#Is it like the scene from They Live where the protagonist tries to get his friend to wear the Anticapitalism Sunglasses but the friend

[welcometothejianghu]

Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 重啟之極海聽雷/Reunion: The Sound of the Providence/The Lost Tomb Reboot/this thing has too many names

Reunion (I'm just going to call it that) is a 2020 action drama about the most specialest little babygirl in the tomb-raiding world, his two husbands, and the cadre of assorted weirdos they pick up as they try to follow a set of directions left by a dead (?) man in the thunder.

Imagine if someone showed you the Mandalorian, and you were like, gee, that was a neat little sci-fi one-shot! because you'd never heard of Star Wars. That was basically my experience watching this show, having no idea that the Lost Tomb franchise (DMBJ) was even a thing. Turns out that not only is there a whole big continuity out there with these characters, but that Reunion takes place a few years after the main story's resolution. Don't worry, though -- Reunion doesn't spoil you for that resolution. It doesn't spoil you for much, period. Look, DMBJ has a weird relationship to endings, okay?

I have written a more thorough where-to-start guide for DMBJ as a whole, so if you want to consider other entry points, well, that information is there for your consideration. Yet it is my opinion that this is the best entry into the overall franchise, and a fun thing to watch just in general, and I'm here to make my case for both of those.

The rest of this rec will assume that you have no familiarity with the DMBJ series. That's okay; you don't need any. All you need is to trust my five reasons you should watch this.

1. Old Man Yaoi

As you begin this show, you are introduced to the Iron Triangle. That's them in the picture up there. Left to right, you have: Xiao Ge, magically tattooed immortal hottie who just got back from ten years in [scene missing]; Wu Xie, our protagonist, who's just a little guy and it's his birthday; and Wang Pangzi, the literal best.

(And yes, Wu Xie is in his 30s and Pangzi is in his 40s, which is not technically old man anything, but ... look, if you watch, you'll see why I think I'm justified in calling it that.)

They are extremely married. They are a disaster trio of disasters so disastrous that no one else should ever be subjected to their chaos. They're going to make sure lots of people are, though, don't you worry about it. Sometimes those people even deserve it.

However, because the show (tragically!!) decides that Xiao Ge has somewhere else to be like 95% of the runtime, most of the relationship you get to see is between Wu Xie and Pangzi.

I'm saying this now as an old gay nerd who just this year celebrated her 15th wedding anniversary: I have never, never felt so represented in media as I have watching Wu Xie and Pangzi interact. There's a little wake-up song they sing together near the end of the show, and it just ... it packs so much character development into thirty seconds. These boys have been living adjacent lives for so long that they've made up their own little shared songs about the mundanities of daily living. That is just what happens when you marry your best friend and then decide to get old and weird together. Ask me how I know.

Look, if you want to know whether this show is for you or not, watch to the end of the first episode, to the part where Pangzi flips over the table. If your heart is filled with joy (as it should be), keep going.

Love makes a tomb-raiding syndicate family.

2. A fun-filled action-packed romp of nonsense!

If you're familiar with Hellblazer canon, this will make sense to you: Reunion is Dangerous Habits. If you're not familiar with Hellblazer canon, try it like this: Reunion is a terrible place to start because it plays on your extant affection for a character who gains a terrible status effect almost immediately. It's a also great place to start because it throws you right in the action with measurably high stakes and gives you a reason to build that affection very quickly.

I'm also going to warn you right off the bat: The plot of this show got cut to ribbons by censors.

See, the DMBJ books, being books, are allowed to get away with supernatural shit! So you've got zombies and ghosts and curses and monsters and immortality and all your other standard ooky spooky semi-urban fantasy trappings. But the DMBJ adaptations, being live-action, are heavily regulated in their content. This is why, in the early Reunion episodes, our heroes are menaced by human-looking creatures that are actually ancient mannequins made of leather that are piloted, mecha-style, by evil clams. Because evil clams are more scientific than zombies. I guess.

So yeah, the plot of this book already had to get mangled into a more "science"-compliant shape even before it made it to filming. The real problem is that a whole lot more of it got cut after it was all filmed and put together. I have read an explanation of what the actual storyline was supposed to be, and yeah, if you know what you’re looking at, you can see (and hear) the scars where major elements got hacked out with a weed whacker.

Therefore: You cannot expect this plot to make sense.

But that's okay! You're not here for the plot to make sense! You're here to watch some characters you love run around through ridiculous and sometimes beautiful labyrinths, trying to solve puzzles you're never given enough information to understand, all in search of the resolution to a mystery that had half its guts torn out before you got to see it -- and you are here to love it. If you have ever laughed and cheered your way through a Mission: Impossible film without pausing to care too much about the plot holes it’s dodging left and right, you are in the correct frame of mind to appreciate this. Just believe that whatever engaging nonsense the show tells you is correct for the time being and go with it.

You cannot watch DMBJ and care about the laws of physics. You simply cannot.

Do not, however, let me give you the impression that the shoddy plotting is accompanied by equally shoddy performances. A major part of this show’s incredible watchability comes from how the cast is shockingly good. There are some serious heavy hitters among the actors. A major part of why this Wu Xie and Pangzi are my favorite together is the incredible chops both Zhu Yilong and Chen Minghao have, to say nothing of their real-life affection for one another. (See that scar on Wu Xie's neck? That scar is there because Zhu Yilong commits to the bit.) Effortlessly charming Mao Xiaotong turns potentially irritating wunderkind Bai Haotian into a perfect precious weirdo baby. Wu Erbai's entire second-season character arc could have been unintentionally comedic, but veteran of queer cinema Hu Jun sells even the undignified moments as relentlessly tragic. And of course Baron Chen absolutely kills it with...

3. This giant fucking loser

This is Hei Xiazi. That's not his name, but it's close enough. Allow me to do a dramatic reenactment of my watching his first scene:

[camera pans over to him]

me: Ugh, I recognize this kind of wannabe badass character design. I hate his type. He's self-important, hyper-masculine, and just a big jerk, and the show thinks he's soooo cool. Barf.

[thirty seconds later]

me: Oh no. I was so wrong. I love him forever now.

This is because he is (as indicated above) a giant fucking loser. Yes, he's a good fighter who knows lots of things. He's also a wet potato chip of a man. Sure, he can get you into a headlock, but he can also annoy you into submission, and that's honestly more fun for him. My wife has used the phrase “Vash the Stampede-coded” to describe him. My wife is not wrong.

And the kind of ridiculous thing is, being such a loser is what wraps back around to making him cool again. He's a loser because he just doesn't fucking care. His masculinity is the opposite of fragile. You tell him to wear a dress and makeup, he'll do it -- and sure, he'll complain, but only because he enjoys complaining. He has no dignity. He’s tits-out. He's gender. He's the worst and also the best.

Hei Xiazi is a major character in the other installations, to the point where he and his boyfriend (more on him later) even have their own movie. But of course, I did not know this on my first watch, so I kept expecting the show to explain his whole deal. It does not, but you don't really need it to. He sees better in the dark. He doesn't age. He's a thug for hire. There, that's all the bio you need.

One of the things that makes him great is that he is the least sexually threatening person ever. Across all the properties he's in, he spends a fair amount of time with women -- sometimes in very close quarters -- and they are perfectly safe around him. I actually wrote a whole post about it once upon a time (warning for tiny spoilers for a series that isn't this one) wherein I claim that not only Xiazi but Reunion in general is the television equivalent of the shirt that says I RESPECT WOMEN SO MUCH I DON'T HAVE SEX WITH THEM.

That said, this loser does get a sort-of romance plot here -- and honestly, I find it very cute! It's not even the only instance in this series of a bisexual guy in a long-term same-sex relationship getting a girlfriend, and I like that other one too! Look, the handle of my DMBJ sideblog is @katamaricule because I joked that Wu Xie treats polyamory like a katamari, and if you don't move fast enough, you're going to be rolled right up into his gay little cuddle puddle.

This is not a show for exclusive ships; this is a show for inclusive ships. The Jiumen Association is a polycule. You don't even have to know what the Jiumen Association is to know it's true.

4. The power of friendship

This show has a lot of characters.

I'd say the supporting cast is divided into three categories: characters who have been in previous installments, characters who have not been in previous installments, and characters who probably should have been in previous installments (or at least mentioned) but who were only created for Reunion so we have to pretend like we've known about them all along.

There is no way to tell which is which -- which is part of my argument that this series makes a good entry point to the franchise.

Take Huo Daofu. Huo Daofu is a brilliant doctor masquerading as a donut stand operator who treats Wu Xie with all the cold disdain of a man confronting the person who left him at the altar years ago. On the one hand, yes! We do know Huo Daofu from a previous series, and we've known he's both a doctor and a bitch. On the other hand, oh, we have no idea why he's like this about Wu Xie, and we probably never will. The show just treats it like it's for an excellent reason, and you know what, from what you know about Wu Xie, it probably is.

Consider also Jiang Zisuan. One of the show's principal antagonists, Jiang Zisuan turns out to be the brother of ... well, let's just say it's someone whose having a brother really should have come up before this. It has not come up. (And that's even before we get into the issue of his surname.) His stated identity as that person's brother is so bizarre that my favorite interpretation is that he isn't actually that person's brother -- all the flashbacks we see are just his delusions about a relationship he's completely invented. But there's no way you'd know how fucking weird this is on your first run.

Then there's our friendly little support himbo, Kanjian, who shows up to all occasions with two tickets to the gun show and not a thought in that beautiful head. (His name just means "vest," which is par for the course when it comes to the author's naming conventions.) He was a lot more menacing in the last series (where they kept putting sleeves on him, geez), where most of what we learned about him is that you can loan him out to other tomb-raiding families. Now he's a golden retriever with great aim and a slingshot. It's an upgrade.

The trick is, you cannot be surprised when someone shows up and the show treats them like you should know who they are, even when there's no possible way you could know who they are. I mean, for heaven's sake, Liu Sang arrives in the middle of an obvious beef with Pangzi, the origins of which are never satisfactorily explained, while also having a giant do-I-want-to-fuck-him-or-do-I-want-to-be-him crush on Xiao Ge, which is also never satisfactorily explained. Whatever, you just roll with it. He's got good hearing, a bad attitude, and questionable taste in idols. Now you're good to go.

(I should throw in a special note here that Liu Sang is many, many people's little meow meow, and not undeservedly. For a fuller explanation of why that is, please consult this other post I made.)

Part of the fun of this big cast is the adorable interactions you get. All the characters have appropriately big personalities, and the show loves letting people you wouldn’t expect bounce off one another. It’s not your typical action-hero show where nothing happens without the protagonist in the room. There are lots of exciting combinations and tons of charming dynamics! Unlikely friendships form all over the place! Enemies become allies! Allies become friends! Friends become friends with other friends! Some friends become enemies again! You'll need a scoreboard to keep up!

This is not to say the show treats all its characters perfectly or equally -- one of the precious few main female characters doesn't even get a real name, for heaven's sake, and the less said about the brownface racism, the better. It is, at its heart, a dude show for dudes made in China, with all the troubling decision-making that implies. Where it does deserve credit, though, is in understanding that its supporting characters are actual people with personalities apart from their function in Wu Xie's narrative. Sometimes the show just asks "what if [random character A] and [random character B] had to interact?" and has fun considering the answer! Which is almost always a delight to watch, and sometimes even breaks your heart.

5. Amazing rewatch value!

And by this I mean the experience of watching this show is remarkably different once you have any understanding of the rest of the DMBJ universe.

For instance, there's a point where two characters are scuba-diving past some submerged coffins, and one character tells the other whose coffins they are. Working only on information Reunion has given you, you're like, oh, that's where they buried the guy who built this creepy place, that's a little weird. Once you recognize that name from other series, though, your reaction is far more, excuse me, they did WHAT to WHOSE corpses?

Or another point where a character you've already met is on a train, and there's a handsome gentleman who just happens to be riding with her. He hands her his business card! Aw, that's sweet, he seems like a nice guy! Well, no, Xie Yuchen is not nice, but he is one of our allies, and he's Hei Xiazi's boyfriend, and a lot of what he's doing hits real different when you have a fuller grasp on why he's doing it and for whom. (Honestly, a major reason to watch Reunion first is so you're not fully and appropriately upset by how your black/pink gays merely have one teeny tiny scene together.)

From the way the series treats the persistent absence of Wu Sanxing, Wu Xie's third uncle, I absolutely, 100% assumed that he was a completely new character to this installment of the series, an extremely long-lost relative that we've somehow conveniently managed to never talk about before now. So imagine my gobsmacked surprise when I went to watch a different series, set much earlier in the timeline, where the opening scene prominently features Wu Sanxing as an actual character in the present-day narrative! ...Well, sorta. Look, there's a lot of fuckery with his identity in earlier parts of the story, and fortunately you need to know none of it to understand Reunion. But when you do, it suddenly makes a lot more sense why Wu Xie talks about someone who was a major part of Wu Xie's adult life like he died when Wu Xie was nine.

AND THE FLASHBACK SCENE WHERE A-NING GETS KILLED BY THE SNAKE, AND YOU'RE LIKE, OKAY, AND THEN YOU WATCH ULTIMATE NOTE AND IT WASN'T LIKE THAT AT ALL look, I know there are kinda reasons for this, different production companies and all, but seriously, what the fuck

All of which to say is that the experience of watching Reunion the first time is, hey, this self-contained romp is a lot of fun! The experience of rewatching it after watching any of the other DMBJ installments is a transcendently wonderful head-clutching avalanche of one moment of recognition right after another.

And here's the thing: You will watch more. Reunion is a gateway drug. If you are interested enough to make it through all 62 episodes, you're going to be interested in watching more. Which is great. The English-speaking fandom needs more people. Come down into the tombs. It's great down here. We've got snakes and arguably unintentional homoeroticism. Join us. Join usssssssss

Are you ready for an aventure?

There are a couple different ways to watch the first half, but there's (weirdly) only one way to watch the second, so for both of them, I'm going to send you straight to iQiyi: Season 1 (32 episodes) and Season 2 (30 episodes).

And just so you’re ready when Reunion is done, here’s how you find the rest of the DMBJ series, in the absolutely non-chronological order in which I, personally, think you should watch them:

The Lost Tomb 2 (AsianCrush, YouTube)

Ultimate Note (iQiyi)

The Mystic Nine (iQiyi, Viki)

Sand Sea/Tomb of the Sea (Viki, WeTV, YouTube, also YouTube)

Also, there's a lot of movies and side series and other pieces that are worth seeing, and even a couple of full series I've left off the list, and you can just slot them in wherever. And maybe we'll get Tibetan Sea Flower someday? Look, hope springs eternal.

They're so perfect. Perfect triangle. Perfect boys.

#dmbj #重启 #重启之极海听雷 #盗墓笔记 #Reunion: The Sound of the Providence #the lost tomb reboot #rec post #i made this

[llatimeria]

Just finished The Santaroga Barrier by Frank Herbert (my dad likes to play audiobooks in the car on trips) and I didn't like it much (and there's quite a bit of Yikes in it, because frank herbert and the 1960s in general,) but the aspect I found most interesting was the concept of like. A world's subconscious desire to kill The Other.

In the book an investigator visits a small cultish town in order to investigate it for a market study after a few other researchers mysteriously died. he gets into a frightening number of "accidents" while he's there (like the former investigators) and starts believing that there was a conspiracy among the townsfolk and all of them were intentionally trying to murder him.

tl;dr, it turns out it actually was a subconscious yet intense phobia/hatred they had of The Outside they had as part of their personal traumas, childhood indoctrination into their local cult, and the LSD-like drug they were constantly on. They didn't mean the investigator any harm, if anything they were extremely welcoming, kind, well-meaning people, but this background radiation of fear and rage kept making them accidentally do things to kill him - mixing up insecticide and spices in his food, gas fumes being pumped in his hotel room after a botched maintenance job, a torn carpet tripping him off the railing of the balcony, and Many Other subtle attempts on his life that he just happened to avoid by sheer chance.

But all the townsfolk don't really think anything of it - the town doctor, especially skeptical, "diagnoses" him as "accident-prone" until the investigator begs and pleads with him for days after several brutal accidents in a row, and only then does the doctor start believing him but even then only comes up with the theory that all of this supposed malice towards the investigator is "subconscious" - later shown to likely be correct when the investigator himself, after overdosing on their special drug, "accidentally" shoves his colleague off a roof, killing him, but the investigator physically cannot see it as anything but an accident anymore. it simply doesn't reach his mind that he killed a former friend of his. it was just an accident. he just fell, all on his own.

the idea of A Town That Wants To Kill You, But It's Nothing Personal resonated with me from the perspective of being a disabled person, especially one in a generally welcoming, accepting environment. when you're disabled, not a lot of people will come to you bearing their ableism between their teeth. They'll be nice, insensitive maybe, but nice, and are often outwardly willing to accomodate you. But they also stick out their leg as you're walking along to trip you. They'll apologize, and you'll maybe even believe it, even though to you, from your perspective, it was obviously an attempt to harm you. You excuse it once, maybe twice, but after a point, you realize that this world, this community you have entered, is actively hostile towards you and everyone like you. so you start screaming it to the rooftops. you tell authorities that the world wants to hurt you, but they begin affixing labels to you like "paranoid" or "anxious". they know no one actually has it out for you, personally, after all. that would be ridiculous.

but you still keep getting tripped down the stairs. the rat poison and the sugar at your favorite coffee shop still keep getting mixed up, but only when it's your order. in the hospital, recovering from your previous "accidents", a nurse will still accidentally pump you full of saline instead of medicine.

after a point, doesn't the fact that all of these are "accidents", and that no one WANTS to kill you, just... stop mattering a little bit? Yeah, no one wants to hurt you, but they just keep doing it. They keep making stupid little mistakes. They know everyone like you who has visited their community has died or been seriously injured under suspicious circumstances, but the idea that they, themselves, could be a little bit at fault just doesn't even register to them. they don't even consider that they might have to change their ways in order to protect people like you. After all, you can't prepare for every "freak accident". Even when the solution could be as simple as "stop putting rat poison next to the sugar", every time it happens to you, or a person like you, it's just an "accident", that no one "meant" any harm, and "nothing could be done".

it doesn't cross their mind that a string of unfortunate accidents ceases to be accidents, but serious negligence. it can't cross their mind, because they're not the victims here. they only even begin to acknowledge something might be wrong when the victims are screaming in their face, day after day. even then, they come to the conclusion that even if you're right, and the community does want to kill you because you are Other, they won't immediately see anything wrong with that. To Them, the answer is clear as day: just become one of Them, and you'll be safe. They take care of their own.

#this isn't even really what the santaroga barrier is even about i just found this to be a useful structure for talking about disability #It's not... NOT what it's about?? #it's definitely got themes of Otherness #but it's more about like. #My dad put it as 'how much of your individuality would you give up to live in paradise' #which is also interesting to think about but . imo if i have to give up parts of myself it would no longer be paradise #But also a lot of what the cult-town tries to get you to 'give up' is. like. Believing in capitalism #And to me it definitely feels like Herbert was on the santarogan's side with that part at least but it's still interesting that that's like #it's still interesting that That of all things is what you have to give up in order to Become Santarogan. #Like. Personally i'd have to change very little to become a santarogan. the trade off for me is not that huge #which makes the protagonist actually seem a little unhinged and unnecessarily hostile #Does daesin just want to believe in capitalism That Badly even when he doesn't understand that that's what this is about #Is it like the scene from They Live where the protagonist tries to get his friend to wear the Anticapitalism Sunglasses but the friend #just refuses point blank even though he has no reason to? #idk. it's definitely an interesting premise. but the racisms. and the misogynies. it's really hard to look past that #especially the part where one black character describes himself like #'before [santaroga] i was an ignorant [n slur hard r]. now i am an educated n-gro“ #which was just. holy fucking shit. that is unspeakably awful. shut the fuck up frank #Also a part where a woman disrobes herself to prove herself to be no harm to the investigator [her fiancee] #and he says something like. 'you're so beautiful i just might rape you' and shes just like teehee thats sweet :) #Which. Bad. Very nasty. Don't say that. #And the general concept of potentially using that woman to lure the investigator into the cult. it's unclear how much of that was #on purpose on the part of santarogans but it does have this slimy Women Are Evil Temptresses That Trap Men In Bad Situations miasma to it #anyways. sorry for blabbing on and on about a 50 year old book by the same guy who wrote dune which is clearly an unquestionable masterpiece #/s. #I just had no choice in listening to this story while sitting in the back of a car on Very Empty Montana And Wyoming Highways #so I might as well rotate it just a little I guess. nothing better to do

[swampjawn]

God I love animation. I love it for the way it can bring anything to life beyond the constraints of boring ol' reality, but also the ways that it's inextricably linked to, and draws on the conventions of live-action film-making.

So fuck it, let's look at how Hayao Miyazaki straight up copies some camera framing techniques from his predecessor and the other most influential Japanese filmmaker of all time, Akira Kurosawa! (Kurosawa really was the master of framing scenes around his characters, so he's a great source of inspiration)

(btw, this is a screenshot from this TV special where the two met for the first time just after the release of Kurosawa's final film. It's pretty interesting, and also very cute how nervous Miyazaki seems to be to meet one of his idols.)

Specifically, how the two each choose to break the 180 degree rule (well, not technically 'break' in the case of Kurosawa) to show their protagonists' changing destiny in "Throne of Blood" and "Princess Mononoke".

For anyone who doesn't know, the 180 degree rule is a basic film-making rule of thumb which states that in any scene where two characters interact, you should draw an imaginary line between them and the camera should always stay on one side of that line.

("In the Mood for Love" - Wong Kar-wai)

This way, one character is always looking to the right of the camera, the other is always looking to the left, and the audience doesn't get confused by the geography of the scene. Crossing this line can be disorienting, but when done intentionally, it can convey a paradigm shift of some kind in the scene.

In this scene from "Throne of Blood," (a feudal Japanese retelling of Macbeth) Washizu's wife Asaji discusses tactics with him and tries to convince him to aspire to the throne and to assassinate his lord Tsuzuki while he sleeps.

As two servants appear to notify them that Washizu's sleeping quarters are prepared, the camera dollies left and around the characters' backs. This camera movement is motivated by the motion of the servants' torches outside the room, but it also signifies a change in Washizu's outlook.

Washizu is completely silent for most of this scene, contemplating his wife's advice. But as the camera slides behind his back and across the line of action, the scene is now re-framed, illustrating his change in perspective.

He's been convinced and the trajectory of his life is about to change - and now, facing away from the camera, is the time for action.

Because the camera slides smoothly across the line, Kurosawa isn't technically breaking the 180 degree rule. Miyazaki on the other hand, takes it a little further.

The complimentary scene in Princess Mononoke comes near the start when the wise woman of the village reads Prince Ashitaka's fortune after he's cursed by the wild boar spirit. She tells him that it is his fate to leave the village and travel to the west, where he may be able to lift the curse on his arm. The trajectory of Ashitaka's life changes in this moment too. As he accepts his fate, the change is symbolized by him cutting off his hair, but also by the camera jumping the line.

Throughout this dialogue scene and even as he cuts his hair, the simulated camera sits just slightly to the side of Ashitaka's left shoulder.

But once it's done, for the final shot, the scene is reframed and we jump to the other side, where Ashitaka is now looking to the right of the camera instead of the left.

Making the camera dolly across a scene like Kurosawa's version in 2D animation is no simple task, so this transition with a simple cut is in a way subtler, in another way a bit more jarring, but it conveys the same meaning.

This is the moment when our protagonists make the choice to embark on a new destiny and re-frame their lives.

This has been an excerpt from a short video essay I made a while back, which not many people watched. I think this is at least in part due to my failure to package it well, and it seems you tumblheads like this animation/cinematography analysis stuff, so this is an experiment to see if, with the help of y'all, and a new title and thumbnail, it's at all possible to give this video a second wind in the eyes of the Youtube Gods!

So if you found this interesting, I'd appreciate if you checked it out! Thanks for reading!

#Also i spent a lot of time on the little animated bit at the start so please watch it lol #animation analysis #mini essay #video #video essay #princess mononoke #throne of blood #hayao miyazaki #akira kurosawa #Youtube #gif warning

[amostnobleyandere]

Yandere Diluc x GN Reader Isekai AU

Warnings: minor mentions of death, kidnapping, captivity, !!!yandere!!!, its hinted that Diluc and reader will get married

A/N: this is written more like a long prompt than a ficlet if im gonna be honest, but I liked the premise so :)

——————

That man had looked at you with such disdain.

You had seen it, heard it, hell, you had even read about it, despite how much you regretted doing that now.

This was a world of a romance novel; one you remembered reading before you suddenly passed out and woke up in a body that wasn’t yours and screamed in a voice you didn’t recognize. It was horrifying, to say the least.

It wasn’t until you had picked up a letter on your very nice and very much not yours nightstand that was addressed to a name you recognized from hours of reading over it. You had become the villain of a borderline reverse harem novel. A typical throw away antagonist, someone that didn’t even get to see the end of the book before they were killed off. Your entire purpose was to make trouble for the protagonist, Aether, and act as a catalyst for the love of the second male lead, Diluc Ragnvindr. Who, at the time, was still your fiancé.

The universe was merciful to you, however, as you arrived at a point in the novel in which you still had the opportunity to avoid your fate. The road to death for the character you had unfortunately possessed had all started at a tea party, of all places. And as if that alone wouldn’t be humiliating enough, that tea party was also where the villain would find their first love.

In the novel, the villain was meant to be introduced to the aloof and unfriendly Diluc during a social gathering. Because of his reputation as the roguishly handsome young master of Duke Ragnvindr’s estate and his first son, “you” immediately gained an intense infatuation with the man who was repulsed by your love (obviously, his love is reserved for the main character, so of course he would hate anyone else who even dared to breathe near him). It was the unreciprocated love between the pining villain and the cold and emotionally scarred Diluc that began your path to demise.

Actually, you remembered that the most dutiful readers of the book had actually dubbed that part of the book the Garden Scene (TM). It was the moment when Diluc was driven into his own garden to hide from the preening of his admirers (which included you, as much as it made you want to tear your own hair out).

And there, under the shade of some kind of stupid magical blooming tree, he reunited with the protagonist and his first love/childhood friend, Aether.

The best thing? It hadn’t even happened yet.

That meant that you hadn’t met the second male lead, you hadn’t been a complete and utter ass to the angelic protag for no reason, and you could avoid the whole death-by-sword-wielding-love-interest fate altogether!

Plus, the only way you would die is if you tried to get in the way of the love between Aether and Diluc; which, obviously wouldn’t happen, you certainly weren’t falling in love with him anytime soon. Even if he was rumored to be the most handsome man in all of Teyvat. You weren’t willing to risk death for a pretty face.

You resolved that you’d do your best to avoid the hell out of him. You’d even avoid the hell out of his brother, who was mentioned in the book as another heartthrob that fell for the golden-eyed main character, just to make sure you got your good ending. If you just managed to not follow the plot, you could go on to live a peaceful life free of the heartbreak and love triangles that never seemed to end in the book.

Unfortunately, your plan to avoid your would-be murderer for as long as you could failed pretty quickly. After all, you were the villain and a noble, so it’s no surprise that you were forced to attend every even slightly significant social function.

You got so close to the peaceful end you were looking for. You had even sent a letter to the royal family requesting for the engagement between you and Diluc to finally be called off.

…So why?

Why were you here? Why were you hands tied behind your back? Why were your clothes the only thing separating you from wandering hands, those that clutched at you and pulled you closer to the man they belonged to? Why were you suffocating in a tight, hot embrace, in the arms of a man who was meant to, was destined to, hate you with everything he had? And why, was he looking at you with those pained, adoring eyes, which bore into you as you squirmed in his hold?

Diluc’s expression was one of guilt as he spoke. “I never meant for things to happen this way. I never thought…that I’d feel something like this. I’ve never felt something like this. Not even for him.”

You continued to tug at your binds, purposely looking away from blood red eyes that you knew held guilt, but not remorse. No remorse for the silk that was holding steady against your weak struggles. No remorse for the assault the combination of cologne and firewood was having on your senses, with him so unbearably close to you.

His hand slid onto your face gently, cupping it, momentarily stopping your struggles and making you freeze in place. Diluc crouched down so that he was looking you in the eye and then bent his knee to where it rested on the ground as his eyes roamed your face. You had no choice but to look into those crimson eyes, that now looked too bright as the light from the fireplace seemed to make them come alive. The pure emotion in them was now even more obvious, as the color became brighter than it had ever looked before, swirling with emotion in his irises. It reminded you of the flames he wielded. Your stomach twisted in your gut.

“I never thought I’d be willing to go this far to keep you. Please, forgive me.”

He pulled a chain out from underneath the bed you had been laid upon, and clicked a shackle onto you ankle with gentle hands.

He looked up at you and smiled, a soft, almost shy smile. The rare sight was enough to make his already unnaturally handsome face glow in the warm fire light of the room. You couldn’t bring yourself to enjoy being the one receiving such a loving and devoted look.

“It’s only until the wedding, (Y/n). I promise. Just to make sure you’re safe and where you need to be.”

A hysterical sob escaped your chest as he tugged off your binds and pushed you back onto the soft sheets, looming over you while pulling the covers over your limp body and caressing your head as you wept.

#yandere diluc #diluc ragnvindr #diluc x reader #yandere diluc x reader #yandere genshin x you #yandere genshin x reader #yandere genshin #yandere genshin impact #male yandere #yandere diluc ragnvindr #genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin #genshin impact x reader #yandere #forced marriage #soft yandere #gentle yandere

[marvelmaniac715]

My Paul Is Pokotho’s Prophet Theory:

I developed this theory with a friend and thought I’d post it here. I’ve seen this idea in one or two fanfictions before, but I thought I’d post it here because why not?

From the very start of the apotheosis, it’s all about Paul, almost every song we see is meant to advance his story. The narrative of the show is set up to find out his ‘wants’, and ultimately, he just wants Emma. By the end of the musical, he does in fact get Emma, just not in the way he predicted.

The hive never truly hurts him like it does the other people who get infected, instead, just like in the scene following ‘Not Your Seed’, they talk to him. Even what they say to him is quite interesting:

“We just keep running into each other, don’t we Paul?”

Of course, they threaten him, but they don’t actually hurt him, even though they have a gun at their disposal. They can’t hurt him, he’s the protagonist. He’s always been the protagonist. Why else would the hive have a whole number where they anticipate Paul arriving where they reference him as the ‘star of the show’. Why else would he literally be in the title, why would the opening number discuss him in detail and proclaim his tale as the ‘last remaining story to tell’? Pokotho created this musical, he wants all eyes on his prophet and - by extension - himself.

Obviously, he’s one of the last people to become infected, which is why he (presumably) became the leader, because of his internal strength and resilience, but if we look at this through the lens of my theory, here’s what I think is going on:

Just like with Hannah Foster and Webby, Pokotho came to Paul as a child, and just like how Webby gave Hannah prophecies to protect her, Pokotho tried to convince Paul to watch musicals in order to prepare him for his inevitable destiny of being his representative on Earth. But Paul was frightened of the voice in his head trying to make him watch musicals, so frightened that he developed a strong disliking for musicals in general, because it felt like the only way he could control the voice in his head. He tried to live an ordinary life, almost too ordinary, because he was scared of the voice trying to control him and force him into spontaneity. His desire to be with Emma was his undoing, because Pokotho finally had a plot line for his musical.

In the final song of the show, the hive follows Paul’s lead, as if he’s their king. This makes much more sense if we see Paul as Pokotho’s prophet, because the hive would naturally follow the closest thing to their god/leader. Pokotho ensured that his prophet and the woman that drove him to finally want were the last people to survive because if Emma died Paul would have nothing else to want; and the second Paul is fulfilling his predetermined role, Emma is killed.

It’s a pretty obvious theory, I know, but I wanted to present my ideas to potentially expand this theory. I also have a theory that McNamara is Tinky’s prophet that stems from his famous line ‘Wear a watch!’, but nobody wants to hear that 😂.

#team starkid #the guy who didn't like musicals #tgwdlm #hatchetfield #paul matthews #emma perkins #pokotho #lords in black #hannah foster #webby #theory #fan theory #headcanons

[iliveforyouilongforyouvesuvia]

Hi, Vesu!! I don’t submit asks a lot because I know what a box full of them is like 😭, but if it is within your range, could you do the M6 with an MC who is prone to fainting? Not out of surprise or fear, but out of weakness and bad health? I’ve been having frequent fainting spells from new meds and it’s a really scary experience… like nausea and sounding like everything is far away. Also, feel free to make this a mini hc if that’s preferable! :0

The Arcana Mini-HCs: M6 with a fainting MC

~ @taduki hi friend! Sorry this took so long, I didn't want to make you wait any more so I turned this into a mini-hc. I hope this brings a little comfort <3 Here you go! - brainrot ~

Julian: Please, he's a doctor, not only does he know the exact chemical composition of the meds you're on, he's been studying the condition you're taking them for for months now. He's got this - no wait, you're collapsing again - HE DOESN'T GOT THIS! (At least, that's how he tells you it goes. Anybody else on scene watched him take excellent care of you like the competent doctor he is.)

Asra: Reeaallyy wishes you'd let them give you an additional potion that would make blacking out a little less scary and a little more ... ~fantastical~. Regardless, he has an uncanny sense for when you're about to faint and is always quick to pull you into a quiet, shady corner and find a spot where you can sit down while he supports you. They totally never paint whiskers on your face while you're out.

Nadia: Way more accommodating of you than she needs to be. You had to mention it to her when you accepted her commission to investigate the Count's death and she took that as an assignment. Now she always makes sure to stand with you as close to a couch as possible and tries to keep cool, fresh water available in every room. If she's taught all the guards assigned to you first aid - what of it?

Muriel: SO FLUSTERED the first time it happened, because he didn't see it coming and he hadn't even touched you yet but now he's holding you and inwardly panicking because you just fainted for no apparent reason and there's nobody else to take care of you and he doesn't know what to do - now he and Innana just position themselves as living fall cushions like it's second nature (he still worries).

Portia: The ultimate girl scout, she is borderline overprepared. Cold water and mint for nausea? In her bag. Protein rich snacks? In her pocket. Handkerchief for any cold sweats? Right here. She's even starting planning any shared schedules with extra flexibility/buffer times in case you need to take a moment and lie down. Just expect to share at least half of the snacks - that's her homemade trail mix!

Lucio: thought it made you easy pickings at first and falsely assumed it was because he was sooo intimidating in his ghostly goatman form. He was a little disappointed when you told him it was meds, but then he realized that you fainting -> physically catching and supporting you -> getting to act like a dashing romance protagonist -> CUDDLES! (he will panic if you don't wake up in under ten seconds)

#ask arcana brainrot #the arcana #the arcana game #the arcana headcanons #the arcana hc #asra the arcana #julian the arcana #nadia the arcana #muriel the arcana #portia the arcana #lucio the arcana #asra alnazar #julian devorak #nadia satrinava #muriel of the kokhuri #portia devorak #lucio morgasson

[yume-chin]

hey!! if you’re taking requests, i’d like to request the rottmnt boys falling for a fem! reader who’s basically like your stereotypical raph. she loves fighting, loves working out, loud asf, short-tempered, blunt, sarcastic, cursed with resting bitch face, all that jazz. but, once you get to know her, she’s actually really funny and sweet. NEVER afraid to speak her mind, so she may come across as rude or sassy at times, but she never really means to be. DEFINITELY has mild adhd and is on the autism spectrum. 🫶

Hey! Thank you so much for the request!!

I was already working on the request you made before but this addition excited me a lot!!

For this reason, I hope I was able to at least comply with your request. I tried with all my might to best represent Raph's character but in some pieces I don't seem to have succeeded, I still hope you enjoy it, happy reading.

๋࣭ ⭑ ☾ ˖° ⋆✧˖｡˚ ๋࣭ ⭑✧ ๋࣭ ⭑ ☾ ˖° ⋆✧˖｡˚ ๋࣭ ⭑✧

A particular first meeting

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Request: @jiujiubean

Warning: violence (not excessively), protagonist with autism and ADHD (I didn't want to put it in the warnings but if this topic might bother someone it's better to warn them) and bad english (It's not my first language)

Genre: She/her

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๋࣭ ⭑ ☾ ˖° ⋆✧˖｡˚ ๋࣭ ⭑✧ ๋࣭ ⭑ ☾ ˖° ⋆✧˖｡˚ ๋࣭ ⭑✧

It was a quiet winter night in busy New York. Four mutant turtles sprinted through the darkness of the city looking for criminals to beat up and bring to justice. Difficult task for any normal person, but not for them who was their reason for living, to protect New York and their inhabitants from any bad guy who wants to destroy it or who wants to harm those who live there.

The evening continued for a while in total tranquility until suddenly an enormous noise shattered that beloved quiet that until recently had kept the four young people company.

The noise came from an alley not too far from the four and so it didn't take them long to arrive to see what was happening.

Initially everything seemed normal until the unconscious body of one of the Foot Clan members landed at their feet.

“To be able to throw a body like this, the person who did it must certainly be very big and strong” thought the four, unaware of what they would find themselves in front of.

Not having a good view from where they were at the time, they decided to approach out of curiosity and hid in the shadows to have a better view of the whole scene.

What they saw left them completely stunned and astonished.

A person of short stature was fighting against other members of the foot clan and managing to keep up with everyone. He almost seemed to be able to predict every little attack that came his way and intervene accordingly and between dodges and precise blows, one by one he defeated them all.

They still remained there trying to see the face of the person who had just finished fighting but they soon realized that his face was partially hidden by a black mask that left only his e/c eyes exposed. In addition to the eyes, some h/l h/c hair disheveled from the fight that had just ended were visible and some of this hair was stuck to the forehead due to the light layer of sweat that had formed.

-WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING LETTING THERE?! YOU NOW MADE ME LATE FOR TRAINING! GET UP, I WANT TO FINISH DESTROYING YOU!! - you shouted, moving one of the members of the foot clan lying on the ground with your foot.

-You act so boastful and then deep down you're a wimp...- you spat annoyed and then snorted.

Suddenly, to the surprise of all four of they, you took off your mask to take a breather and wiped away some of the sweat with the back of your hand before bending over to the backpack you had just reached and taking out a pack of damp handkerchiefs to clean your hands.

-How disgusting...- was the only thing you said as you continued to clean your hands with a disgusted face.

Just then Mikey accidentally poked the dustbin near his hideout catching your attention.

You immediately became defensive, staring into the darkness in their direction and the boys jumped at your sudden movements.

-who is there?!-

None of the four moved and so you immediately grabbed your phone to light up in their direction. Your eyes widened at the sight.

-What are you?- you asked, keeping the flashlight towards them to avoid missing any of their movements.

Leo stepped forward - well, doesn't it seem obvious? we're turtles - the young man teased you.

-Ah, thank you very much for the explanation, now everything seems normal to me and I will go home calmly as if I hadn't seen anything strange like four talking turtles with bands and weapons... yes, thank you very much-

-You see that we understand each other, huh?- Leo replied

-I was being ironic anyway- you snorted, thus triggering Donatello's curiosity, perceiving you to be partly similar to him.

-Can you tell me what you are and what you are doing here? I want to know if I have to kick your ass or I can go home... you know how it is, it's late to be around-

-My brother is right- said Raph, -we are mutant turtles...- he added, -ninjas and teenagers- concluded Mikey.

You stood there looking at them one by one without ever meeting their gazes - it would be hard to believe if you weren't in front of my eyes...-

-But you're still afraid of us, aren't you?- Leo asked

-Mh?-

-I say, it's true that you didn't have any particular reactions but you're avoiding our gaze as one would avoid a monster's gaze- Leo replied

-I can safely tell you that you are wrong Red-eared slider-

Leonardo stood there looking at you -so why are you avoiding our gaze?-

Donatello intervened -Asperger? True?-

You nodded causing confusion for the other three.

-What are you talking about Donnie?- Raph asked looking towards his brother.

-He just confirmed a doubt I had, he has Asperger's syndrome, a high-functioning autism spectrum- Viola clarified.

-Ah, well, then I'm sorry for accusing you... anyway, nice to meet you, I'm Leonardo- he held out his hand to you without however receiving a shake from you who remained there staring at his hand.

Leo seemed to get annoyed by this but you immediately explained - I don't feel comfortable having physical contact with someone I don't know unless it's for a fight, don't take it amiss Leonardo. Anyway, I'm Y/n, nice to meet you- you bowed slightly in greeting.

-No problem, anyway they are Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo- he introduced the brothers, pointing to them one by one.

-Anyway, you're fantastic at fighting!!- Mikey cheered, -where did you learn??- he asked.

-Let's say I was forced to do Kickboxing to let off steam and solve my anger problems but just today these failures blocked me and made me miss the lesson I had and so I thought it was appropriate to take lessons with them-

-Well, you're right to channel your anger and vent it in a sport like that, it's very useful- Raph complimented.

-Said then by a giant turtle with anger problems- Leo teased, triggering a blush from his older brother.

You laughed - but I can say that I'm happy to have missed the lesson, so I have the opportunity to get to know you - you smiled sincerely.

-Awww! You're so kind Y/n!! - Mikey approached to give you one of his mega hugs only to be blocked -n-not naw please- you smiled a little uncomfortably and then gently caressed the younger's shoulder -sorry! I did not think about it! but anyway I feel honored by this caress - he chuckles happily.

-Anyway, it's too late to go home alone, let us accompany you- the redhead proposed

-Do you have anything else to do? I don't want to disturb-

-No way!! We were on patrol anyway, and then we'd like to help a new friend, wouldn't we guys? - asked the blue one only to be followed by the three brothers who nodded to his question.

-Thanks guys, I really appreciate it- you smiled and then walked towards home chatting and joking with your new four friends.

๋࣭ ⭑ ☾ ˖° ⋆✧˖｡˚ ๋࣭ ⭑✧ ๋࣭ ⭑ ☾ ˖° ⋆✧˖｡˚ ๋࣭ ⭑✧

I really hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading. ♡

I remind you that requests for TMNT (2012, bayverse, rise and mayhem) are still open so if you have any ideas come forward :)

A big hug ♡

#rottmnt #rise of the tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise leo #rise raph #rise donnie #rise mikey #leonardo hamato #donatello hamato #raphael hamato #michelangelo hamato #rottmnt x reader #tmnt #one short #oneshot #writers on tumblr #artists on tumblr #platonic #donnie x reader #leo x reader #raph x reader #mikey x reader #rottmnt leo #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt mikey #rottmnt raph #foryou #fypツ #fypシ #fyp

[kaminocasey]

Hello my dear, congrats on the followers. They are well deserved! And thank you for opening up for some requests.

I’m thinking number 2, “I think I might be in love with you.” with our favorite smarty pants Tech.

So often he’s written as a bit oblivious emotionally and that could be played here. But I do think he’s in touch with his emotions, I love seeing hints of him caring about and for Omega in the season 2 trailers. I think he would show that same care for his partner, maybe they are the oblivious one in the relationship? Just some afternoon Tech Thoughts for you to ponder.

Thank you, mouse <3 I appreciate that!!! Thank YOU for sending in a request!!!

You're absolutely right! I LOVE seeing him so caring and sweet. And we've definitely been blessed this season!!!!

Warnings: 18+ MINORS DNI; sex mentioned, FLUFF, jealous Tech

WC: 1.3k

Walking the streets of Pantora with the Batch, you lean against Crosshair. The two of you were closer than close lately. What you don’t notice is Tech slightly slouching at the sight of you and his brother looking rather cozy, jealousy tinging his heart in a way he’s not used to. The brother who doesn’t just show emotion… Does Crosshair like you? Or perhaps more? Does Crosshair care for you in the way that he does? 

“Oh, a bookstore.” You stop to look in the window at the small cozy bookstore. “Can we go in?”

“I have no desire to look at books.” Crosshair starts to walk away.

“I’ll be in and out.” You start to go in. 

“Tech, why don’t you wait with her. This is your kind of store, right?” Hunter smirks. “We’ll meet you back at the Marauder.”

“Um… yes. I can do that. I’ll stay with her.” Tech nods and you smile brightly at him enough to make his heart do somersaults in his chest.

“Thanks, Tech.” You go into the bookstore and don’t notice the wink that Hunter gives Tech. 

As you browse the shelves, Tech lingers near, also glancing at the shelves, but mostly admiring the way your eyes light up at the sight of a book that looks interesting to you. 

Tech had tried and failed to stuff his feelings for you deep down. Feelings weren’t his forte, right? He based things off of knowledge and factual data. But the moment that you’d walked into their lives, knowledge and factual data didn’t seem to matter anymore.

“I admire your love for books.” Tech gives you a small smile and you look up at him, already holding a small stack of books. “Have you always enjoyed reading?”

You nod. “Ever since I was little. My mother and father used to read to me before bed and I think that’s where my love for books probably stemmed from.”

“That would be the logical conclusion.” He fixes his goggles.

You can’t help the grin. “How much reading do you do for joy?”

“All reading brings me joy, I suppose.” He starts to walk past you to look at the books behind you, brushing against you softly.

You close your eyes at the feeling. You’ve been in love with the man since you’d patched him up after getting hit by a blaster shot that was meant for you. 

“I mean, reading that doesn’t require thinking.” You turn toward him. 

He picks up a book and turns it over to read the back and then sits it back on the shelf.

“All reading requires thinking, does it not?” He gives a soft smile, but still doesn’t look at you. 

You go over to a shelf and pick up a book that definitely has smut in it and then hand it to him.

“I don’t think at all when I read these kinds of books.” You tease. 

He opens it and the book immediately starts out by the female protagonist getting intimate with her partner. He looks up at you, warm in the face.

“You read these books?” He asks. 

You nod with a shrug. “Sure.”

He closes the book and hands it back to you, unable to get the image of you reading sex scenes out of his head. 

“Sorry… if that made you uncomfortable… I don’t know why that was the first book I picked up…” You quickly apologize, feeling terrible, turning to go look at the shelves across the store. 

He can hear you cursing yourself about something. But the pressing feeling against his codpiece is blocking out his ability to think clearly. 

“Do you need any help?” The store clerk asks you. 

You shake your head. “Just looking, thank you. I really like your store.”

“Thank you so much. It’s been in my family for three generations.” The Pantoran man tells you. 

Tech wasn’t blind to the attention you got anywhere you went. Your smile and personality alone were infectious and almost anyone you came across was completely taken in by your charm. But still… The jealous feeling still makes itself too known.

“Oh wow! How neat! I’m so glad we were able to stop in.” You smile widely.

“We?” The store clerk looks up in time to see Tech knock over a stand with books on it. 

You can’t help the small laugh that escapes as you go over to help him, apologizing to the clerk. 

“Happens more than you realize.” The clerk chuckles. “You guys are a good looking couple.”

“Oh we aren’t-” Tech starts but you look at him and his heart nearly stops with his words. 

The look on your face isn’t that of disgust, but a soft look of… adoration, maybe? He can’t tell. But the fact that it isn’t disgust is a win, right?

When you get all the books picked up, you go to the front to check out, Tech following closely to you. You pay the clerk and Tech takes the bag for you.

“Thanks.” You smile on your way out. 

“You’re welcome.” He nods. 

As you walk down the sidewalk, passing all of the other stores, you make your way back to the Marauder.

“I wasn’t uncomfortable with the book you showed me earlier, by the way.” He glances down at you.

“Oh good.” You let out a breath.

He debates whether or not to bring it up now. It was beginning to get more and more difficult to keep these emotions bottled up like he’d been trying to do for the last year. 

“I… I found myself wondering… what it’d be like.” He struggles for words for the first time ever. 

“The sex?” You ask.

Tech has found that you understand him more than anyone in the Batch. He seldom has to explain himself more than once with you. 

He nods. “But… with you.” 

You stop in your tracks. “Me?”

Did you just hear that right? He’s not looking at you, though. He’s watching the ground, trying to gather his thoughts.

“While I know it’s not required to have intimate relations with someone, of course… I think that I might be in love with you.” He finally looks at you and you can’t stop smiling. 

All this time, you were afraid your feelings would be completely unrequited, you hadn’t entertained the thought that Tech might feel the same way as you.

“I know that Crosshair would be a more suitable choice, of course. I just could not keep these-” He starts but you cut him off with a nervous chuckle.

“Crosshair? What does he have to do with anything?” You ask.

He pushes his goggles up again. “Earlier, the two of you… well, I just assumed. I know you two are very close.”

“Oh, Tech…” You murmur, closing the distance, taking his hands. “I don’t think of Crosshair like that. He’s like a… best friend I suppose. It’s you that I… well that I…”

You struggle to find words, but Tech just smiles.

“I understand now.” He nods, squeezing your hands. 

You reach up, nervously, on your toes to brush your lips against his. He catches your lips with his and pulls you closer. Warmth spreads throughout both of your bodies.

When you pull away, you’re both panting slightly. 

“I should have done that sooner.” He smiles.

“Agreed.” You laugh as you kiss him once more before making your way back to the ship, arm in arm, his hand over yours. 

When you get back to the ship, Wrecker and Omega start grinning goofily. Echo and Hunter smirk and Crosshair who knew about your feelings for the genius before anyone did, winks at you. 

Echo gives up his copilot seat for you when they get into hyperspace. You assume that it’s so you can spend more time with Tech since everyone is suddenly out of the cockpit. 

“Why don’t you read one of your books to me.” Tech offers.

You lean over and kiss him on the cheek. “Deal.”

TAGS: @twistedstitcher27 @rebel-finn @grievouus @madameminor @dumfanting @rain-on-kamino @corona-one @tecker @ladykatakuri @brynhildrmimi @the-sith-in-the-sky-with-diamond @zoeykallus @maulslittlemeowmeow @littlemousedroid @arctrooper69 @rexxdjarin @agenteliix @padawancat97 @hated-by-me @sleepingsun501 @crosshairmylove587 @idlenesses @redheadgirl @dnxgma @themcuwriter @ashotofspotchka @sunshinesdaydream @crosshairsimp73 @ariadnes-red-thread @rosmariner @heyitsaloy @starstofillmydream @high-ct5555 @echos-girlfriend @sleepywych @nekotaetae @justanothersadperson93 @brownstalebread @aconstructofamind @book-of-baba-fett @chopper-base @palliateclaws @501st-rexster @dead-poolz @nahoney22 @where-is-my-mind-tho @greaser-wolf @moonstrider9904 @tubble-wubble @lirinck2

#kc700 #tbb tech #tbb tech x reader #tbb tech x you

[leafykat]

ATLA LIVE ACTION RANT/MANIFESTO

After watching it I started typing and couldn't stop. Sorry it's really really long and probably not very coherent.

(Since I wrote this, Big Joel put up a vid on his side channel talking about his thoughts on the first episode and he had a lot of points I agree with so watch that too if you’re interested) <- eta: ok jk sorry it already got taken off youtube it's only on his patreon now

I really dislike starting the story with the beginning of the war. It's like they don’t trust the audience enough to care about the protagonists without laying out all the Big Important World Context out right at the start, or they don’t trust us enough to understand non-linear storytelling. I’m trying really hard not to just hate on changes simply for being different than the show I grew up with, because god knows I have my own issues with it. There are scenes that are nearly shot-for-shot, line-for-line remakes of the original, which makes the parts they change really jarring and frustrating. I don't mind the way they combined some episodes or storylines or changed some details, like, June being the one who hits on Iroh instead of the other way around, but other changes just feel like they either miss something fundamental (to me) about the characters or the story or are just… arbitrary, which is almost worse.

One thing that REALLY frustrated me right from the start was that Aang wasn’t actually trying to run away. He goes flying to “clear his head” and gets caught in a storm coincidentally right as he says “ok Appa let’s head home”. Why? Everyone treats him like a coward anyway. Everyone is way meaner to him than in the cartoon about something that, in this version of the story, objectively was not his fault. Why? In the cartoon, he feels intense shame that he wasn’t there for everyone, even though he was twelve and about to be taken from the only person that wanted him to have a childhood, and he got so overwhelmed and scared by what the world expected from him that he tried to run away from it. In the live action, he gets to reunite with the spirit of Gyatso, who says, “you couldn’t have done anything if you had stayed. You just would have died,” (paraphrasing bc I can’t be bothered to give it more views just to get exact quotes) which is fine, I don’t think he needed a spirit world reunion with Gyatso but I can accept it. But if that’s what that gives Aang closure, what is the point of changing him to be less responsible for disappearing? In the cartoon Katara is the one who reassures Aang and helps him process his guilt, representing the people of the present who he can still help. The live action has the voice of the past, the people that he’s ‘failed’, reaching forward in time to absolve him of any sins. And remember that in this version he literally was trying to go home. It just feels like they’re trying to remove moral complexity from his character.

Less importantly (except to me maybe) I think that showing us the Air Temple pre-genocide removes impact of seeing it for the first time in the cartoon. I loved Aang hyping it up to Katara and Sokka, unwilling to believe that it could have fallen. It almost makes the viewer think maybe some of them could have survived in secret. Then, the contrast between his idyllic memories and reality start to sink in. It was an incredibly hard-hitting moment, dulled in live action by the audience having seen exactly what happened to the temple already (including an incredibly hamfisted “you can’t beat us while we have the power of the comet!” line from who I think was Sozin.) I think Momo is pretty cute though.

Another thing that pissed me off was the way they handled the Agni Kai: They combine Zuko's duels with Zhao and Ozai into one, where Zuko not only fights back against his father but gets an opportunity to deliver (presumably) a winning blow and hesitates. This choice weakens important aspects of his backstory and, to me, flattens his relationship with Ozai: 1) That he was never a prodigy firebender like Azula, feeding the inferiority complex that Ozai fostered 2) The Agni Kai was meant to be public humiliation, meant to teach Zuko ‘respect’. It was in front of hundreds of people, and it was a thirteen-year-old child against a full grown firebending master. Zuko prostrates himself and begs his father for mercy. His refusal to even fight embarrasses Ozai by exemplifying the 'weakness' Zuko's mother 'instilled' in him. In his duel with Zhao, Zuko makes a conscious choice to be merciful despite Zhao telling him to “do it” and kill him. Despite knowing how the fire nation views it as weakness, as cowardice, especially in this specific setting. It foreshadows his later choices, and shows his innate kindness. Combining the two duels doesn't allow us to see that parallel nor that growth. Reducing his act of mercy to a mere hesitation in the moment of victory, furthermore, reduces his agency.

In fact, the adaptation softens a lot of Zuko's role as an antagonist, giving most of his actually villainous actions from the cartoon to other characters. They keep him capturing Aang in the South Pole, but Zhao leads the attack on Kyoshi village, they remove the episode with the pirates (s1e9), combine aspects of episode s1e15 ‘Bato of the Water Tribe’ with ‘the Blue Spirit’ (s1e13) and ‘the winter solstice’ (s1e7/8) removing three instances of Zuko capturing or attacking Aang in favor of one with Zhao capturing and Zuko rescuing him. But I guess they add a fight in Omashu. Look, this is inevitable as a result of combining 20 episodes into 8. I don’t really mind streamlining a lot of these episodes, nor removing others (having episodes like ‘the great divide’ and ‘the fortuneteller’ only referenced as rumors Zuko hears in a bar is cute, to be honest), though the change to the Bato episode where Sokka merely has a flashback of his father implying he thinks Sokka is an incompetent warrior is a really unnecessary and bad change, to me. But they took out almost every instance of Zuko posing an actual threat to Aang and replaced it with one fight scene in Omashu. To me, what it feels like is the show runners know Zuko is going to become a Good Guy and thus they don’t want to make him act too Bad.

On the topic of Kyoshi island: giving Aang a reason to go there aside from wanting to ride the giant Koi, whatever. Removing Sokka’s chauvinism, okay, I guess. But it ends up replaced with extremely awkward flirting between him and Suki that feels motivated by nothing beyond each being the first non-relative young adult of their preferred gender either one has ever met. Whether or not you want to have Sokka start off sexist, and that could be a whole conversation on its own, him humbling himself enough to ask Suki for instruction was an important moment of growth for him that he doesn’t really have in this version. And they don’t even put Sokka in the dress and makeup!!! BOO! Also minor moment but I think it’s also sus for the show to have Suki remove her makeup as soon as it’s time for her to be a love interest and then just not wear it again. BOO!! She looked really cool though. It’s not like I think her first appearance in the cartoon is full of depth or whatever, and I think the cartoon turned her into a cardboard cutout as soon as she became a love interest, but it’s like the live action clipped through a wall straight to my least favorite parts of s3 Suki. It’s just disappointing. I also don’t like Aang being able to just talk to Kyoshi and his other past lives so easily but that might just be my cartoon-purist talking.

I didn’t mind putting Jet and Teo into Omashu, even though I think Danny Pudi’s ‘I had no choice’ justification for working for the Fire Nation holds up less well when he’s in a position of privilege in an Earth Kingdom stronghold as opposed to protecting a community of refugees in an isolated air temple. I don’t think they needed to add the Cave of Lovers plot from season 2 into the mix though. Not only that, but to rework that plotline so that 1) Aang isn’t even there, 2) it’s Sokka’s idea to put out their lights and follow the crystals, 3) that’s not actually The Solution 4) badgermoles can sense…. Emotions???????? Sorry that’s so fucking stupid it makes me angry. They include the legend where Oma and Shu learned earthbending from the badgermoles, so why would these giant creatures have learned to sense human emotion instead of the pre-existing explanation from the cartoon: sensing the world through the earth. You know, the thing that connects them to Toph’s earthbending. I guess setting up stuff as far away as… next season… isn’t important. They used the stuff from the season 2 episode “the swamp” for aspects of the winter solstice plot anyway, which is where Aang originally had a vision of Toph and thus was able to identify her as an earthbender in spite of her appearance. I guess they can come up with something else, but it’s just a decision that feels arbitrary. Sokka could have had his flashback without the spirit vision, but since this is before he meets and loses Yue they needed something, I guess. At this point I’m describing these changes not necessarily because I think they’re inherently bad but because I want to describe how fragile this jenga tower is getting, and how unnecessary they feel.

Ultimately it’s like… the things they’re the most faithful to are all the most surface-level easter egg references, while missing or changing the actual soul of the source material. Gran Gran gives the opening monologue word-for-word because Fans Will Get It. They include Bumi’s rock candy trick and lettuce leaf joke but make him resentful and angry at Aang for no reason I can understand. Sokka isn’t sexist anymore, he just has issues where his dad apparently thinks he ‘shouldn’t have lives in his hands’. Ozai is… wait- is he tearing up while he scars Zuko’s face?

I know we all love Daniel Dae Kim but we did not need Ozai so much this season, let alone Azula, let alone Mai and Ty Lee. We especially didn’t need a scene where Ozai praises Zuko to Azula while belittling her. For the record, because people defending this scene seem to think the issue is that the rest of us fail to understand that Ozai is playing his children against each other: That is not the issue. It’s that he did not play his children against each other in this specific way. He uses Azula to show Zuko how much he fails to measure up and threaten his position as heir, and he uses the example of Zuko’s failure to keep Azula in line. If she’s good enough and Zuko is bad enough maybe she’ll become heir. After all, that’s what happened to Ozai and Iroh. They are allowed to change this dynamic in adaptation but personally I think it’s a change for the worse, and the shot of tears in his eyes as he abuses his son lends credibility to an interpretation that maybe he does want Zuko to succeed. Lol. The cartoon focuses on Iroh’s reaction, his inability to watch, instead of Ozai’s… emotional conflict? Or whatever.

Katara and Sokka getting stuck in the spirit world as a replacement for their fever in The Blue Spirit is fine, I think condensing that plot and the winter solstice works decently. It’s fine that they changed Aang’s motivation for finding Roku to be getting info on how to save his friends instead of getting crucial info about Sozin’s Comet. After all, they clumsily introduced that in episode 1. It’s honestly fine (Read with as much cope in my voice as you want.) Combining that with Zuko’s half of The Storm is also…. Okay, even if I’ve already described why I don’t like how they adapted Zuko’s backstory. What frustrates me is that The Storm parallels Aang and Zuko’s backstories in a way that works really well with the events in The Blue Spirit. In fact, they’re back-to-back episodes. But the live action has moved Aang’s backstory to the beginning of the first episode. So instead of getting to see how they’re both constrained by the roles and times they were born into, and how heavily others’ expectations weigh on both of them, we have to have Aang explicitly spell it out for us. Rewatching these two episodes of the cartoon I was just really struck by how efficient the storytelling is. All Aang has to say after he’s saved Zuko is that he misses his friend from the Fire Nation, and that he wonders if he and Zuko could have been friends if they’d been born into a different time. All Zuko has to do is attack him in response. Because we’ve just seen why they can’t be friends in this time, in this world. The live action has to create some plot point about Aang having stolen Zuko’s diary, and Zuko having researched Airbender culture or something. They bond a little bit over brushes before Aang goes like ‘why don’t you turn against your family?’ The conversation (before that part) is cute, just like, not a good replacement for trusting the audience.

I guess once we’ve gotten this far it doesn’t matter much that Katara and Sokka have been captured by Koh, because of course they were. Yeah, they changed how it works, yeah, now he steals your face once you’ve succumbed to despair or something. Whatever. At this point it feels like nitpicking to point out that what made Koh so scary was that he would steal your face if you showed him any emotion at all. Who cares anymore.

^ok I wrote most of that before having seen the last two episodes, which cover the last three episodes of the first season of the cartoon. Dude it got even worse somehow. It’s been a couple days and my friends and I rewatched all of s1 of the original show in the meantime.

First of all, the changes to the dynamic between Hahn, Sokka, and Yue were completely inexplicable to me. Yue gets nominally ‘empowered’ in the sense that she’s no longer trapped in an arranged marriage to a total shithead, but at the same time they made Hahn seem like a… genuinely good guy? He’s humble, asks Sokka for his expertise, and nobly accepts that Yue broke up with him. When asked about it, Yue says ‘he’s great, he’s just not the guy of my dreams’, before kissing Sokka. (They also reveal that she was the sexy fox spirit that flirted with Sokka in the spirit world —I didn’t mention it before because I didn’t think it mattered at the time— so I guess we are meant to believe that Sokka is the boy of her dreams. Which we know from these two and a half conversations that manage to be way less cute than the awkward/shy flirting from the original show.) Even if they wanted to completely change Hahn’s character, Yue’s conflict in the original show was between her heart and what she saw as her responsibility to her people. They could just as easily have kept that element: that she isn’t in love with Hahn, but that for Political Reasons can’t just break things off. That’s way more interesting! But I do love a forbidden romance, so maybe that’s just me. The adaptation does say that they were at one point betrothed, which raises more questions than it answers. If both of their parents were anticipating this marriage so much that they set it up years in advance, why were they okay with her just breaking things off because she didn’t like him like that? Are arranged marriages in the Northern Water Tribe (I’m so sorry I forgot the name they gave it in this adaptation) purely meant to be love matches? There’s no financial or political element at all? Even for a princess? Whatever. Hahn still dies, this time it’s just offscreen. This time I’m actually a little sad for him, if just for his wasted potential.

They actually take out the engagement necklace stuff altogether, including the history between Pakku and Katara’s grandma, and the story of how and why she fled. I don’t really know why but maybe they thought “you lost the so-called love of your life to backward practices” was a weak reason to change his mind. So instead they have it that he doesn’t change his mind but it turns out Katara doesn’t need a master anyway because she’s already good enough to be a master! Despite not having been able to waterbend ‘more than a thimbleful’ before meeting Aang, and us not really getting to see her train at all. Gran Gran gave her the waterbending scroll she stole from the pirates in the cartoon, so I guess we can assume that contained everything you’d ever need to know. She loses the fight but wins the hearts and minds of the people. The women of the tribe support her when she goes against Pakku and go “we want to fight too!” Oh, did I mention this is all after they realize the Fire Navy is at their doorstep, so it’s less a fight about the right to learn waterbending than about the right to fight in war. And then again the issue of Katara needing to learn from Pakku is sidestepped by her magically being good enough now on her own. I don’t actually mind the change to include other women from the North standing up against sexism but to be honest I don’t understand taking out the betrothal stuff. It was a deliberate parallel in the cartoon- women trapped in loveless arranged marriages and also forbidden from learning any waterbending aside from healing. But whatever, it’s a choice. I can live with it.

What I don’t like is the way they’ve undermined Katara’s journey in season 1. Aang teaches Katara how to waterbend at first, and she also doesn’t learn to heal on her own before an elder shows her how to do it. In the cartoon, she’s been trying and figuring things out on her own all her life. Her hunger to find someone to teach her is a major motivator for why she wants to go to the North Pole. We see her struggle, get intensely frustrated and jealous that Aang picks up waterbending more naturally than she does, and work really hard at it. Her dedication and hard work are what Pakku eventually praises about her when he teaches her. He compares her to Aang, who is naturally talented but distracted. This is after an indeterminate amount of time, but whatever, condensed timeline, 8 episodes, whatever. We don’t even see Aang waterbend at all this season, which is kind of wild to me. I guess if you take out the Summer Solstice Comet deadline to master all four elements (which they did) Aang doesn’t really need to rush. Instead they kind of just have Aang have a thing of like “I have my friends to help me” which is….. ok….. Oh wait, is this why they don’t care that much about foreshadowing Toph? Are they just not gonna bother having Aang learn the elements and just have her show up and join them for whatever reason? Is that why they just totally removed ‘The Deserter’? Wait sorry, I’m assuming they’re planning that far in advance at all, my bad.

Okay also like I have to talk about this because it bothers me so much. Zhao was handled so badly. Whatever, have a Fire sage just give him the moon/ocean spirit exposition in a flashback instead of the way it unfolded in the cartoon (I guess we’re already not bothering to set up the great library since the gaang already met wan shi tong, I guess that’s… fine… Appa can get captured a different way, if they’re even going to bother with that plotline in season 2. If they’re even going to do a season 2.) Sure, the moon and ocean spirits are only in the physical realm and vulnerable for ‘only one night’ now as opposed to permanently. Zhao knows this but not that they’re fish. Okay. Whatever. Blah blah blah. Those are personal nitpicks. But what really gets me is that in the end, Iroh and Zuko kill Zhao. Or rather, Zuko doesn’t finish him off, Zhao tries to attack when his back is turned, and Iroh finishes him off (similar to the way their Agni Kai in the cartoon plays out.) In the cartoon, Zhao and Zuko are fighting, Aang-as-Ocean-Spirit grabs Zhao, and Zuko reaches out to try and help Zhao, which Zhao refuses. He chooses to meet his fate at the hands of the spirits he provoked rather than swallow his pride. This is such a good conclusion to Zhao’s character! The live action also fails to set Zhao up as a formidable firebender, which is also not strictly necessary but I think complements other elements of his character well. His first episode in the cartoon includes the Agni Kai between him and Zuko, establishing Zhao both as a firebending master and as someone who values his ambition and pride above all else. In s1e16, ‘the deserter’ we see him as the embodiment of fire’s destructive hunger: he is baited into destroying his own ships in his desire to “win” his fight with Aang. He gloats of how his siege of the North Pole will earn him a place in the history books, and to win he is willing to kill the moon, against Iroh’s exhortations. In the live action, we get a weird revelation that he was working with Azula, and she was the mastermind behind a lot of his plans? Huh? He also “reveals” that Ozai was only ever using Zuko to “motivate his sister”, which is both incredibly heavy-handed and completely redundant. I guess I should mention that the finale has a couple scenes thrown in where Azula is doing firebending training to pass some kind of arbitrary Test Ozai has set for her, while Mai and Ty Lee watch and tell her that her dad is like, being way too hard on her and she knows he’s manipulating her right? Thanks girls!

Anyway, I guess since the live-action completely removed the golden child/failure dynamic between Azula and Zuko we needed something to replace it. The “my father always said Azula was born lucky. He said I was lucky to be born” line summed up that relationship dynamic nicely. Oh well, who needs it. Instead Zuko is good enough to have beaten Ozai in a duel at 13, but Ozai decided he was weak for hesitating. Meanwhile Azula is struggling to meet his expectations. He banished his heir on a mission that, for the last hundred years, was considered a complete dead-end, so that he could, uhhhhh, Motivate her when he miraculously started succeeding. Masterful gambit, sir. Okay sorry to harp on that again. Back to Zhao. Actually, what else is there to say. He has a couple funny lines but he’s just not the same guy at all on either a superficial or deeper level. It’s so disappointing. It’s also just a really weak choice to make Iroh and Zuko responsible for his death. Maybe they couldn’t figure out how to make the special effects look good when the ocean spirit picked him up. It just misses the point of Zhao’s ultimate tragedy, to me. The man so lacking in self-control, so ambitious, so assured in his own superiority, that he saw the spirits themselves as his prey. To be destroyed by the forces he tried to destroy is so poetic! Instead let’s water down Zuko’s mercy and Iroh’s pacifism.

This is all I can remember at this point aside from nitpicks. Do I think the Koh vs Kuruk backstory needed to be spelled out like that? No. Did we need to almost have Momo DIE to get Sokka and Yue to the oasis? Not really. I don’t think the way Zhao “assassinated” Zuko in the live action made as much sense, but we took out the pirates so oh well.

When you get to a certain point I guess the question becomes ‘how much can you change in an adaptation and still call it an adaptation’. What do adaptations owe to their source material? Where does the spirit of a story reside? If the same plot beats happen, does it matter if characters are different? If the characters are faithful, does it matter if events are moved around? If the destination is the same, how much does it matter how you get there? What do I personally want to see in a ‘live-action’ adaptation of Avatar, this show that I loved so much growing up? Well, assuming that “don’t make one” isn’t a possibility, I would have preferred they follow more in One Piece’s footsteps. That adaptation wasn’t perfect either, and it condensed around 100 chapters of manga into 8 hours, but it really felt like it got the characters right. Avatar had a tough job too, but it condensed 7 hours 40 minutes of cartoon into 8 hours of- wait. No. Well at least we got the cabbage merchant.

#u guys dont even know how much the original shaped my adolescence.... #for that reason i was probably the most annoying person possible to watch the remake with #thank u to my friends

[gnomeniche]

director, writer, actor: dhmis's students as creatives

hey guys. i would like to propose the idea that the three protagonists of dhmis represent different creative roles involved in the production of television. red represents a director, yellow represents a writer, and duck represents an actor.

this theory is somewhat similar to the "generations" theory, but with creative roles instead, as both are more fun lenses to look at the three through than actual theories about the future or past of the story. i am not saying that they are LITERALLY these roles (F*LM THEORY DO NOT INTERACT).

but! by looking at the imagery associated with them and what the former two found when they breached the reality of their world (in webseries and tv show), i can make a case for the idea that they REPRESENT them.

(i originally floated this idea in this post, where i said it was extremely underbaked, but i am baking it Right Now. it is occupying my brain and i am obsessed with it.)

the director: red and the tv machine

in the webseries, red discovers the nature of their reality by accidentally stumbling into a set-version of their kitchen and seeing the cameras that film their world. when he breaches reality in "dreams", he finds a "tv machine" made of screens showing the world he once lived in. he finds that he can edit aspects of the world when he messes with the machine, swapping out characters and setpieces, one which is the idea he floated earlier in the episode.

red’s version of the “backstage” is electric, filled with glowing screens and machinery. this and the imagery of screens, sets, edits, and cameras bring to mind a director. red's phone motif could be read as relating to the need for directors to arrange and communicate with every piece of the production, and he literally moves things around the set in production on the machine. the higher power he discovers is roy, often interpreted as a producer, who directors work with to get productions made.

what does red want? he's sick of his awful reality. he wants something nicer, something he can control, something that isn't here. you could say that he wants a change of scenery. or a Scene Change, as it were. he wants to decide what he gets to do, and if he isn't given something to hold his interest, he re-Directs the episodes in his attempts to leave. he discovers their reality while searching for an alternative route in the "computers" lesson, and he hijacks the "transport" lesson to escape.

he has a minor association with ears, as an ear was taken from him in the kickstarter videos, and what is a phone but another way to listen? read alongside his desires, he ultimately wants others to “Listen To Me.” a director’s job is to give directions and make decisions by hearing out collaborators’ feedback.

the world the three of them live in has an interest in crushing each of their specific kinds of creativity, so despite red's inclinations, he is not able to direct anything. he has been assigned the role of "the apathetic one," or the one who does not make decisions or visualize anything more. even outside his role, red's trauma from the lessons leads to him being reluctant to speak about what he wants, so he often remains silent about his desires until he cannot help it anymore. but when he tries to assert his will, everything tells him he is wrong for doing so. the world shows him that all he will find if he tries to make his own decisions is nothing new or interesting, just bleak hopelessness.

in "dreams," red's failures in the "real world" are because he cannot convey his ideas alone. he has plenty of ideas, sure! but he has trouble solidifying them into words and performing them well. when he finds the media machine, he is restricted in what he can do by the "scripts" and "actors" he is given by the show. a director can be as inventive in his craft as he wants; without a script or actors to work with, his ideas are mere shadows.

the writer: yellow and the show bible

in the tv show, one of the first things yellow does on new batteries is discover the sigils seen in the background throughout the show and on lesley's book. he writes in the language composing their world. when he breaches reality in "electricity," he goes up through unrealized future ideas for the show and assists lesley, the "showrunner," from whom he receives a "show bible."

yellow’s version of the “backstage” is organic, filled with music and art. this and the imagery of books, writing, ideas, and symbols bring to mind a writer. plus, yellow is the most artistically adept of the trio, shown by his clown painting, trumpet-playing, and entire cast of imaginary friends. this imaginative streak lends itself to writing fiction. the higher power he discovers is lesley, often interpreted as a showrunner, whose ideas show writers must attend to.

what does yellow want? he's shown to be the most interested in the lessons, and what he wants when he gets his batteries is to know more. he's hungry for new ideas, and he's dissatisfied with pointless learning. the point he wants, since he begs to stay with lesley, is to get to create. he wants to learn from the writing around him and then try it himself. it's just that his lack of batteries prevents him from thinking. a blocked writer, so to speak.

he has a minor association with hands, as a finger was taken from him in the kickstarter videos and his hands often get messed up in the show. read alongside his desires, he ultimately wants others to “Make Things With Me.” a writer’s job is to use their hands to make ideas into something solid.

the world the three of them live in has an interest in crushing each of their specific kinds of creativity, so despite yellow's inclinations, he is not able to write anything. he has been assigned the role of "the stupid one," or the one who never thinks about anything or comes up with anything new. even outside his role, yellow is quite literally prevented from thinking, reading, or writing by his corroded batteries, so he tries to be creative in any other way he can. but when he tries to do anything artistic, everything around him insults and destroys his efforts. the world tells him that his desire to create is pointless because his ideas are worthless.

in “electricity,” yellow's failure to inform his friends is because they do not take him seriously. they ignore what he wants to tell them in favor of their priorities, and the "show bible" is rendered something shreddable. one of a writer's greatest challenges is getting people to care about their words. if directors or actors fail to take interest in their writing, the script may as well be garbage.

the actor: duck and the viewers' eyes

so where does that leave duck? he has not had an episode where he (successfully) breaches reality yet (RIP webseries duck, 2011-2015), but i can still make the case with what we have that he represents an actor.

throughout the tv show, duck makes the most of his roles unless they conflict with his preconception of what is supposed to happen in the episode. he is enthusiastic about "jobs" until it seems like the lesson has been thrown off, at which point he is stubborn about returning to the earlier script. in "death" and "transport," he adapts easily and with a sense of humor to the role he is given. if he's dead, he's dead, but that doesn't mean a character like him can't annoy the reaper! if the lesson was on transport anyway, there's no trouble with going along with the road trip escape, as long as he stays in-character! he manages to twist his part in new directions without technically straying outside the role and provoking backlash from the world. (and even in "death", he was killed. but he became his own replacement anyway, so it was... fine?)

close attention to the script that you were given, as well as using interpretation while still playing the part well, are qualities of a good actor. also, he seems to feel at more home on the set than his friends. he has the most charismatic presence in the trio, and even when he is uncomfortable with the situations happening, the home-set itself is a place he likes. also, his personality is dramatic, expressive, and egotistical, which are all stereotypes of actors.

though it seems like duck is doing fine at expressing his creative inclination to act, i will argue that in duck, the world tries to crush a way that actors can be creative within a role: by putting their own self/feelings into the character. he has been assigned the role of "the uptight one," or the one who never strays from expectations or expresses feelings against the grain. even outside his role, duck's trauma from the lessons has rendered him afraid to act or think independently, so he only expresses his true feelings from behind the veneer of the role. but when he can no longer take the pain and must express himself, everything around him tries to destroy him entirely and violently. the world tells him that his self, his thoughts, and his feelings are an unneeded hindrance to proper fulfillment of the role.

the idea of attention to role relates to both his want and his failure. duck wants to survive this show and remain with his friends, so he makes the most of what the show gives him. but this ties him ONLY to what he is given, as despite all their interpretation, an actor who is not improvising but playing a particular role on a show needs material to work with in interpreting their character. they need to know the script and work with the director.

he also has a lot of motifs that could play into him representing an "actor"

he keeps losing one of his eyes. an actor is always subject to someone else's gaze, even as they interpret the role through their own eyes. these are the eyes of everyone who views their performance. he even has some fourth-wall-breaking lines related to this (though i doubt he means them with literal knowledge). "i'm the best one," the favorite of the audience. "people want to know what your final guess would have been." "what people?" the audience, of course. his association with eyes could say “Watch Me”

his repeated deaths and replacements could allude to shifting from role to role, as the mechanics of the show-world mean that duck's essence shifts from body to body.

green, his main color, is allegedly uncreative, and though actors are absolutely creatives themselves, some may see them as mere subordinates to directors/writers and an outlet for their creative voices. this might also relate to his repeated deaths; sometimes, overbearing higher-ups on productions might demand that they perform something a certain way and treat them poorly or replace them if they do not.

and keeping this in mind, i’m curious to see what he may discover when he finally succeeds in breaching reality.

the three of them and the creative team

on a tv show, all these roles are replacable. directors and writers change from episode to episode, and actors can leave or get written out. they are all beholden to powers higher than them, whether it's the showrunner or the execs, and they must please if they are to remain on the show. the trio are repeatedly replaced when they die, and they are literally living under higher powers that punish them for doing things wrong.

though they are restricted by the show they are in, the three of them all have creative potential within them. whenever one gain some kind of autonomy, we see this potential bloom: red starts conceptualizing scenes, yellow starts analyzing and writing. but all alone, the student who tries to break free cannot truly gain control over their world. they fall back into the cycle due to either their own failures or those of others.

i've emphasized how each of these creative types, assuming that they do not overlap in one person, cannot create a show on its own. it is the same for these three: they cannot find a solution to their suffering alone. if they want to control the television show of their lives, they must work together. they need to become creators, not just students, and they need each other to do that.

other tidbits

this is just to end this with something fun!

red and duck are closer to each other than yellow. directors and actors work closely together while shooting and thus speak with each other often. i could make a joke about them losing focus and having a consensual workplace relationship here but i won't

yellow and duck seem to have a contentious relationship, but they both get along fairly well with red. i do not know if the writer and the actor often interact in production. however, i feel like both interact with the director more than the other.

red listens more to yellow’s ideas than duck does. though both actors and directors need to be on board with the script, the director is more often the one who decides to make a script a reality.

red is the largest one. the director is often seen as the biggest player in creating a work of film, though again, it is a collaborative process and auteurship is fake. also, red is in the driver's seat throughout "transport" and becomes the boss in "jobs".

duck seems more at home in front of the camera than red, who is uncomfortable with eyes on him, and he is faster to pick up on negative changes in situation than yellow, who must observe and think things through first. you could read this as red-as-director feeling more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it and yellow-as-writer needing to really work through an idea before feeling comfortable putting it out there, whereas duck-as-actor is okay with people watching him and better on the spot when something goes wrong.

(last edited Nov 21, 2022. will continue to be edited as more ideas come to mind)

#dhmis #dhmis theory #dhmis analysis #i am PROUD of this one pls read it. even though it is a longboy #am.txt

[blue-b-bro]

The use of genre as unreliable narrator in ofmd

„But it’s a comedy!”

(I had to, sorry)

Ok, people usually take this argument out when talking about there being jokes, or getting a happy ending. It’s not dark fantasy like Game of Thrones, it’s not a mature drama, like Better Call Saul.

But in most stories the darker genre is justified by the fact that that’s realistic, that’s how the real world works. Going with that explanation, writing a fantasy like this is like an oxymoron (I’m not saying it’s a bad choice, just pointing out). Recently tho, it became popular to think that a story is meaningful or mature only if it’s realistic, the dark-way-realistic, if you get what I mean. If the story is too optimistic, the ending too happy, it’s apparently not realistic enough and so - silly. If the story wants to talk about something deep but there’s not enough misery, someone will inevitably come and point out how in real life it wouldn’t be like this and so the message is meaningless.

Going back on track: in most stories the genre is like the laws of physics of the story. Once set they’re absolute. You can subvert the tropes, cliches, expectations, but the genre stays intact. If in a story taking place in a genre expected to be more serious, more grand the author puts too many jokes, it’s bad writing. It’s against the laws of this world and shouldn’t be there.

And usually it’s ok, we have a lot of genre, we can take new approach to them, make them fresh, mix them. But I haven’t found that many stories that use A genre (not “Their genre”) so much as a tool, so explicitly as a tool to show characters perspective and worldview.

Let’s just quote what I’ve already said, because it was rather well put imo:

“Season 1 is more comedy like, because it’s from Stede’s point of view, mostly. Sometimes the lighthearted music actually doesn’t fit the scene, unless we take into account that it’s about how Stede sees this. Stede’s flashbacks aren’t funny, his marriage isn’t funny. Stede cares about Ed and so his flashbacks are treated seriously too, even more so (cause you know, Stede doesn’t care about himself much). But Izzy is treated as a joke. Stede doesn’t like him and isn’t afraid of him (because he doesn’t know he lives only because Ed forbade Izzy from killing Stede) and so scenes that are sad and depressing from Izzy’s perspective don’t get an appropriate music (like in e6 for example). The world is shown through Stede’s eyes. Ed is cool and scary and treated very seriously, Stede tries to hide his very real pain under his adventures and Izzy… He doesn’t care about Izzy. The scenes where Stede is scared make him look pathetic but when it’s Ed, it’s completely serious, because Stede treats Ed’s fear seriously, but finds his own shameful and, well, pathetic. The comedic tone is the unreliable narrator here.

Episode 8 isn’t so much comedic anymore. Stede feels out of place, pushed aside, and the whole episode feels like that. Episode 9 isn’t a comedy either, it’s seeped in self doubt and lingering regrets. Episode 10 has comedic vibe mostly during Stede’s adventurous escape and kinda during Ed’s pink robe phase. Kinda, because alone with Lucius, there’s no jokes, with Izzy too. The comedy stays on deck, with the crew, Stede’s crew that as a whole goes under the adventurous light vibe. But at the end of season 1 the vibe of the show completely changes. There’s no jokey comedy anymore. Yeah, Stede’s still a bit silly now and then, because that’s how he feels about himself. But at Ed’s Revenge there’s only 100% drama.”

Another thing is, with every episode, we get more and more alone time with Ed, he becomes a protagonist of his own. His alone scenes aren’t funny. Usually those are somber or depressing. In e10 their two perspectives part the moment Stede runs away. Since then there’s Stede’s world and Ed’s world. It’s Ed’s sky that’s pink. It’s Stede’s world where the assassination attempt is funny. Ed tries to maintain Stede’s reality on the Revenge, but it turns out bleak in comparation. There’s no comforting blanket of escapism and naivety. No one to nourish the optimism and the atmosphere of safety without Stede being here. It’s becoming more and more Ed’s world again. Depressing, dangerous, more realistic. Because Ed lost his faith in Stede’s world, it the value of love and comfort.

The divide is even more visible in episodes 1-3 of s2. Just what people were laughing about: Stede’s crew gets soup and Ed’s fights for their life. Stede most of the time bottles up his negative emotions, keeping his “realm” light and adventurous. Very rarely he let’s himself to actually feel his real emotions (in the rain, during the night talk with Lucius, maybe with Zheng, tho I’m not sure if it’s not more thinking than feeling at that moment really). Stede’s keeping his darkness hidden, focused on hope. When they meet Lucius and then Ed’s crew, the little cracks starts showing up. We start to see less of a humor and more of sincerity. Season 2 is less comedic and more sincere in it’s form. Because that’s how Stede feels, after realizing his feelings for Ed, after realizing what’s important to him, after getting him back. (He couldn’t accept Ed’s dead, so he wasn’t << “I’m not ready to believe that”) His world is more real. It’s not ignorance, naivety or detachment anymore, rather hope, optimism and having an actual goal. In season 1 Stede just wanted to run away from his life, now he had a specific goal to fix what he destroyed (no matter how much of it was really his fault).

Going back to Ed’s perspective in e1-3, we are told about his emotional state, for example, by weather. It’s also interesting how at the beginning of e2 Ed’s crying session is treated seriously, showing him feeling empty, abandoned, longing all at once. But the next day, when he recalls the incident, it’s framed like a joke. You know, how when you get an emotional breakdown and then later think “damn, that was embarrassing and unnecessary”? It was something like that. When he torments Izzy, it’s dark af, because he sees himself as a monster. The tone of a scene doesn’t say how actually important/serious/deep/meaningful the scene really is, but how the character sees it. Just as Stede saw his fear as pathetic in s1, Ed treats like that his sincerity. His abandonment is only deserved and him crying about it is pathetic, his self hate and violence in the afterlife just a dry fact, his fisherman era suddenly taking a jump into comedy the moment he feels he failed.

We can see Ed’s and Stede’s realities getting more similar, because their view on reality is getting more towards the middle. Ed gets more forgiveness and softness and it isn’t depicted as ridiculous. Stede's adventures get more bloody (the cursed ship), threats more real (Ned Low’s tortures). Buttons change was so out of the blue and unrealistic, because that’s how Ed saw the concept of change. He was so sure it’s not real and that’s why it was like a magic. That’s why he was alone, while witnessing it. Izzy was able to survive all that happened to him, because Ed believed he's indestructible and will always have his back, even if he doesn't deserve it. (if I'm right, then it's the presence of Stede that killed Izzy)

The weather, the colors show Ed’s emotions:

While Ed’s emotions were muddled and confusing in e5, we got the fog, when he was happy in the beginning, but then started to feel more and more unsure in e7 – the colors changed from yellow to gray, when he was happy about how Calypso’s birthday turned out, but then Ned Low appeared -  the colors changed from romantic pink and purple, to disturbing green and blue suddenly, as if his past, his sins poured a bucket of cold water on his head. When he thinks he will finally die, finally made that decision, he’s relieved, and sunny weather mirrors that, but in his last moment, when he has to face it, they’re in the middle of a storm. His gravy backet is cold, cloudy and so windy it’s hard to hear anything. Hell, the first time we see Queen Anne it’s in its own dark weather!

Stede, becoming “real boy” and then “a man” makes the world around him more realistic as well. After Ned tortured his crew and Ed, Stede kills the guy. After becoming suddenly famous, the world takes a step back and everything is light and funny around him again, no real danger, Stede kills the guy without even trying and it’s funny and cool, because He feels cool about all of it. But when Ed says that last night was a mistake and then leaves, there’s no more cool Stede. Suddenly his happy adventure is falling apart, his crew doesn’t want to follow him just because (because why were they always together since the end of s1?), his behavior isn’t cool anymore, but pathetic, Steak knife probably died, his tricks don’t work, because he doesn’t believe they would, not really. He doesn’t feel like it’s some cool pirate duel from pirate tales, like in e6. He feels like a failure. Everyone left him, whatever he does, apparently it’s not enough for people to stay, and when he hit the rock bottom, the Republic of Pirates gets destroyed.

The way the world works is related to what Stede and Ed believe in atm. But if they're together on screen, it's Stede's beliefs that shape reality.

So I don’t think they changed the rules of the world in e8. The rules were changing all the time, and the world became deadly during ep 6-7, somewhere there. The tone of the episode didn’t warn us, because Ed was happy most of the time, and so the color palette of the episode is light.  The left-side rule didn’t work, because Stede wasn’t as naïve as in s1 (he wasn’t sure Ed was right, but decided to believe him). Stede’s crazy plan didn’t work as in e1&2s1, because he was more aware of the risk. Stede knew they could die, knew it’s dangerous, and so it was. Ironic really.

#My great comeback I guess #Ofmd #Ofmd s2 #ofmd meta #our flag means death #stede bonnet #edward teach #E8 #Like it's not really about that but just to clarify: I think they could make some things differently in the finale #But the things that were good were great #So it's 50/50 #But it's not a post about the finale really #I'm just replying to the accusations about the show suddenly forgetting its own rules #And I disagree with people who view this show as a sitcom #And I've read some posts about the use of the genre and no one saw it like I did (or I haven't found one that does) #Everyone are only talking about the muppet genre and the Izzy genre

[nahasketches]

HELP MELIN FIC LOST, HAVE YOU SEEN IT ?

Im starting this posts because sometimes I want to read a fic that I remember very little of it and didn’t bookmark it, so if you think you know the name of the fic pleaseeeeeee telll me and share this to find it.

First

I It is post canon, everything is beautiful, the golden age arrived but Merlin lost his place in that world, Arthur thought he was taking away tasks from his friend, he hires another servant and makes Merlin stop going hunting, Gaius hires another assistant and I think there is already someone who is protecting the kingdom, if I'm not wrong, I think it's Morgana or maybe it's because everything is very calm and Merlin's protection is no longer needed, plus the knights are patrolling away, so no one notices Merlin's presence.

So he goes home and starts telling the children about his adventures. I think some time passes and Arthur arrives from a patrol or something like that and they notice Merlin's absence and goes to look for him.

Maybe it’s with the tag of #hurt Merlin

Second

I think Arthur is having nightmares or something like that and Merlin for helping him creates a connection that makes Merlin live Arthur's erotic dreams whether Arthur is dreaming asleep or awake.

I specifically remember

1. that Arthur made Merlin think that the only reason why he is the protagonist of his erotic dreams is because of the spell.

2. a scene where they are at a meeting and Arthur begins to dream that Merlin is doing him in that same place, completely naked, while in real life Arthur does not notice that he is dreaming that and Merlin is having a lot of trouble containing himself.

3. After that scene Arthur goes to his room and dreams that Merlin uses his magic to subdue him and Merlin tries to get to his room without coming

Third

I think this is a fic that redeems Morgana, because it talks about an old lady who is selling love tokens in the square.

if I'm not wrong Arthur buys almost all the tokens for Merlin and Merlin only manages to buy a frog plushy for Arthur, none of them knew that the other one bought him something.

Percibal bought Gwaine underwear that I think says love and I also remember Gwen/Leon, specifically because there is a moment where they go to the tavern and find those two couples there, and then they discover that morgana is the old lady selling the tokens.

Please if you remember this fics comments, or if you want me to search fics for you you can tell me

Also use the #lost Merlin fics

_____________\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\__________________\\\\

FOUND THE FICS

Wow i knew this fandom was fast but not that fast 🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡

Thank you so much, I really wanted to read this fics for a long time 😍😍😍😍😍

Thanks to @hoarder-of-dragons @hey-its-asp for helping me find this fics, you are literally in my heart

First fic

Second

Third

I'll still post about lost fics and will search for fics if you want

#merlin #merthur #merlin bbc #bbc merlin #bbc merthur #arthur pendragon #merlin fanart #merlin emrys #fanart #my art #merlin fics #merthur fics #lost Merlin fics #lost merthur fics #help me find a fic

[mitochondriaandbunnies]

Miami Vice S1E18: The Maze

Tubbs is sent undercover to save hostages in an abandoned hotel.

This is absolutely one of those Vice episodes where you are given two versions of the truth and are asked to be discerning enough to realize which one is real. Vice likes doing this a lot with music-- you see something happening on screen that's contradicted by lyrics or musical tone, and you have to figure out if what you're seeing is the lie or whether it's what you're hearing. In The Maze, we are presented with a spoken truth (some people aren't "good enough" to be cops, the world is hard and dangerous, a kid with a gun can't be thought of as a kid ever again) and a witnessed truth (a "bad cop" is suffers no consequences because he's a cop, people you think of as disposable or even frightening are worth protecting, a kid with a gun may be dangerous but that doesn't make him not a child) to striking, devastating effect. There's a distinct sense in this episode that our protagonists are playing proscribed black and white roles in a drama they're not quite ready to see shades of gray in yet-- later in the series their disenchantment with the justice system will come, but in this point in the series, they don't quite see what we, the audience see.

I started this one thinking "it's always weird seeing other cops outside of the main squad," and then one of them immediately died

Womp womp

The two "new" cops, Tim and Dickie, are talking about how they finally made some "real arrests," and how they usually can't get charges to stick because something-something-the-law, and that it's because of guys like them that the area they're in is starting to get "cleaned up"

Immediately Sonny and Rico correct them, very gently explaining the concept of community organizing, and pointing out that whatever "clean up" they've seen happen recently has nothing to do with the cops and everything to do with the people who live here deciding to stand up for themselves and invest in their neighborhoods

This is the thesis of the episode

From here on in it becomes a split between Tim's tough-on-crime view (what's said) and Sonny and Rico's maybe-heavier-policing-isn't-the-answer view (what's shown)

The dancing guy, Pepe, is played by a choreographer known by the real-world name of Shabba-Doo

Sonny pours water on him because Sonny is an asshole

There is a scene in which Switek offers Zito lunch while Zito tries to pick up a woman through the window of the bug van; both of them tell the other they're "pitching" and I. I have questions

Tim, the asshole cop whose partner got shot, suggests that the best way to catch the criminals that killed Dickie is to just go into a building full of squatters guns blazing, random innocents be damned

Sonny glares at him like he is a leopard and Tim is a plate of ground beef

They decide to, instead, send Tubbs undercover in to see if he can clear the squatters out and get them to safety before they go after the Escobars. In order to do this they dress Tubbs up as the world's most beautiful filthy transient. He looks like he should play Jesus in a modern version of Jesus Christ Superstar

It should be mentioned that the ~*scary dangerous building*~ the homeless people and the Escobars are in is a dilapidated hotel owned by a rich white guy who's on the phone about golf when we meet him, and it turns out the only thing really scary about it is that the people inside are living in terrible conditions because they are poor. In case, y'know, other parts of the episode weren't already clear enough on the whole "maybe the system is broken, actually" angle.

After Tubbs is in the hotel for approximately three and a half minutes, Tim charges across the street with his gun because it's "ridiculous" that this is "taking so long"

He completely ruins the operation and causes an immediate gunfight between the police and the Escobars to break out; Tubbs and the rest of the squatters are taken hostage as a result. Tim is not punished for this-- Castillo says that if he "didn't need every man," Tim would be sent home, but that's it.

Let's be very clear, this is a perfect example of why the whole "one bad apple ruins the whole bunch" thing is 100% true about the police

You get one Tim the Asshole on your squad and people fucking die

Actor Joe Morton, who I best know as Henry Deacon from Eureka, but who others may know better as the SkyNet Scientist from Terminator 2, plays hostage negotiator Jack Davis. He has a big ol' stick up his ass, but he's kind of hot anyway?

Sonny smokes like twelve cigarettes in the course of about 3 minutes, and then goes outside because he can't stand to look at Tim any longer. Castillo makes an attempt to comfort him in his extremely Castillo way (he's the one who says the Escobars, who are a bunch of teenagers, "stopped stopped being kids when they started using guns"), which does not seem to calm Sonny down much. He tells him the best thing he can do for Tubbs is "be cool," and then there's a lovely little match on Sonny's face and Rico's face, both looking off to the side, both looking worried.

The graffiti in this episode slays me

666 is COMIN

Why ME

Rico plays with the child hostages, and a teenage girl dances to the music playing inside her head. I genuinely feel like this is one of the saddest episodes of Vice-- we see the squalid conditions these people are forced to live in, they're humanized and made very real feeling, even if they don't have many lines, and you know that even if they all get out alive, nothing good is going to come of it, because they've been living illegally inside an unused building and the police will have to remove them, leaving them all completely homeless. There are multiple shots throughout the episode of the beach-- its crystal blue water, the sun, the pristine sand, palm trees-- through the broken windows of the collapsing hotel. The squatters are bereft in an ostensible paradise, completely disconnected from the glamorous world outside their crumbling walls.

Sonny suggests that they pinpoint the exact location of the hostages; Tim asks why they should bother when it was the hostages who "got them into this."

Yes Tim

Definitely not you, fuckwad

When Davis negotiates to let the small children hostages go, Jaime, one of the Escobars, argues with one of the older boys that "they're just kids," and that they should do as the police said and let them free. Jaime appears to be about fourteen.

Sonny insists he go in to find the hostages; Davis stands behind him shaking his head no at Castillo. Sonny goes in to find the hostages. He climbs over a fence and through a hole in the wall in his loafers and chinos.

When Sonny figures out where the hostages are located, they send in what appears to be the entire national guard of Florida. The Escobars, it should be noted, are five teenagers.

At the end of the episode, approximately twenty adult men with machine guns point their weapons at one teenage boy. He breaks down in tears and falls to the ground, because no matter what Castillo said, he is ultimately a frightened child.

The episode ends on a freeze frame of Sonny and Rico looking at each other, silent, with the darkening blue sky behind them.

#miami vice #miami vice s1 #s1e18 #the maze #sonny crockett #rico tubbs #martin castillo #my gifs

[raccoonscity]

How Ada is being mischaracterized in the RE2 and RE4 remakes

I've been thinking about Ada in RE2/RE4make and how her character is so badly characterized. Ada is made out to be a selfish, manipulative villainess or whatever. Massive changes were made to the story and her character in both remakes, which fundamentally don't understand her character. Yes, she manipulates people, but most of the time it is the villains (Wesker, Krauser, Simmons, etc.). She is also made out to be selfish and heartless and that couldn't be further from the truth. She's morally complex but that doesn't make her a villain or inherently evil or selfish.

Ada's character was changed majorly in RE2make. In RE2, she's still a spy sent to retrieve the G-Virus, but her cover was a civilian looking for her boyfriend, John Clemens, who worked for Umbrella and was presumably in Umbrella's underground laboratory. In RE2make, her cover is an FBI agent sent to take down Umbrella and take the G-Virus as evidence. This change could work, in theory, but the problem with RE2make is that her cover achieves nothing but fooling Leon--when Ada first meets Annette, she immediately asks for the G-Virus and Annette does a background check on Ada she knows she's a spy. What is the point if the most important person to your mission can see through your cover immediately.

The other thing that was changed about Ada in RE2make is that in the original, Ada isn't really manipulating Leon at all. Ada never asks for Leon's help, he instead runs into her and chooses to help her. She always either runs off alone or, when she's injured, tells him to worry about himself because she'll slow him down. And even when injured she leaves where Leon left her to complete her mission alone. Ada didn't want him to get involved and is consistently discouraging him from following; even in their confrontation she says: "That's why I told you to leave without me. But you wouldn't listen." Checking her gun after she falls reveals that she didn't load her gun and never intended to hurt Leon if it had to come to that.

Except in RE2make, even though she initially doesn't want his help, after a certain point (especially when she's injured) she is actively manipulating him. The change in her cover story was made so Ada can appeal to his sense of duty as a cop, by lying and telling him the sample would be used for evidence. The kiss in RE2make is meant to manipulate but backfires, but the only kiss scene in the original is genuine, after Ada gets injured saving Leon from Mr. X.

When she is manipulating someone, it's the actual villains--Wesker, Krauser, Simmons, etc. We don't know a lot about Ada's true motives or backstory, but we know she never goes out of her way to make the other protagonists' lives/missions harder, and she's not out to destroy the world or cause wars.

She regularly helps the protagonists--not just Leon. In RE2, she will throw a rocket down to either Leon or Claire in the B scenario (even though she never interacts with Claire otherwise). She patches Leon up after he takes a bullet for her and will "die" protecting him from Mr. X. In RE4, she repeatedly tries to convince Wesker that Leon was not a threat and when Wesker tells her Krauser was sent to kill Leon, she does not hesitate to stop Krauser. Ada gets the jet-ski so Leon and Ashley can escape, and in a few instances Leon can find notes that Ada left behind giving tips. She agrees to help get Luis away from the Los Illuminados. In RE6, she helps Jake and Sherry fight the Ubistvo and helps Leon and Helena defeat mutated Deborah. She also gives Leon the evidence needed to take Simmons down.

But unfortunately, RE4make removed one of the key moments Ada helps Leon (saving Leon from Krauser after Wesker orders his assassination) and gave this moment to Luis. I do actually like this scene but it sucks that one of Ada's defining moments in RE4 was just given to another character. It also annoys me that the scene in which we see Ada talking over comms to Wesker, he doesn't seem to care at all about wanting Leon out of the way. In Separate Ways Ada tries to convince Wesker that Leon is not a threat, but Wesker knows otherwise, so Ada avoids Leon and lies about not being able to kill Leon. When Wesker tells her about Krauser being sent to kill Leon, she drops everything to stop him, lies to Wesker about what happened with Krauser, then finishes him off herself. Except now, Wesker doesn't see Leon as a threat at all? Wesker was the one Ada was working with in RE2 so he's well aware of who Leon is. So there's no threat on Leon and that removes a key part of Ada's conflict in SW, unless we're missing some context without a SW campaign yet.

Ada also left him notes in RE4 such as this one where she tells Leon how to remove the Plagas and warns him of the dangers (this role is also given to Luis):

Once a Plaga egg hatches, it's nearly impossible to remove it from the body. But if it's before it hatches, then it can be neutralized by medication. If it does hatch you might be able to get it out by surgery before it turns to an adult. But it won't be easy. There's a high chance you won't survive the operation. As far as I know the girl was injected with the egg before you. Her time is ticking. You should prepare yourself for the worst case scenario.

Now to be fair, Ada does still give Leon advice when they talk over comms, and it makes more sense for Luis to tell Leon about the surgery. Even then, Ada still helps Leon plenty. But why rewrite her story from RE2, why change and take these interactions from Ada, then say she only ever manipulates Leon? Ada never tries to convince Leon that saving Ashley is a lost cause either.

Again, Ada is not a heartless person. I hate that scene with Kendo in RE2make for that reason, because it exists so Leon can teach her to be sympathetic. She doesn't always have ulterior motives for helping others (most of the examples listed above she has no reason to do so and is doing it just to help, and in some cases she is actively putting her life/mission on the line) and is capable of being sympathetic. In RE6, she sympathizes with Carla and says: "If you had only sought vengeance against Simmons alone, I would have helped you." In Ada's reports, she says this about wanting to help Luis:

I'm the one who told the organization of [Luis Sera's] importance. I did it because I like him. His history betrays an enthusiasm I once shared. It was a stroke of luck that I happened to intercept his e-mail for help. It seems he can't trust the police, so he sent the e-mail to an old friend from college. He must have thought his friend was still alive. At any rate, that's how I managed to find him. […] When I told him who I was, he practically begged to be taken into custody. He needed protection. He said, "I have no love for Las Plagas or this stupid cult. I want out. I just want peace and quiet again." I ordered him to bring me a master Plaga specimen - a sample - for evidence.

And then there's that ending scene of Ada and Wesker in RE4make. After Ada secures the sample, she talks to Wesker and seems blindsided by the fact that Wesker is planning something that will kill billions of people. This scene bothers me for two* reasons.

One: This is framed like Ada has just now had a change of heart and doesn't want to be complicit in the death that Wesker will cause... except that's what her arc in RE2 was. Ada expresses this in Umbrella Chronicles immediately post-RE2. After her conversation with Wesker, she narrates: "If the T-Virus did this [to Raccoon City], what would happen if the G-Virus got out?" The only reason Ada gives the G-Virus to Wesker at that point was because she had no other way out of Raccoon City. Why wasn't this in RE2make?

Two: Ada already knows Wesker is planning something horrible, even if she doesn't know the extent of it. The whole point of Ada working with Wesker in RE4 was to sabotage his plans and send him a fake sample. She and her organization want to take the sample for themselves and want to gain insight into his plans.

In Ada's last report regarding Wesker, she says this:

It wasn't easy, but I'd say the mission has been a success. Getting my hands on the sample was my initial objective after all. But I've sent Wesker a different present, just as the organization ordered. Pretending to work with him was entertaining. Albert Wesker… I wonder where he's headed next. Something tells me this whole affair was just a taste of what he's got in store. To him, Umbrella represented power. He used it to hide behind while he made plans of his own. And now the umbrella's been folded. With the sanctuary of their old umbrella ruined, those in power struggle to erect a new one. They are aware of their own crookedness and deceit as they engage in their personal war of light and darkness. That's why Wesker will stop at nothing in opening his new umbrella. The giant pharmaceutical corporation, "S" maintains medical and drug facilities the world over. We know for certain that Wesker has been in contact with them following Umbrella's demise. There's no doubt we'll next hear from him there. The organization must remain vigilant.

A quick note: "S" or "Seashell" was the working title for what eventually was made into Tricell in RE5. Ada and her organization already know that Wesker is in contact with Tricell and want to "remain vigilant" against whatever he's planning. We don't know too much about the organization she works for, what their goals are, and how she came to work with them, just that they research and sell viruses and bioweapons and work with people like Wesker--which sounds bad except look at everything Mia does while working with the Connections, but Capcom just ignores that. Yet Ada is the evil manipulative one 🤔

Some other instances of Ada working with villains include her history of working with Simmons, who she stopped working with specifically because he was involved in the decision to destroy Raccoon City. At the end of Damnation she hints that she won't hand over the Plaga sample to her anonymous buyer/Simmons.

The problem with Ada is that while Capcom has hinted since RE4 about her true motives, they've not touched on the subject since, and everything we know about Ada's backstory is vague. Is she just in it for money or authority? Was she forced to work with them? Does she want to destroy Umbrella and other bioweapons groups from the inside? Does she want to research the viruses hoping to find cures or vaccines? Ada's moral complexity comes from the fact that we don't know why she does what she does, but just because she mostly helps out in the shadows doesn't mean she's selfish or manipulative, and she is still considered one of the main heroes (or anti-hero) of the series.

*A secret third reason I hate this scene is it's so OOC for Wesker, it drives me crazy. There's no reason for Wesker to tell Ada any of this (they don't trust each other) and he's notoriously a strategist who works in the shadows and doesn't tell people his plans. Wesker didn't even have any doomsday/Uroboros plans yet because he only starts his plans after learning about Project W from Spencer, like two years after this. I hate this scene🙃

#re meta #my meta #ramblings #resident evil #resident evil 2 remake #resident evil 4 remake #ada wong #video games

[artbyblastweave]

I’ve expressed, at least twice, the idea that Steven Universe is as effective as it is because it shifts from an unironic children’s adventure show to, late in the game, an examination of the destructive psychological and interpersonal effects of being the protagonist of a children’s show, and this gives it a punch that it wouldn’t have if it was about those destructive effects from the word go. This was notable to me for being basically the only series I could think of that does this.

Recently, though, I thought of another one- it’s very possible to view Batman’s arc in the DCAU through this lens.

You have the four seasons of his own show- foundational to the animated canon- in which he’s unironically superheroing, having adventures, gradually expanding the size of the Batfamily, the Rogues gallery and the supporting cast. Crucially, one of the structural things I liked about BTAS was that it leaned in hard to the idea of a comic-book status quo; the idea that these weirdos are doing things and having adventures offscreen, Lots of adventures that springboard from other adventures, a lot of episodes predicated on the weirdness intersecting with the lives of everyday people, a lot of episodes predicated on the idea that the supervillains are sufficiently around and organized to have developed a nascent little subculture. This was a very earnest show!

Then you get the Justice League animated series, set later in the timeline; you see Batman as part of a team dynamic with equitable cape peers; you see how his mannerisms bounce off the others, you see his tendency to buck what the other capes are doing and go his own way, with good and bad effects; you see his martyrdom complex emerge at certain points, like when he attempts a suicide run on the Thanagarian force field generator; but you also see how is insane stubbornness and willingness to roll with any situation, no matter how ridiculous, is an asset, like in the episode with Dr. Destiny where he just starts chugging Coffee by the gallon to stay awake when he’s the last man standing, or his willingness to break into the pentagon and start walloping generals when everyone else stands down to keep the peace. You see his charming emotional constipation, the stoic mask that occasionally drops. This is the peak of his career.

And then you get to Batman Beyond, which is... predicated, actually, on the logical endpoint of traits he showed in Justice League that were quirky and charming in an ensemble dynamic, but in the long run kinda ruined his life.  He’s got strained-to-destroyed relationships with the rest of the Batfamily. He’s outlived huge swaths of his peers. He never got past his (genuinely entertaining to watch!) emotional hang-ups; he never resolved things with Diana, or Selina, or anyone else; He kept going, alone, as long as he possibly could, until he was too physically destroyed to keep to his own standards of conduct, and by then he didn’t have much left besides a mopey hermitage. His villains aren’t doing much better; the where-are-they-now episodes revisiting old foes find all of them in bleak, bleak circumstances. Superheroism as a whole isn’t doing too well; the BB-era justice league has like six people in it, all of whom are legacies of serious die-hard capes plus Superman; heroism sort of implictly....fizzled out, and given the state we find Batman and his rogues in it’s really not hard to guess what happened to the 100+ other superheroes. They got old. They got killed. They never struck the balance, and things just kinda wound down.

Terry comes on the scene, and he’s a great hero, but his mentor presents this great challenge- how do I not wind up like the last group of people who tried this? How can I do this and be happy? Because none of what I’ve described above is really an attack on superheroes in general; it’s not even an attack on Bruce Wayne; it’s just an extrapolation of Bruce Wayne as he’s been shown earlier in this continuity. In the same way that Steven Universe Future’s “deconstructive” elements are really just an extrapolation of his traits as shown in the first five seasons. (Remember how this started out being about Steven Universe?)

So to round this out, this does feed into this idea I have, that Batman, more than any other hero, has a fun and compelling and necessary relationship with continuity; you need to show the guy, the same iteration of the guy, at many, many different points in his life in order to wrangle the full emotional mileage out of him. You gotta see him in year one, you gotta see him when he’s picked up a couple Robins, you gotta see him when he’s down a couple Robins cause they’re sick of his shit or dead, You gotta see him with some more Robins when he’s worked on himself, you gotta see him as a father, as an older guy, as an old guy. All the most interesting things about him are informed or enhanced or highlighted by the passage of time, the growth and atrophy of his network. You gotta show and establish enough of his status quo that you notice the development. The comics try for this, and are the source for this, with all those far-future Elseworlds and limited series like Year One and The Long Halloween highlighting pivotal events in his past. They’re like. A primordial soup of status quo from which meaningful character insights and developments are hauled out and momentarily examined, to the delight of all. And I think that we all have a sort of gesalt mostly-functional Batman-career timeline in our heads as a result of this. But I think the DCAU represents the longest-term, largest-by-runtime and most-involved depiction of a single iteration of Batman, flawed in my estimation only because it leaves out a lot of Batfamily characters like Jason, Cassandra, Steph, Duke, and others who have kind of become lynchpins in that gesalt interpretation of his timeline. I haven’t seen most of Young Justice, which was produced over a similarly long real-life timeframe to the DCAU and covers a long stretch of time; did that get close? 

#thoughts #meta #batman #BTAS #DCAU #batman beyond #bruce wayne #justice league #justice league unlimited

[its-chelisey-stuff]

well, nobody dumps trauma on the younger counterparts of main leads like this writer. In retrospective, I should've known who was the evil mastermind behind it lol

I am conflicted about their specific trauma, but I am enamored with the characters and want to protect them so badly. I find their story so tragic and I'm so sad that the happy ending will belong to the older protagonists and not the young ones, because damn, they didn't have enough laughter and love around them. When will these young actors not deal with such heavy storylines?? So unfair.

Drama portrays so well the fact that trauma works in such different ways for people and how we show it. The first thing we notice about this guy is that he's quiet, reserved, stoic and very dedicated at school. The first thing we know about him is that nothing comes for free, as he uses every opportunity to get money and just before we think he loves money and dreams of getting out this town and this provincial life blah blah, we find out the truth and that all the money is for him to get away from his abusive ass of a father who beats him everyday. Ugh. My jaw dropped to the floor, I swear. I was shocked. I HATE HATE HATE this so much. You have to be an insect of the lowest kind, utterly disgusting, if you hit your children. People like that shouldn't be allowed to procreate.

But then, right after this, literally the next scene, we find out her father also beats her and I swear to God I was screaming and pulling my hair because whyyyy ???poor children. They do not deserve this. Their house is the place where they should feel the safest, not the place where they walk on eggshells and are afraid of even making a noise. Their parents should be the people who make them feel the safest, not the ones who make their nightmares come true. This right here is something I hate seeing represented in media, so watching it was pretty difficult for me. In fact, I'd advise people who are triggered by this to skip scenes or the entire episode, because the domestic abuse scenes were pretty realistic. And so loud.

But trauma for our young female lead it's different. She tries to escape from it and leave it at her house, and so she is bright, happy and over-the-top silly teen at school. She tries to enjoy, even if it's a facade. Because this is her way to cope. And her music.

I loved how he tried to reassure her and calm her down. Even if they haven't been friends for so long, he already knows her and understands her in a way no one else does. He's such a kind and selfless soul, despite everything and no matter if he's the second or main lead (more on that later), I'm rooting for him to live happily.

I really wanted for them to get away together, and live in Seoul, being adopted by her idol and brand new CEO. I wanted them to grow up together and happy, but I knew exactly where this was going, not only because of the premise and the writer, but also because this is dramaland. So when he told her they had to run away, I knew they wouldn't make it.

We are presented with a dilemma of who is the endgame here, but right now I don't care that much. I only want for this girl to live her life and finally achieve her dream of meeting her idol and be a singer. Still, we must acknowledge the elephant in the room and I've seen second male lead has glasses, so that's either the drama telling us the answer OR trying to confuse us. I find that I'm okay if he is the young kid who bravely stood up to her violent father just so he could give her time to escape.

But my money is on my human golden retriever. Aww, it's such a sight for sore eyes to see Chae JongHyeop in a main role again after almost a year and a half. He was amazing in Love All Play.

So yes, this is the writer of Start Up (does anyone else get PTSD from how toxic the fandom was back then? No? just me?) so we know she's gonna make it a point to drag this love triangle for a while. But this is also the writer of Pinocchio, While you were Sleeping and I hear Your Voice (my personal favorite), so *fingers crossed*

#castaway diva #kdrama #park eun bin #i just really want to know what happened to HIS father #because i hated him so much #and he is a cop on top of it all #and made the poor girl apologize to her abusive father after she called the cops ugh