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hotaruharuto · 14 days
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I always thought that Chris and Leon's dynamic was interesting, especially since Leon was specifically designed to be a foil to Chris when he was originally created. This dynamic shows up in multiple aspects of their individual characterization, especially with regard to how they function within their respective organizations.
Leon tends to be more of a solo agent, oftentimes being sent in alone but winding up partnering with someone along the way. Conversely, Chris almost always works as part of a team and is usually in charge of that team as well. While he goes in with a team, he oftentimes leaves with significantly less people than he goes in with.
This also shows up in their fighting styles as well. Chris has brute strength on this side-- he is a lot more physically strong compared to Leon. He also engages in a fair amount of hand-to-hand combat and has the tendency to use long-range, larger weapons such as rifles. Leon is significantly more slim, fast and agile as a result. He also almost exclusively uses smaller guns like pistol, and few a few exceptions like utilizing the knife in 4R, he doesn't do a whole lot of hand-to-hand or "close encounters."
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But this dynamic is especially interesting in Vendetta specifically. It goes without saying that Leon and Chris are both very capable and well-experienced in their field. And that, in part, is why it's especially interesting to me that Leon willingly, wordlessly takes orders from Chris. Even though Chris and Rebecca come to Leon for his expertise and he has more experience with the type of virus they're dealing with and also evidently has experience with Arias (he knew where his hide out was), Leon positions Chris as the guy in charge. He even calls him "Boss," and refers to him as "tough guy" endearingly in the novelization.
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Moreover, he drunkenly calls Chris the "BSAA's Golden Boy," which comes off almost bitter, in a way. While it could've just been a comment about Chris' status within the BSAA, considering Rebecca's was "Dr. High Hopes," and Leon was obviously in a bad mood (and drunk) and clearly depressed, it seems to have come from a place of hurt. But I think it also speaks volumes about how much he trusts Chris. Leon didn't really need to take orders from Chris-- they'd still have to coordinate for logistics purposes, but that's a lot different than Leon calling Chris boss-- but he does so willingly and without any discussion about it. It goes back to their conversation in RE6 and Leon explicitly pointing out how he trusts Chris because they "both want the same thing here."
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Part of me wants to think this ties into how they're treated within their organizations as well. Time and time again we see Leon's skills called into question, especially when it comes to his appearance. Krauser calls him pretty boy, then goes on to call Leon "too weak" and "too soft" to do what's right-- an obvious attempt at getting into Leon's head. Greg, in Degeneration, pretty much outright refuses to take orders from Leon (resulting in his death) after remarking that Leon doesn't "look military." One of the detectives in the ID comic immediately questions why Leon, of all people, was sent to help with this mission, forcing Leon to explain his qualifications to someone that, realistically, is below him in the chain of command. And while Patrick doesn't comment on his appearance, it is rather intriguing that he believed Leon was "just lucky" at the start of the series. Chris's authority pretty much never gets questioned like this, and I'd argue part of that might be due to his appearance. He's a very traditionally masculine man, and he looks the part-- tall, very buff, short hair, etc.
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hotaruharuto · 3 months
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Met Nozomi! Honestly forgot that she originally looked like that. Also the different voice actor threw me for a loop too.
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Look at what came in today!!! I just got off of work and came home to these waiting for me! 🥰 This day went from bad to great! I’m probably going to play SMTIV first and then apocalypse afterwards. 🤩
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hotaruharuto · 3 months
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Alternate sprites I drew for Nanashi! My initial objective was to try seeing if Akira’s expressions would fit his 15-year-old reincarnation and I ended up adding a few more.
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hotaruharuto · 3 months
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I made this post in April but I’m just now starting to really play SMTIV. When I first tried to play it I only got about 2 hours in before stopping. I just didn’t like how to 2DS felt in my hands. So when I got the chance to get a 3DS XL I did! I am now 6 hours in! About to go deeper into Naraku and face the Minotaur.
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Look at what came in today!!! I just got off of work and came home to these waiting for me! 🥰 This day went from bad to great! I’m probably going to play SMTIV first and then apocalypse afterwards. 🤩
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hotaruharuto · 3 months
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hotaruharuto · 3 months
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SMTIV/A’s character addressment differences in localization
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Keep reading
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hotaruharuto · 3 months
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What makes Demifiend easy to transport to other games is because it's agreed on that he accepts his fate as a newborn demon which means 1. He has no attachment to his old world 2. His wishes left would be exploring new worlds and finding strong people to fight with.
The SMT1 protag, Aleph & Flynn on the other hand are more biased towards selflessness in their games and at very least you could say they're the types to stay behind to protect what's important to them. Which is why I found what the Messiahs in the Diamond Realm DLC did particularly interesting: the previous heroes are killed and "kidnapped" to be brought over to Nanashi, and instead of in-fighting, they join forces with the boy. There's consideration to the themes not only behind the roles of the protagonists in their own games but to the duality inside Nanashi of seeing others as either allies or tools aside the aspect of gathering help regardless of alignment or background differences for the sake of a common objective present in SMTIVA.
So while fans wishing to see Flynn & Nanashi as DLC in SMTV just like Demifiend is expected and of course it comes from desire for a simple callback, I personally don't find exciting the idea of just another silent interaction solely for the sake of an one-on-one battle lol. Although I think SMTV (inefficiently) copying Nocturne's minimalistic narrative plays a large part in it in my opinion.
...that is, I'm speaking mostly from the perspective of a Neutral/Bonds interpretation considering the SMTIV themes and how Flynn was written in SMTIVA. On the other hand, at the same time that I'm of the opinion that Nanashi still wouldn't be as detached as Demifiend is regardless of route, he not only could work well as some guy randomly appearing to test strenghts, he also has a certain mythological figure that could make a physical appearance and speak on his behalf like Demifiend does with Pixie. So I'd be more into this idea if it was specifically a Nanashi-Flynn duo and even better, if it was Dagda doing the push for both to fight.
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hotaruharuto · 3 months
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Nanashi already had to deal with living all his life in a sunless Tokyo and then becomes a revived corpse alongside also being haunted by Navarre... someone give this boy an extra jacket.
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hotaruharuto · 4 months
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I love how you can really see the small differences between Chris and Leon's approaches in Death Island 'cause Chris takes the "I'll beat a motherfucker with another motherfucker" approach aka close-range combat (please tell me someone understands that reference) and Leon tends to use long-range combat like when he kicks the gas can and shoots it to destroy the Lickers.
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Leon is also a hell of a lot more agile than Chris is, as shown when they get launched into the air. Chris flails and tries to put his hands out to catch himself (big mistake) and Leon tucks and rolls, landing on his feet like a cat.
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(Someone on Twitter said Leon's a professional ragdoll at this point so he's used to getting tossed around but Chris isn't, which is why he flails and I thought it was fucking hilarious.)
This has always been fairly consistent too, especially since they were designed to be foils. Chris is physically stronger, so he will fight in close range if he needs to, and he often does. Leon is not as physically strong, but he's more agile, so he keeps his enemies at more of a distance with a few exceptions (like when he gets locked into close-range such as the fight with Krauser and when he does stealth attacks). Leon does flips and kicks people into next week and while Chris can kick like a horse too, he can also just pick people up and throw them.
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hotaruharuto · 4 months
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Silly girls doing silly things.
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hotaruharuto · 4 months
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I find the juxtaposition between Leon being an extremely talented agent, but people within his field refusing to recognize this fact really interesting. As the audience, we're made to believe that Leon is perhaps one of the most talented agents, and his skills certainly seem to back this up... yet they seem to be contested within the franchise for reasons that aren't explicitly spelled out, but I think are easy to speculate on.
Chronologically speaking, one of the first instances of this would be RE4R. Krauser, who trained Leon, tries to use insults like Leon being "too soft" or "too weak" to do what needs to be done to get under Leon's skin, and calls him "pretty boy" as well-- a pretty charged and specific phrase. All of these instances seem to poke at Leon's more emotional or sensitive nature in addition to prodding at his physical appearance. Unlike the vast majority of military men, Leon didn't join to patriotically "defend his country" or to prove himself as a man, or any of that other bullshit... he was quite literally forced into this.
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But he unwillingly becomes a very talented trained killer-- something that very negatively impacts his mental health, as we've seen in Damnation-- and the government has no problem treating him as such.
Then in Degeneration, we get a somewhat similar story. The government sends Leon out to assist with the shitshow at Havardville and both Angela and Greg are immediately dismissive of his skills. As Greg puts it, Leon doesn't "look military" (are you sensing a pattern?) and seemingly makes it his mission to do everything Leon tells him not to do, like a defiant child. At one point he even gets up in Leon's face, shouting and gesturing at Leon in a way that's reminiscent of how cis men act when their favorite team scores a touchdown. In other words, because Greg is significantly bigger than Leon and has already pointed out how Leon is different from the rest of the military men, he's trying to assert himself to Leon with that stereotypical alpha male, macho man shit.
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And this idea comes back again in Infinite Darkness where Jason, Patrick, and Shen Mei openly debate Leon's skills while waiting on his arrival. Patrick points out that he thinks Leon was just "at the wrong place at the right time" which seems to suggest that others probably harbor this sentiment as well. If the other agents know Leon's name, and they're all openly engaging in a debate of his skills, how many other times has this happened? How many other agents, like Patrick, wrongfully assume that Leon is incapable?
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It doesn't look like it's limited to just the agents either. When PA Ryan leads Jason, Shen Mei, and Patrick in to talk to Graham, he opens by remarking that one agent is still in route but these three are probably the most qualified-- and then he gets cut off, but the emphasis he puts on Jason, Shen Mei, and Patrick seems to suggest that it was more along the lines of "Leon's not here, but it's ok because these three are the most qualified for this mission." Which is funny when you consider that Patrick didn't even know to shoot them in the head, and don't get me wrong I love Patrick, but why is he here for such a high-stakes mission??... and then he doesn't even go with them.
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But, this all begs the question, how would those rumors even start? Shen Mei points out that Leon's handled dozens of critical missions by this point and Patrick knows that Leon was the one who saved Ashley, so it's very interesting how people are fully aware of Leon's accomplishments, yet they often refuse to recognize him for such.
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I can't imagine how hard that would have to be for Leon. While the fandom jokes about Leon being the president's lapdog, and his co-workers seem to do the same, it's more the fact that he's the government's bitch but none of his co-workers know this. So they constantly underestimate him, talk shit about him behind his back, assume he's not as skilled because he's pretty, and they don't know that Leon isn't even here willingly. I believe that a lot of this stems from the fact that the gov doesn't see Leon as a human being-- he's just their best weapon-- so if they treat him as such, others are going to do the same. But, I think this also adds a layer to Leon's "rest in peace, assholes" because keep in mind, the zombies he just killed were all WH staff and other agents.
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hotaruharuto · 7 months
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every time i see those posts like ‘what food from a show did YOU always wanna try’ i go lol none? but i just remembered im a liar
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i always wanted the fucking soup brock made in the pokemon anime
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hotaruharuto · 9 months
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Official Artwork for SMT’s 30th Anniversary Event
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hotaruharuto · 10 months
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theres a rumor going around that former cdf nikkari has taken in akira’s son as his cadet. of course, logically, everyone knows that the kid has nothing to do with what his father did, but festering grudge is hardly logical.
fujiwara and skins extend their offer to help shelter the kid, but that doesn’t solve the problem of who is capable of escorting nanashi safely. the strong ones tend to be former cdf too, and they’re also the ones with a score to settle.
thus, they contacted those who called themselves samurai, weirdos claiming to be from above the ceiling, but undeniably strong. not to mention, they’re not aligned to any of the three big factions in tokyo, making them the safest option to take.
(nikkari gives nanashi his cape as a parting gift, so he can hide his face with the hood.)
TLDR; another au where nanashi gets mistaken as akira’s son. which is great! cause if they realize he literally is akira’s reincarnation that would be worse
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hotaruharuto · 10 months
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hotaruharuto · 11 months
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More RE4 Lore Facts/Easter Eggs
When Saddler manipulates Ashley’s plaga and tries to get her to kill Leon, the gun doesn’t run out of bullets rather it jamps. This model has a moving slide, which can cause issues if the person doesn’t hold the gun steady. Since Ashley’s hands were shaking, she did what’s called limp-wristing the gun. It’s an issue with models that having a sliding or bolt mechanism where if the person’s wrist isn’t firm and straight enough, the movement will cause the framework to shift resulting in the empty case of the previous round getting stuck in the action (stovepipe/ FTE). When Leon picks the gun back up, he has to eject the magazine and manually clear the casing out and reset it. 
While Leon doesn’t get his iconic cheek scar from the remake, he still walks away with several injuries that will scar. His right hand will have a scar horizontally near his thumb on the palm from where Ashley cut him. His left mid-thigh will also have a sizeable scar from where Krauser slashed him with the knife. He also has some shallow scraps on his right cheek that could possibly leave a scar for a little while depending on how deep they are/how Leon heals. 
I’m not entirely certain about the plaga removal scar. Like in the original, the device appears to kill the Plaga using UV radiation, and while Luis has a scar, I don’t think it was from the same procedure. A UV radiation treatment doesn’t leave behind a surgical scar like Luis has– that looks like a healed incision scar– but I think the machine Leon and Ashely used only kills the plaga. It wouldn’t remove it from their bodies, that would likely be a serperate procedue in which they’d have to extract the dead plaga from their chests. That would leave a scar like what Luis has. Do with that info what you will. 
If you look closely during Luis’s death scene, you can see the Umbrella logo is printed on his lighter
While Ashley’s codename is Baby Eagle, Leon’s is Condor One. Condor One is also the name of a gay romance novel in which a federal agent (from the SS) falls in love with the president and they have an affair. 
After completing the mission and getting back to the US, Leon writes what is called “The Kennedy Report,” which details everything that happened specifically in regards to Las Plagas. In a rare show of giving a fuck, the American government shared the report with the BSAA so that both parties could adequate prepare defenses against Las Plagas
While surviving Raccoon City was a hell of a feat, that wasn’t what gained Leon attention as an agent. Since the reality of what happened in RC was swept under the rug by the government and many people within the government didn’t believe in BOWs, Leon surviving RC wasn’t really that notable to anyone who didn’t know what actually happened. As such, Leon rescuing Ashley was what elevated his status as an agent, according to his character description from Death Island. 
Since Leon was put through military boot camp as seen in the opening flashbacks, it would’ve been required that Leon cut his hair short since it is way too long for military regulation. That being said, it’s up to the CO to make exceptions to this rule. And given that Krauser refers to Leon as pretty boy and comments on his pretty blue eyes, that’s probably why he didn’t make Leon cut his hair.
Leon’s blue jacket from the casual outfit is a blue MA-1 flight jacket. I’m still searching for the back patch, which seems to be something Leon put on there himself. It’s likely a reference to Leon’s RE2 (1998) jacket which also featured a skull on the back and an American flag on the arm. 
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hotaruharuto · 11 months
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Random RE Lore: RE4R Edition
Leon is an ex-catholic. He mentions that he hasn’t gone to confession in a while but we know from RE6 that he doesn’t believe in god/christianity in general
Luis was part of the Umbrella research team that developed Nemesis. The Umbrella 6th European Lab Dream Team was responsible for a lot the basis of a lot of the enemies throughout the franchise. Nemesis was supposed to be Umbrella’s attempt at Las Plagas, so it makes sense that that was how Luis got wrapped up in it.
The game has a lot of… ✨️moments✨️ especially:
When Leon and Luis meet, they are chained up together. Luis makes a comment about Leon “being in situations like this before” then bites his lip and raises his eyebrows. He’s referring to Leon liking being tied up in bed, which adds to the tension between them.
Luis calls Leon “Sancho” throughout the game, which is a double entendre. In Spanish slang, “sancho” is a gay man who sleeps with another man that’s already in a relationship/is the “side bitch.” Sancho is also a character from the novel Don Quixote; Sancho is Don Quixote’s illiterate squire. Leon replies “who are you calling sancho?” which could really go either way. We know Leon’s read or at least heard of the novel since he tells Luis he was a “fine knight, Don Quixote.” 
Krauser calls Leon a pretty boy and then says Leon has pretty blue eyes. Pretty boy is seen as a good thing now but in 2004 when the game was taking place, Krauser is trying to insult Leon by calling him feminine/girly. Objectively though, Krauser isn’t wrong- Leon has the long hair, high cheekbones, and softer features. He is a pretty boy. 
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Leon seems to be a Pulp Fiction fan. He references dialogue from movie, threatening the enemies with “going medieval on your ass” which is a quote from the movie. 
Ashely is part of a sorority. When you inspect her phone, you can see that she has stickers for Sigma Gamma Phi. It’s a real sorority for a college in New York. The sorority focuses on equality, social justice, and feminism.
Leon cries twice in the game. Capcom doesn’t seem to animate tears so it can be difficult to spot, but if you look carefully at his face you can see it. When Ashley and Leon are being controlled by the Plaga and Ashley is forced to point the gun at Leon, he reaches out toward her and his face pinches, his lip quivers and he makes a sniffling sound. The second time is when he kills Krauser. After he looks at his reflection in the blade that’s dripping with Krauser’s blood, he looks agonized and looks up at the sky. His lips trembles and his eyes screw up and then it cuts to the chapter end. The next chapter starts with him looking back at Krauser’s body then shaking his head as if he’s trying to physically shake the thoughts/emotions away. 
In the beginning of the game, you can find a hunter’s journal that talks about a grandfather reading his grandson Don Quixtone. Luis is the child from the story; he was born and raised in the village before working for Umbrella/Las Plagas. His mother died during childbirth, and it doesn’t appear Luis knew his father. 
 Originally Capcom’s dev team said they wanted to have Ashley and Leon hold hands to show the connection between them, but decided not to go with it because they were worried audiences would take that as an incentive to ship them/a romantic gesture and they wanted to keep Leon and Ashley’s relationship strictly platonic. Leon ends up holding Luis’s hand later in the game while Luis dies. 
If you pay close attention to the first fight with Krauser, he slashes Leon’s inner thigh before kicking Leon. Then Luis shoots at Krauser to get him away from Leon. When Leon runs over to Luis, he struggles to get up/run due to the injury. 
This one is more so for younger fans but Ashley’s casual outfit is a style called “scene” (a subgenre that was very popular during the 2000′s and into the 2010′s). The game is set in 2004 so it showcases some of the early scene fashion. The bracelets she has on are what we used to call kandi. 
Much like supernatural’s finale dub situation *long-suffering sigh at the memory of that* Luis and Leon are slightly more canon in various dubs. In the Italian dub of the game, Luis tells Leon to come dance with him at the ball after calling Leon prince charming. In the German dub, Luis and Leon refer to each other as prince and princess. 
Leon’s new jacket and the hallucination scene where he’s trying to carry Ashley to the plaga removal device are both references to the Resident Evil 3.5 build of the original resident evil 4 in which Leon wore a bomber jacket and had hallucinations while going throughout the game, most notably of the “hook man.” 
Leon’s official hair color appears to be blonde- this is not up for debate. His eyebrows are blonde, his hair is blonde, he’s blonde. Unless capcom says he decided to bleach his hair and his eyebrows and touched up his roots right before going to Spain, then he’s most definitely a blonde. He’s been blonde in the games since 2005. The CGI movies play it fast and loose with hair color but some of the finer details in the movie are off anyway. Chris has always had blue eyes but they were changed to brown in Vendetta for example, but they’re blue in re8 and Death Island.
Update: since this post gained a lot of traction and people seem to be very interested, here’s the Complete Leon Timeline, more RE4R facts, and some random RE lore things. 
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