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asachuu · 2 months

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It’s that time of the month, folks, you know what that means…naturally, my thoughts on Fifteen’s phases 16-17, as well as just some more stuff I simply want to add, because this manga keeps on giving me things to talk about, for better or for worse.

Please note that there will be image spoilers for phases 16-17 below, proceed with caution.

This will be more of a freehand ramble about whatever comes to mind while I’m typing, I’m admittedly somewhat tired today and there’s not much new I could really add as a whole atop the persisting flaws in it, but what I will say is that I’m now starting to think even Chuuya fans are slightly losing here as well, looking at some of these panels. That is not to say they’re badly drawn, once more, I must give all credit to the artwork as I have to admit I very much like it and appreciate the effort that goes into it, but the focus of many of these pages seems to be purely to shock, intimidate or disturb the viewer in a certain way by highlighting the exaggerated abilities of the characters, rather than having the visuals balanced with the actual point of the story itself, which is not— and never has been— about the amounts of power Arthur and Chuuya hold, respectively. Perhaps I will be repeating myself here, but if anyone is to read the novel, they’ll come to find out that there is no more focus on abilities than there is on expanding Dazai, Chuuya and Arthur as characters and human beings within the story of BSD.

Nevertheless, it just so happens that Chuuya thankfully has a certain fanbase, of which the majority of people seem to understand he isn’t meant to be a cold-hearted maniac despite harboring the power of Corruption and being depicted/interpreted in various ways showcasing the extent of his abilities, but speaking from personal experience, the same can’t be said about anyone who comes to know of Arthur, which I don’t mean inherently negatively— I was also once such a person, for which I must sarcastically thank the anime adaptation that initially introduced me to him. At least, on Chuuya’s end, there are always attempts to show his humanity, his actual personality, and I’d have two guesses as to why— first, he’s one of the two most popular BSD characters who has the spotlight on him either by the creators or the fandom almost everywhere he goes; second, his story directly revolves around whether he is or isn’t human anyway, so it’s entirely understandable that a contrast between himself and his abilities would make sense to show, even sometimes exaggerate, just like in Hoshikawa’s adaptation.

Unfortunately, this contrast is just lost on Arthur’s end, because there is no other side of him being anyhow shown to the readers. Personally, I wouldn’t come out thinking Chuuya is some kind of heartless monster, given that he’s shown to interact with other characters normally, he’s seen coming back to his senses after a few panels, and generally, no matter what has been cut out and what has been left in, it just so happens that there is simply enough content of him to be able to merely afford to do any of this— all of which can’t be said about Arthur, who has all the necessary content to understand his character better specifically in the Fifteen light novel (and Stormbringer), not scattered all around several other books and mangas to be able to sacrifice one adaptation of the source material and still carry on. Albeit we still haven’t seen the end of the fight, in which I’m dearly hoping his dialogue is going to be portrayed properly with the same emotion it was presented to us with in the light novel as the absolute last chance for this to turn around in the slightest, I can safely say that there were opportunities to create this same effect with Arthur as with Chuuya, yet these opportunities were all passed up.

From the start, we’re introduced to this strange, yet harmless-looking sub-executive of the Port Mafia, that of which is revealed to be a ruse set up by him, and from that point onwards, throughout the fight, there is no further indication of anything beyond Arthur supposedly being nothing other than a simple cartoon supervillain who doesn’t really care about his actions, even though the novel has enough evidence scattered around that he does— he doesn’t want to be in that situation, he doesn’t actually want to kill anyone, and what he’s after is a memory of someone most dear to him which he’s desperate to get back, and believe it or not, all of this dialogue is, in fact, not supposed to be said coldly and flatly before having his ability centered to no end once more, shining the light on that aspect instead of a character who was originally someone most unfortunate and hopeless, someone who was in an inescapable situation that would have never ended well for him no matter what he’d done, and someone who was far from the person being portrayed in the manga currently.

With all that being said, one more thing I’d like to point out, which is a bit more specific to phases 16/17 at the current moment, is the way the interactions between Chuuya and Arthur are being portrayed as of right now. In the novel, it is made quite clear the two are, indeed, opponents in their fight, but Arthur has no actual desire to kill Chuuya, and Chuuya himself doesn’t actually hold anything against Arthur— in fact, it’s quite explicit in showcasing the fact that Chuuya has respect for him, understanding his motive of wanting to save a dear friend, even cursing out Dazai for not believing it or taking it seriously, and never showing any kind of outward excitement for this fight, which…will be relevant in just a second. If that’s not enough to convince a person, there’s also Chuuya visiting Arthur’s grave further in the novel and quite literally stating he will return to it again, and before that, I believe that Arthur telling Chuuya to live in his last moments also speaks volumes about the fact that there was no resentment or genuine conflict between the two, rather an unfortunate fate they were met with. In the manga, however, I don’t think it’s a reach to say that I’m not quite getting the same feeling. I’ll go ahead and admit that I’m focusing on this because of personal bias, but even despite that, I feel as though having Arthur written off as merely Chuuya’s opponent and nothing more is still not the right way to go about it, considering what I said before— there wasn’t an actual hostility between the two, and not only did Arthur tell Chuuya to live, he also was the one to call Chuuya a human being and see him as such, that of which I’d expect far more attention to just due to the mere nature of Chuuya’s character.

Now, for the first time ever, I will go into some very specific details, because I need them to show what I’m talking about. All further translation credits go to DarkestJay868 on Twitter.

This page from phase 16 was the one right after what was originally Arthur’s monologue about wanting to save his partner, and I believe it’s quite clear how I feel about that part, but I haven’t redrawn this page in particular despite it being in my original plans, so it’s only fair I give my thoughts on it while it’s relevant.

I would normally only nitpick these aspects privately instead of posting them online, but since this manga makes even such small things important for all the wrong reasons, I have to point them out. I initially didn’t think so much of this page, though I did find it a peculiar choice to make him look almost excited for the fight, atop the final line which never appeared in the novel itself— something that may seem insignificant, but ultimately, it does create the effect that Chuuya is somewhat eager to engage in this conflict for whatever reason, which is simply not the case. I could go on about some smaller dialogue changes, even his lack of harshness towards Dazai’s comments that makes his original reaction quite downplayed, but I’m leaving those in a quick mention of acknowledgment, as they’re only secondary to what I’m aiming at here.

I would have ignored this, given there’s a much bigger issue for me to focus on, had Chuuya and Arthur’s skewed interactions not continued onwards to phase 17 as well— more specifically, after Chuuya’s attacks, by the end of the chapter.

If someone were to tell me these two didn’t actually have any kind of internal conflict going on between them beforehand, I wouldn’t have believed it for a second, but here we are. From the first page, in which the original Chuuya of the novel was hurt and tired instead of almost feeling as though he isn’t taking anything too seriously, all while Arthur never said a word that nearly implies him looking down on the latter (his direct quote is “Nothing I say will help…this is my space”, you simply cannot tell me that isn’t far more neutral than what the manga turned it into), to the second page, where not only is Chuuya’s first line much more accusatory and directed at Arthur himself, rather than the original (“…everyone’s an ant to a European ability user…”), but also, might I add that Arthur wasn’t the one to hold Chuuya in place? It’s explicitly stated that Chuuya could no longer avoid the attacks by fault of using too much of his power, and even though this may sound like an insignificant detail when one is to consider the following scene of the novel— that is, almost being the one to end Chuuya’s life, which is absolutely no less cruel than a mere action like that— it still gives off the impression as though there’s some kind of hostility between them when there really wasn’t, not even during a fight to the death, and that, in the context of this manga and its very likely fandom reception…well, I’d much rather just cover even the smallest of details than watch as it ultimately gets misconstrued, as so much media surrounding this novel often does.

Anyway, that’s my take on these chapters for now. I’m aware it’s messy, I’ve only seen phase 17 a couple of hours ago and haven’t exactly prepared some kind of proper dissection. Naturally, feel free to take all this with a grain of salt, or even a whole bucket of it, because yes, I am very salty about the way this manga is going, but I’m hoping to ultimately compare it to the novel and give my own opinion on the development here.

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #bsd fifteen #bsd manga #bsd arthur rimbaud #randou #bsd nakahara chuuya #thoughts #my thoughts #asachuu #well if there’s one thing I will slightly agree with #it’s that yeah. that man IS a creepy son of a bitch #but at this point it’s just not Arthur anymore #and hey I’d be the first to love a character like this #so it’s not as though I just wouldn’t love a villain because believe me I absolutely would #not to mention manga Arthur looks sick as shit #but this isn’t the actual character from the novel whatsoever

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anemcia · 2 years

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@viopolis asked: Honeydew still feels very new to me so I wouldn't take this as a comprehensive opinion but; everything you've told me about Celldew feels extremely grounded in canon regarding what kind of person Cell would take interest in- and the prospect of dealing with one stubborn earthling that just won't stay down not only confronts his ideas about perfection, but also gives more weight to earthlings when the setting itself seems to undercut them most of the time. There's an underlying theme there that I think lines up well w/ DB as a whole ( earned skill vs inherent; at least, that feels like it was a theme earlier on lmao ) and its gratifying all on its own, too. I've thought about it on and off for a bit and saw this opportunity to gesture at it, I guess, hahaha Honeydew's neat ( + I absolutely look forward to finding out more about her- her relationship with Flint, their relationship with the red ribbon army / Commander Red, and did I see an AU where she's an underground fighter? that sounds tight af )

anonymously or not, please tell me what you think of my oc! - [ACCEPTING]

//YES, THAT IS ALL CORRECT!! As you and everyone I’ve spoken with know, I take great pride in tailoring their relationship as closely with canon as possible. Fanfiction works like mine aren’t perfect, but I do feel mine IS one that works faithfully with his characterization. I’m not sorry when I say this; but having Cell be super friendly and flirty with your OC (or other canon character) is just LAZY writing. I’ve ranted about this very subject countless times and tbh IT STILL needs drilling in. Call me a buzzkill or whatever, don’t care. I enjoy CellDew being brutal and unforgiving before it gets to the good stuff.

//Aaaanyway, as for Honeydew, I’m also satisfied with her growth from ordinary to extraordinary with discipline and practice. Humans are unanimously undervalued by the fandom unless they’re enhanced by android tech, so my aim was always to challenge the narrative by creating a human that could rival a saiyan’s strength. This series was built on the idea of shattering limits and transformations, so why not apply that with humanity? I certainly DON’T want to venture into sue territory by giving her too many perks, but I don’t want to restrict her either. For Honey, she’s all about adapting to her situations with rapid success, which makes her VERY likely to surpass Tien, Yamcha and Krillin. Cell is an excellent teacher and motivator, giving her necessary experience to achieve those goals realistically.

//ALSO YES, HER RELATIONSHIP WITH HER DAD IS SO COMPLICATED LMAO. She doesn’t hate him, but they’re largely on negative terms with each other since dropping out of university. I DO intend on exploring deeper aspects of her Red Ribbon roots with Red, but Flint is definitely the key to all that. Plus, Gero being his ex-mentor adds to that strange family history. OH AND HAHA YEAH, the underground fighter AU I’m doing with Momo is gonna be fun. It’s basically just a big ‘what if’ scenario if Cell never showed and her farm is facing bankruptcy. To save her livelihood, she ends up working for Nappa as a professional fighter in illegal underground tournaments. Big prize pools, lots of cash to earn with blood on every Zenni~

#《🌊》𝑨𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒔 [Ooc]#《🌼》𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 [Answered memes]#viopolis #//THANK YOU FOR THE ASK AAAA #//I hope what I've said makes sense #//Honeydew just happens to be a natural genius with fighting and tech #//of course backed by A LOT OF LEARNING and all that stuff #//she's BASICALLY SANDY CHEEKS WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT

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fushiomi · 3 years

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Here’s a video on how to reach Liber/Eng staff about the termination of the English server:

[Video ID: Player is in the A3! app, the songs “Insert the Sunshine” and “Slowly Flowing”, both OST from the game, are playing. The player click on the profile icon, (the content isn’t important). They click on their bio and write “Hi” with a kaomoji on the side, then they write a letter “i” and hesitate before deleting it and click off. They exist their bio and leave the profile page. They instead click on the “Support” button which leads them to a page titled “A3! for Appstore inquires”, there’s a hyperlink that reads “For feedback regarding the ceasing of operations”, and below that in smaller writing it reads “Frequently asked questions (FAQs)”. There are four options viable to the viewer, “I want to play on another device”, “I have received my purchased Gems”, “I can’t login. / I got error 904/905/906.” The player clicks on the hyperlink that leads them to a page to give feedback, it has a green banner and says “For feedback edgar ceasing of operations. Below it reads: “Players that have any opinions or feedback on regarding ceasing of operations can do so here. A disclaimer is below that reads “*Although feedback from users will be reviewed, we cannot respond to individual users”. Green text above a box is present after scrolling, it reads “Please input your feedback here.” The user types in “don’t please ahaha you’re (stylized as ur) so sexy” with a winky emoji, they then access their emoji keyboard and place a broken heart. They can clarify “Actually write something serious though (written tho) with a kaomoji of a smiling person, then press done (two exclamation points) don’t spam and remember to be kind (two exclamation points)”. They then click off the page and settings, the video ends with them on the main page of the game. End ID]

Bellow the readmore is what I ended up (actually) submitting, if you want to copy and paste it, please make a few changes! But ultimately what I felt like was needed to highlight:

- Marketing issues and comparisons between other games that handled international marketing.

- The sudden nature of the announcement and how it impacted the player base.

- The fact the game does have a fanbase and has a market (leads back to the point of bad marketing), and that the success in Japan is an example that the game does have ability to be a hit.

- Other options that don’t include terminating the server (such as a temporary hiatus).

—

Other ideas: Events to connect with the fanbase (example: art contests where winners get “X” amount of gems), twitter events (“Y” amount of retweets in “Z” days will give “X” reward”), subtitles of the stage play so international fans have more content to interact with, etc.

DISCLAIMER: I wrote this while still drowsy from crying and sleep medication, so if you’re able to, please help us write something better than… this.

“Hello, I hope this review/feedback finds you well.

As you can imagine, this is about the ceasing operations of the A3! English/International servers, and the opinions and ideas I (as well as other players) have.

I’ve been observing the way the player base has reacted to the news and, not so surprisingly, the reaction has been pretty negative. A lot of players feel overwhelmed with the sudden news, many disappointed at – what feels like – the sidedness of the decision. While we are all thankful for the amazing localization of the game, we can’t help but feel deeply saddened and, in more extreme cases, betrayed at the decision. The game has garnered quite a community, notably in social media sites such as Twitter and Tumblr, as it became quite a vital and comfort game for many.

Alongside seeing the way the player base has reacted, I looked at the graphics and economical side of things and noticed how players in the server have been lowering. Which, alongside the pandemic and loss of profit Cybrid and Liber have been experiencing as of the last two years, is what I imagine is impulsing the decision to halt activities.

With all of that in mind, I personally still think that terminating content to the English server is a bad idea — in the long run, that is.

The last two years have been quite a financial struggle for many, and to decide to end the game due to loss of profit seems hasty. While I understand it’s not possible to continue operations, I think halting operations until further notice would be a better idea.

Instead of completely pulling the plug, halting operations while focusing on marketing would honestly work better.

The marketing of the game has been, for lack of a better word, quite messy. I think there were lot of missed opportunities, marketing the game as found family and card game — where you accompany a group of people to achieve their dreams — would have been a better strategy than saying it was an otome game - which is what led to a lot of player joining and then leaving due to the lack of romance wh the characters. A good example of marketing, in my opinion, would be the Obey Me! franchise or games such as Cookie Run.

I’m saying all of this, but what I mean is, if the team behind it focused more on the advertisement on social media’s such as twitter and ads on youtube where the nature of found family and the true nature of Mankai (a company where family and brotherly love blooms) the game would find and flourish in the demographic, since it’s not unheard of players wanting a game like that — especially in the west.

Basically, what I’m saying is that I think the idea of terminating operations on the English server is a bad idea especially when there is an obvious marker for it, and A3! really does fit it. Personally, I think halting the events and focusing on marketing the game further — truly pushing the game with ad’s (which could include in game CG’s where we see how the boys grow and connect as a family) where the nature of A3! is shown clearly, A3! English server could absolutely bloom into something amazing.

A3! is about not giving up, even when things get tough, and to try and reach an audience – which is why, I guess, seeing you guys give up on it seems… sad and like a truly missed opportunity.

As someone who’s been with the game since launch, the game has so much potential, so please, please give it another try. Focus on the marketing, push it with ads on youtube and instagram, put the boys’ face out there and make the focus of the story known.

Look into the way games such as Obey Me!, the idol games (mostly female based), and other successful asian/japanese games have marketed themselves and try to adapt it into A3!. An example, instagram ads where you can see parts of a CG (let’s say the Muku and Yuki from Act 1) where Muku comforts Yuki, the voice lines there as you hear the game music and subtitles playing. Be honest about the gameplay, it’s not the most exciting, but market it as fun, add more rewards for when you train the actor — more gems or maybe trophies if you train “X” amount of times in a day instead of just a training card. You can even make more Eng server exclusive cards to insensitive Japanese players to also engage with the English server.

I feel like there are so many ways to go about it that don’t include shutting down the game, because shutting down the game truly feels like the easiest way out… but it doesn’t mean it’s the best way.

Anyway, I hope nothing in this feels malicious, I'm simply passionate about it as someone who’s invested hours and hours, almost 700 days of their life, onto this, A3! and the Mankai company feels like a part of my life, and as many others feel as well, I don’t want to let go. Not when I know there’s so many events and games, gachas and character, left for us as international players to experience.”

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crazy-loca-blog · 3 years

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Disclaimer: Please note I’m neither a psychologist, nor a psychiatrist nor an expert in mental health. Everything I’m writing here is based on some reading I’m currently doing on this topic and on some personal experiences.

Even though I’m really, really happy and my heart is exploding because most of the LIs FINALLY stopped treating our MC as a friend and began to treat them publicly as a significant other (because you’ve deserved it for a long, long time guys!), I know that those people who are romancing Ethan are actually hurt and mad because he seems to be pushing our MC away AGAIN. But what if I told you I’m beginning to see this as canon for him? Like he’s actually not pushing the MC away because he wants to but because he is showing a part of his personality or something that is a result of his experiences as a kid instead?

A few days ago, I found a psychology article about attachment and how self-sufficiency can be very negative when taken to the extreme. For some reason, the article really stuck with me because I had never heard something like that and because I might have felt that some of the stuff on it represented me, to the point that I talked to some psychologist friends because I wanted to know more about it. And after reading the latest Open Heart chapter, I couldn’t stop wondering “what if this is the actual reason why Ethan seems to be pushing the MC away? What if he doesn’t even realize what he’s doing?”

These are some excerpts from the article (the original one is in Spanish):

“Being excessively independent and self-sufficient is a sign of having suffered great disappointments, to the point that we feel that we cannot trust anyone but ourselves.”

Sounds familiar? Another one:

“[…] when we show ourselves to be hyper-independent -and we don’t resort to the help of third parties- we are actually revealing something deeper. Some defense mechanism to protect us against the eventual possibility of rejection, damage or suffering.”

And what do you think of this longer one?

“[…] as adults, [these children] stick with their careers and what they feel they can control. Deep and intimate relationships turn into threats. Being vulnerable is not an option, because if they are rejected […] they may find the loneliness they know well. When they grow up, people who create bonds from avoidant attachment find it difficult to recognize their own needs. They are extremely independent, they can do everything on their own, but they really fear not being good enough for others, and ultimately they fear rejection. They are adaptive people, who can even be very successful in a society, but when it comes to intimate relationships, it is difficult for them to overcome those barriers.”

And a bonus, just because I can’t leave this out:

“This hyper independence can be linked to traumatic situations, even unconsciously. These experiences can translate into greater difficulty when setting up a couple project or a work project, or when committing to someone or something. Because of course, committing also means showing yourself vulnerable.”

Did you read them all? These quotes have the name Ethan Ramsey written all over the place! All of them are from professional psychologists who based their opinions on the Maturational Processes and the Facilitating Environment: Studies in the Theory of Emotional Development by Donald Winnicott and on the Theory of Attachment by John Bowlby. Based on this theory, Ethan would be an avoidant attachment type of person. In very simple words, he is “someone who […] often sees himself as independent and able to ‘go it alone’. He often maintains strict boundaries, can be emotionally distant, and has a hard time opening up to their partners or making and keeping close relationships.”

So based on all of this, I think Ethan may not even notice that he’s pushing the MC away because that’s part of who he is. He is so used to solve everything by himself, to be independent and to not rely on anyone when he has a problem (because that’s how he has managed to survive all of his life), that even though the MC constantly tells him that he’s not alone anymore he has trouble processing the message. The fact that he is also an only child may have even helped to exacerbate this behavior because, as he has no siblings, he had no choice but to deal with things by himself (and here I’m talking from the experience, I was an only child until I was 14 and I left my parents’ home right after turning 18, so you can tell I know a thing or two about growing up on your own).

His relationship with his dad also had an effect on him. Alan even described Ethan as a perfect son for a single parent. He always did his homework, helped at home and worked during summer. And he even said he didn’t have to motivate Ethan to do anything, that he did all of that by himself. But then the article says: “Parents who generate avoidant attachments with their children are mostly caregivers who are not fully emotionally available to them and therefore are concerned that they function from autonomy. That makes the child act in a certain way, to try to attract or to please those unavailable dads.” So what if Ethan did all of this not only because he wanted to do it, but also because he was involuntarily trying to please his dad? The article adds: “It is not a lack of love [from the parents]; it has to do with the caregivers having difficulties on terms of affective connection, so these children learn to adapt and be complacent.”

Should we also analyze Ethan’s social skills? We all know he hates parties and having to socialize could be a nightmare for him. Do you remember that he became friends with Dolores just because she kept in touch with him and she was the one who invited him to have a coffee? Or how Naveen took him under his wing not only as his mentee, but also as his putative son and friend? Or more recently… have you ever noticed how he basically never mingles with our friends, especially in book 3? Have you ever seen him at Donahue’s talking to anyone but the MC and Reggie? Did you notice that during Ines’ wedding he wasn’t with Harper and Tobias, with Naveen or with Baz? He is always by himself!

Let’s move on to his romantic relationships. Besides the MC, the only relationship we know about is with Harper. Have you ever wondered how their relationship was? For some reason, I’ve always felt it wasn’t as serious for him (we don’t have her side of the story). Sure, he cares about her a lot, but he never loved her, even though they dated for a long time. In fact, when I hear him talking about his relationship with Harper, I kind of feel like the only reason they were dating was to keep each other company. Did they have plans as a couple? Did they ever live together? Did they meet each other families? Did they ever talk about marriage? Did he ever tell her he loved her? I have too many questions, but for some reason I think the answer to all of them is “no”.

Finally, have you noticed how focused he is on his job? And please let’s forget about Ethan in book 3 because we all know the MC is solving every single case… I mean… he must have been an intern or a resident when he wrote his book! Let’s also remember how he was obsessed with diagnosing Naveen in book 1 or how in book 2 he focused himself on helping as many patients as possible before Edenbrook’s closure. Of course, let’s add that the man is a perfectionist as well (do you remember when he was mortified and ashamed for misdiagnosing a patient ONCE?).

So yeah, I’m beginning to think that all of this is not about Ethan being mean to the MC and repeating the same story over and over again on purpose. Instead, I think it has to do with his personality as a character and with his childhood experiences. But of course, we all know there is no way that PB makes any reference to this, I just needed to get it off my chest (and to stay awake until 5:30 am writing this) because when I connected everything I was like "OMG!" 🤯

Where can you find more info about this topic?

https://bit.ly/3toNBaA (this one in Spanish, but Google Translator might help you to understand it)

https://bit.ly/33qmbGP (this one is in English)

#playchoices #choices stories you play #open heart #choices open heart #open heart choices #ethan ramsey

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limitless-shadows · 3 years

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Picking up gofushi crumbs from the manga pt. 3

Disclaimer: Beware of anime/manga/fanbook/light novel spoilers. This is just me commenting on the manga with the lenses of a gofushi fan. So... it’s just my opinion.

This section runs from chapter 26 to 79.

About character developments, gofushi first meeting, “Oh, nothing <3″, and others.

[Chapter 26]

Bless Yuuji’s imagination creating gofushi material LOL

[Chapter 32]

Megumi’s disappointed and nonchalant face when others connect “that moron” to Gojou www :surprisedpikachu: it’s even more funny when it’s Megumi who says that.

[Chapter 33]

Megumi being sharp at noticing changes in Yuuji. If he’s that keen, would he have sensed anything different on Gojou after Getou’s death?

[Chapter 45]

“You really can tell even with that guy’s drawing” Dang it, now I have to add great artist to my list of type standards.

Well, Gojou can do almost anything as stated in the fanbook, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that he can communicate well with art as a medium. Ack, is that why Nobara said he had high standards.

I like how fast Megumi is able to dial Gojou’s number here www

[Chapter 55]

If Megumi never tells them anything, what do they think about the gofushi dynamic? Domestic feeling? lolol

Especially Yuuji, who can be perceptive (when he noticed that Junpei was being bothered by his teacher).

[Chapter 56]

Knowing Gojou’s schedule again.

[Chapter 58]

Aaah it implies that Megumi doesn’t usually ask Gojou to train him :(

"Is it that annoying? To ask me?"

...either doesnt want to ask him because he is annoying and/or because he doesn’t want to feel more indebted to him ;-;

I like the face that Gojou makes here haha like: eeeeh~ why is that? what’s wrong that you don’t want to ask me

Did Gojou realize Megumi’s self sacrificing tendencies from just the bunt? or did that already confirm previous suspicions? I liked the anime adaptation of it~

Of course Gojou would be so angry at that that his finger flick made Megumi's forehead bleed. Megumi who isn't growing up in the correct way to be strong enough as was asked from Gojou during their first meeting:

“You better get strong, don’t get left behind.”

And also Megumi throwing away his life in such a manner after Gojou protects him so much ;-; Gojou knows Megumi has plenty of potential but isn’t tapping on it effectively. Disappointment.

Then follows it up by asking him to be selfish so he can grow up strong (it's ok to ask your sensei for training! ;-;). Megumi freeing himself from the chains that bind him to a lesser self valuing is such an amazing character development.

Adding to it is that this flashback was used as the base for Megumi’s change aaaah

I also wanted to add that Ep23 was released 1-2 days before this post and it was such a great adaptation of this chapter with the sunset, the shadows and if that wasnt enough gofushi food, they went with the jujusanpo and and violinteacherhomewreckersformationbgaaah

what is formation a??? or c??? the gofushi interpretation of megumi’s gomeeeeeeeen?andsorrythatepisodewastoogoodImenjoyingthenewgofushiviolinarts

[Chapter 59]

A suspicious dude with white hair who is tactless.

Yaaay way to go with first impressions :D It's funny how Gojou hasn't changed and is still disrespectful in his speech XD

[Chapter 79]

Gojou guessing that Megumi already manifested his cursed technique...

While the fanbook said that he wanted to recruit a talented person, I also fancy believing that Gojou didn’t want Megumi to grow up under a harsh Zen’in training.

Ah. I like how Gojou kneeled down to talk to him about his father’s death. Imagine a 190+ cm tall stranger coming to you, a 6 year old, and telling you from that high up that he killed your father lololol

At this height, Gojou is near Megumi’s stature or at least close to seeing him eye to eye. That pose is also less threatening and even seems childish in Gojou manner lolol but that’s sometimes how Gojou approaches serious things: in a joking way.

Gojou has such a similar reaction where he doesn't say what he is thinking directly, but masks it. In the chapter where Todou says that they should continue with the exchange event, he questions Todou’s age XD and here he asks if he really is a first grader.

That right panel tho... what was going through his mind in that moment? Surprise? Pity? This kid is not normal.

Akutami-sensei Q&A mentioned that the one to tell Megumi about his father was going to be Gojou... and I wonder how it’s going to go? also, Gojou getting out of the box? aaa-

I wonder how it must have felt for Megumi... when the suspicious dude with white hair actually did take care of things. The fanbook with the following Q&A for Fushiguro:

Q: How did he become so insightful?

A: Maybe it's because he has negative thinking and doesn't just trust people.

Source: JJK Official Fanbook (fan translation)

Oof, his own upbringing made him like that. Especially with how he regards himself...

When it says that he “doesn’t just trust people”, Megumi then probably didn’t expect much from Gojou after their first meeting and is surprised when Gojou comes back :(

His father and mother leaving him, but Gojou coming back... although the situation doesn’t get better when later on Tsumiki goes into a coma and Gojou is sealed...

He will take care of things after a hehe~ ;-;

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Oh, yeah and:

Q: Has he known Maki and Mai even before entering the school?

A: Yes. When Gojo was working on Megumi and the Zenin clan issue, he took him to the Zenin house, so I think that's when they first met.

source: JJK Official Fanbook (fan translation) (same as above)

Seems like the Zen’in house is in Kyoto? Because of Maki and Mai’s birthplace not to mention Naoya’s kansai dialect. So... did they go on a trip to Kyoto? :D

---

Then, Gojou counting on shotagumi to work extra hard.... so he can be strong ;-; and maybe become part of his nakama group to change Jujutsu's society huhuhu

On the topic about being granted a choice, I only came to realize it after reading this excellent work, Close Your Eyes (To See) it’s a lovely soulmate fanfic, please consider reading it if you haven’t ^^. Megumi usually goes on about unfairness randomly granted on people, so to be given a choice about going to the Zen’ins or not is quite big. Particularly when it comes to how the Zen’ins would have treated Tsumiki, a non sorcerer. It’s too good.

The look when he says that ;-; counting on Megumi to get strong enough to rival Gojou? Then Gojou wouldn’t be the only one going against the conservative higher ups.

When Gojou closes his eyes, it seems to convey regret/resolution where he sets in motion his plan to reform the Jujutsu society so that no more sorcerers go stray or overwhelmed by duties following a rigid doctrine ;-; as if preventing them becoming like Getou. And thats so aaah because while I knew what Gojou's wish was, I didn't know the why behind it, and that would be a great reason. Megumi has been with Gojou since the start (or near the beginning of it), so it’s even more beautiful.

That transition from closed to eyes to the present where the 1st year trio wakes him up. Was he recalling all those events during the nap?

I- I just love Megumi's pouty face here. But it's still not that angry looking, more like, he is used to it (as always). Then my gofushi brain telling me that there is a hint of concern in Megumi's look- its almost affectionate. Could it be concern because he is worried about how much sleep he gets.

About Gojou’s sleep:

Q: How many hours does he sleep?

A: Seems like only for a short while.

source: JJK Official Fanbook (fan translation)

And Megumi being aware of his tendency to eat sweet things:

“When he’s busy, Gojou-sensei tend to eat more sweets like these, after all…”

source: JJK First Light Novel - Chapter 1 (fan translation)

aaaaaaaaaaah

Gojou lifting his blindfold to look at Megumi with his left eye because Megumi is on his left side.

Wait... it’s the same left eye from the second opening of the first season.... is that a hint.

The legendary “Oh, nothing <3″ with the heart~

Is he being fond of Megumi because of dreaming about their first encounter or because Megumi did get strong, or, or, both of those. aaaah what if it was from recalling everything that happened in the 9 years they've known each other? Calm down! Probably because he got strong comrades now! ;-; i-it’s not just because of Megumi! ...but I like how he has his body turned to Megumi only...

It's a "Megumi has been with him all this time (9 years) while he is trying to achieve his dream and he became this strong"

They... they just look so good together ;-; my gofushi feelings... Chapter 79 is special grade.

[Part 4]

#gofushi #五伏 #self indulgent #re-reading jjk with gofushi lenses

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summonthekrakenismyoriginstory · 2 years

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The Wicked musical movie adaptation is finally happening and of course, the disappointment is finally unleashed. It’s all wonderful here.

I tried to “balance” this post by pointing out the negative aspects as other fans have already discussed anyway, with the steps that the filmmakers and the actresses can do to make this all work. This casting might just work. Or not. We have to wait and see.

Not sure if I’m ready for some discourse that most of the time tend to be stressful in here but I have so many emotions and rationalizations about the Wicked casting that I have to release this somewhere. My friends and my cousin who I can talk to about fandoms are not as obsessed as I am so I don’t really receive the validation or the acceptance I need cos they are not on d same level as me in terms of hardcore fangirling I do. I’m not a stalker and I don’t harass artists and other fans online, I just have a lot of feelings about fictional stories and characters. Same with the “general” population of Tumblr, right?

Ok so my knee-jerk reaction to the Wicked movie musical casting was anger and frustration hahahah. Add to the fact that I learned about it at 2 am so idk, that might have contributed to my being pissed the fuck off about it. But you know, I am trying to have an open mind. I learned in the pandemic to appreciate the little things, even if the little things may include Hollywood doing a stunt casting, cash-grabbing venture which is at the very fabric of the industry anyway and also cos of the capitalistic society we are living in. At first, I hated the casting, for real. And I might be hating it still but now there’s a pinch of hope???? So… here it goes.

So… Ariana. My first thought was can she act??? I didn’t even think of the singing yet. Through the years, I’ve seen some clips of her acting in her Nickelodeon shows and she’s good in that comedic acting thing but for Glinda??? And then I remembered her quick role in Scream Queens and the Hairspray Live where she acted dumb. So I didn’t think she can portray the maturity and sadness of Glinda in Act 2. I couldn’t even imagine how she would be acting her way in ‘Popular.’ It probably would be cringe AF. Dove Cameron would be better in the acting department, don’t you think so? She can be playful like her character in Schmigadoon and be dramatic like Mal in Descendants. Perhaps?

But maybe they will give Ariana an acting coach and Jon Chu as the director might really help her be amazing. Who knows? We have to wait and see. I feel that this isn’t gonna work but maybe it will. Ariana is a fan of musicals and Wicked particularly so she might really step it up in the acting, you know. Please, I’m begging.

Ariana’s singing. So she’s a pop/rnb singer who also sang ‘The Wizard and I’ in a pop style, and also ‘Popular’ was in pop style too, right? I think this one’s easy. She can definitely learn the Broadway type of singing cos she’s a great singer and she loves musicals and Wicked so she would want to step it up and honor the theatrical singing. Plus she started on Broadway, so she knows what’s up. She had to change her singing style to pop in her career and she had to do acting that fit the teen sitcom thing but maybe she can change all of these things to fit the Broadway requirements. Add lessons on diction too so we can understand the words she’s gonna sing even if we already know the songs by heart anyway. About the operatic notes. Maybe she can do it too? With the help of a vocal coach, and with her high register, she might be able to pull it off. But it begs the question, why just not get someone who’s literally trained as an opera singer. Right???

Ok… Cynthia. I only know her cos of her Tony performance for The Color Purple. So in terms of singing, hell yeah, she’s perfect! ‘No Good Deed’ probably will destroy me. Can’t wait for the soundtrack. I want it right now. Plus casting a black woman for Elphaba, what a win! Plus googling her movie credits and learning her award nominations, she’s gonna kill it in the acting... for Act 2.

But for Act 1 tho… I mean. I don’t think she can pass as an 18-year-old who’s gonna start attending a Magic College. Ariana can cos she has a baby face and a carefree personality? But there’s hope for this, I guess? Maybe with makeup, styling, editing, cinematic angles, directing, and her acting skills, she can be believable as an innocent, awkward young woman trying to fit in, who is entrusted to care for her younger sister whose ages are supposedly not that apart. Idk… I’m stretching this and trying to have an open mind.

And now let’s talk about the chemistry between Ariana and Cynthia. Does it feel like they don’t have chemistry?? I mean really, try to picture it right now. But then, they can undergo those chemistry acting workshops thingy that actors do, and who knows, they might be cute together whether you see Elphie and Glinda as romantic or platonic. I’m neutral in this because yes, I ship them but also, I love seeing them as representation for female friendships. It would be lovelier tho if we still get that sapphic subtext. For now, it feels like Ariana and Cynthia don’t have that but who knows, they just need some chemistry acting sessions or get an intimacy coach (I read online that they have one for Gentleman Jack, is that right?).

So basically, what I’m saying is I didn’t like the casting but we can’t do anything about it so I’m trying to have an open mind and hoping that maybe they’ll announce young versions of the leads. Please, I’m begging. Can’t think of anyone young tho, perhaps unknown actresses.

More thoughts:

I want Ariana DeBose and Dove Cameron if it’s just gonna be them the entire time and if they really want people who are starting to become names. But of course, Hollywood doesn’t want that. They want easy, cash grab, Oscar-bait casting. I mean, these two are good actresses, right? I can imagine them being good in the acting and in the singing.

The best approach for this movie adaptation is to follow the books with the time passing and cast young and old characters, with the courage of casting unknowns or not completely unknown but actresses who have maybe one or two acting credits on stage and/or onscreen. And then cast Chenzel for the old Elphie and Glinda.

I want Julie Andrews for Madam Morrible. I wanna see her as a villain. Maybe Ian McKellen for the Wizard or how about Alan Cumming, idk? Or really, just Joel Grey.

Bonus Reading and you don’t have to read this part:

Like many fans, I have this history with Wicked. I was late in this fandom. I discovered it in 2007/2008. I really relate to the lyrics of ‘Defying Gravity’ and ‘I’m Not That Girl.’ I was a typical sad, angsty teenager who didn’t fit in, and eventually, I turned out to be a sad, angsty adult full of mental health issues, so it’s all wonderful. Ok circa 2007/2008, I only listened to a few songs and stopped myself from watching clips on Youtube cos I wanted to see a stage production first. Unfortunately, I live in the Philippines and we don’t always have the resources to create a production here via the theater companies that we do have. It also takes time before a touring production comes to the country. I did not want to spoil my Wicked experience so even if I wanted to immerse myself by watching and listening to all the things available online, I did not do that. Talk about self-control. Fast forward to 2014 which is a long time since I discovered the show in 2007/2008. At long last, there was a touring production for Wicked. It’s an Australian cast and I got to finally watch the show and they were amazing btw. So in 2013, I had a job. I think it’s my second month of having a job and earning money. Tickets were already available for sale in August or September 2013, and the show was scheduled for February 2014. So yeah, I immediately bought a ticket. It was for Orchestra Center, like 7th row or something. My hard-earned money from working in my second month. I felt powerful hahaha. My friend came with me but her seat was on the balcony. She didn’t want to spend much money and that’s fine. We still shared a joyful experience of talking about it and taking pictures together before and after the show. I also bought merch. I even wanted to watch it again and buy a cheaper ticket but the perils of capitalism made me cherish the one time I saw it. After this, I got obsessed and watched and read everything I could find online about Wicked. Bootlegs, interviews, threads, and the movie adaptation rumors along with fan-casting. I once warmed up to the idea of Amy Adams or Kristen Bell as Glinda and Samantha Barks as Elphaba. This was circa 2014, okay. I never liked the idea of Lea Michele or Anna Kendrick for Elphie. I also read what other fans have been saying about following the story in the books for the adaptation and casting for young and old Elphie and Glinda. As the years went on, updates on the Wicked movie were talked about in articles. Sometimes, I got excited. Sometimes, I got tired of waiting for something that might never happen. The fan casting also changed through the years and I got out of the loop cos I didn’t want to hope too much knowing that Hollywood probably would opt for a disappointing cast anyway. And of course, they did. On November 6, 2021, at around 2 am when I was looking around the Vogue website, I saw the article about the movie. I was surprised that a movie is finally being made and I was surprised with their casting choice. And now we wait for the rest of the casting.

#wicked #wicked musical movie adaptation #please be kind

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redstaratmorning · 3 years

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Headcanons and Musings of Pirate-y And Plunderous Proportions: Astarion Says What

Synopsis: Random musings and ramblings regarding and spawning from the differences between how Astarion says just one word, depending on your choices—“What?” This got very long and touches not only on Astarion’s difference in presentation in aforementioned moment, but also some discussion-thoughts to chuck onto the dashboard regarding some other elements of Astarion’s content thus far in Early Access, and some thoughts to add onto others’ speculations and wonderings (I did not save sources so pardon the lack of proper citation, oops. We’re going informal here anyway.) Spoilers for Chapter 1 BG3 scenes, plot, etc, under the cut in case someone hasn’t filtered out the tags. Trigger warning/content warning: some discussion of heavy topics is mentioned and explored, including starvation, abuse/torture, and trauma. Other topics of note for summarization include speculation on Astarion’s largely unknown as-of-early-access background and a touch of his possible pre-vampire morality leanings, possible mental state/trauma reaction in a couple of scenes, and vague speculation on Larian’s gameplan for Astarion’s arc ending. Gather thy party and venture forward, for here be dragons and lots o’ text, matey! [/stereotypical pirate accent]

“What?” Just that one word, between the goblin party and the tiefling party. If Larian keeps the body language and tone presentation more or less where it’s at now in Early Access, they are worlds apart and delightfully up for interpretation of just what’s going on in our favorite vampire spawn’s head. This won’t be an in-depth post about all the tonal and body language differences, just picking out a few due to personal constraints (ie too broke to buy this game currently.) Edit: And also a lot of other thoughts and ramblings tacked on, lol. On the one hand we have him at the goblin party, where he seems much more superficially comfortable there, knows what’s going on and knows what to expect—it feels like he’s done this kind of scene a hundred times before. The comfort of familiarity. Did Cazador throw “parties”, much like how he “invited” Astarion to dine with him? I wouldn’t be surprised if he mingled at regular dinner parties either before his turning, or perhaps after when he’s ordered to hunt for Cazador’s evening repast. I doubt the goblin party has anything as potentially horrific as what Cazador would have lined up on the nightly basis, which is why Astarion isn’t aggro’d: he’s in a position of power at this party after all, not a powerless one. A conquering hero, as he describes the MC. A Precarious position, as it turns out.

Circling back to that one word though, the way he says “what” in that scene after he propositions the MC and the MC picks the “Maybe. If you say please” line feels like Astarion’s response could be interpreted as pretty abrupt. On guard, perhaps, squaring up, offended, even perhaps lowkey challenging/hostile. Expressing social displeasure and possibly staring down the MC mayhaps? Could be, especially if Astarion’s body language remains as it is rigged now in-scene with that step forward, his shoulders shifting, the lack of a smile, that assessing glare, all combined with that flat tone of voice. The animation could just be temporary and subject to change, but if it does end up as more or less the final version of that moment’s depiction, it’s pretty interesting as a shift. I’d read it as potentially “not actually truly comfortable in this situation, just familiar and numb to it all”, especially when combined with some of his other earlier potential lines at the goblin party, such as the following: Astarion: So, what are we drinking to? Other than a pile of corpses. MC: That’s not funny. Astarion: Oh don’t be so sour - It’s a party. You did what you had to. Don’t be ashamed that you did it well. MC: I wish things had turned out differently. Astarion: And I wish I was drinking out of the skulls of everyone who’s ever wronged me. Life is tough. Although that’s not to say we can’t have a little fun. This supports the whole “has been through his personal hell and has adapted to survive it albeit not unscathed” story Larian seems to be going for with him quite nicely in the little tells and details. A sort of “take what joy you can even amidst the dark situation surrounding us” trauma-induced adaptation, coupled together with actual enjoyment on his part for killing. It’d be easy to say Astarion is moreso in his element at the goblin party, and to a degree he is—it’s one he is well practiced with in his current mindset. Compare now how he acts at the tiefling party—we can all agree he’s not having a good time, our friendly neighborhood vampire sulking in particular over the fact that “there’s a worm in [his] brain, [he’s] surrounded by idiots, and all [he] has to drink is wine that tastes like vinegar.” But the delightful thing is he’s complaining so vividly about it. The wine likely is worse at the tiefling party, seeing as they’re refugees, and the goblins had previously captured a duke whom they likely stole loot from and under orders from Minthara et al stored said goods elsewhere for a later date (likely some of said goods were consumed at the party if it happened. Edit: Shadowheart’s drunk dialogue at the goblin party mentions the goblin’s wine there being good, poor dear. Fascinating hints at her story and character in that scene though.) This is assuming Astarion is drinking wine at the goblin party, of course. He may very well be drinking something red and full-bodied there, just not made from grapes. But even in his complaints and presentation, he seems arguably more relaxed and less on guard compared to his demeanor at the goblin party. Let’s be honest, he doesn’t view goblins as equals or stimulating company judging by his various voice lines expressing his disdain, distrust and overall low opinion of them as vermin among other things. The fact that he’s willing to call the tiefling refugees idiots while in earshot of them? Definitely doesn’t respect them as a group—though he has a less negatively opined line regarding them earlier on if the caged goblin (Sazza) is killed,—which is not surprising given that MC and company at the time of the party just saved them from certain death. Astarion’s reaction however also reads as potentially at ease enough to say what he’s thinking. He’s not going to get murdered for saying so, and there aren’t any punishing power games at play with the refugees and do-gooders he’s found himself surrounded by. There aren’t any hedonistic shenanigans going on and the drinks are terrible, so it’s not an entertaining party for him, but one could make an argument that Astarion might actually be feeling more secure or at least less threatened-as-is/was-his-accepted-ongoing-norm there. Which might mean he’s feeling quite out of place, or even just not...entirely engaged with what’s going on around him and even within him as far as emotional states go. Would he casually pull the same stunt at the goblin party? If you’re a bastard to him, yes, but that’s not in the same emotional vein as his dialogue during the tiefling party at all. Loyalty from the goblins is fickle, the goblins worship the Absolute and those that are chosen by the Absolute—so long as said Chosen remain powerful enough to subjugate them and is in favor. Astarion knows this kind of power structure well: ruling by fear and power. With the tieflings? It’s not superiors-and-subordinates, it’s just...people. People celebrating surviving an event that could’ve very well and most likely would’ve ended in their deaths. Will he get to celebrate like that one day? That could very well be a painful and bleak thing to consider, and not something he wants to contemplate as of yet, based on his dialogue lines that demonstrate his fear of Cazador. How’s he supposed to get lost in the fun and revelry if the wine doesn’t even taste good to him? I don’t know wines, but I’m guessing from what little I do know and what I’ve read of flavor descriptors for wines hyped as good, it might actually be bad wine based on the adjective “sharp” when mixed with the rest of the description if the MC takes a sip. Sharp seems to suggest too many tannins, or maybe improper storage so the wine actually did turn to taste a bit more like vinegar, or maybe not enough sugar in the grapes used, perhaps? To be fair, I do believe there’s a non-conversation line somewhere of Astarion’s regarding solid food tasting terrible to him, but I can’t verify that so a pinch of salt there. Still, if his taste buds are aligned with regular living mortal ones for wine at least, RIP Astarion, he’s stuck with a terrible drink for the foreseeable night. Unless, of course, you know. ;D Compared to the tieflings, the goblins as a whole? As a group they’re a scraped together army of pillagers hungry for destruction and spoils. They don’t have ANY loyalty to you—in addition to being willing to betray you via murder immediately despite working with them when Sazza first brings you back to meet Minthara, there’s also when Minthara potentially opts to try to kill you post-goblin-party. If you persuade her not to, Minthara does mention “do not return to the goblin camp, as far as they were concerned you were destined to die tonight.” This is not a group to get chummy with, obviously. Doesn’t say good things about the Absolute’s followers in general, either, or the Absolute depending on if Minthara’s being honest about the Absolute intending that the MC dies after razing the grove. Minthara could just be lying to serve her own ends and is out to destroy any rivals for the Absolute’s favor, after all, I can’t verify that from dialogue exploration at present. So it’s not surprising that this is not a group Astarion is going to let his guard down around I’m sure, or around an MC that sided with the goblins, because fortunes can shift like the wind in a scene like that, and I think his utter lack of surprise at Minthara trying to kill you all (whether or not the MC had a romp with her) is potentially spawned because he recognizes this fact. He’s been here before, in another time, another place, with different faces, but he’s seen this play before. And the MC is just another face for the same old role of a player in this rat race for power when they side with the goblins, aren’t they? The difference this time though is: will they succeed and make it to the top? Is Astarion betting on the winning horse, or not? Far less reason and far more motivation to not be emotionally invested in anyone or anything around him because it’s survival of the fittest, and the most ruthless will be the ones who win—the MC just reinforced that perspective for Astarion, in slaughtering the tieflings. But Astarion isn’t fully corrupted yet, despite however much Cazador has twisted and tormented him so. Isn’t it fascinating, that the MC, one of the first people Astarion can actually interact with relatively freely without Cazador’s puppeteering influence hanging over him quite so acutely, is someone who might very well and very likely will have a huge impact on how Astarion develops and sees the world? For better or for worse, the MC will shape all the companions’ futures and perspectives it seems, depending on their choices. On a meta note, isn’t that thrillingly fascinating and engaging work by Larian Studios? Bravo, honestly. Continuing, for Astarion this could very well just feel like a better but complimentary and thematically continuous segment of the nightmare that is his existence under Cazador as it goes on: he’s a vampire now, and the world is only ever a power struggle between the strong and the weak, and he knows better than to ever be weak again. Kindness and virtue belonged to Before. Before he died, before he turned, before he was taken. Those are things in stories and fairy tales now, that belong to other people, other places and times, other lives—things that belong to the living, not the undead. Sentimentality, more universally-accepted morality, all of those Good™-aligned or softer feelings can feel like they have no place in his world now, on this darker path. But he knows what they are, not just in theory I think, but also perhaps knowing from memory and experience, however distant and faint. The way he speaks on many occasions has subtext that could very well suggest he wasn’t without a better side through implication and emotion. Which is not to say I think he was a shining paragon of virtue before he died—guessing based off of the dev team’s writing of him so far, I’m expecting nuanced and complex but ultimately very human (or elf if you’re being fantasy-based technical) morality with both merits and flaws, for polarizing opinions in the fandom. That being said, I’m holding off judgment on what kind of person he was before he was turned for now despite reading about pre-early-access, preliminary ideas the dev team had for his background. The reason I’m waiting to see what the dev team puts into the game for his backstory of Before, is because some of his datamined lines could be taken in a couple of different ways, and some of his emotional responses as is currently don’t track as truly Machiavellian or I’d say malevolent in nature for manipulation or otherwise. Granted, not all Evil™ acts stem from intentions to be malevolent. Sometimes people do evil both in-game and in life without really intending to, or recognizing that they do, nor seeing the harm they have caused or will cause (I’m looking at you, Mayrina.) Manipulative yes, but so far it’s looked like it’s for defensive purposes in a world that is out to hurt or kill him if given any opportunity whatsoever. Personally I actually wouldn’t even say he’s been really manipulative at all, but your mileage may vary. He lies because he’s afraid you’re going to murder him for being a vampire, and because he doesn’t want to reveal the cause of two centuries’ worth of trauma to someone he just met and likely can’t predict if they’re emotionally safe for him to interact with. Note: “emotionally safe” does not necessarily denote being sympathetic here, so much as “will their response cause me pain in some fashion?” from Astarion’s point of view, which does not necessarily require the MC to be mean to him though obviously that wouldn’t help. We touch upon why sympathy can hurt later on in this essay. And why would he expect sympathy in the other instance, regarding revealing that he’s a vampire? How often would we not murder strange vampires we just met in DND-worlds? Is that not a common response and practice in Faerun for the most part? They’re on the list of acceptable prey for a monster hunter to be kidnapped and taken to who knows what fate (probably nothing good we’re sure), and who would come rescue them? In all actuality: No one. If he wasn’t a companion he’d easily just be one more random encounter to kill—as he and all the companions are in the right circumstances, *cough cough* like when sacrificing anyone to Boooal *cough.* Astarion’s had little cracked moments where he seems to be showing genuine vulnerability, and I’d say he likely displays real genuine emotion plenty of times, just not all the time. While the vulnerable moments could be a ploy, were he the type to actually be fully acting, I’m disinclined to bet that he’d act in the way he does during those moments if he planned them out or even improvised. It could be a mix of both, where it’s both true but also an act of manipulation. Were it the last option, that would require more exploration of his character in various situations to determine imo. I still doubt that though. I think he’s a little too raw and real in his pain, anger, and aggression to say he’s being malevolently manipulative at the end of the day, at least thus far in chapter one. The MC’s choices may change and influence that, on the Evil™ route. I’ve been following some of the fantastic dash discussions on Astarion’s reaction to when the MC tries to comfort him (because of course I have, I’m here for BG3 content and Astarion content especially, aren’t we all here for the same party in his tag? Also hello fellow Astarion stans! :D I hope everyone’s having a good day), and if some of these datamined lines from Pjenn’s blog post are actually implemented and kept as canonical [link], specifically the ones Astarion says regarding heroes, I do think it ties in very strongly with some of what other folks have said regarding his recoiling reaction. Copy-pasted the potential dialogue lines of interest below: Astarion: Heroes. |said with disgust| Astarion: Heroes had two centuries to save me from my torture, but not one came knocking. Astarion: The strong had two centuries to pluck me from torture, but no one came. No, it was the mind flayers that rescued me. Astarion: I spent centuries as the victim of a corrupt man. It was the mind flayers that plucked me away from that. I very much enjoyed all the takes on Astarion’s potential motivations in his response, and I do want to chuck another idea into the fray that supports the vein of ideas that have him being truly afraid and then angry at the MC in that scene, with the speculation including those possible hero lines above as influence. Specifically, I’d like to bring in an outside comparison to part of Molly Grue’s reaction to seeing the Unicorn from The Last Unicorn animated movie for the first time, transcribed below: The Unicorn: I’m here now. Molly: [Bitter laugh] Oh? And where were you twenty years ago? Ten years ago? Where were you when I was new? When I was one of those innocent, young maidens you always come to? How dare you. How DARE you come to me now, when I am this. [begins to cry, heartbroken] Consider Astarion being shown kindness when he is now away from Cazador, not fully free or safe yet but not currently actively fully suffering Cazador’s torment all up close and personal. Consider that only on that very night before he was snatched up by the mindflayers, which might’ve been anywhere from only a day to a handful of days before this conversation about his nightmare, he was going out to falsely smile and lure some innocent—(“No innocents. You have my word.”)—or perhaps not so innocent, beautiful soul back to Cazador’s mansion to very likely die or be turned. How often must he do so? Is it every night he is ordered to go out and condemn someone else to that unfortunate fate? Do you think Cazador killed them cleanly? Quickly? Why would he, instead of agonizingly grinding out any last traces of sympathy his spawn might have through the guilt that they are the ones who “choose” who suffers and likely dies at Cazador’s hands that night? To give the illusion of choice is one abuse/torture tactic that can be used to break a soul that we see often in games: choose who suffers or dies. Cazador is unquestionably a personality who enjoys the psychological aspect of tormenting his victims, as evidenced by giving Astarion the “choice” to be either flayed or to “dine” on a rotting, dead rat, as well as other mentions of how he puts thought into torturing those around him. Astarion is still so fresh from his torment,—torment that is still technically on-going with the very real threats of resuming once more—he is emotionally bleeding enough arterial blood at the seams to fill a sea. His actions, words, and emotions so often metaphorically smell of blood, and not because he’s a vampire and the traditional role of a vampire being a predator among humanoids ironically enough, but because being a vampire spawn means Cazador. And Cazador means horror. Astarion has survived, yes, and it’s been hell. He’s still in hell, because he isn’t free yet. Not truly. It’s a desperate gasp of air, this taste of freedom, to dream that he could be free of Cazador. Imagine his feelings when he’s now in something like freedom, a reminder of what could be, what his life might’ve and likely was like once upon a time, an uncertain here-and-now where he has the possibility—just a possibility, and an unlikely one at that for most ordinary or less-than-ordinary people, not a certainty—of being free, and he’s just admitted to the horror that is Cazador. Admitted in this moment how much Cazador frightens him, how much just the thought of Cazador frightens him, how much the possibility he might be sent back to his master and having his previous tormented existence resumed truly frightens him. And the MC reaches out in sympathy. In acknowledgement that what Astarion has been through is horrifying. To look at this horror and say it is pain, and terror, and awful, that it isn’t normal. It isn’t something to ignore. It isn’t something to pretend is just everyday same old, same old, to numb and take off the edge as much as one can. That Astarion’s pain and fear aren’t to be sought out for entertainment or at best to be willfully neglected in an act of malice. That stark moment of contrast, like night and day, could bring the pain of two hundred years crashing down inside his head, all compressed into one moment. Feelings he tried so hard to survive through, ignore perhaps, suppress: fear, helplessness, loneliness, misery, anger, sorrow, hatred, pain, anxiety, distress, need. Memories, of so many instances that hurt in that moment and then continued to hurt for so long afterwards. How much must it hurt him, wound him, to lift his head for air and have a perspective outside of his suffering that is sympathetic...but knowing that nobody came to save him. That perhaps, no one ever will, if he loses this so-called freedom and is dragged back under. That those that care, cannot help you. And that those that can help, do not care. Why would anyone help him at this point after all? He’s a vampire spawn. A classically defined monster in the eyes of society, and he knows it. (”I’m not some monster!” / ”At best, I was sure you’d say no. More likely you’d ram a stake through my ribs.”) He must have been truly desperate in his starvation to chance anyone finding out he’s a vampire in the party. Not surprising, he can’t rest at the end of the day like the other companions can. He has to expend extra energy at that point to find food discreetly after fighting all day, and subpar food at that. (”Animal blood tastes like muck.” verification needed, it’s a conversational line in some branch of the morning-after he asks to bite the MC the first time) He’s not eating breakfast, snacks or lunch during the day, and he isn’t guaranteed to find food while hunting in the woods. Game might be scarce, he can be wounded or exhausted after a long day of fighting, and he wasn’t starting out in the peak of health to begin with either. He is a vampire spawn yes and apparently can take down large game such as boars to drain them, but that is a rough existence to condemn anyone to mechanically speaking. He knows what he’s risking, regardless of his int stat. But he takes that risk anyway. The character who is so survival driven, risking a very high likelihood of expulsion at best or death as the much-more-likely worst outcome of this attempt? His bite isn’t painless, and pain can wake a person up readily enough if they aren’t a deep sleeper, and how deep a sleeper are most people when in an uncertain and unfamiliar wilderness, potentially while hungry and cold, with the fretting fear of a agonizing death looming over their head? Even accounting for a lack of mental clarity from hunger and exhaustion and other factors, I find it deeply unlikely that Astarion is unaware of how big a risk he’s taking with the odds are stacked against him, rogue class or not. And even if he’s just thrown out of the group? He’s alone. Vulnerable. A target to be hunted by a much bigger, meaner predator. One that won’t kill him quickly, we can guess. His odds are much lower, on his own. Specifically his odds of not being dragged back to Cazador...assuming the MC doesn’t just turn him over to Gandrel. How terrifying is it to imagine that your suffering will never end, to be told it will never end, and then you are reminded of what it is like to not suffer for a time. To have felt the painful hope that maybe there is a possibility that you could escape an existence of torment...but knowing you very well might not? It is desperately bleak. It is no great leap of the imagination to hear Astarion saying—(or more likely thinking because this would be terribly vulnerable...but he might say something when pushed because he’s so full of sharp edges and bleeding insides still)—something similar to Molly Grue’s line in his own fashion, is it? Astarion: “[Bitterly laughing, mockingly so. As he speaks his tone breaks, an edge of raw, desperate hysteria slipping through, attached to centuries of pain turned to anger] And where were you two hundred years ago? A hundred years ago? Where were you when I still desperately thought in the deepest parts of my heart that someone might come? When I still had hope? Astarion: [his voice turns low and venomous, raising in volume and accusation before finishing with a break on the final word “this”, a tonal admittance of how distraught and self-aware he is of what he’s had to do, of what he’s had to become to survive] How dare you. How DARE you say this to me now, when I am this.” (the above lines are entirely fictional and are not from any in-game, data-mined, or otherwise official source or content) He’s been made to do so many terrible things, even just based off of the few lines we have heard in early access he’s been through so much horror. An hour of torture, a day, a month is so incredibly long. It can have such lasting impact on a person—PTSD, as we know it in this day and age. A year? Five years, ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred? An elf he may be, but from a human perspective...he’s been tortured for lifetimes. Even as an elf, two hundred years is a long time. More than long enough to seriously alter how someone’s brain works—people are both amazingly resilient, but also so incredibly fragile. Cazador has had all this time to play with Astarion’s brain, honestly I find it impressive Astarion has any sense of self left after all this time. That he’s still driven to survive, that he still feels anything at all. (”It doesn’t look broken. But then again, none of us do.”) It doesn’t surprise me that he’s intensely bitter when encountering the “paladins” of Tyr—(ie Anders and company if you know who I mean—and was that a Dragon Age 2 reference? If not that is an amazing coincidence with the whole Anders-Justice-Vengeance-Demon thing there)—if the MC asks something to the tune of “Don’t you wish someone had helped you when you needed it?” Oh. Oh that had to be a painful question for him. Astarion had his basic needs denied and abused, to ask if he wished that someone had helped him when he needed that and more, and no one came? Why was he denied but the paladins get help? Why does he have to be the hero when no one came for him, when no one very well might come for him when he might still very well be in dire straits in the near future? I can see the possible desire to inspire sympathy intended in the question from the MC, but it can be so utterly without sympathy to ask that in some contexts, and in Astarion’s case it is. He was being abused and controlled without any way out—Anders and his cohorts opted into the deal with Zariel for personal reasons, not as far as I know under threat of imminent death, and they are relatively capable of fulfilling their end of the bargain barring their current injuries at the time. They certainly have more freedom of choice than Astarion and other vampire spawn ever did, and they were not being tortured right then and there. Warlocks, referring to Anders and co., might even have the option to get out of deals, a la Wyll’s personal questline hook thus far. Astarion can’t get out of his servitude from Cazador. Cazador holds all the cards, makes all the decisions, has all of the power. To compare Astarion’s situation to his face with that of the “paladins”? I’m surprised he wasn’t spitting fury, honestly. They still have normal elements to their day to day life, despite their devil’s deal. They are not being tormented on the daily—yet. They are not in hell—yet. They can get out. They have the possibility. A possibility Astarion didn’t—until now. And isn’t that the most fucked up thing, that it wasn’t a force of Good™ that saved him, but an even bigger monster than Cazador himself? He was saved—by mindflayers, intending some fate that was likely worse for him than before. Even when the Absolute’s hand begins to be revealed in all this, he is still a pawn among monstrous masters. What heroes there are in the world, won’t come for him. They never did before, and they didn’t now. Heroes are for other people, for realities aside from his own. They are for other people, living Other lives. Not his life. Forces of Good™ swooping in to save the day, to correct the wrongs of the world and to make things Right™ just isn’t his normal. Not anymore, if ever it was. His normal was warped by Cazador a long time ago. Is it a stretch of the imagination that if Cazador twisted “dinner” to be a choice between consuming a rotting, putrid rat corpse or being flayed on a nightly basis, turning “poetry” into the memory of a “sonnet” carved into Astarion’s back with a razor over the course of an entire night full of Astarion’s own pained screams? Is it hard to imagine that Cazador also took pleasure in turning other ordinary situations one might encounter in normal life into nightmare versions as well for Astarion and his other spawn? One illithid mind-power option shows Cazador controlling Astarion by holding his chin, though without any further context. Cazador wouldn’t have had to do more than that to invoke terror, after a certain point in time. It seems highly unlikely the gesture wasn’t followed up with more pain, though. Perhaps in that moment when he speaks of his nightmare in the first conversation and the MC reaches out to him in sympathy...Astarion was reminded of something. Multiple somethings, multiple moments, when Cazador reached out to him oh so casually, and it ended in pain and terror. The way the camera is framed as of the current time in early access, the way he flinches away crying “No!” so quiet and low, his eyes wide and staring just so, how he goes so far as to pull back almost entirely out of frame and the camera slowly pans to follow him? Perhaps that is just a stand-in scene, but as it is, even now, it emphasizes that he is I would argue genuinely afraid, and reflexively responding in what is likely his first opportunity to freely respond to his traumatically induced fear. The first opportunity where he wasn’t supernaturally compelled to do exactly as Cazador ordered him to, the first opportunity where he was likely not going to be tormented further for expressing his fear, for having his main tormentor laugh and delight in his distress. The first instance where he for a split second let his guard down, and didn’t expect to be hurt—until the MC reached for him, echoing possible memories of what happened last time someone (Cazador) did that. It’s not Cazador reaching for him. But...it is not Cazador. He doesn’t have to worry about Cazador hurting him right that second, but...will the MC hurt him, like Cazador did? Will they make it look like they’re going to help him, that he can trust them, and then betray him? (”How can you be so cruel?” / “It [Raphael playing games] reminds me of Cazador, taunting his slaves with hope when he knew the game was rigged.”) But they scared him. They scared him, and perhaps for a moment he was back there, in another time and place, where he knows, where he remembers, vividly, perhaps even recently, what normally would have happened to him. And how dare they make him feel that. (“I can do without reliving that particular night, thank you.” [Nightmare about Cazador dialogue, a separate scene if you miss the insight check from the first post-nightmare camp discussion I believe.]) He’s so raw and upset, both aggressive and defensive when he speaks about his nightmares in quite a few of his lines, asking and waiting to explain just why his nightmares are truly so terrifying, especially in the second-nightmare conversation. The way he speaks there, and in other scenes, makes me very disinclined to interpret him as actively intending evil in general so much as having been shaped to be ruthless through a centuries-long trial by fire that he isn’t free and clear of yet. Based off of how he reacts on more than one occasion, I’m personally inclined to take a leaf from Wyll’s book and say I do think he has more than just potential to be good. “Good™” being relative of course to his situation and undead-life—Astarion has GREAT potential as a character to explore not only what it means to be Evil™ aligned, but also what people on the meta perceive as evil, as well as what prejudices we may carry from that labeling. He is I think very much an excellent walking morality test and ironically a mirror for the player’s character. What kind of person is the MC, in how they treat and interact with him. He is a complicated and morally-entangled character, and it is so very easy to only read him in the here and now within the stark, daylight context of societal’s average norms without looking at the very real, very recent nightmarish Twilight Zone reality he’s lived in that echoes through his words and story thus far. It’s a marvelous bit of echoing reality and real life here by Larian, truth be told: how do you tell people about your life, when it’s been a ceaseless, unending nightmare? With smiles, witticisms, and the occasional polished lie that bleeds out pain, for some folks anyway, including Astarion. He says he’s having more fun at the goblin party, but at the tiefling party? That’s probably the first time he’s been at a normal party where he hasn’t had to obey and fear Cazador’s orders and inevitable torment during or afterwards. That’s the first time in his entire undead existence when he’s been in a social situation like this without being afraid, hurt, or manipulated. It’s not a fun party on its own by his standards, but it is a safe party for him. In a way though, safety can be boring. A luxury, yes, but in this case? For him, boring. And boring...might very well be irritating, in an anxiety-turned-irritation fashion, because he’s not being tormented right this very moment. He should be finding something to enjoy, because in his normal everyday routine? In the day to day that he would expect, that his subconscious expects out of habit? Opportunity for any form of enjoyment must be rare indeed, twisted and tainted by Cazador’s ever looming shadow over every minute of Astarion’s vampiric existence so far. It could be anxiety-inducing, to not seek pleasure or some form of happiness or comfort while there is opportunity for it, in what one perceives as a respite from constant, on-going suffering. (”Why do you insist on exhuming the past?” - when you ask about his past in camp, after you know he’s a vampire. An unpleasant reminder of an unpleasant past, why would he want to dwell on it? He has enough pain to last him multiple lifetimes. Literally.) From the deep, deep depths of prolonged suffering, it can potentially take a great deal more intensity of sensation to feel anything at all, let alone something approaching happiness. (”For the first time in two hundred years, I felt happy.” [presumed Astarion-origin line after drinking from a sleeping companion] / “I feel strong. I feel...happy!” [after MC succeeds in persuading Astarion to stop drinking from their neck after giving him permission to do so.]) This isn’t even taking into consideration how vampirism might have impacted Astarion’s psychology on a metabolic/biochemical level, so to speak. Where Larian goes with that is still to be determined, though my money’s on they give him more a murderous edge and natural inclination—not unlike a Beast-lite version of bloodlust from Vampire: The Masquerade— but still keep his core traits very much human rather than supernaturally-alien/2D-cut-out-monstrous. (Or elvhen, if we’re being fantasy-world-linguistically technical here again.) Touching on the matter of monstrous behavior though...It is a powerfully understated moment of casual cruelty that Larian allows the MC to decide once and once only, if Astarion may also drink from people or only animals. It’s so fitting I don’t believe it to be coincidence that he was a magistrate in his backstory—isn’t the MC passing a judgement too on him, a sentence to change his life for the foreseeable future, possibly forever without realizing or perhaps not caring about the full extent of their actions? And one cannot forget Wyll’s comment about the rat diet. Oh, can you not hear the resonating parallel real life pain from how those ignorant of another’s hurts might unintentionally mock the person and hurt them so? How some might apply their own morality from their own life experiences, without looking at the full extent of the consequences of their actions? A life and perspective that more likely has never been tested under the lash and upon the rack of some of life’s worst possible realities? Even if Wyll and the MC don’t mean to be, it is so very, very cruel. It is beautifully painful, Abdirak and the goddess Loviatar would be proud. (”My mind is finally clear. I feel strong. I feel...happy!”) To be denied not just better food, but the ability to think clearly, to feel well, the actuality of being happy as a norm? It is so very hollow an existence to feel so constantly weak of both body and mind, and oh isn’t it just the richest thing, that an MC might echo Cazador’s choice and power over Astarion thusly? It’s enough to make one laugh an Evil Laugh™ of appreciation at just how unthinkingly, horribly cruel a person can potentially be while playing a Good™ character. This is actually a level of genius on Larian’s part that I wonder how many in the audience will actually look at and appreciate the subtle horror of. The horror that we do this too, in real life, sometimes without ever knowing the seemingly small, far-reaching ripples of harm an unthinking phrase or comment can do when we don’t take another’s reality into consideration—that we don’t know what it is we don’t know. It is a fine piece of storytelling, to offer up a story with so many facets to reflect upon. It’s so beautifully crafted that Astarion speaks and dresses like a noble, that he can so easily be perceived as a person of privilege at first glance should one merely look at some of his surface behaviors and inclinations—remnant trappings of his distant past most likely, from once upon a time. It’s a delightful reveal and subversion that he, I think we can safely say, isn’t that. Perhaps he was, once, but he isn’t at this point in his life, not anymore. Appearances are deceiving, and doesn’t that just tie so nicely right into some of Astarion’s potential themes and behaviors? The lies that crack open as truth and pain come bleeding out from underneath? I do wonder how many of Larian’s audience have known hunger—and not known when the next meal will happen, what it might be, if it will have strings attached? The kind of hunger that follows you everywhere, that roots down into your bones and hollows out a home there forever more? It changes how a person sees things, how they act, how they think, even when they’re removed from being hungry all the time. One doesn’t need to be skin and bones to feel like one is starving constantly,—(I very much enjoy that headcanon just to clarify, I’m not intending to throw shade in any of this or future rambling)—to be kept on a hollow diet of empty calories that are enough to keep your heart pumping, but your body struggles because it doesn’t have the nutrients it needs in the amounts it needs? To feel your mind fog over with exhaustion and blanketed despair, a primal and low level desperation whittled down into a tired and numb, anxious background static from adrenal fatigue? Miscellaneous aches, pains and problems that seem unrelated but in reality, if only you knew, were because your body can’t function the way it should ideally, because you don’t have what you truly need? A very real problem in real life, for far too many people. And oh, the beautiful, casual, so very human monstrousness Larian lets us exercise here, knowing or unknowing. It is such a powerful, understated cluster of ideas. And I think Larian knew—someone on the dev team did their homework on both traditional starvation but also what one might call masked-starvation as no doubt other tumblr folks have also speculated, just based off of what we’ve seen and because of that Happy buff Astarion gets when he uses his Vampiric Bite ability in combat. It fits right into his whole theme of “what makes a monster and what makes a man?” (Sing the bells of Notre Dame~♪) But not necessarily asking that question only of him. Rather, asking it also of the MC. This fits into the game’s whole theme with the tadpoles, the choice of using the power and turning into “Something More Beautiful” as Minthara put it, of taking the darker path, it all fits so very well. I just want to applaud this because it’s not a major story-beat moment. It’s a companion-side-quest moment. It’s going to be for the most part seen as a combat-game-mechanic and head-canon defining moment, deciding if Astarion may feed on people or not. I doubt we’d see Larian actually changing Astarion’s demeanor much in how he delivers lines with a “allowed to drink people blood” code flag, as cool as that might be. It very well could factor into later outcomes but for voice acting I doubt they’ll make an entire second/third/etc set of each line spawning from that one seemingly small choice. It makes me very hopeful that Larian can handle such weighty themes so deftly thus far—we’ll have to wait and see if they can stick the landing once the game is finished, but boy oh boy their nuance and delivery so far is strong as steel and sharp as a double-edged sword right out of the gate. The studio is in a fantastic position to explore and to challenge people’s thoughts and ideas regarding character builds like Astarion’s imo, depending on how the dev team chooses to play it out. Seeing some of Gale and Shadowheart’s dialogue trees from the goblin party, I have high hopes that the dev team will allow a great deal of exploration and flexibility all across the moral spectrums, not only allowing us the option to drag the more seen-as-good-aligned characters down paths of moral corruption,—(note: I’m including Shadowheart in more neutral-ish territory for now but the fact that she seems to feel emotionally ill—guilty, one could say—at the goblin party and is busy trying to get drunk to drown that feeling out suggests to me she Definitely does have a more good-aligned moral compass to a nuanced degree)—but also the chance to drag more seen-as-evil-aligned characters along the path to more traditionally good endings and persuade them to see the benefits of playing nice with others per more classic Good™ societal rules (subjectively speaking ofc.) But Larian is also in a very precarious place too—speaking strictly of just the one character as the focus of this essay, Astarion resonates very easily through that very real fear, pain, anger, bitterness and so many other emotions as a result of what he has survived, is still surviving through, and struggling against: trauma. How bitter indeed would it be should a character—that people with very deep, real pain can relate to—not get at least the option for a well-crafted, hopeful and merciful epilogue? Oh the sympathetic pain that Larian could reap could be pain of the very worst kind, if they condemn him to only death and darkness with bleak endings that lack nuance and care. I’ve seen some posts where people worry about Astarion not potentially having a good ending, with possible unspoken implications that he might be railroaded into betraying the MC. I’d like to say that I think a lot of his subtext, even looking at the instances where he lies and the datamined details of the voice-acting-directions, would run counter to railroading him to only ever betraying the MC. I think straight betrayal is going to run as mostly antithetical to his core themes in a way. He might betray your MC—but it will likely be because the MC betrayed him first in a myriad of small ways, or in a big way. Approval-rating-system based choices are a very real possibility too, separately or as a part of the equation naturally, in addition to your major in-game choices. That would also include the scenario of betrayal through using the tadpole powers enough to be mind-controlled into having no will of his own, much like the other characters, including the MC. I do think we have plenty of good, solid reason to be very hopeful that he will have a possible good continuation—not ending. A continuation where he manages to free himself from Cazador with the help of his companions or perhaps dare he even say friends, manages to begin the process of healing the immediate pains of his trauma and learning how to truly live with all that he’s been through and all that he’s done, to have the possibility of not only living but living both happily and well for the most part? Who knows what else Larian Studios might have in the works for him and the other companions, as well as the MC and the story of Baldur’s Gate 3. But good outcomes for all seems like it very likely could happen, for all of the companions. His wiki page’s summary tagline hook in particular offers up that implied promise from the developers to the audience, I would say, “Astarion prowled the night as a vampire spawn for centuries, serving a sadistic master until he was snatched away. Now he can walk in the light, but can he leave his wicked past behind?” What that promise is, varies from creator to creator. In this case, based on the wording, I would say that potentially implies a satisfyingly well-crafted and engaging story wherein we find out and determine if the answer to that question is yes or no, and in a DND-based RPG full of choices that have an impact on the people and world around you? In a game genre that has a history of multiple, varied endings for your companions based on how you play? That checks out. Larian so far has been handling things admirably well in my opinion, and I’m willing to invest emotionally in this story they’re telling with the trust that they will deliver a good continuation and conclusion. But on the off-chance that somehow Astarion’s endings all turn out painful and tragic on the meta for the fanbase, that the associated intentional or unintentional messages wound and grieve those who recognize and resonate most strongly with the pains he has felt? On that off-chance, in that instance where we are left bereft and disappointed because of what happened to him or any of the companions or the story itself should somehow things go awry, then it would be your right to ask Larian the very same question Astarion asked you once: How can you be so cruel?

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #spoilers #bg3 spoilers #Astarion #character study #long post #very long post #eXtreme rambling ahoy #speculation #congrats if you can read this all #totally understandable if it's too much text tho #it's long enough and rambly enough that it wandered away from the limits I intended #because I have FEELINGS about this gremlin vampire man #cackles madly #maybe the vampire will stop haunting my brain for a bit now #I have other things to do #aside from writing long contemplation pieces #prepare the angst-grapple-hooks crewmates #why yes I'm going to make silly jokes about pirates and sailing and the like #no I do not have any depth to my knowledge base about such things #I just like their hats man #arr #also not looking to make anyone feel bad or invalidate their hcs or opinions #just want good vibes for all #and more cakes for all #metaphorically speaking #the cake is not a lie tho #well #metaphorically it's not a lie

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rabidtownie · 3 years

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Character Prompts! Pt. 1

I’m still pretty new to Simblr (and Tumblr in general), but something I’ve noticed throughout my one or two months in the community is how prevalent story-based gameplay is. I see accounts with soap opera-esque series and beautifully rendered screenshots that look like stills straight from a CW drama. Some people have entire pages dedicated to their characters, with fleshed-out descriptions and long backstories. It’s so cool to see how creative everyone is with their gameplay; since I spend most of my time working on builds or making CC, I feel like I’m living vicariously through each of the legacy accounts I follow.

Anyways, since my attention span is too unreliable for me to commit to doing a gameplay series myself, I decided to try and contribute in some way to the community by posting relatively general, basic backstories that can be used and modified by anyone.

The way it works is simple: I post a short, milquetoast backstory for Simmers to use if they’re in need of character development. I’ll try and include a small logline/description of the Sim, some traits I recommend for them, their flaws and charming qualities, and anything else I feel like including. If you decide to use this backstory, there is no need to give me credit (though I would like to see if anyone actually uses my prompts!), and you can modify the details however you want. The names that I use, for example, are just placeholders, and can be replaced by the name of your character. In all honesty, this is just an indirect way for me to practice my writing and kill time, so feel free to do what you like with the stories I post!

Now, without further ado, here is my first character backstory!

Name: Toni

Age: Young Adult

Identifies as: Female

Basic Description:

Raised by two loving parents in an upper-class neighborhood, Toni is far from prepared for life as an adult. Despite being 18, she possesses the naivite and cartoonish optimism that can only be a result of her pampered upbringing. So when she’s thrust out into the world of the working class, Toni must try and adapt to her fast-paced worklife and socially-savvy new friends who seem to know so much more about the facts of life than she could ever hope to learn. Will Toni be able to shed her sheltered tendencies and blossom, or is she destined for a life of petty-bourgeois monotony?

Recommended traits for this Sim:

Note - These are optional! You can pick and choose which traits you want to use, or don’t use them at all! I just chose the ones that I think are most compatible with this Sim’s personality/backstory.

Snob

Good

Family-Oriented

Cheerful

Perfectionist

Recommended Aspirations for this Sim:

Fabulously Wealthy - This Sim wants to get rich and have a successful career!

Renaissance Sim - This Sim wants to be good at many things at once!

Friend of the World - This Sim wants to make and keep as many friends as they can!

Positive Characteristics for this Sim:

Toni is very motivated. While she may not know much about life beyond her gated community, she’ll do whatever it takes to reach success.

Optimism is another great aspect of Toni’s personality! Other Sims often see her as the clueless rich girl, but this doesn’t hinder her determination.

While she may be unbearably uptight at times, Toni will do anything for her loved ones. She’s incredibly loyal, and is the first to offer support when one of her friends is going through it.

Negative Characteristics for this Sim:

As a result of her luxurious childhood, Toni is oblivious to many struggles that her working-class peers face. This often alienates her from the crowd, as she can come off as tone-deaf or naive to those around her. While she is ultimately more sweet than she may initially appear, Toni needs to work on stifling her snobbishness.

Being born into an upper-class family, the idea of financial instability was (and still is) foreign to Toni. As much as she may try to convince herself of her independence, she still counts on her parents to pay a large portion of her living expenses. Because of this, Toni can be overly dependent on others to carry the weight of her problems for her. Hopefully, once she steps out into the real world, she’ll realize that she needs to start helping herself.

That’s it for Toni! I might add some other details to my future backstories, so if you have any suggestions, please let me know! I appreciate those who took the time to read this, or even those who skimmed a few sentences and then moved on out of boredom. I’ll try and post another backstory soon, but until then, happy Simming!

- Rabid Townie

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a-little-slice-of-fandom · 3 years

Note

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the Irish-ness of Dracula, if you wanna ramble about it!

(Okay I just want to apologise for how long this took to answer because I know it’s been sitting in my inbox for over a month but..depression and work happened and I just didn’t have the time or energy to complete it. I seriously do apologise for this but I hope you enjoy the post anyway!)

So the first thing I need to clear up is this: the concept of a monster or a demon that feeds upon the life force of humans is not limited to one singular culture or folklore. In fact, this core concept is a wider cultural phenomenon and variations of it exist across both countries and continents. And no one country can take sole credit for the this core concept of vampires. Anyone who tries to claim otherwise either doesn’t know much about vampires or is intentionally being disingenuous. There can be cultural variations that are specific to certain folklores (and to just blatantly steal these would be cultural appropriation), but the main idea of vampires exists across a wide range of folklores and no singular person, group of people or culture can take credit for the creation of vampires.

However, arguably it was the work of Bram Stoker that aided in the solidification of the concept of Vampires that we know today. While there were other authors from a wide range of nationalities who wrote about Vampires before Stoker (including John William Polidori who wrote the Vampyre in 1819)...Dracula is the best known. (Now I personally believe that’s because Dracula is an absolutely banging novel, although I do concede that the prevalence of adaptations of Dracula from the 1920’s to today helps keep Dracula in the forefront of audiences minds.) In addition, it’s important to remember that Stoker was inspired by another Irish author Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, who wrote the novel Carmilla. As far as I know, Le Fanu and Stoker actually worked together on a magazine!

Another thing I think that needs clarification is the common belief that Stoker heavily/religiously based Dracula on the historical figure Vlad the Impailer. This is heavily debated by scholars. While there’s an obvious, undeniable similarity between the names of these two...the similarities start to wain after this, with only small similarities between the two and there’s even literal contradictions between the history of Vlad the Impailer and Dracula’s history in the novel. In fact, there’s not much indication that Stoker based the character Dracula off Vlad the Impailer, or even that he had a working knowledge of Vlad the Impailer beyond the name. In all 124 pages of his notes, there’s nothing to indicate that Stoker’s inspiration for Dracula came from Vlad the Impailer.

(Plus Dracula in the novel wasn’t even originally called Dracula...he was called Count Wampyr in the original drafts of the novel and this was only changed, from what I can gather, in the last couple of drafts.)

In fact, I’d personally argue that that connection between Vlad the Impailer and Dracula is actually something that’s been retroactively added by other artists, for example the 1992 film “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” heavily leaned into this idea that Dracula and Vald the Impailer were one in the same, and as time has progressed people assume that these elements were in the original novel when that’s simply untrue! Stoker didn’t write that! It’s a retroactive addition by other artists that’s just assumed by the masses to be canon. This phenomenon is actually super interesting and it’s absolutely not limited to Stoker’s novel Dracula/the modern day perception of Dracula (another example would be Mary Shelley’s version of Frankenstein versus the modern day perception Frankenstein). I’m not sure if there’s a word for what this is, but I like the term “cultural canon”, where something that’s been added in by other artists has become as good as canon within the minds of the masses and as such is ingrained within the cultural perception of something, despite it having no basis within the original piece or even directly contradicting what is in canon.

(Now I’ll absolutely concede that Stoker taking the name of a historical figure and possibly their likeness from another country and making them into a literal monster is something that should be discussed. I don’t know how Vlad the Impailer is viewed within Romania - whether he’s viewed positively or negatively or a mixture - but regardless he was a historical figure and Stoker did eventually use that name for his own creative purposes. Again, Stoker didn’t say that Dracula and Vlad the Impailer were the same person, that’s other artists doing, but there’s still issues with Stoker that needs to be discussed)

Now, I’ve seen people talk about how Stoker took a lot of inspiration from the Baltic folklore surrounding vampires for his novel, but I don’t really know this folklore very well and therefore I don’t feel like I’m qualified to discuss it. If anyone is more well versed in this topic wants to add to this post then they’re more than welcome to! I don’t deny that Stoker too inspiration from places other than Ireland (like the novel is set in Whitby) but I just feel like people over hype the relation between stokers Dracula and Vlad the Impailer.

Now, onto the Irish mythology side!

So the most obvious inspiration for Dracula comes from the story of Abhartach. here is a link to an actual, respectable retelling of the story of Abhartach which I’d highly recommend people read (it’s really not that long) but the key points go as follows:

There was this Irish chieftain called Abhartach, who was really cruel and the townsfolk didn’t really like him. So, the townsfolk and another cheiftain (known as Cathain) banded together to kill Abhartach. They did succeed in killing him (yay), however, Abhartach just sort of...rose from the dead and began another reign of terror (not yay). However, Abhartach needed to be sustained by blood and required a bowlful every day to sustain his energy. Cathain comes back and kills Abhartach once again, but Abhartach rises from the dead once more and now needs more blood. Abhartach is only banished when Cathain uses a word made from yew wood and wounds Abhartach with it. Abhartach is buried upside down with a grant stone over the grave to stop Abhartach rising once again.

Sound familiar? The similarities between Abhartach and Dracula are undeniable! Yes, there’s some differences between the two but the core story here is almost identical. I could totally reword that paragraph, omitting the names, and it would be indistinguishable from a short summary of Dracula! Even the way that the main characters find out about the wooden weapon that can kill the monster is similar, as both Jonathan and Cathain go to wiser and older members of their community to learn more.

(Also please mythology blogs don’t come for me I know my retelling was an incredible oversimplification but I’m writing on my iPad and my thumbs are starting to hurt. People have wrote full papers on the similarities between Dracula and Abhartach and there’s so many more people more qualified than me, I’m just an 18 year old trying to make a fun and interesting tumblr post. Again, if anyone wants add anything like extra sources or more information or even to point out my mistakes then I more than welcome the additions)

Another piece of folklore that’s also said to have inspired Dracula is the Dearg Due. Now there’s multiple different versions of the tale, but the version I have heard goes like this:

There’s a noble woman who wants to marry a penniless peasant boy, but her dad disapproves and wants her to marry another man who is much richer. The rich man and the noble woman were eventually married but the woman didn’t love the rich man. In retaliation, the rich man locked the woman in a windowless castle where she starved to death. The woman was buried by the locals who took pity on her, but because she was buried hungry she came back to life and drank the blood of her father and her husband as revenge. The version I heard says that the dearg due now basically wanders ireland drinking the blood of men who have hurt or wronged women (as one should) but there’s other endings to the story.

(Again is anyone has a reliable source they want to share then please feel free to add!)

So this is another Irish piece of folklore that clearly includes some elements that we now associate with vampires. Now people (including Wikipedia) claim that this story was specifically what Stoker based Dracula on, and while I definitely think that Stoker was aware of this story and took inspiration from it, I personally think that the Dearg Due inspired the concept of Dracula’s wives more than Dracula himself.

However the key point still stands: Stoker was likely aware of these legends and even the most staunchly anti-Irish person would have to concede that there’s similarities between all three stories. And very rarely are these similarities discussed in classes about Dracula...which I feel is a real disservice. I don’t think students should have to have an intense knowledge of Irish mythology (my knowledge is spotty at best) nor do I think it should be an exam question...but even a brief acknowledgment of “hey, Stoker was inspired by these stories and you can clearly see similarities between them” would be nice. Moreover, it further solidifies my original argument that Stoker was, at least to some extent, Irish and that his Irishness inherently influenced his work.

Also...the social context of what was going on in Ireland in this period can’t be ignored! Again, while Stoker did spend time in both England and Romania, he spent a lot of his life in Ireland and therefore would have known what was going on in his own country.

Dracula was published in 1897, which is exactly 50 years after the worst year of the Irish Famine/ The Great Hunger/An Gorta Mór. Now I don’t have time to do a whole history of the Great Hunger but the effects of the famine were greatly exacerbated by the horrific mismanagement of Ireland by the British government and the British system of ruling in Ireland. How many people died during the famine isn’t clear, but we do know that the population of Ireland at the time was 8 million and the population today is 6 million...200 years later and we still haven’t recovered. So while we all like to joke about the fact that Stoker wrote about an unfeeling member of the aristocracy literally feeding off others with no remorse and basically ruining their lives...are we really going to pretend that there isn’t social commentary there? Scholars specifically think that Stoker was commenting on the absentee landlords (basically British aristocrats who owned land in Ireland but didn’t live there and as such didn’t care about the well being of their tenants) who would often have tenants forced off the land when they couldn’t pay rent...despite the fact that their tenenants were already starving and had no money because their only source of food and income failed.

(I’m not being shady by the way, I also love to joke about the social implications of Dracula, but I feel like people forget that the jokes have actual points behind them)

There was also a cholera epidemic in Ireland in 1832 which is generally accepted to be one of Stoker’s biggest inspirations. You can read more about the epidemic here if you wish, but I’ll summarise what I feel are the key points. Not only was Stoker’s mother from county Sligo and lived through this cholera epidemic, but Stoker also asked her to write down her memories of the epidemic and used her accounts to aid in his research of the cholera epidemic. Now the fact that he was actively researching this should indicate that it would influence his work, especially considering the situation in county Sligo was incredibly morbid. There’s accounts of the 20 carpenters in Sligo town being unable to make enough coffins to keep up with the amount of people dying, resulting in hundreds of dead bodies just lying on the street. However, the most horrific account from this epidemic was the stories of terrified nurses placing cholera patients into mass graves while they were still alive. Stoker himself literally stated that Dracula was “inspired by the idea of someone being buried before they were fully dead”. So while at first there seems to be very little relation between the novel and a medical epidemic, it quickly becomes clear that Stoker’s fascination with this historical event influenced his writing.

My overall point is that Stoker’s irishness inherently influenced his writing. Writers don’t write in their own little bubble, divorced from the world around them, their views and work are shaped by their position in society and their upbringing (it’s why I dislike death of the author as a literary theory). So when people try to claim that Dracula is a piece of British literature...it indicates either a lack of understanding of the context in which Stoker was writing in or a wilful ignorance founded on colonialist ideas. His influences are so obvious to me as an Irish woman but they rarely get discussed, and even if they are it’s seen as overreaching! To call Dracula British literature and to ignore the inherent Irishness of the novel does a great disservice to Stoker!

Anyways I really hope you enjoyed this discussion my love! Once again I apologise for how long this took to write. Also I’m sorry if this comes off as argumentative or anything, that absolutely wasn’t my intention, I just have a particular style of writing long posts haha.

#dracula #bram stoker #irish literature #british literature #bram stoker’s dracula #gothic #gothic literature #ask #ask answered #anon ask #anonymous ask #anon #anonymous #being irish is my only personality trait

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saberhgen · 2 years

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. . . on the other hand, i’m so soft and fluffy.

salem saberhagen. headcanon based with influences from the comics and original tv series. multi - verse, currently under development, including but certainly not limited to; caos, mcu, doctor who, harry potter and haunting of hill house. reimagined by robin ( prev. goose).

psa: because of health reasons, my memory is getting worse. if you message and i forget to reply, or i forget to draft a response or something, or if you soft block me and i refollow, i’m sorry, i have forgotten. i’m working on it.

temp rules under the cut:

this blog is an independent & selective blog, working on a mutuals only basis. i do this for my own comfort and i promise it’s nothing personal! i get overwhelmed easily and find it far more calming this way.

i have no claim to any of the canon content present here, as salem is naturally based off canon that i have not created. i do not stick to a strict canon version of sabrina, be it the comics or the various show adaptations. i draw inspiration from all, but don’t stick to any specific version as gospel. the psd is from poohsources.

however, all headcanons are my own and most of my characterisation is entirely based around my own interpretation of these canon works. please i am begging don’t steal them, because i’ve worked super hard on them and really tried to develop this lil kitty cat man into a well-rounded character. if you have any questions about characterisation, don’t hesitate to ask.

this is a place of love and trust. that means many things, but the main being that no hate will be tolerated of any form. i occasionally post some negativity as an outlet but it will be tagged. and in terms of inclusivity, all fandoms and ocs are accepted here and always will be!

as a warning, i love ships. i love them so much it’s sad. if you ship it, i ship it. if you think you might ship it, i probably already ship it. as long as it’s not morally questionable, i’m probably game. but i also adore familial and platonic things! they’re just as important to me.

as a side note, my name is robin (they/them) and i’m a little bean in their early twenties currently studying to be a music teacher. i have severe social anxiety and dyslexia. and to add to that, i had a stroke about eighteen months ago so my memory is absolutely shot.

THIS IS IMPORTANT. if you soft block me and i follow again, please forgive me. i won’t have remembered following you in the first place. i started rping on tumblr to get my reading and writing skills back. so please bare with me!! love you guys :)

WIP BIOGRAPHY

a young and promising witch. dangerously so. incredibly charming and smart to boot. married young to an older woman who already had children, thinking himself more mature than he was.

he left his first wife for a man far higher in the rankings. a mistake, as he didn’t truly love his new partner. heart remained with first wife and her son, who he still treated like his own. salem left his fiance at the altar, and knew he’d have to try another method for gaining more power.

by this point, salem had become a witch hellbent on taking over the world. not because he thought he’d be better at controlling the populations than letting them do what they like, but because he adored power and wanted to know what it was like to be entirely influential. during this point, he got a mortal pregnant, who he refused to marry. though he adored his daughter, he never had much to do with her.

his plot was spoilt, and all those who directly helped him also got turned into animals. He was turned into a cat because his mother was deathly allergic, and to deprive him of his family was as good a punishment than any.

one of those followers was zelda spellman, who used to organise the refreshments for the meetings he held. as such, she was tasked to look after him every day he spent as a cat.

he shouldn’t have powers, but considering how talented he is, there are loopholes he easily abuses.

he can shift in and out of cat form whenever he likes, but its incredibly draining on his mind due to concentration. he has spent a long time with the spellmans and sees sabrina as his daughter he finally got to raise rather than an annoyance to put up with.

#𝑠. ` post. › ‘ there's an art to life's distractions. ’#𝑠. ` answered. › ‘ our teeth and lungs are lined with the scum of it. ’#𝑠. ` prompt. › ‘ screaming the name of a foreigner's god. ’#𝑠. ` study. › ‘ don't ever tame your demons; but always keep them on a leash. ’#𝑠. ` visage. › ‘ all you have is your fire and the place you need to reach. ’#𝑠. ` queue. › ‘ i should've worshipped her sooner. ’#𝑠. ` promotion. › ‘ i've no language left to say it; all i do is quake to her. ’#𝑠. ` self promotion. › ‘ you're familiar like my mirror years ago. ’#𝑠. ` dialogue. › ‘ my peace has always depended on the ashes in my wake. ’

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shjosoup · 3 years

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Horimiya: exploration of kink in manga & healthy relationships

“𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞”

I read a really awesome article by Caitlin Moore titled “Horimiya and Experimenting with Kink through Fiction.” In truth, Moore’s analysis of kink in Horimiya was so spot on and actually inspired this entire blog because while reading the 121 chapters of Horimiya, I really appreciated the more explicit parts of Hori and Miyamura’s relationship.

Shoujo manga often have very vanilla relationships filled with fluff and rarely venture into the world of bdsm. While I love fluffy feel good romance mangas, physical relationships with your partners don’t always stop at just sex (the traditional vanilla kind) thus Hori and Miyamura’s relationship development from holding hands, kissing, to having sex, to then exploring beyond that was really cool to see. It also showcased the comfortability either had in their relationship to start experimenting with what Hori enjoyed as well as a more realistic outlook on a romantic relationship.

Moore mentions a part of the manga that I overlooked entirely, which was how Hori is “enjoying the gap” between real Miyamura and verbally abusive Miyamura (like how he is with his close guy friends) Moore adds that this gap is what is essential to differentiate between role play and actual physical abuse in exploring bdsm.

“That separation is what divides healthy engagement with a fetish from an abusive relationship, and that separation is rarely defined in stories that explore BDSM.” (Moore, 2018)

Miyamura’s understanding attitude of Hori’s kinks and indulging her in what brings her pleasure is also essential to what makes their relationship healthy because he’s being open minded to the things Hori enjoys. Miyamura’s acceptance of his girlfriend’s desires can be clearly seen in Chapter 57 when Miyamura confronts Mizouchi, a guy who likes Hori and he clearly asks him if he could ever hit Hori and when Mizouchi says he could never hurt her, Miyamura tells him that he would be unable to handle Hori. He further showcases this by screaming at Hori in the hallway in front of Mizouchi who is promptly intimidated by it but the next panel shows a blushing Hori with a wide smile clearly enjoying being screamed at.

Personally, I have never properly delved into bdsm/kinks although I’ve been aware of my own preferences. I’m sure that many readers could relate so this presentation of a healthy relationship traversing a subject not many speak about sets a great example for those who would like to experience bdsm in their own private lives but in a healthy, safe and consensual manner . And as Moore says,

“kink is not the be-all, end-all, and that it’s important to develop a healthy understanding of intimacy outside of that context.” (Moore, 2018)

I believe that by speaking about taboo subject like these in manga is also essential to breaking down the negative connotations society has put on it because you can have a healthy and thriving relationship with your partner but enjoy abuse in the bedroom.

Horimiya isn’t the perfect example of a kinky relationship, as mentioned by Moore, as there are still a lot of things they lack such as establishing a safe word either could say to indicate either party becoming uncomfortable, Hori’s insistence although Miyamura has asked her to stop and Miyamura’s timidness in telling her no because he loves her so much even though he is becoming uncomfortable but both characters are seniors in high school and establishing those kinds of boundaries in a relationship take time and effort so them not having a perfect kinky relationship is okay but where they are at now in their relationship is good enough for a couple of young adults still figuring it out.

Lastly, I also enjoyed how Hori is the one with the kink. I feel that the standard in manga and most of lit is that the man is the kinky one or the one that initiates any sexual aspect of a relationship and the idea that women are always week and pure but in Horimiya it’s Hori who enjoys being “abused” and asks Miyamura to slap her and scream at her. Horimiya introduces a strong female character that knows what she wants and showcases how women creatures capable of enjoying sex.

While the manga is very light hearted and comedic the authors of Horimiya were able to insert a very essential topic of a relationship not many shoujo or Shonen mangas speak about which is why I think that Horimiya stands out from the vast majority of the mangas I have read thus far. Moore perfectly encapsulates this in her article,

“While I do think storytellers should be able to create whatever they want, and that consumers can enjoy whatever they want, there is a lack of fiction that portrays varied healthy sexual relationships, which leads to a lack of understanding on how to engage in them safely. This is why I was overjoyed when I found the manga Horimiya depicting a kinky relationship with a healthy separation between reality and fantasy.” (Moore, 2018)

Horimiya will continue to remain as one of my top favorite mangas I have ever read because of this and why I believe that it’s a good read.

Work Cited

Moore, Caitlin, et al. “Horimiya and Experimenting with Kink through Fiction.” Anime Feminist, 23 Jan. 2020, www.animefeminist.com/feature-horimiya-and-experimenting-with-kink-through-fiction/.

**hori - the girl **miyamura - the guy

** Please read the article I cite because it’s a wonderful article!

Horimiya’s anime adaptation will be airing January 9th, 2021! Please support it

#manga #horimiya #hori-san to miyamura-kun #literary criticism

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pixiedane · 3 years

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Fic Writer Review

Thank you for the tag, @ussjellyfish ! I don't know whom to tag so I will just say to all of you: TAG, you're it (scroll to the end to copy paste the questions).

how many works do you have on AO3?

187

what’s your total AO3 word count?

373,260

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

The count is 74, but they're not wholly individual (lots of "all media types" for example). I have pseuds for Star Wars (68 works), Star Trek (63 works), and Marvel (18 works). There are 38 works in other fandoms including Leverage, Killjoys, Harry Potter, The Hobbit, House MD, Game of Thrones, Once Upon a Time, Law and Order, Peter Pan, Willow...

16 more questions beneath the cut.

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

512 kudos, Let's Go Steal a Family (Leverage), 2044 words | The Leverage team decide they don't need to settle down in order to start a family.

This was written for the "Leverage-a-thing-a-thon" run in August 2015 (making this fic almost exactly six years old). It's about found family in the most literal sense.

415 kudos, catch a glimpse of sunlight (Star Wars), 2324 words + a fanvid | What if Anakin listened to Padmé more than Palpatine and Obi-Wan listened to Anakin more than Yoda? tldr; galaxy saved

Created for the 2016 Star Wars Rarepairs exchange, a canon divergent au where Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padmé work together to take down the Chancellor and raise the twins as a triad.

253 kudos, and a softness came from the starlight and filled me full to the bone. (Star Wars), 726 words | Luke wants to know about his mother.

Written for PadMay 2018, for the prompt "How should Padmé be remembered?". Wow, I'm surprised this is in the top five given it's a tiny ficlet in a giant fandom written for a challenge I made up myself. But I'm pleased! Padmé deserves to be remembered, that's why I started PadMay.

247 kudos, Serendipity (Star Wars), 1914 words | That time Padmé accidentally walked in on the wrong naked Jedi.

Another ObiAniDala AU written for the Star Wars Rarepairs Exchange, 2018 in this case. Two years earlier I'd made a random photo manip of Natalie Portman and Ewan Mcgregor drinking tea and it eventually inspired the fic.

221 kudos, Your Beating Heart Tonight (Star Wars), 3121 words | Padmé develops feelings for her other Jedi protector.

And another written for the Star Wars Rarepairs Exchange in 2016! And also another AU based in a storm of emotions between Anakin, Padmé, and Obi-Wan. I have a specialty.

All five of these are about family first and foremost. Three and a half feature polyamory. Three and a half are canon divergent AUs. None breaks 3200 words. All were written for an event/exchange.

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

For the most part. Sometimes I don't right away and it becomes awkward. And I generally don't respond to negative comments because who needs that.

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Probably Abduction, a mirror universe story vaguely inspired by The Handmaid's Tale. My author's note: "It is not a happy story for anyone and implies the extreme emotional abuse of a child, as well as the coercion and torture of adults."

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I love crossovers! I've completed a few and have fifty more in wip folders. The most ambitious is War of Stars, a Star Wars/Game of Thrones fusion with 26,480 words, thirty chapters, and five different povs (Cersei, Anakin, Daenerys, Ahsoka, and Boba). Niche, but I am very proud of how it worked out.

I've also blended Star Wars with Mad Max, Kelvin Star Trek, Star Trek Discovery, Deep Space Nine, Sleeping Beauty, and Black Widow.

have you ever received hate on a fic?

I've had a few mean comments but they're basically "I don't like this pairing and I want you to feel bad about writing it" and I won't.

do you write smut? if so what kind?

No. Just not my thing.

have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I am aware of.

have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, I've had a few translated into Russian, which just adds to the headcanon that I'm secretly Black Widow.

have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, back in the LiveJournal days I wrote many thousands of words with @vasnormandy. I am slowly posting those stories to AO3 under my Marvel pseud Amelia Danvers, my OC and main character.

what’s your all time favorite ship?

An impossible question because I multi-ship like my life depends on it. Anakin/Padmé is my most prolific ship followed by Rey/Ben, Kat/Lorca, and Carol Danvers/Peter Parker (the parents of Amelia above). But I've written alternate ships for all of the above.

You can read more about my shipping interests here.

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Oof. I have a lot of WIPs that I would like to finish but it's hard to get back to.

what are your writing strengths?

Dialogue. Introspection. I'm good at writing a specific point of view. Characters addressing their issues. I like to pull at threads so I've built up those skills. I love mixing and mashing fandoms and pairings. Complex relationships and the discussion thereof.

what are your writing weaknesses?

Action, like sex scenes or fight scenes, and anything plot heavy. I'm more interested in character and it shows in my writing.

I am also terrible at follow through and finishing things. It's why so much of my fic is written for challenges with external deadlines.

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I'm not fluent in any other languages and I wouldn't want to do it without extensive research.

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

Either Star Trek (TNG, mainly the adventures of Beverly Crusher - as a preteen, at the Academy, as a single mom, and because I'm me I also gave her a Romulan lover) or Star Wars (the adventures of Han and Leia's daughter who was ME but also Jaina Solo before Jaina Solo existed because she was a twin who wanted to be a pilot more than a Jedi). These stories were written on notebook paper in colored pen and I'd do dramatic readings in the backyard, in costume, with only the trees (all of whom I'd named, mostly after heroines in books, like Elizabeth, Jane, Anne, Alice, Mary, etc.) as the audience.

what’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Well, the one I imagine as something more is Pas De Deux, my Jedi Dance Academy AU. I can picture the senes in my mind and I really enjoyed the adaptation process, melding two things I love into one. The characters and events are recognizable, but also very different and that's something I enjoy.

Questions for anyone who wants to complete it:

Fic Writer Review

how many works do you have on AO3?

what’s your total AO3 word count?

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

have you ever received hate on a fic?

do you write smut? if so what kind?

have you ever had a fic stolen?

have you ever had a fic translated?

have you ever co-written a fic before?

what’s your all time favorite ship?

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

what are your writing strengths?

what are your writing weaknesses?

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

what’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

#tag meme #fic meme #fic writing #pixie writes

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icharchivist · 3 years

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Same nonny that you dragged into many things, is the a3 anime good?

👀

it’s a decent enough introduction and it still presents the characters well, but it skips and rushes a lot of things.

Still season 1 is rather okay, at least. The Spring session is rather well adapted (mostly what was cut were seeds for character arcs the characters will have later) for Summer i only remember having issues with the ending of the section (rushed closing night, entirely cut the reason why one Autumn character actually joins) but i haven’t watched this part in a long while. Autumn rushes a lot of things and skips quite a few character beats that are important (also cut the introduction of a winter character that was in it), and Winter made. very questionable decisions adaptation wise which led to just entirely cut the arc of my favorite character and half of the arc of my second character mostly to add scenes about two characters. This i’m biased about whenever or not that was “good” DKJLFDLKFJD i kinda feel like Winter really missed the mark adaptation wise (but Winter are my fav so i’m highly critical too) tho what’s done well is done very well.

and kind of in general the Main Character, Izumi, has a loooot of her personality and involvement being cut down which is a shame bc it’s rare to have such an interestingly rounded Main Character who could have so easily been a blend self insert (and she’s definitly not that).

Regardless to that, the core of the characters are well respected in general, so you’ll get to learn a bit about them all if you start the anime. The opening and ending are songs that aligns with the sort of songs you’d hear in the game so that’s also a good introduction (word of advice: do check the lyrics/translations version on youtube, i know the anime doesn’t sub them but they’re sooooo good). There’s a lot of heart poured into it so it’s still a really nice watch. It still follows the plot beat of the first 4 main story chapters.

Personally i do feel like it works better as a bonus to the game, but i would be curious what would be someone’s first impression on a3 from watching the anime knowing the changes here and there.

Anyway if you want to try a3 i think you’re safe watching the Spring/Summer section of the anime, and for Autumn and Winter i guess just proceed with caution before putting your judgement on some characters i guess?

The anime only covers the 4 first main story chapters as i said, so the game is still ways bigger than that now (after the 4 first main story chapters we got two events a month which added to the plot, and then after one year of that, we got Chapter 5 to 8 of the main plot, currently we’re starting the second year of story events) (and i’m only talking about the English server since the Japanese server is one year and a half ahead of us i think??)

So, this works well as an introduction to the franchise still.

I’ll just say that while the gameplay of the game is rather tedious, the visual novel portion part is genuinely good, using very well the medium in a dynamic way that is very pleasing to read, and on top of the main plot you’ll get backstage stuff which are basically bonus stories about slice of life events happening with the characters. So if you end up attached to any of those characters, i do encourage checking out the game because it’s so rich in little details that are just so neat to play for yaknow?

also i’m sure the main story may be found on youtube eventually (and i sure know i have all the events saved for anyone who’d want to read them)

but if you don’t know if you’ll vibe with visual novels and want to try the anime first, sure! go ahead!

i’d be curious about your thoughts if you do tho :O

i know my reply seem a bit negative but i do like the anime still very much! so if you want to try it sure!

#dkjfhdl i couldn't help but ramble sorry #the anime is honestly pretty good and i think that's why i'm even more upset at the parts where they missed the mark #ultimately it came from trying to squish 4 main story of ~35/40 chapters each - chapters being ~3 to 5mins long on average #in two seasons of 12 episodes of 20mins each #like i think i did the math once and we lose basically 2 or 3 episodes worth of content per troupe with the anime #i feel strongly about the things that were cut so it sours it a bit to me #but for what was kept it does a pretty good job and it's still pretty engaging #hope it answers it :3c #ichafantalks a3 #Anonymous #ichareply

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summonthekrakenismyoriginstory · 2 years

Text

I posted 61 times in 2021

15 posts created (25%)

46 posts reblogged (75%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 3.1 posts.

I added 18 tags in 2021

#personal - 9 posts

#found family - 1 posts

#edgar allan poe - 1 posts

#lin manuel miranda - 1 posts

#rent the musical - 1 posts

#netflix - 1 posts

#i mean what if tho..... - 1 posts

#vibe with me y'all - 1 posts

#jane austen - 1 posts

#emily dickinson - 1 posts

Longest Tag: 31 characters

#wicked musical movie adaptation

My Top Posts in 2021

Some humans are really disappointing. It's capitalism, baby. Can we replace capitalism with something more humane already?

Apparently, people can really be cruel in a pandemic. I guess I know this already but I am reminded of it.

If there are aliens out there, please abduct me. I don't want to be on this earth anymore. I think the universe is clearly giving me the signs to make changes in my life.

Also, I just want a magic dagger with my name on it and for me to own it so I can own my life. Also be tethered into a magic library.

4 notes • Posted 2021-02-08 04:11:36 GMT

at the crossroads

the path less traveled or the easier path?

oh gosh, that harry potter quote

the choice between what is right and what is easy

aaahhhh life imitates art.

6 notes • Posted 2021-07-01 16:46:48 GMT

i hope absence makes the brain cells work for those who badly need it. why am i still surprised that people can be stupid? i mean, yeah, trauma, and i have compassion for that. especially for people who don’t believe in mental health so it might mean that no resolution at all. but idk, try to look at things the other way too.

6 notes • Posted 2021-06-11 09:20:24 GMT

The Wicked musical movie adaptation is finally happening and of course, the disappointment is finally unleashed. It’s all wonderful here.

More thoughts:

I want Julie Andrews for Madam Morrible. I wanna see her as a villain. Maybe Ian McKellen for the Wizard or how about Alan Cumming, idk? Or really, just Joel Grey.

Bonus Reading and you don’t have to read this part:

7 notes • Posted 2021-11-06 11:39:08 GMT

OK NOW I WANT A PART 2 OF JONATHAN LARSON'S STORY IN WHICH we see him write Rent. And then of course, he'd die before the first public performance but we see his ghost/soul/metaphorical representation/energy/whatever watching the performance. And then we also see him watch the success of Rent as a ghost and we see him smile and be happy and fullfilled, and/or what if he was still unhappy about some stuff idk. U know how artists sometimes are never satisfied by the finished product. Or maybe we just see him happy about all of this and leave it at that. Idk i'm just emotional right now. And of course, andrew garfield is still jonathan. Wouldn't it be cute to cast d baby cast of rent? I mean, d actors. Someone who can play a young Idina Menzel, etc. They were so young during that time and it might be nice to see an imagining of how Rent was created and the rehearsal stuff.

And with that being said, now i also want similar story treatments on how jane austen, edgar allan poe and franz kafka didn't experience the recognition, adoration and soaring sales of their works when they were alive. Or am i wrong? I think i read somewhere that their successes happened centuries afterwards. Is that right? Also what if this was also tackled on d apple tv plus' show on emily dickinson. But it's d last season for that already and d show has its own vibe. Idk, i just always have this poetic feeling of being underappreciated and then i see these artists getting recognition after they die. It's really sad but sometimes that's just life. Now i'm having some prompts for things i can do. Anyway.

15 notes • Posted 2021-11-19 13:03:40 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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