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theygotlost · 8 months

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good afternoon here's my big rant on my pet peeves for subtitles in movies and tv

This is a post that I’ve thought about making probably for years now but never got around to. I might add more later if I realize I’ve forgotten any

When it comes down to it, the purpose of subtitles is this: to reflect exactly what the audience can hear, precisely when it can be heard. If you fail to do this, your subtitles are bad and you should feel bad. Although I don’t have concrete examples for most of these off the top of my head, I promise I have experienced them all firsthand at least once.

-> Watch for spelling and typos. Obviously.

-> Syncing issues.

This should go without saying, but the captions should be synced as closely as possible with dialogue and sound effects. Subtitles that are out of sync are worse to me than no subtitles at all. They’re unbearably distracting and I have to turn them off. I’m fortunate enough that I can keep watching without them, so imagine how frustrating this is for someone who needs to keep them on no matter what.

-> Jumping the gun.

This is basically an example of out-of-sync subtitles that are slightly too fast, but it gets its own category because it ruins the viewing experience in its own unique way. In particularly dramatic scenes, actors will often draw out their lines or pause between phrases. Captions sometimes fail to reflect this by displaying the entire sentence all at once, allowing the audience to read what someone is about to say before they actually say it, which deflates all the dramatic tension of the scene.

-> Phantom captions.

This one is less self explanatory, but it’s kind of similar to syncing. Sometimes there will be significant intervals of time between lines of dialogue, especially after a scene ends and a new one begins. The interval may include music, sound effects, or complete silence, but what I’m calling a “phantom” is a caption that stays on the screen after that last line of dialogue is delivered until the next line is spoken. I don’t remember what I was watching, but there was one that was glued to the screen for SEVERAL MINUTES over what was supposed to be an atmospheric break between scenes and it drove me nuts. In my experience this happens more often with older subtitling for DVDs and some old videos and less with modern streaming.

-> Straight up spoilers.

Sometimes, a character will speak whose true identity has not yet been revealed to the audience. If I’m not supposed to know the character’s name yet, don’t just… tell me right there in the captions whenever they say something. Descriptors like “disembodied voice”, “man”/”woman”, “mysterious figure”, etc. will suffice.

-> Lack of musical descriptors.

It usually helps to describe the genre or emotion of the music that’s playing rather than just writing [music] or 🎵. That being said, if there is a song playing that’s particularly well known in the mainstream, I think it’s useful to actually include the name of the song. This one I do have a concrete example for: in Arrested Development, Gob always blasts The Final Countdown during his acts. But the captions on my DVDs for the show always describe it as [stagy pop]. Like yeah I would say that song is some pretty stagy pop, but I think a lot of the humor comes from knowing that it’s specifically The Final Countdown by Europe because it’s such a perfectly corny selection that Gob would make.

Another musical failure is not transcribing pertinent lyrics. If the song is playing in the background, then that’s understandable and it can be kind of distracting if there’s dialog happening on top of it because the audience isn’t actually meant to be paying close attention to the song. But if the song is front and center, like for a musical number or montage, then the lyrics can be pretty important. Last year when I watched Arcane on Netflix with my family (a recent, high budget production from the biggest streaming platform ever), the show had the nerve to write [man rapping] over a musical sequence. Imagine if all subtitles ever just said [person speaking] for the entire movie.

-> Affectations.

If a character starts using a silly voice or accent, or if the sound of their voice changes in any way, describe that. If the audience can hear the difference, the subtitles should reflect that difference. And they should reflect it informatively and accurately; for example, don’t just say [mock accent], but specify [mock French accent].

-> Paraphrasing.

I don’t even know why this is an issue, but it’s alarming how many times the subtitles just… straight up don’t match what the characters are actually saying. It’s like the transcriber was forced to write all the captions from memory, so they kinda sorta say the same thing, but the wording is different and some sentences or phrases are missing. When I brought this up with my mom she theorized that the transcriber was working off the script for the movie because hey, that’s all the dialogue already written down, right? But it completely fails to account for revisions, improvisation, or actors delivering their lines even slightly different than how they were originally written.

And last but certainly not least, one of the biggest offenders in bad subtitling…

-> [Speaks foreign language]

If someone says something in another language, please, for the love of god, do not just write [speaks foreign language] and call it a day. Specifying the actual language is an improvement, but this descriptor only works if the audience members are truly not meant to know what’s being said (which is sometimes the case). If a character is only saying a single word or phrase in another language, transcribe it. As in, write down the actual words that they said. If you don’t speak that language, find someone who does. You are insane for transcribing a character saying “hola” or “abuela” in an otherwise English sentence as [speaks Spanish] (real examples I saw respectively in Rango and JANE THE VIRGIN. THERE’S SO MUCH SPANISH IN THAT SHOW).

If the audience is supposed to know what someone is saying in another language, English subtitles will usually be hardcoded. DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, LET THE CAPTION SAYING [SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE] COVER THESE UP. This is actively impeding understanding, not helping it. Jesus christ

* Please keep in mind that I’m not deaf or hard of hearing and I don’t have auditory processing disorder; I almost always watch movies and tv with subtitles whenever the option is available because it helps me absorb information better. If I don’t even strictly NEED subtitles and these are issues for me, I can only imagine how much more difficult it is for those who rely on them more heavily. I invite you to add your own perspective!!

#mine

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manikas-whims · 1 year

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Reasons I despise Shadow and Bone

• Inej Ghafa in the books was an SA survivor and a girl who despite all that she went through, held hope close to her chest. Book Inej was so scared of the menagerie, she couldn't walk past it without the fear of being recaptured. She finally moved on from this fear when she choked Heleen at the Ice Court, stole her diamond choker and ran, calling her silks feathers. And finally believing that she was free after facing her fear, her abuser head on. So seeing the show Inej casually walk into the menagerie as well as merely shrugging upon hearing of Heleen's death this season, was not just extremely ooc but disrespectful and had zero depth.

• Kaz Brekker's disability was basically neglected this entire season and his cane treated like an accessory. Not only that they butchered the entire Kaz-Nikolai meeting in CK. Kaz would've immediately recognized Nikolai, like that was such a downgrade. Not to mention Nikolai threatening Kaz (and Jesper). Kaz wouldn't be threatened. Instead he'd make negotiations with Nikolai on his terms. Oh and most importantly, his entire backstory was rushed and played off like it was nothing serious. That intensity of two innocent small-town boys being tricked by an adult with agency and power, I couldn't feel it as much as I felt reading the books.

• Jesper Fahey's backstory is very emotional and beautiful. The memories with his mother and his coversations later on with his father, all lead up to him slowly accepting his grisha side more and embracing it. Embracing being a zowa. The show speed-ran through it and well, it lost its depth.

More importantly none of the backstory material makes much sense and lacks so much depth because there was nothing that lead to that development. The books, whatever transpires in SoC is what leads to and triggers their individual character developments. So any backstories stuffed in the show made no sense.

• Nina Zenik's bisexuality is completely erased by the show. Its like netflix is allergic to sapphics 😭

• Now Kanej! We got so much Kanej content we should be happy right? I agree. The scenes did give me a momentary high because those are some of my favorite parts of the books and its a blessing to be able to see them adapted on screen. Except, none of those scenes made sense, especially since season 1 barely hinted about some chemistry between the two and then season suddenly escalated all that slow burn into significant moments badly stashed into the show plot. I mean ofc we got the chapel scene and all but.. The whole wound patching-up scene was a pivotal moment in their relationship and it was completely downplayed in the show. And then there was also Kaz getting mad at Inej freeing some children from slavers? Like ofcourse even book Kaz would be slightly miffed but he wouldn't outright reprimand Inej and tell her she's off the team due to it, but thats what show Kaz did. And then after everything that happens, the sudden drop of “how will you have me” and the “without armor” dialogue completely did dirty to that moment. Like ofc she says “gloves on, fully clothed, head turned away so our lips never meet”. But in the books, Inej utters those words because of all the secrecy and lack of effort for pursuing a proper relationship between them. The “no armor” Inej says is addressed towards wanting him to be more open about himself (since Kaz knows basically everything about her, from her full name to how she was captured and ended up in Ketterdam) but Inej knows nothing about him, not even if Kaz Brekker is his real name. But the show made the “no armor” dialogue so bad. Its made Inej look so shallow as if she is merely speaking in terms of her physical wants.

Ohh and I did mention this in another post but everybody fucking knowing about Kaz's backstory? Everyone but Inej? The only person he actually tells in the books. Him even telling the fraction of stuff he tells Inej spoke volumes about their bond and how he trusted her enough to reveal this truth about himself. Show Kaz's past is revealed to Nina and Jesper casually walking in and listening??? WTF was that? And no Inej in thaf moment. Call it nitpicking but it was WRONG.

• Wesper has been reduced to the token gay couple of the show. Their sweet first encounter has been completely eradicated and they're turned into this typical trope of people who had a one night stand and accidentally met again. Their romance is so sexualised in the show, as many tend to do with queer ships (which is extremely disgusting imo). More importantly, we'll most likely never see the “no, not just girls” in that possible spin-off 🙂

• Ketterdam: the show has given no proper insight on Ketterdam. I bet most of the show only people don't understand much about the city and the gangs. I wonder if many even know whats a Dime Lion. And Pekka randomly having the stadwatch in cahoots with him was so shitty writing?

And these are just a few that i can remember right now. Also i don't want this post to get too long.

–» If you're one of those sheep fans, don't comment shit like “creators already told us its different from the books, so you shouldn't be mad” 🤪 cause I'll definitely delete your comment.

If you are one of those, scroll past this post. Cause what do y'all even mean? People can't freely discuss or criticize a piece of media now? STFU!

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amporella · 1 year

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Those posts floating around about how all the boys are equally as bad as Cartman (and thus the hatred of Cartman is driven by fatphobia) are really undeserving of a response because of how much of a reach they are, but I'm going to give one anyway:

To compare Cartman to the other boys is foolish for many reasons, but the largest one is that it utterly misses the point of the actual show, and of the characters. Naturally, as a fandom, we try and see the characters as more than they're intended to be, and in some cases, that's a totally reasonable perspective - take a character like Craig, for example, where his characterization is limited solely by the fact that we see very little of him. For all we know, his inner life could be rich; in fact, it's likely that it is. It makes logical sense to want to explore that more deeply.

Cartman's characterization is also limited, but not because his screen time is lacking; he very well could be the character we've seen the absolute MOST of throughout the series. Instead, it's limited because Cartman is not an actual character. He's one huge extended joke, and the fact that we don't see his good qualities isn't because we don't have time to; it's because he literally doesn't have any.

Cartman exists for shock value, and that's it. He exists to be an iconic example of what's wrong with the world; he's antisemitic, racist, and a raging misogynist. Even the scenes where he appears to have a 'soft spot' for something aren't actually representative of his character; when he appears to try and save cats in Major Boobage, it's all part of a joke about Anne Frank. In Post-Covid, when he appears to develop a family of his own and convert, it's part of a scheme to take down Kyle. Every single action of his throughout the series is either a joke, or part of the build up to a joke at some minority group's expense - usually Jewish people.

His actions - his attempted genocides, attempted murders, antisemitic comments - can be taken at face value because of those traits. When Matt and Trey have Cartman make an antisemitic comment, they don't intend for you to think of it as another tally mark of the Bad Things these characters do; they intend for it to be viewed as a legitimately evil act coming from an irredeemable character, which is balanced out by zero positive qualities.

Have the other boys done bad things too? Sure! Kyle did blow up Canada. But is that actually intended to be seen in the same light? Kyle's act of blowing up Canada isn't meant to be seen realistically; it's metaphorical, and it's supposed to be read as absurd. Cartman, on the other hand, is supposed to be taken literally. Reading into him as a character as someone who is secretly pure of heart, or even just on the same moral level as the other characters, shows a massive lack of media literacy. Furthermore, when Kyle blows up Canada, it's significant because it's out of the norm for him. We don't bat an eye anymore at Cartman's behavior because that is literally the point of his character. It's only when he doesn't do anything along those lines that his behavior comes off as uncharacteristic.

So no, Matt and Trey don't intend for Kyle to be 'just as bad' as Cartman. Kyle is a legitimate character, while Cartman is a political statement at best condemning nazis and a joke at worst. The fact that we're even discussing comparing a Jewish character's few and far in between harmful mistakes to a nazi's (whose ONLY REAL CHARACTER TRAIT IS TO BE A NAZI) intentional attempts at genocide is baffling to me. You are absolutely grasping at straws if you think Kyle (and the other boys) being as bad as Cartman is what Matt and Trey were going for.

This is literally the most basic concept of the show.

#this might be bad I wrote it on my phone LOL but the basic concept is here #south park

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gay-mafia-stickball · 10 months

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I have mixed feelings about the red white and royal blue movie (red white and royal bluevie, if you will).

let me preface this by saying two things: one, you are entitled to your opinion and so am I so civil discourse is welcome, but hate speech is not, and two, I am a firm believer that book vs movie argument is pointless as long as you enjoy the media, so take the following with a grain of salt. I enjoyed the movie a lot, and if you don’t want to see anything negative, you can scroll past this, but these were things that caught my eye. that all being said, here are my thoughts.

first things first: the change from Raphael Luna to Miguel Ramos felt like it detracted from the story. in the rwrb book, the Alex looks up to Luna and considers him an ally and a role model in the political field, seeing him as a goal to shoot for. this makes his betrayal (working on richards campaign) hurt a lot worse, and it makes his subsequent redemption (him bringing up dirt on richards that not only effected him as a queer man but as a politician) feel a like a big triumph and a loose end that has been tied up. Alex’s relationship with Ramos is already a different kind of relationship, since Alex wants to be a politician, not a journalist, and their connection feels a lot less secure since their only tie is that they’re friends who have hooked up, so when he starts to publish aggressive and harmful stories toward Alex, it feels less like a betrayal and more like pettiness over being rejected. this is only reinforced by the fact that he isn’t given any redemption, and his loose end remains untied and without closure. Lunas story is, in my opinion, just as much a part of the main plot as Alex and Henry’s, because he reflects the struggles of older queer generations fighting the good fight behind enemy lines and the thankless battle that a lot of younger people take for granted. without Luna, President Claremont’s win feels more arbitrary, and a lot of the stress that motivates Alex and his character development as a person and as a politician is flattened.

another thing id love to address is the so called “side characters”- pez, bea, nora, and june. starting with pez, who is meant to be Henry’s best friend and lifeline: he got barely five minutes of screen time, and it felt like he was sidelined as unimportant and a supporting cast member instead of an actually important member of the group. Bea as well was sidelined, and kind of pushed into the role pez had in the books. by ignoring Beas history with substance abuse and her moniker of “powder Princess”, it takes away from her depth as a character and the struggles her and her family have gone through, not even mentioning the fact that their mother isn’t even in the movie. the same thing is true with the lack of Alex’s parents divorce; the trauma from that event led to a lot of important character development and growth, as well as some pretty important plot points (such as the first phone call). Nora and June I can do in one fell swoop: they should not have been combined into one character. they both played different and significant roles in Alex’s life, June as a steadying factor and a shoulder to lean on, and Nora as an experienced confidant that unwinds Alex and allows him to live a little. not only did the combination of their characters take away a healthy polyamorous relationship with pez, but it took away a big piece of Alex’s support system and the factors to a lot of his character growth.

a final thing that I’ll mention in this post is specifically about Alex- sorry, I can’t help it, I love him so much 😭 I just feel like the decision not to focus more on his work life and his personal life was poorly made. the movie did a phenomenal job of outlining Henry’s stressors and backstory and of course I’m so glad that he was given the closure and attention he needed (though I’m a little pissy that his mother wasn’t involved), but without mentioning Alex’s admittedly shitty work-life-balance and his stress as a newly discovered queer biracial politician and the stress from his parents (apparently nonexistent) divorce, the relationship feels toxic and a little one-sided. im not here to throw any pity parties for any characters, but all of the previously mentioned factors, among others, play into Alex’s decision to go to law school and start taking his time with his life, and the fact that that wasn’t even mentioned put Henry and Alex into a position where Alex seems unreasonable and insensitive while Henry is the only one with a good, albeit traumatized head on his shoulders.

like I said, these are just my opinions, and obviously I like the show a lot, though maybe more as a romantic comedy than a true adaptation of rwrb, so if you have thoughts to share, I’d love to see them! be kind and gracious and don’t start stupid fights over book accuracy, I don’t care that there were no monogrammed kimonos or that a different song played in the museum ❤️

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mizzymaren · 10 months

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Heya! Mizzy just got one thing to question how did you came up with the idea of Mizzery any concepts That Made you Do him? I was designing a nightmaren based of my self!

So glad you asked because Mizzy as you know her wasn’t even supposed to exist.

Not in the serious sense, at least. The original Mizzy is a character from a story I’m working on called Beyond Beyond—I just drew her as a Nightmaren for fun and brought over the concept of Mizzyland for her character. However, I ended up loving ‘Nightmaren Mizzy’ so much I ended up developing her into my Nightmaren OC!

This took a lot of design iterations, which I’m excited to share:

This little robot is the original Mizzy character. She exists separately from ‘Nightmaren Mizzy’ now.

Her first Nightmaren design was much more true to how ‘BB Mizzy’ looks. While I thought it was cute, I felt the design was getting stuck on trying to translate her different body colors. The idea for Mizzy’s dark eyes came from translating her face screen, which did stick.

When I then redesigned her my goal was to make her look more like a 1st level Nightmaren and to differentiate her from ‘BB Mizzy’. Still I thought the design didn’t flow right.

Almost there! This is the design that stuck with a few minor changes. I thought it was funny that you couldn’t tell if Reala is wearing a white bodysuit with white face paint or if that’s just his body, so I made Mizzy more ambiguous in that nature as well. Wanting to also push the bunny monster aspect of her design, I kept the ‘ear’ pattern on her horns and gave Mizzy paw hands with beans (Yes, bunnies don’t have beans, but those and her fangs come from headcanons about Nightmaren biology… and my previous lack of knowledge about bunnies not having beans). Fun fact, it wasn’t until her current design that I picked her full name, Mizzery. And if I’m being honest, the idea came from listening to Maroon 5’s ‘Misery’ and thinking how funny it would be if… Yeah, I know. It does hold significance, though! ‘Mizzery’ contrasts her cheerful personality but is spot on hinting at that joy being a mask to hide how sad and hurt she truly is inside.

Aha! Mizzy as you know her. The carousel bunny theme park clown. While the concept of her running a lil’ theme park came from the original Mizzy, her fascination with rides comes from my own special interest in roller coasters. And, yes, I do know how to operate them!

Overall I’m very happy with her design. Who knows, I may tinker further with it here and there, but I absolutely love my lil’ nightmare bnuuy🥰

#nights journey of dreams #nights into dreams #fanmaren #nightmaren oc #nightmaren #mizzy the nightmaren #sega #sonic the hedgehog #character design #design process #character development

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wonhaebunny · 1 year

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From your fics, I'm sensing that Bakagou is your favorite character or at least a character that you find compelling, so what do you think about his character overall? Like what makes him compelling or a good character?

ooh, fun question! i have a lot to say about this :)

i think on a surface level, i've always gravitated towards characters who have big development arcs (typically starting from being kind of shit people or majorly lacking in some regard) as opposed to characters that start out as figuratively perfect. it just makes the plot all the more impactful for me--i tend to get bored watching the straight-cut sunshine white bread characters be constantly amazing. i find them endearing, of course, but in terms of plot they lack any significant appeal to me. this, of course, means i've essentially perpetually doomed myself to like the side character/second lead more than the protagonist in any given piece of media (lol).

beyond this, bakugou seems to subvert a lot of basic tropes, which i find somewhat refreshing. he channels the delinquent vibe while managing to be a total nerd. he acts like an asshole, while being an inherently pure-hearted individual at his core. he sucks at socialising and projects a lone wolf image, but he's loyal as hell to the friends he has. he has this strange obsession with victory, but never enough to override his moral compass. he gives off "spoiled kid who got everything handed to him" energy, but you watch him for longer than two minutes and realise that he works himself into the ground for just about everything he has.

then again on a deeper level, i find that bakugou specifically resonates with me (and, seemingly, a lot of other people) for this exact reason: he's a perfect mix of relatable and impressive. of course, you want to root for a character who's strong and alluring, but they instantly become ten times as alluring when they share your insecurities or troubles. bakugou manages to be this larger-than-life standout character who you can admire on the screen, while still emitting major "formerly-gifted kid facing the academic/otherwise pressures of their own ambition and expectations" vibe that most weebs can empathise with.

on a side note, i've been talking to my friends about this recently in passing, but i find it refreshing to see a character undergo huge and overwhelming character development without the need for, like, a tragic backstory. bkg's childhood was objectively pretty shitty, and most people who know me know my stance on it. but that being said, it wasn't, like, "constantly abused by my parents" or "my entire family was killed by a cult" level shitty. it was just... ordinary "high achiever to anxious wreck with unrealistic expectations pipeline" shitty. his parents weren't great, but they visibly love and provide for him. but despite all this, this little asshole of a middle school bully just. woke up and decided to be better. you don't see a lot of it, but the authenticity just makes his character growth more gratifying to me.

anyways. i actually have way more thoughts on this but i'm gonna get off my soapbox now since i've already dumped like. five paragraphs here. hope this shed some light on my (probably fucked-up) psyche anon! :^)

#beep boop

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planckstorytime · 12 days

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Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: A World Beyond Anger (Part Six)

VI. … And Why It Doesn’t Matter

You thought I was done complaining? No, never.

Doubtless someone will punch holes in my theory, and I wouldn’t even feign indignation. The truth is that none of the explanations posed by fans have established a coherent story. But the fact that this is where our attention has been directed – away from the emotional moments that give stories relevance in the first place – exposes the shallowness of this trade-off. Even if my desired theory comes to fruition, I don’t think it redeems Rebirth’s rendition of Aerith’s death.

The consistency, or lack thereof, between the obnoxious multiverse stuff and the franchise’s established lore ultimately matters little when you’ve already squandered that critical moment that makes us care. From whatever universe you view it, Rebirth demonstrates a puzzling ambivalence to Aerith’s passing. The impact of loss never lands, because moments later you have Zack stepping in for a tag-team match with Cloud against Sephiroth. It’s framed as some fist-pumping “fuck yeah” moment, complete with embarrassingly out-of-place musical callbacks and quotes from Crisis Core (2007). It doesn’t feel like purposeful whiplash to create a sense of disorientation, but rather completely tone-deaf and disrespectful fanservice, all during a moment that should leave the player feeling hollow. And no sooner has Aerith left the building than she rises again like the goddamn Undertaker, kicking ass and eliminating any modicum of loss. Whether she’s in the lifestream or a parallel timeline or a phantom of Cloud’s addled mind is a distinction without a difference. Her death – and perhaps all death in the series – has lost its significance, because it feels merely inconvenient.

Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of the Final Fantasy series and story planner for the original FF7, channeled the pain and shock of his mother’s death into the loss of Aerith. Where once there was a source of joy, now there is only a void that will never be filled. In the original game, you’ll always have that empty slot on your party selection screen to remind you of who you’re missing. It’s an aching, uncomfortable treatment of death in fiction that was unconventional for its medium at the time. It cut straight to players’ hearts. With this is mind, does Rebirth capture anything remotely comparable? Should we call Sakaguchi and tell him his mom is still kicking somewhere?

When asked about the scene by Game Informer, Nomura had this to say:

“Prior to Final Fantasy VII, there have been other titles where characters have experienced tragedy, but many of them have come back or been revived in some ways. But I believe that loss is something that happens unexpectedly, and it’s not something so dramatic or drawn out, but is something in which a person that you have just conversed with is suddenly gone and never to come back. I believe that the person who dies should not return in this title, and that is what we did with the original… I do believe that the way we have depicted it brings about a new emotion and a new feeling for both players who have played the original Final Fantasy VII and newcomers.”

I struggle to conceive what this “new emotion” could be. Bewilderment? I can’t imagine another response when the developers diminish the tragedy of a lost friend because they want you to be more invested in keeping track of the stupid cartoon dog! Nothing can rationalize the cluttering of this sequence with a shell game that asks us to follow the Black/White/Clear Materia. This sequence, and the events immediately leading up to it, should not have been reduced to a gimmick of prestidigitation. We’re not wondering what we’ll do without Aerith – we’re wondering which sleeve she’s hiding in, so to speak. All of these unnecessary contrivances dare you to solve them, encourage you to switch off your Lizard Brain. But if you turn off your Lizard Brain and welcome those higher mammal functions, you’re bound to see how stupid all of this truly is. For Christ’s sake, we’re naming these worlds after dog breeds! Is that really worth what we’ve lost?

Mechanically-speaking, too, I feel the 1997 game better executed the subsequent battle. There’s an often overlooked quality of the Jenova LIFE fight: It’s really easy. Equip the Water Ring you picked up five minutes earlier and you’ve essentially won the fight. This works really well because you’re not supposed to be thinking hard about strategy and tactics or rocking out to Jenova’s awesome theme song – the battle just gives you time to chew on what’s happened, all the while Aerith’s theme softly rings in your ears. Rebirth gives you a complicated, high-flying, multi-stage boss fight that drops your dead friend’s musical motif midway through. Now, your party is dropkicking an eldritch monster and shouting quips, while electric guitars and synths blare in the background. You need to be actively paying attention for the hour-long boss gauntlet that follows, and it feels wrong to me. I didn’t party wipe; I’m not bad at this game (I beat Gilgamesh at level 49, prior to the endgame) – but micromanaging a chaotic battle drains what little emotion remained. I just felt numb in between fits of laughter.

That is to say, the ending of Rebirth feels like a trip to the dentist.

New mysteries take priority over an earnest portrayal of events, and I just don’t think they’re compelling enough to warrant that. Our knowledge of them has barely advanced since part one. We knew going in that Zack was in a different world, denoted by a different Stamp. And now we know… that there are different worlds denoted by different Stamps. For all the rigmarole, we learned shockingly little. The mystery didn’t really progress, aside from showcasing such a circus of inconsistencies that we’re basically forced to accept that it operates on dream logic. The true ending remains to be seen, but if the clues only amount to “the clues not adding up”, then I’d say that this plotline hasn’t felt rewarding.

My gut tells me this all leads to a cul-de-sac. I judge these riddles as cynical mystery boxes with little concrete direction. Rebirth backtracks on several of Remake’s more audacious changes, completely dropping plot points in some cases. I suspect the final game will do the same, and we’ll have something approaching the original. After all, this “adds up” to Advent Children, by Kitase’s admission. The man likewise expressed that the story will likely be adjusted based on audiences’ responses to the ending of the second part. Given that the narrative disruptions have had mixed reactions at best this time, I believe it’s fair to guess that we’re just looping back to the OG plot anyway.

With all of this in mind, attempting to unravel these unknown elements seems like a massive waste of time. I don’t find this ending quite as intolerable as that of Remake, but it still comes off as tacky and desperate. I think the third part will likely still be fun and contain many of the great moments from the latter half of the original. But I can’t hide my disappointment that, even though my worst nightmares about the project didn’t come to pass, it didn’t fully rehabilitate itself in my eyes either.

I won’t lie – when I started to feel that familiar anger rising again, I got scared. I didn’t get the clean resolution that I wanted, and I worried that destructive obsession would take me over again. I feared I was about to relapse into the world’s stupidest addiction.

All of a sudden, it clicked together. I spent 120 hours staring straight at the answer, oblivious to it. Yet it finally came to me.

FULL ESSAY: https://planckstorytime.wordpress.com/2024/05/11/final-fantasy-vii-rebirth-a-world-beyond-anger/

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thefirstpaleontologist · 7 months

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OFMD S2E8 SPOILERS

Right so. Izzy is my favourite character. And I don’t mind when characters die. I think if it adds to the story and is a good end for their personal story arc then it can be the best choice. But. I didn’t really like how they chose to go about it.

the story gave him a redemption. he protected the crew and suffered and tried to kill himself. he apologised and was apologised to. he changed and grew and found love and family. he had the respect of his friends and crew, the pirate nation as a whole, and even his enemies. He had the chance to give a speech about the purpose of piracy and a chance to say goodbye to Ed.

Logically this should have meant that his death should have been. Idk like not fine but gratifying.

But for some reason it didn’t feel like that? Usually if a character I like dies I’m some mix of “this is devastating, shouting at the screen, how could this happen” and “holy shit my fav guy is getting so much attention and is narratively important and will get so much fix it fic about them”. But with this i was kinda just like “wait what”.

And I think the reasons for this is because

1. I didn’t think the show would go that far. I personally wasn’t expecting any of the main characters to die. Like ACTUALLY die. This is the show that had Lucius miraculously survive being thrown over board, had stede find his marooned crew on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean, Izzy survived his leg being cut off and was walking on a new prosthetic immediately after, Ed had a canon ball bashed on his head and came away with literally no bruises despite apparently dying… For the muppet cartoon rules to suddenly not apply was jarring. But I suppose Izzy has always operated more in the real world than the rest of the cast.

2. the whole episode was rushed. The pacing was very quick and a lot of stuff happened without much time to process. Having a character die in the last episode means we didn’t get to see much of the other characters responding to it. This isn’t the shows fault cause it was originally meant to have 10 eps but still. i don’t feel it was given the appropriate amount of weight that it should have.

3. Izzy didn’t go down fighting in an epic battle. He didn’t die protecting those he cared about. He was hit by an idiots lucky shot and bled out. Izzy is the first main character to die. He was someone that by the end carried the same narrative importance as Stede and Ed. This is just a personal pet peeve but I think his cause of death should have been hard earned.

4. giving an angry miserable character a redemption and letting them find community and happiness only to then. die. is just very sad. Especially coming from a show that before this has been mostly very kind to its characters and audience.

That said, I think a lot of this can be resolved in s3. I think it is very likely that Izzy will remain in spirit in s3, through flashbacks or hallucinations or dreams etc as we have seen utilised for other characters, and we will see more of Stede and Ed and the crews grief (akin to how the goth crew reacted to Ed shooting Izzy at the start of the season). Izzy’s death isn’t meant to be a punishment for either himself or the audience. And I think the main issue was just a lack of time to flesh it out.

tl;dr: The show usually operates on muppet world rules so to have a main character actually die was unexpected. Since the final episode was rushed the appropriate weight could not be given to such a narratively significant characters death. the fact that izzy did not get to go down fighting or protecting others meant it felt kind of random and unnecessary. And having a show that is usually very kind to it’s characters and audience kill off a character right when they’d finally changed and found community kind of feels like a betrayal. BUT having both first mates (buttons and izzy) “leave” is likely symbolically significant to Ed and Stedes development. And the show will likely give due attention to Izzy’s death in s3.

#Izzy hands #ofmd s2 #ofmd season 2 #ofmd spoilers #ofmd s2e8

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girl4music · 9 months

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youtube

Healthy codependency.

That’s a really good way of putting it.

I often talk about how codependency depicted in this show is bad or negative surrounding the characters of Willow, Riley and even Xander. But codependency in itself is not bad or negative. There is heathy versions just as there are unhealthy versions. And yes, despite how much I can’t stand the way the Scoobies treat Buffy sometimes, she’s definitely better off with them in her life than without them. And vice versa of course.

The main problem I have with Season 7 is really how they don’t consider this even half as much as they used to even though it’s the season where they need to work as a team the most. I mean the ‘father figure’ starts to act like your average Council Watcher again and a lot is taken away from Buffy and Giles’ dynamic because of it. The intelligent nerdy girl and best friend is suffering with her own self-control issues and therefore can’t be as useful as she probably wants to be to the Slayer. Plus their relationship is in shambles following the events of Season 6 and doesn’t get properly reconciled. It’s sort of just skimmed over as a “necessary” requirement to the final plot. And as for Xander… well… perpetual victim mode is just something that never really seems to change for him and as for how that informs his relationship with Buffy… well, let’s just say he deserved to say what he did in ‘Empty Places’ as much as I hate that episode.

I don’t know. They’re all just sort of ‘Scooby Gang but less’ in this final season. They’re so distant and empty. It’s not enjoyable to watch. It’s frustrating because everything just feels forced rather than natural. The organically built significant character interaction just isn’t there between really any of the main characters and because they bring in a load of other characters (the potentials) that may be the focus of the season but don’t really get proper development either, it all plays out like one big chaotic mess. But not like the way it does with Season 6 - which the point is for it to play out like one big chaotic mess for the sake of the main character’s representation and development (both negative and positive). In other words: it feels unintentional and therefore unnecessary. Like the writers didn’t know what they wanted to do but because it was the season to end off the entire show, just did what they thought might be entertaining and compelling but, to me, ended up being anything but.

Yeah, Buffy is one of the greatest superheroines ever. But only when they they knew what they were doing. And I’m not convinced they always did. Still, it’s a hell of a lot better than what we get today with female superheroines - which as you’ve pointed out - may as well be cardboard cut outs given the lack of emotional vulnerability they display on screen.

You’ve got to hand it to Gellar - she definitely knew how to portray a very relatable and human superheroine. And you can see how she was stronger for it, not weaker. That is indeed the problem with depiction of “feminism” on TV today. Which is why I just turn it off. It is not inspiring or motivating to watch. It’s fucking insulting. Well-written characters have layers… depth… nuance. They fluctuate because real people fluctuate. They’re flawed because real people are flawed. Females characters in particular get shafted of all of this characterisation because it’s “feminism” written by people who don’t know or understand how important keeping the balance is.

Sure most of it is because of how she’s written. But Gellar understood the assignment. I just wish they ended the show the way they began it. As a family. You have the parallel shots of Buffy, Willow and Xander walking off side by side together and Giles staying behind and making a witty comment about how “the Earth is doomed” with this rag-tag lot in ‘The Harvest’ and ‘Chosen’ which is meant to be as a tribute to how far they’ve come but that they’re still the same as they always were and it just doesn’t land in the same way because of how much they’re NOT “together” in it. Other people might think that that’s a satisfying conclusion to a wonderful character-driven saga but I don’t feel it because it’s contrived. I like the idea. I like the message. I just don’t like the execution of it all.

#buffy the vampire slayer #buffy summers #sarah michelle gellar #the slayer #character representation #character development #character study analysis #why is buffy the greatest superheroine ever #author’s anvil #Youtube

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milfjagger · 1 year

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lord of the rings actually has good horse casting and here’s why

there are four horses with significant screen time in the trilogy: bill, the hobbits’ pack pony; brego, ridden by aragorn; asfaloth, ridden by arwen; and of course shadowfax of the mearas. asfaloth and shadowfax are of course played by andalusians, the classic “movie star” horses, usually grey or white with a powerful but graceful build and beautiful flowing manes. however i can’t really be mad about it because asfaloth is an elven horse so who knows what magical rituals they are using to keep him shining white…and his colour is also important visually in the flight from the nazgul (all of whom ride black horses). shadowfax is also literally a magical horse and needs to stand out visually, plus he is described in the book as a pure white stallion. basically, having the two horses that are associated with magic be stunningly beautiful and well groomed just makes sense ok

bill and brego are casting choices that i think could have been improved but i understand why they did what they did. bill is actually not played by a pony at all but by a quarter horse, which are usually around 15hh and sturdily built. he doesn’t really look like a pony, but the reason they did it is actually pretty obvious: so that he would be proportionate to the actors playing the hobbits. letting his mane grow out long was a good choice for making him more rustic and pony-like. brego, like all the horses of rohan, is kind of problematic to me, because the vast majority of them are tall, sporty-looking warmbloods which is a horse type that has literally only been developed over the past century or so, as people have a) got taller and b) demanded their horses be more athletic (a tall, lightly-built horse is generally physically capable of jumping higher, for example). rohan is largely based on saxon civilisations, and there is no doubt that their horses were smaller, stockier and much hairier than any of the horses in the movie. HOWEVER, Viggo mortensen is 6’4”, and clearly needed a horse that he wouldn’t look too tall for. i can kind of excuse the horses of the rohirrim looking a bit fancier since they are essentially the king’s guard, but it still doesn’t excuse the complete lack of draft horses and farm horses in rohan.

some other details that i like: all the horses are solid colours. while i wouldn’t mind seeing some piebald/skewbald cobs, especially in the shire, piebald and skewbald horses in the battle scenes would be a complete deal-breaker for me. unless they were full-on vanners (which would be awesome btw) it would give the movie way too much of a western feel, especially i think to american audiences who associate that colouring with paint horses (= american breed, and there is no equivalent of the quote unquote “new world” in tolkein). i also like that legolas’ horse, arod, is a percheron cross!!! those kinds of shorter but extremely solidly built draft horses are perfect for the setting imo. finally, really minor detail but one that i like a lot: eomer’s horse, firefoot, is an iron grey. this is a colour that very rarely lasts throughout a horse’s life, as they tend to lighten very quickly with maturity. this means that firefoot appears to be a young horse, which i think really works for eomer’s character as this fiery young heir to the throne (and also as an excellent horseman)!!!

hope you enjoyed this pointless analysis peace and love on middle earth

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stitching-in-time · 13 days

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Voyager rewatch s2 ep7: Parturition

Another episode where I thought 'oh no!' when I realized which one it was. Honestly this ep feels more like an episode of Saved By the Bell than Star Trek, but I guess they can't all be good.

In this one, Slater Tom Paris develops a crush on Kelly Kes and Zack Neelix is, like, totally jealous, and the two boys get into a fight at The Max the mess hall. But then Mr. Belding Captain Janeway assigns them as lab partners on an away mission together, and tells them they better work out their differences so they can get a good grade have a succesful away mission. While working on their school project the away mission, they find an abandoned puppy baby space dinosaur, and the two boys bond while caring for the adorable puppy baby space dinosaur. Slater Tom realizes that Zack Neelix is the one Kelly Kes really loves, and that he respects his friend too much to steal his girl. They end up best buds again, and they get an A on their science project!! get back to Voyager alive!! They high five at the end! Neelix offers Tom some of his special bird gland juice as a mark of his esteem!

They really did a teen sitcom plot as an actual Star Trek episode.

And they expected it to resolve a serious story arc, no less! And the relationship it was supposed to fix wasn't even that of the main characters in the episode! Choices were certainly made here, but they were bad ones.

For starters, I hate how Kes is being passed around to nearly every male character on the show to be his lust object du jour. That would be bad enough if she were older, but considering both the character and the actress are the youngest of all the characters/actors, it's extra gross and infuriating. And with all this time devoted to these dumb high-school romantic shenanigans, she spends most of her screen time crying over how much they've hurt her, while also placating their feelings. It's really sexist, and I just don't know why the writers wasted so much time going down this road.

I could barely believe my ears with the gross misogynist dialog in this episode. The Doctor telling Kes she should be flattered to have two guys fighting over her?! Are you kidding me?? Tom saying he'll never try anything with Kes because he respects Neelix?! Um, no?! The line should be because he respects KES, because she chose Neelix! This dudebro attitude that women are just commodities to divvy up between themselves is not something that Star Trek should be espousing, ever. It was already a backward attitude in the 90s when the show was made, and it's way beyond offensive for now, let alone the 24th century. And then Tom asks Neelix's permission to be friends with Kes(!!) and I want to gag some more- because even when Neelix says (as he should) that he doesn't choose Kes's friends for her, it rings hollow, because he's already gone on jealous tirades forbidding her to see people before.

I think it was actually really disingenuous to write Tom as being in love with Kes, since it's clearly an attempt to justify and downplay the seriousness of Neelix's appalling behavior. Constantly spying on your significant other, accusing them of cheating with everyone they talk to, telling them you don't want them to see certain people, picking fights with their friends in an attempt to drive them away, all of which Neelix does, over and over- these are all forms of emotional abuse, which is never justified. That this is being presented as normal relationship behavior on any show, let alone one that's supposed to be progressive, is insane. How anyone can watch this stuff and think it's cute or funny rather than horrifying is totally beyond me.

The worst part of it all was the utter lack of awareness that this episode should not have been about Tom at all, it should have been about Kes. Neelix's problem was never with Tom, he was just a convenient excuse. Having Tom assure him he's not a threat would never change Neelix's behavior, because Neelix invents new excuses every day- he's already accused Kes of cheating with at least four other people- even if he accepted Tom's word, he'd just move on to another scapegoat because the underlying problem is still there. Neelix's problem was always his own insecurity and possessiveness, and Tom was not the person Neelix needed to square things away with, Kes is. She's the one recieving the brunt of Neelix's anger and suspicion every day, she's the one who deserved to confront him, she's the one who deserved an acknowlegement from him that he is in the wrong, and that he believes her. Having Neelix acknowledge that he believes another man's word doesn't do anything to change the fact that he still doesn't believe his own girlfriend's word. Their relationship can never be fixed if he trusts some random guy he works with more than he trusts her.

If this episode was supposed to redeem Neelix or Tom, it failed miserably, because all it does is show that they're both super misogynists who think of women as objects, don't respect women's choices, or believe what women say. And that sucks, honestly. Both of them have good qualities that would have made them perfectly likeable characters, but then the writers bog them down in this. Why? A lot of the stuff Tom said in that scene was actually good stuff that would have marked a nice turning point for his charcter in nearly any other episode, with any other storyline, but no, it has to be spoiled by this macho nonsense. Siiigh.

Everything in this episode was a disappointment- the baby dinosaur, though well made and sophisticated for it's day, just looked silly and like a doll. Even Captain Janeway's hair wasn't cute this time- my beloved Gibson Girl bun hair, we hardly knew ye! Chopped off and given blonde highlights far too soon! (Please just let Kate Mulgrew stay auburn, is that so much to ask?)

The only good joke in this was when the Doctor said that Kes usually likes when he talks about autopsies- make a story about that! Show Kes being a weirdo little freak who wants to dissect dead stuff, have her decide she wants to go to medical school someday! Just give her some plot that doesn't revolve around a man, and stop making her a prize to be won in some man's story, I'm begging.

Tl;dr: Some of the most insanely sexist crap I've ever seen in a Star Trek episode, it didn't earn the resolution it was trying for at all, because it fundamentally misunderstands how both storytelling and interpersonal relationships work.

#star trek: voyager #voyager rewatch #rewatching star trek #star trek voyager #kes #star trek

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poeedamerons · 7 months

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It's not just that the book was better; there are movies and series that have successfully brought the book to life. Personally, I'm not a fan of the 'the book is better than the movie/series' argument because it's fundamentally flawed. The book will ALWAYS be better. It has the advantage of being the source material and allows for an in-depth exploration of characters, places, and situations, unlike a movie/series, which is restricted by screen time and budget. While this limitation poses challenges, it doesn't render the task impossible.

Adapting a complex book is no easy feat. While it may not be possible to capture all the intricate prose and rich details on screen, there are ways to work around it. Creating a coherent timeline, incorporating relevant flashbacks, building tension, mystery, and emotional impact are all possible. However, when you end up changing nearly everything from the original, the result is a feeble attempt at adaptation.

In my opinion and that of many others, "The Book Thief" was a satisfactory adaptation. Did they have to make significant cuts? Yes. However, they managed to preserve the essence of the story, its impactful characters, and crucial events. Some may disagree and consider the adaptation unsatisfactory, and that's understandable. Yet, I have yet to come across a single good review of the adaptation of "All the Light We Cannot See.

The book is undeniably brilliant, and there's no argument there, but this adaptation was more of a complete overhaul, incorporating some elements from the book. They completely mishandled the timeline, flashbacks and character backgrounds.

For instance, in the series, they introduce Uncle Etienne as a functional, Hugh Laurie-like character. However, just two (?) episodes later, they quickly unveil his traumatic experiences during World War 1 in a fleeting moment (I dont even remember if they mention the devastating loss of his brother). The fast-paced narrative hardly allows for the emotional impact that the book meticulously builds over time.

Contrastingly, in the book, we encounter Uncle Etienne as a deeply troubled and eccentric man who chooses to seclude himself from society for decades due to the severe post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from his experiences in World War I. At first, readers might dislike his grumpy demeanor and distant relationship with Marie Laure, who relies on him as her sole family, especially given the uncertainty surrounding her father's fate. However, as the book unfolds, the profound reasons behind Uncle Etienne's behavior are unveiled, prompting a heart-rending realization that induces regret for any initial negative sentiment.

His reluctance to engage with the events of World War II is completely understandable, given that he is still grappling with the haunting memories of the previous war. His eventual decision to confront the Nazis (whom he despises) and assist the resistance by broadcasting crucial information represents a significant turning point in his character development in the book, and ONLY happens because Marie Laure gives him the courage to do so.

While it's understandable that the show couldn't depict this in detail, they could have easily tried. This aspect of the story could have been effectively conveyed and would have undoubtedly evoked strong emotional reactions. It had the potential to move viewers to tears. However, the series lacked the necessary emotional depth and character growth, ultimately robbing Uncle Etienne of the depth and richness of his life story.

Furthermore, the way the book leaves subtle clues for us to piece together the revelation that Uncle Etienne and his brother were the ones narrating the science broadcasts that Werner and Jutta grew up listening to is truly exquisite. This element could have been gradually unveiled to the audience, allowing us to savor the process of connecting the dots. However, I don’t even remember how this goes on the series as this was more a tale of Werner and his adventures in Saint Malo than anything else.

If you're watching the show and finding it difficult to understand why there are so many criticisms, it might be because they boldly labeled it as an adaptation, even though it hardly resembles one. It doesn't feel like an adaptation at all.

To you, Uncle Etienne might come across as a super cool character, whereas to us, he was portrayed as an utterly melancholic, and reclusive individual. He lived as if he were already dead.

If you're enjoying the show without having read the book, that's perfectly fine. How would you even notice the differences if you had no prior exposure to the story and characters? It's virtually impossible. However, once you do, you'll comprehend why it took Doerr ten years to write and why it was awarded the Pulitzer.

#all the light we cannot see #spoilers

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iboatedhere · 1 year

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I think Carlos has suffered from the lack of follow-ups to his storylines. They gave him these significant moments and conversations, but there were only a few follow-ups; if there were, it was very short. After 4x04, they should have had Carlos acknowledge this his secret and behaviour hurt TK; instead, they jumped into making jokes and trying to make things light-hearted. Even with Carlos being taken, there was just no follow-up, which is weird.

I can't tell if it's because Carlos / Rafael is low on the call sheet or the writers don't care.

I think that’s exactly it. The lack of follow up led to the lack of development. Stuff just happened and then that was it. There was no ownership of any of it.

People keep going “you just hate that he has flaws and he’s not perfect!” And no! That’s not it! I would’ve loved for him to acknowledge that he made mistakes at any point. You can’t say he has flaws if canon isn’t framing anything he’s done as being a flaw. Even with the kid thing, there was no “I shouldn’t have avoided this conversation with you, this is why I did it, we need to work on making sure this doesn’t happen again, I’m gonna try to do better.” Because he does need to do better, not even for TK, but for himself. He’s carrying around this huge weight of not being good enough (in comparison to TK which is NOT good) and he needs to address that. But there’s no acknowledging that he will so we’re just sitting around wondering if it’ll happen. He had a conversation with Andrea that should’ve bled over to a conversation with TK. People can headcanon that they had a conversation later on or write fic about it, but that doesn’t mean that it happened. If I filled in the gaps for everything that should’ve happened this season to make him a well rounded character I’d never get anything else done.

I think they just bit off more than they could chew this season because everyone else has had good to great storylines and development that felt natural and moving in a forward direction (with the exception of TK who so far was just been there to remind everyone that there’s a wedding coming up). Kinda also feel like Tim is like “well I gave Carlos more screen time so shut the hell up!” even though the screen time he was given was not great.

#ask #this is a lot to screenshot sorry twitter fans

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ihaveatheoryonthat · 2 years

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This is based on the Gem AU by @rosebloodcat because hot damn I love a good ‘gems, but in the context of canon’ premise.

---

Emmet found himself at something of a loss.

Oh, sure, it was all well and good when he’d had a direction to move in, but after the convoluted chain of obstacles he’d dealt with, he found his engine idling. Dreams of a weird box? Sure, he could find it. Nobody could get the box open? There was a time and place for everything-- and he had years of experience with their array of model train tools. A stubborn latch was nothing in the face of a hobbyist with five specialized screwdrivers and a single-minded determination.

But now that the box was open? He had no idea what to do.

He knew this had something to do with Ingo, just not what it could possibly be.

Lenora had informed him that the polished slab of black glass he’d found inside was called a scrying glass, and that this one was quite old, judging by the Victinian setting. He hadn’t needed her to tell him it was old-- he’d spent a solid week whittling away at the patina of rust holding the lock shut.

The weird thing was the functionality-- or lack thereof.

Someone had decided a slice of obsidian wasn’t enough, and added a decorative piece to the back of the mirror-- made distinct from the main body with its white Liepard spots-- but the stone’s curvature made it impossible to set the mirror flat against a wall. He supposed it may have been crafted as a hand mirror, but that just seemed short-sighted, given the fact that it had no grip. It was possible that it was meant to be held directly, and he couldn’t help but shudder at the idea; the smudges that would leave behind, incredibly visible against a dark backdrop, would be hideous. There was a reason he only handled it with his gloves on.

So now, Emmet had a poorly-conceived mirror and no forward momentum.

It wasn’t the worst position he’d found himself in over the past three years.

Truth be told, he hadn’t known where he was going with this from the beginning-- just that he hadn’t had any other leads, and it felt like he was on the right track. As much as it held the mirror back, he had a hunch about the cracked stone decorating it. It wasn’t an evolution stone-- none that he was familiar with, at least-- nor was it a type gem or mega stone, but the world of held items was a diverse one.

It was his understanding that legendary Pokemon had a tendency to resonate with shiny rocks. That could help. He could definitely use that kind of back up. Sometimes a legendary Pokemon was a rock. He hoped this one wasn’t-- the split running through it was fairly deep, and if his time caring for Gigalith was anything to judge by, developing a fracture was no fun.

(Developing into a Fraxure was another matter entirely. That had been an entertaining stage of evolution, and Haxorus had been incredibly cute back then. Not that she wasn’t, now.)

In any case, the mirror likely held some significance to a Pokemon. He just needed to narrow down which one.

There was folklore pertaining to the Forces of Nature and a mirror, but that had been a dead end. Boosting the nutrients in soil or starting a lightning-induced forest fire seemed unhelpful to his cause, if in incredibly different ways.

The day’s research had been a bust, but he’d faced a halfway decent challenger on Super Doubles, so it wasn’t all bad. That silver lining didn’t stop him from staying awake long after he’d gone to bed, trying to figure out how to maximize efficiency tomorrow.

This was the only reason he noticed a seam of light in the dark, like a Xtransciever that had fallen onto its screen and turned on. For several sluggish seconds, that was exactly what Emmet thought was going on, until he remembered that it couldn’t be, because his Xtransciever was charging on his nightstand, well within arm’s reach.

That was coming from where he’d left the mirror, right-side down so it wouldn’t overbalance and fall over in the night.

The supposed scrying mirror didn’t… work did it?

Emmet sat up with a trepidation more at home in the limbs of a trainer crossing a wooden high beam for the first time than a man getting out of bed, snagging a rogue pen from the nightstand as he went. Just before he could leverage its dull end beneath the glass’s edge, the glow faded, and he spent a second wondering ‘what now’, but there was no way he was laying back down after seeing that. He poked the pen underneath and tilted the mirror enough to peer under, still shiny and blank, just as he’d left it, and then considered his options.

He had no idea if it would happen again-- whether it be that night or ever-- so, while he had no qualms about spending some time monitoring it, he couldn’t watch indefinitely. If he wanted to accomplish anything tomorrow, he had to at least try to sleep. The glow had been surprisingly bright, but if he’d been asleep, it wouldn’t have woken him-- not flat against his dresser, at least. Would it stand a chance if he turned it right-side up? He’d only oriented it this way because he was worried the rounded gem at its back would unbalance it during the night, but if he used it to angle the scrying glass at him, instead, it could strike two Pidove with one Thunderbolt.

Worth a shot, he figured, and set the pen to the side, taking the mirror gingerly by the edges.

The plan went off without a hitch, until he blindly ran a hand along its back, trying to ensure that the stone’s curve was set at the correct angle, at which point it lit back up.

It was an experience equally enjoyable as looking at a backlit Xtransciever in a subway tunnel. Which was to say not very.

Emmet recoiled, rubbing at one eye in an attempt to help clear it, squinting dubiously with the other. He couldn’t make out much, for a few seconds, but he was aware that the smooth black surface had something new on it. Words? Text?

Was the Victinian scrying glass texting him at two in the morning? Seriously?

When his eyes adjusted, he realized there was a new line of text decorating its face. It had started with one already complete, and steadily filled a new one out as he’d squinted at it. Unfortunately, those two lines of text didn’t make a lick of sense. It was Galarian, alright-- with the correct Unovan spelling, even-- but broken Galarian, like a machine that had been made to run a foreign sentence through multiple languages instead of translating it directly.

Something nonsensical in Emmet distantly wondered if, since the thing acted so much like a Xtransciever already, it might have language settings.

Holding it by the edges, he watched for several more minutes as another garbled sentence filled itself out, then sighed and set it down. After a few seconds, it flickered out. He hated to think it, but maybe it wasn’t the actively-texting mirror that was scrambled; it was just as likely that Emmet’s sleep deprived brain was making this more difficult to parse than it should have been. Tilting it the opposite direction, so it would light the wall up, if anything, he circled back around to the head of his bed and idled there for a moment, thinking.

He’d already gotten a two am text, so why not pass it on?

Weird mioor just sent me a text. No brain power rn. Help tomorrow?

He had exactly enough time to lay back down before receiving an answering:

wtf is wrong with u. sleep.

He glanced, briefly, to the scrying glass, just in case it had anything to add to the conversation.

When it stayed dark, he took that as confirmation that even the slab of obsidian was ready for bed, and stopped fighting unconsciousness.

---

“I’m assuming you meant the mirror texted you last night.” Elesa said, without preamble, once they met up the next day, “What do you mean the mirror texted you last night?!”

“I am Emmet. I mean what I say.” Fiddling with his Xtransciever, he amended it to, “But you’re correct. That was an error.”

Emmet scrolled past a picture that consisted mostly of Chandelure’s bulb and, instead, to the one he’d been looking for. Once he’d found it, he handed the device over so Elesa could see.

Somewhat disappointingly, the words hadn’t, in fact, reoriented themselves to make sense that morning; Emmet had legitimately thought he might have been the problem last night. They appeared in the same exact order as they had then, the mirror dutifully reflecting both Chandelure, crowding in to look, and the face Emmet had made at her back as he tried to keep her out of the shot whilst clearly capturing the text.

“Okay,” Elesa said slowly, “I see what you mean. Congrats on being more coherent than a slab of rock.”

“I will take what I can get.”

“So… the mirror talks. Kind of. What are we supposed to do with that information?”

Emmet shrugged. “Talk back? It was verrrry early in the morning--” she shot him an irritated look, “--and I didn’t think to try.”

“You’re going to talk to the mirror,” Elesa said, affectation flat, “Emmet. Sweetie. I thought you were past this.”

“This is different. Our bathroom mirror does not generally initiate conversation.”

Elesa opened her mouth, as if to retort, and then thought better of it. A small, slightly vindictive thrill of triumph ran through him.

Eventually she sighed, coming to terms with the fact that there was no logical counter to that statement. “Fair enough, I guess, but don’t try anything until I get to your place, okay? The last thing you need is another seven years’ bad luck.”

“This one is a rock.” He said, accepting his Xtransciever and strapping it into place, “I would have to try substantially harder to crack it.”

---

Emmet had forgotten that the decorative piece at the mirror’s back was already broken. If he’d remembered, he might have thought it a portent of things to come-- that, perhaps, someone had already lost their temper with the mirror’s nonsense and thrown it down in frustration.

Even with two heads trying to puzzle meaning out of the garbage text, there were no results to be found. Talking to it worked… to an extent. It responded when one of them said something-- even if it wasn’t directly to the scrying glass-- but it was always more of the same.

He had to give it one thing, at least: it seemed to know its audience. Even when he’d been more targeted in his questions-- before he’d fallen back into his usual speech patterns-- the gibberish was studded with railway terminology. Not that it was using any of those terms correctly, but given its grasp on language in general, he would give it points for trying.

They’d kept at it for some time-- dutifully recording their questions and the ridiculous responses it turned out-- before deciding that it was an exercise in futility and going to get dinner. Someone had to know what was going on with it, but it wasn’t them, and any networking would have to wait until reasonable business hours.

When he returned, the apartment was brighter than he might have expected, but only due to the combined forces of Chandelure and the mirror. Maybe it was just some kind of occult-object-to-occult-object fascination, but that had to mean something. Emmet made a mental note to add Shauntal to the list of people he’d need to speak with; she knew ghosts and writing, which automatically put her near said list’s top.

For now, he asked Chandelure, “Any luck?” and, to his surprise, found that she may, in fact, have gotten a semi-coherent sentiment out of it.

To be entirely fair, it consisted entirely of:

~(OHO)~

But it made sense in context, at least.

Just in case he needed to prove it later-- and also because it was kind of cute, in a weird way-- he snapped a quick picture of the tableau. Chandelure crooned at him, but he didn’t know what that particular cry was supposed to mean, so he gave her globe a couple of firm-but-loving pats and then made the rounds, settling everyone in for the night. The mirror, of course, lit up as soon as he touched it. He wondered if he should get a towel to lay over it, signaling that it was time to sleep the way one might care for a domestic Chatot.

Archeops had certainly benefited from that practice, back when he was an Archen. Was he smarter than a mirror? Actually, in this case, that was the same as asking if he was smarter than a rock. Emmet wanted to say Archeops was, but had to hesitate before making any definitive statements. Gigalith could be a conniving one, after all.

Gods, he was tired.

He set the glass aside long enough to get changed, ignoring whatever message it sent in the interim. In the middle of debating whether or not he actually should toss something over it for the night, it lit up again, making the decision for him.

What was meant to be a brief glance, just to see where he was picking up in the morning, quickly became a full-fledged stare.

The mirror seemed to have learned his name.

Should he encourage that? Was a proper noun the first step to making some kind of grammatical sense? He didn’t think Elesa would be particularly happy to hear about its new trick…

Absentmindedly, he brought it with him as he sat down on his bed, still staring the oddly plaintive Emmet?

Enthralled as he was with this new development, he failed to notice as his reflection slowly warped, the whites of his eyes fading to black. The same couldn’t be said for the way the text, too, shifted, the first letter of each word shining bright against the obsidian backdrop.

I-R-E-M-E-M-B-E-R-N-O-W, said the line just under the depiction of Chandelure, followed by, Y-O-U-R-E

Bracing the mirror against a knee as he tried to keep his hands steady, his eyes flickered up to the sentence at the top edge-- the last thing it had output before they’d called it a night.

S-A-F-E-D-R-I-V-I-N-G

Okay. So the mirror was substantially smarter than Archeops. That was one question answered. Hands shaking, Emmet set it down on the bed and went to turn the light back on, venturing out to the living room, much to their Pokemon’s confusion. He did a bad job of hushing them, but, while they were all wary, the only one to call him on his bullshit was Chandelure, who followed him to his bedroom after he grabbed the notebook they’d been using to record responses.

That tracked. She’d known something was up for the greater portion of the evening, after all.

The glass was dark when he returned, which was just as well. He settled himself a good foot away, so as not to accidentally activate it again, tore out a sheet of paper from the back of the book and began to decrypt the text.

Every one of the nonsense sentences-- even the ones they hadn’t thought to record, that he had to refer to his Xtransciever to find-- spelled out a different message.

W-H-E-R-E-A-M-I

I-K-N-O-W-Y-O-U

C-A-N-Y-O-U-H-E-A-R-M-E

P-L-E-A-S-E-H-E-L-P

I-C-A-N-T-G-E-T-O-U-T

The list went on and on, gradually turning from pleas for help to idle conversation.

Rooted in place, Emmet slowly turned to look at the scrying glass. It had stayed dormant the entire time he’d been writing, even in spite of Chandelure’s impatient tapping at its surface, and it didn’t seem like that was going to change any time soon. Ironic, really, that it would take the hint right before he needed it to respond to him.

With a newfound care, he reached over and picked it up.

It flickered to life a heartbeat slower than before and, with a cadence Emmet was tempted to call exasperated, said G-O-T-O-B-E-D

W-E-L-L-T-R-Y-A-G-A-I-N

T-O-M-O-R-R-O-W

“No,” He said softly-- almost too softly to hear, himself, “No. I get it now.”

The mirror didn’t seem to believe him, and swiftly faded to its usual polished surface.

“I mean it. Get back here.” He said, trying to sound stern, even though he was talking to a slab of stone, “I hear you. I want to help.”

Its response was a single ?

“You asked for help. You said you couldn’t get out. If I help you, will you assist me?”

W-H-Y-A-R-E-Y-O-U-L-I-K-E-T-H-I-S

Y-E-S-F-I-N-E

“We’re in agreement, then. What do you need from me? How do I extract you?”

T-A-K-E-M-E-O-U-T

“Yes. We’ve covered that. But how?”

Y-O-U-D-O-N-T-U-N-D-E-R-S-T-A-N-D

I-M-I-N-I-T

R-E-M-O-V-E-M-E

At a loss for what that was supposed to mean, Emmet looked to Chandelure, just in case she had any insight into the matter. She dragged herself across the bed, intent on what he was doing, but too lazy to take to the air. It didn’t help in the slightest, but it was cute, so he shifted the mirror to his far hand and ruffled her bulb.

When he looked back, the scrying glass had updated to say, N-O-W-T-A-K-E-I-T-O-U-T

“She hasn’t done anything wrong.” Emmet said, defensive.

N-O-T-H-E-R

Y-O-U-H-A-V-E-I-T

N-O-W-T-A-K-E-I-T-O-U-T

He moved back to hold it in both hands. Since he wasn’t wearing his gloves, he was going out of his way not to smudge the surface, and the grip was a bit awkward; he was supporting most of it with the heels of his hands, leaving his fingers to find purchase on its back panel, brushing intermittently against the cracked embed.

Emmet paused and turned it over.

There was one thing that could feasibly be removed from the setting. Hadn’t he posited, to himself, that a Pokemon could hibernate inside a rock?

Tapping on the part furthest from the fracture, he turned it to look into the glass’s surface.

“This?”

Y-E-S

He hummed, acknowledging the answer, and set it flat against his lap. The stone was smooth-- he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to get a grip on it-- but he could try. If all else failed, he still had a multitude of screwdrivers out from when he’d been fighting the box it came in.

To his surprise, it was actually very easy to work his fingers beneath it and pry it loose.

For several seconds, he sat there with a rock in one hand and a mirror on his lap, wondering what now. He turned the latter over, but it didn’t respond.

“Was that what you intended?” He asked.

The mirror didn’t respond.

The lights, however, flickered wildly before shutting off.

Cursing to himself, Emmet got up and started in the general direction of the light switch. He had a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn’t do him any good, but it would still be the first step toward diagnosing the problem.

Only, two steps away from his bed, the rock changed-- like he wasn’t holding a cracked palm stone anymore, but someone’s hand. He tried to drop it on instinct, but it closed around his and-- even worse-- he felt something very solid wrap around him, holding him in place.

Did his body do the reasonable thing and retreat? No. Instead, his own arms betrayed him and he grabbed on in return.

He had just enough time to realize that Elesa was right, he really shouldn’t have been talking to strange mirrors by himself, when everything came crashing down around him.

The weight against his shoulder spoke-- and though it, too, was utter nonsense, that wasn’t the important part.

That was Ingo’s voice.

A burst of purple flared from somewhere behind him, and with the ambient lighting, he could make out the familiar-- if worn-- lines of their matching greatcoats. He stopped fighting.

“Emmet!” Said the presence pressed tight against his neck, all gleeful relief, “Emmet!”

Shaky, he set his head down against what had to be a shoulder, turning to face inwards.

“...Ingo?” He tried, and was rewarded with a frantic nod, “Oh thank gods. Ingo.”

---

(The next morning, when Emmet called out of work, Elesa came around to find the missing conductor futzing with a mineral-group first aid kit, and the other missing conductor sitting still and letting Emmet apply something to his right hand. Eyes dark, ragged as all get out, form flickering like a glitching hologram, Ingo offered an utterly incomprehensible greeting, as though nothing about the scene pinged as wrong to him.

When she finally managed to ask what the hell, Emmet had simply raised his eyes from his task, reached for the probably-cursed mirror his twin was holding, and told her, “He says good morning.”)

#ihaveatheoryonthat pkmn #submas #fanfic

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craig-f-tucker · 2 years

Text

On today's episode of "What's Wrong With Robin?": Cyclothymia! Tune in under the cut where I explain in detail why I think Teen Titans Go Robin has cyclothymia or potentially another brand of bipolar!

(ps I'm making this as a mentally ill person with an interest in mental illnesses lol, this is going to be just as much an infodump about cyclothymia as about Robin)

Cyclothymia a subtype of bipolar disorder, involves episodes of hypomania and depressive symptoms which are not qualifiable as major depression. Note that Bipolar I does not require depressive episodes for diagnosis, and that in this situation i am using the slightly less intense diagnosis with the knowledge that because we only see the sides of Robin's life that are funny or that he shows with his friends, he might have further symptoms to elevate him to Bipolar I or II that just aren't shown on screen.

When it comes to the emotional problems that trouble Robin in daily life, he has:

- Intense emotional reactions, specifically strong irritability and intense excitement

- periods of extreme excitement in which he is unhindered by criticism, talks faster, and is often more productive in things that he enjoys and forces the other titans to be too. (This meets the criteria for a hypomanic episode.)

- if this doesn't sound like a problem to you, to quote an actual episode:

Beast boy: don't you ever get tired of being excited about everything?

Robin (excitedly): Yes I do!!! That's why I'm in therapy to lower my blood pressure!!!

- I list these as "periods of excitement" as this is not a constant state, in other situations he switches to being very irritable and angry, sometimes lonely, and often insecure. These are less intense, and he is usually still very focused on work and forcing himself to fight and be vigilant. The lack of a full major depressive episode despite some depressive symptoms and a continued lack of stability is why I ruled out Bipolar I and II right away, but one can still be depressed while being productive which frankly? I think Robin is, he is incredibly stressed and channels a lot of that into anger.

Cyclothymia can occur in any age group but typically starts during teenage years to early adulthood, a category which Robin falls under as a teenager.

Environmental factors that can contribute to developing this disorder are traumatic experiences and prolonged periods of stress, both of which Robin has experienced or is experience (the whole teen titans thing is incredibly stressful for him, not the crime fighting part the monster roommates who bully you constantly and never listen to you part. He canonically became the disaster he is as a reaction to the stress he dealt with just on his first meeting with them, and he still is with them constantly. Sorry for the titans slander, they're not that bad but that doesn't change the effect they have on Robin which is what we're focused on right now.)

In simple terms, here is which of the Wikipedia diagnostic criteria Robin falls under.

"Cyclothymia is classified in DSM-5 as a subtype of bipolar disorder. The criteria are:

1. Periods of elevated mood and depressive symptoms for at least half the time during the last two years for adults and one year for children and teenagers." ✅️, he has been experiencing this through the series, and according to raven, each new rock animal comes a year after the previous, making a ttg season a year. (Don't worry abt the fact that doesn't make continuity sense, cartoon characters don't age. like in canon they're in a cartoon.)

"2. Periods of stable moods last only two months at most." ✅️ He has never been stable for more than like, an episode or two in a row ill be honest. And considering there are 50+ episodes in a ttg year, so even if we round to exactly 50, greater than 2 months would have to be at least 9 episodes in a row of stability. This has never happened.

"3. Symptoms create significant problems in one or more areas of life." ✅️ Robin was unable to form the team he wanted because of his irritability, and is generally unable to handle being in a team because of it. His stress with his life also causes him to lash out at people and hurt criminals when they're not even doing anything. His hypomanic episodes on the other hand interrupt his ability to fight crime, as he will literally not care about potential disaster because he's just so excited and happy and would rather infodump about his interests.

"4. Symptoms do not meet the criteria for bipolar disorder, major depression, or another mental disorder." ✅️ as far as we can see, he does not have enough depressive symptoms to qualify for depression or Bipolar II, and does not experience intense or interruptive enough mania for Bipolar I. Once again though, we don't see his whole life, it is fully possible he could experience those more intense symptoms and thus suffer Bipolar I or II.

"5. Symptoms are not caused by substance use or a medical condition." ✅️ no substance use here, his behaviour is not caused by a medical condition as far as we're aware. (Once again, slightly limited by not seeing his whole life by which I mean not actually being his therapist.)

Call in now for 2 free shorter BONUS explanations of why Robin could have ADHD and why he could have Narcissistic Personality Disorder! (That's an actual offer if u wanna send an ask lol)

#ttg #teen titans go #ttg robin #robin #robin teen titans go #robin ttg #cyclothymia #mental illness #bipolar disorder

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