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auramgold · 2 months

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On Acht and Romance

going into side order, from the september direct trailer where Acht was first revealed i remember the joke at the time clearly being "and now Marina's ex is here".

the way this line [image description in alt] was written was basically the only evidence for this kind of idea, when the theories were kind of "Marina's order tantrum is sucking people in from her past and the DLC will be about going through her memories", so ellipses in a line like this is basically all theory crafters on no info need to go for shipping.

i'm not one who's super into plot theory crafting, i know full well the tendency to theorize something that's cooler than what you actually get and being disappointed that the story didn't live up to your imagination. the things i was obsessed with in side order promotional material was the obvious bleached coral theme, the symbolism of coral ejecting it that which keeps it safe out of stress being mapped onto Marina, the idea of her pushing those she loves (and those that keep her colorful) away out of a spiral (and it does turn out that was basically exactly what the prologue was going for)

so the whole "Acht and Marina exes" thing was kinda just a joke to me, wasn't even on my radar as something they were actually going to lean into, frankly i was still scared nintendo was going to make them kill pearlina by sending Marina to superhell or smth and we'd end up with a splatoonified destiel meme

so when the DLC comes out and it is legitimately a "they knew each other since childhood" thing, and the running bit is Acht feeling awkward third-wheeling pearlina, and it's explicit in text that one of the reasons they're coming back after the DLC is over is to scope out Pearl as the girl who took down the NILS statue who is now dating Marina... it struck me as really interesting.

at first it was me keeping up the "Marina and Acht are exes" as a joke, but as i kept reading dialogue lines, it slowly became less of a joke, they were to some degree dating because opposite but complimentary autisms, and then drifting apart as Marina got pulled away on the big girl assignment with DJ Octavio, and then the despair of knowing Marina left without even saying goodbye to Acht... it fits well into that reading, it slowly became less of a joke to believe that

but the thing that really makes me think this is intentional subtext is the final Acht diary entry you get from clearing Eight's palette. through the rest of side order talking about Acht's backstory, it seemed like they were retconning the OE lore that Acht had gotten themself sanitized intentionally, losing themself so they could explore their music deeper. but in the final diary, where Acht directly says they drifted into the deepsea metro to fall into their music, because, and i quote

"Hey, Marina. You can guess the chaos your desertion caused. I ended up without much to do except make music. "

they fell into a depression spiral when their girlfriend deserted their society without so much as saying goodbye, falling into their music deep away from interacting with everyone else, to the point that, as the old lore implies, they chose to give up their identity to escape the depression, but sanitization so thoroughly did it that they forget even making the choice.

so when they get brought out of that haze back into being themself again, with the only the barest strung-together horrified memories of what happened in the half a decade interim gap in their life, only to find themself replaced by some inkling they don't know at all, of course they're gonna be awkward seeing the two flirting.

they put on a stoic face because that's clearly their coping mechanism within this damaged body they barely recognize, hiding their eyes behind their tinted glasses so they can't be seen beneath. but the only time they let themself be vulnerable, the only time their eyes can be seen, is when they charge out in the climax when the world is at stake, diving in to try to save Marina, leaving the elevator and its protection behind to help the only person they remember ever caring about.

it's why i don't really like the aroace reading that much, because i think this reading is even more tragic and fits into the themes. the world has changed, it can't go back to how it once was, you can't put the octolings back in the canyon bottle. Marina abandoned Acht to the point they got their identity destroyed willingly to escape the pain, and when Acht came back they were replaced by the inkling whose voice they remember even through the haze of sanitized memories.

the lingering effects of sanitization have changed how they relate to everything (i think there's a fair argument to be made for the idea that sanitization took their gender can't have shit in the deepsea metro), but Acht clearly still cares for Marina and still, the slightest bit, resents having to be reminded repeatedly every time pearlina flirts in front of them how they were replaced.

#acht splatoon #side order spoilers #dedf1sh #side order #splatoon 3 side order #seriously i'm so normal about this you have no idea #splatoon #splatoon 3

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ikuzeminna · 4 years

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Gundam Wing Recap - Episode 14

"The Order To Destroy 01"

As usual, we have a crapload of things happening this episode. The Romefeller Foundation is revealed and basically, they're a bunch of rich old farts, who think they should rule the world because monarchs are born to do just that and freedom and equality are ineffective crap anyway. It's a good thing Noin patted Relena down before they entered that meeting because the girl would have likely whipped out a machine gun at that point. I mean, she does later consider setting the whole building ablaze.

But Relena still gets to show how impulsive she is by jumping onto the stage and telling everyone there that the Gundams will kick their foolish butts. I find it hilarious how Noin has to scramble after her. Better put a leash on that girl, Noin. The writers also slap us across the face with how similar Heero and Relena are, when Treize meets her face to face for the first time and Heero self-destructing is superimposed on her. I do wonder though how Treize knew what Heero looked like during his big kaboom. Was Zechs filming that? Talking about Zechs, aside from learning from Noin that watching over his little sister is like herding cats and that he likely whips himself every night for being a soldier when his parents were devout pacifists, he is still rebuilding Wing, which the Romefeller bigwigs learn of and as they have extreme knee-jerk reactions when it comes to Gundams, Treize has no choice but to order him to destroy it. Of course Zechs doesn't. Instead, he blows up a dummy, but his ruse falls flat entirely because Inspector Acht is well aware that Zechs would try to pull something like that. Sucks to have a reputation as a Gunpla fan. Back in Marseilles, Heero and Trowa are tracking down Sylvia Noventa so that Heero can start apologizing for accidentally killing the Marshal, since, although the writers painted a very odd (read: lunatic) image of Heero during the first few episodes, what with his laughing at killing people, he does have a bad conscience for his actions and is being incredibly noble about it. Of course OZ and the Alliance choose that time to start a battle in the city. While Trowa is busy keeping his Gundam hidden, evoking heroic sacrifices from random Alliance soldiers, Heero steals a truck and nearly runs an escaping Sylvia over with it. Since hitting the brakes is for wussies, Heero evades by doing a barrel roll, slamming his truck into a wall. And then he gets out like nothing ever happened. Note that he wasn't wearing a seat belt and that one of his arms is gravely injured. Yeah, Heero is so badass, the laws of physics don't apply to him, either. So Heero and Sylvia meet and after putting some flowers to Marshal Noventa's grave, Heero hands Sylvia a gun and confesses his murder. Well, if the protagonist didn't die ten episodes into the show, it's unlikely he'll die fourteen episodes in, so it's entirely unsurprising that Sylvia doesn't shoot him.

Favorite scenes: Relena giving Romefeller a piece of her mind and badass Alliance commanders making heroic decisions. Also, Relena pointing at a MS in response to Noin's question. I don't know why, but I really like that wordless answer. It's so human.

#gundam wing #recap #episode 14 #heero yuy #sylvia noventa #relena peacecraft #lucrezia noin #romefeller #humor

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