Aw MAN tiktok mischaracterizes Scaramouche so much. Specifically as Wanderer (I sometimes see it with Scaramouche too).
(TW as I do mention abusive topics)
I've genuinely seen people go full force on the "oh, Wanderer would bully my whole team. Wanderer would be so mean! Wanderer—" and it's just. NO? Wanderer is a significantly mellowed out Scaramouche. If anything he wouldn't entirely give a damn about anyone he works with as long as they aren't ridiculously insufferable or take personal offense to what he calls brutal honesty. Instead of him literally physically harming or abusing the people who annoy him (like he would as the Balladeer), he just says a snarky comment. Like, I'm sorry, I don't think he's going to beat up your Freminet, or Mika.
Scaramouche is the type who would snap on one of them, especially since as the Balladeer, he saw little to no worth in humans (i mean come on, he turned on his two fatui agents in an instant when they said one thing that angered him. He was also implied a lot of the time to be an insufferable Harbinger). Wanderer is not the same. Wanderer probably still has a deep-rooted disdain, yes, it'd be hard to fully overcome something he believed in for so many decades, but he's well past taking his frustrations out on other people like that. He's literally trying to AMEND the horrific actions he's done. He wouldn't add more to it. Not to mention, he likely has a promise made to Nahida, who was willing to help him, to try his best to grow and change as a person, even if he doesn't think he can.
Now talking about Scaramouche in general, people amp up Scaramouches more toxic traits by twenty notches. Scaramouche is a toxic person. I will fully admit that. When I consider how lower Fatui agents act around him, he's definitely an awful person. But on the same hand, I don't think he'd be the sort who'd be abusive in romantic encounters. You're telling me, this man who was desperate for love and admiration and acceptance, would be beating and killing anyone who even dates him? Personally, I don't think so. I feel like he'd unintentionally be a bad partner. Perhaps saying things he shouldn't, or being distant, as he hasn't experienced anything positive or real since he was the Kabukimono. The Harbingers are all fake to eachother, so it's not like he's really used to having to be fully himself with another person. But I don't think he'd beat or maim his partners.
Maybe I'm blinded by my adoration for this character, but, I just don't get how some people look at him and go "Yeah that man would absolutely BEAT that traumatized teenager standing next to him for breathing the wrong way."
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Okay for a while my genshin bio was "Arlecchino simp, Childe stan, Dottore apologist" and while that was my bio, someone joined my world and asked me why I liked Dottore? At the time I just said heeheehoohoo man funny cause that's true but thinking about it, I've realised why I like Dottore.
So, picture this. I joined genshin in around 3.2ish. I didn't do any events that I hadn't unlocked the story for and I wasn't really in the fandom. So lil old me was just playing through the story, and having the time of my life in Sumeru cause it was so fucking weird.
Then. You defeat the big boss. You cry about Rukkhadevata. Nahida is gonna give us some lore now, right?? Nope get fucking flashbanged.
So this was already shocking enough then out walks Mr Doctor, who had seemingly left Sumeru in a boat. Okay weird, guess he came back. WAIT WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE HAS CLONES?!?! And then his clones get merked the second I find out about them?!!?!?
So I'm reeling from that when he promises knowledge not even the god of wisdom knows. And I perk up cause lore!!! I like lore!!! Then. Then the motherfucker. He says "Sky's fake."
Remember, I knew none of this. Bitch just dropped sky's fake on my head out of nowhere. And while I was going "THE SKY IS FUCKING WHAT?!?!!?" Man just casually faded to black. Like he hadn't dropped the most batshit insane lore possible.
Now if you're normal and you knew the background genshin lore, that would make sense. You already know about the fake sky and Dottore's segments and all, so the casual delivery totally tracks.
But I didn't. So to me this man walked up, drugged us, revealed he had clones, murdered said clones, then dropped one of genshins biggest lore bombs before fucking off. In the space of one conversation. Fucking iconic.
So that's why I like Dottore :)
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hhhhhnghm...hear me out...childhood friends with the ragbros...growing up with these two boys with hearts set on adventure, wanting to go and explore the world with them. The both of them. While the three of you play, your parents meet with Diluc's father - the content of their conversations doesn't affect you now. Not immediately at least.
Seashells and pinecones the three of you collected together as children start turning into calla lilies from Kaeya and windwheel asters from Diluc; you cherish both equally and try not to show favoritism...but one bouquet gets the nicer vase. One makes your heart race a little faster. Your parents tell you of their discussions once they believe you'll be able to understand it - a marriage between the two families. You've been promised to Diluc, and when you settle with your thoughts that evening, you find yourself flustered and afraid at the same time. A decision had been made for you before you could even understand what (or more precisely, who) it was you wanted.
A confession goes unspoken the night of Crepus's death; it remains unspoken for years. You spend days with Kaeya, tending to his wounds, trying to get him to say something, anything, about what happened. You spend your nights crying over another undeliverable letter to Diluc, thoughts wandering back to the Dawn Winery standing vacant and cold beyond Mondstadt. How the three of you used to play together there, how you used to plan your journey into the neighboring Liyue, and how those plans will never come to fruition.
You don't expect Kaeya's first words after weeks of silence to be an apology, but you've come to always be surprised by his actions. Whether it's him accompanying you on an evening stroll or working alongside you silently. It stirs something in you; a cocktail of emotions, both infatuation and perhaps something deeper, that you wish you could keep bottled up and hide. But it only pushes back harder each time Kaeya's hand brushes yours, each time he manages to pull a laugh out of you, or returns from another mission unscathed.
You feel light. You feel guilty. You were promised to Diluc, not Kaeya.
And yet that guilt fades for a moment when you hear of the rumors of Diluc's return to Mondstadt. You're not allowed further than the foyer and Adelinde explains it's for the young master's privacy, but you can see the apology in her eyes. You know that she's aware of what you are - what you're supposed to be - to Diluc, but she cannot ignore what she's told. Or what she believes is best. But the rumors are confirmed and your heart hammers against your ribcage: Diluc was back. He was home.
But he's changed. When you do see him, there's no light in his eyes and his smiles (if you could call them that) are cold and closed off. But the more you return to the winery, the more you see there is something there. Something warm and familiar just beneath the icy exterior that brings heat flooding back into your cheeks. It's there in the way he says your name before changing his mind and the way he moves to reach out for you before stopping himself.
But the guilt returns. The weight of your parent's and maid's whispering of your arrangement settling heavily on your shoulders. You were promised to Diluc; raised, primmed, and prepped for a marriage to link yours with the Ragnvindr's and yet you wish Barbatos would strike you where you stood.
How could you love them both so dearly and be forced to choose one?
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my only thoughts on alhaitham and kaveh are basically
got married soon after they graduated
this has been universally regarded as a bad move
marriage lasted like a year at best because *gestures to everything*
bitter divorcees nowadays. but they keep hanging around each other because nobody else would ever put up with them
most people don't know they were ever married. they literally just don't acknowledge it
even kaveh doesn't talk about it when drunk. his addled brain will still not cross that line
everybody who knows them wonders what the fuck their deal is but at this point they're too afraid to ask
sometimes you will see them having dinner together or standing together like a couple but like, just don't ask, there's no point asking
even they do not know what's going on
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One of the many, many reasons I love Blade Runner is that it doesn't have this Big Epic Final Fight you've come to expect from literally any action film ever.
There's just Deckart and Roy - all others are dead, or not here - and it's just them and one was supposed to kill the other and has become the hunted.
Our main hero protagonist is at the end, he's beaten down, he's at the brink of death, he can barely still walk and is just fleeing as far as he can, as long as he can, and he won't be able to go on much longer and there's really only so far he can run before he's inevitably caught. There's no last minute saviour, no sudden burst of strength, no last attempt to fight. He's terrified. He's running, limping, for just a few seconds more.
And the antagonist - the one who was supposed to be killed, the one who was supposed to be sub-human and is living his life as a slave, in fear - he's going mad. He barely ever had anything, and he lost the few others he had - the only ones who understood when the world was against them. He has only minutes to live, minutes that not even his creator - his god, almost - could drag out, a human god who died by his bare hands. There's nothing left to lose and nothing left to do, but there's the person who hunted him down like a machine or an animal that's one rogue, the one supposed to kill him, entirely at his mercy.
And then they're on that roof, and I don't know what Roy might think, but I know Deckart was done with his life. I know he was convinced he'd die right here - that both of them would die on this roof in the rain.
And when Roy pulls him up? There has to be an explanation. Surely he'll kill him now. What else could he possibly want?
But Roy isn't out for revenge anymore. For as little as he's lived, he's seen so incredibly much. And he knows there isn't anything to be done. He'll die, he'll be forgotten, just another rogue replicant - like moments in time, like tears in rain.
"Time to die." No sadness, no anger, nothing. There's nothing more to it, not anymore. It's a fact.
It's when he's free for the first time.
He's no longer living in fear. He died on his own terms. He's as free as he could ever be, in the only way that was ever even a possibility. And as he dies, as he no longer lives as a slave, that white dove flies away through the rain - a symbol of freedom, finally let go.
And Deckart is left alone on that roof, bleeding, his hand broken, exhausted, still not quite away from the brink of death he's been limping along for the last, what, minutes? (How long was it? Can't have been long. But it sure felt endless.)
There's no winner. No one has been defeated, either. There's just one who died, as he was always meant to, and one who lived, but his world might be in shambles.
What is life worth when you're just waiting for death? Is it freedom when you can never settle down? Could there ever be a different ending?
Also I'm going absolutely insane over the white dove which is a symbol for freedom btw like DAMN!!!!!!! IMPLICATIONS!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
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So I finished mazinkaiser awhile ago after months of procrastination on it and for one reason or another I’m not gonna give my solid thoughts on it but there is one specific thing I wanna point out, not as a critique but more so a confusion. That being: I find it weird how Mazinkaiser isn’t the turning point for Mazinger where they finally go “hey the robot is sentient” because it’s not yet near the end literally EVERYONE talks to Venus A as if shes actually a person:
I’m not saying this as a criticism for the reason of my already biased to vaguely sentient robots-because as much as I prefer this angle with mecha, I understand not every and all mecha can approach this because sometimes the robot is JUST a narrative tool and not a character, which is fine-however I’m confused with Mazinger of all things didn’t take this approach when there’s already so much emphasis on Mazinger being tied to gods. I mean, apart from the fact the robots are based off Greek Mythology and there is a constant message of “will it become God or Devil” which feels like it warrants this enough, it would start to make sense if the robot grew sentient because Mazinkaiser is treated as the ULTIMATE Mazinger. (And where have we heard a case where the “ultimate” form of a robot starts to be the one that displays more self awareness *cough* GETTAH🗿)
Especially also within this ova- it seems to do stuff on its own accord to PROTECT Koji, like going on auto pilot as he’s knocked out and somehow keeping him safe from being burned alive in magma, but I cannot tell if this IS a indicator Mazinkaiser is actually sentient or if it’s just all auto pilot. Oh and it’s a more minor thing but also just- the human poses Kaiser and Venus take during the beach episode… I cannot tell if that’s something they wanted or if their pilots just posed them comfortably because lines seem to blur with the robots just being treated as the extensive of the pilots. (Venus is literally based off of Sayakas appearance after all)
It’s just weird Nagai never went this route and just stuck to metaphorical stuff, when it feels like SOMETHING he would do given the nature of his stories and yet the only fully sentient Mazinger media I know is Zero. Of course I still have such a limited window on Mazinger so if this is me actually being wrong please feel free to correct me, but I still will never not find it weird Mazinkaiser lacks this aspect asides from maybe vague allusions to it that may or may not be implying it. Maybe if I ever rewatch it or find more Mazinkaiser content specifically I’ll be able to piece things together a bit more.
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I feel like people who complain about Scaramouche "being redeemed" in 3.3 as in "not held accountable" are really like... missing the point?
So you have this creation with one foot in humanity and another in divinity, whose entire existence has been defined from the very beginning by not being enough to truly be either human or god. Who was led to believe that the sheer intensity of his emotions where the cause for being abandoned by his creator and mother. Every single time he finds a semblance of peace and belonging, it's violently taken from him.
Humans can't be trusted. Human emotion is the greatest flaw. Everyone will abandon and betray you sooner or later.
Only for it to be revealed that the entirety of this situation had been carefully plotted in advance by (from what we currently know) Pierro and Dottore, all to specifically set the gears in motion for the naive puppet to spend centuries believing that the loved ones they took from him betrayed him. Completely unaware of the fact that they were eliminated specifically to trap him in the Fatui, so that they could get access to the secrets regarding the Electro Archon's creation methods.
He only became who he was within the Fatui due to being at Dottore's mercy, and for being able to "withstand abuse better than most humans". And now it's also confirmed that this is what made it possible for Dottore to create his many segments in the fist place.
But despite all that, this is a person who sees the divinity that which is the puppet's birthright. The sole purpose of his existence. And this same person promises to unlock that power, and help him scrub away the human emotion that ails him in order to elevate him to true divinity. Infiltrating and conspiring with the leading figures of Sumeru's Akademiya for it. Even when recognizing that this is all for Dottore's goals and nothing else, Scara still accepts it.
... only for everything to collapse and burn on itself, after having a taste of the power that he was taught to covet so. And now he's in the hands of the people who tried to get in the way multiple times before, who finally emerged victorious for it. And for what purpose could he yet be kept alive if not for the potential ways they could use him?
He complies to the tasks they ask him to fulfill, including searching the Irminsul. Only to then learn that everything he thought he knew about his life, his circumstances, his pain... all of it was planned by the Jester and the Doctor before he even knew them. And the people they claimed betrayed Scara had actually defended him and his heart to their literal dying breaths. Even as Dottore revealed his identity and the truth of what went down at Tatarasuna, Niwa's concern for Scara's safety even as he bled to death.
Scara asking the Traveler if there is any chance of changing the past, this wasn't him selfishly trying to erase the errors of his past. This was an attempt at self destruction in the hopes that there was even the smallest chance of changing the outcome of what happened back then. To try and change the timeline, so that Niwa, Katsuragi and everyone who died by assocation of knowing him wouldn't have died that day. Even at the cost of deleting his own existence.
This obviously didn't work out, for there is no way to change fate, and the only thing you change by altering Irminsul is the memory around how things came to pass, not if. And so Niwa, Katsuragi and the others all still died horrible deaths... there's just no puppet to be remembered now.
And then, without his memories, Scara becomes more mellow, and lost. And when faced with the information that he's committed atrocities in the past he accepts this as truth. And this is before the strangers (as the Traveler and Paimon are to him at the time) have any sort of proof to back this claim up with.
Despite that, he asks to bear witness to his past sins. Even when it's hard for him, he never looks away from it, and by the end of it he asks for his memories to be restored even though it will bring back the centuries of pain that lead him to that point. And he's willing to bear the burden, begs for it even.
He asks Kusanali what it means to be human, and if a puppet can truly be human. This is pivotal, as Scara's entire life has been dictated by the shackles of his past, by the things he lack. For the first time ever, he senses a potential way forward, towards a more hopeful future.
And the fact that he gains his vision the exact precise moment he reconciles with his past self, and lets it take a backseat as a part of what's shaped him rather than what forever defines him, is the freedom that which Anemo symbolizes.
I don't think it's talked about enough that his mindset is so reliant on the concept of "eternity", even when acknowledging that he's Ei's creation. She made him and the Shogun as a result of her pursuing unperturbed eternity after the Cataclysm, seeing that even her vessel was not ideal for it (erosion, etc). Scara was ultimately created for that purpose, but even still he is so similar to Ei herself... Both feel everything so intensely they scarcely know how to bear it.
And seeing her own artificial creation shed tears upon receiving the gnosis, I think the "weakness" Ei could be argued to have seen was much more towards herself, rather than Scara (and who knows if his initial softness also bore a potential resemblance to Makoto.)
And so she thought she was doing the only right thing, by giving him her blessing and a chance to shape his own fate free from her influence, rather than destroying him as a "failed prototype". But inevitably, he saw this as abandonment and helped fuel the idea that his sole worth lied in being able to carry the gnosis.
Going back to Scara's vision, the moment he received it also meant that he had finally found the freedom that Ei had wished for him. Something he had only briefly known once in Tatarasuna, as the now forgotten Kabukimono.
Even though he is forgotten in the words of history, and in the memory of the world, he still asks us to tell the descendants of the Raiden Gokaden who had really brought them ruin. Even welcoming the prospect of them wanting to kill him in retribution, seeing it as only fair.
He has no plans as of now, and isn't that the first time in far too long too?
He is finally free from the prison of the past, where he saw no other way than to harm people, and is now free to atone and find himself again. He may forever be shaped by his past, but that does not mean he is incapable of making a difference for the better. Because as he learned the hard way, there is no changing the past.
I'm not sure what other way this part of the story could have been concluded, and I wouldn't have had it any other way because it's all so goddamn poetic and heart wrenching in the best of ways. Even as fate saw for all this hurt and harm to happen, there was still a chance for him to atone and improve, for himself and others.
And the trials of realizing that, and work towards doing better without expecting forgiveness or sympathy from those you hurt, is much more productive when trying to make things better. Why does one feel the need for further punishment after everything the story has told us so far? To me that's missing the point entirely about what makes Scara and characters like him so impactful.
Because nothing about this story has been inherently "redeeming", but if you work under the idea that "punishment and atonement" needs to be carried out and that even then it will never be enough to cleanse you from your past sins, what point is there to try and ever do better? This is why "redemption arcs" is such a useless topic to me and dare I say closemindedly christian
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