#Ada used to play for the other team so Leon constantly thinks she's trying to throw the game for them | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

739337369137371082 · 4 years

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Hey so I found u thru the Halved Live Funnies and I gotta ask... whose Leon? What series these dudes from?

i got this ask and then forgot about it for like 2 days. anyways.

IVE ANSWERED THIS BEFORE BUT. GOD. LEON. ok so like....... long story short last year was when i first played resident evil........ bc we got a copy of re2remake in and.... jesus christ. i hyperfixated so fucking hard for the better part of a year going on into this year. and then i watched hl/vr and well. we know where that went. but now i am once again hyperfixated and now im back to where i was in like.... june of last year LMAO. but anyways i am once again going to ramble under the cut about them <3 (seriously. its very long and doesnt go much of anywhere. also spoilers)

tl/dr:

OK. SO. resident evil. the last time i answered this ask i either hadnt played some of them or just completely forgot the plot of others LOL but now upon beating/playing a large majority of them (besides 6 which i have not touched yet, and 7 is first person and im not rly interested in it rn)...... well others have said this as well but if you like cheesy b action movies you would love resident evil!!!

the orig 1-2 are more survival horror which is what i like the most. 3 is where it starts branching into more actiony stuff but is still survival horror. but 4 and after is just like..... cheesy action stuff which is fine but not really like.... my thing. altho i do think that they are fun in a “this plot is hilariously bad” type way because i do enjoy horrible things. but people who like resident evil dont like it for the plot they like it for the characters. and for me i latched the fuck onto leon kennedy and tyrant t-00 aka mr fucking x

listen.......... you guys know me relatively well enough to know that i have a type......... and i would define leon as not really fitting under it usually because he is 1. under 6 foot 2. human and 3. very much not a villain. but something about (mostly remake) leon hits fucking different!!!!!! hes kind and means well, thinks about others constantly, looks like an actual fucking person in the in game graphics instead of being some manufactured perfect model, nice voice, etc....... i fucking care him so much. also gameplay wise i find his weapons to be more enjoyable than claires so i always end up playing his route/2nd route the most compared to hers. but i do also like claire :) shes nice and epic

i dont really like the newer leons (4 and afterwards) as much.... i mean a lot of it has to do with trauma and general “growing up” after what happened in re2 but hes just so constantly... snarky? jaded? constantly spouting lines to make him seem cool? when in my head hes very much like... a loser LMAO. i mean dont get me wrong hes a badass. he survives a fucking zombie outbreak and nearly gets murdered dozens of time. thats the definition of badass. but also you cannot change my mind that hes also a anxious loser twunk. there is literally nothing you can do to convince me he is “cool” like the games and movies want to think. this is probably heresy to re fans but this is my truth

https://youtu.be/aVZWuSfGStk?t=129

here is a vid of his cutscenes. obvious spoilers in there but you can skip around and see how cute he is. also yes in his first cutscene he is listening to butt rock. i switch between thinking hes just listening to it because nothing else is on the radio or his taste really is that terrible

also you literally CANNOT convince me that he is straight. the games try SOOOOO hard to get you to ship leon/ada or leon/claire but like...... i cannot see it. he has one of the gayest run animations i have ever seen in re2 remake and i mean... he just radiates gay trans man energy to me. also please look at this small scene from one of the animated movies where a licker jumps on top of him and he wraps his legs around its hips and lifts it off of him to not die. gay king

https://youtu.be/d-VNikxYBPw?t=9

but yes ive basically decided to ignore all characterization from re4 and onwards regarding leon at least. every leon after that is not my leon (except in special cases when im thinking about something like leon/jd from re damnation..... they did jd so dirty and they should have fucking kissed. or how cute he looked in vendetta sometimes)

ANYWAYS. MR X

so basically there are these enemies in resident evil called “tyrants” that are manufactured by the evil capitalist company umbrella that are near indestructible save for like.... rocket launchers or super heavy artillery that youre not buying at your local gun store. and in re2 one of them get sent to the police station where leon and claire are and is told to wipe out all witnesses. (i also do think that 2 or more were sent there... or at least in the area when this happened due to some very obvious plot hole stuff on each route no matter how you play, even tho the devs have come out and said that only 1 existed in the game and that each route is like “a parallel dimension” to each other. i wont go into it more than that but i choose to ignore that)

and well. when i first played it i knew of mr x but didnt like... know much about him other than that he was a monster and Tall (like 7 or 8 feet tall) and that he chased you around. that already sold me on him but then. well. you first encounter him because he lifts up an entire goddamn helicopter and then proceeds to chase you. and it was then that i knew i was in deep shit because he fucking stomped his way into my heart and never left.

mr x basically has serious Side Character Disorder where (even tho the remake made him very cool and epic and did him really well compared to nemesis in re3 remake which is an entire different can of worms) he has LITERALLY no personality or like. thoughts. or anything. hes only there to chase you around and be on screen for like 10 seconds for a couple of cutscenes and then not show up again until the very end of the game for you to fight on leons route. but god. he means so fucking much to me.

you know how people latch onto random side characters that have no personality and essentially flesh them out more than the creators ever will? thats me with mr x. its gotten to the point where certain songs come on on my spotify and i actually get EMOTIONS or even TEARS because they remind me of him, but its not even really HIM, its the fucking ideas that ive come up with regarding him because all he ever does in game is chase you around and punch you and then die and is never brought up again

but anyways. mr x is a tall monster who chases leon and claire around in their routes but mr x is leons main monster in the game (claire has a different one). he chases leon around, literally never stops looking at him as he chases him, gets hit by an entire fucking car which then explodes BUT THEN chases him down into the sewers and into a secret underground lab just to get to him like a fucking bloodhound who, once he has the scent, will never stop chasing him

(you can see why this made me kind of insane)

just. AGHHH. the tyrants in this series get treated so dirty. i desperately want capcom to give us some sort of tyrant that can actually fucking like.... go against orders and brainwashing or whatever and actually have emotions and thoughts!!!!!!!!!! but capcom would never do anything with it cause its a rough and tough action series and people arent here to see tyrants have some sort of thought process beyond punching and killing and people only want to shoot guns at them instead of thinking about the possibilities of a tyrant that goes against its programming.

i so desperately want an au where mr x got the transmitter shot off of the side of his head (and while capcom never mentioned this ever many re2 fans have since decided that it is what feeds info/orders to him. i flip flop between thinking that it either is near controlling him and prevents free will and thought or that its just giving him orders and that hes just burying/hiding/not showing free will and thought in fear of being killed. either that or someone at umbrella is “piloting” him but also the whole point of tyrants is that theyre supposed to be smart enough to think for themselves somewhat so... eh). GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!

ive explained a bunch of this stuff in my other ask about it but just...... xleon means so much to me when it should not and will never be actually canon

anyways please play re2 remake at least, you dont have to know everything about re1 to like it, just go into it knowing that a few months ago in the mountains outside raccoon city claires brother chris and a few members on his team went to a mansion where they discovered umbrella doing shady zombie shit there. re2 remake was hyped up for years for a reason and it is really good, even if its short (altho i do appreciate short games in this day and age cause not every game needs to be like 60 plus hours long).

maybe one day when its not late and i can actually think i will explain all this better but todays not that day <3

(EDIT: ALSO RE DAMNATION TYRANTS ARE 14 FEET TALL. AND CHASE AROUND LEON AND ACTUALLY FUCKING RUN. FUN FACT! anyways while i do think jd in that movie and leon should kiss i also want leon and a tyrant from that movie to kiss. bye)

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rpdwong · 5 years

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[LET’S TALK RE2MAKE] Ada and Leon

There is so much I want to talk about regarding this game, that I’ve decided to just divide it in different posts because, wow, there is A LOT to unpack here. It’s no surprise that I started playing Leon’s scenario, mainly because I wanted to see Ada in this new rendition (and also Leon and Ada/Leon, of course!). A heads-up: this is probably going to be very convoluted and not-at-all-organized, but I need to get it out and talk about these two.

I’ll admit my main fear was that Capcom could’ve butchered Ada’s characterization, but in the end I had nothing to worry about because we could argue this Ada is even better than in any previous appearances. Mainly because RE2make has probably the best writing/acting in the series (it’s still campy at times and that’s good as well! but you know what I mean). This also applies to her relationship with Leon, which also has been improved and now feels more grounded.

First things first, I love the original RE2 to pieces. It was my favourite game in the series, it was the first I played, Leon and Ada are literally the first ship that I ever shipped without knowing what that was. But when you look at it now, even if the writing is good in certain scenes, it’s… well, it’s not RE forte. I mean, Ada goes from running away from Leon to sticking with him and then saying she cared about him all of a sudden. It’s not that you can’t believe it, but because the game is too short, she gets very intense very quickly. Again, we have to suspend our disbelief here a bit because this game was made back in 1998, and narrative in games was limited. For its time, it was kinda good—but some of those scenes would have looked a bit out of place under the tone RE2make has set. Like the “I’m just a woman who fell in love with you”. I mean, I love it in its original context, but it was cheesy af at its time and I don’t think they could have pulled it off here in a believable way.

(I also think Capcom wants to keep the romance tone very subtle, as they have always said they don’t “include” them in their RE games <s>except they kinda do but anyway</s> and that love confession was by far the most blatant romantic scene in a RE game).

But I digress, since this is about what RE2make does well in regards to Leon and Ada, and I’d say pretty much everything.

The first thing I noticed I quite liked about this Ada was the contrast between her demeanor and what she was doing: she acted cold and distant, but still kept saving Leon’s ass (and she does save him here a lot, more than in the original). This really resonates with their later interactions in other games, even though here she is colder than usual because, well, this is their first meeting so they still don’t have that history and shared background.

[And they keep pointing guns at each other (another great detail, since this is pretty much their dynamic when they meet).]

Now, in the original we know Ada tried to leave Leon behind multiple times— she had a job to do, and having a rookie cop with her wouldn’t help. But she just kept running away without saying anything and since we don’t know her true intentions until the end, it may come across as a bit strange, given her supposed circumstances. In RE2make this is more nuanced, I think. You can see she’s trying to push him off constantly, telling him to leave as soon as he can and escape the city. Some people always bring up that Ada manipulates Leon into doing things so she can accomplish her mission— and that is true to an extent (let’s remember, again, that she also keeps saving him just as much before even accepting his help). But you can also see that wasn’t her first intention, she just wanted to get rid of him and continue her mission. However, Leon is very adamant about not leaving her behind and helping her, because he wants do something for the city and bring those responsible down (I love that he repeats it like two o three times, the “you’re stuck with me” line basically).

Even in her attempts at getting rid of him, there’s a difference between their first interactions and the ones they share later, from the sewers on. When he finds her in the dumpster wounded, she stills tells him something like “get out of here”, even if she knows she needs his help now to survive.

When finishing Ada’s segment, you can even see she’s scared at the end after the fall (and, indeed, where’s Leon when she needs him xD). But what Leon says here is one of my favourite things:

Now this is not only about uncovering Umbrella’s plot and bringin them to justice for him: they are a team and they protect each other to survive the hell they have been thrown into (which is very reminiscent of their interactions in the original game aka “We’re a team. I can’t just leave you behind”, even Leon points at this with his “Y’know we make a good team”, which only makes it all sadder because yes, they do, but now the truth has come out and they are “enemies”).

So, yeah, what was Ada supposed to say here? She goes along with it, and yes, she tricks him into retrieving the G virus for her, but that’s to be expected because she’s just not going to drop her whole mission and leave everything she’s ever known “for a pair of pretty eyes”, as Luke Skywalker would say, when we can see she’s very reserved and hides her true feelings/intentions constantly.

Yet she doesn’t want to hurt him (as she admits during their confrontation and this is genuine, no lies here), so that’s the best scenario in play: Leon gets the G virus, he gives it to her under the pretense of taking it back to the FBI, they escape, go their separate ways, she succeeds in her mission. End of story. Thankfully, Leon is not such a naïve ass in this game. Seriously, I replayed the original RE2 just before the remake’s launch and Leon is incredibly gullible to the point of no reason— though it’s endearing in its own way too. But I definitely appreciate more that this Leon still has a hopeful, positive vibe and he really wants to trust Ada, without coming off as an utter fool.

Then the confrontation comes (in a walkway with no railing, guys, haven’t you seen Star Wars??? THAT DOESN’T BODE WELL, NEVER) and it’s beautifully made. They could have gone the Leon B route with Ada dying in his arms, but the Leon A version was incredibly poignant— and it remains the same here, even more so because the acting was top notch for me here. (It’s true Ada “died” in Leon B to save him and that’s powerful as well, but… she has saved him so many times in the remake, it wouldn’t have felt that “special” I guess?). Even though Ada has been actively more deceitful in the remake (she takes advantage of the FBI lie much more than she did with the “worried girlfriend” thing), in the end she is not able to shoot Leon— and he knows she won’t.

The moment he says “but I don’t think you can” and lowers his weapon is SO GREAT and is a perfect summary of their whole dynamic: they are usually on opposing sides, yet he still trusts she will never harm him; because she can’t. They always walk a very thin line between friend and foe. We as the audience know Ada won’t shoot him, but it’s a such leap of faith for Leon here, at this moment— especially because now he is certain of what Ada is and what she is doing with the G virus. Rationally, there’d no reason for her not to shoot him and get the virus— but despite Ada’s lie, the connection they have developed is real. And Leon knows this, trusts his instincts and it pays off. It’s so much more fulfilling than the original scenes or even later ones.

Then we have Ada’s “death” and it’s heart-breaking. That “Shut up I’ve got you” from Leon KILLS me every time, and Ada’s “it’s not worth it” says so much about her, as I understand the implication is that she thinks saving her is not worth it.

Again, this is something that was also present in the original, so I think they’ve managed to blend all versions of Ada quite well (she can be standoffish, independent and sassy, but also show warmth, sadness and compassion). Not only that, I found it quite endearing that she also comes off as very proud and hates feeling weak, rejecting Leon’s gestures of kindness when he finds her wounded in the sewers. There’s the “don’t push it, rookie” and she claims she would feel even worse if Leon carried her. I don’t think this was a trait we had witnessed before in Ada, even though you could assume she doesn’t like being thought of as weak. But it was really nice to see that on screen and it’s just another detail that helps to make her feel more human.

What about the kiss? I’ve seen some people having mixed feelings about it, but I actually liked what they did— again, because this time it all feels more grounded and less “melodramatic” (which isn’t bad per se, but the tone is different, as I’ve mentioned). We weren’t getting a love confession out of nowhere because it didn’t fit the character, so… how can we get a kiss in this situation? Well, now it’s part of Ada’s manipulation in a way— but that doesn’t invalidate that she’s starting to care about him in some way and viceverse.

But they are still walking on thin ice: Leon wants to trust her, but he doesn’t know if he should, and she knows she’s lying to him. So she just shuts him up when he starts blabbering about keeping her safe. I don’t mind that it’s part of the manipulation because, once more, this is their first meeting and I also think part of her was also being genuine about it, like she thinks he’s very sweet for worrying so much about her. This is my interpretation, of course, but I think it fits the scene when she says “don’t worry about me” and claiming she’d like to see him again, that she has plenty to live for. This is of course all up to debate, because it’s made ambiguous on purpose, to make us feel as confused as Leon is. But, in the end, we know what happens in later games (even in this one, when she is unable to shoot him), and whether you like Ada or not, we can’t argue that she cares about him enough to put him before any mission.

Leon’s line in the train is also very telling and so much better than the original “Goodbye, Ada” or “I’ll always remember you”, in my opinion. He says “I can’t believe I actually miss her” and that rings so true, because, despite the deception, the connection they had was true, they worked well together, they teased each other, they bantered. They made a good team, and Leon made it out alive thanks to her as well. It reflects much better that duality they have, whether they can trust each other or not (as he says in RE6: it’s complicated).

Just to end this, because I’ve been blabbering long enough, the other thing I’m forever grateful this remake has given us is Leon and Ada bantering and even their own sort of recurring catch phrase, with the whole “keeping scores” that comes full circle: first in a negative way, then it shows up again in a moment of tenderness between the two.

It’s also such a nice way to tie all their history together, because that’s what they always do: they might be on opposing sides, but they always end up saving each other.

#ada wong #leon scott kenendy #aeon #resident evil 2 remake #resident evil 2 #meta #mine: meta #my reylo might have shown here a bit with the sw references

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