#ALSO IT DOESNT NEED TO BE HYPER REALISTIC OR ANYTHING | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

spikeinthepunch · 2 years

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you know. as i am playing Stray and writing some things, i was working on an article about gameplay VS art- basically how many games dont seem to regard gameplay as specifically when they are so... driven on being a spectacle. gameplay is important for games, but so many dont think of it as an art itself. there are SO many games that are like oooo look at how realistic it looks. look at this linear story in a world with hyper realistic humans and its like watching a movie. and the gameplay is the most basic goddamn thing of just using weapons, scripted movements, one stage after the next.

its not to say those game are bad but they just tell great stories. and i love great stories. but i also like playing games that arent just... that formula over and over. how are we exploring? unique weapons? abilities to progressing? can the protag themself make gameplay different due to advantages or disadvantages? what genre would fit the story while bring new gameplay elements to the table?

this thought was had after playing Disco Elysium because i was so blown away by the format, and how fitting it was, and how it makde the story even more unique. im tired of god of war, assassins creed, cyberpunk 2077, the witcher, last of us, far cry, whatever rockstar keeps doing etc linear story game bullshit with no gameplay worth mentioning.

and as i play Stray (which i have run into a game breaking bug now so i cant play more) i realize that too is what is missing for me. Animal games as a whole are getting directed into this specific category of linear story games where the Animal part doesnt really matter bc the gameplay itself literally does nothing special in regards to it. it looks lovely. the world is interesting. sure. but the gameplay itself really isnt cat specific. lets be real, you could be lots of things in a game that is just asking you to jump and talk to npcs. as much as Stray may be wanting to be a 'tame' game with little stakes, it doesnt mean it couldnt have offered more on the actual gameplay.

and this is a problem. people giving such positive reviews only really have to say... the cat is cute, the graphics are nice, and the story is good. i have seen fleeting comments about people wondering if the game is fun to play or if the restricted jumping is good, or if anything actually regarding gameplay is interesting and more than just "jump and do stuff". and i see people defend the game claiming its worth it, because everything else is great! and i dont disagree its all very good, but why are we so often disregarding the gameplay of video games? not every one of them needs to do something wildly specific to their setting but like. this is what so many games are turning into. linear story with pretty graphics, gains infinite praise for being so realistic and like a movie.... idk about yall but im tired of it. i wanna be hooked by the gameplay. i wanna see how the subject and the gameplay intertwine in ways that i have never seen before. i want gameplay to be the art itself.

#stray #stray game #this is ok to rb

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antiloreolympus · 3 years

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10 Anti LO Asks

1. The trial happening right now bothers me because we get to see how Thanatos and Echo reacted to this, but Demeter and Persphone don’t know and I know why they don’t know yet. However you think that would tie some more stuff up together

It was Minthe, Thanatos and Thetis who whistle blew on Persphone. Meaning Thanatos would probably be called to trial and would have to face persphone and I would hope say something to her BUT I kinda doubt that’s gonna happen.

But the other thing to this Minthe is a plant who can’t testify. Are hades and Persphone hide the fact she’s a plant and pretend she’s missing or are they gonna say “yeah I still don’t have control over my powers but I’m queen now” HOWEVER I truly believe RS is just gonna not address these two plot points until way later.

FINALLY Eros and Psyche KNOW the last person Daphne was seen with was Apollo, did they chase after her after he got shot by the arrow? We don’t know. We don’t even know what they’re doing about Psyche. Did Eros and Psyche even see the Daphne tree? Are they going to try and sneak in to tell Persphone?

I know the plots gonna focus more on HxP secret marriage at the court trial rather than the actual consequences and the fact people are turning into greenery left and right. (It’s not Persohones Faullt Daphne is the way she is but RS needs to focus on other plot points I feel)

2. like, age gaps, height differences, and power imbalances dont always have to be bad, the issue to me is that the way rachel does it is hyper-focusing on how young, small, and child-like/unexperienced persephone is compared to the old, giant, and all powerful/mature hades is like ... yeah obvs people are going to find it creepy? how would they not?

3. i honestly cant stand the "theyre immortal gods the age gap doesnt matter!!" agreement because like??? ok??? then she could easily be 300 years old then? she shouldnt be so borderline underage then?? like the immortality aspect actually makes the age gap worse, not better??

4. i realize getting nitpicky over unimportant characters in lo having american names is a bit dumb, but it does speak to just how lazy rachel is and how little care she has for greece and its mythology. there are countless english names that are also greek, yet even that's asking too much of her. percy jackson isnt a perfect series, but even the characters (who are in america) have greek influence and meanings put into their names and characterization, something rachel doesn't even attempt to do.

5. ok but thats a good point, because rachel seems to be taking physical wounds to matter more over the mental ones, when thats not how trauma works. her writing on zeus is reflective of her writing minthe, where she confirmed she has a severe untreated mental illness and that's linked to her evilness, and thus what she should be punished for. meanwhile persephone own mental issues can be bastardized as a "yass queen" thing?? somehow?? its just bad writing all around.

6. i kinda wish lo fans would listen to their own logic and give the same leeway to the other characters. theyll scream from the rooftops that hades and persephone and hera can be awful people all they want because thats ~realistic~, meanwhile minthe and zeus and everyone else are held to such extremes they can never meet and are hated and despised for nothing in compared to hxp or hera. either hold your faves accountable or let off on hating characters who do the same as them.

7. i see a lot of lo fans excuse how everything drags as "thats how a slow burn works" and its like ... no? because most of that slow burn isnt even hxp, its rachel forcing in more plots we dont need, and when its hxp, you look at the timeline and how they act and its actually neck-breakingly fast? like if as much time had past in LO as irl time then yeah, four years is a slow burn, but its only been maybe a month in comic? so its not slow for them at all, but it's a drag for the readers.

8. See, the difference between Lo!Hades and Punderworld!Hades is that PW!Hades has so much personality, he and Persephone are literally bustling with life (even though one of them rules over a realm of dead XD) AND their interactions are so cute with their awkward attempts at flirting and failure at doing so. Persephone is still somewhat sweet and “pure” but she’s also a bit of a spitfire, she’s not easy to surrender, she has wants and dreams and that little differences makes her character likable!

We NEVER get to see anything like that with LO!Hades and Persephone, we don’t see them have these sweet interactions, these heart-fluttering moments, because there’s no base or foundation for those sorts of moments! It’s always these very out-of-character unrealistic scenes expected from a married couple, but they just met! It doesn’t feel natural, it feels forced and rushed and so slow at the same time.

Although Punderworld makes Demeter overbearing, i love her characterization i really do, waAAAY more than LO!Demeter, because we actually understand her reasons for her overprotective behavior and we get to see her in a more sympathetic light/manner in the newer chapters, we see her as more than “mean mom hates bf”

9. Daphne and Thanatos were adorable. Like, Daphne was a sweet, caring girl with genuine interest (and power/agency) and Thanatos was a shy, awkward guy who was just doing his best (and not pressuring her). They weren't perfect, but it was something! Why couldn't LO be about them?

10. What I find funny is that Minthe and Thetis have a more defined friendship than Persphone and other female characters.

Minthe and Thetis ARE TOXIC don’t get me wrong but both characters are aware of each other’s motives. Minthe knows not to trust Thetis fully and is straight with her on her opinion of Thetis. But the readers clearly know their relationship as well as the characters.

Persphone is in gray areas with most her female friends. The beginning of the story we are lead to believe Artemis and P are besties with the dress sharing and the way in P’s mind they’re holding hands with Hermès. But clearly now their relationship is a question mark and they’re both more detached than we thought. Artemis was just being nice to P letting her stay with her because they’re both in the TOGeM but they’re probably more like acquaintes at best.

Daphne and P we know they’re friends but P isn’t straight with her. Like Daphne is P’s only named friend, but did P think of her as the other overbearing nymphs? We don’t know because they’re all pink and some of them are dead. Despite being told they grew up together we don’t even know much about their relationship what do they like about each other? Does Daphne agree with Demeters parenting or P’s need to leave? When did Daphne get to move to Olympus? I feel like the plot just says “these two characters are friends “ but doesn’t elaborate much. Why did P let Daphne in her room at Hades mansion and not the other nymphs? P told Daphne that Apollo is dangerous, but it was a little too late. Also why didn’t P have her phone number when she got to Olympus? Wouldn’t she know to contact her on insta or something? P was like “omg I know no one except Hermès “ but that’s not true! Daphne! I could go more but I think we get the picture that Daphne’s plot point is having the readers be told Persphone has friends but she doesn’t but she does.

Were shown that P and Meg are getting along because P was nice to Meg, despite Meg being silently jealous of P, but what about Meg now? Is she ever gonna tell P that she’s jealous of P that she had a mad crush on Hades, even her journal? Or is that all gone now? Does Meg even matter any more or is she now here just to support HXP?

#anti lo #anti lore olympus #lore olympus critical #lo critical

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aprito · 3 years

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hello <3 since i got these asks at the same time i decided to combine my thoughts on them in this post. yet another annoying sjw essay from yours truly on this blog

before i get into these i think i need to preface why im like. i guess overly hyperfocused on a certain unproblematic base (same age au / platonic canon) for them and avoid the ped0philic content like the plague lol

tw for pedophilia ment, rape ment if that makes you squicky. ALSO THIS IS LONG AND RAMBLY

as i’ve mentioned a couple times already, ive been into the ship since i was 12, back when it was very very common to not only post untagged (nsfw) canonverse content of the two in writing and in drawing but also non con and the like, so you can imagine how bad my first impression online was. thinking back on it ...as a child i found it disturbing but didnt really register how problematic it really was?? (i know, but i also lived in the middle of nowhere and had no one explain this to me)

skip to 2014 aka me coming back to naruto at 17ish and i had kinda become hyper aware of the fact that there was an increasing amount of people online who had come forward with explaining how fictional problematic content, mostly pedophilia, had been used to groom them into starting relationships with adullts. it was also a time where a lot of people didnt believe these victims, not registering how common it was for minors to be online friends with adults who had no boundaries and no qualms exposing them such content. not gonna get into my personal life here but i was lucky to not having gone through this myself. like... it kinda was my first time truly realising how fiction can EASILY be used to manipulate others irl (and yes i will not argue this, if you dont think fictional media can form and manipulate people’s opinions on attitudes, countries, cultures and virtues, pick up a book about the effects of propaganda media at least once please)

i, being young, still liking the dynamic but not really the romance, would point this out here and there in the fandom and get into fights with grown adults in their mid 20s who assumed i automatically hated the ship(s) and tried to restrict their freedom of speech or whatever, heard everything from the “age of consent doesnt exist in naruto” to the “sasori looks like a child what does it matter” despite people clearly playing on him being older and experienced. it made me so upset that people were just consuming all this content uncritically and exposing children to it tbh?? not really just sos but a lot of minor/adult ships in naruto in general. and thats where i sat down and thought, i do not want to be a grown adult talking down to children that point out how unsafe the fandom is. theyre absolutely right in drawing these boundaries and calling out adults who defend the uncritical consumption and creation of this content. i do not want to consume or create content that predators could use to groom minors, and i absolutely do want to let younger people in fandom know that i am respecting their comfort zones and want them to have a safe and fun experience. after all, naruto is not an adult show and i think a lot of people forget that!!!! i am not perfect in that regard but its something that i, at the age of 23, am very passionate about and strive towards to.

and i guess thats where same age au was born for me and i have been sticking to it ever since.

so finally we can move to the first question

aside from the fact that we both dont like canon sos, i dont think it would work out even if i wasnt prejudiced to it anyways. in all honesty, 35 year old canon sasori is not a redeemable character to me, given the fact that he’s easily amongst the cruelest villains in naruto (torturing and killing and taxiderming people for his own fun personal gain, never for a goal that served anyone but himself. how do you redeem having over 300 corpses in your backpack that you felt absolutely no remorse for killing). sasori was legit one of the only cruel villains that didnt had someone else pull the strings, which sends a clear message on kishi’s part, who absolutely loves to redeem villains LOL.

being that old, he obviously had already been very manifested in what he believed in, even if it was shakey, to the point where the first crack in that world view (sakura and chiyo protecting each other) immediately had him give up on his life all together. that, in my opinion, is not a man who’s going to know what healthy relationships would look like, regardless of it being romantic or not. 35 year old sasori to me has the same appeal as an expired can of tuna and he’s probably very happy 6 feet under. he’s supposed to be a failed gaara in that sense that he had no one to look out for him and therefore was never going to experience anything but a bad ending in life. its fine that hes dead honestly, it wraps up his short character development the best IMO.

adding to that, seriously, sakura was obviously interested in knowing why he was that way, and called him out for being seriously fucked in the head, but it’s weird to me that people assume she had any interest in actively rehabilitating him, let alone starting a serious romantic relationship with him. sakura who’s not only very, uhm, immature and straight forward when it comes to her romantic viewpoints also, as a big bootlicker, wouldnt soil her standing in the village by starting anything with a disgraced and far too gone criminal like sasori. shipping that version of sasori with sakura intimately is still going to set her up for a huge power imbalance that would be difficult to handle imo, even if she was the one in the fight ultimately exerting her power over him. i would still look at it and think damn she deserves better than having to play therapist for man like that lol.

additionally, even if you ignored all of this, you cant really ignore that sasori had already known her as a child, and that had been his first and most impactful impression of her. i dont think that sasori would look at 35 year old sakura and see her as a grown woman and not the little green girl she was in the fight. plus, you easily fall into predatory comparison territory between the “childish” and “womanly” and i have seen way too often in fic just being boiled down to her now being fuckable. a lot of of ships do this and i would just like to remind yall thats it not normal for adults to want to start relationships with children they have seen grown up or known as a child when they themselves were fully grown adults. therefore, maybe if sakura hadnt met sasori before it would be less of a problem? but that also obviously defeats the point of the dynamic and the reason he died in the first place. so yeah, it sounds kind of doomed especially if you were to make it romantic.

WHICH BRINGS ME TO THE SECOND QUESTION

let me preface this that im not fundamentally against age gaps, even if im not super interested in it. after all, colorblind had a 5 yr age gap (with sakura being 21), even if, say, i wrote similar fics today i probably would make it smaller lol. i think it can be handled well if both parties have enough life experience to deal with it, and the author is cautious of where the age gap starts, i think a 10+ year age gap would be fine in a scenario where the younger party (i guess sakura) was at least 25-27ish, meaning she has completed most of her most formative life stages and probably had been in relationships before, meaning she would be able to handle it without having to fear a huge power imbalance. the older the younger party is the less the age gap is going to matter tbh .TsukiHoshino and AngelOfDeath10 both handle age gaps in their fics really well imo, so i do not mind reading about them.

unfortunately, a lot of people in this fandom think making sakura barely "”””legal””””” (18, not even 20 which is hilarious to me because the source material is obviously japanese) because they both cannot stand her being past her “prime years” of being young fertile and fuckable to much older men as well as thinking a 20 year old is automatically old enough to handle that type of relationship. ive seen a lot of unironic takes that believe it will absolve them of callout posts if they throw around age of consent and “shes 18 now suckers!!!” enough lmfao. absolutely hilarious. aging a minor up without aging the adult down seriously reeks of predatory “cant wait until youre 18″ narratives and thats why i find it similarly disturbing as straight up pedo shipping.

ultimately, sasosaku is and will always be a inherently problematic ship in canon, which is why i think it should always be handled a little more responsibly in fandom spaces, ignoring or outright excusing the main problem factor, which is sasori, isnt going to convince anyone that the dynamic in itself is well written and interesting enough to explore in aus, like giving sasori the redemption most of us wanted him to have by aging him down to a point in time where he was still realistically going to allow being positively influenced, similar to gaara.

so really, what i think is well handled age gap and how most people handle age gap in the naruto fandom are two different worlds at times lol

tl;dr

canon shippers have never been anything but gross when i was younger and i didnt wanna be like that, even if youre “smart”enough to differenate, actual creeps dont really care and might use your content to blur the lines, sasori isnt rly redeemable so romantic canonverse realistically wouldnt make much sense and is still iffy, age gaps are fine if they are handled well, but given that the dynamic doesnt really need the age gap to still work im not that invested on making that an essential part of my shipping experience.

thank you for reading and hope this makes sense!

#nonitxt #meta #another hot take from me #but seriously if you're offended over these #unfollow me lol idc #defending predatory content is not a hill im gonna die on in this life

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kirishwima · 4 years

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RFA + minor trio (or duo, if you don’t wanna do Vand.) with an foreign MC who always keeps at least 3 knives on them at all times. And knows how to handle guns. And is overall just badass

ooo im just imagining a badass Black Widow-esque MC lol, i love it! I love even more how there's no explanation as to how or why they know how to handle guns and knives, even better 😆

YOOSUNG:

* Baby boy is SPOOKED

* MC is so sweet, gentle and patient with him...he never once thought of them as anything less than an innocent angel

* Yet one night they're lounging around at his apartment, when there's a loud thud from the other room that startles them both

* Yoosung's scared, sure, but he tries to gulp down his fear, ready to protect MC if need be-that's what a good boyfriend should do afterall!

* Well...or not, seeing how MC is already up from the couch with a knfie in each hand-where did those even come from?! Already taking cautious steps towards the door the thud came from

* They kick the door open with their leg, brandishing their knives when they check the perimeter, realising it's just a box with trinkets that fell from the edge it sat on

* Yoosung has...a lot of questions

*But well, MC turns and looks at him with their usual sweet expression and he just swallows down any comments he had. Why ask what doesn't need to be answered?

* From now on he's always cowering behind MC when something spooks him, and threatens Zen or Seven with MC when they tease him

ZEN:

* He got a new role as the villain that shoots the hero at the final scene-the director asked him to use a real gun but without any bullets inside to 'make it more realistic', or so he said

* Well, Zen has never even held a gun before; no just because he rode a motorcycle doesnt mean he was some gangster that shot up banks, like Seven insists he must've

* So when he comes home baffled, flopping down on the couch besides MC, they of course ask him what's wrong, why he's frowning the way he did.

* When he explains what's wrong, MC shrugs. 'That's all? I can teach you' they say, and shoot up from the couch, leaving Zen to stare at their retreating figure with wide eyes.

* MC...would teach him how to use a gun? Sure they were really cool and he could tell they feared near next to nothing, but guns...?

* Well, he's even more baffled when MC comes out of their bedroom with a gun in each hand, twirling them around their fingers with practices ease

* 'Come on, get up' they say and not to the backdoor, 'we're going to learn how to shoot-without bullets though, because while I love you, I don't trust you with a loaded gun just yet' they add with a teasing smirk.

* Well, Zen follows along like a wobbly noodle, his hands shaking as MC hands him a pistol, guiding him through to the correct stance and hold of it. He has so, so many questions, but none of them come out, lodged in his throat like a fish bone.

* He can't say he hates this though-the way MC stands behind him, leaning one leg between his to bend his knees, how they wrap their hands around his forearms, snaking from behind his back as they hold the gun together, MC's voice breathy beside his ear.

* "Baby...be honest with me. Are you some secret foreign spy or something?"

* MC laughs, soft and devious and like music to Zen's ears.

* "That's for me to know and for you to find out" they say with a teasing wink, their accent thicker than usual, and oh boy-if Zen has a Beast inside him, then MC has a whole darn savage garden, and he's more than eager to unleash it.

JAEHEE:

* She notices bits and pieces of MC that puzzle her; their hyper-alertness to the tiniest sound, their stance-tall, proud, always ready to pounce like an alpha predator, how they'll hide Jaehee behind them at the slightest sign of danger; Jaehee figured MC was just a very cautious person, but realises soon enough that there must be something more than that happening.

* She finds out when, one day, a group of raggedy looking men come into their cafe, the one leading the pack wearing sunglasses and a cap as if to remain anonymous, speaking loudly in a different language Jaehee couldn't quite pin-point, but figured it mist be Slavic.

* She didn't pay any mind-MC was up front as the cashier today, and Jaehee was in the back preparing drinks, so she wouldn't be the one dealing with them. She did however flash the group a smile as their attention shifted to her, swiftly going back to her work.

* She heard them mutter something amongst themselves with a sly laugh, but again, she couldn't know what they were saying, so she kept her attention still on the espresso machine, watching the beans slowly get grounded into fine dust.

* Well, MC apparently more than understood what the men said-with a thud they tugged the leader-dude's shirt by the collar, bringng him inches away from their face, their mouth forming a vicious snarl as they said something to him in a low growly voice, and surprisingly, in the same language as the men spoke.

* MC let the man go with a final push away from the counter, taking pride in the way he stumbled back, his mouth agape; he immediatly nodded to his lackies who all run right behind him and straight out the door, much to Jaehee's shock.

* "MC...what just-"

"They commented on your body. I said that you're under my protection, so they shouldn't even look your way like that again." MC supplied, and with a shrug went back to their usual customer service smile.

* Jaehee didn't ask what 'under my protection' meant for MC-she was just secretly happy for her brave, badass partner.

JUMIN:

* He's very observant-and he can see crystal clear that there’s more to MC than meets the eye.

* He loves them-of course he does, and their mystique aura makes them all the more alluring to him, from the thick accent that rolls of their tongue, to their confident strut as they walk down the street, to the knives strapped on their thighs....

* Wait. Wait wait, KNIVES?!

* He notices them the first time when they’re walking downtown with MC, their bodyguards merely a few feet behind, when some crazed fangirl ran up to the couple, screaming incoherencies at Jumin’s face.

* The bodyguards were quick to act, running straight ahead and taking the fangirl away from the pair, but Jumin’s eyes are razor sharp; he didn’t miss the way MC’s hand calmly went to the slit of their flowy summer dress, dragging the hem a little higher, the flash of metal peeking off of their thigh tight on a garter.

* He doesn’t mention it straight away, but later on, at dinner, he calmly asks if MC is currently armed, and MC nonchalantly answers ‘Yea, always’, while taking a sip of their wine.

* He hums in agreement, nodding slow as he processes their reply. “What are you armed with?”

* MC smirks, leaning closer across the table, a cat-like curiosity in their gaze. “Knives, sometimes a gun, my dashing good looks-you name it and I probably have it on my person.”

* Jumin smiles. “I’m glad you take your safety this seriously my love. It makes me feel safe to know you can protect yourself if the need arises.”

* The conversation ends at that, the pair going back to their casual conversation...but not before Jumin takes a sip of his wine, eyes fluttering shut before they open again, piercing and staring right to MC with pupils blown wide.

* “I suppose I’ll have to carefully examine just what weapons it is you have on you. For your own safety, of course.”

* And well, MC ain’t about to say no to that lmao

SEVEN/SAEYOUNG:

* Hoo boy

* He’s already curious when his background check on MC brings back pretty much nothing, except their upbringing in a foreign country, and an overall normal-seeming facebook account.

* But Seven’s not satisfied. Nobody’s background is that clean. Nobody’s. So he digs more, more, more, yet still there’s nothing, and his curiosity is peaqued, his eyes narrowed as he looks to the cameras in Rika’s apartment, seeing MC nonchalantly lounge on the couch, playing on their phone.

* “I’ll find out just what it is you’re hiding” he vows, ignoring the flush of his cheeks as MC looks up to the camera with a cheeky smile, knowing exactly what it is they’re doing.

* He finds out just what it is that interested him so in MC when he dashes to the apartment, seeing MC struggle with a man who could only be the hacker, broken glass pieces at their feet from the broken window.

* He’s about to step in, tackle the man to the ground and protect MC-only he doesn’t have to. MC takes the man down in a swift movement, using their smaller frame to the man to sneak behind him and kick his shins, tumbling him down and stradling his chest to keep him in place, despite the glass chunks that are probably digging into the hacker’s back.

* More so, they pull up their skirt, bringing a knife up from the hilt, bringing it to the man’s throat with a warning growl.

* Seven...has no idea what he’s doing there, other than just staring at the two people in front of him, not until the security system’s activated and targets the hacker, who flees without so much as a word to Seven.

* “I uh. I see you had it all under control” he says with a stutter, his eyes wide. MC stands up, wiping gunk and blood off of their cheek as they turn to Seven with a grin. “Sure did, but I could always use some extra help” they tell him and oh boy. Oh fuck his life, Seven’s hooked around this person’s sharp, bloody little finger.

* He doesn’t want to scout them into his agency, because he doesn’t want this sort of life for MC-but he will ask for their assistance with missions sometimes, konwing they can more than take care of themselves when the need arises.

* Just a badass but also memey couple really lol

V/JIHYUN:

* After his first unsuccesful attempt to save MC from Rika, he’s worried how MC will fare until he comes to their rescue, if they’ll be hurt in their attempt to escape.

* Well...whatever he was expecting, he certaintly did not expect this.

* He didn’t expect to come back to the cult, only to find MC already roundhouse kicking a vial of elixir from Ray’s hands, kicking it into the ground and pummeling straight into Ray to bring him down before he could attack her, then moving straight to the rest of the Believers, fighting 4-on-1 with so much ease it looked almost like a scene out of a video game.

* V’s lost for a moment before MC turns to him, wiping sweat off their brow as he looks on in confusion. “What the hell are you doing?” they ask, grabbing his hand as they tug him along, “we have to go! Come on!”

* Seven’s skills were pretty much unecessary in their escape lmao, but he’s still glad he tagged along to help the pair escape.

* When in the safety of the faraway cabin, and without anyone having to actually take the elixir this time, V sits dumbfounded, looking to MC like they’re some sort of vicious god.

* “How-how did you do all of that? You just-” he remembers the ease they fought men twice their size off, how they even pulled a knife on one to intimidate him before he could so much as raise a finger to hurt V. “You’re so...strong” he decides, lost for words.

* MC shrugs. “I just do a lot of upper body exercises at the gym. And TRX. It’s good strength training.”

* Honestly....V’s route flows so much easier with this badass MC by his side lol. Rika doesn’t stand a chance to hurt anyone with MC here.

RAY/SAERAN/UNKNOWN:

* Their skills were not, in fact, why he chose MC as his tester. He didn’t even really know about any of their badassery, only that they grew up in a foreign country, and could speak multiple languages, which he found interesting, sure, but unecessary.

* He was thrilled at their kind nature, but also a little aprehensive. He knows no usual person would just up and walk into a van with a driver that blindfolded them to take them to an unkown location. What secrets could MC be hiding? He wanted nothing more than to find out.

* Well, he finds out soon enough. Or rather, Saeran does-when his agressiveness kicks in, when he tries to tackle MC to the ground and hold them in place, show them he’s superior...well, he doesn’t get the chance to.

* MC frowns at him as he tries to push them to the wall, taking his hand and holding it in a bruising-tight hold, swiftly moving behind him and bringing his hand to his back, the cracking sound of his shoulder alerting him he’s most certaintly going to feel that for the next few days.

* “You don’t get to touch me as you please” MC whispers in his ear before letting him go, seeing the way he stumbles a few steps ahead before regaining his balance.

* MC is still kind and tries to help him become the kind person they met in the begining of their arrival here, but won’t take Saeran’s shit under any circumstances. Instead they fight back tooth and nail, showing him all they got when he tries to push them around.

* This also makes escaping the cult with Saeran that much easier-they fight through hoards of Believers like they were paper-light, MC even grabbing a pistol off of one of them and firing scarily precise warning shots at just the right places to scare them all off.

* Welp, mark down Saeran as scared *and* horny lmao

VANDERWOOD:

* He met MC through their escape attempt with V and Seven, and hoo boy-HOO BOY.

* He sees their agility, their swift movements and the way they handle a knife like it was but an extension of their hand, and he’s head over heels in an instant.

* He keeps trying to scout them into the agency, promising them riches, but MC laughs at his offer with a roll of their eyes, refusing every time.

* Once, when he asks MC to join, they lean close to him, bringing a finger under his chin as they tilt his face to meet theirs. “Why don’t you join me instead?” they purr, and at that moment, Vanderwood is putty under their hands.

* He’d follow this badass person to the ends of the world, agency be damned.

* He does ask them to team up with him for some missions, secretly from the agency, and is pleased with the results, noting how quickly and efficiently the two work as a team.

* They’re literally the most badass couple in existence hoooly shit lol

-Send me mystic messenger headcanons/prompts for character reactions!-

#aks #anon #mystic messenger #mysme #mystic messenger headcanons #mysme headcanons #mysme prompts #mystic messenger prompts #jumin han #jaehee kang #yoosung kim #hyun ryu #jihyun kim #luciel choi #saeran choi #vanderwood

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autopotion · 3 years

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ffviir thoughts, 3 hours in

pros

setting is beautiful and detailed. i like running into traffic cones

i LOVE the combat system. it’s a modern take on the original, deeply outdated system with every element of it given care and consideration, like “how can we make this faster / more engaging / less clunky.” streamlined, fun, challenging. the perfect way to upgrade imo they really did such a good job

the musical renditions are really nice too, and i like how many they’ve included and revamped so far. i really loved the section immediately post-reactor explosion when you’re cutting through swathes of shinra soldiers to an interesting take on the og battle theme with different musical cues, and then you get to the end of the marathon and it turns into straight up the og battle them. really really cool

i like how the game is in conversation with itself and its predecessor. like this is a game that knows exactly the weight it’s carrying and wants to talk about it instead of pretending it doesnt exist. a lot of modern games are trying to be dialogues with the actual medium of video games, a theme i really enjoy in games, and especially in this one

voice acting is all pretty good and engaging. gideon emery just sounds like american fenris which is more funny than bad

i’m really enjoying myself with it tbh

cons

the retcon of “oh no the mako explosion wasn’t avalanche at all it was shinra” feels cowardly and was the first point in the game where i was like ah i dont care for that story choice actually

i like all the voice acting... except for barrett’s. oh dont get me wrong his voice actor is doing a fantastic job, it’s the direction that is kind of. uh. not great. like of all the things they should have changed to modernize ffvii, i feel like barrett’s loud angry constantly swearing thing was one, and they didnt do that, sooo. that being said i think they are giving barrett much more attention and consideration than in the first game--his stuff with marlene is so so good and sweet already, and i love that he’s the heart of avalanche, reassuring everyone when they feel like backing out--but the direction is still like... i mean og barrett was basically a racist caricature of Mr T. they really didnt need to keep anything in that was like that

too much sephiroth already. i was so looking forward to the aerith introduction scene and he fucking interrupted it like the drama queen he is. they are REALLY leaning into the massive cloud/sephiroth fanbase in a super uncomfortable way. one time when sephiroth was on screen zoe said in a sinister voice “cloud let’s french with tongue” and i lost it. thats literally the vibe

the beautiful realistic graphics don’t really mesh well with extraordinarily unrealistic body proportions, like tifa. and jessie’s boob armor. also the eyes on the women are too big, they’re uncanny and uncomfortable to look at. this is a bigger criticism of games trying for hyper realistic graphics but not ditching the same old misogynistic standards for women. a cartoonish, lego graphics tifa with massive pointy titties is not as weird and fucked up to look at as a realistic-adjacent tifa with massive titties.

basically i am enjoying myself and am interested to see where the game takes me, and also, because i engage with media very critically, there are several things i find kind of annoying. it’s very fun though and i’m having a good time

#ffviir blogging

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final-major-project-jack-sykes · 5 years

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eXistenZ

youtube

When Allegra creates a game that can provide the ‘ultimate escape’ others find the need to put an end to it immediately. The game works by using this organic pod and plugging into your own body and your mind is transported into the hyper realistic game. The twist and difficulty of this presented in the film is that they find that they can barely tell if theyre in the game or in real life because it is so life like. Hinting to this by in the real world adding little details that couldnt exist which caused great confusion and concern in the two characters.

What I like about this is the incredible lack of confirmation of where they are and if anything is real as the plot progresses. Much like how the public of my project are unaware of their thoughts being monitored and that there is great haste to rectify it. And I also like this blur between reality and fiction with how it doesnt seem so alien for this to happen in the future and that is the public were to somehow find out about this the they would begin to question everything as the two in the movie do.

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dahniwitchoflight · 7 years

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so bout that samurai jack episode

so I really like samurai jack, always have always will

which makes me feel the need to make a bit of a post on my perspective on what happened in the recent episode with Jack and Ashi becoming a couple

I really didnt expect peoples reactions to be as extreme as they were, but I also entirely understand all the arguments that would make people want to reject this ship so harshly

but given that, I don’t think the creators of the show handled things as undelicately as everyone seems to think, and this coming from a person who has a pretty similar life and “origin story” if you will as Ashi AND Jack (minus the obvious impossibilities like time travel :P but growing up in abusive isolated cult home? check. constant hyper vigilance and feeling disconnected altogether from a sense of time? check. nightmares and ptsd symptoms in general all around? check. I’m just saying, I connect to both characters here lol)

first issue people have is major and that’s the physical age gap between the two, with some people even going so far as to say its basically pedophilia, which I really don’t agree with

but given cues in the show, we know Ashi is at least an adult. Her mother lets her and her sisters go after they are fully trained adult members of the cult. Jack never sees her as anything except a murderous fully trained adult assassin out for his blood and the reveal that shes been entirely naked throughout this whole show because that black suit was actually her scarred and charred black skin?

the only other option is then the difference in experience between the two making people uncomfy, which I can understand, but the thing is, by the time that they actually become a couple, theyve gotten on equal footing.

ashi grew up isolated in a death cult that gave her no other option except to kill or be killed by the samurai. Even when she already showed inclinations of being a good and caring character to her mother’s irritation.

throughout the show, contrary to what you might think, Ashi got all of her character development on her own, while Jack was not around

Jack didn’t train her or teach her anything, Jack merely told her about the possibility of aku being evil, and then when Jack disappeared, sure her motivation to move around the world was to seek out Jack and get him to prove it to her, but unintentionally along the way she met new people, new perspectives, new ideas, saw the beauty of the world all on her own and gained those experiences and came to her own conclusions, without Jack.

the only problem with any of this was the pacing for the whole show feels too quick, so the idea that ashi gained all that experience once freed from her mother and traveled around for a bit feels too quick to really happen, but this is more a fault of the shows pacing then the shows story

its not that the plot points themselves are wrong, its just how fast they knocking them off can make it seem rushed or not real

the basic story of Ashi is:

A child with a pure heart grows up in an assassin cult and given a narrow worldview. As an adult, she fulfills her training and is then sent off to kill her target the samurai under the guidance of her god figure Aku. She fails to kill the samurai, and the samurai instead explains his absurd position that he is good and aku is evil. She at first mocks him, but as she has always been as a child, is curious, and truly wants good, so she wants confirmation of his views, wants solid proof. Jack doesnt give it to her and then leaves, forcing her to explore the world on her own and judge it with her own eyes (even though in her head she is seeking out the samurai for his answers and proof). She does this, experioences the world on her own and understands Aku’s evilness and believes in Jack’s goodness, so that by the time she actually finds the Samurai to get his answers, she already has her own. They’ve become on equal footing.

and that feels quick sure, but the important part is that its not impossible. It can be hard for abused children to accept outside narratives than the one they grew up in, the struggle is real believe me, so seeing it happen this way to Ashi can feel unrealistic to those that it hasn’t happened to. But its not impossible for it to happen this way, at all. It’s very similar to what happened with me, i also just happened to find a certain special person, just a friend from highschool, who by happenstance was the one to first help me shatter my illusions about my family, and that quickstarted my “character arc” if you will and I went from being in full brainwashed state to moving out and living my own life in a matter of couple months (not to say ive been fully healed in that time though, and neither has Ashi shown this either, as she still experiences the horror of that situation when she thinks of it as well)

and then theres how how all this looks from Jack’s point of view

Which is Jack has never seen her as some inexperienced child that needed guidance or a father, nor has he really ever held a position higher than hers mentally/psychologically from the start

he has only seen her as an assassin out for his blood who is wrongfully thinking that aku is good when he is evil

that is not “Ashi is ignorant I Must Teach her” thats “This person misunderstands greatly, they were taught wrong”

If Ashi was the sweet little know nothing ingenue that Jack had to raise/train, then Ashi would be all “Who’s Aku? What’s Evil? What’s Good?” she would literally Know Nothing at all except what Jack taught her, instead she consistently has her own ideas of the world, and changes those ideas on her own, she doesn’t just adopt samurai Jack’s worldview because he told her too. She gets her own worldview, which is subtly different than Jack’s even if they are aligned together

So we can agree Ashi is traumatized, and is mentally affected by this, despite showing realistic yet rushed growth that puts her more on par with Samurai Jack yes?

now the other side of the coin

Jack is ALSO traumatized by the life he’s lived in very similar ways to Ashi

both have been constantly forced by circumstance to survive under the threat of death, Angry Jack is literally Trauma Induced Hypervigilance personified. Ashi constantly hounded with “Are You Weak? Do You Deserve To Die?” with no person to offer either of them comfort or care. Both have been forced to fight against evil constantly, with the idea that they MUST win over evil or they will not only die, but deserve to die. Jack is a Samurai who has sworn to his family that he will fix everything and get Aku, and his guilt over feeling like he’s not able to haunts him with the faces of the dead he feels responsible for to the point where he was driven to honor bound suicide. Ashi was given one option in life, kill the samurai or die trying, and if you die you die in failure in shame, her life had no value except in if she could kill Jack.

so its like, yes Ashi has been through some stuff, which compared to a normal psychologically healthy person, could put her at a disadvantage or set her up to be used and abused/continue the cycle etc

but Jack is nowhere near a psychologically healthy person either, he’s in the same position as her from the start

and both of them get “out of” their trauma in seemingly unrealistic ways, in fact I’d say Jack literally just sitting down and meditating Angry Jack out of his soul for a day is more unrealistic than Ashi going out and living the life she never could and experiencing full blast all of the world’s goodness on her own for the what, 2 or 3 weeks that she did before finding Jack

basically my point is by the time they kiss on the show, they are both adults, and have no reason to believe the other is not just a normal adult, they’ve been through the same trauma’s, been on the same unstable mental footing, continue to deal with the feelings of terror while aligning themselves to the same goal of “get aku” theyve traveled together, understood their differences and now understood perhaps theyre similarities, felt a connection and kissed

and really, Ashi deserves the love that Jack could bring her as much as Jack deserves the love Ashi can bring him

nothing about their situation feels unequal in any regard to me, except for the literal fact that Ashi is 20 to Jack’s unnatural 70

we see the difference as the audience, but Jack sees a normal 20 year old woman his equal, who can sympathize with his life experiences, and Ashi sees a normal 20 year old man her equal, who needed a shave, who can sympathize with her life experiences

all in all, it doesn’t feel like a disservice to either of their character’s, it feels like two traumatized people happened to find themselves on the same boat for once, and discovered that hey, maybe another living human does and can understand what I’ve been through, maybe I can make a connection to another person

#Samurai Jack #Jashi #just my incoherent two cents I guess

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onlyjihoons · 7 years

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4,8 & 10: who do you ship me with in nct and why hehe ;)) ily 💜

thank you for asking!💘 4. my first love this is embarassing HAHAHok ngl my first love was my best friend(!!) in school, like honestly i didnt harbour any feelings for him until i got over my then-crush,, and it was pretty awk for both of us bc 1.i have never been in a relationship 2.bc we were in the friendzone for so long, we both didnt know what to do omg AND i still havent had my first kiss bc of my awkwardness just kidding i was just saving it for mark anyway we lasted for a month in like sec 2? i was aWKWARD AS HECK when i gave him his birthday present when we were tgt omg and even up till now when he reminded me of it i was like "you better shut up or i'll chop off your non-existent dick" and hes like woah gurl chill welcome, have you ever seen this side of me before;-) but anyway he's attatched now and we are still rlly close and we are both happy in our own lives:-) 8.who i would like to be my boyfriend realistically, wonho is out of my boyfriend range bc he's like 8 years older than me:")) so i'll just talk about the dream kids(namely mark,jeno,donghyuck and chenle) since theyre so much closer to my age! mark i chose mark bc simply there is no language barrier, we both speak english fluently! and also bc i need someone to take care of me, but yet have that little tinge of no-jam to entertain my lame jokes hahah and besides, my mom already approves of mark as her son-in-law and my cousin practically thinks that i am really mark's girlfriend HAHAH im sorry cheryl my family is that supportive:") (pls dont hate me) haechan ok honestly when i first stanned nct i didnt really think of donghyuck as my bf but now i do?? like eXcUsE Me this boy has practically eVERYTHING. he does have the 'oppa' feel where despite his playfulness he also has the ability to make his girlfriend happy:") like bring her on dates, movie night cuddles, and also waterpark adventures(!!!!) and also he also is the type to wait for his gf after school no matter how late it is just to walk her back home!! and when youre sad he is the first one to shower u w hugs and words of encouragement i need to stop here pls luv donghyuck as much as i want him to be my bf jeno do i need to say, ever since you 'introduced' me to jeno he was my eloping bf probably if jeno ever becomes my bf my self-esteem would drop down to negative bc damn boy your visuals r on point and my visuals r no point:")) and honestly as a member of the dance line,, we can learn dances tgt and it would be so fun (i tried to inagine jeno trying ballet and ok he's probably gonna be good at ballet too) and he's so nice yet so #savage,, yes my type!!! chenle tbh chenle is here because of the age, like we are both born in 01' and also we speak chinese, so probably no language barrier as well! plus @iloveyu-ta told me that chenle also has /wonhae mani mani/ aka $$ so ok im gonna have a life dilemma on what to wear on dates bc who knows he may bring me go shopping @ chanel or smth ok setting my materialistic mind aside chenle is honestly a really nice guy and you know, hyper buddies and my family would love him too?? just bc he speaks fluent chinese and is so nice and so kind and so cute my ex-crush is gonna be so shookt bc hey i got a boy better than your crusty ass who only collects kanken and hoverboards(and doesnt know how to talk to girls),, chenle can dANCE on a hoverboard and probably flood your house w too many kankens im so sorry at this point my mind is crazy 10.(ask me anything) who do you ship me with in nct and why? im gonna go against societal norms lmao and ship you with taeyong!! other than the fact that yOU CANT COOK and taeyong has to cook for you,, your personalities are also pretty simliar imo and you two would look good tgt dAH-LING i hate to admit it but you really look good w mark cheryl,, better than i do:")

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bitterdrake · 7 years

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Big Boy Rant

guilty pleasures shouldn't exist. u should be able to love whatever u want without feeling guilty about it. however that doesnt mean u shouldnt call out the bullshit that comes along with it. for example i LOVE the vampire diaries. yet i can still acknowledge its unoriginality, mary/gary sue characters, repetitive plots, and how it jumped the shark by like the third episode without getting all butthurt. i know it has little to no real quality. i hardly gain anything from watching it. but bitch i still like it! YET IM AWARE! what i'm really sick of is the glorification of all these mediocre and bland shows that get off the charts ratings just because people are so obsessive with so obnoxiously fake characters. i'm talking about shows like pretty little liars (great plot at the beginning but do not try to tell me it didnt go downhill after the second season), riverdale (i love this show but there is not one even slightly original thing about it), thirteen reasons why (great actors, horrible everything else), orange is the new black (amazing characters, amazing plot, but the writers absolutely slaughtered everything that was good about it by the end of the third season), etc. etc. etc. then you have, like, second tier shows that are written brilliantly like shameless (hyper realistic dialogue, imperfect, relatable, original characters, representation of a ton of communities, call-outs on gentrification and aristocracy), SKAM (realistic representation of modern youth, somewhat typical yet interesting characters, pretty good representation of the gay community also im norwegian so im biased), game of thrones (aint even gonna explain its very well done) that are new and classic but with primarily white characters (before u come at me: shameless has two black main characters, one of which has like two lines total in seven seasons. skam has one muslim actress. everybody is white in game of thrones except for the tribe of people known to be savages and the other kingdom of people made out to be "middle eastern"). while thats pretty typical of western television, it lacks the ambition and fails to demand critical thought from its massive audience. all of the shows mentioned above flourish because of plot twists and like able characters. not strictly unworthy of watching, but not incredibly impressive nor thought-provoking, either. but they're super successful so they don't need to worry about shit that won't make them money. then you have god-tier shows that are cancelled after the second season. lemme just talk up the get down real fast. it's directed by baz fucking lurhmann. love him or hate him, he's super artistic and completely revolutionizes the way certain scenes are filmed. you have actors like jaden smith, justice smith (up and coming actor who was in paper towns and is hot ASF), herizen guardiola (first time actress who is just as amazing acting as she is at singing), jimmy smits (from the west wing, sons of anarchy, and dexter), and giancarlo esposito (gustavo from breaking bad!!). all of the main characters are refreshingly people of color representing both the ghetto and the middle class of the bronx in the 1970s. the plot line is super complex yet easy to follow. the dialogue is equally hilarious as it is heartbreaking. BROTHER U GOT FUCKING MUSIC! this show centers around disco and the very start of rap and hip hop. jaden smith is a closeted gay poet/artist whose story line does not revolve around being gay(!!!!). justice smith plays a young teen named zeke who is a mf good will hunting genius in the making who unapologetically writes honest poetry. the love interest mylene cruz is gorgeous, talented, yet painfully imperfect. her story does not revolved around zeke at all- she focuses on her career as an up and coming disco star and the struggle between fulfilling her dreams and pleasing her abusive, uber christian father. the "mentor", shaolin fantastic, is a drug dealing DJ and graffiti poet who recruits a bunch of high school sophomores (zeke and company) to be word smiths (rappers) for his spinning (DJing, otherwise know as The Get Down!!!). shaolin, peppered in hilariously cheesy bruce lee references, struggles with living authentically and obtaining money via coke dealers. the writing is fresh. its funny. its heart wrenching. its relevant, even though the show takes place in the 70s. just from watching this show i know who tf edward koch is who was actually a huge part of the history of new york and a big reason why racism is pressed into the art of graffiti, thus emphasizing the importance of expression within the black community. that being said, this show isn't anti-white or whatever the fuck u "reverse racists" try to pin it as. there are white graffiti artists, white businessmen who play a huge part in zeke's life, and white helpers of the puerto rican uncle trying to make a difference in the bronx. the issues of classism, racism, censorship, and familial struggles are addressed without being one-sided. this show educates you. it makes you laugh, cry, and most importantly makes you think. and it got cancelled cause yall motherfuckers are too busy losing ur shit over stupid drama and okay looking white actors (cole sprouse aint got shit on justice smith and thats the mf tea on that!) don't get me wrong: like whatever u wanna like. but u simply cannot deny the blandness of popular television when there are a variety of amazing, less popular shows that you can actually get something out of. with great power comes great responsibility !! when your audience is that huge, you have the opportunity to spread deep and worthwhile messages to the masses. i'm not saying make all shows political or whatever. i feel like the main message (that is often took for the opposite due to its romanticization of gossip) of pretty little liars is to not be a fake bitch!! idk what the FUCK riverdale is trying to say, and dont u dare come to me saying 13 reasons why is trying to bring awareness to depression bc that is some neurotypical bullshit, and yes not all shows need to have some higher meaning but isnt that the appeal of story telling? the bible? cant stop yall from having bad taste and like you do you but i want you to know that im fucking pissed the get down got cancelled and thirteen fuckers why is getting a second season that is all goodbye

#sorry this is hella long #im pissed tho #rambly and pissed

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