No Time To Say 'Hello!' Goodbye || Alter
@go-askalice
With summer came the longer hours of daylight where closing was now done by the light of the setting sun, instead of just the lights inside the shoppe and the dim street lamps. Shadows stretched long and languid across the floor and walls, the mismatch of them fitting right in with the rest of the shoppe.
Hatter had nearly finished sweeping when he noticed a rogue mug sitting on one of the benches, tucked into the corner. He frowned at it, though the expression was meant for whoever had left it behind like that. Thankfully it was empty, only the tacky remnance of what he presumed to be coffee left a ring around the bottom.
Setting the broom up against one of the chairs to lean on he reached over, bracing a hand on the table, to grab the mug by its handle. Hatter crossed the shoppe floor to set it on the counter, scooting it closer to the edge.
"Sorry, I forgot one," he told Alice. Then he paused, feeling the need to say again, "You know, I can do this myself. There must be...other things you'd rather be doing. It is summer, after all."
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Year of the Alice Day 255
This is my first (and hopefully only) one-year project (which will be only 365 days) and this one is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland-themed.
In this pic, Alice reenacts We Are Number One with Alice Kingsleigh (Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland), Alice Liddell (American McGee's Alice) and Alice Liddell (Alice in the Country of Hearts)
Made with Microsoft Paint.
Enjoy! ♠️♥️♣️♦️
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (c) Lewis Carroll
1951 adaptation of Alice in Wonderland (c) Disney
American McGee's Alice (c) American McGee and Electronic Arts
2010 adaptation of Alice in Wonderland (c) Disney and Tim Burton
Alice in the Country of Hearts (c) Quin Rose
LazyTown (c) Magnús Scheving, LazyTown Entertainment and Truenorth Production
Idea and artwork (c) me
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The Great Thing About HNKNA Being An Otome Game
I had an epiphany a few months ago. I’ve talked before about how many pitfalls HNKNA experiences by nature of it being a dating simulator, and how a lot of the cooler parts of the story and lore are overshadowed by the core romance mechanic and how I’m not a big fan of it, blah blah. But I’ve also seen way too many modern Alice in Wonderland adaptations as a result of my ridiculously long-term Kuni no Alice hyperfixation, and allow me to say that there is one thing that it nails that nothing else can even come close to touching— Alice herself!
The Kuni no Alice series brings about what I think is the best modern interpretation of Alice I’ve yet to see in any media I’ve consumed. She’s quick-witted and brings the attitude, but she cares. Her reactions are realistically absurd and there are few moments throughout everything where she feels out of character or unrelatable. And I think the otome genre is crucial to why that is.
By nature, dating simulators don’t have strong protagonists. They’re supposed to be a blank canvas for the player to project onto to achieve their goals. Am I calling Alice flat? No, quite the opposite. Her story is set in a Victorian-inspired fantasy land with lots of guns and danger and a strict social structure, but it’s intended for a modern audience, and when connection with your protagonist is the key to connection with your story, a modern audience means a modern Alice.
The modern Alice is one of the hardest characters to write.
In most instances of an adapted, cool, edgy Alice in Wonderland, the most insufferable character on screen is, in fact, Alice. This is true of the Disney films, SyFy’s Alice special, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, etc. More often than not, Alice Kingsleigh, Hamilton, whatever you want to call her, is a young adult frustrated by life in an oppressive society who will only accept her if she acts in a hyper-specific way, usually at the risk of being institutionalized should she fail to comply. She argues with her parents, who want her to get married, and all of this turns her into a spiteful girl who is always on the defensive.
It’s insufferable to watch.
The character of Alice is too often portrayed as relentlessly mean, but under the guise of empowerment. The audience is tired of weak-willed women, so the director hunches Alice’s dress up passed her ankles and gives her a sword, an attitude, and an ugly man to kiss without her parents’ involvement. Biologically engineered to shatter every well-known gender role established in Victorian England and basically nothing else, movies and TV deliver their “strong female protagonists” in the form of a curt, unchangingly rude version of Alice whose words and actions are supposed to be justified by her circumstances. And god, does it fucking suck!
You can't connect to this Alice, this armed and ready, sharp-tongued, "curiouser and curiouser" Alice who lives in a world that practically clears a narratively untouchable path to every foot she plans to step on. Personally, it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. The misunderstood to confused, to disgruntled, to aggressive pipeline is overplayed to the point where the Alice of any and all modern interpretations has become, essentially, the same character, forced to loop the same 6 emotional plot points from now into eternity, no matter how many coats of science fiction you put over it.
(Yes, there is a part of me that understands this comes from the fact that Alice is most often written by money-hungry, corporate studios, led primarily by men, who do not understand feminine audiences, or how they want to see themselves represented in media. I get that. And Alice Liddell is not safe from that. But consider: she's my babygirl.)
Am I saying the character of Alice can't be mean, can't say fuck, can't have a sword? Of course not!!!! Give women swords!!! But I am saying that every time a director phones it in with that "Oh, I know that book" budget and gives a British blondie trust issues, a prophecy, and a quirked up, top hat-wearing sidekick to have unfulfilling sexual tension with, i lose my wings AND my marbles.
Enter: our Alice Liddell.
What do we have with her, really? Well, the protagonist of a mid-shelf otome game, which has sequels out the wazoo, a movie and 2 stage play runs, but still somehow only enough translated media to fill a single Barnes and Noble shopping basket about halfway. Thanks QuinRose.
But for real.
Alice Liddell is written, from the ground up, as an otome protagonist. As such, there are narrative must-haves that she can't shake. She needs to be relatable to the modern young adult, even if she's supposed to reflect the Victorian female experience. This would usually be the Achilles Heel of an adapted protagonist: you, the player, get to watch in horror as your favorite whimsical Main Girl is watered down into a bowl of nothing soup for the sake of projection and selling more copies of a game with eye candy catboys and toxicity glorification.
HOWEVER,
(stay seated girlies don't go yet)
This necessary mundanity that is baked into Alice's character, inseparable from her very being as the taste of weed in a brownie, is what singlehandedly saves this adaptation and makes her objectively the best. Unlike in a lot of cinematic adaptations, she's not meant to be the (failed) vehicle of a "deeper narrative" about the strength and roles of women in society. She doesn't exist for any higher purpose, she isn't the chosen one who will declare "Damn The Man" and force the world to listen.
Alice is a girl doing everything she can. She's experienced profound loss. She's self-deprecating. Snarky. She's been through break ups, gotten even with bullies, cuddled with her cat on a Sunday, everything that doesn't matter. The crux of her character is that she's been burned by life and love, yet she can't truly give up on them. Hers is a story of healing, of adaptation and getting back up when life kicks the shit out of you. No matter how sharply she speaks, Kuni no Alice's Alice almost always acts from a place of concern and love for others. She crucially never wields a weapon, reacting to the violence of Wonderland with that extremely jaded "holy fucking shit, what the fuck?" energy that I think any of us would bring to the table, given the circumstances. She's not her community's """lunatic,""" she's not sailing the high seas sideways, she's not on drugs, or destiny's favorite, or anything like that. She's new in town! She's sick of these people! She just wants to go home and read!
She's you. She's me. She's a clusterfuck of a damaged girl, trying to sort out what matters, find her passion and move forward without letting her past stray too far from memory. She's someone whose self-importance and perception by others is foreign to her. She wants to matter, wants not to be left alone by the people she loves, but god forbid she ever admit it.
QuinRose gives us Alice Liddell, suffering failgirl, not Alice Liddell, conceptual landmark, and that was the best possible route anyone could have taken with this character. Alice is the main character, but she is not a hero, and that's a fucking genius move.
thanks for coming to my ted talk. i love u alice.
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The Royal Wedding of Crowned Prince Thistle of the Fenlands and Lady Wendy Darling Alice Kingsleigh-Liddel the Exceptional and Michael Darling, Son of Suns
Oh, Father tell me, do we get what we deserve?
Whoa, we get what we deserve
And way down we go
Way down we go
Say way down we go
Way down we go
You let your feet run wild
Time has come as we all go down
Yeah but for the fall,
Oh, my
Do you dare to look him right in the eyes?
Oh, 'cause they will run you down, down 'til the dark
Yes and they will run you down, down 'til you fall
And they will run you down, down 'til you go
Yeah, so you can't crawl no more
And way down we go
Way down we go
Say way down we go
Oh, 'cause they will run you down, down 'til you fall...
@the-dashing-darling, @go-askalice
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I am not uncomfortable with doubles!
Husky wolfdog : Psycho - spiritual theriotype
African lion/ess : Spiritual theriotype
Hyena : Comfort kin
Dalmation : Comfort kin
Zombie / the undead : Trauma based kin
Ghost : Trauma based kin
Alice Kingsleigh / Liddell (American McGee and Tim Burton) : Trauma based delusion and irl - fictionkin
Cù-sìth / Fairy Dog / Black Guardian Hound : Spiritual otherkin
Werewolf / lycanthrope : Otherkin / trauma based
Dragon : Otherkin
Fallen angel : Trauma based kin / religious delusion
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Full Name: Alice Marie Kingsleigh/Liddell
Dorm: Heartslabyul
Birthday: May 4 (Taurus)
Age: 17
Height: 5’4
Dominant Hand: Ambidextrous
Homeland: Cambridge, England
Club: Board Games Club
Best Subject: Art
Hobbies: Daydreaming, Collecting Rocks
Pet Peeves: Being told she’s improper and the “wrong” Alice, Not believing her
Favourite Food: Lemon biscuits
Least Favorite Food: Fish and chips
Talent: Storytelling
Dorm Uniform: Right Here!
Noticeable Features: She always switches to third person without realising it and carries many conversations like that.
Unique Magic:
Alice’s magic involves her daydreams coming to life. She can create anything from her imagination but everything looks cartoony: she can’t make anything properly realistic.
Backstory:
Alice always had been the odd one out, but even more so after her first visit to Wonderland. Her main supporter was her father but he passed after her first trip. Its after the third adventure she found herself at the school, daydreaming as always.
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