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ohnoitstbskyen · 1 year

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Building a Better Ashe

About a year ago I took a pass at redesigning Ashe the Frost Archer from League of Legends with the help of Ainsworth "Apple_Cork" Lin (https://www.instagram.com/apple_cork/ || https://linktr.ee/apple_cork) who I commissioned for the artwork.

We took Ashe through a number of ideations and various approaches to her character design, which you'll find below the Read More cutoff.

If you want to watch the video version of our design process (it's pretty good!) you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fi5fuv1nLs

Goals:

The goal was to create a version of Ashe that puts less priority of simply making her "appealing" or look pretty, and more on doing storytelling for the kind of role she plays in the story of the Freljord.

Ashe as she exists now is basically a riff on the Drow Ranger from Dota, complete with WarCraft 3 style Hot Elven Ranger getup. She's a queen of the frozen north, but she runs around in a miniskirt, thigh-highs and a paper-thin cloak because

this design was originally put together to be running around sunny Elven forests on Azeroth, and got interpolated through Dota into League of Legends without ever really reconsidering the concept

it was designed for League of Legends at a time when worldbuilding and character storytelling simply were not priorities in their character design - characters were broad recognizable fantasy archetypes being thrown together Smash Bros style for a fighting tournament

Late 2000s high fantasy character design in gaming had a default preference for Sexy Cleavage Babes for female character design that permeated the entire design space, especially at Blizzard, whose influence formed the basis for League of Legends

Over a decade later, Ashe has been fleshed out as much more of a real character, with a place and role in the world and cosmology of the Freljord far beyond her original archetype. Now she is specifically constructed as a counterpart to Lissandra's imperious, manipulative, sovereign mysticism and to Sejuani's martial brutality. The Avarosa are the only faction in the Freljord (and one of the very few in Runeterra) who argue explicitly for a softer life with less violence and struggle as the ideal. Ashe wants to reform and abolish the blood-soaked warrior culture of the Freljord and replace it with communal mutual aid and sharing, with tribes pooling their collective resources rather than relying on constant raiding and warfare. She's also a notable champion of the Hearthbound, the "normal" people of the Freljord who are not blessed with Iceborn blood or noble lineages.

The Avarosa have successfully recruited a huge swath of tribes to their cause, and through collaboration and a focus on agriculture and mutual protection have become the breadbasket of the Freljord, able to extend their political reach simply by offering new tribes access to reliable sources of food.

The power and rhetoric of the Avarosa thus rests on

A rejection of martial warrior culture in favor of a culture of nurturing and mutual care

Embrace of vulnerability and "weakness"

The promise of plenty, of full food stores and protection from failed harvests and the bitter winter cold

So, the design goals are:

Contrast Ashe visually with both Lissandra and especially with Sejuani, who is her most direct opposite.

Tell the story not only of Ashe herself, but of the faction she represents, and represent its values in her design.

Make her unique and recognizable against the lineup of other League of Legends characters in a way that currently she simply isn't.

Early ideation:

Here we start by identifying silhouettes and the basic ideas of costuming that we want to run with. Since League of Legends women also generally have a bad case of Chronic Sameface Syndrome, we also explore a bunch of different face shapes and ideas for distinguishing Ashe physically outside of costuming and body shape.

Refinement:

We pick out a smaller number of variations to play with, and Apple_Cork explores various options for the costuming.

At this point we've settled on two main ideas: a "Warrior" Ashe, who is characterized by the hard life she's had to lead. Her struggles and suffering, especially the loss of her mother and the betrayal of Sejuani, are the emotional impetus that leads to her reaching the ideals of the Avarosans as an antidote to and rebellion against the Freljord's bloody history. We decide to use the A2 and A3 variation as a base for this, with addition of details like scarring and a somewhat bulkier musculature. This runs the risk of making her physically quite similar to Sejuani, which is a trade-off that might be worth it since the two of them are repeatedly positioned as sisters (even if not by blood) in their stories, and are very alike in their experiences and traumas, even if they've reached opposite conclusions from it.

The other idea is "Warmother Ashe." The Freljord is organized around matrilineal tribal leadership, with a significant emphasis on the social role of motherhood, with the leader of the tribe conceptualized as its primary mother figure. Most Warmothers we've known are hard-bitten, violent and domineering matriarchs, emphasizing the war bit of the name, and since Ashe represents a decisive break with that tradition, we want to create a design that puts emphasis on the mother part of the idea.

So an Ashe who is visually soft, associated with typical traits of nurturing motherhood and who visibly rejects struggle, deprivation and violence as part of her identity. The C1 and C2 variations form the basis for this character.

Both designs are intended to provide a strong visual contrast to the stark black-and-blue statuesque angularity of Lissandra, as well as the armored, hard-shelled, segmented look of Sejuani

A note on body politics and character design

It is generally Problematic™ to equate any one body type with any one set of personality traits, whether positively or negatively. A lot of common character design associations and shorthand is based on body stereotypes, and on a systemic scale, they can reinforce existing social bigotries.

The most common example: character design often employ the idea that good people tend to be beautiful and evil people tend to be ugly, and that a person's inner moral character can be read in their physical traits.

This is a trope with an extremely bad history, especially when it intersects with the politics of beauty, with eugenics and with racial caricature. Whiteness and the constructed features of whiteness are often used as the basis of beauty ideals, while traits and features associated with non-whiteness are considered ugly or undesirable, and thus in visual storytelling these traits can become markers of moral degeneracy or evil. Disney villains do this all the time, to various degrees of Problematicness.

I bring this up here because we decided to use a fat body-type on one of our Ashe designs specifically to code the design to be associated with softness, kindness, motherly nurturing and so on. These are positive traits, and it is meant to establish her as a contrast with Sejuani who is hard-edged, muscled and brutal. But also, yeah, fat bodies being associated with those traits is a reductive stereotype, just the same as associating highly trained, skinny and fit bodies with emotional coldness, lack of kindness and violence is reductive.

Character design is a tightrope walk between using available associations and stereotypes to create coding and shorthand so the audience can easily read the design on the one hand, and trying to redefine and re-associate traits in creative ways to create better storytelling on the other hand. League of Legends is a game that relies very, very heavily on existing and known archetypes, and we redesigned Ashe on those terms as well. It is fair to criticize our redesign for those trade-offs, within reason, and within the context of the problems of the design it is intended to improve upon. League of Legends as a franchise is generally unwilling to allow fat bodies to exist in ANY positive context, and especially not in women, whose visual priority 9 times out of 10 is to be conventionally beautiful and skinny above all else.

Final designs:

Warrior Ashe This design hews closer to her original design, employing the skirt, waist-wrap and thigh-high boots, albeit updated to look more appropriate for the fashion culture and environment of the Freljord.

The emphasis here is on Ashe as a war-leader and fighter, and we've added facial scars and her design generally features more hard and sharp lines and metallic accents to give her a more hard-bitten and warlike look. This is an Ashe who has led a heard and difficult life, marked by fighting and struggle.

Warmother Ashe This design pulls away hard from the original design, with only really the hood and cloak and white hair as identifying feature of the old version. She wears a lot of fabrics and furs, and is generally designed around stoutness and visual softness, and does not share the hardness or angular facial features of Warrior Ashe. Her clothes are finely embroidered with her tribe's iconography and she has pendants and trinkets associated with the various tribes that have been integrated into the Avarosa, or perhaps gifted to her by allies or friends.

She still has leather chest armor, albeit covered up by her cloak, and a shoulder pauldron, but it's ringed by fine feathers making it more of a showpiece. Same with the archery bracer, which is ostentatious and the bright brass makes it contrast with the rest of the design, which is meant to give the vibe of "this is a thing she puts on when necessary" but not a natural, integrated part of her fashion. Compare and contrast with the bracers on Warrior Ashe above.

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Please follow Apple_Cork on Instagram: http://instagram.com/apple_cork

#tb essay #league of legends #riot games #freljord #ashe league of legends #warmother #sejuani #lissandra #ashe lol #character design #tbskyen

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justthoughts1310 · 2 months

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ATLA and Marvel have the same misogyny

So... I've finally made it to episode 8 of Netflix's Live Action ATLA.

This may be shocking for some of you, because I wrote a post about how Netflix ATLA is misogynistic a month ago, but now I'm back again.

I specifically want to talk about the absolutely ridiculous and bullshit feminist virtue signaling that we are habitually forced to endure.

The scene I am specifcally referring to is the scene in which Katara demands that Master Pakku let's her fight. Then all of a sudden, the camera pans to all of the healers in the Northern Water Tribe (the female water benders) who stand ready to fight.

Yet, despite their immense power, they are begging this old as man for permission, instead of just doing what needs to be done.

This scene is giving... stupid. It's giving the 999th Marvel movie that NOBODY freaking wanted... okay! Does anybody remember that scene from Avenger's End Game (of course you do), in which all of the female avengers assemble, and it's one female cameo after another? I have no idea who liked this scene, but I didn't. I HATED this scene! I thought it was tacky and cringe, and I didn't understand why I felt that way.

Then in the Marvels, there's this scene in which Captain Danvers gets knocked down, and then there's this sequence starting from when she was a little girl playing softball in which she gets knocked down and gets back up.

The whole thing is soooo cringe.

It's cringe because it's heavy handed. It feels like one of those inspirational quotes you put on your wall that says something stupid like "She believed she could so she did..." or "Shero" or "Herstory".

It feels like a moment in which the male writers were like, we got to make women feel seen, so let's stop the flow of the entire movie and series and whatever is going on and have this really stupid overproduced moment in which the women look like bad asses, before we hide the women back in the background and let the real heroes (the men) take over.

All of this despite the fact that in hindsight, of all of the avengers assembled there to fight Thanos that day (both male and female, alike), Scarlett Witch and Captain Marvel were the only one's canonically strong enough to stop Thanos. Yet, we can't have that, because a man needs to be the hero.

Like stop stealing women's W's. It happens all the time in shows like Naruto, in which the most powerful kunoichi will get caught up by the most stupid insignificant thing, so that a man can end up saving her and she becomes the damsel in distress.

The narrative of women can be strong but never as strong as men because men need to be the hero is weak and tired, tell a new story!!!

Especially, because it really isn't all that true anymore. After the industrial revolution and the boom of tech, women and men's physically strengths have become increasingly more similar for decades. Why, because very few people need to carry giant logs and chop down trees to survive anymore! You don't need to be swol to complete a spreadsheet.

I digress.

My point is what these scenes from ATLA and Marvel have in common. It's the reason why they are both cringe.

Men don't see women as women who are unique human beings with our own unique desires. Therefore, male writers force powerful female characters to embody male characteristics that appeal to men.

You know all that flexing and all the abs and the sweat and the thirst trap scenes of half naked men like Thor and Captain America (even the scene with Sokka in it). Do you think those scenes are for women? Well, they are not. They are for men. Men get hard-ons for these kinds of scenes, and these scenes are specifically created for men and the male gaze.

Then they try to extend this to female characters, to show that they are feminists. However, this completely ignores the female gaze and female motivation.

The scenes really are women quietly asking for permission (not really) and then men loudly given women permissions to stand out and be powerful, but only in a way that satisfies the male gaze. Which considering the fact that men are socially conditioned to like feminine or overly sexual women, I have no idea who these scenes appeal to!!!

Like bro... read a freaking book. Learn about history!!! Real history!!! Women do not need the permission of men to be powerful, intelligent, strong, tactful or ambitious. Women have already been all of these things since the dawn of time.

Therefore, women don't need weird cameos that break up the pacing of the story or scenes of little girls playing sports, getting knocked down, and getting back up to feel seen. Women and girls do not need to be convinced that we are powerful. We already know it. We've been working in the background for centuries while men have taken credit for our labors, efforts, and endeavors.

All we need is for men to get the hell out of our way! We can see it right now with education and employment. Ever since women were allowed to attend school, women have outperformed men in education is almost every subject (and men and women are at par with each other in Math and Science). Women are also out enrolling men in college 2:1.

So instead of giving women 5 minutes of permission to be powerful in movies and shows and embuing them with masculine characterists, write a compelling female character from the beginning of the show. Develop her character as a person, who has to deal with the unique intersectionality of being a woman. Don't make her whole personality being a woman.

And if you cannot, write a compelling female character, then get a woman to do it!

End Rant. Thank you for attending my TED Talk.

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winterswhite · 1 year

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I have a lot of thoughts about the way characters refer to themselves and others and I do plan to talk about more of them at some point, but right now I wanna talk about Citron and Homare and how they both use watashi in katakana (ワタシ) to refer to themselves. It says a lot about both of their characters and I find it super interesting, especially with the reasons both of them have, and where those reasons are the same and where they differ.

Most people who play gacha games probably already know about the different first-person pronouns that exist in Japanese, but I'm gonna talk a little about it anyway just in case. Watashi (私) is the most commonly used first-person pronoun in Japanese overall, being polite, formal enough for work situations, and gender-neutral. For the most part, people will use watashi to refer to themselves at work or in other formal situations regardless of their gender, while in casual situations it's used by women. Instead, in said casual situations, men tend to use boku (僕) or ore (俺) depending on the situation and who they're with; watashi would sound too stiff, for the most part.

That's part of why I find it interesting that characters like Citron and Homare both use it in casual speech. It's obviously not unheard of, but it does tell us things about who they are. They're the only two MANKAI actors to use watashi at all, which already stands out, and then even more so because of how it's written in katakana for both of them. Both of them have layers to their usage of it, with the obvious reason on the surface, and then deeper reasons underneath. The obvious reason is its politeness - Citron and Homare both have very good reasons for using watashi. They're both public figures to differing extents. Citron is the prince of Zafra, and Homare is a published poet with a good number of fans (who also comes from a wealthy family). It only makes sense for both of them to speak formally, and this extends to everything in their speech patterns.

Going beyond that, though, the reasons that they use it in katakana are particularly intriguing to me. In Citron's case, it ties in to another reason he has for using watashi at all: his initial ruse of being a foreign exchange student and his ongoing charade as the silly foreigner without a strong grasp of the Japanese language. As the "default" pronoun that's acceptable in most (if not all) situations, many Japanese textbooks will only teach you to use watashi, so it'd make sense for him as a foreigner to use it exclusively. It creates the impression that he isn't super familiar or experienced with the language, and probably isn't confident enough in his skill (or ability to fit in) to use any other first-person pronouns. He also speaks with a strong foreign accent and "messes up" his words often, and several of his words are written in katakana to reflect this. Katakana is most commonly used when writing non-Japanese words, but it also applies to Japanese words spoken in a way that doesn't sound Japanese (and other cases, but I'll get to some of those eventually). This is why his first-person watashi also gets written in katakana: to keep up the image of him being a foreigner with an accent, and nothing more than that.

Citron's reasons for using watashi in katakana are mostly external, tied to other people's perception of him. Homare, on the other hand, mainly has internal motivation to do the same. He does also use watashi because of his family background and social status (including as a writer), but the reason it's in katakana for him is partially to highlight his eccentricity; how strange and unique he is in personality and speech. Katakana can also indicate loudness in some cases, after all. On top of that though, I believe there's another reason he has to use it this way. In written media, robot characters often speak entirely in katakana to show their stiff and inhuman way of speaking. Since Homare feels alienated from others, comparing himself to and seeing himself as a broken cyborg, it's perfectly fitting that he uses watashi in katakana to reflect that. He's robotic, not quite human, just a little too different from others. This is just my interpretation, but since he otherwise speaks just like anyone else, with everything in kanji and hiragana as it should be, it creates the impression to me that it's solely his "self" that is robotic.

I think it's fascinating how it's specifically these two who ended up being users of ワタシ, as the two who are known for playing with language in different ways, and especially in comparing their reasons for doing so. On the surface, it seems the same: polite, but eccentric. Digging deeper, though, you can learn a lot about their characters from something as seemingly trivial as this, and that's a huge reason I find things like it so interesting. One wants to maintain an image of himself in others' eyes, the other has a solid image of himself that he cannot shake. While both are othered by society, one further alienates himself on purpose, and the other has simply internalized it.

#sorry i have so many thoughts about everything ever and am physically incapable of shutting the fuck up #but also not sorry. you WILL be subjected to my rants #an rambles: a3!#a3!#citron #a3! citron #homare arisugawa

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thedragonagelesbian · 9 months

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about your ship asks may i request merribela, merrihawkebela even

Yes!!!!! Always!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After seradaar, merribela & merrihawkebela were among the first f/f ships i glommed on to as a newly self-aware sapphic, and they are IMMENSELY dear to me

isabela is. so much nicer to merrill than literally any other companion in the game, and she's nice without being condescending about it, constantly recognizing and affirming that merrill is her own person who is fully capable of making her own decisions.

something that really struck me on my most recent da2 playthrough was how differently merrill responds to isabela versus other companions during 'a new path'. anders, for example, insults her and tells her that she needs to stop. merrill fires back with one of the best retorts to him in the entire game that lances straight to the heart of his hypocrisy ("In that case, I'll head back to Kirkwall and throw [the Eluvian] away. Right after you abandon the plight of the Circle mages").

but when isabela gently asks her "are you sure you want to do this, kitten?" merrill admits: "not even a tiny bit." there's such a profound level of trust and care in that little exchange, because so many people in merrill's life are so damn set on telling her what she should be doing rather than... asking. and checking in. and making sure she also wants to be heading down this path.

meanwhile, isabela is so immensely and instantly sweet to/on merrill, and it's adorable, everything from the cards scene to calling her kitten to "Because you have a good heart, and you deserve better." ???????????? s c r e a m i n g isabela is so fucking protective, especially of other women, and she can try to hide it and tell herself that she's a no good heartless scoundrel, but we all see it.

i am sure to have more merrihawkebela thoughts when i get around to a new playthrough with belladonna hawke, party girl lesbian blood mage extraordinaire, but one final idea for now is how much of belladonna and merrill's relationship is built on their like... mutual capacity to not underestimate each other. a lot of belladonna's character arc hinges on pity and condescension being really shitty ways to try to help someone recover. that merrill doesn't see her as a walking disaster, the failed scion of house amell arriving stillborn in her apotheosis, but rather extends to her the same compassion and competency and capacity for agency and decision-making that merrill never received in clan sabrae........................................ yeah.

#thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu anon #belladonna hawke #(i miss her smmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm)

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lavenderjewels · 4 months

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JJK season 2 ep 22 Thoughts!

+ manga spoilers❗️

Crunchyroll subtitles using they/them for Uraume is a relief after they used he/him for Tengen for no reason earlier in the season (also uzumaki is translated directly instead of maelstrom from movies translated! which is better for both the junji ito reference and consistency with the official manga)

Kenjaku, acting like they didn’t give birth to the child in front of them: sukunas vessel is tough! :o

Liked the episode! Naturally not as spectacular as some of the fight heavy episodes, but I actually love exposition/info heavy scenes, especially if there’s fun character interactions too. The power system is the most fun when it’s woven into the story like Kenjaku’s excuse for maximum uzumaki.

Mei Mei scene was just as bad as i thought it would be. Incredibly messed up that she’s where Nanami could only dream to go to, and taking advantage of her younger brother there,,, Too many anime/manga I’ve consumed (bsd, ouran, csm, sxf, etc.) have these exact trope(s) I hate at some point and the various reasoning behind it in each never really justifies the portrayal for me 😭 Unsure if it’s worse or better this is never brought up again in the manga.

Kenjaku turning Mahito into an orb was SO beautiful. The screams and distortion of Mahito’s body added a lot to it. Here’s to Kenjaku consuming 1/2 of their “friends” (Tengen look out)

Happy with Uzumaki! Well, much happier than the movie’s, since I didn’t like how difficult it was to see any of the curses at all. This was better, but the manga, with its Junji Ito seal of approval, depiction was still the most effective and disturbing. The build up to it was gorgeous. I’m still convinced Miwa is going to do something in the upcoming manga fight(s) 😤 Who needs a katana anyways.

Somehow realized this on rewatch, but I like how Kenjaku’s uzumaki was mostly for extracting Mahito’s technique across a vast distance and at specific people, rather than being a move just to take Miwa out. It clearly wasn’t a bother to them if they all survived (since they wanted messengers—and they’d probably end up in the culling games later anyway).

💕💞💓💗💖💝choso💕💞💓💗💖💘💝

I don’t have anything to say about him; he was very cute. I love how animated his expressions are in the anime and manga. Classic fun jjk humor with Kamo from Kyoto High getting scared when Choso screamed his name. I loved the music during his extended fight.

Kenjaku when Choso: This loser? Again?

A lot of characters I love all in one episode, so thrilled to see their interactions. I just like seeing the cast get together for fights and try to help.

Kenjaku flying around on the stingray was a cute addition and the extra bit of fighting was nice! Tiny preview of the fight to come whenever the end of season 3 is animated.

Kenjaku sounded more Evil™️ than I imagined during this scene (the dramatic music helped with that). I can’t wait until the anime finally shows how ridiculous and over-the-top they are, since that honestly makes them a much more entertaining and interesting villain imo. I don’t want to constantly compare to the manga because I adore the anime, but I thought Kenjaku was boring in the first season, until I started the manga. This season does much better (in terms of voice acting, animating expressions, etc) with making them unique and? villainous?? But it’s still leaning a bit more into generic mastermind villain. They can be imposing and a hammy villain parent. Did like their random “hehehe” during it

Uraume looked incredible. LOVE their ice powers and how they were animated. And their insulted and frustrated feelings shone through the voice acting. They do NOT like all those people around sukuna’s vessel and are annoyed to even be near Kenjaku in this whole mess of a situation.

🩷💖💘yuki tsukumo🩷💖💘😘

She is beautiful! And the constant avoidance from Geto and Kenjaku to answer her question about their types of women. With every passing moment, Todo telling only Megumi it’s fine if he likes guys is unbelievably hilarious, but also that’s why Todo is the best.

I’m hoping there’s naobito’s will and naoya included for the next episode. It would be a nice crumb of next season and confirmation of Naobito and maki’s statuses. Every one has covered around 3 chapters, so it’s not impossible. I could only see it not happening if they extend the Yuuta chapter because there’s pages of just text for the higher ups debating and for their decisions to kill yuuji and yaga.

This is how it feels knowing this episode might be the only time Yuuji and Kenjaku ever interact in canon, and Yuuji doesn’t even know about his parentage here:

Would I rather yuuji confront sukuna or kenjaku at the end of jjk? yes. is that going to happen? no.

#jujutsu kaisen season 2 #long post #jjk spoilers #kenjaku #choso

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pjsk-writin · 1 year

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Rui's voice... <3!! Personally I've -really- never understood the amount of I guess, sexual dimorphism we desire around voices?

It's kind of off topic but quick ramble about that... Our culture in general really likes emphasis on human sexual dimorphism, despite the fact that we have very little of it compared to many animal species, and this desire extends to voices. At large socially, we want men to have super low voices and women to have like super high ones, the high ones especially now that there's such an influence of eastern culture on the west. I don't get it at all. I've heard so many clips where men are lowering their voices to be really deep and it always sounds cartoonish to me because even for an experienced voice actor most people can't go -that- low without it being audibly clear it isn't their real voice. Like, Rui's voice is ALREADY a relatively low voice for the VA for example, and if it were too much lower it'd probably sound... really really unnatural. And then at school I have had then friends who started talking in slightly higher voices than was natural for them when they got into Anime. I'm not even a girl but I have LITERALLY had someone online pitch their voice up to sound higher after hearing me talk, and then make comments about how "Oh my god our voices are so similar!" I know that was a blatant one-off example as that person was a piece of work (they were not only pretending to be Japanese for no reason but also had a fake boyfriend alt account it was hilarious to uncover) but it's very interesting to me how social expectations have formed around something so variable from person to person. Especially since as far as components of voice composition go, pitch, despite popular belief, doesn't do much as far as making someone's voice sound feminine or masculine. I also just don't understand why so many people find so much appeal in voices that are clearly not the person's voice. That's not to say I have a problem with it or a judgement on the matter, I just don't get it myself. I might just pay too much attention to voice composition tbh. I find the feminine side of expectations especially frustrating because personally I LOVE deep feminine voices! They're soooo pretty, and I've had two friends now who had absolutely gorgeous deep voices that were insecure about them and wished they were higher.

"quick ramble" said the liar. I find social theory/observation really fascinating and I'm not too good at talking in brief terms. Anyways, Rui's voice... It always feels awkward for me to gush over character voices since there's a VA performing it but... The VA did a really great job and I love hearing Rui's voice. The slightly low, teasing tone... It's just so pretty. I swear if I couldn't sleep or had a nightmare or something I'd just call Rui at like 3 in the morning and ask him to let me hear his voice for a bit. His solo cover of As You Like It is absolutely lovely to hear. I for real could just listen to Rui's voice until I died.

OOOO yea I totally get it !! I always appreciate voices tbh.......but yea I agree, his voice is probably one of my faves in the game!! <3

#mod amia !#💫 anon #silly moments !!

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yours-the-author · 5 months

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Team RWBY's Extended Zodiac Signs: My Thoughts

Hey, some stuff happened today and I want to take my mind off it for a bit, so I'm gonna try something that's different than what I usually do but have kind of wanted to try out for a while. I don't know if I'll do anything else like this or if this is a one off thing, but it just seemed like a fun way to write down some thoughts on some characters through the lens of a particular medium.

For those who don't know already, the Extended Zodiac is an extension of the constellation zodiacs (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, etc) made for a video game called Hiveswap, which is a spinoff of a webcomic called Homestuck (which you may or may not have heard of). The constellation zodiacs are combined with two other elements- Lunar Sway and Aspect- to create 288 unique signs, each of which offers a more particular explanation of your personality and thought patterns. Whether you think the zodiac is a bunch of hoopla or the absolute bomb, it can be fun to take the quiz (linked here) and learn more about yourself and find your True Sign. Or do what I'm doing, and take fictional character's birthdays and personalities to figure out what categories they fall into. Or create a trollsona for them.

And the other half of this, for those who don't know: RWBY (pronounced "ruby") is an animated series following the members of the titular team RWBY: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long, a group of young women who are preparing to become huntresses, which are heroes who protect the world from the dangerous creatures of Grimm (keep in mind, this synopsis is for the first volume/season, and the show has recently finished showing its ninth; the story has changed VERY much from volume one. You can watch the very first trailer for the show here)

Anyway, relatively recently (as in September of three years ago), the official RWBY Twitter/X account announced the official birthdays of our heroines (linked here), and given the personalities of the characters, their birthdays were very... interesting, to say the least. So I've decided to look into their Extended Zodiacs to find out more about them. It's possible this has already been done by someone else, in a way more detailed (read: better) way, but like I said: this is mostly for me, to get my mind off of some stuff right now.

So without further ado, here's my thoughts on the Extended Zodiac of Team RWBY, below the cut! (Spoilers for RWBY and Homestuck, of course!)

Ruby Rose - October 31

Scorus - Sign of the Victorious (Scorpio, Prospit, Breath)

Played for a joke, but very official: Ruby's birthday is the same day as Halloween, making her a Scorpio. This surprised me, considering that the Extended Zodiac is quick to tell you that Scorpios "are the ones to watch... they have the potential to do the most good, but also cause the worst harm."

Of course, most people are quick to jump on the "worst harm" aspect of Scorpios, given the reputations of Homestuck's Scorpio characters (...Does this make Ruby a Vriska?) So what's going on here? Was the choice of birthday simply a joke that got cemented in canon?

Not necessarily. Throughout the show, and especially more recent volumes, Ruby has always done what she believes is best for the good of her friends and the world, with incredibly varied results. Whether she intended it or not, Ruby has been at the center of some great goods and terrible harms, which fits very snuggly with her Scorpio sign. Scorpios are also "all in" types, "willing to throw themselves into work, play, and everything in between", and you can easily point to many scenes throughout the series to prove how this fits Ruby (a fan favorite, and a personal favorite, is the food fight scene from Volume 2).

Okay, so Ruby's a Scorpio, but that's not all this is. This is where things get a little fuzzy, because some people's interpretation of her character are vastly different from what I'm about to talk about. But let's start with her Lunar Sway: for Ruby, I chose Prospit.

Some people hear Prospit and think "ah, yes, the optimistic and silly one". But Prospit (and Derse for that matter) aren't nearly that simple. Prospit Dreamers are described as "reactive and intuitive... making decisions (based on) gut instinct and whatever emotions they are experiencing in the moment". They do tend to be optimistic, but the site is quick to point out that it's a FLEXIBLE optimism, meaning it can be prone to dwindling or growing stronger depending on the situation.

Ruby is creative and emotional, (and yes, optimistic). It can be argued that many of her choice were based on what emotions she was feeling at the time of the choice, ranging from her choice to defend Pyrrha Nikos from the Grimm even after her accidental involvement in Penny's first death, to choosing to lie to Ironwood about the lamp after the truths it revealed about Ozpin. Ruby cries a lot on the show (many of the characters do, and really, can you blame them?), but she's also quick to smile and laugh and offer encouragement (and in volume nine, her patience wears out and she gets angry, which leads to a lot of rash words and choices in itself).

There can also be some argument for symbolic representation, too; namely that Ruby's silver eyes can flash a light that scatters the Grimm (to ashes). Prospit being the "light" moon, pressed right against the bright glow of Skaia, is a pretty fitting choice for someone who holds the powers of the God of Light. Fun stuff!

Now that leaves the last part of the Extended Zodiac, and easily the most debatable part, mostly because there are twelve different choices based on personality, which again, can be interpreted differently from person to person. For Ruby, I ended up with Breath, though my other choices were Hope, Blood, and Life, for varying reasons.

The typical personality traits for a Breath player are: motivated, adaptable, forward thinking (positive), and volatile, gullible, and avoidant (negative). Being the leader of Team RWBY, Ruby has had to learn to motivate herself and others towards their common goals, be able to adapt to changes both on the battle field and in her relationships, and has spent most volumes looking forward (a very famous line by the creator of the show, Monty Oum) to what can be done next; how to next achieve her goals. But she can also be gullible, either for something innocent like a snide comment from Weiss (typically in the earlier volumes) or something much more dangerous, like Cinder's (in my opinion) not so secret infiltration of Beacon Academy. Then in the most recent volume, when Ruby loses her cool, the other characters would probably call her outburst "volatile", here meaning "a rapid and unexpected change, typically for the worse" (though really, we all knew it was a long time coming).

There's also that little hidden bit of lore about the aspects: Breath and Blood players tend to be considered leaders, for one reason or another (this doesn't mean that all "leader" characters are either Blood or Breath, necessarily, but it's a fairly consistent pattern in Homestuck, with John and Karkat being the unofficial/official leaders of their friends). Breath players in particular "will routinely be surprised that others look up to... them". This can be seen with Ruby's surprise at being chosen as the leader of Team RWBY by Ozpin in Volume 1, and later on by characters like Blake and Jaune, with Blake in particular holding great respect for Ruby as a leader.

And technically, there's one more thing; a fourth part to choosing someone's true sign: their "Word". I don't think this is officially a major part of the Extended Zodiac, but each sign is given their own word that represents them, a sort of "title" in its own right, and as you saw at the top, the "Word" for a Scorpio, Prospit, and Breath combination is: "The Victorious."

Victory is in a simple soul, indeed.

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Weiss Schnee - May 15

Tauries - Sign of the Unsatisfied (Taurus, Derse, Time)

Funny story: it turns out that Weiss' birthday is very close to mine! I'm also a Taurus! I'll admit, I wasn't expecting Weiss to be a Taurus, though after comparing the details to what Weiss is like, I can see the connections.

The opening lines of the "Taurus" explanation are what really caught my eye for Weiss: they have a "warm and generous disposition, though you might not accuse them of it the first time you meet. They (can be) withdrawn and slow to open up... (they can) come off as arrogant and cold, like they think they are too good for everyone." That's basically Weiss' whole character arc in the early volumes! Weiss spends her early screen time living up to her nickname "Ice Queen", acting like a spoiled rich girl with a heart as cold as ice ("acting" might be putting it gently). But over time, she grows and learns along with her teammates and friends, showing off her warmer, gentler side in the later volumes.

Another thing to note is that Taurus' can be hedonistic, filling their homes with beautiful things if they have the means. No one's got an eye for luxurious items like the Ice Queen herself!

Next up is her Lunar Sway, which was a pretty obvious choice for me. Derse dreamers are skeptics, dissatisfied with almost everything in their lives. "Rebellion is in their blood... whether they are fighting back against a fascist dictatorship or the most recent trend in casual footwear." Again, Weiss' whole character arc! Despite being "born with all that (she) need(s), (her) comforts all guaranteed", Weiss is rebel through and through. Whether she's pinning her hair up asymmetrically, singing a rock opera rejection of her father's ways, or straight up disobeying and bending some rules to accomplish the team's goals, Weiss rebels in pretty much every way she can. Her shrewd and calculating mind doesn't hurt, either, leading to a perfectionist attitude and an aversion to unfamiliar situations that is very common for Derse Dreamers.

Now for her aspect. I kind of wanted her to be a Heart player, since it would fit with her theme of "Who am I, I'm the loneliest of all", but it didn't fit quite right, so I ended up with something more straightforward: Time.

Practically going hand in hand with Derse, "those bound to the aspect of time are fighters, full stop." They hate sitting still and looking pretty, and would much rather do anything and everything they can to fix a problem. Sound familiar? Weiss' personality fits pretty well here: she can be very empathetic to her friends and will relentlessly do her best to solve a problem (in particular, that brief scene from Volume 2 where she stubbornly tries to get a flower in a vase to stand up straight comes to mind). But of course, speaking of the earlier volumes, we get some of her worse traits: she can be ruthless to those she deems unworthy, gets very defensive of herself and her family name, even though she's aware of some of the less-than-stellar things her father's done, and can get impulsive when she's angry (Volume 1 is a big part of this).

Then of course, there's her Word: the Unsatisfied. That basically describe Weiss' whole arc: dissatisfied with the comforts and seeming perfection of her family, aware of the misdeeds done by her father, and aiming to do better, be better, Weiss fights to turn wrongs into rights, and won't be satisfied until everything's just so.

__________________________________

Blake Belladonna - January 19

Caprittarius - Sign of the Rift (Capricorn, Derse, Void)

In a world where some consider her only half a person, Blake is actually the highest ranking character on the hemospectrum (and ironically, Ice Queen Weiss is the lowest). I wasn't sure what I thought Blake would be, but it wasn't a Capricorn. But then I did a deeper dive, and things make a little more sense!

Capricorns are workaholics, stubborn and determined to reach their goal, their way. It can be difficult to change their minds, whether it's a political choice or a preference in restaurants. All of the characters in RWBY work hard, but you could argue that Blake's been working hard for the longest. Her younger life is marked with a stubborn need to bring equality and peace to the Faunus, and she continues to show that stubborn loyalty to who she is in later volumes, too (think of the scene in Volume 9 when the tree smoke's illusion suggests she could choose to be either a cat OR a human). One of the biggest things about Blake's zodiac, though, is her dedication to her goals and her relationships: "utterly, and without hesitation". (Her promise to Yang in particular comes to mind).

Next is her moon, which is fairly easy to pick: Derse. Yes, there's her rebellious streak, joining a revolution to fight for rights, even if not everything they did was legal, but it's more about Blake's thought process for me. Derse Dreamers are "great problem solvers, facing conflicts head-on with shrewd, calculating minds". Knowledge and problem solving is a big thing for Blake, be it from the books she reads or applying what she knows to strange situations (such as making the connection between the Ever After in Volume 9 to Alyx's story).

Now her aspect... I really wanted her to be a Light player, mostly because it would be a perfect foil to her color scheme, but as fitting as the aspect would have been... the Word didn't fit right. A Capripia (Capricorn, Derse, Light) is referred to as "the Brusque", a word that means "abrupt or offhand in speech or manner". Blake isn't afraid to say what she thinks, but something didn't sit right with me there. Blake typically puts a lot of thought into her words (I imagine she has to, being a member of a revolutionary organization and all). She's straightforward, not "abrupt". So, as fitting as Light was for her, I decided to look elsewhere. (Mind was a close second, but again, the word didn't fit).

Finally, I ended up with Void. Sure, haha, the character with the black color scheme gets the Aspect of darkness, but it's much more than that. A void player values potential, seeing possibilities where others see nothing. "A blank page, an empty canvas, that's what the Void-bound live for". More importantly, though, a Void player tends to cast doubt on things that are considered fact. What's a better fit for a revolutionary than that? Especially during the earlier volumes, Blake casted a lot of doubt on the status quo of several characters, namely Weiss and Ruby. For Weiss, casting doubt on Weiss' certainty that all Faunus are evil, and for Ruby, casting doubt on Ruby's ideal dream of becoming a hero like in fairytales.

And, of course, there's her personality traits: wise, intuitive, and vibrant at her best. Bookishness aside, Blake's done a lot for someone her age, and has some experience to back up her knowledge, even if some of it was skewed at one point or another. Despite her more withdrawn nature, she can be a pretty vibrant and happy person, too (waving a flag for the team in Volume 1, getting excited and a bit silly over tuna), and her experience gives her a good bit of intuition to utilize, too. Then the less positive traits: Blake was pretty dismissive and apathetic in the earlier volumes, as the "boring bookworm" type character. Later on, she was shown to be indecisive, leaving everyone behind without an explanation after the fall of Beacon (I interpret her departure as an inability to decide to face her past with her friends, especially in the wake of Yang losing her arm, though I'd understand if people made differing arguments).

Finally, the main reason I chose Blake's True Sign, her Word: "the Rift". Blake is very much known for the rifts she has a tendency to leave in groups she's been a part of. She created a rift between herself and her parents by sticking with the White Fang, even when they started being less peaceful. Then she created a rift between her and her past, hoping to escape the people and things she was a part of. Later, she brings a rift between Ruby and Yang, by leaving when Yang was at her lowest, which in turn lead to Yang not joining Ruby for her Volume 4 journey with the remnants of JNPR. Later again, Blake created a rift between Adam and the White Fang (though really, that was Adam's fault). It's practically Blake's bread and butter.

________________________________________

Yang Xiao Long - July 28

Lecer - Sign of the Loyalist (Leo, Prospit, Blood)

Hotter than the sun in the middle of July, Yang is a Leo! I figured someone like Yang would be a summer child, so Leo was a choice I was prepared for. It's a little easier to find connections when you were already expecting a certain option.

Leos are described as agreeable, lucky, generous, and a little bossy, which is already a fitting start for Yang (at least, in the earlier volumes). Yang is quick with affirmation and affection for people she cares about, while still being a domineering girlboss when she's on the hunt for important information (her trailer is easily a prime example of this.) Admittedly, her luck runs out pretty quickly in Volume 3, and while a typical Leo would ride out a rough patch fairly quickly, it takes at least a few months for Yang to get back up, armed and ready. But she does get back up, and that's more than some people can say after a traumatic experience like losing your arm! Especially for someone as fist oriented (or should I say, handy) as Yang!

Leos can also be known to hold a grudge, which is another factor of Yang's long recovery time. Not only had she lost her arm, she lost her partner and friend Blake without so much as a goodbye, and it took until the end of Volume 5 at MINIMUM (I say closer to the end of Volume 6) to forgive her and reach an understanding.

Surprisingly, picking Yang's Lunar Sway was the most difficult one for Team RWBY. Yes, Prospit is the obvious choice, being the golden moon and all, but for most of the earlier volumes, Yang was stuck in the past due to her mother disappearing, and Derse Dreamers are very much about analyzing the past. Eventually, though, Prospit won out, because Yang finally decided to stop looking for answers from her mom in Volume 5, instead living in the present with the family she chose with her sister and her friends. Yang's slightly more capricious attitude (a word meaning "sudden changes in moods or behavior"; think of how quick she can fly into a rage when her hair gets pulled in the earlier volumes!) is also fitting for a Prospit Dreamer. So there you go.

Technically, I think Time is a better fit for Yang than anything, but I kind of wanted to give each character their own aspect (which isn't realistic, of course, though we've never once seen an official Homestuck session with multiples of the same Aspect). After hunting around for a while (Rage was a very tempting choice), I ended up deciding on Blood for Yang. There are lots of good points here! Blood players "draw their strength from bonds, from the trust and camaraderie that blooms among a group of people who share a single vision". With Team RWBY in particular making special attack combinations out of the unique relationships between each member (such as Freezer Burn for Yang and Weiss, or Bumblebee for Yang and Blake), I think I can safely say that all of these characters draw strength from their relationships. Yang in particular, though, noticeably has a private moment alone with each of her team members. For Blake, it was in Volume 2, when Yang explained her journey to find her mom in order to convince Blake to rest. For Weiss, in Volume 5, Yang opened up to her in private about her feelings on Blake's apparent abandonment. Yang and Ruby likely had many moments like this, being sisters and all, though my mind in particular goes to volume 8, when the two talked about the Grimm Beast with silver eyes and their own separate failures and successes on their individual missions (The RWBPN and ORYJ arcs, though I'm sure there's a better name for them than that).

Finally, her personality traits lend themselves pretty well to being a Blood player, too: Yang is charismatic, uplifting, and magnetic, even to her enemies (again, the Yellow Trailer), and still able to crank out some one liners even when fighting dangerous enemies ("I! HOPE! YOU'RE! HUNGRY!" from Volume 1 and "I'm not done with you yet!" from Volume 9). Her lowest moments are good examples of a Blood player's less positive traits, too: especially during Volume 5 (I'm not counting Volume 4 because she was in her own house that whole volume), she can be sullen and set in her ways, having this sort of dull expression when dealing with anything less than what she deems important to her, even during the fight with the bandits in the woods. She's occasionally a bit unkind, too, getting a bit snippy and impatient when things don't go well. It works out!

And now, my final point: Yang's Word is: "the Loyalist", which is pretty darn fitting for her, I think. Yang is intensely loyal to all her friends, and while she may need a break every now and then to do her own thing (looks at Volume 8), she always returns to support her loved ones in their fight against the darkness. Something interesting to note is how a loyalist tends to be loyal to the status quo, typically in a government type situation. I guess that would make her friendships and love her status quo? It's something to think about.

_____________________________

Anyway, I've been typing for over two hours and it probably shows. I'm going to bed. Thanks for sticking around.

#rwby #homestuck #hiveswap #extended zodiac #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #long post #like a really long post #too long even #rwby spoilers #homestuck spoilers

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hauntedbythefanficsofmypast · 4 years

Text

Goodbye Paris

Marinette is 17 and the other 18 in this Au.

Marinette's parents fall under Lila's spell as well. She starts filling them with lies about Marinette and soon they start believing her.

Lila accuses Marinette of sneaking out and hanging out with the wrong people. Sabine and Tom start believing her, especially when they notice she wasn't there one night. She was out patrolling as Ladybug.

Soon Marinette is on lock down barely able to leave her house. She struggles to even get out as Ladybug.

Her parents become more and more distant, soon not even talking to Marinette. No goodbyes, hellos, I missed you, or I love you, just silence. Marinette tries to combat the lies but her parents won't listen. She slowly gives up focusing on Hawkmoth, school, and designing.

Halfway through the year she opts to graduate early forfeiting walking at graduation. She doesn't even mention it to her parents, just focuses on getting money together for her own place while applying to colleges overseas. After she stops attending Chloe reaches out to her apologizing for everything she had done and asking for a second chance. Chloe moved to America with her mother, their junior year unable to handle akuma anymore. Marinette tells her their relationship will be rockey and first but she agrees to a new start.

It's right before the end of the school year when Ladybug and Chat Noir defeat Hawkmoth and get the two missing Miraculouses back. Chat gets mad when Ladybug refuses to reveal her identity and attempts to make her. She stops him and takes his Miraculous back as well revealing Adrien.

"This is goodbye Chaton. If you had taken this more seriously. Perhaps you could know it, but you never did."

She leaves him there returning home and safely putting the peacock and butterfly miraculouses away. After his defeat she stops patrolling as Ladybug and instead plans her move, not wishing to be with her parents any longer.

Once she stops patrolling petty crime begins to pick up again. The city starts crying out for Ladybug to return but Marinette wont. She can't be there for everything, it's time the police start doing their job again. After a month the city is outraged that Ladybug is nowhere to be seen. They take to Adrien who admits to being Chat Noir, he apologizes to Paris saying that Ladybug took his Miraculous. He tells them that he wants to help but she won't help him any longer. After his display Paris begins a smear campaign against Ladybug. Tired of this Marinette transforms and heads to the Eiffel Tower broadcasting to all of Paris her goodbye.

Marinette- I have heard the out cry at my disappearance, and I find it deplorable. I have been fighting since I was thirteen. Did any of you think of that? You have had a child fighting your battles for you with another child that never took it seriously! Now, now you smear my character, saying I am a villain after I have taken down Hawkmoth. All because I stopped patrolling and taking down petty criminals. Instead of looking at me you should be looking at your police force. I am done, I thought of coming back after college but after all this, no. This is goodbye Paris, for good.

After her speech Chloe video calls her asking her if she is okay. Marinette plays everything off saying she is fine until Chloe tells her that she knows she is Ladybug. Marinette hesitates trying to think of a cover but just sighs asking how Chloe knew. Chloe smiles and tells her that she grew up with the girl only and the imbecile would not be able to tell that their 'Everyday Ladybug' was their actual Ladybug. Soon after the girls get a request for Luka to join. Once he is on the call he offers his own word of comfort causing Marinette to groan and Chloe to laugh. Luka simply tells her that her song is the same beautiful piece in and outside of the mask. Marinette grumbles teasingly about Metas being annoying, causing Luka to chuckle smiling at her. She tells them that she is leaving Paris for good now that Hawkmoth is gone. Chloe encourages her to move to America and go to Juliard while Luka simply hums strumming his guitar. When he opens his eyes he tells her to follow the path that calls to her, causing Chloe to groan. Snapping at him Half heartedly he simply smiles at the two girls before saying he needs to get to bed, the girls smile saying goodnight and wishing him good luck with his show the next day before they hang up.

She is really thankful that she changed her designer name shortly after Lila came to her school. Now known as MDC she has a thriving online website and even has a few designers that follow her designs down to every single stitch. While she also helps them get their own lines started. She even begins to employ models, Chloe begging her most popular. Her clientele extended even more and she had a lot of famous musicians commissioning her. She was even commissioned by Megan Markle before she and Prince Harry got married, and was even invited to the wedding she attended with Kaalki's help.

Marinette applies to a few different colleges all in America knowing that staying in Paris was no longer an option. She is accepted at Juilliard, Harvard, and Gotham University, she wants to go to Juliard but something calls her to Gotham. She can't stop going back to Gotham's acceptance letter and ends up researching Githam and talking it over with Chloe and Luka. She doesn't make a decision until Luka tells her once again to follow the call. So she confirms attendance, not telling her parents as she leases an apartment in a safer part of Gotham. She gets in contact with one of her employed designers, Taylor in America and requests her help.

Taylor is the in-between for Marinette and interior designers in Gotham. Helping both sides design the and decorate the penthouse so its move in ready.

Soon after the penthouse is finished Marinette packs everything in her room slowly shipping out boxes to Taylor. A couple nights later when Marinette has everything except necessities shipped her parents request she moves out saying they don't even know her anymore.

"Don't worry I already have an apartment and everything set up near my college. I leave in three days. And you don't know me huh? Well I guess that's because you two haven't really been parents in a while. Now if you'll excuse me."

Tom and Sabine are shocked especially since Lila told them Marinette had decided not to go to college at all. They confront Marinette telling her not to lie about it. She simply sighs sadly and pulls out all three acceptance letters, telling them she isn't telling them which one she decided to go with because they'll no longer be a part of her life.

The day she is set to leave Jagged and Penny are outside in a limo waiting for her. Marinette walks out of the bakery smiling brightly as Jagged gets out hugging her tightly. She thanks him for coming to America with her till she gets settled in. The driver takes her suitcase, putting it in the trunk before opening the door once again letting Jagged and Marinette in. Before getting in and driving to the airport to take Jagged's private jet to America.

They meet Chloe and Audrey at the Gotham airport, both women wanting to welcome Marinette to America. They follow the three to Marinette's penthouse. Chloe is in love with the place and practically begs Marinette to let her live with her. Marinette smiles laughing and tells her she was going to offer her a room after a month or two. Audrey agrees, telling Chloe to just make sure and call her, so she knows they're both safe.

Marinette's penthouse is big! It has two guest rooms, specially for Jagged, Penny, and her designers, when they come to visit. However now one has become Chloe's room. A kitchen her great uncle would be jealous of. A personal gym. A living room with a ping pong table and flat screen tv. 3 bathrooms. Marinette's own designing room, and the Master suite. The Master suite had a loft bed with stairs leading up to it, not a ladder. A large area set up for gaming consoles and a flat screen tv. Underneath the loft was Marinette's desk and desktop. One wall was a complete window showing Gotham from above, and against the other wall was a large luxury dollhouse decked out with hand made furniture. Something Marinette had requested was special for the Kwami to not have to remain in the box twenty four seven.

Marinette has the entire summer to herself and she doesn't have to deal with her birth parents ignoring her. She and Chloe can't wait to explore Gotham, and although Mari wishes she could patrol like she used to. She knows that this is Batman's city, and she doesn't want to get on his bad side. Instead she'll explore on the ground, and fly in her gym, which she had specially fitted with the ceiling covered in bars and ropes.

She even agrees to teach Chloe how to use the rope nest, with a net underneath them of course.

That next day Marinette, Chloe Jagged, and Penny ended up in the Gotham Gazette. Everyone wanted to know why Jagged was in Gotham and who Marinette was. Penny ended up scheduling a video meeting between Jagged and Gotham's main news station.

Jagged- I am not moving here, nor am I here for a show. You see my honorary niece. I have to say honorary because we arent actually related which is stupid! Anyway! She is my personal designer MDC, I only wear her clothing. She just graduated high school and got accepted at Gotham University. So she moved here, and Penny, Fang, and I wanted to spend the beginning of the summer with her! Mari! Come say hello!

Marinette- Uncle I swear if you want dinner you need to stop distracting me. Hello Madame, Monsieur, I'm Marinette more popularly known as MDC. Pleasure to meet you. I'm actually in college for my business degree!

Chloe- Don't forget me! Honestly you two can be ridiculous together utterly-

Jagged and Mari smiling mischievously at her- Ridiculous!

Chloe huffs before turning to the newscaster- Chloe Bourgeois, I am Marinette's main model and top female model. I moved here with Marinette as well, though I won't be going to college, you will see me around the city doing photoshoots.

Penny takes over after Marinette and Chlke give quick interviews. Once the food is done both say goodbye and get excited to eat. However before Jagged hangs up everyone watches Marinette picks up Fang like he is nothing and cuddles him to her chest. Jagged burst into laughter and the interviewer's shocked face.

For the next couple weeks Marinette eagerly explores the city with Chloe, meeting people and unknowingly creating a name for herself. Orphans know that they can come to her for food or clothes and never have to worry about her turning them in.

A few weeks into living there they get an invitation to Bruce Wayne's upcoming charity ball. Marinette quickly gets to work making their outfits in time for the ball. While making sure the Kwami can handle Fang and that Fang knows not to eat them.

The three make waves when they arrive. Penny and Jagged wear matching outfits however they are drawn back and more muted than usual, still capturing their rock n roll vibes. Jaggeds favorite part is the music notes hand stitched on the arms of his jacket and the train of Penny's dress. Meanwhile Marinette's outfit is made to resemble the night sky and when she moves in the light her dress twinkles in the light. Chloe's is made to resemble the sun. It's a layer with yellow and orange tulle.

Jagged and Penny talk to the people conversing while Marinette talks to a few people before being able to edge herself away. While Chloe immerses herself with the other model at the gala. Marinette makes a sizable donation, the money a combination of her own and her designers making sure their names are also on the donation before making her way to the food table and snagging a few cookies eating them slowly while observing the people around her.

Damian stumbles upon her when he finally finds an excuse to slip away. He doesn't speak to her at first just standing there sipping his champagne. They are both silent before Marinette snorts, placing her arm on his shoulder gently and leaning closer to whisper.

Marinette-look to our right the man in the terbile green suit is about to get slapped by his wife

Damian glances over and watches as Mr. Tennor gets slapped hard by his wife causing everyone to go silent as she berates him for thinking he could get away with bringing his Mistress to a charity event. Only for his Mistress to turn on him slapping him as well. Saying that he told her they were finishing their divorce. The Mistress huffs, turning to Mrs. Tennor and apologizes before storming out.

Damian turns away from the facing Marinette as he struggles not to laugh while the room is still silent. Once the talking picks back up Damian introduces himself and Marinette does the same. A little amused by the stars in Damian's eyes when he confirms she's MDC. He admits that her album covers are his favorites of Jagged's and that he has even attempted commissioning her but was unable to get in. Marinette apologizes telling him that recently she's been keeping the same clientele since she was planning on moving. She then pulls out her phone unlocking it and giving it to him.

Marinette-Put your number in and I'll contact you tomorrow about what you want to commission.

The two spend the rest of the night talking and pointing out things about those around them. Marinette's hand remains on his shoulder and soon she is leaning against him, her head resting on his shoulder and his arm around her waist as they whisper back and forth. Pointing out different things to each other and hiding the laughter as best they can.

At one point Damian notices his father starting to walk over and quickly asks her to dance. Marinette is surprised at first but she notices Mr. Wayne makes his way towards them and smirks before nodding. Damian takes her hand leading her to the dance floor. Marinette smiles at him and starts teasing him asking if he didn't want his father to see her with him. Damian quickly tells her that's not it before realizing that she was joking. He rolls his eyes huffing at her saying that his father would make a scene. This causes Marinette to snort before agreeing to help each other hide from him for the night, and they do so successfully. The only one to catch the two is Chloe who gives Damian a quick one over before deeming him good enough for her Marinette. At the end of the night Jagged and Penny find Marinette and return to her penthouse. Marinette says goodbye to Damian kissing his cheek softly before leaving with them.

When Bruce finally catches up to his youngest he huffs wrapping an arm around his shoulder declaring that they were going to have a long talk on the ride home.

The rest of the night his entire family won't stop teasing him about actually dancing with a girl and not getting her number. They keep bringing it up until he smirks holding up his phone.

Damian- That's because she got mine instead.

He leaves the room leaving his brother in slight shock while Alfred holds up a camera and asks if they want to see pictures of the two together.

A week later Marinette meets Robin for the first time when Marinette is cornered in an alley. When Robin drops down startling them Marinette jumps into action stomping on one guy's foot getting him to release her before flipping him over her shoulder. Then she attacks at the two closest to her she flips over one's shoulder dropping behind him and kicking his legs out from under him. Punching him hard in the face. After knocking him out she jumps back as the other guy attempts to hit her. She dodges and blocks his punch before flipping back and crouching launching herself forward and punching him in the gut hard. She steps back breathing hard as she watches Robin take out the last guys. Robin turns to her and looks her over making sure she isn't hurt. Marinette thanks him softly leaning against the wall trying to catch her breath. Once she is calmed down Robin escorts her home.

The next day Damian messages her asking her on a date. Marinette teasingly asks if he's just doing this to convince her to give him a discount and he just groans. Marinette laughs telling him to pick her up at 6.

Marinette and Damian spend the summer getting to know each other and going on dates. Meeting Damian's family was an adventure for her, she loved getting to know the boys, Stephanie, Barbara, and Cass. (Dick and Barbara are definitely married in this one.) She also found it extremely easy to figure out her Damian was Robin, who she always caught stopping by on the roof across from her building.

Chloe bonds phenomenally with Stephanie; the two girls are practically glued at the hip. They spend almost all their time together, and while they don't voice it, the majority of the family had a feeling they were dating.

Soon after Chloe discovers their secret as well. They both decided not to tell them they knew because both girls knew how important secret identities were. The only people that knew Marinette was a hero was Cass and Alfred, and that was because Cass had noticed Tikki and Alfred was Duusuu's holder a long time ago.

The three bond phenomenally well, so much so that Damian is worried Cass may steal his Marinette.

Soon the end of summer is on them and Damian finally asks Marinette to be his girlfriend and she agrees. They are now Gotham's power couple. Pictures and videos of them are everywhere on the news and Twitter.

There are even Tiktoks of them while they're out in public. Marinette's favorite is them dancing in the rain one day both laughing and smiling brightly as some kids join them.

Marinette is named Gotham's new Princess and is praised by Damian's old classmates for breaking through and making the 'Ice Prince' smile and laugh.

Soon after Chloe and Stephanie announce that they are dating as well. Both couples are all over the news and papers.

Halfway through their first year of college Lex Luthor is named President of the United States. This causes the heros to panic however they make no moves instead they begin building a case against him. This comes to a halt when the entire Batfamily is cut off from them. An earthquake wreaks Gotham killing millions and destroying the city and the bridges giving them access to the rest of the states. President Luthor locks down Gotham essentially giving up on the city and allowing no outside contact or help.

It's during this period of time that Marinette and Chloe reveal they know their identities by crashing a meeting in the Batcave.

Marinette- Yes, yes, we know and will explain later, but right now I have a plan on how to get Gotham back on its feet.

Marinette's plan relies heavily on her and Bruce's businesses. The Wayne family and Marinette are going to rebuild Gotham from the bottom up. She tells Bruce that publicly Batman is going to hand over the only way of communication outside of Gotham over to Bruce Wayne during a press conference. Then Bruce will announce their plans of using this resource to continue to bring money into the city through him and Marinette. The family is going to be hiring clean up crews, medical workers, and construction workers to rebuild their city. Marinette and Bruce focus mainly on bringing in money. Jason's focus is on helping orphans, street kids, and newly made orphans. Setting up better Orphanages with better staff and making sure no kid is a meal ticket. Dick's focus is on getting the police force back up with Gordon's help and weeding out as many corrupt cops. Tim focuses on hiring construction workers and clean up crews getting Gotham cleaned up and starting reconstruction. Cass is the one helping find more medical personnel and working with getting hospitals up and going. Damian personally spoke with Gothams bigger villains in Arkham explaining what happened and what Luthor is trying to do. Thanks to him Arkham is pretty much guaranteed no breakouts. In fact many were surprised to see henchmen from different villains joining in on the clean up. Kate also helps out working hard to get electricity back up and running with electricians while making sure no down wires are active. Stephanie and Chloe are praised for getting out and helping the clean up crews as well as the police with finding bodys of missing citizens.

It takes over a year but the Wayne family, Marinette, and Chloe get Gotham back on its feet better than ever. And they use Luthor's abandonment of Gotham to get him impeached. After they've finally reopened Gotham to the rest of the states, Bruce throws a city wide party. He even sends special catering to Arkham asylum as thanks to the villains for not just remaining there but sending their henchmen out to help.

Bruce gives a big thanks to everyone for all their help with rebuilding their beautiful city.

It's shortly after his speech Damian and Marinette are enjoying the small fair that Bruce paid for. They are walking through the game area sharing cotton candy when Damian gets lost in the moment and asks her to marry him. Marinette laughs pulling him into a deep kiss causing citizens around them to start cheering. She waits until they've quieted down before pulling back.

Marinette-Yes Damian, I'll marry you!

This causes citizens to burst into cheers again. All of them giving their cities power couple their congratulations. While Damian is embarrassed saying that he doesn't have a ring for her. Marinette just smiles and kisses him softly telling him not having a ring isn't a big deal because she would have said yes either way.

A few minutes later a soft spoken Hispanic woman exits her jewelry booth giving them two small rings.

The woman-This is for until he finally gets you one Miss. Free of charge, consider it a thanks for helping my city and a congratulations present.

She squeezes both their hands smiling softly at the two and congratulates them before leaving them.

After the city party, they finally address Marinette and Chloe knowing their identities. It happens at Marinette's rebuilt penthouse. Marinette smiles telling them that it was the Kwami that really pointed it out to her. While Chloe tells them she caught Stephanie in her outfit one night and just pretended she had been asleep the entire time. Everyone but Alfred is confused about the Kwami until Marinette asks them to come out. The Kwami fly in spreading around the room, Duusuu sits calmly on Alfred's shoulder, Pollen resting herself in Chloe's hair, while Tikki and Plagg float by Marinette's shoulders.

Marinette-Let me introduce you to Kwami. Gods and Goddesses that grant their chosens their powers. Tikki and Plagg are the two most powerful Destruction and Bad Luck, Creation and Good Luck. I'm Tikki's chosen, I am-

Tim-Ladybug...you're Paris's missing heros.

Marinette sighs softly nodding thinking about her last day as Ladybug

Chloe- I was Honeywell for a short while until I moved to america. Pollen and I were a great team.

Pollen petting her hair gently-We were the best my Queen.

Marinette-Paris started relying on me for everything. The police stopped doing their jobs and when I finally defeated the villain that was plaguing them, it wasn't enough. I loved being a hero but they expected me to do everything. You all know that it isn't possible to do everything.

Bruce asks why she never went out as Ladybug. Marinette smiles and tells him that while she misses it she knew that this was Batman's city and that metas weren't allowed.

Marinette-I know technically I'm not one, but Tikki gives me powers.

After that Marinette begins to train with Bruce so that she can hit the streets with them, without the Miraculous. Chloe while learning how to fight with Stephanie declines becoming a vigilante with them. Marinette loves every second of it, she loves actually having a mentor to teach her. And it felt nice to have a father figure in her life once again. Six months later she is joining the family for her first night of patrol as BlackBird.

Blackbird spends most of her time with Batwomem, on patrol and missions. Her first big villain was Riddler, however before he could even utter a riddle Blackbird tore into him for his terrible outfit. To the point that Riddler practically threw himself at Batman in tears crying and telling him his new protégé was mean.

Blackbird is a rising hero in Gotham and the hero community. Soon she begins attending Justice League meetings with the others considering joining. It is there she meets Wonder Women, and asks how her mother is doing. Diana realizes quickly that she is speaking with a Guardian and finds out later that Blackbird is the current Ladybug as well.

The family also begins planning Damian and Marinette's public wedding and their private wedding. Stephanie is the one that asks her if she wants to have the private wedding in Paris, everyone only a little surprised she straight out refuses.

Marinette-I said goodbye all that time ago, and I don't think I wish to return.

That night she asks Bruce to walk her down the aisle along with her grandfather. When asked about her own parents Marinette smiles sadly telling them that they no longer consider her their daughter, so they were not invited. Bruce smiles softly brushing Marinette's hair down gently with his hand before agreeing to walk her. She asks Chloe to be her Maid of Honor and Kate, Cass, and Stephanie to be her Bridesmaid

Three weeks later they are sending out invites to people for their private wedding in 6 months and the public one in a year.

Marinette asks Jagged and Luka to be the entertainment for both nights and they agree. Sabine and Tom are not invited; they find out when Gina shows up excited asking why they never told her Marinette had met someone in America. They are even more surprised to find out Rolland is closing up shop and going to the wedding as well. Gina is upset to find out they kicked Marinette out and tears into them. At this point Lila comes into the bakery and tries to sway Gina onto her side. Gina just scoffs and shakes her head, telling her she'd never believe another girl over her granddaughter.

Gina storms out of the bakery refusing to talk to her son or daughter-in-law. After she leaves they google their daughter trying to find out who she is engaged to, they find out everything about Marinette helping rebuild Gotham out of her own pocket with the help of Bruce Wayne, and her engagement to Damian Wayne.

They try every attempt to contact her even going through old friends only to find she changed her number. They don't hear anything more of her until a year later when their wedding is broadcast from Gotham. Tom cries when Marinette is escorted down the aisle by her Grandfather and Bruce Wayne. She stops hugging them both tightly before taking Damian's hands, their eyes unable to leave each other, as they say their vows.

Marinette- Before I even had colleges lined up one of my best friends told me to follow the call. A few weeks later three colleges accepted me, but only one kept calling me back, Gotham University. I couldn't stop researching the city, I couldn't get it out of my head. It was like something was waiting for me here, so I decided to accept Gotham University. I moved here with one of my friends expecting an adventure. I didn't think my adventure would lead me to the love of my life, but it did. I love you Damian, with all my heart. My next adventure is standing by your side till the end of time.

Damian- Marinette Wayne, no I did not mess up. Marinette, you have been a part of my family since the moment you placed your hand on my shoulder and pointed out Mr. Tennor was about to be slapped. Our entire first night together felt magical as cheesy as it sounds. Every day after was amazing, I couldn't believe I met someone as amazing as you. When the earthquake happened and you stepped up helping my family rebuild the city, I knew I wanted you by my side for the rest of my life. So much so that I proposed to you spur of the moment in the middle of the fair, I will forever be grateful that you agreed to marry me. My heart, body, and soul belong to you and solely you Marinette till the end of time.

When the priest pronounces them husband and wife and announces the kiss Marinette grabs his face gently pulling him down into a deep kiss.

The reception is also broadcast to the public with many famous people offering their congratulations to the happy couple to the camera before heading into the party. Marinette and Damian are the last to arrive and while they don't talk to the camera they stop posing together for the camera. Both unwilling to even leave the other side. Throughout the reception all the speeches are broadcasted. The final speech is from the newly married couple. Both of them thanking everyone that came to the wedding. Telling them that they wouldn't be where they were without their friends and family in the room. They share a sweet kiss in front of the crowd at the end of their speech.

Chloe moves into an apartment with Stephanie, while Damian moves into Marinette's penthouse. They are hardly seen separate from each other, pictures of them together are all over the internet and news.

Damian also leaves the title of Robin behind becoming Redbird becoming partners with Blackbird. The two partners are soon dubbed the new Dynamic Duo of Gotham.

They both graduate college together, Damian going into Wayne Enterprises taking over as Ceo with Tim when Bruce steps down. While Marinette built her own fashion empire soon rivaling Audrey's. Her fashion is known around the world, but out of all the cities the most of her sales come from Gotham. Gothamites still not forgetting the young adult that spent billions to help them rebuild.

Soon Marinette and Damian discover that Marinette is pregnant. The two are ecstatic to be parents, Marinette begs Bruce to hold a big family dinner with everyone, and he agrees. Halfway through dinner Bruce finally asks why Marinette called all of them together. Marinette smiles softly before announcing that she is pregnant.

The family burst into cheers, everyone extremely excited and talking with each other about what the baby's name would be.

A few months later they find out its twins. One boy and one girl. They agree on the names Thomas John Wayne and Mary Martha Wayne. This causes both Bruce and Dick to tear up when told.

When the twins are born they are all Gothamites can talk about. The new Wayne twins, everyone can't wait to watch them grow up.

In Paris their grandparents hold on to pictures they find online, knowing they'll never get to know them. That they'll never get to see their daughter again either.

#ml salt fic #ml x dc #lila salt #batfamily #batman #miraculous marinette #miraculous ladybug #miraculous fandom #miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #ml ladybug #mlb x dc #dc comics #dc heroes #marinette dupen chang #maribat #damimari #daminette #damian wayne #damian al ghul

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cienie-isengardu · 3 years

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What's with the Black Dragon in MK, they confuse me?

I know they are a branch off of the Red Dragon, who they left because they thought the Red Dragon was too moral.

And they are lead by Kano, who has no morals and as an absolute piece of shit.

Kano doesn't confuse me.

Kabal "I used to be B.D. but decided to be a good guy cop, and even Raiden wanted on his team" and Erron Black "I might be a feminist/sexist man, because I never throw the first punch with women, and also seem soft of kids, unless they pay me a lot to shot them"

Both of these guys, who are the only other B.D. members I know of, are morally gray at best, which is what the what the Black Dragon left the Red Dragon because of?! So why aren't they just Red Dragon, and why does the Black Dragon even exist (other than to pad Kanos crotch)?!

To be honest, I’m not sure myself what is the deal between Black and Red Dragons (not the fraction / era of games I’m familiar or interested in) but I suspect it is something similar to the situation of Lin Kuei and Shirai Ryu. At some point some rogue element decided to leave and created his/her/their own organisation and since then both groups hate each other’s guts. And somehow along the line Kano took over Black Dragons and extended its operation to Outworld. I’m unable to comment on the “moral code” of Red Dragons because really, what is an honor in a crime organisation anyway, but sadly, alternative timeline doesn’t focus much on this conflict so Kano has (on screen) monopoly on dealing with weapons and other black market deals.

Whatever the excuse was to split, it was most likely about power and control or revenge than any morality whatsoever.

As for the members alone, I think it is less a matter of their morality and more why they joined or worked with Black Dragons in the first place. People join criminal organizations for money, for the thrill of danger, for protection or because they lack better options. Not sure how it was before Outworld Invasion and Netherrealm War, but the game does not show us the actual state of modern (alternative timeline) Earthrealm, or at least modern USA society. I mean, in a short period of time, out of nowhere came armies of monsters twice, murdering people right and left, destroying cities. The rebuilding for sure took time but beside the lasting psychological trauma, I’m sure the survivors demanded answers as to what the hell happened and did the governments know about other realms. It is not stated how much common people know now about Mortal Kombat and Outworld or general history of conflict, but the last invasion and the Netherrealm War changed the world in an irreversible way. We don’t have an idea about the situation of average citizens nor how countries managed to stave off political, cultural or economic post-war crises. We have a clue about show business like movie making and military operating inside and outside Earthrealm and cooperation between fractions representing different countries and/or continents. Our main heroes seem to do well, money-wise at least, but they all are in this or another way related to the military thus working for the government (or United Nations / NATO / whatever political-economic union happened post-war). That however does not rule out the possibility there are people who were abandoned or forgotten by their government, who were marginalised for whatever big or small reason. With what happened it is easy for me to imagine how humanity was militarized in case of another attack, and in result, how societies were controlled more tightly by their governments. In theory all for the security means but it easily could escalate into social inequalities increasing with each passing year.

There is a lot of worldbuilding the games did not tell us about but would help greatly to understand the relationship between characters, fractions and countries. Are there arenas that are now closed off due to some magic contamination or became the lawless zones but people live there because they are too poor to move into safer places? Are there more young people with special powers due to raping or magic means, as the remnant of the war? How religions work now, when humanity saw an army of demons? Are religious wars escalated, especially if faith in Elder Gods get renewed? Did religious fanatics start cultural crusades against certain social groups (like LGBT+, atheists, anyone tied to Outworld or at least looking unnatural, like orphaned Frost?).

And the more society is tightly controlled, divided into poor, unwanted and written off against the privileged ones (military), the more people rebel against authority. Which is how Black Dragons may fit into the new times, as a niche for desperate, angry people with little to none perspective on life. Under Kano’s guard, they can be as violent and uncaring as they want. They can hurt a government (military), get good money and fun and until they are caught, there is only Black Dragon’s laws (or lack of therefor) to worry about.

(Looking how extremely violent the Special Forces were during the raid on Black Dragon’s hideout, how Cassie went straight for killing instead of just injuring to arrest the criminals and put them before justice, I wouldn’t be surprised if the army was not popular anymore. And yeah, Cassie wanted to save her parents but as a soldier, she is bound to respect law… that may be much different than we known from our reality)

We, as gamers (viewers) know what scumbag Kano is because we see his crimes and how he interacts with other characters. To what awful level he managed terrifying strong heroes like Sonya. But most of Black Dragon members may know him just as the charismatic leader that time after time outsmart the Special Forces and always get a good-paying job for them, whatever it is a deal in the country or a totally different realm.

And those named characters that left are those who actually experienced on their own skin what a nasty bastard Kano was. Like in Mortal Kombat X Comics Series, Erron joined forces with Black Dragons out of desperation to help Kotal which ended badly for him because Kano left him to die, thus Erron’s personal hate for Kano and his buddies. Similar thing seems to happen with Tremor, sent on a suicidal mission and then also left behind without any care or remorse. Frankly, only MK9!Kabal seems to have left Black Dragons for moral reasons and actually made proper life changing decisions like joining the police and help citizens instead of serving criminals.

Because of that, I can see why Kano, despite his true nature, is actually admired or followed by a bunch of angry, rebellious, sociopathic people and why Black Dragons are doing well despite Special Forces (and Red Dragons) hunting them for decades.

#mortal kombat #black dragons #kano #my replies #the worldbuilding i need so badly to know because outworld invastion and netherrealm war is not something that special forces or raiden #could keep a secret from the world right?#sorry not much to say about red dragons #i see their conflict as similar to lin kuei vs shirai ryu #both groups do the same crimes but think they are better than the other #kano is a scumbag but i can see why he is respected by fellow black dragons #and why so many people may be into working for him #when the mk universe is a pretty grim and dark world to live in #my analysis #my headcanons #(more like mix between those two)

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uhlikzsuzsanna · 3 years

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SPOILER WARNING: Do not read if you haven’t seen all of Season 1 of “Loki,” currently streaming on Disney Plus.

Ever since “Loki” first premiered in June, Kate Herron, who directed all six episodes of the Marvel Studios series, has had to pretend like she knew far less than she really does. For one, she couldn’t acknowledge that the homages to sci-fi classics like “Blade Runner” and “Brazil” that she’d baked into the elaborate sets for the Time Variance Authority — the cosmic bureaucracy tasked with maintaining the sacred timeline — were “meant to be sinister” rather than just “playful and quirky.”

For another, Herron was delighted to see fans theorizing after the very first episode that Kang the Conqueror — a character already set to appear in the Marvel Studios feature “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” as played by Jonathan Majors — was really pulling the strings of the TVA. But until the finale streamed last Wednesday, she couldn’t even hint that those fans were only half right: Majors does play the mastermind of the TVA, but he’s a variant of Kang referred to as He Who Remains. It’s only after He Who Remains encounters Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and his female variant counterpart Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), and Sylvie plunges a blade into his heart, that the multiverse is reborn, creating the possibility for Kang the Conqueror to emerge.

Again, though: Herron couldn’t acknowledge any of that, even to those closest to her.

“Nothing has prepared me better for working with Marvel than playing tabletop games with my friends,” she says with a laugh. “It definitely taught me how to have a good poker face. You have to hide your hand — and sometimes lie.”

Now, thankfully, all of that is behind her — as is “Loki” itself. Despite receiving widespread acclaim for her assured, ambitious, and visually sumptuous work directing the show, Herron says she has decided not to return for Season 2 of the series.

“I gave it everything — in my soul, in my heart, everything,” she says. “I feel so proud of the work we’ve done. And yeah, I’ll be enjoying Season 2 as a fan.”

She’s quick to sing the praises of everyone she worked with at Marvel, and she says she’s “sure” she’ll work again with the studio. For now, however, she’s ready to take a holiday, and then turn to a project she’s writing herself “that’s really close to my heart that I really want to make.”

“It’s my own decision, but I just feel like my part with ‘Loki’ is finished now and I’m just excited to see where his story goes,” she says.

Before she parts ways for good, however, Herron spoke with Variety about bringing Jonathan Majors into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, what she thought of the shocking revelation about infinity stones and what she would like to see happen in Season 2.

She always knew “Loki” would introduce Kang and the Multiverse…

From the very start, Herron says, she and head writer Michael Waldron knew that their six-episode run of “Loki” would always end with Loki and Sylvie meeting He Who Remains at his citadel, the result of which would cause the creation of the multiverse.

As Episode 6 makes clear, both of these events were massive turning points for the future of the MCU — and Herron still can’t quite believe she got to be the one to make them a reality.

“We were just, like, waiting to be told, ‘Actually, guys, we’ve had a change [of heart],'” Herron says. Instead, Herron says she and “Quantumania” director Peyton Reed participated in casting Majors in the role.

“I was just like, pinch me,” she says. “I can’t believe I was at the table for that, because I know it was such a big decision for them all.”

Herron also decided to have Majors provide the voices for all three “Timekeepers” who are supposedly at the head of the TVA, but are revealed by Sylvie to be nothing more than “mindless androids.”

“We didn’t have someone cast for those voices,” she says. “I remember thinking, well, ‘Wizard of Oz’ is clearly a reference for us. We should have the wizard. It’d be great if it’s Jonathan. So we sent him all the art of the timekeepers. And he just kind of came up with these incredible voices for each of them.”

…but not with a cliffhanger.

The most significant decision of the season, though, may be that it ends with a giant cliffhanger, when Loki discovers he’s in a brand new reality for the TVA in which Mobius (Owen Wilson) and Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) don’t even recognize him. But while Herron knew how this season of “Loki” would end, at first, she did not know that there would be any more seasons after it.

“When I started, there wasn’t a discussion of Season 2, exactly,” she says. “It was just that season of ‘Loki.’ As we got deeper into production, everyone was very happy, and obviously there’s so much to explore with Loki. It felt like we should continue the story. So I think the cliffhanger ending came in later in the process.”

Herron says she sprinkled in some hints to viewers that Loki is in a new timeline, like redressing sets to look slightly off, and recasting Eugene Cordero’s TVA receptionist Casey as a hunter headed to the armory in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment. But her favorite bit is that the final line — said by Mobius to Loki — is the same as the first line spoken in the show, by a woman in the Gobi desert, also to Loki: “Who are you?”

“That was kind of the question of the whole first season,” Herron says.

She was just as shocked about the Infinity Stones as everyone else.

In the first episode, Loki discovers to his horror that not only does his magic not work inside the TVA, but Infinity Stones — heretofore believed to be the most powerful objects in the known universe — are just inert rocks there. The revelation sent shockwaves across the Marvel fandom; Herron was right there with them.

“That was in Michael’s script when I first got it to pitch [for the directing job],” she says. “I remember being like, ‘WHAT?! You put me through so much!’ But then I thought, ‘Oh, it’s kind of genius, because it shows how powerful the TVA are. Who are these people? What is this place?'”

Herron especially appreciated how her shock — and the audience’s — mirrored Loki’s own as the rug gets pulled out from under him. “I was quite excited by it,” she says. “It really shows you that there’s a new power in the MCU — and it’s not what we we spent the last decade dedicating our lives to.”

She told Kevin Feige she wanted gender parity among her crew.

Prior to “Loki,” Herron’s most high profile job was directing the second half of the first season of the Netflix dramedy “Sex Education.” She got the “Loki” job thanks to a 60-page pitch memo that filled out just about every detail of the world of the show. After hiring her, she says Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige asked her, “What are your terms?”

“This was the first time I was gonna get to hire my heads of department on a television show I worked on,” she says. “I was like, I’d really love [the crew] to be 50/50 across gender.”

Herron says she wasn’t out to fill any jobs on the film with a specific gender. But, she says, “There aren’t enough women in these roles. They’re out there. It’s a lack of opportunity. It’s not a lack of interest.”

She did end up hiring two women for critical roles that are still rarely occupied by women: cinematographer Autumn Durald (“The Sun Is Also a Star”) and composer Natalie Holt (History’s “Knightfall”).

“I felt like she was inside my mind,” Herron says of Durald. “We have the same taste. And I love the way that she talks about light as a character.”

Herron hired Holt unusually early for a composer, after she’d completed editing the first episode during the pandemic shutdown. She knew that the particular sci-fi film noir look of the show that she was developing with Durald needed similarly unique music, and she liked that part of Holt’s pitch was focusing on Loki’s identity as a character.

“Her music then started to inspire how I wanted to shoot other scenes,” Herron says. She’s especially enamored of Holt’s vision for her dynamic and foreboding theme for the TVA.

“She was like, ‘Oh, let’s have that theme be Kang’s’ — well, He Who Remains, I guess, in our show. But I hope that will go on to be Kang’s theme. That was the real fun of it is that you feel like he’s really played a hand now across the whole show, because you realize that music is his music.”

Herron, Durald, and Holt all deliver distinctive and superlative work that’s nothing like the MCU has quite seen before — and nothing quite like anything previously in their careers, either. And that’s entirely the point.

“I think for us, it was about just showing people what we could do and that we could do it at this level,” Herron says.

The episode in which Loki comes out as bisexual was inspired by Alfonso Cuarón and Richard Linklater.

Every episode of “Loki” features multiple extended scenes of two characters just talking to one another, a rarity in a comic book production. Herron says that cutting Episode 1 together during the pandemic lockdown and seeing the scenes between Loki and Mobius (Owen Wilson) play out so well “definitely gave us confidence” to continue that rhythm for the rest of the show.

That was especially true for Episode 3. Written by Bisha K. Ali (who went on to create the upcoming Marvel Studios series “Ms. Marvel”), the episode is essentially an extended meet-cute between Loki and Sylvie as they get to know each other on a planet doomed for total annihilation.

“Bisha’s reference was ‘Before Sunrise’ and ‘Children of Men,'” says Herron. “And it lit my brain on fire. It was kind of weird. It was almost like a bottle episode in the sense that we’re just with the two characters, but obviously, it’s Marvel, right? So they’re bonding in this Apocalypse, which also feels very Loki at the same time.”

That episode is best known for making Marvel Studios history, when Loki casually mentions that he’s had dalliances with both men and women. Herron says that when she first interviewed for the job, she asked if the show was going to acknowledge Loki’s sexuality, which had long been established in the comics as bisexual or pansexual.

“I think everyone wanted to acknowledge it,” she says. “It was just really about giving a care and consideration and doing it in the right way. I think everyone knew it was gonna be quite a big moment. So it was just really about doing it in a way that felt respectful. And honoring it.”

Herron also confirms what many fans had suspected, that she deliberately made the lighting scheme for the scene evoke the blue, purple and red of the bisexual flag. “We knew what we were doing with that scene,” she says with a smile.

She has a lot of ideas for what she’d like to see in Season 2.

Since Herron will be watching Season 2 of “Loki” only “as a fan,” she is also free to wildly speculate as to what she’d most like to see happen — like how, wherever Loki story leads, “we’ve opened the door” for the character to explore his sexuality with men as well as women.

Otherwise? She says she wants to know where Judge Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) goes to when she leaves the TVA in search, she tells Mobius, of “free will.”

“I love her,” Herron says. “Gugu used to always call her an indoor girl, which made me laugh, but she is. She’s in the office, but she used to be this kick-ass Hunter. So I’m like, Okay, well, where’s her path going?”

Herron is also keen to learn more about Hunter B-15’s backstory — since she deliberately decided to hide it in the scene in Episode 4 when Sylvie shows B-15 her repressed memories as a variant.

“I was like, we shouldn’t see her memories,” Herron says. “It’s a character that thought they had power and realizes they have no power. It felt really powerful to at least give her some power in that scenario. The memories are private. They’re hers.” She pauses. “Also as a fan, I’m like, ‘Oh my God, who is she?!'”

“And obviously, you know, Loki and Sylvie?” Herron continues, on a roll. “He’s in a completely different reality. What’s going to happen to him? How will he get back? Or will he get back? And where’s Sylvie? She’s still in the Citadel? And the multiverse of it all. What the hell is going to happen?!”

Herron chuckles at her own excitement. “So I think there’s so many questions to be answered, and so much more road to travel with all our characters,” she says. “You know, I’m really proud that I got to set up Loki’s story here. But there’s so many different aspects of his identity and personality that’s yet to be explored. I’m excited to see where it goes.”

#Loki #Loki series #Tom Hiddleston #Kate Herron #Jonathan Majors #variety interview #2021.07.17

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samedmunds · 3 years

Text

My litany thoughts on 1999 cult classic strategy video game Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

Alpha Centauri is a game of the early Civilization variety from the EA golden age and ranks very highly in my top ten. While you probably heard of it if you were playing video games around the turn of the century, I've found members of my age cohort to be tragically unfamiliar with this masterpiece.

Alpha Centauri is an unofficial sequel to Civilization II, a game where the only way to way to win is either completely eliminate all competitors to the last city or, rather more easily, send a spaceship loaded with colonists to the title star system. Shortly after leaving home, the ship loses contact with Earth, which would make sense to a player of Civilization II where the bonuses to science and trade from democracies evaporate when technology ends, upon which point all the AIs revolt and become militant fundamentalist theocracies and climate change rapidly destroys the planet, leaving the player with an endgame that is literally 1984. Either way, when the already strained ship arrives at the Alpha Centauri system an unknown partisan assassinates the captain of the UNS Unity and the population fractures into seven opposing factions before firing the colony pods and exploring an inconveniently hostile planet.

The player starts here, in typical Civ fashion: a scout, settler, and absolutely no technology to speak of. That isn't to say you are a bunch of primitives, all your units start out with some approximation to modern guns and judging by the amazing quotes and wonder videos your society is well beyond the 21st century--more on the story later. The gameplay is incredibly well-balanced in spite of its age and quirks (with the exception of the freight-train progression of Yang). Rapid early expansion as the bountiful Peacekeepers may leave you at serious risk to the relentlessly martial Spartans, who are in turn threatened by the uber-specialized technocratic University--but be careful to underestimate the backwards Lord's Believers, their probe teams will just as quickly rob you of your gains. The Morganites can afford to sparsely defend their home if they're willing to pay off their aggressors, but they'll struggle expand over great swaths of territory without irking civil unrest drone riots from corruption. Meanwhile the Gaian Acolytes can harness the permanently-dangerous mindworms to great effect from the beginning of the game. Yang just... builds. And keeps building, and next thing you know he's conquered the Peacekeepers and turned Miriam into nothing more than a puppet and where are all these cruise missiles are coming from?

In short, the strategic design of this game is nothing less than a work of art, but that isn't to say it doesn't have its anachronisms. The User Interface has taken its inspiration from early versions of Microsoft Word and it rapidly pays off to know the hotkeys. The wonder videos are resolution locked and can sometimes cause problems depending on your display configuration. The unit creation system is simultaneously wonderful and horrendous. It allows me to create special long-range nerve gas bombers that eradicate cities shortly before orbitally-dropping specially-trained garrisons to quash all resistance. On the other hand, if you do not accept the cumbersome slew of computer-generated options, keeping your new weapons systems up to date with your latest technology (especially when playing as Zakharov) rapidly becomes a chore.

That said, there are a variety of features in the game that I think deserve to make a reappearance in the Civ Games. The pick-your-government system is incredibly balanced and fun to roleplay. You can't get away with crimes against humanity when solar storms hit in Civilization VI, nor can you weaponise climate change to flood your rivals cities, or strategically terraform to alter weather patterns and deny your neighbors arable land. At the bare minimum, we should be given the option to nerve staple rebelling cities when our control runs out!

All that said, there is also the story to contend with. One is at first tempted to think that a 4x strategy game with a marked emphasis on replayability would necessarily have a tacked-on story, if one at all. After all, the point is for the player to create it through their actions, not have it spoonfed to them. The majority of what you learn about your world that isn't printed in numbers and small pictures on the mapscreen is through blurbs that accompany each discovered technology or new building. The aforementioned wonders even have their adorable early-CG renderings, sometimes mixed in with some experimental film footage. There are occasional interludes that describe the mindworms and machinations of Planet, but the bulk of the wordage comes from epigrams of the faction leaders and the occasional bit of Nietzsche or Plato. It's so good that I can't help but stop and listen to CEO Nbwadibuke Morgan ramble on about supply chain economics or Sister Miriam's apocalyptic warnings every single time. Take some examples.

Proper care and education for our children remains a cornerstone of our entire colonization effort. Children not only shape our future; they determine in many ways our present. Men and women work harder knowing their children are safe and close at hand, and never forget that, with children present, parents will defend their home to the death!

--Col. Corazon Santiago, "Planet: A Survivalist's Guide"

Or perhaps, a more on the nose one:

"The Academician's private residences shall remain off-limits to the Genetic Inspectors. We possess no retroviral capability, we are not researching retroviral engineering, and we shall not allow this Council to violate faction privileges in the name of this ridiculous witch hunt!

--Fedor Petrov, Vice Provost for University Affairs Accompanies the Retroviral Engineering technology

The game often doesn't directly tell you what Retroviral engineering is, nor does it labor to explain just what having someone nerve stapled means, or the precise function of the Recycling Tanks, but through its quotation it beautifully circumlocutes the world you are shaping--and being shaped by. It really never pulls any of its punches, even if its just on Organic Superlube--great stuff--and I still catch muself quoting it regularly.

Ursula LeGuin once wrote

"Science fiction is often described, and even defined, as extrapolative. The science fiction writer is supposed to take a trend or phenomenon of the here-and-now, purify and intensify it for dramatic effect, and extend it into the future. 'If this goes on, this is what will happen.' [...] This may explain why many people who read science fiction describe it as 'escapist,' but when questioned further, admit they do not read it because 'it's so depressing.'"

Alpha Centauri is absolutely extrapolative fiction and very firmly rooted in the 1990s and I love it. It was released in the Aaron Sorkin TV, pre-9/11 days where the word Internet was more often than not followed by the words, "is like an information superhighway" and it absolutely no efforts are made to cover it up. The main factions are a cross-section of the New Millenium's hopes and anxieties. A New Russia that went a very different path before Putin took over, a cheerful clan of ruthless Western capitalists hellbent on putting Morganvision on every network set, a group of vaguely Scottish free-love peaceniks hellbent on defending the most-of-the-time incredibly hostile environment. There's the Second-Amendment preaching Spartans or the optimistically-influential UN which, judging by its naming scheme for its bases, seems to dedicate entire cities to bureaucratic agencies. The All-American Christian fundamentalists don't entirely butt heads with the frighteningly powerful Human-Hive (if your country calls their cities names like "Huddling of the People" and "Paradise Swarming" you might not be the good guys). The expansion also brings in more dynamic characters like the Information Wants to be Free! data angels Brian Reynolds very clearly came up with after watching Swordfish and Hackers back to back or the Nautilus Pirates who have no right to be as fun as they are.

The visions of the future are at once both anachronistic and prophetic; while elements may come off as cheese, I see it as a sort of window to the past, a way to examine what was once (and sometimes still is) on our mind. All in all, I give Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri 4 out of 5 stars and a definite all-time favorite, warts and all. You can pick it and its expansion up for $6 on Gog.com and play it through a built-in emulator that works for most systems. If you're willing to brave a dated interface and an older-fashioned gameplay style, I would definitely recommend it.

#pc gaming #video games #gaming #civilization #writing #ursula leguin #alpha centauri #sid meier's alpha centauri #sid meier's civilization #the drones need you #they look up to you #game retro #game recs #game review

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docholligay · 3 years

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Please rant/rave (well, we already know which one it will be here) about Harry Potter!

GEE I HOPE THIS WAS WORTH WAITING FOR

OH MY GOD. The level of hatred I have for Harry Fucking Goddamn Potter, the culture around Harry Fucking Potter, extending its poisonous tentacles even to the concept of young adult fiction, fantasy, and the United Kingdom as a country and people.

When you being on this, you may think, “Oh, Doc will explain that Harry Potter sucks because JKR hates trans women” and I will say, oh no, dear reader, that is a fantastic reason to hate the author, and I really suggest we all continue to hate her, and perhaps not purchase the QUEEN’S TONNES of officially licensed merchandise and movies and theme parks that give her stupid little fucking hands all that cash, but no, that is not why I hate the work. There are a number of great works done by terrible people, and the further out the lens of history gets the truer this is.

I hate Harry Potter because it fucking sucks, and mentally stifled an entire fucking generation.

“Well, Doc, Harry Potter was really there for me when--” Oh my god I could not fucking care LESS about your personal emotion connection to “orphan wizard boy turns out to be a rich aristocrat yet somehow less woke than Cinderella though” I have personally emotional connections to hot fucking garbage pails of media properties, and if someone came barreling through talking about the myriad ways in which they were horrible, I would be like, “Oh, you aren’t fucking wrong, pal”

Harry Potter gained wild ass popularity in part due to its magnificent sorting system of Smart, Brave, Evil, and Other, because there’s nothing liberals like more than being able to put everyone’s personality into an easily labeled box, which is why astrology is so popular, or for the intellectuals, Myers-Briggs, which is just as fake but with the veneer of science. This allowed people to give into the tribalism they so desperately liked to pretend they did not possess, and also allow them to write thinkpieces about “The misunderstood Hufflepuff” or “Slytherins aren’t all bad!” or really anything that allows them to write a very real piece about their very imagined oppression for being a part of a totally fake house in a children’s book. Excellent use of your sociology degree, Kai, I thought the addition of phrases like, ‘Content of socialization” and “axes of oppression” really spoke to the struggles you face when wearing a green and silver scarf.

The other reason it became popular is that it’s essentially wallpaper paste formed into characters. I have read all of the books, and I could not tell you even remotely what Harry’s defining personality traits are other than “protagonist”. In American, at least, a large part of it was the fascination with all things British, with the idea of boarding school and prefects and uniforms that aren’t inexplicably chinos and polo shirts for nine year olds. It allowed children to project onto something so bland that it could be anything. And for children, THAT’S FINE. There is a great deal of bland media made for children, but what I’m speaking to is the fandom, which is largely well over the age of 18.

Because if we look at the books, are they...actually good? Was it good, or did I experience it as a child? I mean, honestly, on a literary level, are they, or was it just like we all watched Friends, we did it because everyone else was doing it, because I have a distinct memory of a series that involves such greats as “magical geegaws with poorly defined rules that are quickly forgotten despite being able to solve later problems quickly” or “Everyone loves Harry or is a bad guy, or secretly loved Harry all along”

Oh, speaking of, man, if this was an actual well-written book, wouldn’t it have been wild to have Snape’s whole thing be to teach us that sometimes people do good things for the wrong reasons? Instead of naming your fucking child after the guy who ‘protected you’ because he still wanted to bone your mom? “After all this time” “Always.”

While all this could have been explained, we have Quidditch added into the mix instead because 20 pages of the goddamn Puppy Bowl is exactly what I was looking for while I was waiting for JK to move the goddamn ball on literally any of these actual magical concepts.

Harry Potter is a fucking trust fund baby, star quarterback, who grows up to be a cop and marries his high school sweetheart. (Speaking of, why were we shocked that JKR turned out to be a piece of shit when this was and always has been the conclusion of Harry Potter? Why are liberals so fucking into this series that upholds structures like it ain’t no one’s business? It’s a series that opines that those beneath us “Muggles” should be kept in the dark from us) Literally, he finds out he is a wizard and has a dragon-guarded fucking VAULT OF CASH. At 11. It’s such a series for little tyrants, you are special from birth and need do nothing to prove it, here is a letter certifying as such. Oh, not only are you rich and the greatest seeker and have excellent quips, but also your parents were not only rebels, but the best of rebels, and so deeply involved that your parents were killed by the big bad personally, again, because you are so special. His mother’s love literally saves his ass over and over again, because he was SO SPECIAL. He fought Voldemort FROM THE BEGINNING, and WON. It’s literally the most privilege baby fantasy in the world.

“But Doooooooooooc, it’s for chiiiiiiiiiiiiiiildren”

A) Yeah, and you’re 32, you’re making my fucking point about Harry Potter setting an entire generation up for intellectual failure to launch.

B) Okay, and? I can think of a bunch of kids’ books off the top of my head that in no way require specialness to be given by birth so as to roll out the red carpet for master protagonist. The Hunger Games. Watership Down. A Series of Unfortunate Events. The Chronicles of FUCKING NARNIA, about which I have only a small handful of particularly kind things to say. I’ve never read Percy Jackson, but it’s my understanding that despite his being a literal demigod, the attitudes of the supporting cast are allowed to fall between the extremes of “Appreciates Percy” and “naughty or will learn” Harry does nothing to improve himself even after knowing that he is HUNTED BY THE BIG BAD! “I won’t do this because I don’t like Snape”. So There” which, again, if this series were written with the slightest bit of care or know-how, could be a humbling fucking plot point! BUT NO THAT WOULD BE NAUGHTY.

But the real reason I hate Harry Potter so much has everything to do with the fandom surrounding it, and how it intellectually stunted a generation of adults. The promise of Harry Potter was that it was supposed to make a new generation of readers, and so the popularity of them was pushed, and so there was discussion of teaching them in schools, but I tell you fucking what, I know a whole lot more folks who grew up reading Harry Potter that never advanced beyond reading YA, or even just rereading the entire series every year and that’s pretty much them done and dusted.

In the attempt to recapture whatever it was about Harry Potter that attracted children (A lot of it was your peers doing it. I read them all as they came out, and it was literally the equivalent of watching the game so you could talk at the water cooler. That was never going to be recaptured) people, who by this time were likely in their teens, kept getting recommended stuff at the same and same level. No one ever felt pushed to read things that are challenging, to read things that have some of the concepts or themes of Harry Potter but maybe complicate. I know FAR more adults who read adult books that aren’t into Harry Potter, even if they were as children, than the reverse.

But Doc, why is reading only books meant for 14 year olds a problem??? I mean I suppose I can’t convince you that comfort is not the job of literature or of life, it is the job of an easy chair, because Americans especially are decadent as fuck about being comfy cozy all the time and if anything causes them distress or pain it should be immediately avoided. But Maybe I can convince you that you’re fucking up these books for actual ass children who deserve to have their own writing section without adults bringing their fucking asses into it. They deserve their own spaces. There’s a number of YA editors who have talked about the difficult space YA now occupies because since Potter’s blowup, it’s no longer a niche category, but basically “adult easy reads” and so they have been buying books that are more about the tastes of adult buyers than of literal 14 year olds.

Is that not...sad? To anyone else? Honestly, and this is not part of the essay because it’s a broader reaching problem, but CHILDREN’S MEDIA IS NOT FOR US. CHILDREN’S MEDIA IS NOT FOR US. CHILDREN’S MEDIA IS FOR FUCKING CHILDREN. The fucking 40-23 set really needs to get their shit together and grow up a little bit and engage in some fucking adult media, and maybe, if we support what we’re actually looking for FOR ADULTS, it will come to us. No one is saying you can’t read Harry Potter or watch some Cartoon Network show, but like, search your heart and come the fuck on. Engage in something more complex. If not for yourselves, for the kids getting shoved into simplified adult stories. It should not be about us.

ANYWAY, my larger point is that it was Harry Potter, a badly written series about a magical boy who was chosen and magic and also rich and also a favorite of the headmaster and also more clever than most adults and also spoke the same magical snake language as the big bad and was also star quarterback, but at least there was a system in which you could buy a scarf in block colors and feel like you belonged to a team.

(But not a sports team! lol handegg! I’m cool I don’t get into sports! Except Quidditch.)

#TO say nothing of the fact that I haven't been able to wear gold and burgundy together without some dumbass comment for years #despite being a favored color combination #Anonymous #Eight Days 2020 #Holligay Rants and Raves #I didn't even GET to every point I had but it's been over an hour #GOD I HATE THIS FUCKING SERIES SO MUCH #Doc do you hate me for liking it?#oh sweet thing allow me to reassure you: Yes. Absolutely.#also the prose is god-awful #I've taught teenagers with better rpose

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dangermousie · 3 years

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Thank you for being supportive of the lead female character in Rebel Princess. I have been watching asian dramas , mostly Korean, for over 10+ years. I've noticed that when a lead female character is written as a realistic human being, people become upset and very critical. It's nice to come here and see that it's not only okay for a lead female character to be strong and independent minded, but can also have flaws without being vilified.

Awww, thank you!

I think that is a phenomenon in literally every fandom I have ever seen, sadly, not just drama one. (And as someone who hangs out in both English language and Russian language fandoms, not limited to American-centric spaces either.) Women characters tend in general to get held to much higher standards than male ones. I have never truly figured out why that is.

I think people can have reasoned out opinions as to why Awu doesn’t work for them now (or never did) and while I won’t agree, at least if someone put thought into it, it’s merely an agree to disagree “we interpret the story differently” situation. But so many places (youtube and viki comments, MDL, Soompi) tend to sum up all their issues with Awu or any other female character as, to be blunt, she does not worship at the shrine of the male character of their choice and that makes me see red.

Think of how many times you’ve seen criticism of the female lead (any female lead) for not loving ML enough, for not falling in line with his opinions and wishes, as if she’s not an independent person with her own past, her own goals, her own story and what she wants and needs and what informs her is not being a perfect love interest but her own life and her own experiences and her own existence.

I mean, Xiao Qi is great. If I were a Holy Roman Empire elector, he’d get my vote for emperor. BUT! Awu is not obligated to say how high when he says jump (and he never says jump in the first place - one of the reasons I love him.) Criticisms of Awu I have seen (the ones that aren’t just of the “she’s annoying no I won’t explain why” variety) are that she loves her birth family too much and sides with them against her husband, she isn’t angry at character X or Y the way she should be, she is too passive, she doesn’t love XQ enough, etc. The last one is absurd (if she doesn’t love him enough, I am not sure what counts as enough), but even the rest of them just fault her for not being absolutely perfect but being human.

Yes, one of Awu’s flaws is holding on to her family when they are not worthy. It is a flaw, probably her biggest one. The sole time we’ve seen her be vicious to Xiao Qi was over her helping her cousin - when she told him he doesn’t know what family is because he’s never had anybody - ouch! Bringing a gun to a pillow fight is what it was, and clearly she went against the rule that you don’t use this kind of a nuke in a minor fight - there are things you just don’t say, especially since this very private person revealed it to you himself earlier, gave you his vulnerability to help with yours. But it is not only a consistent flaw and character trait (it didn’t just pop up!), it makes complete sense for a woman who grew up in an unusually close and warm to her family (remember her idyllic household? her parents and aunt and uncle and brother doting on her? the family didn’t even have concubines/half siblings for scheming to make childhood less idyllic), not to mention in the society where familial ties and clan ties are the most important, the most essential. Remember how dedicated the Dowager is to the Wangs v Xies etc. And when you add in Awu’s strong, loving, loyal heart, of course you get someone loyal to her birth family even when she herself acknowledges they don’t deserve it. But honestly, while it may have been a flaw vis-a-vis her cousin, I don’t even think it’s a flaw here. What kind of weird person would be OK with her husband going head to head with her father and brother (or even further extended family) and not try to prevent it? Xiao Qi may be the person she loves most but he is not the SOLE person she loves. It may be naive of her, but so very human, to hope the situation can be resolved without blood-shed or hurt on either side (side note - does anyone really doubt that if push came to shove with immediate threat to XQ’s life versus Zitan’s or similar she wouldn’t pick the former? But how can she pick between e.g. her husband and her father?)

As to anger against various people such as Zitan, Cousin, Helan Zhen - Awu cuts people out of her heart or never puts them there and she is unflinching, but she has always been a quiet reserved person who doesn’t shout, doesn’t do theatrical gestures (burning the paper with cousin is the closest she’s got.) Her anger has always been cold. She processes hate the same way she processes disappointment, the same way she processes grief - she locks herself behind emotional walls, behind silence. It’s all about repression. She and Xiao Qi are actually very similar in that. If one faults her for steely, quiet character, one might as well fault Xiao Qi for the same.

With regard to passivity, Awu plays to her strengths - which is bravery and will (remember the siege?) but she will never be a warrior like Hu Yao. I love having a period FL who does not know how to sword fight, who embroiders, who loves luxury and clothes and is not looked down by the story for it. She is calm and even still, but how can one call a woman weak who survived what she did, who dealt the way she did with her kidnapping(s), with the siege, with capital games, with Xiao Qi’s supposed death and then his not-supposed rebellion, the way she has?

Finally, yes Awu is flawed. But so is Xiao Qi (remember the contraception thing? One of both of their biggest flaws is withholding information) but hey, this is what makes them real and not boring pattern-cards of perfection.

#asks #monarch industry

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cherriesink · 3 years

Text

Maeda Yoshinobu - Murmurs

Murmurs are snippets of character reflection earned by increasing Explore Points during Exploration. They usually include 6-7 monologues about other characters and 3-4 monologues about things important to the specific character.

These lines are taken straight from the English translation of the game, so fair warning of bad grammar.

About Yatsufusa “It looks like Yatsufusa won’t join Code Zero no matter what... If I remember correctly, “Yuuki” is the last name of the gentry in the navy. Is he related to them?

He held a strong aversion towards to the military. He also isn’t suited for the military. Although, differently than Kurusu. He rejects the military under his own strong belief.

...Well, he won’t become a threat to us. It’s unthinkable that he will become a suspect in a special case at least while he’s living like a decent human being at Tenman-ya.

Never did I imagine that I will be running a top-secret vampire unit when I signed up to become a soldier... But look at me now, going back and forth between humans and vampires. I don’t want to accept it, however- I’m not much different than Yatsufusa in that sense. I’m neither a human nor a demon myself...”

About Kurusu “Shutaro Kurusu- the strongest vampire in Japan ranking in A-Class. But why did such power go to a rookie like him above all people... It gives me a headache just thinking about it. Even if he’s physically A-Class, he’s useless in battles if his heart and soul are unranked.

On top of that, he shows sympathy for both vampires and humans. How did such a spineless one make it into the army in the first place... Sheesh. Our hearts and soul are the only things we cannot train to get better at... Perhaps it’s what we call a quirk of fate.

Even so, I must build up the unit for Code Zero to function. Especially Kurusu. Practice makes perfect- I must teach him how to move before thinking anything. I’ll teach him how to become a proper soldier that slays a vampire with his reflex.

First and foremost, I must change the way he talks... What in the world did the army teach him? He’s no different from a civilian on the streets...”

About Yamagami “That fool, Yamagami and I graduated the same year from the military academy. He is incompetent as a soldier. He wasn’t as smart as me but he wasn’t bad either. That is why he was assigned as the military attaché to the Embassy of Japan in London. He was posted in Great Britain as a military diplomat... His assignment was to look into the highly confidental information of Britain’s special unit. So how did it end up being “Many go out for woll and come home shorn”?

That fool! How can he be so foolish, turning himself into a vampire?! And an unranked one... Even I can beat him. But like they say, “Fire and water make good servants but bad masters,” he can detect vampires that are stronger than him- in other words, every vampire that’s hiding in Japan because he’s unranked. He is the eyes of Code Zero so to speak.

...But did you really have to become a vampire yourself? You fool...”

About Takeuchi “Takeuchi is indispensable for Code Zero. Vampires are full of weaknesses. And Japan does not have that many vampires compared to other countries. Kurusu is the only A-Class. The the rest are C, D, or unranked...

We will fall behind foreign countries on special missions at this rate. That is why Takeuchi’s inventions are crucial to cover up our weaknesses so we can equally compete with western ones. Some weapons are ready to be used in an actual battle.

...But I’ve heard rumors that he’s selling his inventions in department stores since he has been whining about the recent budget cuts... Apparently, the sunscreen for vampires are popular amongst women and bringing him loads of money... It’s a military secret for god’s sake.

What in the world is he thinking...?”

About Suwa “It is impossible to understand what Suwa is thinking. It’s nearly impossible to control a vampire that’s been living since the Azuchi-Momoyama period. He can’t even control himself because he’ll lose himself the second he smells human blood. Therefore- the deodorize mask is a necessity for him.

I’m sure the only ones who’ve killed a human being in Zero are Suwa and myself. He was a stray vampire for a long period of time. Therefore, dangerous. He is a bare sword. The only element that allows me to control him is his loathe against vampires. Apparently, he hunted vampires as a hobby before joining Code Zero and was feared by other vampires.

In any case, I shouldn’t have to worry about him as long as he has blood, the deodorize mask- and a target to hunt for.

...If he ever becomes a threat against mankind, I will have Kurusu take care of him. I must train Kurusu hard enough until that day though...”

About Defrott “Honestly- I want Defrott on our team. There is nothing more reassuring than having an S-Class vampire in Code Zero. However... sadly, that is impossible. Since he is only interested in plays and nothing else. His pride as an S-Class vampire will not allow let alone being used by the military.

On the other hand, he does not attack people. We cannot beat him either, even if we use all our resources. There’s no other way but to keep a certain distance from him.

That’s where Yatsufusa comes in. Because it seems that Defrott likes his company. I don’t quite get them but Yatsufusa is essential in order for us to keep a good relationship with Defrott. Either way, I’ll let him be for the time being.

...Wasn’t Suwa into plays too? Perhaps I can make Suwa go undercover. It’s combining pleasure and profit for him.”

About Tenman-ya “Tenman-ya deals with vampires for a different purpose as Code Zero. It’s surprising that they’ve been protecting vampires since the Edo period- long before Code Zero was established. And the owner being human. Shinnosuke doesn’t know the exact history of the shop either but he is the 13th proprietor.

Honestly, it is no ideal that another organization has the same amount of information as us- if not even more than Code Zero.

However, I must acknowledge that they are the reason why the vampires living in the Imperial City are quiet. We do no need to make waves if vampires are buying blood in exchange for their labor.

That manager- Ishikawa was it? He makes me curious but we should keep our relationship as is since he shares information with Code Zero while supporting Shinnosuke.”

About Code Zero “Like they say, “Only God knows what will happen,” who would’ve imagined that there are vampires in this world. I was living as an earnest soldier and now I’m in the middle of a war with vampires.

It’s as if I’m in one of those nursery tales. I never understood the story of “Momotaro” even as a child. Because if I was going to fight the ogre, I will never choose to take the dogs, monkeys, or pheasants with me as a fellow companion. They’re useless.

However, my fellow companions turned out to be... Yamagami, an unranked vampire, Suwa, an irrational one, Takeuchi, a science geek, and Kurusu that refuses to fight. Suddenly, Momotaro has better companions than me.

...Either way, I must go fight the demon with these subordinates of mine. What a pathetic Momotaro I am...”

About the Right Arm “I amputated my right arm because I got bitten by a vampire... If I didn’t act with my impulse, I would’ve probably been long gone by now. Or be sleeping in one of the coffins that Takeuchi invented.

It was inconvenient at first, but this prosthetic arm isn’t so bad anymore. It can act as a shield against a vampire’s fangs and a weapon if I swing it around. Being able to fight with one arm is actually an advantage when putting it into practice.

The only problem is that my heart suffered serious damage when I lost so much blood from amputating my own arm. Either way, I would’ve died if I hadn’t cut it off on the spot. I should be glad that I was able to extend my life. Other than that, I just have difficulty driving...

I just remembered that I punched a vampire so hard the other day. I have to get Takeuchi to fix my arm. I should have him reinforce it even if that means a few extra kilograms.”

About Vampires “I’ve never even heard of vampires when I lived in my hometown of Saga. People went missing sometimes. Was it a vampire’s doing now that I think about it?

I’m sure I’ll get mocked by myself if I tell myself from just a few years ago what I’m doing right now. Nobody signs up to join the military thinking that they’ll become... a colonel of a special unit for vampires.

I’m glad I trained hard in swordsmanship to the point where it hardened my hands. Bullets are useless with vampires. Even if it hits, it won’t cause much damage. They’re easy to read because they all do the same move. They come up to you and try to bite you on the neck. That’s when they slow down for a split second. The most efficient way to kill them is to slice them at that moment.

...All this knowledge that I have is only useful against vampires. Even if I told anyone, they’ll laugh at me for sure.

Oh well. You never know what happens in life.”

#mars red #maeda yoshinobu

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