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dnangelic · 4 months

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IM DONE WITH THE FIRST LN..... it was rlly cute and idk how much i trust my summarizing skills (or google translate wheelchairing me thru everything) but ill try, disclaimer that not all of this will necessarily be in perfect detail or order bc i'm horrible at that but it's a gist(tm). LNs take place really early on in the series so daisuke still likes risa and hasn't properly figured out he likes riku yet, dark is WAAAAY more of a creep, etc. also putting it under a read more because it's enormous. open at your own discretion, this is ~200 pages condensed into one post

first few chapters is mostly shenanigans/general chara introductions and setting up the fact daisuke's class is doing a sleeping beauty school play. risa's the princess, hiwatari's the prince, daisuke and riku are basically fairy extras, but daisuke is also the last fairy with important lines that basically help to wake up the princess in the end. in the midst of all this daisuke transforms a couple of times but mostly keeps control of his body, clumsy gap moe darksuke stuff ensues, dark in his head even tells dai to go have some fun and daisuke snaps back that fun for dark is either stealing or flirting with girls and he's NOT doing any of that. 😂

daisuke kind of huffs and mopes about what's going on between him and dark a bunch, with dark 'stealing' risa away from him and simultaneously taking over his entire life, to which emiko offers to listen but daiki tells her that 'a confrontation with dark is a confrontation with oneself' and 'there's nothing you can do.' there's also this very nice passage about dark and his relationship with the artworks that happens:

daisuke was looking at the weathervane spinning on the roof of a certain western-style building. there are many buildings like this, which have both a profound sense of history and delicate beauty in the area where daisuke lives. as his mother once said, the townscape was perfect for a gorgeous phantom thief. these are precious objects that survived an era when art in general was treated badly by the rapid development of science and technology, and the people who used it. as works of art and the techniques used to create them were lost, their rarity value and prices soared, and now they were treated with more respect than before. daisuke had heard stories like this from his grandfather and mother. most of what dark aims for is something imbued with that lost technique. however, these items are not sold and are still sleeping in the basement of the niwa family's house. high tech is progressing in areas that can't be seen, and efforts are being made to prevent intrusions by unscrupulous people. ironically, the same science and technology that eliminated traditional crafts and their techniques are now being used to protect what little beauty and skill that remains. for daisuke, who transformed into dark, breaking through multiple security devices and traps to steal wasn't difficult to do. but how to earn the heart of the one he loved?

daisuke also misses kosuke (his dad) a whole bunch cause he isn't home yet and is still on a trip (he doesn't even know what his dad is really doing,) cue this portion too about his personal anxieties. interesting bits about how daisuke's family doesn't mind how daisuke does at school/goes as long as he prioritizes his skills as a phantom thief because a certain level of educational mastery is needed. daisuke wonders to himself whether or not his mom and grandpa would 'cry again if he asked them to be sensible' lmao.

anyways, emiko pulls out a couple of date tickets to a newly built aquarium/museum called the aqua dome/deep blue, says she'll pick out a cute and cool outfit for daisuke, dark offers to go in daisuke's stead, daisuke tells both of them to shut up and says that he can do it all himself. 'i'll never let you go!' he tells dark. at the aquarium itself it turns out the two tickets that emiko gave him provides admittance for two people per single ticket, so even though he expected a solo date with risa, riku and saehara show up too.

riku actually gets a lot of character focus for being 'strong' and not 'cute' like risa. she's simultaneously insecure/jealous but considerate of risa while risa likewise complains that no matter what she does, she'll still be the younger one with an older sister, and that can't change. riku's sense of conflict over liking daisuke while daisuke (at this point) still likes risa is described as her feeling both a 'burning feeling' and also being 'cold and dark as ice,' which i liked, given the way dnangel usually handles that thematic.

everybody (riku, risa, daisuke, and saehara) goes to a haunted house attraction. daisuke is willing to go because he thinks it's a good chance to show off his cool side since he's a pro at walking in the dark. there's a mechanical 'killer' that chases anybody in the haunted house, which daisuke immediately figures out in regards to how it functions. riku and daisuke also have a sweet moment where in the pitch dark daisuke starts shaking because he's terrified he's suddenly transformed, (he didn't) and gets misunderstood for constantly looking at the emergency exit, but riku grabs his hand and tells him everything's okay in a big sister-ly way, even though she's actually really afraid of blood and is trying to act tough to comfort/encourage him. she tells him not to be afraid because she's with him, daisuke says thanks then grabs her hand back. 'her hands, still a little smaller than the small daisuke's, stopped shaking a little.' 😭😭😭

they leave the haunted house attraction and figure out that saehara has pretty much gone off on his own. saehara comes across satoshi in a fancy suit inside an area 'modeled after some traditional opera house' (POTO REF POG) and satoshi gets described as 'some rich guy's bonbon' LMAO. wiz is also there and starts 'playing tag' with a guard. around the actual aquarium daisuke's having a great time, risa calls a sea otter cute and daisuke can't bring himself to say 'you're cuter,' which he's sure that someone like dark could have said without any embarrassment. (MY SON'S HIDDEN RIZZ!!)

daisuke finally gets to see the mermaid's tears (an artwork/red gemstones) being showcased at the bottom of the attraction, has this crazy moment:

'the reason for the "please do not lean over" warning on this fence is because the 3d light that is projected from the floor covering the mermaid's tears doubles as a sensor to detect intruders. the security device activates when the light is blocked. daisuke carefully listened as a security guard gave an explanation to two young women who were trying to touch the 3d mermaid.

that means we have to do something about security first.

reflexively thinking that, daisuke scratched his head and said 'no way, are even my thoughts turning into dark's?! i'm not going to turn into dark anymore!'

he screams internally while risa gets lost in the daydream sauce, they go to the gift shop, the great phantom dark is a broke ass middleschooler moment. all of the sudden, riku starts shouting at someone to give back risa's wallet- it's a pickpocket. daisuke's legs start moving as soon as he sees riku get pushed away and the pickpocket starts running. daisuke reminds himself he can't cause a commotion only as he's already tackling the guy, who he had absolutely no trouble catching up to/keeping up with. only, he's too small and there's no way he can compete with a grown man in strength, so he gets flung away. he stays where he is 'suppressing the urge' to throw a punch, hiwatari shows up above him sending security to catch the pickpocket, but also softly compliments daisuke for a 'great performance' while lending him a hand to stand up. turns out daisuke had stolen risa's wallet right back and still had it in his hand.

'what? ah ... ah .... '

it's obvious, after all. daisuke, holding risa's wallet in hand, could only laugh.

in fact, the split second daisuke was clinging to [the pickpocket,] he slipped the wallet out of the [pickpocket's] pocket, and just before he was hit by an elbow, he let go and fell. what he miscalculated was that he couldn't slow down enough and fell on his face. and then there was hiwatari. without him, this "perfect crime" would have been completed.

daisuke immediately starts considering satoshi and his own's circumstances.

'i once heard that people with cold hands have warm hearts. hiwatari is always alone. but is that what he wants? just like saehara, who is always chasing scoops, and like his classmates who attend cram school with their future in mind, i wonder if hiwatari is also trying to do something, at the expense of a normal, enjoyable school life. i wonder why he's going to such lengths to pursue dark.

even though i'm being chased, i have no goals. even though i'm just desperately struggling to escape from dark.

turns out deep blue if not the entire aqua dome was built Specifically with dark in mind, and that's why the area where the mermaid's tears' are is called the special exhibition room. daisuke bursts out laughing at the fact and hiwatari briefly touches him to ask if he's okay. daisuke blurts out asking if he wants to have fun too and hiwatari basically declines with nothing more than a 'faint, gentle smile' and a thank you. risa and riku rush over and start to fret over daisuke because his face has gotten all messed up; he tries to laugh it off and say 'it's no big deal' until riku's expression darkens and she asks him 'why are you being so reckless?'

even if someone asked me why, i couldn't answer because my body moved without any time to think.

(MY SON'S HIDDEN PROTAG SYNDROME!!) risa gets her wallet back and calls dai manly, dai gets rocketed into heaven just from that sole compliment. they go to the artificial beach that's part of the area, daisuke has a moment over risa and starts to transform.

daisuke ran as fast as he could, interrupting the love stories of the couples scattered on the beach. no matter how far you run, no matter how hard you run, your shadow will follow you. the strong midsummer sun gives the shadows a sense of presence. there is a clear boundary between light and shadow, but this is the opposite. what is shining is not the owner of this body, but dark, who's supposed to be a shadow...

... i'm embarrassed, pathetic, and angry because i was so excited. daisuke is always there. it's my other self who effortlessly accomplishes the things i want to do but can't.

dark walks out of the banyan forest daisuke had dived into and onto the beach like he's hot shit. unfortunately for everybody involved he is because the very first thing he does is start flirting with an icecream lady, who gives him an icecream cone 'about three times the height' of a normal ice cream cone, calling it a service. dark offers to give a picture or something in return to her btw, but she declines and only asks him to come again. dark says 'of course, i'll come to see you,' and winks swaggering off. he immediately hands off the icecream to some other girls who cling to his arms and bring up that he looks like dark, to which he has a total tony hawk moment.

'i thought i've seen you somewhere before, but don't you look like dark?' 'they look alike, it's so cool!' 'oh, did you find out? actually, i came to steal the mermaid's tears.' dark grinned, and the girls gaped for a moment, then burst out laughing. 'i almost believed it!' 'it's the truth.'

dark and risa have a moment, daisuke starts to fall into total despair. riku appears and dark hauls ass to transform back. everyone starts to leave the aqua dome because it's getting late, and it's riku and not risa who notices that daisuke is suddenly intensely depressed. he says he's fine and gives a half-hearted smile that looks like it's about to burst into tears, they fall into silence. cue a lovely image of daisuke staring blankly at the nighttime scenery. 'the image reflected in the window glass overlaps with the pitch-black town. without realizing it, he was gradually becoming darker.... daisuke couldn't escape.'

later in bed daisuke wakes up in a lot of pain to turn on the lights. he's relieved because 'instead of the beautiful phantom thief who is said to be more popular than idol celebrities, he saw a very ordinary face that is sometimes said to be cute.' turns out his back's hurting for the past few days harshly enough that he's getting sleep deprived. after transforming back from dark he fell about two meters (6~7 feet) and insists that he could have broken one or two bones if he weren't trained. emiko had laughed saying it was a product of his training, but for daisuke it wasn't any sort of laughing matter.

the pain is similar to the pain that occurs when transforming into dark. it slowly melts out from the core of the body. ugh, it hurts. it was a pain that felt like something was trying to forcibly reshape daisuke's body.

the next day at school saehara and daisuke start doing a manzai routine over wiz being caught transforming on camera. there's an ominous note in the midst of it regarding change: 'even if it transforms, then like a chrysalis, it won't go back to normal.' daisukes goes into the art room to finish on the last piece for the school play.

a forest of thorns covers sleeping beauty's castle. countless fingers that obstruct those who try to break the curse. i layered many kinds of dark colors on that forest. on her 15th birthday, sleeping beauty's future is suddenly closed to her, and her sadness is midnight blue. the thorns that cause anxiety are spruce green. the feeling of trapping despair is the same as dark's wings.

the glue made a clear shadow of daisuke on the test paper. the shadow of the brush that was creating the deep forest suddenly stopped moving.

it won't go back to normal. the curse can't be erased. i can't get those words out of my head. the only girl who can erase the curse is, of course, the only one who can see the curse itself. will i continue to be myself and no longer myself without anyone knowing?

hiwatari puts a hand on daisuke's shoulder as he's going unsteady and daisuke immediately says that he's fine, just not getting enough sleep- but also he hasn't made any progress on his homework, he has to memorize his lines, and he's being swayed by saehara. dai finally brings up that he's never really thought abut the future, and he immediately berates himself for talking about something like it in front of satoshi, who had excellent grades and was already part of the police force. hiwatari surprises him by saying 'me too, i've never though about the future. i've lived my life thinking only about one thing.' no further elaboration is given as hiwatari offers to help out and immediately picks out daisuke's coloring as 'the color of despair.'

daisuke laughed. i tried my best, but i ended up slipping up quite a bit. it's like i painted myself. like sleeping beauty, everything is taken away from her. her love, her body, even her future... she becomes dark and may never be able to return to her former self.

this might be a serious passage but daisuke comparing himself to a fairy tale princess is so funny and on point for me. YOU CAN DO THIS CHRISTINE!!! later after school emiko shows up with the entire aqua dome's cutaway floor plan, and daisuke has NO idea how she managed to get it but starts planning the heist out. everything is practically set against him; darkness is prevented, there's only one vent that's' too small to get through, and there are hidden passages not shown in the drawings. daisuke reaaally wants to stop being dark, dark himself yells NO!!! and emiko and daiki also barge out from the hallway to immediately berate him. 'don't be selfish! if you don't do it, who will? even though mother wanted to be dark, dai-chan just throws away his chance! that's terrible!'

daisuke shuts them out until they finally relent and his mother leaves him with a few last words of apology and this.

daisuke, don't blame dark for things you can't control yourself. i don't want to hear anymore about dark. daisuke covered his ears. what you're worried about now is nothing special. although it's a little different from what everyone else is having. don't be afraid. everyone notices their own carvings that they didn't know before. i'm going to go... his mother's voice did not reach daisuke.

emiko reminisces about her own mother telling her that while dark was never caught by the police and was sure that he had stolen a beautiful jewel, it was actually dark himself who had always been caught but never realized it.

several years have passed since then, and the time has come for the girl who wnated to be dark to be glad to be a girl. she meets the young man who will become daisuke's father and falls in love... the jewel in her heart shines like it's on firer. just for one person. you've already found your true treasure, right? aim for it. she imagined her son alone, waiting for the moment to take off into the great sky.

daisuke himself in the meanwhile is going thru it. he considers how his father can't be dark and wouldn't know dark, and likewise would be able to listen to daisuke's woes.

but where are you? when i woke up, my father wasn't home. that doesn't mean there were any problems, and judging from my mother's reactions, it seems like they were still passionately in love with each other. i've heard that he moves around the world for work, but i don't really know what kind of work he does. i can't believe that my father was also a thief...

...this may be the first time i've felt my father's absence so much. my mother and grandfather were enough to care for me, and even more, they always played with me when i got home. hide and seek, tag, and dogeball. survival versions with traps. ah, now that i think about it, i can only think that it was meant to help me escape when i became dark. once, when he was caught in a trap and injured, daisuke asked his grandfather, 'why do i have to do this?' now is not the time. when the young boy complained in tears, his grandfather flatly told him, ' the time will come when you understand.'

baby daisuke calls his grandpa a shitty old man (kuso jiji/くそじじ) which he apparently picked up through imitation from saehara without knowing what it meant, absolutely flooring poor daiki for a second before he decides to give daisuke a hint: 'all of this is to steal the maiden's heart.' dark pops up and he and daisuke bicker a little, which is really more like dark keeps his casual, annoyingly playful attitude while daisuke gives him a cold shoulder.

'i don't know dark. i don't even know what's going to happen to me...' ---isn't it interesting? i'm excited to see what happens. daisuke didn't have anything better to say to dark, who kept his playful tone. 'anyway, dark is special. he can do anything and knows everything.' --- ah, i've been perfect since the moment i existed in this world. but that's also boring... i need to refresh myself by playing with a pretty lady.' 'that's just a hobby, isn't it?' ---'i wouldn't say so. an unapologetic, bright voice. daisuke felt silly worrying about something like this. why did i talk to someone like dark... well, it would have been understood even if we didn't talk. dark, who seems to have fun doing everything and never takes anything seriously. while concentrating on the conversation in his mind, daisuke forgot about the pain in his body and fell asleep. ---do you know what it means to never change? daisuke couldn't hear it. dark's voice was a little serious. big deal... if you really want to win against me, you should change it. our destiny.

emiko and daiki warmly send daisuke off to school with a sports bag containing dark's clothes and some other supplies, daisuke apologizes to them in his mind and swears to himself again that he wouldn't turn into dark, which is a goal he terrifically fails as soon as the day is up thanks to riku. dark heads off to the aqua dome to finally get the heist started. cue the cool heist stuff, which i'm too lazy to transcribe the majority of rn, but trust me it's pretty cool and wiz is once again not getting paid enough for all the shit dark and dai make him do. daisuke refuses to speak throughout about half of the heist until dark cracks a joke about how 'loved' he is, and daisuke finally snaps that it's not the time to be joking and he's worried about getting caught and how he has to go to school tomorrow. (daisuke...) dark grins and brings up that daisuke finally spoke, then he immediately gets waterboarded and sent off to a different area by a flash flood. they're now stuck outside the area of their plans, daisuke starts having another moment of doomspiralling before dark tells him to quit it -

'don't think so darkly. i won't get caught.' ---where does that confidence from from...? 'where is this?' with the thumb of his tight black glove, dark pointed to his chest. 'are you that worried that you're being hijacked?' dark laughed arrogantly. 'there's no way anyone would like something like that.' daisuke felt as if his chest had been sliced open. he should have been able to feel the pain in his body right now. even though it's not there, there's still an unbearable pain. if you like and love something so much that you can't accept the growing feelings, it might be easier if they just disappeared. after all, it was my fate to be swallowed up by dark...

some more running around, risa clings to wiz-dark, saehara's somewhere in here too, you kids are crazy. at some point dark and dai start having this conversation:

inside dark, daisuke was devastated and drenched with worries. i don't want to think about anything anymore. then i'll happily take over your body and your future, just as you wish,' happily spoke a deep voice. 'and the one you like.'

daisuke remembers riku and unconsciously calls out to dark, who tells him 'don't yell. it's too late now. if it's fate, you'll just follow it while crying the whole time.' daisuke hits back with 'you don't know that yet! i'll change it!' to which dark grins and eggs him on a little more with a 'you tell me.'

'keep going like that and get out of here. please, brother. (kyodai/兄弟) ---we're not brothers. however, it wasn't a complete denial. in truth, somewhere deep down he was enjoying stealing beautiful works of art and playing chase with the police. maybe it was just as my grandfather had said, or maybe i was just being dragged along by dark's heart. what daisuke hated was himself. i found myself being dragged along by a situation that was unexpectedly changing at a dizzying pace. daisuke laughed. perhaps only dark can see that expression. because right now, in reality, this body is not my own. this heart is the only thing that keeps it alive. that's why you can't use it unless you feel strong. even if no one can see you, even if no one can hear you, this is proof that you are definitely here. daisuke can't help but recognize dark's true strength. and for the first time, i called out to my other self from the bottom of my heart. ---we're accomplices, right? we're the only companions who share everything, including our bodies and memories. a phantom thief who violates a maiden's heart. however, i don't like how he's always one step ahead of me.

this cuts into daisuke looking through dark's eyes trying to figure out a way to escape from the area they're trapped in, and the hilarious description of 'the artificial beach where dark was picking up girls' being the location right above them. hiwatari shows up and pulls out the cuffs, daisuke can't do anything but watch as he and dark dodge and squabble. hiwtari pulls out the heartwrenching line 'how many sacrifices have been made for your existence!' at dark, and hiwatari's suffering and pain is described as 'something that daisuke also knew well.' even though daisuke in truth had been enjoying himself, he couldn't anymore with hiwatari like this.

but... now, while he's cornering dark, there's hiwatari who feels like he's been cornered himself. i don't want him to look at me like that anymore.

hiwatari slips after cuffing dark and daisuke freaks out for him, 'reaching out for him' despite not being the one in control of the body. satoshi's glasses break but dark catches their owner, while hiwatari himself looks up at dark 'as if he to ask why he helped him.'

'there's someone who wants to help you.'

dark pulls out a flare/lighter of sorts and sets off a fire alarm and lets him escape, he turns back into daisuke who ends up meeting up with riku and risa. daisuke thanks wiz for helping him and being willing to jump into water even though wiz hates water, daisuke goes home clutching the mermaid's tears, a red gem that 'shines like a flame.' hiwatari muses that dark is an opponent you have to be careful with and that if you let your guard down or get impatient even a little bit, he can easily escape. later daisuke heads off to school again and 'mobilizes all the gods and buddhas to pray at the last minute that he would not transform into dark' during the school performance. riku's trembling from stagefright and when the trade glances she says 'it doesn't matter, i don't have many lines,' to which daisuke says 'don't say things like that. everyone has a role to play. besides...' the stage is set, the lights go out, and in the darkness, daisuke holds hands with riku. 'i'm with you.'

sleeping beauty turns out to be a huge success, the kids pour soda water all over each other instead of champagne, and the daisuke from a while ago probably wouldn't have been able to enjoy that sort of nonsense.

'i'm soaking wet, i'm covered in bruises, all sorts of things happened... i don't know what's going to happen to me, but something is starting to move. daisuke thought it might be a good idea to let the wind blow around him, because the future can be repainted freely.'

the LN closes with emiko finding a picture of riku that daisuke can drawn into his sketchbook, the mermaid's tears beside it.

the light reflected by the jewel, which contains intense feelings that cannot be expressed in words, appears to be lighting a red flame on the chest of the girl in the painting. the flame of my heart burns brightly.

#fav #reference.#*･ﾟ⊰ 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒. ⊱ ✦ › OUT.#nd that's book one. my brain hurts now #somewhere in the earlier section is sato going full vampire n putting his lips to a wound #dai gets while they're painting #so that it doesn't get their work ruined #the detail shows up a few times #what with dark n dai sharing wounds #but whatevs #i couldnt figure out how to put it into the post after i had already started writing it. rubs my fingers into my temples

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readythefanons · 7 months

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Old-tober: setting

To be cheeky, for setting, I’m doing “I have so many feelings, none of them actionable,” AKA the Lorenz POV fic.

This one clocks in at 91k, and it is tight third person in Lorenz’s perspective. Like its counterpart, it’s a coming-of-age, slowburn, friends-to-lovers story. I really enjoyed getting to explore Lorenz’s character as a high-strung, nobleborn, but fundamentally very morally committed person. I picked this fic for “setting” because it gets compliments about its worldbuilding. The game doesn’t give us a lot of meat re: Fodlan in general and the Alliance in particular. It is, as the kids say, free real estate.

To start off, I added a bunch of smaller territories beyond the Big Five who are named in-game. I even made a map to help me keep track of neighbors and different alliances within the Alliance.

I also really leaned into the concept of the Alliance not as a country but an actual Alliance of smaller, sovereign states. (This is reflected in the fic by the effort I made not to refer to the Alliance as a country, even though I think the game does.) This instantly made the politics within the Alliance more tricky and exciting for me.

Building off the Five Great Houses, I inferred the existence of other, smaller Houses and decided that it made sense if there were more, smaller houses.

From there… Listen. A lot of the throwaway details about how the Alliance works in this fic is just inspired by US history/politics. The Great Houses are the colonies with large populations. The smaller Houses are the colonies with smaller populations. The delicate balance of power between the Great Houses and the Lesser Houses is why the US ended up with a bicameral legislature. In the Alliance, however, the Great Houses have more votes per-house, but the Lesser Houses have more votes in total. If the Lesser Houses band together, they can outvote the Great Houses.

Each House/territory has its own alliances and opponents. Specifically, Gloucester is a Great House, but they are stymied by their delightful neighbors, Acheron. In my fic, the various lesser Houses have their own “thing” that explains, at least in part, why they weren’t eaten/claimed by the nearby Great Houses. Some of the smaller territories are just more defensible or have geography that makes them not-so-desirable farmland, which makes them not-so-desirable for conquering. (This is why there are so many smaller territories near the mountain ranges.) Some of them have economic power because there are mines or other valuable resources within their boundaries. Some of them control an important port (this is Neities, aka the Foot Guy’s family, for any superfans out there. His family controls the only port on the southeastern border) or an important mountain pass/trade route (Marlton and Forneau). Acheron is important because their family controls the Great Bridge of Myrddin. Other than that, they’re surrounded by Gloucester Territory. But they control that bridge, and the other small territories stand with Acheron with reasonable consistency—not out of loyalty to Acheron himself (he sucks) but because to allow Acheron to be threatened or even conquered would weaken the position of all the lesser Houses.

The Great Houses are influential because of their territory, but also because of their agricultural production (Riegan and Gloucester), their position as border territories (Goneril and Gloucester again), or for cultural/economic reasons (Edmund, Riegan). In the fic, Ordelia actually is a relatively small territory… but it was a larger territory. Ordelia lost territory after the whole Those Who Slither thing, and their territory was mostly claimed by Gloucester (I think maybe Goneril got a slice too but definitely Gloucester). This influences Lorenz and Lystihea’s interactions, and it plays into Lorenz and Lysithea being Purple. :3 Ordelia is actually a branch family of Gloucester, in the same way the Riegans relate to the Faerghan royal family. Also the Gloucesters and Fraldarius family are related, which is a shout-out to another FE3H fic.

In canon, Lorenz is really invested in Gloucester and Alliance politics as a whole, so I as the author had to invest in Alliance politics. Not only does it give life to the setting, but it also gives Lorenz things to say and do. Lorenz cares so much about the Alliance, and it informs his priorities and his thoughts. It influences his relationship with Claude and shapes his arc in the fic. It also influences his relationship with Leonie—not just the noble-commoner thing, and not just the liege-citizen thing, but also because both Lorenz and Leonie talk about home a lot. We know the name of Leonie’s village. I had to make up place names for the other two Golden Deer commoners. (Kierwall is called that because I thought maybe Kirsten was derived from their ancestral home. He and Leonie relate to each other in a few specific ways because they both come from commoner stock in Gloucester, whereas Ignatz’s cultural context is slightly different because his family is from Riegan.) Both Lorenz and Leonie carry their land with them in their hearts; even when they travel, they know where their roots still lie.

Other setting notes: more broadly, I conceptualize the Empire as the most obviously restrictive culture because they’re the oldest country? Does that make sense? No idea. That’s why their nobles “bend the knee.” The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus is all about vows and dying-breath loyalty and the Goddess, so their lords go through a confirmation. The Alliance isn’t really even a single country, and they’re a bit of a hodge podge, so their lords go through a Disputation when a new leader (spokesperson? chairman?) is chosen. (Also! I thought it was fitting that a character like Lorenz would come out of a culture where the leaders are inducted through a long-ass debate.)

Within the Alliance, a territory’s proximity to the Kingdom versus Empire affects their culture. Gloucester is closest to the Empire, so their culture is on the more restrictive/conservative end within the Alliance. (Also they even share a border with the Kingdom, which is neatly appropriate given Lorenz’s feelings of religious obligation and Leonie’s own faith.) Anyway that was a lot of information about the setting of “I Have So Many Feelings, None of Them Actionable.” Thank you for reading. https://archiveofourown.org/works/26247277/chapters/63887824

#long post #old-tober #old content october #the leicester alliance

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abigali1018 · 7 months

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My history with animation

Since I was very little art had a big impact in my life, I remember drawing all over my textbooks and attending as many art classes I could find. While other kids I knew told me they wanted to be doctors or teachers, my answer was always the same, I want to be an artist, I want to create something that will make people happy, I want to convey emotions, make them feel all sort of things, create a story, give life to something and join them on their journey. I remember loving cartoons, I found it so fascinating how a bunch of drawings could somehow move and talk to me, the possibilities of stories they could tell being endless, the smoothness in their movement, almost as if they were real, I found myself lost in all the different styles of drawing, the emotions portrayed in them and how they could make me feel those same emotions. If I had to pick my favorite animated things I think the list would be endless, but for the sake of not boring you here's my top three!

How to train your dragon (2010): I don't even think I have the words to explain the impact this movie had on my life, but I'll try to make it justice, I already knew of the concept of animation when I first watched the movie but it was the first animated movie to make me feel something, I remember being on the edge of my seat during the whole test drive sequence and falling in love with Toothless and Hiccup's friendship, the score is still one of my favorites from any movie and the world building and narrative still amaze me so much, the fact that the characters actually suffer for the consequences of their actions is great, Hiccup loses his leg for the sake of injuring Toothless in the beggining of the movie, they don't just gloss over that and I love it, what can I say, it's a great movie and you should watch it.

Omori (2020): I really like the concept of a super cute and innocent thing turning dark and twisted as you follow the story, and more when the style of the game itself is really childlike, I'm going to keep this spoiler free because i believe this game is one you should experience for yourself, but the complex storyline and character backgrounds are one of my favorite things from this game, also the animation sequences and playablity are one of my favorite from a lot of games I've played, I do believe this game is not for everyone because it does deal with a lot of heavy subjects like suicide and heavy dissociation, so a lot of people could find it trigger inducing, but the game does do a good job at dealing with these issues and doesn't give it a light headed context, the issues are there and are dealt with, but if you dont have any issues with these type of themes i think Omori is a must play game.

Shadows house (2021): I don't think I've been so invested in an anime in a long time, it may not have the best animation but I find the story so interesting, the opening is also one of my favorites and this anime earned a spot between my top 5 so fast it was actually impressive, the characters desing and backgrounds are so investing that since episode one you're gonna want to know all the context, but that's the thing, the story keeps this details from you and slowly reveals them when it's important, I just love the storytelling and general style of the show, it's a 10/10 anime for me and I'll never stop recommending it.

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msmargaretmurry · 1 year

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hello my love! well my wips are causing me no end of grief - my main wip is stalled bc the various elements are not coming together in a way where they all speak to each other and it's killing me bc i KNOW this fic will be amazing if i can figure it out but i fully hit a wall (just asked our beloved lorna to read a draft out of desperation even tho it's so far out of her wheelhouse she might kill me); my less serious wip is in superhell bc i haven't ever written a time skip and don't know how to create a san jose sharks roster that covers the next 3-7 years that isn't just me creating a roster of ahl favorites and who it would be funniest to keep. like do i pull a you and just make up a bunch of rookies??? i'm strugglin' yo

to your other more important point, i don't do so good with remembering favorite lines. but in my current era as a connor mcdavid apologist, i have been thinking a lot abt your mcstrome wringer and the mcstrome soulmarks fic that only exists in me and maddy's inboxes...thinking a lot abt the tender images in those fics, but specifically the image of dylan kissing connor on the forehead when they win at worlds in tnno and dylan seeing the soulmark behind connor's ear. and how both those images are infused with so much emotion and how the fics are built around these images, either as a plot point of a moment or a very physical picture that has a whole history behind it. (i think a lot abt that line in your mattdrai fic that i still need to read the final draft of abt matthew taking a picture of his bruises, for purposes. which is a comedy line but also very much part of matthew's journey.) i think you are very good at creating anchor images in your fic that are part of the heartbeat of the story. it's one of my favorite things abt your fic, how well you build a story around a visual moment. (obvi you are great at emotions and setting and plot too!!! but one of my favorite things is how you're able to capture visually a plot point. and do it so gently too.)

i hope you are able to be kind to yourself today <3

kasper my love!! thank you for sharing your wip agonies with me, they sound very agonizing but i have faith that you will figure them out! for the first one, it is so frustrating when characters won't do what you want them to do. my very generalized unsolicited advice would be to try to figure out what motivation is missing for them to come together, or what motivation exists that is pulling them in different directions, and then hit them over the head with a rolled-up newspaper until they do what you want. i'm sure our lovely lorna will be able to provide much more helpful commentary though. for the second one, i DO highly recommend making up some gay ass rookies and just doing what you want, but also i love to speculate about future rosters so also feel free to ask if you want some help! ❤️

regarding my own monstrous fanfictions, thank you, i truly love this analysis of visual moments in the oeuvre of yourblues. i don't know what it is about it but the people LOVE the forehead kiss picture in tnno, which makes me very happy. i think a thing here is that i don't really visualize whole scenes when i write, it is much more like "what details do i need to provide to convey the correct vibes here" so when i have An Image in mind i do really want it to stand out! (i am going to be honest with u i haven't read the soulmarks one since i emailed it but..... maybe i will dig it up for my agonies) (also the ratnovel is not going anywhere, i have faith you will come for it when you are ready) anyway i maintain that connor mcdavid is a great guy for putting through the horrors, because he has already been through so many horrors and he is so inured to them on a day to day basis (i am thinking now of that post that's like "why are the horrors calling you babygirl") that you gotta REALLY commit to introducing new horrors into his ecosystem if you wanna break him down. and u know i love to break a man down!!!

ilysm 💙💙

#ask #my fic #tnno #ratnovel #the mortifying ordeal of being connor mcdavid #hockey for ts

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watching-pictures-move · 2 years

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Movie Review | Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (Kodama, 2022)

Now, I haven’t seriously engaged with the Dragon Ball franchise since at least my teenage years, when Dragon Ball Z was part of YTV’s regular programming (and during holidays, they’d run marathons of the films too). But as this was playing in theatres, I thought it was a good chance to catch up with all my friends: Goku, Vegeta, Goku’s wife, Goku’s whole family, Piccolo and all his little green friends, the talking pig, the talking cat, the dirty old man, the really uncomfortable racial stereotype, the blue-haired genius scientist chick, the strongest warriors on Earth (and Krillin), a bunch of other guys, and of course *longing sigh* Android 18. (Yes, her name needed italics.) Now, not all of those folks are in this one. For example, the talking pig is absent although the talking cat is still present. And we meet a few new friends along the way, like another talking cat, this time hairless and into green chicks apparently. We learn this detail during a weirdly pervy shot of a green chick’s backside. There’s another pervy shot of Bulma (the blue-haired genius scientist), who is introduced ass first. These are all weird notes for what is presumably a children’s cartoon to strike, but there are plenty of shots of male buttocks as well, including that of the portly Gotenks. One might be moved to see such diversity of bodies presented in this context, but the punchline is that he’s so fat that when he drops on his ass on the big bad’s head, he ends up cracking its supposedly indestructible skull. Body positivity is not chief among the film’s aims.

Now, Goku and Vegeta are surprisingly out of commission for most of the movie, hanging out in another planet to train while everything interesting happens back on Earth, where Piccolo, Gohan and the rest of the boys (and Android 18 *sigh*) do battle against a pair of androids employed by the evil Red Ribbon Army, and eventually against the monstrous Cell Max, who is like Cell, but totally, like, way worse. Although if you’ve ever seen anything Dragon Ball related, you’ll know it’s nothing that a lot of constipated grunting and a punch thrown every ten minutes can’t resolve. This is the part where I reveal that anytime I’d tried to re-engage with the franchise since my teenage years, I’d been put off by the grueling pacing and flimsy world-building, where none of the mythology coheres, every new bad guy is a thousand times more powerful than the previous one, and characters spend entire episodes “powering up” (grunting, occasionally changing colour, like Gohan going blond and Piccolo turning orange), only to be interrupted for the bare minimum of action. So I don’t have the most positive impression of the franchise, although the movie does address some of these concerns. For one thing, it’s a hundred minute movie instead of a fifty episode season of television, so the pacing is considerably tightened. If anything, it’s a little too tight, as I found the climax, where the heroes unite against a kaiju-sized Cell Max, a bit relentless with all its whizbangery.

You also get a constant stream of exposition, helping to jog not just our memory, but those of the characters, who seemingly forgot entire events that they partook in during the history of the franchise. Imagine if you’re the president and you misplaced the nuclear launch codes, only to be reminded of their location at the most convenient moment, and that’s roughly the effect here. All of this is couched in quip-heavy sarcasm, which means the movie falls firmly in the shadow of the modern superhero blockbuster. It’s a dynamic that the movie foregrounds, with the superheroic appearance of the new androids and the superhero worship of the mad scientist who created them. The fact that the villains are motivated by paranoia about the superpowered heroes means that it flirts with genre satire, although this is not pursued forcefully. While I generally find the superhero genre in its current state to be quite offputting, I didn’t mind these elements here. The worldbuilding in the franchise is both unbelievably convoluted and completely goofy, so having the movie call that out was not totally unwelcome.

So I’m maybe not the exact target audience for this, but I found it diverting enough on the whole. The animation is that CGI fake 2D animation style (the kind that pops up in modern fighting games) that looks slick and appealing enough, although if I’m being honest, I prefer the hand drawn touch of the series I grew up with. But it’s bright and flashy, especially when all the characters are punching and blasting each other, and the music is reliably rousing. And I dunno, when Piccolo and Gohan charged into battle against the androids, are when all their friends showed up to take on Cell Max, I couldn’t help but be caught up in the proceedings at least a little. I’m not made of stone.

#film #dragon ball super: super hero #tetsuro kodama

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yourlawyers · 4 months

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How to Find the Right Nashville Truck Accident Lawyer

After a truck accident in Nashville, dealing with the aftermath can feel like a lot. It's a mix of feeling hurt, stressed out, and dealing with a bunch of legal stuff that's pretty complicated. But getting a really good nashville truck accident lawyers who knows about truck accidents is super important. Let's break down the important things you need to do and think about to find the best lawyer and make this whole process easier for you.

Nashville Truck Accidents

In Nashville, known for its awesome music and busy streets, there are quite a few truck accidents. They often cause big injuries, wreck stuff, and sometimes even really sad accidents with big trucks. Dealing with these kinds of accidents is extra tricky, which shows how important it is to get the right kind of legal help.

Importance of a Specialized Lawyer

Understanding Truck Accident Complexity

Truck accident cases involve a layer of complexity distinct from regular vehicular accidents. The involvement of commercial entities, potential multiple liable parties, and adherence to federal and state trucking regulations demand an in-depth understanding of the legal landscape.

Legal Expertise Required

A nashville personal injury lawyers specializing in truck accidents is essential because of the complexities involved. Their expertise surpasses general personal injury law and includes the detailed regulations specific to truck accidents. This specialized knowledge is crucial in building a strong case in your favor.

Qualities of a Reliable Nashville Truck Accident Lawyer

An attorney's experience and track record are indicative of their capabilities. Seek representation from a lawyer with a proven history of handling truck accident cases successfully. Their familiarity with the legal terrain can significantly bolster your case.

Specialization in Truck Accident Cases

Picking a lawyer who knows a lot about truck accidents is super important. These lawyers really get how tricky these cases are, knowing all the tiny details that can make a big difference in your situation because they know the laws and past cases that matter.

Strong Communication Skills

Having good communication is really key for a solid connection between a lawyer and their client. A good lawyer proves they're an awesome communicator by explaining legal stuff in a simple way, keeping you updated, and making sure you know what's going on at every stage of the legal stuff.

Resources and Support Team

Begin your quest by conducting comprehensive research into lawyers specializing in truck accidents in Nashville. Moreover, seek recommendations from reliable sources like friends, family, or other legal experts who can offer invaluable insights into this specific area of law.

Steps to Find the Right Lawyer

Research and Referrals

Start your search by delving into thorough research on attorneys specializing in truck accidents in Nashville. Additionally, tap into trustworthy sources such as friends, family, or legal professionals who can provide invaluable insights into this particular legal niche.

Evaluation and Comparison

After you make a list of possible lawyers, check them out using some important things: how much they've worked, what they've achieved before, what clients say about them, and how good their first talks are. Comparing these things will help you figure out which one fits your needs best.

Consultation and Discussion

Set up talks with the lawyers you picked. Use these meetings to dig into your case details, see if they get what's going on, check out their plans, and feel if you're okay letting them handle your case's tricky stuff.

The Role of Legal Representation

A skilled Nashville truck accident lawyer serves as your champion throughout the legal journey. They handle interactions with insurance firms, navigate complex paperwork, lead negotiations, and, if necessary, stand for you in court, ensuring your rights remain protected at every turn.

Conclusion

Following a truck accident in Nashville, securing appropriate legal representation is vital. A specialized lawyer, armed with experience, expertise, and a dedicated approach, can profoundly influence your case's outcome, ensuring rightful compensation and support.

#Truck Accident Lawyer #nashville personal injury lawyers #Nashville Truck Accident Lawyer

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viklikesfic · 5 months

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some rambling observations about being an autistic fan

So I've been thinking a lot about ✨The History of the Internet✨ lately, and in particular the history of how fans find community, and I thought I'd share these observations into the void. I'd be curious to know others' experiences!

Specifically, I'm thinking about how my autistic way of communicating and socializing maps (or doesn't) to fannish norms and how that's changed over the years.

Some facts about my specific neurotype (because every neurodivergent brain is different!):

I strongly dislike small talk, but I LOVE going on at length with someone about a special interest.

Shared SQUEEE is super affirming to me.

I tend to think in systems and lists, so I love to do things like think through the details of worldbuilding.

I'm on the ace spectrum, and I both experience a lot of my sexuality through my muses and interacting on their behalf and don't really have a personal feeling of desire towards actors (and sometimes squee based in sexual attraction makes me uncomfortable because it feels like I'm misrepresenting my own identity if folks don't get the whole muse thing).

I have highly variable spoons and social anxiety.

I tend to hoard information, and if I like a creator I want to see EVERYTHING they put out, and it makes me anxious to think about missing things.

Okay, cool, so given all that, here's how I've experienced socializing in fandom, and what I'm realizing in retrospect about how different "waves" of this map to my communication and social needs. Note that the "waves" are just how I personally interacted with fandom, of course your mileage may vary!

Wave One (2004ish-2008ish): LiveJournal, mostly. In this era, I was primarily interacting through LJ, and finding fic on random sites around the Internet. I didn't have a ton of sense of connection to other fans, except those I met in real life.

Wave Two (2008ish-2013ish): Dreamwidth, Ao3, and RP. And then DW and Ao3 were born, and choirs of angels rejoiced. This was my personal golden era. First, DW, where I started forming more personal connections through a journal site and its communities. This was the point at which I felt like I actually knew people through being "mutuals," and I generally tried to read everything on my feed, interacting regularly. I went to ConTxT a few times and met fans in person, as well as a few local hangouts hosted by fans. I also started RPing in this era, and for a few years spent regular time in an AIM chatroom pretty much daily with RP partners. I started dating two people long distance from this group, and most of my friends were here. Ao3 also came out in this era and made reading fic SO much easier. My brain fucking loves a database and structured tagging! I also did a bunch of prompt challenges, big bangs, and the like, which I think really helped structure my participation in fandom. Through co-writing I was getting a lot of my sexual needs met (though I didn't really understand that at the time, since it wasn't "real") and the nature of the RP chatroom meant that I could focus on a fictional world and building relationships there, which was far more interesting to me than hearing about the minutae of people's lives.

Wave Three (2014ish-now): Since that golden era, I've mostly been engaging with fandom just through writing and reading, with the exception of one fantastic RP partner I met two years ago through the comments on my fic, who's become one of my best friends. I tried Discord for a little while, but got super overwhelmed. Creating a Tumblr, I'm noticing how spoiled I've been by Ao3! I'm so used to engaging with fic in a way that I can easily see when there's new stuff, and it's really freaking me out that I can't do that here, unless I'm able to dedicate the time to reading everything the author posts about their life in addition to their stories. I think we hypothetically did that back in the DW days, but maybe the difference is that folks are used to social media here, so rather than posting a couple of essays a week like a blog, it's standard to do a bunch of short posts per day? Perhaps in some ways, Discord is more autism-friendly, because it's possible to say "I only want to communicate about THESE topics" and then get to know who the people are who are talking about those things. It's weirdly isolating, I think, to show up to a platform like "HERE ARE MY SPECIAL INTERESTS I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THEM" and then to see others doing that but not be clear on how to engage. To be fair, that may be aging more than autism 😂

I'm not sure if this is, uh, actually reaching any conclusions, but hey, having space to process the thoughts and feelings is nice nonetheless!

#fandom meta #fandom culture #actually autistic

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rofilm1 · 1 year

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A Short History of Granular Synthesis – Part 3

Alright then. Let´s do the next steps in the history of grains of sound, granular synthesis music, granular resynthesis etc.

(excerpt from my ebook “In the World Of Grains” https://www.dev.rofilm-media.net/node/332 all embedded videos are available only in the book)

The contribution to (and importance for) the further development of granular sound processing techniques and granular sound processing behaviour until today is more in developing new perspectives on musical art and on artwork with sound in general, than in refining technical or compositional tools concerning the granular level of audible goings on.

Let me name only two of the above mentioned assumptions.

Before sonic grains entered the playground frequency and time were dealt with as different things in music. In simple words the relation “frequency is pitch, and time is rhythm” had been generally accepted for centuries. Granular sound processing smashed this assumption to pieces.

The second – and perhaps even more radical change of view – concerns the relation of a composition to the sounds it uses (or is meant for).

The composers set up their parts, write their music, a music, which is written in certain forms (and even freedom of design is “form”), which then are performed using – sound. The composition and the sound belong to each other, but they are different things, different aspects of the whole piece of audible art.

Granular synthesis and granular sound processing smashed even this assumption. Using granular techniques – and before using the techniques thinking in dimensions of sonic grains – made it possible to compose sound in an even more detailed – and free – way, than it had been possible to do with pitch, key, rhythm etc. in so called classical compositions.

Composing sound instead of composing pitch and rhythm, developing sound scales instead of pitch scales etc. got into reach. And even the idea of sound, which composes itself has changed from a mere philosophical idea to a real field of research – through granular sound processing.

It´s not the goal of this brief historical overview to name all important composers, scientists, musicians and great thinkers, who contributed – and partly still do so - to the matter of grains of sound. And even if it hurts – more than a bit – not to talk about such phantastic people like e.g. Ingrid Chantal Daubechies, Walter Branchi, Simon Emmerson etc., let me say some words about only three of them at the end of this short chapter: Barry Truax, Curtis Roads and Paul Lansky.

Curtis Roads, even if contributing a lot not only to – let me call it – granular music itself, but also to the development of computer software to deal with the granular aspects of sound, he never limited himself to using only granular sound generating, granular sound processing and granular approaches to composing. His goal was rather creating and investigating music, which uses - what he called - “polychromatic timbres”. Granular techniques were just one of a bunch of ways to generate these timbres.

His education as well as his professional works are as “polychromatic” as his compositions.

It may come in handy to give a simplified explanation of the term “polychromatic timbres” at this point. The classical limitation of dividing an octave into 12 notes of a certain pitch, each of which laying apart from its neighbours by 1 semi-tone, which all classical scales can chose their notes from(e.g. C major: C-D-E-F-G-A-B), is overcome by microtonal scales, in which the differences in pitch can be less than 1 semitone. There are a whole bunch of ways (or systems) to divide octaves and other intervals, and build microtonal scales.

A (or even the?) framework of exploring these different – desirably all possible – ways of dividing is called a “polychromatic system” (of pitch).

Polychromatic timbres expand this idea from pitch to spectra and their changes in time ( = sound).

Roads uses (pre-)sampled material, taking a non-real-time approach to granular synthesis/sound design.

In his piece “nscor”, first published at the International Computer Music Conference in New York, 1980 he demonstrated what the term “polychromatic timbre” means in a real composition. Containing prerecorded sounds generated by utilizing different techniques like subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis, frequency modulation and granular synthesis, granular techniques cover only about 50 seconds (in parts of 3.5 seconds, 12 seconds and 34 seconds at 3 different moments in the piece) of the whole work, which is (in the version of 1986) 8 minutes and 58 seconds long.

In a short email conversation concerning the permission of using a part of his works in the video, which accompanies this book, Prof. Roads remarked, that his piece “Prototype” from 1975 was a better example than nscor, and sent me the most important parts – concerning the matter of early applications of granular synthesis – as a sound file, which is now part of the video (see link). I´d like to thank Prof Roads for the hint and the sound material here in this book.(the video is available only ion my e-book)

Nevertheless Roads performs all different ways to use granular sound design, which were technically possible in the 1980s. We find accumulations of layered grains, which explosively accured building bell-like sounds, that seem to be generated by frequency modulation, but trying to rebuild these sounds using only FM methods you discover, that what you are trying is a mission impossible.

There is a longer lasting granular part working with different densities, starting with a dense cloud-like bunch of grains, whose individual sounds are unidentifiable. Reducing the densitiy the individual grains, respectively their sounds, get more and more recognisable until they dissolve and go up in single sonic events like the flashes of a christmas sparkler.

Changing the spectral bandwidth of the grains´ content sets a whole world of sonic experience, which could well be called “polychromatic” itself.(see also here: https://www.dev.rofilm-media.net/node/332)

... to be continued

#grains #granular #granularsynthesis #granularsoundprocessing #sonicgrains #noise #experimental #electronicmusic #experimentalmusic #Roads #CurtisRoads #polychromatic #nscor #prototype #truax #barrytruax #lansky #paullansky

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minttenor3 · 2 years

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Everything about 113 Best Places to Learn to Code For Free

If you're itching to discover coding, but do not have the opportunity or funds for a professional training class, try taking a program at any of these 11 on the internet academies. In concept, performing this is the most uncomplicated point a beginner can easily do. Having said that, discovering the fundamentals of programming may be challenging to create a full-time project and can lead to some long hrs that can be worth it. However, lots of of these websites provide free or paid on the web training class.

All of them deliver their training programs for free of cost, and some provide accreditations for a small cost. Those that do provide certifications may after that take the programs at any college or college that helps make sure the product it covers is lined up with courses the public colleges supply. You may have to pay for for coursework, but that's something you can choose up through a university or educational institution if they provide you with the essential certificates. Codecademy Chances are if you have appeared in to finding out to code in the past, you’ve encountered Codecademy, an online academic system. It will take a handful of min to go by means of the process. Once you have a grasp of it and recognize how it works, and it can aid you know to write your own system, I recognize you are going to attempt it, if not, at that point you are only fooling yourself. It’s simple to utilize and feature the results as you’re coding. Currently you can easily find all your coding. 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#Best Places to Learn to Code

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reactionimagesdaily · 3 years

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I dont understand bionicles at all, so maybe a crash course into like. 1) what a bionicle is 2) general plot of the bionicle story? happy 5k btw <3 love ur page!

OH BOY OH BOY, this is a question I've been waiting for. Thank you so much for asking, and I’m glad you like my page!! <333

A couple of disclaimers, before I start: I'm going to focus mostly on the mainline plot, but let it be known that there WERE a bunch of serial stories and comics and games that added to the story overall. Bionicle was, I think, one of the first big instances of a plot that was consumed through a bunch of different mediums.

I'm also going to try and do a lot of streamlining - it's not that I DON'T want to talk about bionicle, but there's 10+ years of story to cover, so... yeah. :P

Also! Sorry in advance to anyone whose 'read more' function doesn't work, because this is gonna be a doozy

So, what is a bionicle? From a meta perspective, Bionicle is a Lego theme that ran from 2001-2010, and was briefly rebooted from 2015-2016. It's name is a mashup of biological chronicle, and it was hugely successful in its time, essentially helping to save the Lego company from bankruptcy. The idea is that you use finnicky technical pieces to build humanoid figures (and sometimes their vehicles!) and then. play with them

From a textual/lore perspective, I'm not sure Bionicle is an in-universe term lol. But the characters that we recognise as 'bionicles' are grouped into a bunch of different classifications - 'Toa', 'Matoran', 'Makuta', 'Glatorian', and so on. The characters are kinda like inverse cyborgs, where there's metal on the outside and flesh and muscle on the inside. They often function like robots (e.g. have removable and replaceable masks that they constantly wear over their faces) but are still essentially living creatures.

So, what's the general plot of the story?

...[inhales deeply] Okay

In the time before time, there's an island called Mata Nui that sits in the middle of the ocean. It's populated by these dinky lil' guys called 'Matoran' that live in six villages organised by elements - fire, water, ice, air, earth, and stone. They eke out a life as best they can, facing dangerous wild animals (collectively called 'Rahi') and worshipping the Great Spirit, who is confusingly also called Mata Nui. (They named the island after him.) The great spirit, they say, once watched over them all, but was long ago forced into an enchanted sleep by his evil brother.

(These are the matoran. Look at these cute little guys :3)

One day, six canisters wash ashore, on the island's golden beaches. And out of these canisters step six strange figures called Toa. Tall, strong, and heavily armed, there is one of these 'Toa' for each of the villages, and each of these guys have control over an element. They are the main 'heroes' of this story.

(These are the six Toa. Here's a fun game - spot the girl!)

Each of the six Toa are named characters - from left to right we have Onua (wise and grounded), Lewa (fun-loving and mischievous), Pohatu (friendly and confident), Tahu (hot-headed and impulsive), Kopaka (cold and quiet), and Gali (intelligent and compromising). Some of the Matoran are also named characters - there's Jaller, the captain of the guard at the fire village, Hahli, a sports player from the water village, Matoro, a translator from the ice village, and Takua, who's technically from the fire village but is also an 'outsider' who tends to wander the island. Takua is especially important because he becomes the Toa's 'chronicler', following them around on their adventures and writing everything down for posterity.

Without getting into too much detail, the Toa spend two real-life years getting into wacky highjinks. They hunt for masks (as aforementioned, the masks they wear can be removed and replaced) that grant them special powers, fight the Rahi, and also face up against a terrifying race of creatures with mind-control powers called the Bohrok that are determined to strip the island of all life. They also fight against a being called Makuta, a mysterious shadowy figure who claims to be the brother that forced Mata Nui into his slumber. When they first meet him, Makuta takes the form of a Matoran to throw them off, before turning into a nebulous black void and doing his best to murder them all to death.

(Makuta as he appears in 2001's 'Mata Nui Online Game'. As far as villain introductions go, marching out to meet all the heroes and then telling them "I bore you, for I am nothing. It is from nothing that you came, and it is into nothing you will go. The people of this world are builders, but look into their hearts, and you will find they also have the power to destroy. I am that power. I am destruction. And I will destroy you." is pretty fucking solid though I say so myself.)

There’s a lot of cool worldbuilding and mysterious details about the island. At one point, the earth Matoran note that they can only dig so far into the dirt before they come across some hard material - some type of metal - that they just can’t break through. Also, amidst the stars in the sky, there’s an ominous blood-red star that’s appropriately known as the Red Star. What’s it doing there? Nobody knows

Also at one point, the Toa also get mutated into new forms after falling into a liquid that's called 'energized protodermis' but should really be called 'McGuffin Sauce'. There's a lot of changing forms and characters being mutated in this series in general, which I'm sure has nothing to do with the fact that Lego always needed new figures to make into toys.

(This is how the Toa look after being mutated. In these forms, they're referred to as the Toa Nuva -and let me assure you that that distinction will soon become necessary. :P)

So, in 2003 in our world (I’m not sure about the timeline within the lore), Takua the chronicler finds a mysterious mask and brings it back to the Turaga, who are the wise old rulers of the Matoran (The most promiment of the Turaga is the Turaga of fire, who’s called Vakama. He’s an even-tempered and wise old man who’s not above hitting villains with his walking stick if they threaten his village.). It turns out that the mask is special - it’s the mask of Light, and it’s part of a prophecy that involves the arrival of a seventh Toa who’s destined to defeat Makuta. So Takua and Jaller go on an adventure to try and find the seventh Toa.

Meanwhile, Makuta isn’t just going to sit around and wait for the Toa who’s destined to defeat him to rock up: he unleashes his secret weapons, the Rahkshi, who are, in lore, suits of armour driven by slugs. Sounds corny - in practice, they’re hella intimidating.

(Look at these bad boys)

Some more adventures happen and, to make a long story short, the Rahkshi kill Jaller and Takua the chronicler puts the mask of light onto his own face, transforming into Takanuva, the Toa of Light. The audience surrogate and ‘weird’ character was the secret hero all along!! I love that honestly.

(Takua and Takanuva - before and after)

As someone with light powers, Takanuva is essentially the perfect counter to the big bad Makuta, who has shadow powers, so he finds Makuta’s lair intent on beating him. Makuta challenges him to a game that’s called ‘Kohlii’ but is basically this universe’s version of lacrosse - Takanuva accepts and proceeds to wipe the floor with him. During their fight, they fall into another conveniently-placed pool of energized protodermis and become merged, forming a new being called ‘Takutanuva’. Takutanuva doesn’t stick around very long, because he’s this weird contradictory being of both light and shadow, but before he fractures he opens a gate underneath Mata Nui and lets the Toa, the Turaga, and some named Matoran get through. Inside, they find a hidden city - a whole other world.

Takutanuva then manages to use his powers to hack the universe and bring Jaller back to life. Hooray! After that, he dies, and Takanuva is back. Makuta is nowhere to be found. [eyes emoji]

So now the Toa, the old Turaga, and a couple of Matoran are inside this whole new location, and they’re all wondering what the heck is going on. Well, not all of them are wondering. Vakama, the head Turaga, steps forward and admits that actually, the six (seven) Toa heros that we’ve come to know and love... aren’t actually the first Toa. Gasp!

The next two years of sets and story are essentially one giant flashback, as Vakama tells the current heroes about adventures past. It turns out that the hidden city they’ve found is called Metru Nui, and once upon a time, Vakama and the other Turaga were Toa themselves, fighting to keep the city and the matoran safe.

(New (old) Toa! The flying green one is Matau, who was a stunt-driving excitable madman, and then on the ground from left to right we have Whenua (nerdy chronicler), Nokama (schoolteacher-turned-superhero), Vakama (anxiety-ridden leader), Nuju (absent-minded stargazer), and Onewa (racist prick who needs (and gets) a character arc). To differentiate themselves from the Toa that we’ve come to know and love, these Toa are the Toa Metru)

They had a bunch of adventures of their own. They fought the Vahki (capture robots upholding an authoritarian police state) and the Morbuzakh (evil sentient vines), and they also had ‘arch enemies’ in the form of the Dark Hunters, who were mercenaries that hunted Toa.

Also, that story about Makuta putting Mata Nui to sleep? Not a story so much as a history lesson! Ultimately, the reason that the city of Metru Nui was abandoned was because Mata Nui WAS awake, watching over them all, but then Makuta forced him into slumber and essentially caused a cataclysm. The Matoran were rounded up and forced to sleep as well, and the Toa Metru had to flee the city. When they came back, it had been overrun with Visorak (basically giant spiders), and they had to fight hard to defeat the horde and its leaders and escape with all of the sleeping Matoran.

Once they left Metru Nui (and arrived on the island that would become Mata Nui), the Toa Metru sacrificed their powers to wake up all the Matoran - which is how they transformed into the wise old Turaga. Also, the Matoran woke up with no memories, which is how they’d never known about Metru Nui up until this point.

Anyways, after exploring Metru Nui and making plans to move back in, everyone does some digging around and discover something about Mata Nui: his spirit is fading. Whatever Makuta did to him, it not only put him to sleep, but it’s also slowly killing him. After presumably having an existential crisis, the gang come up with a solution: there’s another legendary mask, the Mask of Life, that should be able to resuscitate Mata Nui, or at the very least, keep him from kicking the bucket while he’s sleeping.

(The Mask of Life! If you look closely, you can see that the faceplate is shaped like a humanoid figure (because, yaknow, life) and if you think that’s not the tightest shit ever you can get out of my face)

So, the modern-day Toa (the Toa Nuva, if you guys remember the name) are like ‘okay, give us the location of the mask, we’ll go and find it’. So they get sent to another island, this one called Voya Nui, and they arrive and... get their asses handed to them? What?

A quick backtrack: a gang of thugs called the Piraka had already arrived on Voya Nui in search of the Mask of Life, wanting it so they can use its power to blackmail powerful organisations and generally get ahead in the criminal world. (From a Meta perspective, they’re,,, really interesting. Up until this point, the villains in Bionicle had either been wild animals, or villains with grand overarching plans. These guys are basically overpowered street thugs, complete with their own theme song - the ‘Piraka Rap’. Look it up on YouTube; it’s fucking hilarious, because the rest of Bionicle is generally timeless, but the Piraka Rap was basically dated as soon as it came out. I love it.)

(The Piraka themselves! Fun fact; in Bionicle lore, ‘Piraka’ is a slang term for ‘thief’ and ‘murderer’, and was also considered so vulgar that if a Matoran called another Matoran ‘Piraka’, war would be declared over it. These guys are really just going around calling themselves slurs. I have to respect that.)

So, yeah. The Piraka defeat and imprison the Toa Nuva when they get to the island. Now what?

Well, now it’s time for the Matoran to get involved! A group of named and previously-established Matoran set out to see if they can rescue the Toa. There’s Jaller, Hahli, and Matoro, who I’ve already mentioned, and then there’s Kongu, Nuparu, and Hewkii. And I need to take a break to say that all these characters have been with the story since 2001 (it’s now 2006), and they’ve all contributed to the plot before!! Kongu is a prominent Matoran from the air village who led a flight of giant bird-riders to save the day one time, and Nuparu is an engineer from the earth village who basically invented mechs to help the Matoran defend themselves against the Bohrok. These guys are BADASSES and I want to bring up how a really strong initial 3 years of storytelling laid a great foundation for so many small characters. It’s just neat! :D

Anyways, these Matoran travel to the island of Voya Nui in canisters (like how the original Toa landed on Mata Nui) and while they’re sailing the ocean blue, their canisters are struck by lighting from the mysterious Red Star. And that lighting, say it with me now, TRANSFORMS them! Specifically it transforms them into Toa. They end up calling themselves the Toa Inika, because they’re searching for the mask of life, which is also called the ‘Ignika’.

(The Toa Inika. Being transformed by a bolt of lighting means that in addition to their regular elemental powers, they also have electric/lighting abilities.)

Souped-up and ready for action, the Toa Inika manage to defeat the Piraka and rescue the Toa Nuva. However, through plot shenanagins, the Mask of Life ends up being sent to the bottom of the ocean around Voya Nui, and the Toa Inika learn that under the waves is a hidden city - Mahri Nui. As they descend, the Mask of Life does something odd; it sends out a wave of energy, transforming the Toa Inika so that they can breath underwater. So now, they’re the Toa Mahri. (Because they’re headed to Mahri Nui. You get me?)

Mahri Nui is ruled by the Barraki - ancient warlords who were imprisoned under the sea many thousands of years ago after they became powerful enough to threaten Mata Nui himself. They were put in a prison called The Pit, but during the cataclysm caused by Makuta putting Mata Nui to sleep, the city of Mahri Nui sunk into the water and slammed into the Pit. Many prisoners and Matoran died, but the Barraki were freed. Uh-oh, spaghetti-ohs.

Speaking of Makuta - guess who’s back! Thought dead after no-one could find him after Takutanuva died, it turns out that his spirit is possessing a robot body that had previously been a prison guard. He spends some time hanging out with one of the Toa Mahri, Matoro, basically playing mind games with him and trying to get him to turn to the dark side. Eventually, three different characters and factions smack the shit out of him, and he slips out of the robot body to go do... something else (watch this space).

This year of story was REALLY plot-heavy and I kinda can’t do it justice here. The important developments are that the Toa Mahri eventually manage to reclaim the Mask of Life, and Matoro yoinks it. While his teammates act as a big distraction, he swims away and puts on the mask. It basically grants him ultimate power, but it also fuckin’ kills him. His final acts are to teleport his friends to safety, and then release a massive burst of energy that burns him up and saves Mata Nui’s life. The Mask of Life, with no-one left to wear it, sinks into the ocean.

(“In his last moments, Matoro feels no fear. He know he has succeeded--the Toa Mahri are safe, able to resume their lives in Metru Nui. The Turaga and Matoran will know that they became true heroes. Matoro does not see himself as a hero. As a Matoran, a Toa Inika, and a Toa Mahri, all he ever tried to do was his duty. Now that duty has led him to his destiny.”- Bionicle Ignition 11: Death of a Hero)

[dries tears] Anyways, now that Mata Nui’s life has been saved, the only thing left to do is wake him back up. To do that, the Toa Nuva (the Toa that showed up at the very beginning of this story, if you recall) need to journey to the core of the universe, and a civilisation called Karda Nui. Three of the Toa Nuva - Lewa, Pohatu, and Kopaka - are sent to a village in the clouds, where they protect the local matoran and battle the forces of Makuta. Because, as it turns out, the big bad Makuta that we know? Makuta is actually the name of his species. The guy just wanted to feel special, apparently. The Makuta that the Toa have been fighting for over half a decade is technically called Makuta Teridax (or just Teridax), while the other Makuta have other names that I can’t remember off the top of my head.

Anyways, while those three Toa are figuring that out, the other three - Tahu, Gali, and Onua - journey to a place called the Swamp of Secrets in order to find a set of keystones that supposedly contain instructions on how to awaken Mata Nui. And it’s there that they find an unlikely ally: the Mask of Life itself.

See, the Mask of Life has always been a weird one - if you recall, it released an energy pulse for no reason that transformed the Toa Mahri and let them breath underwater. (It’s also done some other fucky stuff that I haven’t been able to mention - there’s a short story about how one time, a guy touched it, and it gave him the ability to involuntarily bring everything around him to life, which ultimately drove him mad. So. You know. That’s fun.) Well, it turns out that when the mask sank into the ocean after Matoro’s death, it ultimately ended up in the swamps of Karda Nui, and it senses the battles raging about it. More than that, but it remembers Matoro’s bravery as he donned the mask knowing it would kill him, and remembers how his final wish was to save his friends. Wanting to know what it means to be a hero, the Mask of Life creates a body for itself, and ventures out into the swamp to discover its destiny.

(The Mask of Life has a body now!! Good for him! Good for him.)

There’s some more shenanigans that I’m skipping over - at one point, Takanuva (Toa of light, remember him?) rocks up to help. Long story short, our eight heroes - Tahu, Gali, Onua, Lewa, Kopaka, Pohatu, Takanuva, and the Mask of Life - fight their way through the Makuta and into the very core of the universe - the Codrex. Inside, after yet more shenanigans, the Mask of Life figures that in order to wake Mata Nui up, it will have to sacrifice the body it’s built for itself. The moment is sad, but the mask remembers Matoro’s sacrifice, and is inspired to act. He sacrifices his dreams of becoming a hero, and in doing so, becomes a hero... ;_;

The mask flies deep into the Codrex, its body dissolving; when it reaches the bottom, it creates a massive energy storm that the other characters have to escape. (Our heroes make it out - most of the villains end up getting vaporized, big RIP.)

And just like that, the journey is over. After years of battle, the Toa Nuva have completed their purpose, and awakened the great spirit, thus bringing peace back to the land. Everyone meets back up in Metru Nui - the Toa Nuva, the Toa Mahri, the Turaga, the remaining Matoran. It’s a glorious day. And as they gather, something happens.

Deep, deep beneath the ocean, energy pulses through rock, and machines that have been dormant for millennia begin to whirr and move. The island of Mata Nui - long abandoned as the Matoran moved back down into Metru Nui - cracks open like a wallnut, each half sliding into the sea. From underneath where the island had been, a tremendous head rises out of the ocean, countless galleons of water pouring off of it. Titanic shoulders follow. Then the chest, and the limbs, and slowly, surely, Mata Nui rises.

Meta context: for years, the nature of Mata Nui has been a mystery. Is he a metaphysical being? Is he a real person? No-one was sure... but they know now. That solid material that the earth Matoran couldn’t mine through, all the way back in 2001? That was his skin. The mysterious red star that created the Toa Inika? That was a failsafe machine orbiting Mata Nui, poised to create new Toa as necessary. The island of Mata Nui was atop his head, Metru Nui was his brain, Karda Nui was deep in his guts. The Matoran were workers to keep him functioning, the Toa were basically his immune system (the canisters they arrive in are literally shaped like pills)... All this time, all these stories, all these characters, this entire world - they have all been inside a robot the size of continents.

(Fucking hell. Look at this. The clouds come up to his ankles.)

Celebrations ripple through Metru Nui as everyone realises what has happened. The great spirit is awake again! The Toa have won! But as the Turaga raise their voices to try and congratulate the Toa, a chill spreads over the spectators as the air grows cold. Everyone stops and looks around. What’s happening now? And then, from everywhere and nowhere, a voice rumbles. It’s a familiar voice. An unwelcome voice. A voice that most of the gathered heroes thought they’d never hear again.

It’s the voice of Makuta - the original Makuta. Makuta Teridax.

And what does he say?

“I AM EVERYWHERE. I AM EVERYTHING YOU SEE.”

Matoro’s sacrifice had ensured that Mata Nui’s body did not die, but before the great spirit’s consciousness could return, Makuta supplanted it with his own. After that, all he had to do was wait for the Toa Nuva to achieve their objective. And as they finished the fight and won the day, they handed victory to him on a silver platter. No longer does he need to strive to rule the universe - he is the universe.

(Meta perspective again but like: FUCK, man. I can’t emphasise enough how mind-breaking this was for the kids who were invested in the series. Think Thanos snapping his fingers in Infinity War, except probably more devastating, because there wasn’t a direct sequel lined up to give the heroes another chance, and there wasn’t a way to ‘undo’ it. This was a plot development that we all had to live with T_T)

(You can tell things are bad because his eyes changed from green to red.)

And what of Mata Nui? What about the spirit that the Toa were actually trying to wake up?

Oh, Makuta stuffed Mata Nui’s consciousness into the Mask of Life - and then blasted the Mask into space.

[inhales deeply]

man...

Okay, in all honesty, part of me wanted to end it there. But you know what? We’ve come this far. And there is more to the story. So I’m going to ignore my concern I won’t be able to do it justice and blunder on.

Bionicle’s last chapter (2009-2010) follows Mata Nui himself - no longer an abstract spiritual concept, but rather a concrete character. A god felled from his pedestal, struggling to find a way to save his people. And it’s AWESOME. Armed with only the Mask of Life and a sentient shield named Click, he wanders the shithole deserts of the planet he crash-lands on, bringing the disparate tribes together, uncovering secrets about who made him and what his ultimate purpose is, and learning what it means to be a regular person. Also, at one point, in a move very reminiscent of the god that he once was, he turns a guy into a snake. You know. As a ‘fuck you’.

(There’s something really cool to me about a main character being someone who essentially lost all the power of the cosmos. Mata Nui might just be my fave character in this whole story honestly.)

Eventually, Mata Nui discovers some crucial pieces of information. Firstly: the planet that he’s landed on, Bara Magna, is his ‘homeworld’ in that it’s where his giant god body was built. Secondly: the two moons orbiting Bara Magna (the jungle moon of Bota Magna and the ocean moon of Aqua Magna) were once part of the planet itself, and split off during a planet-destroying cataclysm, leaving behind a desert wasteland in their wake. Third: the function he was ultimately built for (his ‘destiny’) was to reunite the three celestial bodies into one planet, bringing life back to Bara Magna’s harsh desert environments. He was on his way to complete this task when Makuta crashed his systems with a computer virus - which was what forced him into the ‘slumber’ that he was in for most of the mainline story.

His fourth, and probably most important discovery, is that he’s essentially his makers’ second attempt at a world-fixing giant robot. Before creating him, his makers (the ‘Great Builders’) constructed a giant robot that malfunctioned and exploded. Long-deactivated, the pieces of it are still scattered through the deserts of Bara Magna - in fact, many of the villages on the planet are set up in or around these giant robot pieces. Mata Nui figures that if he can reconstruct this old robot, he can use it to complete his destiny, and maybe even save his people.

It isn’t easy. He has to convince the villagers he’s come to befriend (the Agori) to give up their homes and their safety, and he has to find an experimental power source that’ll actually get the giant metal body moving again. But eventually, he figures it all out. Powered by the experimental source, the Mask of Life, and probably also friendship, he inhabits this enormous form and rises once again. Without missing a beat, he reaches out and begins to pull the moons towards the main planet. As far as he’s concerned, he’s going to fix everything, or die trying.

(The power of skybeams)

However, it won’t be that simple. Makuta senses that Mata Nui’s spirit has inhabited a new form (and I don’t mean that in a metaphysical way, I mean that in a computer/technology way), and he quickly jets over to Bara Magna. Obviously, flinging the fucker into space wasn’t good enough. It’s time for him to destroy Mata Nui, mano y mano. Giant robot y giant robot.

(Makuta and Mata Nui, facing off. God I love this picture.)

It’s the final battle - for real this time. The two giant robots begin to punch each other, and Mata Nui is up against some obvious disadvantages. For one thing, he can’t risk attacking Makuta with all his might, because he doesn’t want to hurt his people, who are still inside the giant robot. (Inside, they’re fairing... poorly. It’s like facism, but if facism was being actively enforced by God.)

In the fight, a hole gets blasted in Makuta’s body, and out pour a whole LOAD of Rahkshi. (Remember those guys?) However, Tahu and Takanuva also manage to escape, and join a ground battle that’s breaking out between the Agori (and their protectors, the Glatorians), the Skrall (a tribe of warriors native to Bara Magna who are absolute dicks - I’ve had to gloss over them, unfortunately, but believe me when I say that they’ve been major antagonists for as long as the narrative has focused on Bara Magna), and a bunch of guys who are called ‘Piraka’ but aren’t the gang of thugs from Voya Nui. (I think they’re the same... species?) Long story short: large-scale shitfight is happening at the feet of the two robots that are slugging it out. Makuta, being a dick, decides to try and literally stamp on all of Mata Nui’s friends down below, and Mata Nui has to desperately hold him off.

Around this point, the Mask of Life (which is really the MVP of this whole story) uses its convenient energy bursts to imbue Tahu with a set of golden armour that allows him to release energy blasts of its own. (Why it singles out Tahu, I’m not sure, but I’m presuming it’s because Tahu was the first face of the series and it just makes thematic sense for him to be a major player in the final battle.) Tahu uses his new golden armour to disintegrate ALL of the Rahkshi - and there were a lot of them on the field of battle, let me assure you. Makuta feels the loss of so many creations at once, and falters, and Mata Nui seizes his chance. He’d done his work well before Makuta had arrived, and the jungle moon is now in low orbit above the planet. Pouring every last ounce of his strength into one more push, he surges forward and up, pushing Makuta up and making sure that his head is right in the path of the falling planet.

Crunch.

(Kudos to Makuta Teridax for being such a persistent antagonist that the only way to get rid of him for good was to drop an entire damn planet on his head.)

Mata Nui guides the falling body carefully to the ground, letting it open and freeing his people. The remaining Skrall and Piraka surrender. The Matoran and Toa meet and mingle with the Agori and Glatorian. Mata Nui raises his hands, and completes his purpose; aided one last time by the Mask of Life, as well as his body’s innate systems, he enacts a synthesis on the now-united celestial bodies. Lush forests and large bodies of water appear in the desert. Life flourishes. Birds probably start to sing. Mata Nui has completed his purpose, and vindicated all of the heroes who fought for him for so long.

He feels himself fading. He lets his spirit withdraw into the Mask of Life. A new slumber - this one, earned, and of his own volition.

Perhaps one day, he will return.

(“We will honour Mata Nui, and all those who fought for him, in our memories. But the time has come to move on. His destiny is fulfilled, and for many of us, it has yet to be written. My friends, it is time to go.”- Tahu, The Mata Nui Saga, chapter 34.)

And there we go! Very, VERY long, but that’s the general plot of bionicle. There are an absolute tone of details I’ve missed out or skipped over, and I encourage you to search them out for yourself if you’re interested. But them’s the basics! :D

#Also: love (as in romantic love) is 'not canon' in the Bionicle universe. Big win for the aromantics #(I couldn't find a place in my lore explanation to mention that but my friend Zacch insisted I mention it somewhere)#also... fuck me dead this is a long post. I spent literal hours writing all of this down. Was it worth it? probably.#not a pic #Someone asked me a thing!#Ask mood: Don't Get Me Started #bionicle #bionicle lore #bionicle story

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