang Guifei. The Olga factor goes tacit in all but the male exception, Goredolf was a man, but the Olga connection was brought up explicitly in his case. This plot-line might have started with Ereshkigal Christmas event and Salem (on that note, Abigail's search and longing for her dead friend also connect and echos with Guda's losses). This started after part 1, because during Observer, those who were twisted or darkened or made villains were disposed of instead of saved (Ushiwakamaru in Babylonia for example, or all the Servants affected by madness in Orleans). Because it was not important during part 1, but it is for part 2.

(in a nonsubtle way).

IMO, the Greek Lostbelt was also a climax to voice what Mash’s (and Guda’s) wants. Mash finally breaks out and says she wants to meet Roman again and thank him for everything after the Person of Chaldea appears. They aren't speculating about his identity or his warnings, rather they are emotional about how he can't be the Doctor because his eyes are different and wish to meet him again in an emotional My Room scene. Olympus was for Olga, after U Olgamarie appears and they are left confused by her actions, that is Olga but she's their enemy, a Beast, but still they want to help her. Because that's always been one of their biggest regrets. Greek Lostbelt kicks the course of their personal emotional catharsis arc: Olga is there, but she's an enemy; an ally who resembles Roman appears but he's not their doctor. Man of Chaldea and U-Olga have the same function: to be different kinds of emotional hurdles Mash and Guda face, aside from their role in the plot (obviously they are more important than just angsty plot devices). So it begins their personal goal: meet Roman again, save Olga. Atlantis and Olympus also have a little of both. Olympus with that dream which had an emphasis Guda's feelings toward Roman, among all their losses, while Atlantis with the subplot of Corday and the nanomachines (which the priestess witnessed).

To wrap up, this is merely tangential, but this scene was translated at last, so I might give context to those who don't know it:

This weaver is "Miss Crane", who appears in Waltz in the Moonlight Lostroom, a special game released on anniversary with the plot by Nasu. Just to show how tied is Roman's story and Benienma's event narrative. The doctor created the Moonlight Room, that became a harmless singularity that exists linking past and future, similar to the Inn. Crane manages it by his request and one of Crane's goal is to reward him, even with the little she could do for him. Roman gets the broadcast of the Ball Crane arranged for him in the game’s ending. This foreshadowing that leads back to Roman was included in the same chapter Beni tells us her backstory and her wish to thank and meet that man again. And she did, in the very end, as a personal reward for her efforts, and his.

(Fate/Grand Order is a story of many meetings and departures, and meetings again).

Note that because I interpret that Mash’s and Guda’s emotional catharsis arc require: needing to help Olga (to exercise their regrets), and meeting Roman in the end (as reward), it doesn’t mean that Olga or Roman will be alive or playable in the end. Olga could sacrifice herself as Corday or Ophelia did after being saved (her choice is going to be important, because it seems build up for her to finally make a stand she wants), Roman can be met in a death-state or in the Lostroom/Moonlight room as connection of past and future. It’s just that those things needed to happen for the emotional closure and they have had a built up before the Greek Lostbelt.

#fate grand order #meta #olgamarie animusphere #romani archaman #lostbelt spoilers

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springday-aus · 3 years

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Ghost!AU with Jungkook

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moodboard link

Group: BTS

Member: Jeon Jungkook

Other Characters: mentions of ghost!Yoongi and neighbor!Taehyung

Genre: fluff, platonic bc he’s literally dead

Type: Bulletpoint AU

Word Count: approx. 1.5k

A/N: totally late bc Halloween, but better late than never

Jungkook died in an embarrassing way

not like, on the toilet embarrassed

more of… he forgot to drink water while he was playing some video games….

so……... dehydration

even though he died in the 21st century, dehydration is probably the stupidest way to die

so he died fairly recently

around 5ish years

recently enough to still be roaming around earth

especially in the apartment he died in

the nice landlady tries to rent it out to other people and while the price is lower

(primarily bc he DIED in there)

people just keep leaving

it’s not Jungkook’s fault but also his fault

like he doesn’t mind having other people

but the other people………. don’t really wanna live with him

lowkey he gets hurt whenever people move out

bc when the landlady asks

they always say there’s a chill that brushes by and it freaks them out a bit

(homeboy is just trying to walk from place to place)

and then how things move without them moving them

(it’s more convenient for Jungkook if people have coasters under their glasses, just saying)

and how in the evenings, the electronics would turn on

this is actually Jungkook’s fault bc he’s in the habit of playing games at night and watching tv until late

so when a tv turns on its own and flips channels and you know that no one else is in your living room……………….. people move out the night that he starts turning on shit

yeah, when your shit starts to turn on by itself…… I would be moving out too

that’s paranormal activity shit

and most don’t wanna mess with that

Jungkook isn’t intentionally pushing people out

it’s just an accident bc he just forgets he’s not alive

Yoongi, the ghost from two floors up, says that it’s because humans tend to fear the unknown

he’s got a point too

that’s why humans fear death—they don’t know what happens after you die

there was one guy who ended up “living” with Jungkook for the longer time period

Namjoon was a good guy

he’s so great that after seven months of moving here, he moved out to live in a bigger space with his partner

Jungkook was upset but he was happy for him, even though he hasn’t spoken a word to him

so that was his current situation: another empty apartment that the landlady is trying to rent out once more

this is where you come in

you rent out this place and within a week, you’re moving in

Jungkook stays in the corner a bit, just observing you

he makes note of your pictures, knick-knacks, and other supplies

it’s about another week or so until you’re settled and established some kind of routine

he doesn’t mind you

you’re consistent

it’s about another two weeks or so until he makes his presence known

one night, you were working on an assignment late at night with the tv on

you just picked something off of netflix and let it play

it was just the soft sounds of the television and the typing of your laptop keys

and then

you felt it

there was shift in the temperature and a chill brushed against your neck

even with your hoodie on, you shivered from the cold

and moved from your spot to grab a heavier blanket

when you came back from your bedroom, you didn’t notice how one of the throw pillows have slightly shifted over

by slightly, I mean moved over to the other side

you didn’t think much of it and shrugged it off, thinking you might have moved it earlier

the sleep deprivation was getting to you

to Jungkook tho, it meant acceptance

small, but still meaningful

again, you didn’t think much of it

until it was happening for a solid month

even during daytime

so……….. you asked around the building

they didn’t really say much, just that a lot of people tended to move out because of some of the stuff that happened there

it wasn’t until you met Taehyung that you found out about Jungkook

he was pretty close with him, since they were close in age and bonded over video games and dogs

when he died, he actually attended the funeral and it was…. upsetting to see such a young man die

Taehyung: “you know, most people tend move out about a month after moving in”

Taehyung: “they all seem freaked out and the landlady even called a shaman to check out the place because it was deemed as ‘unliveable’”

You: “well, has anyone found evidence that he’s still there?”

Taehyung: “I don’t think anyone could handle it if they found out”

You: this is a bad idea but oh well

so you may or may not have bought a ouija board (you did)

and you try talking to him

you set up candles and a picture (which you got from Taehyung himself)

once the sun sets, you officially start

Jungkook thinks it’s hilarious so he plays along

You: “hello spirit of Jungkook, I’m (Y/N) and I wanted to ask if you are here”

after a couple of minutes of no response, you sigh, feeling ridiculous

You: well, this is stupid

and then

it moves

your eyes widen as your hands push towards the yes

you didn’t actually think you would get an answer so you were at a bit of a lost

You: “is it okay if I’m living here?”

he moves it towards the no

you let out a sigh of relief

You: “cool, so you aren’t a murder ghost, great”

he’s laughing but you can’t really hear him

although, you do hear a faint sound of wind chimes—even though you are very sure that none of your neighbors even have wind chimes

so you “talk” with him a bit more and eventually, you head to sleep

You: “thank you for not killing me and please look away when I’m in the bathroom or changing”

if Jungkook wasn’t dead, he was very sure there would have been blush on his cheeks

so you two live side by side peacefully

you were wearing a lot more hoodies to avoid the cold breezes that pass by

if you forget where something was, most of the time, they show up in front of you in courtesy of Jungkook finding it

when you often forgot, he would help you with

one time you didn’t push the cook button for the rice cooker

(he saved you from throwing the whole batch out)

sometimes you even leave a small bowl out for him like an offering

and, yeah, he can’t eat it but he does appreciate it

it goes like this for a while and you’re both content

and then Halloween comes

at previously midnight when Halloween begins

there’s another cold breeze that passes by and you wake up, dazed and confused

and, in the darkness, there’s a shadowy figure you spot at the end of your bed

and suddenly you’re awake, sitting up in your bed

you wrap yourself a bit tighter in your blanket as you hear your name being whispered

Jungkook: “I didn’t mean to wake you”

You: what. the. fuck.

Jungkook: “go back to sleep”

the last thing you hear is soft singing from an angelic voice before you drift back to sleep

you wake up the next morning

putting on Halloween movies, putting on the Monster Mash, and prepping candy for the kids that stop by your apartment

it wasn’t until Jungkook makes an appearance that you remembered what happened last night

and I mean APPEARANCE

you physically saw him in your kitchen

and screamed

he was just as startled as you

but you haven’t even seen him until today

(expect for the pictures Taehyung showed you, which is the only reason you recognized him)

Jungkook: “did I not mention that on Halloween I can physically appear?”

You: “NO BITCH YOU DIDN’T TELL ME”

Jungkook: “well, I’m telling you now” :(

after you calm down from the miniature heart attack, you get to spend a day together

well, mostly on your part since you can actually see him now

he’s just more…… visible

it’s fun, it’s like a longtime friend coming over and spending the day with you

so you spend the night watching more movies, dressing up (at least, you did), and giving candy to the kids

you learn more about him and it’s a super fun time for the both of you because it means actual conversations

like how good he is at singing

(it’s very clear how much he loves music)

how often he likes to play computer games

his cleanliness

how much he likes the romantic comedies you put on

his weird obsession with trying different ramens

Jungkook: “I had like 6 cups in a row once”

You: “well jesus, no wonder you died”

Jungkook: “stop making fun of me” 😭

he’s not sure how long he’ll be here, but he’s glad he’ll be living with you while he’s here

and when midnight comes and you’re falling asleep as Hocus Pocus plays in the background

you hear it

“good night, (Y/N), until next Halloween”

#admin grandma #aus #fluff #kpop #kpop aus #kpop imagines #kpop scenarios #bts #bts aus #bts imagines #bts scenarios #jeon jungkook #jungkook aus #jungkook imagines #jungkook scenarios #ghost!au #ghost!jungkook #group: bts #member: jeon jungkook

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pajasekacka · 3 years

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Supernatural - my journey with it

It was a GREAT and LONG ride. I boarded I think sometime between 2010 and 2011 and it depended a lot on when they broadcast the show in our country but I caught up quickly at the and of 2011. And it definitely helped me a lot with English. Not the best but I understand. 😅 READ MORE BELOW

...........................

The show has it's ups and downs and I have some issues with it but I get it. Reading helped and people get very creative with Supernatural and you just love those boys. The real ones or the fictional. I will be interested in these actors forever.

My favourite seasons would be 1,4, 5, most parts of 6 and 8. Then it was with the seasons like this: 50% of the season I liked and 50% I didn't agree with or they didn't explore some plotlines much more. For example, HumanCas that ended pretty fast.

But I was loyal and curios. It was and it will be a good watch.

I will cry every time this 3 "idiots" (Team free will) sacrifice himself and every time they lost someone. I will cry from laughing while watching episodes like Changing Channels and Scooby-Doo. Cas "in the den of iniquity" or when he said to Sam "don't ask stupid questions" when he was drunk. Dean talking to the dog or his beloved Baby Impala. Applaud whenever clever Sam finds out how to solve a case. And so on...there are plenty of moments.

And when I will read about old myths, buy salt, see Impala or heard classic rock music I will always think about Supernatural.

...........................

In the final episode, I saw that they probably planned to show more things. Those long scenes without dialogue and then it was really quickly over. Like it wasn't the whole episode.

True I love Miracle and I cry in the middle and sang at the end (two times)of the episode. But it feels more like a glimpse of a sample epilogue of what could be and just mentions people in one sentence...

Well, COVID and so on. Better they all stay safe

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In a way, I like more the end of 15x19. The way they left Chuck I find quite fitting for him. Jack will be a good God, but I don't understand that Sam and Dean didn't ask him to save Cas. (By the way, I cry a lot at the end of 15x18 and I am not Destiel fan, the best friend(third brother) fan, but I get it and I read during the years some pretty good stories with it)

So Jack, Common! You call him your chosen father from your first appearance. Go and negotiate with The Empty. Make the place quiet again! Because I don't believe that the place quiets down quickly after he blows up there.

So I would just pretend that it happened off the screen, so I would understand Bobby's line "Cass helped.." in the 15x20.

.....................

We all can come up with ideas on how this should end in itself.

I have a lot of ideas for this season or the previous one.

I am a person who likes to think about the story I watch (series, movies) and tied up all logic things into a satisfying meaning. They left a lot of things open.

When I was thinking about how or with what they could come up with to end it in the finale. I truly saw Dean dead and Sam has a son he would name after his brother. Passing The Winchesters legacy he learned from Dean who raised him. (If I bet at this idea back then I would win as we all saw it now)

I picture that Dean in Impala would find the music tape he gives Cas with small black feather laying on it (not in Heaven)

I thought maybe at the beginning of the finale there would be a headline "a year later" or maybe more. I really thought that the boys will spend more time on Eart together with their "free will" and not just a week or something.

..............................

Well most of us wanted to see them again. John and Mary with Dean and Sam. Cas say "hello Dean", Cas happy that he helped to change and fix Heaven for his family of friends and everyone else. I think that is something he really wanted to do a long time after all the problems with it. Better Heaven and no puppet show anymore.

There would be so much more people to meet again with Sam and Dean. I am sure If the situation was different, the bridge at the end would be pretty crowded.

So in the end... Did I like the ending? Yes and no, yes, no and again yes.

Writing END isn't easy. There aren't many series that can boast a satisfying ending. My examples MASH, The Big Bang Theory, maybe Stare Gate SG1, Criminal minds, Downtown Abbey... I know pretty mix. In these cases I can say I was satisfied with the endings. Definitely not Game of thrones there a logic, narration, characters and meaningful dialogues probably flew into the unknown.

With Supernatural, they did one good thing for sure....

They didn't destroy the re-watch for me. Thank you very much.

The Supernatural was and always will be my best series and my inspiration.

So to Jensen, Jared, Misha an all the amazing staff...

Family don't End with Blood and Goodbye Boys. 😘😘😍😎🤗😭😂😁🥰

And with the familiar words... After all this time? ALWAYS

#supernatural #spn spoilers #dean winchester #castiel #15x20 #15x18 #spn 15x19 #season 15 #spn finale #Jensen Ackles #Jared Padalecki #Misha Collins #team free will

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Batman: Soul of the Dragon – Bringing a Little Bruce Lee to Bruce Wayne’s World

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains Batman: Soul of the Dragon spoilers.

The latest DC animated film Batman: Soul of the Dragon is a complete reimagining of the Dark Knight. It’s an out-of-continuity story, the kind of tale DC usually places under its Elseworlds banner. Set in the 1970s, Soul of the Dragon places Batman (David Giuntoli) as part of an ensemble of heroes, a collection of the top martial arts masters in the DC universe including Richard Dragon (Mark Dacascos), Lady Shiva (Kelly Hu), Ben Turner a.k.a. Bronze Tiger (Michael Jai White), and O-Sensei (James Hong).

“It’s a weird movie in that you can literally take the voice cast and transpose it into live-action and they can make the same movie,” gushes writer Jeremy Abrams, “They’re all accomplished and good looking. It all works!”

Batman: Soul of the Dragon is a mash-up of Batman and ‘70s Kung Fu films. For this film, the comics character Richard Dragon is reinvented as a thinly disguised homage to Bruce Lee.

“I pitch a lot of martial art DC comic ideas,” confesses Abrams. “I’ve been pitching Batman meets Enter the Dragon for a while, and evidently, [Executive Producer] Bruce Timm had a similar idea.” Timm said he’d love to do a 1970s Batman martial arts thing, which led him to Abrams. “Bruce wanted to add on a Big Trouble in Little China element, which is like catnip for me. That’s one of my favorite movies. So, it ended up being like four hours just talking about stuff, and what would work, and what would be cool.”

Abrams and Timm have a great love of ’70s cinema. It’s an unusually fruitful period to set a Batman story according to Abrams.

“One of the great things that they had is all these really distinct genres,” Abrams says. “You had blaxploitation, you had Kung Fu movies, you had James Bond movies. Then you had horror movies that were the satanic panic type cult movies. And our movie is in the center of that and it just all seemed to lend itself to this movie.”

In the 1970s Batman comics strove to distance themselves from Adam West’s campy TV rendition which had become the dominant impression of the character since its wild success from 1966-69. Part of this reinvention involved scaling down Batman’s reliance on gadgets and technology in favor of a more two-fisted, detective style approach. Batman: Soul of the Dragon explores Batman in his formative years, and scales back his resources accordingly. “You’re not going to get the Batcave,” explains Abrams. “You’re going to get the loft above a building, a dance club.”

There are so many Batman stories already so to stand out, the filmmakers sought to bring Batman to his roots by making this more about Bruce Wayne.

“We’ve tried to humanize Batman,” adds director Sam Liu, “so he’s not in the costume for the majority of the film, and it’s more of a human story.”

There’s always risk when retooling a beloved character.

“We get to work on big, A-list superheroes,” Liu says. “These are iconic heroes. They’re not just made up from cartoons and stuff like that. It’s a big responsibility sometimes, but if I spend too much time thinking what it means to so many people, I could get intimidated. After a while…you kind of want to try something different. We’ve done so many Batman stories. Sometimes you try something new and it’s interesting to you, because again, it’s different. But then the fans don’t get on board with it because they kind of want them to stay the same.”

Who is the Best Martial Artist in the DC Universe?

Given the formative theme, Batman: Soul of the Dragon illuminates Batman’s training in martial arts. However, this isn’t exactly Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins either. Batman doesn’t study ninjutsu with Ra’s al Ghul. Instead, he trains under O-Sensei alongside the most powerful martial artists of DC. Abrams, a consummate comics and martial arts geek, already had his top three DC Universe martial artists picked out.

“Well, I know Shiva’s in there. I know Richard Dragon’s in there, and I know that Ben Turner’s in there,” Abrams says. “I definitely think they are the top. I don’t think Batman breaks the top five in terms of DC martial artists. But he’s cool. I just think he supplements martial arts with so many other things.”

Even though Batman has top billing, he’s not the main character. According to Liu, each of the others in the quartet of heroes could carry their own story.

“We didn’t want any of them to be sidekicks,” Liu says. “We’re so used to these Batman stories where Batman is the guy. It was a very conscious decision in building this, that we made sure that Richard was never a sidekick. If anything, this was a little bit subversively kind of supposed to be more of a Richard story. Batman is just one of the characters. He grew up with these characters, and he’s just part of this ensemble, and each of them have their part in this grander story.”

In the wake of Bruce Lee, Kung Fu oriented characters spread into comics. Marvel’s upcoming Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, based on a popular comic series that came out in the 1970s, is a leading example, however DC had their own stable of martial masters.

“I know and I love the glut of DC martial arts characters of that era,” states Abrams emphatically. “Everybody has their peculiarities in the things they love about fandom. I know a guy that is really obsessed with the background creatures of Star Wars. But one of my obsessions in the DC universe are these really cool well-defined martial arts characters they have.”

Batman: Soul of the Dragon takes a deep dive into several secondary DC martial artists like Judomaster Rip Jagger (Chris Cox), Edmund Dorrence (Patrick Seitz) and the nefarious Kobra Cult including Jeffery Burr (Josh Keaton), and Lady Eve (Grey Griffin). What is it about cobras and martial arts villains nowadays?

Enter Richard Dragon

While all of the martial artists in this film have been reinvented to some degree from the comic pages to this animated adaptation, the biggest change is Richard Dragon. In the comics, Dragon was originally Richard Drakunovski, a Caucasian character. In later story arcs, Dragon’s title is usurped by his villainous student, Richard Diaz Jr. In Batman: Soul of the Dragon, Dragon is Chinese, a clone of Bruce Lee’s character ‘Lee’ from Enter the Dragon.

“‘Race swapping’ is not usually where I go first because I’d rather just make a new character,” confesses Abrams. “But we made this an Elseworlds, so there’s a lot to be set up. We can do whatever we want.”

For Liu, bringing a positive Chinese character to the DC animated universe was huge.

“It’s funny because when we started this film, they sort of approached me saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to put you in this sort of ’70s Enter the Dragon meets Batman kind of a story.’ I was like, ‘Oh boy. This could go either way.’”

Liu remembers laying out the ground rules in an early writer’s room meeting by saying “Look, I’m Chinese. I just want to make sure that you’re going to do this respectfully, because I don’t really want to be a part of something if it’s just sort of…irresponsible.”

Liu was reassured to learn that respectful representation was at the forefront of everyone’s mind from the very beginning and that sold him on the project.

“I’m an older guy, so I’ve experienced racism and all that kind of stuff, because I grew up in the South when I was very, very young,” Liu says. “It’s horrible. I’ve always liked to get more representation.”

For Liu, Batman: Soul of the Dragon is another step towards increased acceptance of diversity. As an Asian American, he has experienced xenophobia all his life.

“As volatile as it is nowadays, it’s much better,” Liu says. “I remember my dad being an Asian man in the South, and some of the stuff we had to go through. I come from an era where you’re oppressed, so you’re just expected to be that way. Any little movement forward is a big step. For me, personally, I think it’s great.”

As the world’s first global Asian celebrity, Lee was a pioneer before long before diversity became an issue of debate. He lived by example, all the while infusing his philosophy into his constant battle against racism.

“It’s like a theme that’s in Enter The Dragon, the art of fighting without fighting.” In Batman: Soul of the Dragon, there’s even an homage to the scene in Enter The Dragon where Lee drops that line on Parsons (Peter Archer) and tricks him out of a fight.

For Abrams, shifting Richard Dragon to Asian was true to the roots of the character. Dragon first appeared in a paperback novel written by Denny O’Neil under a pseudonym. According to Abrams, “On that cover, it looks like Richard Dragon is an Asian man. And for Bruce [Timm], that’s how he always saw him.” Abrams feels that bringing Dragon back to how he was depicted on that original cover was the way to go. “I think it adds a great diversity and it pulls away from, ‘Oh, here’s another white guy with Batman.’ It makes this really cool ensemble, even more definitively different.”

The Launch of a New Franchise?

The finale of Batman: Soul of the Dragon leaves the door wide open for a sequel. Batman, Dragon, Shiva, and Turner enter another hellish dimension, and what lies ahead is anyone’s guess.

“The ending is actually one of the first things that we came up with,” reveals Abrams. “We looked at each other and thought, ‘This is crazy. But, what if this happens?’ We’re looking around at each other, like, ‘Somebody’s going to stop us, right?’ It’s like, ‘Nope. We’re going to do it.’ The ending fits perfectly with the dream of Batman, which is, ‘I get to fight evil, forever.’”

So will there be a Batman: Return of the Dragon?

“Bruce Timm had talked about potentially doing more if this does really well,” adds Liu. “I think he’s in talks with some other creators and stuff like that, because he’s such a fan of the ’70s that I think that he would love to be able to continue doing more stories, especially in this genre. This story is really, really personal as far as just all the things that he loves. I think both him and Jeremy are in love with this era and this genre.”

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Batman: Soul of the Dragon is available now on Digital and Blu-ray.

The post Batman: Soul of the Dragon – Bringing a Little Bruce Lee to Bruce Wayne’s World appeared first on Den of Geek.

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the-friendly-struggling-writer · 4 years

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The Wandering Side - Chapter 3

Sanders Sides (Web Series)

Characters:

Logic | Logan Sanders

Anxiety | Virgil Sanders

Morality | Patton Sanders

Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders

Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders

Deceit Sanders

Original Side(s) (Sanders Sides)

Additional Tags:

Sympathetic Dark Sides (Sanders Sides)

My First Fanfic

fluff i hope

My First Work in This Fandom

Domestic Fluff

remus gives gifts to everyone

Disney References

Movie Night

Sympathetic Deceit Sanders

Panic Attacks

Sympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders

Wander was lost in their thoughts flooded their head, things along the lines of ‘how did I appear’ and ‘everyone else seems like they have a purpose here so why the need for me.’ A sharp knock came from the door. They got up from the floor of their new room.

Opening the door, wander was inspired to see Virgil at their door. Patton had said that they were going to get then not Virgil.”Patton wanted me to go get you.” Then he walked off.

Wander went to grab their deer that Remus gave them earlier but by the time that they had even found the deer they had forgotten that Virgil had even come to the door.

A few minutes passed with nothing much happening. Then there was another knock on the door. This time Wander found Patton standing there. “Are you ok, kiddo just I got Virgil to get you for dinner and you didn’t come.”

“Oh, sorry I must have gotten sidetracked and then forgot. I was looking for my deer,” they said as they held it up. Patton cringed at the bloodstains. “Remus made it for me when I met him.”

“Ok then,” Patton passed thinking once again about the blood on the deer. “Why don’t we go to get you something to eat.”

This time Wander did follow after Patton to the kitchen. When they did get there. There were the other sides already there apart from Logan. An extra chair that had been dragged in from another room.

Patton had made macaroni for dinner. Which to everyone smelled great. Wander sat down on the odd one out. “Why did you bring that thing with you?” asked Roman getting a closer look at the ear of the toy it looked like they were dipped in month old chocolate. They smelled like month old chocolate.

“I got it from Remus.” Wander said. That explained it thought Roman but why talk it with you he also thought. “It was the first thing that I had gotten from anyone.” The last part of the sentence was said in a quiet voice.

A small “oh,” let itself fall from Roman’s lips. That his own twin. Who was hard to deal with at the best of times and demented at the worst had given this newcomer a gift before any of the ‘light sides’ could. Roman didn’t know why he was feeling this way.

“Here you go, kids,” Patton said as he placed the plates on the table with macaroni and mashed potatoes on them.

“Patton,” Roman wined, “I don’t like mashed potatoes.” then he pulled a face at them.

“Well Roman, you need to eat them if you want to be going on any adventures,” Patton replied.

Roman huffed “fine” and started eating them to get it over and done with.

Patton put Wander’s plate down in front of them after they put the deer on the floor so that they could eat their dinner. Lifting a fork of macaroni into their mouth, Wander found out that they loved macaroni.

After a few minutes, Wander noticed that no one was talking, “So, um,” they said awkwardly trying to think of something to say. “Why don’t you guys,” looking up to see the light sides on the right side of the table, “don’t like Remus and Deceit.”

“Well, um,” Patton froze thinking of a nice way to say it.

“Basically we are seen as bad to them. There are the ‘light sides’ and the ‘dark sides’. We are the dark sides. This is because we represent the darker part of Thomes’ personality and the nicer parts that are already accepted,” Deceit explains.

“Then what side do I belong to then?” Wander asked, unsure of what the answer or reaction that they wanted to happen.

Wander’s face fell. That made them even more unsure of what their place was in this strange family that seems like it only just holds itself together sometimes.

“I’m not hungry anymore,” Wander said as they stood up.

“Are you sure kiddo?” Patton asked concerned for them.

“Yeah, I’m fine Patton.” Wander said as they walked off to the living room. Deceit knew that they were worried about something and that they were lying. Deceit watched them walk out of the room.

“That was strange,” said Virgil.

“Just in case you know, they totally weren’t lying about being fine.” Deceit commented when Wander was out of earshot.

“I just hope that they will tell us what’s going on in their head,” Patton said.

“Well, they only just appeared less than a few hours ago. Maybe they are just getting used to existing as a side rather than just something smaller.” Logan suggested to the group. “I should take them on an adventure to get them to take their mind off of whatever is bothering them. It would also help them to find their way easier.” Roman said out loud more to himself than the group of sides.

“Just be careful not to overwhelm them, ok Roman,” Virgil said to him.

“I’m sure that they will be fine. Just need to get them out of their head,” Roman replied back.

“Well, you should be careful. You can’t always control the imagination, and lets us know if you are going before you do go in, ok.” Patton made sure.

------------------ Wander walked back to the living room and turned on the TV. they then started looking at the bookcase shelves of DVDs. Focusing closer on the Disney ones they decided that they wanted to watch Cinderella. Picking it up off the shelf they then opened the case and found it missing from it. That was when Roman walked into the room. Wander looked up and saw them standing there. “Roman,” Wander started, “do you know where Cinderella is?”

“It’s in the DVD player,” he answered. “Would it be ok if I watched it with you?”

“Yeah that’s good,” Wander answered back to Roman’s question. After turning on the DVD player and pressing play on the film they both sat down on the couch. To Wander, the couch was nice and comfy. So they snuggled up with their deer and settled in to watch the film.

As soon as the first song came on Roman was standing up singing along. “A dream is a wish your heart makes.” Roman was putting on a full performance as if no one was watching but Wander was. They found that Roman’s voice for singing was wonderful. Then the song ended. The sound of clapping then followed. Roman turned around to see Wander clapping.

“That was amazing Roman,” said Wander as they stopped clapping.

“Oh, thank you Wander. I forgot that you were in here.” Roman said a bit embarrassed that someone had seen him do that. Roman then sat down until the next song. This pattern kept repeating until the film ended. Wander enjoyed the film and they wondered what the other Disney films were like. If each one was similar or different. Wander yawned as Roman asked, “Do you want to watch another?”

“Of course.” Wander replied, “I loved that.”

At this time the others walked into the room. “Hey do you guys want to join us in watching a film?” asked Roman wanting to get everyone to spend some time together. A chorus of voices agreeing sounded back at Roman. “Pat, do you want to pick the film?”

“Thanks, kiddo,” Patton said back, Patton soon picked a film, The Aristocats and swapped it from Cinderella. Patton then put the film that was just watched back into the correct place. So that when Roman was in a hurry and so that he could find it quickly or so that Logan didn’t get annoyed about something being out of place.

Everyone settled into place as the other film started up. This time Roman was a tiny bit quieter during this one because now the total of people in the room was 7 so it was a lot harder to forget that people were in the room rather than the 2 from earlier.

“They are all so cute,” Patton cried out several times throughout the film as especially when the cats were playing the piano.

Near the end of the film, Wander fell asleep. “Aw, aren’t they so sweet, “ Patton said in a low voice as not to wake them from their first sleep.

“Patton you find everything sweet,” Logan said. “But I do have to agree with you they are sweet when they’re asleep.” Patton pulled a blanket over them so that they didn’t get cold in the night.

All the sides filed out of the room to go to their own rooms to go to sleep or to do something else. Patton whispered “Good night Wander,” to the almost empty room.

Chapter 4

#sanders sides #ts virgil #ts janus #ts remus #ts patton #ts roman #ts logan #original side #original character #sanders side fanfic #fanfic #franthehorsegirl's fanfics

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tveitertot · 5 years

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I Saw Moulin Rouge On Broadway (PT 3) — My Review For The Show!

welcome to part tres (three) of the “i saw moulin rouge on broadway” series! as listed in my first part, this is the last post of this series but i may or may not have more parts coming. ;)

but let’s focus on this part — my review for the show. i will be breaking this down into different subcategories: principal actors/actresses, musical numbers, costume/lighting/set design, choreography, and my overall thoughts.

so let’s do it!

⚠️ ANOTHER SPOILER WARNING! AGAIN, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK! ⚠️

principal actors and actresses

aaron tveit as christian — aaron was phenomenal. i’m probably just saying that because he’s my one true love but i swear he was born for this role (as the new york times even said). aaron has been in so many different things such as catch me if you can on broadway, les mis on the big movie screen, and graceland on tv. but this show has to be the best project he’s ever been in. his tenor (and godly) voice fits the songs super well and his acting (especially at the end of the show) is absolutely breathtaking. his high belt has improved so much throughout the years he’s been singing and his performance showcases that improvement.

karen olivo as satine — i’ve heard mixed reviews about karen’s portrayal of satine. some people like her portrayal and other people think she was cast wrong for the role. i, however, liked karen’s portrayal. in the movie, nicole kidman portrayed satine as a damsel in distress who was very uneducated about love and living life out of the moulin rouge. but karen portrayed satine as a grown woman who wants to escape the life she’s living, making her portrayal focus more on the central conflict of love. both portrayals are correct (and nicole kidman praised karen olivo for her performance), but i just prefer the way karen portrayed satine.

danny burstein as harold zidler — danny portrayed harold as mysterious but intriguing and it was literally perfection. he brought you to the edge of your seat throughout the whole show and he nailed the entertaining and comedic aspect of his character.

tam mutu as the duke — tam honestly made me like the duke a tiny bit lol. in the movie, the actor has a weird looking mustache and isn’t that attractive in my opinion. i think it’s because the duke is supposed to be all power and money, while christian is supposed to be all love and looks. but tam was clean cut and professional looking (i mean, i love aaron with all my heart but damn he looked fine) and he let his character’s actions speak for itself to make him “the villain.”

ricky rojas as santiago — i loved ricky so much! the sexy and intense take on the character combined with being able to portray the craziness side made him perfect for the role. i also love how he’s british. and his dancing and chemistry with robyn hurder (nini) was incredible.

sahr ngaujah as henri de toulouse-lautrec — sahr (and ricky) portrayed the “two most interesting men” very well. they were able to act as the crazy bohemians of france, but they were also able to channel their emotional and intense side when the plot line thickened and got more climatic. the one scene that stood out to me with sahr was when he told aaron (christian) to go back to satine (who had just kicked him out) and tell her he loves her, something toulouse didn’t do and regrets it. it was one of the more serious moments in the first act and i appreciated it.

the lead ensemble members (satine’s girlfriends) — each one of the ladies had a different personality and they all helped satine with her conflicted feelings and her sickness throughout the show. one person who really stood out to me was robyn hurder who played nini “legs in the air.” she was the most amazing dancer and she portrayed the sexiness of her character very well. and as i mentioned in ricky’s review, her chemistry with him was so good!

musical numbers

i enjoyed the music. to be honest, i never thought i wanted my favorite broadway actors to sing trashy pop songs for two and a half hours until i experienced it. this 👏 is 👏 the 👏 content 👏 i’ve 👏 needed 👏 for 👏 so 👏 long 👏!

i’ve heard so many people say things about how the audience laughs every time they sing a song that’s familiar to them, but i took that as an audience problem and i admit that i laughed when i heard songs i knew. the whole idea of the show is a creating a satirical comedy to tell a love story through popular music. and when you have aaron tveit and karen olivo busting a move to “raise your glass” by pink and “never gonna give you up” by rick astley, it’s a shocker and sometimes you can’t help but laugh because it’s so unexpecting.

my favorite musical numbers were “chandelier,” “roxanne,” and “rolling in the deep.” i liked chandelier because the staging was really cool with christian playing a game of tag with satine who appears as the “green fairy.” everyone is trying to hold him back in order for him to forget about her, but he is so in love with her that he pushes them aside to try and get close to her. i loved “roxanne” because aaron’s high belt was amazing (ugh bless that high belt) and i was tired of hearing ewan mcgregor’s voice with no vibrato (though his acting in the movie was top notch!). also aaron’s emotions were amazing and robyn was incredible as the central dancer. and i liked “rolling in the deep” because of the emotions. during that song, satine is getting sicker and sicker and is on the verge of dying while christian is heartbroken and is buying bullets to later threaten to kill himself.

“roxanne” had some controversy because some people didn’t like the way it was sung. again for me, i enjoyed the way it was staged. i loved the movie version because there’s so many scenes going on at once, but there’s only so much you can do on a live stage. i also used to agree that aaron sang “put on the red light” one too many times, but i recently heard the original version of “roxanne” by the police, and they do the same thing so i guess they decided to stay true to the original version of the song.

overall, i was skeptical of how they were going to cut the musical numbers. i looked at the list of songs they were going to sing and i was nervous that they would mash up the songs together and it would be bad, but the songs actually flowed really nice with each other.

costumes, lighting, and set design

the costumes were absolutely stunning. satine’s sparking diamond number was extravagant and i honestly do not understand how karen olivo can be 43 years old and pull of the lingerie look (like damn!).

the lighting was so cool to see live onstage. lots of spots were used and it was cool to see how they used them to show different scenes going on. there were some surprising special effects with the lighting throughout the show which made it even more spectacular. the vibrant and bright neon lights added on to the spectacle, but the lower hue of red helped keep the lighting in a sexy tone for the cabaret setting.

the set design went hand-in-hand with the lighting. right when you walk in the theatre, you get a feeling of being in a cabaret club. they also paid homage to the movie by adding an elephant, windmill, and neon signs.

choreography

if moulin rouge doesn’t get a tony nomination for choreography, i’m throwing hands! the choreography was jaw dropping. the best number for dancing was the “bad romance” and “toxic” mashup that opened act two. this is the song where aaron has the big lift where he’s launched across the stage, and yes, it’s amazing to see live. this is definitely a show where all the ensemble members are just as important as the principal characters, as they are dancing their hearts out onstage throughout the whole show. sonya tayeh (the choreographer) did an amazing job with creating a balance between the sexiness of cabaret performing, but the energy of a broadway spectacle.

overall thoughts

i honestly loved the show. it’s important to know that you can’t see moulin rouge expecting to be moved by a storyline. the ending did make me cry, but it doesn’t make everyone cry. it isn’t a gut-wrenching plot line like dear evan hansen, but it can still move people and it still teaches a lesson. act one is more comedic while act two is more serious and dramatic. the main reason you should see this show is because it’s a spectacle. from the opening number, all the way to the end, there’s nothing but high energy and liveliness.

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remember, this is my opinion on the show and although i am putting it out there to tell you guys that it’s amazing and (in my opinion) the best show on broadway, it shouldn’t define anyone’s thoughts fully. the only person who can define your true feelings on a show is you, and the only way you can determine those feelings is to see the show yourself.

if you’ve seen the show please feel free to comment on my review, but please respect my opinion and i’ll give you the same respect. if you haven’t seen the show, feel free to submit any questions in my inbox... i’d love to answer them!

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i’d love to continue this series, so i’ll try to figure out what else to post. if you guys have any suggestions, please (PLEASE!) comment them!

SEE YA LATER, CHICKENS!