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cheemken · 10 months

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So Knight, would anyone in any of the Leagues try to leave their position as Gym Leader/Elite Four/Island Kahunas/Trial Captains, after they found out about the Battle of Unova? Either out of fear of potentially being apart of a war, or just not wanting to work for someone who helped (*tried to?) take over Unova

I imagine some of the Champions being angry or even violent if someone actually tried to leave. It would probably be someone from the Kanto, Jhoto, or Galar League as they already had suspicions that Lance and Leon weren’t the greatest of people, and the battle was the last hint that they needed to truly be sure

Not related to my question, but I love the idea of Iris being Diantha’s successor. If we’re going with the bad ending then there is nothing that can stop Diantha from corrupting Iris’ mind. But g o d do I love this concept. Because like you said, Diantha looked at Iris and saw herself in her, and now she thinks she’s doing the world a favour by teaching Iris to be a “hero” just like herself. Diantha thinks she raising Iris just like her mom did for her, but she’s so delusional at this point that she can’t see how she’s passing down her trauma to Iris

You ever watch ATLA? In the scene where Azula was given the title of Fire Lord, and she thought her dad was stepping down as ruler. But then Ozai tells her that he made a new title, one above the title of Fire Lord called the Phoenix King, where he will rule over all nations. I imagine something similar with Iris and Diantha. Where Iris is given the title of Kalos Champion, and she has authority over both lands that belong to the Kalos League/Government. But Diantha created a new title above that of Champion, where she has complete control over every single region and their leagues/government

(*I’m not sure which direction we’re going with the story, do the Unova kids win, does Diantha win? Or a different direction you’d rather?)

Ngl, I think other than the Indigo League and the Galar League not trusting their Champions anymore, the Paldea League would probs also dip the fuck outta there. Like they already don't like Geeta that much, and they know how loyal their Champion is to Diantha so ofc that's gon set em off and make em think that Geeta might use them as pawns as well, they know how she battles, she sacrifices five of her pkmn before letting her strongest Mon in the field, who's to say she won't do that w them too

But damn tho right it's a cool mental image ncmdnd hahaha idk stuff much abt ATLA tbh, but I am familiar w some of the scenes and such, like the popular scenes, so at least I know that hahaha

That's cool tho ncmxnx like Iris having that kinda power, but Diantha is still, and always will be, above her. That no matter what, Diantha really doesn't see her as an equal, despite her claims that she does. And it's the fact that Iris knows she can't do shit anymore, Kalos is her new home, but despite being its Champion, she fucking knows one wrong move and Diantha will have her executed. But it'd also be fun if Drasna and Iris meets and Drasna tells her how Diantha shouldn't even be like that™. Drasna telling Iris of Diantha's past, and Iris finding out why Dia is like that, but then she hears stories of young Diantha who only wanted to be a hero, who has the sky in her eyes shining brightly with such a hope that it was blinding, how she only wanted to help the people in need, to be seen as a hero of Kalos. But, that didn't happen ofc. Iris asked why. Why didn't Diantha become an actual hero? And that broke Drasna, "because I wasn't there when she needed me the most.. I had so much hope, so much faith, in a child who I knew needed guidance. I think we all did.."

And for Iris it's all adding up yknow, that Diantha could've been a much better person if she just had someone there to really guide her in her life, to actually tell her what's right and what's wrong, but no one ever did that, not even Drasna. Diantha never faced any consequences, even until at this point, while yes the people fear her now, but she always did say fear is easier to control than defiance. And she's now in control of everything.

That's fucking terrifying tho cause at any given moment, Diantha could legit just end the fucking world hahah like that's scary man if you think abt it having to bow down to someone who you know isn't in the right mind anymore and anyone could be pulling the final trigger and they wouldn't know shit until it's too late, like that'd fuck up anyone

Anyways w the ending bits, I always imagine the Unova kids winning w the power of friendship, bc when I wrote those concepts of Diantha coming back to Kalos, she lost that battle w the Unova kids, and it really took a toll on her mentally and physically, as she also got hit by Kyurem's attacks, ofc she was almost bleeding to death when she got back home. But it's also cool to think that one of the E4 or the Leaders actually got through Geeta, and made her see just what Diantha has become, made her see how she's going to die if she doesn't stop. And that's probs a wake up call for Geeta really, that her bestfriend is gonna die if she continues, and she doesn't want that.

And just bcmxnx ough idk fucking imagine tho like Diantha so heavily wounded and so are the Unova kids, but they look at least a bit better than her, bc they had each other to protect, Diantha had no one. And just cnxmnx Geeta getting in between them as Diantha was trying to get Yveltal or even GiraCynthia to attack, only for Geeta to block her view of the Unova kids.

"what do you think you're doing? Step aside."

And for once in their lives, Geeta didn't listen to her. "That's enough, Diantha."

God that fucked Diantha up, Geeta almost never calls her by her full name, always her lil nicknames, their endearments, Geeta never used that voice w her and it made her feel a lot of things she didn't want to feel atm. "Geeta, step aside. Please.." and god she sounded so desperate, she doesn't wanna hurt her. And just chmdndn Geeta sounded to stern and disappointed and it messed her up even more.

"Diantha, please, that's enough. Look at you, you're hurt." Then she walks towards Dia, and Dia was on edge, her grip on a pokeball was tight, almost as if she could break it. And Geeta just takes her hands gently, and wipes off the blood on her face, "that's enough, Dia.. you lost.. and.. a hero keeps their words, don't they?"

And man Dia was conflicted af now too, cause for one she refuses to lose, how could she even lose to a bunch of trainers that are below her?? How did they even beat her??? And then.. then she looks at Geeta, ever so loyal, but.. but now she's looking at Geeta's dark blue eyes, like the sea, it was so easy to get lost in them, and then smth in her kinda snapped, she screamed, frustrated, and she shoved Geeta off her, "Gardevoir!" She called out, and they all thought she'd attack Geeta, only for her Gardevoir to teleport her and her team away from all of them. But Geeta knows where she is.

Geeta turns slightly to the Unova kids, "I'll make sure nothing like this happens again. Worry not, I'll be there with her." Then she calls back all her pkmn, leaving the league to search for Diantha.

But also did word really go out tho idk, but I always imagined it as smth only the Unova League and the Champions know abt, bc ofc, despite Iris and Hilbert winning, they know what the others, Diantha especially, are capable of, and if Drayden was anything to go by, then they know they aren't lying when they say they could just kill them and make it look like a natural death or an accident. I do wanna say that maybe,, like really just maybe, some of the Unovan people know, the bw2 kids probs, Ingo and Emmet too, and probs even the professors, but the rest of Unova doesn't

Idk that's how I always imagined it to be, bc as much as the Unova League wants others to know, they also know how risky it fucking was considering that for one, Diantha has the Pokémon version of Death and the Devil on her side, even tho they won this round who's to say Diantha would just give up, and if Geeta can get through her too and actually pacify her enough to give up Yveltal and start anew

#im like.. thinking now how the other champions would react to that hahaha #but anyways what ending do you prefer and such hahah #its always fun to play around w all the concepts abt the different endings hahah #since theres a lot you can work w too its dope to see all the possibilities and such hahah #plus yknow iris being dia's successor is a dope as fuck mental imagine cnmdndmd #but i also really want some stuff abt geeta and dia so yeah hahah #villain champions au #jerseyk112 #an ask and an answer

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jimmycarterghostland · 3 months

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If anyone ever sees something about a piece of fiction online called Redouln Rising, just know that I wrote that. Me, AKA LoneWolfShayu. RR was the awfully written rewrite of an awfully written Wattpad story called Redouln Rising. It was so bad. Both versions were. I ended up deleting almost all traces of RR online, but the TV Tropes page I created for it is, unfortunately, still up. Even though I tried getting it taken off. Sigh.

I have the PDF files for each volume of RR. It was split into volumes after I deleted my first Royal Road account, which had the rewrite of Redouln Rising on there.

My Royal Road exclusive, 33, is the spiritual successor to Redouln Rising. 33 is extremely similar to RR, but better written. It's also under revision, which is why no one can read it right now.

33 is my pride and joy. I can't wait for people to read it after the rewrite is finished. And then they will read the future chapters, once I write them, of course.

As for Redouln Rising, I hate it and wish I could delete ALL traces of it online. But I can't, sadly. So I might as well NOT act like RR doesn't exist, because it does. And I wrote it.

The original RR was posted on Wattpad when I was a teenager. It was a Lorien Legacies book series rip-off, and my 33 web novel is a rip-off of RR. Haha. But the writing in 33 is objectively better than the writing in RR. Seriously, that thing was terrible. Both versions were terrible. I wish I had known what clunky writing looks like while I was writing the first version of RR and its most recent one.

Ultimately, no writer should forget their works. Not even the works that they hate now.

When I was a teen and writing RR, I genuinely did love working on it. I was writing a bad story, and I didn't know that, but I enjoyed spending time writing those chapters and sharing them to the public. So few people enjoyed RR. And I remember my mom hated the story. But that work of mine made me happy.

The first version of Redouln Rising is sort of iffy to me. Vague. But I remember some stuff about it. The main character was named Riley Banks, and there were some differences between the first version and the rewrite, obviously. Like, the youngest Leader, Amanda, was 14 in the first version of RR. But she was 11 in the rewrite. Since 33 is a rip-off of Redouln Rising, there are some characters who are based off the ones found in RR. Jill Key, a character in 33, is based off Amanda from Redouln Rising. There are differences, though.

I hate Redouln Rising now. It was full of bad writing.

33 is the novel I want to write, and after the rewrite is finished, it will gain many readers(I hope so, anyway). Chapters 1 through 74 are being rewritten. I can't wait to finally publish chapter 75, which will signify the end of the hiatus.

#redouln rising #33 #writing community #33 web serial #lonewolfshayu

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stepphase · 1 year

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What Is This Required Technology For Moving To Windows 11?

The new version of Windows requires the presence of the latest-generation security module. The good news is that your computer is likely to have such a component already.

To be able to install Windows 11 on a computer, it will be necessary to respect a minimum hardware configuration. This specifies, among other things, the presence of a “Trusted Platform Module” (TPM) in version 2.0. A TPM is a cryptographic safe that allows you to create, manage and store secret keys and very sensitive system data. This component makes it possible to create a computing space totally separate from that of the operating system and access to its data is highly secure, in order to protect as much as possible from a possible hacker who might infect the machine.

Used by BitLocker to encrypt disks

Within Windows 10 the TPM is used in different ways. It is used to encrypt hard drive data, whether as part of "BitLocker Drive Encryption" (available on Pro and Enterprise versions) or its watered-down "Device Encryption" version (available on Windows consumer versions). As part of a process called "Measured Boot", it also allows you to monitor and verify the various stages of machine startup.

The TPM also makes it possible to generate and store secret keys and cryptographic data for system applications (“Platform Crypto Provider”), and in particular for Windows Hello, the biometric access control function, and Windows Defender, the anti-security software. -malware from Windows. In professional environments, the TPM can also play the role of a smart card (“Virtual Smart Card”) and protect access tokens to various company resources (“Credential Guard”). According to Microsoft, using these different protective measures would reduce the probability of being infected with malware by 60%.

A component now very common

In short, TPM is today an essential security brick on which more and more features of Windows and third-party applications are based. And under Windows 11, this component will inevitably gain in importance. To run Windows 10, the presence of a TPM 2.0 is not mandatory. However, Microsoft has forced its manufacturing partners to integrate one systematically since July 2016. If your PC is not too old, then there is a good chance that you have one. If it is not enabled, you can do so through your UEFI BIOS menu.

What does a TPM actually look like? In the past, these components have systematically taken the form of a stand-alone chip, soldered to the motherboard, and connected by an LPC or SPI bus. With version 2.0, this module can also be implemented at the firmware level as a separate execution space. These "firmware TPM" (or fTPM) save space on the motherboard and save energy while having a similar level of security. It is the most common form of TPM and the major chip vendors have such technology. It is called "Platform Trust Technology" (PTT) at Intel, "fTPM" at AMD, and "TrustZone" at ARM.

Windows upgrades from mobile OS

If Microsoft now requires the presence of a TPM 2.0 for Windows 11, it is to raise the general level of security of its operating system. As computer attacks become more and more sophisticated, bypassing a cryptographic vault today would be suicidal. The actors of the mobile world have understood it well. Android and iOS smartphones have had a kind of TPM for years, called “TrustZone” and “Secure Enclave” respectively. Moreover, Microsoft cannot be satisfied with the previous version of TPM 1.2, whose services offered have become obsolete. Indeed, it only integrated the SHA-1 and RSA cryptographic algorithms, knowing that AES was optional. Its successor offers a much stronger palette, adding SHA-256, ECC, HMAC, and 128-bit AES.

We are here to hear from you

Of course, you can contact us to let us know if we are missing something on our stepphase.com page. I hope you like it and by the way, thank you for your visit.

Have a good day! See you all soon.

It may interest you

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Windows 11: all about Microsoft's new OS like release date, new features

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Windows 11: new features, release date, all about Microsoft's new OS

Source : Microsoft

#Stepphase #technologies #technology #tech #technews #techworld #techtrends #smartphone #apple #techupdates #futuretechnology #newtech #techgeek #technologynews #technologythesedays #smarttechnology #technologylover #technologytrends #technologyblog #gadgets #smartphone #gadget #marketing #digital #india #technologyisawesome #amazing #repost

#Microsoft #Windows #Windows_11

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shihalyfie · 3 years

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Comparing the original Best Partner character song series and the new one, and what that says about the 02 cast

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So if you haven’t heard yet, a new series of 02 (it’s actually Kizuna) character songs dropped! Allegedly intended as a slightly delayed 20th anniversary project, the series is a callback to the original “Best Partner” character song album series that released during 02′s actual airing.

If you know anything about the original Best Partner series, it’s one that sets an insanely high bar, even for Digimon standards (and that’s saying something, given the deep associations this franchise has with music). The series of character songs before it, Adventure’s “Character Song + Mini Drama” series, has a…kind of questionable amount of relevance to each character; it’s not like they’re super amazingly out of character, but they don’t really tell you a lot about each character beyond some gloss details (this is probably best demonstrated in how Mimi’s song is blatantly just an AiM single disguised as a Mimi song). Best Partner, on the other hand, very intimately goes into each character’s head and their relationships with their respective partners, even putting in direct words what wasn’t stated explicitly in the series.

So does the new series live up to the high bar its predecessor sets? Answer: on top of some abnormal attention to detail on the covers, it is very obvious that the new series not only has a lot of the depth of the 02 characters in mind, but also is made in direct response to the original series itself. Moreover, putting the original Best Partner series and this one side by side reveals a lot about each of the 02 characters and what they got out of 02′s story, in a surprisingly neat summary.

Let’s go into how!

Since this is something that has a deep relationship with all of these characters in regards to the series, this particular meta would not have been possible without input from multiple people who know these characters better than I could ever hope to by myself. Thank you for all of your help.

A bit of historical context

The original Best Partner series consisted of a set of albums, one representing each pair of partners in 02. Notably, even though nowadays there’s a specific order of the Adventure/02 characters that’s used in modern media, not only does the original series not follow that ordering (as it hadn’t been set in stone at the time), it also leads with the original Adventure characters and not the 02 ones, which is pretty unusual for a series that’s ostensibly supposed to be for 02 (modern lineups will usually favor leading with whichever group the relevant product is branded with).

A lot of this probably makes more sense when you realize that the original Best Partner series was released during the first half of 02’s airing. The final album was released on August 23, 2000, four days before the fateful 02 episode 21 (yes, that means the third track on Ken and Wormmon’s album is actually a spoiler). So in other words, while the original Best Partner series accurately reflects the older Adventure group’s character development and what problems they were able to sufficiently overcome, the 02 group does not have anything about their character development from 02′s second half reflected in it at all.

That’s actually a really huge disparity, when you think about it, especially because a lot happened with the 02 group in that second half – that second half was where the emotional payoff and the results of everything that had been building up over that first half came together. So in comparison to the Adventure group, composed of people confidently talking about what they’ve decided for themselves from now on, you still have the 02 group drenched pretty deeply in insecurity. Watch 02 to the end and listen to those songs again, and you might even think “wait, this is supposed to represent these characters?” So, in essence, the new Best Partner series serves to address that gap, and what the 02 group gained and learned out of 02′s second half.

Best Partner (and its successor series for Tamers, Best Tamers) follows a uniform format: a solo song for the human partner, a solo song for the Digimon partner, and a duet between the two. (Given that, the original Best Partner series was really huge, at a whole 36 songs.) Recalling that, in the Adventure universe, a Digimon partner reflects the human’s inner self and psyche, it’s pretty extensive coverage: what the human has to say about themself, what place their Digimon partner is in relative to that, and what the nature of their relationship is due to that.

Let’s go into each pair of partners in detail!

Daisuke and V-mon

For those who love 02 and love Daisuke in particular, when you ask “what kind of character is Daisuke like?” or “what’s Daisuke’s best quality?”, you’re probably going to get answers like “forward-thinking” or “positive” or “good at uplifting others” – basically everything to do with how Daisuke is an encouraging presence who doesn’t give in easily and has a strong mentality of moving forward in the face of despair. Someone who appreciates and understands others’ best qualities, and loves them for everything they are. So when you look at his original Best Partner solo song, Goggle Boy…

But more than just saving the world I really don’t want to lose, you know

…Uh…

These goggles are my proof Given by a certain someone to me The precious thing he handed over It’s just like his Crest, you know Aren’t they cool?

…Well, that’s nowhere to be found.

This is the kind of song that might make you think “wait, this is supposed to be Daisuke’s representative song?!” (It’s possibly because of this that Daisuke’s song from The Bridge to Dreams, Tomorrow, generally tended to be far more favored among Daisuke fans, although it’s more relevant to 02 as a whole than it is to Daisuke in particular.) if you listen to Goggle Boy knowing about what Daisuke’s best qualities should be, this is almost a little frustrating, because this is the kind of thing he really shouldn’t be pigeonholed as – basically, begging for others’ approval and praise and focusing on idolizing others. Even his most insightful moments in this song come from his appreciation of something that came from someone else (Taichi), not from himself.

Well, the thing is, that was Daisuke’s character for most of the first half of 02. Of course, even in early episodes, there were many times where Daisuke’s potential for positivity and forward-thinkingness were starting to poke through, but most of the time he was rolling over trying to please others and chasing after his seniors. The real period of time he started to grow into his own about this was 02 episode 24 and its aftermath – when his time spent with his friends started to fill the void in his life and his need for validation, and the escalating situation, especially with Ken, led him to have a proper grasp of what was properly important and what needed to be done.

So when we get to his new solo, RUNNING MAN…

I’ll keep on running far ahead Let’s bring everyone along with me, today, too Really, always, thank you, Thank you so much Riding the wind, going past the sky Grasping your hands and flying I’m even starting to see beyond my dreams

Even in only one section, you can get an instant image of the Motomiya Daisuke we all know and love – someone who appreciates his friends’ role in his life, loves their company, and moves positively towards the future. Because, again, after the events of 02, and after being able to bond further with his friends and gaining his own strengths in leading everyone forward, he became able to more properly express his love for everything instead of constantly vying for others’ attention. Even the title reflects the change, from a “boy” who’s flashing the symbol of courage he got from someone else, to a “man” who’s positively running forward on his own merits.

(Interestingly, RUNNING MAN is composed by Ohta Michihiko, a legendary composer who’s made many of some of the most important songs in the franchise, and also composed many of the original Best Partner songs, including Goggle Boy. It’s interesting how RUNNING MAN is the one most like the original songs in atmosphere as a result – possibly representing how Daisuke is a simple-minded person who ostensibly doesn’t change drastically in disposition – yet has lyrical content that’s so starkly different.)

As a result, this is subtly reflected in the other two songs in each album as well – remember that V-mon is one of the partners who most “matches” his own partner in terms of disposition and mentality. So as Daisuke shifted his own priorities, V-mon did too; we go from Go Ahead! being about taking a stand and fighting, whereas Beyond the Future is about a similar forward-thinking mentality to Daisuke’s.

Likewise, the duets have different priorities as well; 2-TOP was composed of Daisuke and V-mon bickering for the most of it, and the most substantial point you could get about it was that despite their bickering, they made it work, whereas HEY-rasshai! has them almost entirely in sync (with one minor moment of deviance). It’s also interesting to see the topics covered in each; 2-TOP is about soccer, which ultimately is revealed to be a fairly incidental hobby for Daisuke, whereas HEY-rasshai! is about ramen making, which, while comical, also has a very strong tie to “Daisuke’s dream for the future, and his willingness to single-mindedly dedicate himself to something when it’s something he truly wants”. In other words, while Daisuke knew what he wanted since elementary school, it says a lot that he’s at a point where he and V-mon are now taking proactive steps to have that dream achieved, now that they’re able.

Ken and Wormmon

Like with his position in 02 itself, Ken’s is probably the easiest to see the contrast without trying too hard, but there’s still quite a lot to unpack!

When you think about it, in the modern era, it’s actually surprisingly hard to find stuff too relevant to Ken’s time as the Kaiser. The reason is, simply, that the series itself discourages this – Ken himself had an obvious aversion to dwelling too much on it, and the entire series itself has a strong theme of “moving on”. It’s not to say that the Kaiser doesn’t have a fanbase (I’m sorry if you’re reading this and find that I might be implying too hard that you don’t exist), but rather that there’s a franchise and fanart tendency to focus more on “Ken-chan” than “the Kaiser” these days, and old merch from the first half of the series will all too often get responses of “it’s really sad Ken-chan can’t be there…” Of course, 02 itself was also about accepting one’s mistakes, not pretending they never happened, so it’d be foolhardy to deny Ken’s dark history entirely, but it’s retroactively interesting to see such a prominent and persistent piece of merch like Ken and Wormmon’s original Best Partner album focus so largely on Ken’s time as the Kaiser when most of the franchise ended up trying to move on.

Starting with Ken’s solo songs, and his first one, ONLY ONE:

I’ve lived without showing my true feelings, wearing this mask

Well, this was easy to tell from the series itself, but the point driven home is that Ken didn’t want to expose his true self to others, putting on a front of “strength” and smashing his true feelings into the corner so that he could become more of the “perfect” person he thought he was supposed to be. There’s also another interesting line that one should pay attention to:

I polished the knife in my heart and put my belief in infinite power

Basically, putting up a defensive front to prevent anything from approaching his weaknesses.

Anyway, moving onto his new song, Never Ending:

If I want to be proud of tomorrow’s version of myself I wonder, what can I do? Never Give-up I’ll keep fighting, even doing someone else’s part No, I won’t be afraid anymore

First of all, the main theme of the song is about putting conscious thought into understanding how to stay true to himself – basically, understanding what it is he really wants to do and become, instead of putting on fronts and hiding it from others. Not only that, we see traces of what exactly he gained over the course of the second half of 02 – because so much of it involved constantly trying to blame himself for everything, this song is about what he came to learn in terms of proactively making it up and actively fighting forward. He’s working hard!

We also have this part:

The knife that’s pointed at someone, or at myself If it’s been let go of

Two things going on here: firstly, we have an explicit reference to the metaphorical “knife” Ken referred to putting up in ONLY ONE, talking about finally letting it go instead of bothering with this kind of front. He also points out that, in a sense, the knife was pointed at himself too, either in the sense of actually having hurt himself through this entire ideal, or in the sense that he constantly was trying to blame and punish himself for everything. None of that should be necessary anymore. Moreover, Never Ending contains a lot of references to “daily life” and the happiness that comes with the simplicity of just being alive – because that was indeed what Ken gained through his experiences, the ability to treasure living life in itself instead of aspiring to an impossible standard.

Another interesting thing about Never Ending is that it’s technically in a similar rock genre to ONLY ONE instead of being “soft”, like Ken’s personality is often thought to be. This was a surprise to a lot of people who commented on how surprisingly “cool” the song was, but this is actually completely in line with Ken arguably being one of the most openly assertive people in this group even after his reformation. Note that it’s very difficult to call this song purely angsty – it’s definitely positive and forward-thinking, and the chorus itself is partially in major key – but it has the vibe of someone who’s fully aware of everything that’s happened, is putting proper thought into it, and is pushing on despite everything. Remember, the intensity the Kaiser had originally came from somewhere; Ichijouji Ken is the same person, in the end.

In regards to Wormmon’s song, the contrast is also obvious: The Future You Dreamed of, the Future I Dreamed Of. is of course about Wormmon’s tormented feelings during the Kaiser’s abusive relationship with him, whereas can change it! is about its aftermath and how they made up (including copious references to the events of 02 episode 23). Even then, there’s a certain “forward-thinking” attitude that marks this song as being representative of being after 02’s events and not during – see the line “The mistake we made that day/is exactly the reason we’ll never let it happen again”, instead of the self-punishment and shame Stingmon expressed in 02 episode 26).

On top of that, the duet song Forever Adolescence also marks a subtle progression from the point they were at from True Strength – remembering that Best Partner 12 was released at a time when True Strength was actually a bit of a spoiler, while Ken and Wormmon obviously had made up by that point, the key line in it is still “everything truly begins from here”. So what, exactly, happened after that? According to Forever Adolescence, the decision made was to keep moving forward, and, moreover, to stay “the way they are”, especially with the nuance that it means it’s okay to not force oneself into the role of an adult and stay “young at heart”. This is really, really important in light of the events of Kizuna, the 02 group’s unusual role in it and its relevance to 02′s themes (more on this below), and how Spring 2003 referred to the pressure placed on Osamu as him being “forced to grow up too quickly” – in essence, Ken and Wormmon have firmly resolved to actively move away from that kind of pressure.

Miyako and Hawkmon

I’ve pointed out several times on this blog that the actual complex Miyako was going through in 02 was that she hated herself more than anyone else in the group would be willing to criticize her – and if you don’t believe me, it’s put in a pretty heavy-handed manner in her original song, Crash and Bingo!:

Fussing about it won’t get anything done But my selfishness and problems and panic keep coming out

…and even more viciously in her own and Hawkmon’s duet, Fly High:

I can’t do anything right, besides playing around with computers

Everyone would be still be fine if I weren’t there

If you thought it was subtle in the main series, it certainly isn’t here: Miyako considered herself good for absolutely nothing and unable to be accepted by others for being too useless – in these songs, despite Hawkmon’s attempts to uplift her, she criticizes her own messy tendencies and considers herself a burden. Best Partner is a positive series, so it still has the attitude of “we’ll try anyway”, but it’s clear that Miyako really didn’t have the highest opinion of herself at all. Hence, Fly High also shows off the worst of Hawkmon having to deal with the fallout – with Miyako flailing around in panic and considering herself good for nothing, he’s forced to carry her around.

But come Miyako’s new solo, From Spain with Love!, we see a huge contrast all over the place:

I, who have evolved into an adult make everyone do a double-take at me when I walk by!

Exhibit A: actual confidence in herself and ability to consider herself worth something;

If I can always, always be honest with myself Even if I don’t put together some program, even if I keep screwing up Ah, you understand me

Exhibit B: understanding that she’s worth something to others besides her utility abilities, and knowing that she has friends who’ll support her despite her flaws (which is very true);

When things are feeling hard, the first thing you should do is call me, okay? I’ll take the wings of love and purity, spread them, and get there as fast as I can Ah, I’ll open up any gate I need to

Exhibit C: indulging in her capacity for helping and supporting others;

Al mal tiempo, buena cara We laugh exactly when things are hard

Exhibit D: understanding the strength to get through hard times, instead of emotionally crumbling under the pressure.

Yep, that’s exactly what her character arc in 02 was about; 02 episode 31 was a huge turning point for her because, in the depths of her berating herself for her messiness and expecting Hikari to be secretly judging her the whole time, Hikari revealed that she was outright jealous of Miyako being able to speak her mind, and Miyako shortly after ended up showing her true capacity for reaching others who needed her help and supporting them, a role she ended up growing into for the rest of the series. Note that, other than the casual remark of confidence at the beginning, Miyako hasn’t necessarily become arrogant or anything – it’s just that, by focusing her energies into how much she loves everyone and turning her “nosiness” and “sticking herself into others’ business” tendencies into positive energy to help everyone, she gained more confidence in her ability to be loved and accepted by others.

This is reflected as well in her new duet with Hawkmon, where, instead of Hawkmon dragging her around everywhere, their differences and mismatched personalities are outright celebrated, and while Miyako still has awareness of her messy tendencies, she’s no longer letting it emotionally rip her apart and has confidence that Hawkmon can be by her side to help her through it. Perhaps reflecting that, Hawkmon himself goes from the over-the-top, dramatic, high-strung Knight of Love to the more calm and straightforward Gentle Tornado, perhaps because his own partner isn’t constantly bouncing off the walls recklessly nearly as much anymore.

Incidentally, it’s not like all of this is without nuance, either; even if Miyako’s become more of a confident person, she’s not all put-together. Considering that the entire song has her gushing about how she’d be willing to drop anything to go see her friends (which was pushed forward in Kizuna itself, what with her willingly taking the same request she’d refused to do earlier just because her friends were involved, and even inventing D-3 gate exploitation just to go see them), when you get to the end, and her gushing about her fun in Spain suddenly derails into reminiscing about the events of 02 episode 42, the implication is clear: for as much as she wants to be wholeheartedly enjoying this fun trip abroad for what it is, she can’t help but let her thoughts float back to memories and friends she cares about, and her bonus conversation with Hawkmon drives it in further that, ultimately, she dearly misses them too much.

Iori and Armadimon

Iori also went through some drastic changes in character over the course of 02, so when you look at My Conclusion, it’s basically Iori at his “worst” point of black-and-white morality:

Everyone, I will be speaking my conclusion Evil will not be tolerated Even evil in itself will be defeated by justice That will always be a certainty in the end

I mean, let’s even consider the fact that the song is called “My Conclusion” in the first place. Iori’s slamming this all down like this is the end-all of everything, and you can’t change his mind! He does briefly admit that there are certain things reason itself won’t change, but it’s more like he’s on the verge of having an out, because in the end, really…

Everyone, I will be speaking my conclusion Our enemies are beyond reason Again and again, to the very end They will certainly use cowardly means to come and attack us

Rationality. No feelings involved. Evil is evil, and justice is justice. No takebacks. Life exists by rules, and nothing else.

Message to the Future is possibly one of the most interesting songs in the original Best Partner collection, because it does actually provide hints about where Iori should be going in the future, and also has a lot of things that retroactively hit a lot harder from the meta perspective. The song fully fleshes out Iori’s feelings and concerns about how to grow up into a proper adult (which was hinted to be his real motivation as to why he was so strict with himself in 02), and that, most of all, what he wants is for his “feelings” to never change no matter what happens. Iori expresses concerns about how he might change as an adult to Armadimon, and Armadimon assures him that he’ll still be “Iori”, no matter what.

So, come the new character song collection, Iori’s new solo song is aptly titled “Things That Won’t Change” – because, in the end, despite everything that changed, his feelings did not. He says it himself: the important parts that he really wanted, the desire to do the right thing and to protect others, never changed a bit at all since “back then”. What did change, however, was his way of going about it.

Rather than what someone else has decided I’ve chosen my own future now

and again:

Rather than imitating someone else This is to shout out my own future

The emphasis on this being Iori’s own choice is important because Iori has finally decided not to live by strict rules imposed on him nor by imitating others (remember, part of the reason he kept doing what he did back in 02 was because he had such a strong belief “my father would have done this”). Others had been encouraging him to “make his own decisions” from the get-go – even Hida Chikara himself had told him that he was the one who needed to decide what to do in any moment in 02 episode 5 – and after dealing with a violation of his own morals in having to kill a Digimon in 02 episode 44, one episode later, in discussing with Takeru, Iori has to come to terms with the decision to continue fighting because “this is what I have decided myself”, because it’s not about whether he has an obligation to keep fighting for the sake of justice, but because he, himself, wants to protect others, and will do what it takes to do so. There’s no more of these strict rules of “because it must be this way” or the black-and-white morality that caused him to be so initially hostile towards Ken and Oikawa, but an understanding that these things need to be decided from the heart.

Moreover, unlike My Conclusion, Things That Won’t Change isn’t written like Iori’s turning in some school essay, but rather, more than half the song is in casual-form Japanese (which was associated with Iori when he became more emotional and wasn’t keeping himself in check anymore), and is more of a thoughtful reflection of his own feelings rather than trying to pass itself off as following rules because he must.

Thus, while the duet Choo Choo Tryin’ isn’t as heavy-handed as Message to the Future, Iori and Armadimon acknowledge that they need to be forward-thinking and keep going (generally tied to the message of 02 in itself), and Iori outright discusses the potential pitfalls of becoming too stiff. Furthermore, the song has copious rap portions, which seems rather unfitting for Iori on its face – until you realize that not only was Iori sometimes willing to indulge in more fun even back during 02 (just because he was strict with himself didn’t mean he was a complete killjoy), Iori’s also just a lot more flexible-minded in general, and has a penchant for wanting to do things right when he’s given a task. (His delivery of the rap in the song isn’t monotonous nor overly emotional, but has the nuance of someone who’s trying to recite all of it with caution.)

The part that’s particularly striking from the meta perspective is that Iori and Armadimon are no longer voiced by the same voice actress; Message to the Future was essentially Urawa Megumi talking to herself. So now, Iori has a new voice actor, and in many ways has become very different from Armadimon – but because Armadimon sounds a little like Iori, you could say he’s helping preserve the childish side of Iori that’s more important than ever to hold onto, especially since Iori himself worried about changing too much. And so, Iori’s still willing to indulge in a sort of “fun” song like this, and in the end, despite everything, you understand that they haven’t drifted apart at all in the slightest.

That’s not to say that Armadimon himself hasn’t changed either – in fact, he’s changed himself in response to how much Iori has. His original solo song had a lot of easygoingness to it, and some constant reminders for Iori to please, please chill – but his new one has a much stronger sense of resolve and forward-thinking attitude, reflecting that, while Iori himself technically had to learn to embrace more emotional uncertainty through the events of 02, it was also able to give him much stronger resolve that this was something he was doing because he was emotionally prepared for it, not out of some sense of moral obligation.

Takeru and Patamon

I’ve already covered Takeru’s original Best Partner song Focus and how it’s probably not about shipping as much as the fanbase tends to pin it as, but in any case, the operative part is here:

Before I knew it, I was watching over you Still standing at a skewed angle from behind The focus of your heart I wonder, is it on me, or… No, I can’t ask

Takeru couldn’t bring himself to ask sensitive questions or be straightforward about his emotions – which is basically what was Takeru’s lingering problem over Adventure and 02, that he kept swerving around or even lying about sensitive topics and holding everything inside, until one of his triggers was hit and everything exploded. Therefore, even when an important question about someone else comes up, he “can’t ask”. Moreover, for all Takeru is known as a lighthearted and kind person, Focus is a really turbulent song with a really harsh arrangement, and it’s a pretty accurate view of all the complicated and sometimes even negative emotions that Takeru was (badly) coping with over the course of 02.

This was the whole issue with Takeru and Iori’s Jogress arc in 02 episodes 34-36 – that Iori felt he couldn’t understand nor communicate well with Takeru, and had to eventually take matters into his own hands in order to properly understand his feelings. Takeru’s further interactions with Iori were significantly more straightforward for the rest of the series, and the experience also led to Takeru being able to more openly communicate with Ken as well, since the two had been on awkward speaking terms for most of the third quarter of the series.

So when we get to Step High Step…

You lament, you don’t have confidence in yourself I’m saying this to you as I’ve been watching you You’re amazing at all times

The song features Takeru being fairly straightforward about his feelings and opinions instead of just dodging it and going for an “everything’s okay” keeping-the-peace attitude, and not only that, he’s commenting on someone else, something that he probably would have refrained from in 02 for being intrusive. Of course, Takeru was always a nice person, but he wasn’t exactly straightforward about being nice back then – and yet here we are.

Since Focus is probably about his relationship with Patamon and how he kind of wasn’t exactly straightforward about his worries with him either (see 02 episode 34), it’s also interesting to compare Takeru and Patamon’s duet songs as well. Steppin’ out does portray a progression from Adventure in that they’ve accepted they can “do things over” again after things crash down (presumably referring to Angemon’s death and rebirth), but you’ll notice there isn’t much in the way of actual communciation between the two – something that’s not only present in Le Lien, but also portrays them as outright in-sync to the point of “telepathy”. We’re talking about a pair where the fanbase has historically had doubts about how similar they were back in 02 because of how “mismatched” they seemed!

Which, incidentally, they weren’t actually – you can see Patamon pretending he’s not about to cry in his original Best Partner song Don’t Stop Pata-Pata, much like how Takeru would cover up his own emotions, and gritting his teeth and resolving to fight harder. Meanwhile, while Ring of Smiles ostensibly continues to have Patamon be “sweet and cute”, it contains a lot of important nuances of “appreciating daily life with friends”, even if Patamon himself can’t quite find words for it – in other words, it’s actually some rather insightful and thoughtful sentiments from Patamon about the importance of being with and connecting with others, mirroring what Takeru himself learned in connecting with the others around him, especially Iori.

Hikari and Tailmon

Remember, Hikari has two lines (one in Adventure and one in 02) that basically summarize the main “issue” she was dealing with in both series: she was selfless to unhealthy levels, and would prioritize others’ welfare over herself to the point of self-destruction. So in her original solo Best Partner song, Gentle Rain, she puts it pretty explicitly:

I want to always be wearing nothing but smiles But I can’t be cheerful all of the time

or:

So that I can become a greater version of myself Please give me strength

All things considered, Gentle Rain is full of Hikari’s own insecurities, and her belief that she doesn’t have enough strength to do anything for herself. She makes references to being pulled to the Dark Ocean, mainly because – as she says – she doesn’t want to go there, but she doesn’t have enough strength or willpower to resist it. In fact, Best Partner 11 is full of a lot of angst; Gentle Rain is Hikari angsting about her own weakness and inability to do much for herself, Getting up is Tailmon angsting about her painful past and everything to do with it, and Shining Star is basically a plea for both of them to be able to do anything despite all the pain. It’s all pretty severely heavy content, despite the initial sparkly-looking sentiment of it all.

Considering the circumstances, it’s not really all that surprising. Hikari spent her time in Adventure and the first half of 02 very “emotionally isolated” from the others, to the point very few people could understand what she was thinking, and while she’d never hesitate to put herself out for other people, anything to do with herself, like getting pulled to the Dark Ocean, would result in resignation “it’s over” and “I can’t do anything about it”. Tailmon came from the background of being effectively raised by the abusive Vamdemon, so 02 was really only part of the earliest portion of her moving on with her life and being able to spend happier moments with Hikari. But, of course, the real turning point was 02 episode 31, when Miyako finally managed to break through to her and convince her to not accept the inevitability of things happening to herself, to accept help with the support of others, and to not take things happening to her as a sign she’s doomed.

So when we reach Hikari’s new solo song, Tomorrow’s Blue…

I want to chase after my dreams and hopes, it’s fine even if they’re incomplete I won’t lose, I won’t stop, I’ll do this to stay true to myself

The most striking thing about the song is that it features Hikari assertively talking about her own desires and feelings, when back in 02 she basically tried to kick them out of the picture for the sake of everyone else (and, really, even in Tailmon’s new solo song, Tender tale, she outright calls Hikari out for still prioritizing other people over herself). It’s not demeaning herself, it’s not resigning herself to anything, it may have a slight admission that she’s not super-confident about everything yet, but it’s still her looking forward and choosing to pursue what he wants. It’s a big deal!

And instead of the constant angst that permeated Best Partner 11, the new album is about Hikari and Tailmon talking about their feelings towards each other – something that neither of them really verbalized that well over either Adventure and 02 – and contextualizing their importance to each other over the course of their “story”. Hikari talks about Tailmon’s role of assertiveness in helping her break out of her shell, and Tailmon generally provides an extremely accurate description of Hikari in a nutshell – that she’s a bit mysterious, that she’s emotionally sensitive, that she’s cheerful and lifts others’ spirits. What’s more, Tailmon makes a reference to the same kind of “pain” and “losing things” she referred to in Getting up, but instead of angsting about it, she positively accepts it as something that may happen in the process of protecting others. (Oh, and it and the new duet A Tale of the Light also make reference to Hikari’s photography hobby in 02, contextualizing it as something Hikari did to chronicle their precious memories.)

So in summary, Hikari and Tailmon have both been able to accept 02′s philosophy of becoming forward-thinking, positive, and accepting the help of others in order to move forward. Not bad!

Conclusion and digression

Despite how these songs are almost polar opposite in portraying their before-and-after development of the 02 kids, nobody’s really argued that any of them are out of character! In the end, it’s a pretty succinct depiction of what these kids were dealing with and what they grew into by the end of the series. Seriously, I never, ever want to hear that these kids were underdeveloped nor that they didn’t go through any significant development over the course of 02 ever again. That’s just not true at all, and this simply happens to be one of the many illustrations of how.

Moreover, the songs themselves and the “conversations” that came with the new albums solidify firmly that the 02 group has extremely tight relations with their partners even at this time – with Daisuke actively consulting V-mon for help, Miyako, Takeru, and Hikari actively dragging their partners everywhere with them, Ken having Wormmon be his effective alarm clock, and Iori being so close with Armadimon that his Nagoya dialect is rubbing off on him. Daisuke, Miyako and Hikari have a huge point made that, regardless of the rather easygoing way they’re going at it, they’re very aware of what they want to do from this point out and are following it with gusto (and while it’s not stated in words, Iori carrying a huge textbook, presumably a law one, with note markers all over it drives the point home that this applies to him, too). It’s a really, really huge contrast to what was going on with the directionless Taichi, Yamato, and Sora effectively neglecting their own partners back in Kizuna – and further reinforces the reason the 02 group was in such an unusually favorable position during the movie.

#digimon #digimon adventure 02 #digimon adventure last evolution kizuna #shihameta

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my-name-is-dre · 3 years

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Mettaton is a False Prophet - Pt. 2

This is a continuation post from my older theory back when Undertale was still the big thing that Mettaton was a false prophet designed by Alphys and Asgore to fulfill the Deltarune prophecy, which explains all of his eerie similarities to Flowey and Asriel. Here is Part 1 if you wanna catch up!

[UPDATED INFO FROM DELTARUNE CH. 2]

With the debut of Deltarune Chapter 2 came a fan-favorite newcomer called Spamton, and the interesting thing about his character is that it has a lot of similarities with Mettaton, especially his secret form known as ‘Spamton NEO.’ Now, the general story behind his character is that he was once a spam email puppet account who was never able to make a deal. This was his life until he was called by a mysterious person who suddenly made him wildly successful by continually aiding his career over the phone, eventually causing his friends to leave him over their envy of his newfound success. This success eventually landed him a spot in Queen’s mansion until it all came crashing down one day, and the only remnant left of him was a dead phone line tied to him that only repeated static back at anyone who tried to call it.

As everyone’s likely aware of now, there is a hidden bossfight in which you can, once specific conditions are performed, fight Spamton NEO, a version of Spamton hooked up to a suit that unabashedly resembles the same form Mettaton took on in the no mercy route of Undertale. This suit has been referred to as ‘the machine’ which is described by Swatch as the creation of an unknown Lighter, “digitally visualizing their hopes and dreams which never came to be.” This then became an incomplete dream which was locked in Queen’s basement. In battle, the fight also resembles the fights the player had with Mettaton through Undertale, with their soul turning yellow and shooting projectiles to take Spamton down. But the similarities between the fight against Mettaton Ex and Spamton NEO don’t end there, as both fights involved taking apart components of the body gradually over the course of the battle, with Mettaton having his limbs blown off and Spamton having his strings cut.

Now, this backstory is all very important as it alludes back to the body’s origin in Undertale as a creation of Alphys to make its host proficient at killing and absorbing a human soul. The description of the body is textually different but similar, in that Mettaton NEO was designed for the purposes of killing explicitly whereas Spamton NEO’s body is described by Swatch as being an agent in which one can envision their hopes and dreams through an implicit power of determination.

It’s important to note here that, career-wise, Mettaton is quite similar to Spamton in that they both had great and newfound success upon accepting a deal that gave them some meta-knowledge of the world they inhabit, with Spamton being told that the world he lives in is a game that can be exploited (as implied by his dialogue), and Mettaton was granted some of the same abilities that Flowey possesses (changing the game’s name, being able to audibly speak, and being a monster soul possessing an inanimate object). Whereas Mettaton is a story of continued success, Spamton is a story of failure, but how does this fit into the context of the theory that Mettaton was a failed attempt to fulfill the Deltarune prophecy?

That quote from Swatch on describing the purpose of the body is important to explaining this, as it eerily resembles Mettaton’s role in Undertale’s story as a machine designed to harvest a human soul and potentially fulfill the Deltarune prophecy but was unsuccessful to do so because Mettaton is a false prophet. The theme of false prophecy and failed transcendence is exemplified by Spamton’s backstory, as the power of meta-textual awareness granted to him (by Gaster presumably) resulted in short-term success that rose him to the heavens only for him to fall down hard back into being forgotten. The fall he suffers from cutting off his strings is a dual-layer metaphor for how Spamton fell from success and how Mettaton was unable to fulfill the Deltarune prophecy unlike his parallel successor Flowey.

And if it wasn’t obvious that Mettaton’s constant desire for your soul is equivalent to Spamton’s desire for [hyperlink blocked], he goes on record describing all of the control he’d have over his life if he were to harvest your [hyperlink blocked], implying that the hyperlink is code for determination. Spamton also routinely refers to “heaven” throughout his dialogue, which could imply anything transcendental, but I believe this is also another direct allusion to the Deltarune prophecy and its description of an angel: The divine vocabulary fits. Perhaps Mettaton was trying to indirectly achieve this reception from heaven through his promulgation as an icon of monsterkind wanting so desperately to have a human audience? Perhaps this constant appeal ‘heaven’ is Spamtron’s version of Mettaton’s constant appeal to a nebulous audience? If that’s the case, it implies that the audience of Mettaton has divine power, which seems to suggest that it’s composed of far more than just monsterkind. Another minor thing to note here is that Spamton also refers to “the presses” if you defeat him by depleting his health bar: “WAIT!! [$!?!] THE PRESSES!”

“KRIS, DON'T YOU WANNA BE [Part] OF MY BEAUTIFUL [Heart]?” is a very unsubtle nod to the process Chara and Asriel underwent to bypass the barrier and return to the Surface. There must be something about the abilities that the NEO suit offers that is implicitly tied to the Deltarune prophecy. Spamton’s constant use of the phrase ‘big shot’ is another multi-layered metaphor. The ‘big shot’ in question is a triple entendre, as it refers not only to Spamton’s aspirations, but also the fulfillment of the Delta Rune prophecy and also more banally refer to the yellow soul’s newfound ability to shoot a charge shot.

After sparing Spamton NEO, he offers some dialogue that resembles Flowey’s plea to you after defeating his Photoshop form, in which he asks why you’re showing him mercy after all of the unnecessary cruelty he did to you to prove his worldview correct. He then goes on to make a reference to Pinocchio in which he asks you to cut his strings and make him a “real boy” (an even funnier phrase given that he’s a puppet). But this is also an allusion to Mettaton, as he reveals to you throughout the game that his robot body designed for him by Alphys is a form that makes him feel more like himself because it’s implied that Mettaton is an incorporeal ghost like Napstablook. He then makes one least appeal to Heaven and says he’ll live for himself and his friends, acting as a microcosm of both Mettaton and Flowey’s character arc.

In the “weird route”, Spamton also makes remarks prior to battling him that allude to Mettaton NEO’s fight in the no mercy route: “THANKS TO YOUR [Total Jackass stunts] I HAVE [Becomed] NEO.” “TO [$!$!] ME OVER RIGHT AT THE [Good part]!? WHAT ARE YOU, A [Gameshow Host]!?” “MY ESTEEM CUSTOMER I SEE YOU ARE ATTEMPTING TO DEPLETE MY HP! I'LL ADMIT YOU'VE GOT SOME [Guts] KID! BUT IN A [1 for 1] BATTLE, NEO NEVER LOSES!!! IT'S TIME FOR A LITTLE [Bluelight Specil]. DIDN'T YOU KNOW [Neo] IS FAMOUS FOR ITS HIGH DEFENSE!? NOW... ENJ0Y THE FIR3WORKS, KID!!!” One line in particular references Asriel calling Chara’s name before Frisk lands in the bed of flowers in the Garbage Dump: “YOU MAKE ME [Sick]! MUTTERING YOUR [Lost Friends] NAMES AT THE BOTTOM OF A [Dumpster]! NO ONE'S GONNA HELP YOU!!! GET THAT THROUGH YOUR [Beautiful Head], YOU LITTLE [Worm]!”

This is an even more poignant line, as Spamton resides in Trash Zone, which is meant to resemble the Garbage Dump area of Undertale, which was a point in Waterfall where you were given a hint into the backstory of the game before landing on a bed of flowers. It’s also the area where you encounter Mad Dummy and where Alphys dates Undyne in the true pacifist route. Clearly, the symbolism of taking place in a dump is very important for connecting the worlds and stories of both of these games, given that it’s such an important spot for two major characters tied to Mettaton.

If it weren’t obvious at this point, Spamton damn near confirms that Mettaton was designed at least partially to fulfill the Deltarune prophecy but was unable to because he didn’t possess the same potential or determination that Flowey had due to his lack of relation to the original human and his focus instead turning towards an abstract human audience. The dialogue from Swatch about Spamton being the embodiment of a Lightner’s dream also implies that, keeping in line with the themes of desire in the Dark World, that Mettaton might be directly responsible for the creation of Mettaton. Perhaps this is why the NEO suit so eerily resembles the God of Hyperdeath if it’s directly tied to Mettaton’s desire to fulfill the Deltarune prophecy. If this is the case, isn’t it a bit odd that the God of Hyperdeath is also implied to be Asriel’s creation from flavor text in Kris’s room? What an interesting parallel.

#undertale #deltarune #spamton #spamton neo #mettaton #mettaton neo #undertale 6th anniversary #deltarune theory #deltarune spoilers

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skekheck · 3 years

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I finally had the time to sit down and actually read both the Making of the Dark Crystal and Dark Crystal: Ultimate Visual History. I also promised to talk about comparisons and differences between the two. So here goes:

I initially believed that UVH would be a successor to MotDC, being the lengthier of the two books (192 pages as opposed to 96). And to an extent, it is. A good portion of the things MotDC covers is also seen in UVH but in more depth. However, I found that there are a number of key differences between the two as well as containing exclusive information that can't be found in the other.

MotDC feels "fresh" in a way as it was written while the author was on set during TDC's production. This might be why the book heavily focuses on pre-production and filming as opposed to other elements including the story. (But to give the book credit, it did focus on the best aspect of the movie).

It has some exclusive interviews, dive into Brian Froud's inspiration for Thra's cosmography, and some struggles Henson faced when trying to find the right person to fill in a role that isn't touched upon in UVH. MotDC is a little bit more chronological than UVH although both stick to a similar timelines (something I will discuss in a bit). MotDC also has small profiles of the main characters or races as well as uncommon production images (such as unique stills, physical descriptors for the Skeksis that helped build the puppets, and concept art).

UVH's title doesn't lie: it really is the ultimate timeline for TDC. It really goes over everything from the brainstorming, pre-production, filming, and all the way to its reception and the fanbase that slowly built afterward. It's incredibly more detailed in the things it covers, moreso than MotDC. It also feels more personal in a way, especially considering it starts off with a foreword by Cheryl Henson and an introduction piece by Brian and Wendy Froud.

Scattered through the pages are loose papers of drafts, notes, and even early treatments (including the original proof of concept "Mithra Treatment booklet") to give the book an extra bit of character. As mentioned before it does stick to a timeline, but they clumped pre-production information together. For example, they put all of the work that went into the Jen and Kira puppets in one section even though a lot of these things happened at different points in time, at least according to MotDC. However, I feel like this organization helped the narrative of the book better even if it wasn't chronologically accurate. This book was also published as AOR was being written and the book leaves off on a hopeful note for the future of the franchise.

So from my standing, both books are excellent and you should check them out. MotDC is a good read if you just want to know the basics of what went on during production, but I also think UVH is excellent if you got the time to read it. You can currently buy UVH, but MotDC is out-of-print. As someone who owns a physical copy of MotDC, you DO NOT have to buy it. There's a free archived copy available provided by the Internet Archive. If you want a physical copy, don't buy it above $100. There are people who sell it below $70 you just have to be patient and wait for the right price drop. I got mine pretty cheap and it's in good condition. Just make sure you do research before buying from a seller.

#long post #the dark crystal

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phis-corner · 3 years

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statue of ice

yes i am still updating this fic lmao

main masterlist ◈ maribat masterlist ◈ ao3 link

She only lasts a few weeks before caving and telling her brother that she’s Ladybug.

The Guardian – Fu is his name – was vehemently against revealing her identity again, already annoyed that she’d told Jason. Privately, Marinette thinks that Fu can “go fuck himself”, and maybe Jason would have said it out loud, but she does not.

Instead, she ignores his wishes and tells Tim anyway.

To his credit, her brother isn’t even surprised. He just quirks a smile during their scheduled video call and says in a light voice, “I guess it runs in the family, then, doesn’t it?”

Marinette is inclined to agree. After all, what are the odds that both of them ended up being protectors of two cities?

.o0o.

A week later, Tim calls her to confirm Marinette’s suspicions that Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth.

“He’s slippery. Paid to have all the security cameras around his home removed, but I traced akuma sightings on social media and marked them on a map and what do you know, his house was right in the center of the circle. I also checked out the property. He literally has a butterfly window, Mari. Everything in his house is butterfly patterned. It checks out.”

“Thank you, Tim-Tam. I’ll take care of it from here,” Marinette says. Her mind is already working, forming a plan to take Gabriel down. Permanently.

It has to be public. The city wouldn’t believe it otherwise, and some are already accusing Ladybug and Chat Noir of creating the akumas themselves so that they can make themselves look good by defeating them.

Exposing Gabriel as Hawkmoth would cause the downfall of his company and result in the loss of thousands of jobs, but Audrey Bourgeois had a Parisian branch of Style Queen that was still fairly new and looking for employees, and she knows that Audrey would most likely hire all of Gabriel’s employees out of spite.

“Are you sure you don’t want us to help?” her brother asks. “You don’t have to do this alone, you know.”

She knows. She wants so, so badly not to do it alone, to have her brother by her side as she faces down a magic user that could turn her into a puppet in the blink of an eye if she allowed herself to feel just a little bit too much, but she can’t bring him into this. Can’t bring anyone else into this. Tim already spends his nights stopping rapists and murderers and seeing all the horrors that Gotham has to offer. He doesn’t need to see what Paris throws at its people as well.

“It’s a miraculous matter, Tim-Tam,” Marinette says instead of voicing any of those thoughts. “Besides, bringing anyone else in puts them at risk of akumatization. It’s best to keep as few people involved as possible.”

“Okay then,” Tim responds, not fully managing to hide the disappointment and apprehension in his voice. “Good luck, Mari.”

The corners of her lips twitch upwards in a tiny smile. “I am the living embodiment of good luck, Tim-Tam. It will be alright.”

.o0o.

It is easy to poke and prod at Gabriel’s ego until he thoughtlessly lunges, crashing through his own window onto the street below when she dances out of his way.

Ladybug follows, dropping and rolling with a familiarity that comes from being forced to do that same motion countless times, and she toys with him, dodging, ducking, but never really attacking, until the news helicopters start circling overhead.

Chat Noir arrives just as she sweeps Gabriel’s legs out from underneath him, and he doesn’t quite manage to stifle his gasp of horror, all irritation at Ladybug for taking Hawkmoth down without him forgotten when he sees who is underneath the mask.

Ladybug may find Chat Noir (Adrien Agreste, she reminds herself,) a nuisance at best, but she is not heartless. She knows what it’s like, to want to believe that one’s parents are good people. She knows what it’s like when that illusion one tries so hard to maintain finally shatters, and it’s something that nobody deserves to experience.

Chat’s face hardens as Ladybug starts murmuring words in an ancient tongue underneath her breath, casting a spell on his father, who gave up the fight as soon as the butterfly was removed from his hands, to ensure that Gabriel will never be able to touch another miraculous again. He won’t be able to exist within three feet of one.

It’s a good thing she chooses that spell too, because it protects Gabriel from his son’s wrath.

As the authorities are cuffing his hands behind his back, something cold settles in Chat Noir’s eyes as he calls up a Cataclysm and lunges at his father, the clawed hand rippling with dark magic outstretched, ready to disintegrate a living, breathing human being.

Gabriel is yanked backward by an invisible force, pulled out of harm’s way, and Chat’s Cataclysm lands on a chunk of debris instead. The Black Cat is held back by his partner before he can try something else.

“Chat,” Ladybug hisses, as he struggles in her hold, still trying to go after his father, who is being put away into a police car. “It’s done. It’s over. He won’t hurt anyone ever again, and the justice system will deal with it.”

Chat Noir slowly starts to resist less and less at her words, and she takes that as a cue to continue. “It feels anticlimactic, and I know you want to do more. You think we should do more than just let them take him away, because you’ve been fighting on the front lines of this battle since the beginning. But our part is over. Our duty has been fulfilled. He won’t be acquitted, if that’s any consolation. There are mountains of evidence against him.”

Her partner turns around, suddenly, and buries his face into her shoulder as his body jerks with what she realizes are sobs. He’s crying,Ladybug realizes. He’s crying for his father. For who he thought his father was.

When was the last time she cried for one of her parents?

Ladybug reaches a hand up and awkwardly pats Chat Noir on the back for a moment before she spots the reporters.

“Let’s take this to our usual meeting spot,” she whispers to her partner, and he nods, composing himself in an instant. Janet would have liked Adrien, she thinks. Gabriel’s parenting style was evidently similar to how Marinette had grown up.

Five minutes later, they’re standing on the Eiffel Tower, overlooking the city they’d sacrificed so much to protect.

“This is it, isn’t it?” Chat Noir asks, turning to her. “This is the end? There’s no use for us anymore.”

Ladybug inhales slowly, taking in the view from above one last time and committing it to memory. Not that she needs to – her eidetic memory ensures that she’ll never forget. It’s for the sentiment, she supposes.

“Yes,” she murmurs. “We have to give them back now. Say goodbye to our kwamis.” She’ll miss Tikki’s company, she thinks, but not as much as she misses Jason’s. The kwami was sweet, yes, but she didn’t understand Marinette’s need to do something other than being Ladybug.

“Where do we even return them to?” Chat questions, and then she remembers that he’d never been told of the Guardian’s existence.

Ladybug unhooks her yoyo from her side, tossing it up and down one last time as she prepares to swing. “Follow me,” she says, and then she throws the yoyo and leaps off the side of the Tower.

.o0o.

Fu’s massage parlor is just as inconspicuous as ever, and somehow, no one is walking along the street when Ladybug and Chat Noir enter.

The Guardian has been expecting them – there are three cups of tea sitting on the table in front of him.

“Ladybug, Chat Noir, please sit,” he says in his wheezy voice. They oblige, but the tea remains untouched on the table.

“Chat Noir, it is time to return your miraculous,” Fu states, and the two of them stiffen, immediately picking out what’s wrong with that sentence.

“Why am I not included?” Ladybug inquires, her polite tone holding an undercurrent of danger. “There cannot be a Ladybug without a Black Cat.”

“Well, you see, you won’t be using the Ladybug,” the Guardian explains with a slightly condescending look on his face. “But there can only be one Guardian, and I’ve chosen you to be my successor.”

The sound of Ladybug’s palms slamming on the table makes the other two people in the room jump. “Absolutely not,” she declares as she stands up. “I did not agree to become the Guardian. This has never been discussed.”

Fu looks up at her with confused eyes. “But you became a candidate when you agreed to put on the earrings, and Chat Noir is simply not fit for the job.” Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Chat Noir wince, but he does not disagree.

“I put on the earrings because people were dying,” Ladybug growls. “Because this city needed something, someone, to look up to, and there was no other viable option. The Guardian is never in the light. They spend the rest of their extended lives hiding in the shadows to protect a box of magical jewelry. The Guardian is not a symbol of hope, because nobody knows the Guardian exists. I put on the earrings to be a symbol of hope, not because I wanted to, but because people needed one. The people don’t need one anymore, and I don’t want to continue doing this.”

“I was fighting a war, Fu,” she spits, furious words laced with venom. “I was fighting a war with one ally by my side and we were both children. Now that the war is over, I am no longer needed, so I am leaving. I want the shreds of innocence I had before this war back, but that is not possible, so I can at least try to move on from this instead. Let me move on.”

Without warning, she reaches up and carefully takes the earrings out of her ears. She would have loved to rip them off in one swift movement, but earrings were not that type of jewelry. The Ladybug suit disappears in a flash of pink, and then she is Marinette again, standing in a massage parlor with a pair of red-and-black earrings in her hand and two sets of wide eyes fixed on her.

“Marinette,” Chat Noir breathes. “Oh my god, I… I’m so sorry.”

Marinette drops the earrings on the table in front of them. “Are you sorry for being an ass, or just sorry because the person you convinced yourself you were in love with was an illusion?” she asks, not looking at anyone or anything in particular as she pivots on her heel and strides for the exit.

When she reaches the doorway, however, she pauses, eyes still fixed straight ahead of her. “Oh, and Adrien?” she calls, eliciting two identical noises of surprise. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry too. About your father, of course.”

Then she opens the door and walks through, never once looking back as she sees the city that once weighed so heavily on her shoulders from the ground looking up, instead of from above, gazing down.

.o0o.

She’d spent some time wondering how she was going to adjust to life in Paris after that, knowing what she knew about Adrien and Gabriel and what Adrien knew about her.

As it turns out, she only has to go through one week of feeling Adrien’s green eyes on her at every available moment in class and going out of her way to avoid him, because her mother dies.

It’s surprisingly anticlimactic.

Janet Drake was always such a formidable woman. Her mere presence in a room could make grown men cower. To Marinette, she seemed almost invincible – always superior to everyone else, untouchable as she lashed out with quick with and a sharp tongue and long nails digging into her children’s shoulders. If there were ever any cracks in Janet’s façade, if it even wasa façade, she’d never seen one.

And yet, in the end, it turned out that she wasn’t untouchable after all. She’d died because she drank poisoned water out of desperation, even as Batman was right there. Batman had arrived to save them, he had freed them from their bonds, and the first thing they did was drink water poisoned with nerve toxin. Jack had survived, though he was in a coma and paralyzed.

Janet did not.

And that was it. That was the end of a woman that had dominated Marinette’s life for so long, a woman whose voice still hissed and lingered in her mind, reminding her to sit still and be silent and never, ever let your emotions show on your face.

Tim – he’d never had that mindset thrust upon him as forcefully as she did. After all, Tim had a father that didn’t despise him for his gender. Jack took charge of molding the son, and so Tim is crying, when he tells her all of this. He thinks he’s being subtle, but she’s his sister. She knows better.

Marinette didn’t care for her mother much, but she supposes she could give the dead at least some modicum of respect.

So as she packs her bags and books the next available flight to Gotham City, Marinette honors her mother’s wishes and does not shed a single tear for Janet Lynn Drake.

statue of ice

@whydoexamsexist @myazael @miyla-lokidottir @ira-sairain @zalladane @frieddonutsweets @moonlightstar64 @karategirl198-blog @consumeconstantly @maybe-nonsense @colorfulmongerpsychicranch @ola-is-dead @bee-wrecker @jeminiikrystal @neromerp13 @artemisdragona @severelyenchantedwonderland @miraculouslydumb @pepelachanel @stainedglassm @nyx-in-line @heldtogetherbysafetypins @silversaphire12 @zalladane @theymakeupfairies @thefoxandthewolfs @m0chik0furan

permanent

@wannajointhecrabcult @miraculous-simmer7 @certainmuffinbagelcalzone @fantasyislive @chocolateherringtacofan @alyssadeliv @susiej1118 @aestheticnpoetic @toodaloo-kangaroo @ladybug-182 @itsmeevie01 @g-arya @souleateralicestein @nightstarblue @i-is-mysterious @moonystars14 @vixen-uchiha @flapdoodle-noodle @labschaos @nathleigh @jalaluvsu @kaithehero @iamablinkmarvelarmy @luveverything12 @technicallyburninggarden @crazylittlemunchkin

unspecified

@momothefemur @indecisive-mess-named-me @laurcad123 @ilovefluffbutsmutisalsogreat @sassakitty @fusser90

#maribat #my writing #statue of ice au

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elytrafemme · 3 years

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reasons why c!ranboo should blow himself up in las nevadas

(instead of working on my homework or, you know, focusing on the fic i just posted)

(i’m not a good analyst, by the way. this is half stream of consciousness. bear with.)

(1) a lot of the current dynamic between c!ranboo and c!wilbur hedges on c!wilbur’s belief that the two of them are similar, kindred spirits of sort. we see this in the neuroticism talk between the two of them, and how c!wilbur finds c!ranboo to be similar to him, if a little braver. c!ranboo is seemingly hesitant about this, but we have repeated affirmations at the end of c!wilbur’s streams that he absolutely loves c!ranboo, and he thinks they get along well.

c!wilbur is trying to move on past l’manberg. this is not done flawlessly; he regresses back into his prior habits dozens of times. with good intent or not, he is manipulative-- less out of a desire for success, maybe, and more to defend himself. regardless, he is trying to move past l’manberg, and we can see that in him.

this takes me to two different points. let me cycle it back to c!ranboo, first.

(2) c!ranboo is currently a static character.

his character has not had a lot of change or growth. now, this isn’t inherently bad-- we see a lot of characters who have less growth than others. not everyone has the convoluted dynamics that we see in c!quackity’s character, and that’s good, because too many moving pieces in one story and it starts to get terribly, terribly messy.

but c!ranboo is a character who, i would argue, needs growth. but he currently doesn’t have any. and i think, when drawing the comparisons between c!wilbur and him, that’s a pretty fascinating piece.

(2.5) c!ranboo needs his worldview to shatter, just a little. and i do think death can cause that, because let’s be honest, he is the only character on the smp right now who does not have a grasp on the idea of death. even if you have never died, like c!philza, you understand death. you’ve caused it, you’ve witnessed it, you’ve contemplated it-- etc.

c!ranboo hasn’t. and there is a lot of naivety that comes in that, in my opinion.

(3) other people haven’t moved on from l’manberg. c!quackity built las nevadas hoping it would be different, that it would succeed-- he shuts c!wilbur out from the fear that he will make history repeat. and c!tubbo, part of las nevadas now, still hasn’t healed from the aftereffects. we know that.

one of the biggest pieces of l’manberg’s destruction, if not the sole centerpiece of it all, is c!wilbur blowing up his own nation and pleading for death.

(4) history repeats itself, but c!ranboo is taking c!wilbur’s place.

c!ranboo and c!wilbur have a lot of similarities beyond neuroticism. both of them have taken a close relationship to c!philza, looking up to the other as a mentor/father. both have strong political stances that are opposing to a significant population of people on the dreamSMP. both of them have something they care for more than anything-- one is a person and the other is a country but regardless, they care for it.

c!wilbur told c!ranboo to put tnt in las nevadas. we know chekhov’s gun by now; we know that it will light. we know that all that time ago, c!wilbur blew himself up in his own country, because a country is what he cared for.

we know that c!ranboo’s closest loved one is in las nevadas. we know that c!ranboo, justified or not, was a traitor to l’manberg. we know that c!ranboo doesn’t understand death, or the world, exactly, and we know that c!ranboo has always taken sides never quite intending to.

l’manberg was never quite c!ranboo’s country. he was part of it when it started anew. but he never really understood the history, not in its entirety. he knows the pieces, of course-- he was the minutes man! he was at the president’s side! he was in the butcher’s army! he’s seen his husband have night terrors for months now! he’s seen the museum!

he’s tried. but it isn’t enough.

c!ranboo should blow himself up in las nevadas’ casino, obeying the laws of chekhov’s gun and the bullet that c!wilbur placed into his hands. he should blow himself up in las nevadas’ casino in front of those who saw l’manberg’s destruction, and he should be a traitor once more. he should blow himself up in las nevadas’ casino because he was intended to be c!wilbur but braver, but he’s been brave as often as he’s been loyal, which is to say all the time and never at all. c!ranboo should blow himself up in las nevadas’ casino because history never ends, and one can write down the memories and the minutes all they want just as one would hear stories about men with guns that look like lovers and enemies, but never know what its like to touch a gun.

c!ranboo should blow himself up in las nevadas’ casino. c!quackity may be c!wilbur’s yang to his yin, but c!ranboo is the closest thing c!wilbur has to a successor. and he is, in the same breath, everything that c!wilbur is and isn’t.

c!ranboo should blow himself up in las nevadas’ casino.

because frankly, i’m a c!ranboo enthusiast, and i want to see my favorite character die.

#nightmare.analysis #ranboo analysis #in which i avoid c!ranboo crit or neg and then basically write it myself #this isn't meant to be neg i love his character #i also think he should die #and i think they should all see it happen.

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pizzaboat · 3 years

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My brain came up with the pre-emtive theory that the reason–besides plot reasons–that the golden gaurd has an owl mask, besides him potentially being a clawthorne, is to possibly tie a parallel to Eda.

Okay so to list off the parallels, they're surface level so far, but they feel intentional, he has the owl mask, he's a genius teen prodigy, his brand of unique while definitely his own thing is kinda giving off eda vibes. He's also lazy much like eda as shown in the drawing of him with kikimora.

And let's not forget the "bye!!!" Thing that was done by both of them in the same episode, and early last season by eda too, proving this isn't some coincidence, it's an intentional detail that the writers want you to pay attention to.

Now, he's also different to eda. Morally, he's..Not great. He's a kid who has no problem giving gruesome deaths to people while completely blaze. He works for the emperor, and is from what I can see so far, loyal to him.

Because the golden gaurd is only sixteen, I'm putting this down to brainwashing. He's clearly desensitised to how fucked up the coven is.

Because we don't know much else about him, including his actual name. The rest of this is mere guessing and the result of too much time on my hands.

So anyway, the reason I think he's going to be a contrast to young Eda and not old Eda is that the current Eda has alot of history behind her at this point, and the message I'm trying to focus on is potential.

Young Eda was a genius teen prodigy. There's no disputing that, she was gonna graduate at sixteen(the same age as goldy bio leading the emperors coven now) this means she would've skipped two years at the max and would've been shooting straight into the emperors coven where with her brains, raw power and skill would've probably reached goldie Bois position fairly fast.

Things didn't turn out like that though for a number of reasons. One. Eda was cursed, limiting her magic use and leaving her ostracised. And two, she hates authority and denounced the coven publically at around his age. Something happend to sixteen year-old Eda for all of that brain washing that all the other kids her age were facing to be pealed back enough for her to take a leap of faith and not join a coven.

I think this might have something to do with the illegal history book she seems to own and the portal which she did have at that point as shown in one of the trailers.. she got exposed to the truth, if even just a sliver and could never turn back.

Eda's life took a drastic veer away from her peers and her own sister.

Now, about gold boi, he seems to live in the castle from what Dana's drawing implies, he orders Kikimora around so he can slack off(showing he also doesn't take the job to seriously like a hypothetical young Eda wouldn't have either). The emperor gives him special treatment from what we heard from Lilith and that is proof. If he's leading the coven, than its safe to assume that Lilith would've been killed for even daring to pull that kinda stunt.

I'm gonna assume. And this is only an assumption since I've only seen the first two episodes, but I think he was actually raised in the castle for this very job. Or for something atleast. Maybe a successor.

Natural talent snatched up at a young age and heavily brainwashed, far more than the other kids his age, (because he would be that close to the emperor/there also the chance he knows the titan thing is bulshit and is loyal to belos out of familiarity.)

Again. Speculation and guessing.

But what I'm trying to say is that young Eda and him are so similar in their feel, but there's this cold devide that separates them.

Young Eda was and is a violent, mischievous trouble maker, but I doubt she's a killer. Eda only lashed out to kill in ybos and agoaw because of extreme emotional distress she was in. Call it temporary insanity after her world had crumbled down around her.

Goldie kills because its his job. And while he does subtly warn Luz and eda to stay out of trouble for their own good (I think this implies there's a bit of good in him under all that) it's hidden under arrogance(another trait both versions of Eda have) making Luz react negatively to him.

He's also clearly terrifying to grown witchs that have to deal with him (because he sends the emperors threats and warnings and could probably fuck their shit up in a second.) Call him a messenger of death and other bad news.

I'm just gonna remind you again he's sixteen.

He's obviously his own character but he already feels like a reminder that if Eda had been born under different circumstances, if something happend along the way or if she was snatched up by the emperor like I'm guessing goldie was we'd have a more morally iffy Eda if that's even possible.

She wouldn't have had her sister to look out for and be looked after by. She wouldn't have met these mysterious friends of hers that I think played a crucial role in what she became. Idk.

This is an unstructured mess and I hope you're as confused as I am. I've suffered through this for a week. But its your problems now.

#the owl house #toh #eda clawthorne #edalyn clawthorne #toh eda #lilith clawthorne #luz noceda #toh lilith #toh luz #the golden gaurd #toh golden guard #emperor belos #the emperors coven #toh speculation #the owl house speculation

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bakustark · 4 years

Text

10/10 lingerie | aphrodisiacs

warning(s): nsfw, aphrodisiacs, lingerie, musical references, Reader is a Stand user, light angst, denial, confessions, emotional sex, creampie, crying, Reader used to be Diavolo’s successor, enemies to friends to lovers, etc.

High on Believing

If you asked her how it happened, she honestly wouldn’t be able to tell you. It all just happened so damn fast.

One second she was standing outside, guarding the entrance, and suddenly Bruno came crashing through said door, Sticky Fingers wrestling with a pastel pink Stand as it hissed and snapped at Bruno. Blue Swede jumped into the fray and it was a mess of punches, cries and curses— a mess that would be a pain in the ass to report to Don Giovanna, she just knew it.

Blue Swede dodged the Stand’s swipes and dove for the user, who didn’t even have a chance to scream before being pummeled to the ground. The pink Stand dissolved with a hiss and a puff of sweet smelling smoke. Bruno seemed fine, a little bruised and disheveled, but fine nonetheless. She eyed the unconscious user and the debris strewn all over the floor, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

What a fucking mess.

“Bucciarati, are you alri—” A pair of soft lips cut her off, pressing against her own in a kiss. She stared, wide eyed, at Bruno’s closed lids as his tongue brushed against hers. His warm hands came up to cup the sides of her face, her hands hovering over his waist in surprise. She quickly pulled away, her heart feeling like it was going to burst in her chest, and stared at him in alarm. She took in the flush on his cheeks and the glazed look in his eyes, concern replacing the confusion, “Bucciarati—”

He kissed her again, pulling her flush against him, and threaded his fingers through her hair as he took advantage of her open mouth to slide his tongue inside. Bruno pulled back slightly to utter her name, sounding dazed, and dove back in with renewed fervor. It felt like her cheeks were on fire, most likely an embarrassing shade of red by now at being caught off guard.

She grabbed a handful of his soft, silky hair and pulled him back, disconnecting their mouths and grimacing at the strings of saliva that the blue eyed man licked away. “Bucciarati,” She called his name again, painfully out of breath, taking notice of the blown state of his pupils. “What the hell are you doing?”

Bruno tore his eyes away from her mouth and swallowed harshly, looking pained. “It’s so hot,” He panted, sweat building up on his brow. “The Stand did something, I—” His eyelids fluttered and a shaky breath escaped him. “I need you so bad it hurts.”

Something like hope gripped her heart in its hands, but whatever this was had been caused by the enemy Stand. These weren’t his words. “Okay,” She said and his glossy eyes met hers, “Let’s head back, Don Giovanna will know what to do.” She didn’t let her voice become anything but professional.

She turned on her heels and started for the car, but there was the sound of a zipper and she was suddenly falling. Sticky Fingers grabbed her by the arm and turned her around, her body bouncing on a soft surface. Bruno was hovering over her, caging her with his body. He was trembling now, settled between her legs and biting down on his bottom lip as he tried to calm his breathing.

She stared up at him in alarm, hands pinned to the bed by Sticky Fingers. “Bucciarati!” She yelped, feeling his clothed erection pressing against her thigh.

He groaned at the sound of his name and ducked his head to capture her mouth, his tongue tracing the seam of her lips. Sticky Fingers’ thumbs traced gentle circles on her inner wrists, that and the tenderness of Bruno’s kiss made her give in. Long enough for her to reciprocate, eating up the pleased moan he let out. He tilted his head, deepening the kiss and pressing himself against her.

“Wait, wait, wait,” She murmured, turning her head so his lips would be pressing against her cheek. It didn’t seem to stop him, because he started mouthing at the curve of her jaw. She let out a small groan of frustration and had Blue Swede pull Sticky Fingers away so she could cup Bruno’s face to grab his attention. “Bucciarati, this is the Stand’s doing. Let’s look for Don Giovanna before you do anything you’ll regret.”

Sticky Fingers was squirming in Blue Swede’s hold, muttering frustrated ari’s as he failed to free himself. Bruno’s brow furrowed in similar frustration, a drop of sweat sliding down the side of his face. “I want you, tesoro.” He stated breathlessly, giving his hips a firm roll against hers, “Let me have you, cara, please.”

No, he didn’t.

Because no one wanted her.

“You don’t mean that.” She snapped, trying to ignore the lump in her throat and the burning in her eyes. “This is that damned Stand’s doing. You don’t want me— nobody does.”

“No, no, amore,” Bruno nearly whimpered at the sight, pressing a trembling hand against her cheek. He pressed a series of short, desperate kisses against her lips, “I want you, I need you— bella, per favore!” The rough snap of his hips against hers made her gasp. “Per favore, don’t push me away— ah, it hurts.”

He buried his face into the crook of her neck, physically shaking with the effort of not humping away at her thigh like an animal. She could feel the heat of him through his clothes, precum staining the front of his pants and slowly wetting her own. Fuck, he was leaking like a faucet. Bruno was begging at this point, almost babbling incoherently against her skin, but he didn’t dare move until she gave her consent.

She breathed out shakily and looked over to see Sticky Fingers had ceased his struggling in favor of shaking — much like his user — in Blue Swede’s arms. Her Stand stared back at her, struck between confusion and concern, while holding Sticky Fingers to her chest and stroking his back comfortingly.

“Okay…” She whispered, and felt Bruno stiffen. “Okay.” She repeated, taking a hold of his face so he would look at her. The tears shining in those beautiful blue eyes finally rolled down his cheeks and she called Blue Swede back as he slanted his mouth over hers. Sticky Fingers was quick to zip her clothes off and was doing the same for his user, but she quickly stopped him. Bruno looked confused, lips red and kiss swollen, and she pressed her hand against the black lace covering his chest. “Keep this on.” She uttered into his mouth, nipping at his bottom lip.

Bruno groaned in pleasure and just like that he was grinding his bare erection against her thigh, leaking rivulets of precum against her skin. She ran her hands along the expensive lace, teasing his nipples with her nails. He shuddered almost violently, lavishing her collarbones with wet kisses and sharp nips that would leave an array of dark bruises.

The sweet smell from the Stand lingered on his skin and her clit pulsed with the beating of her racing heart, her walls slick and contracting around nothing. She threaded her fingers through his hair and hooked her legs around his waist, locking her ankles together. The need to cry was still there, present through a pressure in her chest and a tightness in her throat.

The olive skinned man raised his head, his nose brushing against hers as he licked his lips, his eyes half lidded. “Can I, cara?” Bruno asked, giving his hips a shallow thrust, the head of his cock pressing against her soaked entrance.

She tucked his hair behind his ears, her thumb brushing away the wetness of his tears from his cheeks, “Yes.”

He pressed his forehead against hers and slid inside her until his balls were nestled against her ass. Bruno nearly sobbed in relief at the feeling of her wet walls clinging to his cock. She let out a moan, wrapping her arms around him to press him impossibly closer. More tears slid down his cheeks as he stared at her with an adoring look on his face, starting to rock his hips.

She could feel the precum drooling from his cock, adding to the mess of her juices dripping out of her and the lewd noises of their coupling. Bruno pressed his mouth against hers, moaning in between kisses as he failed to keep a proper rhythm and continued to fuck into her in quick, uneven thrusts that were nonetheless pleasurable.

Bruno was hitting all the right places, his lace clad chest pressed up against her breasts and his hands running along her body as if he wanted to memorize every dip, scar and curve. He kissed her almost desperately, like she was the air he needed to breathe. She kissed back just as fiercely, meeting him thrust for thrust, his pelvis grinding against her engorged clit with every snap of his hips.

“Bella, oh, tesoro—” Bruno gasped, mouth agape in pleasure, “I’m coming, I can’t, oh, I can’t stop—” He buried his face into her hair and let out a loud sob, his hips bucking harshly as his release flooded her insides. She moaned softly as he trembled against her, petting his hair while his hips twitched with every pulse of cum spurting from his cock. It slowly came to a stop, but he was still hard.

Bruno wrapped his arms around her waist and flipped them over so she was on top. She gasped as he sunk in even deeper than before, echoed by his deep groan. He started thrusting, uncaring of their mixed juices dripping down his length and soaking into the expensive sheets, and trailed a hand down to rub at her clit. She let out a muffled curse, moaning in pleasure as her toes curled.

He tilted his head up to kiss her, planting his feet on the bed to deliver steadier thrusts aimed at the spot that made her see stars. Bruno moaned when her walls fluttered around him, the coil in her abdomen tightening as his thumb rubbed tight circles on her clit. “Ti amo, ohhh, ti amo così tanto—” Bruno muttered into her mouth, his breath hitching with his approaching orgasm.

She cupped his face in her hands, “Grazie, Bruno, ti amo,” She breathed between tearful kisses, rivulets of saltwater sliding down her cheeks. “Grazie mille…!”

Bruno tugged her down into his lap and buried his cock as deep as it could go, crying out with the force of his second climax. She clutched him to her, coming undone and shaking around him. He hugged her back just as tightly, pressing kisses against the side of her face, “Ti amo, ti amo, ti amo…”

A small sob got caught in her throat and buried her face into his shoulder. “Bruno,” She hiccuped in a moment of rare vulnerability, “Thank you for saving me.”

He hushed her softly, despite crying just as she was, and pressed a soft kiss against her lips. They both knew that in another time, another place, she’d perished in her journey to follow Diavolo’s footsteps if not for Bruno’s kindness.

#jojo's bizarre adventure #jjba #vento aureo #bruno buccellati #bruno bucciarati #bruno bucciarati x reader #bruno bucellati x reader #n/s/f/w #kinktober 2020 #welcome to the late train choo choo #i got into a small accident which is why this is late #i’m ok tho

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autolenaphilia · 2 years

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Lost Horizon (the adventure game)

The 2010 adventure game Lost Horizon is an excellent example of why a piece of media doesn’t have to be original to be good.

Even the title as you might notice is not original (which is kinda annoying if you want to look up information on this game). The game is not an adaptation of James Hilton’s classic novel, even if the game’s central idea of a Shambhala hidden away in the Tibetean mountains is clearly inspired by the book’s Shangri-La.

The game is set in 1936 and stars Fenton Paddock, a pilot and ex-army British army man who has to find the key to Shambhala in the hope of finding his friend Richard who has disappeared. But he has to get ahead of the Nazis who wants to find Shambhala to use its power to take over the world.

It is a very stock adventure plot as you can tell. The heavy inspiration from Indiana Jones is evident, especially the fighting the nazis part (which is something that never happened in real 1930s adventure film serials, due to Hollywood’s desire to sell films to Nazi Germany). And there are clearly borrowings from the IJ films. The game’s opening with the hero and heroine escaping from gangsters in Hong Kong in a Ford Trimotor is clearly inspired by the opening of Temple of Doom (which is set in Shanghai of course, but the similarities are still there). There are two sequences in a row where Fenton must go both to to Berlin and a Nazi castle in his quest, which is probably inspired by Last Crusade (the game’s castle sequence actually features a castle used by Himmler in real life, Wevelsburg, and you get to explore the infamous room in the North Tower with the black sun symbol, which is quite fun.)

The gameplay is also very traditional point-and-click adventure game, with very few changes from the 1990s formula. The only real addition to the 90s formula is the addition of holding down spacebar to see all interactable elements on the screen, and that feature seems to already have become standard in the adventure game genre by the late 00s. The gameplay style being emulated is thankfully Lucasarts and not Sierra, since there is no dying in this game. And in both story and gameplay, Lost Horizon feels like a spiritual successor to Lucasart’s Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis. And it feels closer to that game than its actual sequel, which was heavily Tomb Raider inspired.

So this game is 100% derivative, yet it is done so well. The developers imitate but they clearly understand what they imitate.

To begin with: this game looks gorgeous. And it does so with fairly simple graphics by going for a comic-book style aesthetic. There are 3d models of the characters in this game, and they are not that advanced. In fact they are probably this game’s main weakness graphically, which the game compensates for with 1: using simple cartoon character designs that avoid realistic detail and 2: using a lot of hand-drawn 2d art. The backgrounds in-game are all hand-drawn art and they are gorgeous. Also during dialogue instead of relying solely on the primitive 3d models, they instead use 2d portraits of the characters. This artstyle is very appealing and contributes a lot to my enjoyment of this game.

The gameplay is also quite a solid point-and-click adventure. The puzzles feel imaginative without being totally illogical. The game’s main way of adding complexity is the addition of secondary playable characters in certain segments. This second playable character in those segments is the female lead Kim in all but the final one. In those segments you can switch between controlling Fenton and Kim with each character usually having their own area to explore and they need to cooperate to reach their goal.

With its no failure-states design,Lost Horizonis definitely on the easier side. While I have played a lot of adventure games, I wouldn’t say I’m that good at them, I usually will have to use online hints/a walkthrough at some point. And that wasn’t the case at all in this game, I never got stuck for long and never had to use a walkthrough. And that is super-rare in an adventure game. I could figure out all of the puzzles with a little trial-and-error at most.

Still while I appreciate a challenge, I don’t think being too easy is necessarily a failing. It is better for a developer to err on the side of making a game too easy than the opposite. Especially in the adventure genre, where “difficulty” often means making the game’s puzzles too illogical and obtuse instead of more intelligent puzzle design. In the case of Lost Horizon, this lack of difficulty made for a very flowing and ultimately enjoyable gameplay experience.

The story is probably the game’s main weakness. The main love story between Fenton and Kim feels totally underdeveloped, it is supposed to go from good-natured bickering from love and you never really get a strong sense for that change. They never feel as more than friends until that final cutscene. The final cutscene also feels like a total anti-climax in general, even if the gameplay leading up to it is quite fun.

The characters are all fairly lacking in complexity and development, and it is very much a stock adventure story, with really nothing original added.

The writers at least try to update the adventure genre for the 2010s which carries a lot of sexist, racist and colonialist ideological baggage. The object of the quest is revealed to be nothing Fenton neither can or should conquer or take for himself, which somewhat softens any colonial undertones (even if Fenton’s backstory literally is that he used to work as a soldier for the British empire). There are Chinese Triad gangsters as side-villains in the opening of the story, but there is also Kim, the female lead, who is a capable Chinese woman who rescues herself in the climax. Kim is very fun, but she is ultimately the sidekick to the white english male hero Fenton. So this attempt to update the politics of the genre is not entirely successful.

Yet these faults I still enjoyed this story a lot. The writers do understand what makes this type of adventure story work. It has all of the clichés but also has pretty much all you want from an adventure story too. Fenton needs to go a long globetrotting journey to find the key to Shambhala, and so the game features a lot of travelling, more than you might expect from the beginning of the game. And it features practically all the cool environments you want in an adventure story. Hong Kong, Himalayan mountains. Marrakech and its surrounding desert, 30s Berlin, a medieval nazi-controlled castle, an Indian jungle, and of course plenty of ancient temples. This game has it all. It is tremendous fun to explore all these varied locations, all depicted with well-made 2d backgrounds.

Being an adventure game where you can’t even die, the action sequences are naturally a bit limited. The action is mostly cutscenes and playable set-pieces where the character is supposed to be in danger, but you can paradoxically take all the time in the world to solve the puzzle to defeat the enemy. But they are still fun and add to the adventure film tone.

The characters are fairly underdeveloped and remain simple archetypes, but they are well-written enough to give them charm and likeability. Mainly it is because the dialogue has some wit to it, which makes especially our main character Fenton rather charming. And fighting nazis is a frequently used idea in both film and games, but it never gets old.

So that is Lost Horizon. It is a game that does pretty much nothing new but despite some flaws does it rather well. If you are a fan of the adventure genre, as in both the genre of video games and the fiction genre, it is worthy of playing.

#lost horizon #my reviews #my writings

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ninjastormhawkkat · 3 years

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Becky Boxleitner Au Ideas

This is just some random stuff I want to say about my au before I post my first au rewrite story.

Outline continuation:

Becky does not reveal to her dad her origin story until after he learns her identity.

“The Ballad of Steve McClean” and “A Better Mousetrap” are extremely humiliating moments for Becky/Wordgirl. (You know how Wordgirl reacted to Dr. Two Brains outfit in the canon episode after his rap. Yeaaaahhh. R.I.P Becky.)

Scoops does interview Becky’s dad about his latest crimes or rays, but he does not publish them out of respect and consideration for his friendship with Becky. Scoops uses his interviews with Dr. Two Brains as practice for his future career as a reporter.

Violet and Scoops know to never bring cheese to Becky’s house (when her dad is out of jail) or risk loosing it forever. Poor Violet learned the hard way after bringing a sculpture made of Fromage Blanc to Becky as a gift. Violet had no idea that Fromage Blanc was a type of cheese. She thought it was a fancy name for a type of art material. Dr. Two Brains has apologized to Violet.

Becky and her dad used to live in a apartment in the city before the accident. It took some time for Becky and the Botsfords to clean out her stuff. (It took time for reasonable and emotional reasons.) Two Brains had snuck back there after his first time in jail to get some of his own belongings. (Becky had mixed feelings on whether she should collect her dad’s stuff or not, but decided to leave the stuff (non-essential things) and take only personal and needed items with her.)

Becky has a box filled with old photos of her and her dad before the accident located under her bed. She also has photos of her, her dad, Bob, and the Henchmen in new, decorated scrapbooks placed in the drawers of her nightstand.

Dr. Two Brains is familiar with Tobey a bit differently than canon. He has heard about Tobey from Becky but he is still not closely acquainted with the kid just like when Two Brains first meets him in canon. (Since Tobey and Becky are not close friends, Two Brains never bothered remembering about him until he read about Tobey’s robots and work in that magazine. Also Tobey’s introductory episode occurs after Two Brains’ origin so Steven had no idea who the kid was before his accident.) “Mousezilla” goes similar as canon, but Two Brains and Tobey did not have great start. Two Brains heard from Becky how Tobey attacked the Botsford house where she was staying which made him naturally upset because his daughter was almost hurt by the kid. Tobey was surprisingly somewhat sympathetic towards Becky at school during the first few days after what happened to her dad. He did offer condolences as he could relate with losing a dad. Tobey kinda projects his own issues with his dad towards Two Brains because he sees how Becky acts when her dad is in jail. Tobey is salty that Two Brains puts Becky through this even though Two Brains has no choice in the matter. Tobey in this au still acts like his canon self, but is a bit sympathetic with Becky’s situation with her dad. He won’t tease her about it.

After the accident, there were various reactions by students towards Becky. Some were sorry for her, some talked to her and sent their condolences (like Tobey). There were those that were wary of her because her dad was now a villain and they didn’t know if Becky would join her dad because she cares about him. No one bullied her, (mostly because they were afraid of Violet’s protective glare, DO NOT UPSET VIOLET😰.) Quickly they realized that Becky was still Becky and would not be different just because her dad is now. They still treat her the same after incidents such as the mind control bunny buttons and turning the city into cheese. Some who don’t know Becky well did chuckle after seeing Dr. Two Brains rap (someone recorded it for their version of YouTube.) and the events of “A Better Mouse Trap”.

Other citizens that don’t know Becky well don’t bother her. They do NOT want to risk Dr. Two Brains parental wrath. The Villains know better than to threaten Becky. A few break this either on accident or this is their first time as villains and meeting Becky. (They quickly learn why NOT to mess with Becky Boxleitner.)

T.J Botsford treats Becky the same in this au. He did not like Becky at first because her dad became Wordgirl’s villain. He later got over it and just treated her like an annoying sibiling. (as I said, its the same relationship as canon.) The Botsfords and Two Brains are on good, friendly terms despite Two Brains actions. They understand that Two Brains acts as a villain because of the mouse brain, but is ultimately a good dad to Becky. They treat, Becky, Bob, and Two Brains (and henchmen) as family and will often include them in holiday events if they are able or want to.

In this au, Dr. Two Brains does not threaten harm to Becky’s friends and the Botsfords like in canon. (I don’t think the music ray in “Two Brains Quartet” was life-threatening, just made people sing badly.) He just does something else which keeps his villain status.

Not always, but Dr. Two Brains will reveal his schemes to Becky, whether purposefully or accidentally, before he commits them. Becky has to come up with excuses as Wordgirl when Two Brains questions how she figures out his schemes so quickly.

Becky still goes to Woodview Elementary. Dr. Two Brains, as all villain relatives, have to go through a screening process and are not allowed to use their powers or bring weapons on campus. Two Brains, with the help of Sally Botsford, work out legal stuff with the school where Becky still goes by Boxleitner, but her dad is listed as Dr. Two Brains, as well as be ready to go over school stuff with the Botsfords when Two Brains is in jail. Dr. Two Brains has always been civil and polite with the other kids parents. He only made friends with Tubing and Doohickey back when he was Steven. He never really made an effort to be friends with Scoops’s and Violet’s parents before the accident. He was just friendly and polite as he is now. Dr. Two Brains does consider the Botsfords as friends overtime. (He originally was just grateful and acted in debt to the Botsfords for taking Becky in every time he went to jail.) He is somewhat moved by their kindness towards him and Becky despite his villain status.

Both Two Brains and Granny May gush about grandkids (Granny May)/kid (Two Brains) when they get together at villain meetings. (They both have multiple photos in their wallets.) Since those two are the toughest, the other villains don’t complain. Becky does interact with the villains more often in her regular life since her dad does business with them. Becky has been to a few Villain meetings before the reveal. Two Brains wanted to give his daughter some villain experience. Nothing notable happened as these meetings were mostly informal and villains could invite someone (a potential villain) if they wanted too.

Dr. Two Brains does not like Pretty Princess or the Squishy Fun Bots. He didn’t like them when he was Steven and he doesn’t like them now. He just watches them with his daughter just for quality time. (Two Brains will take any chance to spend time with his daughter to make up for his time in jail.) Steven originally let Becky watch these shows because they were the only appropriate shows on that would also distract Becky with enjoyment. Steven did play make believe with Becky (when she was younger) based on the shows because it made her happy. In this au, Becky did not want to watch the Squishy Fun Bots because of canon reasons and because it brought back too many memories.

Before the reveal, Becky went along with her dad teaching her how to be a villain to make him happy and to provide cover for her identity. Two Brains does not egg Becky into villainy. He knows she was raised to be good when he was Steven and he will fully support any path she takes. Two Brains just hopes that Becky will go into villainy so he will have a good successor and just for more Father and Daughter time. He does take her training pace by pace and it comes second to her schoolwork and health.

No matter the ups and downs, Becky and Two Brains are still family and they care for each other as a Father and Daughter would.

#becky boxleitner au #wordgirl au #outline #dr. two brains #becky #more random stuff #half fluff #half emotional

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