#kifaaji

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

man.

Not Leona revealing he’s a competent driver but also fucking off to shovel candy into his mouth when he’s so Fed Up with being nagged by an old bird man in the same episode (3) of the event 😭

He’s a mature and responsible adult half of the time and a 5-year old the other half… The duality of (beast)man 🤡

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Did we finally get a face reveal of Leona's older brother in the current event? Cause I would be pissed if they didn't use the opportunity, and just went on with introducing a new lion king based character.

I don’t know, you tell me 😂 /s

No Farena/Falena for us, unfortunately. There’s still a chance we’ll get the face reveal in the manga adaptation, though that’s also kind of up in the air (since we got Mama Rosehearts, but face redacted).

I believe it was said in the mangaka’s notes that Mama Rosehearts was “blotted out” because she is considered the source of Riddle’s trauma. (In the game, all faces were blotted out in the post-OB flashbacks; in the manga, we saw the faces of everyone but Mama Rosehearts.) Depending on whether or not Leona considers his older brother the source of his own trauma, we may miss out on that face reveal in the manga too 😭

(Manga scanlations from turtlesoupscans!)

Falena appears to have a “unique” in-game sprite although it looks like Leona but blotted out similar to Riddle’s mom, so perhaps we’ll see at least his clothes in the manga??

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I read your analysis/thoughts on sebek and his identity as half fairy and half human, and thought it was very, very compelling. I'm also mixed (but obviously not a fantasy race haha) so your explanation for his condescension of humans due to internalized hatred hit close to home. that post then got me thinking about azul because he is also a character who hates his identity, though in a different way. we learn that he's very insecure about being an octopus, and it's implied that even when he was in elementary school he was researching spells to change ones species (when the tweels said he was interesting, it was on one of the shells). do you think azul likes being a human more than his real self? do you think he'd actually prefer to stay/live on the surface because he doesn't have to deal with the memories of being made fun of for just being him? actually, if the theory of mers placing more value on traits that encourage survival is true, while demeaning those that make them easy pickings (like azul's slowness) wouldn't that mean even as an adult, azul would be kind of discriminated against still, thereby making living on the surface even more attractive?

[Referencing this analysis!]

Aaaah, I’m glad you enjoyed that Sebek analysis!! ^^ That’s one that I’m particularly proud of, especially since I have some personal stakes in the topics I covered in it. Sebek needs more appreciation and understanding!

I think you make some very salient points about Azul. While the discrimination towards octopus merpeople is referenced far less often than the discrimination between fae and humans, it’s still a crucial point in discussions concerning Azul’s insecurities. According to him, octopuses rare compared to other kinds of merpeople. One reason for this could be that octopus merfolk have big, bulky appendages (their tentacles) which get in the way of swimming and leaves them more susceptible to dangers in the deep. As a youth, Azul was bullied for a myriad of reasons, some of which inherently link back to his being an octopus merperson. The other children would make fun of him for swimming slowly, spitting out ink when he cried, and being easy to find during hide-and-seek (most likely due to his larger frame and additional limbs)--all traits which make him an octopus. Azul ended up internalizing a lot of the hurtful comments thrown at him (such as being a "slow, stupid octopus"), and indeed, these are the phrases he himself utters at his lowest moments... that he will go back to being an "idiotic octopus" again.

I actually didn't remember the detail about there being a species changing spell written inside a seashell in the episode 3 flashback, but when I went back to check it was definitely there! (Must've slipped my mind?) I don't know if Azul was studying that spell in hopes or changing himself, if it's for some future endeavor (like the deals he would later go on to make with his classmates), or if he just wanted to expand his own knowledge and become powerful like the Sea Witch 🤔 But!! It definitely gives us some food for thought.

I get the sense that while Azul has formed a new identity for himself and is working on coming to terms with his past, he still harbors some shame which he is careful to mask for the sake of his image. For example, whenever an opportunity arises for Azul to appear in his octopus form but he doesn’t, he hand waves it with a convenient yet reasonable excuse. (In 3-38, he says you don’t see many octopus merpeople in these parts, so appearing as one would draw unwanted attention to himself while he’s trying to return a stolen photograph. Then in 4-34, Azul says he is not a fast swimming because of his tentacles, hence why only the twins revert to their merforms to swim the gang back to Scarabia.) I feel like Azul is purposefully avoiding being seen in his merform because it’s a reminder to himself of his old weak self and he has a lot of self esteem issues tied up in that.

I think being a human, even temporarily, grants Azul a brief escape and allows him to fully embrace this new confident persona he has cultivated for himself. He has literally been made “anew” on land; this strong image of him is all his peers know, whereas his peers in the Coral Sea will have memories of how he used to be. As Azul currently is, I think he has a preference to presenting as human (again, as he’s still working on fully accepting himself). However, I also believe that part of his enjoyment of being a human comes from the lucrative business opportunities that arise from it. He can immerse himself in the ways of the world above and also network, then pull from those experiences to improve upon his own business ventures. This would give him a leg up against competitors that are purely land or purely sea based.

I do think it’s fair to think Azul may live and work on land in the future, though I also think he could return home (in a more permanent sense) if time is kind to him and he’s able to completely embrace everything that he is and everything he once was. I mean, he’ll probably visit home anyway even if he stays on land (as he holds his family and the restaurant staff at his mother’s business in high regard). But no matter where Azul goes, he can never fully escape reminders of his past; even on land, he has Jade and Floyd teasing him about how cute and squishy his octopus form is. He can’t keep running from it. Maybe the Azul at the beginning of episode 3 would want to live on land, where he would be most far removed from his home, and this far removed from his original form and the painful trauma associated with it. But post-episode 3 Azul? I don’t know about that. He has acknowledged at the end of 3 that he made the mistake of rejecting what was an essential part of him. In later story appearances, Azul seems to be a little more approachable, a little more vulnerable (he has those moments where he banters with the twins, when he lets his cool slip arguing with Riddle in 6, etc.). He’s working on it—and with that, reshaping his own beliefs on the world, and on himself. Thus, he could eventually become comfortable with his true form to consider a “return to form” and with it, to the sea.

I also think that the current Azul is a lot more competent than he was as a child, so this would earn him more respect if he were to return. Once Azul started offering his services back in middle school, others seem to have started to treat him a whole lot better (this is also the period where Jade and Floyd get fully invested in him). Most people wouldn’t look at him and see that same crybaby octopus now. Still, it’s hard to tell for certain because there was such a myriad of things Azul was bullied for (his intelligence, his weight, his lack of physical abilities, etc.) which aren’t all tied to his being an octopus.

While I do buy the “merpeople place more value on traits that aid in survival in the oceanic environment” headcanon, it’s hard to say what the real stance is on octopus merfolk in the TWST world is. The only real opinions we have are from NPC merfolk children, and they can be unreliable narrators since… well, little kids can pick on the most mundane of traits. We don’t know if this reflects the feelings of adult merpeople or merfolk society at large; we only have this small sampling to work off of. Circumstances can impact our perception of the lore. For example, Kifaji also says that bird beastmen are rare, but he’s in a wise and privileged enough of a position that we wouldn’t get a good understanding of how bird beastmen in general are treated compared to more abundant types of beastmen like lions.

shjsbskwnzks Phew, those were a lot of thoughts 😅 Hopefully I was able to articulate myself alright!

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hey its the Nigerian anon from earlier, and I haven't read events yet I'm going to wait for more reliable translators to bring it out. For now I've only seen twst Zazu, the other version of the outfits and 'catch the tail'?

Catch the tail sorta reminds me of the annual wrestling festival my community holds as well as the masquerades (these aren't as fun, much more traumatising than it sounds). So it's a good reminder at least

Twst Zazu who I've only seen the design of reminds me of Ambrose the third in a Appearance, I showed my fellow Nigerian parents his design but their first response was 'why was he white' ' and reminded them of the dancing guy in African attire.

The outfits I'm a bit more skeptical on, on one hand they seem to implement traditional fabrics, on the other it seems to be a more sexualised version of it. And frankly I'm not a fan of the fan service.

Thoughts?

[Referencing this post!]

Hello, and welcome back!! ^^ It’s good to know that you’re patiently waiting for quality translations for the ongoing event. Sometimes quick translations can result in misinformation spreading (which I’m sure you’re aware of!).

Only 2 parts of the story are out at the moment, but we’ve already seen some exciting things! A new character, a new environment, and lots of new lore…!! ✨

Wrestling isn’t too big of a thing in my part of the world, but it’s cool to see that it is in other places! These kinds of events bring people out and help a community feel more tightly knit~ I wonder if Catch the Tail took inspiration from similar kinds of wrestling festivals in real life?? Side note: hopefully those masquerades aren’t that bad 😅

I believe our twisted!Zazu is named Kifaji!! He seems to serve a similar role as Zazu did in The Lion King, giving morning reports and overseeing the royal household. He has a sort of angular disposition, I think much less “soft” than Ambrose. I’m glad that TWST isn’t afraid to introduce more elderly characters like Kifaji, Ambrose, and Marja (Epel’s granny); it really helps the world feel more “real” than if they just kept throwing young attractive men at us. Funnily enough, Leona actually has a line in the event where he’s all like, “yeah, as if you common tourists would be allowed to meet the king” (Farena/Falena). It feels like the devs are teasing us with that 😂 They knew how hyped we were for his design to be dropped bdkwbzjNvwjwvwjs

I understand why Kifaji’s skin color may be a little odd to your parents seeing as they don’t have the full context for TWST or the event 😅 The Sunset Savanna does seem to boast a light skinned portion of the population as well (Rook, Ruggie, Sebek’s grandfather before he moved to the Briar Valley)! I believe this is also true of Africa, no?

By the outfits, you mean the alternate versions of the Catch the Tail attire, correct? As I said in my original post, I’m not familiar with African fashion so I’m not really at liberty to speak at length about it. I don’t think my opinion should have a lot of weight on this matter, and I don’t want to step on the toes of anyone that does have something substantial to say about this, so I’ll only be giving very precursory thoughts.

I was giving the originals the benefit of the doubt since it would be virtually impossible to “accurately” represent all of Africa in a single outfit without taking some creative liberties and incorporating elements from various parts of the continent. I feel like the bold colors and patterns have a lot of rich history and culture behind them! However 💦 I’m a little less forgiving with the alts??

I’m fine with the arms being exposed because it serves a practical purpose (the goal of Catch the Tail is to grab the opponent’s mask thing off their head snd that’s probably easier to do without the fabric and jewelry in the way). I don’t know about the exposed midriff though? Maybe I’m just misinformed or misunderstanding something (again, I’m not that educated on African fashion), but it resembles a skintight crop top to me and kind of gives the vibes it was only presented this way to be “hot”. I sort of get it from a business perspective; it’s a gacha game and the companies behind TWST want to make money so some degree of fan service is to be expected. However, I can definitely see why this could read as perhaps insensitive fan service 😔

That being said, I’d like to take this opportunity to say 💦 while I’m flattered that some people want to know my opinions, I would prefer it if I wasn’t asked to give my thoughts on these kinds of very specific cultural things. I don’t feel right talking about it in detail since my own knowledge is limited, and again, I don’t want to misspeak or to talk over those who know better than I do.