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dangermousie · 3 years

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Something Happened in Bali eps 1-2 rewatch thoughts

It's really interesting, rewatching this. God, I'd almost forgotten how much I love Jo In Sung. LOVE. I mean, I love him and his nervous energy so much that I don't even notice So Ji Sub, who normally I really like. (ide note - A Dirty Carnival was the best Korean movie I have ever seen, and what made me truly and utterly lose it for him - but it was so brutally hopeless, it made me depressed for days. Go watch!) Anyway, back to the drama. 1. I'd almost forgotten how unpleasant the two guys and Other Girl are in this, at the start. None of them are monsters (though by the end the Secondary Girl comes close, IMO, even if I end up feeling a repelled kind of pity for her) but they are all in their selfish shells - it's little things, like not helping Soo Jung with her heavy bag or treating her as an extra in their lives. Even their kindness is this thoughtless kind. It's funny because I am not sure if they change in niceness quotient that much (though both the men become much more desperately vulnerable, especially Jae Min) but I guess I get to know them so well and their reasons for being the way they are, I sort of end up not caring - I end up adoring Jae Min as a character, especially, so much. Even if he is the biggest trainwreck I have ever seen as a kdrama lead in my 15+ years of watching kdramas. 2. Soo Jung. I adore her. You could see how annoyed she is she is dealing with the tour group from hell (the other 3) but the way she pushes and carries on is WONDERFUL. So is her drunken camaraderie with Jae Min. She is in another universe from the poised, iced, controlled Young Joo. But it's interesting, she seems so (relatively) well-adjusted compared to the rest of them but as the drama unfolds, you see that this hard-earned cheerfulness is a facade and she is very broken too - between her and Jae Min, I am not sure, which one is more screwed-up. For him, it's his family, but for her, it's her poverty that has made her so. Ha Ji Won SLAYS in this role (so do the rest of the cast, of course.) She’s rough, she’s desperate, she’s grasping, she’s vulnerable, she’s irresistible - in other hands you would never get how two screwed-up, closed-off men would fall so desperately for someone so greedy, so grasping, so flawed - but here you are drawn to her vividness, to her joy, to her intensity, to her unique combo of sunshine and extreme damage. 3. You know, there are hints about her screwed-upness even this early on - the scene where Jae Min offers her $$$ for a one-night stand and she calls him a jerk (and you see by his reaction he doesn't even understand that what he said was insulting - he is puzzled. In his world, everything can be bought and sold, and there is no such thing as affection.) and then asks whether he is going to pay before or after. In her world, there is no room for the grand gesture, for throwing money in his face. She leaves only because he kicks her out (giving her money but not doing anything) telling her to buy her new shoes (hers are broken) and saying "it's not fun any more" (the first of many instances she really throws him off any usual ways he deals with things). And then she trips on her broken heels walking out, sprawling in the lobby, inelegantly grabbing and picking up money. 4. One of the biggest delights of this rewatch for me is contrasting in my head the way Jae Min is going to be with her later - utterly desperate and "brought down" and willing to beg and beg and beg, and the way he is now - emotionally detached, with all the 'power' on his side - I mean, contrast his propositioning her for that one-night stand and the scene where they finally make love, a dozen eps from now. Though she is totally rattling him even now - I love the scene where he first truly notices her - seeing her in the parking lot trying to fix her shoes, eating, and drinking. She is just so REAL and alive and immediate. No wonder he's caught (and then quickly looks away). 5. Jae Min's father needs to die in a fire after being slowly cut with a myriad of razors - the scene in his office in ep 2 where he is practicing golf in his office and Jae Min flinches any time the golf club is in his vicinity, and almost stutters, just - RAGE. Increased 1000x by what I know he does later. But I confess to being amused in the scene where he is throwing things at Jae Min during the board meeting and a flunkie keeps moving things up to him to throw - folders, bottle of water, so he won't run out of things - a definition of a brown-noser.

6. I love how oddly real this drama feels in its filming - people are not glamorized within an inch of their lives and there is no glossiness, no studied detachment, no appeal to coolness or w/e. It is what it is and it knows it. God, I love this drama!

7. (The below is spoilery for the whole thing) Bali has the distinction of having the most dysfunctional couple I have ever shipped. Years of therapy were needed for those two. Yes, my OTP was Jae Min/Soo Jung, despite the fact that the otp's end was murder/suicide. I don't care, I still shipped them - the ending of the drama is one of my favorite drama moments, in actuality - Jae Min becoming more and more unhinged because of his nightmarish family and then finally he believes Soo Jung just played him in order to scam money and ruin his family with her lover. He tracks them down to Bali and finds them in bed. Ironically, Soo Jung has just finished telling her lover that she wants to leave him and go back to Korea to look for Jae Min because it's him she wants. Jae Min, of course, does not hear her (and he is so catatonic at that point, I doubt it would have registered if he did hear). So he shoots her and her lover dead as they lie there. But while her lover is dead asap, Soo Jung has time to look at Jae Min and tell him 'saranghae' which is about the most awesome thing ever - she has never ever told him she loved him before, not through all his efforts to win her heart, not even when they made love. And now she is telling him as she is dying, because it's important to her for him to know before she dies - there are no games or conditions. And of course, Jae Min snapped out of it as soon as he shot and he is falling apart as is and then he hears her tell him she loves him and his face - oh my God. And he goes outside and kills himself and I sit there bawling and hoping his horrific family all have collective heart attacks and die.

Yes. I ship THAT. I don't care what it makes me. The drama makes no bones that Jae Min is beyond messed up - I am kinda amazed he is walking and talking, to be honest. His father wins the incontrovertible award for the worst kdrama father ever and if you know kdramas you know what a feat that is. The scene where Jae Min is on his knees in front of his father, weeping and begging to be allowed to have Soo Jung and his father beats him half into unconsciousness and then tells him it's Soo Jung's fault and he will go after her next and make her disappear and Jae Min is left pleading that he did not mean it and it's not Soo Jung's fault and he misunderstood? FLAMES. FLAMES WHEN I JUST THINK ABOUT IT. So his love for Soo Jung is no help - I don't think any woman could have 'fixed' him, and certainly the hugely messed-up despite her sunny demeanor Soo Jung, with her own major issues and fragility, was about the last person to do so. However, even if they could have worked out their happiness, with the help of some really high-priced therapy, his family made it impossible - in fact they turned the screws on even worse, not caring that their actions were plainly driving him into nonfunctionality land. But then - how else could it end with all the destruction and damage and desperation on both sides and his having no experience with any expression of love that was not entangled with violence. And in context of fiction, the OTP that has the potential for helping each other but dooms each other instead is my jam SO MUCH!

#something happened in bali #kdrama

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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Ducktales: New Gods On The Block! Review or THE INCREDIBLE STORKULES: COCKBLOCKER OUT OF MYTH!

We’re back, and i’m doing away with intros, for now, i’m trying to see if offering people a bit of the review makes them more receptive to reading it and now we’re nearing the end of this hellyear, and the trump presdency, i’m going into this one with a ton of energy, so let’s get quackin!

We open with the Scrooge and Kids on a quest to get a golden helmet he’s been after for years and has been one of his lifelong goals using a carefully crafted plan with all the kids skills needed. Okay i’ll admit that last part is unique to this show: given how interchangable the boys are outside of this continuity, I assume he’d just throw them at the monster like Pikmin as a distraction while Donald grabbed the helmet and just grow new ones in his vast venture bro style clone mine if they happen to die. Thankfully there’s no Child Death but there is Child Failure as the team comes back sad and defeated and doubting themselves.. Della having a confetti cannon ready to celebrate dosen’t help. Though it does bring me to the subject of Della being out of focus this season. It’s a mixed bag for me: On the one hand I do get it, as she was the main focus of last season, even more than Louie, and now we’ve gotten to know her, she can sit back and play more of a supporting role, especially since Donald , who himself was more of a supporting character the past two seasons, is now getting more screentime and Beakly’s getting fleshed out more. Their trying to balance a rather massive cast, so it’s natural the one whose already got a ton of focus at this point would take a back seat and all around the show’s done a far better job giving everyone screentime this season. Launchpad has been lacking of late but given a Darkwing Duck spinoff is probably in the cards, and he’s had tons of episodes at this point compared to Donald and Beakly, i’m understanding of it.

On the other.. there’s still a lot of stories to tell with her: We still haven’t had her deal with Scrooge basically erasing her for a decade at all nor Donald hiding her past from the kids.. he had reason and all, but he still made their mother a stranger to them. They had no stories, nothing to really go on for 10 years. That’s gotta have impacted both the kids and gotta hit della hard at some point that her father-uncle and brother both just kinda.. erased her to the kids. Plus we don’t know how she’s been adjusting to have a life OUTSIDE the kids especially since she’s been sitting out so many adventures, likely to let Scrooge have time with them and be a good daughter and mother and what not, but still there’s a LOT of ground to cover they simply haven’t yet. The Donald and Della plot we did get, while glorious, didn’t really add anything to either’s likely strained relationship and it’d be nice to give the two a subplot to work this out. Granted this might all be coming in the Castle McDuck Episode for all I know, but I can’t pin all my hopes and dreams on that one. And this all COULD’VE easily happened off screen.. but it’s something the audience really wants and needs. I’m not sure if we’re getting it and that worries me. But again theirs a large chunk of the season to answer this if this is the last one, and another season possible if it’s not, so i’m willing to wait for it. I’m just getting impatient is all.

That being said this episode makes up for the Della Deficet as she’s one of the main driving forces of this side of the episode. I’ll get into that more in a second but Della’s been on the rare misfire adventure and knows Scrooge’s stages of grief and that he’ll come out of it with a better plan. Unfortunately for the kids that plan dosen’t include them and Scrooge runs off to assemble a better team leaving the kids utterly devastated. One of the other main driving forces besides depressed children and the greek gods is scrooge being really bad with people, but i’ll get to that.

Point is the kids understandable emotional devastation and Della trying to mom for all of them at once because Launchpad had to get to his other job and is taking Beakly this weak to teach him and Drake how to raise a child, is interrupted by said Zeus ASSHAT RAPIST OUT OF MYTH! Along with Storkules COCKBLOCKER OUT OF MYTH and Selene, DELLA’S FIRST TIME WITH A WOMAN OUT OF MYTH! There here because Zeus has lost his powers, as the Gods all collectively decided he was a dick and voted him out of office.. er stripped him of his powers. Sorry an asshole, narcacistic, sociopathic racist getting removed from his position of power happening a few days after the election was called.. the timing just could not have been better. But yeah Zeus is out, roll credits. Join me after them and after the cut for the rest of the review.

So yeah the Gods are fed up with him, and Selene and Storkules are there to pick a worthy inheritor to his Laurel Wreath, his lighting bolts, and his collection of playboys he keeps alphabatized in his mancave.. also his mancave will also go to the winner. Storkules however, having a one track mind, notices Donald isn’t there and goes to find him. The kids are all eager to try but Selene is there for Della, which they all agree makes sense: I mean she has the disposition and sexual appitite of a green god but without all the rampant sex crimes and murder, and given most of them have clearly copped to the times except Zeus, that’s a plus. Plus she and Selene have already been together before so the fact they can smooch into infinity along with all the fun stuff is a nice bonus. It’s not like Storkules isn’t selecting his candiate soley with his 13 inch penis, so ther’es a precident. But Della, seeing the kids clearly need this more than she does, convinces her once and future girlfriend to let them try out. I really do wish we got more of the two this episode but what we get is great, and Selene reluctantly agrees after Della makes the valid point their STILL more mature than her dad. The fact Zeus punctuates this by getting into a “No you” contest with an 11-12 year old probably helped. As for where Donald is he’s preparing for a date with Daisy! Horay. I’ve been waiting for Daisy to come back since the last time she was here, and Donald has naturally been considerate: Setting up a bunch of hearts, flowers, some punch that is likely just box wine and sprite, he has a budget and throwing all his garbage in the pool with bricks because he’s still Donald. Romantic, a good dad.. but still a disaster of a person who dosen’t know quite how to live like an adult... which naturally I immensely relate to and hope i’m lucky enough one day to have a lady or fella to hide all my garbage from. I mean i’m probably dying alone, but that’s likely my old buddy crippling depression talking. Oh you old scamp.. please fuck off an die. But enough chilling looks into my psyche, point is Storkules barges in to ruin it, and eat his carefully made grilled cheese. As though Storkules may be incredible he’s also STORKULES, GOD OF NOT REALLY READING THE ROOM. Daisy comes in, and we find out it’s their second date.. and i’m assuming their first wasn’t that time they ended up in a direct to video sequel to Die Hard that’s still far better than Die Hard 5.. then again a colonoscopy is preferable to that movie so I Dunno. But she’s nice, friendly, if put off by the big sweaty man suddenly in their date. Storkules COCKBLOCKER OUT OF MYTH, does not help matters by, upon hearing that seeing how in love they are, and finding out it’s the second date assumes their getting married and hugs them in THE SWEATY ABS OF STORKULES. Do me next.

Back at the God Tests, god I love a job-ish thing that lets me say that, Louie is up first, and being Louie has thought up a plan that benifets him wether he wins or looses but one that has serious underlying issues he hasn’t thought of. Naturally it turns out to be a gold touch which, as with Midas, works out about as well as you’d expect.. with Dog Murder and mass murder to follow. Selene undoes it, So Louie gets nothing. And yeah this has been a major issue this season that while I talked about it back in “Let’s Get Dangerous” bares repeating: Louie feels like he learned NOTHING from the events of last season. He still likes, he still dosen’t think plans through, and he still cheats. In contrast Dewey DID grow from his season.. it’s subtle, he’s still the same loveable trainwreck and pre-teen Hank Venture he’s always been, but he no longer hides secrets or family stuff and is more of a team player. Still an egotsitical one, but it’s there. But Louie.. hasn’t changed at all. He’s still conviving, still thinks only in short term.. it’s only once or twice like with the Impossibin the events of last year really seem to have sunk in. It feels like the writer’s couldn’t figure out how to write a smarter Louie and just gave up. It’s really disheartning especially when most other character development, subtle and otherwise, sticks.

While Huey sweats over his turn and Della tries to encourage, we cut back to the date which is going okay, Daisy’s trying to roll with it but Storkules, TERRIBLE WINGMAN OUT OF MYTH really isn’t good at talking Donald up or letting them get to know one another. While things breifly get better when Daisy brings up her career and Donald talks it up like the loving soon to be boyfriend he is, Storkules FUCKUP OUT OF MYTH screws things up by saying, when she explains to him she hasn’t made any Toga’s because she works primarily in dresses that she can “work up to them eventually. “ As proof this is the best Daisy she dosen’t dump Donald immidetly despite none of this being his fault and him trying to explain he didn’t invite him, but instead just makes an angry, and understandably so , face and goes to powder her beak.. which is clearly code for “Scream Obscenities into Donald’s Mirror for the next ten minutes”. Which if it already wasn’t abundantly clear they were perfect for each other this would be the clincher. Donald wants Storkules to go and TRIES to tell him, but Storkules just assumes he wants him to make a big romantic gesture for them and goes to “let Cupid’s Arrow” strike her. Donald understandably wants conformation he doesn’t mean that literally. Spoiler alert: He does.

IT’s Huey’s turn next at playing god and he decides to be God of Intuition, gaining future sight so he can know everything and prevent tragedy. We instead get a damn funny scene where after adjusting to his powers he tries to prevent a breakup.. only to play both parts himself and cause it anyway. Just some great acting from Danny Pudi there. We get some more as Huey slowly melts down from the information, traumatizing a kid and nearly getting beat up with a guy who wants to “Beat up the freak for making everyone uncomfortable” which..

Yeah it’s not acceptable for what looks like a grown adult, or even a Teenager if that was an intent, to whale on a CHILD, let alone ANYONE for being “a Freak”. I mean yes Huey did screw up big, not mass murder bit but still.. but he’s still a fucking child. As someone who was prone to breakdowns at that age, and up to present day... I take this personally, especially since I see Huey as high functioning autsitic. So this hits home as i’ve had many people just tell me to get over it instead of trying to help. So yeah fuck this guy, take off that Gizmoduck shirt you do not deserve it. We fans do though, I hope that becomes real merch.

But yeah Huey failed and Zeus is gloating..mostly because in his already considerably warped brain, he thinks that if they all fail he dosen’t get it. Selene explains basic logic to him: If they fail to find a new god here, they’ll just keep looking. Zeus naturally has a tantrum as Scrooge enters, wondering why the kids care about god powers and Della, being a supportive mom, tries to get him to encourage them. He instead focuses on his team. Again, we’ll get to him trust me. Selene also calls her dad out on the fact he hasn’t done anything good since defeating the titans centuries ago. Naturally being THE GREATEST SHITHEAD IN ALL OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY Zeus takes the exact wrong lesson from this and calls his brother Hades to whip up a titan for him to fight because that was her point and not that your an irredemible dick tip who their desperate to replace and who was dethroned because no one liked you, not even your horrible presumibly now ex wife. I mean unlike DC Comics Zeus he’s not planning a cou but only because he has no powers. Hades however is well aware his brother has no powers, as the gods have been talking about it and laughing about it because Zeus sucks eggs. Also Hades has a great goth look and personality here as well as muscular arms to hold my bi ass at night. A-Plus character design. I may also have a thing for goths and emos I never realized I had. Just an observation.

Back at the boat Donald and Daisy are enjoying drinks, which again has to be wine.. I mean again box wine, Donald needs a lot of booze after a hard days nearly getting murdered and Costco has great deals on it, but still booze. They cuddle a bit and it’s fucking adorable.. and Storkules WHO JUST KIDDNAPED HIS COUSIN CUPID AND STOLE HIS SHIT naturally ruins this moment by first trying to fire one date rape arrow at them, then takes donald’s rampant headshaking no as a sign to fire all of the arrows... with Daisy ending up in the water and unsettling the garbage. Granted Donald COULD’VE prevented this by explaning things to her.. but i’m betting he didn’t simply because he’s.. tired of this shit. He’s tired of adventure, tired of it intruding on his life and just hoped Storkules was gone and out of sight and didn’t have a chance to prepare for that till it was too late. NOW Daisy storms off.. but unlike say Cabs Daisy, whose a living nightmare, or Comic Daisy, whose not a great person but has her moments depending on the comic, she has VALID REASON. Donald lied to her about garbage and dind’t just take it out like a normal Duck, and didn’t just outright yell at his friend to leave on their date, a friend who just attacked her and already insulted her. IT’s understandable, especailly given a line coming up she’d WANT to leave and leave Donald behind. Donald however is naturally miserable and it finally gets through Storkules thick skull he messed up and he runs off to cry while Donald miserably floats among the garbage and my heart both relates to that nad breaks seeing it. I mean .. Daisy meant a lot to him: After years of presumibly avoiding dating, or if he did not doing so for long, to focus on the boys, after a year of putting their needs ahead of his and living with his demanding uncle, of being dragged out of a normal if miserable life and into a less miersable but adventerous one he didn’t want, of being stranded in space and on an island wondering if his kids would be okay.. he finally not only has time for himself, and his sister back after years of thinking her dead and thus someone else to take care of the kids needs for a while without feeling any guilt over it or worrying about them, but found someone special. She’s talented, beautiful, charming, and understanding. And most importanlty she LISTENS to him and throughly likes Donald for who he is. And he looses that only PARTLY due to his won incomptence but mostly because someone he already barely allows in his life came in and ruined it. Once again the adventure and everything took something from him and while not nearly as big as loosing his sister, it still fucking hurts to once again have one small bit of something just for himself, one bit of normalcy, one person who loves him for who he is now through and through.. and it’s seemingly gone. It’s why I like this relationship even if this part panes me: Donald can FINALLY be happy... finally have someone who genuinely cares about him. This also boils down Storkules character and why I don’t ship the two of them: He’s a good god, he’s brave, compasionate, carring, and generally wants the best for donald and does genuinely love him.. but he also dosen’t care really what DONALD wants half the time. He’s the embodiment of Donald’s biggest gripe with his life: No one listens to or repsects him or what he wants. Storkules wants Donald the adventurer, Donald the brave, Donald the undaunted, DONALD THE IDEALIZED VERSION THAT ONLY EXISTS IN HIS HEAD. He dosen’t really get Donald isn’t the same person, and even that person wasn’t into him. Not because he’s a man, like his sister Donald could easily be bi or pan.. but because he’s just SO MUCH and Donald’s family is already SO MUCH.. and that was BEFORE the kids and the launchpad. Donald has made peace with adventuring but it’s still clearly not his faviorite thing while for Storkules adventure and experince is his life. Storkules needs someone like him and Donald needs someone down to earth, someone who can HANDLE the amount of chaos that follows him and the famly, but someone whose .. normal. And Daisy is that. If you ship then fine fine, but I just don’t because they just don’t go together and both deserve a partner they can truly be a partner with, not someone they clearly don’t understand or someone they DREAD visiting. They both deserve better than that.

Back on the god plot, it’s Webby’s turn as she becomes Goddess of Friendship. And helps the mood at the pier by spreading sunshine.. and then deals with the pier’s greatest menace and my honorary uncle, because he’s really not much worse than some of my actual uncles...

GLOMGOLD, SCOURGE OF CHILDREN’S KIDDIE RIDES. Because of course a seemingly regular habit for Glomgold is hogging a children’s ride he somehow fits into. Of course it is. It’s cheap and he’s not the best human being but I love him anyway. Webby heats it up to scare him then tries to get the kids to hug before having a breakdown at everyone not being happy. This does fit with her personality.. I didn’t think so at first but thinking back her first response in any friendship crisis is to panic and overreact. Her reaction to her best friend telling her she may have to stop sleeping over with her and her sister/webby’s giflriend because of magic danger is an implied death threat. She’s getting BETTER with people, but she still dosen’t have the life experince to fully deal with it and naturally upon seeing things get worse and worse goes on a lighting filled rampage Selene thankfully stops and likely undoes. Though Glomgold is likely on the moon now. He’ll be fine.

Dewey is last and auditions.. but forgets the god part and fails which fits him perfectly and is a great bit. The kids have all washed out and are depressed about it. While Della is hopeful when talking to Selene, Selene gently explains to her girlfriend she shares with a space alien that the kids just aren’t ready and that maybe the power of a god just isn’t the thing you give to a kid for a self esteem boost. Della MEANS well here, she just wants her kids, Webby very much included, to feel good and get their self esteem back after Scrooge swallowed it whole. But Selene is right that this is just too much power, and given it nearly drove Huey insane and nearly made Louie and Webby murderers, she has a point. It’s a good thought, but Selene needs an actual replacement for her dad. Sadly though this breaks the kids further after this and they slink off and Selene gets she messed up.. while she was right to reject them, she missed WHY Della was trying so hard. However credit where it’s do unlike her brother, while she dosen’t try to fix her issue, it’s likely out of emotional maturity: she knows just saying nice things to the kids wouldn’t help them or would wring hollow and their mom is better for that. IT’s things like this that are going to make her a good step mom.. yeah i’m shiping Della with both her girlfriends at once. Just because I gave up on her and Launchpad dosen’t mean poly’s off the table, and frankly selene is strong enough to win Penumbra’s favor and Penumbra has the kind of pepper and violence a greek goddess likes in her women. They’d be cute all together. I likes it.

Less cute is ZEUS, SCHEMING BOWL OF ELEPHANT PISS OUT OF MYTH!, who realizes his greatest gift isn’t his powers: I’ts manipulating his children.

And since he found a sad STORKULES POOR SAD BOY OUT OF MYTH. , and hears his issue, with Storkules hilarious sitting in his poppa’s lap, he spins it into getting what he wants: Saying since he and his wife, and Storkules mother in this version apparently I dunno, fell in love with battle, summoning Chronos will do just that for Donsy. Granted for most people your dad’s tale about how he met your step mom who tried killiing you a bunch and who he’s cheated on dozens of times would raise a red flag, but STORKULES IS THICK AS A BRICK.. in both senses of the word and calls forth Chronus.

Daisy meanwhile is driving her car away, but is battling with herself. On one hand she doesn’t want to play mother to a guy who can’t dispose his trash or his weird friends. On the other she admits she can really be herself around Donald. We then get the most telling line though.. “You do not need to fall for another man who needs saving!”

That.. is clearly setup for the future. It MIGHT be Gladstone but it could be anyone. Hell it could be someone entirely new. She also could have a kid like we’ve all wanted. We could get a canon version of Juinor.. not named Donald Juinor because 1) He’s not donald’s son and 2) that name’s been forever tainted and we all know which living bottle of axe body spray to blame. I.. genuinely can’t wait to find out who this is and I expect we will before the season’s up and i’ts nice to see Tress, like last time, get to dig into some emotional complexity with the character instead of just yelling at Donald or talking about bows and stuff. Here she grapples with herself as she does love Donald but the past has burnt her a lot. But as a wise pansexual once said “ But I think it's important for us to remember that sometimes, sometimes it does work out. And even though everything inside us is telling us to protect ourselves, when you've got it, don't let it go. And I am telling you, that you have got it, if you want it. “ Love is hard, love is messy, maybe that among many other things is why i’m alone. But it’s worth it when you take the time.. and upon seeing a giant monster heading for Donald’s house, Daisy realizes he is worth it.. or that frustrated with him right now or not she dosen’t want him to die. Either way she’s a coming and i’m gathering hornets in a box in ancipation of finding out who hurt her so I can mail them to him. I popped an H on there so I know it has hornets.

Back at the mansion the mood is bleak as heelllllllllll with Louie ordering pizza minus the toppings and Della’s attempt to give the kids hot choclate just getting an ow from Webby. It does make sense: Scrooge and adventuring are their lives.. if he dosen’t need them.. how would they ever do it themselves? Plus their 11 and 13 and at that age kids are very fragile so having their mentor and grandpa reject them like this really hurts, not helped by Scrooge proudly announcing his new team and trying to awkwardly bounce not getting this is his fault, though Della is staring at him with a look that just screams.

But before Della can stab her Dunkle, we cut to a depressed donald who switches from one natural state, Depression, to another, fearing for his life, as Chronus arrives and Huey rightly wonders how he’s here. The kids all defer to Scrooge while Della continues to just be the best. Seriously for the entire episode her only throught is her kids, and their emotional well being and had this crisis not popped up she probably would’ve stabbed scrooge then yelled him out for hurting her babies. She’s graduated from trying to be a mom but having issues with it due to mentally still being in her 20′s, to genuinely being GREAT at the job. Good on her. Daisy is naturally horrified to arrive to find Donald being eaten while Storkules is overjoyed. I WOULD say his stupidity’s overplayed this episode.. but he’s never displayed good judgement before why start now? It fits his character and his joy turns to distress when Chronus eats donald.. and has a cage in his tummy. with glass walls. I dunno, it’s a cool design. Daisy is understandably pissed and yells at it for eating her boyfriend, which gets an adorable oh boy oh boy from donald> Again love is rough, but one jackass screwing with you does not equate to every man or woman or person you date being a jackass. Daisy has realized this. Storkules is overjoyed, but soon finds himself and his sister fihgting Chronus and honestly both are damn impressive doing so. Seriously when the justice ducks form.. give htem a call. I mean She has moon beams and he’s a greek god.. plus Drake and Launchpad could use a third.. I mean he fits better there and Drake is already dating one manchild, and is one to a smaller extent, another won’t hurt. Just consider it shippers.. or foursies with Morgana because as this episode shows Storkules is bi as he is mighty. he’s Bighty. But the god squad fails, and gets eaten and Zeus’ time to shine predictably ends with an “I’ve failed immediately”, to no one’s suprise.

Scrooge starts working on a plan as he and Della, naturally scale the colossus. We then get the scene that’s been boiling all episode: When Scrooge wonders where the kids are, Della calls him out pointing out they’ve been plauged with doubts about him replacing them.. because he literally was replacing them, and when Scrooge is earnestly suprised by that Della points out the obvious: Their children, as I said their fragile and as Della puts it, Scrooge puts a LOT of pressure on them, something she likely knows from experince. And this is what i’ve been leading up to and putting a pin in all episode: Scrooge himself. It’s something I thought of days ago but this episode hammers in heavily: Scrooge really dosen’t have a ton of personal social skills. Sure he can work a board room pitch, lead a team of adventuerers, and run a vast empire while never forgetting the human element, for a lack of a better term, he’s not lacking in empathy or the ablility to talk to people, but when it comes to reading them it’s just surface level. He’s genuinely been show to struggle with empathy, with feeling someone elses emotions or realizing them till they’ve already been hurt. He spent a good ten years desperatley trying to bring Della back, avoding his pain and guilt instead of talking to Donald and making amends with him. His relationship with Goldie took decades to get anywhere healthy as he just put his walls up and assumed she’d never change when, as we’ve seen now, she always could she just needed a push. And when confronted by the kids he lashed out and then pushed them away instead of mending the wounds he created. Even on a much smaller level, when Lena and Violet ended up along next week he’s utterly lost when Adventure isn’t on the menu and only picks up from being baffled by two normal ish (One’s a parnaomal expert the other is the paranormal) joining him once it’s clear at least one of them fits right in with his intrests. He can deal with people on a problem by problem basis, but he’s just not good at dealing with their emotional needs or opening up. It’s why this works so well: his oblviousness fits. To him and the way his brain works, the crown is just a problem to solve and he just needs diffrent tools to fix it, not realizing replacing the kids for a mission would bother them or they’d ever think they were replaceable. Until now I hadn’t seen much similarity to Huey but both.. are just not great with PEOPLE. They put them in boxes, try to solve problems that way.. it’s just their specific issues that way are diffrent. Scrooge can anticapte the unknown and how people he’s fighting act.. but can’t anticipate personal hurt and pain well because he bottles all his up. When checking off a problem.. i’ts just something he dosen’t consider and thus his biggest blindspot, the thing he has to overcome time and time again: How his family feels and how he can deal with it. Here however he deals admirably.. now he KNOWS there’s a problem, and in a genuine show of character development over the past three seasons, he apologizes fully, saying their the best team he could ask for, better than zeus and don’t need his powers and they can get the helm together. Instead of putting up walls.. he’s letting his in and showing humility, which given Scrooge’s ego.. is a tall order. But for those kids, for his strength, it’s no small feet. Of course said speech gets Him and Della eaten, but the kids, now reinegized, ahve time to plan, with Daisy further stalling by roaring at Chronus to stop. Because she’s fucking awesome and Storkules finally gets that. The kids however take the leaves and breifly retake their powers, Dewey’s is for dance naturally, and use them together to take down Chronus, freeing everyone else, defeating the titan and throwing him back into the pits. Donald and Daisy reunite and get a RELLY sweet moment, blushing and looking lovingly at one another, getting lava on each other, before kissing. STORKULES, DOSEN’T GET THEY DON’T WANT A THIRD PARTNER OF MYTH, of course interrupts and hugs them hostage for the remaider of the episode. I’m assuming Beakly , when she got home, pried htem out and explained them not wanting a third int heir relationship to him, and it’s a weak end to the plot as Storkules learned nothing and one of the weaker parts of this episode. The rest is stronger as the kids and Scrooge plan to make another run at the helmet and Selene wonders off to “use your shower” and then order pizza.. so she basically just asked Della out. And has used her shower before.

I mean again, she can have two partners. This episode alone has earned that and they seem like they’d mesh. Penny would just have to learn some lessons about sharing and godly vagina’s is all. Nothing wrong with that. And what about Zeus.. no one asked but he gets his wreath back only to fall in the pit, with Hades naturally laughing his ass off.. and likely also taking Zeus’ laurel back. So Zeus is trapped in hell with a goth mocking him. HORAY! HAPPY END. Final Thoughts; This was a pretty good one. It does have it’s weak spots: Storkules learned nothing, the kids stories endings were easy to see coming and there wasn’t enough Dellene. But really despite that. .it’s still a solid episode mostly because it’s REALLY damn funny. The comedic timing is just pitch perfect and while like most of the plots I could see the rhythm of the donsy plot, the reasons for it were all funny and fresh and the scene with Daisy in her car was a nice bit of character building/clear setup for the future. And showing off Della’s own character developement and history with scrooge, the latter without ever having to mention it, really brought the episode up, as did the guest cast’s game voice acting and timing. This episode is far from perfect, but it’s still a fun episode that felt needed despite not being tied into the main plot: Bringing back some old friends, and having an intresting story to tell. Plus we got more Donsy so there’s that. Overall while not the BEST episode of the series, it was a funny, enjoyable half hour of television and sometimes, that’s enough. If you liked this review follow me or more, and if there’s an episode of Ducktales from seasons 1 or 2 you’d like me to cover, you can comission it for 5 bucks, 5 bucks an episode, 5 dollars off your order when you comission more than one, via my personal messages. You can also follow me on patreon at patreon.com/popculturebuffet if you want. NEXT WEEK: FLASHBACK EPISODE! BABY DONALD AND DELLA! BRADFORD ORIGIN STORY! POSSIBLE HORTENSE AFTER SO LONG! MY BODY IS READY!

#ducktales #donald duck #daisy duck #donsy #delumbra #delene #della duck #selene #storkules #scrooge mcduck #dewey duck #huey duck #louie duck #hades #chronus #chronos #new gods on the block!#new gods on the block #ducktales spoilers

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fayesdiary · 3 years

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Celica for the ask game!

YEESSS CELICA MY QUEEN Spoilers, this breakdown is going to be me endlessly praising her. How I feel about this character I love her. A lot.

Perfect design and VA (even her original Gaiden outfit wasn’t too shabby either and Brave Celica proves it) and brings a lot of interesting stuff to discuss about. I love her personality, how she is both too serious and focused on her task but when she’s relaxed she’s a complete dork and pretty mischevious too! (Her paying Saber with the Golden Dagger and then immediately taking it back, facing a Necrodragon despite being told not to just for the heck of it and treasure, and let’s not forget the pirate booty). Makes you wonder how different she would be if she wasn’t a princess. But also, the best thing about her is how compassionate she is, and it’s not just empty talk. The entirety of the better first half of her story is her going out of her way to help people in need (first Valbar and the gang, then making a huge detour through the desert just to help Catria and Palla rescue Est), even when she has to go find Mila, simply because it’s the right thing to do. And it’s what makes almost everyone you meet in her route want to join her, despite her never expecting anything in return. She’s also really flawed. She can’t handle stress really well and feels like she has to bear everything on her shoulders, both of which come back to bite her hard in Act 4 and 5. It makes me sad there’s a good chunk of people who don’t like Celica, but at the same time... I can’t really blame them.

Not because of something wrong with her as a character, but because I swear, the game pulls all the stops to get you to hate her. She gets the worst maps of the game (desert followed by poisonous swamp? Seriously?), the plot doesn’t let her accomplish anything of value beyond opening a few roadblocks for Alm despite her giving everything she’s got, and even in the end she gets pushed to the sideline by Alm and that’s just sad. She’s trying her best okay it’s not her fault Echoes hates women Also a small addition, Fallen Celica is a great alt, if only because she sparked the idea of witches being able to actually recover compared to popular belief. I made a stupidly long post infodumping my research about it if you’re interested All the people I ship romantically with this character For canon, Alm. Though I’ll be honest, while I find them cute together, it just didn’t light that spark to make it into OTP territory to me. But I think it’s because I ship her with Faye for everything else. Hard. I should not like them as a couple as much as I do but I’m glad I do because it makes me feel way too warm and fuzzy Mae/Celica is another crack pairing I also like! My non-romantic OTP for this character I don’t know Celica and Saber have going on, but I dig it. Other cool dynamics are her with Mae and Boey. Sonya too, I wish they had a support together! (also this one just randomly came to me as I’m writing this, but I want to see her and Delthea interact, I feel it would be pretty cute and/or funny) My unpopular opinion about this character Boy, where do I even begin? I pretty much disagree with all of the common criticisms towards her. Like her being an hypocrite for calling out Alm for storming Rigel, because one thing is fighting bandits, another is go to war with the continent’s military superpower. Or that “she’s dumb and naive” for trusting Jedah, because she doesn’t.

(Doesn’t help that the game makes the Duma Faithful look as evil and inhuman as possible just to make her look like an idiot)

Hell, I’ve even seen people criticizing her for not telling the others about Jedah calling it bad writing and I’m like... you keep claiming you want a flawed protagonist and then shit on them whenever they make a mistake? In general, while you can dunk on her side of the story and I’ll agree for the most part (especially when talking about the trainwreck that is the second half), I think she’s a wonderful character and I will not tolerate any unjust slander towards her Like, Echoes gives her enough crap already, give her a break. One thing I wish had happened with this character in canon That she had way more agency, that she actually succeded at least partially in her mission, and that she was an actual equal to Alm plotwise. Like, even in the small things, why can Alm wield the Falchion but Celica can’t? There’s literally no excuse for why she can’t wield it! I want my queen smashing Duma’s head with a dragon fang

#fire emblem #fire emblem echoes #fire emblem echoes shadows of valentia #fe15 #celica #tl;dr I fucking love her #my rambles #ask replies #character breakdown #Anonymous #sorry for the wait anon!#took a while to give this post some coherence

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skzsauce01 · 4 years

Text

In Fair Verona︱Chapter 5

Synopsis: Jisung knows he is the Romeo to your Juliet. He could wax poetry about you all throughout rehearsal and even a little after. Except Hwang Hyunjin is the one playing Romeo in the school play, not him. Jisung is just another tech crew member that you don’t know, but he’s determined to win your heart... by any means necessary.

Warning: none... yet

Word Count: 2.2k

Pairing: fem!reader x Jisung; fem!reader x Hyunjin

updates every Wednesday and Sunday @ 11 PM PST︱chapter list

Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?

I do bite my thumb, sir.

Jisung spends the entire weekend brooding and checking you and Hyunjin’s social media for updates. Hyunjin posts a picture of you sitting across from him with a cup of pink yogurt and a cup of lavender yogurt in the middle. You hold a pink plastic spoon in your hand and smile at the camera. “Romeo and Juliet, but they eat froyo instead of poison,” reads the caption. Jisung almost hurls his phone against the wall.

When Monday rehearsal arrives, he’s relaxed enough to have a civil conversation with Hyunjin. Hyunjin compliments his shirt while waiting for his cue in Act I, scene I. Jisung jokes that his shirt looks nice as well, and they both politely laugh. Once his back is turned though, Jisung places his thumb between his teeth. Flipping him off would be too direct. Analyzing this stupid play in freshman year finally has some use. He does it again when Hyunjin exits the stage.

“Is your thumb bleeding?” Yugyeom asks. “There’s band-aids in the classroom.”

Jisung swiftly takes it out of his mouth. “I’m fine. I was just… thinking,” he lamely says. “I’m gonna go wash my hands now.”

He tells Changbin, who in turn tells him to hurry because the scene is going to end in a few minutes. Then, against the rules that have hardwired into his brain, he runs down the hallway to the bathroom. As he lathers his hands in soap, he wonders how else he can express his hatred towards Hyunjin without anyone knowing. Deliberately place props in prime locations for tripping over? “Accidentally” hit him with set pieces during blackouts? He turns on the faucet and rinses the soap off.

He makes it backstage just as the lights go out. He doesn’t even bother with his headset; he helps Changbin with the couch as Ryujin and Yugyeom roll out the fake windows. When he’s back in the wings, he sees you chatting with Hyunjin while you wait for your cue. He waves hello to you, but you’re too preoccupied with the conversation to notice. His hand drops to his side, and his cheeks heat up in embarrassment. He puts his headset back on and resumes his usual activity of watching you perform. He spots Hyunjin doing the same. It feels like a competition now: who pays attention to and adores Y/N the most?

“She’s a great actress,” he says out loud. “Don’t you think so, Ryujin?”

She looks up from her phone and out onto the stage. “Lady Capulet?” she asks incredulously.

“No, Juliet.”

Hyunjin visibly perks up when he hears your name. Or rather, your character’s name.

“Oh. She’s good, I guess,” she shrugs. “Probably why she has the lead role.”

“She’s, like, Olivia Hussey good. She portrays Juliet well.”

Jisung barely knows what he’s saying, but Ryujin seems to buy it. She nods before turning her eyes back to her phone screen. Jisung feels himself inflate with pride as Hyunjin doesn’t say anything. He waits for him to turn around and agree, but he just continues to wait for the next scene to begin.

The tide quickly turns as the party scene approaches. Jisung drives himself mad wondering if you and Hyunjin will actually kiss. Stage kisses are the norm in JYP Academy Theater, but Ms. Park demanded real kisses last Friday. Will the kiss simply be skipped over like usual and only performed during the main shows? Will you let him kiss you? Jisung’s head spins with the word ‘kiss,’ and he envisions Hyunjin placing his lips on yours in front of an audience. His own lips curl up in horror, and he taps his foot against the floor in a panic.

When the moment arrives, he finds himself walking towards the edge of the stage again. Changbin, used to his antics now, grabs the back of his shirt to stop him. Meanwhile, you and Hyunjin touch palms, and Hyunjin leans in, eyes closed, mouth pursed. His other hand cups your face, blocking the audience’s view. Jisung can’t see from where he’s standing, but based off of the collective “Ooh!” in the comms, there’s a kiss happening.

“What happened?” he frantically asks. “Did they actually kiss?”

“I think they did it,” says Jeongin. “It’s kind of hard to tell from back here. Hey, Mr. Gi, did they do it?”

“I don’t know,” is his short reply.

The rest of the conversation fades into white noise, and Jisung feels his heart splitting into two. It’s a just possibility, but one nonetheless. He’s hyperventilating now, and he heavily presses a hand to his chest in a weak attempt to stop his lungs from heaving. It only makes him even more aware of his devastation. The second kiss of the scene is almost a repeat of the first, but he can’t look away from the trainwreck that is his love life.

There’s no redos, and Act II begins. You’re waiting for scene two, and no one’s nearby you except for Yugyeom, who always looks like he wants to die of embarrassment whenever he’s around you because of the changing incident. Jisung quickly walks up to you and taps you on the shoulder. You turn around.

“Hey. You were really good out there,” he tightly says. “Especially the party scene.”

You have the same look on your face as Yugyeom. “A-ah, thanks. It was my first time doing something like that.” You look like you’re ready to bolt.

This is his chance to find out the truth, so he follows up with, “I heard first stage kisses are difficult.”

You can’t confirm or deny it because scene one ends, and you have to get up onto the balcony set piece. With clear relief in your voice, you whisper, “Sorry, gotta go,” before running out, taking the stairs two at a time.

Jisung swears under his breath and bites his thumb at Hyunjin, who is comparing you to the sun again. To his annoyance, Hyunjin has improved and no longer sounds like he’s reading off of notecards. You seem to be enjoying his monologue, and he sees you trying to hold back a grin. Your pleased, rosy glow softens your normal high noon sunshine to a golden sunset, and even Ms. Park seems satisfied by the acting. She has only praise for the balcony scene, and you and Hyunjin beam with pride.

While you disappear to change — Jisung’s so glad that scenes three and four are long enough that you can change in the dressing room — he devises a plan to eat dinner with you and potentially give you the chips he wanted to give on Friday. The only flaw of the plan is that you have to finish changing before Hyunjin, so he can spend time with you before Hyunjin inevitably comes in and ruins everything.

When dinner break is announced, he jumps out of his seat and walks as casually as possible to the classroom. The microwave line is beginning to form, and Jisung brushes past them. There’s no unclaimed seat at your table, so he sits nearby. He discreetly moves his belongings to his new location and pulls out his dinner. He purposely brought ramen, so he could have an excuse to start a conversation with you. If he has to eat it for the rest of the week, then so be it.

He watches the door as he slowly prepares his meal. Where are you? He can only hope Hyunjin doesn’t show up first. Luckily, you walk in a few minutes later with no Hyunjin behind you. You sit down and push the textbooks to the side. You pull out a container from your lunch bag.

He twists his body, so he can face you better. “Fried rice again?” he teases.

“I decided to borrow your idea. Instant jajangmyeon.” You unsnap the lid and proudly reveal the unmistakable black package. You rip it open and let the noodle brick slide into the container. “I told Hyunjin about it, and he thought it was genius.”

“Oh!” It comes out more high pitched and strained than he anticipated.

“Yeah.” You pour hot water from your own thermos and let it cook. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it. I wouldn’t have had to eat fried rice for five days straight. And this tastes way better, too.”

“Was this your after rehearsal food on Friday?” he asks, though he knows the real answer.

“You remembered that? No, I had froyo with Hyunjin. Ms. Park said we should hang out outside of rehearsal, so we could be more comfortable with each other.” You bite your lower lip. “For the, you know” — your voice drops to a hush — “kiss scenes.”

He feels more relieved now, knowing that Friday night was more like a homework assignment than a date.

“Did you really kiss him today?”

You shift in your seat, uncomfortable by his question. He feels a pang of guilt, but he really, really needs to know.

“It was a stage kiss.”

Is that disappointment in your voice?

Whatever your feelings are, he’s just happy that nothing happened between you and Hyunjin. He reaches into his backpack and takes out a crushed, but unopened, bag of chips. He holds it out to you, and your uneasiness from earlier is replaced by amusement.

“You still have that?”

“I left before Jeongin could find me. Do you want it?”

“Well…”

“Take it.” He tosses the bag at you, and it lands on top of your container. “You’re not gonna be able to eat anything until your noodles finish cooking. We can’t have Juliet starving.”

“Okay then.” You hesitantly open the bag and place one in your mouth. As expected, it’s a fragment. “Thanks.”

Hyunjin doesn’t show up for dinner, and Jisung gladly spends the rest of the time with you. He eats from his own bag of chips and politely asks to try one of yours in exchange for one of his own. You let him try your first attempt of making instant jajangmyeon using the Jisung method, and he approves. The two of you discuss the best snacks at the convenience store, and he’s delighted to find out that you like strawberry Pepero too. When rehearsal resumes, Jisung feels like he’s walking on sunshine.

The rest of rehearsal goes by in a blur. When you had your quick change on stage, he faces the wall again and listens to the conversation you have with Ryujin. He doesn’t even care that you and Hyunjin share scenes with each other and seem to be flirting with each other. You have more in common outside of theater with him than Hyunjin. Without a care in the world, he openly throws up the middle finger at Hyunjin when Ms. Park calls for a rerun of the balcony scene. Yugyeom looks confused at his actions but says nothing. Changbin, however, does.

“Jisung, what are you doing?” he asks. “Do you hate Juliet or something?”

He’s a little offended that Changbin came to that conclusion. He doesn’t tell him the truth though. “The balcony. I just remembered trying to build those stairs. Screw those stairs.”

It’s not a full lie; he does hate the balcony with a passion because building those stupid stairs was an absolute pain.

Changbin laughs. “Ah, good times. You looked like you wanted to kill Seungmin when he used your wood.”

“Still do.”

Tech notes are an even distribution among sound, lights, and stage crew. Jisung doesn’t receive any specific criticisms, but Mr. Gi does send the floor crew to respike the floor to meet Ms. Park’s new demands about set piece placement. Tech crew is dismissed for the night, and Jisung goes to get the spiking tape from the classroom while Changbin and the freshman crew member wait on stage.

The actors are still getting notes, so he quietly opens the cabinets where the tape is located. He rummages around for longer than needed while trying to find out if you are watching him. He decides to bring out all five rolls of fluorescent tape with him, wearing them on his wrist like a stack of bracelets. He hears a chuckle, and when he turns around, he realizes it’s coming from Hyunjin, who has a hand over his mouth. Jisung leaves the room and mouths a curse at him.

He finishes spiking the new locations, and by that time, Ms. Park is done with notes. It’s a familiar scene — you sitting on top of a table, sipping water. Only this time, you have a bag of chips in your other hand.

“Aren’t you glad I made you take them?” he teases as he puts the tape away.

“Yes,” you admit. “Do you want any?” You hold out the bag, and he can see that it’s mostly crumbs and dust.

“I’m good.” He shoulders his backpack and picks up his hoodie from where it has fallen to the floor. “Are you waiting to be picked up?”

“Yeah.” You crumple up the now-empty bag. “See you tomorrow?”

He realizes his mistake: he looks like he’s leaving when he just wanted a reason to be next to you. “Yeah. Good night.”

“Good night.”

Instead of driving home right away, he goes to the convenience store for strawberry Pepero to give to you tomorrow. They do say that the way to a person’s heart is through their stomach.

~ ad.gray

Prepare to be baited. Apologies in advance.

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d2kvirus · 3 years

Text

24/10/21 Fact or Fiction

Statement #1: Crown Jewel was the best WWE PPV of 2021. FICTION - While it wasn't the trainwreck that previous RiyadhMania shows have been, mainly because the card wasn't packed with the usual Attitude Era names plodding their way through a basic match with the speed, grace and safety of the Boston Molasses Flood of 1919, but there's a big difference between "Not a trainwreck" and "Best" and even if I don't count the NXT shows, in that gap I'd at the very least put WrestleMania Night One, Money in the Bank, and WrestleMania Backlash

Statement #2: It’s time to retire the Hell in a Cell gimmick. FICTION - The HIAC PPV absolutely needs to be retired, but the concept itself should be retained for exactly what it is: the nuclear option for a handful of feuds which deserve the stip, as opposed to a stip that a couple of feuds every year are shoehorned into to justify a PPV bearing the match's name

Statement #3: Brock Lesnar is in your Top 50 favourite wrestlers of all time. FICTION - Rather than spend half an hour compiling an Excel spreadsheet of at least fifty wrestlers who, in my opinion, are greater than Lesnar, instead I'll just cop out and say the first run version of Lesnar absolutely could have been - but the second run of Lesnar takes him out of contention due to so many matches where he lazily spams a few German suplexes, hits an F5, and then goes home for a few months to count the money

Statement #4: Bryan Danielson will enter and win the New Japan G1 Climax tournament next year. FACT - Considering how WWE put New Japan on the table when trying to negotiate a new contract, at the very least AEW needed to match that. Also, based on this year's G1, NJPW are desperate for some fresh blood to breathe life into the tournament, as this year's felt lackluster compared to the fortnight's worth of bangers that NJPW were putting out four or five years ago

Statement #5: If there is an injury during the Finals of the G1, like there was this year to Kota Ibushi, New Japan should be prepared with an alternative way to end the match / tournament. FICTION - NJPW already have an alternate way built into the G1, namely how they've had past winners put their Wrestle Kingdom match on the line, so there really is no need to overcomplicate things because there's plenty of time between now and January 4th, meaning they can wait for Ibushi to return and have a rematch for the title shot, especially if WK is a two-night affair like it was in 2020, or they can switch tack and have somebody like Will Ospreay or Jay White beat Okada for the title shot to set them up for a match with Shingo at WK ad have Ibushi waiting in the wings for New years Dash

Statement #6: NXT UK is currently the best weekly episodic pro-wrestling TV show. FICTION - Six months ago this was an easier answer because NXT Classic (no, wait, that was the glorified Tough Enough, wasn't it?) was the best show, but since NXT has turned into watching Tottenham this season as it mainly serves to make you feel sad inside while remembering what it was just two years ago, NXT UK has started to move up the rankings - or at least it would have, but apparently they've run out of ideas after they've had WALTER and Dragunov murder each other a couple of times and, coupled with the roster very slowly being transitioned over to NXT 90s AF...sorry, "2.0", while the booking of NXT UK is still tight and no-nonsense it's also missing something compared to its earlier shows

https://411mania.com/wrestling/411-wrestling-fact-or-fiction-crown-jewel-the-best-wwe-ppv-of-the-year/

#fact or fiction #factorfiction

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luckyladylily · 3 years

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Apparently the transphobic billboard CDPR was so happy to show everyone is fucking everywhere in Cyberpunk 2077. This studio is fucking gross and this game is such a trainwreck

Ok so I got this like a month ago or something and I have not answered it because I have lots of thoughts, and lots of them are not going to be popular. I am not mad at you anon, just a bit frustrated at the general situation, and I am going to be very direct.

To start, I am not defending CP77. I just don’t care. I don’t know enough about whatever is going on with the game to go either way, and whatever the case is CDPR does not need me to defend them. The only thing I do know about enough to create a well formed opinion is about the labor problems associated with the game which, honestly, matters more to me than virtually any insensitivity or similar blunders within the actual game.

So this is not about CP77. It is about the discussion of how trans women can and should be depicted in media.

I am going to make a bold claim. I do not think that the initial advertisement is transphobic. I think it was inevitably going to make a whole lot of trans women very uncomfortable, but that is not the same thing. It just isn’t that simple.

God there are so many layers here to cover all the bases. Look, I am going to do this by bullet point so I don’t have to explain and cite feminist and queer theory for 5 hours and ten pages. Trigger warning for people that might get dysphoric about bottom stuff.

Sex is not bad

Catering to sexual appetites and desires is not bad

creating content that appeals to those appetites and desires (meaning sexualizing material) is not bad

individual creations are not bad, it only becomes a problem as a large scale societal trend that erases other aspects of people.

many people find non or pre op trans women’s genitals sexually attractive

this is not a problem unless it is fetishistic

as trans people have come into the spot light over the last decade or so sexual attraction to women with dicks has made huge steps towards normalization.

we are past the point where we can or should assume that sexual interest and depictions of women with dicks are fetishistic

people just think we are hot

this makes people with bottom dysphoria uncomfortable because it draws attention to something that makes them dysphoric

dysphoria is a personal trigger, even when a particular trigger is wide spread

sexual interest in a trait that is a potential trigger for dysphoria is not transphobic.

There is a massive double standard for women with dicks vs women with vaginas - our sexuality is deemed far more dirty and is policed far more aggressively by everyone, including the left.

women with dicks should be allowed to be sexual without shame

people should be allowed to be attracted to our bodies without shame

people should be allowed to express that attraction in the art they create without shame

individual depictions of sexualized trans women are not transphobic, it only becomes a problem as a society wide trend that erases other aspects of trans women.

We have two seemingly competing interests: Allowing women with dicks to be sexual and allowing people to be openly attracted to them an express that attraction vs preventing a society wide reduction of women with dicks to sex objects

these are not actually competing interests - both forbidding the depiction of women with dicks in a sexual manner and society wide sexual objectification of women with dicks are symptoms of the same problem:

women with dicks are seen as especially dirty sexually and inherently tainted by the fact of their anatomy. We are reduced to our anatomy by both.

The ad features a trans women with an especially prominent attractive sexual characteristic - a big dick. We are not similarly offended by depictions of cis women with especially prominent attractive sexual characteristics, like large breasts, or similar depictions of men with large dicks. Because only women with dicks are seen as inherently dirty to this degree.

The depiction of a woman with a big dick is not transphobic. It is trans inclusive sexualization. Maybe it is trans inclusive misogyny, which is an odd idea but I hope you get it. I honestly don’t know enough to say either way in that case.

Many on the left still see the depiction of unique sexual characteristics of women with dicks as particularly crass and gross and openly oppose any depiction of such except under extremely narrow circumstances - the vaguely defined ‘done right’ way, which in practice means that all depictions of women with dicks being sexual is subject to policing and attack from the left.

While this protects some trans women from dysphoria, it alienates other trans women, stigmatizes us, and reinforces the idea that our sexuality is inherently and especially dirty.

The old rule of thumb that women with dicks should not be sexualized, created many years ago under very different circumstances, has outlived its usefulness

I have not been shy in the past about how I am a highly sexual trans woman. I am one of the trans women who feels alienated by the online left being so consistently offended by depiction of women with dicks, and the reaction to the in game ad is frankly extremely disheartening.

Go and look at it again. It isn’t even that sexualized! It is practically tame compared to typical sexual advertising. She is a pretty woman wearing a leotard with a big, tight bulge. There is nothing else sexual about the image. She isn’t making ‘come fuck me’ eyes at the camera. She isn’t posed in some lewd position. She isn’t even wearing something particularly risque. It isn’t even terribly exaggerated in size, it is within the limits of realistic sizes (if on the big end of the bell curve). Its just a woman with a big, tight bulge. Why is that so offensive? Your average shampoo commercial featuring bathing women moaning in orgasmic ecstasy at how much they love their shampoo is more sexually objectifying, but it isn’t about a woman with a dick so at most it gets an eye roll.

It is only seen as “hypersexualized” and offensive because the left finds the overt depiction of women with dicks offensive, that any depiction of a woman with a dick where you can tell she has a dick is hypersexualized. And this is from the people who are supposed to be on our side.

That image is very nearly the minimum sexualization you can have of a woman with a dick. There are two steps you could take to make it less sexualized: Make it less tight, or make it a bit smaller. But if you do both then you literally just have a woman with a normal size dick wearing tight clothes, and frankly ‘trans women can’t wear yoga pants because ew’ is just. I am not even going to entertain the idea. And yet this in game depiction of a woman with a dick is supposedly so hypersexualized that it is exceptionally transphobic and gross.

Trans women’s bodies are policed so hard, the double standard is unreal. The range of acceptable sexuality is so narrow it is practically non existent.

We need to be more careful about how we criticize sexual depictions of trans women because taking it on gut reaction is only making things worse. It is highly stigmatizing of trans women’s bodies and promotes the idea that any sexual behavior from a trans woman is hyper sexual and therefore potentially predatory. It works to confirm everything the right and terfs say about trans women being sexual deviants. We do not destigmatize trans bodies by throwing a fit and calling hypersexualization and transphobia every time one is depicted.

#transphobia #trans women #cp77 #frank discussion of sex and sexuality #frank discussion of trans women's bodies

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happyendingsong · 4 years

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also !! what were your thots on mania if you watched it !! i love ur media analysis its Big Brain

LOL AW thank u joey

i was sooo excited for mania this year from like. a morbid fascination w trainwreck reality tv point of view. like ‘david is dead’ levels of calamity. a quarantined wrestlemania with half the card out sick is absolute peak age of spectacle and such an interesting nugget of 2020 pop culture, it’s so fucking good.

but they put on a really good fucking show especially all things considered?? the main thing i missed were the entrances and gear but obviously that couldn’t be helped. on one hand i feel bad for the debuting wrestlers who didn’t get the big mania crowd to welcome them out, but also i didn’t have to worry about fans starting boring chants during the women’s matches or anything so. LOL.

i absolutely adored when they tried experimenting with camera angles and lighting in ways that made use of the smaller, more intimate space. like sasha being drowned in shadow during bayley’s entrance IM STILL FUCKING THINKING ABOUT IT........ and that whole ending sequence with sasha tying bayley’s belt on, the fucking STORYTELLING i was holding my breath the whole time. the cinematography was used so so well and i think we would’ve lost some of that detail if it was on a bigger stage, ya know. i wish we got more moments like that throughout the shows and more experimenting with the form!

the big advantages that wwe has compared to aew or other televised products is budget and legacy. and oh my fucking god did the firefly funhouse match CAPITALISE on that. it was so fun seeing the form and concept and conceit of wrestling twisted and turned on its head like that. wwe are usually so resistant to any kind of change but i REALLY HOPE the great reception they got to this match will encourage them to experiment more in the future and play on their strengths. the boneyard match was fun but the firefly funhouse match....that shit was so professional oh my god.

i wish we got a little more playing with the space of the performance centre. the edge/randy match was alright (though i think ciampa/gargano got a better match exploring the pc) but it ran on long. im glad edge is okay anyway, would’ve KILLED to have beth on commentary 3

it’s so fucking funny that both the male champions checked the fuck out LMAO like if there isn’t a crowd/merch money then mr strowman and mr mcintyre can have the damn belts, thank you.

meanwhile the girls tunred it outtttt omg. i loved having 5 women’s matches on the card (will not be satisfied until it’s 100% because i believe in female supremacy but still), and they were JUICY. like 3 of them were 15-20 minutes long?? dope.

also i didnt predict ANY of the winners correctly LMAO,,,, i really wish shayna won but maybe they want a full crowd before becky drops the belt u_u (ugh there wouldve been a great story there about how becky needs the fans to have her back, without them she’s nothing, the fans cant stop shayna from breaking her fucking bones, etc etc etc...... ANYWAY) i’d love to see their feud continue and get juicier matches out of it anyway. and i really wish the kabuki warriors retained but maybe kairi wanted to head back to japan to quarantine with her partner. IT’S SO FUNNY THAT THEY HAD CHARLOTTE WIN.....LOL.......... im gagged and so excited to find out what happens next on nxt this wednesday on usa so i guess the booking worked! and i was hoping for a naomi or sasha win but this baysha plot is so fucking juicy and i can’t waitttt to see where it goes.

the mens’ tag matches were good! i SCREAMED at bianca’s debut!!!!! i’m a little bummed she never got the nxt belt but i really hope they’ll let her crush it on raw. on ring the belle they were saying that within one night the raw division went from totally forgettable to immediately exciting with bianca, nia, and that asuka/liv match and i REALLY hope the raw women can continue to shine now!!

yeah overall i really liked it! definitely a good call having it across two nights, i hope they keep that for the future. and ive only been watching since mania 34 so this is only my third full length mania watching live? but it was dope, wrestling is good actually

#JOEY THANK U FOR INDULGING ME <3333333 I ADORE DOING THESE #demimooremp3 #asks!!#wwe #wrestlemania #omedia

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beneaththetangles · 4 years

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BtT Light Novel Club, Chapter 16: Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki, Vol. 1!

Welcome to the first Light Novel Club discussion of 2020! Our discussion this month is on Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki, Vol. 1, in which a gamer dares to take on the “game” of real life. We have quite the discussion for this title coming up, so strap yourself in and join @jeskaiangel and I for a deep dive not just into the story, but also what even is a “game” in the first place!

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1. What are your general impressions of the novel?

Jeskai Angel: My impression of the novel = Video games + Proverbs / Ecclesiastes + My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong as I Expected + Self-help booklet + Optimism.

stardf29: I’ve got nothing to add; you did the math on that perfectly.

2. What are your thoughts on the characters in the novel?

Jeskai Angel: As I observed Tomozaki, I strongly had the sense that I was watching an alternative version of Hachiman Hikigaya from a parallel universe. His opening monologue sounds every bit as cynical, jaded, and bitter as something Hiki would say. But, crucially, Hiki is actively resistant to changing and finds a sense of moral superiority in not “conforming.” Hiki’s story kicks off because his teacher tries to help him change for better, but (at least as of vol. 1) he begrudges this meddling in his life and resists every step of the way. The two parallel universes diverge because when NO NAME / Aoi also offers Tomozaki the chance to change, he willingly (albeit skeptically) embraces the opportunity. That difference lends the whole story a far more hopeful, optimistic tone than My Youth Romantic Comedy.

I could spend more time contrasting the other characters of this LN and My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong as I Expected, but I’ll spare you. Suffice it to say that I think the girls of both stories bear further comparison.

Aoi is an interesting twist on the “perfect girl” trope. First, one doesn’t commonly see that sort of character AND have them be an unapologetic hardcore gamer (you sometimes see the “perfect girl who’s secretly an otaku” figure, but not one like Aoi who displays no sense of shame about her nerdy hobby). The other thing that subverts the “perfect girl” trope is that we learn quickly that Aoi wasn’t always “perfect” and in fact works incredibly hard to maintain her sterling image. She’s not just magically perfect thanks to inherent natural awesomeness. I feel like the rest of the cast is well written, but they don’t necessarily stand out in any exceptional way. Hopefully they’ll get more chances to shine in the future.

stardf29: That’s a good compare and contrast between Tomozaki and Hachiman. Hachiman’s constant cynicism and the commentary that comes from that is entertaining in its own way, but as a character, I really like how Tomozaki actually tries to make more of real life, and he gets some cool moments out of it, such as when he stands up for Nakamura when other girls start trash-talking him. Oh, and he’s a gamer, too, which I guess earns him some extra cool points for me.

I definitely appreciate Aoi having had to work hard to become the “perfect girl”, for the reason you mentioned. What I also like about that aspect is that it has shades of the “secret of the popular girl” trope where the guy finds out the popular girl’s secret and they grow closer because of it, which I often enjoy.

The other side characters definitely interested me a lot. While they might not have a lot of development yet at just one volume in, they do have very strong base characterizations with their own motivations and don’t feel like one-dimensional tropes; I’m definitely looking forward to what role they play in future volumes.

3. What do you think about the various gaming references and the use of video games in the story?

Jeskai Angel: Am I right in thinking that Atafami is a coded reference to the Super Smash Bros. series? Between the name and some of the characters mentioned, I had a distinct suspicion that the story was making a nod toward a very specific real-life game/series. The rest of the gaming references that I recall were all more general nods to various tropes and common features of video games, things common enough that they didn’t require knowledge of any particular game to understand. I enjoyed the references and use of gaming concepts as metaphors for real life.

stardf29: Yes, Atafami is pretty clearly a mock-up of Smash Bros. (“Smash Brothers -> Attack Families”), with their own versions of Fox (“Foxy”) and Sheik (“Found”; this one took a while to figure out, but it’s pretty clever; “Sheik” sounds like “Seek”, especially with Japanese pronunciation, so you have “Seek” -> “Found”).

The whole thing is pretty amusing since I have some vague familiarity with the competitive Smash scene (though I’m not a competitive Smash player myself), so a lot of the portrayals of the whole gaming aspect of the story are just that much more interesting to me.

4. What do you think about the various “life tips” in the story?

Jeskai Angel: Ooh, yes! I have mixed feelings about the life tips. On the one hand, I think there’s some real truth to Aoi’s advice. I sort of wish someone had given me some of this advice back when I was in high school (of course, I was such a trainwreck at that point in my life that Aoi’s coaching wouldn’t have been nearly enough to help me).

On the other hand, sometimes Aoi’s view feels a little too much like self-made man-pull yourself up by your own bootstraps-rugged individualism. It paints this overly positive picture of how if you just work hard, your life will be great and everything will work out well. That’s how I used to think life worked (thanks, American culture), but then life proved me wrong. I think Tomozaki has a legitimate point when he says that life doesn’t always have a right answer, that trying hard doesn’t guarantee the desired outcome, and that some people have massive, unearned advantages over others. No matter how long and how hard you try, there’s no promise that you’ll get what you want out of life. Maybe Aoi’s perspective doesn’t go quite that far, but it treads close at times.

This tension, where each of the two leads has some valid points, is where my reference to Proverbs and Ecclesiastes above fits in. The book of Proverbs paints an extremely optimistic view of life: if you live according to wisdom, things will be great. And to be clear, it’s not entirely wrong. But then Ecclesiastes comes along and says not so fast: no matter how wise / rich / strong / whatever you are, bad things may still befall you. If nothing else, we’re all gonna die no matter what we do. I suspect that Ecclesiastes sometimes presents an unduly cynical outlook on life, and that things aren’t necessarily quite as bad as you might think if you only read Ecclesiastes. But Ecclesiastes also has a valid point that life isn’t as easy as you might think if you only read Proverbs.

stardf29: You bring up something that one could make an entire dissertation on: the conflict between “do everything you can to improve things” and “there are some things in life we cannot control”. Ideally, these two ideas would work together: we take action where we can, while giving the things we cannot control up to God. Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to lean too much into one direction or the other. Tomozaki’s initial stance is too much into “there’s too much I cannot control”, and he includes stuff he does actually have control over to improve his life. Aoi, on the flip side, is perhaps trying to take control over too much. I think it’s pretty telling how, in the final confrontation, she’s ultimately not able to do anything when things take an unexpected turn until well after the fact.

Overall, while I liked a lot of Aoi’s tips, I do have one notable gripe. The whole thing about getting Tomozaki a girlfriend is a bit weird but ultimately, not too bad. However, when she tried to get him to ask Fuka out over their supposed shared interest in a particular author, despite Tomozaki lying about said interest, that definitely rubbed me the wrong way. It felt like Aoi was telling him to do whatever it takes to “win” the game, even if it means lying and deceiving others. I’m glad he ultimately chose not to listen to her and tell the truth to Fuka, and it seems like they still have the chance for some development later.

Jeskai Angel: I had forgotten about the whole “lie about liking this book to get a girlfriend” incident until you brought it up. Yeah, I really appreciated that Tomozaki averted tons of rom-com tropes by taking the first opportunity to correct the misunderstanding, instead of creating an extended series of painfully awkward situations where he struggles to maintain the lie. I wonder…Aoi generally comes across in a fairly favorable light, but does this case hint at a darker side to her character?

You also make a really interesting point in framing the climactic defense-of-Nakamura scene in terms of Aoi being unable to do anything when the situation gets out of hand. It does seem to speak to her limitations.

stardf29: “Darker side” perhaps, but to the extent that every realistic person has some sinful tendencies to her; in her case, it’s a willingness to fudge the truth in order to do what she wants to get done. (If I may say, she seems to be very much a Type 3 on the Enneagram.)

Tomozaki laughs at your “Foxy only” rule.

5. How much do you agree with the idea that “life is a game”?

Jeskai Angel: So, Tomozaki and Aoi both accept from the outset that life is a game. They don’t debate whether life is a game, but rather whether it’s a good one or a bad one. Consequently, the book skips over a crucial question: what exactly is a “game?” It’s hard to say for sure whether life is a game, or how good of a game it is, if we don’t know what we mean when we say “game.” Certainly I can see validity to a lot of the book’s metaphors. There really are times when there are substantive parallels between real life and video games. But does the fact that life and games are sometimes similar justify going all the way to the point of saying life actually is a game in any meaningful sense? I’m not so sure. My gut says no. However, I would offer the caveat that I can imagine it’s possible to come up with a coherent definition of “game” for which real life would qualify.

stardf29: Oh boy, the “what is a game” question is another one that you could make a whole research paper on.

Maybe a game like Smash Bros isn’t the best metaphor for life… but what about a game like Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon? Those are games that break somewhat from the usual definition of a game, while still being classified as a game, and it’s a bit easier to see parallels with real life with those games.

But the key question here really does seem to be: What exactly is a “game”? Again, I could dive really deep into this topic, but for a basic definition, I like to think of games in four parts: player input, the “programming” which take those inputs and create results, the goals that players try to achieve, and the rules which are known to the players and help them make choices on their inputs. A game, therefore, is a situation where, given certain known rules, you decide on a goal or goals to achieve, and then make inputs and see what results the programming gives back; based on those results, you may either continue on with making inputs, or change one or more of your goals; you can even create a “game within a game” by setting a smaller goal and trying to achieve that goal first before returning back to your original goal.

For example, in, say, Super Mario Bros., your overarching goal is to reach the end and rescue the princess, which requires you to complete several sub-goals of completing the individual levels. Within the game, you are aware of the various rules of the game (move right, don’t touch enemies or fall into pits, collect power-ups for help) and then you start making your inputs to get Mario to the end.

Given this fairly wide-encompassing definition of a “game”, I think it’s possible to classify real life as a game. You have rules that are known and more or less govern what you can and cannot do (things like laws), and from there you decide on goals you want to accomplish, and then you make your “inputs” (a.k.a. personal choices) and then see what results come from the “programming” and adjust further goals/inputs accordingly. The only real difference here is that the “programming” is far more complex than what computers are (currently) limited to. That said, it’s not like there’s no “programming” whatsoever, since things like scientific laws exist. (The inputs of fellow humans may complicate things but lots of multiplayer games have that, so…)

In that sense, I can see how Aoi approaches the “game” of life. She tries to understand the rules as much as she cans, she has certain goals she wants to achieve, and she starts making “inputs” towards those goals. And as she starts accomplishing those goals, she gets the enjoyment of “winning” at the game (or at least that goal). If my approach to life differs from hers, it largely lies in having different goals from her to start with.

Now that I think about it, there is an important “fifth” part of a game: the positive feelings that come from “winning” the game, or rather, accomplishing goals within that game. It’s why we play games, after all. The exact nature of those “positive feelings” can vary depending on your goals, from the feeling of empowerment and domination after defeating a human opponent, to the sense of pride and accomplishment from getting 100% completion, to the satisfaction of the ending of a good story. And in real life, there’s definitely a good feeling from putting in effort, getting results, and fulfilling goals.

Jeskai Angel: I remembered this interesting column by game designer Mark Rosewater (https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/what-game-2018-06-04). He defines a game as “a thing with a goal (or goals), restrictions, agency, and a lack of real-world relevance.” Your definition and his agree about the importance of input / agency, rules / restrictions, and goals (whether invented by the player or established by the designer). But you differ regarding the lack of real-world relevance. MaRo holds that having the purpose of entertainment or education, as opposed to practical necessity, is a fundamental part of what distinguishes games from real life.

stardf29: That’s a great article overall, and if I combine “rules” and “mechanics” into “limitations” I would mostly agree with it… but I definitely disagree about games needing to be “separate” from real life. It feels like a meaningless distinction; if I want to make a game out of cleaning my apartment or something, I don’t see how the real-life application somehow makes it not a game.

Instead, I would replace that “lack of real-life relevancy” with that last element I mentioned: the explicit pursuit of the positive feelings that come from achieving the goals. The reason most people don’t, to use the example in the article, consider packing for a trip as a “game” is that they simply have no desire to experience the pleasure of figuring out how to optimize packing; they just want to get the job done. However, someone might decide that, yes, they’re going to figure out the optimal arrangement for their packing, and then, after getting everything into the optimal arrangement, relish in the rush of having solved the puzzle.

In a way, then, what makes something a “game” is, in part, mentally thinking of it as a game–that a game is whatever you want to be a game (as long as goals, restrictions, and agency are also in play). And this is likely what helped Aoi be so successful: she chose to view several parts of life as “games” where others just saw it as “just life”. And Tomozaki has now adapted that mindset too. Now, I do think there are times where it’s best not to think of real life as a “game”; the example of a pilot flying a real plane is probably one of those times. (Though if the threat of death makes something not a game, I guess the Aincrad part of Sword Art Online isn’t a game…) That said, there may very well be several times in real life when thinking of something as a game may be just what gives someone that motivational kick to get something done, so… perhaps, at the very least, it’s worth consideration.

Jeskai Angel: Hmm… It occurs to me that babies and children learn through play. It seems that God has hardwired us to learn about the world through play-type behavior. And if play is fundamental to us from the earliest stages of development, perhaps the idea of life as a whole being a game has more validity than I’m giving it credit for.

Final Thoughts

Jeskai Angel: In the opening monologue, Tomozaki says this:

“Since ancient times, tons of brilliant scientists have been conducting experiments to search for a Law of Everything that explains the rules of our world. They still haven’t found it. Since ancient times, tons of brilliant philosophers have been wrapping ideas up in logic trying to figure out the meaning of life—in other words, life’s concept.”

This is where I’d raise my hand and say that Christianity has an answer to this question. The “Law of Everything,” the basis of all the rules in our world, the source that connects everything else, is Jesus. That’s what John 1.1 is getting at when it describes Jesus as the Logos. All the rules are established and upheld by him. And of course life’s “concept” is to know and love God.

Jeskai Angel: On a couple of occasions, one character criticizes another (first Tomozaki to Nakamura, then Aoi to Tomozaki) for dismissing a pleasure they’d never experienced as boring or meaningless. This is really quite profound. It was super relatable when Aoi calls out Tomozaki on this, because I have done the same thing. I can easily come up with examples from my own life where, because I didn’t have opportunity to enjoy something, I tried to convince myself that it wasn’t really all that great anyway, that I didn’t really want or need it, and so it was fine if I didn’t have it. At least in some of these cases, I’ve realized later that maybe that thing was more valuable than I’d been willing to admit while I was coping by lying to myself. The story was a good reminder about the need to be honest with ourselves.

stardf29: Yep, that’s the good ol’ sour grapes fable (the fox who can’t reach the grapes decides they must be sour). And yes, it’s best to be honest with yourself, or at the very least, don’t put down others who do have things/experiences you don’t have.

Jeskai Angel: Looking back, I realized it’s kind of cool the way the story building up Aoi to be so amazing actually serves to increase my respect for Tomozaki as a gamer. Here’s this girl who, much like Mary Poppins, is practically perfect in every way. Whether in beauty or academics or athleticism or popularity or whatever, she is unsurpassed thanks to her combination of talent and incredible hard work. And then you tell me that in one respect, she gets totally outclassed by someone else, despite putting forth the same hard work at Atafami as she did to reach the pinnacle in every other area of life. And it really starts to sink in just how insanely skilled Tomozaki must be to be able to capable of trouncing her as he does.

stardf29: Honestly, having seen how insane top-tier Smash Bros. play is, I’m more impressed with Aoi being able to even basically become the second-best player in Japan in the first place, especially with everything else she’s doing for real life as well. They do go a bit into how she does it (she purposely gets into disadvantageous situations to learn how to get out of them, sacrificing her immediate win-rate for long-term improvement), but even then, getting to the top ranks is no easy feat and it shows how dedicated she really is. And, of course, Tomozaki himself is impressive for being able to beat her regardless, though I guess since I’m familiar with top-tier Smash players, it’s pretty easy to picture how good he is (or at least as easy as looking up some YouTube videos).

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What do you think about Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki, Vol. 1? What do you think counts as a “game”? Share your opinion in the comments!

As a reminder, on February 21st, we will be covering Vol. 3 of Infinite Dendrogram, so if you plan on joining us for that and haven’t finished it yet, get to reading!

#Light Novels #Bottom Tier Character Tomozaki #Jaku Chara Tomozaki kun #Christianity #BtT Light Novel Club #Articles #Author: stardf29 #Author: JeskaiAngel

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