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What are you headcanons regarding any movies, tv shows, or books?


henrymidfields
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The title should be self explanatory. Here's mine:

Kiki's Delivery Service / My Neighbour Totoro / Porco Rosso (Studio Ghibli)

So I think some people have heard that the setting for KDS is an alternate timeline for Europe where WW2 did not happen right? And at least one contributor to one of the magazines for University of Florida also suggested that Totoro was also an alternate 1955, also no WW2. Well let me expand on that one:

  • KDS and MNT both happen in the same common alternate universe that branches off from 1910. Here, the Versailles Treaty in World War One still happens, but with some slightly different details. There is also a version of PR, with generally identical stories, but with different backgrounds. The canon version of Porco Rosso is the one with real-life history that includes Nazi Germany and Fascist Japan, and an alternate version takes place in the same timeline with KDS and MNT.
  • Both stories themselves are set in the late 1950s, though with some technology resembling earlier stuff, as WW2 did not happen as it did in real life. Or...it kind of still did, but as a mere whimper compared to WW1.

Japan and East Asia in general

  • Japan also didn't become the military dictatorship in this version of the 1930s, though there were close calls. Instead, the 1930s was a restoration and continuation of the Taisho Democracy, due to multiple factors, including a healthier and more proactive Taisho Emperor (he was actually on not very good terms with the military IRL), and a few legislations that got through the Emperor himself backed that weakened the military's influence on the civilian government. His saw his reign up until 1941, and became known for his support for the growing multi-party democracy, and his opposition to militarism.
    • It also helped that while the Racial Equality Clause didn't get passed in the Versailles Treaty, Japan decided to agree with several European countries individually anyway, removing a lot of ammunitions from the nationalists. As such, while Manchuria did kind of became its own thing, it ended up becoming isolated, as the home government in Japan refused to back it up, and the citizens were just as unenthusiastic (at least compared to IRL). Meanwhile, the REC emboldened others living under the various colonies, and while this was hardly the intention of the Imperial Japanese Government back then, became one of the catalysts for decolonization.
  • The Korean War and the Chinese Civil War still kind of happened, but in a series of combined events from the late 1930s to 1944. This one had a three-way-battle between the Comminterns, the Fascists, vs the Allies:
    • Allies: United States, France, Empire of Japan, and their colonial governments, Republic of China, Thailand, Philippines (since 1943)
    • Renegades: Manchukuo
    • Commintern: Communist Party of China, Communist Party of Korea, Communist Party of Indochina, USSR
  • The actual fightings, were a lot smaller and more sporadic than WW2 in real life. There were not as much coordination amongst the Commintern due to the relative lack of good infrastructure and communications compared to the Allies, with the exception being the Communist Parties of China and Korea in the Korean Theatre. The Korean Theatre was in actual fact only took place during 1939 to 1941, with the US and Japanese Imperial forces pitted against the Chinese and Korean Communists. The former two forces also saw fighting in Indochina to assist the French colonial government.
  • While Japan and her allies won the war against the Korean Communist Faction, it ended up being a phyrric victory for them thanks to the relentless opposition of the Korean Worker's faction, and the subsequent loss of population within Japan's colonial loyalists, and the sheer costs in reconstruction. This ended up stirring discontent both amongst the local Korean subjects who wanted freedom. This time, the Japanese citizens back home, now facing generally less censorship thanks to Emperor Taisho's democratization efforts, were also horrified at the sheer toll and cost. They, alongside with the US Government, who realized how colonialism have been stoking communist fire and was therefore politically unsustainable (and have themselves granted independence to the Phillipines in 1943), pressured the Japanese Government to withdraw and grant independence. Under a lot of kicking and screaming, the Japanese Government complied, with a gradual withdrawal from Korea and Taiwan starting from 1946, with the last remaining civilian and military staff withdrawing in 1951.
  • Because Japan never experienced the destruction of WW2 in this timeline, nor invaded the rest of Asia on her own, (though rationing to a limited extent did occur to stuff like building supplies etc) the Japanese economic miracle happens a lot sooner, and anti-Japanese sentiment outside of East Asia isn't as strong as it was in the actual late 1940s and 1950s. Inside East Asia? That's another story thanks to the widespread fightings and destructions in mainland China and its colonialist legacy in Korea.
    • Internally, Japan managed to more or less evolve into a stable multi-party democracy as with real life. Old habits such as "a good wife and a wise mother" (良妻賢母) being ideal still dies hard, however. On one hand, the military was still seen in a positive light, the Emperor and the State-backed Shintoism was still very much prestigious. But this was offset with citizens that are somewhat more demanding of scruitny and reform, Japanese female nobles being enfranchised since 1937 and other females since 1945, and the Liberal Democrats being not as powerful, but actually being forced to form coalitions with the Komeito and capitulate to demands for reform from a more competent opposition. One such demand was for reforming the Imperial Constitution to officially transition Japan into a constitutional monarchy and disempower State Shintoism in exchange for religious freedom, something which has been gradually increasing traction with the citizens.

Europe

  • The Nazi Party did gain some traction in the late 1920s. However, the other parties were happier to cooperate together, and the Nazi Party never managed to get a majority. It also didn't help that a certain instigator got shot and killed in the Beer Hall Pusch, depriving the party of who they saw as a valuable demagogue.
  • Italy did get into fascism since the 1920s, and did do their invasions into Northern Africa. They were only able to annex Libya, however, and it ended up being a phyrric victory for them, thanks to several military blunders as per real life, and especially due to Germany in this timeline not being an ally. The whole situation eventually devolved into the Italian Civil war in the 1940s, with the eventual capture and execution of Mussolini, almost similar to real life.
  • Similarly, Spain's Francoists were less successful, although they managed to secure and split half of the country. On one hand, infightings between the pro-Soviets and pro-Western factions still happened amongst the loyalists. On the other hand, the Francoists were more isolated in this timeline thanks to Germany not being an ally, and Italy's performance being all the more obviously bad that Franco ended up rejecting Mussolini's aid, and the fighting dragged on for longer. Franco decided to cut his losses and call for a truce when Italian Resistance eventually sided with the Republicans in 1944. East Spain which includes Catalonia, Navarre, Aragon, and parts of Castille and Andalusia with Barcelona as its capital, became the continuation of the Spanish Republic. West Spain (the rest of the Spanish historic nations and Spanish Morocco) became an alternate version of RL Francoist Spain, with Madrid as its capital.
  • Finland did still experience the Winter War and the Continuation War during 1941 to 1944, and unlike in real life, Sweden got dragged into the fold as well, thanks both to the lack of Operation Barbarossa working in USSR's favour, and ironically also to Sweden (thanks to, again, Nazi Germany not being a thing here) openly supporting Finland in this timeline.
    • While Koriko, Karikija, and Malmo remained unscathed, Stockholm suffered extensive blockade and bombardment from USSR ships and planes, Uppsala had its share of raids as well, and Gotland Island was annexed outright.
    • In addition, a few USSR bombers even managed to bomb Gothenburg in 1944, although this ended up being a long-term diplomatic failure for the USSR. UK and France diverted some of their troops from East Asia (already fighting against the Soviets and their Communist allies) to back Finland/Sweden, and Norway, Denmark, and Poland also started to mobilize their troops and declaring war on the USSR. Others including Germany, Netherlands, and the two Spains expelled USSR's diplomats, and they covertly exercised their neutrality more rigorously against USSR vessels and aircraft, while more often looking the other way on Finnish/Swedish intrusions. 
    • Finland had to cede Viipuri/Vyborg and the Karelian region to the USSR, while Sweden was luckier and managed to retake Gotland Island. Nevertheless, the war shook both groups (particularly Sweden, considering she managed to stay out of most wars for nearly a century) of people and prompted both governments to form the Fenno-Swedish Defensive Pact with each other in 1946, which evolved into the Fenno-Scandinavian Pact with Norway and Denmark joining in 1952.
  • On the other hand, the ERC with Japan, the rise of socialism, and the East Asian Civil Wars ended up emboldening the decolonization movement after all. As with Japan, France was dragged into decolonizing Indochina kicking and screaming thanks to the rise of the Communist factions in Indochina and the French citizens back home becoming more opposed to the colonialist policies, and finally, the French Communist Party rising in the polls and growing in threat against the more conservative establishment. France did not even enjoy any of the shortlived victory Japan and China did, as she was forced to withdraw due to the staggering cost of lives and money. Similar trends were also seen with the British and the Dutch colonial empires, as their citizens and subjects grew their attraction with socialism and communism, something their home governments desparately wanted to avoid. Britain ended up withdrawing from India in 1943, while France started her decolonization with a hasty withdrawal from Indochina in 1944, and more gradually in other places during the 1950s. Belgium and Netherlands tried to hold onto their respective colonies Congos and Indonesia, but revolts there in 1955-56, mass protests and general strikes back home from citizens weary of the dragged-out conservatism and baulking at the ballooning military expenditure, and a general opposition from the international community forced decolonization there by the 1960s.
  • France and Germany gradually buried their hatchet during the 1930s and 1940s with the realization that they faced bigger adversaries. Not only the USSR was a looming threat, but there was also the growing economic dominance from the USA, that started to threaten local French and German coal, steel, and motor vehicle industries, most notably during the Italian Wars of the late 1930s and 1940s when US-made trucks, guns, and tanks made their way into the Italian resistance, the Spanish loyalists, and the Allies in East Asia. It also did not help that France had to come to terms with decolonization that USA pressured the former to adopt. The French and German governments went through a series of talks with communalizing their coal and steel productions, leading to the formation of the Franco-German Coal and Steel Community. Independent to them, East Spain and the new Republic of Italy also negotiated their resource sharing agreements since 1944 forming the Italo-Spanish Economic Community. In 1952, with Japanese steel and motor vehicle exports also adding to the economic threat against Europe, France, Germany, Italy, East Spain, and the Benelux nations signed the Rome Treaty that merged the two Communities, and admitted the Benelux nations into the new European Economic Community.

USA

  • With fascism not being as popular as in RL, the Silver League would never form. Reforms on the various immigration laws at that time that formerly excluded non-White immigration also got either repealed or reformed into more non-discriminatory aims during the 1930s. Japanese exclusion from US soil was gradually relaxed over time, and done away with entirely in 1939 as a bargaining chip to persuade Japan to participate the East Asian War alongside the Americans. It went without saying that, Japanese-American internment never occurs, obviously because Japan here never became an enemy unlike IRL. All of this ended up with racism and segregation being more openly scrutinized by the end of the 1940s.
  • The recent decolonization and Japan's success as a First World Nation ended up both emboldening the Civil Rights Movement from the late 1940s, and depriving Ku Klux Klan's political influence earlier. While Martin Luther King, TRM Howard, Edgar Nixon, Rosa Parks and other blacks did their part similar to their real life counterparts (except, of course, earlier) an unlikely ally, Senator Joseph McCarthy brought the issue of racial segregation up to Congress. In his words, he cited the necessity in "give the black folks a chance to live a decent life and get the country's shit together" to discredit communism. MLK's "I have a Dream" speech in 1953, the bus boycotts before that, and numerous people who participated in sit-ins, and protests made an increasing number of people to have second thoughts about the existing segregation system. McCarthy's words was one of the tipping points which persuaded the Congress and the Senate to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1955.

The stories themselves

  • MNT and PC are obviously set in Japan and Italy respectively. KDS's setting is in Sweden, as the town of Koriko and Karikiya (or Karikija?) is located in. 
    • However Kiki's family is half-Japanese, from how her father mentions his surname (Okino, or possibly 沖野). As for the Okino Family, Kiki's dad was a Japanese who was originally sent to Sweden as the branch manager for one of the Japanese corporations (think Sony, Panasonic, Toyota, Honda etc except set in their heydays except in the 1950s). Not exactly happy with the stifling society back at home (It is still 1950s Japan...), he ended up settling in Sweden permanently with his former girlfriend and now wife, a Swedish local. Japanese nationals in Sweden during this time were relatively few compared to in other places, but race relations were generally good between the two. It helped that most of the Japanese nationals were white collar professionals with generally similar work ethic to the Nordic and Germanic cultures, from a country with a government that, while still not as liberal, was starting to become similar to Sweden. If anything, the Swedes had more distrust against the Dutch and the Belgians, labelling them "Brutes" or even "Holdout Fascists" due to the recent colonial uprisings that their governments brutally surpressed.
    • The adventures of the Kusakabe family is set in this alternate Japan, around the same time as KDS with a society that is less prone to the modernization wave than the RL version ended up being. As such, this explains why the majority of Matsugo in Saitama has little of the motorization, in spite of earlier successes of the Japanese corporations. The Toyotas and Hondas of this timeline ended up focusing on exports a few decades earlier.
    • As for Porco and the Piccolo family, they ended up siding with the Italian Resistance in both timelines. In this version, they also aided the Spanish Republicans in different forms. Porco flew with the Republican Army to retake Catalonia from the Francoists. The Piccolos, on the other hand, initially smuggled airplane parts to the same factions, and once Italy became free from the fascists in 1943, openly exported and supplied the Republican Air Forces of both Italy and East Spain. Porco became the hero against fascism in Italy and across Europe, and a documentary radio program was made of his exploits that was aired across the continent.
Edited by henrymidfields
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Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

My headcanon is that that the original Star Wars Clone Wars micro-series is canon and that Grievous' poor showing in Revenge of the Sith was the result of him still being injured from Windu using the Force to crush his chest.

Star Wars in general:

There are only seven movies: The prequel trilogy, the original trilogy, and Rogue One. For all the prequel trilogy's faults, there was an actual story there and actual creativity on display, and they added to the series a lot more to the series than they detracted from it. Rogue One is the only Disney Star Wars property I consider canon because it's the only one that a) is a decent movie, and b) actually tries to add, rather than copy or remove.

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Rome

-Posca was probably bought by Caesar's father and had a hand in raising him. The two having such a close relationship hints at Posca probably having always been in Caesars life. 
-Atia's going to die being poisoned by Livia.
-Cato and Brutus' mother are still siblings like in history. The show just never got around to mentioning it. 
 

Death of Stalin
-Molotov only acts as a goofy old grandpa to lower people's guard to ensure Stalin and Beria don't murder him.
 

Community:
-Pierce obviously faked his death and has become president of the US by the time the movie rolls around.
-The deans of Greendale and city college are bitter ex lovers. 

Three Kingdoms
-The wacky, vulgar meme version of Cao Cao is just a front he puts on. Partially to lower people's guard but also because he has a seething contempt for proper confusion conduct.
''If the teaches of the sages actually worked they'd have ruled the worlds rather than lecture those that did!' he snaps when a rebel brings up ancient sages to justify his treason. It also creates a deliberate contrast between him and the stiff Yuan Shao.

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I've only read the books, but since I know that they appear in the movies, I think this is fine:

Harry Potter: Nymphadora Tonks is genderfluid.

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On that front I'd say that the common description of Grindewald being the second most dangerous wizard after Voldemort is mostly the sources that say it(the chocolate cards, the morning prophet and Rita Skeeter) being engaged in Anglocentrism rather than saying something accurate. 

 This since Grindewald was terrorizing the whole of Europe while Voldemort was a purely British phenomenon. And also the fact that Voldemort seems kinda incompetent with only a teensy tiny arsenal of spells he uses. 

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8 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

actually tries to add, rather than copy or remove.

Which makes it all the funnier that everyone it tries to add proceeds to die, if only we knew it would turn out to be a metaphor for the entire Sequel Trilogy.

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Speaking of Star Wars, eons ago, when various peoples were discovering the Force for the first time, it was used freely for selfish and selfless purposes. Long story short, a bunch of crazy backstory stuff happens about people trying to play god and conquer the universe or something, and the newly founded Jedi Order decided that certain powers be forbidden. Records of these so-called Lost Arts were steadily erased from history for the entirety of the Order's existence until it was wiped out in the Great Jedi Purge. Then after the Empire is defeated 22 years later, Force users lived in fear no longer, nor under the Order's strict rules. Thus, characters like Rey and Grogu were allowed to rediscover the previously "Lost Arts" on their own.

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  • henrymidfields changed the title to What are you headcanons regarding any movies, tv shows, or books?
15 hours ago, SoulWeaver said:

Which makes it all the funnier that everyone it tries to add proceeds to die, if only we knew it would turn out to be a metaphor for the entire Sequel Trilogy.

In hindsight, we should've been able to predict that that was going to happen when they immediately started making films after purchasing Star Wars; wanting a return on their purchase ASAP without even making a plan first, and then hiring JJ Abrams: the director known for making flashy nostalgia bait without any substance and making a ton of set ups without any payoffs, to make the first Disney Star Wars film. That should've been indicative of what Disney was going to do and how it was going to turn out.

 

Regarding Harry Potter, I honestly stopped caring much about the series a long time ago, but I do remember one head canon that I had back when I read the books: being a bit of a history nerd, I knew that the kind of elaborate stone castle that Hogwarts is shown to be in the books and movies didn't exist until the Late Middle Ages (1300s onwards) and that stone keeps in general didn't appear in Britain until after William the Conqueror conquered England in the 1080s, so, about a thousand years before book 2 (let's say around 999 a.d.), castles in Britain generally would've been timber motte-&-bailey structures or old Anglo-Saxon or Norse mead halls (see images below):

Spoiler

Motte and Bailey Castles

Spoiler

Anglo Saxon Great Hall progress | Viking house, Anglo saxon houses, Anglo  saxon

Knowing this, I had as headcanon that the modern Hogwarts seen in the books and movies has none of the original castle's structure whatsoever (aside from the Chamber of Secrets obviously); that the castle in the present, much like castles like Edinburgh Castle in the present, is the products of dozens of renovations and new buildings and walls built over the centuries since the school was founded.

It would certainly go a long way towards explaining how a modern bathroom with modern plumbing is somehow the secret entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.

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On 11/23/2022 at 10:15 AM, Sidereal Wraith said:

In The Book of the New Sun that there was a future Severian who worked unseen to insure that the Severian narrating the books changed his fate.

Quiet!

My headcanon for The Book of the New Sun is that there isn't the Increate.

In the Black Company novels, I think that Toadkiller Dog was supposed to kill Croaker. Also, I think there's something going on with the narrative that's just bizarre, there's something that happens in a library in one of the books where Croaker either says they research for an extremely long time or have an extremely fruitful discovery that would take much longer than actually passes, with their research being punctuated by a return to talk to The Lady. I dunno, I can't remember it well.

After the Bazil Broketail books end, the home of the evil guys who were centered on the main continent the books take place on do get defeated by the (Argonathi?), the author was just too lazy to write something threatening about them (justifiably not milking the series for cash, rather).

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A couple of small one from Carole and Tuesday:

  • Gus Goldman is of Jewish heritage, although he himself doesn't care of the rituals or the holidays.
  • Carole and Tuesday used to attend Sunday church when they were younger, respectively, as part of the orphanage rules and family tradition.
  • Ertegun is of Turkish, Greek, and Balkan origin from the Ottoman Empire days, and his paternal ancestors were Muslim until the secularization of Turkish society during the 20th Century.
Edited by henrymidfields
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My headcanon for Bleach is that (spoilers for the story arc where everyone fights Aizen):

Spoiler

Ichigo had been trying to warn the captains for a while that they were actually fighting Hinamori under an illusion, but Aizen's complete control of their five exterior senses meant that he made it the captains couldn't hear Ichigo until after Hitsuguya stabbed Hinamori.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Bella chose Jacob.

In 365 Days, I wish Massimo is less of a douche and has more tact and care like Nacho, and Laura chose Massimo.

In Star Wars, Rose does not exist and Finn and Poe are together.

In Avatar, the blue alien people lost.

In Game of Thrones, the Battle of Winterfell was not stupid.

Surtr from Heroes gets assaulted, crucified, and immolated. He must suffer absolute humiliation and exteme physical and psychological pain.

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  • 5 months later...
On 11/22/2022 at 10:11 PM, vanguard333 said:

In hindsight, we should've been able to predict that that was going to happen when they immediately started making films after purchasing Star Wars; wanting a return on their purchase ASAP without even making a plan first, and then hiring JJ Abrams: the director known for making flashy nostalgia bait without any substance and making a ton of set ups without any payoffs, to make the first Disney Star Wars film. That should've been indicative of what Disney was going to do and how it was going to turn out.

 

Regarding Harry Potter, I honestly stopped caring much about the series a long time ago, but I do remember one head canon that I had back when I read the books: being a bit of a history nerd, I knew that the kind of elaborate stone castle that Hogwarts is shown to be in the books and movies didn't exist until the Late Middle Ages (1300s onwards) and that stone keeps in general didn't appear in Britain until after William the Conqueror conquered England in the 1080s, so, about a thousand years before book 2 (let's say around 999 a.d.), castles in Britain generally would've been timber motte-&-bailey structures or old Anglo-Saxon or Norse mead halls (see images below):

  Reveal hidden contents

Motte and Bailey Castles

  Reveal hidden contents

Anglo Saxon Great Hall progress | Viking house, Anglo saxon houses, Anglo  saxon

Knowing this, I had as headcanon that the modern Hogwarts seen in the books and movies has none of the original castle's structure whatsoever (aside from the Chamber of Secrets obviously); that the castle in the present, much like castles like Edinburgh Castle in the present, is the products of dozens of renovations and new buildings and walls built over the centuries since the school was founded.

It would certainly go a long way towards explaining how a modern bathroom with modern plumbing is somehow the secret entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.

I think in such a work does not need to analyze everything in such detail. 

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The events that take place during and after chapter 11 in Engage are just the last thoughts of a dying Alear after getting trapped and slaughter with their party in the Cathedral.

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3 hours ago, Sidereal Wraith said:

The events that take place during and after chapter 11 in Engage are just the last thoughts of a dying Alear after getting trapped and slaughter with their party in the Cathedral.

I can definitely understand this headcanon; it was really annoying that the game gives zero explanation for how they were able to escape; it just has them trapped within the cathedral and surrounded by named villains, and then it cuts to the heroes already outside the building. That was really dumb.

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