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#but for me it's these character things where i'm like... who let you do this.... why..... (thank you... but also oh my god....)
dduane · 2 days
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I just received a copy of a book I've been very much looking forward to by a favorite author, but the quality of the book itself is... not great. Cheap paper, weak binding, even a weird illustration of the main character on the cover that I'm having trouble believing the author approved. Obviously, I don't want to leave a bad review on Amazon or GoodReads or anywhere, as I'm 100% certain the content is as excellent as her other work. But how can I best let the publisher (Baen) know I'm disappointed without threatening to never buy her books again? Because, well, if this is the only option, I'm gonna keep buying them even in my disappointment.
Well, the first thing I thought when I read this was "Wow, I'm really glad I don't have anything in print from Baen at the moment except a couple of anthologized short stories." :)
As for the rest of it, let's take it point by point.
Adding a cut here, because this will run a bit long. Caution: contains auctorial bitching and moaning, painful illustrations of cases in point, and brief advice on how to complain most effectively. (Also links to paintings of cats.)
Cheap paper: This has been an accurate complaint since well before COVID—and it's often been worse since, with supply chain issues also being involved. That said: one way publishers routinely save money on printing books, especially the bigger ones, is by going for thinner/cheaper paper. I remember one of our UK editors going on at great length and with huge annoyance—during one of those late-night convention-bar bitch sessions—over how the only way they could get some really good books published (because Upstairs insisted on reducing the per-copy production costs) was by reducing the paper quality to the point where you could nearly read through it. Sacrificing decent text size(s) also became part of this. Nobody in editorial was happy about the result: but there wasn't much they could do.
Bad bindings: Similar problem. Sewn bindings used to be a thing in paperbacks... but not any more: not for a good while, now. These days, it's all glue. Even hardcovers are showing up glued rather than sewn. Don't get me started. :/ (This is why I so treasure some of the oldest paperbacks I've acquired, which are actually sewn.)
Crap covers: I've had my share of these—though my share of some really good ones, too. And one of the endless frustrations of traditional publishing is that the writer routinely has little or even no influence over what the cover will look like... let alone how much will be spent on it, or (an often-related issue) how good the execution will be.
There are of course exceptions. If you're working at the, well, @neil-gaiman -esque level or similar in publishing, a lot more attention is going to be paid to your thoughts. You may even be able to get "cover veto" written into your contracts, so that if you disapprove, changes will get made. But without actual contractual stipulations, the writer has zero legal recourse or way to withhold approval. (And I bet even Neil has some horror stories.)
The normal workflow looks like this. After a book's purchased, its editor and the art director discuss what it's about and what the cover should look like. The art director then hires an artist and tells them what to do. After that, the artist executes their vision and gets paid. It is incredibly rare for a writer to have any significant input into this process. And as to whether or not they approve of the final result, well... the publisher mostly just shrugs and goes back to eyeing the bottom line, muttering "Who told them they get a vote?"
Now, I've been seriously lucky to occasionally be an exception in this regard. In particular, my editors at Harcourt (when Jane Yolen and Michael Stearns were editing Harcourt's Magic Carpet YA imprint) would ask me what I thought would be a good idea for the next Young Wizards cover, and I'd think about it a bit and send them back a paragraph or so about some core scene. They'd then talk to their art director, and after that send their notes and mine to Cliff Nielsen (who started doing the covers for the hardcover and mass-market paperback editions of the series in the mid-90s) or to Greg Swearingen (who was the artist on the digest-format editions). And the results, by and large, were pretty good. ...I also think affectionately of the UK artist Mick Posen, who insisted on seeing pictures of our cats before painting the covers for the Hodder editions of The Book of Night with Moon and On Her Majesty's Wizardly Service (the UK title for To Visit The Queen).
But this kind of treatment is a courtesy—not even vaguely suggested in the books' contracts, and very much the exception to the rule. And for every writer who's midlist, there are times when the luck runs out. For example: one time I wrote a book that was an AU-Earth-near-future fantasy police procedural, thematically pretty dark—dealing with issues of abuse of megacorporate power, institutionalized bigotry, and (explicitly) attempted genocide. And the cover, done by an artist who's a good friend and some of whose fabulous art hangs in our house, came out looking like this. It was... let's just say "not ideally representative."
So I was glad, when my local workflow allowed it, to recover the current, revised version of the book with something at least a little more apropos. But the original cover's not the artist's fault. He did what the art director told him... as a cover artist must do to get paid, and (ideally) to get hired again. At present, that's how the system works.
...So. You've got a badly-built and -presented book on your hands. How best to make your feelings known in some way that might make a difference down the line? (As you make it plain that you'll keep buying this author's books this way if you must.)
First of all: when (as part of my psych nursing training) we were taught how to complain most effectively, we were told that the first and most basic rule of the art is this:
Only Complain To Someone Who Can Actually Do Something About Your Problem
So I salute your desire not to waste your time taking the issue to the reviews on Amazon, or the pages of Goodreads... because they can't do anything. The odds that anyone from production at Baen is reading the comments there strike me as... well, not infinitesimally small, not being hit-by-a-meteorite-while-in-the-shopping-center-parking-lot small... but really low.
So: write to corporate.
In your place I would go online and rummage around a bit to find out who's on record as the publisher at Baen. I would then write them a letter on paper. And I would lay out the problem pretty much as you laid it out up at the top.
The tone I think I'd choose would be the more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger approach. I'd say, "I write to comment about your recently published book by [X Writer], whose work I love. I have to say, though, that I don't think the cover on [X Book] is terribly representative of the quality of the prose inside. And also, the construction and production quality of the book itself was a disappointment to me because [here spell out why].
"I'd really like to see [X. Writer's] books succeed with you, and I'd like to buy more of them without wondering whether I was going to be disappointed again. But if this is typical of how they're being produced, I'd also be concerned that the state of these books is setting up a situation in which the author's sales will be damaged, and you would stop publishing them... which would really be a shame. Whereas on the other hand, better production quality could keep previous purchasers coming back and buying, not only more books by this author, but books by others whom you publish."
This phrasing, as you'll have seen, walks a bit wide around the issue of your further purchases, while directing attention toward the bottom line... which will routinely be what the publisher's looking at from day to day. And—being, one has to hope, in possession of the wider picture as regards what's going on with their production costs—maybe they can actually do something about it.
Anyway, nothing ventured, nothing gained, yeah? It's worth a try. All you can do is hope for the best.
And finally: please know that I admire your commitment to the author: whoever she is, she's lucky to have you. It's a terrific thing to have readers who'll willing to spend the time to hunt you down, and who're willing not to judge a book by its cover. :)
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exaltedfuzz · 11 hours
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What are your thoughts about Gant? Like, his motivations, as a characters, how much of what he does is premeditated/intentionally manipulative?
I really enjoy Gant. He's a fascinating character to me, and there's so much to say on him. I find it hard to describe him, because he's so disingenuous in how he presents himself. It's not that clear if he really means anything he says. But let's try and tackle this...
His motivations. He's self-serving. He says it outright. ("There are only three people I look out for: Me, Myself and I." - Gant)
I think this is being said slightly defensively, but it does hold up. When he kills Neil, it's to cinch the Darke case, but that can't be it. I don't remember if a concrete motive is ever given in game. I need to replay the case. However, I think this unknowable aspect to him is one thing that makes him terrifying. Beneath that jovial charisma, we know he's making Lana's life miserable. ("[withdrawing] was the only way I could make it through the past two years." - Lana) By the time we see her in RFTA, she's at the point where she's what amounts to being at least passively suicidal.
Obviously, she confesses to Bruce's murder to protect Ema through shouldering Gant's crime for him, but I can't help but feel like there's more to it than that. I think she's been incredibly worn down, overworked, and had her personal life and relationships purposefully eroded by him. Gant does whatever is convenient, and he's incredibly comfortable doing so. He outright tells Lana that he killed Bruce, without any idea that she'd tell anyone anything about it. The reason he gets caught in the end is because of her daring to tell Jake, and the whole stunt Jake pulled in the evidence room, iirc. The fact that he doesn't even consider the possibility that Lana would seek assistance kind of says a lot about what he's grown to expect from her.
I think "the legendary duo" as an idea is a crazy power imbalance. A young woman, presumably a very new detective, 24-27, and the deputy chief of police, a man in his 60s with an insane amount of power. Factoring in Lana's own circumstances, being Ema's only caretaker, and constantly falling into being the more mature one in anything interpersonal (Angel says she was always looking out for the other detectives, and that Jake couldn't have ever recovered from Neil's death without Lana's support.) it must have been nice for her to have a partnership where she was the one learning. She says that Gant "was everything [she] aspired to be", and Angel says that Lana hated anything corrupt. (I'm taking Angel's words at face value here, because Angel is shown to be very resentful towards Lana, and not likely to be giving her undue praise.) So, Lana had no idea about the kind of man he really is.
I think, therefore, that his decision to use Lana was very thought out. He knows full well that she respects him, admires his work, but more importantly, that she's nice. She's a character who seems to me like a little bit of a people pleaser. When you look at how all the characters describe what she was like, it's often about what she'd do for other people, and she comes off as being a little naive, maybe. Too private, and too passive.
I think Gant, working closely with her, and being the observant person he is, would pick up on this easily. He knows that Lana shuts up and gets on with it, but also that she's honest and earnest, and she'd need a tipping point to be able to be scared enough to be useful in furthering his career and his ego. So, at the first opportunity he has to make her sweat, when she's blinded by being terrified over whether Ema will be ok, he takes full advantage.
He also would have likely been her friend. So he'd have known she went to law school, and that she was the best. (She seems keen to brag, even in the circumstances at the start of RFTA, so I imagine she'd have been a little smug under normal circumstances). I think her earnestness that we see coming through near the end of the case, when she starts using that leaning forward sprite, would have led to her probably sharing a lot of personal things, which Gant would obviously keep in mind just in case there was ever an opportunity to use this information to his advantage.
Outside of Lana, though, he seems to be a good judge of character. In who he chooses to demote and fire, he fires Angel. He knows that Angel is the "cough-up-queen" (I found out that the Japanese version is "vomit-covered-okyou". Strange.) and that if she's ever on the same case, or in the same workspace as Prosecutor Skye, she'll break her and ruin everything. So Angel is out. She's wily enough to weasel her way back into their proximity, though, using everything she knows she can use as leverage. Jake, as well, isn't outwardly as confrontational as Angel, and he wants him tethered to the place his brother was murdered in, as a sort of reminder that they "found his killer", and he "has justice", I suppose? Maybe so that Jake never has the chance to take a step back from it all and evaluate. Of course, he doesn't factor in Jake and Angel having a relationship outside of office hours, and this enduring friendship giving Jake that chance... Which, actually seems to be a theme with him. I think he probably is a quite lonely man, and doesn't account for people having relationships more complex than coworkers. Maybe because he just doesn't care about anyone else.
I think very little of what he does is excessively premeditated, and everything is in his follow-through. Killing Neil seems entirely opportunistic, and killing Bruce, similarly, was done spur of the moment. I think he works within the framework of believing he knows exactly what pieces he has to play with. He knows how to terrify everyone around him - he puts Jake on the crime scene as a sort of "look what happens", and I don't think it's entirely unreasonable to think that he knew he'd be making Lana fear for her own life by casually telling her to dispose of the body of a coworker she was likely quite close to. He seems very aware of the bargaining chips that he has re:each person. Which makes it interesting that he doesn't care much about Angel, actually! I figure this is because she's a much more canny person, and he knows he'd never be able to shake her, so it's best to just have her out of the way.
I think an interesting line is the bit where the Judge says that he's not the man that he used to know.
Either Gant has always been corrupt, and incredible at keeping himself guarded, as we do see him to be in game, or he really was a good guy. Maybe he saw himself in the earnest, good natured Detective Skye, and the natural progression, therefore, was that she'd become just as corrupt as him. He doesn't factor in her empathy, though. He knows he's terrifying her by getting her to dispose of Bruce, but he doesn't care that her being terrified leads to her making awful body-disposing decisions. She leaves Bruce in the place he put him, she leaves the real weapon at the crime scene, she's witnessed, photographed, and she cuts open her hand. I don't think this was his intention, to frame her. I mean, clearly, Edgeworth was the intended target of the framing, but Lana messed everything up enough to give him a brand new scapegoat. He wouldn't want to dispose of the person who puts the prosecutors office in his pocket, but I think this incident really tanks her value to him in his eyes. He believes he can count on her to do anything, but she has entirely failed this task, so she might just become a liability for anything in future. I think Lana knows this too, which is why she doesn't have any fight in her.
When Lana is free from Gant, she, of course, has her smiling sprite. (My favourite.) But it's not just her being happy, it's her being actually free. She says so. ("A long time since I've felt free of these heavy chains"). Because I draw her so much, I've looked at her sprites a lot, and her smiley one really gets me. It's got the "can't stop smiling" feel to it, with how her eyebrows are held, and how her eyes crinkle. When you look at her normal sprites, she's either got a thousand yard stare or she looks terrified. The judge even asks if she thinks something is amusing, because she's just grinning. It's just cathartic. She's giddy. Usually she's acting out of a (misguided, and slightly self serving) desire to protect Ema, but knowing Gant isn't going to be a presence in her life anymore seems to not just delight her for Ema's sake, but also because she, herself, isn't in the middle of this anymore, and it seems like being happy for herself is something unusual enough for her that it just makes her soft. As well, her hands are in front of her now. So she's not having to hide the blood on them anymore. Anyway. I really like Lana's sprites. This isn't supposed to be about her.
I went on a bit, and I'm sure I repeated myself somewhere, but those are some of my Gant thoughts. He's really interesting to me. Especially the way he interacts with the other characters. Bear in mind this is being written a fair few months after playing RFTA one time...
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burning-sol · 2 days
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Because I'm a loser I'm going over this piece of controversy because if it catches on here I will lose my mind. This controversy surrounds @ jinxontherocks and Charlie Slimecicle. All the following screenshots were taken the same day as typing, and I made this post with what may be incomplete information. DO NOT HARASS ANYONE INVOLVED!! Regardless of who you're contacting, regardless of your intentions, DON'T contact anyone shown here.. ANYONE!!
Jinx's Instagram lists their pronouns as she/they/he, please don't misgender her: https://www.instagram.com/jinxultraviolet
CW this shit is about RPF and MCYT NSFW (pornographic content of Minecraft Youtubers' characters and they themselves), there are screenshots showing censored posts of it and there is a brief mention of rape amongst them.
The tweet that started off my little investigation and is causing outrage..
https://twitter.com/shubluvr/status/1799909241404129604
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Something I noticed as I was adding alt txt.. I don't know anything about Jinx or how she assigns "Close Friends" on his Instagram, but basically users can assign someone as a "Close Friend" and you can then post stories only ppl within that group can see. If Jinx is the kind of person who hands out this status to anyone they know, this isn't a big deal, but if this person was close to Jinx I want you to keep in mind the possibility that this is potentially a violation of Jinx's boundaries. If this person knew Jinx closely, they could have talked to her in private, but instead they chose to make this a public affair. At best this could have been something the anonymous person genuinely thought was the moral thing to do, or this person could at worst be straight up an emotionally abusive person who shared these photos as a way to egg on Jinx's "downfall" or something similar. Again, this is only POTENTIALLY, but you need to be critical of who is sourcing your information and what their intentions are.
So the screenshots do prove Jinx knows Charlie and has been interacting with him and maybe (MAYBE) even dating him.. Which!! I just wanna clarify before you ask, I searched this up, Charlie and Grace broke up. Jinx and Charlie are both in their early to mid twenties. Aside from this controversy, there is really nothing to say abt them that isn't just, "mind your own business".
https://twitter.com/insidetheslime/status/1770617006364262832
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So why is this an issue? What's with the controversy? Let's check out that first quote tweet.
https://twitter.com/shubluvr/status/1793371199449547014
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The claim is that Jinx, possibly, willingly engaged with someone who posted MCYT porn. Which the user states, "it wasn't my intention to present the examples of what that person posted as if u liked them" but then proceeds to reiterate again that "u have to go out of ur way to find an acc like that." so which is it? That's a rhetorical question, we know which it is because if it was the former people wouldn't be so mad. But at least we know where these initial claims came from so let me scroll back and see what this user had initially posted as proof.
Here's the thread.
https://twitter.com/shubluvr/status/1790861709218828459
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The archive page linked: https://archive.md/g8xOX
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So yes, this does prove Jinx followed an account that posted NSFW of Charlie (RPF) and Charlie's characters (MCYT). However, just following someone isn't necessarily proof you've seen the full extent of their content. So let's finally circle back around to Jinx's tweet in response to this (something that was quote tweeted earlier) and discuss why I have such an issue with this entire controversy. Time to crack open the point of this entire post.
https://twitter.com/jinxontherocks/status/1793353847437701538
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Hi everyone, apologises for taking a few days to address this as I've been logged off of twitter for my own mental health and due to the constant harassment and death threats that I have been receiving. Recently, there was a thread posted on me showing how I was following someone who created NSFW art of some content creators, specifically Charlie who I'm friends with. I absolutely condemn this kind of boundary-breaking NSFW art of content creators, and would never willingly follow or interact with an account that I knew created art like this. I am only semi-active on Twitter, especially on my 18+ account, and I was shocked and upset to discover I was following an account like this at the same time everyone else did. Because this account is now deactivated, I'm not sure what I originally followed them for, but it was likely COD or puppy girl art. I've privated my NSFW account as well because I'm not comfortable with a bunch of people who are likely minors in the community scrolling through it. Because people are making some gross assumptions as well I want to clarify that I met Charlie IRL, and had no idea who he or his friends were at all or as content creators before meeting them. We met naturally, became friends, and still are. Throughout this past week I've received an insane amount of harassment and threats, and have seen tons of misinformation spread about me and the whole situation so I definitely felt a need to clarify everything. I knew essentially nothing at all abt this acc or any of their callouts or whatnot, that just wasn't the sphere of cc I was in at any point, and while I post semi frequently on here, I'm not very interactive with content beyond my mutuals. Likely gonna retcon that going forward and look more into who I'm following before I do. Also pointing out that a lot of the sc's included in this thread or others are being presented as or shown as if they were from my likes? They were not, straight up not. Just gonna clear that up now. Lastly, please do not harass the creator of the thread or anyone else involved in this situation please. Please be kind y'all, and good day!
Quick note, if behind the scenes Jinx had immediately gotten harassment and death threats after the conception of that thread, THAT'S why Jinx was suddenly "stalking" leaktwt. Like of course Jinx is going to find the source of a bunch of people who are telling her he sucks and (possibly) telling him to kill themselves. Someone becoming conscious of their own controversy very quickly after it's conception isn't an abnormal thing.
So basically, I felt like I was going bananas because I'm going through replies trying to see if there's more evidence but there's nothing really condemning Jinx that strongly. You have evidence they followed someone who posts RPF NSFW, SHE confirmed she'd followed the acc that posted RPF NSFW.. But do they condone it? Did he see it? WHERE is your evidence?? WHY are you all so convinced she condones RPF NSFW? Well I stumbled across this brilliant series of screenshots someone added that's making me lose my marbles.
https://twitter.com/4ngelcicle/status/1793729694577332396
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artist: im genuinely baffled if anyone believes rhis like i cannot emphasize how much i only posted on that acc to post porn 😭 other user: she only followed you this april right? like after she meet charlie? artist: yess like only a few days to a week before the thread was made? im so confused how she couldve found me in the first place let alone follow me because ,, i only post abt charie my bio is nsfwrpf and my pfp was bsd and banner was fnaf? nothing to warrant her following me?
artist: uhmmm she followed me few days to a week before the first thread was made? i dont remember but i got the notification when she followed me on her very public acc? i didnt realize it was jinx tho so i just let her follow me? when i stalked her acc she just seemed like a normal nsfw acc without any nsfwrpf even in her likes. thats it in regards to interacting with me but its also strange how she even found me in the first place? my account is sightly inactive so it wasnt like i was tweeting something funny or even spamming the tl to regard being followed? anytime i posted on the public acc it was about porn because thats what the account is for 😭 so idek how she found my acc in the firstplace cuz i also censor everything?? but thats all i know xP artist: u already know most of it but yk
artist: omg ugh artist: literally the only things i posted on that acc ever was cc nsfw artist: if it was unrelated i would post it on my priv
My jaw DROPPED when I saw this. I wanna hone in on this one tidbit that you may have glossed over, "when i stalked her acc she just seemed like a normal nsfw acc without any nsfwrpf even in her likes. thats it in regards to interacting with me".. So that's it. THAT'S IT. Even the artist in question only has proof he followed them, not that there was any tangible interactions to prove she saw the RPF content. And also, "my bio is nsfwrpf and my pfp was bsd and banner was fnaf? nothing to warrant her following me?" So it is 100% possible that he had only seen the artist's pfp, banner, the words "RPF" but not the problematic content in question.. And here's a relevant reply from Jinx on the fact the artist had RPF in their bio-
https://twitter.com/jinxontherocks/status/1793370260885918108
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So we actually need to talk about how exactly social media works, because for some reason nobody is bringing this up despite USING Twitter and KNOWING what Twitter feeds look like.
If you have ever been on a Twitter For You page (I'm checking mine now) you will know that the feed isn't strictly curated based on your following, Twitter has an algorithm that'll put posts on your feed based on different factors. When I go to mine, my feed isn't strictly people I follow (in fact it's barely people I follow), it's not chronological, and I don't know if this is still a feature but I distinctly remember times where I got shown posts that were LIKED by someone or RETWEETED by someone- So again, your feed can show you a lot of varying things that you're either only somewhat adjacent to or something that's not anything you're remotely interested in. So basically, you cannot know exactly what someone's feed looks like unless a person hand you their phone and you scroll through it. You can make ESTIMATES of what you thing someone's feed will look like, but, again, you can only know exactly what someone's feed looks like if you're able to scroll through it.
This is to say that it's 100% possible at some point Jinx came across a post from the account on their feed, didn't see it anything RPF related in the post or on their immediate page (assuming they clicked on the profile because you can follow people without going to their profile), and followed them. And even if they posted RPF the rest of the time, there is no way to know what % of Jinx's feed it would have been present on.. Which! Btw, is also influenced by if Jinx even frequents the For You page at ALL.. Which, Jinx claims he's not super active on Twitter, so that lines up perfectly with her explanation.
(And before you say something about it, we don't have access to the NSFW account because it got deactivated, but I personally doubt that the user literally only posted NSFW of RPF and MCYT. Most NSFW accs I've seen in my time always have even the slightest amount of variety.. So it's not to say it's not possible, but I think the artists' words are likely an exaggeration. That's the assumption this point is functioning under.)
Plus, remember what I mentioned about people liking or retweeting posts? It's kind of a whole point of social media that posts spread in chains, and it's 100% possible for posts from obscure or problematic people to reach normal people in the right circumstances. Again, this is just.. This is just how Twitter works?? How social media works?? And I feel like I'm insane sitting here typing out how posts actually end up on your feeds and reminding people what an algorithm is and that some people just AREN'T as online as you.
And I'm not saying all this to say that I am 100% sure that Jinx is innocent because I don't KNOW, and that's the POINT. You can't KNOW what Jinx has seen and what she hasn't unless you have proof of him interacting DIRECTLY with something.. And follows don't count because I know PLENTY of people (including myself at times) who don't vet the people they follow, and follow people from a post they've seen on their feed instead of their profile. The artist THEMSELF said, as I will highlight again, "when i stalked her acc she just seemed like a normal nsfw acc without any nsfwrpf even in her likes. thats it in regards to interacting with me"..
All the evidence I've seen as of typing this is heresay, and unless all these people can present some substantial evidence that actually SAYS what they WANT it to say, I'm going to believe that Jinx made an honest mistake.
There's probably some other arguments I could make to prove my point, but I've been so thorough with everything I've been typing for literal hours just covering this. So I just wanna get at something that REALLY pisses me off about Twitter and I don't want to fucking see.
STOP calling people complicit in someone else's behaviour just because they're close to them. You are very potentially blaming VICTIMS THEMSELVES and I'm so fucking done with this.
Some people are saying Charlie is condoning this behaviour and it is DISGUSTING because can you actually take a step back and think about what you're saying?? Maybe Charlie does know, maybe he's into some freak shit, IDK, but I think it's WAY more likely Charlie didn't. The chances are far more likely that, if the allegations here are true, Charlie's boundaries were VIOLATED and HE'S the victim here. Though we can't really know because (I can't stress it enough) we don't KNOW what's happened behind the scenes. Charlie liked the tweet jinx made..
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Which could mean several things. Maybe! The allegations aren't true, and Charlie is showing support for her. Maybe! The allegations were true, but they've quietly resolved the situation behind the scenes. Maybe! The allegations were true, and Jinx LIED to Charlie so he believes her.
(And yeah, I am implying these allegations could be true and I STILL think Jinx should be given some leniency based on if they've changed their mind on the morality of that content and have apologised in private to Charlie.. Because life is weird and people are weird and people change. Like IDK, again, maybe Charlie into that freak shit. What are you gonna do if a guy likes NSFW being drawn of himself? Complain to HIM about what his boundaries should be?)
You don't KNOW, you CAN'T know. I will state this over and OVER, YOU DON'T KNOW. Don't harass Jinx over things you don't know are true. If you don't like him after hearing these allegations? You're allowed to! It's fine! Block them and move on. But DON'T pretend that's the same as having evidence, because from what I've seen, you don't.
And I got very heated in that last bit so I just wanna say, I've spent all my time (again, these past few hours) writing this post. I don't know if Tumblr knows about this or is already talking about this, but this is my thorough take on the situation. I just hope it clears up some things because I would really fucking hate if it caught on and everyone starts spread (potential) misinformation and ruining someone's life for literally no reason.
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buzzybee26 · 17 hours
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Chainsaw Man is to shounen manga fans what The Boys (the show) is to Western superhero fans
It's pretty easy to miss the point of both due to the culture surrounding them and as a result they both get a lot praise and hate from people who don't really understand what's going on.
Chainsaw Man gets this in its depiction of Denji's hypersexuality and how it is used to manipulate and abuse him, with a lot of people taking it as a fantasy and either writing the series off because of it or taking a "god I wish that were me" kind of approach to it. Denji is very much a victim of various forms of sexual abuse and the manga expects the reader to be able to figure this out because it is incredibly obvious, but due to general perception around male victims of sexual assault as well as tropes within shounen manga surrounding perverted male characters, this is often overlooked. The result of this is people glorifying abusers like Makima and Himeno whilst others look down on Denji as a figure similar to Mineta from my Hero or Kazuya from Rent a Girlfriend. I remember before I watched and read Chainsaw Man that someone told it's just about a guy who wants to touch boobs and I stayed away from it for a while, but having now read it, that is very incorrect.
Meanwhile, The Boys gets this misunderstanding in its politics. The show is pretty obviously a big satire of right wing politics (and a lot of other things as well, but I don't have energy for that), and yet it has a pretty big right wing audience who firmly believe that it upholds their beliefs. People genuinely watch this show and think Homelander is the protagonist. I've even seen people who haven't watched The Boys actively avoiding it due to its far right audience, dismissing it as something that must glorify those beliefs in order to have that audience. If you actually watch the show, it's pretty easy to see that this is not the case, and yet this audience still exists because the show trusts you to figure out who they're making fun of.
I'm comparing the two for two reasons. The first is that I believe these misunderstandings come from a similar place in the culture surrounding their respective mediums and genres (shounen manga and western superheros). The second is that both pieces of media actually do a very good job depicting this misunderstanding within their contents.
Denji is consistently abused by older women around him and the story acknowledges this, but the characters kind of don't in a lot of cases. The best example I can think of is when the gang just lets a drunk Himeno carry him back to her apartment and then Power being surprised that they didn't have sex. Bear in mind that Himeno is in her mid twenties and Denji is sixteen. The only person who mentions how strange this is is Himeno herself and even then she brushes it off as her being relieved that she isn't going to jail. This being a potential case of abuse towards Denji gets very little mention and the consequences of that abuse for Denji are written off by the characters. There's also early dialogue between Aki and Makima where Aki focuses on Denji's sexual tendencies to insult him, missing how Makima is using those tendencies to manipulate him. This is mirrored by the real life people reading this manga that I talked about earlier.
The Boys is a much simpler case here (also I'm tired and want to finish writing this). Homelander, despite being a massive cunt, is still gaining a large following within the the world of the Boys. It mirrors how figures like Trump gain their followings, obviously, but it's also reflective of real life fans of The Boys who back Homelander and think he is the protagonist.
In truth, I just wanted to rant about some seemingly controversial pieces of media that I love, but I do think the specific ways that people misunderstand these series is very interesting. The contents of these misunderstandings is very different, but the ways they come about and their depictions within their respective pieces of media ring very similar to me.
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waokevale · 1 day
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A Clarification to Wormwood's Age (And why he's fully fledged without a shred of doubt)
So, as we all know or have heard some at point, there are still people out there, who think the peculiar lunar plantation is an infant, solely due to the way he speaks, behaves and of conviction that he was literally born yesterday. Which by all means is false.
That's why I'm here to finally dismantle that belief. I'll present you with several compelling arguments of mine based on throughout research I did on his character overall, and if by the end of this post, you'll still hold firm to that same opinion, then I'm afraid that's out of my hands by that point.
If you're willing to stay for the duration of this thesis, and hear me out, I'll be very greatful. And please do listen, so we may not make any more misconceptions as such about him in the future.
I'll be splitting this post into 5 segments, one with additional subcategories.
General Appearance
Behavioral Pattern
Intelligence
Character Interrelations
Canon Information
First of, let's start off with the obvious:
General Appearance
If we're going to interpret his appearance based on human gauge, then physically, compared to actual child characters, Wormwood's design is vastly different.
The easiest way for me to prove that, lies in one of the recent animations: (Swine & Dine), where all the (live) children are gathered in one place, alongside Wormwood and Wes.
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Here, you can distinctly pick apart the difference between the three preteen characters, Walter, (who's likely supposed to be a teenager on the younger side; around 13-14), and the last two.
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The most obvious difference is the jawline. Wormwood, for one, has a massive jaw, easily rivaling that of Maxwell's (while technically, this feature isn't reserved solely for adults, it is moreso common to see an adult with a define jawline, rather than a child.)
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This, alongside his torso being usually depicted as an inverted triangle (at least in the official animations), seem to be features added intentionally somewhere post his release, as he looks much more childlike in his animation video, where he's still technically a sapling per se.
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Even Several of Wormwood's skins showcase, that he is in no way meant to be seen in a juvenile way.
The best example of that being his Victorian skin.
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Look me dead in the eye and tell me that's a child. That is one of the most indisputable old man portrayals, you can get from an anthropomorphic plant character in media. Do not try and argue, how a child is meant to look like that, because neither of the four actual child characters has a skin, which makes them appear that much significantly older than they actually are.
So what reason would Klei even have to make his skin look so apparently elderly, if they saw him as a child?
More examples of his mature skins could be said for the Roseate and Guest of Honor. While they're not outright elderly, as is the former, the general vibe is similar to that of other adult characters' portraits.
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Now that we've compared him to human characters and their characteristics, we should take into consideration what he actually is. Let's remember, that at the end of the day, he's partially a plant organism and partially an inorganic crystal from the moon , certainly he ages much differently than us humans, or even most other constant species for that matter.
I'm pretty sure he was also formed with a fully developed body (since he seemingly bloomed shortly after forming, which is a trait reserved primarily for mature plants)
But then again, appearance alone isn't enough to make one truly adult, is it? Thus we're moving on to:
Behavioral pattern
Few things you'll immediately realize about Wormwood is his alleged naivety, playful nature and seldom use of grammatical correctness. Due to this, many immediately assume that he's a child, which is understandable, but not a good enough reason to make such an assumption.
There are many factors involved in building one's disposition, and in Wormwood's case, there's plenty of reasonable causes for his behavor:
As previously stated, he's quite literally a sentient amalgam of vines, brought to life by a jewel from the moon. His origin far disparates that of any known being, especially a human.
His mind develops much differently than that of an average person. This correlates with the point above (since its a big green gem in his chest and not an actual brain). Plus, he likely hadn't had the chance to have a proper education. While he seems to have picked up on a lot of mannerisms from the pigsfolk in Hamlet, I doubt anyone went out of their way to actually school him.
He's feral. The majority of his upbringing, he likely spent surviving in the jungle. In a way, he reminds me a lot of Tarzan (A human, who grew up raised by a troop of gorillas after his parents were killed. He can communicate with the local wildlife just fine, but deeply struggles understanding and relating to the outsiders; other humans, who one day arrived on his land.) That's likely the reason why Wormwood refers to certain creatures with mimicking the sounds they make. Perhaps he can understand them to a degree, or at least is trying to.
Just because he doesn't speak English, doesn't mean he's slow. It is plausible he speaks a different language, while English doesn't come naturally to him. As is the case with Wolfgang, who has similar speech impediment issues and struggles with saying full sentences, but that's quite literally because English isn't his mother tongue. It's been a running gag that Wolfgang is the embodiment of a European man, and whichever country/countries he might've originated from, it's definitely not the UK. As might be the case for Wormwood and whatever constant language he actually thinks in.
He has certain traits akin to people with autism/Asperger's or ADHD (Nonverbal communication, delayed language development, lacking social cues, sensitive nose, short attention span, hyperactive and somewhat impulsive behavior, wild or overexaggerated movement, struggle with fitting in, little sense of awareness etc.) And I'm speaking from experience with this one, he's quite relatable to me, and many of my friends on the spectrum.
With that let's move on to the third segment.
Intelligence
Just how smart he truly is?
Wormwood isn't regarded for his high intellect, that's for sure, but remember, intelligence isn't defined by just the book smarts society imposes on us. Therefore it doesn't always correspond to a person's age and experience.
Wormwood, while definitely not on a level of a Harvard graduate, is extremely intelligent and a quick learner at that.
Let's digest what we generally know about intelligence and what it really means for Wormwood.
With the main question at hand : What differentiates a child mind from an adults'?
While he certainly shares some personality traits with Webber, their mindsets are rather different.
I'd like to present my point with a simple method.(From that one Quora post, believe it or not, it was the most convenient out of all the theories and tests I found) Dividing that, which is known as thought process into five subcategories, of which are:
Cognitive Development
Life Experience
Responsibility and Independence
Emotional Regulation
Social and Moral Development
So let's start with Cognitive Development/Psychology
(Definition : The process of growth and change in intellectual/mental abilities such as thinking, reasoning and understanding. That includes: the ability to interpret information, verbally communicate ideas, appropriately apply words and gestures to given situations, recognize and differentiate various sounds, comprehend your surroundings, use past experience to resolve current or future problems more efficiently, etc. TLDR: How thought process changes with age ; Talking, hearing, reading, remembering, problem-solving, understanding, You get the point. )
By this point, Wormwood's acquired plenty of general knowledge of the world around him and what to expect from it. (In some cases, he seems to know things without realizing it, or simply wishes to not provide more info of what he's already aware of.)
He is capable of understanding various different things, applying appropriate words to them, when given the chance. He often struggles to properly phrase what he means, but you can still get around to grasp it.
And you know what? He's especially good at deducing things not every character can point out. Here are some of the more obvious to least obvious things he's mentioned:
Leaky teacup - "Can't drink from it"
Beaten Beater - "Hmm... Can't use it"
Start tower kit - "Need to plant it on the water"
Compass- "which way?"
N- "North
S- "South"
E- "East"
W- "West"
NE- "Northeast"
SE- "Southeast"
NW- "Northwest
SW- "Southwest"
(The direction one would seem pointless to add but let's remember that there literally are characters in this game who don't know which way is which cough cough Winona cough)
Clippings - "Can sell this hair"
(the plant understands capitalism 👍)
Winona's GEM-erator (out of fuel) - "Oh. Needs sparky"
Telelocator Focus (missing gem)- "Needs Purple Shiny"
Telelocator Socket (missing gem)- "Where shiny things?"
The Queen of Moon Quay: "Oh...she thinks Night Ball is friend hair?"
(He might know what They are after all)
Ancient chest - "Put stuff in there!"
(One of 4 characters to have an inclining what to do with it)
Greater Gestalt- "Protect"
Hound Corpse (reanimating) - "Coming back"
(He seems the least bit of surprised or disturbed by this, compared to everyone else)
Antlion (upset) - "Oh no. Needs gifts"
(interestingly, no one else seems to mention why the Antlion is upset)
Mysterious Energy- "Seed"
(...?)
Distilled knowledge- "Plant this in funny floor"
(he's the only one to have figured out what to actually do with it)
I think what we all can realize from going through his quotes, is that he's in no way as clueless as he initially seems. He has his moments, but so do the rest of the survivors.
Life Experience, Responsibility and Independence
This plant has lived through a lot, but then again so have the rest, a lot of them have faced countless hardships most of us can't even fathom.
From what we already know, the fandom generally believes he is very naive and trusting, which really isn't the case. The thing is, it's not that he's naive, he may not react especially negatively to a creature or thing because he's used to seeing bizarre things, or because he's not afraid of them, unlike the majority of the survivor cast, who are alien to the constant.
Barring the in-game mechanics which force characters to be competent regardless of their experience, we're going to focus on his reactions to mobs and items that might pose actual threat to him or others, or are considered as questionable by him.
Inflatable Vest - "Safe?"
Shadowcraft plinth - "Scary hands helping?"
Fish steak - "Watch for bones"
Candy Apple - "Careful! Don't eat stick! "
Platapine (sleeping)- "don't wake it"
Sentrypede husk - "Sleeping. Shhh"
Sea Stack - "Oops! Watch out!
Great Tree Root - "Oh! Don't bump into friends!"
Worm hole (open) - "Deep. Dark"
(When deerclops is near) - "Something scary coming!"
Pressure plate - Hmmm...Odd rock"
Dread mite (about to explode) - "Look out!"
Shadow Reaper - "No...Wants to hurt friends!"
Depth Worm (lure) - "Hmm... not safe"
Depth Worm (burrowed) - "something hiding"
Meat bulb - "Careful!"
[The fish quotes in DST + the candy Apple are giving me an image of him saying that to the child characters (and definitely Woodie for the latter)]
Independence-wise, the one thing I especially took notice of, is how much the child characters seek guidance from the adults in the group, mentioning them by their formal titles too. That's especially frequent with Webber, Wurt and Walter, though Wendy rarely does this. On one hand, she claims she considers toys and fun to be behind her, but contradictory, enjoys playing with other children and some of the adults. (Besides we canonically know she's 10-11 years old)
Wormwood isn't known for wanting to seek guidance either. He's sometimes confused about how certain things work, and thus will ask about it, but that's understandable given his predicament. (As someone once mentioned, he's like an extraterrestrial experiencing bits and pieces from 2 different worlds at once)
He doesn't really care to play with toys either, (barring a couple instances, one being Bernie and the others; toys with wheels and Antlion's sand castle. But c'mon I know some of you grown ass adults own toy cars/collectibles or build sandcastles when the opportunity rises, you can't lie to me and say neither of these things are fun.
And besides, adult characters in this game also goof around. There's the whole sand castle building thing in Shipwrecked , which curiously Wormwood doesn't have a strong opinion on.)
But if we were to compare his maturity to other adult characters...
(Wilson) [aside his many, many jokes]: Silk- "It comes from a spider's butt."
(Willow) Portal Exit - "It's fun to watch OTHER people fall on their butts."
(Wolfgang) Coral Nubbin - "Haha. Rock is bald."
(WX-78) Regular Jungle Tree (normal and stump) - "THIS DUMB TREE HAS A DUMB FACE"
(Wickerbottom) Weregoose - "My! What a silly goose!"
(Wigfrid) Plant (ready to be picked) - "Ugh, vegetables. I'm nöt sure what I expected..."
(Woodie) Ghost - "Boo! Ha ha!"
(Winona) Kingly Figure - "It's BUST-ed! Ha!"
(Maxwell) Frazzled Wires - "I might hide those in WX-78's bedroll if I get bored"
(Wortox) [But if we were to pick an example of many] Potato Sack- "Hyuyuyu, wouldn't it be fun to hide inside and give him a scare?"
Yeah, I think he's good.
In this section I don't really have much else to say. He can be cautious, he can be daft. He joggles the braincells alongside the rest of the survivors. But all in all, I would not consider him any more reckless or goofy than either the child or adult characters. Independence wise, while he can absolutely manage just fine on his own, his desire for companionship far outweighs that.
And since we've already talked about maturity, let's move on to:
Emotional Regulation
Despite common belief, Wormwood is not overly emotional. While, yes, he is excitable and easy to impress, he doesn't usually display intense negative emotions, unless something (more often than not wooden) is destroyed, or unless a plant or a creature he likes, suffers. But then again, in those situations, it's logical to display panic, worry and grief. Imagine if your family member or friend suddenly caught on fire and burned before your eyes... Yeah, I bet no one morally adjusted would be the slightest bit of composed in those kinds of situations...
Worse yet, the majority of the Constant is filled with plants, most of whom are his friends, the closest to his kind, beings which display varying amount of sentience...
In actuality, the children, including Wendy, display a shift in emotions much more often than Wormwood does.
Then there's Willow, WX-78, Woodie (birds) and Maxwell, who all have even less emotional stability.
In comparison, I'd say he handles most situations much more maturely and nonchalantly.
Social & Moral Development
Ah yes, the ability to difference right from wrong, morality, patos or however you would call it. Now this one's a little tricky, on one hand, while he may react strongly to a plant's demise, his reaction varies, when it comes to animals and structures. Sometimes, he doesn't really bat an eye, frankly, other times, he displays intense amounts of grief.
I guess that's the definition of selective empathy.
Curiously, he has 2 separate quotes for a pigeon. One from Hamlet, where he seems a lot more distressed when it perishes, and the other, from The Gorge, where he simply states the fact "Oh. Dead."
I'd like to think this was intentional to sort of give him that fading care many of us experience as we grow older.
Here's another example:
[Hamlet] Glowfly (dead) - "(sob)"
[DST, Host of Horrors update] Koalefant Carcass - "Braump...? Not anymore"
Regarding the other survivors; for the most part, he sympathizes with them. Though he doesn't panic much when they die from average constant shenanigans. He knows it's not permanent or consequential.
He does show sympathy, when some of the others' precious belongings get destroyed or damaged.
Winona's Catapult (burnt)- "Fire bad"
Winona's Spotlight (burnt)- "Oh. So sad"
Mighty Gym (burnt)- "Oh... poor muscle man..."
Or in some instances, when a character strongly disapproves of something and he takes notice of that:
Nautipilot - "Robot friend doesn't like Pull Rock"
What's interesting, is that, while he calls many creatures his friends, he specifically avoids calling Maxwell that. He even considers Lucy, Willow and Woodie his friends, which is just... wow. May he harbor a grudge against him for what he did to the other survivors? Something more personal? Or is it moreso related to the fact he's fully siding with the shadows... Most likely the former.
Overall I would say he's definitely more empathetic than not, and one doesn't have to care for every living being after all.
Character Interrelations
Regarding what other characters think of how old he is...
It's debatable, keep in mind, the characters don't have to be fully aware, or can misinterpret his age based on his behavior alone.
Most people just refer to him as "plant", unsurprisingly.
There's characters like Winona, who seem to intentionally downplay his age. Winona in her quotes refers to both Wormwood and Wilson (who's officially in his 30s) as 'bucko' (a lively, young fellow. Or in some cases a friend, or another version of buddy). As for her quotes for Bramble trap and Compost wrap, she refers to Wormwood with the terms 'lil plant fella' and 'little guy'. She pretty much just teases people who are younger than her or seem younger. Or she genuinely believes he's actually that young.
There's plenty instances of people calling him a variation of little, small or sapling, which might just be how they see him. Keep in mind, just because a character may think he's on the younger side, does not mean their interpretation is the absolute firm belief you should uphold.
Then, there's Wolfgang and Wurt, who both firmly believe that he's a grown adult.
(Wolfgang) Generic - "Is leafy green man, %s! Hello!"
Firestarter - "Leafy green man did a fire booboo."
Syrup of Ipecaca - "Will leafy green man be sad if Wolfgang doesn't have a taste?"
(Wolfgang only calls him little once in his quotes, because he calls everyone little, children though, he refers to as very tiny + boy/girl/child, so there's that.)
(Wurt) Attacker - "Ow! You mean old weed!"
You might think; why would I care about what a child and a man who's considered to not be so bright think? Well, my previous point about language barriers explains that. Besides, Wurt is a constant-born creature who builds an entire kingdom in her play style, by no means, is she clueless. She also refers to Deerclops and Antlion as 'She', while most of the other characters use he or it.
What's interesting is that Wickerbottom also tends to avoid referring to him with youthful terms, aside the obvious general one she uses for everyone and everything. If anything, she's more patronizing towards Woodie, Wilson, Winona and Wigfrid. (All of whom are in between their late 20s-40s)
Lastly, we have:
Canon Information
While there isn't much information relating to his age, there are hints in the game canon that explain that.
In the game's compendium, where reside the survivors' profile, backstory and description, three of the four kids have 'young' in their introduction. Barring Walter, who instead has 'boy' which is as much of a youthful term. Wormwood's simply stated as 'an amalgam of vines' not a seedling, sapling nor a young/little plant.
From his backstory, we know that:
"A green gem fell from the moon, landing on an ancient stone monument in the middle of overgrown rubble. Over a long period of time, a vine encircled the gem and eventually formed a humanoid figure sitting on the monument. The figure, Wormwood, opened his eyes and looked at his hands. (...)"
(Now this simply explains, that a lot of time has passed as he was forming, unlike what's shown in his animation, where his body instantly forms.)
There's also this part of his bio.
“Though the circumstances of his creation were unusual at best, Wormwood came into this world full of optimism and curiosity, ready to make new friends and see all that life had to offer. But as time wore on and he experienced the cold sting of rejection, he came to learn what the moon above had always known: Wormwood the Lonesome does not belong here.”
It's implied that a while has passed since his birth. Everyone assumes that he was just created recently and that he doesn't know anything, but as I've shown you previously, he's very perceptive when it matters. He has the knowledge and experience, even insight or a hunch. He is able to determine things others can't. Ever since Hamlet happened, his quotes gradually became somewhat more apathetic towards creatures dying, as opposed to the worry and care he previously displayed.
So by the end of this post, are you still inclined to believe he's a child?
Was this completely unnecessary and took far too long to construct? Yes.
Do I regret making this? Nah.
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🔥
"I wanna make Minthara nice!" "I wanna make Minthara good!" "I wanna make Minthara less evil!". Shut up. Seriously. Shut the hell up. Making the bad guy good is sooooo cliche and overdone at this point. Plus, Minthara is as great as she is because she is evil and is selectively nice to the ones she likes.
Baldur's Gate 3 is all about subverting expectations. So let's subvert expectations shall we. We shouldn't be talking about making the evil guys better. We should be talking about making the good guys worse. I want to make Wyll and Karlach evil. I'm gonna ramble a little bit...
The potential for a corruption plot is literally built into Wyll's storyline with him having a literal devil on his shoulders the whole time. I mean, we can kinda get a glimpse of how that corruption would work in Act 1 when it comes to Wyll facing Karlach. Not to mention, Wyll being the son of the Grand Duke and having his father and city turn their backs on him after sacrificing his soul to save everyone would also present a perfect opportunity for Wyll to just say "fuck 'em". But can you just imagine the story potential of Grand Duke Wyll Ravengard who is still pacted with Mizora? The absolute utter nightmare that would bring cause then the Hells would have control of Baldur's Gate?
The only real way to even play a corrupt Wyll is to do his origin. But it would be so much more fascinating to BE one of the influences in his corruption. This would also make his decision to break the pact so much more impactful and it would be HIS choice. Now I have always firmly held the belief that when it comes to his pact, it is always up to the player because Wyll will always make the same choice and he will always choose his father. So, it has to be the players choice if you want some different outcome. Wyll choosing his father may end up having him sell his soul to Zariel for eternity, but it doesn't corrupt him or change it. But, what if it did? What if we had the ability to have a negative impact on Wyll and this choice would be him making a choice of his soul in whether or not he wants to be a good man or to listen to the corrupting voices around him. Because, to his core, Wyll is a good man. But that good nature can be overpowered by the influences around him. If anything, this scene could play out similarly to how it does for Shadowheart and the Nightsong.
And Karlach, oh Karlach. I love my fiery ball of sunshine. But I find it so odd that someone who spent every single day for 10 years fighting a war isn't the least bit hardened by it. No anxiety, no PTSD, no paranoia, no trust issues. It's actually amazing that Karlach comes out as nice as she is from the Blood War, but is a missed opportunity. As refreshing as it is, I do find it strange that she comes out so trusting of people and having so much faith in others. If Karlach was a little bit more mistrusting and a little bit more paranoid, it would be an easy little thing to leverage into making her worse.
A lot of Karlachs story kinda reminds me of the main plot of Cyberpunk 2077 where you have a character who has a literal ticking time bomb within them. But I specifically wanna draw the parallels between Karlachs engine and the cybernetic enhancements. In Cyberpunk, there is this condition called "cyberpsychosis" in which someone just fucking snaps and goes bonkers and starts killing everything around them for no reason. There is no known reason as to why it happens and the only common element amongst all cyberpsychoes is that they have at least 1 cybernetic enhancement. There also is no way to prevent it from happening, no way to predict that it will happen, and no cure for cyberpsychosis. With Karlachs heart and a lot of her cardio vascular system having been replaced by an infernal engine, I feel like this would also serve great potential for internal corruption and have a fantasy version of "cyberpsychosis". Infernal magic is constantly coursing through her and she is literally on fire all the time. This should definitely have an impact on her. And the only way to prevent her from going full "cyberpsycho" is to do the upgrades with Dammon. Your decision at the grove and/or Last Light would have an impact on Karlachs future sanity.
She would be a ticking time bomb in more ways than one and it would be inevitable. Either she dies cause her enhancement gives out, or she loses her damn mind and you're forced to put her down. This is what would make her ending so much more tragic. It's already hard enough watching her burn on the pier. It would absolutely shatter my damn heart to have to put her down cause the engine corrupted her mind. The Avernus ending is damn near identical to the Sun ending in Cyberpunk 2077 as you have found a temporary way to halt the affliction, but no known way to cure it. Just the hope that there might be a cure.
How many times do we have to watch evil characters become better? Does that not get boring? Stop focusing on making evil companions better. Focus on making good companions worse. It's a hell of a lot more interesting but also adds a lot more nuance to their characters and makes them feel more alive. Especially when in all these cases, none of them are born evil or want to be evil, but are made evil by their circumstances. Being evil is easy, but being good is hard. Good is also what is expected of us. And I find it much more compelling to watch a good character fight the temptation of evilness, than to watch an evil character find annoyance in being good.
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tetitous · 3 days
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Everyone, I have done it.
So, the post about Yugo and queerness in Wakfu is a 3 parter due to my use and abuse of pictures. You'll be able to enjoy part 2 here, and dw I'll add one at the bottom too
First, I would like to preface this by saying that, while I do believe they didn’t create or write Yugo with the idea making him queer in mind, I do not think the creators made things unintentionally either. What I think they actually wanted to do with Yugo, was to have a character that felt as gender neutral as possible, in order to make him relatable to the show's originally young audience, without alienating girls or boys. A character not leaning too much one way or the other.
But as such Yugo is a character that can be read within a queer lens without that much of an effort. I know a lot of people on this site hc him as on the aro and/or ace spectrum, some degree of nonbinary and in my specific case as genderfluid bi/pan, and I'm even considering possibly intersex.
Wakfu also happens to be the kind of show that, whether intentionally or not, just finds itself to have a ton and a half of queerness in it: from simple implications to actually out queer characters, the world depicted in the show is a diverse one, in that sense and more.
That’s why I genuinely think that it's not just random readings that come from fandom's typical queering goggles, I think there are elements in the show that do help these readings, precise elements as well as elements that need a little more digging.
So here's what this post aims to do: to find those elements and compile them in as clear a way as possible. Please do take into account that I am very easily prone to reaching so if you don't see it, that's totally fine, and I may end up structuring things in very chaotic ways, but I am doing my best.
I decided to separate my writing between the gender elements and the sexuality elements, with a listing format. One element, one dash. Since I am french and don’t know much about the english translation, I’ll be illustrating everything using screenshots as reminders, and will be adding some small notes and quotes translated by myself when needed. Well then, let's get started!
The gender category, or as I'd like to call it "this could have been an email- but make it about a trans character":
Yugo's name: first, this one is 100% due to a fic I read that made me reflect on a very interesting fact: in s1ep1, when Alibert finds Grougal's message, Yugo's name is never mentioned.
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During that scene, he’s only called “this child” and “that small one”
What that means, given that Yugo's name has been "Yugo" since previous lives, is that either Alibert somehow picked the right name on first try, or, more logically, that he didn't. That Yugo got called another name for some years, until he got old enough to correct them.
And you would think the argument stops there, but in s2ep12, a character gets openly deadnamed and mocked for it by literally everyone, saying "his real name is…". There is one exception to this,
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Yugo, who never mocks him and says "It’s not because your parents named you… ", which is a very interesting nuance in phrasing. It implies that, while to others the name their parents chose is a "real" name, an immovable fact of life, to Yugo it is a choice made by others for them, that can be wrong, that can be changed.
Yugo's relationship with femininity (and masculinity): Have you ever noticed that the Brotherhood of the Tofu very frequently separate themselves with gendered terms? You’ll often hear Tristepin and Ruel call Amalia and Eva “the girls” and Eva and Amalia call them plus Yugo “the boys”. Prior to the OVAs Yugo only does so in one episode, s2ep21, the one episode where he's magically seduced into being aggressive towards "the girls".
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“You are so strong and smart, right guys?”
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“If you aren’t happy you can go with the girls!”
Prior to this, Yugo never really plays into gender roles, and after it will be mainly due to his aging process, which we will discuss.
Yugo seems to treat socially gendered activities as if they weren’t, I believe it is also noticeable with his relationship to heroism, though that one can only be inferred in contrast to Tristepin's former very strict hero/princess binary viewpoint.
(Here I would have put an exception about the OVA and him admitting he always wanted to save a princess, but given that in the most recent manga the term is used as a pet name for him I guess I’ll let that one slide)
During s1ep4, Yugo crossdresses and not only is he comfortable with that fact, not only is he the one who came up with the idea (although Amalia gave him an unconscious push), he is thriving in it.
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Look at the joy on his face upon putting a bow on.
I feel the need to remind everyone Yugo is 12 during s1, an age at which young boys are definitely aware of a gender divide and typically reject girly stuff like the pest.
Back to the Boufbowl episode once more, in s1ep10, you may have noticed Ruel calling being a cheerleader “being the girls”, and while Yugo may be on the bench as a substitute, he does participate in cheerleading right in the next episode.
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Two three very motivated children and their unconvinced chaperone.
Actually he is the only character in the Brotherhood of the Tofu to be a cheerleader during both Boufbowl arcs.
His outfits are also not strongly gendered, especially compared to Tristepin's chest-out s2 design or Eva and Amalia's early short skirts, his most gendered character design might be his adult-form one, and even then, when compared to Nora's, you’ll notice Yugo is only ever wearing the same thing as her with added details (royal details?) and his own color palette. My take is he’s actually meant to look like the Eliatrope goddess, with his cape reproducing her hair.
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S4 teaser Yugo because we don’t have a clean pic of his s4 design, and I did my best for Nora.
Yugo's aging process as a metaphor for transness: as we all know, from the OVAs until the last quarter of s4, Yugo is a young adult trapped within a child's body. He gets mocked and infantilized on the regular, his status as king belittled. The only thing that he maintains some form of respect for is his status as a hero. And you can tell it is weighing him down. For one, this body is an obstacle to his relationship with Amalia, not just due to the eyes of others,
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"I grow slowly whereas she, she became a queen, a woman...", with the implication "and I'm not a man” or “I don't pass as one"
but also due to his own degrading self-perception.
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“Let’s see who’s small!”
(notice how easily he gets tickled by a simple comment on his size, how the mere notion of his body being revealed becomes reason enough for violence in s3ep7).
Yugo gets angry and violent, a lot, and more than is typically expected of him.
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“I tried thinking like Yugo, I’m sure he would have preferred this to the hit-you-in-the-face method.”
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“Dear little brother, I don’t know what happened to you these last few years, but I don’t recognize you anymore!”
A result of trauma, sure, but if you're like me you may have noticed how turning into an adult made him feel very… relaxed, suddenly. In a way that can be compared to the disappearance of symptoms of body dysphoria with people who go through a process of gender-affirming transition.
As an aside, his s3 design really makes him look like he's wearing a binder, in addition to the turtleneck that would hide the absence of an Adam's apple, the look is very transmasc.
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That one particular art of him is what really marked me, because of the slight shade under the chest. Doesn’t mean it is a binder, just means it could look like one.
Yugo's Eliatrope hat as a metaphor: There may not seem like there is much to say, but the fact is that this hat was very mysterious for a very long time. If you were part of the fandom before the s2 finale you may have been theorizing on a forum about what was going on behind that hat (I was on the "a second pair of ears but these are shaped like cat ears" team, but still slightly unconvinced), and you knew that there wasn't anyone more curious about this than Nox.
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“We may finally get to find out what you hide under your hat.
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-Even my friends never forced me to tell them!”
was a very iconic line, one that definitely could remind people of the infamous "what's in your pants" question.
Well the Brotherhood was curious as well, but mostly respectful and patient with their friend.
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It was clear that there was discomfort with that part of him that he refused to reveal, so much so that he probably never washed with any of his friends. When they would hang around for days, when the girls wouldn't care between each other (and neither would Eva and Pinpin between each other, wink wink), when they would all sleep together, Yugo probably would still never take it off in front of them.
Overall my point is just that inthe rare times the hat gets discussed, it just doesn't sound cis.
the Eliotropes: they're coming back in the sexuality section, dw.
But, as Yugo himself says, they are "versions" of himself. The interesting question now is "in which way?" Since they are not "past versions" of him, and since they seem to "inherit" some of his personality/physical traits, I do believe them to be an expression of his own fragmented sense of self. Some of them may be men, as a reflection of his own perception of himself as one, but then some may be women for that same reason, and well some are women, some even are canonically enby.
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Character on the far left is enby and character on the far right is a woman. Obviously Echo is not an Eliotrope.
One could even go as far as considering these traits can physically express themselves only because Yugo's anatomy reflects them, and in that case we can go into not just a gender reading, but into an intersex one. Pushing further into it, Yugo, being their creator, effectively gave birth to them, and as such they call him father, but the act of giving birth itself is typically associated with the feminine, sowe could argue that Yugo’s position is both one of father and of mother.
Of course they also have physical and mental aspects that are separate from Yugo, like none of the ones we met are the same sandy blonde as Yugo is for example, but the ambiguity of the existence of the Eliotropes is and will always be a matter of "where does Yugo end and where do they begin?".
A little question mark for the road: In OVA2, as a joke, Rubilax “reveals” that Tristepin was actually a woman all along. This is a sample of everyone’s reaction:
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1st, Amalia is so bi it’s insane, but that’s not my point here. Yugo’s reaction being of absolute shock, even more so than Tristepin himself always had me wondering what was going on in his head. Through a queer lens it remains just as hard to read through, so my personal take is that Yugo is amazed at how male-“passing” Pinpin is, so much so he may think “You mean to tell me I knew that guy for years and never realized he was trans too?!” I don’t know, I’d love to get some feedback on that one.
That first section was 2 pages-long without the pictures, so let’s take a tiny break and enjoy some Yugo cuteness as a breather.
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Just the cutest. He doesn’t even need to try.
part 2
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idk-how-to-name-it · 2 days
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I LOVE YOUR GUESSING CHARACTER PERSONALITY VIA DESIGNS POST
Could you do the Mikaelys-Mosses family? Bonus if you include ideas of how the family came to be/Nacha and Francis relationship
Hehe thaaaanks!
Firts, let's start with Nacha! Just look at her!
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Sharpless, with purple blue palette(Like, this palette has gentle and soft vibes. Btw green is associated with something friendly and calm), her face...She is definitely kindhearted and sweet lady! She rarely gets mad or angry
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Though, her messy hair say that maybe she gets nervous, at least sometimes(After all, she is a single mother, you know, it can be stressful).
Talking about Francis:
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Yeah, he also mainly have edgyless shapes as main ones, And his face... Look at his face.
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It right says: "Man, I'm tired of working as a damn milkman just to pay child support. Pls help me".
So, for me he looks apathetic and melancholic.
As for Anastacha...I can describe her with one pic
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Jokes aside, but she really looks quite chilly person(She says "whatever" right with her face, without even opening her mouth!). Plus, her colour palette is also chilly, though, she has some edgy shapes in her design...But, can't help but see her as a person who is used to this whole chaos with doppelgangers and neighbors
Oh, and hcs about Francis and Nacha's relationship!
You see, I hc that Francis probably came from...I haven't made my mind where he is from exactly yet. But I've got a feeling that he came somewhere from East/South-East Europe.
So, when Nacha met him for the first time, she was kinda like "Oh, so you're from East, huh? Gawsh, that is hawt"(Eeeeh, you know that thing whe people romanticizes ethnicity for some reasons...Yeah, Nacha has some flaws. I don't approve this thing btw). That's why they were dating until they realised that they both are incompatible for each other(Nacha's expectations failed, yeah), so they broke up. And soon after that Nacha found out that she is pregnant with Anastacha...
After all of this, they maybe try to stay away from each other. Like, they don't despise and hate each other, but they both just don't want to recall those things from the past. Though, Francis works as a milkman to support Nacha and her daughter financially.
Welp, that's all!
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chubs-deuce · 17 hours
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Something that I hate that ppl do when it comes to hating on Chalastor is saying “Alastor is aroace and Charlie is in a relationship with Vaggie! You’re being disrespectful to both of them!” Even when you explain that’s it’s merely a harmless AU, they still get soooo upset.
Which first off, Alastor is actually ace, not aroace, Amir literally said that himself, and second, just cuz Charlie is with Vaggie doesn’t mean other people are going to ship them, cuz Charlie is bisexual! And thirdly, being ace or aro or both is a spectrum. It’s a wide range of things, not everyone is going to be repulsed. Yeah canon show Alastor maybe repulsed by sex and romance but that’s what AUs are for! They are there for others to expand and change things as they see fit.
Like I think Chaggie is a cute canon ship, but I find Charlie and Alastor and even RadioRose far more appealing and adorable, and especially when it comes to the fanart. Like the fanart! Every piece of Chalastor and RadioRose fanart I have seen is just *chef kiss* ✨perfection✨ seriously your art of Chalastor has got to be my favorite fanart I’ve seen of them, everything is just so beautiful 😭🥹 also I’m a huge sucker for Dad!Alastor
Before I dig into this response any further I'd like to thank you for the high praise of my art, but I'd also like to point out that I don't exactly appreciate the negative tone you're bringing into my inbox here and would like to kindly remind you that my asks are not a confession booth for fandom salt... ^^"
I understand that it can be really frustrating to deal with that kind of stuff, but I feel like a lot of this belongs more in dms than in an ask box that gets responded to publicly...
Fuck knows I have my own not-so-nice opinions about some things certain people in fandoms do, especially considering the nigh constant harrassment some ships are under by other sub-groups of the fanbase, but I vent that shit privately with friends where it won't kick any beehives into a tizzy along the way... It also imo just reflects on the rest of the ship community a bit better to not make big public stinks over some faceless douchebags on the internet with too much time to waste ^^".
(Yes this is an open invitation to just dm me with fandom salt like this if you need to unload some, I'll happily indulge you there! But I really would prefer keeping fandom salt out of my asks and in turn out of my public posts lmao)
Ultimately I'm a strong believer of ship and let ship and I am also of the opinion that if you need to put down another ship to enjoy your own you're not doing the shipping thing right.
Indulging in romantic and/or sexual fantasies about fictional characters is meant to be fun! We're all just sitting in our own little corner making our dolls kiss after all.
Unfortunately, I think a lot of people in this modern era of fandom spaces keep forgetting that. For many, shipping is a competition for bragging rights (i.e. canonicity), a form of activism or for yet again others it can be an excuse to mask bully urges and habits as exerting moral superiority (hence the constant, hypocrisy-filled barbs at people not "respecting" their canon sexualities)
Depending on which one you're dealing with, you may get genuine confusion at your shipping preferences since they approach shipping with a completely different mindset (i.e. shipping for canoncity and/or aesthetics over the narrative potential and/or writing quality) or people intentionally trying to bait you into a defensive response.
Sometimes you can argue someone out of their frustration about your lack of "respect" for canon by explaining that what you do doesn't affect canon in the slightest, nor do you even want or need it to - maybe even giving your reasons for shipping something! But that only works on people that are already receptive to your arguments, so you have to know who and what you're up against and if they're even worth wasting that sort of time and energy on.
I can assure you that 90% of the time the easiest option is to just block antis without giving them the grace of a response. It's usually the quickest way to get out of those types of situations lol (ignore them if they start claiming that they "won" and consider you weak or cowardly for blocking them - they just want to guilt you into unblocking so they have more free reign to keep harrassing you)
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thegoober010 · 1 day
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Hello! Could I request Trey, Cater, Kalim, and Lilia with a reader who played twst (the game) and shows them fanart? Headcannons please!
HELP I LOVE THIS IDEA !! OFC YOU CAN BUDDY :D ‼️‼️
gender neutral reader as always !
Tws/Cws : none !
Also idk how this would work but I'm guessing like it's an au sorta thing where the twst characters end up irl somehow or somehow the reader who plays twst ends up in the twst world ?
Ima go with the second option though !
Hopefully I'm right idk ?!
oh also I didn’t know which type of fanarts you meant so I did like tame ones/wholesome ones, ship ones, and like weird ones sooo yeah
sorry if this isn’t what you wanted ! I tried my best ig!?
---
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♤ Trey Clover ♤
Trey was literally just staring with a concerned expression at you
He was obviously in a bit of shock after you explained your whole situation meanwhile you were just happy he listened to you
And now here you are showing him all the fanarts of him
You started off tame just showing him all the cute and nice fanarts of him chilling or just being with his friends or being put into different outfits/meeting other characters
He didn't have much of an opinion on them he was just happy people liked him enough to draw him as well as his friends !
After a bit of showing him the more tame art of him it quickly went downhill after you showed him the ship art. In all honesty he thought some of them were cute even if he didn’t think some of the ships could be possible due to the other persons opinion on him or his on theirs but some of the ships made him a bit uncomfortable
You obviously just showed him the cute ship art first all of that and then immediately after he went “eh that’s sweet I guess….” After that you immediately showed him the more… concerning fanart/shipart
“…. Oh great sevens…” is all he mutters out before staring at you with the most concerned and uncomfortable expression ever while you laugh mischievously
He doesn’t say much after that and he gently grabs your hand and puts your phone down to your pocket before shaking his head.
there’s a good awkward silence between you two for a good 30 minutes before Riddle and Cater come into the room and the topic immediately changes with all of you now just playing a card game.
Trey does make you promise to never show him those weird fanarts ever again though ^_^”!
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Cater Diamond
He listens very intently to you while you explain everything and he gets a little freaked out but…. You’re his friend so… he listens I guess, but it’s obvious with his face he’s a little freaked
After that you two are a little awkward but you changed the subject quickly with.. “Do you wanna see the fanarts people make of you and everyone else…?”
…..
“Hell yeah 😍”
You start off tame as well showing him the cute fanarts of him and his friends but mainly of him and he lets out a few laughs at how accurate they are
Is honestly super happy he has fans in your world too “Well I’m like super popular here so I’m like not surprised I’m popular in your world!” He jokes
He immediately takes out his phone and asks you to send them to him like ASAP
You do, after all if you don’t he won’t stop bothering you about it and basically begs for the art, plus he kinda wants to show it off and if anyone asks he’ll just say some of his fans/follwers drew him !
After that you start showing him the ship art and to be honest he doesn’t mind them much but he does ask often why people decide to ship him and people he doesn’t see himself liking romantically
He doesn’t ask you to send any of the ship art which was a bit of a surprise but understandable
Once you finished showing him the ship art you gained quite the mischievous thought. Why not show him the more hmmm deranged ones ?
Let’s just say he was jaw dropped at some of the art. He was obviously uncomfortable with some of it too… He laughed nervously before patting your shoulder “Lol I think that’s all you should show me .” And that’s where it ends, you two went out for some ice cream after that and posted pictures of what yall got !
he never mentioned the fanart again besides asking to send just one more wholesome one to post on his story or something !
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Kalim Al-Asim
Kalim is low key surprised but very understanding about your situation ! You two were hanging out in his room when you had explained everything and eating food as well as a few crackers when you randomly decided to spill that little fun fact of yourself to him !
He was very quick to make the topic less awkward by joking about your situation trying to make you feel better
After that you asked him if he wanted to see his fanarts and he had the biggest smile ever at the thought that people draw HIM LIKE when I tell you he could not stop nodding
You happily obliged and showed him all the tame fanarts of him where he was hanging out with the others or where it was just him and such and he LOVED them. He looked like he was about to cry out of joy
He was so happy and he asked you if you could print out the drawings so he can put them in a notebook or something (you said yes)
After that you showed him the ship arts and he didn’t really mind them, he thought it was a little funny how people liked shipping him with his friends and such but he didn’t really get some of the ships lol
He would ask sometimes why he’s shipped with these people but that he doesn’t really mind he just thinks it’s interesting pairings and so on
You explained a bit the dynamics blah blah blah but after that you showed him the more… strange art. Safe to say he had that shocked look on him. He didn’t get why people drew such things….
He joked about them a bit trying his best not to seem concerned but after that you felt bad so you showed him more wholesome ones again and safe to say he got wayyy happier and less concerned !
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Lilia Vanrouge
He listens very intently to your yappin and explanation, he’s not very shocked that happened or concerned, when you reach his age (not like we can tho…) not many things surprise you anymore, even things like this…
He just chuckled before patting your shoulder and giving advice on the situation and promises to help you out
After a bit of silence you ask him if he wants to see fanarts and he seems a little surprised, well that did surprise him a bit huh… well why not? What’s the harm in it.
You grinned at his response and just show him so many wholesome fanarts of him taking care of malleus and silver or just him or him when he was a general and so on and he was quite impressed. He did give a few critiques to some art but he would also compliment all the art a lot as if he were an art nerd reviewing 18th century art or sumn
He took your phone sometimes to look closer (you know that grandpa pose where the grab the phone take off their glasses and move their head to see something better, yeah, that pose basically) and he was so chatty about each fanart
You send him like one or two art pieces and hes smiling really wide, it was a nice sight like he literally can’t stop smiling for a good while when you show him and send the sweet fanarts !
You then show him ship arts and he just giggles at some of them (like the ones with malleus’ mom) and says “I wish hehe” and things of that nature
He seems really chill about certain ship arts (after all it’s with malleus’ mom most of them so ofc he likes them or thinks they’re silly) and even compliments the drawings at times :)!
Once you show him the weirder fanarts he just laughs uncomfortably before only letting out a few giggles. He’s not surprised he got these types of fanarts, after all if there were tame and wholesome ones of course there’d also be these types. So he doesn’t really care he just shrugs them off
tbh you thought he’d have a different reaction but oh well!
He also asks you if there’s any fanarts of baby malleus or silver so that he could show them to them !
you happily send him a few 😊
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i know you said that wu and garmadon wont reach true potential but what exactly is holding each of them back
"…I remember now, you know." Zane steps away, tugging off his hood and letting his smile shine through. "I remember everything my parents did to care for me, I remember where I came from…I remember why I'm here…and I feel stronger for knowing. I'd been so concerned lately with all the things I couldn't understand, but…I don't have to understand everything in order to be loved, or to love myself."
. . .
"All I did was realize something I should have a long time ago." Jay finds his strength again, standing while using Nya and Kai for support. "I was so busy worrying how much other people like me…that I forgot to like myself too. I have worth…even if not everyone sees it right way. But those that do, the ones that dare to weather the storm… even if they don't stick around forever, I can appreciate the time that they were willing to stand in the rain."
. . .
"Honestly, at first I thought I was weighed down by all the baggage with my dad. Sure, that was part of it, but…I realized I had come to believe that my worth was tied into what I could do for others, and that was so easy to believe…not only because of how I was raised, but because I care about you guys so much. The idea of letting you down or not being strong enough for you…that could've been enough to break me." A shy, somewhat embarrassed smile takes over Cole's face. "Heh, and I also kinda thought…I was too hard of a person to love, and therefore struggled to find some love for myself as well. But hearing it from my father, and my brothers…maybe that's all I ever really needed. That one, tiny thing…well, even a pebble can cause a landslide, I guess." 
. . .
"…when you said the heart was the key, at first I thought that meant I had to do anything to prove to myself that I was worthy of being the Green Ninja, because I thought that's what my heart was destined for." Kai hums, placing a hand against his torso. "…but all it really meant was to look inside ourselves, and choose to admire what was there. Lloyd helped me see that…I was obsessing over something that I already had. Our Elements are us, and we are our Elements…and I thought Fire was something that it's not. I thought I was something that I'm not."  Kai looks back up at Wu, beaming softly. "Simply put…all we ever had to do to realize our potential…was learn to love ourselves." 
THE ANSWER IS SELF-ACCEPTANCE AND LOVING YOURSELF
Wu and Garmadon can't fully accept who they are/the mistakes they've made/the actions they've taken/what they've done, and feel like they're not who they're "Supposed" to be and they hate themselves for it, though on opposite sides of the spectrum, and thus cannot attain the highest form of their own powers
IT'S THE SAME THING CURRENTLY HOLDING LLOYD AND JESSE BACK CMONNNNNN
(...not Nya tho; she doesn't technically "hate herself", just cannot accept both the best and worst parts about herself yet (plus all the self-identity issues to begin with; can't accept yourself if you don't exactly know who "you" are :d))
"OH but what about when Garmadon reaches his True Potential in S9 with Harumi—?!" He never actually 'fully' achieves it there (similar to Jesse currently) due to Harumi having him go about it the wrong way, but he still gets closer than Wu does (...unless I'm feeling generous in giving Wu some extra character development 👀).
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Text
s2 episode 4 thoughts
i thought this episode sounded interesting! the plot was kinda: wasn't it fucked up when the vietnam war happened? and i was sitting here like, yeah, quite famously it was pretty fucked up. still, an interesting exploration into trauma and the american role of imperialism
the first thing i wrote was "a lot of people in this show fall asleep watching the tv but personally i have never done that". am i immune to the Curse or something?
so this guy who is a sleep doctor sees a fire and he calls the fire department right away, and everyone is evacuating, and we see a dude in the hallway with a suspicious smile and an even more suspicious scar across his neck. i am used to the episode structure by now, so i knew this was our mystery man of the week.
but the firemen get to the burning fellow's house and there is no fire! despite it looking so real to him that he actually burned to death... it's not there! well huh! must be our mystery man can psychically project fire
cutscene to mulder's place and it again looks like an entirely new set for his apartment. again, i ask, i'm not crazy, right?? can someone else confirm that this is an entirely different space than what we saw before?
(i hope we don't see scully in a new space as well- i thought her apartment was so cute in s1)
he gets a newspaper and a tape of the call dropped off at his door so he runs to skinner and begs with his big sad wet eyes to please let him take the case. and skinner is like maybe. but go transcribe a bunch of wiretaps first. so THAT is why he's always listening to weird stuff!
BUT WAIT! who enters our fair scene...? but a NEW CHARACTER? he is a guy who looks like he crawled out of a frat house where he majored in lacrosse and business... he introduces himself as alex and says that this is HIS case... mulder is PISSED he's all "i work alone >:(" but he can't shake the dude off... hmm.
(i recall seeing a post about people slash shipping mulder with a character in s2- i saw this post way before i started watching the show, so i only noted it in my passing interest of fandom history- and i'm wondering if this is the fellow they were referring to. in the same post i saw mulder in a speedo which i guess we'll get to in time)
scully's back at the academy!!! teaching another autopsy class! boy they must have a steady stream of bodies coming in for this. but an urgent call is coming from a "george hale" and she leaves class to go answer...
and it's mulder!!!!! he has a code name!!! he asks her to fly up to new york and do an autopsy and she's like "i'm in class til 4:30" and he's like "that's fine, we'll wrap it up for you and you can come up at 5!" and she sighs and. agrees.
now. again. this was shocking to me. mulder cannot have anyone else draw his blood or do an autopsy it HAS to be his friend scully. and she WILL get on a flight and do it. this is SICK and TWISTED how she will do anything for him.
mulder was being a real jerk to alex and alex said "i don't appreciate being ditched like a bad date" and to my shock and dismay i found myself agreeing with this new character... mulder WAS being unreasonable... i mean we knew he's been moody lately but this was downright hostile
(mulder walks in while scully puts an organ into a scale) "spleen or pancreas?" "stomach" <- LMAO his ass did NOT pass anatomy!
and they're all so smiley and happy to see each other when. scully sees this man behind him. and her smile fades SO fast.
(he tries to shake her hand but given that her hands are covered in stomach she wisely brushes him by. it may have seemed like a diss but i assume he doesn't want gore on his hands)
alex is GAGGING over the body (me too) so mulder gets realllllll close to scully to block out his amateur hour buffoonery...
(y'all need to not be that close and looking at each other in such a manner in front of a dead guy... or do it more for my sake)
she's whispering that it seems his body believed he burned to death despite there being no burns on him!
we see another guy with a same scar on his neck as the first!!! he knows the first guy and it seems initially that their reunion is wholesome... until preacher (scar man one) admits to killing the sleep doctor... and then things get... wild
"holy fuck", i mumbled to myself while also writing down the same phrase in my notes, as a blood soaked family appeared in the room, shooting the character we just met for his crimes. that escalated with an extreme quickness. it was clear that whatever traumas he had inflicted upon others in vietnam were being returned in equal measure via the psychic force of this preacher character
then we go back to mulder and alex, who i thought was handling mulder's hater energy quite well, all things considered. but little did i know what was to come...
so sleep doctor, the guy who just died, and preacher all knew each other... interesting... they were stationed at basic training together...
we get a visual on mulder's new source after deep throat's passing! he says he has no desire to be there, and that their mutual friend deep throat died for what he believed in, which he does not want to do. which is of course totally fair. at the end of the day the FBI is just a paycheck for some of these folks.
the sleep doctor was revealed to be doing experiments to make super advanced soldiers who don't need sleep so maybe that gives you the power to kill people magically. we can't really rule it out.
preacher then makes two cops kill EACH OTHER with his sorcery
back to scully cam <3 she's got her glasses on at the computer <3 she's got little yellow earrings in that look like flowers <3 and she thinks its so cool that they cut part of this guy's brain out and now he hasn't slept in 24 years... nerd
they're on the phone with each other and it is SO SAD because why. why can't they just be together! it's not fair. she says it sounds like his new partner is working out and he's like yeah he's okay...
"must be nice to not have someone poking holes in all your theories" "yeah, no idea how i put up with you for so long" and they're smiling into the phone while saying this
now, i won't lie. this scene, of all the scenes, was the first to bring tears to my eyes in the course of my streaming this show. because now we have seen what they'll do for each other and they're TAUNTING me by dangling it in front of my face. and i cannot stand it. i feel sick at the thought.
anyway back to mulder and his new partner. who i feel is too good to be true because he's willing to believe spooky mulder's theories. but they found another guy who also had the sleep surgery and he tells them that they went on a rampage committing atrocities in vietnam which was. very heavy for the alien show. but it is something that americans often pretend just didn't happen so i thought it was interesting that the idea of accountability was being explored in fiction.
so there's one more guy involved with the sleep surgery, and he's coming into town, so alex and mulder have to sprint down to the station and try and find him. they're really giving it a sprint, too. mulder is a track star. don't think i've forgotten
and mulder does see the guy they're looking for but preacher is behind him and shoots mulder! he falls to the ground! no, i yelled to my screen! not another bullet in mulder!
... but he gets up. the whole thing was a trick of preacher! it never actually happened!
alex is like dude wtf. and this is where he says "i want to believe" and this where i made the very astute note "i don't trust this guy, sorry"
so finally they find preacher still alive, and mulder tells alex to help out his victim, while mulder runs off to find him. mulder sees how much pain he is in, and tells him that maybe his pain can lessen if he testifies about what was done to him, and it seems they've come to an understanding...
until alex enters, pulls his gun up, so preacher also pulls his gun up, and alex and shoots him! preacher is dead
mulder looks deeply upset by this. he tells alex that he did the right thing, but you can tell he doesn't believe it in the slightest. i would venture to guess that this is when all the trust he had begun to place in alex vanishes. he seems entirely deflated at the unnecessary loss of life.
he goes back to the car and notices someone stole the secret files that his informant gave him, and he punches the car. this is simply too many L's for one day, and i sympathize.
but scully's freaking out too, because her office was broken into and all her stuff looked through! so what in the name of hell is going on here?!?!? ah, i realize, it is this alex fool... "i know ur related somehow" i wrote ominously in my quotes
and boy, i was right! the narrative the writers were going for was not lost on me! because remember skinner's old sidekick the cigarette guy? and how they had a sort of breakup moment? well, alex is reporting to him, and they have the file he stole from mulder!!!!!
alex says that scully is a "big problem" to which i say: keep talking like that, you overgrown varsity jock, and you're gonna have a big problem with my fucking hands catching your throat
anyway, interesting episode. i didn't want to like alex and then i did because i felt bad for him for being subjected to mulder's attitude and then i hated his guts by the end and reluctantly admitted to myself that mulder's crankiness was justified. i hope he won't stick around for long but i have a feeling he will.
also, they need to stop taunting me by dangling a real mulder and scully reunion in front of my head and then ripping it away. i had TEARS! in my eyeballs! i was sighing wistfully! it was sick!!!!!! this is my free time i'm spending here pining after these fools! it's me, the fan, asking for fan service!!!
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one of the things i always feel guilty about is empathizing with certain historical figures who, more or less, turn out to be a spawn of the devil. sulla's familial relationships always intrigued me because in a way, i see parallels between our lives. i cannot turn out a maniac like him (perhaps not as large scale but corruption spreads like a disease anywhere) yet it is still a fig in the tree, ripening slowly and it scares me.
Anon...I'm not your therapist, but I'm posting this because I suspect a lot of people on here have similar fears.
There are many reasons why you might feel drawn toward a "bad" character or historical figure:
Escapism. When I was a teenager I loved Alucard from Hellsing. Not because I wanted to run around killing people like he did, but because it was fun to imagine being invincible. It's another form of playing pretend.
It may help you process difficult feelings or thoughts. As a kid, my classmates and I sang songs about bombing our school and decapitating the teachers. (It was a different time.) In play therapy, kids often fantasize about killing their parents - even if those parents are good people. Because again, it's not about really wanting to kill, it's about letting out feelings of frustration, in a symbolic and nonviolent way. Catharsis.
Maybe it feels validating to see a character who shares some of your feelings or experiences. It's a form of representation. Also cathartic.
Intrusive thoughts. Repeated thoughts of "What if I do [bad thing]?" usually occur because your brain knows it's bad and is trying to avoid doing the bad thing, not because you secretly want to do it. Just having these thoughts, but not wanting to act on them, does not make you more likely to do it than someone without these thoughts. It can also be a symptom of OCD.
Maybe the character was engaging in a book or TV show you saw. I suspect a lot of Sulla's popularity comes from novels like Masters of Rome and Roman Blood, where he is fascinating and well-written.
Maybe you just think he's hot. There's a reason why the "bad boy" is such a common love interest in romance fiction, and it's not because the readers are too clueless to notice he's a bad role model. It's pretend.
We're often drawn to the forbidden and taboo because they're taboo. It's like watching horror movies. By exposing ourselves to dangerous or scary topics on our terms, we retain a sense of control, and can learn to cope with those feelings.
If you have low self-esteem, your brain might just be inventing reasons why you're a bad person, and if it weren't Sulla it'd be something else.
Whatever it is, there's a part of yourself that needs space to feel, to breathe, to express itself. If you try to reject it, you'll just keep holding onto this shame and fear. A lot of people do that. They often become judgmental or controlling of others because they're projecting their own judgment and shame outward.
Instead, I suggest drawing a line between your thoughts and your actions. Thought crime isn't real. You cannot harm or help people just by thinking something, so applying morality to thoughts is pointless. As long as you act toward people with kindness and respect, you're golden.
I noticed a lot of Christian language in your message (moral corruption, the fig tree, spawn of Satan). Try looking into non-Christian religions and philosophies. Look at what Epicureans, Daoists, Buddhists, and other cultures have to say about being a "good" or "bad" person. Then decide for yourself who you think is right. This will make you more confident in your own judgment, and less easily influenced by people trying to shove their moral baggage onto you. (If you need a starting point, I've always loved Stephen Mitchell's version of the Dao De Jing. It's short, beautiful, and gentle.)
Try to go easier on yourself, anon. The very fact that you worry about this is a sign that you have a good heart deep down. The most dangerous people in this world aren't those who admit to having "bad" thoughts, but the ones who refuse to consider they could ever be wrong or bad.
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happyunbday2u · 1 day
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So I've seen some Hazbin Hotel role swap things like when the pilot first came out they were switching Charlie and Alastor, Vaggie and Angel Dust, Niffty and Husk and Cherri Bomb and Sir Pentious, one on where Charlie and Vaggie switch, one with a Statichusk, once the season came out I saw like one for RadioStatic and somebody even give out a full list on who is who which I loved BUT have ya'll considered this? And work with me here okay
Also I didn’t get a chance to finish the art since I did it on a school computer cause I don’t have my own and my phone isn’t good with digital artwork but I finished the designs
Angel Dust as Charlie: When his family died they were basiclly considered royalty since their family of mafia had gone on for centuries that when they went to Hell they were already covered, living in a goddamn palace with deseasd family members and others from the same mafia. Angel Dust while he really didn't care at first but then started hate whenever the extermination happened due to how many died, he was covered since his family had already had so much secirity and such but it began to seem like something everyone should have. That's when the hotel idea came to place. He tried telling his family about it but it didn't really work too well so he left to try and make it work and save everyone in Hell. His main weapon choice is guns but he really doesn't like resorting to violence, he removed his gold tooth as a way to symbolize how he left his family and the family business.
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Husk as Vaggie: In Heaven there were two ways you could become an Exersit, one is by ending up in the Purgatory and having no choice in it, the second way is by being approched by one to ask for your help in secret and choose to become one yourself which was rare but some did choose to that path and Husk was one of them. Skilled with throwing knives and any small sharp object he was one of the best ones on the field, Lute was kinda jelous, and never EVER showed mercy... except for one time. He cornered a small child but found himself not being able to kill him so he let him run off and make it seem like he had managed to run away fast enough. Lute ended up seeing and saw him as a disgrace as she took out his eye and halo, she almost took off his wings but he fought back so she only ended up damaging them so he couldn't fly anymore. That's when he met Angel who showed him better kindness then his own people, he ended up helping him with his idea and is dating him. He doesn't trust most people but more speficlly woman, okay so I added that because you know how Vaggie doesn't trust men? My thought was because of Adam’s personality and holding a grudge for letting Lute remove her eye and wings so for Husk I made it because of Lute doing those things. His main weapon of choice is small knives but he works with cards and exploding dice. Also Fun Fact on the Fandom page, Trivia, it says that Vizzipop was saying that she wanted to make him Russian ended up deciding not to do it soooooooooooooooooo- To me he's canonlly Russian, oh and another fun fact he knows like 6 languages including Italian so now I can have the mental imagine of Husk and Angel talking to each other sweetly in Italian.
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Niffty as Alastor: Okay yes this sounds weird but WORK WITH ME HERE! At first glance you'd think oh look at this lil woman but NOPE she is an bug eating Overlord, she's known as The Bug Demon for two different reasons. 1. Her obesstion/appitie for bugs and 2. In the 1940's a word to describe someone as insane was bug which is around the time she was born. She works on the radio. She's feared by all of Hell and anyone who hasn't met her will probobly know really fast why she is. She is absolute besties with and I'm thinking about replacing Mimzy with Baxter but I'm not sure, if you don't know who that is he's one of the characters made but hasn't been used yet. And like Alastor was a mama's boy she was a daddy's girl and is respectful to men UNLESS they are absolute bitches to people. Another reason I gave her Alastor's spot was so that they can still be crazy together and I can keep the mental imagine of them laughing mainaclly together.
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Cherri Bomb as Angel Dust: Cherri Bomb sold her soul to Valentino (Or someone else? Give me ideas people, pls) thinking it'll be as simple as she seen others do, it was not, it was even worse since he ended up having her as a 'favorite'. She acts like she doesn't care but it really hit her deep and her escape, besides ya know all the drinking and such, is blowing things up. She came to the hotel simply so she wouldn't have to live in the studio but overtime ended up liking the people there.
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Sir Pentious as Husk: He used to be known for winning any turf war until one day there was one he was fighing that was too powerful to defeat so he made a deal with The Bug Demon for help but it didn't end well. Yeah he won but at the cost of having to work for Niffty, he learned how to bartend over time and grew an alchohal addiction, he was forced to work at the Hotel by Niffty and while he did at first dislike Cherri he ended up liking her in the end.
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Alastor as Niffty: A hyperactive always smiling through everything, you know Niffty stays smiling almost as much as Alastor, deer demon he's basiclly the world's best cook and basiclly butler of the hotel. He's just a chaotic tall little shit which is basiclly like before but less out there.
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Charlie as Sir Pentious: The Princess of Hell hated her title and how she had to live as royalty so she tried to become her own person, key word: tried. She tried become an Overlord but she wasn't good at making deals, then she tried living like any other demon but they reconized her too easily, then she tried to join the Vees but even with her reputation they didn't let her become one of them so to get their attention she tried winning turf wars, one of her biggest rivals was Vaggie. And the Egg Boiz are replaced by the Goat Bois which are just Razzle and Dazzle look a likes In the final battle she did die and get redeemed. I don’t think people realize that Charlie does have a soul since her mom was literally the first woman and when she made the deal with Alastor it was confirmed, plus I want her to still meet Emily and be besties with her.
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Vaggie as Cherri Bomb: A young fighter skilled with throwing exploding spears, literally just bombs strapped to her spears, and a turf winning champion. She used to be an angel but she was kicked out Heaven for being rebellious so when one of the exterminations happened they took her down with them but she put up a fight and ended up getting her eye cut out. She's besties with Cherri.
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Molly as Lucifer: She was close with Angel the most when they were alive even though she was never in their “family business”. When she died she went to Heaven and knew that her family wasn't so to reunite with them she brought up ideas like visiting hours and such so that loved ones could reunite in dislocated places so that Angels were never at risk in Hell and Sinners didn't plan to raid Heaven. Dispite the court denying and denying she kept trying until she was casted out in Heaven for her ideas and came down to Hell as a fallen angel. She was happy tho, because she was going to be with her family until she saw how distant they all had become with eachother, nevertheless she tried rebonding with her brother. But when Angel Dust came to her with the idea of rehabilitating sinners she just simply believe that it couldn't be done, not that she didn't want to support him, it was just hard to believe that Heaven would accept them after all her ideas were thrown to the gutter and not long after they became distant and she blamed herself. When Angel called her for her help she was so estatic for her brother to actually WANT to see her. "My brother wants to see me! Take that depression!" "Molly, this is Husk! My boyfriend." "You like boys! Oh mio Dio we have so much in common, put it there Tusk!"
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I haven’t decided should be in Lilith’s place but I’m debating on Angel’s dad or brother
Thank you for listening to my rant have a cookie
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roadkillnroses · 2 days
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Fuma Conspiracy is my new favorite Lupin movie
I thought I was a committed Red Jacket kind of person, but I have an exception now for sure. Almost all the characters are great in this one, even the one-off cute girl character, Murasaki. At the start I thought she was going to be a forgettable, passive Clarisse type and I was completely surprised. She enriches the whole rest of the movie with her presence and her adorable post-rescue outfit (sweater dress and leg warmers!!) Her scenes running around with Goemon evading traps and hunting for clues felt like they were out of a wholesome kids' adventure movie from the 80s. "I won't wait for you, Goemon!" was such a great note for her to finish on. You shouldn't wait for him, Murasaki. He is definitely 100% not attracted to women. Fujiko was great too! The outburst of girlish excitement and delight she lets out when she sees the treasure struck me as so sincere, I felt like I was seeing a bit of the real Fujiko for maybe the first time. Great moment.
I should note here that we usually watch Lupin dubbed at my place. I'm specifically most used to the 2003 Richard Epcar-directed dub, but I warmed up to this cast pretty quick. Fujiko's voice actress Michele Seidman stood out specifically, I really liked her. Robin Robertson, who played Lupin, has a subtle regional accent that had him saying treasure sort of like 'traysure.' Turns out the actor is from North Carolina! Southern boy Lupin is funny to me the same way Dan Lorge's strikingly Texan Zenigata is funny. Next I want to hear a New Yorker Jigen.
Some weird dubbed name pronunciations: Lupin is Rupan in this one, which is annoying. There also was disagreement between characters on whether Goemon is Gwye-mon or Goya-mown (these are both definitely worse than the Epcar dub's Goyaman.)
The only major character who didn't give me what I wanted from them was Jigen, which is too bad because he's usually my favorite. He just had very little going on, which is okay because this was really a Goemon movie.
There were some great animation bits in this one! Most of it is animated on twos like your usual TV and direct to video anime, but there's a fascinating little cut of Murasaki clambering down some rocks that's on the ones. Her movements are extra fluid for just a few seconds. There's another cut where a guy is handed a big ceramic vase and he fumbles it a bit because it's heavier than expected. The vase's tassels sway as it moves. These are the type of small touches that I treasure, where I can point at the screen and say "Did you see that? They didn't have to do that! But they did!! Animation!"
The big car chase scene is wacky even by Lupin standards. Like 10 cop cars get owned by Jigen driving the yellow Fiat. Down hallways, up and down stairs, through public baths, absolute madness. There's a sort of first-person shot from somewhere around Jigen's elbow as he's driving, like you're leaning forward from the back seat watching the debris and fruit crates fly past the windscreen. It's fantastic.
Last things: -Zenigata is extra handsome in this one. I can't explain it, he just is. -The climax of the movie is like 80% straight Goemon being cool. He's just... he's so cool.
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thesmokinpossum · 4 months
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I can't believe y'all almost made me pay to go watch po*r th*ngs in theater without telling me that the whole thing revolves around a hardcore born sexy yesterday trope with a side dish of pseudo necrophilia where a woman with the brain of a litteral foetus who don't have periods or body hair (but do have boobs!) find joy and freedom by having a lot of sex with a bunch of men, shoving a apple up her vagina for some reason and joining a brothel (but it's a cool socialist brothel and all the girls looove being there, don't worry guys), all of that written and directed by two men, I'm never gonna trust you guys after this one lmao
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