#lore discussion

It's also just a massive security risk. Fu says that it's dangerous for the Miraculous to be out in the open, but it's actually way less risky to put the Miraculous in circulation, because then Hawk Moth has to retrieve them by defeating every hero individually, which is a lot more effort. Keeping them all in one place and distributing them one at a time like this means Hawk Moth only has to figure out who's in charge of the distributing and follow that person right to the Miracle Box. Ferrying the Miraculous for every battle also creates more opportunities to lose them, which is how Queen Bee ended up happening.

Looking back, the problems of just about every season finale past S1 can be traced back to this system. It's almost like the writers are trying to set Marinette up to fail.

Ladybug's Pokemon

I love that phrasing! I've just called them her powerups, but this paints a much clearer picture of what I mean. They're not her autonomous teammates who feel vital to the story. They're her cute little friends who do whatever she says. All she has to do is pick which ones she wants for today's battle.

Fu says that it's dangerous for the Miraculous to be out in the open, but it's actually way less risky to put the Miraculous in circulation, because then Hawk Moth has to retrieve them by defeating every hero individually, which is a lot more effort.

Ferrying the Miraculous for every battle... creates more opportunities to lose them, which is how Queen Bee ended up happening.

These are two of my biggest issue with the temp heroes as a general concept. Fetching them every battle gives Gabriel endless chances to find out the temp heroes identities and/or where the guardian is hiding. I don't know why the show acts like the problem was Ladybug forgetting to detransform in Heart Hunter:

Ladybug: Master Fu, I need your help! Master Fu: (sees Ladybug, gasps) This costume is very cute, miss, but is it really fitting in this place? Ladybug: (gasps) I forgot to transform back. (Looks arounds enters the center of the merry-go-round trying to remain unseen) I haven't been followed Master, I'm sure of it.

Nathalie would have been able to track Ladybug either way. At least this way Marinette's identity stayed a secret!

It would make infinitely more sense for Fu to be the one to hand out the miraculous to the temp heroes for two reasons. The first one was laid out above. Having him or some other support character do it is the best way to keep his identity a secret. You should not have Ladybug leaving battles to do it. That's too easy to track because the villains know where she's going to be when she goes running off for help.

The other reason is because it's asinine to have Ladybug run off every time they face a major threat. Think about that logic for a second.

Ladybug: This akuma is too hard for us to fight as a duo! Chat Noir, you stay here and fight this super hard akuma alone while I go get reinforcements. I'll be back in half an hour or so. Chat Noir: Wait, what? How am I supposed to- Ladybug: Have fun! Don't die! Bye!

1. there's an excessive amount of discussion surrounding duality in twenty one pilots work dating All The Way Back to the beginning- taking new names/having multiple faces/speaking about being a liar/changing from day to day/literally splitting heads in two etc etc

2. there was the whole thing w one of the Clancy letters talking about seeing the figure in the canyon which personally i Do think was a hallucination (common canon occurrence for Clancy) but! that also feeds into the internal duality situation and still serves the metaphor of duality and being outside yourself

3. we've got Clancy who ascended to become The Nova Bishop but Clancy: The Prodigal Son still exists- Tyler is still wearing the original blurrypaint and his shirt for live performances. that indicates To Me that Nova is co-existing already with Clancy (<-projecting bc that's just how my brain sees the cycle reset but it makes sense doesn't it) bc despite city walls saying 'this is the last time that i try' it ended w HDS so obviously. the cycle is already restarting. not to mention the torch letter referencing rawfear.

4. now we've got this fucking letter between Oriens and Lyra that's talking about SPLITTING!!!!! just like Nova did from Clancy or vice versa. reuniting in the east. saying 'we have been split in half' instead of 'we've been split apart' or some such thing. intentional use of words there indicating two parties that have undergone the same occurrence rather than two people who stand opposed.

all this to say my brain is yelling at me that the ascendant Banditos (the eight who took the robes in the City Walls MV, which i now believe Oreins and Lyra to be a part of) have broken counterparts out in Trench that are missing the part of themselves that decided to stand with the city, and At the catalyst that triggered the new cycle they were split in half just like Nova/Clancy was.

so we have eight disoriented partial bishops who have fallen into the cruel routines of the city and taken the names and places of the previous bishops, and they all stand under Nova in Dema, and we've got their counterparts, all missing something, lost in Trench but standing under Clancy (reformed when the new cycle started) and Torch (managed to not die this past cycle and is just trying to get through it all and end things for real)

I know Dek is a hot topic in the yautja fandom right now. I'm seeing a lot of opinions on him and discussion about his appearance.

I dont care what people think, I'm really digging his look. He looks like a young yautja, a teen. He looks much younger than Chopper, Celtic, and Scar (who I consider more like young adults/older teens). The way that Dek's face is shaped could just be because of his young age and having not matured fully yet. Here's an example for what I mean

Dek could just belong to a species of yautja that has a different developmental stage (because I highly doubt he's part human like a lot of people have been saying about him, given how yautja canonically view humans). Plus, "first hunt, last chance" seems like Dek is going on his very first hunt, NOT CHIVA! (Chiva being what Scar, Celtic, and Chopper were doing in AVP; a ritual hunt as a rite of passage into adulthood) He could still be in the unblood rank, having not hunted anything before.

On top of that, it's confirmed he's a runt; much smaller than the others and wanting to probably prove himself to his clan and to his father. Him being a runt could also be the reason why he looks different.

Some commentary about his appearance

His bottom left tusk looks like it's chipped or has been broken in the past. Due to him being a runt, he has probably been bullied and has suffered from abuse from his peers.

His eyes are so uncanny, and I love it. It gives an unsettling vibe to his appearance

Bro's skin looks soft. This could also play into him being a teen/young. His lack of scars too

His armor looks like what you'd wear as someone who doesn't have much status. Like hand-me-down armor

Conclusion

It seems as though someone used a hemolytic injector on the storyline, because it is genuinely all over the place.

There are quite some plotholes thanks to RE9. One of the biggest ones is Grace getting bitten by one of Gideon's infected zombie's pretty early on in the game. As far as we learn, it was bandaged by (supposedly) Gideon, and not much else.

Later, during his talk with Leon, Gideon tells him that the answers to his illness are within his facility. Now does that mean that Gideon had an anti-viral to the latent mutated T-virus (RC Syndrome) the whole time, and he treated Grace with it? But then again that doesn't make much sense, considering they all saw Grace as the "answer" to their private research. Was she infected with something else? If so, what? Or did he treat her, and left Leon, Zeno, himself and all others to be remain infected?

Another aspect that left more plotholes, is that we learn that Leon and Sherry are infected, as survivors from Raccoon City (as are Gideon and Zeno). But there is no mention of Chris, Jill, Carlos, Claire, Ada and basically everyone else who also survived RC. I understand that it might have been too much to add some/all of them, but even a throwaway mention of them with one line of explanation would have made a little more sense.

"If music be the food of love, play on:" Mr Wines for Beginners

Main takeaways:

Wines oversees the trade in pleasure, including alcohol and sex workers and music. There's some debate over dreams, and it claims a stake.

It presents itself as regal and approachable yet aloof, but this is a facade

It has a long, storied past and used to be far more than a curator...

The song "Viva La Vida" is the best song to explain who Mr Wines is

Mr Wines oversees trade in all things drinkable (excluding water) and also the sex industry. Almost everything to do with pleasure falls under its domain. It claims a stake in dreams, too. And music, seeing as music can get curators drunk. Wines loves the theater (and some text suggests that lyrical verse is intoxicating just like music). Once, after quoting Twelfth Night, it jests that it should have been called "Mr Poems."

According to the old Twitter accounts which are dubiously canon, Wines likes to wear corsets. Giant furry bat shoved into an undergarment is so funny. Does it need to wear a chemise with its fur? 🤔 I can't imagine it would be comfortable to get fur caught in lacing!

I'd like to think it's able to manipulate things that fall within its domain. I headcanon all masters can. For example, imagine Stones and Iron being able to magically manipulate chains. Veils being able to emotionally motivate the hunter to violence. So, I imagine Wines' presence can convince people to indulge way more than they normally would. It can affect people's dreams and nightmares and maybe even ensnare them in dreams.

It's ridiculously wealthy and shows this off more than other masters. Jewel encrusted chalices. Bottles of wine that cost more than a laborer's yearly wages. If characters in game are an allegory for Victorian era social ills, and Fires represents industry, Wines represents the way the upper class played and indulged in luxury while the lower classes starved.

Wines presents itself as composed, regal, and approachable. It's all a facade. Wines is incredibly quick to anger, and in Fading to a Coda and Totentanz we see it lose control of its image and get big and scary. I just love when a character slips and lets a monstrous side show. :)

Wines is also very aloof, claiming it "does not partake" in emotions. Though it's a massive hypocrite as we see repeated instances of it being vulnerable or angry or sad. It compares a relationship with a human to being like with a dog in The Empress' Shadow yet it's tactile with the player in Fading to a Coda and even says the player would look good in black after getting them drunk on expensive wine (one of the success text variants from meet a master at the carnival). Maybe this is all a game to it. When you get inroads with a master it says the master sees the player as a pet. So who knows what it's thinking, but it's... so much.

Mr Wines, above all else, wants endless revelry surrounding it. Why is this?

Exceptional Story Cricket, Anyone? spoilers under the cut

Jiaoqiu needs people who he can feel like he can help, who he can feel like he makes a difference for. Without them, he loses all motivation for life.

Feixiao needs people who she can be herself with. People who she can feel accepted and welcomed by. Without them, she has a hard time fully accepting her history.

Moze needs people who know his past and accept him for it. People who see his past, accept it, and help him through it. Without them, he sinks into the past and lets it overtake him.