#as well as in actually allowing her character to be challenged and progress in the story

[holdharmonysacred]

Also just saw a post having a giggle about Pearl and Vriska discourse and I think that like. If you want to try to seriously figure out why the hell that particular genre of discourse gets so bad - and hell, I’ll throw The Egg Guard in as the same genre of disk horse - then the big thing to look at is that all these characters tend to be Creator’s Pets. “Character did bad things” is almost never the actual problem, if the arguing goes in that direction it’ll be because the people making the arguments don’t know how to articulate things from a Doylist angle, the actual problem is pretty much always that Character is blatantly the creator’s favorite and the creator(s) cannot stop themselves from being self-indulgent. And that constant self-indulgence means they can’t bring themselves to Kill Their Darlings or approach the Shenanigans that Character is doing appropriately.

So you get this weird genre of character who constantly does really horrible shit to the rest of the work’s cast - horrible shit that frequently crosses the “this is too real and hits too close to home” boundary - and basically gets away with it and excused for their actions literally all the time and always hogs the spotlight and is just plain annoying if you don’t like that character. And a big part of this genre of creator favoritism is that the creators just can’t bring themselves to actually treat the more villainous characters in this genre like campy villains, so you don’t even get the fun kind of evil girlbossing. And it sucks, if you’re a writer, don’t do this shit. This is the exact kind of thing that the classic “kill your darlings” advice is meant to warn against, nothing good comes from writing like this.

#now obviously in the context of the specific examples used there's some differing circumstances #for example - i think turning pearl into a campy villain would be an inappropriate way to fix her issues as a character #pearl's problems would be better solved by deemphasizing her own role in favor of the other gems getting to shine #as well as in actually allowing her character to be challenged and progress in the story #instead of constantly constantly constantly CONSTANTLY rehashing 'pearl hasn't gotten over rose's death #and lashes out and hurts everybody else over it but gets treated as the real victim' #and in vriska's case i think the problem is hussie is being Schrodinger's Asshole about it #where he tried to invoke it deliberately to make a point but also wants to have his cake and eat it too #and he can't play with the trope properly because he also genuinely means it #and the Egg Guard is just. pure waifuisms. she always gets everything she wants because she's the young pretty marketable waifu. #put her in the hands of someone who DOESN'T have a huge waifu bias and she can be a MUCH better character #i do also think there CAN be misogyny issues involved BUT think the source of blame is a chicken-or-egg situation #like yeah it COULD be the fandom getting weird about it. but it could also be the creators getting weird about it. #and the creator's own biases could be what are getting in the way of them writing what are frequently lady villains properly

[qulrikkek]

NOW let's ADDRESS the BANTHA in the room!!!

As a filmmaker, and a writer myself, when you build up a romantic relationship between two individuals you empathize how their relationship is growing.

Now, the sparks were definitely there in episode 2!

That look, (a Medium Close Up on Bo's face) which she gave to Din, after he honored her father's sacrifice could be the foundation, on which the show builds upon.

Unfortunately, afterwards there were no real indications.

No real discussion about Bo losing her castle, no real discussion by the fire when they went to rescue Ragnar, no discussion after the Armorer allowed her to take off her helmet (biggest plot whole so far), no discussion about why she wouldn't challenge Din for the Darksaber, no real discussion about their pasts (bonding is essential, but it's lacking here)... and other minor things that pile up into frustration in the viewer and later disappointment, because GLANCES at each other are NOT ENOUGH to build a relationship up, especially if they are not emphasized (there are no lingering camera close ups on neither Bo nor Din).

And unfortunately, NO the sitting closely beside each other scene is NOT an ENOUGH of an indicator of how closely their relationship is progressing...

HOWEVER!!!!!!! HEAR ME OUT!!!!

Jon Favreau amd Dave Filoni gave too much time and importance to Bo Katan's character on screen for them to then back out of it and return to simple bounty hunting episodes for Din. (In my opinion that would kill the show!)

It actually dawned on me that they are building up Bo's character too much...

She won back too much this season...

You might ask:

WHERE AM I GOING WITH THIS?

Since we know that there will be a season 4 for sure, and we have not yet seen Moff Gideon, nor Admiral Tarkin appear...

My Predictions are that Jon and Dave will play a (NASTY) card; (Filoni is known to love drama from Clone Wars, so...)

When The finale of this season comes and there's a big battle against the Mandalorians, Bo will be CAPTURED. (Or maybe injured, but that's not dramatic enough...)

This would set up the tension and the anticipation for the next season and would also give a perfect reason for Din to realize his feelings for her.

This would also push him to become the leader of her people and rescue her in season 4!

ADDITIONALLY, this show is about family (traditional family) structure.

Bo and Din spent too much time together, for the show runners not have any goal with this. (Even though they rarely talked WITH each other, rather they only talked TO each other, NOT the same thing!!!!)

I think that if they don't make DINBO happen this season the foundations were laid for the next season! (Slow burn)

ALSO, this entire third season was about how WELL they can WORK TOGETHER, so why waste the opportunity? Why not make Bo, Din and Grogu a family? (Although it could happen that they don't do anything with this, Disney is known for chickening out of real commitments!)

But After all these things these went through... Hmmm...

Hopefully this is the case, otherwise Season 3 of The Mandalorian is a sinking ship....

Anyway, there is still 2 episodes left and the way Axe Wolves has known in the beginning of episode 6 that the Quarren and the Calamari tried to run away for love (“I know it was for love.”) I predict that he will confront Bo about why wouldn't she challenge Din, and then he would find out that she has feelings for the bounty hunter.

#bo x din #dinbo #bodin #bo katan x din #bo katan #din djarin #the mandalorian #din djarin x bo katan kryze #din x bo #din x bo katan #bo katan kryze x din djarin

[snigora]

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

I'm fricken obsessed with this book and I had to write something about it, but I’ve never done something like this before so hopefully this is coherent!

Spoilers for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

I want to talk about the differences in how Coriolanus (I’m just gonna call him Snow I cbb writing out his whole first name) perceives Lucy Gray and Sejanus, and how that leads him to his conclusion about human nature at the end of the novel. Because I think Lucy Gray and Sejanus are two sides of the same coin – to Snow, they both come from the districts, they are both pacifists, and they both have a desire for freedom from the reign of the Capitol. But Snow claims to love Lucy Gray and has a constant dislike, even hatred, of Sejanus. So, what’s the difference between them?

Snow starts out the book as a sort of blank slate, not having come down on either side of the humans are inherently good or humans are inherently evil debate (although it could be argued that his actions always tended towards the belief of inherent violence – but that’s not what this is about). His belief is only completely solidified at the very end, after seeing everything Sejanus and Lucy Gray have done. Given one of the major themes in the book is control versus chaos, I believe that both Lucy Gray and Sejanus represent chaos, with Dr Gaul representing control and Snow definitively falling on that end of the spectrum in the story’s finale. Snow’s close relationship with both the chaos characters is certainly what drives him to his conclusion about human nature, and his desire to control it.

Sejanus is looked down upon by pretty much everyone in the Capitol because of his district heritage. Snow is no exception to this – the only difference between his attitude towards Sejanus and the general attitude of others in the Capitol is his desire to be different from everyone else, falsely leading Sejanus to believe that Snow is his friend (Chapter 1, p17*). Snow has no interest in actually being Sejanus’s friend, but Sejanus latches on to him, much to Snow’s annoyance. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that Sejanus’s loyalty lies with District 2, not with the Capitol, which is something that Snow cannot fathom. With his prejudice against the districts, Sejanus’s defence of them is something that fuels Snow’s dislike of him. Sejanus’s trajectory of rebelliousness starts small, with going out of his way to do District 2 funeral rites for tributes who die, and standing up to Dr Gaul, to actively putting himself in dangerous situations. None of his rebelliousness is violent in nature, but it all challenges Snow’s beliefs in a way that he doesn’t want to be challenged. Their ‘friendship’ causes Sejanus to often confide his plans in Snow, which Snow desperately tries to dissuade him from doing, primarily because it would reflect badly on himself. But no matter how hard he tries, Sejanus always ends up doing what he thinks is right in his eyes. Snow values control, he says so many times throughout the book, and Sejanus is someone he cannot control.

Lucy Gray, on the other hand, is someone he sees as beneath him, because she is not from the Capitol. However, Lucy Gray does not particularly strongly associate herself with the districts because of the Covey. She just sees herself as someone who unfortunately ended up in District 12, which allows Snow to justify his continued prejudice while simultaneously falling for her. But the main difference between Lucy Gray and Sejanus is that Lucy Gray’s unpredictability and ‘chaos’ always reflects well on Snow because it draws attention to her as a tribute and as his tribute. She is also very much dependent on him for survival in the Capitol, making him feel in control of her. Lucy Gray says she believes everyone has an inherent goodness in them, and that is reflected in the ways she perceives Snow – everything he does, which we know is out of self-interest, she interprets as a selfless act. So really, she falls for a façade of Snow. She sees all the good in him and voices it often, making him feel validated. He finds her alluring because she is different, she reflects well on him as a tribute, and he sees her as a controllable sort of ‘chaos’. He starts to realise that she’s not as controllable as he’d like – that she has a life outside of him in District 12 and that’s when his affections for her start to slip, and that, along with other events, leads him to ultimately turn on her completely.

So, how do these two similar yet different people influence Snow’s view of human nature? The conclusion Snow draws at the end of the story (mildly influenced by his upbringing and Grandma’am, and majorly influenced by Dr Gaul) is that the Games must continue to constantly remind people about the inherent savagery of humanity, which he thinks people will inevitably revert to if the Capitol loses control. In Sejanus, he sees how his pacifist actions always end up with more violence – when he tries to trade tributes with Snow because he sympathises with his own district, and Marcus ends up dying horrifically; when he disappears into the arena and Snow has to retrieve him, the tributes band together to try and kill them; and when he colludes with the rebels in District 12, which causes the death of Mayfair, Billy Taupe, and Sejanus himself. In Lucy Gray, it’s how he sees her behave in the arena, seemingly killing people with ease; he believes that Billy Taupe’s death is her fault, and that he will end up like him if he stays with her; and when she leaves the snake to bite him in the woods.

Finally, the actions of Sejanus and Lucy Gray also cause Snow to realise the violence within himself. When he escapes the arena with Sejanus and is ambushed by the tributes, he kills a tribute (Bobbin?) out of self defence without a second thought. This shakes him up and causes him to start giving thought to Dr Gaul’s idea of human’s natural state being violent. When he catches Sejanus with the contraband, he ends up killing Mayfair, this time out of self-preservation. After this, he has an active role in the murder of both Sejanus and Lucy Gray, convincing him of his own need, and from there everyone’s need, to be under the control of the Capitol to keep the peace.

This turned into more of a ramble. But I haven’t had a chance to talk about these ideas with anyone yet (and I’ve only read the book once and I may have made errors), so I’m very open to discussion!

*I have the movie tie in edition of the book

#the ballad of songbirds and snakes #tbosas #lucy gray baird #coriolanus snow #sejanus plinth #dr gaul #human nature #the hunger games #chaos vs control #the ballad of songbirds and snakes spoilers #tbosas spoilers #me #hunger games analysis #the ballad of songbirds and snakes analysis #book analysis #tbosas analysis

[greensaplinggrace]

🔥Shadow and Bone

okay. shadow and bone’s portrayal of the darkling as ‘the charming, manipulative older abuser’ isn’t subversive. it’s not even subversive for it’s genre. anyone who claims it is is acting like a pretentious douchebag and gives off the impression that shadow and bone is the only thing they’ve read in their life.

a series that paints it’s main activist for the oppressed minority as the villain, has the heroes oppose him and then kill him, and then has them uphold the status quo without ever addressing the problems that radicalized him in the first place - actually making the situation worse for the oppressed minority after his death - is a series that is loyal to the genre’s regular inability to properly address real world problems or challenge societally accepted, regularly taught, and preconceived beliefs, biases, and prejudices in any way. it abides by all societal rules and standards.

furthermore, it embraces the majority of popular american media’s desire to in some way propagandize the government and/or the catholic church. this is displayed in the presence of nikolai, who functions as the white savior - a less outcast, less traumatized version of ‘the abuser’, who rolls in privilege and embodies everything the white leftist thinks is acceptable. he is one of the Good Ones, after all. 

this is also evident in the way the writing treats it’s main female characters: by shaming them for their desires, infantilizing them and whitewashing their worse actions, and often making them two dimensional victims of the ‘dark, dangerous, outcast seductor’ with no real personality anymore. when the female characters are ‘empowered’ in this series, it is usually only when they are enforcing the status quo - any other moment of power is likened to greed, selfishness, and monstrousness (which is all, of course, only ever tied to the oppressed minority and to men).

the only time the women in the series can be truly ‘good’ is when they are stripped of all personality, progression, or power - or when they are directly opposing or disagreeing with the villain. this gets to such a point in the books where the main female character’s arc of self actualization is regressed in an effort to turn her away from such ‘evil thoughts and desires’, simply because the villain encouraged her to engage with them. 

in a startling show of entirely embracing this genre’s many sexist flaws, the main character is stripped of her agency and beaten back from her growth into true womanhood and self acceptance simply because of the sins and influence of one man. he must have corrupted her, says the narrative. he is the one that put her darkness there. and so she is therefore never allowed to truly explore those darker parts of herself to reach the full breadth of her own actualization and self acceptance.

she can now never truly come to love herself because she has been ‘tainted’. and now the only true way she can be saved and happy is if she is ‘cleansed’ of what makes her other from society. the fundamental tying of everything that makes alina different and unique to something 'sinful' will forever condemn her to a life of assimilation and loss.

not to mention that - as has been stated before - the series does nothing to actually challenge any actual preconceived notions of abusers, and instead only cements the common belief that abusers are easy to identify and noticeable in their status as outcast from society and from the ‘church’. the regular dehumanization of the darkling by the fictional church as well as the socially accepted characters presents him as a monster, which only solidifies the common belief that abusers are not people, that they don't function as people, and that they are universally unliked.

the use of dark and light themes could have been groundbreaking if implemented correctly, but instead the heavy handed attempts at moralizing through these symbols only further makes the series standard to the genre by enforcing your typical puritanical roles upon characters that deserved more nuance. 

it was a basic ya novel in every way, it did nothing to actually subvert the genre, for subversion is only effective when you don’t hate the genre you’re subverting, and the author’s aversion to ya, fantasy, and the women who read it and ‘fall for it’ is clear in both real life and in what she’s written. the series’ ‘condemnation’ of the ‘dark, charming, and brooding older lover’ actually ended up making the series less subversive simply because it was not only handled so poorly that it practically condemned and shamed abuse victims instead, but also because it enforced the same standards society and most popular ya enforces today in young women or people of any minority when it comes to their determined roles.

you know what piece of media is subversive for it’s genre? black sails. you know what piece of media isn’t? shadow and bone.

send me a 🔥 for an unpopular opinion (x)

#shadow and bone #sab #grishaverse #aleksander morozova #the darkling #myramblings #alina starkov #sab critical #anti leigh bardugo #leigh bardugo critical #sab salt #sab meta #asks and answers #genya safin #zoya nazyalensky #anon #ask games #fandomcourse #negative #abuse mention tw

[lorei-writes]

OC Thoughts: Esther Materna #1

... or why she is constructed the way she is. ;)

Contents

Character: Personal Story

Reconsidering Relationships

Chevalier

Character: Personal Story

What is their story? Are they the main character? A supporting actor? What conclusions do I want to arrive at and what circumstances do I need to enable that?

Initially, Esther was meant to be merely a side-character without too much exposition. In the first draft, she was the ill twin sister whose condition got progressively worse, to the point of her life being endangered. If the centre of the universe was her twin, then Esther was an excuse -- she was the means of pushing Viva into a dark headspace, the reason for revenge.

The second draft for the twins' personal stories came with a variety of "what if" scenarios... and the question of how to bring them towards reality. What if Esther wanted to save Viva? How would she go about it? What if she talked with Chevalier? How would she do that? Why?What if she took on a more active role? Would she dare to? Should she? And, more importantly... if she was the primary focus of the narrative, what story would she tell?

Esther's core was decided: she is the ill twin sister, loyal to the point of being willing to abandon her life. She does not believe she has much time left. To contrast her with Viva, she is not brave. However, she's willing to push herself for the sake of her loved ones.

Reconsidering Relationships

Esther's relationship with Viva was set in stone from the very beginning. However, that much could not be said about any of the other characters. Since her general design was still fairly vague, my aim was to look for any interesting interactions that could occur given Esther's core. The rest of her, as such, was fleshed out with the intention of bringing out the most out of those possibilities.

Chevalier

Esther's circumstances make her fragile yet oddly durable at the same time. She endures and she's readily willing to endure, regardless of the price she may have to pay for her loyalty.

Fragile against Powerful. Loyal despite reason against Logical. Terrified yet determined against Terrifying.

Selecting Chevalier as a close counterpart for Esther provided a set of interesting contrasts and enabled multiple paths of exploring her as a character -- her sense of uselessness correlated with her illness, the rift between physical fragility and mental prowess, emotion being the source of courage, determination that defies reason, etc. etc. Then it became the question whether that set up is mutually beneficial. Or, in other words, can Esther serve as a driver for exploring Chevalier? The answer, obviously, is "yes".

Chevalier is certain he can protect anything. As such, details of Esther's illness were decided (and modelled after actual existing illnesses) to counter that statement. How do powerful feel when they are helpless? How does a genius react to failure? Can he move on from it? How will he live knowing he cannot protect the one thing dear to him? How does it affect Chevalier's understanding of strength? How does it change how he views his role?

Further details were added to increase the number of such "unknowns" and to level the field between them.

Esther is well-versed in emotion �� Chevalier is extremely logical

Esther is religious ⇄ Chevalier is (likely) not religious

Esther is observant (especially in regards to humans) ⇄ Chevalier is observant (relatively well-rounded, albeit with limited understanding of human emotion)

Esther cannot allow herself to be afraid of Chevalier if she wants to help her sister ⇄ Chevalier is not used to not being feared

Esther grows daring once not fully aware of herself ⇄ Chevalier is not used to being approached in a daring manner

Esther is generally rather reserved ⇄ Chevalier is direct in conduct (at times, to his personal amusement), however:

Esther is determined ⇄ Chevalier challenges others

... and the list goes on :)

#ikepri #ikepri oc #ikemen prince oc #ikemen prince #chevalier x oc #chevalier michel x oc #ikepri chevalier #ikemen prince chevalier #chevalier michel

[mdhwrites]

The Owl House had an issue with introducing characters that had minimal impact on the storyline. Boscha, Kikimora, Vee, Hunter, and The Collector could’ve all been removed from the story with little change, and their screen time could’ve been used toward other characters that needed it more than them.

So we talk a lot about story necessity I want to start this with the fact that filler and side characters often help add flavor to a story. It's something frankly I struggle with because my stories focus on progressing forward which helps me get a lot done with a small word count. Most of the characters listed here though... Actually are fine. At least until S3 for Boscha and Kikimora and that brings up the fact that different roles require less time to matter, though I want to mention that this addition of flavor and the like is exactly why no one will ever question why Viney was a part of the show. She's fun and she's the ONE time we get ANYONE actually struggling with the desire to be multi-covened but the system won't allow it, even if it's not done particularly well in that episode.

So, what are the roles of each character versus how much time do they have on screen? Well:

Boscha: Basic teenage antagonist for school things. Requires only as much time as is dedicated to teenage drama. Mostly disappears after S1 because of this except for two funny moments at her expense... Except in S3 when the show states she's actually more than what was portrayed before.

Kikimora: Basic, irredeemable, comedy villain general to allow fighting Belos without fighting Belos. Requires only as much time as is required to confront Belos AND OTHER, BETTER GENERALS AREN'T AROUND. Then in S3 is there as a standalone, one off antagonist despite her BOSS having been defeated and her not being anything new.

Vee: One off foil to Luz for character conflict for an episode. Takes up one episode and that's... it. She's fine.

Hunter: Complex, Redeemed Villain General. Requires as much time as is required for a satisfying redemption. Is actually cut short because he is not actually a villain for any time, cutting his point at the knees. Also connects to Belos but *looks at Lilith and Kikimora, both from season 1* that's redundant. Kikimora LITERALLY goes through the same fucking shit as Hunter and only once Belos has left her for dead/tried to kill her, much like Hunter, she forsakes him. She just becomes a bad guy instead of a good guy but even the breakdowns Hunter has or the depression about losing their purpose are both shared. They're almost the same character and nothing is done with that foiling frankly.

Collector: Complex, Redeemed Final Villain. Requires the time for his machinations and desires to be unraveled and challenged in a way that is thematically coherent because if you're going to redeem your big bad, it becomes about a battle of ideologies. Instead, we get one conversation with him before him being released and like... Two afterwards. That isn't enough time for him to have a machination or big bad moments. That's barely enough time for a one off villain.

That's the bigger issue with TOH. It has no idea what its priorities are... Nor does it feel like it cares. Like Kikimora is Belos' main general, effectively his biggest expression onto the show before S3... And she sucks. Meanwhile, his coven heads go unused and underutilized, staying as one off villains instead. Then their more complex characters and concepts aren't actually given the time needed because that would mean not getting the payoff of redemption or reformation of these characters. It is also just lacking ideas so it doesn't know what to do with any of these characters the longer it goes on and so keeps scraping the bottom of a well. Hence why Kikimora and Boscha return in S3 despite one effectively not being in S2 (if Boscha was important, she'd have at least cameod in Labyrinth Runners) and the other being a complete joke by the end who's boss was reduced to a puddle once already.

And that's frankly the bigger issue. These characters feel redundant and like they don't even add flavor because... They are and they don't. The show has VERY few concepts in general besides social statements. That's why most of their villains or dilemmas are them miming at a social issue and why it had to carve up more and more angst as it ran out of ideas it could just copy from the modern world. Or reused ideas even in the same season just with other basic fantasy things.

And more complex ideas REQUIRE creativity and skill. They require the elements that seem to be most lacking in the show. That's why the fandom can create a billion ideas because they're unrestrained and actually see the potential in these concepts while the show runners feel blind to the gold they are writing themselves. Again: You could have spent an entire SEASON dealing with just all of Amity's baggage towards redemption and reformation, twenty episodes, and probably still had material on the table and instead, it frankly boils down to at best a handful of episodes, at most two, before she is fully redeemed and telling her potential to go fuck off because she has the job of a bland love interest to do.

As it is now? The show is lucky that it didn't have time to make literally everything redundant, no matter how hard it tried to anyways.

==========

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

#the owl house criticism #toh critical

[landoftheway]

Thoughts on Lisa: The Definitive Edition

Finished all of the new content in both Painful and Joyful, and after giving it some time to sit I’ve got some thoughts about all of it. Below the cut for both length and spoilers:

The Painful

To start with, I love the new campfire scenes. They’re funny, heartwarming, and everything in between, and I actually like that they’re locked behind both the RNG of resting and specific requirements for certain scenes (having enough characters, progressing far enough, either taking or not taking Joy, etc.). It incentivizes people to actually use those rest opportunities instead of just farming mags and resting at an inn.

Brad’s Nightmare scenario is generally very good, but even I think it drags on a little longer than necessary. That said I really like both the fight itself and the lore both before and after it. It really gets across how deep the roots of Brad’s trauma go (a metaphor that I’ll come back to in the Joyful section below), and while ultimately it doesn’t change the outcome of his story it allows for both the audience to get a deeper insight into him and for him to have a moment of genuine reflection on his life, particularly allowing him to think about Lisa as the actual person she was and not the specter of grief and guilt he normally perceives her as. And while it IS possible to cheese the fight without losing anyone, I like the thematic resonance of Brad having to sacrifice the people around him and his connections to them in order to fight his inner-demons; it’s a cool way of tying that theme into a mechanical interaction the player can participate in.

The new sound and music changes are, unfortunately, weaker than the originals all around, but Jorgensen was very direct about the legal reasons they had to be made so there’s not much helping that. In the same way the changes made to the Playstation release are downright silly but also legally necessary for its release on that platform, so I get it.

The gameplay re-balancing seems fine all around. I should note that I did my playthrough on Pain Mode without using any Joy, so I stuck with the classic OP team of Terry, Birdie, and Nern, so for most of the game I had largely the same gameplay experience as my first time through. I do appreciate the inclusion of an EXP share for the party, since it made leveling everyone up at the EWC to get their level 25 abilities much easier and also helped get everyone prepped for the new superboss.

The Joyful

Much like the original release this new content is much more of a mixed bag compared to Painful, but overall I enjoyed it. To start with the least controversial aspect, I like the new Warlord abilities Buddy gets; they’re all both fun and interesting to use and definitely make playing as Buddy more engaging than how she used to be.

On a similar note, the new boss fight she has with apparitions of all the Warlords together is a fun bonus challenge. I particularly like that you can resolve it both by actually fighting them or just defending against them for several turns cause it ties into the ways Buddy is thematically different than Brad. Brad can only conceive of facing his guilt by fighting it due to both his past and having lived long enough for that mentality to become set in stone, but Buddy for all of her faults has at least the potential to see things outside of that dynamic (this being one of the crux’s of her final decision to take the vaccine or not).

The above aspect of Buddy is what ties into the more controversial part of the new content, which is the lead-up to the new ending and that ending itself. It’s worth stating at this point that a lot of this new content is very intentionally vague as to whether it’s literal or metaphorical. For example, the young Rick, Sticky, and Cheeks as well as the Dusty face all speak as ghosts of their adult selves, but in the same weird area we also see a young Bernard and Dusty that are definitely memories of the past. The setting of Olathe has always been one where the supernatural explicitly exists (fireballs, fingerbeams, etc.) and Lisa herself always kinda towed the line between shared hallucination and an actual ghost, so in that respect it’s nothing new for the game but it can definitely make what happens next difficult to parse.

The crux of the new ending is Buddy “planting” Lisa inside herself, which radically alters her dialogue with Buzzo after Yado’s death. Whether this is literal or metaphorical is, again, vague as all hell. On one hand Buddy speaks to Buzzo about things she should ostensibly know little to nothing about and Buzzo accuses her of stealing Lisa away from him, which lends to the idea that this was in some way literal. On the other hand pretty much everything Buddy says to Buzzo are either things she could have feasibly (if a bit improbably) put together or else just things she could have said just to hurt him as much as possible, and Buzzo himself is in the process of becoming a Joy mutant and completely losing his mind, so it’s also possible this is all purely metaphorical. My personal interpretation lies somewhere in the middle but leans more towards the latter; while I think there’s probably some truth to the idea of Lisa as an actual specter/tulpa/whatever, I see most of this new stuff as not things that literally occurred as depicted (i.e. Buddy did not literally collect the items that are part of the puzzle to unlock this ending).

What the metaphor of all this is is pretty plainly stated by Brad in the epilogue, and ties back into the “roots” theming of the new content in Painful. Namely, that a strong and healthy foundation is needed in order for a person to grow into their best self, and that foundation is rooted in love for others and one’s self. Brad compares this to gardening, specifically noting how it requires both healthy soil and constant maintenance, and how a failure to do so can cause weeds already pulled to come back worse than ever. In other words, you need to both connect with and love others as a foundation and find ways to address stuff like pain and guilt regularly, or else they’ll plant their roots in your head and never really go away.

Looking at the new ending through this lens, Buddy “planting” Lisa in herself pretty obviously represents making a connection to her not as a burden of guilt and pain but as a human being. This is reflected in the accusations Buddy throws at Buzzo that for all of his supposed devotion to Lisa he’s still blaming her for driving him to become the man he is now, and how that shows his failure to actually connect to Lisa as a person. Buzzo might claim that he loved her, but it’s abundantly clear he just sees her a justification to direct his pain outwards at the world around him. His accusations of Buddy “stealing” Lisa away from him can thus be viewed as her taking away his ability to think of her and “hear” her as he has up to this point. The final shot of the game is also connected to all of this: the figure holding Buddy could represent a number of specific individuals (the most notable candidates being either Lisa, Lisa and Brad’s mom, or Buddy’s mom), but more importantly it's a visual representation of Buddy having gained the ability to connect to, trust, and love others.

With all of that said, I do have a significant criticism of this new ending: Buddy’s dialogue with Buzzo is, in my opinion, kind of badly written. This was a problem in the original release of Joyful as well in my opinion, namely that the way Buddy talks is weirdly stilted at times compared to her more consistent flow of dialogue in the Painful. The things she’s saying are themselves perfectly fine (as someone who loves to hate Buzzo I particularly enjoyed someone calling him out on what a fucking manchild he is), but her phrasing comes across like it’s waffling between a bitter and blunt way of speech and a more formal and precise tone of voice. So the end result is a sequence with a great essence at its core but a weak execution, which like I said at the start is nothing if not consistent with Joyful’s original release.

TL;DR

Painful DE is great except for the music changes, Joyful DE is weaker but still pretty good which is nothing new, get the game on PC if you haven’t already.

#lisa #lisa rpg

[lumenflowered]

Hello. My name is Maria—nothing more, nothing less. I am a Faller hailing from a place known as Yharnam, though I am currently in the Johto region. It is a less harsh place than what I am used to; I would not recommend requesting further information regarding Yharnam unless you are mentally prepared.

Out of a lack of anything better to do after falling here, I embarked upon the Gym Challenge. At the time of writing this, I bear seven of the eight Johtonian badges, and intend to attain the eighth as soon as I have recovered enough to travel.

As of less than a week ago, I have been Chosen as a champion of sorts by Ho-oh, a Pokémon with power tantamount to the gods of my former world. While I still have rather complicated feelings regarding the matter, the gods of this world are considerably kinder than those I am used to, and doing this allowed me to put an end to Team Rocket's machinations once and for all.

My team is as follows: Rakuyo (Meganium, X) Hunter (Furret, F) Molotov (Arcanine, M) Adeline (Gengar, F) Evelyn (Seadra, F) Eileen (Honchkrow, F)

Adeline, my Gengar, rather likes to steal my device and make posts for herself—she is considerably better with this world's technology than I, so I have no qualms with this—and her commentary can be found in purple.

Though this has thus far only occurred once twice thrice, Ho-oh has utilized this platform and blog to communicate directly with me and others before, and they have done so in bold orange text. They have recently adopted another name in addition to their first: Solaire.

A very angry child named Silver, who inexplicably decided to form a rather one-sided rivalry with a grown woman, is unlikely to be on the blog again given how much the anonymous masses of Rotomblr set back my progress in having a reasonable conversation with him. However, while he was posting here, he used blue.

I am more than happy to discuss a great many things. Do keep in mind that I hail from a far deadlier place than this one, should you care to ask about my past prior to Johto.

...I still would rather like to know why and how I am here at all.

(OOC info under cut.)

Sup, it's still @ofstormsandfire getting perhaps a little too invested in my silly little blog where I throw a Bloodborne boss into the world of pokemon. I really wanted to make a faller blog of some kind, and promised myself that I could if I survived Nanowrimo, and... then I did. And went well, alright, Lady Maria's going to have a great time in Johto!

(That was sarcasm. Though honestly even a terrible time in Johto is an improvement over what she's used to.)

Do keep in mind that Maria is in fact a Bloodborne boss and as such will be unfazed by things that would disturb the vast majority of characters. I'll happily tag things as necessary, just ask if I've missed something you would like tagged.

Here's some navigational tags for y'all. If/when I actually reach the conclusion of this blog's story maybe I'll make more.

#firebird arc: I smashed together the Radio Tower plot and the Ho-oh plot, made the Kimono Girls more relevant, and also ramped up the stakes a little. Called that because Ho-oh is a firebird and also I'm 90% sure there's a kind of rocket called the Firebird. I like puns. I also put way too much effort into this and I regret nothing.

#the vampire allegations: A couple of people made jokes about Maria being a vampire. Admittedly, she is from Cainhurst which is the closest Bloodborne gets to proper vampires, and I thought it would be really funny to have her be allergic to garlic for legitimately mundane reasons.

#rainbow wings: That time Ho-oh showed up on the blog specifically to tell Maria to take a break. Same tag is used whenever Ho-oh turns up. (It's been like three times now.)

#what's with this sassy lost child?: The Silver takeover. For some reason the last couple posts just aren't showing up in the tag despite being tagged with exactly the same thing, but he got Pelipper Mailed bad memories of his dad and promptly dipped.

#hints to the future: Bits of prose foreshadowing things to come, because I got really into that one ask game with the gears.

#ooc: making this my new pinned post woo! #pokeblogging #pokeblogging intro #pokemon irl #rotomblr #pokeblog rp

[margolovescoffeeandbooks]

this might be a controversial take for some, but midnight rain by taylor swift reminds me a lot of averygrayson. 

i’ve seen many swifties using this song as a way of representing the sunshine & grumpy/golden retriever & black cat kind of dynamic and it's cool with me, but i think we all know that’s not what this song is exactly about. midnight rain is a story of a boy who preferes to stay in his comfort zone and a girl who craves something bigger than that. she wants adventure. she wants to feel the rush of adrenaline. she wants to cross her own boundries and reach for what she’s always longed for. 

the description you’ve just read sounds awfully familiar, right? avery kylie grambs. it’s literally her. 

at the beginning of the series, avery is convinced that she must stay invisible, that she can’t allow herself to be more that that, even though deep down she fantisizes about adventure and the life of a daredevil. the idea of taking a risk is incredibly appealing to her, that’s why she wants to study risk assessment, but she’s afraid to actually try it out in real life. she thinks that it would be too bold of her, that she would want too much. as the series progresses, avery becomes more confident and eager to take risks. she slowly starts to escape her shell becoming the person she’s always wanted to be. 

and it’s jameson who is one of the most important factors that make her character develop in such a way. 

jameson is a daredevil. he lives to take risks, to feel adrenaline. jameson’s hungry, always in search of something. he doesn’t know what it’s like to stand still. he experiences life the way avery’s always wanted to. that’s why she gravitates towards him throughout the whole series. because he feels like the personification of so many of her dreams.

jameson awoke in avery the desire to be bold, to reach for the things she's always longed for. he made her escape her comfort zone, for her own sake, but also for him. so many times avery's the one making the first move when it comes to their relationship. and it's takes a lot of effort for her to do that. because usually, she keeps distance from everyone. she's a lone island. and the fact that she takes the risk and actually pursues her desire to be with jameson is such an important change in her.

avery is midnight rain. she chooses the pain. because building a relationship with jameson was challenging for her. she had to break the cycle of avoidance she had been living her entire life. she had to overcome her boundries and tear down her walls. it wasn't easy for her. but what she gained was worth all the fear and pain. she got the boy and she finally started living the way she's dreamed of. she became the best version of herself, bold and confident. no more avoiding, no more hiding from the world.

grayson would've never inspired avery to change the way jameson did. because avery and grayson are painfully similar when it comes to their flaws. they're both avoidant and leading a lonely life. except avery is the one who overcomes it and grayson... well... he stays pretty much the same ("i was making my own way / he stayed the same / all of me changed like midnight rain").

i'm fully aware of what grayson's been through and believe me, i understand like no one else how hard it is to break free from your trauma. it takes a lot of effort, but it's not impossible. and there are moments in the book where gray tries to take steps forward, tries to change, but these actions, they lack permanance. every times he takes a step forward, a few scenes later he comes back to his comfort zone (which is not actually comfortable or safe for him, because he's build it on pain and self-loathing). because it's simplier, it's less painful than actually making persistent steps towards healing.

and i'm not saying that grayson hasn't changed even a little bit. he has. but the progress of his character wasn't as noticeable as in jameson's case. and especially, not when it comes to his relationship with avery.

and to be honest, even if grayson had been trying more to gain avery's love, she wouldn't have changed her choice. because love is not only about romantic gestures, but also about feeling a true connection with someone.

averygrayson would've never happened and never will happen, because there was never this kind of connection between avery and grayson. they might have some common interests, but grayson doesn't entirely understand what lies at the core of who avery is, the hunger, the need to seek the truth, to keep searching no matter what. there are even moments when he's trying to discourage her from it. and yes, most of the time he does it to protect her, but his way of keeping her safe is often disrespectful towards avery's wants. jameson literally has to remind him that avery's her own person and she's perfectly capable of making her own choices.

jameson understands avery, because at their core they’re the same. they're both hungry. they're both constantly looking for a way of proving themselves. they're both in need of new experiences, new possibilites. jameson stimulates avery. he inspires her to be the best version of herself, to be bold and confident, to reach for whatever she dreams of.

and he's there for her at all times, no matter what, even when he's going through a crisis. every time she's being bold or taking a risk, he's supportive of her. when she finally puts herself first and starts seeking the truth without trying to please everyone around her, grayson's the one who's trying to stop her. "this isn't you, avery." he should've supported her then, but he didn't. somehow it was more natural for him to support eve than avery in that scene and basically throughout the entire book.

the girl in taylor's song, she chooses to leave her hometown and her lover behind. she takes the path of growth, the path that would eventually lead her to the life she's always dreamed of. and that's also what avery does when she chooses jameson. she chooses the boy who inspires her to make progress, to challenge herself. she chooses the boy who she can have a beautiful, exciting life with. a life full of adventures, but a life that will also make her happy and comfortable with herself. because the journey might have been hard and painful, but what she gains in the end is wonderful and blissful. 

a relationship with grayson would mean for avery staying the same person she's always been. and i'm completly certain that for grayson it would mean the same. because when you think about it, they need completely different things, both in life and relationship.

just to make it clear, i'm not saying that i associate every lyric of midnight rain with averygrayson (say whatever you want, but grayson is not sunshine). i'm only talking about the general concept behind the song. so pls, don't come at me.

this rant was sponsored by taylor swift. I LOVE YOU, MOM.

(i know this rant is messy, but you gotta deal with it. i'm a mess and i create mess.)

#the inheritance games #the hawthorne legacy #the final gambit #jameson hawthorne #grayson hawthorne #avery grambs #averyjameson #averygrayson #taylor swift #midnights #midnight rain

[quirkwizard]

Hi again, QW! In thinking about the infrasonic fear inducing Quirk "Dreadful" that you were kind enough to help me with, I was giving thought to how to differentiate it from other powers involving fear. Thus I want to propose an ability that the OC the Quirk is for has developed: Folie a Deux. By attuning her mind so that her own infrasound affects her, she can then see the specific images of terror and dread that her Quirk manifests in another person's mind and thus use it to better manipulate them. It would only work for a single opponent, but I think it'd be a good vehicle for a "greatest fear" kind of story. Your thoughts? Thanks!

Howdy again! Have something of a follow-up in regards to "Dreadful" and how it would stack up against Izuku. I think I should clarify that the matter of making abilities to counter the hero isn't borne from a desire to outsmart the manga or its characters. I just wonder if "Dreadful" would actually prove an interesting challenge for Deku to overcome, as "One For All" and all its powers aren't necessarily the means to overcome their user's own fears. "You're strong, but are you stronger than yourself?" I suppose it's an expression of the paranoia I have regarding OFA. The idea that with how much it allows Deku to do, the series is going the way of DBZ power scaling. So I wanted to create a "horizontal challenge" of sorts, and what better way than a Greatest Fears plot?

Man, that was a long time ago. I struggled to find the posts, but I do hope this helps you out.

So I do think that you could make that part of the Quirk, but not as an expansion for it. If anything, I think that the user being able to see what the target is seeing is something that should be a part of the main function considering the purpose of the Quirk is to make people afraid and illusions only they could see. I feel like you could easily justify it as well, with the user's connection to the target letting them see what they see. Heck, I think limiting it to one target is a bit much. It doesn't seem like that big of deal. And I do understand wanting to have side way power progress like that, and mental attacks are some of the better ways to do it. Although, with "Danger Sense", that could be a way to work around the illusion. That's always going to be an issue when trying to work around Izuku. Maybe you could say that the user's power can somehow bypass that because it's not a real threat or that "Danger Sense" can't do anything about mental attacks.

#My Hero Academia #Quirks #Quirk Reviews

[acourtofthought]

Do you have any concerns that, in the years that have passed, SJM has changed her mind with the ships? Like you said, Azriel is a pretty popular character and the possibility of him and Elain are constantly brought up. I know she must see some of that and I wonder if it’s effected her plans? I know she’s said the new characters introduced in ACOSF won’t change the outcomes she’s planned but this just makes me wonder if she’s planned Gwynriel for a while or if that actually disproves Gwynriel?

 

I think the ships SJM changed her mind on were Nesta and Lucien and Mor and Azriel.

But I think that when a ship falls apart, it's not quite so late in the game. When she initially wrote ACOTAR, she had thought Lucien and Nesta would end up together and I think I understand why when you consider Lucien's personality at the start of the series. He held a bit of disdain for humans (as Nesta also held disdain for humans), he was very flippant in the way he spoke to Feyre and he came off as slightly more aggressive than he is now.

But as the story progressed, you could see the events that happened that took his character in a different direction. The way he responded to the faerie that has his wings cut off, the backstory we heard from Tamlin regarding the loss of Jesminda and being chased out of Autumn, the way he was quick to apologize to Feyre for hesitating with the Suriel. The self sacrificing behavior UTM when he refused to give up Feyre's name and when he yelled out for her with the Wyrm. Now, all that snarkiness and disdain from before no longer seemed a defense mechanism born out of anger (the way Nesta's defense mechanism presented) but of sadness and loss. At this point, Lucien became a lot softer than we initially thought and Nesta kept right on developing with self hatred and rage at the world around her. And I think those differences in their personality are why SJM said they would end up worsening the hurt they were experiencing if they ended up together. Nesta would keep biting back and Lucien would become withdrawn and bitter toward her.

But Cassian was basically who Lucien would have been had Lucien's trauma not caused him to go the route of sadness but instead, anger. Had he become someone who preferred revenge over acceptance of the way things were. Cassian felt a challenge in Nesta rather than letting her dismissal of him and degrading comments become something that caused him to retreat further into himself. And once Lucien and Nesta fell apart midway through ACOTAR (at least that's what I think), SJM never looked back. Every since ACOMAF, she's been building toward the compatibility of Elucien and that doesn't seem to have changed.

As for Mor and Az, I definitely think she was considering them as endgame during ACOMAF. The scene with Hybern especially stands out as having romantic coding. In that entire book, Mor is a lot bolder, a lot stronger and a lot more confident as she didn't allow her father to get to her. She seemed to delight in looking down at him while feeling pride over Rhys being in charge over her family. And the main issue why she and Az weren't together then is that even if she offered herself up to him he wouldn't see himself as worthy.

But that seemed to change in ACOWAR because suddenly Mor preferred females, Az's actions began to scare her, and she seemed cowed by her father.

I'm not sure if that was a result of SJM's decision to include more diversity with an LGBQT character or something else but that seemed more intentional than a ship that fell apart because the characters spoke to her.

But again, since that decision was made, SJM has made every effort to include examples of why Mor and Az wouldn't be right for one another and that Mor might not belong in the NC quite as well as she once did.

I'm not sure when she decided that Gwyn would be a possible love interest for Az but they seem more well thought out than Nesta and Lucien ever did. Could she change her mind on Gwynriel? Sure. But I don't think she'll change her mind of Gwynriel in favor of E/riel and this is why:

Mor and Az shared some language hinting at their compatibility or endgame potential (staring at her with longing and hunger, giving them a more like minded view about revenge) which means in ACOMAF she was only including things that would have hinted at a possible endgame.

Nesta and Lucien didn't share mate coded language but in ACOTAR, there was language that suggested their personalities could have been a match (at least until halfway).

But Elain and Azriel have never shared language hinting at their combability. E/riels will argue against that but it's true. Even Feyre mentioning that Elain would turn to Az for "peace and quiet" fails to account for why she needed peace and quiet and why Az is the person giving it to her. Elain needed it while she was depressed and Az is quiet because he literally doesn't communicate openly with people which isn't a good thing. That's not Mate like coding, that's something providing a temporary reprieve while things never getting too deep.

Instead, SJM has constantly been placing hints as to how incompatible Elain and Azriel would be. That the Az, as he presents himself to Elain, is not actually the real Az at all but the version of himself he thinks he needs to be around her. And how the real version of Az is things that Elain is bothered by.

I think ships can fall apart after she tried to make them work, included language as to why they might end up together, but then has the character end up in a new direction. But I don't know that a ship can happen after she's made repeated efforts to hint at why they wouldn't work. And I'm not talking about "Elain won't even talk to Lucien so how can you say they'd work?!" I'm talking about blatant personality differences and reasons why the could would not be well matched in a relationship, things that would eventually cause problems between two characters. Why would SJM continually say, "Elain is bothered by cruelty" only to have her end up with the character who is possibly the most violent of the IC?

So could SJM have Elucien fall apart? Sure. Though this late in the game I find it unrealistic because of everything she's written to put them on the same paths.

Could SJM have Gwynriel not end up together? Again, sure. But as these were meant to be standalones and she needed to have some idea who the pairings were going to be about (versus Feysands trilogy where she didn't necessary HAVE to commit to any other romantic pairings), it would surprise me if she changed Azriel's love interest yet again. Seriously, this guy doesn't need to be interested in any other females. I think he'd literally become a joke at that point.

But do I see her making E/riel a possibility at this point? That seems less likely to me because she's spent multiple books building to them sharing a rebound while simultaneously telling us they are not right for one another. E/riels can point out all the cute moments for E/riel that they want but it doesn't change the fact that in between it all:

Elain is bothered by cruelty and Az is violent.

Elain does not seek revenge and Az does.

Elain values tradition and Az only respects tradition because it means something to others.

Az has never thought of a future for he and Elain.

Az still looks at Mor with hunger and longing, even in SF (just not as often).

Az doesn't support Elain doing anything dangerous.

Az refuses to talk to Rhys about whether he's over Mor.

Elain has still not addressed her mating bond with Lucien.

Az got Elain jewelry for Solstice yet for the second year in a row she got him a gag gift.

After a year of freely being able to get to know one another, they barely talk and Az says Elain still doesn't know who he is.

His shadows disappear around Elain.

Elain craves sunshine and Az likes the shadows.

He thinks she's too pure for his darkness

These aren't insignificant things and I'm not sure how, based on the kind of author SJM is and what she likes for her pairings, she'd be able to undo all that she's already said and have E/riel end up together in a way that's realistic. She put a lot of careful thought into why they wouldn't work out and I don't think that's the same thing as what people refer to when they talk about her changing ships.

#pro elucien #elucien #gwynriel #anti e/riel #acotar ships

[animehouse-moe]

The Ancient Magus' Bride Season 2 Episode 15: Needs Must When The Devil Drives II.

For being a "filler" episode in the sense that the plot doesn't necessarily progress explicitly, they fit a whole hell of a lot of great content into the characters here. So much I want to talk about!

First, Chise and Veronica. This is all about Veronica and she makes it that way, intentionally. Veronica's purposeful silence and awkwardness towards Chise is an attempt to force her out rather than coax her. Even her advances that allow Chise to interact with her are built to dominate the conversation and place Chise on her back foot, doing what Veronica says and asks. Posing leading questions and providing scathing commentary, Veronica aims to control those that pique her interest.

It creates a very interesting outline for Veronica, that's perfectly encapsulated by her response to someone trying to poison her when she was a kid.

Her whole character is very sinister, and rather than wresting on power, ability, or really anything tangible, it stems from a twisted understanding and approach to people. The question of sociopathy is rather murky, as she checks off all the right boxes but doesn't have same detachment from reality per se.

Anyways, her controlling nature that takes advantage of weaknesses in people is shown expertly through some really great direction using first person perspective and hands.

The first two are particularly interesting, because it's dichotomy that's immediately apparent between Chise and Philomela. Where Veronica is able to capture Philomela as a child, her attempt at reaching out to Chise is unsuccessful.

Similarly, it speaks to the differences between Philomela and Chise and how their lives have shaped them. Philomela will cling to Veronica, but Chise will always have the choice.

Really really great stuff that highlights Veronica's control in subtle ways.

Now, onto Rian and Violet. This one's a little more lowkey, but I do appreciate how head on Violet and Jasmine's situation in life and their unique challenges is approached. Very nice to see it so casually referenced, and to be used for good reason in giving Rian a kick in the pants.

That said, that's really what's happening with Rian here, and I like how they display that. He struggles to look at himself in the true sense, so I think seeing the reflection of him when Violet's talking is a really good way to separate the two Rians that appear during this exchange.

Even better is the actual effect of the mirror and how it happens in the first place. It's only when Rian is reflecting and has his back to the mirror so that he's unable to see himself that Philomela appears. Very very interesting piece that does well to highlight the struggles of Rian in relating to and understanding others.

And then there's Philomela and Isaac. I really really enjoyed this exchange as it gives Isaac a chance to grow as a character, and for viewers to understand why he replaced Philomela.

They're much more of one in the same than I had previously expected, so suddenly all of his previous actions make a whole lot more sense, as he not only sees himself in Philomela, but sees the friend that Rian lost in her. Very great way to bridge the distance between a pair of characters that don't really get to know too much about one another.

Also, just explicitly giving Philomela someone besides Chise is such a great and important piece to the story. It's interesting, because Rian sees himself in Philomela, but that's not all that he sees. In contrast, Chise is only relate to the parts of herself that she sees in Philomela, so there's a fundamental disconnect between the pair that stops Chise from being able to do what Isaac's doing. Just a really great narrative step that forces Chise to grow if she's to make a difference.

And that's just about where the episode ends in terms of interesting things. There's some good pieces here and there, and the quality of the story and world doesn't quite despite how light it is. There's still some really solid moments with the movie sequence in terms of characters and the overall awareness of the world of magic around them.

It's just that the character interactions, specifically the ones I've talked about here, are incredibly well done and by far are the focal point of the episode.

That said, it seems we're changing gears with the next episode to get back towards the whereabouts of the book and the reason for its theft, so I'm really excited to see what comes of that!

#ancient magus' bride #ancient magus bride #mahoyome #mahou tsukai no yome #mahoutsukai no yome #magus bride #魔法使いの嫁 #chise hatori #elias ainsworth #studio kafka #wit studio #anime recommendation #anime review #anime and manga #anime

[obeetlebeetle]

transcript of a voice memo i sent ari after doing a lot of post-oa thinking & processing. it's been sitting in an untitled doc bc i got distracted and never turned it into something substantive and/or cohesive . maybe i still will but this is what i was thinking abt back when i was wrapped up in the show

I don't know that it really needs to be on your shortlist— or anyones shortlist, it is a canceled Netflix show— but, y’know, it’s short.

Um, my thoughts are pretty undeveloped; I rewatched last week and I haven’t done a ton research yet, but I just kinda spend the late-afternoon-early-evening at uw pulling stuff that looked useful or looked interesting because there was something happening that I— I didn’t know what do with. Um, and I think that the point that I’m trying to get towards, or maybe my starting point actually is that like… 

So, in The OA, there’s this concept of angels. Of like, these humans that have died and come back, and chosen to come back, and that are therefore acquainted with a cosmological significance and then are able to move between dimensions. Which is like a cosmological thing. Um. And so that— that’s all pretty anthropocentric, it’s all pretty, like: human-centered, focused on spirituality, focused on— like an emphasis on the soul rather than the material form. 

But then that kinda gets challenged in season two because there’s more of this like, there’s— well almost like at the beginning of a story, where it’s like, “Okay here’s our first thought. We’re angels; we have this spirituality, we have this essence that is like, specific and special.” And then— and that kinda relates to human-centered thinking and how humans have this idea of themselves as like ‘special animals’ and therefore above animals or beyond them. And so there’s something happening there with transcendence, like are we trying to achieve a transcendent post-humanism by becoming angels? Is that what it’s about?

And I think that is what it’s about for the villain, which is important because the villain is like, “This is amazing! We can jump dimensions! We never have to die!” y’know, “We’re creating a technology of movement, we’re mapping the cosmology—” Like he’s trying to do all of these things that are like, processes based in Western science, right? RE: the whole angel thing. Um. (didn't say this at the time but it is pretty interesting that Hap is specifically flagging dimensions where the characters are healthy/able-bodied/long-lived etc. as like, the ideal destination. Seeking a dimension with utopia, but utopia has to be recognizable to him and it has to correlate with his ideals of scientific progress and bodily 'perfection'.)

And so, in season two, the main character— who is the OA, the Original Angel— she’s like. She has this moment where she like speaks to a giant octopus, and the octopus is like, “My species doesn’t think that we should talk to humans, but I think there’s value here.” And then later, she like, she talks to the trees, who’re like, “All of the trees are interconnected through all the worlds and they know what’s going on.” So, clearly something’s happening with this character that can have these dialogues with these non-human actors and then the non-human actors are like— kind of asserting themselves as equal to humans or as superior to them in the octopus’ respect. Like there is a dialogue happening. But it’s kind of just all through this one character, her ability to communicate with them. So then that still kinda emphasizes like a specialness that is not present in all humans as material entities. 

So. I don’t know. That’s kind of all very scattered, but my starting thoughts on, um. Kind of what The OA’s trying to do with anthropocentrism and like, I think ultimately if had been allowed to tell the full story it seems like it was moving a direction where it was decentering this myth of angels, this myth of transcendence— because instead it’s about like integration… 

Because something that also happens in season two is the OA jumps dimensions and she ends up in another version of herself’s body. And the only way for her to achieve resolution at the end, like actually solve the mystery that she’s chasing down during this season, is to integrate with the self that she originally was displacing. And so— and that is like, deliberately compared to the villain, of like, “you are displacing this self, you are treating this body as a house that you just walked into and now it’s your home, and you kind of locked up the person who was already here, and isn’t that what the villain’s been doing the whole time?” And she has to reconcile with that. So I think that there is kind of like a thing where like… her perspective is not unchallenged by the narrative. And in fact the narrative is actively trying to challenge it, to keep it away from or to create a different thought than what’s being offered by, um. The villain and all his Western science.

#the oa

[pikahlua]

I’ve been reading your metas on Ochako, and I absolutely agree that she revolves around Deku too much, even now, to the serious detriment of her character. But then I also see people countering that claim with something along the lines of, “Well, Bakugou’s character also revolves around Deku.” I don’t necessarily agree with that claim in general, but deep down, part of me wonders if they might be right. What do you think?

I hope I haven't been so careless with my words to have ever said something like "Ochako revolves around Izuku too much" without much context, but if I did, please let me clarify.

There's nothing wrong with one character revolving around another. I have no issue with any character, be they Ochako, Katsuki, or anyone else, revolving around Izuku. I don't believe any character can revolve around another "too much" in the sense of quantity. This is all just vague phrasing referring to a much more specific phenomenon.

My issue with Ochako in relation to Izuku's character is that she does not stand on her own in the story. I like Ochako very much especially in the early story arcs, but as the story progresses, a lot of scenes to do with her character become lazy shortcuts in terms of writing. The reason her later interactions with Izuku are insufferable are not her fault nor are they Izuku's--they are Horikoshi's. (I will, however, express a caveat on this opinion a little further down.)

I can describe most characters' arcs in a way that allows them to stand on their own in the story even when they "revolve" around Izuku. Katsuki's character arc unpacks the dual "victory and rescue" pillars that make up All Might's "symbol of peace" by demonstrating the ideal of victory while simultaneously showcasing his journey to understand the "rescue" pillar from square one. Iida's character arc demonstrates the ways in which a hero must navigate rules and principles, how a hero must come to their own conclusions on what value the rules and principles actually provide and when is the right time to uphold or break them. Kirishima's character arc is about self-acceptance, self-improvement, and comradery in the face of societal messages that conflict with one's own personal values. Shouto's character arc is about finding the balance in one's identity between what's inside and outside the self, how a person takes their hardship and pain and trauma and uses it to save others instead of perpetuating the cycle. Hell, Mineta's character arc is about learning what it means to be "cool" and "attractive" and "admirable" in a hyper-sensationalized, commercialized, oversaturated superhero society. All of these character arcs rely to varying extents on Izuku acting as a foil or paradigm-changing force.

Ochako's character arc is...

...uhh...

...

...all over the place or nonexistent, and I can't decide which.

At first, it seems like her character is designed to mirror Izuku's. She is a very nice (if a little bland or awkward) person who just wants to help people but slowly learns that developing her strength/combat skills would just as well serve her goal of becoming a rescue hero. This is a similar character arc to Izuku's, but there's no chance on earth her arc would show more depth or nuance than Izuku's own character arc. So is she on the same arc? Or is she there to bump Izuku in the right direction when he strays from the path? Either way, that's not development for her. Indeed, the way it works out whenever they talk in the latter half of the story is they just totally agree with each other. No challenge, no insight, nothing. They're just like "Yep :)" but in the longest, most boring way possible. Every time.

She's not tied in to the plot with All For One or Shigaraki in any way at all. There is no connection between her and the villains except Toga, who seems to have been designed entirely to face Ochako. But Toga herself is kind of shallowly developed through most of the story. There is no crux of Ochako's character she challenges other than...they both maybe sort of crush on the same boy. What a life-altering showdown that's gonna lead to! [/sarcasm]

The crushing is played for laughs and kinda cute the first two or three times, but the problem is that after Katsuki vs. Ochako, we get such a good moment where Izuku tries to cheer up Ochako but Ochako cheers him up instead. It seemed for a moment like she did have something meaningful to teach Izuku in his journey to heroism, but then we've had no moments like that between them since. It's just virginal blushing and stuttering over and over and over again with no developing relationship between them. They don't grow as a result of being in each other's stories, or if they do, we're made to just assume it happened while they blushed or something. The "crush" moments are shortcuts in the writing that don't demonstrate any actual development from point A to point B. They're just fluff that accomplish nothing in each scene. It's useless and boring. Poor writing, like I said.

But...if we assume there is no IzuOcha endgame, if we treat all the IzuOcha teasing as a subversion...

Maybe we have something here.

You see, later in the story, Toga does sort of develop into something a bit more interesting with her disdain for how society tries to force her to repress herself such that she could never be happy. But...is Ochako the proper foil to this arc? I don't know. Am I supposed to believe that Ochako's occasional jealousy at others for merely interacting with her crush Izuku is the same level of depth? That Ochako's repression and decision to ignore her feelings is...correct and good? That this is the solution to the problem Toga presents? I really don't want to believe that. I think there must be a middle-ground these two "rivals" will reach.

At best, I want to hope this is a question of imposition on others and the violation of people's boundaries, about making others happy without sacrificing your own happiness, about respecting others' feelings while also being sure to respect your own. And if that's the case, Izuku is really just a bystander unrelated to all of this--which is why I think this is the part of Ochako's story in which most people have taken any interest. It ties a lot more of their interactions into Ochako's development than their crushing moments. Take for instance how Ochako is against going to rescue Katsuki when he's kidnapped: she warns Shouto that Katsuki will probably feel humiliated if they go save him. That insight becomes a key factor in Izuku's rescue plan--and it's entirely because Ochako recognizes they need to respect Katsuki's emotional boundaries.

That's not the only moment either: at the sports festival, Izuku is not keyed in to Ochako's anxiety. When he figures out what is going on, he offers his advice for her match, but she rejects it. She realizes she needs to disentangle herself from Izuku's shadow to make it on her own as a hero, so she accepts that she and Izuku should be rivals. And when he tries to comfort her after her match, she does not accept that either. She’s sad, but she’s not willing to be vulnerable with Izuku at all. In fact, she cheers him up instead. What I'm getting at is: these two are at their most interesting when they oppose each other. They never successfully open up to each other, and each time they seem to want that, nothing meaningful happens. But when they maintain their boundaries and actually find conflict, well, that's where Ochako as a character seems to thrive. But she thrives on that with relation to everyone, not just Izuku. It's interesting when she pisses off Katsuki, when she teases Iida, when she notes the differences between her family's financial means and Momo's, when she sides with Kirishima over all the other girls in class, when she decides to throw down and get competitive. These are the moments when she stands on her own and isn't just a redundant female version of Izuku.

It's why at this time I don't want IzuOcha endgame to happen. I don't have a problem with either character or with the ship. I just think that result doesn't serve their character arcs very well. They haven't developed a relationship like that in the story to justify such an endgame. They do better when they conflict--at least so far. Horikoshi is gonna have to lift a ton of extra weight to carry them to a point where a romantic relationship between them makes sense and satisfies.

And I'm not actually convinced that's what he's gonna try to do in the end anyways.

#ask pika #anon ask #ochako uraraka #this is not an anti-izuocha post #this is an anti-izuocha in canon post #and a pro-ochako uraraka post #fanon-izuocha can stay and have cookies

[veneritia]

WTW Ghost Gala - Days 11 - 16

↳ [Day 11] Bats: How would your wip change if a minor character became the protagonist?

Honestly...not that much. What would happen is that the focus of the wip's events would shift to include scenes, events, and plot elements that the current main characters would never know or see. Leda or Sola as protagonists, for example, would showcase more espionage and take a deeper look into their relationships from before the start of the story. Characters like Ambrosius would shift the genre into more romance/tragedy and allow for Charles to have more screentime from the very first book.

But the actual progression of the King's Game and Fenice's fight for the throne wouldn't change significantly in terms of who wins, loses, lives, or dies.

Unless, of course, the protagonists end up being Charles, Isandros, or Aretos. In any other story, they'd be the natural protagonists. Unfortunately, they're in this one.

↳ [Day 12] Candles: After naming all your characters: tell us the meaning behind their names

Yeah, the names in WCTD are a mix of purposefully chosen names, names I picked out of a database without looking into meanings, and names I just made up, so this was...hard.

Let's get started with the only 2 characters whose name I deliberately chose:

Fenice (Italian) - Phoenix (what a shocker, I know)

Carolus/Charles (Latin/German) - Free man

And then the characters whose names I just picked at random:

Isandros (Greek) - Like a man

Leda (Greek) - possibly "Happy/Gladly"? Couldn't find a proper source. Mother of Helen of Troy, Clytemnestra, Castor, and Pollux.

Ambrosius (Latin) - From the greek Ambrosios, meaning "immortal, divine." (hahaha)

Euphemia (Greek) - Well-Spoken

Basil (Greek) - derived from the word Basileus meaning "King"

Konstantine (Latin) - "constant, steadfast."

Nikephoros (Greek) - "carrying victory"

And last but not least, characters whose I just made up

Illysandre -Lady of Illyosa

Meidira - Creation's gift

Eliskander - Defender of Men

Kaelstansa - He who stands ahead

↳ [Day 13] Coffin: Where's your favorite place to write?

I don't really have much of a favorite. I just like writing in places that are relatively quiet and my back is to a wall so I'm not paranoid that people are looking over my shoulder

↳ [Day 14] Haunted Mansion: Describe a setting in your wip

The Imperial Palace in Kaelstanopoli-- often called the Khrysopalati-- is the seat of Aetierian governance and the home of the vi Aetiers."It's a sprawling series of pavilions and gardens, set upon a gently sloping hill that overlooked [Kaelstanopoli] the city proper. In the middle of the palace was the octagonal shape of the Great Hall. It glinted gold in the sunlight, each wall-face masterfully embellished with jeweled mosaics telling legends of the Empire's first ruler."

"It was grand, ostentatious, and decadent in its display of wealth. The perfect nest for the pit of vipers that made up the Aetierian imperial court."

↳ [Day 15] Black Cat: Flesh out your antagonist: Who are they? What are they? What do they want?

Aretos vi Aetier. The ghost of a child long thought dead. Or at least, that's what he's been told he is. He is his mother's son, her legacy, and her vengeance. What exists beyond those truths can be easily twisted to suit his needs. He has as many faces as the thousand-faced god himself, and he'll use whatever is at is disposal to accomplish his goals.

↳ [Day 16] Pumpkin Spice Latte

Yeah...I'm just gonna use the one from my wip intro

FENICE VI AETIER, a portent of ill omens and the estranged daughter of the Vasilier, ignites a dangerous succession game between her and her half-siblings, where losing means death and winning means an empire.

The end of the Hes-Aei war brings with it a chance to prove her worth to her father. The challenge is simple: bring him the head of the deposed king of Hesperia, and Fenice will be granted an Ascension, marking her as a legitimate contender for the throne. But finding the defeated king in his own lands would prove to be harder than Fenice imagined— especially when the remnants of her father’s last war starts rearing its head.

#wtwevent #wtwcommunity #writeblr #preptober #collection.events #event.ghost gala #series.wctd #collection.my projects

[cursedvibes]

So in your top ten favourite characters, yuji is the only protagonist in the list which is not surprising but I'm very surprised that you like yuji so much to include him. Why do you like him so much compared to other protagonists and apart from him if you have to choose other protagonists, who would they be? You don't have to answer this of course. Thanks!

Well, there's also Marie-Joseph on the list, who's the protagonist of Innocent Rouge, but it is true that I have an easier time liking antagonists than protagonists. I don't have a problem with animanga protags in general, many just don't make my top 10. For example, Johnny is my favourite Jojo and I also like Emma and Norman from Promised Neverland.

I think what I generally look for in a protagonist is that they feel realistic, their ideals are meaningfully challenged and they are actually allowed to struggle. I also prefer a motivation that goes beyond "I want to be the best" or if they want to be the wizard king/Hokage/pirate king/mafia boss/#1 hero I need a good reason for that and what they want to do with that position besides power fantasy. That's why all the mc striving for the titles I just listed fall off for me.

Antagonists are a lot easier to like because they usually already highlight flaws of a system or person, or they are used to push personal characteristics to the extreme (like mad scientists with strife for knowledge and scientific progress). Usually their actions are meant to be criticised, so you don't have the problem with the author brushing over inconsistencies and flaws for the sake of elevating the mc.

Innocent (Rouge) did that really well. The story starts out with Charles-Henri as the protagonist. He wants to end the monarchy, end the bloody business of execution that forces his family to live as outcasts and also wants to live out his gnc side freely. But ultimately he fails and becomes like the people he swore to oppose, even continuing the circle of abuse from his father to his own children. That's when Marie-Joseph steps up in Innocent Rouge. She has similar ideals as Charles used to have, but thinks even further and has the strength to push for the change she wants to see. Charles becomes one of her antagonists because he thinks if he couldn't succeed, she should be forced to conform to society as well. All that highlights in my opinion what makes for a good protagonist. Fights for what they believe in, but are still challenged and forced to struggle (the more the better), and have a meaningful connection to the antagonist(s). If you want to know how not to do it, just look at Naruto and especially the confrontation between Naruto & Nagato.

What I like specifically about Yuuji is that he starts out more or less like any shonen mc (friendly, bit hyperactive, naive), but we see how he is shaped by the cruel world around him. He is surrounded by death and we see how it breaks his spirit multiple times, but he still pushes on, even if it means fighting for his right to die. He just feels very realistic. Despite his supernatural abilities, his reactions to such a harsh reality are very natural and he isn't blind to what is happening around him (even if he sometimes wants to deliberately ignore it). He also doesn't have any big aspirations of changing the jujutsu system or becoming the strongest just for the sake of power. What he wants - a proper death - is instead very personal and quite tragic for someone so young. It makes sense that a teenager who has only operated in jujutsu society for around half a year, wouldn't have such high aspirations. He barely understands the system works under, so he leaves the changing of society to people who actually know it. So far he also had his cog mentality, which let him reduce himself to a puppet, but he will now be forced to rethink that.

Btw, this is part of why I think Geto and Yuuta are mismatched in Vol 0. Geto's actions are entirely based on critique of jujutsu society, while Yuuta has only interacted with it for around 1 year. He says non-sorcerers should be wiped out to elevate sorcerers and give them peace, and all Yuuta has to say to that is "idk you might be right, but you're killing my friends so you have to die". I don't blame Yuuta for that, at that point he wasn't in a position to critically analyse what Geto was saying because he lacks the experience, but then don't set him up against an ideologically-driven villain if you can't present a counterargument that isn't based on "killing friends bad". Not to mention that we the readers barely know anything about jujutsu society at that point and even less about how non-sorcerers factor into it. So while genocide is of course bad, we don't even know if Geto's general idea makes sense in-universe (it doesn't). Gojo says Geto's ideology is bad, but we never find out why in that volume.

Yuuji fits into his story much smoother and doesn't try to be more than he is. Even though Kenjaku is overthrowing the system, the way Yuuji is set up against them is very personal and in line with his character.

#asks #hope this is coherent enough to make sense