#also to clarify this is meant to apply to canon. i am doing something different in my version

[captorations]

y'all holy fuck. paul is a palimpsest

you could even call them

a paulimpsest

#i'm mcfucking losing it #oh my god what if they chose the last name sest. that would be. so much #also to clarify this is meant to apply to canon. i am doing something different in my version #the locked tomb #the locked tomb spoilers

[nattikay]

So with Rise of the Titans coming in less than a week now, I just wanted to make a clarifying post of sorts on my current mental state with it, since ToA is my primary active fandom at the moment and I have a decent number of followers who came for it. A sort of heads-up on what to expect from this blog when the film releases.

I have made it no secret that I was extremely crestfallen by the decision to reverse Jim’s transformation at the end of Wizards, for a multitude of reasons that I have discussed before. However, I have also always tried to allow for the caveat that I don’t know what will happen in the movie, that such a change might have been necessary for the events of said movie, and that seeing the movie might change my mind.

However, while it is possible that the movie might change my mind....it’s highly unlikely.

As I have mentioned before, one of the things that draws me to troll!Jim specifically as a character is the fact that I find his hybrid nature extremely intriguing. It is this intrigue more than any other aspect of the show that drew me into the fandom. 

That said, there are really only two scenarios the movie could potentially pull that would make me change my mind about reversing the transformation:

Bring Jim’s halftroll form back in some way, shape, or form.

Present a different scenario that I find even more intriguing.

Note that neither of these are speaking to the objective quality of the movie. I have no doubt that, whatever happens, it will be very well-done in terms of animation, emotion, storytelling, etc. And I do not say any of this to diss on the creative team who put it all together, as I have nothing but respect for their passion and skills. 

But as for my personal experience and interaction with the series up to this point...well....I’m sorry, but it’s been clouded. 

My anticipation for Wizards last summer was higher than that for any other show that I can remember looking forward to, ever. So much so that it took a physical toll on me because of how high my anxiety spiked leading up to, during, and a while after its release. And I got burned. After all that excitement, all that anticipation, all that hype, the one possible thing that I was most dreading and hoped wouldn’t happen...happened. And Boy Did It Hurted. 

After that ordeal, I’m in a...kinda weird place, emotionally, for RotT. There’s still residual anxiety left over from the emotional fiasco of Wizards, and with my favorite character now (sorta) gone...there’s not really much excitement tbh...only apprehension. I haven’t even been able to bring myself to really watch any of the trailers. 

I will definitely still watch the movie, but at this the current moment it feels a little more out of a mix of obligation and “let’s-get-this-over-with” just to see the canon ending. Which is a shame and believe me I wish I could get as excited as everyone else...but it is what it is.

As for my fanworks and how the movie will affect them...well, obviously I can’t say 100% for sure without having actually seen the movie. Currently my post-canon works take place in a universe where everything that’s happened in canon so far did occur, but sometime after the events of Wizards Jim chooses to go back to halftroll form, with Douxie making the potion for him and even slightly adjusting it so that he can still walk in daylight. Here’s the current possibilities as far as I can imagine:

I completely ignore the events of the movie and just continue with ^ that headcanon.

I accept all the events of the movie but still have Jim transform back afterwards. So basically the current version but with a little more in-between.

One of two scenarios mentioned earlier happens, and I will adjust accordingly. Unfortunately I think this is the least likely possibility as I am not very optimistic about either scenario occurring (but would be more than happy to eat my words) 

I accept all the events of the movie but only as an AU where Jim is still half-troll, be it that he never changed back in Wizards OR that he used Douxie’s potion as mentioned above.

I basically keep the current headcanon but pick and choose specific ideas or events from the movie to incorporate into it.

so...yeah, I guess. That’s where I am with RotT right now, and perhaps you now have somewhat of a better idea what to expect from this blog in the coming days/weeks. 

mostly I just want to retreat into the headcanons that make me happy in peace. If that makes me a bad fan or something, then...whatever I guess. imma just continue liking what i like because dangit that’s what i’m here for.

*another obligatory disclaimer that again this just applies to my personal subjective experience with the show and is not meant as any sort of objective critique or dismissal of its quality*

#tales of arcadia #trollhunters #rise of the titans #man i hate anxiety

[sleepingcrisis]

Sk8 The Infinity: Thoughts

I- like many- have finished Sk8 and have a lot of thoughts about the show. I was going to make this three parts but opted for just one. This is split into three sections though: 

Adam’s “Redemption”

Character Relationships

Overall thoughts

Adam’s “Redemption”: 

Okay let’s not get it twisted, Adam wasn’t really redeemed. At least I don’t think he was. When I initially pictured a redemption I pictured an ending where he got along with Cherry and Joe and the three were skating together again or something. That would be super badass for a shot- but it wouldn’t work and would have ruined any tension between the three in my opinion. So in the eyes of our main six Adam isn’t redeemed which is nice. If anyone wants to argue that he is then… sure? You can do that- I don’t really care though because it is quite clear that he isn’t redeemed in their eyes. 

This doesn’t mean I like what they did with Adam’s character though. First of all, he was never going to jail. They set that up to build suspense but it was never really going anywhere which I hated. Despite him not getting redeemed in the eyes of our main six, he still didn’t face any consequences for what he did. I understand that him going to jail would not have been him facing consequences for his actions at S, because they weren’t related, but he got off. In the eyes of the viewer him going to jail would have been consequences for everything he did at S even if that wasn’t why he would have been goin to jail it still was supposed to serve as consequences. Instead he faces no consequences for what he did. He was never going to jail either which is what really pissed me off. The writers of the show made it so that the threat of him going to jail was sorta a red herring. It was something that was under developed and that a lot of viewers really cared about, but if you went to the bathroom during the episode you might not have even known about this subplot at all. The least the show could have done was make this a genuine threat and not something that was just used to build suspense- and it wasn’t even done well. 

I get not wanting to send Adam to jail though, I really do. He is a central character who a lot of people really like (even I really like Adam as a villain- I think he makes a really effective villain and his character is explored decently well). Perhaps sending him to jail would have been an ending to his character that was too clear cut. The ending they did decide felt too good for him though. In my opinion he hadn’t earned it. While I’m not entirely sure if I wanted him to go to jail, I think that he should have faced more consequences for how he behaved. Again I think if anything the end of the show paved the way for him to have a larger character arc.

Character relationships: 

Oh what probably everyone is here for: the topic of queerbaiting. 

If you are reading this in hopes that I support the idea that this show was queerbaiting then you won’t find that here. I don’t think the show was queerbaiting in the slightest. I think that it is incredibly obvious that Cherry, Langa, Adam, and Tadashi are all queercoded as gay characters. Every other character is up for interpretation, yes Reki and Joe are included even if I personally headcanon them both as bi. 

The show presents some beautiful friendships and handles them in a way that I love. Reki’s breakdown and self doubt feels realistic and how he and Langa reconnect was handled well and I think the pacing was good too. Langa and Reki contrast one another really well and obviously the same applies to Joe and Cherry. I have said it before but a spin off show with Joe and Cherry as central characters would be *chef’s kiss*. 

Had these two pairings been explicitly flirting with one another then yeah we would have been queerbaited. Does that mean you can’t interpret romantic undertones from all of this? No it doesn’t mean that at all, I interpret both relationships as romantic- but they also make really well written friendships. 

Where the show falls flat on its face and where I do take issue with the queercoding is the ending. By the end of the show I think it is quite obvious that Tadashi/Adam is canon. Their relationship isn’t normal by any means but they are in a relationship. Do I think it is a healthy relationship? No. Like k*nks aside- Adam treated Tadashi like shit through the bulk of this show. Adam is the most heavily queercoded character in the show so it rubs me the wrong way that this relationship is the one they make the most explicit. It rubs me the wrong way that Cherry and Langa’s sexualities are made more clear after having interactions with Adam. It presents the narrative that gay people turn other people gay and by having Adam be a flamboyant gay character it pairs gay with the idea of being evil and promotes sterotypes. Someone made a really good video covering this and I can’t find it- If I do I will repost this with a link- or if someone else wants to comment it then I’ll repost and add it into post. Flashbacks aside I wish we had gotten some scenes where it was a little more obvious that Adam cared about Tadashi. Don’t get me wrong- I know he does- but Adam acted like an asshole towards tadashi for the majority of the show and then pulled the “all is forgiven” between the two right at the end. Healthy relationships aren’t needed in a show and I don’t think these two need to have one, but having it be the only/most explicit relationship in the show is upsetting. I would have loved to see a healthy queer relationship be made canon. 

Not having these other relationships be made canon is fine. I understand wanting representation, but it is just eh- 

I get both sides of this- the side that desperately want’s queer rep that they are willing to settle and thirst over the crumbs they get and then demand an explicit relationship when we aren’t handed one. I also understand the argument of the cultural differences and how I can only ever look at this through a western lense. Japan has a vastly different culture and their media reflects that even if obviously they do try and appeal to a wider audience. I am very conflicted on this and am totally fine with matchablossom and renga not being made canon even if I do understand the appeal. Again what rubs me the wrong way is the relationship they do decide to make pretty much explicit. Anyone who wants to argue me that Tadashi/Adam is a healthy queer rep can- but from what we have seen… it really isn’t.

Overall Thoughts:

I love sk8 the infinity and I hope they get another season. The difficulty it must be to tell a full story with fleshed out characters in around four hours of run time is something I can’t imagine. Every single character feels fairly well done and they are all loveable in their own way. I understand the appeal people have towards any character. In fact there isn’t a single character that I actively hate. At the end of the day Sk8 The Infinity is meant to be a light hearted anime about having fun skateboarding. The animation is amazing, the music is wonderful- in fact I don’t think it could have been better- the characters that fill this world are all incredibly lovable, the show is so much fun to watch. The creators did that, they gave us a beautiful and fun show. Ending the show with Adam going to jail would have pulled away from what the show was trying to accomplish. The show was trying to have fun and I sincerely hope they get a second season so we can see every single one of these loveable characters again. I hope I got my thoughts across in this show but I am definitely willing to clarify if anything is confusing.

#sk8 the infinity #sk8 #matchablossom #renga #adam #shindo ainosuke #reki kyan #langa hasegawa #kaoru sakurayashiki #kojiro nanjo #tadashi sk8

[bookwyrminspiration]

(pyro here! i feel like this is...very ramble-y and i apologize if this doesn't make sense, and no obligation to post if it all feels like i'm just going in circles or for any other reason)

this could just be me, but i find keeper to be so interesting in so many ways but mostly because of how little actual good guys and bad guys there are, if that makes sense? it doesn't seem like it on the surface, and the story seems rather clear-cut if you don't think about it too hard, but there's no character or group in the series that's completely perfect and hasn't done anything wrong ever, iirc? like, the council is very obviously not too pressed over whether their actions are morally right and they're the government of a species that's supposedly all about being righteous, and neither are the black swan nor neverseen, which i find really interesting to look at, especially when the protagonists start to realize these things and question them, outwardly or inwardly.

and even any developed individual characters aren't clear-cut. yes, sophie is our protagonist, but she's also an arsonist that frequently breaks the laws of her world and has nearly started a war by breaking a treated because she was curios as to what was in an ogre king's mind. linh is- well, she's the token nice asian girl, but she also flooded an entire city, twice, and has most definitely killed people. dex may not have done anything really wrong, but he still created the ability restrictor, a device that put his best friend through days/weeks of torment, all because he was happy to recieve attention from the council. and that's just three of the main characters.

and i'm under the impression you really don't care about the council (which is fine and totally valid!) but it's still so interesting how the three important characters from there follow this as well. oralie was revealed to be sophie's mother meaning she committed treason and should probably be in exile, kenric was actively hiding important information from oralie (and knew about her being sophie's mother and therefor was a willing accomplice to treason and should also be in exile), and bronte has gotten...better(?) in the later books? maybe?

i suppose im wishing that shannon will deliver on this in the future, but im not really getting my hopes up. sophie is very interesting, but the books have always framed her actions as the right ones to take, no matter how terrible the consequences could've been, and they definitely frame the rest of the "good guys" as, well, good people who do good things, which isn't exactly true in most cases. i just...i guess i find it really interesting. i'd also be interested to hear your thoughts on this! on the surface, keeper really does seem like a rather basic series, but it's cool how if you dig even just a little deeper you start getting messy.

hello pyro !! nothing to apologize for, I love rambling! and you are in luck because I happen to have so many thoughts about everything all of the time.

and I agree with you! When you first think of keeper—or at least when I do—I seems very black and white, even bland at times in terms of the interest of the characters and the aspects of their world. Especially when you’re an older reader and have since read more adult books with more complex characters. Which is common. Because these are middle grade series and there’s more limitations of what topics authors can reasonably cover. They’re being careful. Because their audience are young and impressionable and despite their best efforts may be influenced subconsciously. So they have to lay things out more clearly, explaining that actions are bad when adult readers can put that together themselves.

(I know there are a lot of younger people in this fandom so let me clarify: I am not saying you are incapable of critical thought. However, thorough analysis becomes easier with experience, and adults and older readers will often have more experience with this than you. We’ve also had more time to figure out our own opinions and morals. This is not meant to put you down, just remind you that there are inevitable differences between us).

Back to what you were saying, pyro, despite its appearance, when you take a closer look there’s actually not a lot of black and white—or at least not as much as you’d think. I know there’s a canon line where Sophie says something like “the Black Swan were…the good guys?” (paraphrased from the first book). Which makes sense because at this point in time she’s twelve, where it makes sense for her to have that very black and white mindset. Good and bad. Pleasant and unpleasant. it’s a very all nothing mindset, which I know I also had at that age. But as she’s grown older in the series, she’s thinking about things from a more mixed perspective. She’s bargaining with herself and deciding what’s worth what and if the consequences are worth the risks, making decisions she likely would’ve condemned earlier in her life. Like setting the storehouse on fire. That’s a very loaded and controversial decision from her. It’s neither good nor bad. It accomplishes something she wants—sending the Neverseen scrambling and setting them back—and she decided that was worth the consequences—burning potential information and doing something that might’ve been previously against her morals. It’s not the “right” decision to make. It’s just the decision she makes.

We see this a lot with Black Swan too. I’m actually going to bring their oath into this: “I will do everything in my power to help my world.” It seems simple and straightforward at first, but thinking about it, there’s no qualifications for what “help” means. And there’s no limit on what they’ll do, just that they’ll do it if they’re capable. This leaves it open for a lot of morally questionable decisions, like creating Sophie. Did creating Sophie help their world? She’s already started to make positive changes (like at Exillium) and she’s not done yet, so you could say yes she’s helping. And they were capable of bringing her into existence. So they did. It was in their power and it helped, so they did. Despite using Emma’s body, despite forcing Sophie into this situation.

with the Neverseen, they seem more like misguided anti-heroes (if I’m using that term right), doing “bad” things for “good” reasons. Fintan is making these bold statements and undermining the council, actions viewed as negative, to try and highlight the unfair discrimination in their system and reform it—a motive one could consider reasonable and positive.

as for the council, the most notable event this applies to is Sophie’s ability restrictor in Everblaze. This was not supported by everyone else, actively hurting out main protagonist, but their reasoning was generally sound. Sophie had already broken several laws at this point as was causing unrest in their society, the one they’re supposed to govern. And she’d used her abilities yet again to go against those rules, this time with incredible serious consequences. So if she refuses to listen, what do you do? Take away those abilities. Keep her from hurting this society further. There are more specific examples of this, like Oralie and Kenric’s cache, but this is getting long so i can talk about those later if you’d like /g

part of what is intriguing about these characters is how they’re not so black and white on the surface despite the world seeming to be so easily divided into good and bad, so it’s fascinating to talk about how those parts are actually displayed. You brought up a lot of really good topics and I love talking about this!! /g

if you’d like me to expand on any specific part more or have more thoughts of your own to share, you’re more than welcome to send another ask <33

#I kinda zoned out there just talking about the characters #so I don’t remember everything I said #but damn do I have So Many Thoughts #character analysis my beloved #pyro you’re incredible #I love you /p #if you’re comfortable with that #kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #kotlc fandom #kotlc character analysis #long post #quil’s queries #nonsie #anonymous #pyrokinetic-loser

[miraculouscontent]

For the ladybugout fic. Does Ladybug ever publicly state on her own blog that the kiss was both out of context and posted against her will? And if she does, how does Alya feel about it?

Alya was on some sort of emotional high. Her blog was rising in traffic every day, people always eager to see that amazing LadyNoir kiss. Comments went on and on, most thrilled about the kiss and talking about how LadyNoir was finally canon.

Alya let them believe it. After all, it’s not like it was a big deal, right? Their views wouldn’t have any impact on anything, so why should Alya bother correcting them?

The same applied to her class. Sure, they might’ve been literally divided now (with the “Ladybug deserves better” classmates being on one side of the class and the “Ladyblog forever” being on the other), but that just meant that Alya had more people around her who shared her worldview.

Even if it meant that Marinette didn’t sit next to her anymore...

Alya’s phone dinged, indicating yet another new comment. Another thrill went up her spine, Alya eagerly scrolling up to see the comment appear.

‘So... you deceived us?’

Alya blinked. Where’d they get that idea?

Suddenly, her phone dinged again, and another comment appeared.

‘I really thought they were a thing?’

Another ding, followed by another.

‘Are you doing stuff like this all the time? I trusted this blog!’

‘Man, now I feel terrible. Poor Ladybug.’

More comments were beginning to swarm in, to the point where Alya had to turn her notifications off due to the excessive dinging noises.

People were talking, saying that Alya lied to them, saying that they were hurt by what she’d done to Ladybug.

She couldn’t understand. What happened?

Then, another comment appeared, this time with a link. Alya had discouraged links on her blog, but the user had disguised it so it could be posted anyway.

Alya now felt determined to get to the bottom of this. She copied the text, edited it into a proper link, then went there.

She was brought to a page called ‘LadyBugOut’, which was an obvious blog. Alya could imagine that it was a combination of “Ladybug” and “Bug Out,” which was Ladybug’s catchphrase whenever she left.

Alya felt a tinge of salt that the blog looked better than hers.

The banner, aside from having the title of the blog, had the tagline, “Directly from the source!”

Alya didn’t entirely understand that at first, almost wondering if Lila had made a blog before dismissing the idea outright. Lila would never do that to her.

The blog itself had one single post, which stunned Alya. How did this post have so many views, and how did the blog have so many people following it? Was it promoted on the news and Alya just didn’t hear about it?

The single post was a video post with the symbol of the ladybug miraculous in the top-left corner, alongside the date.

It was posted that very day, and the video’s thumbnail was Ladybug looking directly at the camera.

Alya’s breath caught in her throat.

Without a word, she clicked on the video.

Ladybug came to life, seeming to be positioning whatever camera she was using. With a smile, she said, “There!” and backed away. Alya noted that Ladybug’s yoyo was missing from her waist.

In fact, not only that, but Ladybug’s outfit looked different. It was more refined, like she’d made some sort of transformative life change and adjusted her outfit to make it clear.

“Hello, everyone!” Ladybug said, waving a hand. Clasping her hands together at her waist, she continued, “I’m sure you’re all wondering what a superheroine is doing, making their own blog.”

She took a breath. “Well, I’ve been on many interviews since I’ve started being a superhero, and most of them try to pry into my personal life. I’ve always been worried that what people see on TV and from videos people made can be taken the wrong way. My privacy has been invaded and it feels as if people who interview me forget that I have another life outside of being a hero.

“So, I decided that it’d be better to get things directly from the source instead. I’ll be posting multiple videos to update people on everything I can, and everyone can get an idea of who I really am.”

Standing professionally with her hands on her hips, she nodded. “I'm open to letting people ask questions, but keep them out of my personal life, alright? It’s important that I keep my identity a secret, after all!”

She paused. Alya felt tense, her hands tight around her phone like she was trying to crush it.

Ladybug looked around, then stepped closer to the camera. Her voice quiet, she added, “Also, I have something important to address. I know there have been... rumors, flying around about me and Chat Noir, especially in light of some images floating around.”

Sternly, she insisted, “That kiss did happen, but it was taken out of context. I was under the spell of Oblivio, who had wiped my memory and Chat’s. I don’t remember what happened then to make us kiss, but I want to be clear that I don’t love Chat and we’re not dating. Also, for anyone wondering about the other image on ‘Face to Face’, that was taken back when Dark Cupid was filling people with hate, I only kissed Chat to break the spell that Dark Cupid had on him. I didn’t approve to either of those pictures being made public.”

She frowned, sighing. “I’m sure this will disappoint a lot of people. I know that some people were excited, but this is the truth. Chat may have feelings for me, and we might banter from time to time, but... well...”

In a moment of vulnerability, Ladybug stared at the camera, looking nervous but resolved in what she was going to say. “I’m in love with someone else.”

Breathing up, she clarified, “But... I've already made it my mission to not let my feelings interfere with my job. I’ve tried my best to stay professional, and I want everyone to know that they can trust me to focus on the task at hand and not to get distracted by dating people as Ladybug.”

She gave the camera a smile. She stepped up, then seemingly placed her hand on the camera itself. “I hope everyone understands, and I’m looking forward to everyone seeing the real Ladybug.”

Following a wave of her hand, the video ended.

Alya could do nothing but stare at her phone, her hands shaking.

Then, she dropped it, but made no attempts to pick it up. She was frozen.

...She was ruined.

Ladybug, how could you?

#category: long post #word count: over 1000 #MC's Collabs #collab: LadyBugOut AU #MC's Writing #writing: story #other: ask and answer

[kaialone]

Spirit Tracks Translation Comparison: Intro

This will be a comparison of the original Japanese version and the US English localized version.

Specifically, this will cover the intro cutscene of the game, detailing its backstory.

You can also watch this cutscene for yourself in English and Japanese. If you want, you can check out the EU English version, too.

For the comparison, the usual points apply:

Bolded is the original Japanese text, for the reference.

Bolded and italicized is my translation.

Italicized is the official NOA translation.

A (number) indicates that I have a specific comment to make on that part in the translation notes.

As you read this, please keep in mind that with translations like these, it’s important not to focus on the exact literal wordings, since there is no single “correct answer” when it comes to translations.

Rather than that, consider the actual information that is being conveyed, in which way, and why.

--

The Backstory:

これは遠い遠い昔… 人がこの地に生まれた頃の物語

This is a tale from long long ago... From the age when people were born in this land.

This is a tale from long ago. It's the tale of the first settlers of this land.

神の御名において治められし 大地は安寧のなかにありました

Ruled in the name of a God,  (1) the land was at peace.

In the beginning, the people followed the spirits of good, and all was peaceful.

けれどもその穏やかな時は 突如として失われたのです…

And yet, that time of tranquility suddenly came to an end...

But that era of peace soon came to an end.

闇の権化 魔王の襲来…多くの 命が奪われ 大地が焼かれました

An incarnation of darkness, the Demon King, invaded... Many lives were lost, and the land was burned.

The evil Demon King rose to power, destroying everything in his path.

全てを支配せんとする魔王は ついに神にも戦いを挑んだのです

The Demon King was close to seizing control of everything, and at last challenged the God as well.

The spirits of good had no choice but to face him in battle.

魔王と神の戦いは 永きに渡り 幾度も繰り返されました

For a long time, the battle of the Demon King and the God kept repeating over and over again.

The war that ensued seemed to last an eternity, and much blood was shed.

永遠に続くと思われた争いの果て 神は遂に魔王を討ち果たしました

At the end of their seemingly everlasting struggle, the God finally slayed the Demon King.

Finally, the spirits subdued the Demon King, though they could not destroy him.

しかしその神も かつての絶大な 御力を失ってしまったのです…

However, that God had also lost their once tremendous power...

Their powers were greatly depleted.

神は残された御力で魔王の魂を 闇の床に葬り…

With the power they had left, the God buried the Demon King's soul in a bed of darkness...  (2)

With their remaining power, they buried the Demon King's spirit in the ground.

彼の者が這い出ることが かなわぬよう塔を建てられました

To ensure that he would never crawl out again, they built a tower.

They built shackles to imprison him, and a tower that acted as a lock.

塔を要に魔を縛る封印が施され それは今も大地を覆っています

They fit the tower with a seal that binds demons. It covers the land to this day.

These shackles cover the land to this day.

全てを終え力尽きられた 神は天界に戻りになりました

After all was done, and with their power exhausted, the God returned to the heavens.

With their power drained, the spirits of good returned to the heavens.

神も魔も去ったこの大地は今 私達の手に委ねられています…

This land, left by both the divine and the demonic, has now been entrusted to us...

Suddenly bereft of both demons and spirits, this land was entrusted to us.

Translation Notes:

What I translated as “God” is 神/kami in Japanese. This can also be translated as “Gods”, but I have my reasons for going with singular instead, which I will explain in more detail below.

What I translated as “bed” is 床/toko in Japanese, which does mean “bed”, among other things, but in a loose sense that can also refer to something like the floor and the ground.

--

Comparisons & Thoughts:

Since this scene establishes the basic foundation of the entire story, which has seen some minor changes in English, there is a lot to talk about here, even if the text itself is short.

-

First of all, there are multiple points I want to go over regarding the divine entity which ruled the land in the past.

In the English version, they are called “the spirits of good”, but in many other language versions, they are called “the gods”, which is a closer translation of 神/kami, the word used in the Japanese version.

I want to point out that, depending on the context and one’s definition of what counts as a god, 神/kami could actually be translated as “spirit” or “spirits”, too.

However, in the case of the Zelda franchise, there are already creatures called “spirits” in the English adaptations of the games. These are called 精霊/seirei in Japanese, a word which more unambiguously translates to “spirits”. They include characters such as the Light Spirits in Twilight Princess, or Link’s spirit companions from Phantom Hourglass.

Because of this, translating 神/kami as “spirits” in this game here does conflate them with the previously established spirits in a misleading way.

It’s possible that they didn’t go for “gods” in English to avoid religious connotations, which is a bit of a bigger concern for a handheld title, since those are assumed to have a younger general audience.

But they actually do have at least one mention of the word “goddess” in the English version, and also feature the word “demon” a bit more prominently than most Zelda games.

So it’s not entirely clear.

For all we know, it could simply be that they came up with this idea of “Spirit” being the general theme of their localization (Spirit Tracks, Spirit Train, Spirit Flute, Zelda being a spirit), and thus went with “spirits” for branding purposes.

-

The next detail I need to address about this divine entity is the fact that I chose to translate 神/kami as the singular “God”, rather than the plural “Gods”.

You see, the Japanese language doesn’t truly have distinct singular and plural. Thus, any noun could be translated as either, and the only way to know which to go for is by knowing the context.

When it comes to the Zelda franchise, normally the obvious thing would be to translate 神/kami as plural, since this universe canonically has multiple deities, major and minor ones.

And these usually appear in groups too, like the most prominent gods in the franchise, the Three Golden Goddesses themselves.

But, as I was looking through the Japanese text of Spirit Tracks, I never came across anything that specified whether the 神/kami from its backstory was supposed to refer to multiple deities or a single one.

Once I realized that, I went back and noticed that the pictures in this intro cutscene actually seem depict a single entity fighting the Demon King:

If these were meant to be multiple deities, it feels like they would have depicted them as such here, but they didn’t.

So, while this isn’t concrete evidence that it was a single deity, I have never seen any evidence that it was multiple deities either.

For me, these pictures push the odds slightly in favor of it just being a single deity, so I have decided to go with that.

There is not much to truly go on, but given what little we have, I do believe this is the more likely option. I also think this ultimately fits slightly better with a few story details that come up later.

Going with the singular “God” does give me a few other problems, though.

Just as Japanese lacks a true plural, it also lacks things such as articles and capitalization.

Because of that, I might need to go with “God”, “a God”, “the God”, and so forth in my translation, depending on the context. And I’ll also have to make a choice when to capitalize the word or not.

Just be aware that in Japanese the word would always just be 神/kami, completely unchanged.

Additionally, the Japanese language also only rarely makes use of third-person pronouns, especially gendered ones. That’s just how the language works. As a result, the gender of this deity is never clarified either.

I decided to go with they/them pronouns for them in English, rather than to assume, but please note that this is just my translation choice.

In the Japanese version there simply aren’t any pronouns used for them, and that’s not an unusual thing.

These sorts of choices are always unavoidable when translating something from Japanese to English, so please be aware of them.

This is one of the many reasons why one should not take a translation’s wording exactly literal.

-

This next point isn’t related to this cutscene specifically, but I still wanted to mention it.

A little bit of trivia regarding this deity:

They don’t seem to have a specific given name, but in recent Japanese media I have seen them be referred to as 光の神/Hikari no Kami, which means “God(s) of Light”.

The earliest official instance of this term being used that I could find was actually in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. It was also later used in The Legend of Zelda: Encyclopedia.

I have seen it float around online a lot earlier than that, but I have never been able to find the original source for it.

As far as I am aware, this title does not appear in the game at all, at least I have never seen it anywhere.

If you happen to know where this title originated from, by all means, let me know!

-

With all that covered, we can move on to the more direct comparisons for this cutscene.

There is a very notable difference right at the start:

This is a tale from long long ago… From the age when people were born in this land.

This is a tale from long ago. It’s the tale of the first settlers of this land.

In the original Japanese version, it’s established that the events of this tale first began during the time when “people were born in this land”.

This makes it pretty clear that this tale involved the native population of this land.

In the English version, they instead say it’s the tale of “the first settlers of this land“.

This is quite misleading, as it gives the false impression that this tale is about the Hyrulean settlers, who arrived to this land 100 years ago.

Even if one were to argue “first settlers” could refer to previous settlers, the people described in the tale were clearly supposed to be natives of the land in Japanese.

This is no minor change, and from what I’ve seen, it led to a lot of confusion about the game’s backstory among English-speaking fans.

There are quite a few people who seem to be under the impression that Tetra and her crew would have fought the Demon King, but in reality, this conflict is supposed to have taken place many years before the Hyrulean settlers even arrived.

It’s a history that is unique to this land and its original native population.

This would also somewhat change the implication of this tale being told to Link. If you imagine it to be the story of the Hyrulean settlers, it’s Niko just telling Link about something that occurred in their recent history.

But as a tale that precedes the Hyrulean settlers, it’s Niko passing on knowledge about the history of this land prior to their own arrival.

This also happens to be one of the instances I know on top of my head where the EU English version has a more faithful translation, instead saying it’s the tale of “the first people of this land”.

-

Going forward, there are a few things to say about the battle with the Demon King as it is described here.

In Japanese, the Demon King is called 闇の権化/yami no gonge, “an incarnation of darkness”, which I feel might be interesting for people who want to speculate.

But I’m not sure if we are supposed to take this part literally, or if it’s just a poetic way to describe him.

The English version goes with a non-literal interpretation, adapting it as “The evil Demon King”.

-

A minor detail, but the Japanese version states that the Demon King went to challenge the God himself.

The English phrasing leans more towards it being the spirits of good who challenged the Demon King, but it’s a bit ambiguous.

-

Most interesting to me personally is the part where the Japanese version states that the battle between the two “kept repeating over and over again.“

The battle is stated to have been incredibly long in either version, but something about this phrasing here makes me imagine a conflict that keeps flaring up again and again across centuries.

Maybe even something slightly similar to the recurring conflict between Link and Ganondorf in the old Hyrule?

It’s a minor difference, but still one that affected my mental image of these events.

-

Finally, in Japanese it’s outright stated that the God “slayed” the Demon King, which is presumably why he was reduced to a soul.

In one sense, he died physically. It’s just that when you’re a Demon King, that doesn’t mean you’re out of the picture just yet.

The English version tones this down a notch, simply stating that the spirits “subdued” him. They even go as far as to´clarify that the spirits “could not destroy” the Demon King.

This actually will be a recurring element in this localization. For some reason, they seem to avoid this story detail.

-

Another little bit of trivia here:

This Demon King, whose actual name we learn later on, has the honor of being the first “Demon King” ...in English.

In Japanese, the titles “Demon King” and “Great Demon King” were frequently used for Ganon/Ganondorf already, but they were always translated as something else in English, like “King of Evil” or “Prince of Darkness”.

But with Spirit Tracks, they finally let this term be used.

He is still kind of special in Japanese too, since he’s the first one to be called Demon King who is not Ganon/Ganondorf, so let’s give him that.

-

And the last bit I want to compare directly is this part:

To ensure that he would never crawl out again, they built a tower.

They built shackles to imprison him, and a tower that acted as a lock.

They fit the tower with a seal that binds demons. It covers the land to this day.

These shackles cover the land to this day.

The differences here are simple.

In Japanese, the train tracks are a part of the larger “seal” that binds the Demon King, but in English they are made out to be like actual “shackles”  that directly hold him captive.

At this point in the story, this seems like a fair interpretation of what the tracks probably do, but later in the game we will get a more detailed explanation that differs from the English version.

Like I mentioned in the Introduction part, this change is most likely to elevate the importance of the tracks in the game’s lore, to fit with the English game title being “Spirit Tracks”.

Minor changes like these for the sake of branding aren’t unusual, from what I’ve seen.

-

All in all, the localization in this cutscene suffers a bit when it comes to accuracy, due to some changes they probably had no choice but making.

The story changes regarding the tracks is something that affects the whole game, naturally.

It’s an overall minor change, just a slight alteration of how this Demon King prison functions, but something the deep lore analysts among you might want to keep in mind.

Arguably, this change also causes some ever so slight plot holes later in the story, but mostly if you want to be nit-picky.

My biggest gripe in this scene is the “first settlers of this land“ line, especially since the EU English version has an easy fix for it.

It’s just a few little words, and yet they drastically change the implied context of this scene.

And I know for a fact that it has been misleading English-speaking fans for years, so I think it’s fair to say that this is a notable difference.

However, those aspects aside, this cutscene is well-written in English.

It’s faithful to the Japanese version in a way that isn’t too stiff, they did a good job of localizing the text in a general sense, and handled the changes they made well enough.

I’m still somewhat astonished they were able to have mentions of demons, the heavens, and even get in the line “much blood was shed “, which was not this violent in the Japanese version.

I know technically none of these are completely new to English Zelda, but still.

Anyway, that’s all for this part, feel free to proceed to the next one!

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#legend of zelda #the legend of zelda #spirit tracks #tloz #the legend of zelda spirit tracks #the legend of zelda transations #spirit tracks translations #my translations #spirit tracks comparisons

[sophiemi]

A Response to Hate + Wisdom, I Suggest Everyone Reads.

This is a pretty long post replying to some hate I got from a recent post I made about Mirajane Strauss and Laxus Dreyar, I linked it at the bottom of this if you would like to read it. I think everyone should read this post not only because its some piping hot tea, but there’s also a lot of other things I talk about in this that I feel like everyone should hear. Totally understand if you don’t want to read it though. Let me know what you think!  

First here is what they/you said (in order):

Hi I just liked to start with I blocked you from send me anymore ask, but I’m letting you know if you change devices you can still ask me things or messages, if you DM (off anon) ill take your request seriously, but since you’re on anon I’m not gonna take you seriously, sorry. Especially after you were actually mean to me when I did nothing wrong, which is why I’m making this post even though I’d normally ignore it.

Lets start with the general Miraxus stuff, that post WAS NOT hate. You have to be delusional and overly obsessed to believe that was a hate post, or that I was spreading “false information.” In the post I literally said they had good development and linked a master list of ALL their interactions. The entire post was about how even though I don’t ACTIVELY ship them (meaning they are cute and I agree they would be a good couple, but I just don’t get that feeling where I’m like “oh okay yes them” and I feel the need to stalk them, ((not everyone hates what threatens their ships)), and I’m not denying they are very cute, and have a lot of cute art and moments, it just doesn’t hype me up the same way other ships do.) So, this post was pro-miraxus, I’m literally saying they honestly deserved to become canon/canon-ish like a lot of the other ships did, so it was not “cross tagged” the post was about mira and laxus and thats what I tagged it, if you are talking about the part where i tagged “#I feel sorry for anyone who ships miraxus” that is literally me validating anyone hurt over the ending.  Again, I’m not following the Miraxus tag or any account solely dedicated to that ship so I didn’t even know he drew a kid or them, that’s super cool, good for you. I wasn’t being “biased” because I’m not neck deep in any ship for Laxus or Mira, yes i think CanaJane is cute but I know its very unrealistic, this is why I was able to form this opinion that they deserved better. The post was about how Mashima baited Miraxus the entire series, then said “Never!!!!” even if it was Lucy’s inner thoughts, Mashima knew what he was doing. I was saying, “wow that probably sucked if you really liked them! I’m sorry!” If you believe my post was to degrade Mira x Laxus and hype Cana x Mira, then you need to take a step back and re-evaluate yourself, I understand you are probably like 13-14 but that’s still not okay to attack people because they don’t agree with you, and if you are older that 13 or 14 that’s just embarrassing. I also believe that Freed x Laxus deserved a better ending and I also don’t actively ship that either, Freed spent the whole series wanting to protect and be by the side of Laxus and they had no interaction in the finale.

 Next, lets go to the part about you saying I’m a “slash fetishizer shipper” (also i literally had to look up what this meant) I can only assume you canajane because i said they “hit different” right? Let me just re insert what you said to make sure I reply correctly

Yes I think Cana and Mira are very attractive, and I think they are hot together too. Hi i’m into girls. I am the woke points. I agree people make lgbt people into a fetish and don’t actually respect them, but that’s mostly males thinking lesbians are hot while being gross out by gay men, I may be naive but you don’t often see that on anime tumblr where half the people are gay anyway, not to mention most are female. This next part may be controversial I’m not sure, but people don’t need a reason to ship characters and no one can tell them who they can and can’t ship (this does not apply to shipping a child with an adult), so you can’t say only gay people can ship to people of the same gender, sorry that’s not how it works, i understand you’re trying to get those “woke points” but you just look like a fool. But then next you said this:

Actual author content? Oh you mean like the post I linked that showed EVERY SINGLE interaction/moment/hints that Miraxus had? Like I said, they had good development, and my post was about how the AUTHOR should’ve given them a better ending. I’d just like to add there are many moments that the AUTHOR wrote between Cana and Mira that made me ship them, if the AUTHOR never wrote anything to where they interacted, I wouldn’t ship them?  This post is not about that though so I’m not gonna go anymore into them. 

“false information” girl what? where? I’m genuinely curious, I used screenshots of the manga to present to idea that Miraxus deserved better and that’s all I talked about so I’m confused what you been by this:

So I can tell you took the one line where i said I like CanaJane more than Miraxus and in your mind twisted my entire PRO-miraxus argument into and anti post, this kind of behavior is toxic, and “its not a good look sir” 

Let also clarify something, cross tagging is posting about something and tagging things completely unrelated, this post was about mira and laxus and thats what it was tagged about. Cross tagging is often used in shipping wars, but my post was pro-miraxus so it makes no sense for you to repeatedly say I was cross tagging and that’s why you were mad, it’s very clear you were just mad because I said I shipped CanaJane and that clouded your judgement when reading everything else. If you wanna see real cross tagging look up any naruto ship and scroll for about 3 seconds. So, no I won’t be removing the tags because that makes no sense, but if it’s important enough for you to message me off anon then we’ll talk.

My final section of this response is how hypocritical you were. Like with he part, “I don’t hate you” To quote tiktok and nicki minaj, “don’t be tryna double back, I already despise you” 

As you can see you repeatedly said I was mean, but no where in my post did I say anything like “Mira x Laxus is gross, its toxic, its dumb, its...idk...forced!”, i literally never said anything like that because like I’ve said in this post and in that one, they’re cute and they had good development. You were the mean one in your response telling me i had “no reading skills whatsoever”, that i had a “lack of respect”,  said I’m “more than pitiful” and this isn’t mentioning all of your back handed pettiness throughout every single message you sent, you think you “look cool” but “hun”...”sweetie”...you just look dumb, but at least you are on anon!

Educate myself? girl this isn’t politics, you’re pressed over a post saying your ship deserved better than it got??? What am I supposed to do watch the anime, read the manga, well good thing I did. GUESS WHAT THEY HAD GOOD DEVELOPMENT i can see why you ship them. 

The only rude person here is you, you came into my asks and attacked me because you were blinded for reasons I can’t figure out, and you hid behind the anonymous setting which clearly means you don’t care that much about Miraxus, you just wanted to be mean. 

If you’re reading this, and you sent me the messages, message me off anonymous, then we can realistically talk about me taking off my so called cross tagging, I really don’t care that much, I’m just baffled you had to audacity to come for me so hard then “nicely” ask me to remove the tags. 

If you’re reading this and you didn’t send me these messages, thanks for reading, maybe share this so people understand that this behavior is not okay. I know what I got was mostly just petty ranting, but there are people who send way worse to others and its just not okay. Just because these aren’t are real accounts like these are fandom accounts doesn’t make it okay. Thanks! 

Here is the post in reference:

https://emillyjacksonn.tumblr.com/post/617804123843280896/miraxus-shippers-really-got-played

#fairy tail #ft #ask #askme #Mirajane Strauss #mira #Mira Strauss #laxus #Laxus Dreyar #miraxus #canajane #fraxus

[fma2003-fmab-stuff]

I could see Envy having Borderline Personality Disorder, honestly, rather than Ed. I think someone did a post on that.

Well, I mainly said I could see Ed with it in 2003, not as much in Brotherhood. But since you mention Envy, both Ed and Envy have severe abandonment issues and hate Hohenheim more than Al. Forgive me if this is illegible, it’s past midnight and I should be in bed right now. But I’m going to try to explain this the best I can while putting in some of my own experiences. But I honestly, as somebody who actually has Borderline Personality disorder, I relate heavily to Ed in many ways.Since there has indeed been a post devoted to Envy about this, I will do one for Ed, by going over the 9 symptoms.  Al definitely inhibits some of these traits too, but this is about Ed, so the focus will be solely on him.Borderline Personality Disorder often forms due to lack of stable parenting and unstable family situations(At least mine certainly did). Think about it, Ed lost his mother at an early age and his father abandoned him at an even earlier age, something he has deeply resented and held onto for years ever since he was a child, on top of learning that Winry’s parents, who were also like family to him as well, were killed in the war. The majority of the closest people he had in his life either turned their back on him or died. And believe me, this crap can seriously screw up a child. (This is coming from somebody whose dad was rarely ever around and died when I was literally 9. due to my lack of father and father figure in my life, and my over-half-the-time-unsupportive-mother alongside the unstable family situation and fighting(don’t get me wrong, I love my mother and grandmother as well as my brother and sister and wouldn’t want to lose them under any circumstances, but the whole family situation was just crazy). I have huge issues with growing attached to people, yet other times I grow TOO attached, and trust me, it’s hell.) So to start off, I’ll point out this scene that takes place before Trisha dies and before he finds out Winry’s parents died.

I feel this a lot. I don’t remember my dad all that well, and I certainly don’t really know what to think of him in the end. (Additionally, I recently found out some really bad things about him and his criminal record and I honestly don’t know what to feel. I feel kind of conflicted but I don’t really think much of it in the end. More so, despite the trouble and conflicts I have with my mom (which honestly sometimes reminds me of Envy’s situation with Dante at times), I still love her very much and I can tell that she has suffered a lot because of the men that have been in her life, my dad included and honestly, I always find myself wishing that she could just find happiness. Ed feels much the same with just wanting his mom to be happy. However, I refUSE to believe that that is all Ed cared about. There’s no way he never once wondered “How different could things have turned out if my father hadn’t left?” or “Because of him leaving, me and Al had to live and grow up without a father.” or “I wish he was around to be there for us” because those are pretty much my own thoughts every single day. I blame his absence in my own life for how I turned out and why I often feel so lonely and out of place despite being surrounded by so many people who care, and why I have so many issues with those around me, why I have trouble trusting others and building NORMAL, stable and healthy relationships.

Trisha isn’t the only one that was suffering, Ed was too. He had to look after Al and take on a much heavier role than he should have had to at his age because of Hohenheim’s abandonment. And when you think about it, Ed’s words to Rose  (who also had no parents around btw and was barely older than him) may have seemed harsh at the time, but Ed was saying that to her that from his own experience. And maybe it’s contributed to by my autism as well, but personally, comforting people is not something I am qualified to do in any way shape or form. And Ed is not good at consoling people, just as he isn’t good at outsourcing either, both of which can be caused by, once again, an unstable upbringing.

With all of that said, I should get to the criteria to qualify as Borderline Personality Disorder:

-  Fear of abandonment. People with BPD are often terrified of being abandoned or left alone.

In 2003, because Al is one of the only constants in his life that was with him through his mother’s death, and everything else Ed has been through, Ed has an almost codependent attachment level to Al to the point, he didn’t even want to live without him in the end of the series, which was why Ed did what he did. And even when Al chooses to go spend the night with Hohenheim instead of Ed... You can see the look of betrayal in Ed’s face.

This constant loss and fear of abandonment, though, is yet another reason that Nina’s death seems to hit Ed even harder than Al. Given that she had become like a sister to him. Another thing that often happens is that people with BPD will often put themselves in situations or relationships or bonds that will inevitably cause the person to relive betrayal, loss, or 

- Unstable relationships

Ever noticed how rocky the bond between Ed and Roy is and how much conflict they have? Or how Ed will go from decently respecting Roy or not minding him and getting along with him to absolutely hating his guts within an instant, how sometimes there is no in between? (Which actually reminds me so much of the rocky “love hate” thing I had for one of my teachers, I really hated her a lot of times, but other times, I admired her as much as I resented it, I really couldn’t get a genuine grip on what I felt towards her a lot of times and I often thought she was just intentionally trying to piss me off, whether or not she actually was).  What about how Ed growing attached to Izumi as a sort of surrogate mother figure, who was dying from her condition just like Trisha had slowly died from her condition? Half the relationships Ed ends up building becomes tragic in the end. And then there’s Hughes, who was obviously meant to be a father figure to Ed and Al. And honestly that’s something else I’d like to bring up. Once again, due to the lack of stable parents in my life, I often try to find father figures and mother figures in people who I like even when it’s inappropriate (embarrassingly enough that teacher I said I hated? Kind of like how Roy is a parental figure to Ed? Or how important Hughes was to Ed and Al.). This is even hinted at with not only Izumi, but also Ross, when she hugs him and he says this: 

In my own case, I look to others to replace what I’ve lost in my life or never had the chance to have. And parental figures is a big one for Ed whether or not the show outright says it or not (although Izumi herself does outright say that she doesn’t want to lose anymore of her “babies” while thinking about Ed and Al, and she literally looked after Ed and Al for a fair amount of their childhood, so I think it’s pretty obvious they see her the same.) And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that practically every significant older female and even some males Ed meets becomes like a parental figure to him. (Ross, Izumi, Pinako, Roy and even Riza to some extent, but in more of a distant way in 2003.)

- Unclear or shifting self-image

Ed’s image on himself tends to be unstable, but a lot of that is also from guilt he feels over Al, and those feelings only become worse when Nina dies and even further when he realizes what he created(Sloth), not to mention the state of Lior, as well as blaming himself when he finds out from Sheska that Hughes died. Even though Ed acts cocky sometimes, it’s clear he’s holding back so much lot of self-blame and guilt and it’s heartbreaking. He probably feels he doesn’t even deserve a home to go back to after Al ended up in that body. And there’s no telling how guilty he felt over Winry getting kidnapped. Many even speculate that that event is what causes Ed to begin to shut her out as much as he does.

Impulsive, self-destructive behaviors.

While I don’t have too much to say on this, it weren’t for Al, Ed would have probably done something really stupid by now. Al is usually always the more rational one, while Ed is the one getting into fights, getting himself nearly killed on multiple occasions, getting his automail broken, and constantly ending up in the hospital. I could go on longer, but I don’t think it’s really necessary though, because we all know: He’s EDWARD ELRIC. We don’t even have to talk about how he tried to sacrifice himself twice for Al’s sake(of course that is kind of a brotherly thing and Ed being Ed I guess, but Al clearly wasn’t happy about it in the slightest. He nor Winry is happy about how impulsive Ed is sometimes, Ross DEFINITELY wasn’t)

Self-harm

It can’t really be said that this one applies to Ed in canon so I won’t discuss that one (although if anybody wants to say anything on it, feel free) (btw I heard that Russel had self-harmed in the novels, but I didn’t see anything about it even in past tense, so if somebody could clarify what that refers to or where it’s brought up, I’d greatly appreciate it)

- Extreme emotional swings

This is a symptom that many people confuse for Bipolar Disorder’s mood swings, and I definitely think it should be cleared up. So with Borderline Personality Disorder the mood swings are usually always caused by something and literally anything can set them off. Ever notice how intense Ed’s emotional reactions are vs Al who is usually the calmer of the two and tries to get Ed to calm down. In fact Ed is probably the most emotional character on the entire show imo. But unlike Bipolar, where the mood swings have to last at least several weeks and is more of a chemical imbalance thing, while the mood swings associated with Borderline can be momentary at least to even hours or more. Ed’s hateful and loud remarks towards Hohenheim, for  strikes me as Borderline. Because, for the majority of the series, Ed can’t let go of his hate. 

- Chronic feelings of emptiness.

I’m not gonna say too much on this, but Ed does indeed seem to experience a lot of hopelessness and depressive symptoms at points (even when he told Izumi he couldn’t bring himself to cry). 

- Explosive anger

Yeah, I dEFIniTELY don’t need to talk about that last one because it’s just wayyyy to obvious. Ed has a pretty damn SHORT temper. And even more so with Roy, Hohneheim and even Al at times. Things upset him and he sometimes takes it out on those around him.

-   Feeling suspicious or out of touch with reality. 

And that one goes more into paranoia, which I don’t have too much to say on except maybe(?) in Ed’s obvious cynicism and how negative and pessimistic he is at times, while Al often is the more optimistic one? But that doesn’t really go into that last one, even though it is something I myself deal with personally due to BPD.

One other symptom is black and white thinking: People are either on Ed’s side or against him, and Ed’s disliking of Clara/Psiren(who had lied to him and Al and betrayed their trust) vs Al’s open mindedness to the situation is an example of this, as well as Ed’s utter dehumanization of the homunculi at first. but this is something Ed largely overcomes by the end of the series. ALSO EQUIVALENT EXCHANGE IS A BIG BLACK AND WHITE THING, but that could also be seen more as an autistic thing (which I will maybe have an eventual autistic Ed post where I will go into more depth about that on there) so I guess I will leave that off for right now.

HOWEVER, Jupiter, since you did bring up Envy, I think that, once again, Envy has even deeper rooted symptoms. But unlike Edward, Envy never had a support network, which is why Ed is eventually able to put aside his hate for Hohneheim, while Envy never could. Envy is a character that is built as a foil or reflection for Ed. Envy is what Ed could have become had his hate been allowed to fester, if he hadn’t had moral support like Alphonse around. This is ESPECIALLY true specifically in 2003 since Ed is much darker and more morally gray by the end. Both Ed and Envy have BPD traits, but Edward didn’t let them consume him in the end. Envy did and that’s really the only difference here. Ed’s were more controlled while Envy’s were encouraged and breeded by Dante.

#fma #fma 2003 #fma 03 #Fullmetal Alchemist #edward elric #fullmetal alchemist 2003

[thiscrimsonsoul]

Welcome to a little rant about Wanda’s personal perspective and how I use it to write her…

I’ve gotten some interesting messages over the past few weeks from a number of people, some of whom I write with and others who just felt like offering an opinion, regarding how I write Wanda. Let me state, this is not a callout post or meant to be anything negative. Everyone was polite and I actually welcome challenges to the way I write my muses as long as they are respectful. It helps me to defend why I do certain things with them and make sure I am keeping them in line with how I intend my interpretation of them to be presented. But I’ve gotten enough comments along the same lines that I thought  it might be useful (for me as well as for my followers) to explain why I go in certain mental/psychological/emotional directions with Wanda that, to some, might seem incredibly divergent from canon. So… consider this a brain rant for me to organize a crap ton of headcanons into one place, but I hope you all enjoy it anyway, haha

Below the cut because looooong. XD

People have said I write Wanda as if she is a very weak character, meaning I write her too insecure, emotional, and unable to rise to challenges. I just want to clarify that I do not write Wanda as a weak character, I write her as a character who often believes she is weak. There is a difference. Wanda is an “unreliable narrator,” which in a writing sense means that the character speaking, narrating, summarizing, or explaining something to the reader either directly through internal monologue or through the course of a story is misinforming the reader. An unreliable narrator may be misinformed themselves, and may relate information as if it is true because they believe it to be… but it is in fact not true. Or, their perspective may be skewed in ways they don’t consider or understand, resulting in interpretations of information by them that are simply not correct. The reader does not know this, and simply takes the character at their word until they learn otherwise.

This applies to the way I write Wanda. She often says things about herself that are not true or would not be true, but she herself believes them to be true. Regardless of Wanda’s actual power or abilities, she believes more than once in canon in the movies that she is unworthy, incapable, and unwanted. Just because Wanda thinks she could not survive without Pietro doesn’t mean she couldn’t… and we know she ultimately did. Just because she felt badly about the Accords and wanted to hang back and not cause any more trouble, doesn’t mean she should… and she didn’t. Just because she didn’t believe she could destroy the mind stone and told Vision she couldn’t doesn’t mean she couldn’t… and she did. So I just want to separate for a moment Wanda’s actual strength, abilities, and how others perceive her from how she views herself. They are certainly not the same, just as my perception of her is not the same as her perception of herself in a given thread. I am not commenting on Wanda’s character, she is, and she is a biased source of information on the subject, heh. Just because I write her as saying “I can’t,” “I won’t,” “I don’t deserve,” “I’m not good enough,” doesn’t mean I believe that. It’s Wanda who believes that. Mun and muse are not the same.

Some people say I am making her more mentally unstable than she is and giving her low self-esteem she doesn’t have. First, I am drawing from Wanda’s personality in the comics a bit and from some aspects of her character there that was never done in the movies. Second, I elaborate on what any healthy person might think, feel, and go through having been through the traumas that she has, since the MCU seemed content to just ignore any and all processes of grieving, overcoming trauma, and adjusting to huge geographic and cultural life changes. So I am filling in and extrapolating from that, but I am also developing the tiny tidbits of what the MCU did show us to go into more depth on her thought process behind them, because there are a few canon things that show us that Wanda is dealing with a lot more mental trauma and stress than we sometimes give her allowances for.

A Note on Age and Experiences in Hydra’s Laboratory

I write Wanda (and Pietro as well over at @fasterthanmydemons) as younger than canon MCU. Yes, I agree Aaron and Lizzie do not look 17 or 18 but eh, they’re their FCs so I work with it however I can, heh. And yeah, in cases of writing with other muns writing the twins, I usually just modulate their ages up without even asking because I know that having them younger is something that is not well accepted in the fandom. I have a couple reasons for doing so, however, that do affect how they function.

First, I feel that they are very emotionally immature. That’s not meant to be a negative thing, I just mean that they seem very isolated, dependent on each other, and they behave in ways that give me the sense that they are very inexperienced. The sense I get is of older teenagers or young adults that have been made to grow up very, very fast… and there are some gaps in that process because of it, heh. In some ways they are wise beyond their years, but in many other ways they are still very young and inexperienced, with skewed and sheltered views of the world.

Secondly, I really hate the MCU plot for them, heh. The whole… well we volunteered for a Hydra experiment (even if they thought they were dealing with SHIELD) seems really dumb. Why would 20-something year-olds make decisions that incredibly naïve? And why would they stay on the streets for 10-something years, with all that animosity and drive toward change, and not do anything more about it? It just seems… so unrealistic. It’s possible, I’m not saying it’s not, but in my mind, it makes more sense if they were a lot younger when they volunteered. Idealistic children thinking this would solve their problems and empower them, easily duped by Hydra into thinking they were with SHIELD, and physically smaller and easier to control. That’s how I imagine the twins. So my timeline for them is that they were orphaned at 10, spent a few years on the streets, but then volunteered at around age 14 or 15, staying there until they were almost 18. They are close to their 18th birthdays during the events of Ultron. That’s my timeline for them, but like I said, I know that is not well accepted, so I am usual very flexible in changing this even if I continue to write them in my head as if I am still following my own timeline. (If I am in an rp with you right now for either twin and you have a question about something, don’t hesitate to ask, since I know that can affect how people frame the stories in their heads and such.)

So because of this, because they are younger and have been in Hydra’s laboratory for 3-4 years instead of 1 or less than 1, this will change their mental health, emotional stability, and how they view the world. My twins are perhaps even more bitter and angry than in MCU canon to start out, are very overtly emotionally dependent on each other, and have more physical and emotional scars from their treatment at Hydra’s hands. I’ve made their time in the laboratory, their decision to volunteer for it, and their ultimate essential imprisonment by Hydra while the experiments were going on to be far more of a definite event in their lives that had real lasting impacts on their psyche, not just a plot point to be mentioned a couple times but with no perceivable impact as the MCU movies would have you believe.

Being in the laboratory for that extended amount of time also allows me to expand upon Hydra’s purpose in experimenting on them. Why the actual hellnuts would Hydra empower the twins and then just let them go? Yeah okay, they let them out of their cells and maybe the twins simply made a break for it, but I see more than that. Two things, really: Hydra’s overall purpose for them, and the reason why they didn’t leave well before that even though they were capable of doing so.

I believe Hydra wanted to turn them into weapons of mass destruction. Honestly, Hydra is only out for itself, and what it wants is the dissolution of democracy and the subjugation of nations and races it disagrees with or believes are inferior to them. With these twins, I think Hydra wanted their own anti-Avengers, like the Winter Soldiers, but with added powers. To use them for this purpose, they would not have just tinkered around with Loki’s staff, granted them some fun powers, and then left them alone. No, they would have Romanoffed them. Physical and mental conditioning, training to become spies, education regarding languages, geography, and politics, things like that. So my interpretation of the twins is that they were taught a lot by Hydra, but for Hydra’s own purposes and under extreme duress and threat of punishment if they did not learn in a timely fashion. This was especially difficult for Pietro, who had a horrible time focusing and sitting still, but Wanda also suffered abuse for she was the most feared of the two and Hydra felt a greater need to control her.

Which brings us to why the twins didn’t escape earlier if they were being so badly mistreated. This also makes a lot more sense if they were very young when they volunteered, but I suppose it could happen regardless. I believe there was a very obvious abuser-abused relationship going on between the twins and Hydra, whereby they were held captive more by their own minds than by any bars, guns, or electronics. What I mean is, when a level of abuse is reached where one feels like attempting to leave will only make things worse and/or their abuser will always find them no matter where they go, they could be, for example, standing freely right next to soldiers as they discuss what is going on outside the facility and not lift a finger to try to escape. This happens in real life, where abused people are left alone, door open, car in the driveway, keys in hand, and yet they don’t try to escape. Their own fear holds them in place. This is one of two explanations I have for why the twins didn’t break out sooner, and it’s a reason that I think especially affected them when they were very young and first starting out.

The other explanation is that they had a legitimate goal to meet, and regardless of how much they were suffering, they thought they had to see it through to the end. Yes, they were being mistreated, but they signed up for a means to destroy the Avengers and dammit they were going to see it through. It wasn’t until the Avengers showed up and the soldiers around them were like weeeeeeell, we could send the twins, but they’re not ready yet… that Wanda and Pietro were like fuck yeah we are and decided at that point that they were 1000% done and left to pursue their goal. The laboratory had outlived its usefulness to them at that point and the fear of not achieving their goal of challenging the Avengers begins to outweigh their fear of retaliation from Hydra. 

Alright, back to focusing on Wanda more specifically, since this is her blog , heh.

Blaming Herself for Things Outside Her Control

Wanda takes things very personally. She is a perfectionist, and a very empathetic person. That combination often leaves her feeling like something is her fault when things go wrong and result in people being hurt. During the battle of Sokovia, Wanda all but has a panic attack inside a building with Clint, muttering to herself, “How could I let this happen? It’s all my fault.” Suddenly there she is, taking responsibility for an entire city being attacked. Now, I suppose some would argue that her support of Ultron led to that, but I think that’s a bit unfair, given the amount of lies and misinformation that both twins were exposed to during their time in the Hydra laboratory. My point is, yes, Wanda blames herself for thing constantly. It is a canon part of her personality. I believe this blame and even sometimes a fear of responsibility stems from her losing so many people she loves. The common factor, as she sees it, is her, so therefore she must be to blame and doing something wrong. That’s not true, but that is how she perceives things.

Dependency on Her Brother

Wanda is emotionally dependent on Pietro while he is alive. That does not mean she cannot learn to live without him and to let him go, but it will not happen overnight and it will not be easy. Her dependency is not just borne out of love for a close sibling. It has been forged in trauma. Being persecuted as a child for being Romani and a witch, losing her parents, losing them in an incredibly frightening way, living on the streets, being experimented on… all these things made her cling to her brother even more than she might have already just due to being a twin. Think of Pietro like a very complex service animal for Wanda. Have you ever seen the bond between a soldier or trauma victim and their service animal? It’s incredibly deep and emotionally necessary. Take that kind of relationship and now apply it to a brother, your twin, someone you deeply love and expect to always be there with you… and then take it all away. Not only does Wanda now have to deal with all these traumas in her life that are recurring issues for her due to PTSD, but now her main support system is suddenly gone and his death is yet one more trauma that will haunt her for the rest of her life, especially since she physically felt him die.

And, to be fair, as a side note, Pietro is also emotionally dependent on Wanda. They have a sort of mutually synergistic relationship going on as far as how they deal with trauma. Wanda deals with it by seeking emotional comfort and safety with Pietro, whether in his embrace or listening to his reassuring words. That feeling of having someone watching over her and protecting her is very grounding and calming to her. Pietro copes with trauma by putting himself in a position in which he feels he has more control over the situation. I don’t mean he’s controlling of Wanda (those aspects of the comics I hate and do not use in my interpretation of him on his blog). I mean that the way he copes with all the bad things that have happened to them is to feel like he won’t let it happen again. He assumes a protector role for Wanda, not only because he genuinely wants to keep her safe, but because it fulfills an emotional need for him to have enough to control over any given situation to keep his sister safe. So the way in which she places her emotional safety in his hands and he assumes the role of a protector serves to accomplish the same purpose of helping them cope with trauma, but in ways that are unique to them and their own emotional needs.

Once that relationship is severed after Pietro’s death, it shatters a lot of things for Wanda, including emotional security and self-identity. She’s no longer a well-supported twin, she’s alone. Now, we all know that it’s canon that she is able to move on and survive without him, but it is also canon that she stayed behind in Sokovia after exacting her revenge on Ultron, seemingly not in any hurry to leave as the city was about to be destroyed. Suicidal thoughts? Intent to commit suicide? Perhaps that is open to interpretation, but I believe yes, she did intend to die then. Her brother was her entire world at that point. I think Wanda couldn’t imagine life without him and didn’t want to either. After Vision saves her, she isn’t just going to suddenly be fine with continuing on without Pietro. Even if she did not make another attempt on her life, Wanda still would be in that mindset of why am I still alive? and would not see a point to going on without him. Somewhere in between that mindset and finding purpose with the Avengers, she will heal regarding this issue, but between the events of Ultron and Civil War, she will be on an emotional rollercoaster, and I think that is more than implied in canon even if we never got to see it.

Feeling Like People Dislike Her or Are Angry With Her

Wanda comes from a place of believing most people dislike her or even hate her, and I want to put into perspective why that is. Again, I draw from things in the comics, so Wanda is a mutant and was born with her abilities. I then combine the MCU story to say that Hydra’s experiments enhanced what was already there. She is Romani and her religion is a mix of Judaism and polytheism, so she has faced cultural and religious persecution from the time she was a young child. Her powers got her the label of “witch,” which is not merely derogatory, it’s downright frightening. Being called a witch where she grew up could mean you were hunted and killed. So from a very young age she learned that who and what she was would likely be perceived by most people, whether it was true or not, as bad. Now, Wanda has a lot of pride in being Romani, but even so, she has learned that most people come at her with prejudice and hatred, and that makes her wary and defensive.

By the time she joins the Avengers, this feeling is exacerbated by her rocky start with them in Ultron. Her mental attacks let them all very shaken and even resentful of her to varying degrees, and that was not lost on Wanda. Even after she is supposedly accepted, she remembers what she did to them and is sure they remember too. Things like being confined to her room in Civil War to “avoid further public incidents” show a lack of trust in her that not only makes her think that resentment for what she did is still there, but it flares that same defensiveness that she’s felt all her life for cultural and religious reasons.

Having said all of this, Wanda wants to be accepted. Her desire to not cause any more problems in Civil War is indicative of that when she tells Clint, “I’ve caused enough trouble,” and initially refuses to defect with him. But ultimately, Wanda is someone who will follow her heart and what she feels is right, regardless of her inhibitions, insecurities, and phobias.

Insecurity about her abilities

This is something that is not discussed a lot in canon, but I feel it’s definitely part of her personality. Wanda doesn’t believe in herself as far as her ability to do things, and it has nothing to do with how powerful she is. She knows she’s powerful. What she believes she lacks is the focus and stability to use that power. I believe this is what causes her to hang back so long after Clint’s “if you step out that door, you’re an Avenger” speech. Not only is she genuinely scared of what’s going on (this is the first full-scale battle she’s been on the front lines for, don’t forget that for a second), but she doesn’t know if she can focus enough to get the job done. Something that people who are in a full-scale skirmish for the first time have a lot of trouble with if they have no battle training whatsoever is sensory overload… and Wanda was knee deep in it at that point. There were too many loud noises, too many arrows and bullets and robots and things flying around in every direction, and also don’t forget that Wanda is sensitive to energies around her, so any magical blasts or gunpowder blasts or lasers or anything is going to be something she’ll perceive like the hairs standing up on your skin after a lightning strike. That’s… a lot of information for a young woman with little to no battle experience to take in all at once. I think it all got the better of her and she knew that, so before she could go back out, she had to calm down and refocus, which is why you see her so much more confident the next time she steps out.

Another time when this insecurity regarding her abilities reared its ugly head was when Vision was pleading with her to destroy the mind stone. She simply told him, “I can’t.” Most will say that she was merely saying “I can’t kill you” from the point of view of a loved one not wanting to kill another loved one. That is part of it, yes, but she didn’t say she wouldn’t, she said she can’t. I think Wanda had some real doubts as to whether she could set aside her own emotions enough to get the job done. She absolutely has the ability to do it, as Vision tells her, because from someone outside looking in he can see how capable she is, but from her point of view she must have felt like a totally erratic and unreliable mess. Ironic, then, that she not only is able to focus enough to destroy the stone, but to also hold Thanos back while she does it. Wanda sees nothing extraordinary about that at all, however. No, in fact, her proclivity to blame herself returns and she feels she completely dropped the ball that day in not being able to successfully stop Thanos.

Summary

So… Wanda does not give herself enough credit for what she has been through, what she has survived, what she can survive, and what she can accomplish. She is very scarred by her past, between her frightening and difficult childhood, living on the streets, the Hydra experiments, and losing her entire family… and those scars will be there with her for the rest of her life. She is a very damaged and, at times, broken person. But, having said that… she is also brave, strong, kind-hearted, helpful, and loving as well, under the right circumstances and with the right people. She can accomplish amazing things (as we saw in the movies), she just needs to believe that herself. That is one my biggest goals in writing Wanda and something I love to see happen for her, when she begins to believe in herself and stops defining herself based on others or on past deeds or traumas. I love to see her go from a very broken place through the healing process and arriving in a place that isn’t necessarily happier for her, but stronger and more stable. Wanda was robbed of this kind of healing and redemption arc in the MCU, and I intend to give her many of them on this blog, heh. And poor Pietro was robbed of… well… pretty much everything, so my work is cut out for him as well, heh.

If you have any questions, want to make any comments, or want to drop some follow-up asks in my inbox, please feel free to do so! As I said, I love to constantly build on and develop my interpretations of my muses, so you are never bothering me with character development questions. =)

#silence writes #headcanons #wanda maximoff #pietro maximoff #the maximoff twins

[ganymedesclock]

I feel like I should really clarify here because I think there may have been a confusion about my ongoing frustrations on Lapis:

No, I am not saying “Lapis is clearly a career soldier in defiance of YD’s explanation of a Lapis Lazuli’s duties and Jasper and Pearl’s separate reactions to her”.

I am saying “We’ve been explicitly given an explanation that Lapis is a construction worker, but she is both versed in and comfortable with fighting, and is terrifyingly powerful. Can we please acknowledge that Lapis is scarily powerful and none of her behavior suggests that this is new or situational the way the fandom seems to suggest?”

Because I think this is important and worrying. Why is Lapis so scarily powerful if she’s Not Meant For Fighting? In Same Old World Lapis heavily implies- but never explicitly states- she was a noncombatant who just wandered into a battlefield and was taken out, and this was her only experience in the war. But in The New Crystal Gems Lapis says “I almost drowned a lot of people” and she has tactics specifically developed to use against humans that wouldn’t work on Gems- these two go together because you really can’t drown a Gem. 

Pearl implies humans fought alongside the Crystal Gems during the war in Sworn To The Sword (that she picked up the concept of knighthood from them in the Sky Arena) and Lapis isn’t surprised to see Connie and Greg with the Crystal Gems.

This all points to the idea that Lapis was an active combatant in the war and not a minor one- and yet Pearl and Jasper, who were both there, are both surprised and a little scared by Lapis’s power.

(“I had no idea the Gem in the mirror could be so powerful.” Pearl, Ocean Gem- Pearl should know what a Lapis Lazuli is capable of even if they’re rare. “I thought I was a brute, but you? You’re a monster.” Jasper, Alone At Sea- as I’ve mentioned, Jasper isn’t talking about morality, especially because she sees her behavior as completely justified and necessary- she wouldn’t describe herself as a brute personality-wise. She’s basically saying that despite being a supersoldier herself, Lapis is capable of terrifying things.)

Lapis wouldn’t lie about near-murdering a bunch of humans to Connie in that context. She wouldn’t make up something she’s ashamed of and admit to it while someone is calling her out.

There’s something very worrying about Lapis’s history with the war. And she’s clearly not part of Homeworld’s army, but, she’s also clearly very combat capable in a way that Pearl, our canon-confirmed self-taught “not meant to be a soldier” fighter isn’t even close to. Pearl’s capable and very dangerous- but again, Jasper is scared of Lapis, and Lapis can destroy Jasper in a single hit. And again, we have no evidence that Lapis is “usually” weak from anyone who’s a reliable narrator on this particular Lapis (at this point, only really Lapis herself- because other people who have weighed in on the subject keep being blindsided by how strong Lapis is)

Furthermore, even when it comes to something utterly unrelated to water: we’ve seen two cases of cracked Gems and both of them were bodily incapacitated by it in almost less than a minute, with a crack barely an inch long.

Lapis’s gem was crushed underfoot, was nearly in three pieces, and she spent thousands of years like that. And fought all three Crystal Gems and their backup and her whole attitude about it is basically just annoyed. She doesn’t act at all like Eyeball, Amethyst, and Pearl about Amethyst’s Gem, like this is a serious medical emergency. “I can’t use my wings because my Gem is cracked and my backup plan is admittedly pretty bad.”

And just........ why is this not suspicious? Why was Lapis the alleged terraformer some kind of unseen hand during the war? Why is she such a terrifying order of magnitude more resilient than Gems explicitly designed for combat (Ruby and Amethyst), and powerful enough to make almost every battle against her horribly one-sided and implicitly fought against a lot of humans during the war and so far we have never seen anybody recognize her as anything other than a Lapis Lazuli- nobody goes “oh god, you’re that Lapis” the same way Jasper for example is that Jasper, the ultimate quartz, when Lapis can meet that ultimate quartz in an incredibly ugly drag-out no-holds-barred war of wills and hold her down for months on end, and then pop out the other side just fine within a day when Garnet thought she’d be exhausted for much longer?

And I’m really frustrated because the answers I’ve been met with all feel like super shallow explanations to just kind of wave it off- that never answer all the questions or even touch on the major ones.

Lapis is nearly indestructible, terrifyingly powerful, has an incredible sense of her own importance, but nobody knows who she is. She’s incredibly versed in combat.

“But, Clockie, I’m sure that’s just for her job as a terraformer”

Then why all the sense of mystery? Why have Lapis, in her debut appearance and again afterwards during the Malachite crisis put so much dang emphasis on identity, for no apparent payoff? If Lapis’s abilities are normal for her position and make perfect sense, then, how come nobody reacts to them like that? Why do people keep going “Lapis, you’re terrifying, why are you that strong”

Are we saying that Jasper and Pearl are just super unobservant here? This is like assuming a city-dwelling, well-adjusted person who would have to have been very strangely lucky to have never glimpsed road construction in their life would be utterly floored to see a power shovel in action. 

“I think all Lapises are overpowered, but this one is the only one who has ever weaponized it”

Then what situation motivated her to weaponize it and why wouldn’t word spread of this unusual, terrifying Gem who applies her ordinary construction powers for devastation? You’d expect that, again, Jasper and Pearl, Homeworld and Crystal Gem war vets, would remember and have heard about That One Lapis who could take on whole armies by herself.

Furthermore, Pearl’s comment in Ocean Gem makes no sense because she’s not commenting on any combat abilities- she’s commenting on the sheer volume of Lapis’s powers. That she just moved the ocean in a fortnight.

Maybe Lapis is just an exceptional Lapis like Jasper is an exceptional quartz, but, that comes right back to the fork: Jasper’s exceptional and she’s a legend. Lapis is far more exceptional and seemingly no one has any idea who she is, regardless of whose side they were on.

“Lapis must have a different job, she’s not a terraformer”

Then why is YD misled about what an entire caste of Gems does? That raises more questions than it answers.

And none of these answer, again: why Lapis implies she was an active combatant during the war, but most people who see her fight or exert herself are surprised by what she’s capable of. 

Nor do they answer why Lapis doesn’t play by the same rules as other Gems in ostensibly universal experiences (like a cracked gem.) 

#Steven Universe #Lapis #theory #readmore

[albino-ottsel]

Alpacas As Pets?

If you're going to personal alpacas, you're going to wish at the least one, safe pasture to keep them in. And if you purchase alpacas of both sexes, you'll want at least two! Pastures for alpacas would possibly want a bit more consideration than different livestock. Some factors to think about may be:- Pasture location. Pasture visibility. In case you have the option, try to put your pasture inside straightforward commentary of your own home. Saves numerous working again-and-forth while you hear the alpaca alarm call! Pasture measurement. How many alpacas do you suppose you'll have? Dry-lot or Grazing. When you have grass in your pasture, and count on to graze your alpacas during the rising season, you'll wish to you'll want to have a large enough subject. Should you dry-lot (no grass), you may need to be sure to allow sufficient room for train. Shade. In case your pasture would not allow for pure shade, you may need to consider this when constructing your barn.- Poisonous Plants.

However, it could have appeared to some that on the time I wasn't as happy with our results as I am now declaring. Permit me to clarify. As quickly because the present crew was chosen I have been combating with myself. I've been attempting to maintain my feet on the bottom and never get carried away with my imaginings. Sadly I've as soon as again failed miserably, its the same yearly. When I am awake I am constantly day dreaming in regards to the team winning every thing regardless of making an attempt to cease myself. Irrespective of how laborious I attempt I simply can't see something aside from a clean sweep of first places. It is de facto, really irritating. I even tell people that we can't do properly but secretly inside I'm picturing myself surrounded by ribbons and rosettes. Severely, second place by no means even enters my head! As a result I'm all the time disenchanted if we do not get awarded first place (and I am certain that I am not alone). I can say be satisfied with our results. And let's not neglect there have been several present teams on the futurity that were nearly double the size of the whole Patou herd! So we return to struggle another day, very proud of our little group, our Mighty little Patou Present workforce! Now to the next show, Alpaca 2012 in just a few weeks at the Hand Equestrian Centre. I'm already planning complete domination!

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But briefly. Firstly a twelve hour delay at Auckland Airport. The alpacas have been 'regarded after' on the airport however I don't really know what that meant. They then flew to Los Angeles and from there (I do not know the way lengthy they had been there but I do not think it was lengthy) they then flew to Luxembourg. From Luxembourg they were loaded onto a large livestock truck and trailer. The truck travelled in direction of Calais but broke down close to Paris. Once more what occurred to the alpacas and the way long they have been static for I simply do not know. They were then transported across the channel to Dover where they had been handled by the authorities, whatever meaning. The driver then set off for an alpaca farm near Milton Keynes to drop off some alpacas before heading for Baydon. He was stopped by the Police and every part was checked. Apparently a three hour journey took ten hours. Have you been contemplating about how to lift backyard chickens however simply cannot push by way of with the project as a result of you are not certain whether your investments and efforts will all be worth it? Eggs are considered one of the commonest ingredient when baking or cooking Alpaca Gallery of Alpacas Cria black stud alpacas meals. Thus, if you have your own chickens that lay eggs, then you can simply choose them up within the coop everytime you want one. The smartest thing about this is that you realize where the eggs came from so you can make sure that they are nutritious and protected to eat. Additionally, as these are real recent eggs that have been harvested from your personal yard, the product can be greater egg yolks which are wealthy in style. The second pointer about how to boost yard chickens is you get all-pure organic eggs and chicken meat. All-pure is usually equal to being wholesome so this is sweet for you. Since you've personally cared for the chickens, you might be conscious that there are not any chemicals or artificial meals that has ever been fed to the chickens. So you may make certain that your rooster's eggs and meat are completely protected and healthy to eat.

After we allow them to out of the pen and they realized that they'd entry to a totally new pasture, they had been able to occasion. You can see some of the girls running full out, and others fortunately pronking. The Black Pearl is the primary one pronking and leaping in the foreground (she’ll be two in Oct, but continues to be very much slightly lady in character). At the tip, the brown alpaca that falls behind everyone seems to be Silhouette. She is our solely Peruvian born alpaca and is now 18 years old. She has slowed down a bit, however nonetheless enjoys a run with the girls every now and then. These videos are all up on Peaceful Coronary heart Alpacas Fb Page. You may find they are quicker to look at from there. Visit our web page and Like it to be the first to see updates to our calendar, new pictures and different news. New Yr's Day, a leisure travel, a drop-in to the friend's house, or a celebrating celebration? Effectively, I guess regardless of the place you'll go or what you'll do, elevating the camcorder and recording the fantastic moments are what you need. With the multiple video clips, it's possible you'll wish to edit them for the highest quality. Then if you are a Mac consumer, iMovie is certainly the very best video editing software software for you. Apple iMovie is the nice software program to organize, edit, share clips and stabilize shaky clips on Mac. With this video editing device, Mac customers can edit the video clips, add titles, add music, apply effects (primary coloration correction and video enhancement tools) and transitions similar to fade-in, fade-out and slides. Nevertheless, videos from Panasonic, Canon and Sony's HDR-SR and so forth AVCHD camcorders are with M2TS extension. Although iMovie claims to be compatible with M2TS files from Panasonic HDC-HS300, Sony DCR-SR47, Canon VIXIA and so forth, however many Mac users have downside in importing M2S files to iMovie, particularly uncooked M2TS recordsdata, since iMovie just can not acknowledge their camcorders.

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