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candy-red-river · 2 months

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Luther is beauty, style, and grace (an analysis again)

ok ive wanted to talk about this guy for a while after finishing the comics lately and oh my god his deal is the most obvious of all the characters compared to others when you think about it.

Starting off, his most obvious feature is his manners. He is very polite and "reasonable" but often forces it onto others and seems somewhat superficial. Like he's trying to hide something about himself. One of my mutuals earlier called him "repressed which I find very interesting as I never saw him that way before.

But after reading the comic I said to myself, "Yeah he's definitely repressed".

Specifically in the camping arc he has HUGE BEEF with the hitchhiker calling them a narcissist for seemingly being themselves, albeit a bit morbid and tries to poke through his skin like he does with others (whether to sedate them or not) but restrains himself when randal comes around, later attempting to call his doctor about it, implying that he doesn't want or like doing that to begin with.

There was also the scene with the pancakes where he just unhinges his jaw but implies that he doesn't do that often in front of guests for the sake of their comfort.

Other than that, Luther absolutely INSISTS that he's human and the weird "family" dynamic that he's made for the ivory household (which consists mostly of brainwashed people forced to play a pet role and randal who I'm pretty sure isn't even related to luther) and generally tries to put down anything he does not like in a sort of fancy royal manner.

From all this and the speech he made about choosing his own destiny and being so assertive about manners to others I think it's safe to say that luther is an absolute monster, but is very self aware and almost insecure about being non human, which he also enforces on others in order to "fix" them or to make himself seem perfect with the "ideal" family.

I think he's aware of how messed up everything is but is either in denial or trying to tone it down.

Other things to note:

Captain howdie said they had a crush for luther from an ask which I think is funny and unexpected. (Also true)

He has canonically dated women (epic)

The eyes on top of his eyes aren't just eyelids since they have been shown to come out before. He literally has two sets of eyes.

I also think it's funny that nyon and nana have an implied crush on him (I'll get to them later)

He's scared of mice apparently

he has a LOT of pets, none of them are normal animals

He seems to have sympathy of some kind but it's definitely half baked.

(Unrelated note: the current most mysterious characters are Sebastian, Nana, and the hitchiker)

#randals friends #ranfren #luther von ivory #I might go over randal again later #captain howdie #fan analysis #fan theory #fandom analysis

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bramble-scramble · 5 months

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Smithy Gang Headcanons

Hi, friends! I'm extremely grateful for the positive feedback on The Forging, and definitely want to write more SMRPG stuff; I've just been working on other priorities lately. However, my brain has been busy churning stuff over, even if I haven't had the time to sit down and write a story yet.

So I wanted to jot down some of my headcanons for the Smithy gang, specifically the forging order of the main members. I thought of a sequence where Smithy created each as a response to shortcomings he saw in their predecessors. This timeline will serve as a framework from which I can write future stories.

I don't think there's anything here that goes directly against canon, but I'm not as much of an SMRPG expert as I am with some other games lol, so feel free to tell me if there's some kind of Japanese-only line that contradicts me. Also let me know your own ideas if you want!! I am new to being a proper fan in this fandom :P

First, some general notes: I don't really have a good definition for who Smithy himself is, where he came from, or what his world is like, and I don't know if I ever will, since I find some degree of ominous mystery to be more interesting. Also - while I've seen the Gang described as "robots", while that may be true in a sense, I think of them more as "constructs" - I don't think they're powered by wires or circuitry or anything like that, but rather arcane magic. They are not powered by AI, even in the sense that a more nuanced and self-aware robo-sentience might be (see examples in the Marioverse: TEC, Beep-0, JEANIE), but a more traditional type of consciousness/soul that Smithy has learned to work with, as if it were yet another material. (This isn't abnormal for the Mario world, where we already have living bullets and bombs and the like- and in an ironic twist, also makes them somewhat similar to Geno, who is a consciousness inhabiting a form that would not produce sentience or mobility on its own.)

This isn't really a fic, although it's long enough to be one, lol. I hope you enjoy!

First there was Exor; but Smithy did not create him. In fact, Exor was Smithy's beloved blade, the reason for his obsession with living weapons in the first place. But Exor is a being even more ancient than Smithy, who just happened to bond with him in his lifetime. The sword can grow to a massive size, and is never truly destroyed, but will reappear and reforge itself throughout history. The otherworldly creature that attached itself to Exor and brought it to life has been known to some as the Neosquid.

Now Smithy, in a sense, was his own first experiment - gradually replacing his organic parts with malleable metal, not only to extend his own life, but to make himself more suited for a variety of purposes. This was a process that never really had an end, as he was always experimenting, creating new heads for himself. But when he was satisfied enough with his initial efforts, Smithy sought to create life in his own image, and in the image of his beloved Exor. Among other adventures, he spent time in Subcon, the Land of Dreams, studying the enigmatic nature of consciousness - at least enough so that he could harness some of its unfathomable magic for his own ends.

Boomer was the first of Smithy's prized creations (yes, because I like the idea of the one called "Boomer" being the oldest). Originally created to provide a sort of companionship to Smithy in the form of strategic advisory and being a bodyguard- and also to provide friendship, although Smithy would never admit it. Over time, Smithy became distracted with his newer and flashier works, and grew tired of Boomer's overly serious and staid nature. Though their relationship has grown distant, Boomer's fondness, gratitude and loyalty for his creator has never faltered, and he will defend Smithy to the very last of his existence. In turn, Smithy has never put forth plans for machine-made Boomers- the younger creations speculate it's because he's too outdated a model for this to be worth it, but perhaps it's because even now, Smithy considers him irreplaceable.

Bowyer was the next-forged. Smithy sought to make a commander who represented a long-range weapon, to contrast with Boomer's katana; and also a more creative and inventive personality to offset Boomer's traditionalist and unadventurous nature. When Bowyer was born, Smithy found that he had accidentally gone way too far (in his opinion) in this new direction, leading to a creation that was so erratic he refused to even speak like those around him. Smithy found Bowyer a hard-to-control troublemaker who would rarely listen to him (or Boomer) and seemed unhappy most of the time, not fitting in with the world he had been forged into. Bowyer would also leave arrows all over the place, sticking out of random things in the weapon world - this is when Smithy had the bright idea to create arrows with consciousness, so they could return to their leader on their own. To Smithy and Boomer's surprise, Bowyer became a lot more joyful and content when he met his little Aeros, and they all became an inseparable entourage.

Smithy became creatively blocked while trying to think of his next big project, largely due to the stress of Bowyer's early behavior. Instead, he came up with a number of smaller-time minions, some of which were the Shymores, based on the Shy Guys he had observed during the time he had spent in Subcon. The Shymores were a playfully destructive group, and after seeing Bowyer's happiness with the Aeros, Smithy decided to forge a creation who was destined to be a leader from the outset; and also one with a mischievous streak, yet toned down from Bowyer. And so he made Claymorton, who later called himself Mack. He was a beloved leader to his rowdy group, but perhaps too social- he ended up neglecting his own training, preferring to play and mess around with his friends, and thus never became very strong on his own.

By now, Smithy was growing frustrated by the failures and flaws that he saw in the personalities of his creations. He decided to think extra hard about the character of his next project: this would be someone who could work completely independently - brilliant, shrewd, capable of powerful magic spells and illusions. Yet Smithy made sure to write in an unflinching loyalty to himself into the new creation's code, so to speak. And lo: at first Speardovich seemed everything Smithy could have ever wanted. Proud, powerful, but knowing his place. He needed no minions, and thus was never distracted, as he could split his own form and consciousness so that one being could do the work of many. He might appear to be older than Bowyer and Claymorton, but in fact he is technically not; he was just created from the outset to be more mature, with the moustache to prove it. And yet, over time, the cracks in this personality began to show. Speary was pompous and did not get along with the other creations when necessity called them to work together. And his respect for Smithy manifested as simpering; a begging for praise and attention which the smith found increasingly unbearable. He was always coming up with unasked-for ideas and input, such as: perhaps all the machine-made units could take the name of a spear in a different language, and "speardovich" could be their overall model name, and that he quite liked Yaridovich for himself personally, and perhaps it would be alright if- but no, Smithy would have none of it. While at first he had beamed with joy at this newest creation, he soon enough kept him at arm's length (or spear's length?) as well.

Finally, Smithy hit upon a brilliant idea - his next creation would be a group of (mostly) equals who could depend on each other without a major power imbalance, keep each other entertained, and stay out of his hair. The Axem Rangers were born, all bearing an energetic and youthful personality which they are still yet to grow out of. They were given control of the Blade, and sent to scout various worlds. They often picked up slang and brought home entertainment from the places they visited, and developed a countless number of inside jokes. The other commanders, and especially Smithy himself and Boomer, found it hard to keep up with them. However, Smithy considered their existence a big success, and remained very proud of them- although this might be due to the fact that he ended up not having to interact with them that much.

...So, that's what I have for now! I'm not sure where all of the Factory enemies fit into this; based on their descriptions, I think Clerk/Manager/Director aren't creations of Smithy, but are the same species as him and recruited from his homeworld. Same with the Chief, aside from possibly not being the same species. Smaller minions like jabits and the hammers would be produced at various points that aren't super relevant to this larger narrative. Count Down was probably made as a fun side-project when Smithy wanted to take a break from weapons per se, and see what he could do with an object like a clock. Gunyolk was confirmed to be created by the Chief. And Cloaker and Domino are weird outliers; I want to say they would be among some of the first things Smithy made, or the latest, in some kind of more abstract and experimental period.

Again - let me know your thoughts and ideas!

#super mario rpg #smrpg #fan analysis #fan theory #smithy gang

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drawnaghht · 7 months

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Neo Edo magnetic "holsters"

so today/yesterday I started thinking....

what a cool detail the magnetic "holsters" - knobs and stripes are. A very unique design idea for the setting they went with (basically energy-punk or a kind of close-futuristic sci-fantasy)

for example, Gen has large magnet strips on his back, but also on the front of his vest?

The back strips are bigger, while the front strips I'm not entirely sure about, but they are slightly smaller and thinner, so it could be that they are something else, like pockets.

Chizu's appears to have dual magnetic strips on both her pants, her jacket lapels at the bottom, as well as a bigger/stronger magnet triangle on her back, assuming for her polearm, then later for her bow. The strips on her pants could also be just re-enforcing

The other Neko Ninja also appear to have magnets on their armor's backs and hip-pieces. (more longer images under cut)

Kitsune does not appear to have any magnets on her body? but she has a belt which she has a small pouch on and her belt goes around enough times that it could be easy to store her first set of tessen on her back.

Usagi's are small magnets on his obi, both the yoyo and sword have space to fit, one on either side. The sword is always on the left side, so that Usagi can draw it fast enough with his right hand without hurting himself by accident (at least, according to how sword-carrying became tradition during the Edo-era, the show is fairly consistent about this way the swords are carried)

From the first episode with Usagi, we see that the magnets appear to be strong enough that they lock onto the metal of the weapon long enough that the user can remove their fingers from holding the weapon.

and with the yoyo:

Overall, it's a super-interesting feature in the city! Other characters also have these magnets on their outfits/armor - you can pause any shot and see that characters have something magnetic/metallic on their body, with (I think) the exception of Karasu-Tengu and auntie, and the regular citizens of Neo Edo. So here for example the Keisatsu and Lord Kogane.

Most notably, one of the keisatsu guarding Usagi in ep 102, a set of keys dangles from it and we later find out it's this keisatsu's apartment keys haha.

Usagi waits and holds to test the magnet on his left side when he is holstering his auntie's sword, and we see that the effect is quite strong. But then in ep 2, he just slaps the yoyo onto his other side un-ceremoniously, even though this one is directly given to him by a magic stone haha xD You'll notice how Usagi's magnets have some sort of inset inlay, and a glowing symbol inside it which appears to be his clan emblem. Perhaps this means that his obi, or the magnet inlays were once commissioned for one of his ancestors? Since auntie does not appear to wear one of these, maybe it was a direct heirloom to Usagi from one of his parents? Or maybe it was something specially made for when Usagi was a bit older? Could even be that Auntie had it made for one of Usagi's birthdays (good source of a fanfic plot hehe). The magnets are also shown to always glow purple, like the Ki-Stone, and so is Usagi's yoyo itself, when activating any of its abilities, but in this case, the lines on the two sides of the yoyo glow just like the inset on Usagi's weapon-holster magnets.

For other fighter groups in the series, the Mogura crew don't seem to use any visible(?) weapons, while the Bat Squadron have switchblades on the top of their wings/fingers(?), while on their backs they have parachute backpacks. The Neko Ninja appear to have no visible magnets, but possibly their entire armor has hidden magnets within? just a theory for now.

Now, while Usagi's obi and its magnets seem to be custom, could the rest of Usagi's outfit be too? possibly. It seems to be a very specifc combination of both samurai, ninja and farmer outfits, as well as practical application of what samurai used to travel lighter while staying protected. First of all, his vest is a kind of deep blue which according to some historic records, is hemophilic? meaning, it can hold in blood if the wearer is struck suddenly, and according to older beliefs, it even had some healing properties. The vest is tied together by the obi, and the shoulder-gaps/edges appear to have either wooden or leather guards attached to the vest, enforced by these peculiar rectangular (i've seen this kind of work before in woodwork workshops but cannot remember the exact name) Under this vest, he appears to have a light leather or wood breastplate for protectin and under this in turn, he has a dark blue/black undershirt. His pants appear to be in two parts. The first part being the dark blue pants he wears, and the second a patterned "pants cover" which attaches to his chest guard or armor under the vest via light blue clasps. [edit: 10.10.2023:] Still looking around for the basis of this, but this appears similar to some pants I've seen irl. This cover and the pants both seem to be either tucked into or covered by the leg guards Usagi wears. [end edit] Whatever 3rd undergarment he has connects with the blue sleeves he has, which are tied with strings similar to his auntie's sleeves, but these strings are only drawn and animated in the 2D sequences (for the sake of simpler animation, it seems, since Usagi appears in so many scenes and has many moving parts) Then he has dark blue arm guards and kneeguards, while the boot part of his shoes seem to be some harder leather or other material. Usagi, because of wanting to follow in the steps of his samurai ancestor, does not have any other magnetic holsters on his body.

Chizu and Gen also seem to have customized magnets, but of a different appearance. First of all obviously, their shape is rectangular longer or shorter strips, without inlays or emblems, and Chizu has her back-triangle magnet.

I've sometimes also wondered if Gen's emblem is also a magnet, tho this is less likely... The rest of his outfit is fashioned to protect his body enough to also be mobile. So his back magnet-strips are way larger and fit nicely there, enough for his kanabo to attach comfortably to it without falling off. He has a lighter and thinner looking metal plate over his chest, which is obviously armor with a dipping neckline which is colored a golden/bronze? while the bottom part is a deep indigo, covered with studs. Traditionally what these kinds of studs do, is that if someone hits you in the stomach area (one of the most vulnerable areas in an armed fight), the metal studs set in the plate should deflect metal weapon blows to the stomach. so that's interesting to see, Gen's outfit is very practical and he is obviously a bounty hunter who has been doing the job for a while, evidenced also by Gen's healed-over facial scars. A purple vest with a higher collar covers this armor partly. The vest is patterned with these outlined hexagons which have a smaller hexagon inside them. The sleeves of this vest are puffed up(?) and either tied to his arms or it's a rubber band inside the fabric of the light magenta strip of his sleeve. I cannot see that he has any magnets on his belt, which is otherwise tied around the latter-bottom part of his armor and pants. The armor near the belt and on the stomach bends upwards in a semi-trapeze shape toward the dipping neckline of the upper part of his armor. His shoulder pads, kneepads and armguards appear to be enforced leather. I can't remember the exact term for this, but you see that the shoulder parts have stronger leather strings going through the inner parts, possibly to strengthen the rest of the pads. His warclubs sit comfortably on his back on the larger magnet strips.

Chizu's outfit is obviously made for blending in as a civilian, while retaining mobility and flexibility as a ninja, so it's not metal/hard armor like the other Neko Ninja - but instead seems to be wooden/light armor made to look like the shapes on the shirts of other (the dipping rectangle), and undergarment (black) + red and black leather vest and pants. The strips blend in nicely with this sort of outfit, while also allowing Chizu to have many weapons besides the hidden ones she has, the ninja stars and the small crossbow in her gauntlets/hand guards. Chizu's back-magnet triangle meanwhile fits her outfit style exactly, with a black inlay and golden-color outer rim, sort of like Usagi's magnet, but with no inset. Perhaps it's not a magnet at all then? But it sorta makse sense to be a magnet still. In ep 2, she brings her collapsible naginata along and sets it on her back. So this is a running design element amont the characters of Neo Edo that they carry their weapons on these magnetic shapes - strips, circlets, triangles, etc

Kitsune has a very straight-forward outfit. She presents herself as an ordinary street performer while also stealing during her performances, skillfully enough that she doesn't need a helping hand in this. Her outfit consists of mostly greens, teals and on the leaf-prints of her kimono vest, we see that she has maple-leaf patterns in beige, orance and yellow tones, in homage to her namesake and inspiration, the Kitsune in the Usagi Yojimbo comics. Her belt goes around her waist 2 times, while the 3rd time sits more loosely around her left hip, carrying her leather pouch, possibly from weight, but also comfort. compared to the previous two, Kitsune's outfit seems less about hiding or being openly her profession and more about her feeling comfortable, being herself. This is also why she has different bracelets and bangles on her writsts. As with Usagi and Chizu, her clothings are closed in the traditional kimono 'y' shape, left over right side, but while Usagi has only his vest over his armor and undershirt, and Chizu's is just her undershirt, for Kitsune she has both a vest and dark green undershirt, meaning that she appears more casual and layered. Possibly, because of living on the streets, she is ready for any weather and these clothes might have more other practical applications. But also likely, she just feels comfortable in these warm clothes. It is spring after all at the start of the series (exactly the same day it aired, April 28th), so possibly the air is more brisk and Kitsune has kept this look for just a while. All this is more observation + fantheory, but otherwise, there seem to be no metal or magnetic parts on her body. She does not focus on fighting as much as the others and her modus operandi in fights seems to more self-defense, which is what her battle fans are meant for, a self-defense weapon. It's possible she could have hiding places on her open-toed boots for smaller weapons, but then again, I do not believe we've seen them used as such in the show.

Now I wonder how these magnet strips are produced and made at all... do they use the Ki-Stone to magnetize strips of metal somehow? There are many methods to make magnets irl, so I wonder which ones were used here to achieve this strong magnet effect together with the rest of the Ki-Stone's effects...

Anyway, this isn't a deep-dive about clothing, I just wanted to shortly write about the interesting element of magnet wepon-holders, because these seem a ki-stone specific magic/science, but I got a bit lengthy about the clothings anyway bc I like this show ^^

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sumn-somethin · 1 month

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stuff im expecting from season 2

olezha and anton flashback (PLEASEEE)

olya appearing more

diplomator's official appearance

dima's family especially his sisters (at least ONE of them has to be a diplomator supporter i just know it)

murderer revealed or at least more hints about olezha's murder

zhenya 👀

more psychic battle

conflict between olya and dima

conflict between anton and dima

more actor AU (for trailers and teasers and stuff)

anton's family

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jackie-sugarskull · 7 months

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I know regarding the Beetlejuice movie, I’ve seen at least a couple fans and theorists call bullshit to his claims that he lived through the black plague, despite his later comment of having been dead 600 years.

The cartoon version, however, is a bit harder to disprove, in my opinion. At least, if you know where to look.

In the episode "Scare and Scare Alike", Beetlejuice explains to Lydia that he's celebrated Scary Fools' Day, the Neitherworld equivalent of April Fools' Day, 627 times, which lines up with the movie version. That particular episode aired in 1990, and doing the math, that means that BJ most likely died around 1363, about a decade after the plague ended.

In "Cabin Fever", Lydia is afraid that he'd catch her measles, but he explains that he's had various illnesses over the centuries, Bubonic Plague being one of them.

On occasion, he slips into a more European accent (which is where the plague most ran rampant) when he's being particularly dramatic.

The fact that the Juice Family has a Coat of Arms, as revealed in "Family Scarelooms", which is also a tradition of European origin.

(As you can see, I read way too much into this series lol)

#beetlejuice #beetlejuice movie #beetlejuice cartoon #beetlejuice animated #beetlejuice the animated series #toonjuice #beetlejuice headcanon #fan analysis #fan theory

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shades-of-dark-gray · 6 months

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Guns and Moral Arguments (A symbolic analysis that no one asked for)

I'm probably digging far too deep but perhaps guns are a good representation of how Crowley and Aziraphale misunderstand each other despite their love and affection for the other.

In season 1, we have the paintball fight gone wrong and then again in season 2 we are faced with the bullet catch.

When magic man (rip) suggests that Aziraphale will need a firearms license to do the bullet catch, he says, "Oh, I have one of those already." And Crowley is actually taken back for a moment.

And moments later we see Aziraphale assume Crowley knows his way around firearms.

"You'll Need a one hundred percent reliable marksman."

"Oh I know the perfect man for the job."

Each entity holds the belief that the other will conform with their 'side's' values. Aziraphale especially, expects that Crowley would have fired lots of guns because guns are for fighters. Demons are calloused and well, tough. What he fails to understand is that Crowley is not a gun person.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

He can't even kill goats, so it makes sense that weapons wouldn't appeal to him.

Crowley considers guns immoral. What else do we know about Crowley? He'd deny it but he has a strong moral code just like Aziraphale, it's just a different moral code. I believe that's what both of these scenes are meant to demonstrate.

But why does Crowley orchestrate this whole scene with the paintball guns? He's actually making a moral argument: People, given tools of destruction, will use them to hurt each other, and therefore, weapons are immoral.

He's trying to show Aziraphale that guns are bad. Why does a demon have an interest in morality? In fact, Crowley has so much of an interest in morality that he makes a huge fuss to defend it.

It's all very angelic of him... And I think when he sees that Aziraphale recognizes this, it frightens him. ^^

On the other hand, Crowley sees Aziraphale as pure and untouchable (far to pure of heart, etc) buuuut Aziraphale believes that weapons can be used for good, I mean, flaming sword, c'mon.

Aziraphale has a Derringer hidden in his shop and Crowley suggests that Aziraphale reads too many books, but perhaps he truly enjoys owning it.

He's also drawn to the bullet catch trick above all else so we know there's some taste for firearms. Crowley fail to understand that Aziraphale is actually a baddie.

Underneath it all, the issue is that Aziraphale underestimates Crowley's pure heart and softness!

Also Crowley underestimates Aziraphale's bravery, and he doesn't see that his Angel is also a warrior!

(But no one underestimates them more than they underestimate themselves.)

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krsonmar · 5 months

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Has anyone written any posts or longer-form analyses comparing Frenchie's "box in my head" to Izzy's "a shark did this"?

#ofmd #ofmd s2 #ofmd season 2 #ofmd spoilers #ofmd season 2 spoilers #ofmd s2 spoilers #trauma #trauma recovery #fan analysis #ofmd meta

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galaxymagitech · 4 months

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Don’t know if anyone still cares about spoilers for this, but…

SPOILERS FOR TEEN TITANS (2003)

So I finished TT03 season 2. And cried. I was NOT expecting a teenager to die. When Terra defeated Robin, I thought “this can only end in a last-minute heroic sacrifice.” But it still took me by surprise that she was actually just gone. They make her a gravestone and she never comes back as Terra. It was shocking.

I tend to see most characters in the most sympathetic way possible, and that applies to Terra too. She did terrible things and she knows it. She made really bad, perhaps irredeemable, mistakes. But she also didn’t deserve the way her story went. Doing bad things and experiencing bad things don’t cancel each other out. Being hurt doesn’t justify hurting people, although you can certainly experience empathy for someone like that. But also—just because someone, especially a 15/16-year-old teenager, hurts people doesn’t mean it isn’t sad when they get hurt too.

Looking back on Terra’s story, I don’t know what the Teen Titans could have done differently. Fixing one mistake would’ve just delayed the inevitable. Slade was cunning enough to manipulate Terra and unlike Robin she didn’t have an established support system—Slade got to her before she could build one and undermined all her successive efforts. Terra says she’s looking for control, but I don’t think she’s right about herself. If she wanted control then she would’ve left Slade as soon as she got control over her powers. I think she was looking for safety and she considered herself a threat. She wanted to feel protected and secure, after so long on her own, and Slade offered her the opportunity to take the storm inside of her and channel it outwards. He offered her a place she didn’t have to fight him for, and Terra had never had that before. The Teen Titans couldn’t give her what she needed—and neither would Slade, but you can see why she thought he would. And Terra keeps repeating that she’s in control, that she wants this, as if trying to convince herself, and it was honestly horrifying to me.

I don’t want to take away Terra’s agency here. She was manipulated, but she still chose to betray the Titans. She isn’t a good person. But I don’t think she’s a bad person either. It’s not a dichotomy, it’s a sliding scale. She was just a person and she was trying but it wasn’t enough.

And Terra was a kid. She was a teenager who was lost and confused and scared and made the choices that seemed best to her in the moment. She changed her mind again and again. She gave up the best thing she ever had. In another world, she could’ve been happy. She could’ve even been “good,” maybe not in the profoundly heroic person at heart way, but in the “doing good things” way. If Terra hadn’t had out of control superpowers, if Slade hadn’t noticed her, Terra wouldn’t have turned “bad.” If she’d gotten a normal life, she wouldn’t have been “bad.” Terra was just as deserving of a good life as a normal person.

So I found myself with literal tears in my eyes over an animated TV show, because it just sucked so much that Terra’s story ended up like this and this was way darker and more horrifying than I expected.

Some of this goes for the comics character too. I think she’s genuinely a bad person in the comics, and a lot less sympathetic. But also—without getting into the specifics—her life really sucked. She did bad things and bad things happened to her. Deathstroke manipulated her, and although it was clear that she’d kill people/be evil on her own, the way her story went was really sad. And of course she’s still responsible for her own evil actions, but…any time you’ve got a teenager whose life is like that, whose mind is so messed up that killing people seems like a good idea, it doesn’t matter where the blame is assigned—it’s a tragedy.

I can’t help but have sympathy for Terra, in both forms. Because no matter how awful she was or how many cruel things she did, she was a kid and her story was sad.

(Me: Terra is a kid! 15 or 16 years old! A kid!!

Also Me: I’m…practically an adult.)

#teen titans #teen titans (2003)#cartoons #terra #tara markov #slade wilson #meta #fan analysis #dcu #dc

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sailormelanie · 15 days

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Has anyone ever noticed...that maybe Xie Lian cooks so poorly kinda on purpose?

In the flashback leading up to his second banishment, whenever his mother cooks for them all, the result is apparently disastrous, whereas, at THAT time, at least whatever Xie Lian prepared was described as "edible".

It could be that it's just edible by comparison and her cooking was the absolute worst to ever exist, but if Xie Lian's food in the present timeline could really be considered "edible," it wouldn't have nearly the same level of devastation (pour one out for Pei Jr.).

Maybe it's an unconscious act, but...doesn't it kind of feel like a subtle way of him remembering his mother? Even the way he names the dishes is like her. Usually mothers pass down dishes and cooking skills to their children, and in this case, even though the results were worse, Xie Lian ended up taking it to heart.

Siiigh my heart ACHES for this boy 😭😭😭 Before he developed his relationship with Hua Cheng, his mother is the first person he wanted to talk to after dealing with the aftermath of the fangxin guoshi arc and I'M. JUST. 😭😭😭

#tgcf #tgcf analysis #xie lian #xie lian's parents #Fan analysis #Xie Lian's disastrous cooking #Still sobbing over that whole arc tbh #heaven official's blessing

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candy-red-river · 2 months

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I don’t hear enough people talking about this but what if ethereal q is Luther and Randal’s father, hear me out, I know that old comic you mentioned seems like pretty substantial evidence to prove that there is no blood relation between the two of them but usually during the writing process of a story some concepts tend to get dropped or changed over the course of the production, so it might not be cannon anymore but while scrolling through q’s character info page I noticed the physical/behavioral traits between Randal Luther and ethereal q, such as the similar eye shape Randal and ethereal q share and Luther and q both have the Bob cut aswell as an air of class but combined with some of Randal’s own odd tendencies, he just strikes me as an older wiser version of Randal too for some reason, though I see what you mean when you think they’re siblings but what they are not fully blood related, they maybe paternal half siblings but I could be wrong

Tbh that IS an interesting theory and brings up a good question. Where ARE their parents?? Both of them are seemingly mentioned despite being a "family" (that mind you, only confirmed to consist of 2 siblings and their "human" pets.)

Despite a few things from the website (like his origin and his first comic appearance being him trying to kiss nyon and luther), I think it's still possible!! Maybe he could be randals dad or at least a father figure which could explain both of their behavior to an extent or Luther's fanciness

Hell, them being half brothers could still apply to the old comics even, with an astranged relative telling luther about randal.

Also, yeah the comics might not be canon

Also here is an image of randal being traumatized by milk lmao

#ranfren #randals friends #Ranfren theory #fan theory #fan analysis #randal ivory #Ethereal q #luther von ivory

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bramble-scramble · 8 months

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Post-DLC Phantom Lore and Theories!!

Hello everyone! I've put together a post that I hope will be fairly comprehensive, condensing what we've learned about our dear titular character of Rayman in the Phantom Show. No, not Rayman. Phantom!

There will also be a few theories of my own to fill in the blanks, although I will clearly mark what's a theory and what is confirmed.

I wanted to include tidbits about other characters, but this got really long, so I'll save that for another post.

Showtime!

Phantom's History with the Space Opera Network

First of all, Phantom did not create the network/studio!! This was a surprise to me, and I assume others... I think we all had guessed that it was his baby. No, it's existed for decades, and was in financial trouble BEFORE he came along. In fact, they paid him for a huge comeback concert, but when they didn't get a good return on investment, they owed Phantom a lot of money. I assume this is when he was able to take it over. Then, he held a telethon where people paid him to stop singing so the network would air other things again, lmao. And he got pretty rich off of it.

Source: The Space Opera Network memory. "After decades of poor ratings, the Space Opera Network bet everything on a live comeback concert by the Phantom. It wound up in bankruptcy with the opera singer as its largest creditor. Rumor has it that afterwords, the Phantom held a live telethon where viewers paid GOBS of money to have him stop singing so the network would return to its original programming, making him a small fortune."

(I also like that the telethon has been reduced to "rumor", implying that all footage of it was erased to spare anyone else from seeing it, LOL)

It appears this was all fairly recent instead of being something Phantom has been working on gradually since we last saw him. The studio is still in dire shape and doesn't appear to have had much time to put any financial improvements into effect. This is also backed up by "The Phantom" memory, where Beep-0 says that "most recently" he has become "Director of the Space Opera Network", AFTER his relationship with Bea and the Galactovision song contest incident. I also imagine the sets for the final battle are recycled from the concert and/or telethon, but that's just a theory.

So the timeline appears to be: Phantom dates Bea, Phantom dumps her for the dancer, Bea and Phantom co-host the Galactovision contest as bitter exes and blow out their voices in their rivalry, Phantom regains his voice sometime later through unknown means, hosts a comeback concert that bombed, takes over the network, has a telethon, gets rich(er), at some point during this realizes he can use the network for sweet revenge, then sends three golden tickets to the Heroes. The main adventure of Sparks of Hope takes place sometime after he ruined his voice, and sometime before he sends the tickets.

THEORY: Phantom probably figured AT LEAST Mario would come because he's the main hero, and he's always leading the adventure, right? He also surely guessed Rabbid Peach would come as she's an influencer. Both were people he was desperate to get revenge on. And he didn't care who the third was. Summoning only three was a way to prevent them from overwhelming him, and it would also be easier to keep them distracted so they wouldn't snoop around and figure out what was going on behind the scenes. He also figured the more savvy ones like Edge and Rabbid Rosalina wouldn't come because this just wasn't their thing, and Peach would be kind enough to give her ticket to someone else, not to mention her being busy - he would have loved to see her, but didn't want to have to FIGHT her.

I think his reasons for summoning Rayman as well, were because he thought it would make for an epic roast. But also, he knew of his traumatic history with rabbids and thought it would be destabilizing, and if he ended up in a hero group with Mario, there could be a rivalry (even if friendly) that would keep them distracted. Basically he just thought Rayman would never work with Mario and the Rabbids smoothly, and they would all end up interrupting and tripping over each other's heroism.

Needless to say things didn't go as he planned. Little did he know Beep-0, Rabbid Peach and Rabbid Mario would just intercept the tickets and run without telling anyone. And that Rayman would end up getting along better with his new friends than even the limbless hero himself could have foreseen.

Assorted Stuff

On various shows, Phantom has played the role of "Cyprien Fairclough, a young swashbuckling prince with a voice like a nightingale and throngs of female admirers", presumably a pirate named Captain Opera-Beard (although the memory log doesn't specify it was him, we can make a confident guess lol), and possibly the cowboy Plungerhands McMurdy, if we are to presume Phantom himself tries to star in as many of the shows he produces as possible.

The Space Opera Network wanted to make a movie version of the heroes' adventures but replace Beep-0 with a wise-cracking parrot. I'd like to imagine this was Phantom's idea just to piss our favorite roomba off.

Phantom GAINS STRENGTH FROM ADORATION AND ATTENTION, which..... is this something we knew before? It feels really natural but this is the first time something like that was established as far as I can tell.

"The Phantom lured Rayman, Rabbid Mario, Rabbid Peach and myself [Beep-0] to the Space Opera Network under false pretenses, so we might boost the viewership from which he draws his power. Should his spotlight have grown any larger, he would have become invincible." - excerpt from The Phantom 2 memory

And finally, there is a gramophone in storage in Phantom's control room. We can make a guess that this might be his old gramophone, and that he got his voice back by replacing it somehow. Thanks to @randomrabbidramblings for pointing this out, for the screenshot and theory! (I wanted to go look for myself but I don't think there is a way to get back into the control room after you beat the DLC? Without playing it again of course.)

Feel free to add anything I might have missed, and your own theories!

Fun facts about other characters coming soon!

#mario plus rabbids #mario + rabbids #rayman in the phantom show #the phantom of the bwahpera #fan analysis

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