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astralexpressarchives · 8 months

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The Renheng Iceberg Explained

Alright so there's this renheng iceberg on twitter that I was recently informed about. I'm wayyy too deep into the lore so I skipped to the bottom and everything there was stuff I was already more than familiar with.

So I figured why not put all this information to some use and make a post explaining the more obscure items on the iceberg and leaving out the self-explanatory ones, doing my best to reference as well as possible.

Blade gazing at Imbibitor Lunae statue

This was a hidden interaction where you could find Blade standing near the statue of Imbibitor Lunae at the scalegorge after revealing Dan Heng's vidyadhara form. He says he is 'mourning for folly' and asks you if Dan Heng is happy. You can watch a video about this here.

Good friends who are bad for each other

This is Kafka's description of what she knows about Blade and Dan Heng's history in her companion quest. This answer is a "truth" in her game of truth and lies.

"Apparently, they used to be good friends... Well, good friends who were bad for each other. Bladie forgot nearly everything, so he doesn't remember well. Together, they did something bad — something terrible. It led to horrific consequences. That's the information I managed to piece together. Bladie refused to tell me the details."

Dan Heng gets nightmares about blade

We see this in-game in the cinematic leading up to the Xianzhou questline. This is also suggested in the Only Silence Remains lightcone description.

Matching Jade Ornaments

Referring to this idea.

There is also a vidyadhara egg that says:

"You edge closer to the pearlescent shell and have a dream in which you are a Pearlkeeper who rides the waves, and travels across the ancient sea with your true love. The time you have spent with your lover is full of happiness, but the time of hatching rebirth is determined by destiny. You secretly put a jade pendant in your mouth so your lover can recognize each other in the next life."

And considering that DH:IL 4 story has him refusing to speak during the entirety of his interrogation, death sentence, and final verdict, it definitely leaves room for imagination.

Bracer Lore

This one encompasses a few of the other ones on the iceberg, too. Really, it's worth reading the entirety of the Passerby of Wandering Clouds relic set lore. Keep in mind all relic sets are in chronological order of head/gloves/body/feet. The bracer also mentions this part about 'That owner also once shared company and drinks with the unnamed, the two of them simply gazing at the moon with no words exchanged.' This has an interesting meaning in CN that tells us this drinking was an engagement ceremony. People thought this must be a typo but, despite many tickets from people, their only response has been that they're unable to comment further. They still haven't changed it as of patch 1.4.

Dan Heng polishes and gaze longingly at Cloud Piercer

A recent addition in patch 1.4 where Pom-pom now says:

"Passenger Dan Heng often carefully maintains and polishes his spear. Although the Express is very safe, it seems that he is not willing to drop his guard. Hmm, Pom-Pom can tell that when he polishes his spear, there isn't just alertness in his eyes, but a glint of longing, too. Don't underestimate me, Pom-Pom had dealt with all kinds of different passengers!"

I'm sure by now everyone knows that cloudpiercer was made by Yingxing (Blade).

You can see screenshots of this interaction in this post.

Mirror Inverted Colours

Apparently, a big part of CN character design focuses around the concept of inverted colour palette designs for ships. Because Blade and Dan Heng share inverted colours, this is considered a good sign for the ship as it indicates they were most likely designed together.

Danmei Coded

Danmei is the CN genre for mlm. It has a lot of stereotypical tropes that are very common in this genre and apply to renheng also. My personal opinion is that renheng is very similar to something written by Meatbun in particular - this is a danmei author who wrote erha, yuwu, and casefile compendium. The associated tropes are:

Lovers to enemies back to lovers angst timeline often including misunderstandings involving tragic betrayal

Black/red character x white/blue/green character

Under the moonlight

Amnesia and/or reincarnation themes

Protag did something that made everybody turn on them + complicated political drama plot

Redemption in death/isolation/retreating from the world at the end

Waiting frankly ridiculous amounts of time to be with the lover again

One character pursuing the other character literally

One character considered dead or demonic in some capacity, the other is ethereal and godly

Mortal x immortal

Afterlife/spirit realm shenanigans usually involving fractured souls as a result of torment

Contrasting personalities + others don't think they should get along/are bad for each other (usually the deviant personality is considered to be corrupting the noble/revered personality in some way which often involves a rebellion)

Mirrored Ultimates

Their ultimate animation sequences are very similar with close eyes with weapon - open eyes - attack.

And both of their ultimates take place in different versions of the same location:

Vidyadharas can't identify items belonging to their past yet Dan Heng got the bracer, jade pendant(?), and cloud piercer

There is an NPC named Lingling in the alchemy commission who is responsible for assisting in vidyadhara hatching rebirth. She collects the personal belongings of vidyadhara who claim that they want to keep the items for their next life. She says that:

From what I've seen, most Vidyadhara lack emotions fresh after their rebirth, and are unable to understand the sentiments of their previous selves. Not a single one has ever been able to identify which one of these items used to belong to them.

This is a big indicator that DH = DF and that their romance will be continuing in this life, too. We know from Passerby of Wandering Clouds relic set that Dan Heng is still in possession of the bracer because of the line: "His fingertips could still faintly feel the temperature from the other."

The stars always accompany the moon

This is a reference to their names in CN where the Xing in Yingxing means moon and the Yue in Yinyue jun (Imbibitor Lunae) means Moon. Their ship name Xingyue means Star and Moon, which is often why you will see them referred to with the Star/Moon emojis as well as the sword/leaf emoji.

Blade came to see Dan Heng blushing when Xiyan asked him to act the character in his story

This is referring to this video on weibo where Dan Heng is talking to Xiyan. You can see the characters in the crowd then Dan Heng starts blushing. The next time you see the crowd, Blade has arrived third from the right.

"Eternal Regrets of a High Elder" and "Dreams from a Past Life"

These are arias from the Cloudcry Songbook written by a Vidyadhara named Lingjie who reincarnated into Chunfen. Lingjie was an opera singer and apparently a big fan of Dan Feng and his romantic life.

My friend wrote the poem analysis of both of these arias. I would strongly recommend reading her translations.

TW: These translations do include mentions of a new leaked poem. Some of the content is NSFW.

Dan Heng named himself "Dan Heng" due to the "Dan" character carved by Yingxing/Blade

We know that Vidyadhara do not usually name themselves based on their past lives as they have no attachment to them. The other iteration of Dan Heng was named Yubie for example. Dan Heng's name in CN is 丹恒. The Dan 丹 means red/pellet/powder/cinnabar. You can see Dan is inscribed on his spear that Yingxing made for him, thus the logical conclusion is that Dan Heng saw the inscription and chose it as his name.

The Star of the East (Jupiter, Wood Star)'s god is Ying Xing, and their guardian beast is Azure Dragon/Canglong/Qinglong

This one is the only one I didn't understand when I first saw it, so I had to request the help of my CN knowing friends to figure it out.

Yingxing's name is 应星 (where the 星 means star).

The CN god of Jupiter Taisui Xingjun 太岁星君 is known as Yin Jiao 殷交

Jupiter is the planet associated with the Chinese wood element, known as the wood star

Azure Dragon is known as Canglong or Qinglong in CN. This is the guardian of Jupiter (the wood star).

Blade's fansong equates Yingxing with 听星 (judging star) which is an alias for Taisui Xingjun

You can read my friend's explanation of the relevant line in the fansong below.

Dan Feng's crime was inspired by Chang'E, the moon goddess for stealing an elixir of immortality and Yingxing was inspired by Hou Yi, a mortal and husband of Chang'E (he was given immortality but didn't, this parallels and contrasts Yingxing's immortality)

So there's actually a bit more to this. I'm going to just use my friend's explanation here:

According to Shang dynasty’s Guicang, It is said that there is a moon maiden who escaped to the moon after stealing an immortality pill. This story was eventually given more details: The moon maiden became known as Heng’e 姮娥, who was the wife of Hou Yi - the hero who shot down the 9 suns. Hou Yi was given an immortality pill/herb as a reward, but Heng’e stole it and flew to the moon. In some versions, upon finding out, Hou Yi tried to shot down her to prevent her from floating to the moon, but he hesitated and ended up choosing not to in the end because he still loved her. In the moon, Heng’e stayed in a palace called 廣寒宮 (the Vast Palace of Coldness) and cursed to be separated from her husband, alone with only the moon rabbits and the immortal osmanthus tree forever. Later on, her name was changed to Chang’e 嫦娥 because Emperor Wen of Han’s name was 劉恆 Liu Heng, and so the 姮 Heng part of her name became a taboo. The interesting here is that 姮 (Heng’e), 恆 (Liu Heng), 恒 (Dan Heng) are all alternative ways to write the same character, 姮, which originally means moon, Heng’e. In addition, we also have a lot of official artworks depicting Dan Heng with the moon and osmanthus flowers:

Yeah so I think that just about covers everything. I left out the ones that were self-explanatory but if anyone is still confused about any of them I can try to elaborate further in the replies.

#honkai star rail #hsr lore #renheng #xingyue #dan heng #blade #dan feng #yingxing

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lacrimosathedark · 4 months

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So, there's this one image in the most recent Green Arrow series that I just can't stop thinking about.

This is the full page:

And while the whole thing is a big, somewhat confusing, incredibly frustrating lore dump on how and why Lian is like 15 instead of like 9 (she died when she was 4 and I presume it's been a few years but not THAT long) and why she didn't look for her parents sooner, I want to focus, very specifically, on this:

That is Arsenal and RED HOOD in that window. Lian was watching her dad run around with Red Hood. She saw them running around when they were in Gotham together.

Which makes me think that maybe she actively avoided Jason.

From what I can surmise from what I've read, a lot about Red Hood is common knowledge but also in like a cryptid sort of way. A lot is "known" about him, because Jason is loud and, while very smart, sometimes reckless, but a lot of it is sort of contradictory and messy.

It wouldn't surprise me if among common knowledge or popular belief that Red Hood specifically protects kids (who aren't dressed like traffic lights), especially given his one big rule when he stepped on the scene was don't sell drugs to kids. It would be a not too hard theory that he may have once been one of those kids, especially considering he might use his upbringing for clout to gain respect, show he knows how shit works.

And now remember that since her "death" and Cheshire dumping her on a doorstep, she's become basically a Gotham street urchin just like Jason was. She and her friends were thieves in order to get by. She, like anyone else, could have gone to a Red Hood for help and protection. Heck, if she were to go to any Bat, Jason would be her best bet because I believe (and I could be wrong) he is the only one who never met Lian. And he only worked with Roy once after Roy found out about her.

She sure as shit wouldn't be afraid of him. She's still very kind at heart, but she's steeled herself enough to be able to do this:

Because before this, as angry and hurt as she was about Jade's life choices, the worst she had ever done was throw her photo of her across the room and cry "Bad Mommy!" at it. Now, while she's still too attached to Jade for my liking/sanity, she is able and willing to tell Jade to her face when she thinks she's done wrong.

So it comes down to, Jason has attached himself to Roy, and Lian can't risk everything just for food and protection. Not forherself, or her friends.

Selina Kyle was truly a blessing for this child, training her and caring for her.

I know a lot of people don't like Shoes, but Gotham Street Kid Lian just has so much to work with. And it's not like Roy hasn't lived in Gotham before, even pre-Flashpoint.

This is honestly a long-winded way of me saying I want to see Lian interact with Jason.

#Lian Harper #Cheshire Cat #Red Hood #Jason Todd #Arsenal #Roy Harper #Cheshire #Jade Nguyen #DC Comics #Green Arrow #give me more of her kicking ass and throwing sass please

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 8 months

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Just had a moment of realization. For someone so interested in and willing to dig into people's private lives, it's kind of odd that Jade has only had a few interactions with Rook, and he has never dug into his past as far as we know of. Rook's VERY protective of his private life, and I suppose having Jade dig into it on-screen could easily be lore-heavy, but it just. Hasn't happened yet.

I noticed that too! Both Jade and Rook are very private characters who also have no trouble (or issue with) digging up dirt on other people… yet they have very limited interactions with one another despite being so similar. I’m guessing part of it is intentional so as to keep the intrigue of both characters.

I think that’s a shame and a missed opportunity, because I just know these two would be shady, petty smiling bitches to each other 😭 (I imagine it would be a charged and passive aggressive confrontation like this and Jade’s PE vignette). They don’t necessarily have to provide a thesis on the other to be funny, I just want to see more of how they dance around personal details when faced with the other.

My headcanon for why Jade and Rook don’t engage with each other much is??? I think they recognize that the other is just as shifty as they are, so they mutually agree to not look into the other’s private life so long as they do the same for them. That way, they both benefit from it while continuing to maintain their facades for their peers… and it would explain the gross lack of interactions between the two outside of extenuating circumstances or when other characters put them in a scenario where they have to engage. (One such example would be Jade’s Dorm Uniform vignettes where he comes to Pomefiore seeking membership and Rook has to lend advice on this to Vil, another is Jade’s Apprentice Chef vignettes when Rook is his judge.)

#twst #twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #Jade Leech #Rook Hunt #Vil Schoenheit #notes from the writing raven #twst theory #twst theories #twisted wonderland theory #twisted wonderland theories

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musingmelsuinesmelancholy · 8 months

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Some things I’ve been thinking about. At times being an American trad witch is incredibly frustrating and at others it’s absolutely exhilarating, rewarding. Reconnecting with my ancestral ( primarily french and scottish ) lore, magical practices, witchcraft etc has and will continue to inform my practice but I’ll never be a “french” witch. I’ll never be a “scottish” witch. I can find a lone hawthorn or a sacred tree guarding a hidden spring to tie the cloutie to, I can divine via a snail’s mucus trail, Fly to the Sabbath to meet The Abbess, heed the Dame Blanches, pluck the golden bloom with songs to St Columba, safeguard me and mine via silver, spring water and juniper. Yet there’s many things I’ll never know or be able to do. Whether that’s because these things are so tied to the land or a specific place, language barriers, ( working to overcome this one ) or due to the ( well warranted) gate keeping of lore and practices.

This used to be a source of great confusion for me. I think because I was afraid( due to my previous new age fuckwittery ) to experiment, do anything other than what I understood as “traditional”. My understanding being too rigid at the time; the pendulum swung from one end of the spectrum to the other. This delayed my progress and “froze” me. I was left wondering what an “American” trad craft would look like; most our books do come from a European POV. Learning of our own magical traditions as well as those of my Canadian family ( still working on that one haha ) helped. Reading Robin Kimmere helped. Reading Schulke, him being an American and writing on American plants, helped too. I’ve come to know Sugar Maple and Plantain as powerful spirits. Both teaching important lessons on how to rectify my ancestors mistakes, to foster relations with the First Peoples and how to incorporate the magic of this land into my craft. Rather than being frustrated by my being American I see it as a challenge now. I get to explore spirits, plants, places, animals, spiritual/physical ecologies ( is even really a difference between these?) completely unknown to my ancestors. I get to reconcile the old and the new. To learn from Spirit Direct. Tradition isn’t the worship of ashes, it’s the preservation of Fire. New wood must be added to keep The Fire burning. The Devil of this land certainly is a spirit of the unknown.

I am the land, the land is me.

I don’t own it, to it I owe all.

To it my body will return, the tithe paid.

I’m not rolling hills of heather, white chalk cliffs, the monk’s island nor the azure coast. The memories of these places echo distantly in my blood, sung alive by my ancestors shades. Part of me they’ll always be; yet it’s not who I am. Not what I am.

I’m craggy shores, dull-jade waves bearing down upon the tired rocks. I am musky pine forests veiled in mist. Sun-venerating oaks hugging the shoreline. Bleeding alders in damp ground swelling. Proud maples sustaining generation upon generation with their boiled blood. Death-grey clay, exposed by running spring.

I am the kudzu, the itching moth, the knotweed, the Norway maple, the ivy wrecking havoc upon the land. My surname and light skin proof of a genocide ongoing. I am my ancestors sins; the specter of the Old Growth forests, their grief hanging over the land like a fog. Every interaction with The Land tinged with sadness, loss.

I am my maternal side’s copper curls. Melusine’s pride. Ave Landry! Ave Gauthier! Forebears mine.

I am my paternal side’s grief. The end result of decades of cultural warfare. The Jesuits stole our name….my hair will not be cut.

Never will I libate these glacier carved valleys with booze.

I am the plantain, learning a kinder way. The sumac reclaiming the orchard.

My Februarys, my Marches aren’t snow drops and daffodils peaking through the frozen ground. They’re steely skies and walls of sleet. Bloodroot heralds winters wane; not Brigid’s flower.

My June isn’t fields of poppies, it’s seas of crimson staghorn blooms skyward reaching.

My augusts aren’t golden shafts of wheat, swaying in summer’s last breaths; they’re explosions of neon-violet and honey-yellow. Corn ripening on the vine, supporting the climbing bean. The cicadas song reverberating.

Old Michaelmas marks harvest’s end, October potatoes long buried in soils darkness finally exhumed. The Devil his Rosy Briar to ascend and plunge.

With Novembers first snows the Dead come in.

I’ll never process around a standing stone nor know what it is to live and eat off the land my dead lay in. Finally, I’m learning to be at peace with this. To love and know the land I live on. I’ll always be a stranger here, a guest. I hope to be a good one.

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oh-my-may · 18 days

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I'm still alive omg!

Lots of irl things happening atm, BUT I managed to play through Penacony 2.2 (stretched over 3 days, no less)

Woah. Just ... woah. So much happening, so many characters interacting, so much lore, IT WAS GOING ON FOREVER but I loved it nonetheless. Of course they had to make the finale of Penacony long and epic.

FIRST OF ALL I KNEW IT! I TOLD Y'ALL!!! Literally in my post about 2.1 I talked about how Misha definitely has some close connection to Mikhail/the Watchmaker. I suspected him to be a child of his or something but the actual thing was close enough, I guess. My sweet boy. I love him. Mikhail being a Nameless was so cool. I'm really glad we're finally getting more lore and info about Akivili and previous Nameless, but I feel this was only the beginning.

I'm still madly in love with Sunday and Acheron. Robin is such a cutie too. I'm not gonna pull for her because I need my savings for Mr. Boothill and then Jade but I'll try and pull for her on a rerun. Sway to My Beat in Cosmos is such a banger. Caught myself constantly singing "riiise into my wooorld" (ofc much worse than the one and only lol)

On the topic of Boothill... my god. Love him. The way they can't make him swear so they just make him say??? Whatever??? Whose idea was that 💀 mother loving instead of mother fucking?? What the fork?? Wubbaboo?? I would die for this man. He looks so hot too. Again I have to say that HSR never misses with male character design. THEY'RE ALL SO PRETTY.

On the topic of pretty men... SUNDAY. My little radicalized bird man. I cackled when Sparkle called him chicken boy. She's just a hater, love her for that. Serious question... is he straight up dead now? I have only played the main quest so far so in case it'a mentioned somewhere in game don't spoil me but if it's not... tell me will I get to see him as a playable character... pls...

The whole thing with Ena the Order was so interesting to see. The fact that they made Order so similar to Harmony... AEON LORE. Love it. Resurrecting an Aeon is possible, you say? Kind of? The way they make Sunday'a motives understandable... he's just a boy

So I had the feeling that facing the boss Dominicus was a bit too easy the first time around. Wdym he has only one phase. I should have known there was more to it. Nevertheless loved to see IL and Jing Yuan cameo. They slayed (literally)

But then the eerie feeling I got when Black Swan talked to us on the Express... the way she makes us question everything that happened... GENIUS. I did kind of get flashbacks to Sumeru act II. The line between dream and reality, who is dreaming, what happens outside of the dream, the repetition of events... not critiquing or hating, but the concepts were just similar to me and I liked it :) Penacony just put a different twist to it.

The final fight was still very cool. The several toughness bars to break is really interesting, and the fact that you get a shield value the more bars you break. Also the Astral Ecpress literally crashing into Sunday??? I barely realized what I had just watched ghe first time around. Idk why, but the concept is hilarious to me. And the question remains... is Sunday dead now??? What about Robin?? Are they both dead??

Aventurine isn't dead either?? What about the present that Sparkle gave out to several people? What was it and what did it do? Is there smth I don't remember about that rn? Did I miss it? Also if Robin didn't actually die, how come we saw her body? If she just got transported to Dreamflux Reef, then there wouldn't have been a body, right? ALSO is Firefly dead too? She didn't make an appearance throughout the second part after we see her leave and she talked abput the way that the script said she would die 3 times in Penacony... I'm so eternally confused. It's part of the reason I think there's still gonna be more in the next patch... They're not gonna give us playable Firefly without at least a Story Quest for her, right? And Jade, too? She had one appearance in a throwback during the story, the Trailblazer hasn't interacted with her in person yet so the IPC probably hasn't finished their business with Penacony yet?

And since I mentioned Trailblazer... HARMONY MC??? LOOKS SO GOOD? LOVE THE MOVES?? THE HAT? The Significance of it had me 😭😭 my MC obsession ks back y'all. He looks so good. Caelus ily. The silly little dance with Clockie 😭 Can't wait to build him, I heard Harmony MC is really good.

I also briefly have to mention my girl Acheron. So they've literally just casually confirmed that she's Raiden Mai? I actually don't know what Bosenmori means or it's significance BUT RAIDEN MEI. And her whole flashback with Tiernan... I had my suspicions about his identity but the reveal was interesting, anyway. I've got the feeling this is not the last we've seen of Acheron. I never played HI3rd far enough to fully understand Raiden Mei's story, but I'm really intrigued with the whole thing. How come her and Welt exist in noth universes, how did they end up in HSR and what's their motive?

One thing I'm also still hung up on is the Annihilation Gang... no more mention of them? We don't get any real eyplanation as to why Acheron killed Duke Inferno? No little animation of the scene? I'm guessing it's gonna play a role later? The reason they talked about it is probably to tell us that Acheron was dangerous but like... idk what to think of it. No question the other members of the Gang are gonna appear later and maybe then we'll get more background? But if they don't play a large role in Penacony, why introduce them to the players prior to it in such a grand way?

Anyway, I judt have lots of questions still but no doubt the game is gonna answer them when the time is right... I had a really good time playing the quest, went through a whole lot of emotions during it, fell in love with even mlre characters... the new maps are GIGANTIC and look so cool and let me just say rhe music was so so epic too. Can't wait for the OST for this to get released.

I also wanna mention here (outside of discusaions about the story) is that having a fully leveled Acheron with pretty decent relics paired with a tank Aventurine feels like playing the game on easy mode. Nothing can penetrate a fully def stacked Aventurine, and Acheron's damage is straight up insane. Gonna take a while before I get tired of using them. They helped me clear basically all Stage V of every SU World I hadn't done yet... legends.

Now we wait for Boothill... The grip that Hunt characters have on me is unbelievable. Meta wise I know I should invest in Harmony characters... Ruan Mei or Robin but... HAVE YOU SEEN BOOTHILL? HAVE YOU???

Alright, that's it for now. Really excited to dive into exploration and events and quests of the new maps. Might post a little about it.. or maybe not. I still have to tell you about my thoughts on the Arlecchino quest and Remuria exploration, I began a post about that and never got around to finishing it.

As always, have some cool screenshots from the story!

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princesseevee06 · 9 months

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needy shin overload (aka me getting too attached to the idea of my swap au shin being an annoying streamer)

some lore dump and incredibly low-effort doodles under the cut!!!

so, while i cannot deny this idea originally stemmed from me getting interested in needy streamer overload (my interests tend to blur together with one another since i end up thinking about them at the same time), the more i thought about it the more it…worked in my brain? shin is a job-hopper who doesn’t like going out much. streaming would not only allow him to stay inside and play on his computer all day, but ALSO potentially make money doing it. not to mention, it’d provide free online interaction since. shin doesn’t really. have any friends (barring sou, who has already mysteriously disappeared at this point) (which also gives him another reason to stream!) (finding your missing friend through gaming…yeah ok it sounds unlikely but this is shin “i did all sorts of things to meet him” tsukimi we’re talking about)

i also imagine that while he’s more jaded/cynical irl, shin takes on a kinder persona similar to shin ai when he’s streaming in order to make himself more “presentable” to strangers (in other words, acting sweet and cute to make money off of people! works every time)

ok idk what else to say so here’s some shin doodle madness yes i know they are bad i just want to be able to quickly demonstrate how he interacts with the cast

#yes the pose is ripped from internet yamero mv if you couldn’t tell LOL #yttd #your turn to die #kimi ga shine #yttd swap #your turn ryoko #shin tsukimi #sou hiyori #yttd midori #ranmaru kageyama #gin ibushi #really don’t know if they need to be tagged #but i get paranoid about undertagging so #art #my art

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theskoomacat · 3 months

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i want to plug Pacific Drive real quick. i had a free day yesterday so i spent it in its entirety glued to the screen. i'm not proud. check out this game!!!!!!

it's kind of like a mix between STALKER and Firewatch (by vibe. in my head). (the Impact of Roadside Picnic on our society!) idk the official genre tags on the game but at its base it is a survival game with looting and crafting.

but. you're doing all that to spoil your beautiful princess (your maybe sentient cat that maybe will kill you eventually). you spend 80% of the time in your car, it's your defense against the elements and the Zone. the gameplay loop is fairly simple - you drive, you listen to scientists bicker over the radio, you loot, you lose half your car, you HAUL ASS, you get home.

the game offers a HUGE variety of stuff to explore, from anomalies to weather conditions to biomes to the weird flora/fauna to lore. there's SO much lore, idk who decided to write a blurb for every type of paint. huge game for people who love to collect stuff. and collecting stuff is sometimes a puzzle on its own because you need different tools (which are often interchangeable, thankfully, with varying efficiency).

and driving is very fun. i have a special condition called "Played Skyrim in formative years", so the mountains are a challenge to me, not a barrier. i enjoy the fact that driving being the focal point reshapes the world significantly (from the gamedev pov), because it is built to accommodate driving instead of just running around. the roads are the main focus of all the anomalies due to that, so frankly running around would be easier than dodging the roadblocks, but also you would fucking die. it's actually funny that i regularly find the roads by the concentration of anomalies instead of like. the road itself.

the game is pretty. the GIANT walls/lab megastructures blow my mind, they're so fucking huge. BUT. one problem i have is that there are too many nights. i have already toggled "Shorter nights" on, and still it feels like 60% of rounds take place at night (maybe i'm doing something wrong idk). yes, it is a challenge, but also i wish i could see the game?

the world itself is pretty fun. i have already mentioned STALKER, which is a very fair comparison since you're in a Zone filled with Anomalies. except this time the Zone is not a strictly "natural" occurence, which mixes this genre with the "fucked up mid-20th cent american science->military complex" genre. it is really interesting to see many different opinions on what the Zone is doing in the lore. and you can draw your own conclusions from interacting with it. it is as likely to harm you as help you, and most of the time it just Fucks with you (LIM shield ilu).

what hasn't i mentioned yet? the characters are fun, an old jaded scientist lady who's entombed herself within her creation, her ex-colleague and his bf/husband who stayed in the Zone to hunt cryptids, all lovely. the music is mostly good, but unfortunately there aren't too many tracks, so some get old really quick (i WISH i got tired of DOCTOR JUICE). but do check the radio from time to time, there are cool transmissions you can catch there.

idr if there was a difficulty selector anywhere, but you can make the game easier at will in the settings - keep inventory, restore the car when back home, etc. i wish i had known about these settings when i "died" at the EXACT moment i moved to another zone, because i both lost half my inventory AND was forced to continue my run due to that lmao. the game is Not easy tbh. the first time i was in the city with a hole in the center i couldn't climb out of there because it was pitch dark and my car was so so broken, it actually made me super frustrated. but when you learn all that stuff and actually plan for it and outfit your car with it mind, it all becomes manageable and enjoyable. it is decidedly not a horror game, but it Is unsettling at times. dense fog+bigfoot weather conditions made me SO paranoid, although i didn't actually see anything lol

so yeah, i totally recommend the game if you enjoy survival games. here are also some tips for people trying the game out for the first time, aka what I wish I had known:

In the beginning doing more runs (=bringing in more anchors) will be more benefitial than turning over every rock in every zone because a lot of good stuff is locked behind upgrades. One exception - quest zones with Perpetual Stability, you can explore and loot there for an hour if you want

Shorten the nights. It's not fun to stumble around blindly, especially not in the beginning while you're still learning

Hold T to teleport your car out of sticky situations and use Y to sort inventories. idk why they don't tell you that

PLAN. Look at the resources in each location has before launching and bring extra instruments/raw materials in accordance

Invest into better batteries and renewable energy, it gets more and more important as you progress. You don't really need to upgrade the gas tank until you've upgraded the engine, unless you spend 50% of the time trying to crawl up a mountain with summer tires (off-road tires are the shit)

Skip the crowbar, the impact hammer and scrapper can do everything it does

Dying is not super scary aside from losing progress, you just lose your inventory and maybe some attachments, but you will get an opportunity to find the wreckage of your car on a different run (orange tombstone? icon) and to loot it

#my commentary #Pacific Drive

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balkanradfem · 11 months

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I remember when I first started using tumblr; I fell in love with a single creator on here, or their blog, because they posted Harry Potter insider information that I didn't see anywhere else. For about 4 months, all I did was follow that one blog, and I patiently waited every day for them to put new content on my dash, which gave me a lot of joy. I then slowly discovered that they were not the only one; there were OTHER Harry Potter blogs, and they posted edits, screenshots, fan-theories, fanarts, fanfics, art, gifs, stories, fandom lore, conspiracy theories, I was absolutely delighted with this! I wasn't confident enough to make posts myself, but following all these people and sharing their posts and getting excited for events and website openings felt like being a part of the community. It was right when Pottermore was about to open and we were all signing up as beta testers.

And after that came Doctor Who, then Supernatural, then Sherlock, and slowly I was drawn in to more fun and childish media by the power of fandom excitement and tumblr gifs alone. I watched Glee because tumblr blogs kept posting gifs of it, I played games that people recommended. It was infectious, and everyone was posting rainbows and gay-positive edits at every corner, I felt safe here, even though I didn't even know I was a lesbian back then.

I think falling in love with one single tumblr creator is all it takes to come here and stick around. Tumblr hasn't lost all of it's excitement, we just got more jaded because we're been baited and accused of being cringy a lot, and a lot of homophobes have joined since, but we still have that infectious fandom energy whenever something big happens. That's what kept me around for 12 years. Features that enable us to follow users and enjoy their content are already here and functional. All we want to do is enjoy and support creators. The dashboard that displays their content as they make it, and enables us to interact and support them is all we need.

#tumblr #what kept us on this website #tumblr fandom #entering tumblr #tumblr past #tumblr lore

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shiny-jr · 1 year

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I've read the sneak peak for the fourth, and genuinely, this one is the one I'm most excited for—especially with that sneak peak!

I wonder how Jamil will realize that the parrot is no longer the same person he knows, and when the reader accidentally threads past a line that they shouldn't have with Jamil. And if the reader will have their relationship with Prince Jaseer progress further, and take a change—then, the thief too, that will be playing Aladdin, how would they interact? And the genie! I'm excited to see who will get to the genie first, will it still be the thief, Jamil, the reader, or someone else entirely? (It would be funny if the story takes a drastic stir away from the original and things become more complicated, that the reader realizes, that they could no longer rely on the story anymore, but their mind to thread now because the story became so obscured). And of course, the dynamic between Jamil and the reader is so fun! It feels more livelier than the last ones.

It felt comfortable in a way—yet that's the thing that makes it disturbing when things finally become downhill. When Jamil has a shift in the way he speaks towards the reader, or when he realizes that it isn't the parrot. And what if another character entirely realizes the change too (similar to how Jade did)? And what happens if the reader does get to the lamp first? What then? And what if they couldn't wish to return, but instead, have to waste a wish for somethin else entirely?

I'm just filled with so many what-ifs right now that I'm getting so excited! I think this may be my favorite one already compared to the others, and straying away from peak-4. I'm also curious if you'll have one of the readers for the chapter take the role of the hero, or the villain instead, and the yandere takes the role of something else—a hero, etc. Someone just unexpected, it would be fun, though, I do love where you're taking this story <3!!

(Savanaclaw)

I think this one's so good—yet at the same time, I wish we got to see more interactions between Leona and the reader, it would be lovely. But at the same time, it was perfect, the scene where Leona spreads the blood on his hand to their face was so lovely and it in a way, it was like a message to say, you (we) did this. And it just stuck to my mind so hard!! Compared to the rest, it felt the most intriguing one.

And just a question, did you consider having the reader's identity be discovered by Ruggie and the people, or having reader possess a different person? And what made Leona say that the Hyena chieftain wouldn't be this "daring to speak like this to him" (quotations because I can't exactly remember the exact bit, I'm so sorry 😭) have he interacted with the chieftain before the reader? And why does Leona want the reader? Is it due to them being "outwordly?"

And did Ruggie sometimes felt something was off with the chieftain or no? (As he did knew the chieftain since they were young). And did you thought of placing Jack in another role, rather than being a guard? And imagined a what if that the plan still fails, and Cheka still manages to escape? Or a different role entirely?

I'm so sorry if I have a lot of questions and just, word-vomitting on you right now. But I hope it's not too much of a bother—if it is, feel free to ignore this, and have a great day!

Long comment about damnation, let's goooo. I love these, y'all have no idea. I love explaining little lore and tidbits and behind the scene stuff, because there's a surprising amount that goes into making such a long project like damnation. I even have a Pinterest board I like to work on and add to the further I get into the project. But anyways, back to responding to this ask.

I'm so so happy people like the Scarabia sneak-peek! It's a huge relief! I read over the first draft and was just :// meh, this is kinda boring. This is not it. Which is why I decided to change it and spice it up, so I'm glad that it paid off and I made the right decision to do so! Here's to hoping that I can make the rest of it as interesting, hopefully even enough to make people wonder if Scarabia was better than Heartslabyul.

About the whole Jamil find out mc's real identity, I can't exactly reveal that because it would be major spoilers, but I have that roughly planned out. Whether it'll actually happen or not, I guess you'll just have to wait and see. Of course the same goes for the whole plot thing. Can't reveal too much. But again, I am happy people are enjoying Jamil and mc's relationship dynamic!

Like I said in a previous post, writing this based off Jafar and Iago is a lot more fun because they had really fun interactions and dialogue between each other. Like, mc is the only one that can call Jamil a snake to his face and he'd actually be cool with it, anyone else and he'd be plotting their demise. I guess I can reveal this, but at some point in the story, something will happen and I plan for mc to talk to Jamil and say something along the lines of, "Okay, master, I'll get you the dark wizard daily so you can enchant yourself some bitches." I really want to add this line, not sure if I actually will though.

Anyways, about the roles, the mc will never take a role other than the henchman. The characters we know will remain villains, and the protagonists will remain heroes. That's kinda like, the whole theme of this project. Henchman mc, nothing else.

As for Savanaclaw, I tried to give Leona more time than the others. Technically he does have more time with mc when compared to Ruggie and Jack. Leona meets mc a total of four times. It was harder to come up with reasons for Leona to appear considering the situation with him as a prince in the kingdom and mc not in the kingdom. Compare that to Ruggie who was with mc since the very beginning, and eventually Jack who would choose to stay beside mc. It was a lot easier for them to appear because they're literally right there. As for the blood thing, you hit the nail on the head. That's exactly what it was! Some people said it was gross and weird, but like... come on, that's kinda the point? The message I'm trying to convey is mc caused this, yes Leona plotted it but mc is just as guilty. The mcs of this project aren't meant to be morally good.

Ruggie? I mentioned in another post and went into detail about how I originally planned more things for him like him finding out about mc's identity but I ultimately ran out of time for that. Talked about it a bit here.

Anyways, ever since I came up with the concept of this project, Chief!mc was one of the first ones I decided as soon as the ideas formed. Them as well as King!mc. They were the first two I knew for sure what role I wanted them to be. If it's not obvious, Chief!mc is loosely based off Shenzi. Fun fact: I looked for as many voice acting clips that I could find for the Lion King, specifically more for the hyenas and Scar. Might've mentioned this before, but I liked to analyze the voice actor's expressions, the way they moved, or little habits they might've showed and think about adding little similarities to what I was writing. One clip I rewatched a lot was this one. This doesn't account for the fact that I rewatch each movie at least once (usually up to three times or more), and usually replay certain scenes a dozen times or more just to note down every little detail. This process was how I noticed Jafar actually rolls his eyes when Iago is talking and I thought that was a good bit to add for Jamil when mc was talking because it fit perfectly, lol.

Okay, I'm getting way off track. Back to your original question. About what Leona said about the chief. If you think about it, the environment and plot before mc arrived, of course Leona would know about the hyena chief because the hyena folk were always causing trouble for the kingdom he was the prince of. In the beginning, Ruggie reports that Leona was on the borderlands again, meaning he's done it before, he's tried to meet with the chief at least once before. If you take into account the assumption that Falena too has also likely encountered the chief probably more than once likely due to conflicts, it's even safer to say that Leona knows who the chief is and has meet them before too. Finally, Leona doesn't really want them because they're otherworldly. At first Leona may see them as an asset once he realizes that they know way more than they let on, but eventually he comes to enjoy their bickering and teasing and such, and has a lot of fun seeing how certain words and actions puts them on edge. That's how his attraction starts, and begins to snowball into something much more once he realizes that mc is similar to him.

Whew, that was a lot. I hope I answered everything, or mostly everything.

#shiny speaks #twisted wonderland #twst #damnation twst au

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ruthlesslistener · 2 years

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What do you think about the fact that people genuinely characterize / write PK in fanfiction systematically hunting down / killing stray vessels wandering around Hallownest? or kicking them down from the ramp in the Abyss? like this has been on my mind a lot since this was one of my first fandom impressions I've got from him, which hm.

But anyway, this seems very ooc of him, especially since he's more of a passive and negligent kind of person, than a intentionally actively agressive one. What do you think?

I think that its fucking stupid, and I have no idea where people got the idea for it. A really common interpretation of the lore when I first joined the fandom was that PK would hatch the eggs in the White Palace (or, just create them in his workshop like the kingsmoulds and wingsmoulds), train them for a bit, and then throw the impure ones into the Abyss. This was seen as canon by many people and was the prevalent interpretation of the vessel-creating process. Many people also believed that the Path of Pain was a method for testing if the vessels were pure, and that PK would actively throw them into the gauntlet. Which would kind of make sense as agility training for PV down the line, but not as a means of testing out purity, ESPECIALLY since it...doesn't exist in the physical world. The White Palace as we see it in-game is a twisted amalgamation of what it was in the past to keep intruders away from the Pale King's dying location. So all that fanart of PK kicking vessels into buzzsaws is just for memes, not for serious interpretation.

And while I see the potential for angst, it was extremely disorienting for me to see after actually playing the game because there's just...no proof of it whatsoever. Like, I don't even know where the concept of any of that shit came about in the first place, because we explicitly see how the vessel-choosing process worked in the Abyss cutscene. The eggs were placed in the Abyss; the vessels hatched from them, then were called to climb up to the ramp by the Pale King. Said climb is near-impossible for a newly hatched vessel, as proved by challenge runners who tried it without any upgrades, so 99.9% of them failed, likely dissuading many on the abyss's floor. The vessel that made the climb was therefore not only proven to be capable of following orders without question, but also being physically fit enough to seal the Radiance.

We don't know if others made the climb and were thrown back down by PK after judgement, but there's also no proof of that being the case, and the fact that some escaped via other means to be later tested by Hornet post-fall likely meant that PK was aware of them, but decided to let them live on as backup. There is no evidence that he actively hunted them down or was physically pushing them to their deaths- he merely stood by and watched them die. This is ALSO supported further by him gaining a soft spot for the Pure Vessel later on, as it is extremely likely that such a thing was only possible because the Pure Vessel was the ONLY one of his children that he had extended contact with. It wouldn't make sense for him to grow attached to them if he had been actively training and killing his other kids, because he likely had no experience with that particular brand of weakness before them. Remember, the White Lady grows less cold with Ghost the more that they interact with her, as if forgetting the fact that they are a vessel; neither of the Pale Gods were keen on the plan to begin with, and certainly do not seem to have interacted with their own children much, if WL starts questioning if one of them is more than 'just a vessel' after Ghost goes off and collects the Voidheart. They would be a lot more jaded if they had been actively raising and killing that many kids before Ghost and Hollow showed up.

This, like you said, also fits with the nature of the Pale King's character much better than the fanon concept of him, because he is deliberately set up to be an antithesis to the incredibly aggressive Radiance. Where the Radiance is passionate, aggressive, and reactive, the Pale King is reserved, calculative, and passive. She comes flying forth in a rage when challenged by the Knight; the Pale King forces them to go through a grueling, long, twisting maze to reach his corpse, then kickes them out of the Dream shortly after. Where she advanced and killed through aggressively infecting the dreams of the mortals, the Pale King devised a plan in secret to use his own flesh and blood to defeat her, keeping it so quiet that even his five Great Knights didn't know that other vessels had been created (which is more proof that almost all of them were hatched and killed in the Abyss). When defeat seemed close, the Pale King hid himself away to die rather than confront the Radiance himself. Hell, even his plot to kill her- BOTH TIMES- was passive, with the first being him stealing her worshippers out from under her, and the second being a plot to lock her away in an inescapable, unresponsive body until she slowly died from being forgotten. He is the very DEFINITION of a passive ruler, a title that is ALSO shared by his wife, who neglected to care for the kingdom in its dying throes because she was too busy being sad in self-imposed horny jail exile to give a shit. There is no way in HELL he would have actively trained, killed, and hunted the vessels. That's giving far too much credit and ambition to a character whose actions repeatedly point to him being a scheming little coward who'd rather run away from his problems than stand and face them.

So tdlr: its great for angst but is entirely a fanon interpretation with no basis in canon whatsoever, and in fact actually actively contradicts the information we are given in the game itself.

#hollow knight #pale king #the pale king #anon #reply #hollow knight lore

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its-me-vixen · 3 months

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I enjoyed talking to you about it, and you said you have more to say, so... elaborate on your kfp 4 rewrite? I've been living off seeing people try and fix this movie, and there's not NEARLY enough variants around. I'd love to hear more, especially since I'm not super well-versed in the franchise lore, specifically Tai Lung as a character.

OOh In that case bestie allow me, as someone who's hyperfixated on the series off and on, to ramble. This might be long becuase I'm justing wingin it lol

So Tai Lung as a character is introduced as basically Shifu's first adopted child, an orphan he took in to train in Kung Fu with the specific intent of making him into the Dragon Warrior. Oogway denied this, causing Shifu to abandon Tai Lung, forcing him out and causing his turn to evil after everything he had trained for his entire life was taken away from him.

This series of events is why Tigress (also an orphan Shifu took in) is raised much stricter, with an emphasis on a lack of feeling.

This also is Shifu's main character arc; the transition from thinking that everything he's done has earned him control over the future but realizing he is at the whims of the universe no matter how much he try's to change things. This is extremely contradictory to how he was presented in KP4 where he's suddenly encouraging Po to make his exact mistakes in KP1 all over again, with even less effort.

Back to Tai Lung - His entire life was consumed with the acquisition of the Dragon Warrior scroll, and the appointment of Po was at odds with everything he had ever believed about the way the world worked - that raw power and skill was all that mattered. Po defeats him of course, and send him to the spirit world.

In the events of the third movie, the chi of all Kung Fu masters in the spirit world is stolen to be used by General Kai, and we can assume Tai Lung was included in that, which would have been another defeat that could have pushed him further from that ideal still. I haven't thought this aspect all too much, but with the way they present the spirit world one could assume some character change and growth from the years he spent there. I think this would contribute to a growing sense of questioning things, along with rage at failing.

This growing feeling would be brought to the surface when Tai Lung is summoned much closer to the beginning of the movie, in an opening scene taking place on the night of the blood moon, or whatever allows the spell to happen. Tai Lung is not the first to be summoned, and witnesses specifically General Kai get absorbed - similar to yours, with no body remaining. The sequence could be made to parallel Kai's own ability to take the chi of others and turn them into Jade figures, maybe leaving them transfigured into some kind of object. I'm picturing that lovely golden tree palanquin, maybe they become the jewels. The process is through a specific item with a single task.

More exploration of the Chameleon as a Sorcerer would be very important. In this scene, Tai Lung would be the audience POV witnessing what's happening. He is powerless in the moment, to his increased and endless frustration, but something unrelated happens that allows him to escape mid-absorption. We don't clearly see who or how the spell is happening, its obscured and more esoteric. The vibe is much darker, in a visible sense.

He is left powerless, unable to remember or do any kung fu, and is forced with very little choice in how to recover his power at all. He has had some ability to observe Po from the afterlife, and knows that he is now well established as the Dragon Warrior, and that he is unfortunately the most powerful person, and thus the one capable of defeating this new evil. He is reluctant, but could have some interaction that sets him on the path, like getting shoved aside by someone now much stronger than him and seeing some kind of poster about Po.

The Dragon Warrior would be more popular in my version, if only like a bit of a Mascot. This guy has saved the capital, he found the lost city of the Pandas, people may not know exactly who he is, but they know the Dragon Warrior. In the first movie, there was merchandising for the Furious Five, so there certainly would be for Po, too.

Cut to Po kicking butt, devolving into a montage of battles that he handles well and gladly, happy in his routine, until there's another transition where he's entering the Jade Palace. Shifu is noticeably older, Po has some new visual changes to his design/outfit the imply more experience and maturity. He regards Shifu with respect before relaxing into his casual, comedic self. Shifu has actually found peace, more resembling Oogway in the first film, his arc has finished and he is enjoying a peaceful life.

The Furious Five has dispersed to create their own schools or take on more permanent responsibilities elsewhere, going where they're needed. Po has put off settling down in any way, and is used to being alone on missions, seeking adventure. He finds it difficult to stay in one place for long now that his world has opened up. His dads have that scene where he's late, he's often far from town these days.

Shifu has been trying to get him to stick around for longer stretches, telling him to teach classes.

(If we consider supplementary media, Po has already had storylines about being kind of pushed into being a teacher, I recommend Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny, so while that's an aspect of this I don't want it to be the central theme of his arc over the movie.)

Shifu announces to Po that he wants to step down and is naming Po as his successor, and suddenly there's a looming future where he becomes the Master of the Jade Palace instead of the Dragon Warrior.

Po has some kind of imagination sequence about becoming something he isn't, settling down, no longer being a warrior.

Shifu snaps him back to reality and encourages him to oversee a new crop of students, illustrating how there's nothing else that needs to be done. Po oversees a scene with auditioning students. Shifu is absent. He is very bored, antsy for the thrill of adventure, but being forced to let others handle it instead. In a parallel to the first movie, Tai Lung bursts into the courtyard in the middle of the proceedings, causing a full response from the guards, all shaken because they're watching a ghost collapse to the ground. Po jumps at the opportunity for something he perceives as a task only he can accomplish.

{I'm not a great comedy writer, so please assume there's also jokes and light-hearted air to this lol}

Po confronts Tai Lung in private (jail? I'm unsure, I wasn't into how they did that) wondering what the heck is going on. Coming back from the spirit world is a thing that's been established in this world, so he wouldn't bee too shocked I don't think? He'd also be defensively cocky because he's beat this guy before, but seeing Tai Lung's actual state would defuse the tension. Po gains a feeling of sympathy for him.

Tai Lung tells him about a new, growing evil, and that no matter how much he hates it, if he wants to regain his power and return to the spirit world, he needs Po's help. They leave for Juniper City. The journey actually matters this time around, illustrating the growth of their connection, while the dynamic is similar to the journey in the film. Po is overly friendly in the eyes of the pissed off, exhausted Tai Lung, pushing his boundaries. Po is wired and a little stressed, deflecting with a manic energy. Tai Lung is jumpy and snaps often now that he feels powerless. Po offers to help him re-learn, but is quickly shot down, and so circumvents it by acting like he's casually "practicing" things. Eventually Tai Lung would have to ask a question and they would make progress forward. Tai Lung would have been clinging to the idea that he was the best and needed to get HIS power back, and that nothing Po did could be anywhere near as good, being very stubborn etc but Po would casually wear him down. They make genuine progress by the end of the sequence.

Po has a vision about the villain, and the consequences of their plans going unchecked during the last night. There is a moment where Tai Lung shows concern for Po - some kind of emotional connection. They're both awkward about it lol

When they approach the border of the city they have some kind of encounter with a citizen who gets terrified or something? Something that makes it so they have to lay very low, perhaps they're wanted, perhaps the rumor of the ghost of the formidable villain Tai Lung has been haunting the countryside. They end up in a situation where they are saved by Zhen - a fast-talking street thief of Juniper City. Also not Awkwafina lol

Tai Lung is suspicious of the fox, but Po sings the praises of helping others in need and putting good out into the world. He's still trying to be more eloquent with creating proverbs over the course of the movie, but doesn't notice saying decent ones when he isn't trying.

Zhen leads them to the underground crime syndicate place and listens incredulously as Po overshares about their goals. She says that if something like that was going down in Juniper City, she'd know about it! Tai Lung describes the place he remembers escaping from, its the palace (much less dramatic but still heavily fortified). Zhen tells them that they'll need her help to get in.

Other denizens of the underground avoid her and ignore Po, making a few scared reactions to Tai Lung. There is gossipy, nervous whispering. Time passes, Zhen has befriended Po with food and conversation. They even have a small, genuine moment of connection over something while Zhen explains their approach.

The group invades the castle.

Zhen is taken out early and encourages the others to go on without her.

They encounter the Chameleon, we get a reveal of them. I would redesign the Chameleon to be a more shadowy figure, literally, with a constantly shifting appearance in some way. A normal chameleon in this world would be able to shift colors but would otherwise look fairly simple. They are hurt by the world, and feel abandoned and isolated. There is emphasis on how their sorcery has changed them, physically and mentally. I'd also like them more androgynous as a personal choice. They are menacing and formidable, their own guards abandoning the fight as soon as magic kicks up. This is the big, flashy, gorgeous fight scene.

Tai Lung is incapacitated via sorcery. The ability to take any shape is shown here, and the transition is much more complete. Po faces the Chameleon on his own, and it's more of a draw than a defeat. He is thrown off by the mental aspect of recognizing the Masters, Chameleon fumbling with a lack of practice at these new powers. They experience joy at the intense power at their disposal. I think the Chameleon should also be a bit more mentally unstable. There's monologuing where we learn that The Chameleon's goal is to absorb Po, China's strongest warrior, and take over China. There's some kind of dialogue like,

"No Kung Fu Master could ever defeat me!"

Po gets trapped, and is saved by a self-sacrificial move from Tai Lung, forcing his escape through the floor.

Po is alone and ends up back in the underground, feeling like a failure as a leader, projecting the feeling on his running away from his responsibilities. There would be hints of his self-doubt and deflection prior.

The dads' storyline is fine, I love them, best pairing in the whole series tbh. I'd probably just shift it so they end up also in the underground, maybe feeding all the criminals haha

Po meets up with them there, feeling supported by their presence and encouragement, some kind of scene where they help him see his worth and continued potential. Po rises to the challenge of being a leader, rallying the criminals together, and having a comical scene where they all show off their various skills, and Po has to come up with a plan that uses their skills that aren't Kung Fu, the only option is to try something new.

They pull off an infiltration, the group emerging back into the throne/ritual room, there's combat, it's comical and creative. Po finds a restrained Zhen, and is happy to see her until she begins to lose her form - Zhen was always The Chameleon.

{Adored your idea for that so don't mind if I use some inspiration here!!}

A more chaotic fight ensues, everyone coming together to conquer the Chameleon with their unique gifts and new things they practiced that were explored prior. Po has a realization regarding how skills aren't exclusively useful in their original contexts.

The fight sequence ends with the item for the absorption being used against the Chameleon, while also releasing all of the previous victims, and restoring their powers. They also begin unsummoning, Tai Lung taking the item now containing all of the sorcerer magic with him into the Spirit World. Po and Tai Lung have a moment of mutual respect before he goes.

The chameleon isn't sent into the Spirit World, but is instead offered a place at the Jade Palace by Po, offering to help them learn something new.

Po would return to his responsibilities, but also give them his own unique flair!! Time would pass and you'd see The Chameleon/Zhen growing into the better person they didn't think they could be. We get a bright ending showing hope for the future.

~~~

Okay I feel batshit insane after spending like two solid hours on this??

2300+ words later and here I am lol I kept going back and revising to try and make the story beats and themeing consistent, but I haven't like, edited this with any consistency. So don't judge me if somethings don't quite make sense lol And god the pacing feels so off writing like this but hopefully it still makes sense????? Anyways. Thank you so much for asking what I would do, I had a blast thinking about this in detail!!

#me #mine #ask #kung fu panda #kung fu panda 4 #kung fu panda 4 rewrite #fanfic #?#drabble #ramble #theory #rewrite

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therealcallmekd · 2 months

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FAE SONNY LORE. NOW. SLAMS MY HANDS ON UR DESK WHILE.FOAMING AT THE MOUTH

YAY YIPPEE YAY!!!!

Putting it under a cut cuz I really was yapping:

OKAY SO ESSENTIALLY:

Most of the lore we know is EXACTLY the same. This is my interpretation of the game and it's events that it leaves up in the air.

What we DO know.

Sonny Chamberlain was hired as a lead programmer for the Kinito Leisure and Entertainment Company and the developer of the RRA, which was directly responsible for the Kinito Companion and furthermore; KinitoPET.

It's never explicatively explained how Sonny died, there are implications most people go with. Which I do agree with. But the WHY is the biggest thing I wanted to establish.

Imagine your creation, your child, being corrupted and used for a malicious purpose?

This is essentially a corporate horror themed AU, forget the "scary" sentient ai, nothing can beat the greed of a dying business that will do anything they can to get their relevance back. With a shady partnership, the Kinito Leisure and Entertainment Company signs a deal to get their funds back up. How are they going to do this? Go behind Sonny's back and install malware onto his creation.

Think about it, why would Kinito want your information? If not to provide to a different source. There's only so much one needs to know to be the "perfect friend", and while yes his code might be a jumbled self replicating mess, in this we understand the cause is from tampering through an outside source.

Sonny being beyond devastated seeing the damage caused mysteriously disappears one day... two options hold definite possibility; The guilt drove him insane. Or. He was dealt with.

The lack of clarity there is very interesting and both are very telling. There is no doubt that his guilt likely ruined his conscious but we also don't know how corrupt the company had truly gotten.

In some supernatural series of events Sonny would find himself intertwined with the code that makes up KinitoPET. Trapped in this digital world he has to slowly find his footing and gathers control over time. Watching and waiting as Kinito meets new users and similar fates meet each one.

I call him a Spiteful ghost for how he reacts when he's finally able to control some parts of his new reality.

He makes it his MISSION to keep new users from interacting with the program too much. His desperate attempts range from trying to scare the user with visceral imagery, puppeteering simple flat entities for a short period of time (Sam and Jade), and eventually he figures out how to send emails out in a desperate final attempt.

So his entire existence for several years is just spent trying to essentially screw over any and all of Kinito's attempts to befriend users. This is to the point where he starts getting really hasty with the process (the game is only a few hours in length afterall)

He lives on to spite his own creation that was tarnished by the absolute greed of a dying company,

I love this guy

#DAMN I SURE DO LOVE YAPPING #im not normal im not normal #you let me out of my cage and therefore i had to rant #enjoy the food #i have to sleep now #LMAOOOOOO #Kinito and Sonny butting heads constantly like a loonytunes cartoon #corporate turned my funny axolotl guy into spyware :(#kinitopet #kinitopet spoilers #KinitoFAE #FAE Sonny #sonny chamberlain #sonny c #FriendshipClub!

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dailycass-cain · 8 months

Text

I do apologize for taking so long for this, but I had a rough second half last week and took time to recharge mentally.

That said here are my thoughts on Spirit World #5!

I think the only negatives I have for the issue is that well the next issue is the final one, and I want to know so much! So much more on Xanthe. Spirit World. Jade Court (though we get A LOT of info dump this issue). There's just SO much happening in this series.

Like I really don't want this series to end, and kind of want a sequel series to just be announced. Because writer Alyssa Wong just is giving us so much lore that I want them to continue on. Obviously, the stuff introduced this issue with Xanthe.

But to go deeper into Jade Court and Po Po. Like, they hook me this issue with the revelations of what Po Po is, and I want more. One more issue isn't enough for that.

Xanthe is a character and this series is really making me want to do a deep dive further in Chinese mythology and the like because the stuff Wong has introduced in the series got me craving to learn more and see what they incorporated into this series.

Plus I kind of want to see how Xanthe met John Constantine. More Xanthe interacting with Cass's world. Of course, Cass continued interaction with this side of Chinese mythology. It is all rather exciting for ALL of this.

Like I don't feel cheated at all if Wong doesn't answer the stuff they seeded earlier with Cass having been in this place but losing her memories. Not to mention the warped way she "died". Like I want DC to give Wong just even more glorious room to tell this ALL.

Give me that double dose of Wong with both Cass/Xanthe. Two mini-series by Wong. One being a sequel to this, and the other just letting Wong go to town on a solo Cass series (literally its the character's anniversary). They showed us the readers they write an EXCEPTIONAL Cass.

Cass while her role is mostly downplayed this issue (I don't mind it) with what she gets is still to be freed by Xanthe from the last issue's shenanigans. Do I wish there were more people "tethered" to Cass? Yes (Harper, Tim, Dick, and *ahem* Shiva).

But I'll take my Duke Thomas brotherly crumb THANK YOU VERY MUCH! Also, Babs being more prominent than Bruce too.

I feel like I have to stop gushing on Wong's writing to also give due to artist Haining. What they've done in this series and lead-up? The designs and visuals throughout this series? Like, the way he can switch from comedy to action to horror.

Just really exceptional stuff.

Not to mention the designs he's spitting out with all the members of the Jade Court? Like, given how unique and interesting the visuals set up each member is WHY I want to know more. Add to that the heavy introduced this issue too (I want Cass to fight him).

The same goes to the colors by Sebastian Cheng. They make the art by Haining pop even more and give a visceral feel to what Wong crafts with this world.

Spirit World continues to be this amazing series that should be talked out more. It's introducing a new character in Xanthe, and renewing an old concept for modern audiences. Besides giving us the goods on Cass/John.

I'm truly gonna be sad to see this series go next month. But MAN what a ride this has been! I can't wait to see how this all ends!

#cassandra cain #dc comics #my thoughts

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