Don't go to pieces! Land of the Lustrous simulwatch (completed)

Dai said:
Are memories integral, or does the personality exist independently of them?
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Indeed. To what extent is a person's character shaped by their memories? Surely everything that anyone does is in some way a reaction to what they've experienced before, so if you strip away the knowledge of that experience, what then?

I'm not knowledgeable about the phenomenon of amnesia, but that's surely got to be applicable here?


Playing quote catch-up as well...

Lordhippos said:
What do the Lunarians arrive on? towards the end of the episode Bort apologised to the transport before taking it out. Seems like the transport is a living entity of some kind.
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I looked back over that part because it didn't ring a bell and I was genuinely curious, but sure enough I didn't find that part. The first time that Bort spoke in that scene was to ask Phos what the hell she'd been doing.

Have the fansubs you're watching with maybe added an extra caption to that part? 🤨

Vincentdante said:
Episode 7 - The Phos Awakens
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Dude, you're going to run out of Star Wars titles before the end! 🤣
 
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Episodes 6 & 7

I won't bother writing a whole a lot about episode 6, only that I loved the shot of Phos' legs in the sunset (absurdly detailed and beautiful, I could almost feel the texture) and the one @Birdie Num Num posted of the Master bringing things to a close. It's the money shot. The cloud dissipating into multiple colors was the cherry on top. Very talented people worked on this.

I also loved the almost horror-esque conclusion to the episode. Their horrified look as their heads were grinded into dust was just unnecessarily cruel. Interesting to know that a bunch of gems have already been taken to the moon, I thought it was only a couple or so.

Oh, and the master totally didn't want to hear that report after all.

Episode 7 in which the Abyss stared back at Phos

Surprisingly fun episode, considering everyone was asleep and it consisted mostly of breaking ice and patching up Phos.

They knew exactly what they were doing presenting the gems sleeping and dressing in such kawaii ways. Dia's hair decorations were especially vile.

We got Ice Killua traversing some stunning backgrounds and some further background info about the world. Or teasing, more like. The sounds the ice made were otherworldly and eerie, it makes me want to know more about the whole thing.

I'm ready for some payoff concerning all the mystery, now.
 
First time viewer! Episode 7!

I really enjoyed seeing the season change and the winter setting in. Don't have loads to add this episode conversation wise, but the scenery was beautiful, I am a sucker for winter snow. One of my fav PC games of recent years is Frostpunk.

Felt like they were going to a slumber party when bedding in for the long nap. 😴

Phos wasn't up for it though, and wants to try a new job out shadowing the new gem Antarcticite.

The noise those ice floes made was terrible! I kind of felt like Antarcticite and Phos were trying to deal with a bunch of sleeping children keeping the parents (the sleeping gems) from getting a good rest.

I was as surprised as Antarcticite was at Phos being better at helping than expected, although I did not feel it was the right job for Phos still.

The talking ice floes was interesting. I think the master was wrong when he said it was just reflecting thoughts, and the ice floes do have a consciousness.

That cliff-hanger ending! what is Phos going to do for hands now? I think Phos would be the first in line to get a body modification in Cyberpunk.

Side Notes:
  • I wonder why they don't build a more easily defendable home, large open walls and no thought of defense in mind seem to be the order of the day.
  • Phos seems to be able to communicate with various things, I think this will be important for the plot of the show, and could lead to communication with the Lunarians also.
  • We learn that the Lunarians can only show up when it's sunny, as the gem people can only operate when it's sunny, I guess the way they arrive must also use a transport system that relies on solar energy.
 
Vincentdante said:
I like Antarcticite, she is a social recluse sure which is understandable since she is only around when the other gems are hybernating. But she is also probably the only one who has actually given time to help mentor Phos in any capacity besides Master.
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I think Antarcticite is a bit lonely and is secretly enjoying the company for a change.

Neil.T said:
I looked back over that part because it didn't ring a bell and I was genuinely curious, but sure enough I didn't find that part. The first time that Bort spoke in that scene was to ask Phos what the hell she'd been doing.

Have the fansubs you're watching with maybe added an extra caption to that part? 🤨
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Apologies I mistook it, the master was the one who said "you poor thing" and then destroyed the transport. It was end of episode 6 and I think reshown before the OP in episode 7.

João Gomes said:
Yeah, concerning Phos' memories, I hope the conclusion to the whole thing isn't them cruelly forgetting Cinnabar or some such, that would be a bit too sad.
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I hope they don't forget Cinnabar that would be too sad :(

The way the memories work is still very interesting to me. I mean what would happen if two of them swapped arms for example? Maybe Phos can use some other gems they recovered (like the ones that they found from the Lunarians in the first attack in episode 1, from Heliodor).
 
Hi folks, still around and just caught up on the posts. It turns out I'm really bad at watching a daily episode of anything these days, so I've just caught up by watching episodes 5, 6 and 7 in a row.

Also don't have a lot to add, other than saying it's really interesting hearing everyone's takes on how things are going. As I mentioned before, the world building in this series really does it for me, and as you've seen they do keep expanding on things as it goes along. I'd also say this series certainly isn't afraid to make you uncomfortable at points and smash (usually literally) any idea of there being much stability or status quo. You're also probably starting to see a bit of a pattern of poor Phos suffering over and over. I wish I could say things get better...

Glad we've got to the Antarcticite part as well, they're a great character and it definitely makes for a nice change of pace from the previous episodes, even if we do inevitably end with Phos breaking themself again.

I'm also happy to report that no amount of rewatching has ever made me dislike Phos either. Despite everything, they're still so endearing.

Also thanks a lot Birdie Num Num for the gorgeous artwork each episode. Never get tired of seeing that. Also, despite watching it so many times, this is the first time I've actually realised that each episode ends with an artwork eyecatch as well. I guess I often skip the next episode preview out of fear of spoilers so maybe that's why I missed it before.
 
Good to catch up with everyone's take on the episode. If only we could have all had a similar pyjama party, as WMD aptly called it (surely that should be the episode title also?) throughout covid... Also nice to see Antarticite give credit to Phos when due regardless of their past impressions. Also agreeing with everyone about the show's ability to pretty effectively switch up from humour/comedy to horror/eerie atmospheres.

Commander Zx2 mentioned loss of memories with Alzheimer's and associated personality change. Very interesting and I agree but there is certainly a physical/biological change also in involution/loss of brain tissue in that case but also as I mentioned, brain injuries have also been known to completely change personalities so again a physical/biological cause. But I also agree that memories/experience form an individual and personality. I think Phos' personality is likely to be affected with the loss of memories and yes would be tragic if they forgot their friends/loved ones and lost their carefree, upbeat attitude. I am now thinking more so than just being the potential bridge between species through the ability to communicate, Phos will now actually be the much delayed jumpstart to the gems' and possibly other species evolution rather than just unification, by taking on other different materials and effectively becoming something no longer Phos (IdiomaticLynx mentioned the ship of Theseus). On that note to anyone with geology/ mineralogy knowledge - given that they fused agate to make new legs for Phos, would gem components be compatible to mixing to create chimera gems as well? If so would these therefore make two individuals in one or a completely different gem personality all together? Lordhippos mentioned this earlier as well I see.


ManiacB said:
I'm also happy to report that no amount of rewatching has ever made me dislike Phos either. Despite everything, they're still so endearing.

Also thanks a lot @Birdie Num Num for the gorgeous artwork each episode. Never get tired of seeing that.
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True dat!
 
Ep7&8

Oh boy, they sure do like ending on cliffhangers, don't they? I managed to drag myself away after watching three episodes in a row, but I'll try not to get too ahead of myself.

The revelation that the Amethyst twins are completely fine after being shattered came as a bit of a surprise and it was nice to see some moments of humour with the master sleepwalking into walls and Phos's training arc. It's certainly to the show's credit that it made me care so much about Antarcticite in such a short space of time; seeing Phos fail to save them after trying so hard is heartrending. I've tried to avoid making judgments about such things as we've gone along, but Antarcticite is the first gem to strike me as more like a male-presenting character. Perhaps it's just because both their appearance and mannerisms are kinda similar to 9S in Nier Automata.

Phos is really going through the wringer now too, although as creepy and weird as the talking ice floe is, I'm not convinced it's as malicious as the master makes out. Despite violently taking Phos's arms, its prophecy about this being necessary for Phos to become stronger was seemingly accurate. Again, I think this is an example of the show making good use of CG, as I'm sure drawing the same effect by hand would be a very time consuming process. As an aside, Phos merging with the gold alloy seems to be both visually and thematically based on the art of Kintsugi, where broken objects are repaired with gold lacquer.
 
Before I come back to episode 7 quotes...

Episode 8

"There's nothing here but gold and platinum. This won't do."

How incredible that gold would be decried as worthless. It just goes to show that things really do only have the value that people place on them.

There's absolutely no evidence of currency in the gems' world. There can't be, because there's not even such a thing as trade. And so a soft, heavy metal like gold has no practical use, and as such, no worth.

I wanted to write something about the sheer emotional weight of this episode too, but I don't have the words. At least, the ones I have are of insufficient value to do it justice.

What an absolutely outstanding 25 minutes of TV.
 
Episode 8 - The last Gem

Antarcticite noooooooooooo.


So Phos is now Phos-agate-gold and this isn't even her final form. As Neil T wrote above it's incredibly ironic that Gold is considered worthless in this world, guess they can't make use of it's conductivity either. And we see how the Gem people are born as well which was a question I saw the other day. Some good world building in todays episode.

It was kind of creepy seeing those Ice Floes acting in unison under the water, imagining sentient ice trying to kill you. Also the Luminarians are getting smarter as they slow down Master with traps while they attack Antarcticite (though not smart enough to realise they could have distracted master and Antaricite together at the shore while they attack the gems who are all defenseless in hybernation instead).

Great episode, I miss Antarcticite though.
 
Neil.T said:
Before I come back to episode 7 quotes...

Episode 8

"There's nothing here but gold and platinum. This won't do."

How incredible that gold would be decried as worthless. It just goes to show that things really do only have the value that people place on them.

There's absolutely no evidence of currency in the gems' world. There can't be, because there's not even such a thing as trade. And so a soft, heavy metal like gold has no practical use, and as such, no worth.

I wanted to write something about the sheer emotional weight of this episode too, but I don't have the words. At least, the ones I have are of insufficient value to do it justice.

What an absolutely outstanding 25 minutes of TV.
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Eager to watch it after this post!
 
Episode 8
With this episode we say goodbye to goofy Phos, and hello to serious Phos (Goophos and Seriphos?). Now that she's part T-1000, this show has officially entered cyberpunk territory. I tried to touch on this in discussion of earlier episodes without getting into spoilers, but this is what it's been building towards. Far from just becoming a stronger gem, Phos is transmuting into something new, as we saw when the gold hands held her back seemingly with a will of their own. The closest analogue for Phos now would be Battle Angel Alita, which is a comparison I doubt any of us expected to be making back at the start of the series. The same questions of identity are raised by both, and in some ways are more complex for Phos. Alita is a human brain in a machine body, struggling with whether she is human. Phos has lost half her original 'brain', as it were, so are these just new limbs or new parts of her mind? Is this still the same person we met in episode 1?

Latin trivia: one of the lyrics in the new ending song, "Odi et amo" is probably referencing a poem by Catullus.

Odi et amo. Quare id faciam fortasse requiris.
Nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.

I hate and I love. You may ask how this can be.
I know not, but I feel it, and it is agony.
 
First time viewer! Episode 8!

I definitely felt like the ice floes were out to get Antarcticite when they dove in to try and retrieve Phos' arms.

The guilty look on their faces when they told the master about the loss of the arms! 🤣👌

Really interesting reveal on where the gem people come from, up until now they haven't mentioned the topic. I did wonder to myself why they are all gems and why metal isn't used for anything. It seems Phos has a unique ability to work with different materials that the others can't do, although the master said none of the material they had at base was right for Phos (other gem people material they've recovered?).

The result of the gold arms is beautiful. Phos is really starting to bling now! It seems that the transformation was not an easy one, but the gold seems to shape itself to whatever Phos wills strongly enough. At first a protective cube, and later more of a flowing attacking stance.

During the fight with the Lunarians their cunning really came into focus. To send two "ships" against Phos and Antarcticite, and delaying tactics used against the master, they gained the body of Antarcticite. I still want to see the moon...

That look on Phos' face at the end! That is true dejection. Another cliff hanger ending.
 
Episode 8

What an epsiode. Theres a reason why most of my memories for this show centre around what happens in this episode. Its exciting and tense right from the opening!

It was very interesting see that Antarticite immediately blames themselves for Phos losing their arms. The first Gem to not think its Phos' fault. And a shock for Phos as well. No one has treated them as well as Antarticite.

Oh boy that ending. So sad and tragic. Theres been lots of cliff hanger endings but the show takes a real step in storytelling here. It feels so final. An actual defeat for Phos right at the moment they can finally step up and fight for real. And it's a real gut punch. You get so fond of Antarticite in such a short space of time!

This episode really raises the (gold) bar with the animation! That gold rose as Phos releases themself from their golden prison is exquisite. The action is clear and exciting and the sound of the wind as Phos falls at the end without any score is so well done and looks stunning.

As I said at the start what an episode!
 
Neil.T said:
How incredible that gold would be decried as worthless. It just goes to show that things really do only have the value that people place on them.
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This is so true, in our world today we have all the crypto currency and things that are worth a fair bit, but it's simply because other people want to own them that they have value.

Side trivia, you could fit all of the gold mined in the known world into a cube of approx 21M x 21M x 21M today.

Scarcity really does drive value, even if it's somewhat artificially created.

@Birdie Num Num definitely loving the artwork that's been posted so far, adds a nice touch. Are you planning to post on the remaining episodes?
 
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