#it's funny because they have inverse motives

[doorhine]

Thinking about characters who split themselves in two and made it everyone's problem today.

#it's funny because they have inverse motives #elktaur wanted to be his human half to be with a human woman #because he didn't think she loved him as he was #whereas vergil wanted to be his demon half in a desperate attempt to protect himself #because he thought his demon half was the only part that mattered/would make him powerful enough to do that #AND THEY WERE BOTH WRONG #(and shouldn't have self isolated) #centaurworld #devil may cry #edit: both their undesired halves are also malnourished

[disquiet-doll]

read Chilli and the Chocolate Factory: Fudge Revelation

(ff.net isn't working for me right now unless I swap between mobile and desktop, so if it's not working for you either uh. Sowwy.)

It was really, really good

(If you like somewhat silly metafiction that takes gags to their full conclusion even in serious- what am i saying.

It's good if you like Homestuck. OK? That's what it is.)

There's a lot that could be said about it, but the most interesting thing to me right this second is really how it calls itself "Rational, but not strictly".

Because a thing about me - which I believe I've mentioned before - is that I did used to read rational or rational-adjacent fanfic, on occasion. And I have enough knowledge there to say this... Isn't. Not really.

Because the thing about rational fic is the motivation tends to be, like, "this world doesn't make sense, these characters are doing stupid things, blah blah", all while inserting the rationalist vaguely progressive in theory but very often reactionary in practice (namely by ignoring their - usually white, cishet, etc. - background while assuming their viewpoint Most Knowledgable one, but I digress) worldview

And this does like, the inverse of that? Because it looks at all the whimsy and silliness of Roald Dahl's work and just accepts that, for the most part. No problem there!

But what it does take umbrage with - the reason it drips with animosity toward it's source material even as it demonstrates deep familiarity with it - is the worldview of both Dahl himself and his work, most importantly Charlie and the Chocolate Factory itself.

Basically, the equivalent of this fic for Harry Potter would not be Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, or anything else couched in how the world of this children's series is "too dumb".

It would be a story that looks at all the whimsical nonsense of Rowling's only notable work and says "that's fine" while understanding very deeply - and criticizing very openly -that the real problem, the truly odious thing, is the thatcherite neoliberalism the entire world is built on.

It's great!

Also, it's really fucking funny. There was more than one point where I realized some gag from the very start had been building up to a punchline that made me leave my seat and pace around thinking of how good the setup was.

And also also, the metafiction element really was quite fun. I need more time to stew on that - I read the chapters that made the criticism click last night and have been thinking on them since, unlike the hard metafiction chapters I only just finished - but I can't imagine I'll do anything but enjoy it more as I think about it.

Really the important thing is that it ends how I wanted Homestuck to end while it was running - and how I wanted the epilogues to go as well! - which means I can put this Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fanfiction in the "Homestuck but good" pile. You have no idea how much this delights me.

So yeah, recommended if you have the time. It's not too long.

Mahuika vapes.

#musing #i don't know what else to tag this so I won't

[onesidedradiostatic]

You know, I really hope that in season two Alastor and Lucifer become reluctant friends.

Those types of friends that everyone sees hate each other but when they team up they are a force to be reckoned with.

I imagine Lucifer mocking Alastor for losing to Adam and Alastor feigning respect only to end any interaction with a joke about Lucifer's height.

I imagine them fighting it at first, until they can no longer deny that they think the other is funny. Little by little they notice what they have in common.

I actually have the headcanon that Lucifer offers pancakes at the end but doesn't actually know how to cook since he can make everything appear with magic. And that brings me to the fact that Alastor is an excellent cook and for some reason home-cooked food is better. I want Alastor, just to be petty and because he can, to give Lucifer the best pancakes he has ever eaten in his entire existence and for Lucifer to hate every second he enjoys it. In revenge, Lucifer makes a rubber duck for Alastor and, without wanting to admit it, he is impressed by the work.

I want that when Lucifer meets Vox, at first he is willing to join him against Alastor, until he realizes that Vox is insufferable and that in fact television does melt your brain. I imagine Lucifer and Vox mocking Alastor for losing to Adam until Lucifer sees that Vox is taking everything too far and responds "Hey, you damn coward, at least he fought."

And that ends up selling for Alastor, now this guy is his friend...but he doesn't have to like him.

While for Lucifer it is the realization that, yes this guy is just a sinner, but he was willing to take on Adam alone and got seriously hurt for it, and even though his motives are unclear, he protected the hotel and his precious Charlie as much as he could, so now this guy is his friend...but he doesn't have to like him.

I can see it, I mean it's not like their beef was ever anything DEEP, like these two met for the first time and started immediate beef with each other I need to know what the fuck is wrong with them. I think with something as surface level and petty as whatever the fuck hell's greatest dad was, it wouldn't be difficult for them to realise hey the other actually isn't that bad (being petty to each other is still funny though). like it's a different case from like alastor and vox where they USED to be friends and have actual history with each other and reasons for falling out with each other, causing their rivalry. you could almost call it an inverse where they used to be cool with each other before realising hey the other actually SUCKS (I like to think it's more reasonable on alastor's end though where he actually started to disagree with vox's attitude whereas vox got petty cause alastor rejected him)

#ask #osrs.txt #hazbin lucifer #hazbin hotel lucifer #lucifer morningstar #<- how the fuck did I forget he has a surname I'm so used to tagging hazbin [character] #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #alastor #hazbin vox #hazbin hotel vox

[ultraviolet-cello]

I'm gonna be honest guys, I looked at today's episode and was like Oh No because Episode 9 is my Achilles heel. not that there's nothing to say about it. But that there's so much To say abt it lmao. While 6 & 7 are my favourites, Knives is a character that I see soooooo much like. I need to put him under my microscope.

Anyway, today's analysis/detail watch/@tristampparty is episode 9 - Millions Knives.

Spoilers for Trimax and Tristamp, CW for uh. Knives in general, and enjoy!

It's probably just the angle here, but Knives does look marginally shorter in this shot, and it's extremely funny to me

Okay I did just get jumpscared by being in dub for some reason I was looking for the subtitles and heard English and had The Most dramatic reaction. okay we're normal now.

Knives,,,, Knives Knives Knives,,,, so I, once again, think that the narrative is working against him. It's interesting, then, I guess, that he's the only main character in Tristamp who doesn't get the portrayed-as-younger treatment in Tristamp.

Knives here is experiencing things that Trimax Knives only did way way later; the last run in particular. Trimax Knives witnesses a last run and starts fusing with other Plants midway through Trimax. This scene in Tristamp, however, takes place just 5 years after the Big Fall.

Trimax Knives ends up like he does by spiraling very very quickly after he starts fusing (And he was dead/in a coma for 20 years!); Tristamp Knives, however, has had at least 145 years to build up his power, build up his hatred, go down that spiral. No 20 years of being dead, just alllll that.

In that respect, Tristamp Knives is Trimax Knives taken to the end of that spiral, the extremist endpoint that Trimax Knives never quite achieved because of Vash - he never really had the time to reach the end of the spiral and settle in it, whereas Tristamp Knives has had that going for again, 145 years.

It's a fun inversion of what's going on in Trimax actually - the 20 years between July and the present are what gives most of the main cast their development and personality - They've had the time to develop those coping mechanisms, trauma responses, their characterizations past all the traumatic things that have happened.

Trimax Knives isn't present for those 20 years, he's down and out for the count. So that 20 years of Important development does not apply to him, making him the least Progressed character in Trimax actually.

So to have Tristamp Knives be the inversion of that is really fascinating, because it applies to how extremist he's willing to go, and how,,,, Bad[tm] the actions he takes are.

Some Knives characterization things that I see criminally overlooked are that,,, well, Vash struggles with empathy sometimes, but Knives often feels things far too much, as in a hyper-emotive or overstimulated state (he's autistic ur honour), which is what contributes to his overall spiral - he's so emotionally driven that he doesn't recognize the emotional weight behind his decisions anymore. I don't think he knows quite how much his grief and anger contributes to how he says he hates Rem. He doesn't really explore that but instead just turns it into motivation for himself.

Anyway him feeling things Way too hard is an entire mood and Studio Orange did an incredible job with his expressions.

Like for example, in this sequence he looks like he's about to physically Gag in response to seeing the Plant die

Or this one, where he looks like he's about to cry but shoves his hood over his face hurriedly in case he does. Daily reminder that Knives was the kid who cried a lot

So Vash steps in in the middle of Knives' little breakdown, but he hasn't really Seen that breakdown. To him, Knives is immediately just spouting about how humans are so bad, but from Knives' POV he just watched his sister die while the humans who surround him are unapologetic and uncaring. And that's gotta be devastating for Knives, because Vash really does not understand the context of the situation here. I think that gets to Knives a little bit, and unpauses his breakdown.

The other thing that really cements the Absolutely God Awful Time that Knives is happening is the guards going to grab him. We've already seen Knives be relatively adverse to touch (looking uncomfortable when Rem grabs him), and now he's having a really bad day, he's experiencing Trauma^2, and people just Grab him? Not to be dramatic but I understand the urge to start killing

But he also,,,, doesn't resort to violence first. He literally appeals to everyone's sense of heart, he points out that the Plants are crying out, can't you hear it? And then nobody listens, nobody comes to help him, and at this point there's probably a lot of fear.

A bunch of humans have turned up who are,,, apparently happy to exploit plants, conrad knows he's a plant, and he's being restrained by several people. That's a really scary position to be in, especially if you happen to have seen what happened to, oh, I don't know, Tesla?

Self-defense, in this case, would surely be justified to him.

Also the scene of Knives attempting to get Vash to shoot someone with a gun is a 98-only detail which I love actually - 98 has its moments, even if it's only 3rd in my Top Triguns list! (I love 98 to be clear, I just like Trimax and Tristamp more)

Vash tells Knives that he lost Rem because Rem was protecting Vash, and That's Not A Great Thing To Hear. Knives loved Rem very much and now Vash is telling him that yeah, she's dead because of him. Which he'd definitely known before, but it's such a gut punch to hear your own brother say that, scream it in your face even. Your mother is dead because of you. She was only protecting Vash.

And again, that too much emotion spills over into just inescapable grief and rage that goes into violence and taking it out on Luida which. Yeah. Yeah.

Tristamp fascinates me in that Knives actually has a genuinely good reason to amputate Vash's arm - he's in a haze, and he needs to think quickly, nobody else can do anything, and if that arm goes off it could evaporate everything in the immediate vicinity. So yeah chop chop. It's not a great solution, of course, but it's the quickest one he's got, and also starts desensitizing Knives to violence he commits against Vash. Because, of course, if this one piece of harm had saved Vash's life (which it probably did), then everything else that Knives does is also saving him, right? Right?!

Why does Vash get like. B cups in this scene and only this scene. Top ten questions science can't answer /j

Godddd okay Meryl and Roberto's reaction to seeing plants is,,,, It's nice, actually. I like that Roberto gets to see hope and flora before he dies. I like that the last positive, lovely thing that he gets to experience is the hope of the world. Even if he denies it.

God, Knives telling Vash that he's the reason for the big fall really did a number on him huh. The man is powered on 17 guilt complexes, CPTSD, and bisexuality

worms took her tights can't have shit in noman's land

Roberto also cracks a lot of jokes all the time I miss him. He's so deeply unserious half the time and the other half he's mysterious as fuck. Love this guy. But also the fact that he does try to,,, make the situation better for Meryl by joking with her is very sweet.

Wolfwood has. 0 experience in riding a Thomas because he was never given transport again,,, Why waste fuel and animals when the Punisher can just walk the desert himself? He's not human enough to die of it. ghrngrhgnrgrngrnnnnn

God that's gonna be so good when he gets Angelina though. His own transport,,,,

Zazie doing the lord's work by putting Aotearoa New Zealand front on the Worm Globe, we're so often left out of maps lmao

Alright I have spent some time condensing that Knives rant and it's still. a Lot lmao. Anyway that was my Normal-About-Knives episode, next is my Normal-About-Roberto episode, which I'm super hyped for! yippee!! yay!!!

#cli speaks #cli analysis #trigun #trigun stampede #tristampparty

[ecliip]

SLUGCAT REDESIGNS YIPPEE

hello rain world community please click for higher quality (downpour spoilers btw)

also lots of design rambling underneath the cut. warning its very long and all over the place

-OKAYOKAY so you may notice that Survivor, Monk, and Gourmand all have similar markings- darker back patch, light tummy, tipped ears/stalks- this is because Gourmand is their grandpa in my interpretation!! they share traits because famly..

-neither Survivor nor Monk are fully grown, though Survivor is almost an adult. theyre the slugcat equivalent of teenagers. thats why theyre a little shorter than everyone else. however Enot and Rivulet are fully grown, Rivulet is just built for a different environment and Enots a fucked up inversion of Survivor

-Hunter, of course, gots the rots. i dont know why nobody utilizes Hunters scarred eye in HLL designs tbh- because the scar and the closed eye together make an X shape. and you know what else has an X shape? rot cyst. food for your thoughts :)

-the feds don't want you to know this but you can make any slugcat of your choice as fat and round as you want and nobody can stop you because they are your slugcat designs. anyways chubby arti :) and chubby nightcat :) and plump monk :)

-Nightcat has little silver splotches because I SAID SO. the silver bits by their eyes were actually inspired by Moonwatcher from Wings of Fire with those silver teardrop scales by her eyes, i always thought that was cool. my WoF phase haunts me to this day,,, also Nightcats ears point sideways because its cute

-okay you're probably wondering what the FUCK is up with Enot. the answer: who knows??? i made them La Creatura. theyre a little freak of nature who shouldnt exist but they glitched into existence or something and they have four ears and four hands and six eyes as a result

-Gourm... im love Gourm... theyre the second tallest slugcat, Spearmaster takes first place as resident stickbug

-okay so! if you may notice, pre-canon event Arti and current Arti have some differences. previous Arti has some little scars, and a darker end to their tail. current Arti has burns that cover those. thats intentional! i like to think that when the incident happened, the anger and grief took them over, erasing all personhood in the eyes of both the scavs and theirself in favor of carnage and fury and destruction. the burns represent that. the signs of a life well lived, that little dot of personhood? gone, replaced only by rage and hurting and memories of a tragic incident. (dont worry Arti fans in my little au they arent sad and enraged forever, they do heal. eventually.)

-more design notes about Arti but their right leg is burnt and hurts to put too much pressure on, so they prefer exploding if they have a long distance to cover or somewhere to reach. also, i gave Arti a tailtip that resembles a wick that was a result of the burn scars, thank you @pansear-doodles for bein cool about people takin inspiration from your amazing designs!!

-Spearmaster is comically tall and i love that. they also have Suns's logo on the back of their head. its like a watermark! Hunter doesn't have a watermark because in my interpretation, the rot stuff was intentional, added by NSH as a ticking time bomb as a sort of motivation for Hunter, so like why bother claiming a slugcat thats gonna either ascend or experience a fate worse than death

-also the pearl experience left a permanent scar for Spears because why not

-Rivulet.. the funny fishie.... i made almost zero changes to my orevious design of them because it is perfect. just added like some extra gills. theye very short and have little ears because little ears probably help with swimming and stuff to be like aerodynamic. they also have those little flaps on their side like nudibranches!! lil reference to sea slugs :)

-Saint takes inspiration from lynxes (ears) and sea bunnies (the spots!!). Saint is also the oldest slugcat here. i made their forehead dots eyes because that is COOL !!!! i love extra eyes. also chest floof :)

-Survivor and Monks parents had to take care of THREE pups ON THEIR OWN WITHOUT A COLONY TO SUPPORT THEM and they have zero special abilities to their name unlike Arti or Gourmand. theyre gonna be a little scuffed up

-Arti's pups are a mix between a carnivorous slugcat (Arti) and a regular slugcat (whoever Arti had kids with). the blue pup has a diet like Gourmands, where it can eat meat but it wont get as much out of it as a carnivorous slugcat. the green pup has the typical Slugcat diet.

i'll update this if i think of anything else to add!!!

#rain world #rain world downpour #downpour spoilers #survivor rain world #rain world survivor #monk rain world #rain world monk #rain world hunter #hunter rain world #nightcat #nightcat rain world #gourmand #rain world gourmand #artificer #rain world artificer #spearmaster #rain world spearmaster #rain world rivulet #rivulet #saint rain world #rain world saint #hunter long legs #ecliip art #ecliip rambles

[iambicpentameterhamster]

What's happened with Jackson's Diary lately?

If you don't read all of this, at least scroll to my point on Dexer as that's my main issue.

Please don't take this too seriously, its just my opinion and im very open to having my mind changed.

So season 1 JD had me absolutely hooked, I loved the drama and the characters. There was a lot of character development and tension with underlying notes of supernatural mystery and the artstyle was consistently good and it was just... good. It was really good.

Come mid-season 2, I think we actually start to see a significant dip in quality- the characters, in my opinion, kind of lose the edge they had in season 1.

Let me explain. In season 1, the characters feel like REAL people in the sense that they were simultaneously flawed and fun. They had redeeming traits that made them likeable enough to the reader, but they all had flaws that made them act in ways that drove the plot. For example, David was funny, loyal and outgoing, but he was overprotective, slow on the uptake and jumped to conclusions. Exer was also cool, sarcastic and funny at times, but he had some pretty obvious flaws that i won't bother listing off. Jackson was sweet and easygoing but far too trusting. Ronald was intimidating but independent and thought for himself, Brenda was generous and bubbly but prioritized popularity over true friendship, Pamela was kind but standoffish, etc. All of these characters had different dynamics with one another, they weren't all friends and they weren't consistently friends. It was these contrasting flaws and virtues and dynamics that DROVE THE PLOT. And did so brilliantly.

But by the time season 1 finished, JD had taken off and was a very popular comic with thousands and thousands of readers. And these readers had become attatched to a particular ship, Dexer, which i think might be one of the reasons for the decline in character individuality. Paola has some amazing ideas and she is clearly a very capable storywriter and is good at writing and developing characters, so i think both time pressure and pressure from the fanbase caused these problems.

Season 2 was essentially three things- Exer's redemption, one long Exer and David will-they-wont-they storyline, and Jackson being therapized by everyone around him.

Exer's redemption

First of all, Exer's redemption. I think the inversion of Jackson and Exers roles in the plot is INCREDIBLY clever, but to be honest i would have liked to see that translated differently- rather than have Exer do a complete 180 and transform into a perfect person, i would have liked to see him keep some of his snark, some of his trademark moody eyeroll attitude from season 1, but show him becoming a better person at his core. Currently, i feel like he's just way too NICE. It makes his dialogue less interesting to read and it makes me less invested in him as a character because now, instead of his actions being affected by his conflicting character traits, i know he will just try and do the right thing no matter what. Maybe thats ideal for real people in real life, but it makes for a less interesting story.

He's also lost most of his motives from season 1. These used to be 1. Liking Brenda, 2. Maintaining reputation, 3. Competing with jackson and 4. Dealing with his powers and keeping them a secret. These motives conflicted each other and made it so he never truly gets what he wants, but now he just sort of... does. He got David. He got jacksons forgiveness. His friends and dad know about the powers. Hes a better person. Feels sort of like he ended up on top, really.

I would love to see Exer faced with a decision that makes him choose between keeping David or his integrity, for example. That would be really interesting. I would love to see some of the characters fall out again because them all just being good, supportive friends just makes it quite boring and low stakes. Even Jackson, with his new power, just uses it to help Exer and David and doesn't seem to have any intention or motive to use it for something more nefarious than that. Making the diary move by itself is just a way of removing Jackson's autonomy in the matter when i would rather see him make a decision himself and be responsible for his own actions, as Exer was. I want a power shift from Exer to Jackson, not Exer to Jackson to the diary.

The problem with Dexer

Now for Dexer. I think this is a key sign that the characters are now more driven by the fanbase and their desires then by what actually drives the plot. Yes, they're cute together. But they had more chemistry in season 1 when they were characters with edge. And it seems like, David in particular, his other character traits and struggles have been completely forgotten and now his character is "poor gay boy/ Exers boyfriend". And David's reaction to the trauma of what happened to his dad is just that hes... sad? What if, for example, he went manic and kept himself constantly busy because his need to be liked by other people has been harmed by this experience? Acting irrationally or seeking distraction to cope? Or even just being ACTUALLY sad instead of looking kind of sad but still doing and saying all the right things so the fandom continue to like him. David used to have other personal problems outside of Exer, for example his need to be liked by others and for popularity, or his dad telling him his future relies on football because he isn't so great at school. Now it's all about his sexuality.

It just feels like Exer and David aren't individuals anymore and have morphed into a two headed being called "Dexer". It would be SO much more satisfying to watch them get together as they were in season 1, with Exer's cynical, sarcastic and broody remarks contrasting David's endlessly sunny and optimistic personality, gullible and airheaded humour.

Some of my favourite interactions in the whole comic are between Exer and David in season one. Like:

Jackson: "Hey, is that Meryl Streep?"

Exer: "Seriously, do you think we're idiots or something?-"

David: *letting go* "Where?"

Or David constantly calling Jackson "Jacob" in early episodes, or him being totally oblivious to Exers dislike of Jackson or his crush on Brenda and enthusiastically trying to help with what he misinterprets to be reality, or slipping up about liking guys in really funny ways, Exers dramatic "After all we've been through?" And all of the funny misunderstandings and coincidences in season 1... small but entertaining things that made the characters who they were. THESE are the characters i wanted to get together. Not the ernest, well intentioned and flawless people they are now. They don't complement each other any more because they have the same basic values and traits. Like, where did Himbo David go? Where did broody Exer go?

And may i just mention, the OTHER characters have also been done absolutely dirty by this. Brenda is barely part of the plot anymore aside from helping Exer and David, same for Ronald. Brenda's thing with Ken might just save her character and has already introduced some quite funny moments, but throughout season 2 Brenda did not have any motives or development of her own outside of Exer and David (and occasionally Jackson)

Ronald had none of his funny moments, really, either. He was just David's emotional support russian. Maybe all of the character dynamics were hurt by the fact that most of the characters are all friends with each other with zero conflict except between Exer and Jackson.

Basically as the fanbase started to revolve around Dexer, the story actually seemed to mirror this. I don't blame Paola, she was giving the people what they wanted to see.

Therapized Jackson

I hate to break it to you, but real life people are self absorbed. People, especially young people, can be clueless and tactless and don't always say the right thing. When this is reflected in fictional characters, it can lead to interesting and tense scenes and character growth.

The detention kids, however, seem pretty damn perfect friends. They're always there, right time right place, and say all the right thinks to make Jackie feel better. They don't seem to have problems of their own that get in the way of their ability to constantly support Jackson, nor do they have any apparent reason for their devotion to Jackson. I mean, do they have endless time? How are they always free to help him out? Do they just wait around until he needs them? Seems kind of like they're in it for the Exer drama.

I know Jackson healing is important, but i think some of it should be internal, because realistically, who is going to have these zero-maintinance friends who follow you around giving you life advice?

Despite this, i still like them as characters and i think they have good comedy potential. They just need motives of their own and to slip up sometimes, or talk about something other than Jacksons mental health. The main characters have also fallen into doing this since making up with Jackson.

That's another thing, actually; in season 1, the characters bonded and talked about things other then whats currently happening in the plot. Now they just give each other advice and constantly talk about Jackson and David and Exer and literally nothing else, its tiring.

Anyway end of rant i haven't proof read this and i love you paola you're brilliant season 1 is a masterpiece

#david miller #brenda miller #exer campbell #jackson smith #jacksons diary #webtoon

[mephiles-the-jester]

rewatching wreck it ralph the worldbuilding is actually insane for how many worlds there are to build i love it,,time for some random thoughts while i watch the movie in a single post

i like felix and ralph,and i think with the scene in the hallway on its own people can see felix not liking ralph but when you see him next to the nicelanders its clear he really does want to let ralph into the anniversary party when he comes,he doesnt want to tell him to leave despite how everyone doesnt want him there, i think inversely to how ralph finds it difficult to break from being the 'bad guy', felix finds it difficult to break from being the 'good guy',, or smth like that idk,,,

other thing, i love how the movie treats vanellope,like she's a child and so silly but shes also a strong parallel to ralph and it takes her seriously for it, i don't know why ive noticed that but its really cool to think about. it might be a while since ive watched movies with a child protagonist like her but i noticed it and i appreciate how shes not written off as just a child ralph just relates to, because she gets what its like for ralph and she knows it

no huge thoughts on felix and calhoun i love them both,also god i with that were me,,,(both of them)

also ive been thinking this for years and i must come out and say it now that i have the chance,,but king candys warning to ralph i think is the movie's best example of how much it succeeded with its storytelling and with both its princess vanellope reveal and its turbo motivation reveal. because vanellopes glitch getting the game put out of order when players see it, and her not being able to escape the cabinet being unplugged are,,like actual concerns if she was a regular racer,like if she wasnt a princess and an actual game anomaly than that scenario might happen, because she really cant escape the game when the cybugs do come, and she does retain her glitch ability when she enters the roster,,. and it makes ralph destroying her kart more sad than infuriating because you know as much as him and that he wants to keep her out of danger, and despite king candy being an antagonist,the audience isnt told why he truly doesnt want her in the race, and he gives a realistic explanation to ralph of a series of events that could threaten vanellope, and mislead the audience while giving foreshadowing. after all, turbo does have experience glitching a game into getting unplugged,,so,,,

also while writing this ralph telling king candy that the players will love vanellope and king candy going "and if they dont",,,im gonna hit that candy cane stripped ass mf 12 yards across a willy wonka world of imagination,,,with glasses

damn this movie look gorgeous the scene of ralph talking to gene with the orange out of order sign is beautiful,,

i think when i first watched the movie i thought it was unfair that vanellope had a built in power up in the form of glitching around when she gets added to the roster,but candlehead can turn cherries nearby into bombs so ill accept that,,i would play a real game of this tbh

i love turbo and ralph/felix recognising the other immediately since they were literally neighbours when turbo was plugged in, and you can even notice it in the salmon castle when king candy cane recognise ralph despite the audience getting the vibe that he just stays in sugar rush,(he has to because he probably has his disguise only in that game)

vanellope keeping her glitching is great for the disability allegory of her character, becoming a princess doesnt magically solve what happened to her code being disconnected like that and thats fine, she just becomes an absolutely busted racer that all the players are gonna use and i love that for her

the characters who got their game unplugged being invited to a bonus level is so funny,they dont even have to deal with copyright its perfect

in conclusion: wreck it ralph i think has become a favourite movie of mine

#also the double stripped branches #i think i sort of missed it when watching the movie as a kid but rewatching i realised that those branches do look different #and then when felix and calhoun fell into the nesquicksand.the.the branch they walked on was the double stripped branch and it disappeared #i love this movie

[freshlybakedspiderbread]

Chimata if you feel like it!

General opinion/How much I care about them: i dont remember if it was really soon after or if it took some time for it all to click, but i've really come to adore all of th18's cast, and that includes that Chimata who has one of the best designs ever and I am being completely sincere! 🌈 i love everything about her. Her concept as a god of markets and how that was clearly inspired by real life doujin conventions yet still making it make sense in the setting of touhou, and her personal journey of rising back up to power thanks to the really complicated connection she's struck up with Megumu is so compelling and instantly had me and so many other fans running hamster wheels in our brains for years to come...

Also the majority of her dialogue is just really really funny, between bragging about how amazing markets are (She's right) or getting so offended when the player characters insult her card... She's kind of a mess even moreso than the usual touhou character, and that she's also a final boss and super powerful god makes a fun contrast i like a lot.

A ship I love: the obvious one is chimata/megumu though its a bit weird to talk about in this context because personally what i love about the marketeer quartet polycule is how Megumu is at the center and how the other three reflect and bring out different aspects of her (Although at the same time i also think Tsukasa can easily be the 'center' pov if needed to, because they all think the scheming tube fox is cute!). Going into detail on all that would probably steer the topic away from Chimata too much so i'll just say for now that I think Chimata and Megumu, without either really meaning to, brought the 'best' out of each other. Its just that their 'best' in this case meant giving them the means and confidence to take everything for themselves 😄

(also kind of a tangent but ive also always kinda thought megumu/chimata is similar in superficial ways to how i see yachie/keiki from just the previous game maybe with the dynamics reversed a little. But then following on that thought, momoyo is kinda similar to saki, and then i have no choice but to say tsukasa like some inverse mayumi... Its just nonsense but its funny to me think about)

A non-romantic relationship that I love: as of right now, she's gotta be reeeeeally ticked at Marisa right? Chimata had gotten over that whole thing of attacking her market as a robber and turning her bedridden, but then the stuff with the black markets had Marisa being trusted to stop them and then putting it off to enjoy collecting cards instead 😂

But despite all of that, I think Chimata ultimately would still acknowledge that avariciously human spirit which is vital in those who seek to do exchange, and will probably take Marisa off her personal market banlist eventually....

The NOTP: I actually think Chimata would get along surprisingly well with Momoyo but ive no desire to make something romantic out of it. although... maybe if megumu was somehow their driving motivation???

My biggest headcanon about them: i actually dont have anything too substantial this moment if only because her actual canon has been already so substantial and fulfilling... Though i think after becoming bedridden after UM's ending, she was resting at Megumu's place and was helping herself to the fridge and stuff without any hesitation or remorse 😊

An idea for a fanfiction I would like to write/read about them: well i'll just say for now that i definitely want to do a specific story featuring the market quartet sometime.

anyhow, something about her makes me feel like shes a prime candidate for those AUs where she swaps roles with another character (like megumu or kanako) yet somehow retains mostly the exact same personality and mannerisms.

Something that makes me think of them: i will always think of chimata now whenever i purchase goods and services, and remember to thank her for keeping me alive 😊

#tenkyuu chimata #amemenojaku #also ive liked her boss theme from the beginning and apparently thats not a popular opinion i dont think? well i like it a lot 🎵

[cosmic-cd]

i need to get some pokemon thoughts out before i forget 'em, so don't mind me! hazel's galar run thoughts and headcanons ahead

so there's a lot of miscellaneous thoughts here but i'll try to keep it. a little more or less coherent?

before we get to galar, first thought iiis

i've had it be a thing for a while that hazel knows ingo & emmet, but other than her riding the trains in unova a lot ever since she was younger and ingo and emmet were working their way up the ranks to becoming the subway masters, i couldn't particularly think of a reason otherwise why she'd be close with them (to the point of going "oh they're like practically uncles to me")

but hazel is friends with the striaton bros. (seeing as the restaurant is just one route away, and hazel lives in accumula town, visiting striaton city frequently, especially to hang out in the dreamyard)

and, well.. one of my favorite areas in unova is Anville Town, and so-

hazel and cilan (via the anime-specific version of cilan's interest in trains. canon to me.) probably bonded over a mutual interest in trains, and similarly hazel would've probably gotten talking to ingo & emmet about the subway trains- i think it'd be cute if they all went trainspotting together in anville town on the weekends- as well as hazel riding the battle trains as she got more and more into pokemon battling

(and then seeing ingo later... earlier?? in hisui. would be a little more ouch)

anyways, galar thoughts and headcanons

1. this is more of a general headcanon, but i was thinking about it while listening to encounter themes- it'd be neat if trainers challenging each other to battles on routes was standardized- encounter themes are diagetic- like ringtones, whatever phone or device (i.e. x-transceiver, vs seeker, what have you) plays it when you cross paths with another trainer who's actively seeking battles, and said device displays current registered pokemon league information about that trainer

2. when hazel arrives in galar, leon ends up meeting her at the train station at the same time he's meeting with hop & gloria, and hazel has literally no clue who he is other than immediately developing a crush on the guy..... i think it'd be funny as an inverse of this if hop recognized hazel- not as just like, the girl who's staying in their family home's guest room while she's in the region, but also knowing her from watching her battles online (to which hazel has a horrified reaction due to Not Wanting To Be Perceived)

Hop: oh, your battles only have about 1,000 views each! pretty underrated if you ask me Hazel: a-- a thousand??? (urge to disappear into the woods until no one remembers she exists rising)

this is feasible to happen just because i think she might naturally develop a very small following due to. literally having a pikachu as her ace. and collecting gym badges and specifically never challenging the champion afterwards. which! i'm sure is a passtime other people have, but specifically sweeping gyms with a pikachu is a little funny

3. i feel like it'd be more authentic to the experience if hazel didn't know anybody in galar otherwise and nobody knew her- but also i realized sonia and bianca would make ADORABLE friends. the thought of sonia flipping from indifference to OHHHHH YOU'RE THE HAZEL BIANCA WAS TALKING ABOUT!!!!!

4. i don't know if i'll do much more than privately write out hazel's adventures for myself to enjoy, but if i ever did make a comic, i'd love to expand on the galar region and have leon accompany hazel a goodly amount (and similarly hazel accompany leon and help calm down aggressive dynamaxed pokemon) in between her chaperoning for hop & gloria on their adventure and challenging gyms herself

but i've been wanting to play with giving the story more flourish and fixing some of the issues that a lot of people have with the ending feeling rushed by giving rose more context to his motivations, more intrigue in the narrative with the legendary wolves, and one thing i'd really like to play with is the original heroes of galar and a one-off line from Ash in Journeys, which has him say the statue of the hero in one of the hotels looks like Leon)

i really like the narrative of rose being very romantic about how he sees the world and wanting to bring about a second darkest day so it can play out like a fairy tale and leon will be the hero in the starring role. that, wishing as hard as he can, he can shift fate itself and the hero king will tame the dragon and bring about a bright future. leon is written as a protagonist. sort of dorky outfit, using a starter as his ace, went on his journey and became champion on his first try, had a rival who ended up becoming a pokemon professor, his theme LITERALLY has the hall of fame theme as a motif- he's written as someone who is literally the ideal protagonist and hero.

and it just.. doesn't work. he fails! i want to work with that so badly. i loved that so dearly about BW with that similar narrative with basically creating a new pair of heroes at ideological odds by forcing it to happen. in the case of the unovan dragons, it turned out for the better, but in the case of galar it's such an interesting twist on the same kind of story and i love both games so much!!!!

anyways. dusts hands off. there you go. i go back under my rock now and pretend i'm not completely obsessed with leon and SWSH. goodbye

#cosmo rambles

[hanzajesthanza]

Sending for the “thoughts on __” ask meme! Dunno if you've written about this before, but what are your thoughts on Geralt's and Cahir's relationship?

overall: cahir is the lancer of the five-man band, a foil to geralt, the leader. geralt's bitter age is contrasted with cahir's naive youth. we can even see it in their white/black hair. they both initially wished to do good and be heroic, as geralt wanted to save people from monsters (see voice of reason part 4) and cahir wanted to win honor for and defend his family (see lady of the lake chapter 9) but they quickly learned this world is not one for a hero.

they both embody nobility and are two different inversions of the idea of a 'knight in shining armor' - this is even more apparant when geralt is knighted by queen meve, and also they arrive in toussaint and geralt begins to spend time with reynart.

in baptism of fire: i love their rocky, difficult relationship. i love how bloodthirsty and antagonistic geralt is towards cahir throughout the book because of how they become 'brothers in arms' (as in the dire straits song, as quoted by sapkowski at the beginning of the book) in the end. but it makes me love geralt for his defense of ciri, still seeing cahir as a threat to her, holding her nightmares against him, because of how much he loves his daughter, he wants to absolutely wring cahir's neck with both his hands, when he speaks of him he grits his teeth so much that sparks fly, and when he spits, it hisses! (as milva describes him in chapter 5).

but geralt's inability to kill cahir reminds me of how sensitive and tied to humanity geralt is at his core, because despite his own hatred for cahir, he cannot bring himself to kill him... he, who is, after all, just a terrified young man himself not more than twenty-five! i love that in the fish soup scene in chapter 5, cahir offers geralt a knife from his boot in order to peel the vegetables, and geralt has no choice but to accept. it's symbolic of their broader situation, and also - it's just funny.

in the end they hold the bridge over the yaruga together, united... that scene and its prose is utterly gorgeous. and again - brothers in arms!

additionally, i think it's amusing how cahir is greatly amazed by geralt's ability to deflect arrows, as he defends dandelion:

in tower of the swallow: i'm not a fan (to put it mildly) of how cahir reveals that he's attracted to ciri... and that somehow, this is put within a bonding moment between geralt and cahir. i won't go into depth now about why i dislike this, i wrote this post a long time ago but a tl;dr is that cahir already has more than enough character motivation to join the company, become loyal to ciri, renounce nilfgaardian allegience, etc., 'turn towards the light,' as it were. he doesn't have to be in romantic love with her to do any of these things, he's already a complete character with depth!... and moreover... it's creepy :)! don't be in love with a child you kidnapped at the age of 11-12!

otherwise... getting that out of the way... i love how their relationship develops over the tower of the swallow. i initially felt like, and sometimes still do feel like, the climax of chapter 7 of baptism of fire felt so final and absolute of a united company that any distrust between them should have already been eliminated by this point and that sapkowski was padding for time by creating more drama... but the storytelling which resulted from it was enjoyable and beautiful, so i don't care. also, to argue with myself, it's not really implausible, because we know how much geralt loves ciri, and it's only expected that he would hold a grudge and wariness against cahir until he could be absolutely certain of his loyalty.

i love how geralt flies into a pointless rage against schirru, how angouleme has to call his name to get him to stop, and the trouble they land in because of geralt's unbridled seething, seeing red, hatred against any who dare harm ciri... ring a bell? and because of his lack of restraint, cahir is injured terribly and he has to look out for him. and it would have been so easy for geralt to kill him, or even kill him and lie about it to the rest of the company - sorry guys, cahir died of shock and fever, whoopsies... but what kind of person would that have made geralt? the thought did not even cross his mind, despite threatening his life without condition in the previous book, and accusing him of treachery just a chapter ago. it blends with the themes of humility and sacrifice of tower of the swallow - what's more humble than tending to the life of someone you just accused of being your enemy?

i love how cahir talks about his fear during the massacre of cintra. after all, it was his first time seeing war, as well, and he was groomed into soldierhood... confessing that a soldier does not question orders, he had no idea why they wanted a princess... it blends so, so well with the fact that earlier in chapter 6, we learn that the local banditry have teamed with the nilfgaardian invaders, the colorful piecemeal armor and black armor forming one wall - we learn that banditry and the state are not dissimilar at all, actively functioning as one! and it blends well with angouleme also being a defector, being from banditry, nightingale's hanza...!

he describes how he was not a hero, how he almost lost his mind and broke under pressure, that they found him running around senselessly crying like a wolf until his superiors tied him up. that he was not a winner over the loss of ciri. no one won. no one wins in war.

in lady of the lake: i love how cahir comes to toussaint and begins to, within the company, speak a little bit of his own and venture from his carefully constructed soldier's script. in baptism of fire, he "remains tactfully silent," he often does not speak in order to avoid geralt's ire, and he is polite, really only contributing in the broader company when he has a way to demonstrate his intelligence and worth. but in lady of the lake, he speaks out, he acts like... a normal young man. you can practically hear his eyeroll when he comments in chapter 3 that they must tell geralt, when he's not busy, when he tells geralt to his face "look who's talking!" when geralt comments that they've been idle in toussaint for too long. he's truly become part of the company, interjecting before the malheur pass that the horse tracks are probably that of an ibex, or moufflon... before angouleme mocks him in an absolutely siblinglike manner that he is a moufflon himself!

they really grow with one another and the trajectory of their character arcs cannot be imagined without one another. the company without cahir would not be a company, and geralt would not have had to face the repercussions of his character flaws. cahir on his own would not have survived, much less become a different person with completely challenged and changed morals and allegiences.

can y'all send some asks that are like “thoughts on __” (ask meme)

#c: cahir #c: geralt #the witcher books #ask #anon #book: baptism of fire #book: tower of the swallow #book: lady of the lake #ask memes

[onewomancitadel]

Pretty much the guiding ethos of writing The Distance Which Fools the Skimming Eye has been that I'm not writing canon, I'm just writing an epic romance that is the plot. The ensemble cast and the actual broader consequences of the romance reflect what I think may happen in canon, but the romance itself IS the plot, and however certain events progress in the story is directly inverse to the romance. If it's constrained to Jaune and Cinder's perspective, then everything is through their eyes; I do enjoy tapping into that element of 'stories that would break hearts if we knew them' which is one of my favourite themes that this is their story but there's still plenty going on in the background (which tbf is partly a conceit of R/WBY already). It's just about what's relevant to them that's relevant to us. It's not R/WBY because R/WBY is not the Jaune-and-Cinder show.

This has been on my mind since I started writing and I have written a post before specifically about my Vacuo (I can't find it): even if V9 - well, it will definitely happen - changes the characterisation of a setting like Vacuo, you can pretty much read the setting of Vacuo in the story more like a magical place of many places that serves a particular thematic role in the fanfic which can co-exist with canon!Vacuo. If anything I kind of like the fantastic room for mixed interpretation. My Vacuo can only be what it is in the story on the story's terms and can be a kingdom of romance.

Obviously I'm picky about my canon and I wanted to take the opportunity where I could conceivably write this fic and incorporate my interpretation and predictions but I also realise that with V9 around the corner that opportunity is sort of coming to an end - at the very least I'm glad I am where I am with the current romance in this fic lol. It's very hard for me to take that canon hat off because that motivates my enthusiasm to write.

Although it has been funny that some things I have theorised people have asked if they are canon facts. The thing about the alchemical use of magical eyes in the story are my thing. They might be implicit in canon in some way but it may not be literally treated like a witch's potion or directly described as something explicitly needed to create human-Grimm abominations. But I think it's terrifying body horror and neat and very witchy.

Although although more prominently I think it's interesting when what I feel to be are canonical elements are taken as noncanonical interpretation, and I would say this is true of the story in many ways just by nature of Jaune and Cinder being polarising and overall dismissed characters. So, if anything, my concern about canon scrutiny, canon Jossing, etc., is sort of unfounded, because I'm already in a fandom-precarious position.

But my own personal principles and interests matter to me the most in writing the fanfic because there is no reason to write it otherwise. I like to think that no matter how bad my fic is, I at least care about it very much, and try very hard. Even when I'm up late editing and crying I still want to keep writing it lol. Well, I want to keep writing everything hahahah.

I thought I'd get those thoughts out because yes, I didn't hit my goal of finishing before Volume 9, but I can't control my illness or my specialist appointment taking over six months to come to fruition. I am glad that I haven't given up though and that I went in with intentions that have supported ongoing writing and meant I didn't end up feeling as demoralised as I otherwise could have.

Overall it's a very weird fic to write, because I am very dedicated to it but obviously so much of it runs contrary to the fandom (I mean just the fact that so many people think it's a crackship/people have tried to talk to me about competing Jaune ships as if I want to do that on a Jaune/Cinder fic etc.) and there's a weird relationship between fanon and canon in this fandom it means I'm in an even more weird position because I care about canon... on and on it goes. No I don't think I'm special, I'm just a rando loser writing Jaune/Cinder fic who's weirdly obsessed with it and I want to be very intentional about the way I craft my story especially without running into too much scope creep. I don't 'want' to write canon, I want to write a canonical possibility of Jaune and Cinder's romance... and hopefully that means it can hold up in some small way lol.

I don't mean to sound up myself discussing my fanfic, I just enjoy getting the opportunity to talk about mechanical considerations when it's something I derive a lot of pleasure from doing so about other media (and R/WBY especially) - especially from the interaction of romance with plot, romance as plot.

#the distance which fools the skimming eye

[voicefromthecorner]

Here's something fun some people have noticed when comparing Josh to Haz. They are total inversions

Haz is polite and generally friendly, but clearly detached from humans to the point deleting an entire city is considered acceptable, while Josh is an asshole, he geniuely only went with Shibuya erasure plan because he thought it was to far gone.

And both Haz and Josh have rebellious subordinates who actively attempt to manipulate others for their own agenda.

Howver unlike Hanekoma, Kubo's agenda is actively malicious, and he's also a dick

Don't get me wrong. Mr.H is a fun character and does clearly have a decent sense of right and wrong. But he was using Neku just as much as every other faction was.

The greatest irony about Haz is that he's is the one character from the higher planes who's blatantly honest without lies of omission or twisting of the truth.

Which is kinda funny in a morbid way.

They definitely contrast each other, though there's enough common thread that I'm hesitant to go as far as to say "total inversions".

I was sort of starting to think Angels were just kind of 'like that', when it comes to city obliteration, given how Joshua talks about Shibuya throughout TWEWY and Haz asking about it while offhandly brushing off nuking Shinjuku. A rational person responding to the question of "What makes this city so special" would likely say something like "Um?? Because there are tons of people in it?? So maybe you shouldn't just wipe it out like it's just another day at work!?"

But thinking back to the last game, the scene where Joshua, fully in his Composer glory, told Megs that he needed to destroy Shibuya or else it might "infect" the rest of the world with faults that prompted him with what is literally divine judgement to make that sacrifice is a reminder that, for these guys, this is just another day at work. It's literally their jobs to decide the fate of an entire city based on the level of its impurities and while we, in watching that, can feel like Abraham pleading for Sodom for the sake of ten good people within it, the call is ultimately their for what is ultimately the best of reasons.

That's how it should be, at least. We've had a lot of personal experience with Joshua, so I believe that enough about him. I know less about Haz. But based on what I've seen of their attitudes, I understand where you're coming from. Haz seems pleasant and yet there's something about him that unsettles me and makes me trust him less than I do Joshua. He talked about the ordinary people with way more bewilderment and way less understanding than Joshua did.

I like your summary of them! Haz might shoot you in the face, but he won't stab you in the back. Joshua, by comparison, can multitask.

And when it comes to Mr H, I do think that for all his manipulations, his secret reports indicate that he's motivated by desperation. It's very cold, calculated and rational desperation, but I don't believe he'd cause the kind of problems that would mark him as a Fallen Angel without some kind of redeemable rational.

I know, "Cool motive, still murder" and he doesn't really apologise for his actions, which I won't forget in a hurry, but it's important to take the good with the bad and when it comes to Mr H, there's too much good for me to think that he was only ever just using people. If there's one other thing I took away from his reports, it's that he respected everyone - Neku, Beat, Shiki, Rhyme, everyone - for whatever that's worth.

#neo the world ends with you #hazuki mikagi #joshua kiryu #neo angels #sanae hanekoma #ask #me #evilordreborn #twewy

[twenytwenytwo]

Oct 13 2022

Yesterday and today have been good for mood. Today, no anxiety at all, despite a shite sleep (had to get up at 5am for a shift at Brud House). Today I’m also fully out of the thinking about anxiety stage. My sads are minimal to none today, too.

Yesterday after work, Scott Henderson (Brud House owner) and I found ourselves sitting outside chatting for 2 whole hours. He’s a great guy to chat with, he’s done a lot and is enthusiastic as fuck. Talked about all sortsa shit. We get along, obviously. Really liking the job.

I was thinking about the music sector of my life on the drive home. I have this funny rock in my shoe since the band dispersed. I’m just not as into it as when I had a band. The reason is simple: I really like the performance/the living band aspect. Not just for the sake of doing shows, but for getting together in a casual tone, and just idly banging out songs, for fun, for experimenting, jamming. Not hanging that easy, fun option available kinda stinks. Only hearing the song when I listen to a recording… meh. Getting a band together for the sole purpose of performing it… meh. BUT, this is the way, for now. This articulation simply helps to make clear what exactly I love and want more of. The band environment is what made me tick. It’s also what burnt me the fuck out… lol.

Now to philosophy. I overheard Izzy listening to a tiktok. It was a thought experiment:

Imagine you’ve never been born and you’re in the nothingness lobby with… God. And he says you could go to Earth and live as a human being. You’ll experience all sorts of things; joy, misery, art, love, beauty, pain, loss, success, death, anxiety, depression, euphoria, peace, war, nature, food, sleep, cold, warm, stars, dirt, disease, birth…

… would you do it? Yeah. That’s sounds crazy, and fun.

What a great way to look at things, to reorient yourself. All of the bad is worth it. It encourages you to not fixate too much on the bad because it’s just as integral to the experience as the good. Pay attention to the good, because that’s the good stuff! Experience the bad, that’s the price, but don’t let it fill your mind, or do more harm than it’s permitted.

Every story has pain. Imagine you’re in a hard time. Your mood is low. Motivation low. Feeling dim. You accidentally stumble into God’s office. On the desk, is the script to your life. You approach and read. It sounds like you’re current life. You flip a couple pages and see, to your surprise, things substantially improve. Your dreams come true and all your doubts were proven wrong. You hear footsteps and get outta there.

You return to your life and are excited and relieved. Things do work out. You’ve got nothing to worry about. In your elation, your motivation returns stronger than ever, you’re happy and friendly, you’re relaxed and enjoy every moment. Every bump in the road, you laugh at, because you know it’s nothing.

What an interesting psychological effect simply knowing everything works out fine has. What then causes the inverse? It’s not like you stubbled into God’s office and read that you’re going to have a miserable life, but that’s how you act! If you can act like your life sucks without having read the whole script, why can’t you act like it’s amazing? Either is based on nothing.

I guess that’s faith.

[catboyebooks]

in case it wasn't clear, i really enjoy this chapter's motive. you can practically feel the authorial glee at getting to write these characters behaving exactly counter to how they normally do. this complicates the mystery in a really fun way. it's also funny — you see this get used as a comedy trope more often, i think. think how many TV shows have done a goofy episode where the joke revolves around the characters acting counter to their typical behavior. while it's being played for suspense/horror here, there's still plenty of comedy, especially in the interactions between komaeda and ibuki (he keeps telling absolutely outrageous lies and she takes him at his word every single time).

but also, i think the main reason this is in the game is to make a point. i think this is intended to settle the question of komaeda's honesty. lemme explain what i mean here:

naturally, out of universe, there's a reason why it's these three characters that end up sick. i think the reason it's three of them that fall ill is to give us multiple examples of how this disease works, and the reason it's these three in particular... well. owari is one of the most straightforward characters in the game, her primary personality traits are being tough and fearless, so it's very easy to see that she's done a complete 180 after falling ill. ibuki is somewhat less straightforward and it might not be immediately apparent that the same has happened to her, but normally she's something of a goofball — she makes a lot of silly puns, clearly enjoys wordplay, and addresses everyone like they're a close friend of hers (she uses first names and -chan honorifics for everybody, which sticks out when nearly everyone else is on a last-name basis with each other). of course the direct opposite of that would be someone who speaks very formally, is too literal-minded to understand puns or metaphors, and takes everything at face value. and then we have komaeda, who is now lying for no reason whenever he opens his mouth.

this should completely settle the question of whether komaeda's been deceiving them up until this point, which would otherwise be a tricky thing to determine. there are plenty of reasons why one would assume he is lying. you could assume he's lying about the hope stuff because it sounds crazy. you could assume he's lying because we know he's lied to the group before and it's worked, he's an effective liar when he needs to be (importantly, he has confessed afterwards every single time he's lied to them). you could assume he was lying to get close to hinata in chapter 1, because that's what maizono did to naegi and there are other parallels clearly present between the first case of that game and the first case in this one. however, this can't be left as an open question because it completely muddies the waters regarding the point this game is trying to make with his character. if we can't know whether or not he's being honest, we can't make sense of his motivations and it would become essentially impossible to get a read on him. that's very much not the point here; you're meant to try and figure out komaeda because his character is used to illustrate many of the themes of the game and because he's also very similar to hinata and it's important to understand him to understand hinata as well.

going through this chapter again it also seems pretty clear to me that komaeda is trying to make himself understood even with a disease that forces him to lie. the lies he's telling initially are completely random, crazy stuff that no one would fall for, as though he's trying to make it as obvious as possible that he's not telling the truth. then, after it's been explained to the group that he's sick with an illness that makes him lie, he says something that is clearly the direct opposite of what he wants to say. the whole rant he goes on about how great despair fever is needs to be read in the inverse, because what he's actually attempting to say is "i feel terrible, this disease is awful, you should all be careful not to catch it, we need to overcome this and persevere for the sake of hope." it seems like it maybe takes a lot out of him to try and work around the disease like this and say something that could be interpreted correctly if you know he's lying, because he passes out immediately after this rant. this is also not the only time he does this this chapter, i can think of at least one other occasion when he tries to make himself understood by saying the direct opposite of what he actually wants to say. we'll get there

#this has run long but i simply had to get this rant out of my system. thank you #kes plays sdr2

[comicaurora]

You've talked before about your favorite/most interesting aspect of writing each character, and "least favorite" trait is obviously kind of hard to pin down when it's your own creation, so rather, what trait do you think is the most difficult aspect to write with each character as you work with them?

Hoohoohoo, a spicy one!

Let's start with my main man Kendal. For a character I have a lot in common with who I am also singlehandedly responsible for writing, I have no goddamn idea what he's going to do next. Kendal's priorities are completely out of alignment with the other characters and with most human beings in general. What he prioritizes moment to moment is often completely impossible for me to predict before I am actively drawing the page.

This shit? Wasn't expecting it! In my initial timeline I had them searching for Falst together when the sun rose! Didn't realize Kendal's simmering frustration at not being listened to was going to bubble over the minute things slowed down!

Wasn't expecting this one either! I thought it'd be a much more drawn out debacle! It didn't click until I was boarding it that, if Kendal was motivated enough to actually fight, he wasn't going to mess around.

And I was expecting him to keep this a secret so they were all going to be blindsided when he got snatched by Zuurith! I didn't realize until I was storyboarding this page that he wouldn't even consider keeping it from Alinua.

Kendal is a quiet character, even in my head. Sometimes I don't know what he's going to do until he's actively in the scene. It's interesting - I've never had a character surprise me so much.

Alinua's tricky because she is, quite frankly, a mess on the inside, but she's a high-functioning mess. It's not usually visible how much she's fretting or clinging or compartmentalizing. She pretty much only shows these facets when she's alone with her thoughts, which she has been trying very hard not to do ever since she got out of that tree. A few people have correctly analyzed her character as fairly anxious and codependent, but I haven't really had a chance to let her fully fall apart, so I don't think it's as clear as it could be how much she's struggling sometimes. (I've also seen her described as the "team mom" which I think is very funny, because in my opinion she is probably the least qualified person in the party to be responsible for a person full time.)

I thiiiiiink I'll be able to let the cracks show near the end of the arc, but we'll see how it plays out.

Erin is a thankfully easy answer. As the designated Well-Educated Smart Dude he makes for a very easy fountain of exposition, and it's very tempting to just let him give the characters exactly what information they need for the plot to happen. Inversely, it's also tempting to be selective with his knowledge, i.e. he doesn't know things so the plot can happen due to general party ignorance. I have to make sure his knowledge makes sense with his background rather than just serving the convenience of the plot.

There's also the fact that he's not always willing to share what he knows, which can be frustrating to wrangle.

Falst is tricky because he's volatile. He and Alinua both have a lot going on underneath and a lot of emotions that boil pretty close to the surface, so it's mostly a matter of figuring out what he's feeling most strongly that will be predominantly motivating him at any given time. He's also stubborn and prideful, which means if I need him to be emotionally vulnerable in any way for the plot to happen, it's an absolute bitch to wrestle him into position to make that happen.

Sometimes literally.

He's also tricky because I'm trying to make sure his character is consistent. He makes sense to me, but he has a tendency to pivot from "clear-headed voice of reason" to "let's go break a prison in half" that probably can feel a little jarring, so I have to make sure to communicate enough of his internal reasoning to make those make sense - which, again, is tricky because of how prideful and emotionally constipated he can be. His "voice of reason" thing tends to happen with things he's not emotionally invested in, like other people's personal arcs -

But the "sudden chaos gremlin" stuff is motivated from the stuff he doesn't necessarily want to talk about or express vulnerability over - a shameful temptation to give up his identity to escape persecution, a sudden deep attachment to a friend he wants to rescue, etc.

It's mostly just a matter of making sure his motivations aren't completely arcane so even if he surprises the audience he's not breaking character in the process.

#aurora #asks

[tenthgrove]

Is it alright if I request la squadra having Giorno’s twin as a teammate. Like the twin is allot like giorno in terms of abilities but a bit more open

Giorno's Twin

La Squadra x Reader, Platonic, SFW

Formaggio- The two of you are fast friends. Personality wise, Formaggio is the most similar to Guido Mista from your brother's team and the two of them get on great. It's the same with you and Formaggio, an opposites attract sort of deal. Formaggio always applauds loudly any particularly impressive tricks pulled off with your stand, and often badgers you to give a demonstration outside of missions. He helps a lot with getting the others to get along with you as well.

Illuso- He kind of wishes you reacted more, but at the end of the day, you're alright. Illuso loves to tease new (and old) members of the team but that never really works with you, which mildly annoys him. Also, there's not really much to tease you on given your stand is one of the best they've seen in years. That definitely gets on his nerves. Still, Illuso is not quite the asshole his enemies may guess. He doesn't straight up give you the shoulder just because he can't make fun of you. You may even become friends.

Prosciutto- He is the most weary of you, taking a stance similar to Abbacchio's with Giorno, though less extreme and vindictive. For a start, you have a little too much faith in your abilities for a newbie. Sure, you're stand is powerful and he hardly expects you to go around as lilly-livered as Pesci, but relying too much on the innate ability of your stand and going out of your way to prove it's capabilities is how amateurs die. Textbook. Still, the one advantage you have over your brother is that you're more open than he is. At least, Prosciutto has an idea of what your game is.

Pesci- A person like you is really what he needed on the team. Calm, collected and motivating, but less prone to anger and criticism than someone like his Fra. As you are, you're a person perfect for lessening Pesci's insecurities and bringing out the best in him. He leans on you quite heavily as a result. Furthermore, you have an eye for potential and can see that he is far stronger a person than he lets on. He appreciates that you can see this without putting too much pressure on him to succeed. You understand him.

Melone- How peculiar! A stand with almost the exact inverse abilities of Baby Face's juniors, but controlled by a rational human being. Melone can't always control his juniors, especially considering there's often an inverse relationship between how powerful a junior is and how obedient. Consequently, having someone around to undo the juniors' damage if they refuse to themselves is of great use to Melone, and he goes to considerable lengths to appease you as a result.

Ghiaccio- He can handle you. Though more open than your brother you're still relatively quiet and respectful of people's boundaries, which is the number 1 thing Ghiaccio prioritises in tolerating someone. Also, you speak in a relatively straightforward way, so trying to understand you doesn't give him a headache. Finally, you don't react much when he flips his lid. As much as you'd think he wants a reaction, he actually hates it when people make a big deal out of his temper flare-ups because it always embarrasses him afterwards. Yeah, you'll get on just fine.

Risotto- He certainly did a double take upon seeing a relative of a rival team's member on the list of approved candidates for the next member of La Squadra. Accepting such a person would carry risks, yes, but your stand is just so powerful he couldn't refuse. He eyes you with a healthy sense of suspicion in the early days, but soon comes to respect your sense of honour. He has a lot of admiration for your sort. Really, your personality is perfect for the team, able to detach yourself enough for the lethal act while still getting on well with your comrades.

Sorbet and Gelato- Aww come on, can't you be a little fun? Sorbet and Gelato know from experience that those who take the job entirely seriously tend to break down after a couple of years. The exceptions are Prosciutto (and let's face it, do you really want to end up like him) or Risotto (and you do not want to see his therapist's report). Sorbet and Gelato are always badgering you to see the more morbidly funny side of your profession, though you try to approach it with a cold professionalism. Still, what they can appreciate is the way everything changes when you get a target who deserves it. They're the same way.

#la squadra #la squadra di esecuzione #la squadra x reader #formaggio #formaggio x reader #illuso #illuso x reader #prosciutto #prosciutto x reader #pesci #pesci x reader #melone #melone x reader #ghiaccio #ghiaccio x reader #risotto nero #risotto nero x reader #sorbet and gelato #sorbet and gelato x reader