Did Someone Say RANT ABOUT THE BEST MECHANIC IN YU-GI-OH!?
Did someone say RANT ABOUT THE BEST MECHANIC IN YU-GI-OH!?
If one really wants to practice weaponising game mechanics - chain beat is the way to go, even if Black Garden might not be the optimal variant for it. But if you want to start small (with a chain burn), you should make a point to count Chain Links in chat/out loud anytime you do anything. This will force your opponent to keep explictly passing over their priority (right to activate stuff). Either they'll do that every single time (against chain burn it should intimidate too, as there are only two things they count up to ;D), or they'll just state for everyone to see that they'll giving you a free reign to do whatever the hell you want. Outside of chain-dependent decks, try not to use it on people who aren't trying to be cute. Once we're done with you, you should be able to out-ruleshark them. So pay attention. There will be a test later. One could argue that it's actually continuous effects that are the fastest, since they can apply in the middle of a chain (Counter Fairies are made of this and so is placing Spell Counters) For example:
P1 activates Reinforcement of the Army, thus creating Chain Link 1.
P2 (in response to Rota's activation) chains Call of the Haunted, targeting Thunder King Rai-Oh.
P1 does not chain anything.
P2 does not chain anything.
Because both players passed, chain closes and proceeds to resolve backwards (codeheads may recognise it as a LIFO stack).
First, Rai Oh is summoned.
Then, RotA 'resolves', but due to Rai Oh being on the field, the effect fizzles without doing anything. This can stop more than a single part of an effect, if the rest of it involved the word "then")
If an effect fizzles without doing anything, it's still considered to have been activated. If one attempts to make a Grand Unifying Rulebook, a trigger effect can be chained if the last thing that happened was the activation condition. And there are plenty of them so get ready to see that phrase a billion times.
Simplified example, ie. what happens in practice:
P1 tributes Treeborn Frog, summons Caius the Shadow Monarch and activates his effect, targeting Blaze Accelerator Magazine.
P2 chains BAM's effect. If P1 doesn't do anything, P2 will proceed to discard Volcanic Scattershot and draw a card
both players do the following roughly in this order:
banish BAM
mill two Scattershots
destroy Caius
subtract 1500 points from P1's LP
If they know what they are doing, this is not a problem. If they don't, it becomes a complete Clusterfuck.
Same example, once more with clarity:
Open game state: P1's MP1
it doesn't matter for the following details, but keeping track of it is makes rulesharkers knock themselves out on your SUPERIOR RULE-FU
this means that Turn player has priority
P1 tributes Treeborn Frog to tribute summon Caius the Shadow Monarch. The last thing that happened was an attempt to summon a monster (because this window of opportunity is limited pretty much exclusively to negating summons that do not start a chain, like Horn of Heaven or Koa'ki Meiru Overdose, they are usually lumped together with summon responses)
Since P2 doesn't respond, P1's Caius arrives to the field. The last thing that happened was Caius' tribute (=normal) summon. Tributing Treeborn Frog is a cost and thus promptly ignored.
Due to the fact that his effect is a trigger (responding to his own summon) and the one declaring it's activation is the turn player, it is a Chain Link 1 (CL1 for short - this notation is incredibly useful) targeting Blaze Accelerator Magazine. The last thing that happened was:
Caius was tribute=normal summoned
Caius' effect was activated, targeting Blaze Accelerator Magazine.
yes, both are consiedered "things you can respond to".
P2 activates the effect of Blaze Accelerator Magazine, thus creating CL2: BAM. The last thing that happened was:
Caius was tribute=normal summoned
BAM's effect is activated.
P1 in retalliation chains... nothing at all.
P2 passes right to chain as well, thus both players move into resolving the chain that formed.
2nd Chain Link is resolved (R2 for short): Volcanic Scattershot is discarded (at resolution, since it's not a cost), P2 draws a card.
R1: Caius banishes Blaze Accelerator Magazine.
You'd think that the turn moves back to an open state, but NOT SO FAST! In the middle of resolving that chain, Scattershot's effect trigger happened. Since you can't shove another Chain Link in the middle of an ongoing chain, trigger effects patiently wait for the current chain to finish to either politely ask if it can activate (In case it "If~, you can~" and "When~, you can~") or rudely do the thing at the first opportunity (in this example, this happens with the -500lp effect). As a result, after Caius-BAM chain resolves, a second chain is immediately created, bypassing turn players priority. Thus the example continues with a rather tame case of SEGOC, just so you'll have a taste of what's to come.
CL1: Scattershot -500LP effect activates.
CL2: Scattershot mill themselves as a cost with the intention to nuke the field.
Now that trigger effects stated their business, players can meddle some more. The last thing that happened was:
Blaze Accelerator Magazine was banished.
Volcanic Scattershot's mill'n'nuke effect was activated.
P1 doesn't chain anything.
P2 doesn't chain anything.
R2: field is nuked.
R1: 500lp worth of effect damage is dealt.
Since two other Scattershots were sent to the graveyard, yet another chain is formed.
CL1: Scattershot-A -500LP effect activates.
CL2: Scattershot-B -500LP effect activates.
P1 doesn't chain anything.
P2 doesn't chain anything.
R2: 500 points of damage are dealt.
R1: 500 points of damage are dealt.
and finally - FINALLY - the game moves to an open state (It's still P1′s MP1. If you forgot - this is why explictly asking for responses to specific things is important ;D)
...i can already tell you're internally whining "but why should caaareee?", glad you asked, buster ;> This is where a lot of hidden power/weaknesses of a lot of cards come into play.
People usually gloss over the fact that 1500 comes in three hits, so to speak. This means that Dark Room of Nightmare will deal 900 points of damage and Gorz will retalliate with whooping... -500LP.
Since Caius always activates before BAM, in a void BAM's effect will always go through.
Because BAM can destroy Caius post-mortem, it becomes sort of a mind game - especially if you throw a stray MST into the mix.
If you aim Caius at BAM, they WILL activate it (if they don't it means they do not have Volcanic Shell and that they most likely don't have Volcanic Scattershot - enjoy the free knowledge)
Say you suspect to the point of acting on it that they DO have a Scattershot. You could do the above to pave the way for something nastier. If you have a MST and they have another card, you could aim the Monarch Spite Cannon at that, instead.
If they chain BAM, you can chain MST to destroy it. That way, Scattershot stays in their hand, Caius prevails AND they do not get to draw a card. Oh, and BAM both was activated and destroyed (which means that although this turn they are completely locked out of BAM-shenanigans, they will be able to both retrieve it with volcanic Rocket and use it's 3rd effect next turn).
If they don't, you went +1 in card advantage and still can do the abovementioned later.
No trying to use Solemn Warning after your Bottomless Trap Hole spectatularly failed (or is slated to fail). This also means that summon negation stops the continuous effects of monsters-that-would-have-been (and if you gloss things over, one could even joke that they do so retroactively.)
Costs cannot be chained to. EVER. This is also the reason why Lonefire Blossom works under Skill Drain (by the time it's effect resolves, Skill Drain has already stopped applying to it.)
Volcanic player is perfectly capable of drawing into a Scattershot, which they'll have to discard.
If you want to save Caius with Forbidden Lance/etc, chain it to the second chain. If you do it do it too early, your opponent might troll you by yarding a Shell. If you do it too late you won't even have a target anymore. This also means that if you are using The Monarchs Awaken, you can both have your cake and eat it.
No matter what, doing shenanigans with Escalation of the Monarchs will end with you losing that monster to Scattershots. Whether or not you really needed that Raiza to go off is another matter.
Both players can chain Call of the Haunted to the 3rd chain - and it will ensure that the summoned monster will not fall into a BTH (since the only window of opportunity after that chain opens up only for "dealt/took damage" and "monster effect resolved")
If you are willing into "what are you doing STAHP" territory: if you can read that their only valid discard is a Scattershot - you could chain Torrential Tribute to BAM. Because they activated it, they would have to discard the little guy (as you can't activate cards if you don't have valid targets). However, they wouldn't be able to mill two others, which would be rendered mostly useless, ticking time bombs as you have to discard/mill all of them to get the nuke effect.
As a collorary, every effect that negates an activation, has to be chained directly to what it wants to stop. Negated chain links still exist for the purpose of reading the potential triggers left by the resolution of a chain. There is also a SECRET RULE-FU TECHNIQUE that never ceases to blow my mind. I've mentioned effect fizzling, i've mentioned activating fun things at fun times for fun results. Effect Veiler-Fiendish Chain interaction is what combines those two aspects. Say you have a monster with an ignition effect that tributes it as a cost. For this example, let's take Cardcar D for a joyride. But before that, a few things to keep in mind before we jump in:
Monster effects that tribute themselves for cost activate on the field.
Effect Veiler can and will negate abovementioned effect.
Fiendish Chain only negates things that activate and resolve on the field, just like Skill Drain.
The only window of opportunity to activate Effect Veiler to negate CCD is when it's summoned. Once that moment passes, it'll vroom away.
Do you see where this is going? You have CCD and a Fiendish Chain, your ornery opponent has Effect Veiler. What can happen? Go on, try to figure it out yourself.
The answer is: In response to CCD's summon a chain is formed: CL1: Effect Veiler, targeting CCD. If the turn player adds CL2: Fiendish Chain (targeting CCD), durning resolution Fiendish will negate CCD. As a result Veiler's effect will not affect CCD. After that, you can activate CCD'e effect and it will go through, because Fiendish affects only face-up monsters!
If something is done by the players 'at the same time', like with Dark World Dealings
Rule- trigger-wise, it's resolution opens up trigger conditions:
"a (normal) spell card was resolved"
"you added a card from your deck by drawing it"
"your opponent added a card from your deck by drawing it"
Physically, opponent of the person who activated it is the one to do it 1st (tho i do not have a sauce. It should be either a single-card ruling or in one of the posts of tcgplayer's resident judge).
See also: "events that do not start a chain" (=that do not form a chain link) in the rulebook. The thing that screws over sharks and what i strongly insist on doing: if you activate something in a window of opportunity for triggers as a CL1 (like activating Bottomless Trap Hole because a monster was normal summoned), you are RESPONDING TO *AN ACTION* (here, to the normal summon of a monster). If you are activating something as a CL2 or higher - you are CHAINING TO THE ACTIVATION OF *A CARD (EFFECT)*. And continuous effects APPLY. If you have aaaaaaaall this knowledge nicely sorted out in your head, the only way they could bend the rules would be to confuse you first by muddling what is really happening. Insistent, rigid terminology also point to what they don't know. Even corrected by a judge, they might operate under their old assumptions. Enjoy free knowledge=power ;>
Hey guys, I’m back with a new post!
Today’s article is pretty hard to understand; it’s usually one of those things that new and average players don’t understand or apply in the wrong way. And it’s probably one of the most important things to know to play the game. So, today I’m gonna write about...
More Posts from Analytical-machine and Others
The Tick: letters get carved on it, visible from earth LOCAL 58 TV: implied to be an alien colony? A Creature? I Wanna Be The Guy: moon dropping on you is one of it's 'lol u ded' moments
List Of Media Where Something Fucked Up Happens To The Moon
despicable me (moon theft)
miraculous ladybug (moon split in half)
hermitcraft (moon big)
feel free to add
here various Big Important Authors occasionally take end-of-mandatory-education exams (the language/literary analysis part), including those whose works are in the curriculum AND on the exam.
Needless to say, they do not pass with full marks.
Or simply fail.
i learned that in 1963 a 16 year old sent a 4 question survey to 150 well-known authors (75 of which replied) in order to prove to his English tutor that writers don't intentionally add symbolic content to their books (x)
TIL: the phrase "who watches the watchmen" originates from 2nd century AD.
You ain't solving it today.
That said, it is that time again when i start pontificating on how to make the internet P2P. Somehow. For resilience.
A lot of folks are responding to the whole Reddit situation by calling for the return of decentralised forums, and I think it's important to remember that, contrary to certain popular narratives, the reason early 2000s forum culture has fallen by the wayside is not because people are Just Lazy. Certainly, ease of use is part of it, but a much larger part of it is how vulnerable self-hosted forums are.
Basically, the problem is that even the largest and most carefully managed self-hosted forums can be rendered unusable more or less indefinitely by a single sufficiently determined hostile actor. This can take the form of both attacks on the forum's social infrastructure (i.e., via sock-puppet accounts, botting, organised "raids", etc.) and attacks on its technical infrastructure (i.e., via hacking, DDoS, etc.). In either case, a self-hosted forum has effectively no defence, and the majority of decentralised forum communities survive only by virtue of their relative obscurity; once a self-hosted forum manages to attract the attention of That One Guy who's willing to devote his life to shitting the place up over some microscopic slight, it's effectively game over.
Right now, there are essentially only two mitigation strategies:
Gathering huge numbers of communities under a single, massively centralised technical infrastructure that's simply too large and robust for any one hostile actor to bring down; and
Hardening the community's social infrastructure either by going private and invite only (i.e., the Discord approach), or by making use of a vast centralised pool of volunteer labour to aggressively enforce community standards (i.e., the Reddit approach).
To be clear, these are not intractable problems; other solutions may well exist. However, any proposed plan for bringing decentralised public forums back needs to address them; if you're going in operating under the assumption that forums have become marginalised simply because corporations are evil and people are lazy, you're just setting yourself up to learn the hard way why self-hosted forums no longer seem to be capable of growing beyond a certain point.
in light of the trailer for the new captain america movie dropping, a reminder that bds has asked people to boycott this film specifically due to marvel's refusal to remove the character of sabra.
#piracy efforts will keep media alive for far longer than corporations will even bother attempting
What makes us human is the Nintendo 3DS
these could be 'tumors' that spawn as byproducts of enkephalin box farming/spawned from careless storage thereof, as fitting bases that self-destruct - and else why would Carmen's anything be in LobCorp branches, but through all the looping in that game, they're never brought to attention in the main one?
…we know, as per Mephistopheles eating live/freshly dead people, that eveyone has a bit of cogito in them. What if people start producing golden boughts from themselves, instead of the usual pipeline? they would then make it easier for others to distort. …now how do you make it a chain/runaway reaction for maximum capacity for casualities…
False Apple has another, much less spicy angle to the 'it's deception on meta-layer'. It's a boss that has a second form distinct from the 1st one, including a namechange. Absolutely noone notices on the 1st go, because we're too genre savvy not to expect something with more teeth than "gimmick: boss with regen", even if the tutorial nature of it would overshadow that the regen doesn't have numbers big enough to have ever threatened the player. The 2nd form also sort of changes the bosses' strategy, such as it is: self-heal starts as passive healing+clash numbers so the player could be lured into doing 1-sideds into a clashed tile and hope they can out-attrition it… but the 2nd form has it's healing on it's attacks, and is simply more aggro with it's attrition aspect - instead of shields to stall it's bleed, to which we just don't have outs, nevermind on release.
do you see how easy it is to snowball with this shit???
that's why we love it, yes?
re: the forbidden fruit: it does come up in the theme tune, to the tune of this topic!
Stole from the tree’s hands A regretter’s friend — the forbidden fruit I bite off the skin Chewing on its tender flesh Quaff down its lukewarm pus
once more, flesh of an apple <=> flesh of a person. …which routes back to Burrowing Heaven and it's fruits. But then… why are the fruits forbidden? Surely we're not suddenly feeling shy about cannibalism? We have District 23 which is fine with it… because the city is fine with it… when flipped, it would make the fruit forbidden because it's made of people. When flipped, that would mean 'to not use people as means to an end, but as ends in an of themselves' aka. Kant's "Formula of Humanity". …a stable distortion as in 'one that paints the world in their own colors, ignoring the others' vs Effloresced EGO, which does not? Kali defending others, Vergilius wanting to raze the city, Dongrang wanting to kill the past?
tbh i think there would be some ground gained by splitting up comparing humans to plants, and to inanimate objects. Plants look inanimate, but are not. Have You Become Strong turns people into toy robots. My Form Empties covers/turns it's host into a statue. In both cases they're objectified, but most plant-like examples presented are mostly just vibing. It's the robots and the murti and the tourbot and the clay dolls that aggressively exist at you. (also, sidenote? in Canto 1 that ex-L corp employee pretended to be one to not die). Inquisitors seem somewhere inbetween, being both meaty and in your face - but also, wikia says the feral ones are turned Kleinhammers (and mechanically it takes a bit for them to 'wake up'), snake ones are (more brainwashed/fanatical) 'greater' Mittelhammers start aggro and then kind of… undulate with their Instinct stacks.
Everything There corrosions (lesser Mittelhammers) are somewhere between, starting with some Instinct that gets removed when they take damage (skillsets have no block/dodge). Like sure it gives them buffs, but then since player will read to focus-fire them why not just have them start at 0 Instincts + base stats up + lower trigger on behavior change + more buffs per instinct stack. …actually no that doesn't make for engaging gameplay, how do you keep getting past 'Because Good Game Design, That's Why'?! …so in a way, wouldn't some kind of objective of some party be 'to turn clay of the city into people'? re: Golden Boughs: specifically, even if the objective isn't replacing the current world with some other version, whoever (->Dante) we feed enough Boughs can become a God of the City? If rewriting reality is just what Boughs can be used for, isn't literally every objective that uses them also include destroying whatever they're overwriting? and thus, i'm not quite sure if old Dante getting beheaded (ha) is quite on par of with sinners having one continuous line between their past selves and their current selves. Even if we pull Alchemy of the Self motif on it and all that but… something about this just doesn't gel. The city still has influence over new Dante which flavor-wise makes sense to be less important than friendly interacting with Sinners on roughly equal ground, but also? that's not now we're solving either Gacha Eternity nor The City as a metaphor for South Korea. The goal will not succeed for meta reasons. But the goal was never new Dante's, and thus lessening/abandoning it will fit neatly into the above. …split the Bough's power between the sinners which dilutes the impact?
Stuck in Heaven (ego gift: Late-bloomer's Tattoo) has been grinding my gears for a while now. It has an idea - and a clear one at that - but i can't figure out what it *is*. Wiki has the event transcript. Pls send help
Alright, back to my proper analyses, and... *cracks knuckles* Oh this one's gonna be fun. I want to say that since this one won't need to get into E.G.O analysis, then this post will be a bit shorter than my other full-length analyses...
But. You know how it is with me. For all I know this one might end up ridiculously long anyway. Also, uh, spoilers for Lobotomy Corporation and Library of Ruina ahead.
So, before we can talk about Stuck in Heaven, we need to talk about the other Abnormality it's directly related to - The Burrowing Heaven.
The Burrowing Heaven debuted in Lobotomy Corporation, but later made a return in Library of Ruina as one of the Abnormality Battles. For the sake of completion, I will be taking a look at both of its appearances in the series.
In its original appearance, Burrowing Heaven takes on the form of a tree-like entity, made up of a fleshy material, with branches that seperate into wing-like shapes and many eyes.
Its main mechanics in Lobotomy Corporation is that the Abnormality needs to be on-screen to prevent it from breaching and teleporting away once it does breach. This mechanic is reflected in a lot of flavor text about it, most directly in the description of its E.G.O Gear, which includes the sentence "Just contain it in your sight."
Burrowing Heaven's story further expands on this idea. The Abnormality is repeatedly said to "live inside your eyes/gaze", to feed on the attention and focus others give it by looking at it. However, the moment one looks away for too long, it begins to stretch the stalks of its wings for two reasons - one, to gather corpses as food for the fruit it bears; two, to reach towards the sky and sun, as if to cover it up.
Religious imagery and symbolism is used all over for this Abnormality. From the act of stretching its limbs being compared to praying to an old-forgotten god, to its wings reaching the skies being compared to an angel, to the action of it growing its thorns and burrowing being described as for the purpose of "reaching heaven inside one's vision".
Now, there's a very interesting part of Burrowing Heaven's story in LobCorp that I want to point out. Usually, when those stories are said in first person, it's either through the use of "we" (to reflect the company/employees writing those down as a whole), or with the passage being specified as either some testimony or log or otherwise being quoted.
However... That's not the case here. For Burrowing Heaven, there is a whole section in its story written in first person, with no clear note of it being quoted from something else. Allow me to paste the segment in its entirety.
"That's what a gaze is. Attention. An invisible string that connects us. Sole focus. Do not come here, as there is no place for you to rest. But you see, I could only bear fruit when I stood inside your sight. Is this what you wanted to see? When your tears dry up at last, tell me your answer."
Interesting, isn't it?
However, we're not done yet. There is still the context of its appearance in Library of Ruina, so let's look at that, shall we?
In Library of Ruina, Burrowing Heaven's Abno Battle is placed on the Floor of Religion, aka Hokma's Floor, alongside Price of Silence, Blue Star, and WhiteNight.
Narratively, this Library Floor explores the faith and dedication that Carmen's group put into her and Ayin, especially from Hokma's perspective, who unconditionally put his trust into Ayin back when he was known as Benjamin. Thus, all of the Abnormalities fought on this symbolically represent Carmen's unwavering dedication to gathering like-minded people to make her dream come true, and the devotion those who followed felt towards her and her goals.
When it comes to the Burrowing Heaven, there is some more info we can gather from its Abno Battle in this game, starting off with its new appearance:
As you can see, the previously tree-like form has been replaced with one that very clearly represent a human's central nervous system, brain and spinal cord included. The bloody wings and eyes still remain though.
...Now. Those who have played Lobotomy Corporation might recognize what Burrowing Heaven is meant to represent in this form. And for those who haven't, allow me to show you something.
This is what became of Carmen after her death:
A disembodied central nervous system, with its nerves spread out in an almost wing-like fashion.
While most of the flavor text here repeats what we know about the Abno from LobCorp, there are a few unique pieces of text I want to shine a spotlight on right here.
"The desire for the unreachable will only grow bigger. And to pursue it… is to tread a path riddled with thorns."
"Basking in everyone’s gaze and attention… It will finally come to fruition and spread its wings."
"The one who spread their wings sacrificed everything they had, and yet…"
"Just close your eyes. That’s right, you’re doing good…"
"If we ever open our eyes again, will we get to see the fruit of our labor in that gaze?"
...In case you were wondering why I was being so scant on the interpretation part of this analysis, this is why. This connection is what changes Burrowing Heaven from a nebulous concept to a direct parallel.
Burrowing Heaven, at its core, is a reflection of Carmen. More specifically, Carmen's dream, and the way she and her followers acted to reach her goals. How, to pursue it, they had to single-mindedly focus on that goal, to make many sacrifices for the sake of reaching what seemed unreachable.
It could also represent how Carmen's seeming demise and the following tragedies happened because nobody paid attention to the warning signs, nobody focused on Carmen when she was at her lowest. And yet, those very tragedies are what led to even more attention being put on making progress towards that goal, towards Carmen's wings spreading out and reaching ever closer towards the heaven she so desired.
The gaze being put on her may have put her deep underground, in the vat where her nervous system became a source of Cogito... but it also eventually led to the breathtaking sight that was the Light. And now that there is no more gaze left on her, her wings can spread everywhere, blocking out the sun with her own Light.
When you think about it, isn't that how Distortions take place under Carmen's influence? Just close your eyes and ignore the world around you. Let your desires guide you. Just like Carmen is encouraging you to do, patiently. That's right, you're doing good, following what she says.
...Okay that's all fine and good, but what the fuck does all this mean for Stuck in Heaven? Let's get to that.
From just a cursory look at its physical description, Stuck in Heaven appears to be the next step of progression in this Heaven line of Abnormalities. From the tree-like form of the LobCorp Burrowing Heaven, to the brainstem in Library of Ruina, to Stuck in Heaven taking the form of growths directly growing over a person.
Interestingly enough, the Mirror Dungeon event describes Stuck in Heaven as having "the appearance" of a branch, yet being human. Curious.
This is also where a difference is established between Stuck in Heaven and Burrowing Heaven, with the event text directly referencing the Abnormality that Stuck in Heaven is related to.
"Heaven sometimes burrows; other times, it makes a home in the heart. Once taken root, that heaven will only be visible through the eyes of others."
Immediately, this tells us one major thing - Stuck in Heaven does not burrow like Burrowing Heaven, it does not need to feed on the attention people give through vision. Rather, the thing it aims to take root in is the heart.
The text you get from taking the [Close your eyes.] option explains why Stuck in Heaven does that. When it takes root in one's heart, closing one's eyes is not enough to get it out of one's gaze, as the sight it sought out is that coming from the heart itself.
I believe this is also why actually trying to [Return the gaze.] with one's eyes does nothing. With Burrowing Heaven, which actively sought out one's eye vision, one can find many references to it being alive and actively watching its observer back. However, trying to do so with Stuck in Heaven results in it ignoring the observer. The heaven Stuck in Heaven is looking for is not in the eyes, but past them. "Behind me", as the text puts it.
Now... all of that might not have much meaning without further context. After all, what's all this looking with one's eyes and looking with one's heart stuff about?
And this. Is where we get to The Little Prince.
Yeah, remember how Demian seems to be representing the titular Little Prince himself, through him directly quoting the kid?
Yeah, that's not the only thing Limbus Company borrows from that book. In fact, from what I've gathered, The Little Prince might just be one of, if not the most important books when it comes to the themes Limbus Company is setting itself up to explore.
And the main theme that Limbus Company borrows from that book is the theme of seeing with the eyes vs seeing with the heart. It is all over this narrative. The constant focus on perception and what everyone is percieving through their senses. The equal focus on the heart, of how subjective reality is when looking at the reflections of one's heart, yet how one has to follow the heart to reach the unreachable. I mean, for fuck's sake, the word Limbus can refer to both a part of the eye and a part of the heart!
Most importantly, I think it's also the key to understanding Stuck in Heaven a bit better. In The Little Prince, a clear divide is established between the Little Prince, who uses his imagination to understand his reality, and "the grown-ups", who focus solely on the physical world.
Stuck in Heaven's E.G.O Gift is named Late-Bloomer's Tattoo. A late-bloomer is someone who takes a long time to develop one's skills or grow up. For Stuck in Heaven to be able to leave its mark (or Tattoo) on someone, to take root in their heart, one has to not be a grown-up yet, to still be able to see the world with one's heart rather than one's eyes.
So... What does it all mean?
I'll be honest, I don't fucking know! I don't even know if Stuck in Heaven even still has connections to Carmen the way Burrowing Heaven does!
What I can say however, is that Stuck in Heaven is likely extremely interconnected with the main plot and themes of Limbus Company, the same way Burrowing Heaven was for Lobotomy Corporation and Library of Ruina.
Does it represent the goals of Limbus Company itself? Faust? The Golden Boughs? The fucking Mark of Cain?
The reality of it all is... we just aren't far enough along in the story yet to be sure. The way it connects to one of the bigger themes of Limbus Company, alongside it being directly related to the Abnormality that was so directly paralleling the end-game reveals about Carmen in LobCorp, means that we likely just don't have enough of the puzzle pieces yet to see the full picture of what Stuck in Heaven truly represents.
I'm sure as we head closer towards Limbus Company's endgame, the true meaning of Stuck in Heaven will become much, much clearer to us. But, until then, all we can do is wait and see what comes next. It's definitely a subject I'll want to revisit later on, once we get a better grasp on the overarching plot and will be able to start properly connecting the pieces.
Sorry that I couldn't give a more definite answer as to what Stuck in Heaven's exact meaning is, but from all the analysis I've done I genuinely think this is the best answer I can give. That it's a direct parallel to something within the main plot of Limbus Company that we have yet to learn, similarly to how Burrowing Heaven is a direct parallel to Carmen and the path taken to reach her goals.
There's certainly Something about singularities in Bungou Stray Dogs presenting as massive, myth-derived creatures with more than passing resemblances to kaiju given the setting predates its analog to World War II.
Gojira and the kaiju genre were born in the aftermath of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Lucky Dragon Incident (in which an American hydrogen bomb test rained radioactive ash on a Japanese fishing boat and much of the South Pacific). Life form singularities (like Chuuya and Verlaine), the Seven Traitors, the Transcendants, Mori's fixation on skill-based warfare, and everything else about the Great War all indicate that skills are akin to nuclear arms.
But unlike nuclear arms, skills are generally framed as intrinsic to their user. They're neurological; as much as part of skill users' wiring as the rest of their synapses. Even for Kyouka, whose skill was inherited but not fully integrated, her skill more resembles hereditary neurochemical wiring than it does nuclear proliferation.
Gojira (1954) ends with Dr. Serizawa's promise that hydrogen bombs would always assure nightmarish, monstrous manifestations of the horrors of war. You'd think Dazai's gift, then, would be the enigmatic focal skill of the series; he's capable of nullifying hydrogen bombs, after all.
But it's Atsushi and his celestial Byakko that Shibusawa calls the antithesis of all other abilities. And, as explained in 55 Minutes, Byakko doesn't heal or regenerate Atsushi, it negates his wounds. Atsushi isn't only a particularly tenacious shounen protagonist, Byakko compels him to stand when he's been cut down. When Atsushi is at the edge of death, Byakko consumes him completely, and Atsushi is lost within him, moreso than even Chuuya is in his Corruption state (Chuuya is fully conscious in Corruption— if Atsushi is conscious, he's either repressing or sluggishly recalling the memory of what occurred). Akutagawa also mentions during the Cannibalism arc that Atsushi's claws cut through skills themselves (even Rashoumon, which eats space). Akutagawa also becomes aware, in 55 Minutes, that Byakko can be triggered by Atsushi's peril, and Akutagawa does so to negate the manifestation of a seemingly transcendant skill that otherwise had utterly defanged them (although he seems sorry to have to do it).
Nevertheless, although Atsushi's Byakko seemingly negates the metaphorical horrors of the Great War illustrated by the others and their relationships with their skills, it's Atsushi who posits that perhaps skills aren't innate. He says to Kunikida, "Maybe they come from somewhere else and stick to us. Maybe they're something we can't understand... I don't really know how to put it into words, but that's how I feel."
Much of 55 Minutes is colored by Atsushi's fear of Byakko and his understanding that Byakko could devour him. His fear is seemingly validated by the antagonist, a manifestation of a skill that seemingly swallowed its human. But although textually consistent with his expressed fear, Atsushi's tone, demeanor, timing, and thought processes from when he speaks that line until the light novel ends aren't. His musings reflect his namesake's exploration of and uneasy relationship with the nature of existence, which he understood to be constructed by one's culture and environment better than most due to his somewhat rootless childhood.
I think it's interesting that someone with a skill capable of cutting through other skills, negating wounds, and antithesizing all skills challenges whether skills are innate at all. And if they're not, what does that imply about the parallels between skills, the horrors of war, and the fear of nuclear holocaust?
It's important to me that the scars of American imperialism and disregard for the sanctity of life are not erased from the narrative when discussing the world wars and nuclear proliferation. So I hesitate to posit anything about what skills may be in Bungou Stray Dogs that is too abstracted from trauma wrought by Western imperialism, Japanese imperialism, or the horrors of World Wars I & II. But perhaps that's it; when Atsushi speculates that skills are something that sticks to you, I'm reminded of how trauma has shaped and informed his own. He is certain that Byakko's negation and restless hunger are connected to his birth and subsequent suffering. At first, I thought we were being teased with his early background. But there's no need to tease; the reason so many characters in Bungou Stray Dogs are orphans directly relates to the Great War and the generational trauma still reverberating in its aftermath, and amid the threat of another, even more destructive war.
Perhaps Atsushi was implying that skills are constructs born not from any innate self, if there's such a thing, but from traumas, experiences, needs, cultures, and environments. Which is to say that skills aren't separable, exactly, from their users, but they're not innate either. They're like our personalities: immutable once shaped in the crucible of our most formative years, but nevertheless reflections of not only ourselves, but of what we need and who we become when confronted by others, in all of their beauty and horror.
Thus, perhaps it isn't Atsushi's skill that's so very antithetical to all others. It's his understanding of it, his ability to cut through to others, his compassion, his cowardice, his curiosity, and his separation from his sense of self that both inflicted him with Byakko and which will allow him to transcend it to become who he desires to be. It reminds me that, shortly before his death, his namesake decided to become a writer. And that although he wrote and lived only briefly, his sincerity, thoughtfulness, and introspective skepticism cut, and continue to cut, with a brilliance emblematic of life.
Anyway. Atsushi is both the main character and protagonist of Bungou Stray Dogs. Dazai knows this, too; even if he can nullify Byakko, he's just as impacted by Atsushi's brimming earnestness as everyone else Atsushi encounters. Atsushi liberates the narrative so that it's not a warning that the horrors of war will proliferate so long as we are capable of mass destruction, but instead it's a promise that hope needn't be intrinsic to persist all the same.
The Nine of Swords is a Minor Arcana tarot card, also known as the Lord of Cruelty. (…) If this card is shown in an upright position, it can mean deception, premonitions and bad dreams, suffering and depression, cruelty, disappointment, violence, loss and scandal. However, all of these may be overcome through faith and calculated inaction. This is the card of the martyr and with it comes new life out of suffering (…) If the card is shown in an ill-dignified or reversed manner then it has a different meaning. When turned this way it means distrust, suspicion, despair, misery or malice. Total isolation away from comfort and help: institutionalization, suicide, imprisonment and isolation. However, in a generally positive spread, the reversed meaning of this card can also indicate that the nightmare may be ending. The Nine of Swords reversed can actually be a hopeful card, counselling faith in the future and the promise of better days ahead.
- sure, on wikipedia it's unsourced but seems to cross-ref well
Chapter 110 Official Art Analysis
I wonder if Teruko stays in her younger form so often to avoid the intensity of her own emotions.
Her devotion to Fukuchi despite his faults -> A childish crush
Her intense pride + rage that she must endure horrors for the sake of national peace -> Constant tantrums that seem disproportionate to the situation
Her sadism going unfulfillled during an interrogation and the storm of emotion that arises from that -> Cluthing Jouno's hand and wailing like the child she is embodying
eXCUSE YOU regarding YGO:
…and unless someone dumps the data to an unofficial DB you better have access to judge forums. Shoutout to my boi Prohibition - "cannot be used" requires 12 A4 pages of rulings handling every possible way of trying to get that card onto the field. And some interactions can be only explained by knowing rulings of other cards that have the same (non-kayworded) effect
AKSHUALLY all percieved incongruities are all explained on the official site! That is kept up-to-date! And it depends on placement of a semicolon, not a word! we have Problem-Solving Card Text Now!! So seven or so lines of text on a card are orderly now! Old cards are reprinted with it! Modern cards are interpreted like code!
[Citation needed], but official rule patches can and will be postponed until enough money is made from outdated rules making new cards OP AF (Sangan triggering on detach early into XYZ era)
Memes about collectible card games tend to treat Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gu-Oh! as basically interchangeable, but the truth is that each of them is fucked up in completely different ways. In brief:
Magic: The Gathering –
Official rulebook that's about nine hundred pages long
Timing and priority framework with roughly a billion different steps and sub-phases that tries to account for every edge case and technicality like a video game developer trying to stop speedrunners from clipping out of bounds
Authoritative card text resides in a massive centralised database which receives constant updates and errata, such that what's officially printed on a card may bear no particular resemblance to what's physically printed on it
So densely keyworded that a single symbol in a card's text may expand to several paragraphs of rules
Yi-Gi-Oh! TCG –
Judges' rulings in major tournaments create binding precedent which is not subsequently incorporated into the rules, creating situations where fully understanding what a card does may require a knowledge of its complete history of use in tournament play
Multiple mutually incompatible priority, timing and targeting frameworks, such that which framework is used may vary not only from card to card, but among different effects of the same card, determined by differences as small as the placement of one word
Legacy cards may receive permission to resolve their effects according to what the rules were at the time of their printing
See the difference?
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