Aerixae - Jackie

Are you in pain?

You know what doesn’t make sense?!? Nancy, Steve and robin being choked by vecna’s stupid tentacles and leaving without a scratch. Also Steve was attacked by bats as well but the mf is still alive. Love me some stupid plot armor.

Cant wait for the duffer brothers bullshit response to everyone being upset over Eddie’s death.

“If we knew people were going to like him from the start we wouldn’t have killed him off”

Justice for Eddie fr fr

Reverse Curse Technique could heal many things if the recipient willed it. It could not heal a broken heart or the feeling of betrayal. Yuji Itadori's death had been one of the most traumatic things that ever happened to Megumi. If the boy really thought about it -- it was the most traumatic thing he had witnessed. Tragedy was in his name; he was not a blessing. The people around him died or fell to tragic circumstances. He wasn't one to think beyond the realm of possibility, but it really either the world hated him from the moment he was born or being born a sorcerer attracted doom.

Megumi put all his hopes on a boy that would die eventually and in a tragic way, and he had dulled himself into thinking he gave Yuji the best outcome that fateful night. The optimistic puppy of a boy had been given a fighting chance yet was driven into a world of death. Megumi didn't know what he regretted more -- persuading Satoru Gojo to let him live or letting Yuji enter his heart so easily. Like with the death of his mother, the abandonment by his father, his sister's comatose state, and now Yuji's death... he smothered the emotions and built another layer of walls around himself.

It hurt. It really fucking hurt. He should've been relieved and overjoyed seeing Yuji pop out of that box with the dumbest smile on his face; Megumi felt betrayed by two people. He couldn't reflect on it during the Goodwill event, but he reflects on it now. The last of Shoko Ieiri's bandages were peeled off even before he was fully healed, and he stared at his sorry appearance in the mirror. Tokyo had won, they had played their little baseball game, but Megumi's heart wasn't in it. It had been with Yuji, and it had died when Yuji died. It was hard picking up the pieces after that. He couldn't face their sensei and he couldn't face the boy of his affections.

He slapped cold water onto his face and discarded his bandages then exited the bathroom. He heard Yuji's voice before he saw the familiar head of pink, and quickly diverted his path. Worst case scenario he could use his shadows to sneak back inside his room. The two boys had not seen each other since the event ended, and Megumi was not ready to open up a heart he had damned. He stepped outside the dormitory hall where he summoned his black Divine Dog, and both of them moved to the treeline. His shikigami were his only REAL friends. They did not lie; they were a part of his soul. He kneeled down beside the trees, beneath their shadows, and rubbed his wolf-like shikigami. The Divine Dog knew how Megumi was feeling and nuzzled its face into the boy's nape for comfort.

@fateofflames

Fan Theory: Alastor had a rivalry with Thomas Edison (yes, really) in the 1920s

I originally had a whole theory typed up with lots of evidence for this, but my computer crashed and deleted all of it, so here are some of the basic points of the theory that I came up with:

Alastor grew up in the early 1900s, when the phonograph, invented and sold by Thomas Edison, was the main form of music recording and playing in the United States. Alastor was likely called a "gramophile", or gramophone enthusiast "who eschewed a wife and children to focus on music", as he was an asexual during this era. However, radio started to replace phonographs in the 1920s-1930s, cutting into Edison's profits, to his frustration.

Alastor was a popular radio host in the 1920s-1930s, and was one of the main reasons why people were buying and using radios, instead of Edison's phonographs and records, to play music. If people could listen to music for free on the radio, why would they buy Edison's phonographs? (Alastor was quite smug about this.)

The quality of music on the radio was often better than on Edison's phonographs and recordings, as many radio shows provided live music, which means inviting the band and musicians to play live on-air. It wasn't something that could be mass-produced for profit, also to Edison's consternation.

Alastor's specialty was jazz, a form of music originally "invented by, and for, the phonograph". (He also dabbled in blues as well.)

Unlike Edison and other phonograph and record producers, who were often racist and used what is called "digital blackface" today (i.e. pretending to be Black in recordings, because hiring Black artists over white artists was unthinkable), Alastor was an authentic mixed-race Creole host, though likely "white-passing".

Vox seems to be based, at least somewhat, on Thomas Edison, particularly as Edison didn't just formerly control the music industry with the phonograph, but also the movie industry, with one source stating that 75% of Americans in the 1920s went to the movies "every week". (Edison sold his film studio in 1918.)

Alastor seems to have a special disdain for Vox and his "picture show", all movies and TV shows. My guess is that this came from his disdain for Edison Pictures and the movies vs. radio rivalry.

Edison died at the age of 84 in 1931 from old age and diabetes complications, whereas Alastor was killed in his 30s-40s in 1933.

As an edit, here is Part 2 of this fan theory with a lot more evidence.

there’s always a next book to read, a next show to see, a next concert to go to, another friend to meet, another treat to eat, there’s always more to discover or experience

One thing I absolutely love about Astarion’s redemption arc is the complexity of his relationship with the figure of the hero.

Astarion is a vampire, a monster, and also a victim (as well as, in a way, a perpetrator, due to his forced obedience to Cazador). He is the first person in desperate need of a hero to save him and the last person suited for the role of a hero.

He prayed to every god for salvation, even for death, and even that was denied to him. He resents heroes and the powerful, and when confronted with the idea that both have a duty to protect the weak, he scornfully responds that no, they’ve done a terrible job—that in 200 years, no one saved him from torture, and that it was the mind flayers, other monsters, who finally freed him. And that, in reality, the powerful only use their strength to bend others to their will and serve their own selfish interests. It’s in this same conversation that Astarion declares his desire to be better than Cazador—stronger, more powerful—though the player likely meant kinder, more noble.

Yet, despite everything he says, despite his disapproval of every heroic action taken in Act 1, Astarion is irreversibly drawn to the figure of the hero. First and foremost, he seeks their protection, though still through the warped lens of his past under Cazador’s cruel talons. Secondly, he is extremely sensitive to kindness, understanding, acceptance—to being treated like a person, just as a true hero would treat him.

And then, this is something I particularly noticed while playing as Karlach—Astarion is fascinated by Wyll, who is, in many ways, the quintessential hero of the party. He even admits that if he had to choose one of them to feed on, it would be Wyll, because he is sweet and righteous, just. Which is a contradiction, because the very traits that draw Astarion to him are the same ones that make him want to drain him dry. Love and hate, all in one.

With this in mind, even the conversation after meeting Aurelia and Leon takes on a deeper meaning. The player sees something in Astarion, but he still refuses to recognize it, to admit it, and rightfully says he can’t be what we see in him—a good person, a righteous, understanding, even heroic figure. And yet, the player sees through him…

And it’s breathtaking when, during the ritual, just before stabbing Cazador, Astarion says those very same words: "You're right. I can be better than him." But this time, he doesn’t mean stronger or more powerful. No, this time, he means it exactly as it was first presented to him and so bitterly rejected. And he means it with all his heart.

And in doing so, in freeing all his siblings and all the poor souls imprisoned there, Astarion commits a truly heroic act. He does for others what he once desperately hoped for himself, what he prayed for—becoming the hero he needed. Because at the same time, he is freeing himself—from his chains, from his narrow worldview that saw everything in terms of power and dominance. For the first time, he is free to live outside of the path that someone else forced upon him.

And that’s exactly why, in my opinion, the next morning, it’s right to tell him that yes, we were the heroes who stood by his side, but we only gave him a push. Because, in the end, he saved himself.

He is the hero he had been waiting for centuries!

And that thought makes my heart race! ❤️

Alastor

I hope more of his art is shown or continues to be a running gag in the show cause the thought of him having his little stack of crayons in his room and coloring away, IS SO FUNNY AND GOOFY