#SHUT UP ABOUT REDEMPTION ARCS | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nny11writes · 9 months

Note

Nunny! I'm sending you asks for your game.

I'm tempted to send you the entire post and just see the Nunny Rant. You might not even do She-ra. I'm thinking of She-ra sending these but go off about star wars or something else if you think it applies better to the question :D

the character everyone gets wrong (ahahhahahaaaaaaaaa)

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about (im sure there is a long list)

9 and 10 - Worst part of fanon and worst part of canon (imo there is some overlap)

13. worst blorboficiation

14. that one thing you see in fics all the time

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

lakhglkajfas, I think my rant would mostly just be keyboard smashes and crying emojis so this is the better way to go lol!

the character everyone gets wrong God, like, fucking- ALL of them. :) Buuuuuut the one that's bugging me the most recently is Mermista.

I am SO sick of post canon Mermista in c/a fics specifically. Mermista would not hold a grudge that hard that long and that violently!!! Stop having her hate Catra and actively be out to do harm to her. Mermista's response to losing her kingdom was like a bad breakup where she just cried in a tub eating ice cream. Her response to seeing HORDAK at the end of the series was just a, "So are we good with him now?" implying that she's chill to be chill.

Mermista and Catra 100% would sit at a table calling one another a bitch (begrudgingly fond and pretend to not be) back and forth. Mermista would not be out to skin Catra alive! Mermista wants to talk to Catra about her murder novels because Perfuma reads too slowly and doesn't like spoilers but she NEEDS to talk to someone about the butler who has a brain cell because Sea Hawk seemed to miss the whole first half of the book AND FURTHER MORE-

9. and 10. - Worst part of fanon and worst part of canon

Worst part of fanon is the fucking shippers. This went from one of the more open and accepting fandoms for all ships that I'd ever been in to one of the worst.

Like, straight up, one of the fics that lives rent free in my head is an explicit fic where Catra and Hordak enthusiastically consent to having sex. Like Hordak is trying to be kinda standoffish but can't stop looking at boob window tits, he was Entrapta trained I'm afraid. The number of times I think of his awkward proposing they do it more frequently followed shortly by Catra dressing and winking saying, "Seriously, great cock!" is a lot lol. It's such a porn movie style fic and there is something fantastic to be said about it.

But you even hint that Catra could be headcanonned as anything besides a lesbian and your body will be found in a few months time in several different bags. Suggesting Catra and Hordak having any romantic or sexual relationship probably gets you reported to the fucking government or something. So there's a reason it's never made a rec list from me but fuck it I'm mentioning it now.

They aren't real. If I want to occasionally have a giggle about them and make my little dolls bump uglies everyone else should politely not look while my fellow weirdly sane people who get that this is all make believe but sure we're the freaks here come poke and enjoy!

Fucking shipping wars and discourse man. I'm sick of it.

Worst part of canon for me is the censorship and uncertainty that caused various issues with the plot and prevented the show from being even stronger. You can see it in real time while watching, but man it was wild in December 2018 to see how professional media talked about the show and Catra and Adora being adoptive sisters, to AJ (I think?) getting dumped on for repeating that idea and having to apologize, to the open gayness at the end. I love SPOP, but the rocky terrain the crew-ra had to navigate really did impact the quality and created weird gaps that asshole fans hunkered down into. Like, we cannot pry some of those fuckers out.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

I need you to understand that my immediate response when I started writing this answer out was a very strained and painful sigh through my nose as my brain returned a static white noise sound.

I am really tired of forcing this jock!Adora and slacker!Catra thing. Like, it started in modern AUs but it's gone and infected people's idea of canon as well. It falls into a bit of the "dumb adora" trope, which people just don't seem to actually understand what that means or is about. It also falls into Shadow Weaver's narrative of who Catra is which is wild. Like. Really wild.

You are telling me Catra, a cat person who grew up in a military, is actively against exercise? Yes, she would 100% sleep in a sunbeam for a nap, and then she wakes up and craves some low key chaos and violence.

You are telling me Adora, forced into a golden child and leadership position, is bad at reading and math and science because all she cares about is training? Adora 100% enjoys physical fitness and using her body, but she's got a sharp mind on her and there's no way in hell she doesn't like to work it too.

I am just exhausted with it in modern AUs, and now it has gone to infect canon interpretations. It flattens their characters out, ignores/denies parts of their abuse, and nukes their abilities from orbit. I hate it so so much.

Also if I have to see one more fic or art piece where Catra is willingly and happily wearing dresses, skirts, and heels I swear to fucking god I will KILL. :)

13. worst blorboficiation

Again, this is all of them. Everyone suffers from being blorbo'd to an insane degree, but it just shifts depending on which character is the favorite of that part of the fandom. You have talked several times about the insanity of Catra fans vs. Hordak fans, the blorboification is insane there. Same with Catra fans vs. Glimmer fans.

Like. God damn. I'm so glad the Adora vs. Catra fan fights died out real quick because this fandom is exhausting enough.

With Catra being my favorite it's extra exhausting because there is CONSTANTLY people attacking her and then total asshats trying to defend her who I do not want to be associated with. I love her. She's a fucking idiot and a bastard and a baby. Somehow, every take on her is both the worst and factually correct and then the fandom fights.

Tipsy, I. Am. Tired.

14. that one thing you see in fics all the time

OKAY

Let's fucking talk about how GLIMMER IS NOT AN EVIL BITCH. Can we talk about that? STOP TRYING TO LEAVE THIS POST AND SIT YOUR ASS DOWN WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THIS AGAIN because someone needs to hear it louder in the back.

Glimmer is the character who is probably be done the dirtiest by the fandom but for wildly different reasons throughout the whole show. Hands down.

After S1 fandom took Glimmer and made her into an entitled dumbass whiner who threw money and her titles at her problems. They made her act like a child without any complexity. And it 100% took me from not really liking her character much to detesting her which is outrageous every time I remember that I kinda hated her at that point.

This did not improve post S2. :)

Post S3 probably was the most sympathetic and understanding the fandom was to Glimmer but it came at the cost of trying to bulldoze Catra for the Portal and people making callout posts like these characters were real people. I feel like the rise of some of the G/A shippers that I really can't stand was around this time. It was catra vs. glimmer fans going bat shit and drawing lines for ships.

If they couldn't assassinate Glimmer's character, by god the fandom would assassinate both Catra and Adora's in wildly different ways instead!

Do I need to talk about post S4? The idea of dark Glimmer and Glimmer going off the rails should have been a fun thing to play with in the sandbox and instead just writing it down made me cringe. Now Glimmer has to be an evil bitch because she had a trauma response and made bad decisions, now she is irredeemable because I made up a situation where she did something she didn't in canon for reasons so OOC someone probably slapped Donut Steel on it somewhere.

There was a little lift post series, but man people are holding onto Glimmer being a spoiled brat to play off of for Catra or a cruel bitch for Catra and, again, as a Catra fan, I want to bite bite kill kill bite kill kill kill!!!

Glimmer is allowed to grow up from being a spoiled kid who had good intentions and was naive. She is allowed to be over eager, bratty, petty, silly, funny, caring, and smart too. She's allowed to make bad choices and struggle with how to recover from it.

STOP MAKING ME THE LEAVE BRITTNEY ALONE MEME FOR GLIMMER

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

Shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs-

#choose violence ask game #spop #she ra #long post #my hot takes that are very true and correct and somehow someone will say I'm wrong #love how much I'm like ''wish more people would be active in the fandom''#and also ''MORE OF YOU NEED TO LEAVE NOW'' I am #stahp pitting bad bitches against one another #also #deadly serious #SHUT UP ABOUT REDEMPTION ARCS #I do not care who did or did not have one according to other fans who want to torture their least fave #*creaky old man voice* back in my day we wrote hate fic as a hobby not a religion!#you know that joke about seeing discourse that's like watching a dark shadow pass below your boat?#sometimes I see the fucking leviathan pop its head out to try and convince me of who deserves love and happiness #in the show about how EVERYONE is deserving of love and making your own happiness as you heal #and I feel like the protagonist from Dredge just pretending I don't see it to get back to shore

13 notes · View notes

wisebeth · 26 days

Text

why does the pjo series have to unnecessarily villainize goddesses (hera & athena) or show them as silly ladies (aphrodite & demeter) BUT posiedon and apollo are somehow shown as the coolest/most likeable gods, even though arguably, they're right after zeus on terms of corruption?

ares shown as the worst god after zeus and hera amuses me. last time i checked, he was the patron god of amazons and literally killed a man for attempting to rape his daughter but guess who cursed women for rejection? apollo. guess who raped women when they said no (aside from zeus)? posiedon.

#all the gods and goddesses in the greek mythology are flawed in their own way #it doesn't make sense why the books were so unnecessarily biased towards certain gods?#it bothers me specifically that hera and athena are SO unnecessarily painted as villains #while posiedon is ‘cool’ dad ‘great’ lover ‘decent’ god ‘reasonable’ than other olympians #i get it he's the main character's father of a children's fantasy novel so rick painted him in a good light #but my man? then why are you painting other gods who are arguably just as bad as him as WORSE #shut up i feel strongly about it #i love the percy jackson series #but i hate how the gods are portrayed #is trials of apollo a good series? yes #does it make sense why he's shown as a human-like god with redemption arc #while hera is reduced to ‘evil stepmom’ and ‘bitch to annabeth’ even if apollo is JUST as bad as her?#no #and aphrodite is not some ‘silly fangirl’ whose personality revolves around shipping percabeth #she is powerful terrifying and cunning who can bestow some of worst revenge on those who offend her #demeter is not a silly crop goddess #her love for her daughter was so strong it almost ended the world and destroyed mankind #shes in charge of harvest and agriculture without her humanity will starve to death #shes just as powerful as the big-3 or at least she should be #posiedon is not this cool perfect rational god #medusa would disagree demeter would disagree pasiphae would disagree odysseus would disagree #apollo cursed women posiedon raped yet ares killed a rapist BUT nooo let's make ares the bad one #percy jackson #rr crit #greek mythology #heroes of olympus #trials of apollo

53 notes · View notes

ethanharmonia · 6 months

Text

Volo my beloved babagrill pls take my hand in marriage you evil motherfather.

I have drawn my babygirl, he is so damn silly i love him, i do not care if he betrayed the main character, he is amazing, shut up, he is babygirl material

(also i do not know how to draw clothes what the actual hell did i do to him)

This is basically just my design for my AU cuz honestly all the concepts i did SUCKED so hard so i just did this and bam, Volo, uh, babagrill, housewife, babygirl, malewife, his favourite pokemon are definetly Giratina and Arceus, definetly, he has posters of them in his damn room, do not ask, im not gonna shut up about this babygirl he is so damn cool i bet he just took the Giratina like nothin and kept it like a dawg yall, its now his lawyer (what am i saying ahr har)

(his hair was so damn fluffy at the beginning but he looked like a completly different character so i just gave him his actual hairstyle that he had in the ginkgo guild in the game, i am NOT giving him that Arceus looking ahh hairstyle that makes him look like a bull smh)

#pokemon #pokemon au #pokemon volo #wielder volo #pokemon legends arceus #pla volo #giratina #pokemon giratina #volo is my comfort character i do not care what others say he is my beloved baby #i would make an entire book and documentary about why this man needs a redemption arc shut up #i can fix him totally i am so fitting to fix this man and his mental state #what if he owned arceus in this au instead of the main protagonist what if #I REALLY DO NOT CARE WHAT YALL THINK BUT THIS MAN NEEDS LOVE PLS I DO NOT CARE IF HE IS A VILLAIN RRAHRAHRHAHRHAHRHH

67 notes · View notes

pendinganchor · 1 year

Text

“we never see billy change his ways in canon”

because he dies saving all their lives?????????

#i don’t understand how antis can just completely ignore the fact that billy saved them #not even just el #ALL OF THEM #because if billy had stepped out of the way the mindflayer would have killed el #then turned and killed as many other as it could before joyce shut the gate #el cared about billy for 0.2 seconds and he used that comfort to fight off the possession and sacrifice himself #how the fuck is that not a redemption arc???#all jonathan had to do was say ‘i shouldn’t have done that’ for nancy to be like ‘it’s fine’#and all steve had to do was befriend a gay person #or do we just completely forget season one happened #tbh i think y’all choose to ignore it #and stop trying to defend lucas when y’all were probably the same people who hated on him in season one when he didn’t blindly trust el #see it’s the same where y’all think billy should have blindly trusted steve #why are y’all obsessed with blind trust???#couldn’t be me #if i say y’all one more time i might start laughing wtf #anyway i just woke up and shouldn’t be getting this upset #userkarson #stranger things #billy hargrove

235 notes · View notes

scriptmyworld · 1 year

Text

you have a man who you heavily imply in the first season, and explicitly say in the next, is abusive, manipulative, and evil. and you have the woman who’s been buried under her family’s legacy her whole life, who you show us has come from a cold, unforgiving, unaccepting home. a woman who’s never been able to make a choice for herself in her life. who’s entire emotional arc was about reconnecting with her sisters. who is brave, who is loyal, and who is way more giving than she would let anyone know.

and you pair them together???? like some sick twisted love story???? you make her his obedient servant?????

lilith’s arc this season makes so little sense to me and it makes her look stupid. there was literally no reason to untether her from her family like this. you could’ve even had her learn more and then dip!! actually make a decision for herself!!! but instead she’s once again at the whim of another power and you’re framing it like it’s her freedom. this plot genuinely made me ill.

#like fkdhskdh #I just had a whole rant about it in the shower I could go on forever #never in my wildest DREAMS would I think that they would go in this direction #what is the point of having her start a redemption arc only to bring her right back to the villain’s side #and I wouldn’t be as mad if it was compelling but it’s not #it’s lazy #and it’s becoming clearer that her arc this season just served to turn her into the referential demon lady fantasy #from the og material #I’ll shut up now (no I won’t)#but yeah. just my thoughts.#I think I’m so upset because her scene with mary in 1.09 really struck me #as someone with my own sisterly difficulties at that time #and to see that all swept away for this? I hate it #warrior nun #warrior nun s2 #warrior nun spoilers #sister lilith #lee critiques #or forever hold your peace #long tags

120 notes · View notes

somethingserious · 11 months

Text

Jamie’s cap changing from ‘ICON’ to “1, COG” is one my fav details from the finale. It is the most succinct nod to his entire arc/character development through the series.

S1 Jamie thinks he’s above everything and better than everyone on the team. He’s screaming ME after making back to back unassisted goals and walking over his team mates instead of helping them get up. He thinks of himself as an icon, one of one.

Finale Jamie has grown so much that he’s internalized the lesson of being one of eleven. He’s one cog in the well oiled machine of AFC Richmond. He’s their center but he’s also the one who sees three moves ahead and gives up the goals for his mates.

#he’s so #jamie my love #one of the best redemption arcs ever written tbh #I’m not saying anything new obvs just had to get this off my mind #he’s still a prick but he’s their prick. that matters so much #I have yet again failed to shut up about Jamie #ted lasso #jamie tartt

49 notes · View notes

piggiebonez · 1 year

Text

im sorry but all of you "googoogaga zim needs therapy aaoooww zim has so much trauma sniff so saaaadd" people are sooooo fucking lame. if you sit zim down with a therapist the therapist is gonna curl up into fetal position start eating their own notes and cry. and maybe jump out the window

z*adrs dni. GIANT SPIDER KILLS YOU WITH HAMMERS

#my art #iz #invader zim #suicide mention #that one post THESE IRKENS CAN FIT SO MUCH TRAUMA😝😝😝shut the fuck up🖕🖕🖕fit these balls in your mouth how about that #and the one about iz being a greek tragedy. kys dum-dum #i know people like to look into things to find a deeper meaning for themselves but fuccckkk offfffff man #like im sorry all this speculative analysis of TRAUMA in invader zim is ridiculous. ANGSTY LONGPOSTS about dib having 'daddy issues' etc #and those morons who want zim to go through a redemption arc........god you people are boring. eat nails #THIS IS INVADER ZIM BITCH!!! we clown in this muthafucka betta take yo sensitive ass back to STEVEN UNIVERSE. fuckface #all iz characters drink poop-branded coke. it's not that deep #iz is sillay. let it stay sillay asshole #i am the ONLY PERSON who understands invader zim ok. me and mr vasquez get the same transmissions from space. i just get it you know #like i get it. i am THE ONLY ONE who gets it. none of you people do ok #lame ass. why are fandoms so lame. i want to beat up all of you nerds

42 notes · View notes

swordmaid · 6 months

Text

made my canon durge (bc durge shri’iia is just an au…!!) her name is yves, a half-elf cleric of kelemvor 🫶 my creepy funeral nun who was born with serial killer genes and she speed-runs people to their own funeral so she can serve them….or something….idk

#she’s also my third char with heterochromia…heterophobia 😳#but her one alternates with her hair and I like it it’s kinda camp #idk if I’ll do anyone’s romance with her idk her personality yet …#I’m planning to multiclass her to assassin tho for ~lore~ reasons and maybe just keep the cleric levels at 1 for the dialogue lol #but she either ends up as a full cleric or a full assassin by the end of the durge storyline I haven’t decided yet 🤭#depends on if she’s gonna do a redemption arc or not …#but anyway I’m giving her a circlet so she doesn’t look /as/ ominous looking in the day lol #shut up about bg3.

8 notes · View notes

blackveilvamp · 1 year

Text

finished reading ‘the ballad of songbirds and snakes’ today and i can’t wait to see the book come alive in the movie. i might be heavily biased (might? no, am), but i loved this book and gave it 5/5 stars (just like for all the other thg books). i knew how this book is gonna end eventually, because we all know what coriolanus is like in the original hunger games, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to read the journey he goes through to become what he is known to be. i kept on saying to myself “i know he’s going to betray her and everyone around him soon and i can’t wait to see it”. i highlighted all the little (or big) things coriolanus did or said that were out of touch and showed his villain side. he’s selfish and when push comes to shove he doesn’t care who gets hurt as long as he gets what he wants, that’s the main point i got from the book. i thought it would be annoying to deal with a main character who is so egotistical, but i think that just made it more fun. you’re not supposed to root for the main character, but he wins in the end anyway, because after all snow lands on top.

#idk how accurate my interpretation is but to be clear these are just my opinions and not genuine literature analysis #i read it and had to get the little worms that won’t shut up about this book out of my head #when the movie comes out i’m gonna reblog every gifset and post about it #also idk if the quote is a direct translation because i didn’t read the book in english #i remember when i first heard of tbosas many of us thought it was gonna be a redemption arc for snow and i’m glad that’s not what happened #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #tbosas #tbosbas

28 notes · View notes

stairset · 9 months

Text

Not saying you shouldn’t ever criticize Filoni ever or whatever but I just saw a person angrily ranting about how he’s totally gonna give Thrawn a redemption arc in Ahsoka even though there’s like absolutely nothing to suggest that in any marketing or interviews or anything and he’s very clearly and unambiguously being advertised as the big bad of the show just like he was in Rebels and I’m sorry but sometimes you people really do just make up random bullshit to bitch about.

#it's funny too cause on the other end of the spectrum you got the super hardcore thrawn stans #who are all bitching about how he's clearly NOT being set up for a redemption arc #how ironic #shut up tristan

14 notes · View notes

swordfright · 1 year

Text

not to go off again but it's really frustrating to see so many people's response to the season finale being "an abuse victim should never be forced to forgive their abuser!!" because (aside from the fact that storytellers should just do what they want lol) that literally did not happen. at what point did ctommy say "you are forgiven" point the timestamp out to me.

all tommy really said is that A) he feels he understands his enemy's past/current actions better now, and B) in light of this new information, he now believes that peace between them is achievable.

empathy and sympathy are not the same thing. no one is entitled to redemption and tommy didn't actually offer it. what he said was "i think i understand you" and "it doesn't have to be this way"

and if we're gonna read into that, i still don't think this dialogue implies that he forgives cdream. if anything, it's more of a call to action, asserting that even if their past is violent and contentious, their futures don't have to be.

not "our worst mistakes are redeemable" but "we don't have to repeat our worst mistakes a second, a third, a hundredth time"

#one day i'll shut tf up about the finale but that day is not today #and it probably won't be tomorrow either #dsmp #dsmp finale #the fact that so many viewers have conflated what is essentially just a change in perspective with...redemption...is so frustrating #the more time i spend online the more i realize that people have no idea what a redemption arc is

31 notes · View notes

milaza · 2 years

Text

thoughts on the racism in DGS (specifically van zieks)

i want to preface this by saying that 1) i’m a chinese person from a western country, and 2) i really like van zieks (outside of his racism of course). but basically, i don’t claim to understand how japanese fans in japan view him, and i also understand that van zieks may be an unforgiveable character for japanese fans who live in the west because his attacks are rather personal. i’m not trying to change anyone’s mind with this... as you’ll see later, i don’t even think his redemption is written well (me liking van zieks is solely based on the other aspects of his character). i’m just thinking out loud

this post contains major DGS2 spoilers.

what does van zieks' racism add to DGS?

i think there are two main reasons van zieks was written as racist towards japanese people in the game. the first logic seems to be that since the game takes place in the 1900s, him being racist is part of the period theme and shows how british people used to be very racist towards japanese people and foreigners. i guess due to cultural differences and looking down on them for not being as ‘technologically advanced’.

however, the thing is that van zieks’ racism doesn’t stem from that. he does talk about it awful lot, but his cultural differences/’lack of advancement’ itself isn’t the reason he hates japanese people. his racism just stems from him being affected by a personal incident where his brother happened to be killed by a japanese guy. the story of “van zieks overcoming his racism” doesn’t have anything to do with the theme of the victorian period, it’s just his own problem. he was perfectly accepting and respectful of japanese people before the incident.

thus to me it’s so weird how his redemption is done by seeing how ryunosuke believes in him/defend him. cool, so he now recognizes that japanese people can be smart and full of heart... even though that’s what he originally believed 10 years ago??? so again, because his racism doesn’t stem from innate/learned bigotry but just that one incident, i don’t think his redemption arc really means anything, if that makes sense! it’s not commentary on victorian england or english/japanese relationships. it’s not a man learning to undo racism he grew up with. like i said before, it’s literally just his own problem, and it’s a problem i think is unnecessary to this game. it would be exactly the same if they made him a regular asshole instead of a racist asshole.

the other reason i believe racism was included in DGS was to serve as a mystery for the player/ryunosuke to wonder why van zieks despises japanese people so much. however, it doesn’t work as a mystery. because the player is just like “? he hates japanese people because he’s a british man from the 1800s” it really doesn’t feel that deep. we figure it’s solved already, it doesn’t matter! so it should’ve been excluded to begin with.

how was his in-game redemption handled?

like i said before, i really think that his ‘redemption’ was not written well and it did make me feel unsatisfied, speaking as an asian in the west. i felt frustrated that it seemed like there was no proper scene where he’s truly sorry for the shit he spouted for so long, and there was no scene where either ryunosuke or asogi address it fully either. (i might be missing something since i can’t look up a transcript ATM, but i feel like i would remember it if there was a scene like that)

the part i dislike the most is when his backstory comes out. ryunosuke, who has spent all this time being verbally abused by van zieks, is just like “oh, well if your brother was killed by a japanese person then i understand why you’d hate us”. like what!?! that’s no excuse to hate japanese people for a decade??? i couldn’t believe i saw that coming from the main character, because i believe that the main character (at least in a game like this) should reflect the values of the author, and this logic of “it’s understandable to hate a race based on one person” is extremely bad IRL.

(also i hate how he was like “just as japanese people are the bane of my existence... i am the bane of asogi’s” dude it really is not comparable to say you hate a whole ethnicity to asogi just hating you. and he only knew you existed a month ago)

one thing i noticed about DGS2-5 was that characters were open about not forgiving each other. i was really surprised by that, because it felt unusual to see characters like vigil and asogi be so direct about refusing to forgive those who wronged them. i know asogi had that big scene at the end of the trial, but i also wish either he or ryunosuke had taken the time to address van ziek’s past racism too. i felt like a direct confrontation saying that what van zieks did was wrong was what was missing. something along the lines of “i won’t forgive you for what you said and did in the past, but i respect that you’re trying to get better and we can work together from now on”. like just acknowledge that it IS bad to be racist even if you have a ‘reason’ for it! or better yet, don’t make him racist to begin with!!!

how would i rewrite him?

obviously, i don’t want barok van zieks to be racist because everything else about him is perfect to me and it’s just this one aspect of his character that pisses me off like crazy.

the first way i’d go about it is to make him hate all people who work in law/law enforcement (since genshin was aiming to be a detective). then the mystery would actually work; the player would wonder why such a revered prosecutor despised other lawyers and police so much. it’s just a way better mystery than wondering why a white man in the victorian period hates foreigners. plus, it would be humorous to see van zieks constantly hating on lawyers despite being one.

the second way is to make him hate the asogi family specifically and not other japanese people too. this option would add to the game in multiple ways. for example, isn’t it such a crazy coincidence that he reaper of the bailey just happened to start his prosecuting career again as soon as ryunosuke arrived in london? it would make sense with this one simple fix!

have the reaper find out that the exchange student asogi was due to come to london that day, and have that be the reason he starts prosecuting again. when he arrives at court and finds that ryunosuke is in his place, ryunosuke should be explicit about knowing asogi personally. and there we go, a reason for van zieks to hate ryunsouke/sustato without it being race-based! (of course, replace his awful remarks about japan with remarks about how obviously friends of asogi are all stupid/cruel/whatnot)

the direct jeers against ryunosuke for being asogi’s associate would then serve as a good mystery for the player to wonder why he hates this ‘dead’ defense attorney so much. isn’t asogi just our friend from university? is there something more to his past, that he shares with a prosecutor on the other side of the world...?

(i’d personally go with the lawyer hater one though since it’s funnier + strays further from specifically targeting the japanese characters in the game)

on another note:

the racism in general in DGS is very odd... i suppose it might add to the victorian theme to have these british people talk about cultural differences all the time. but it’s especially odd to me because like, every white character is casually racist out of ignorance while van zieks is racist for plot-induced reasons??? and his racism ‘gets resolved’ while the others are never commented upon. idk it’s tonally weird though i do still like the rest of the cast a lot.

and in conclusion:

i love van zieks and i think he’s intended to be a good and likeable character/person by the end of the story. however to me, the writing never redeems him well and i wish he was written so that he wasn’t racist to begin with. but i’m not the game’s target audience, so i don’t believe i’ll ever have the cultural context to view him in the way a japanese person in japan would see him. he’s still the 2nd most popular DGS character in japan though. i don’t know if that means they accepted his redemption or if they simply think he’s very sexy (he is)

anyway i’ve been thinking about van zieks so much lately and rewrote him enough in my brain to the point where i now self insert ship myself with him so nothing i say is valid

#ace attorney #the great ace attorney #dai gyakuten saiban #barok van zieks #text #barok discourse is so painful to me it's fine to like him just. please god don't act like his redemption arc was good #and it's certainly not the best part of his character... he's literally a vampire+baby boy there are more appealing things than a shittly #written backstory #i'm like actually going thru it on my priv twitter frrrr i don't shut up about this man #i have not drawn anything except me/bvz for the past few days. truly

82 notes · View notes

fruitsofhell · 1 year

Text

There’s this Sonic AU idea I’d had for so long, and I feel like SOMEONE must’ve done something like it by now since Sonic fans have made every au possible, but I’m sharing it anyway. The AU was that Amy was also an Eggman robot like Metal Sonic, and that the whole Little Planet fiasco was a bait and switch from the beginning. It would go with how Amy’s classic design (no shade) is basically just Girl Sonic, because it would be pretty characteristically childish for Eggman to think something like that would trick Sonic IMO. Makes the kidnapped girl trope a bit spicier too. This would also make Amy and Metal like siblings, which is funny with how they would both come out of the experience with wildly different opinions on their target. This wouldn’t be an Amy is evil AU, her seeing that Sonic didn’t rescue her for romantic reasons at all and just because he’s a selfless hero, and not the silly fleabag of hormones Eggman explained him as, would inspire her to leave Eggman behind. Her poor brother was a bit too humiliated and smashed to bits to have this lil revelation. I thought those origins would be a very sweet motivation for why she would be so obsessed with Sonic, as well as an explanation for her super strength lmao. I mean, inexplicably strong little girls are already funny as hell, but imagine her cute girly demeanor covering up she’s actually lowkey a killing machine? Great stuff. I’ve always wanted more reasons to parallel her and Metal too, and this AU does it through one of my favorite tropes of Robots Learning To Appreciate Life, while still keeping their characters relatively similar. Heck, maybe after Sonic Heroes she can be the one to take Metal in.

#sonic the hedgehog #amy rose #metal sonic #sonic au #sonic cd #shut the heck up #sth #ive had this idea for like 4 years and honestly looking back its very kirby-esque #which makes sense cause i left sonic hyperfix for kirby once i realized it did everything i wanted to do w/ sonic thematically #funny fucked up lil guys becoming ur friend and learning the meaning of life...#not that sonic doesnt do plenty of redemption arcs but its not as big as a theme as in kirby #(also kirby writing and games are more consistantly good :[ coughcough)#i still miss sonic tho #sonic and kirby as protags and series have wildly different energies #bitches be like (makes a sonic post) (talks about kirby in the tags)

24 notes · View notes