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salvagesmha · 2 months

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Some Vain Attempt At Giving Every Member of Class 1-A (plus one more) a 'Nemesis' Pt. 1 of 3 - Jailbreakers...and Slidn' Go.

Now this is something that's been on my mind since like, what, a year now? Back before this blog existed a comment from @stillness-in-green asked why I thought Tsu should have been Spinner's 'Nemesis' instead of Shoji...

However, due to a combination of shyness, scattered thoughts and business, not only did I pretty much hold off on giving my thoughts, I also got hit with an idea that I'm both loving...and deeply regretting!!!

"Say, instead of just doing why I think Spinner and Shoji aren't a good match-up...why not give legit everyone in Class A (and a certain someone else), a Nemesis. Because what I'm doing isn't hard enough to explain as is!"

So I did, and have practically everyone else mapped out. What you see below are basically, most of the tertiary squad of Class A get their due facing against a Villain that I feel would be roughly on par with them and still be a meaningful clash (though not as important to those that got the League/upper MLA executives).

In addition, I added pretty much how I would write their 'arcs' so to speak concerning their clashes with these Villains. Nothing full blown, but just a bit of concepts had in mind that I feel would make their last battle meaningful.

Now, concerning these pairs I did have some rules going in place (because I can't make it easy in myself, why...) First rule is that the Villains chose have to be members of the League of Villains or its alliances. For example, Paranormal Liberation Front or whatever the Hell the Final War villains are called, are game. That said, I can't use Villains from spin-off or movie material, and Nomu's aren't allowed either (the former due to just wanting to contain things to the manga as much as possible, and the latter is more for balancing reaons).

Also, on that note, concerning the likes of Dabi/Shoto, Toga/Ochaco, and Deku/Shigaraki, they aren't going to be listed since...well, they're pretty much established enemies in canon! No real need to re-state them here. Also, AFO is hard locked to All Might if you were wondering, so he's not making an appearance here either. Neither is Gigantomachia or the Advisors (except one), due to balance and just being way too easy to fill up the roster with.

So with that stated, here we go!

Slidin’ Go - Sato

It’s speed vs power with this one, a match between the traitorous Hero who can, ideally, weave himself away from heavy blows against someone who can be stronger to take him down, but has to find a way to get that solid hit in.

Character wise, I want to imagine this being a storyline where Sato becomes insecure over his Quirk’s weaknesses and how unreliable he feels it might be. In a class where people can harness the elements, shoot intense soundwaves, and warp gravity - having a Quirk with a cognitive drawback and intense fatigue + being yet another strength Quirk would actually be a good way to explore the inner doubts of feeling redundant or unneeded.

As a foil to Sato, Slidin Go could be a Villain with heroic intentions at one point. However, Slidin Go was eventually overshadowed by speed/mobility Quirks that were functionally better (like Ingenium) and his popularity dropped to the point he became borderline poor given how low he was in the Hero rankings. S.G. joined the MLA as their man on the inside, in exchange for promoting him to rise higher in the rankings. Because, at his lowest point, all he cared about was just being able to sustain himself. The price to pay for being seen as redundant and how he sympathizes with Sato.

Assuming this takes place in a timeline where S.G. is participating in the Final War, Sato thinks outside the box to best S.G. With the last of his cognitive strength, he shatters the ground to trip SG up before taking him out in one strike. Sure, his Quirk might be ‘redundant’ in the face of others, but what matters in the moment is not caring about one’s status but doing the right thing, in spite of it. A lesson that Slidin’ Go forgot long ago...though maybe, in time, after his arrest he can regain that spark?

Kunieda - Aoyama

Now this is one that, really, already played out in the manga, but will restate it here briefly since there is an interesting dynamic here, if brief. Aoyama and Kunieda offer a unique spin on the ‘loyal ally versus the traitor’ plot. Aoyama is the Traitor, a double agent for the Villains that goes against them for the bonds he made undercover and to make up for his wrongs. In contrast, Kunieda is someone actually loyal and grateful to All For One - his liberator (heck, one of the few that seems to genuinely be loyal to AFO in the Second War) and hates Aoyama for switching sides. It’s to the point Kunieda personally wants to kill Aoyama just to keep up AFO’s streak (which, to me, gives credence to Kunieda being a former associate to AFO and not just a random Jailbreaker).

In media, I always found it interesting when the heroes are people who betrayed their former allegiance for someone else, and their rival end up being someone fanatically loyal to their old group. I think its because, if alignments were reversed, it’d be easy to portray the Traitor as being self-serving and cowardly, compared to those who remain whose loyalty to their boss who would be seen as virtuous. Given both of their personalities, with Aoyama actually struggling with cowardice and Kunieda being fiercely behind AFO, its not an unreasonable thing to consider at all.

Here? It’s pretty much saying that not only is it okay to betray someone who you work for, if they’re as toxic and awful as AFO, but the virtuous thing in this instance is to go against them to save others, with loyalty to the ‘boss’ being a vice that’ll just bring you down. If I were to make their fight stronger storywise, perhaps Kunieda could have been someone that got the better end of AFO giving out Quirks. Perhaps, he was also Quirkless or had a weakish Plant Quirk before running across AFO one day. In exchange for the Quirk he currently had, he swore loyalty to AFO to be a supplier of corpses for him, before being arrested by Endeavor.

Gashly - Sero

At the time of this writing, Gashly is likely slated to be Sero’s opponent. Can’t really get into too much specifics since I don’t know how that’ll play. So I’ll just give brief thoughts on why I think they’ll work, how I’d write Sero to make it evern more appropriate, and what Gashly deal might be.

Sero is the laidback, witty guy of the Class A who provides support and levity to his allies. In contrast, I imagine Gashly to be the type that only wants levity for himself in the form of his crimes: making twisted stories that involve brutal deaths of kids. If I were to write Sero’s arc, I’d probably make his jokey side both his reason to be a Hero and a bit of a front for insecurities of people taking ‘the guy who shoots tape’ seriously (especially after Shoto beats him in the Sports Festival). His victory against Gashly is him proving to the Villain and himself that it’s far more of a threat than people give it credit for.

For the Top Ten that beat Gashly before, I want to imagine Ryukyu did the deed. A fantasy creature Hero beating a storyteller is just fitting.

"Fang"/2nd Hired Gun - Ojiro

Yep, its Ojiro against the second Tartarus Jailbreaker AFO sent after Deku…who got his ass beat so very quickly. Name and power? Nope - just a reminder that Deku is so OP now not many can compare, because that certainly helps brings out the threat of even escaped criminals. Distaste aside, Fang (for lack of a better name) was chosen because, design wise, I feel a gangster type contrasts well against Ojiro being a disciplined martial artist.

Ojiro always had to face people criticizing for fighting ‘plainly’ with his Tail Quirk, and his own arc here could be accepting that, yeah, while not as flashy, as his peers, his Tail is more versatile in its simplicity and incredibly effective. Fang, as a dark reflection, could be what could have happened if Ojiro had a ‘flashier’ Quirk and let the fame of it go to his head. Since he’s a Tartarus Jailbreaker, and had quite a bit of jewelry on him, I’m going to give him something like a Metal Absorption Quirk. Something that, in theory, could pose a problem to Deku (if Fang didn’t get his ass beat so quickly). Whatever metallic substance he touches, his skin reflects it. In this case, befitting his chain around his neck, he skin becomes gold. I like to imagine Fang was originally overconfident and based too much of his pride in his Quirk. So much so that he was a bully that turned to a life of crime as head of his own crime gang. A gang that I imagined was stopped by one of the Top Ten heroes like Edgeshot.

Fang’s downfall, assumign he made it to the Final War, could be that arrogance biting him in the ass. He’s so cocky he fails to realize that, while Ojiro can’t necessarily hurt physically due to his Quirk, he can still use his tail to take him out by other means. Such as restraining Fang and knocking him out by suffocating him with his tail. Is Ojiro’s Quirk flashy as the others? No way, but he doesn’t need for it to be flashy to be effective. He just needs a chance to make that ‘plainess’ work extremely well for him. Leading for Fang to once again be defeated by someone both more humble and creative than him.

Dictator - Hagakure

It’s everyones least favorite clown villain - Dictator! But now he gets to face off against our perky spy!

So what would Hagakure’s storyline be for this? Before Sato and Ojiro's dealt with issues of the world such as feeling of being Outclassed or Plainness. So I figured an interesting contrast for Hagakure is to deal with personality and powers not really mixing. Her arc could be struggling to be an efficient espionage Hero when she longed to be in the spotlight, getting praises and such from the crowd like her friends If I were to rewrite the story, Hagakure's personality would be tweaked to be more of a cocky type, inspired by her bout of overconfidence during her 1B battle.

Early on she'd be extremely boastul & playful concerning her invisibility, blinding her enemies and taunting them throughout her fights...up until people eventually wisened up either by paying close attention to her voice, laying traps to trip up Hagakure or just using AOE moves if they had it. I could see another change could be that she might volunteer to go after Mustard in the Training Camp attack but ended up losing because she overestimated her own ability and her cockiness gave him an opening to knock out her out. Following that, her training under Yoroi Musha could be to grant herself more discipline and find different ways to channel her mischeviousness into being a better spy - one that can get a victory worth celebrating for and cheers at that!

So how would this relate to Dictator? Well, given his Despot Quirk and clown theming, I’d expand on this short guy as him being a ringmaster that wanted to put on the best show in Japan…problem is that he forcibly recruited/enslaved those he saw potential in his ‘circus’ via his Quirk. He’d trained them to Hell and back under very dangerous performances, up until an investigation was enacted. Something that lead to him taking over everyone, cops who came to arrest him and panicking audience, until Crust defeated him. In short he’s a tiny fella that wants to be in absolute full control from start to finish.

A control freak to the core against someone whose a master of surprise, it works out surprisingly well. For their fight, and to show how Hagakure’s grown, she’d silently wallop Dictator who’d be in utter panic over getting hit by seemingly no one. Enough that he loses his grip on Despot and release his prisoners by accident. Thus, giving Hagakure enough time to blind him before knocking him out with an uppercut…and celebrating with an appreciative audience for good measure.

"Neptune"/Hired Gun No# 3 - Shoji

Finally, Shoji would have Neptune, for lack of a better name, as his Rival for the War fight. Now, why? Especially given that Shoji was meant to reflect Spinner. Now, on this end, I have said I disliked their pairing and I think that reason has to do with importance at the end of the day. Storywise, meaning. On Spinner's end, on the Villains side, he's had load of character development from his beginning as our lovable Stain cosplayer, to reluctant leader just trying to help out the one who cares about most. It's actually a remarkably clear and steady growth that leads up to his role in the Final War...

Yet, his Rival in this instance is Shoji. While Shoji's whole arc did have a few crumbs (such as his Pony fight), let's be honest he hasn't had any near enough importance or build-up in the story that really feels earned to be Spinner's Rival, nor do I feel that, given both of their roles in their respective groups, do I think they made even a natural match. Neptune here is meant to be a substitute for him that gives him a climatic finish and Spinner someone different to butt heads with (and will it be Tsu still?! Who knows!!!!)

Neptune here would be a mutant rights activist, though was dubbed a Villain after his protests involved taking a violent stance against those that harmed him and his shipping crew. In his case, I imagine Gang Orca was the one to defeat him, and given Gang Orca’s whole deal with being considered one of the scariest Heroes, Neptune might consider this a betrayal from someone in the same boat.

His role in the Final War arc would be assisting in the freedom of Kurogiri, and intercepting Shoji. Neptune would be the stance of physical rebellion - that change can not occur unless those affected fight back physically and showing their discontentment. Shoji would represent emotional rebellion - that change can not occur unless you show others by your character that you are different. Both aren’t really wrong in their ideals or their feelings on the matter, but it's Shoji that recognizes that working under All For One, someone who has no one but his own interests in heart, is not going to give the Heteromorphs the better treatment that they yearn for.

For Shoji's character arc in particular, I would change things so that the Heteromorph discrimination would be more out in the open in UA, likely in a history class that covers the great Jeda purge or 6/6 incident, and him being a bit more vocal concerning the reputation of mutants. Have it be a case where the class, naturally, is disgusted by such genocide, but seemingly think that its just a case of evil in a bygone era…up until its Shoji who ends up doing a report on just how many Heteromorphs make up the majority of the arrests in Japan kind and victim reports out in the slums, boonies and even the case of the cities they thought were safe from such prejudice. He isn’t condemning them for not knowing, but it is his words that get them to consider how they’ve been acting towards those who were like Shoji so far (like Shoto and how he treated the police chief). Just something to help boost the plotline a bit more.

I also think Neptune just fits with Shoji given their sea animal/monster theme, too. As for their fight, I imagine it’d go similar to Spinner fighting against Shoji, although in this case, I imagine Neptune’s need for water might eventually make him lose a battle of attrition against Shoji in the end. Though compared to Dictator or Fang, he’d be a Nemesis that Shoji does actually succeed in getting him to stand down and possibly even get rehabilitated for the future.

But, yeah, this has been the first part of the series, so far. Hope its been at least an interesting read through, and these match-ups make sense from your views.

I was very conflicted when it came to giving these guys Nemesis since they didn't really fit/other people in the Class were more fitting to get the likes of the League or MLA guys. I originally was going to pair the likes of Sato, Ojiro, Hagakure and Shoji with the High End Nomu, but a combo of the realism concerning them facing one, and just feeling iffy on them had me scrap the idea and put up the Nomu rule in effect. I wanted the Villain they face to not really be a monster like a Nomu.

I also did toy around with the movie stuff, namely the Heroes Rising Villains coming into play, though it would have been just Shoji, Hagakure, and Ojiro going against Chimera, Mummy and Slice, but figured it'd be best to stick to just the manga.

If you're wondering about Slidin Go', he's like the only exception to the Advisors showing up here due to being a thing before the group. He also was supposed to be who remained of Sato, Ojiro or even Sero as like a filler choice if I couldn't find a suitable villain. Sato happened to get the short end of the stick. SG is also here because still writing about the MLA guys, who are next, and had his completed first.

I actually had Hagakure locked into facing Mustard, but once it hit me to use the Jailbreakers, thought it'd be best for Mustard to face someone with more story importance and who could be a better contrast too. Aoyama was considered to but it felt awkward for me.

Here's hoping the next part comes out soon...or at least this year!

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pikahlua · 7 months

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Pika I was reading someone referring to the female characters in MHA as female leads and was upset that their character arcs weren’t fleshed out in comparison to bakugou and izuku, who are the protagonists? Or even dueteragonist and protagonist.

And I’m kind of confused as I feel like this is misleading, no? It doesn’t feel like any of the female characters have what most people would consider a lead role. Like, the closest I can think is Uraraka (and toga), but I feel like maybe she’s at most a dueteragonist or a confidant. But the rest of the female characters feel very tertiary.

Their roles are I think meaningful but don’t necessarily need to be fleshed out because of the focus of the story being bakugou/izuku/tomura/AFO/all might and the effects of hero society and the way they exemplify its failings?

What are your thoughts?

I agree that just because there are female characters doesn't mean one of them automatically has to occupy a lead role, and that analyzing one as such could lead to problems. That's to say nothing about the state of representation of female characters in literature let alone shounen manga. But if we're talking purely about function in a story, no female character in MHA occupies a primary lead role.

That said, obviously Ochako occupies a much more prominent role than many other characters do. She could easily be called the lead role in her subsection of the story. I would argue that the correct point of comparison for Ochako is not Izuku (never should it be Izuku for most any character). You could probably make a decent case for comparing her with Katsuki, but ultimately I'd compare her to someone a bit more separate from the main story, like Iida or Shouto.

I think that leads to a much easier conversation about how disappointing her story is to some people. If you can compare a female character to an equivalent male character in the story and find the end result lacking, that's certainly cause for disappointment. Ochako doesn't get as much character growth as Iida, at least not for a long while. And there certainly isn't the level of focus placed on her, her inner thoughts, her development, or the drama developing around her as there is with Shouto. But Ochako does have her big moments in the story too. Is it just that her story is written sloppily, or it's not a good story, or are we biased against her as readers somehow? It's hard to say. I used to find her compelling in the early story, but now I don't find her nearly as compelling as I did back then. But I could say that of many characters, male and female. Is the desire for Ochako to have a more fleshed out story the result of comparing hers to other male characters' stories, or is it indicative of a hunger for better stories about women in general in a way MHA never presented itself as?

What if I just say I like Ochako's character concept and her early moments but find that her overall story is too spread out over a long period of time for it to have any impact on me? I just don't like her story the way I like some others. Like, it's fine. It's a fine story. In all honesty it's one of the better stories I've seen for a female character in a shounen manga. It's just not engrossing for me. She's not what I'm here for. And I think it's entirely valid to be disappointed in that, regardless of if she was male or female.

#anon ask #ask pika #ochako uraraka #anti ochako uraraka #anti tag just in case #anime only friendly

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tacomanarrows · 22 days

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Tac's OC Ref Masterpost!

Heya everybody! I'm not sure where the thought for this came from but I wanted to make a post that just has all of my OCs' refs in it in case anyone ever needs to find them and doesn't wanna ask me for them (which ur always welcome to do btw!) or doesn't wanna go digging through their Toyhouse galleries. This will be linked in my pinned post as well, so if you ever need to find it again, it'll be there! Every character will have their Toyhouse page linked below their ref, so you'll have easy access to more in-depth info and more gallery images if needed!

All the refs are below the read more since this is going to be a really long post, so be prepared for that if you take a look lol. It's organized the same way as my Toyhouse, with sonas first, then primary, secondary and tertiary OCs (basically categorized by how much I use them and how much development they have). I'll put a little bit of information about each character and whenever I make a new ref for a character, I'll swap out the old version with the new one here!

Also feel free to ask me anything abt any of my characters ever!! I adore talking abt them <333

SONAS

(These guys are ordered by how much I use them/how representative of me they are)

Shep (Toyhouse Link)

My main sona and most complete representation of myself out of all my characters!

22 y/o asexual biromantic German Shepherd

Boyfriends with PBnJ

Lead vocalist/guitarist for Let's Get Back!

PBnJ (Toyhouse Link)

Secondary sona

Usually goes by just PB

Also Ace/Biro, Golden Retriever

Boyfriends with Shep

Bassist and backup vocalist for Let's Get Back!

Starburst (Toyhouse Link)

Main comfort sona, personal favorite OC <33

Kinsona based on Jenny from Wayside, who's my biggest comfort character!

Do not draw her without her outfit!! Also please only draw her anthro!

Second tallest of my anthro characters, slighter taller than Shep, not as tall as Wilkołak

Very friendly, adventurous and always looking to live life to the fullest!

Spatter (Toyhouse Link)

Pokesona

Move set: Dragon Pulse, Earthquake, Rain Dance and Protect. Feel free to draw him using any of these!

Has roughly equal number of purple and green splatter markings

Very squishy, loves giving/receiving hugs

Vostok (Toyhouse Link)

Main Dragon/WoF-sona

My oldest OC, I've had him since February of 2017

May look intimidating but rlly just a big soft guy

Blue and purple scales make chevron shapes (not zigzags, not checkerboards, not stripes, etc.)

PRIMARY OCS

(Characters from here going forward are listed alphabetically per section)

Agouti (Toyhouse Link)

RainWing

Relatively quiet and shy until you get to know her

Lesbian, girlfriends with Rhazz

Can feel the emotions of others very strongly (for better or worse)

Doppler (Toyhouse Link)

SeaWing/RainWing hybrid (75% Sea/25% Rain)

Weather forecaster with his wings and scales that show weather radar

Makes up a weather watching/storm chasing team with Sundial and ThunderSnow

Boyfriend of Sundial

Radar can show any kind of weather (rain/thunderstorms, hurricanes, snow storms, tornadoes, etc.)

Eejanaika (Toyhouse Link)

SkyWing/RainWing hybrid

Name pronounced Edge-a-NYE-ka

Goes by Eej as a nickname

Has issues with anxiety and self-confidence

Demisexual, girlfriend of ThunderSnow

Has a short right horn, RainWing frill spines with no membrane, a double-pointed nose spike and is missing every other spine along her back as a result of being a hybrid

Name and design based on the old color scheme for the Eejanaika roller coaster at Fuji-Q Highland in Japan

Firecracker (Toyhouse Link)

Jack Russell Terrier

Small but full of energy!

Loves 4th of July themed snacks and baked goods (his personal fav are Star Spangled Ding Dongs haha)

Friends with Starburst over their shared energetic lifestyle and red white and blue color solidarity :]

Isaac (Toyhouse Link)

Celestdog - Australian Shepherd

Nonbinary Asexual

Quiet and reserved, generally prefers to do their own thing

Very smart, loves trivia facts

Sibling to Moxie and the rest of the Celestdog family

Kwaro (Toyhouse Link)

SilkWing

Gay, boyfriends with Rutabaga (owned by @/macaronichewtoyz)

Likes to sing, but is self-conscious about singing in front of others

Generally softspoken

Kinda velvety soft rather than full scales

Luau (Toyhouse Link)

Major comfort OC

Very chill, laid back attitude

Good friends with PB and Shep

Occasionally guest vocalist for Let's Get Back! and often runs the lights/effects for their shows

Always has a flower in her hair, but can be any flower!

Girlfriends with Seabreeze

Moxie (Toyhouse Link)

Celestdog - Siberian Husky

Another major comfort OC

Loves to have fun, can play a little rough sometimes but always means well

A bit bigger and more stocky than Isaac

Sister to Isaac and the rest of the Celestdog family

Pebble (Toyhouse Link)

Small and fluffy with long, silky fur

Husky/Samoyed mix

Hates getting his fur dirty

Smallest of my feral dog OCs

Pumpernickel (Toyhouse Link)

Twin brother to Rye

Drummer and backup vocalist for Let's Get Back!

Easygoing and relaxed

Enjoys being outside at night

Rhazz (Toyhouse Link)

Huge comfort OC

Design and personality based around the Roaring Twenties

Super energetic and affectionate

Lesbian, girlfriends with Agouti

Stage performance partners with Foxtrot

Has a necklace, two hoop earrings on her left ear, a ring on her left horn and a feathered headdress (all are not optional when drawing her!)

Rye (Toyhouse Link)

Twin to Pumpernickel

A bit more rambunctious than his twin

Likes to strut around thinking he's cool stuff when he's really just kind of a dork

Keyboardist, backup guitarist and backup vocalist for Let's Get Back!

Seabreeze (Toyhouse Link)

Lively surfer girl

Girlfriends with Luau

Good friends with Starburst as well, as both are pretty adventurous

Always has her lucky seashell necklace

Wilkołak (Toyhouse Link)

Big scary (or at least he tries to be scary) transgender wolf guy

Name can be pronounced either Veel-koak or Will-ko-Lack (His name means Werewolf in Polish)

Tallest of my anthro OCs

Has hydrokinetic powers and his blue markings glow when he uses them

Used to be a WoF Fantribe OC named Galeforce before I redesigned him lol

SECONDARY OCS

Arroyo (Toyhouse Link)

SandWIng

Sometimes acts as an older brother figure to Rhazz

Higher-up at a gold mine in the desert

Ruff is stylized to look like messy hair

Foxtrot (Toyhouse Link)

NightWing/SilkWing hybrid

Stage performer, performance partners with Rhazz

Loves showtunes music

Feel free to simplify his design if needed lmao

Magma (Toyhouse Link)

Biggest of any of my dragon characters

Veteran of some war (he never specifically says which)

Has a scar on his tail

Adoptive older brother to Sunrise

Fits the "cool uncle who brings the kids awesome gifts at their birthdays and holidays" role

Sundial (Toyhouse Link)

IceWing/RainWing hybrid

Girlfriend of Doppler

Makes up a weather watching/storm chasing team with Doppler and ThunderSnow

Wings show what the sky outside looks like at any given time (day/night, clear/rain/snow, etc. - think like a Minecraft clock lol)

ThunderSnow (Toyhouse Link)

IceWing/SkyWing hybrid

Wavy spines are a hybrid side effect

Wings are meant to look like a blizzard, icicles and lightning, all meant to tie back to his name

Storm chaser, works with Doppler and Sundial

Boyfriend of Eejanaika

Wanderlust (Toyhouse Link)

SilkWing

Owns a safari tour business in Pantala

Sometimes wears a pith helmet at an angle as part of her tours :]

Probably has an Australian accent lol

Her catchphrase/business tagline is "Everybody needs a little more wonder in their lives!"

TERTIARY OCS

Cenote (Toyhouse Link)

PackWing (WoF Fantribe)

Name is pronounced Seh-noh-Tay)

Lives in the forest and has a lot of knowledge about herbs and plants and stuff

Spends so much time in the woods that the smell tends to follow him wherever he goes

Markings and stuff can be simplified if needed lol

Chernobyl (Toyhouse Link)

NightWing/SandWing hybrid

Used to be the king of a fantribe I had made called FissionWings, which is why he has his floaty crown

Orange stripe along his flank is highly radioactive

The spots on his wings flicker with little sparks of radiation

Generally cold and stoic, usually keeps to himself

South (Toyhouse Link)

Melanistic IceWing

Named to contrast all of the IceWing OCs named North lmao

Youngest/smallest of all my dragon OCs

Very innocent and happy since he's still pretty young

Love to play with his friends

StrangeEvidence (Toyhouse Link)

NightWing with weak future seeing powers

Based on the terrible Science Channel show of the same name [I have no shame]

Tries to interpret his visions but goes like, way overboard and sounds ridiculous in the process

When they turn out to be something totally mundane, he's just like "alright, so that's what that's about. Hm, neat" and walks away

These last two are doubled up due to Tumblr's 30 image per post limit </3

Sunrise (Toyhouse Link)

Also fairly young, but older than South (like what would be tween age in humans)

Kind of a ditz and lacks any kind of inhibition, which sometimes gets her into trouble

Adoptive younger sister to Magma, who often helps her out of the trouble she gets herself into

Tōhoku (Toyhouse Link)

SeaWing/SandWing hybrid

Lives by the beach

Loves to cook and owns a snack shack by the ocean

Very chill, would probably host a surfing contest

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jakethesequel · 5 months

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My Scott Pilgrim Takes Off Review

From a long-long-time Scott Pilgrim fan.

Quick-form style:

PRO: The animation is stellar, does a great job at both adapting and upgrading the original artstyle with a bunch of motion.

PRO: I especially love all the little background references. Not just the ones related to the original comics or whatever either, there's a lot that are just aesthetic references to gamer stuff or Toronto landmarks (Honest "Ed's"!). Does a lot to make it feel more like it's really set in late 2000s/early 2010s Canadiana. I think you could fill a whole wiki just categorizing all the little connections they fit into every episode.

PRO: Truly a once-in-a-lifetime voice cast, I'm actually amazed they got the whole cast of the movie to come back after thirteen years.

PRO: Extremely funny with the jokes, as the comics and the movie both were, but even more concentrated, especially if you're sharp enough to catch all the background details and references.

CON: The main storyline feels rushed. More on that later.

PRO: Both the licensed soundtrack and the original compositions go fucking hard, rivalling the movie's already impressive album.

PRO: A lot of characters who didn't get a ton of development in the comics or movie get extra screen time and are seen in a new light that really fleshes them out as complete personalities where they might have been one-note before.

CON: A lot of the characters who were more important in the comics or movie have underdeveloped arcs in the anime, so they feel half-baked.

PRO: The scene-to-scene dialogue, and the way the characters socialize with each other, often feels fresh and real the way they were in the comics. It's cartoonish, of course, but they talk like long-time friends talk.

CON: Lisa Miller, my favorite tertiary character, was not included. Unforgivable.

Overall? Takes Off was an enjoyable addition to the series. Even with all its glitter, it's not as good as the original comics, but that's a high bar. I would say that Takes Off is equal or even better than the VS The World movie, and that's a good ass movie! The attention to detail and production quality is substantial in both. I personally think that the story in Takes Off had a little more substance, but I think opinions are going to vary strongly on that, and I can easily understand the other side. In any case, if you're new to Scott Pilgrim, Takes Off is a lot of fun, and if you end up liking it, the comics are even better. If you already enjoy Scott Pilgrim, Takes Off is a strong spin-off and worth watching.

Points heavier on spoilers below, and heavier on details as I slowly forget what "point form" means:

PRO: From the start, the first episode is bursting with love for the original series. There are multiple scenes that are shot-for-shot recreations of the comic, and it's a real treat to see the comic panels animated and voiced by the movie cast.

CON: Knive Chau's introduction is kind of brushed over. They basically say "Knives Chau: Scott's 17-year-old fake girlfriend (more on that later)." Except: There's never really more on that later.

PRO: A lot of the first episode's changes are done in a really funny way that fits the vibe. Obviously the Amazon -> Netflix change is just corporate politics, but delivering Netflix DVDs makes it feel like even more of a period piece. And changing Scott's awkward infodump from Puckman to Sonic cartoons - "one guy playing two versions of the same character" - is a cute lampshade hang.

CON: A lot of people are going to be turned off by the show's central twist. Everyone expected this to be an adaptation played straight, since that's what was advertised. It sure as hell shocked me when Scott "died"! I have no doubt some people are gonna have a more intense reaction and feel shitty about the rug-pull.

PRO: However! I came around on it pretty fast myself once I figured out what they were doing. While I would have adored a direct adaptation from the comics, I cannot complain about getting a brand new story by the original creator, and I think the whole AU idea of "what if Scott lost to the Seven Evil Exes" is a really fun one to explore! Regardless of execution, it's a cool concept and I kind of admire the balls of sucessfully pulling a bait-and-switch on such a major production. Managing to keep your main plotline a secret while working for a major production company and hiring box-office-topping actors is no small feat!

PRO: Again, the AU-fanfic-type stuff is a lot of fun. It's great how the League of Evil Exes finally gets to do their whole evil plan, and succeed in killing Ramona's date, then fall apart when they realize this didn't actually get them anywhere.

PRO: Also, while their fight does kind of unfairly nerf Gideon compared to his other appearances, it rocked seeing Matthew Patel clean house. I'm just a sucker for when a weak early enemy managed to usurp power through some bullshit. And of all the Evil Exes, he needed the glow-up the most, he got the least scenes out of any of them.

PRO: METRIC'S BACK!

CON: Even though he comes back to life, the funeral scene has weird vibes. Scott's friends and family reacted more emotionally when the comics did the "extra life" gag, but this is to their knowledge an actual permanent death. Even if she feels responsible, it's jarring that Ramona, who knew Scott for like two days and has an established habit of running from difficult feelings, seems more affected by grief than friends Scott that had known for years like Wallace, Kim, Stephen, even Envy. Hell, Knives was "dating" Scott for longer than Ramona's one-night stand, but she moves on quicker from the death of her fake boyfriend than her comic/movie counterparts do from just a breakup.

PRO: The casket just having spare change in it is a fucking great visual gag.

PRO: KIM PINE YURI???

CON: Kim's backstory and character arc gets shafted, and Scott's backstory loses complexity. More on that later.

PRO: There's less typical-late-2000s-loser type jokes about lesbians, and less catty bodyshaming, which is good. It might have been realistic dialogue at the time but it'd probably feel out of place in a modern production, even a period piece.

PRO: Related, Ramona has less internalized biphobia and doesn't make "experimenting in college" excuses about her sexuality. Some may feel like this simplifies her character, because her treating Roxie like an experiment is an important flaw, but I think it's a positive change. I'd rather her character be a bisexual girl with relationship issues than a comphet girl with relationship issues. The latter just reinforces bi erasure too much for me.

CON: Ramona inexplicably feels more loyal towards missing-presumed-dead Scott who she has had one date with than comic Ramona felt towards comic steady-boyfriend-of-several-months Scott, despite anime!Scott not getting to apologize for two-timing Ramona and Knives like comic!Scott did. I think this oversimplified her character and weakens her arc. More on that later.

CON: There's obviously an issue of balancing plotlines with runtime, but Roxie has a much more involved and interesting role in the story in the comics. She even moves in with Ramona for a while. The drama!

PRO: It's very cute seeing Knives hang out with the Sex Bob-omb crew on her own terms. She does that in the comics too, after she and Scott break up, but it's mostly offscreen unless Scott or Ramona also happen to be in the room. It's also a good addition to have her involved with the music herself rather than just be a fan.

PRO: Dead Kennedys needle drop. Fuck yeah.

PRO: In general, spending time with all of the Evil Exes is a lot of fun and does a lot of work to make them feel like well-rounded, fully realized characters. For me, I think this is the biggest benefit Takes Off brings to the series, and something that genuinely makes re-reading the comics more enjoyable. The Exes' scenes in their books pop more with the added detail to their personality from this anime.

PRO: Each Ex (sans Gideon/Gordon) gets their artstyle-shift backstory with Ramona lifted right from the comics.

CON: Even so, the Exes' appearances aren't totally even. Particularly Roxie, Todd, and Gideon/Gordon. Matthew, Lucas Lee, and the Twins benefit the most from the extra screentime, but every Ex has a few of their bumps shined off. Mostly in their backstories: while I love the flashbacks, they're all a lot less confrontational with Ramona about her own faults than their other appearances would suggest, again simplifying Ramona's story and weakening her arc. In previous appearances, many of the Exes were a lot less "fight Ramona's new BF to win her love back" and a lot more "fight Ramona's new BF because she broke my heart and I want revenge."

PRO: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost guest cameos!! That's how you KNOW it's an Edgar Wright project through and through

PRO: Young Neil becoming a cinephile and an accidental screenwriter is a great storyline, and the ongoing lampshading of adapting existing storylines makes room for a lot of good jokes at the creators' own expense.

PRO: WALLACE WELLS YAOI? Well, that much was more expected. But Todd Ingram/Wallace Wells yaoi? That's new ground!

CON: Again, it's a question of managing runtime and work-hours, but the Envy->Todd<-->Wallace love triangle isn't as interesting as the "taking a full page out of this volume for a relationship chart" love lattice from the comics, though it's still hilarious and a delight to watch. It would be fully in-character for Wallace to steal Envy's boyfriend, but that's nowhere near as juicy as the web of jealousy and desire between Scott+Ramona+Envy+Todd+Lynette+Knives(+Gideon, later on).

PRO: I'm glad they didn't re-cast Kieran Culkin, but I'm also grateful they wrote in a mea culpa about casting straight actors to play gay characters.

CON: Envy herself has very little character in the anime besides being Scott's bitchy famous ex-girlfriend, where the comics paint a much more sympathetic picture. Maybe an issue of Brie Larson being busy with Marvel, but unfortunate all the same. More on that later.

PRO: "Edgar Wrong"

PRO: Narration by Weird Al Yankovic

PRO: They have a lot of fun joking about Scott Pilgrim VS The World thanks to the set-up. I feel like every time there's an in-universe joke about adapting Scott Pilgrim (real life guy) into Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (movie) it also works as a fourth-wall joke about adapting Scott Pilgrim (graphic novels) into Scott Pilgrim VS The World (movie). If the writing was less tight I think it'd be grating and either feel too meta or too avoidant, but I think they walk that line with talent and make most lines work on both levels. It's nice to see the creators take a good-natured jab at themselves for the issues the real movie ran into adapting a not-yet-finished 6-volume comic into a sub-2-hour super-overbudget studio movie with a professional soundtrack from several major indie rock stars. That joke about the movie not being able to make up its losses didn't come from nowhere, unfortunately, but I'm glad they can laugh about it.

PRO: The Chau/Stills songwriting team is great. They develop their own friendship in the comics, too, but it comes to life way more here. It does see them relegated to more of a comic relief role, rather than their more complicated arcs in the comics, but more on that later.

PRO: Gordon Goose from North Bay Ontario is an inspired choice, as is him friendshipping it up with Lucas Lee after they're both broke, as is especially him hooking up with Julie. I could honestly even see them getting together in the comic or movie versions too, if the story had gone a little differently. They've got great chemistry that I never even considered.

CON?PRO?IDK: Gordon Goose from the anime is an entirely different character from the comic's Gideon Gordon Graves. Some parts could fit: him originally being a loser from North Bay, him hanging out with Julie and Lucas Lee, even the anime-binge depression spiral could fit if events conspired for him to lose everything. Other parts, though, are trickier. I mentioned that he was a far weaker fighter than in other works, but that's minor and idk maybe it's a rock paper scissors thing (Scott is stronger than Matthew, Matthew is stronger than Gideon, Gideon is stronger than Scott). The BIG changes are that he doesn't seem to have any of his evil genius plots going on besides the League of Evil Exes. In the comics, he infected Ramona (and later Scott) with the Glow, a kind of emotional infection that enables and encourages avoidance; and in the movies, he stuck a mind-control chip in Ramona. (Also in the comics he kidnapped and cryogenically froze his 7 ex-girlfriends sans Ramona in a giant machine to "save" them until he could convince them to take him back, because he's a massive fucking asshole.) He did both long before Scott and Ramona met, so it's odd that there's seemingly no counterpart in the anime. It's also super different that after losing his wealth he stops being obsessed with Ramona. Where the other exes might have been more revenge motivated, Gideon was the one who really did want to try and win Ramona back by any means. His main character trait is that he's pretty much incapable of letting go when women reject him. There's echoes of that when Julie talks about his high school years, which I think is a good addition, but it makes it odd that in the final few episodes he's almost entirely uninterested in Scott and Ramona. Maybe that's Julie's influence, but that's a hard sell without actually showing it. (Plus, Julie didn't want Scott and Ramona together either, so almost a shared goal.) All in all, this makes Gordon Goose feel way more divergent from comic/movie Gideon Gordon Graves than any other character is. Still, I'm hesitant to commit to calling this a negative. It's different, but it might have been a difference needed for Takes Off to do what it wanted to do. Part of me wonders whether a Gideon played a tiny bit closer to norm would have been better, but I'm not confident in that, so decide for yourself.

CON: Gideon/Gordon never mentions his fetish for dressing people (Envy in particular) up like dolls.

PRO: While I know time travel plots get tiring, I much prefer it to Scott just being dead, or someone having just kidnapped him regular style.

PRO: The aesthetic for future-Toronto - and especially Old Wallace's sugar daddy's Nintendo mansion - fucking rocks.

PRO: Old Scott's character design, both in his time travel gear and his street clothes, totally nails the "Scott Pilgrim from a Bad Future" assignment. No notes.

PRO: He keeps his X-Men jacket (of course) while literally playing out his own Days of Future Past storyline. You absolutely know he's loving that fact. He wants to be Cable so bad.

PRO: Lots of characters in the future timeline wear masks, and the bus has a little disinfectant machine. These are already kinda staple tropes for dystopian futures, but there's another layer that makes it even better: If you look at the timeline Old Scott lays out, saying that about 13 (or maybe 15) years have passed since Young Scott's era, it seems pretty clear to me that they're referencing the 13-year gap between the movie and final book releasing in 2010, and the anime releasing in 2023. Suggesting that Young Scott is from around 2010, and Old Scott is just from... this year. So it's entirely possible the masks and disinfectant aren't for ANY kind of cool futuristic reason, that's just how alt future Toronto dealt with Covid-19. Personally I find that detail clever and also hilarious, it really got me when I realized.

PRO: Old Scott, subtitle: 37 years old, looking a solid decade older than that. I know red hair can go gray quick but he is not looking great for his age. Which isn't at all surprising considering his lifestyle.

CON: Some people, especially those who were heavily invested in the Scott/Ramona relationship from the comics or movie, are going to be upset over Old Scott and the divorce/separation reveal. I get it. Especially in the comics, they go through a hell of a lot of growth, and learn to genuinely love each other in a way they never had with anyone else. It sucks to see them fall back to their worst habits, Scott turning a breakup into a neurotic attempt to fix anything except his own behavior, and Ramona running away from a relationship with zero communication or closure and creating another resentful ex.

PRO: However, I'm not one of them. I have my gripes with the time-travel plotline in general that I'll get to, but I think Old Scott and Old Ramona going through a separation and a rough patch after several years of marriage is realistic and an interesting place to go. The comic had (still has) the most deeply developed relationship between Scott and Ramona, and left them on the strongest footing possible for their happy ending. Even the comic, though, never really promised them "happy ever after," it just said that they had all the skills they needed to make their relationship work, and left it up to them to traverse that long journey. Now, maybe you disagree with me and you think that comic Scott/Ramona should have been able to handle a rough spot better than anime Old Scott/Old Ramona. Thankfully, the anime gives you an out here: Old Scott's VR photo album has a couple details that show his timeline isn't exactly the comic or the movie storyline, so we can avoid stepping on the toes of existing endings, and explore new possibilities without overwriting your old headcanons. Personally, I think that even with all the growth they've had at the end of the comic, it's believable that Old Scott and Old Ramona could have a big argument that leads to them temporarily separating. Even when you've got good interpersonal skills, big arguments happen, and even when you've worked on them, your gut-reaction coping mechanisms still come up. Whatever the argument was, it's not hard for me to imagine avoidant Old Ramona to put up space between her husband instead of dealing with a stressful argument. It's easy to imagine dumbass Old Scott interpreting their separation as a call for permanent divorce, and no matter the age Ramona Flowers is never the kind of person to proactively call up an ex to resolve a misunderstanding. I think it's a really interesting and juicy narrative choice. If they had really landed the execution with this, I would outright love it and think it was a great addition to their love story.

PRO: DP input for the VR vault which is a giant Game Boy. Sick.

PRO: THE VIRTUAL BOY! (Or "Virtual Guuy")

PRO: For some reason Old Scott bro-ing it up with the Old Katayanagis and making retro throwback music in the garage works really well? Like for some reason I could see it happen even in the comics continuity if they (a) came back to life and (b) did a redemption arc for kidnapping Kim Pine.

PRO: Callback to episode 1's sugar daddy joke, and they genuinely had me wondering if they were going to make Wallace hooking up with Scott on the rebound a thing.

CON: Honesty I think they should have just committed to the (not really that old) Old Man Yaoi! Live a little!

PRO: Silver Fox-y Wallace Wells living up to his destiny of being a rich drunk trophy husband. And aging more gracefully than Scott despite going fully gray.

CON: You've got to wonder where the rest of Scott's friends are. Again, we've got to consider the runtime, and that he's in an unusual life situation, but in the comics when he gets into a similar depressive funk, a lot of his friends and family reach out to him, and he tries to reach out to them. A "17 missed calls from: Stephen Stills" or a "Kim doesn't talk to me anymore" line might have gone a long way to excuse their absence. It's also notable that despite his extremely unsuccessful music venture with the Old Katayanagis, Old Scott seems to still be unemployed, which is an example of his character development being cut short compared to the comics. More on that later.

PRO: Old Ramona's character design is as stellar and on-brand aesthetically as Old Scott's, plus the benefit that Ramona actually knows how to dress cool. Fucking baller.

PRO: Also she looks exactly her age (not given in the show but likely 38). Not surprising given she's got a healthier lifestyle than Scott, but I guarantee her natural hair color has gone completely white by now. You cannot be doing a full bleach and dye job every morning ma'am! Those follicles are stone dead!

PRO: It's incredibly endearing seeing her try to undo Old Scott's time travel plan through giving Young Neil the screenplay, and even more endearing when she calls Scott her one true love. The contradiction between her thinking of Scott as her true love and going through this massive effort to stop his time travel plan, but not being willing to go to Old Wallace's house and actually talk to Old Scott, is great. It's the closest the anime has gotten so far to giving Ramona her original character arc, which really got sidetracked by Young Ramona playing Columbo. More on that later.

PRO: For those who weren't keeping track of the meta Scott Pilgrim story, it now goes: Scott Pilgrim (real guy, old timeline) -> Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, a memoir by Old Young Neil (memoir) -> Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (movie script adapted by Old Ramona, credited to Young Neil) + Scott Pilgrim (real guy, young timeline) -> Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (failed movie and making-of documentary) -> Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Musical (adapted by Stephen Stills and Knives Chao). It's also entirely plausible that all of these versions eventually inspire Old Young Neil to write his memoir and create a bootstrap paradox. Incredible. Plus, the musical part continues the metacommentary by being roughly analogous to the real-life anime!

PRO: Delorean rollerskates, need I say more?! Actually, the choice to use this kind of Back to the Future "one timeline that corrects and adjusts when time travel happens" is really smart. Especially when Old Scott says he doesn't want to send Young Scott back because he seems to always end up marrying and separating from Ramona regardless, or when Old Ramona's script doesn't stop the eventual divorce and Old Scott getting unstable. In this part of the story, it's a great way to show how them trying to literally change the past instead of resolving their current issues will never get them anywhere.

PRO: Old Ramona and Young Ramona failing to synchronize on a vibe for their photo

CON: This is where I started to feel the ending getting rushed. Over the final episode, it felt like all the existing plotlines sped on to a quick resolution to make room for the very sudden AK field and Even Older Scott climax, which itself felt in a hurry to finish.

PRO: Scott apologizing to Knives and taking responsibility for being an asshole creep.

PRO: Knives saying she's glad he's not dead but she's glad that it broke them up. Get his ass, Knives! He's earned it!

CON: While these are super important scenes to include for both Knives' and Scott's character arcs, and I'm super glad they made it in since it'd be weird if they left it unspoken, it does feel unearned. Scott has barely been away a couple of days, and it doesn't seem like either he or Knives have had the time for serious introspection they would need to get to this point. Scott could have been inspired to be better than Old Scott's example, I guess, but he clearly thinks of Old Scott as a different guy and doesn't feel responsible for Old Scott's actions. Even if the memoir/movie/musical/VR robot experience showed him Old Scott apologizing at some point, I don't buy that he's emotionally intelligent enough to internalize doing it himself, and if he did it would still feel unearned because he'd basically be following a walkthrough rather than understanding it himself. And Knives? From her perspective, in a couple of days her inappropriately older fake boyfriend introduced her to his band, cheated on her, and then died. Since then she's been hanging out with his old band rather than any friends her age, and writing a musical about the life of her dead ex. She has not been in a position to realistically process that their relationship was fucked up. Both the apology and Knive's response, though necessary, feel rote rather than genuinely felt.

CON: Likewise, Ramona and Scott being so madly in love when reunited. They've known each other for one and a half dates, 1.75 at most. Scott is slightly ahead because of the VR memories and meeting Old Ramona, but not by much. Now, Scott is honestly the kind of guy to fall headfirst into a romantic fantasy with a woman he's barely met, but Ramona is not, as shown in the anime when she decides to pull back and not have sex on the first date. In the comics they take things pretty slow to accomodate her needs there, not moving in together, not saying "I love you" for a while, taking a break from each other midway through, they go for a couple volumes before she even tells him how old she is. It's super out of character for her to go head over heels like this without hesitation. She has been trying to solve his disappearance for a while, but that hasn't really caused her to get to know him any better. Someone might argue it's because she's seen how their lives play out in Old Ramona's movie, but that has uncomfortable elements of predestination and denying free will that I'd rather not think about. If I was trying to fix this, I'd maybe say that talking with her exes and making peace with them while looking for Scott helped her get over her issues, or that being more impulsive than comic/movie Ramona is actually timeloop-style the reason their future marriage is unstable. But that would all be fanfic, it's not present in the actual text, so I've got to call this one against the anime's favor. In general, the anime tends to take a very love-at-first-sight ("sparks") view on love, which is in opposition to the comics' more mature view of love as an ongoing practice. More on that later, maybe.

PRO: AK (Anti-Kiss) fields taken visually and conceptually straight from Evangelion's AT (Absolute Terror) fields. I'm a sucker for eva! This and a few other references seem to make clear that the creators are gunning for Takes Off to be to Scott Pilgrim as the Rebuilds are to NGE.

CON: I genuinely don't think Old Scott is smart enough to come up with this. I know the Old Katayanagis are said to have designed the nanomachines, but I don't mean the technical side, I mean the strategic side. Scott is pretty stupid, bless him. Old Scott is still not very smart. Scotts Pilgrim are just not the kind of guy to ever consider a Plan B. I just don't buy that Old Scott would ever think to himself "I should have a backup plan in case my first doesn't work," he's too confident and too stupid for that. The AK field feels like a red herring for Gordon Goose going evil again, since it's similar to the Glow and mind-control chip, but it ends up going away without much fanfare. Even Older Scott even admits they would always figure out a way to get rid of it, so it's kind of a lackluster final mystery.

PRO: All of the evil exes showing up the musical but being totally uninterested in fighting Scott is a fun reversal of the norm. Especially the Katayanagi twins being totally fine acting on prophesies of bro-ship from their special little vegan robot oracle.

PRO: Despite being a downgrade from megalomaniacal genuinely evil ultimate villain to greedy but affably evil Saturday-morning-cartoon villain, seeing Gordon Goose get back to sinister plots is a big plus, and "It wouldn't hurt any of us! ...Maybe some cast and crew," is a great line for him. Even when he tells Even Older Scott that he has no interest in what's going on and wants to go back to the play, though it's an unthinkable sentiment from obsessive comic/movie Gideon, the line goes out with enough confidence and disrespectful disinterest that for me it actually makes up for it!

PRO: In general, I love when a show gets an opportunity to bring the whole cast to the event, putting all the personalities on display. Especially a formal event, because then sometimes you get fun new outfit designs! In Takes Off it feels even more special because this isn't just all the characters getting together at Scott Pilgrim the Musical for a last hurrah, it's also metatextually all the creatives from previous Scott Pilgrim projects reuniting against the odds in Scott Pilgrim the Anime for a last hurrah.

P: Speaking of all the characters getting together, there is - by technicality - an appearance by Lisa Miller, one-hit-wonder extraordinaire, in the finale. She's in the crowd of graphic novel characters drawn in to populate the musical's audience, face partially obscured. I do not consider this a proper appearance and will still count the lack of Lisa against the anime. However, in the sprit of fairness, I will offer a partially obscured PRO for this cameo.

PRO: Even Older Scott has clearly given in to the Satsui no Hado! Design elements like the hair, bandana, raggedy gi, wrist wraps, and inexplicable tan all call to mind Akuma and Dark Ryu from Street Fighter. I wonder if the Shoryuken input for Old Scott's vault was intended to tie in to this?

PRO: Even Older Scott acts like Master Roshi even though he's only 47. That's only like, Bulma in Dragon Ball Super years, man! How are you that buff but aged that poorly?

CON: Even Older Scott's plan makes zero sense. You've seen Back to the Future. You can't kill your younger self, dude! Total paradox! You'll cease to exist and therefore can't have killed your past self and therefore your past self should exist blah blah blah.

PRO: Even Older Scott is absolutely stupid enough to have tried it anyway. Especially after 10 years isolation.

PRO: "Even Older Scott VS Everyone" and "The World VS Scott Pilgrim" are nice wordplay, I'm here for it.

CON: The confrontation between Young Scott (and associates) VS Even Older Scott lacks emotional stakes, since it kinda came out of nowhere. There's the AK field, but Even Older Scott says they would figure that out anyway. There's the barebones stakes of Even Older Scott turning everyone into spare change, but nobody really seems to be afraid of that as a threat, and it's confusing what that would even mean with the time loop. Their dialogue suggests kind of a philosophical conflict between Even Older Scott trying to control Young Scott's life, and Young Scott wanting to make his own choices, but that also seems undercut by the time loop: if Young Scott was actually going to make different choices, Even Older Scott wouldn't exist. Maybe this is just the dialogue having some trouble getting the conflict across? They could be going for Even Older Scott futilely trying to change the past, VS Young Scott wanting to have the freedom to make those choices even if it causes him to suffer in the future, "better to have loved and lost" and all that. That's thematically cohesive so I think it was their intention, but I don't think it was communicated well in the fight.

PRO: Nevermind anything else, the fight scene itself is fucking fantastic. Expressive and punchy animation everywhere, banger music, and a chance to show off just about every character's personality as they contribute to the fight! Even some characters who haven't had major animated sequences yet get a shot in the spotlight, and often with a bonus to boot, like Knives finally getting her trademark knives from the comics/movie! We get even more chemistry between the characters when they team up and work together for combo moves, so not only does it give a moment of glory to everyone's individual personality, it gives us a spectacle to the relationships they've built, too. The circumstances surrounding the fight might not make a lot of sense, it's unclear why they're fighting or what they're fighting over, but in HOW the cast fights this whole sequence evokes an astounding amount of character.

PRO: Even Older Ramona. Gets another great design. Actually looks her age, and good for it. Actually looks like Bulma in Dragon Ball Super.

PRO: Even Older Ramona, to her credit, returns her original character arc. She stops running away from the romantic messes she's left behind, and comes back to fix it. A+

CON: I don't buy that Young Ramona has internalized that message enough to mind-meld about it. Ramona after 13 years of marriage and 10 years to think about it, sure. But not Ramona on her third actual date with Scott, 3.25th at best.

PRO: Human Instrumentality Quantum Super Reimona I'm drowning in Evangelion references here

PRO: Super Ramona finalizes Ramona's missing character arc! It might be a bit rushed, but it is a complete character arc. It might have taken her 23 years longer than the comic, but hey, this is a different story working at a different scale. They got there in the end.

CON: Even Older Scott never really gets his character arc. Super Ramona gives him a second chance and reverses his villain arc, but he's really at the same place at 47 that he was at 23, which kinda sucks. But, more on that later.

PRO: Super Ramona's "it's never too late to try and mend what you've broken" ending still leaves open the possibility of a rekindled Scott/Ramona romance, and at the very least implies they stop isolating themselves and develop a healthier, friendlier relationship. As far as I can tell, this fully resolves the timeloop AND gives a relatively happy ending to a complicated romantic relationship, both of which are hard as fuck to write. I salute the writers. Even if Scott and Ramona are destined to have a falling out 13 years down the line, they're also destined to forgive each other after 23, and who knows, maybe they've got a chance to get back together again in after 24. It's a messier narrative than the comics to reach the same basic message, but in it's own special way it's still beautiful.

CON: It does kinda leave Scott and Ramona's non-romantic relationships in the lurch, though, after a decade-long absence. Even Older Wallace deserves a thousand apologies and a foot massage for putting up with these two.

PRO: I love a good "where are they now" sequence! Matthew, Gordon, and Julie settling their differences and sharing the evil plots amongst themselves. Young Neil driving the mario karts on movie sets. Stacey getting some eye candy at the café and resolving Julie's joke from earlier about Luke getting a job there. Good stuff.

PRO: Knives fully joining Sex Bob-omb is a particularly genius choice.

PRO: It's true. As an anglo Canadian, our French does suck. (Our schools can never decide whether to teach us Parisien or Québecois and we end up speaking neither)

CON: Is it bragging if a Netflix show includes a scene of a video rental place shutting down? Feels like... when a cat wants to show off the mouse it killed lol

PRO: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost eating Cornettos. Magnifique.

PRO: Also hey! It's Mobile! Wallace's boyfriend from the comics! He's also psychic! And I guess works for Nintendo also? Damn, he's the total package.

CON: No real representation for Lisa Miller, the world's best D-list failgirl! 0/10

CON: NO STEPHEN STILLS YAOI! I joke, but I do consider it a major flaw that Stephen Stills never gets to come out. The movie got a pass because he hadn't come out in the comics yet, but there's no excuse here. The subtly concealed subplot in the comics of him breaking up with Julie and coming out of the closet in the comics is one of my favorite parts, and in the anime all he gets is an ex-girlfriend with no reference to him coming out at all.

CON: In fact, almost all of the original supporting cast gets this treatment. Scott, Wallace, Stephen, Knives, Kim, Envy. Even arguably Ramona, despite being the new protagonist. While their jokes are fun and it's a treat to see their personalities on screen, their pre-existing character arcs get neutered, disappeared, or straight up reversed. Sure, though I hate to admit it, it makes sense to cut Lisa's character, since she has no reason to show up in the first place if Scott's gone. But the rest of the supporting cast were the heart of the original comics; Their complex development over the books is what made the comics so special in the first place, and it's a heart all adaptations and spinoffs since have mostly lacked. I want to go into more detail on how these characters got done dirty, but I'll save it for another post. I'll link it here if I ever finish it.

PRO: Through the whole show, it's clear everyone loves Scott Pilgrim in all its forms: comics, movie, video game, anime. Bryan Lee O'Malley, Edgar Wright, the entire movie/voice cast, Metric, Anamanaguchi, and now Science SARU clearly have a lot of passion for these characters. There's a ton of work put in to bring this to life that wouldn't happen if they didn't genuinely care for the series. You think Chris Evans isn't getting better offers?

PRO: THE FUCKIN PLUMTREE SONG THAT STARTED IT ALL. FUCK. YES. WHERE MY HALIGONIANS AT

A NOTE IF YOU'VE GOTTEN THIS FAR:

I know I've written a lot about how the anime doesn't compete with the comics, or where it's fallen short, but I want to be clear that I actually really really like the anime. I think it's great! It's clearly a labour of love. It's just a lot easier to write a lot of words analysing parts that fail than parts that succeed. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off succeds at A TON OF THINGS!

I would honestly say that it succeeds far more than the movie, and people love that movie, myself included! It's a cult classic! The Scott Pilgrim graphic novels are just that good that it's hard for spinoffs to match up. If you ask me they're some of the best comics ever made, but I'm long biased by my personal history with them. You can never really be neutral about a high school favorite.

I think "spinoff" there is the right word, despite the show's marketing. It's not an adaptation by any means. It's not a sequel. It's doing its own thing, and it did it really well. If you expected an adaptation, I understand your frustration, it's shit as an adaptation. But I'd encourage you to give it another chance as a spinoff, it has a lot of value to add to the whole Scott Pilgrim experience, just as much as the game, and just as much as the movie.

#scott pilgrim #scott pilgrim takes off #scott pilgrim vs the world #ramona flowers

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opbackgrounds · 2 years

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Since you are reading the older arcs, I feel like you have a better vantage point to talk about this: how do you feel Oda's pacing has changed over the years? I keep getting the sense that he's going through stuff faster than before but when I check the number of chapters for each arc, the later arcs are so much longer. I don't know if it's nostalgia but I feel like the older arcs might have been shorter but they felt really detailed and well paced.

I've actually thought about this quite a bit, and I'm convinced that the answer is in the edit.

There's a lot of factors to consider when considering this question. Firstly, the cast is much bigger now. A bigger crew requires more enemies for fights, and grander world-spanning stakes requires an equally grand second- and tertiary characters. This is an inherent problem with creating a world and story that's as big as One Piece's and Oda's hardly the only person who's ever struggled with it--Just ask fans of GRR Martin how they're holding up waiting for The Winds of Winter.

However, while some of the growth is necessary and expected, Oda's done himself no favors. The recent Road to Laugh Tale sketches show that the Red Scabbards started out with only four samurai. Personally I think five or seven would have been a better number, but just imagine how much shorter Wano would be with the samurai plot threads essentially cut in half. And, really, as cool as it was that Oda was able to sit down and come up with the Eleven Supernovas in an afternoon, once they're introduced into the story Oda has to do something with them. In one fell swoop Oda introduced nine plot lines that simply did not exist before the Sabaody Archipelago. He did the exact same thing when introducing the Seven Warlords, and while that's a cool group that definitely has a place within the world of One Piece, I understand Oda's grief when he says he wished he'd made it a smaller group.

But, what's done is done and having introduced all these characters Oda doesn't really have much choice but to use them. I think for the most part his handling of the Supernovas has been really good, weaving them within existing arcs, but not every group has been that successful. The absolutely best thing Oda could have done for his pacing is cut out a lot of the fluff and streamline the story as much as possible. That's not to say that there's not a place for character interaction and jokes, but its like finding steak with the right amount of fat. You want enough for some flavor, but not enough to ruin the cut.

And that just hasn't happened. I brought it up at the beginning of Water 7 about how tight the plotting is. Even a lot of the jokes and character interaction end up tying back into the themes and plot of the story itself. I distinctly remember a chapter early in Wano where a ton of pages were spent on a joke about Franky going from

place to place looking for blueprints to Orochi's mansion, and while it's a good joke in and of itself, it didn't do anything for the overarching story of Wano. Had Oda cut it, the story would have lost nothing and he could have used those pages on something more important. The same can be said about the cute fox story the tied into the weapon stores. It was cute and heartwarming, but the benefit to the overall story of Wano did not justify the page count Oda spent on it. And it's not just Wano, because there's no reason why everyone and their dog deserved flashbacks during Dressrosa, and Doflamingo definitely didn't need three.

That's the power of the edit. Working on a serialized schedule means editing works differently than someone making a second pass on a novel. You have to be ruthless when deciding what to cut and what to keep before anything's been drawn. Because as I've said before, making a comic is one of the least efficient ways to tell a story out there, and stupidly labor intensive even when working in black and white and using assistants.

Oda's also made several comments, more lately, about being ready for One Piece to be finished. He has a different mindset now 25 years later than a young man just starting out on his journey. I don't think the fandom appreciates just how much of his life he's given up to see this story through, the years he wasn't able to spend with his wife and children, days of little sleep cooped up in a room drawing on a grueling schedule known to kill people. That has an effect on the story itself. A person only has so much endurance, and while I'm sure Oda still loves One Piece you can definitely tell how the simple passing of time has affected how he's gone about writing it.

#sarc talks #long post

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blood-starved-beast · 26 days

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we know that the experiments on humans in the research hall were conducted in an attempt to create beings capable of communication with the great ones, but what was Maria's personal contribution? did she want to establish contact with the moon presence through the vessels of other? I'm trying to put 2 and 2 together with her ambitions, leaving the hunt behind and immersing herself into violent slow manslaughter (all for Progress and Insight, obviously)

Okay so to start we got to make some things clear in that the ultimate goal of everyone involved in Byrgenwerth was to ascend, somehow. To improve humanity what will you. Part of this goal to ascend was this hunt for Paleblood, which is referenced/mentioned/sought after at various times throughout the game and is the main goal of the Hunter in question.

What "paleblood" actually means is obscured within the game. Many (me included) speculate it connects to the Nameless Moon Presence, to the skies above ("Behold! A paleblood sky!"). The Doll being an entity created by Moon Presence, bleeds white - paleblood. To acquire/achieve paleblood is to be blessed by the gods, which is especially pertinent for the Hunters as their "god" is the Nameless Moon Presence - the object of worship by Byrgenwerth scholars. It blesses them with insight - "grants them eyes."

Lady Maria is no different in that sense. I do think she shares some of the interests of other Byrgenwerth scholars - she was one, and the research at the Hall seems to be directed at creating a vessel to communicate with the Great Ones as to gain insight - celestial emissaries. This is my personal theory that Fauxsefka was actually building up and improved Maria's research in the Hall. While Maria never got anywhere (for various reasons), Fauxsefka "cracked" the code and created the celestial minions, going in the direction of creating a celestial emissary. Maria, in line with the rest of her character, only succeeded in creating the Living Failures.

Why did she make that change? That I feel is very vague within the game. I think one ought to think about Maria's background specifically when it comes to her choices. Maria is from Cainhurst, she has a personal connection to Oedon and to the worship of Great Ones there. Dissecting the corpse of a Great One would be sacrilegious to her - she says this as such to the Hunter. If I recall correctly, she expressed even more disgust at the dissection in the JPN version. Maria has always reviled at tactless, senseless slaughter. She rejected Cainhurst's blood magic to focus on maximizing her skill. Killing the Fishing Hamlet denizens means nothing, meant nothing to someone who knew some degree of how communication with the gods works. At least with the people in the Hall she is working towards some goal (even if it's a failure at the end, hence her suicide).

In other words, ego plays a bit of a part of why Maria joins the Research Hall. The methods used by the Hunters were barbaric, useless, and she had to find another way to achieve Insight. Again the deleted lines are tertiary canon, but the way she speaks of the Church and the Hunt there sounds very dismissive. Experiments, especially something as difficult and new as these are very biologically costly, and Maria likely used the patients as you say - as a means to try to connect to the Nameless Moon Presence. The theoretical Celestial Emissary that would have been created from her work would have helped her communicate with the Great Ones, the Nameless Moon Presence especially, and from there would have gotten insight. It also means avoiding her other issues - that is, her guilt over involvement in the atrocities she's committed. That is a feature not a bug. She had to be better than the others, but when her own actions also bred failure at a similarly high cost, she could not accept that and she killed herself.

And I do think she was overtly concerned with Insight. It's interesting that when she dies, she does the "make contact" gesture. She's reaching out to the Sky - paleblood remember, the Nameless Moon Presence. A lot of the research motifs in the Research Hall seem to evoke the Moon in some matter. Even going through the level forces you to "climb up" to the Astral Clocktower - towards the person most "highly" ascended - that is Maria. Or of the Sea, of which the Moon is a guiding presence and of which Maria herself is named. Maria the name refers to the sea - she is being guided by the Moon, and thus she seeks that guidance. Hence the gesture when she dies. She seeks salvation from the god that she's been worshipping/chasing after in the end. Same way Gehrman reaches out for the Moon Presence when you kill him.

She sits upon the Astral Clocktower - which seems to be based on an astronomical clock, which a is a special type of conversational and academic piece made to showcase the skills of the individual, not for actual practicing academia. An astronomical clock showcases the positions of the planets and stars and references the Zodiac for astrological purposes. It is very difficult to make but also kind of not useful. The Astral Clocktower is designed with Runes all references the Fishing Hamlet and also Maria's own connection to the Blood and Oedon. It's a good metaphor for Maria imho. Took a lot of skill to create/achieve, but in the end kind of ineffectual and worthless. That is what she's Lording over.

If there's also something to mention - a lot of the research in the Hall seems to concern the study of phantasms which we know provide a direct link to the the cosmos. The Milkweed rune mentions that the Lumenwood is strongly associated with the phantasms, in that they're a host for them if I recall. Maria being associated with the Lumenwood likely relates to her desire to reach to the Cosmos more than just her liking pretty flowers. Her preference for them likely informs us about her philosophy or theory about ascension. In academia you get a lot of different people agreeing that "z" exists, but as to how to get to "z" is deeply disputed. Maria joining the Research hall and her focus on the Lumenwood and using the patients plays into her academic differences with the rest of the Hunters.

#lady maria of the astral clocktower #bloodborne #my meta #not completely happy with this #but it's something that's very vague but also super fascinating about with Maria #*Rattles the bars of my cage*Maria is a scholar ya'll!!!#More than she is anything else

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technicallyblakebelladonna · 16 days

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Anything you want from ilia that’s isn’t related to Blake or yang? Personally I want to see a little of ilia finding herself not in relation to Blake or Adam. And my personal hope is that we see anything to suggest she isn’t just following in ghira’s footsteps, I’ve been dissapointed by the white fang plotline and that’s really all I can hope for at this point

im trying to discern whether or not this is a subtle passive-aggressive dig at the fact that when i rambled about ilia earlier, basically all i did was talk about her and her relationship with blake and future interactions with yang.

but i'll do my best to answer in sincerity in the case that it's not.

so just to quickly state, i'm of the stance that i'm not someone who should be speaking about the white fang/faunus arc and how it's been handled previously since i am white (and the faunus arc has been most widely discussed as a metaphor/narrative vehicle for real world racism) -- and also i don't believe that my opinion should matter for that very reason. far better people than me have had better things to say about all of it, and usually i try to avoid getting too much into rwby fandom discourse in general bc it just turns into a hot mess extremely quickly no matter where you end up in the fandom. so i'm just going to avoid all that and say it's not my place.

having said that, i genuinely believe that i don't think it's a bad thing for ilia to work with ghira and kali to reestablish a better white fang. it feels like a natural continuation of ilia's arc to have her further split from adam and his influences. blake even directly compares ilia and adam, but follows that comparison up by stating "i don't think ilia is like adam - not yet at least" so it really makes sense that ilia would continue to strive for a goal that she once had -- working towards the betterment of the faunus -- but through a lens that is no longer twisted by spite and rage and a overzealous desire for power, as adam's goal for the white fang was. actually, adam never used the white fang for what they were actually meant for in the first place, he just was doing whatever he could to have as much power as possible (but most specifically, as much power as he could over blake -- and he sought to do anything and everything he could to gain control over here).

so for ilia to continue her journey, unfettered by misguided leadership, to step into her own leadership role in regard to the white fang, i personally feel like that's a good continuation for her character. for her to completely abandon the white fang and just leave it for ghira and kali feels like a weird characterization for her, in my opinion. plus, on top of that, really what else would her character do? with her character redemption arc resolved and now that she's on the side of good, why would she just stop there? that doesn't make any sense to me, personally. like, canonically, that makes sense to me from both her character stand point and giving her an in-story reason to continue on with her journey, rather than just having her drop off the map entirely bc all of the sudden now her redemption is complete and we have no need for her. she's a tertiary character for sure, but i dont think even miles and kerry and the other writers are that lazy to just simply drop an entire character. not when they went decided to include her in the montage shots during ruby's v8 monologue. they plan to keep her around, and clearly they plan to keep her around through her connection with ghira and kali - likely meaning, the white fang.

now for something that i would LOVE to see them do with ilia that "isn't related to blake or yang", but will likely not happen, is for ilia to become a maiden in some way, shape or form. i've seen, specifically, that ilia will become the summer maiden somehow as a theory that's gained some popularity. specifically because the maidens (other than cinder, who is basically ruby's main antagonist) are tied to our protagonists in some way -- winter is weiss' sister, and raven is yang's mom. so it feels like a fairly short leap to assume that the next revealed maiden could end up being tied to blake in some regards.

there are a couple other posts that completely sold me on this (as if i needed much convincing in the first place bc i love ilia so much and having her be a maiden would just be dope as fuck) that you can read HERE and HERE if you so desire to, but basically they boil down to how thematically ilia could fit in as the summer maiden and how it would make sense, actually. one point is that the maidens themselves have interesting relationships/connections between themselves, so it stands to reason that the next maiden-maiden connection would have something similar. and it would be a connection that winter would have with another maiden. and winter and ilia have interesting established narrative parallels already that could be more deeply explored in ilia becoming a maiden.

the other post talks about how team rwby would become guides to the maidens, rather than becoming maidens themselves. this is already showing up with yang and raven, with ruby and cinder (to a degree), and certainly with weiss and winter. blake currently does not have a guide position to fill -- except that she already has guided one character along their path back to redemption. so, again, not a massive leap to see the possibility of blake further guiding ilia in that journey. again, the posts say far more and say it much more eloquently than i did, so feel free to read those instead.

there's certainly a lot the writers could do with ilia's story that isn't related to her interactions with blake or yang, and a lot that i'm excited for if they choose to bring her back, but in the meantime, i'm just gonna keep hoping we see her again, somehow.

#rwby #rwby v10 #ilia amitola #ray replies #im just over here like that marge potato jpeg holding up the summer maiden ilia theory like #i just think it's neat #would love for that #anon #anon ask

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rainytypology · 2 years

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MBTI Cognitive Functions

A brief explanation on cognitive functions. As I'm still learning about MBTI myself, I may update/change this.

If you are interested in kpop and typology, I do typology analysis for idols

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The cognitive functions are what each personality type uses to work through the world. How they make decisions and take action, how they process information and perceive the world. There are 4 extroverted functions and 4 introverted functions, a total of 8 functions. They are split between Judging and Perceiving functions.

Introversion/extroversion in MBTI is NOT the same as social introversion/extroversion. A person can be introverted socially and extroverted MBTI wise as they lead with a dominant extroverted function and vice versa.

All 16 types use all 8 but will have 4 in their main stack. The other 4 are in the shadow stack, which may used under stress and/or facing really new/unfamiliar situations.

Main stack: Dominant - Auxiliary - Tertiary - Inferior

Dominant function is the most comfortable function to use.

Auxiliary supports the dominant function.

Tertiary is a neutral spot. It can help the dominant and/or aux function but may also be a little awkward to use.

Inferior is most confusing function to use. Usage can be improved over time and with a lot effort though.

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Judging functions: Functions that show how we make decisions and take action.

These would be Feeling and Thinking functions:

Fe, Fi, Te, and Ti

Fe - Extroverted Feeling (ExFJ, IxFJ, ExTP, IxTP)

Values human connections

Values group harmony; dislikes conflict

Tries to see what's best emotionally for others; recognizes other's feelings

May care about other's perspective of them

Fi - Introverted Feeling (IxFP, ExFP, IxTJ, ExTJ)

Focused on own emotions, personal values and morals; analyze decisions against their own beliefs

Constantly analyzing their own emotions and morals to see if they need to improve their own character

Wants to be authentic and genuine

Te - Extroverted Thinking (ExTJ, IxTJ, ExFP, IxFP)

Objective and fair

Focuses on efficiency and order

Uses knowledge in the external world

Relies on established facts and sources; doesn't care to pick it apart as long as it's true and usable

Ti - Introverted Thinking (IxTP, ExTP, IxFJ, ExFJ)

Subjective thinking

Picks apart info to see what makes sense logically to them. Then creates an internal system for consistent info

Very logical and analytical

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Perceiving functions: Functions that show how we think and process information

These would be Sensing and Intuitive functions:

Se, Si, Ne, and Ni

Se - Extroverted Sensing (ESxP, ISxP, ENxJ, INxJ)

Uses the 5 senses

Present minded

Observe, experience, and react in the moment

Realistic and grounded

Si - Introverted Sensing (ISxJ, ESxJ, INxP, ENxP)

Makes an inner perception of the outside world

Relies on personal experiences

Prefers familiarity and structure

Tends to be detail oriented

Ne - Extroverted Intuition (ENxP, INxP, ESxJ, ISxJ)

Gains ideas from the external world; creates and sees many future possibilities

Makes external connections and patterns

Theoretical, experimental

Ni - Introverted Intuition (INxJ, ENxJ, ISxP, ESxP)

Focused on personal insights, impressions, and ideas

"Hunches". Ni picks up info subconsciously and the answer may pop up "randomly"

Convergent; may have a few ideas here and there but it all comes down to one idea/answer

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The pattern of functions can go

JPPJ or PJJP

E.g

ENTJ (Te - Ni - Se - Fi) - JPPJ

INTJ (Ni - Te - Fi - Se) - PJJP

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Depending on where the function is in the stack, it is used and expressed differently. E.g Te doms (ExTJ) will often have no problem initiating and finishing tasks as Te is focused on reaching goals. It is natural for them to be able to get things going. However, Fi doms (IxFP) have Te as their inferior; they may struggle to finish projects or take initiative. May struggle to separate feelings from situations that require being objective.

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Loops and Grips can occur when under stress.

A type in a loop can be stuck cycling between their dominant and tertiary function, completely ignoring their other functions.

A type in a grip can be stuck using their inferior function in a very unhealthy way. They are very unlike their usual personality.

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MBTI notes list

#mbti #cognitive functions #mbti functions #functions #myers briggs type indicator #cognitive function stacks #judging functions #perceiving functions #extroverted feeling #introverted feeling #extroverted thinking #introverted thinking #extroverted sensing #introverted sensing #extroverted intuition #introverted intuition #mbti loop #mbti grip

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taptrial2 · 11 months

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I'm what you might call a sesame street "fan" because I hope to work there one day and you perfectly described my exact problem with their recent attempts at representation. It all feels more for the sake of an outside perspective, rather than to make autistic people/ people of color/ lgbts etc feel represented themselves. Its still kind of marginalizing yk?

THE RELIEF THAT WASHED OVER ME WHEN I READ THIS ASK. whenever i talk about this to people irl, whether they're social workers or my mom, they say that sesame street is supposed to be educational and big bird DID learn how to respect julia's boundaries. i just wish there was a way they could teach about how to treat autistic peers without me having to confront that big bird only recently figured out how to respect me and treat me as a person and adjust to my needs. that sounds silly but it also kind of sucks.

there's a few books about julia, and i've seen excerpts from them. most of them are from other people's point of view, people talking ABOUT julia, what she does, how she feels. there's one where i believe it's elmo describing her, and it's a very loving and understanding description, and he never judges her or says mean things. i saw a lot of myself as a kid in that book about julia. the thing is... it's a book ABOUT julia's autism. about what it looks like. as far as i know (i do not watch sesame street) julia doesn't get to be part of the main cast, she is a tertiary character who exists to educate.

yes, sesame street is an educational show, but i just wish she could run around with the other kids and hang out with cookie monster and stuff. she can participate in learning with the other kid characters of sesame street. i think that would go a long way for making kids like julia feel included in the group dynamic instead of isolated to their own sphere, which is often what happens with disabled kids like julia. she is isolated.

i dunno. i agree. it feels more like tokenism than inclusion. plus autism speaks helped with developing julia which explains some of the problems with how she's depicted

#exoticbutterstxt

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netherworldpost · 2 years

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@october-appreciation Thank you!! It's going extremely well -- which is to say the original Launch Day plans were grandiose and impractical, and have steadily been reduced. This is an expected, unsurprising reality. Plans are guidelines, not law books.

Things not done for Launch Day will arise in the coming weeks, or months, or seasons.

Tomorrow exists independent of how much work I got done today, the moon will rise and let me continue.

I built and ran Evil Supply Co. like a man running out of options -- which to varying degrees was accurate.

I dig through the original character stories and origins of Atticus as a character, as an unnamed narrator, and there was a sharp desperation to escape.

To find a way out, find somewhere better.

I was in a bad place, rapidly decaying, being consumed. I remember explaining, countless times to countless people, "I feel like I am at a piano concert. All eyes on me. I am staring at the keys and realizing I don't know how to play the piano." Crushing anxiety. I had a lot of business dealings and none of them served me -- I was always a tertiary benefactor at best.

Just shy of ten years later, I find myself relaunching, a non-binary fellow. Somehow with better hair?! Amazing.

Prep to launch is travel plans. Pack the car, get ready to go, forgetting something, double check the lists, leave on time but realize we have to stop a million times before we get out of the city.

Launch day, leaving the city, it is in the rear-view mirror.

And then that's it. Drive forever.

Pull over for gas when needed, check out diners and roadside attractions. Largest ball of yarn in the world? Haunted house so scary "seeing is believing"? I'm there!

Endless road trip. Destination fuzzy at best, whatever catches my eye. Vehicle is cozy enough that I have everything I need. Small, modest, lightweight. Happy and sustainable to my needs.

I built Evil Supply Co. because I wanted to escape Earth and find the Netherworld. I'm building this Post Office because I've found it.

Forty years of running.

I'm finally home.

I'm safe.

I'm finally home.

Thank you for coming to this space. I hope the wares offered are things that will delight and thrill you.

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animehouse-moe · 10 months

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Fate/Strange Fake: Whispers of Dawn - The Abridged Rundown

I'll be real, it's an hour long special, there's a lot to get through in regards to it. I'm going to keep things short, and try and condense my thoughts as much as possible which means I'll be skimming over character (and story) related stuff quite a bit. So here's the gist of it: the US is making a fake Holy Grail War without the Mage Association in hopes of it becoming a real one, and we're thrown into the chaos that is fake and real servants colliding in a story that began as a joke on a website in 2009. Yeah, it was originally a joke, turned light novel, turned manga, and now turned anime, so I really recommend reading up on Strange Fake a little bit and as much tertiary Fate information as you can if you want to grasp it, because that's not the goal of this post.

What is the goal though is explaining my thoughts on this hour long special episode, and what it spells for the series going forward (and maybe just a little story and character stuff, who knows).

I'll get it out of the way right off the bat. The production quality? All over the place. In quite a few moments I was left wondering if characters like Faldeus were off model or if it was a creative decision, and there's plenty of examples of downright questionable animation and decisions. I'm rather disappointed in A-1's output considering the addition of a delay. Was the delay to accommodate a single episode special turning into a full series? Or was it just trying to buy time for the more rough pieces displayed in this episode? It's hard to say, but my prior statements still stand. With the help of a few examples, that is.

Anyways, how about some cool stuff? If there's one thing that Strange Fake has going for it, it's style. Weird, right? Production isn't quite there, but the style really is. One of the more bold and interesting examples of Strange Fake's style is through its camera rotations. Sometimes it leads to super odd and rough cuts like the above, other times it creates really striking and inventive scenes like the following. It adds a very nice feel to the content that it appears in, and draws out that sense of drama and suspense quite well. Also, I love that since it's in America they just couldn't help but feature guns and military.

Of course, rotation isn't the only thing that comprises the visual style of Strange Fake. If you were to draft the number 2 spot for most used approach, it would certainly have to be the aggressive camera angles. Not as flashy as the camera rotation or movement itself, but it still plays into that almost melodramatic feel that this story displays for viewers, steeping itself in grandeur and showmanship.

Now, I will say that it misses the beat on its showmanship nearly as much as it nails it, as layouts aren't the only important thing in selling viewers a story. Right alongside it is character acting, and quite often it's relegated to just sort of vibrating pngs on screen that will interact with one another. For comedic effect I think it has a time and place, but I don't think it needs to be used as much as it is early on in this episode. Thankfully though, the good pieces of character acting are really good. Just take a look at Fake Caster here (even though it's just a hand). It captures their personality, their feel, the emotions of their voice (which you can't hear) incredibly well. Though I'll also say that the camera work adds a large amount of feel as well. Just an all around impressively well

Hmm, so where to next? I think, a fun thing to chat about would be the nature of servants, which ironically, plays a really big role in the pairings and purposes of characters throughout this story. I won't go on spoiling things (though I really don't have any information that is spoilers, unless this is your first fate series). Anyways, lets get it started with the coolest and newest servant: Enkidu.

Enkidu is Gilgamesh's counterpart, and the anime makes sure you understand that. Gil is summoned in the middle of a desert, into the hand of a young girl who completely surrenders herself to Gil. Enkidu on the other hand appears in a forest, summoned by a wolf Chimera. The symbolism of the tree of life that appears as lightning is no joke in poor taste, no sir. Enkidu is the blood-brother of Gilgamesh, a warrior who fought side-by-side the king of legend. The parallels are endless between this infamous pair. The disparity between control and freedom, ruling and harmonizing, so on and so forth ad infinitum. This pair was made for one another, and the anime does a great job of conveying that.

Next on the list of incredibly curious has to be our new Berserker and their master, Flat Escardos. I love this idea so, so much. Two peas in a pod these characters are. Unrestricted, unforgiving, and unlimited. The pair are two sides of the same coin with Jack The Ripper comprising the dark of the pair, while Flat the light. It's a really great dynamic, and the character play off each other incredibly well for comic relief and surprisingly dark comments. It's also with Berserker that we get treated to the first of our trio of title cards (though neither of the other two give names). That is, image stills that represent who our servants are, what their story is. Really, really great stuff.

Next up we've got our Assassin, who tells a very simple story alongside the poorly done slam poetry provided by their master. Not a lot to comment on, but I enjoy how not-so-subtle they are with Assassin's background as a religious woman before her fall from grace. Very befitting story, for sure.

Now, the last and certainly not least is our 'wild card' servant and master combination. This one's really something else (I'll share more afterward), but their concept is 'Pestilence'. You might call them a horseman of the apocalypse, the Pale Rider, the Black Plague, whatever name you might fancy. But what they are remains fact: disease. It's really interesting when paired alongside the youthful and innocent Tsubaki, especially as her father takes on the rot/curse of Pale Rider rather than his daughter. Neither like Berserker nor Assassin, Pale Rider is more symbiotic with Tsubaki. A curse, certainly, but one that also cares for and understands Tsubaki, contradicting their very existence as Pale Rider. It's a really curious character that puts even Enkidu and Gilgamesh on alert, so I'm incredibly interested to see what they get up to in this story.

And that's where our information in regards to servants and masters ends. Of course, I've still got a bit more to go so bear with me for just this little bit more.

Strange Fake's style really is something else, as I've said before, but I think one of the more important pieces to it is how fluid it remains. There's all sorts of crazy interesting ideas, from the title cards I've just shown, to the insane impact frames, the dazzling approach to lighting, or even the art style itself. Hell, they use CGI with Pale Rider and it works perfectly to convey that disturbing feel they exude.

Now, this one's separate just because I wanted to chat about it a little. Francesca here's a little drama queen. You already know from her appearance and disposition that she likes to show off, but it extends far past that. Much further past into truly commendable territory all for the sake of showing off. She knows of her short stature, but wishes to impose upon Reeve in this scene, so what does she do? Make a show of trouncing all over his desk. Kicking his lamp over only after performing a perfectly executed stunt to show that she didn't need to kick the lamp over, positioning herself above him so that the shadow she casts is far greater than that of Reeve's, and (effectively) stomping on his police hat to squash his sense of justice underfoot. It's an incredible setup all for Francesca to toy with Reeve in this scene, and I absolutely love it.

Okay okay, last piece. The super cool Gil and Enkidu impact frames. Love that their color schemes are opposite as well. Very very well done, though I wish their fight itself had a bit more impact to it.

And there it is, the end of this Strange Fake special episode. Would I say I'm completely satisfied? Not really, no. There's a lot of production weirdness and concern that I have with a large amount of material through the episode. The story itself is outstanding though, and is presented impressively well. It's just that the animation and some of the creative decisions in regards to that animation is subpar and in poor taste. Strange Fake: Whispers of Dawn is held back from greatness by a single chain, strained at each link, almost begging to be let loose. We didn't get the perfect beginning that A-1 might have hoped for, but I think it's one that plenty of viewers will be enthralled by nonetheless.

#fate #fate anime #fate/strange fake #fate/strange fake: whispers of dawn #strange fake: whispers of dawn #strange fake #fate strange fake #kinoko nasu #naritaverse #ryohgo narita #fate series #anime recommendation #anime review #anime #anime and manga #light novel

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