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#i would argue that this is the one they actually retained the best
yuri-is-online · 19 days
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Hey, Yuri, do you think Yuu would ever run the risk of being put in danger by having a romantic relationship with any of the more high-profile members of the cast? I mean, we’ve got royalty, nobility, celebrities, and the very wealthy attending this school. I’ve just been rotating my brain about how these relationships would work out and Yuu is a pretty vulnerable target without NRC’s security. - 🦐
Hmmmmmm. I have a bunch of thoughts about this actually... I tried ranking them from least to most dangerous if that makes sense? But don't read too deeply into the bullet point placements they were mostly just a stream of consciousness thing.
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Not that Risky (surprisingly)
Leona- we don't really have details about his brother's marriage, but I don't think his family has been shown to be overly keen on forming alliances with outside countries, the Savannah seems more concerned with itself. I don't think his family would be too fussed with his partner being a magicless person from outerspace, if anything this might be seen as a plus to the councilors that are always mocking Leona behind his back as his partner's lack of royal blood makes him even less fit for the throne. Not to mention Leona himself is more than enough to protect Yuu, he's the only royal at the school without a proper retainer (which you could argue is because no one at home likes him) but I doubt his family would let him do that if he was genuinely in danger.
Rook- he's Rook. His family does sound rather sweet from the very very very little we know about him (he also seems like he was kind of sheltered as a kid, something I should chew on sometime) so I doubt they would allow anything too bad to happen to Yuu.
Vil- his main issue is his contract, the Japanese Idol industry is cut throat and often sees things like bans on relationships as part of the contract. Vil doesn't want to risk his career or reputation, he mentions that he himself is a brand and I can't see him wanting to put that pressure on Yuu if they're not up for it. But... there are also celebrities who have really private personal lives and I sort of get the sense Vil is like that? And I don't think he would be too bothered if Yuu didn't want to be super public, it would certainly make it easier to keep you safe.
Idia- S.T.Y.X. might be a gloomy place but no one knows where it is
Medium Danger (danger is real but can be managed)
Jade and Floyd- we don't actually know what their family does, just that it's probably sketchy and that Mama Leech calls them every day, taught them self defense, and just generally seems to worry about them a lot. The danger is very real under the sea, but I also sort of get the sense that messing with the Leech family is skipping the fuck around and going straight to find out.
Azul- his business is going to make him enemies sooner or later, but at least during school Yuu should be more or less safe. Azul's able to keep on top of the students who mean Yuu harm, and Yuu is able to politely ignore their boyfriend's business (or maybe they have a knack for helping?) When you get older I can see Azul's need for a security team expanding, but he'll have money to get the best.
Riddle- ok so. I don't think his mom would try to kill you. But god she would be such a toxic person to manage. I'm actually working on a (very old) request atm that involves discussing what Riddle's mom might do if she finds Riddle with a partner instead of his studies (which I assume she's paying for) especially during his internship. She'd go full scorched earth and get very confused when Yuu doesn't back off like Trey did.
Huston We Have a Problem
Kalim- the amount of assassination attempts my poor boy has already canonically endured... I imagine there are probably going to be more in his future. I can see Yuu needing their own retainer (which could be a fun concept for an oc) to protect them and test their food. When Grim becomes a great mage I'm sure he could help with that actually, wouldn't that be cute?!
MALLEUS- acceptance of humans is virtually non existence in Briar Valley AND his mother hated humans so much she "blessed" her child to only be loved by fae. We don't actually know how the senate works but I imagine they would lose their ever loving shit if Malleus brought home a human as a friend and now he wants to make them his spouse? No. They say no. Time to show them what an absolute monarchy means I guess.
Assuming Yuu isn't in a relationship with Malleus I could see their friendship actually sort of being a boon to them, especially if Yuu was with Kalim or Azul. Pissing of the merchants is one thing, but the King of the Abyss? No thank you, they'll just take their losses and go.
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shrikeseams · 10 months
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'So @corsairspade's post about Celegorm and Orome and luck sent me down a tangent, because--
Okay. Part of the silmarillion that rubs me wrong is that the Valar never seem to experience any actual consequences for their failures and missteps. Their choice to trust Morgoth has disastrous consequences--everywhere outside of Aman*. Their mismanagement of Noldorin politics leads to the kinslaying at Alqualonde and the Doom of the Noldor (and arguably the knock-on dooming of beleriand) while the valar sit tight at home. Sauron gets loose and spends millenia wrecking shit, but that shit is all conveniently far away from Aman. The only time he gets close to Aman, it ends in a genocide--of people that the Valar wouldn't let into Aman in the first place. They stay high and dry and unchanging through the literal re-shaping of Arda.
So. Consequences! I want them. So what if the apparent waning of the Valar's strength across the Ages is actually a direct consequence of their isolationism?
After all, why are the valar in arda? They're there to build it, and then maintain it. They're there to embody their domains. My conception of them (and I know this isn't universal but this is my personal working baseline) is that each ainu's domain of power is their calling. Their reason for existance. It's the lens they perceive the world through, and they derive their strength of existence in the world by perpetually embodying and enacting that calling. Ulmo is defined by the restless motion of the waves. Varda is defined by the light of the heavens and the shining of the stars. Orome is defined by the hunt.
But then they restrict themselves to Aman. They functionally took themselves out of Arda well before the third age. They made a deliberate and conscious choice to restrict the scope of their activity/influence. What if that choice also restricted the scope of their power?
I keep coming back to Orome because. Look. His case of obedience to authority vs obedience to one's own nature/calling feels so egregious. If any valar should have spent the first age in beleriand, it should have been Orome and Tulkas. Orome's calling is The Hunting of Evil. Tulkas only showed up in Arda to fight Melkor! The act of sitting out the fight reduces both of them from forces of active good to... what? Courtly vestigial remnants of their own true natures? You don't stay the best at what you do by avoiding doing it. Maybe the valar don't retain their primordial powers if they don't exercise them. Maybe limiting the scope of their direct influence (to the place it was arguably least needed ) likewise limited the scope of their strengths.
Which leads to a situation where the valar cannot, in fact, defend Aman against Numenor, because they thought that isolation was enough. So they sat out two ages of the world, and when the world came to find them at home they realized too late that their choices would have consequences for themselves, not just others.
*If you try to argue that the loss of the Trees is equivalent to the destruction of a fucking landmass and the actual enslavement of unspecified numbers of people, save your energy. Just take my disappointed look as a given and go find some other post to comment on.
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sysmedsaresexist · 9 months
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Can you explain what made you go from anti endo to neutral? Kinda struggling with the whole "endo's existing as non disordered systems kinda demedicalizes and says that you don't need trauma to be a system".
I struggled a lot with that, too, until I finally came to the conclusion that they're just... Not the same thing. The experiences are so radically different that it's simply not comparable.
What endos say they're experiencing is possible, from a philosophical/self perception standpoint, and there's no point in arguing that. You can't prove or disprove someone's self perception of themselves and their experiences, and there's no point in trying to do that.
But they're not a "system" in the same way that I'm a "system", and it took a VERY long time to find the language to explain my thoughts.
What that means, then, is that the emphasis needs to be on education, clinically and within both communities, and language separation in order to help differentiate the experiences.
Like I said in a post a couple down about what I believe endos are experiencing, I think that there's a significant lack of understanding about how DID works and presents within the endo community. I think if people were more aware of how the experiences are different, and if the language evolved to help with that differentiation, we would have a lot less... Strife between the communities?
I think many endos would find that they're actually DID, and it would be easier for new people coming into the communities to figure out where they belong and fit best.
Education would also just help curb the massive amounts of misinformation and ableism that made me anti endo in the first place.
I was never against the experience, but the comparison. I was against being spoken over about my own disorder. I was against the lies that were being spread about DID and the research into it. I was upset by the implication that my disorder was being boiled down to a broken sense of self perception, when there's physical proof right there.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, those physical differences explain and affect every aspect of my life in ways endogenic systems can't understand-- from the way I perceive, retain and recall information and experiences, to how I express myself, and I was anti 'being spoken over, degraded and dismissed when I tried to talk about that'.
I mean, how many times have we all said, "if they would just stay in their lane, I wouldn't care"?
I'm at that point, but with the added, "okay, I believe your self perception. Still different, though."
And honestly, it's clear that the majority of experts in the field agree with this line of thought. That really helped settle my mind. The endos weren't "winning" some imaginary battle, where my well-being was at stake and held in the balance. I've been really lucky to have and maintain access to several online libraries through the universities I have and currently attend. You can rest your mind on that point.
While endogenic plurality is slowly being acknowledged, the research into DID is solid, and I'm confident now that research will show these differences. This confidence has allowed me to go into conversations with endogenic systems in a less hostile way and I'm seeing the payoff of respectful discourse.
Also, it helped to find out that a surprisingly large number of pro/endos aren't mini Sophies and don't support her.
The world isn't on fire, just that one corner.
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weirdmarioenemies · 1 year
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Name: DK Pass Debut: Mario Kart DS
DK Pass is your average Mario Kart snow course. There is nothing all that special about it. It's not a bad track, by any stretch of the imagination (even if getting run over by a snowball after a blind turn can feel a little cheap), but I do find it a pretty forgettable one.
Anyway. Isn't it weird that this is a Donkey Kong course for some reason?
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Yes, that is literally the entire reason I am talking about this course!
The Mario Kart series has always loved exercising its god-given right to arbitrarily name generic courses after whatever character they so feel like. Toad has a turnpike, Yoshi has a desert, and Donkey Kong has a snowy mountainside! This is Mario Kart after all! They gotta remind people that this series is about these guys:
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But I end up singling out DK Pass because out of all the courses arbitrarily named after characters, it easily feels the most arbitrary. At least Toad's Turnpike had pictures of Toad on some billboards, and Yoshi Desert had the big Yoshi Sphinx! The only thing that makes DK Pass a Donkey Kong course is the name. If you renamed this course to "Cool Cool Mountain" or something, it would have no connection to Donkey Kong whatsoever.
I mean, when you think "Donkey Kong" and "places you'd associate Donkey Kong with" you don't really think "big snowy mountain", do you? Maybe you do. Maybe your only exposure to this character is the existence of DK Pass. I'm not judging.
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DK Pass wasn't always a winter wonderland, though! Early on in development, DK Pass was a more standard mountain track, with green grass and everything. This version of DK Pass is generically named donkey_course, and while it's clearly early on in development here, you could argue that this version may have been a jungle course reminiscent of DK Mountain, or that it could be set on Donkey Kong Island or something.
But at some point in development, a developer said "Hey! We don't have our obligatory Snow Course yet! We can't have a Mario Kart game without an obligatory Snow Course!" And another developer said "You're right. Let's turn this Donkey Kong course into our obligatory snow course. And let's keep it a Donkey Kong course because he has such a lovable face."
It was either that, or they didn't want a course called "DK Mountain" two games in a row. But if that was a concern...
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Then why did they give Donkey Kong ANOTHER snowy mountain course in Mario Kart Wii?! This is DK Summit (known as DK's Snowboard Cross in PAL regions), and while I think its Donkey Kong theming is marginally less arbitrary (this course does have a barrel cannon after all!) it's still weird that there was a period in Mario Kart history where the go-to theme for a Donkey Kong course was "snowy mountaintop".
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Of course, since the release of these courses, we've gotten Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, which aside from being one of the best games of all time, is also all about Donkey Kong Island being frozen over!
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I'm not trying to suggest either of these courses are set on Donkey Kong Island, that would be silly. However! I do think it'd be a fun way to re-theme DK Pass if they ever bring it back again! It would go a long way to make the course feel a lot more memorable, especially since DK Summit does everything it does and does it better. Plus the name would actually make sense now! Bonus!
The only concerns would be places that localize the name as "DK Alps" or "DK Ski Resort," but the original Japanese version is generically "DK Snow Mountain," and that feels like the most important one. Sorry to the other localizers that made perfectly reasonable decisions before this course became Tropical Freeze themed in my imagination!
But I wouldn't get my hopes up, since both these courses are in Mario Kart Tour, and both retain their original designs there. As far as Nintendo is concerned, DK Pass shall remain one of the most bafflingly-named courses forever... And maybe it doesn't really matter all that much! I mean, it'd take someone really pedantic to make such a big deal about this course's name, right?
*slides the rest of this post under the rug*
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webtoon-devourer · 2 months
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i don't think it's necessarily the ruling opinion, but there are no doubt some people upset with the end of the Monster Association arc and how everything was "fixed" with time travel. i would like to express the level on which i disagree with this sentiment.
this dislike of the arc's conclusion likely stems from the general dislike of "it's okay, we can just go back in time!" and "it was all a dream :)" style endings, specifically the idea that these endings, under any circumstances, are cop outs. i disagree. if One Punch Man ended there, with saitama travelling back in time to stop everyone's deaths and his fight with garou, i would be immensely dissatisfied with the ending. i think that would be fair. however, vitally, it does not. those events are only the conclusion to a single arc. it brings us to a similar situation as the ending of the lord boros arc, with a city destroyed but none of the important characters dead. therefore, i would argue that such a conclusion to an arc is par for the course for One Punch Man. but there is also the vital matter of "it was all a dream :)" situations and how, in my opinion, while often used as cop outs, they are not inherently so, and dogmatic insistence against them is detrimental to good writing. having every possibility on the table is important in order to develop a plot in the way best suited to it - it's simply lazy writing which misuses these possibilities.
the vital question here is: was the time travel ending of the Monster Association arc a cop out? no, it was not. in my opinion, the events which were reversed could nearly be considered expositional. the cosmic garou vs saitama fight and the events which caused it tell us a heck of a lot about the characters. that garou retains his humanity even after becoming monsterised - when he sees takeo dead, he realises that his actions have not led the world in the direction he hoped, which was always a fairer existence. (he's really not a bad guy at all.) what saitama is capable of - man caused untold destruction during this fight without much of a care, including nearly destroying the earth if not for blast and co; on the technical side, we are shown that his power increases exponentially in response to another being even beginning to approach his level of power, leading him to easily beat a puppet channeling the power of literal GOD. that saitama actually cares a heck of a lot about genos, and clings to him for his sense of humanity, which he is barely hanging onto. it also gives us a taste of god's power, for future reference. the only reason i don't consider it expositional - that is, a "what if" scenario purely for the audience's benefit, which fleshes out the characters under otherwise inaccessible circumstances - is that genos remembers. therefore, these events actually do impact the plot through him. (there's a chance that blast and co also know, which would also affect the plot, but i'm not sure.)
the ever-increasing stakes are vital. we're still within the time frame of shibabawa's great prophecy of a god-level threat. at first, we thought it was lord boros, then garou, and now it's looking like the god-level threat might literally be god. whose power we have gotten a taste of, thanks to the cosmic garou fight. things are very much not hunky dory. there is still plenty of opportunity for things to go terribly wrong, even if it didn't happen this time. especially now that we know that saitama is barely clinging to his humanity. the deaths of everyone he knew affected him for sure, but particular emphasis was placed on the death of genos, because he's saitama's hinge to humanity. (if you deny this, i will be forced to call into question your reading skills.) this ups the stakes in a unique way. before, the concept of genos' death carried far less weight. genos fans would be upset, naturally, and saitama would be pretty sad, because it was clear before this arc that he cared at least somewhat about genos. but now? we know how saitama will react to genos' death. and it's not in a sane manner. genos' death now carries with it the stakes of the earth potentially being destroyed and saitama losing his sanity. at least personally, i will look upon any close calls genos has in future with greater anxiety. this newfound knowledge that we have only gives more ground to the idea that the final enemy might be saitama. either the final enemy of the earth, if he turns into a villain (quite possibly due to losing his mind), or the final enemy of saitama himself, as he battles his depression and struggles to stay in touch with his humanity.
the time travel ending was not a waste, nor a cop out. i encourage you to look at the bigger picture instead of allowing your instinctive reaction of "time travel clutch bad" to inform your opinions. there is still the problem of time travel now being on the table as a solution, but this can be avoided in various ways. for example, the existence of the alternate universe where everyone died and saitama fought cosmic garou as a parallel universe created by time travel, therefore not really fixing the problem, but merely rerouting it. or having time travel somehow taken off the table as a possibility. for example (this is just conjecture and not supported by canon), if god dies, perhaps time can no longer be manipulated, and saitama will have to make a decision between destroying god or saving everyone but letting god live and continue to manipulate events, a decision which he can never bypass because he ends up at the same crossroads no matter which path he takes leading up to that. i understand the concern, and am somewhat concerned myself, but i trust ONE and Murata not to end the series in a dissatisfying way. also, i think it adds another level of interest, even. if saitama's power is so great that he can manipulate time, that he can do basically anything, then hitting a single roadblock which he cannot bypass regardless of his power would undoubtedly have incredibly interesting effects on him psychologically. he could be glad to not be all-powerful, and have to actually fight for something for once, or - much like the events with cosmic garou - he might realise that finding a difficult opponent (in the form of a fighter or an impossible decision) at the expense of the people he cares about doesn't actually make him happy or excited. that perhaps he should have turned his search for feeling and a reason to live elsewhere, beyond fighting, a long time ago. idk 🤷‍♂️
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hurlumerlu · 3 months
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miw/neo/shin for the ship ask ?
Well obviously you can guess that I love them, I haven't been subtle about it (also thank you for diving in the tag and providing me with good gifsets u.u) I love them individually - though Miw's the best and the guys are both sometimes irritating in their own way, you can't change my mind - and I love them as a trio, but I also love how they (still as a trio) interract with other characters in universe and narratively, and I love every single side of their triangle, though again : Miw & Shin have such a fun and surprisingly meaty dynamic, it's definitely my favourite out of the three.
On that subject, it is really nice to see a polyamorous triad that isn't a perfect triangle but where the non-romantic side is given (roughly) as much weight as the romantic ones. Neo isn't here when Miw and Shin meet, and something sparks without him. There's this shift, in their first bedroom scene, where Miw is bringing forth this cute and nice persona but respond to Shin's attempt at sincerity by deciding that putting her more abrasive self forward is a risk worth taking, and it's pretty pivotal ? After that Shin trusts her even when it's... pretty obvious she's lying, and she reciprocate by simply wanting to spend time with him without expecting anything from him. Like, their friendship started before The Clusterfuck, it could have blossomed on it's own, and it is important from that point on (Shin #1 Miw defender).
That being said, I also enjoy having a f/m/m polycule where the woman isn't the arrow's head. I feel like the very few stories who depict this kind of situations tend to rely on the men being bro but desiring the same woman in a weird attempt to, idk, retain some heterosexuality ? Not that it works. But here it feels like they went out of their way to avoid that, and I am here for it. Everyone gets their turn in the middle, but Neo is the clear linchpin of the throuple. Remove him and they fall appart, because of their respective insecurities. "It's time for this movie to end", say Miw, because why would she saddle the rich boy with her trashy mess ? and Shin doesn't object because why would he bother this cool girl that his crush loves more than him ? The three of them are stupidly self-sacrificial in different ways. But yeah, it's Neo's belief that when it comes to love they are allowed to have it all that keeps them together and it's just sweet.
Speaking of insecurities, I appreciate that it does actually take more than them fucking once for their relationship to be all smooth sailing, and that most of their hangs-up are pretty realistic results of, uh, living in our world. Like, Miw & Neo's poverty and their complicated relationship re: sex-work that they keep throwing in each other's face (Neo straight up calling Miw a whore, Miw arguing that Neo's a bad romantic prospect because he's poor and vulgar and uneducated) ? And you cannot convince me that Shin's conviction that he's just not as important to them as they are to him is partly from experiencing homophobia and seeing himself as the gay option vs Miw/Neo as the normal path anyone would want to take. I mean obviously gangster dad is the biggest obstacle in their path but I like that they also face internal ones. I'm often frustrated by the way polyamory is sometimes presented as the solution to love triangles (especially in fandom spaces) because imo, the neat narrative thing an OT3 does isn't that it solves the problem, but that it creates different ones. The show does it beautifully.
On a more, idk, bird-eyed view perspective ? I greatly enjoy just watching them blaze accross Thailand ruining lives without meaning to. The Mae/Phon/Ter mirrorverse doomed trio, Neo's boss, that guy Oat, the hotel manager and her family, Neo's brother, Luang I guess, even arguably Vanika... never has a polycule been such an ill-omen. Incredible Natural Disaster Energy. Three will be free and yes that is a threat.
UGH there was something else I wanted to talk about but I forgot what it was, I didn't expect this to get this long and also I'm sick and my brain isn't working super well right now. Anyway : never forget Neo fucked the step-son right after the step-mom. Or that time when Miw flirted with Neo's brother, while Neo watched them with jealousy, while Shin watched HIM with jealousy. Terrible work, team, eat some pot-brownies and then hit the showers.
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heyclickadee · 11 months
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Tech’s Alive, Part 6: The Matter of Weight (cw for discussions of death, suicide mention, genocide mention)
AKA, why “Tech should stay dead for the stakes” and “Tech should stay dead so the moment he sacrifices himself retains its weight” are arguments I will not be entertaining in this household. And by this household, I mean my blog. But also probably my actual apartment here in real space.
So, this isn’t really an argument for why Tech is alive, per se. It’s more just me trying to counter the two most common arguments I see people making for why he should be dead, whether the person making the argument thinks he’s dead or not.
Stakes:
The first argument, that Tech should stay dead for the sake of the “stakes” is, to me, the most nebulous. On this here interwebs we tend to talk about “stakes” purely in the negative; everyone’s going to die, the villains are going to win, everything is going to be sad forever, etc. But stakes in a story are really just about potential consequences—what could happen if the characters succeed, and what could happen if they fail. And while it’s true that killing a character can raise the stakes in a story, it’s best accomplished by killing off a secondary character, and it can really only raise them in a story in which death was never a potential consequence.
Death has always been a potential consequence for these characters, not just for failure, but just for existing in the world in which they live. Scratch that, dying is quite literally what they were made to do. This is a series in which two genocides have already taken place—that of the Jedi, then of the Kaminoans—and which has us watching a third ongoing—that of the clones themselves. Almost every new named clone we’ve met has died, and died violently. The clone force 99 characters have all almost died about once an episode so far, and every time they do, the show tends to treat it as a serious close call.
So killing off Tech doesn’t raise the potential consequences of failure to “death” because that potential was always there. Killing off a secondary but known clone character like, say, Howser could have made heightened that risk more effectively. Heck, Mayday’s death does a better job of raising that risk for Crosshair, for example; the only reason Crosshair wasn’t the one who died in the avalanche was was because Mayday noticed the rock and pushed Crosshair out of the way. Killing off Tech and leaving him dead, by contrast, would actually, in a way, lower the stakes—because, again, the risk of “potential consequences” is gone (it’s just reality now), AND stakes are also about what could happen if the characters succeed and get what they want. Meaning that if Tech’s gone for good, the potential positive consequences are much, much lower. The positive consequence of the clone force 99 family reuniting—the thing the story keeps making us want—would just be gone. There’s only so far you can ratchet the spring of tension before it snaps.
That said, when some people argue for Tech’s death in favor of raised stakes, I don’t think the above is really what they’re talking about. They’re mostly making a somewhat edgelordy argument about death needing to feel real in the star war and darkness being the “mature” option. Let’s say I bought that argument. Let’s say I actually thought “the reality of death” and “maturity” were valid reasons to kill off a main character. Let’s even push aside all the reasons why I think killing off any one of the bad batchers permanently would break the story. Let’s do this thought experiment. Killing off Tech in this season and leaving him dead still doesn’t work, specifically because so much time this season was spent on developing and helping the other characters to understand him better.
You can spend time building up a character and developing them for the sole purpose of killing them and giving them a send-off if your show has an unserialized format. Think Gray’s Anatomy or Bones; unserialized shows are just taking the characters and putting them in different combinations or scenarios until the end of time without really worrying about arcs or narrative threads, so in that format spending time with a character before killing them off makes sense. Spending an entire season of a serialized show building up a character and their relationships, using them to develop certain themes and narrative threads, using them to push certain parts of the plot forward, and then killing them off in which a way which does nothing to resolve any of those arcs, themes, or narrative threads, though? That’s just a waste of time. Of limited time—because fully serialized shows have an ending. I’d be more willing to buy into this line of argument if it was Wrecker, not Tech, simply because he hasn’t had the kind of development Tech has.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d still absolutely hate it and would see perma-deathing Wrecker as just as story breaking as perma-deathing Tech. But if we’re doing the thought experiment where I’m talking about stakes the way some people seem to be doing, I could see it working better in that context than perma-deathing Tech. People can make that argument about Tech’s “death,” sure, but what they’re really advocating for is bad writing. And hey! Maybe we’ll get to the end of the show and it will turn out to have been badly written! I just…don’t really buy that right now.
(Of course, this is all moot anyway, because I fundamentally disagree with the definition of stakes being used by some people making this argument and see this line of thinking as somewhat edgelordy bologna anyway. But! Moving on.)
Wanting Tech’s Sacrifice to Have Weight:
So, I’m more sympathetic to this line of thinking. I don’t agree with it, but I can kind of respect where it’s coming from. I’ve mostly seen this from people who really hate the idea that Tech is dead, but don’t see a way for the moment in which Tech sacrifices himself to maintain its emotional weight if it turns out he’s alive, and who want the writers to respect Tech’s choice. And I get that. I’ve watched more than one show that had some big emotional moment that got completely ruined by being undone or having some other development come up later on. So it’s not that I think this argument is invalid; I just don’t think it applies in this specific case.
Because…okay, first, when it comes to the writers respecting Tech’s choice, I want us to think really hard about what he’s choosing to do. Because he’s not choosing to die. Not exactly. He’s choosing to do something extremely risky that will probably get him killed, and he knows it, in order to save his family. And I know it maybe doesn’t seem like there’s a distinction there, but there is one, and it’s important, because—I mean—listen to that last heavy sigh he gives before his last line. He doesn’t want to do it. He doesn’t want to die. He just doesn’t see any way out for the others if he doesn’t risk it. (Also I feel like the “the writers need to respect his choice argument” really kind of…not…real great bad, actually, it’s real bad guys, even if he was choosing to die, specifically, because that’s way too close to advocating for suicide for comfort. I don’t think that’s what anyone is intending by this argument but….)
Second, I don’t agree that Tech’s “death” is what gives that moment its emotional weight. Let’s say that Tech does die here. Let’s say he really isn’t coming back. In that case, his death is kind of meaningless, because he was going to die anyway. If we’re saying he died, then it was either all of them die, or just him. Which means that the thing that gives that moment weight can’t be his death, because he had no way out of dying, if we’re looking at it that way and accepting that he’s just gone for good.
The thing that gives that moment weight—just a warning, I’m about to get tooth-achingly schmaltzy here, and I’m not sorry—is love. It’s everyone in the batch’s love for Tech shattering into a million little pieces of grief and horror as they watch him fall. It’s Tech loving his family so damn much he refuses to even consider letting them fall with him. It’s Tech, not knowing that he’s a character in a story, looking at the situation, knowing what he’s about to do will probably kill him—because if he wasn’t a character in a story, it probably would—knowing that if he does it he’ll probably never see Crosshair again, never see Echo or Hunter at peace, never get to hear Wrecker laugh again, never get to see Omega grow up, and still choosing to take the fall for them because there’s no chance he’d let them take the same risk. That’s why that moment has meaning. And because that’s where the meaning comes from, I can’t see how that meaning or weight would evaporate if he came back.
I mean—let’s say you were waking down the street with a friend. You step out in front of a bus, purely by accident. Your friend notices and pushes you out of the way, and in so doing steps in front of the bus, gets hit, and miraculously survives. Does their survival do anything to decrease the fact that they were willing to get hit by a bus for you? Are we really going to argue “death, or it doesn’t count” when it comes to self-sacrifice?
Furthermore, the “Tech has to stay dead for his sacrifice to have weight” argument seems to be made at least partly from the point of view that “dead” and “fully abled” are the only two options. They’re not. Other people have covered the possibility that Tech will come back with a physical disability that he has to adjust to way better than I ever could, but that’s a very real consequence the show could deal with.
I don’t really have a conclusion to this. Basically, while I have seen the stakes and weight arguments floating around, I don’t really see either of them as valid narrative arguments for keeping Tech dead, and I wanted to explain why.
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boyfridged · 9 months
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What do you think of a storyline wherein Jason stays with Talia and works under her instead of going back to Gotham as Red Hood? I was really interested in their dynamic (minus that one scene from Lost Days) and wanted to see more of it. I think if they pushed for the Son of the Demon storyline, Talia's longing for her son could be a good premise for her further involvement with Jason's story. They'd still retain that same mutually beneficial relationship, but now in the sense of a mother gaining a son, and a son finally having a mother. Though I wonder if Jason would be amicable to work under the League.
And what are your thoughts about Jason and Damian's relationship in general? Tbh I'm a huge fan of the concept of Damian growing up with Jason at his side like the one from Young Justice. I think these two's dynamic is severely underused in the comics so I'm curious how you'd tackle writing them.
oh i have news for you.
and a very long proper answer under the cut (with some additional criticism of talia’s portrayal in the lost days in general.) 
i have to start with a preamble: this is a sentiment that i hear a lot, but i don’t agree that talia & jason’s relationship in the lost days is well written for the most part (even if we exclude the last couple of pages). the beginnings are strong and would go well with the general premise of it happening after son of the demon, i agree. still, what follows once jason regains his cognitive prowess after the pit is… questionable at best.
tldr: i genuinely fail to see any reason for which talia as we know her until now would enable jason to such an extent. i know that people usually go for explaining it by virtue of her actually trying to steer him away from gotham; or that she perhaps knows that it would be easy to lose jason’s trust at this point. you could also maybe argue that she wants to support him in his… autonomy? 
still. with who talia is at her core (or who she was… before 9/11 and all the following mischaracterisation. excluding lexcorp era of course, lexcorp era my beloved) she would simply not stand for the invention of the red hood, for soo many reasons. most notably because killing for her is not dogmatic; it’s a dirty job that she might have to engage once in a while, or something she will do in a spur of a moment to protect someone; but she doesn’t think it’s an ultimate solution to anything. and jason’s modus operandi as the red hood is based on the opposite idea.
also, if we’re going the route established by son of the demon; i don’t even think talia would want to grant him that kind of training knowing the state jason is in. maybe if there’s no other option; maybe as a gesture of love to ensure he can protect himself; but as i said before, she does not believe there’s anything particularly noble in being deadly. and i’d say she would believe that jay, being a child, should not be in this position. if we conceive it all as a situation in which there’s really little other choice – okay, let’s say she provides him with teachers. but to provide him with that many resources for a mission that is very much suicidal…? why would she do that.
she has so much to offer jay. i talked about it here, but i think it is that she does not believe in absolutes that she could teach him. it’s her relentless strive for freedom and the way she manages to build her identity (largely. not completely, because that’s impossible) outside of the influences of her father and batman. and it’s not merely a compromise nor a contrarian to their stance; it’s her own way of seeking justice.
anyway. so you ask about jason working under talia. i think talia would want jason to have something else; something new. still, given the circumstances and jay’s own will, it could be the best option for them to remain together for a while, and i don’t doubt they would form a familiar relationship (which is also very appealing to me because it's a kind of chosen family trope that i enjoy in the title in general; this is also how i see dick & jay's relationship: they both have an initial link to bruce, but it's their own decision that makes them care for one another.) and occasionally team up. except in this vision i would still like to think that talia would respect him and his autonomy enough that it would be more of a partnership. 
the question of whether jason would want to remain in the league is a whole different question to me since such a huge part of talia’s development is that she wants an out. so in my mind, if they’re in the league together, talia does not have much control over the situation herself and she is mainly protecting him doing her best to make sure that jason is not indoctrinated.
because i do think that despite jay’s brightness, will and distaste for authority, he could get indoctrinated. this is how cults work after all; everyone can fall in as long as they are suitably isolated and “broken” by methods such as lack of sleep. they also tend to coerce the subject of the brainwashing into thinking that they are the ones “taking control” in their lives, which jay is desperately looking for. and jason is also searching for something radical, no matter how terrifying and unreasonable it is. howbeit, it's not all that interesting storyline to tell; i like to think he gets dangerously close to it, but never quite completely broken. and i think a huge part for why he manages to stay out of it should be talia.
there are some other versions of the story possible wherein making him stay in loa for a time would make sense; if talia’s and damian are there, then he could stay for their sake. or perhaps in order to get further resources and contacts for his mission, using it for his own advantage.
and since i mentioned damian here: well- i’m not a huge fan of canon damian. or, let me reiterate; he does induce my sympathy and i like him personality-wise, but he’s also such a huge catalyst for character assassination of everyone involved: talia, bruce— that i find it very difficult to enjoy any story with him in the centre. the only possible way to preserve his his canon backstory without it happening is, i think, if talia was not aware he was in the league at all (here following the premise of her giving the child away at birth.) i still think that when possible, jay should be shown to care about him, primarily because damian's a kid and i can't possibly express how much i hate content in which jason is cruel to children.
and i do enjoy playing around with what-ifs concerning these 3 characters. i actually have 2 more wips about them… one inspired by mother (2023) which is a remarkably bad movie but did inspire me to write a story in which damian got adopted and only after 13 years talia has to get involved as he is in danger (it’s also a story in which talia is working on dismantling the league. and jason shows up for a while.) and another one in which they all live together during lexcorp era. 
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seraph-of-sizes · 3 months
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ahhh another genshin g/t enjoyer!! of course naturally i must humbly request g/t hcs of my two favourite characters, Thoma and Ningguang!! they both seem so sweet but in very very different ways LMFAO
Request: Thoma + Ningguang hcs
Thoma: He’s super underrated! I have fond memories of a Thoma main helping me in lower ARs.
Giant/human size:
Takes being a bridge between Inazuma culture and the rest of the world much more seriously, since he also bridges tiny and human culture. Need to smuggle your tiny family in/out of the country of storms? Thoma’s your best bet. 
His skills at sowing not only apply to animals, but tinies as well. Most tinies near Inazuma Proper have clothes designed by Chiori but sewn by Thoma. He actually was really bad at it at first, but after befriending the tinies of the Kamisato estate (Like Sayu, and some older retainers) he got it quickly.
Housework from Thoma not only includes the normal, sweeping, dusting, etc, but also repairing any damage to the estate’s walls that could cause discomfort to the tinies within. He will politely (read: passive aggressively) ask guests to be sure to wear slippers inside. He frames it as a respect for the estate, but it’s mostly to ensure the quiet atmosphere and not disturb anyone that lives below the flooring.
Tiny/borrower size:
When the Kamisato siblings first found him, he was terrified. Now he trusts them completely, to the extent some other tinies grew worried he had been brainwashed. He’s always quick to assuage these type of fears, he has a lot of freedom since he has the protection of one off the Tri-Commissions. He always seems to laugh when he talks about his freedom, the irony of living in one of the most restrictive countries and being native to Mondstadt.
He works more closely with Yoimiya since he can’t cover much distance on his own, and he’s always more than willing to help her in whatever ways he can in return.
He may not be able to clean the entire estate on his own at his size, but he makes up for it by making it absolutely spotless, coming in after each general clean to be super particular.
Ningguang: Actual queen, One day I will get her skin and then build her a DPS kit.
Giant/human size:
Pretty much business as normal, she does employ a fair amount of tinies for various tasks. Most tinies will move near Liyuen schools when their children become around 12 years old, hoping that they will be picked to join those that live in the Jade Chamber. Of course most tinies picked are for reconnaissance or to help with things of finer details like clothing and jewelry.
She adores learning about tiny culture, finding the lack of Mora in their lives and instead the use of bartering defining their ‘wealth’. She often has a few tinies on her planning teams to un-assign monetary value to a task or item, which helps weigh the true need for whatever it is.
Keqing is one of her favorites to go to for such things, she often riles up the Yuheng by placing an abstract monetary value to something and seeing what the tiny appropriates its value to truly be. One of her favorites from such arbitrary discussions was the price of Mora itself. Keqing then argued until she was blue in the face that Mora is worthless, and backed by nothing but a dead god. Ningguang hadn’t laughed that hard in ages.
Tiny/borrower size:
Some still believe Ningguang should have never been able to get to the point of Tianquan of Liyue, after all how can a tiny become so affluential in the City of Commerce? Especially when it is well-known that tinies do not prescribe to the same notion of rich/famous that humans do, most merely content to live peaceful and uneventful lives.
Ningguang loves fucking with those people in particular, mostly by undermining their businesses or feeding them bad information. (Through a third party of course, she would never sully her own image like that)
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sunder-the-gold · 6 months
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I don't understand Laterano's exile policy for the Infected
While there are some issues on which I'll defend Laterano, or at least argue that people should consider their perspective, I can't defend them on this one.
Laterano has no apparent reason to be ignorant to how hard it is for the Infected to infect others.
The only knowledge their government seems to suppress is anything related to the nature of The Law as a machine (which no one but the pope seems to know anyway), and anything related to their origins as Sarkaz (which I can't remember if even the pope suspected), and possibly the full details of what a Fallen Sankta is.
With freedom of information exceeded only by the Durin, with internal security and societal trust matched only by the Durin, with a lack of monetary corruption, with all the wealth they have, and with a survival-based incentive to stay ahead of the academic curve on Terra, Laterano MUST have one of the best primary and secondary education systems on Terra.
And Terra's medical science has already determined there is little to no risk for the Infected spreading Oripathy until their corpses disintegrate.
Additionally, building and maintaining public facilities and services to accommodate for the death and impending explosions of the Infected should be extremely easy for the well-oiled bureaucratic machine of the Lateran state.
[Guiding Ahead] actually showed us how efficient they are at handling the untimely death of a total social recluse. Handling the corpse of a monitored Infected should be simple in comparison, especially given the level of cooperation Lateran citizens show with their civil servants.
The moral absurdity of the exile is only slightly mitigated by the fact that the exiles remain full legal citizens, with the government checking in on them to make sure they're not being oppressed wherever they've made their home away from home. But paying to monitor and protect citizens in exile should be just as expensive as accommodating them at home; probably more so.
Laws
There are three kinds of laws in Laterano:
"The Law" itself. The secret machine that enforces its own unspoken, unwritten dictates.
The law chosen by the state, which the majority of the people accept without revolt.
And the law that the people demand the government enforce.
The Sarkaz ban could easily be either the second or the third. The highest levels of the original state wanted to keep any Sarkaz from accidentally revealing the true origins of the Sankta, but the modern people also hate and fear the Sarkaz.
But I don't see why the Infected ban would be either.
The People
The Sankta do not fear feeling the emotions of other Sankta suffering from injury and disease; they maintain public hospitals. They have funeral homes and mourning practices.
Also, Laterans show no discomfort at all with authorized, scheduled explosions. They regularly blow up public property with Originium for fun. Controlling for the explosions of the dead Infected would be far less fun, but no less safe.
The continued existence of their civilization depends on the mining, refining, and consumption of Originium. Everything from maintaining Laterano's mobility as a nomadic city, to fueling their factories, to serving as the accelerant for their explosives and the ammunition of their precious Guardian Guns.
Even with the world's best safety practices and protections for miners and gunsmiths, accidents happen. That's how Arene became Infected and exiled -- his parents either made a lapse in their safety practices or something completely unexpected happened in the course of an experiment.
The Secret
We have at least two Infected Sankta at Rhodes Island -- Adnachiel and Arene.
Neither one of them show any sign of Sarkaz heritage because of their Oripathy. They haven't Fallen, they retain full halo-empathy, they could use Guardian Guns if they asked Executor to conduct the test for them, they haven't grown horns or tails...
And on top of that, Ambriel shows absolutely no signs of discomfort in their presence. But then, she joined Rhodes Island in the first place, and no Sankta would do that if they were afraid of Oripathy.
The Law
The Pope suggests that if the Law has a goal or agenda, it is to ensure the survival of the Sankta.
Could the Law be the reason that the government exiles the Infected? Perhaps it sees their proximity as too much of a threat?
But the Law apparently does nothing to punish or discourage the Sankta from accepting Liberi as fellow citizens.
(I doubt the Law is actively refusing to transform Liberi into Sankta. Because if the Law truly wanted to ensure the survival of the Sankta, there would be few better ways to do that than to transform as many willing converts as possible into Sankta, or at least to allow non-Sankta to have Sankta children.)
We know that Sankta can become Infected in Laterano without an immediate response from the Law. Arene did not Fall. Though it is possible that the earliest generations of Sankta noticed that Infected Sankta who remained too close to the Law would eventually Fall.
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adobe-outdesign · 2 years
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Thoughts on milcery and its evo’s two million forms
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Milcery is... fine; nothing special but certainly not bad. I think the best thing about it is actually its animation, which is probably one of my all-time favorites in the series; the single drop moves throughout each of the splash waves in a circular pattern, which looks super cool and appropriately fluid.
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Other than that, compared to Alcremie, it doesn't really stand out that much; it's just a splash of cream with a face on it, though I do like the pupil-less eyes. I get what they were going for with it, as you have to mix (spin) whipping cream to form stiff peaks of whipped cream, but ultimately it feels like it exists solely for Alcremie's gimmick. I'll go into this more later, but I think my ideal situation would be to just drop Milcery and give Alcremie an evolution instead. As is, it's serviceable.
Side note: both the English and Japanese names of this line reference magic/alchemy for no real reason. I kind of wonder if the beta Milcery was supposed to be a cauldron or something, and Alcremie's pointy top was supposed to be a witch hat, kind like how Murkrow was more witchy originally. That's just speculation on my part though.
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I do question if "vaguely human-shaped creature with dress" was the most interesting way to handle a pile of sentient cream, but regardless, Alcremie's pretty sweet (pun very much intended). Design-wise it's nice and simple; the sweet accents on the "hair" with a matching eye color and some swirls to show the shape of the cream. I think I would've liked it without any mouth (and maybe any arms), but it at least has a cute, somewhat oblivious expression instead of the standard smile that adds some personality.
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The other noteworthy thing about Alcremie is the fact that it has 63(!) forms, 7 sweets to mix in and 9 different flavors. The forms are fun and add a lot to the design, though I don't know if I have any strong preferences towards any of them. For me personally, I'd rather have less forms but more distinction between them, like Vivillion, than 60+ forms that all look pretty similar.
My favorites out of the forms would be the ruby swirl with strawberries (similar to the standard art, but I like having the darker points on the body, as it helps break it up a bit), and the caramel swirl with flowers (the most delicious looking and one of my fav colors).
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Least fav is probably any of the star-sweet ones just because their eyes look mildly possessed with the lighter color. Overall, however, none of them are really bad (aside from maybe the shiny. black cream just looks moldy).
Also, side note: why is Alcremie all-female? It's a sentient pile of cream, shouldn't it be genderless? I feel like Gamefreak's had a bad habit of taking anything vaguely "feminine" (read: dress) looking and making it all female. I guess you could argue milk only comes from female animals, but Alcremie is made of milk/cream, it's not the thing producing it in the first place. It's not a big deal, just head-scratching.
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G-max Alcremie is interesting, because most g-maxes are just the same Pokemon but bigger, without really advancing their original theme. However, g-max Alcremie here actually does logically continue things, going from cream to an entire cake with cream frosting. This makes it a lot better than most g-maxes... almost too much better, in fact, because the line feels incomplete when the g-max gimmick is inevitably stripped away from it.
Going back to what I was saying earlier: what I would've liked to see is Milcery dropped entirely; you could instead have a "plain"-flavor Alcremie that you do a permanent form change with instead of deciding upon evolution. Then, have Alcremie evolve into a small cake that retains the flavor and sweets of the Alcremie, and have that evolution have this g-max, to tie everything together. That way, when the g-max is removed, the line still feels complete.
That aside, visually speaking, having the Alcremie serve as a cake-topped of sorts is cute, and I like how all the sweets are incorporated into it (I would've liked to see there be a g-max for each form obvs, but this is a good way to handle it if that wasn't on the table). It's hard to see here, but I also like the tweaks to Alcremie's design, such as the bow, the shape of the arms, and the swirly hair.
So overall: Milcery has a very fun animation but an otherwise plain design that doesn't really stand out. Alcremie is pretty solid, and the different forms are fun even if they're a bit too similar. The g-max is one of the best out there, and I would've liked to see an evolution to go with it so the concept isn't lost when the gimmick is. Overall, a fun (and tasty) little line.
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josefavomjaaga · 10 months
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“If my soul was not more elevated than the throne...”
All of Napoleon’s family members whom he had placed in high positions were in a similar position: they owed their thrones or titles to the emperor and were expected by said emperor to do his bidding because of that. Yet they of course also wanted to do what was best for their subjects and to gain some footing in their new domains, to be esteemed by “their” people and to make themselves popular. Joseph’s position in Spain surely was the least enviable, and yet I cannot bring myself to sympathize with him in the same way I can sympathize with Eugène, or with Murat.
The passage translated from a letter below helped make me understand why:
Joseph to Napoleon, Madrid, 31 August 1810
[…] In my current position, I need absolute confidence, Sire. If I do not have that, absolute retirement, whatever you wish.
That’s about the 8th or 9th time Joseph expresses his wish to quit the throne since he has put his ass on it in 1808. And he’s still here. Just saying. “Absolute confidence” of course means: I want to act as I see fit, without interference from Paris. Except for the troops, you can leave me those.
Your interests, Sire, and I dare say your glory, do not allow you to prolong any further the shameful agony of one of your brothers on the throne of Spain, exposed, in such a high place, to the mockery of your enemies and the contempt of his friends.
I feel like Joseph is trying to exploit Napoleon's insecurities here. Napoleon was always very careful not to give the "old powers" any reason to consider him as beneath them. When he scolded one of his family members he often argued along the lines of “you’re making us the laughing stock of Europe”. So Joseph now says: If you brother does not have the aboslute power of a true king, people will laugh about our family.
If my soul was not more elevated than the throne, I would accept the help that they want to give me, [...]
Hold a second! Joseph admits that people actually want to help him? 😮
[...] I would wait for time, and in the meantime I would live on the protections of my inferiors; for Marshal Soult declares in Andalusia that he loves me, as well as the Andalusian nation [emphasis in the original], where he has consented to establish himself. This is what a royal commissioner from Seville wrote to me; so we could come to an arrangement with him: Kellermann and many others would not be intractable either. But no, Sire, I will only ever come to an arrangement with you.
And here it comes. “O, sure I could try to arrange myself and find a modus vivendi with the people around me, as those are actually quite willing. But I don’t want to! I do not want to negotiate with them, I want to command them, so give me that command!” For a diplomat - that Joseph passed for during the Consulate - this is a highly suprising attitude. Also of note: the term “inferiors” [mes inférieurs].
If it does not suit you to keep me on the throne of Spain in the way that a man of honour, your brother, should be there, then make up your mind, and be sure that in my retirement I will be able to believe that the Emperor has made a great mistake in depriving himself of a man inspired by my feelings; [...]
Keep me on the throne, but on my conditions. Why? Because I am of such indispensable value to you due to my “feelings”.
[...] but I will always retain a good and tender feeling for my brother, because in the end he will not have degraded my character by keeping me in a position unworthy of me; and by restoring me to my original obscurity, he will preserve for me my self-respect and the conviction that he will not be able to remember me in the distant intervals when his thoughts, free from business, will be able to dwell on his first affections, without being forced to admit that he has not found men, in the long trade he has had with so many, who deserved more, and perhaps as much, his true esteem and his complete confidence.
Or kick me, your dearest bestest brother, the only person who truly loves you, back into oblivion. I totally will not mind [*in a breaking voice, intermingled with audible sniffing and sobbing*], I will always remain your loving brother, and one day, when I’ve died of secret grief, you will tell yourself what a huge mistake you made and that you had no better friend than your dearest bestest brother whom you’ve treated so shamefully...
So, I’m obviously exaggerating. But this is how Joseph comes across to me in many of his letters. He’s the embodiment of entitledness. He’s king like Murat, but unlike Murat who has a long list of services rendered to Napoleon to merit such a position, Joseph has done little for the empire except cash in his monthly treatment as prince of France. He owes his position entirely to the fact he belongs to Napoleon’s family, but unlike Eugène who is very self-conscious about it and does whatever he can to belatedly merit it, Joseph sees his elevation as something he has a right to, treats everybody around him (and among them people who have done decidedly more for France and Napoleon than he ever would) as “inferiors” and is only ready to discuss matters with Napoleon.
Following my first impulse, in Napoleon’s place I’d tell Joseph to stuff his elevated soul back into his arse and get some work done...
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ghostlymonade · 10 months
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Three Hopes, The Best Way to Experience Fódlan
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That might be a pretty bold statement, especially given the rather lukewarm response most Warriors-style spinoffs inspire in fans. However, I'm here to tell you exactly why I think, (writing-wise anyway), Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is the best way to experience the world of Three Houses. Note: This post will be based on my playthrough of the two Blue Lions routes for the most part, both for brevity and fairness!
I’m assuming if you did choose to read more, you’re familiar, at least in passing, with Fire Emblem. But for those who don’t know, a brief summary: the Fire Emblem series is a longrunning tactical RPG franchise which finally found a well-deserved audience with the thirteenth game, Fire Emblem Awakening. Since that overwhelming success, Fire Emblem has been cementing itself, game after game, as one of Nintendo’s exclusive heavy-hitters. And I would argue the entry that truly brought Fire Emblem to its current status is the first Switch title, Fire Emblem: Three Houses. While it retained many of the popular features of prior games, there was a notable tone shift. This was Fire Emblem’s big Switch entry, and it was definitely a bold swing. Fódlan feels storied, complex, and rife with intrigue in a way I haven’t really found a Fire Emblem setting to be since the Tellius duology. At every corner, there’s more to learn, and you can feel the weight of that history bear down on everyone in the Officers’ Academy. While there are definitely aspects of Three Houses that feel rushed or glossed over, few would argue the worldbuilding isn’t up to snuff.  Where I feel Three Houses misses the mark somewhat is two key aspects: the character writing and trajectory of the story. These sound like huge, thorny issues, but hear me out; Three Hopes does it better.  Everyone who’s played both games is certainly in consensus that Hopes learned from its predecessor in some important ways (namely, no more spending three hours between levels running around the monastery), but I rarely see discussed how the writers handled Three Hopes’ story, and I think I can guess part of the reason...
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Ah, well. I can’t force anyone to play it through, but I would argue the writing of Three Hopes is a lot more thoughtful than most give it credit for, and that between the two games, it’s the better way to experience the excellent world of Fódlan. We’ll go through two key issues that I, and quite a few others, had with Three Houses, and how they’re tackled in Hopes. What do you see in him, girl?
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Despite Byleth having the approximate appeal, charisma and personality of a damp sock, all of Fódlan falls over itself to tell them how amazing they are. It’s been a recurring problem with the player avatar in recent Fire Emblem games, but I argue it feels more egregious with Byleth than any other. They’re the Ashen Demon, a mercenary with inhuman skill. They’re a capable professor, there’s something about them that draws in all three lords, instantly... Lacking any demonstration of the why or the how in action, it feels like the worst kind of player pandering, almost nonstop. And what bothered me most was the talk of Byleth’s mercenary prowess, constantly. Given we never see them in battle acting like their Ashen Demon namesake, I hated hearing every single character in supports and cutscenes speak of their mercenary prowess with such quivering awe. So when this trailer dropped?
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Consider me hyped. And the game’s intro did not disappoint. Not only did we see Byleth earning their title, I also appreciated the intro truly establishing Shez as a mercenary. They’re part of a company, they actually talk about having to work for a living...it’s still the Fire Emblem brand of mercenary, complete with Honour™️ and hard limits on what they’ll do, but they felt more of a mercenary in the first ten minutes of Three Hopes than Byleth did in ten hours of the first game. And that persists throughout the game, too. Shez talks about sleeping outside, about the reality of working a job where people can die any minute- for lack of a better term, they show a real mercenary attitude. Behold, My Edge-elgard! (Credit to Kotor for the meme)
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Three Houses has a tone issue, at times. What I definitely enjoyed was its refinement of the fledgling idea that Fates played around with: War sucks, actually, and it sucks for everyone because these are real people killing each other. Having three nations that aren’t ‘The Nice Ones’ and ‘Nightmare Before Christmas-themed War Crimes’ certainly helps, and I think introducing the player to each nation through getting to neutrally meet and grow close to some future key individuals before they launch into any huge conflict is a much better setup than Fates’ attempt to make Nohr’s leadership seem less evil through Corrin’s family being nice...to Corrin.  However, I believe that at times, it swung a bit too far into Angstland, and lost its way home. Azure Moon is a great example of this, often feeling as though things get worse, then they get worse, then they get worse. Contrast this with Azure Gleam, the Three Hopes route. While war does, indeed, still suck, there’s a distinct feeling that things can and will get better, so long as the team can pull together and keep fighting. They have victories and losses. One moment that particularly stuck out to me was this conversation with Felix:
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He’s always critiquing Dimitri to his face, but it’s clear that Felix holds a lot of concern for him, even if he conceals it as purely being concerned about the future of Faerghus. And Dimitri does need that voice, to an extent. When you look at the rest of his circle: Dedue will die for him and follows Dimitri more or less anywhere, regardless of what he does or the reason why. Sylvain and Ingrid both know he’s been through a lot and try to take it easy on him. Felix is the only member of this close circle who seems willing to say anything negative to his face. In this sense, you could say Dimitri has the healthiest circle of any of the three lords. Claude has a goofy group of chill friendos, and Edelgard has Hubert, who is ride or die no matter how often she tries to kill God. It was a sweet little moment, and a fascinating insight into where Felix sees himself in this group. Azure Gleam is full of this kind of thoughtful writing, and it makes playing through the darker periods of the story feel like it’s worth doing, rather than giving the impression that the only good choice is to put the game down and take Byleth’s horrible influence three million miles away from these poor kids. I don’t just say that for comedic effect- it’s tacitly implied by the two games’ radically different stories that Byleth chasing support ranks and engaging in waifu-motivated war crimes is part of why Three Houses ends up so much darker than Three Hopes. Shez has a distinct, headstrong personality, and they aren’t afraid to offer their opinion. Not falling down a canyon for five years helps. In a sense, the two issues play into each other. If Byleth was better defined as a character, it might be easier to understand and believe their motivations throughout the war arc especially. If the war arc finds its way out of the angst, even for a day trip, it’s easier to believe Byleth can have a real, positive impact on how things turn out. This is a big part of why I think Three Hopes is the best way to experience Fódlan. The title is, admittedly, clickbait-y, as I think Three Hopes truly shines in the context of having played Three Houses first. But when taking both games together, it’s fascinating to see how differently things can go, when the writers had a chance to explore their world from a new angle, and I for one, look forward to seeing more of this alternate timeline style writing in Fire Emblem in the future! Hey, they’re already doing it in Heroes.
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hookedtheghoul · 2 years
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“We might get Evilhausen! But how?”
I’ll tell you how. First things first: This leans on Sonny The Jobber’s video The Dark Fathers Curse... Malakai Black Mist Theory (AEW). Watching it is not mandatory but still advised if you are not familiar with Malakai Black’s character or the black mist. Also yes. This will be a long one. Stretch a little, unclench your jaw, and top up your beverage of choice.
Danhausen, in all his adorkable glory, is a flawed character. He is very nice, very evil, and he has pointed out himself how he is very nice only because no one roots for someone who is just evil. And why does he want people to root for him? Danhausen’s main motivation is greed and his end goal is world domination through wealth. He is the – thinly disguised – embodiment of this cardinal sin.
(One day I will probably expand all this towards Hook, who could make a heel turn and become the cold-hearted handsome devil he’s described as – fun fact: the demon associated with the cardinal sin of pride? Lucifer.)
I couldn’t begin to explain the genius that is the character of Malakai Black, so at this point, if you haven’t already, watch Sonny the Jobber’s video linked in the beginning of this post. It goes into detail on how the character came to be and how it has evolved into what it is today. What I want to add to this theory is that not only is Black able to use the black mist, but the other House of Black members are capable of doing so as well, and it seems to retain its corrupting effect. From this we can gather that even now that Black himself is absent, the black mist can be utilized by the other members – it is clear that the House still exists without its leader.
As per Sonny The Jobber’s video, the effects of the black mist depend on the life one has led up to that point. While we can all agree that until now the modern version of Danhausen has been a relatively harmless comic relief character, there is a high chance the mist would still affect him. First of all, he is, or is possessed by, a demon. The exact nature of this demon is debatable – Danhausen refers to himself as a ghoul, but doesn’t present himself as such (they are known to feast on human flesh, and we haven’t seen evidence or even allusion to this). He also uses ghoul and demon interchangeably, and while ghouls are demon-like creatures, it is not clear whether or not they are truly the same. (I would love to pick Donovan’s brain on this one).
Secondly, there is an intriguing example of what the mist does to a person who has seemingly led a virtuous life before being exposed to it: Julia Hart. Sonny The Jobber points out that Hart may have been envious of the Varsity Blonds’ success versus her own role as a mere cheerleader for them (funnily enough, some of their attire during this time was green – the color heavily associated with envy). These negative feelings festering under the bubbly and preppy facade allowed Hart to turn heel and join the House of Black.
While Hart’s emotions and motivations were hidden, Danhausen is absolutely, unapologetically motivated by greed. All he does or says (or doesn’t say, such as swearing) stems from this. I would argue that even him becoming allies with Hook was motivated by greed: Danhausen started pestering him after “Send Hook” became a phenomenon. And while we can sit here and list reasons why them becoming a tag team, even if for a moment, was ultimately a good thing (Hook’s face turn and the chance to prove his skills to stop people from referring to him merely as Taz’s son, Danhausen’s fame, them beating the hell out of Tony Nese and Mark Sterling, etc.), there was a sinister hidden undertone to all of this from the beginning.
On May 12 on Twitter, after Hook shook his hand, Danhausen wrote: “Danhausen won”. We were intrigued by this for a moment, but did we ever actually stop and wonder “Won what? Won how? How much of this did he plan in advance and why?” No. Not for long, anyway, nor seriously enough. We were captured by the Hookhausen train (the best train, don’t @ me) and forgot Danhausen’s comment so fast it’s not even funny. His very nice persona had us fooled and made us forget that there even is the very evil. What was it that some of these wrestles have been saying? The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.
Danhausen has tried to rub shoulders with several stables throughout his run in the AEW, more or less successfully. He has also showed interest in the House of Black on Twitter as early as January this year. He must have realized by now that one does not simply walk into the House, nor do I personally think he would be as bold as to ask/demand them to mist him – or to become allies with them outright. If this is something he wants to happen, he would plan it very carefully to look like an accident.
Let me paint you a picture. September 23, Grand Slam, New York City. Darby Allin and Sting face the House of Black. This is supposed to be a two-on-two match, but Julia Hart will most likely be there as well. This puts the Allin and Sting in a precarious situation, as they have to split their focus between possibly three opponents instead of the guaranteed two. Enter the surprise, the wild card, the equalizer. Danhausen. Always ready to spread chaos wherever he goes. Assuming that cursing a member of the House would not work, he would settle for the next best distraction tactic: the groin punch. This would not end well for anyone else. But Danhausen, the (seemingly) bumbling idiot, would not register as a high-level threat on the House members’ radar, so their attack on him would be halfhearted at best. Whatever they do, Danhausen won’t like it. Even less so, if there are swears thrown around. So he would retaliate, which would cause whichever member of the House he is facing to shred him to pieces. Only this time Danhausen refuses to give up, lie down, and take it. He has been undermined, underappreciated, underbooked. He. Is. Done. And he takes it all out on the House who are at their wit’s end with this nuisance who has gone a full-on terrier-mode on them. It is, in a way… impressive? There could be some hidden potential laying dormant within this demon. If only they could unlock it and harness it. And they could...
I entertained another option before realizing how self-centered Danhausen actually is, but there is a chance it would not have worked. This option would have seen Danhausen sacrificing himself, pushing away someone (Hook? Orange Cassidy? Darby Allin?) about to get their eyes full of black mist. But would the mist be able to corrupt someone acting so selflessly? Perhaps – we have seen it work on people with a lot less negative baggage. But as long as we have no way of knowing the ins and outs of the black mist as well as Malakai Black, there is no telling whether or not this would work.
Looking at the stories AEW has told so far, I highly doubt they would ever make something of this caliber happen – especially with a character like Danhausen, who they don’t seem to realize the potential of. This is merely the way I would do it as a writer, if I wanted Danhausen to turn heel in a manner that would not only make sense in kayfabe but also have potential to grow into something bigger in the future. How could someone who is seemingly a minor player trick the House of Black? How would the friends Danhausen has made react? Has he even made friends, or has he only been using everyone around him?
(If TK or anyone working for the AEW ever reads this (as if, but one can dream): I’m available, and due to being an amateur, I’d be cheap, too. If you want high-impact story lines delving into human psyche and morality, hit me up. I can make painful things hurt even more!)
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the-badger-mole · 2 years
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I just saw a post about all the past Avatars telling Aang he should murder Ozai, even Yangchen (just like in the show) and it made me think: Aang is just 12 when he run away, and when he wake up, he's the last Airbender and last person from his culture, but he is still a 12 year old! I think it's crazy how everything that he says about the Air Nomads philosophy and lifestyle is taken as true. No question. I don't think he had much time to fully comprehend his own culture and its point of view. We know that Monk Gyatso killed Fire Nation soldiers and even Avatar Yangchen implies that kill Ozai is an option that he must take because isn't about him, but the whole world.
How much of this "every life is sacred" is really true? Maybe it was just his interpretation based on his age. Besides, Aang as the Avatar should be loyal to the balance of the world not just his own nation. Shouldn't he, as part of each element, eat meat or at least wear some Water Tribe clothes? Korra eats meet, it doesn't make her less of an Airbender or Avatar.
I don't know, I just think that as someone who should represent all the nations and cultures and balance, Aang seems always pretty bias and unbalanced.
What do you think?
I agree. The Air Nomad culture was both a society and a philosophical (religious?) ideology. I am a Christian and American. When I think back on what I understood about either at age 12, it's insane to me that everyone just took Aang's word for it on Air Nomad teachings. When I think of how I was taught both American culture and religion at age 12, I wouldn't have been able to have complex discussions about either topic, let alone teach someone else about it. My understanding at age 12 was rudimentary at best. And having not had anything approaching a history class since I graduated (unless you count interesting YouTube videos, which considering one of my favorite history YouTubers is Oversimplified, you should absolutely not), I am only slightly more qualified to discuss American society at any length.
Also, understanding a topic doesn't mean there's not ongoing research and education that needs to happen. The best teachers and pastors I had understood that while they knew a lot, there was still a lot to learn, and they kept studying and learning even while they were teaching. Having studied a few languages and lapsing in all but one of them, I can tell you from experience that no matter how good you are at something, continued studies are important not just for learning, but for retaining the information you already 'mastered'.
Now consider Aang, who we never really see practicing any form of bending after "mastering" it. I highly doubt that despite being a 'master' of airbending at 12 that he was among the best benders in the Air Nomad society. He was absolutely a natural airbender, but being a natural at something doesn't equate to being the best. After all, a natural athlete still needs to be trained and conditioned. But Aang doesn't even really practice bending, not even airbending, after getting what has to amount to basics down. Oh sure, he uses his airbending, but we don't really see him actually practicing or putting much effort into getting better at it. There's no reason to believe that he would suddenly throw himself into becoming an expert on Air Nomad philosophy or customs. He was born into it, after all. He studied with the monks (who likely kept the lessons age-appropriate). Why should he study it?
It seems to me, and I would argue that canon supports me, that Aang is not only basing his decisions on a 12 year old's perspective of his culture and philosophy, as he gets older, he's probably not even retaining information to that level. I have to assume that by the time the Acolytes come around, the version of the Air Nomad belief system they're getting is probably mostly just Aang's own personal beliefs and very little actual Air Nomad philosophy.
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Thoughts on AEW Dynamite/Rampage (spoilers)
It's awesome seeing Mercedes. She looks pretty happy to be there-- or at least back in a wrestling ring. She's always seemed like she was in that Moxley/Danielson/probably the other Horsewomen crowd of "I need you to understand that I love professional wrestling. I would marry pro wrestling if I could."
You could argue that only people in pro wrestling are the ones that love it, but there's been plenty of people who have gotten into the business without really loving it. But you can tell when people actually enjoy doing it.
Idk how I feel about her entrance music. Mostly because I can barely hear it-- I watch like 90% of AEW shows on an older tablet, so the audio quality is diminished. Plus, AEW is notorious for seemingly always having some kind of audio problem.
Willow vs Mercedes II is gonna fuck, when they book that.
Eddie's sleeveless duster thing looked cool as hell.
Okada manifesting in some portal behind the Codyvator (or he uses the Codyvator, I can't tell) is such a great entrance. Really helps make him feel like he's a big fucking deal.
I'm... fine... with Okada winning the Continental Championship or whatever they're calling it. It's just the one belt of the triple crown. I went into it expecting Okada to win-- I mean, it's Okada. I would have been fine with Eddie retaining, but I feel like it may be a bit too early for Okada to lose in a match where you'd basically have to lose clean.
Since Eddie is going against Mark Brisco for the ROH belt, I do wonder if they're gonna have Eddie just lose all three. And, if so, I wonder if it's for a storyline or something, or if Eddie just needs some time off.
I'm just, like, kind of tired of Chris Jericho. I get that he's important to the company as the first champion, and he's not unpopular. But the Hook match was just okay. I'll take it over the "Chris Jericho beats up Luchadors from CMLL" thing that's been happening.
Tony please stop having Ospreay show up right when I have to feed my cats and get ready for bed. He's so fucking fun and dorky when he's not wrestling.
I almost missed the tag match with Rosa/Deonna vs Toni/NotToni. But I can assume all four were fun, since they're all good in the ring.
Swerve is just so damn cool. The match with The Butcher was fun.
Samoa Joe is so smug, but cool, and scares me. He doesn't have 100% final boss energy, but he's so close.
It's been a little bit since Don Callis has been booed so loudly that it almost completely drowns him out.
Takeshita vs Swerve holy shit
Christian and Copeland was what I expected. It was fun. Absolutely hilarious that the ending to the match technically happened during Rampage. The ending itself was also hilarious. I'm still surprised it took this long for someone to use the strategy of just yam-bagging someone until they give up.
The Bullet Club Gold bit was funny as hell. I was really hoping Jay would be like, "I saved your life." -- while being excessively smarmy and smug like always.
Kinda feeling like The Acclaimed need to split up. Idk what it is really but I haven't been feeling Caster lately.
Best Friends vs The Don Callis Family was fun stuff. Kind of funny how Trent's back was bleeding for most of the match, but Knox didn't bother putting gloves on until Kyle's mouth was a crime scene.
Schiavone absolutely loathing that he has to exist anywhere near Callis is amazing. Reminds me of how much Mauro Ranallo hated Tommaso Ciampa back in NXT during Ciampa's no-music heel phase.
I am always here for a Shibata match.
Takeshita is so fucking good. And Rocky is also great.
Stat/Willow v The Spooky Ladies was fun.
The contrast between Statlander and Skye was amusing. Stat let her self be thrown onto thumbtacks, have them shoved in her mouth and then kicked, do a 450 and basically land knee-first onto some chairs. Skye did everything she could to not accidentally land into the thumbtacks.
Also, I'm assuming that Skye bladed after getting hit with the spike. From a theater/presentation standpoint, I feel like if she had bled more-- like if the cut was a little deeper or she took some aspirin or something-- it would have made the impact of the spike more dramatic. But I'm also not going to actually say that a wrestler *should* have bled more. They do enough and all that shit is at their own discretion. I'm not a booking agent or anything.
All in all, fun stuff.
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