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musashi · 7 months

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feel free to ignore if unwarranted or unhelpful seriously : i deeply relate to going from having extremely close friends you tell everything to to have basically no one you can open up to despite trying to make connections. i have a therapist who has never once advised me to make friends and has instead helped me untangle my feelings in a way that makes the load a little less to bear. i am poor poor so free clinic as well. you are not me but this has made daily life bearable

i really wish people who are sad sometimes online had any agency in their own life to say "i do not think i need therapy" and be taken seriously, but i feel like every time i say it and say it firmly here, a bunch of anons like this (and sometimes trusted friends as well) just start shaking their heads and clicking their teeth and looking away from me like oh poor thing... they're so far gone they can't even accept they need help

like maybe i'm not being clear so i'll say it again: i do not need therapy. early 20s wendy with severe personality disorders that were wreaking fucking havoc on their underdeveloped frontal lobe needed therapy. 15 year old PTSD-laden cannot log onto a single social media site without being sent harassment and shock photos wendy needed therapy. violently suicidal 10 shots of vodka a night wendy needed therapy. current wendy does not need therapy.

this does not mean that a person needs to reach a certain threshold of pain or stress to need a therapist. that is not what i am trying to say. but the ideal endgoal for a therapist is for them to some day never see their clients again. the point of a therapist is to help you gain control of your own life, and develop the proper neural pathways and coping mechanisms to do so. i do not need help with this: i have perfected it like any other art. i am amazing at doing that on my own, so much so that i have legitimately had actual licensed professionals in shock that those are skills i developed just fucking around in my early 20s trying not to die.

according to my ex, a psychology major, i perfected CBT without any coaching or instruction. i literally did it intuitively. she said to me, you realize people pay thousands of dollars to be coached on that?

when i am in crisis, it is very easy (practice) for me to find my emotional center, calm down, and get to work problem solving. whether that problem be something tangible (something went wrong at work, home, etc) or more abstract (i think my loved one hates me because i have BPD) i can easily get into 'lets fix it!' mode and follow through. people who follow me on tumblr do not see 99.9% of the issues i am having because they crop up, i feel the feelings, and then i send them on their way.

but sometimes you cannot do that on your own. human beings were literally, scientifically, logistically NOT MEANT TO SURVIVE IN ISOLATION. it is NOT POSSIBLE for a person to live a healthy, happy life without social bonds. i don't understand why i have to explain this to people. sometimes i feel like i am from mars. we are meant to be with each other! we are meant to support one another and share our woes! that is the CRUX of humanity!

so, for 99.9% of my problems, of my agonies, i not only succeed but i excel at turning them into meaningless blips on the radar of my life. there is a remaining .1%, though, where the solution is simply that i want to go to a friend, cry for a little bit, receive a hug and/or some validation, and then move on with my life like it never happened.

THAT? THAT APPARENTLY WARRANTS ME NEEDING THERAPY? THAT LITTLE, TINY, MEANINGLESS .1% THAT SOMETIMES FUCKS ME?

i'm just so sick of this. i am not a person who would have ANYTHING to talk about at therapy. stressors in my life are minimal. hobbies, creative projects, work, home life, all of these things have been lovely and heart-dappled and pink since i was reborn seven years ago. and every miserable lapse i do have is short-lived and met with courage and the knowledge that i can survive it, that i can survive anything.

but occasionally, i am sad that i do not have friends who i can realtalk with. friends who will bring their woes to me. friends who i can in turn bring my own woes to. occasionally, i am sad because i WATCHED the decline of deep social bonding. i watched terms like emotional labour and traumadumping go mainstream. i watched my friend circle become less and less comfortable with heavy topics. mere YEARS ago i could sit in a discord call with friends and talk extensively about all the highs and lows of my life and listen to them do the same. if i try that tomorrow, i will get the worst awkward silences i have ever heard in my life. heavy, palpable, heart-shattering awkward silences that scream oh, you weren't supposed to say that. you're only liked when you're perfectly happy, we don't want to hear about when you're sad.

this happened in my lifetime. i am grieving. and if i go to a therapist, all i am going to do is say, every week, "i can't think of anything much to discuss." and then maybe every 6th or 7th week i'll say "the continuing insistence that humans are not meant to help and love one another is making me feel emotionally isolated and terrified that i will never meet someone who wants that from me again."

and my therapist will say "yeah, that makes sense. i've seen a good deal of that too, it's really concerning."

and then we will nod. and i will leave.

it's cool that the 'go to therapy' people didn't make you want to scream and cry and yell "YOU'RE MISSING THE POINT" but you're right, you are not me. my life was already bearable, sometimes i just get sad about ONE THING. the one thing is that i don't have friends i can be 100% myself around, no matter how i try. no matter what i do.

we are not the same. you went to your friends, said, "hey, i just feel like you only like me when i'm palatable. i really wish i could rely on you from time to time for a listening ear. is there a reason i can't?"

your friends said "that's emotional labour and traumadumping. you need to tell that to a therapist, not me."

you said, "oh. okay."

i went to my friends, said, "hey, i just feel like you only like me when i'm palatable. i really wish i could rely on you from time to time for a listening ear. is there a reason i can't?"

my friends said "that's emotional labour and traumadumping. you need to tell that to a therapist, not me."

and i said "you are a really shitty fucking friend."

happy that's working out for you, dude. you didn't need to send this ask, and i'd prefer you never send another one again.

#wendy answers #Anonymous #wendy rants #i am so sick of this fucking shit #you are a part of the problem btw.

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ditzbaby1 · 2 years

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It is clear that the writers of rnm are less concerned with the story told in episodes and more concerned with splotchy / witty dialog scenes that ultimately serve no purpose other than to fill up space. Like putting dolls in a dolhouse— but they KNOW they are dolls in a dollhouse so its no fun. At this rate, RnM will be as dry and predictable as a Family Guy episode. Characters are even becoming idealized representations of what their fans want to see.

Why is this bad?

1. It becomes predictable to how characters will react to one another.

I.E. ; Weird Rick is going to turn on Jerry. OR Jerry will outwit Weird Rick and become the main temporary villain, having lost his wife and daughter. A symbolic and story loop we’ve already seen is created that fans will ultimately be wow’d at.

2. It ruins the authenticity of the original character concepts.

Which would NOT at all be an issue if shows like Rick and Morty strived off of continuity in hopes of a brilliant but short airtime. But it doesn’t, except for minor Story arcs that come up between seasons. Ultimately, every episode starts out the same when it is not a beginning of a new season. It is counter inuitive for a show like Rick and Morty to create Character progression— you shorten the show’s life span by fixing character issues. Ultimately, we just see the same loop cycles we've seen before in order to add conflict without completely tripping the universe up for the next episode.

One way to combat this ; by adding NEW character concepts & NEW universe concepts to freshen interactions and create NEW bonds. Which is why I thoroughly enjoyed the commitment to Weird Rick’s legacy. It is one of the few things that made me happy in S6 Ep1. By committing to a story that is already foretold, the writers have added potential beyond belief.

3. Fanservice and fan tropes CAN & EVENTUALLY WILL ruin the show. Fight me. Idgaf.

I don’t say this light and out of hate as if I want the show to dwindle into ashes. Its similar to when Edward and Bella kind of got together in twilight. There was nothing there anymore.. The story progressed into something boring.. When you devote the story to what fans want to see, it becomes predictable and less of what you ACTUALLY want. Pestering writers for Rick to grovel and cry for mercy at Morty’s feet is the equivalent to adding lighter fluid to the show you watch and lighting a match. That is how quickly the show will burn up to your dopamine receptors. Because it provides a cool concept; but like a trojan horse that you expect to be a trojan horse—- gives you absolutely nothing to show for it.

Besides—- what is the actual point of wanting a character to change their behavior if you already love the character’s behaviors? I think people misunderstand—- Rick and Morty is not an Anime. There doesn’t need to be a long character transformation unless of course the main story calls for it (the trope; the power of friendship always wins). You’d ruin Rick’s character if you made him amiable. I am sorry. But again, fight me. But lets say Rick does become easy-going—- now what? Does Rick just —- like… contradict literally everything the show has already told us about him? What is the purpose of this? The endgoal?

What is sad—- I already see this being teased.. which leaves me to believe this whole character arc of Rick is going to be rinsed and repeated over and over for fanservice.

step 1. “Past me did this shitty thing because nothing matters.”

step 2. “That is a very shitty thing u did.”

step 3. “.. oh wow ur right… Im a piece of shit—i guess i do care about my family.”

fans : *gasp* “Rick REALLY does cares about people. 😔”

start from step 1 again.

At that point it is the equivalent of Summer and Morty telling season 2 Jerry he is a whiny piece of shit over and over. The character’s stories become oversaturated with the same themes.

#Rick and morty rant #rnm rant #rnm s6 #No hate to the writers #they probably roam on tumblr or twitter #rant

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vegalocity · 1 year

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Hey, what’s Freenoodles and Ironbull like in the Tyrant Prince au? Since you seemed to put them under the fucked up ships (if my understanding is correct) in this au and we already know about all the other ships there.

Freenoodles is definitely the 'healthiest' couple on the 'monkey crew' side of the AU but that's also a very... relative term.... (Psst @unseelie-robynx)

See they hadn't been together before the events of the original Oblivion series. And in the five years between then and when we refocus on the Tyrant Prince timeline, they're married.

Now, it's not ENTIRELY fucked up because there WAS mutual affection there, but neither Pigsy nor Tang had been comfortable with making a first move. In our story Pigsy has a pretty long history of relationships that went bad. Real bad. He's got a lot of bad memories that made him for the longest time uncomfortable with the idea if pursuing anything with someone he actually is FRIENDS with. And Tang Meanwhile is also very well aware of Pigsy's long sordid past romances and it really kinda made him unwilling to make the first move himself, in part because of usual Tang-based insecurities, the sort of 'what can i offer without the drawbacks making everything worse and clearly i MUST be unappealing have you SEEN me?' kinda thing

Now, Xiaotian in a very kind of nosey way is very much aware of his two father figures clearly having feelings for eachother but both being unwilling to act upon them and... well he helped! He was trying to work on Mr Tang's confidence anyway and Pigsy's better off not really remembering all of those past bad relationships and any and all attached trauma.

They're not like, Unhealthy with a captial U, they're actually a fully functioning couple that still fully treat eachother as equals (there is a firm boundry between 'partners' and 'Husband and wife' as relationship setups, and Pigsy and Tang are the former while those like Xiaotian and Red, Xiaojao and Spindrax/Shuyin, and Sandy and Huntsman are all the Latter)

but they ARE pretty heavily codependant from how much Xiaotian screwed with either of their heads with the explicit endgoal of them getting together.

Tang's able to accept some p. fucked up shit because Pigsy got convinced of it first and signs off on it, while Pigsy is very easily manipulated into said fucked up shit if he's got Tang in mind at the time.

Meanwhile with Ironbull....

Okay here's the thing-

So when Xiaotian had been full 'not seeing Red Son like a person' he'd decided to better keep control of 'his plaything' he essentially forced Red to fully forget having parents at all, essentially beliving Xiaotian made him himself. So by the time he went Lucid that was something he kinda couldn't (Re: didn't want because he's afraid of the repercussions) take back.

So now that he's trying to use Oblivion for GOOD things, he's trying to REFORM evildoers, and... with their son seemingly abandoning them, there was always the looming threat of DBK and PIF going back to villainy. unless... Well unless they never had a son at all.

And it works, but not really. Because Red was FAR too far gone to really be able to fight the imposed memory blank, but his parents certainly weren't. and fighting off Oblivion effects can really fucking HURT so basically they both end up miserable missing someone their minds tell them never existed and in pain but not knowing why.

DBK has a bit of a breakdown that turns into a violent rampage through the city. Xiaotian fearing/knowing what's happening and long lucid already knows that this is his fault for doing a shoddy job, but there's no way he's going to be able to fix the bull king with him like this. He both has to save the city and cover his own tracks because if ANYONE close enough to this goes lucid and he can't deal with it then the whole thing unravels.

As far as anyone on the surface is aware, the Ox Demon King died that day. finally put down after such a short time being free from the mountain. There was nothing to be done. possessed by a great rage curse and mind eroded into nothing, blamed on some sort of echo of LBD that remained in him, there's a million explinations. Xiaotian considers it his greatest failure. But it was also the day people started calling him 'Prince' and meaning it.

PIF is is a real damn deep depression, the child she doesn't remember but misses terribly a hole in her heart, but her own mental anguish over it shorted back into nothing as the new greif settles in

As after five hundred years of barely held together hope had only paid off for five only to be dashed on the rocks and shattered into nothing. She currently lives on FFM with Wukong and Macaque, unable to go back to any of their former homes for the memories that haunt her.

Ironbull ain't doing too hot, because DBK is dead.

But that's just what everyone above ground believes.

DBK is alive, and it took every ounce of magic between Spider Queen and all the demons in the resistance to conjure a convicning illusion of the bull king's mangled corpse while also getting the man down below ground to calm him down.

He's in the resistance and was in fact part of the 'saving Huntsman' project when it became a thing. slowly trying to piece together memories of his son (and at times coming up with incorrect answers because he has no one to confer with that really knew how their relationship worked) and vowing to save his family and return their minds and memories to them.

But if he's being completely honest, he doesn't care all THAT much about the whole 'revolution' thing. he ONLY cares about his wife and his son. This revolution is personal for a lot of people, but it is PERSONAL for DBK.

#Basically if PIF and Red can't be saved at the end of this #if they're too far under the Little Theif's control #then he's willing to jump right back into the 'brainwashing' hole to get them back #But that's just his dedication as a family man of course it won't come to that #because he'll SAVE his son and his wife and they'll ALL return home together #....right?#tyrant Prince AU #monkie kid #letters to vega #oblivion series #freenoodleshipping #ironbullshipping #DBK is under a few misconceptions about his own behavior toward his kid before he was kidnapped and brainwashed #and nobody knows whats going on with them enough to correct him #long post

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cryopathiic · 3 months

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[ kneel ] from kokushibo || @kejito // not accepting

[kneel]: receiver kneels before the victorious sender

CHI! HAI! HO! The ambience is sliced by each sharp exhale announcing the clash of blades. A spar in harmonious staccato takes place in the temple dojo tonight, where normally this space would be dedicated to the practice of mindfulness. Though one could argue that this friendly spar among the uppermost two demands equal focus — if not more; and violence is far from the endgoal.

The blink of an eye would suffice to have a blade wedged a little too deep, or a fan steal a finger. Every clash is followed by a short pause, katas performed to completion, even if each counterpart dons a very different expression. Yet, the deadpan dragging on Kokushibo's features shares its rigidity with the smirk etched into Dōma's own. And with how predictable the movements are, it soon almost turns into a lull. Almost.

An exceptionally smooth forward strike hopes to have Upper Two dodge to the side; instead, the younger oni steps forward into the cut and loses an arm in closing the distance between them. The blade glides through his forearm like a knife through soft tofu. There's a tangible bloodlust spike cutting through the constant buzz of white noise Upper Two contributes to the bloodbond. They both watch as time in itself seems to slow down and allow the golden gilded fan to float in the space between them, still attached to that clawed severed grip. But it never clatters to the floor; caught in mid-air by that same hand, reborn. It all happens in the spaces between a human's heartbeat.

Suddenly, they're standing too close. And Dōma never steps that close.

It's a soft, swift turn, like a dance; beckoning the Moon to swing in tandem. The two find themselves front to back, polychromatic orbs flashing a mischievous glare over Upper Two's heaved shoulder, and then — crack; his elbow sinks into his adversary's diaphragm. The ancient warrior may have heard an impalpable snicker. With speed no mundane hand could hope to match, the fan's flat edge smacks into Kokushibo's neck, depriving him of that stolen breath before he has drawn it. And Dōma releases his own oppressively close. The rime hangs heavy around Upper One's clavicle; to take it in would feel as though inhaling needles.

It was a window of opportunity.

He has memorized everything from those friendly spars; from the way Koku's grip sits at the handle to how his shoulders loosen before a strike to conceal its direction. You can tell a lot by looking at a swordsman's shoulders, after all. Upper Two, content that his sheer abrasiveness has earned him leverage, lets the tessen make rapid descend to his rival's wrist — tabi socks glide over the polished wood to swipe at his footwork. It's a guaranteed hit! There's no way that Kokushibo could catch his breath that fast and though demons don't necessarily need it to survive, the lack of it still hinders their accuracy.

So when he turns, he expects to hear the thud of Upper One landing flat on his butt. Which would honestly be hilarious —

Instead, he's the one looking up into a sixfold burning glare. Somehow it feels confusing yet natural all at once. For a moment, a hollow perplexion lingers on the guru's serraphic features. The next, he's sinking back into his knees, canting his head with a darling smile. A sole black strand floats down in the space between them and he watches it land over the tip of Kokushibo's practice blade like a dark feather.

A lock from his bangs!

❝ Ah, forgive me, I got a little carried away back there... ❞ Pearly fangs grip his bottom lip into a smirk. ❝ Thank you so much for putting up with a clumsy disciple like me, senpai ! ❞ The fans are promptly rested in his lap as palms join beneath his chin with a respectful bow. ❝ Do you think it would be appropriate for me to keep that? As... a token of another invaluable lesson, of course! ❞

#kejito #ANSWERED.#gore tw #verse 000. ( is god a mistake of man? )

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teruthecreator · 3 years

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okay. thoughts on the grad finale

gonna slap it under a readmore bc i’m Sure i’m gonna ramble.

uh spoiler warning for the finale of taz graduation, as well as spoilers for the season in general.

also, these are my own thoughts of how the season went, what the themes were, etc! if you don’t agree with me, that’s fine! but i don’t wanna have a convo w you in the replies about it i’ll be honest. if you want to share your opinion so badly, make your own post, alright? that good? we cool?

aight. so. finale thoughts.

to make it short: i think the finale was a satisfying end of a very good arc.

to expand upon that, let me share what i think the themes of graduation were and why the finale satisfies those themes.

i made a post about this a while back (here it is if you want) but my honest belief was that the theme of graduation was self-reliance: the concept that you don’t allow yourself to be governed by forces that go against your own beliefs. this concept was coined by essayist ralph waldo emerson to talk about how the american people shouldn’t allow the government to create laws that go against the will of the people. now, understandably, this feels very anti-capitalist which is what i think a lot of fans believed was reflected through the season.

but, in reality, self-reliance has more to do with being active in your government and making sure you’re being represented the way you want to be by your representatives. that’s sort of the vibe emerson was going for in his essay, and i think. in a sense? that translates to graduation. but i took self-reliance in the more metaphorical about breaking away from those things that are controlling you. which, in graduation, was A Lot Of Things.

the way i saw it, there were two major groups that inflicted order upon the world and the thundermen--conveniently separated as order and chaos (not the deities though, just the concepts).

the order half of control existed mostly through the school and the HOG. the HOG created the economic reliance on the heroes and villains system, which removed all literal meaning from those terms and turned them into bureaucratic titles. society existed under these very strict checks and balances; heroes and villains supplied money to the kingdom in terms of entertainment, which then boosted that kingdom’s creditability and allowed them to contribute more to nua’s economy, which then led heroes and villains to have a higher demand, thus perpetuating the cycle. it’s important to note that this term does not represent the sort of morality we expect for heroes and villains--hell, even the term “evil” turned into an arbitrary term used to show those heroes and villains who failed the system. this is the more prominent representation of control that the thundermen break away from in achieving their own self-reliance. they don’t see the value in a system that holds no real moral code (fitzroy Especially, but i’ll get into that in a bit), and can’t help the public when there’s actually a serious situation. as we saw with althea in the beginning, the HOG had no way to help the thundermen when they were dealing with the whole Demon Prince situation (as he had already placed some of his own people in there, proving these kind of systems are easily corruptible). so this wasn’t a system meant to Actually create heroes and villains--it was just a way of boosting the economy.

the chaos half of control existed primarily through grey and Chaos. grey represented how chaos could be controlled, through various means. he planted that tree for the centaurs to fight over because he knew it would constantly create conflict, which he enjoyed. he kept the school under a watchful eye to prevent anyone from stepping out of line with his grand ideas, and used several manipulation tactics to try and get his way (most notably, his own admittance of grooming fitzroy into joining his side, which didn’t work). grey was the perfect example of how chaos does not automatically mean a lack of control. he was very controlling in how he did things because he had an endgoal: find hieronymous and have a war. but he didn’t even realize he was contributing to a greater idea, that being Chaos’s insistence on causing general disarray. as we realize now, Chaos’s plan was both for them and Order, but i’m leaving Order out for a second because they only really rear their head in towards the end. for the most part, audiences were led to assume that Chaos was the Big Bad(TM); they were the one pulling the strings, allowing things to happen to cause general chaos and disarray. them supplying random mortals with their endless power was a way to plant chaos into the world of nua; but it was a chaos they controlled. fitzroy resisting them was not simply a refusal to bend to Chaos, but it was resisting the control put on him through his magic.

these systems were constricting the thundermen on both sides. when they thought they’d find help in one side, they were disappointed to find that there was nothing anyone could do. the only people who could fix their problems were...them. so they forged a new path, set new ideas, and became self-reliant. that’s what i think is the most important aspect of graduation; not the anti-capitalist implications of turning over the economic and political systems in place, but the idea that if nothing that is supposed to help you is actually helping that you can just...do your own thing!

and i think that’s what the finale really shows, at the end of the day. that these forms of control were not doing anything helpful, and were in fact ruining the fabric of space-time! that’s where i think Order comes in because Order is really...the ultimate culmination of control. they are aware that Everything being done will benefit their cause. the HOG? well, they make sure everybody’s so incompetent that they can do their work. grey? well, he’ll contribute to the plan without even realizing it. they even manipulated Chaos and enacted their own form of control over Chaos to make sure that they had no reason to believe that this plan couldn’t go wrong. but Order knew. Order always knew there was a chance for error, and that chance was very great. but they didn’t care! so long as they had control of things, they could try a hundred times to get it right. they had no care for mortals, unlike Chaos.

the thundermen showing Chaos the truth is the final jenga piece that collapses this tower of control. which is why the finale is so great.

travis does a phenomenal job of incorporating chaos (general chaos) into the battle mechanics. it may be stupid and slightly arbitrary, but having them change forms randomly and having to adapt to those new circumstances really does exemplify the season!!! the thundermen were constantly forced into new situations (being sidekicks/henches, fitzroy becoming a villain, being let in on the heiro dog situation, the unbroken chain trial, joining forces w grey, etc.), and in all of them they simply found a way to adapt and keep working their way. which made the finale generally interesting and also thematically interesting!

i think my favorite part of the entire fight scene is right at the end, when argo chucks the shark’s tooth necklace at Order. and time stops. and they’re given a choice.

the fact that they leave it to a coin toss?? oh my god...how fucking FITTING!! like, that’s disorderly. that’s going your own way. it’s new, it’s terrifying, it has DIRE UNKNOWNS ON EITHER SIDE, but it’s what they do! and...it ends up working out! i think it would’ve worked out either way, but the fact that they left it up to chance really shows how they aren’t allowing anything to control their actions.

AND THEN WE GET TO THE EPILOGUE. MY GOD I LOVE THE EPILOGUE I’M GONNA GO OFF SO MUCH.

first off, i loved hearing how Nua adapts to losing this very significant form of government/economic contributor and turns to more people-based work. citizens uniting together, fixing things, making amends, THAT’S SELF-RELIANCE BABEY!!! THAT’S THE WHOLE EMERSON SHIT! HAVING A SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT THAT ACTUALLY HAS THE INTERESTS OF THE PEOPLE AT LARGE!!! YEAHHHHHHHHH THAT’S THE WHOLE SELF-RELIANCE THING!

now, i’ll break it down by characters:

fitzroy

GOD. LOVE IT. FIRST OFF, absolutely ADORED how his character arc involved him stripping himself of these self-assigned titles because he actually has an identity that is all his own and he doesn’t NEED arbitrary titles to prove his worth because HE HAS IT IN HIMSELF. not to self-plug or anything, but that’s ssoss!fitzroy’s WHOLE SHIT. I’VE ALREADY BEEN ON THIS TRAIN, BITCH, AND TO KNOW I GOT IT SO RIGHT...GOD. FEELS GOOD.

but also, i just really enjoy how his ending went in general. the fact that he doesn’t really know what he wants to do, so he just...does stuff he likes to do? that’s so good! because, if you remember, fitzroy had a Very set schedule of life events when the campaign started. he was going to get his wiggenstaffs degree, go back knight school, get his knight school degree, and then go to goodcastle. but all of that was based on a very limited understanding of himself.

fitzroy’s character arc has primarily focused finding himself, specifically in terms of identity. for someone who was bullied for his past, the present formation of himself was Extremely important to fitzroy. he thought that shutting out his past and taking on this grandiose title of knighthood would make him something more than himself. he would no longer be fitzroy; the poor, country kid trying to make it in a big world. he’d be Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt; respected, honored, revered, with a title to prove it.

he explains to fauxronymous (pre-reveal grey) that the reason he wanted to be a knight was because he wanted to assist in doing good. morally good. fitzroy has Always had a very clear sense of his morality; this comes through when he refuses Chaos on the basis of many people having to die if he agreed. but being a knight also had the added of bonus of a very respectable title that no one would want to look beyond, which fitzroy felt he needed because...i don’t think he Saw anything beyond that. in himself. he wasn’t himself for a very long time, and i don’t know if he ever thought he would be again. he’d wear this new identity, start a new life, and be happier....he hoped.

then, things changed! and he started to realize that arbitrary titles don’t do shit because plenty of people with Big Important Titles ended up being Awful People! so he started to value himself For Himself; his wit, his humor, his strength, his magical prowess. and, i think, he started to wonder what knighthood was Really about. was it about upholding a moral good? or was it just another bureaucracy filled with people who won’t do shit when things get bad.

i think this is why him becoming a lawyer is fitting. especially because of the reasoning he gives sylvia nite. now for A LOT OF PEOPLE, i’m sure they hear lawyer and assume some corporate hotshot who doesn’t give a shit about people. but fitzroy is Not applying to be a corporate laywer. he SPECIFICALLY telsl sylvia that he wants to help people who cannot help themselves, and he wants to do good in that way. THAT kind of lawyer is more of the pro-bono, district lawyer. the ones that don’t make crazy amounts of cash, but help those who cannot afford lawyers and represent them when the government is fucking them over. those lawyers don’t rely on title, they rely on principle.

that’s the perfect representation of fitzroy’s growth. holding his identity within himself, while still trying to do good by those who need it.

firbolg (aka gary)

i think the firbolg’s ending is so unique but so...right for him. his character arc has really been focused around finding his family. he had one, in the beginning, in his clan. but that didn’t end up, y’know...working out that much. so he had to go out into the world alone--something that firbolg’s are rarely--and try and navigate these foreign spaces all by himself.

we see very early on how he latches onto the idea of groups. he likes being considered a part of the thundermen; he very much hoists himself upon the CFO title and wears it proudly. i think, where fitzroy needed to find identity within himself, the firbolg needed to find it within other people. which is completely okay! he’s still an individual, but you can tell he finds comfort in numbers because that’s what he is used to.

him going back to his clan was, i believe, his finally severance with his identity as “firbolg”. he would never be welcomed back to his clan, and one of the few people in his life who supported him was now dead. but his father was proud of him; his father was happy he seemed to find his own clan, even if it wasn’t with other firbolgs. from that moment on, i think the firbolg begins to try finding himself within the thundermen. within his friends.

so his epilogue is neat! it definitely captures the loneliness he feels on his own, and how he feels lost with himself without others. i think it might seem silly to some that he would become a gary, but i think it’s fitting. the garys were always present in his time at school, and they were always helpful. they didn’t mind how long it took him to talk because the gary’s are stone gargoyles--what the fuck do they care about time? it was a group that the firbolg saw as familiar to him--always willing to help, slow, stony, and attuned to a larger group.

and i think the way gary takes this idea of unity and family and puts it into financial assistance just...it just ties everything together! we saw how attached he got to the concept of finances, thanks to his very confusing accounting class. so he had all of this new knowledge--this knowledge that represented a separation from firbolgs--and this new clan. and he used it to help other clans and families!! i think the fact that the Garys financial advice works specifically with groups is what makes this so fitting. because gary wants families to feel stable within themselves; he understands how finances can create struggle and divides, and he wants to provide relief.

giving financial advice to communities so they rely on themselves and not the government (aka inviting them to be controlled once more) is a VERY self-reliant concept. not that i think gary’s goal is to have no social networks to exist, but he wants to give communities the ability to rely on one another and foster that feeling of togetherness. so groups aren’t fighting over things, but are trusting and loving and relying.

just like gary’s always wanted. and just like what he has with the thundermen.

argo

argo’s ending is probably the funniest, but also the sweetest. i think that argo’s character arc revolved around finding his place. we see how argo’s early personality and motivations revolved around his past. he very much had a revenge story since the start; he wanted to enact revenge on the commodore for murdering his mother, no matter what it took. which made him very limited!! in terms of the self. he saw himself less for what he was now, and what he was then. and what he couldn’t do then.

we see how much he finds comfort in being a part of the thundermen, but also how he feels...out of place. i think this is because a part of him is still attached to his past and doesn’t think he can do anything beyond his set plan. the unbroken chain certainly contributes to this, by not only separating him from the trio but also reinforcing his connection to his past through his mother’s involvement in the unbroken chain.

the commodore also being a part of the unbroken chain is, i think, what causes the shift from past to present within argo. his life’s goal is standing right in front of him--attached to the group his mother once was a part of--with his friends at his side. letting the thundermen in on his history is the start of bridging these two halves of argo. and the fact that the thundermen are so willing to helps makes argo feel more a part of the team and more a part of this reality.

when he kills the commodore, it isn’t intense. it isn’t overly dramatic (minus the fight prior, which was BADASS), it isn’t crazily staged. it is argo, staring down the commodore who lies prone on the ground.

he kills himself unceremoniously and completes his life-long mission.

what becomes of him in the epilogue is the culimination of both past and present. he takes what he knows and loves (the sea, the mariah, sailing) and blends it with what he’s come to love now (his friends, this adventure, and making people happy). there are SO many instances where argo uses performance to his advantage. this man is piloted by clint mcelroy, of COURSE he’s going to have a flair for the dramatic.

so for him to open up a themed cruiseline, based on the stories of him and his friends? SO FITTING. and it isn’t forcing himself to leave his past behind or to completely ignore his present circumstances. because he’s found a place in the now, in the merging of these two sides. and by merging them, he paints a bright future for himself. a future that is partially known, partially not. partially old, partially new.

but it’s all his.

after that, i think their final scene is just...sweet. a nice, jovial, joking send-off to a nice season. it proves these people have grown and will continue to grow, even when we no longer see their story. it does exactly what graduation does--shows you a struggle, a triumph, and a glimpse into the future.

i’ll miss it so much, but there’s nothing more i could’ve asked of this ending. it was exactly what it needed to be; nothing more, nothing less.

#taz grad spoilers #taz graduation #sir fitzroy maplecourt #argo keene #firbolg #taz fitzroy #taz argo #taz firbolg #ignorance cloud on #this took a while and now my head hurts so lol!#also if there are spelling mistakes leave me alone i cant read this text anymore

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renegadewangs · 3 years

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Van Zieks - the Examination, part 12

Warnings: SPOILERS for The Great Ace Attorney: Chronicles. Additional warning for racist sentiments uttered by fictional characters (and screencaps to show these sentiments).

Disclaimer: (see Part 1 for the more detailed disclaimer.) - These posts are not meant to be taken as fact. Everything I’m outlining stems from my own views and experiences. If you believe that I’ve missed or misinterpreted something, please let me know so I can edit the post accordingly. -The purpose of these posts is an analysis, nothing more. Please do not come into these posts expecting me to either defend Barok van Zieks from haters, nor expecting me to encourage the hatred. - I’m using the Western release of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles for these posts, but may refer to the original Japanese dialogue of Dai Gyakuten Saiban if needed to compare what’s said. This also means I’m using the localized names and localized romanization of the names to stay consistent. -It doesn’t matter one bit to me whether you like Barok van Zieks or dislike him. However, I will ask that everyone who comments refrains from attacking real, actual people.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11

Let's bring this thing home! It's time for the conclusion of the essay series!

Conclusion With a stupidly long essay series behind us, it's time to look at what we've learned! Let's go back to Part 1 and review what we needed from Van Zieks's character development for a fully rounded redemption arc, shall we?

1) Present an antagonistic (possibly immoral) force who personifies Ryunosuke’s biggest personal obstacle/weakness, in this case racial prejudice. 2) Humanizing traits begin to show. OPTIONAL: A backstory to justify any immorality he has. 3) Over time, Barok has his realization and sees the error of his ways. 4) Barok atones for his immorality, not simply through apology but by taking decisive steps. 5) The cast around him acknowledges his efforts and forgives him.

And looking at the main game (plus additional dialogue), we have...

1) Antagonistic force:

Etc. etc. I have many of these. We can all agree that as an antagonistic force, he does his job quite well. CEO of Racism and White Privilege in the flesh. It works, since we as the audience get very frustrated and want to see him defeated.

2) Humanization:

Giving him an old friend to be a defendant was a brilliant move, really. Albert's reflection on the friendship and the person Van Zieks used to be really helped flesh him out and make him appear more like a human being with, y'know, emotions and weaknesses. The little snippets of dialogue in his office really help too. Presenting evidence can also lead to fun tidbits. All in all, considering how gruff and distant Van Zieks is, they really did their very best to humanize him. The writers were given very little to work with but they exploited every opportunity to come their way.

OPTIONAL backstory:

Again, I don't think we needed a tragic backstory to have a well-rounded, redeemable character. Still, it ties in very expertly to the game's plot and the motivations of quite a few other characters. The story of Klint van Zieks and his death isn't necessarily Barok van Zieks's backstory, it's the center of an intricate web which also holds Kazuma, Stronghart, Gregson, Jigoku, (S)Holmes, Mikotoba, Sithe, Drebber- I could go on. A LOT. So because of how very integrated it is into the main narrative's recurring themes and characters, I'll give it props for being relevant and well thought out. The bigger question is: Does it justify his immorality? Not entirely. I think the game could have gotten more out of this if they'd involved the other two exchange students in this tale just a bit more. They could have given more attention to how Jigoku's aggressive behavior in the trial impacted Van Zieks, and explained whether he might've suspected Mikotoba of sabotaging (S)Holmes's investigation. If the narrative had done that, all three Japanese people to come to London would have been ‘the bad guy’ in Van Zieks's eyes and it would have given more credence to his racial generalization. They could have also given more attention to how the people around him reacted to Genshin being the Professor, because I'm sure Stronghart and Gregson stoked the fire in terms of xenophobia. As it stands, there isn't really enough there to justify hatred of an entire race as opposed to just one person.

3) Realization/Redemption

We see him already start to realize the error of his ways around the end of 1-5, which is technically only about halfway into the full narrative. Unfortunately, thanks to 2-2 being played afterwards (but chronologically set before 1-5), any progress made in 1-5 can become invalidated in the player's eyes. Growth works best when it's done linear. Don't get me wrong, flashbacking to earlier times when a character is still more morally tainted can work well, but it needs to be executed properly. Barok's behavior in 2-2 is downright insulting towards the audience itself and therefore, it causes emotional friction when relaying the narrative endgoal of redemption. It also makes it extra jarring when we hit 2-3, and suddenly Van Zieks is meant to be relying on the protagonist's desire to expose the truth. How on earth can we as the audience trust that Van Zieks believes in Ryu's abilities when we just came fresh out of a case where this man actively sabotages Ryu's efforts?

Still, the line of redemption continues from 2-3 into 2-4 well enough. He admits that he was wrong- that his hatred was illogical and that he needs to change. This is the very definition of redemption. I need to stress once more this is not to be confused with atonement, which comes next.

4) Atonement

Here it is. It's not enough to simply acknowledge mistakes; one needs to work hard to fix them. Since Van Zieks is the defendant for two whole episodes, equaling roughly 20% of the full narrative and 67% of the time following his first true realization (chronologically), there isn't much that he can actively do to atone. Because remember, not only do these actions need to fit the situation he's currently in, they need to fit his personality. These two limitations ensure the atonement mostly takes the form of dialogue. Of apologies.

One might want to point out that he never apologizes specifically for his racism, but there's a reason for that. If you pay close attention, you'll notice that there isn't a single character who ever uses a word like “racism”, “xenophobia” or even “racial prejudice” in this game. It's for the same reason you'll never see an Ace Attorney character utter words like “alcoholism”, “drug abuse” or “depression”. These things may be implied very strongly, to the point where you'll know for certain a character is suffering from it, but it's never given these exact labels. It has to do with the tone of the game. In Great Ace Attorney's dialogue, Barok van Zieks is only ever described as holding “a deep hatred for Japanese”, which is then the only thing he could apologize for. And he does, so long as you aren't looking for a literal phrasing of “I apologize for my deep hatred of your people”.

Regardless, he can't take more active, decisive action until he's freed from prison and two scenes with Van Zieks later, the game has ended. He still manages to take two actions, though! The first is to publicize the truth of the Professor, taking the blame of the mass murders off Genshin's shoulders (and losing his own privilege in the process). The second is to take Kazuma under his wing as his disciple. I'm not certain there's anything else the narrative could have had him do. What is decisively missing, however, is the following:

5) Acknowledgment

The above aren't good examples of cast acknowledgment that Van Zieks is taking part in a redemption arc, rather, they're the best I could find. Characters are acknowledging that he's changing- that he's being kinder to them and they can get along with him now, but they're not acknowledging that he caused hurt in the first place. This, in my opinion, is the Great Ace Attorney's biggest narrative flaw. I've talked before about how Ryu's reaction to Van Zieks's racism is 'indirect communication', a typically Japanese manner of dealing with negativity. I've also talked about how Ryu is not in a position to speak up, as he's a literal minority who is there to represent his country in an official capacity and can’t afford to make enemies. However, characters like Susato and Kazuma are far more outspoken in their opinions, as is Soseki. The only one who ever calls Van Zieks out on his racism is the British judge, and even that is done very meekly. When an old crusty white guy is the one who condemns white privilege in a cast full of minorities, you've got a problem. The Japanese cast's refusal to acknowledge that Van Zieks's words were harmful is like Team Avatar telling Zuko that sure, he can join since he's a good guy now, but never once acknowledging that he burned down villages or betrayed everyone's trust in Ba Sing Se. There's something very vital missing, see? If indeed the cast had called Van Zieks out more actively on his harmful ways and how necessary it was for him to change, he in turn could have taken more atonement steps in response.

So, for the conclusion: Does Barok van Zieks tick all the necessary boxes for a complete redemption arc? Yes. In a very technical sense, all the requirements are there. But does that mean it's a successful arc? Not necessarily. The game has a few slip-ups, a few things not executed as well as they could have been. For that reason, whether the audience is satisfied with the arc is entirely up to them. Taking into consideration that they had to cram a whole lot of story into just two games- the second game in particular, I can acknowledge they did their very best with the limitations that were there.

And there we have it! That’s all I could think to say on the matter. I hope everyone who read this till the very end enjoyed it, maybe even learned a thing or two. I’m always open to questions, input and constructive criticism!

#dgs #dgs spoilers #tgaa #tgaa spoilers #barok van zieks #I'M FREE!#well until I tackle the DLC content #but until then...#FREEEE

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smtlaw · 3 years

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Why i think Yosuga isn’t lawful

I have seen a lot of people saying Yosuga has law traits or is lawful, i understand why they have come to consider Chiaki’s reason as such, however i disagree and so the point of this post is to explain why i think Yosuga is actually a chaotic reason.

spoilers from smt 1, 2, NINE, Nocturne and some minor ones from IMAGINE ahead.

To see why Yosuga isn’t lawful one must first understand what Law is as an ideology in the games that came before nocturne(and IMAGINE)

in SMT 1, Law was introduced as faction that desired to bring peace and stability under the guidance of God

Law Hero: I have been told of the ideals embodied by the Millennium Kingdom,in that kingdom the earth will know eternal peace.

Raphael: Let us put an end to this decadent world of destrucion and carnage, i submit to your(the protagonist if he is Law aligned) will until peace reigns upon this earth.

Law Hero: the Millennium Kingdom is a world of eternal peace; God’s salvation come to fruition.

Do notice that Peace and order aren’t being said as an afterthought but rather as a core aspect of what they want their ideal world to be like once it is created, Uriel in IMAGINE more or less says this is the reason to follow God

once again the idea of peace is given emphasis and is treated as the reason to follow “God”, and its even how his authority is justifed on Law.

SMT 2 keeps the focus on peace but its Law ending gives a nice development to the ideology, if God’s authority is justified because he can bring peace and happiness then would it be fair to kill him if he became a problem for the overall happiness of the collective? the ending answers that question by showing Zayin/Satan’s rebellion against [Record scratch] and the center,in the Neutral route Satan tells you the center would never be able to create the Millennium Kingdom.

Satan: God has abandoned Tokyo Millennium, he knew that so long as humanity has (demonic)knowledge, they will turn from him and bringing about an ideal world will be impossible, that is why the ideal world envisioned by messians(the center) and Seraphim -The Thousand year kingdom- was doomed to fail from the start.

essentially the Center clinged to egoism and this reflected in the city they created, despite having peace and a world where the weak can be happy as one of their endgoals, all they ended up creating was a stagnating world where the weak suffer, this is importart since the authors themselves recognized this:

Kaneko: They were beings who misunderstood God’s teachings and kept going forward. That is why they were abandoned and headed towards ruin.

Okada: Exactly. This doesn’t show up in writing, but the Senate is Dark-Law, while Gabriel and Satan are Light-Law.

basically the Center and by extension Tokyo Millennium as a whole are meant to be a corruption of Law’s ideals, since instead of erasing egoism(Like Satan implies thats what happen with the people in the ark in the Law route) they embraced it and wanted to created a world of peace not out of love for humanity but simply for themselves.

Satan judging [Record scratch] may seem out of nowhere, however one must first consider What Satan already knew about the nature of God before this moment, as the visionary items show:

Voice: Do not try to obey something. Do not try to obey someone. Do not think of God as having just one face. God is not good. God is everything. Everything is God. You too can become a face of God.

when Zayin was captured and sealed by the center he has a revaletion, he learns that God is not just a single being but rather everything, what exist is the faces of god and that he too can become one(which is what happens since as we know Satan is from the godly race in smt 2)

So by the time Aleph and Satan meet [Record scratch], he is already aware the being he is meeting is not God, but rather just a face of it, in this sense one could argue Satan doesn't rebel out of a moment of guilty(do keep in mind the genocide line is an error in the fan translation) but rather because he had a different idea of what Law should be, [Record scratch] wanted Law to be about him and his peace but Satan wanted more, he wanted a world of peace and equality for humans, not under mindless worship of an avatar of god, thus Satan rebels because he truly believed in Law as an ideology/principle.

The Law ending of smt 2 thus places more importance towards the ideals of Law rather than obedience towards a single being and it is meant to show that this is what Law is about.

NINE more or less keeps and expand on those ideas, its a story that takes place even before the events of smt 2(and most likely IMAGINE), with the goal of peace being given a focus point once again, but this time not with God’s guidance as the Neo-Messiahs instead create a world of peace(True Tokyo and Idea space) with their Goddess(Maria) and actually kill the Demiurge in the law leaning routes as a symbol of humanity cutting ties with God and also once again showing an example that God’s will is not always what Law wants.

and now we must understand what Yosuga actually wanted and why its simply incompatible with what Law as an ideology represented in the past games.

the first example of Yosuga ideology we see is with Gozu-Tennoh and the Mantra, one may argue they aren’t Yosuga aligned but they are still very associated with them as several mantra demons join Yosuga, the mantra HQ becomes the city of Yosuga and even Gozu-Tennoh describe their ideology as being very similar up to the point that he is willing to help help her, when you first meet him Gozu-Tennoh describe their ideal world as a “Kingdom of Chaos”, this of course doesn’t necessarily refers to the Chaos ideology in the games, which is fair, however as we argued before the core goals of Law is a world of peace and stability, one has to wonder if one of Gozu-Tennoh’s goals was peace why refer to it as a world of chaos, the word itself imply a lack of stability and structure and instead hints towards a world of constant change, this ties with the way Chiaki describe her ideology and ideal world:

Chiaki doesn’t describe the world as lacking peace, but rather lacking change, that the world was taking care of the weak too much and so wasn’t changing, this resemble more Chaos than Law, for one she wants a world of change like Chaos rather than Law and blames those who lack power for the lack of change.

naturally they want a world of endless war, as Kagutsuchi himself later on refers to their world as “a Kingdom which rejoices in conflict” in the Yosuga ending, this gives a new way to look at Yosuga, they belive that the weak should die no matter what(which is kinda different from normal Chaos since on normal Chaos if the weak dies or lives in servituted is up to the strong to decide). so all of this gives a clear vision to how their world would look like: a world where the “beautiful”(the strong) rise to the top and stay there while ensuring a world of endless war and conflict rages on in order to ensure Change, however if the world is now forever in a state of conflict wouldn’t that mean that some of the strong may start to fall, if the world is always at war it would be hard to assume the strong would always be the same ones as the ones who were chosen in the beginning of it.

But then why is the divine race siding with such a violent reason if peace was the core of their ideology in the other games? My best answer is that The logic of the old world died, if you notice Hikawa's side mostly has chaotic demons despite sounding very lawful too, the vortex world is a world without meaning, in such a world a demon who is usually associated with chaos can seek a lawful reason without becoming a lawful demon because being a demon associated with a specific alignment doesn't mean anything in the vortex world, same thing happens to angels seeking a chaotic reason, essentially demons siding with Shijima and angels siding with Yosuga is not meant to make sense, because it shows how a symbol(the idea a demon represents) can change what it used to mean into something completely different.

the only way Yosuga comes of as Lawful is by Nocturne standarts of what Order and Chaos is, in other games Law vs Chaos is the battle between 2 groups that wish to shape society to a new way of thinking, this isn't the case in Nocturne, order in nocturne is "i wish the universe to exist in a system of death and rebirth", while Chaos is "i wish to seek meaning outside the universe itself", the normal Law vs Chaos is about how you wish society to be like while Nocturne Law vs Chaos is about the cosmic rules you want the universe to obey or if you even want to live in one.So while Yosuga can be considered Meta-Law it wouldn't really fit with Normal Law in the rest of the games.

after considering all of this i can’t really see the Reason of Yosuga as lawful, they desire a world of conflict and change but Law seeks a world of peace and stability, the authority in Law is justified by the fact they can guide humanity towards peace but the authority in Yosuga is justified simply by power, and as mentioned before Law has an emphasis on creating a world for the weak but Yosuga seeks to always exterminate those who lack power.

it is true that Law is willing to do a lot of evil stuff but one has to remember that from their point of view they are doing this for a world of peace where everyone is happy and where there is no difference between the strong and the weak, so from their point of view this is usually viewed as a necessary evil rather than the way their ideal world will look like.

although i believe that Yosuga comes of as chaotic, i still believe there is difference between it and normal chaos, Chiaki’s ideal world seems like it will always stay in a cicle of violence and a world of chaos can indeed be violent however as Lucifer says in smt 2 chaos ending you can strive to create peace if you have the power and so long as it doesn’t stay in the way of freedom, which is another difference between it and Yosuga, Yosuga has no emphasis on the freedom Chaos allow to those who rise to the top.

basically i think Yosuga is a pseudo-Chaos faction.

#SMT #Shin Megami Tensei #SMT 3 #shin megami tensei 3 #shin megami tensei nocturne #smt 1 #smt 2 #smt nine #smt IMAGINE #Megaten

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autisticsupervillain · 2 years

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Do you think that Brawl!Ganondorf counts a complete monster?

Hmmmm. After refreshing my memory of what he actually did in that game via TV Tropes, I'll admit he's a suprisingly good contender.

Ganondorf is behind some of the darkest moments in the game, killing countless heroes over the course of the story. His own minions are completely expendable to him, as shown when he forcibly detonates countless ROBs. While he was acting under the orders of Master Hand, he makes it perfectly clear that he plans to betray him. Hell, the only reason Ganon isn't the main villain by the end is that Tabuu pulls the rug out from under him at the last minute.

Add to that, he has no real redeeming qualities. Sure, he decides against attacking Link and Zelda, but that was clearly for pragmatic reasons. And while Tabuu is probably eviler than him given his omnicidal goals, he also has far more resources than Ganon.

The one thing that does give me pause though is the question of how evil killing people actually is in Smash Bros. Because, all killing people does in Smash is turn people into statues and those statues can easily be revived just by tapping on them. Hell, Mario and Kirby casually kill each other in the opening and treat the whole ordeal like it's no big deal. Having said that, we're given no indication that Ganon intended to revive any of them, although his end goals still serm rather vague to me. Like, was he planning to take over everything or destroy everything or what? What exactly was his endgoal after betraying Master Hand?

Another problem I have is that no one seems to hold anything against him when it's all said and done. Once Tabuu enters the picture, he's just treated as another one of the good guys. Then again, the vagueness of his goals and motives does sort of complicate things. I mean, for all we know, he wanted to betray Master Hand to keep him from killing everyone. He attacked Tabuu without hesitation once he revealed himself, after all.

Keep in mind, I haven't played Brawl in years so I could be forgetting something. Since he crosses the threshold and doesn't display any blatantly redeeming qualities, I'd say probably? But the question of motivation (and the fact that nobody talks) does confuse the matter a bit.

#super smash brawl #ganondorf #complete monster

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck: The Buckaroo of the Badlands “It’s the Glory of Achievement that Counts”

Hello you beautiful people and WELCOME BACK. It’s been a LONG time since I returned to this series hasn’t it? But I couldn’t put it off any longer especailly with a LOT of projects to do in February, so i’m pleased as punch to bring this series back for another round. And since like last time a lot of the behind the scene’s for this one can be dolled out as we go, join me under the cut as we get into some cowboy adventures with Srooge.. and President Teddy Rosevelt. Bully!

When we last left Scrooge almost a month ago, He’d decided, after bottoming out in riverboating, like many young men of his generation to Go West and seek his fortune and took up work on the Wabash Cannonball to do so. So via letter we find out Scrooge eventually made enough money and has now afforded enough to take a train west, as a passenger. He’s also 15 at this point.. had to look that up because again, the comic dosen’t tell us the date.. and it’s you know been two months. He runs into a man selling square eggs who was SUPPOSED to be the professor from the Barks Story Lost in the Andes.. but he apparnelty died or something like that, and Barks was left to use another minor character in a way that didn’t make sense either it turned out and I don’t really feel like getting into. Point is the square eggs from that story make a cameo and Scrooge gets square egg all over his face after assuming the guy was just full of square chicken shit. It’s then Scrooge runs into Jesse James, pre assasination by the coward robert ford, who shows up to the train to rob it.. but Scrooge tricks him when he and his crony take stock of Scrooge’s valuables, claming theirs jewels in the teeth of the golden dentures.. before slamming hard on them and giving the guy a bite and with their guns jammed and Scrooge prepared to beat them senseless, Jesse and goon wisely flee. Scrooge yells after them.. but the train speeds up to make distance between them and the bandits.. and accidenlty dumps Scrooge off, leaving him lost and alone in Montana.

Thankfully it dosen’t take him long before he runs into people, specifically a cattle drive and wants to join them as a rootin tootin cowboy. Turns out the Cattle Baron and head of the drive, Murdo Mckenzie a real life cattle baron, is a fellow Scot and a nice enough guy to take Scrooge on, especially because Scrooge, due to his time on the cattle boat to get to america, has cattle experince. He just needs to ride a horse and he’s set.. but Scrooge never has.. and is put on their roughest horse the windowmaker

Thankfully in a really funny sequence, Scrooge’s money belt is clipped, so he stays on and while he looses his other clothes. So Murdo hires the naked 15 year old on a horse....

Thankfully this isn’t nearly as horrifying as it sounds as Murdo makes him put his clothes back on first, and let’s him keep the horse as he needs him for a special job. Also Scrooge calls himself Buck McDuck because it’s more of a cowboy name and not everyone can pull of cowboying without one on their first day. What i’m saying is the creed i live by every day.. not everyone can be Droopy. All you can do is try to be that cool.

The job is to guard his prized angus steer he imported for a fortune from Scotland, which it’s current handlers the McViper brothers object to, though Murdo shrugs them off. Naturally with a name like McViper they were planning on stealing it. Seriously who hires someone with the name McViper unless your planning to try and murder batman with a nest of vipers or a viper shaped tank or a buzzsaw shaped to look like your dad who never loved you enough.

So we then get a time passing montage via a letter Scrooge wrote. Originally this was supposed to be the majority of the story.. but Rosa’s editor rightly pointed out that while showing Scrooge as inexpericed and still not quite to his full strength yet was fine.. Rosa overdid it with his gags and made him look like a moron. So the finished product wisely dialed it back to just the horse riding gag. Honeslty it was the right call as his excitment to be a cowboy and episodes with the horse show he’s still got a ways to go and is far from the duck we know now, while the earlier fight on the train shows he’s still plenty badass. he’s just not properly seasoned yet. It’s how he is for the first third of the story: an idealisic teen who is slowly learning the ways of the world and finding good reason to do what he does and learning his morals. It’s the middle part that breaks him into the man he is today and the last one is the early days of that man and the horrible mistakes that cost him quite a bit: his family, his love for adventuring and nearly his soul. We get a few gags about crossing the planes and the reveal Donald renamed his horse after his sister hortense due to his horse’s bad temper. Hortense takes it as you’d expect.. by snapping off part of her mother’s chair with her bare beak in a rage and grumbling.

Scrooge is finishing up another letter by the time we cut back to him, the drive having almost reach the ranch in Montana... only for the McViper’s to conk scrogoe on the head and take the steer towards the Dakota territory and the real life Dakota Badlands, because now as ever Rosa loved to set his stories in cool real life locations. After Murdo finds him and wakes him up, and fully buys his story since the McViper’s were acting suspcious.. which is kinda like saying water is wet or Rudy Guliani is a moron but regardless buck mcduck rides again and eventually makes his way to the badlands. Which are awesomely rendered and really do look like that.

As you can see our hero finds someone in need.. and it’s Teddy Fucking Roosevelt!

As you can tell I love the guy. Really need to look into him more, but eveyr time I read his trope page or hear something about the man i’m in awe. He’s not without flaws, he was man of the 1800′s and 1900′s, he supported eugenics.. but he was also the first “accidental” President (I.e. a vp who got the role) to formally win despite being given the roll soley to keep him out of the chair due to being a boisterous loveable maniac, invited Booker T. Washington, who I also need to look into, to the white house as the first African American to get invited to dinner there, founded so many parks they had to make the national park service, and supported women’s rights his whole political career. The man is larger than life and respecte din fiction and I intend to make a story with him as a cybernetic frankenstein one day because i’m kinda nuts too and relate to him. He also has a quote I find endlessly relevant after the last 4 years of misery.

"This country has nothing to fear from the crooked man who fails. We put him in jail. It is the crooked man who succeeds who is a threat to this country." So yeah on top of everything else.. he’s smarter than pretty much the entirety of the modern republican party on top of that, not a HIGH bar to clear mind you but still. He cleared it.

So naturally someone who was basically a real life Scrooge who, while not having earned his money, used it well and never stopped explorin, and also named his son Kermit for some reason, Rosa was not only a huge fan but couldn’t resisit putting him in the story as Scrooge’s mentor once he found out they were in the same area at the same time. He’s also the first one I feel changes him as a person.. his parents set down the foundation and Pothole was.. there I guess.. I mean he ran his first buiness thanks to him and had his first feelings that being rich isn’t an endgoal, But it’s Teddy who helps him realize one of his most important and lasting charactert traits: his love of adventure for the experince of it just as much as the prize.

And we quickly get to that as Scrooge, after running into a dinosaur skeleton and then letting Teddy free, takes him along with him and finds out Teddy is rich, college graduate and former poltician too, and is out here simply because cattle ranching is way more exciting. Scrooge questions this as .. why do this? He’s rich, he dosen’t need to and Scrooge honestly wishes he was born rich instead. But Teddy shoots that down: He missed being born poor like Scrooge.. because being born wealthy is no acomplishment. You just get handed money to do whatever... but earning it with your own hands, the experinces that lead there.. that’s the real treasure and that’s why he’ll never stop. And he sees that in Scrooge, pointing out someone who didn’t LOVE adventure.. wouldn’t of leaped at a dinosaur skeleton without a second thought, all to save someone he just met. It’s what makes Scrooge likable: Sure he’s a greedy dick.. but he’s one who will never be satisfied, and who only stopped when he was close to death accoridng to Rosa, and even then i’m sure his and Goldie’s retirment wasn’t ENTIRELY peaceful or event free. HIs love of adventure and finding new discoveries and new worlds and ones lost to time... that’s infectious and what makes his stories, and the character work so well. And Rosa has him discover it beautifully, realizing that he never would’ve been satisfied even with cushy family money and that he truly does like this.. he still wants to be rich and understandably so, but he can have some fun along the way and afterwords.

So truly changed by this Scrooge gets back to tracking and TR helps by... asking some local Native American Buffallo Hunters since he knows their expert trackers and while they haven’t seen the mcvipers they can SMELL them, and with a location , and his first apprication for other cultures, Scrooge and TR head up top to lasso em up... and while Scrooge grabs one.> TR grabs a bear and the insuing chaos, including Scrooge refusing to use up his bullets because “Do you know how much bullets cost”

So in short the mcvipers end up chased by the bear, the native americans end up chased by a buffalo with a skull on it’s head and Scrooge ends up on the Angus. Teddy sums it up best.

It’s a great comedic set piece.. and leads to Murdo arriving and our heroes emerging, with the angus and tow and victorious. For his help and bravery, Scrooge is awarded the job as manager of the land, and while he plans to leave in a few years to find his fortune, it’s a good steady job he can help his family with and learn some skills so why not. TR leaves him with some last words of ecnouragment and says “There’s the makings of a great man” as he rides off into the susnset.. and his clothes once agian head the other way.

Final Thoughts: Buckaroo of the Badlands is a solid chapter. After the overly long Master of the Missippi, this is a welcome return to form, with a hell of a guest star, an intresting setting and some fun slapstick. It also reminded me not EVERY chapter is super long, as most are only 13 pages but Rosa packs a LOT into them, and uses each one wisely. Overall an excellent return to the series and I hope to pick it up eveyr now and again between whatever I have scheduled for the day.. and to look into Teddy. Seriously what a man, what a man what a mighty good man. Next Time Scrooge meets another mentor, a future foe, and the lonliness of being rich Teddy warns him about here in “Raider of the Copper Hill” Until the next Rainbow, it’s been a pleasure.

#the life and times of scrooge mcduck #scrooge mcduck #buckaroo of the badlands #hortense mcduck #teddy roosevelt #western #cowboy #montana #don rosa #disney #disney comics

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dystopiandilfs · 3 years

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I’ve seen a lot of discourse around this recently and wanted your opinion on it, who do you think is worse at this point in the lore, c!dream or c!quackity? I’ve seen really arguments for both sides but I wanted to know what you thought!

Worse as in the more threatening villain is difficult purely because Quackity is Gaslighting, manipulating and Torturing purely because he can, any benefits from doing so is just a bonus where as Dream originally did it as retaliation for people who broke his rules and ruined his land but then he got power hungry.

In my opinion Quackity's is more of a projection villain and Dream is a retaliation villain. If you watch other povs more people see Dream as a villain compared to Quackity however Dream also had more people understanding his side. I think that we need a bit more time for Quackity's villain arc to happen because his seem more like good intentions but bad execution (minus the torture) and Dream's seemed more like originally it was self defense but then he enjoyed having power. However Dream's always had the same goals and has always said he'd do whatever to achieve them even if he loses all attachments where as Quackity really flip flops over his reasoning and endgoals and does seem like he's very quickly becoming like Dream.

Using Dream's own words "The issue isn't that they can't build their own places it was that they claimed the land as their own and banned outsiders purely because they no longer agreed with the rules set by everyone. Imagine it like this, a friend is visiting your house and out of nowhere they claim a table and say it's theirs. You have all of this why can't I have the table. Then you have everyone saying I mean it's just a table you can have everything else. No we let you into our home and you started to claim things. You can sit at the table, you can eat at the table but you can't have the table"

Basically Dream started off under the Maleficent category of Villains where they attack people who wrong them (For example he went after L'manberg because they broke his rules that they'd previously agreed to) but then he turned into the Gaston category which is where they go out of their way to justify attacking someone by lying and making things up. (For example Dream blamed the first community house canon life loss on Tommy to turn people against him)

Quackity is under the Ursula category of villains this is where you get people by targeting insecurities or forcing them to rely on you (For example Quackity offering to tell Charlie about everything in return that Charlie doesn't spill his secrets but finds out everyone else's)

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musashi · 3 years

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sending u this ask as an opportunity for u to talk to me abt fi!! i love ur thoughts n words on things nd i don't send asks as much bc i don't have. good words to talk to u abt stuff but i rlly enjoy just. ur Passion nd stuff. autistic people r the best at talking abt stuff i stand by that we r just Epic. anyways if u wanna, i'd love to hear more about just... how fi sorta. changes, over the game? like the Little Things that show her starting 2 care abt link more, or becoming more "human"!

i love this whole ask. you’re right autistic folks r sexy as hell idk how the divine powers that be fit so much passion into my tiny body but i’m glad they made the attempt.

ANYWAYS FI. i don’t think i’ve ever actually laid this out because for the most part it is incredibly subtle and requires a lot of filling in gaps yourself, and i think that someone who cares less abt her can probably come away from it with an entirely different interpretation. fi’s development of actual feelings are a very sudden a mysterious thing, and i have a LOT of thoughts about them going in a lot of different directions so forgive me if this answer isn’t particularly linear or coherent. i’m not just gonna talk about her slow burn into feeling things, i’m also gonna talk about... why i think it happens.

we don’t get to learn a lot about sword spirits and how they come into being, other than it takes great power to enchant a sword with a spirit/temper a sword with one inside it. hylia obviously created fi and, presumably, demise created ghirahim, and they are pretty much as opposite as two people can be with their only real characteristic in common being precision, intelligence & otherworldly loyalty to their respective masters.

we thus don’t get to learn how much control the creator of a sword spirit has over what kind of spirit comes of it, if their personalities are organic to their experiences or crafted from the moment they awaken. what i mean by this is like... ghirahim could have been a cold, calculating AI like fi when he was first tempered and gained his dramatics over time, we have no idea how long he’s been alive in comparison to her, if his personality is so much more extroverted because he was allowed a life outside his blade whereas fi was isolated in hers for millennia. or if he just came into creation immediately ready to scream and stick his tongue in ppl’s ears.

i swear to god i’m going somewhere with this. ok. anyways.

fi in the beginning of skyward sword is, i think, how most people remember her--data-interested, icy, and detached. there is a reverence in how she addresses link from the start, even before he formally becomes her wielder, but beyond that she is calculating and precise and rarely wastes words. all of this kinda paints a picture of hylia creating fi, to me--breathing life into the spirit and willing her to be effective, be efficient, be loyal, and be sharp. when you have that image in your head, a lot of how fi operates makes sense--she wasn’t created to have emotions, because emotions get in the way of what her purpose is. hylia made a weapon and a servant, not a friend. it sucks to think about, but that is fi’s purpose.

the game is very careful, however, to show you it’s not that simple from the beginning. because hidden in Ice Queen Fi’s introduction is... a surprising amount of personality.

like this shit, where she straightup just dunks gaepora in the trash because his #Lore is out of date. it’s hysterical because you really do not know if she’s just a) an AI who doesn’t understand when she’s being kinda Rude or b) being snarky On Purpose. and that ambiguity in itself crafts this beautiful air of mystery where you, from the get go, don’t entirely know what to expect of fi all the time.

or this, which she says directly after link hesitates to accept the blade:

this scene, which people who have edgier takes on fi constantly use to paint her as intentionally manipulative, where all i see is... her using emotional validation to calm link down enough for him to take in what’s happening. a really important thing about fi is that she’s paradoxically an empath? she can read auras and detect emotion with extreme precision even if she’s incapable of feeling it herself in the beginning. so she knows everything link is experiencing here, understands that it’s holding him back, and takes care to deconstruct the whirlwind of emotion he’s collapsing under and explain to him why he can and should trust her words.

again this is all in her introductory scene. they write her very specifically to be a seemingly flat character with this... rumbling of something more going on under the surface. so much so that the first time you get to a sacred spring and fi, completely randomly, just starts skating across the water’s surface and speaking ancient poeticisms to you, you don’t question it. you’re not like hey, why is sword alexa doing a little dance? you just accept it as something fi is doing, because fi always feels like she’s at her job, and you don’t know how she acts outside of work, but you kinda feel like maybe you want to.

fi’s affinity for music is another way they insert humanity into an AI without making you think too hard about it. singing and dancing are inherently human, artforms are something we associate with the heart and soul. even teaching a robot to paint is, in itself, an art project crafted by a human hand. but you don’t really... consciously think about that, when you watch her do these things. you just kind of accept that she is this otherworldly thing guiding you. you don’t think about the contrast of this programmed assistant performing music alongside you in a sacred ritual. you’re just kind of like, yeah? i can’t JUST play nayru’s wisdom on my harp, i need someone who can sing and god put a vocaloid in my sword???

throughout the game, fi’s dialogue chains when you summon her don’t change in any meaningful way (besides based on what you’re carrying, where you are, etc) but as you near the end, there are a couple things of note. one that sticks out to me is what she says about one of the mid-game minibosses, who is also an artificial intelligence--

a lot of people laugh abt this line and make jokes about fi being hot for the tall handsome robot pirate and they’re valid. but the thing is, like, from the beginning of her mission, fi knew she’d essentially be dying once the world was saved. and early game fi has no hesitations about her part in things regardless, because, as we know, she wasn’t created to feel things like that. she wasn’t created to fear death, to grow attached to life or anyone in it, or to experience sorrow at the idea of saying goodbye. but this is mid-game fi, who still... never says anything she doesn’t deem entirely necessary, but she says this. for no discernible reason, she says this. it’s an unskippable dialogue option, one they WANT you to see and one that is different when you know where she ends up. admiration is already something you wouldn’t really expect of her, but it’s more than that--she’s longing for her own story to mirror it. by the sand sea, fi has started to realize she doesn’t want to go to sleep.

it’s another one of those moments where you’re kinda like, ‘haha, what, fi?' and then move on. another one of those moments where she kinda does something a little unexpected, but not so unexpected you question it too hard. fi excels at those.

before you go off to fight demise, fi stops you to warn you that it is the final battle, and you cannot return. and when you tell her you’re ready, she says this:

as i’ve said, fi doesn’t waste words. almost always, everything she says is for the purpose of efficiency, and rarely does she offer thoughts without fixed probabilities and ultimate endgoals in mind.

this is a sentiment.

it serves no purpose. it is purely an expression of devotion.

and because of EVERYTHING i’ve mentioned thus far, this line both hits you HARD as significant and foreboding in how suddenly tender it is, AND manages to read as in-character for her to say. because the way they write fi’s humanity is so beneath the surface, so easily missable, so hard for me to even lay out with concrete evidence despite the fact that i’m a person who reads a text dump of all her dialogue before bed every night.

but to me, what lays out fi’s inner workings best is actually her actual goodbye, and... not the moment most people would think, tbh? it’s not her tender farewell that speaks her emotions loudest to me, but the moment right before:

these lines, which would read as perfectly in character if it were early game fi, cut you. her complete and utter flippancy, the way she talks about all you’ve been through together as though it were nothing to her, the absolute coldness here after everything. you as a player feel kind of pathetic when she says this, like you were misguided in growing attached to her and thinking of her as a friend. and you KNOW thats the intended effect, because this is what link looks like:

he takes a moment in that last shot to like. swallow sadness and turn away from her, but even as he’s turning his head, he doesn’t take his eyes off her until the last possible moment. she hurts his feelings! why.

because it’s an act, is why. of COURSE fi loves him. of course she’s grown attached to him, of course she’s happy to have known him, of COURSE they’re friends. but fi was NEVER supposed to feel that way, she was never supposed to have the capability to love, and there’s no calculation she can run to set the uncertainties of that at ease within herself. so those lines up above is her trying her best to reset herself to who she was in the beginning, to snap herself back into the role of an emotionless servant to the goddess, to convince herself--not link--that saying goodbye won’t hurt. she’s trying to cope with something she has no idea was in the cards for her, and that’s why she’s seemingly so cruel for a moment.

all of this becomes apparent when she calls him back moments later and tells him how she really feels. there’s major whiplash because fi herself is Going Thru It. but essentially what’s happening in that moment is she thinks she knows what will hurt the least, but she miscalculates and backpedals and realizes even if saying goodbye hurts, it hurts less than pretending she doesn’t want to.

i think a lot of people overlook that line--“the most precious data i have on record.” fi, who contains multitudes within her. who contains knowledge immeasurable, the thoughts and feelings and stories of thousands. of civilizations, of gods, of countless ages passed. everything she holds within her is dwarfed entirely by what she feels for link, beside link. nothing in her encyclopedic knowledge can even compare to her friendship with him in the significance it has to her. like all things, fi has her own way of communicating her meanings, and this is her way of saying she really, truly loves him.

in addition, she very carefully does this after he abandons the sword, so it’s clear that it’s of her own will, not a part of her purpose as his servant. for this whole cutscene, up until she end, she drops the honourific and calls him just Link.

and while i see a lot of people debate if she truly does ‘feel,’ anything, like... she says it right here, she does. whether or not she was able to feel from the beginning or not, she can feel now. she has trouble putting words to those feelings, or explaining to herself and others where on earth they came from... but she feels now. that cannot be disputed.

happiness that she was able to know him. loyalty she wants to transcend lifetimes. sorrow at the idea of them having to part. gratitude that he took the chance, and did so beside her.

let’s talk about gratitude.

in skyward sword, gratitude is a tangible source of magic. it opposes malice, which as of botw is a reoccurring thing in zelda lore. skyward sword has two items--evil crystals and gratitude crystals--that represent malice and gratitude respectively. while the first isn’t entirely relevant, the second is something you’re actively encouraged to more or less harvest by helping people and basking in their thanks toward you. these feelings of gratitude are so canonically powerful in the zelda universe that they can turn monsters into humans entirely, and the outpouring of energy that event causes makes every monster & hostile creature within all of skyloft turn docile at once.

according to batreaux, the monster in question, this is well-established legend, the idea of gratitude granting humanity to the nonhuman. skyward sword literally said the power of love was canon.

the song that plays over the goodbye, of course, is called fi’s gratitude.

this is just one theory i have on the matter, but... whether hylia intended or foresaw fi to be capable of feeling human emotion or not, i do believe it was gratitude that woke her heart up. whether she was meant to love or not, link’s spirit contained within it enough love for the both of them, enough to touch her soul and rouse her from her cold and emotionless state. as always, through everything, they work in perfect tandem--his passionate heart touches hers as it sleeps, her wisdom holds him steady and level-headed.

when fi says “may we meet again in another life,” she says it like a prayer, because it is one--she knows hylia, knows that hylia loved link’s spirit just as she did, and knows that hylia of all people understands what the sword spirit is going through. and fi also knows that hylia immortalizes those she loves with cycles, with reincarnation, eternal life without the pain of never dying. fi doesn’t have a soul that hylia can bring back from death nor a physical body to revive, but she works with what she can--and so long as link’s spirit breathes anew, he finds fi. in a sunlit grove, with light bearing down on her, safe and warm and always loyal, even as the world rages on outside. fidelis, she was named for--“faithful.”

the fandom doesn’t really talk abt it, but fi is an angel. she’s an angel god sent to watch over one human, and when god said your mission is complete fi faced god and walked backwards into hell. her divine mission is long passed, but it stopped being about what she was fated to do long ago.

fi began to watch over link because he was her master. and fi resolved to stay forever because he was link.

#skyward sword #long post #hand of sorrow #wendy rambles #Anonymous #wendy answers

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bigskydreaming · 3 years

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Hey, any comic recs to ensure that I get Dick Grayson character right? Other batfam included, if you're willing. I'm trying to make sure I don't write a character completely ooc, because that drives me up the WALL when I read that. However, since I dubbed you the #1 Dick Grayson person, I thought I'd ask you to make sure I do him justice rather than a smear campaign or something lol! Thanks! ALSO TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT THE TITANS SHOW! That's all xD

LOL thanks I appreciate it, but while I’m good for the rants, for actual comics recs I would go to the likes of @northoftheroad, @hood-ex, and @nightwingmyboi because they’re a lot better than I am at knowing where to find specific stuff and comprehensive reading lists! I tend to jump all over the place in terms of my go-to comics for Dick.....I’m always on about Robin: Year One but I’m like eh Nightwing: Year One is pretty trash tbh. I prefer pre-Flashpoint continuity overall but I did enjoy some of the early Nightwing Rebirth stuff and before that the pre-Forever Evil New 52 stuff had some good beats. But for the most part, my favorite Dick Grayson tends to be him as a member of teams like the Titans....he shines most in ensembles, I think, because his strengths ultimately are that like...he gets people, he knows how people work, and he knows how to get the most out of the people he’s with, how to make people gel and get in sync and become more than just the sum of their parts.

(Speaking of nightwingmyboi, haven’t seen them posting in awhile, anyone know what they’re up to? Hope everything’s okay!)

Which brings me to the problems with the Titans show. There’s a lot I like about it - Anna Diop and Ryan Potter in particular - and a lot I was never gonna like about it - I’m heavy on the Ugh why must Dick Grayson be a cop ever why is that a thing make it stop. And so while I don’t think Brenton Thwaites does like, a bad job with the role or anything, there was always kinda a ceiling on how attached to or invested in his take on the character I was ever gonna reach.

But Season 2. Oof. Let’s talk about Season 2, and how so many of the problems with it are identical to the problems that surround Dick in the comics, but also aren’t limited to just his character or DC and just as equally show up in all kinds of media. Like, I could have (and probably did) offer an identical rant about the role of Scott McCall in TW’s S5.

The problem is one I’ve kinda taken to calling in my head “The Ensemble Lone Wolf Effect.”

This is when writers have a character they nominally want to be part of an ensemble....but that they repeatedly go back to the well of “this character should however spend most of their time on their own, or are more natural on their own, or just wants to be on their own, or also sometimes they just deserve to be on their own cuz they suck for Reasons we decline to specify.”

But its that thing of wanting it both ways....believing a character honestly NEEDS to be a loner or off on their own for the sake of their story, but also still wanting to utilize them as part of an ensemble, not willing to actually MAKE them a solo character, and so it kinda creates this never-ending feedback loop wherein they pay lip service to the character being part of an ensemble, but that’s never really on display, which creates a lot of unnecessary conflict among characters that’s to NONE of their benefits.

(And honestly in the comics, you could apply this to pretty much all the Batfam at times...not just Dick. They do it with Bruce ALL the time, they’re doing it with Damian right now, did it with Tim with Red Robin, Jason most of the time he’s not with the Outlaws and Cass most of the time she’s not with Babs or Steph or the Outsiders. As well as Babs herself at times).

Basically what I’m talking about here is like....so much of the drama in S2....and specifically the parts that most every fan I saw had issues with....came about not organically, because it made sense for the characters to behave that way, but solely in order to launch a specific plot, that the writers clearly wanted for S2:

And that was Dick Grayson off on his own, at his lowest, facing his demons on a solo journey of self-discovery the writers clearly deemed necessary before he could find himself as Nightwing and rise to his most heroic self.

Now the thing is....this isn’t inherently a bad plot or a problem. The problem lies in how they went about it.

Because rather than looking at the overall story and saying okay, that’s what we want to do with Dick Grayson, that’s what we want for HIS story, now how do we get that and where do we take it from there, rather than looking at that as just a STARTING point, and engineering a plot that grows OUT of that.....

The writers just started out by viewing that as an ENDPOINT, and reverse engineered a way to get Dick TO that point first and foremost....at the expense of so many characters who then basically turned on him and held him solely responsible for the things many of them also had a hand in....purely to get him off on his own and isolated.

But that was never necessary!

Because Dick’s character contains multitudes when it comes to guilt and self-blame, everyone knows that. He never needed anyone else to blame him for what happened to Joey because he blamed himself. So the second they conceived of the plot “Slade wants revenge for something Dick at least blames himself for”.....they had all the ingredients needed for Dick to decide proactively that the best way to protect everyone was to put distance between him and them, that he should try and hunt down Slade on his own, solve this between just the two of them.

And that should have been the STARTING point, for that narrative journey of self-exploration, not that journey resulting as an ENDPOINT in and of itself from Dick being FORCED into a kind of isolation by the others all blaming him.

Because now see what ripple effects result:

Now, the other characters are just as able to focus on their own individual storylines as they were in the show, with the additional concern of wanting to ACTUALLY find Dick and figure out what’s going on with him or tell him they still want to help....without this in any way needing to distract them from their own storylines, practically speaking, or cut into Dick’s narrative alone-time, because as part of the equation you ALSO have Slade, who has his own wants and agendas, not to mention tactics. And Slade’s perfectly capable of and willing to work with others, or utilize the long game, or engage in a game of cat and mouse as a distraction...there are numerous ways that you could engineer a plot FROM these motivations that allows him to keep the rest of the Titans distracted and even targeted individually, without allowing them to group back up with Dick or Dick to even know that they’re in danger and that his attempts to avoid that backfired.

You want the characters isolated and divided? The PLOT can do that for you. You don’t need the characters to do that to themselves.

IMO, most if not all stories are meant to advance characters, first and foremost. Take Characters A-Z and leave them different from how you found them. Move them to a different position in their lives as much as anything else, from where they began. The goal is character DEVELOPMENT.

What this means, in my book, is that the plot should serve the characters, NOT the other way around. The plot should grow FROM the characters and what they would or would not do....the characters should never have to be forced to FIT INTO a plot.

That’s backwards.

There shouldn’t be any need to reverse engineer a certain starting point, characterwise.

Just like....start the plot, plotwise....and from the moment you first introduce a single plot element, prioritize how would the characters react and BUILD from there.

The only engineering you should need to do is how to get to an eventual END point....which is still all about the forward momentum, not backing your way into anything.

Its one thing to have an endgoal for your plot, a point in character or narrative development that you want characters to reach. But its all about perspective. About keeping that what you’re working towards rather than something that you like, have to reach before you can even really BEGIN.

Which is what Titans S2 did. The real GOAL of the season in terms of Dick’s storyline, was his solo journey of self-discovery. But there’s a million different ways they could have LAUNCHED that journey, without it having to be the forced and contrived outcome of events and character decisions that literally only existed to initiate a journey that never required a forced initiation.

And so all this narrative energy gets utterly wasted and expended on stuff that it just flat out doesn’t need to be spent on in the first place....instead of just putting that same energy to use building forward-facing storylines for ALL the characters, that don’t require contrived spats of disharmony when the goal of such moments isn’t even the disharmony but rather just that they’re kept apart, the end RESULT of the disharmony.

Imagine what S2 could have built if instead of wasting time, characterization and energy on getting to a point they could have simply started from if they’d simply looked at it that way and chosen to just....start. If they’d applied all that to building across the board, everyone’s story in service to their own character first and foremost, no tangled feedback loops making characters regress or cycle through the same behavior or narrative positionings over and over again in order to not get in each other’s way or cross paths at a time when the show didn’t want them to cross paths....because rather than make all these characters work at cross purposes, they’re all on the same page, they still want the same things....you’re simply engineering from their own natural characterizations and organic decisions and reactions, ways the PLOT can be utilized as a TOOL, to keep them moving forward in their own respective chapters, WITHOUT their characters having to be bent out of their natural shapes or forced into niches that don’t really suit them, just to keep them, PREVENT them, from more naturally or organically making a choice or action that would ‘get in the way’ of the plot.

Bottom line......the plot is supposed to be there to advance the characters, because the characters are what we come to stories for. The characters are who we invest in, relate to, ROOT for.

The characters aren’t there to advance the plot. We’re not here to yell yeah, I really hope the writers do whatever it takes with characters, no matter how backwards or unnatural it seems, just to get that sweet sweet and oh so specific ending we want that is in no way dependent on how invested or not we ACTUALLY are in the characters by the time it arrives, in order for it to actually be effective or not!

Lol. Y’know?

So yeah, that’s my biggest gripe with Titans so far. I’m still eager to see what happens between Kory and her sister, and although I’m not thrilled it seems to be becoming Batfam Straight Outta Gotham rather than like, Titans: The Show, I admit I am curious about what take they’ll go with for Babs. As I still pretty vividly recall that weird as hell Birds of Prey show the CW or UPN or WB or whatever it was at the time did for one season, where Babs was honestly not terribly adapted despite the show otherwise bearing like, zero in common with any existing DC property or character (do not even get me STARTED on their takes on Dinah and Helena, no, blehrrible, those were bad, those were like super bad)....anyway, I’m kinda curious even if it wouldn’t have been my choice for what direction the show should take. Not that I have a specific one in mind, just, yeah. And I also kinda would not hate if we got a new Roy Harper now, to replace the not!Roy of Arrow, because I don’t know him, no seriously, who is that, its not Roy Harper.

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katerinamikaelovna · 4 years

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I mostly like the CW's Legacies but there is one problem I have that keeps reoccurring and that is how underdeveloped storylines and character arcs tend to be.

For example- Alyssa Chang. I like her. She is an interesting and dare I say, refreshing addition to the show but the way she was added- not good. She is mentioned a few times in one episode and then suddenly we have a whole ep dedicated to her at the end of which she turns out to be a villain. I don't mind her being a villain- I just feel like there could have been more build up. I want to assume that Legacies writers and Julie Plec had planned out how s2 was going to unravel before starting shooting and they already knew beforehand that Alyssa would at some point to e villain. Why not then introduce her character earlier in the season? It could have been as simple as giving her a line here or there, or showing that she maybe doesn't get along with other students too well in an one-off scene. Don't bring her in literally one episode before and then expect us to respect her as a villain.

The issue here is that there is no over-arcing plot and no Big Bad, and thus the plot is all over the place and most episodes just feel pointless. They keep adding characters and plot points but they all lead up to nothing and have almost no impact on the development of the story.

Like okay, there is a prophecy. Other than a mention of it here or there, it might as well not exist for how important it is in the show. And yes, it probably will become more important later on (my guess is in the last two episodes) but why not take advantage of the episodes we have now to actually build it up as a looming threat, to make us want to figure it out and have us root for the characters to win?

The Necromancer is back up and running. He has a plan. Okay. And then what? How does he contribute to the story- other than send out monsters? He has so little "stage presence" that I literally cannot even tell you his motives and his endgoal without looking it up.

What did Hope jumping into Malivore do for the show? (Other than serve as a cliff-hanger?) Everyone forgot her and daily life at the Salvatore Boarding School changed?- Well, yes, until a few episodes later when they all remembered her and everything went back to normal. Ryan Clarke hated her and swore revenge?- Yes, until he was unceremoniously killed off LITERALLY the episode after he actually enacted his "evil plan" and everything went back to normal (except Dark Josie, I guess).

Hope enrolls into Mystic Falls High and meets new people, Ethan and Maya- Who cares? They're written off almost immediately.

Freya remembers Hope and travels to Mystic Falls to see her again- no mention of it, EVER.

Kym gets an internship at the SBS- Who cares, she quits two episodes later.

Sebastian comes and has a looooot of potential to be one of the best characters on the show but guess what? He plays basketball, makes a few extremely inappropriate comments and is killed off like three episodes later. (I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he actually did jump into Malivore but I have a feeling like that's not gonna happen.)

Wade is a fairy? Cool, just one question- who and why? His fairyness serves almost no purpose expect to sometimes kill the monsters and as we know by now, the monsters literally do not serve the plot at all expect to remind us that Malivore is still a thing.

And now we have three new characters- Jade, Wendy and Diego who could all turn out to be so cool and wonderful but I bet they're hardly going to get any screentime at all.

It's just so frustrating because I LOVE the characters so much and I really want to enjoy the show but I can't do that when every single episode just feels like a filler. There is no tension, no anticipation, no thrill.

My advice? If the show gets renewed for s3, I beg of them to actually map it out beforehand, think about how each character and each event furthers the plot, and BUILD UP the ending. This show has so much potential and it's disappointing to see it fall flat because of bad writing and laziness.

#legacies #anti legacies #hope mikaelson #josie saltzman #lizzie saltzman #sebastian x lizzie #sizzie #sebastian legacies #anti julie plec #ryan clarke #freya mikaelson #rant #constructive criticism

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safehunterxhunter · 5 years

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Can you please do a HC of how the adult trio, Knuckle, and Pariston would act when they’re jealous/possessive? Thanks! 💜

Hm, interesting! I’m going to make this more Gen than shippy, save for some HisoIllu, since you didn’t specify, ok?

Jealousy HCs!

Chrollo

watches from a distance

constantly coming up with reasons to spend time around the object of his attention

grandstands for attention

switches from ‘academic’ disinterest to hyperobsessive behavior

will steal literally anything to ‘buy’ back attention.

constantly touching vulnerable places - waist, neck, back, to ‘assert dominance’

‘if you loved me, you wouldn’t do X’

hot and cold like nobody’s business

he’s either fawning or furious and there’s no inbetween

people die either way, though

Illumi

will not leave the object of his affection alone (hisoka)

legitimately confines him to one specific space and hovers within a two meter radius if Hisoka leaves it.

casually murders anyone who looks at Hisoka the wrong way, and blames it on really lame excuses (i slipped on this banana peel)

hides trackers on that person

learns the schedule of each person hisoka interacts with regularly to stalk them as well

basically would probably lock Hisoka in a box but he knows the clown would leave so he’s forced to tolerate it

forced kisses

they’re terrible kisses but he does it as a reminder

biting is sometimes included

Hisoka

he’s honestly more amused than anything

the only thing that can really hold Illumi’s attention for any length of time is another Zoldyck (specifically a certain white-haired Zoldyck) so he’s very curious about this new distraction.

he toys with that distraction for as long as he can

in front of Illumi is better, because then he gets to see Illumi’s reaction

even better is when the distraction is another person

because if they’re strong he won’t kill them, just make them hate him

so he’ll get to have fun later, when they hate him enough to search him out

and Illumi won’t be distracted anymore

also wandering hands, to all the inappropriate areas

he turns up in unexpected places

invites himself to go practically anywhere Illumi/object of attention is going

Bungee Gum leash

Pariston

also more amused than jealous

treats the whole thing like a game (and he *will* win)

pretends to smarm up to whomever/whatever is stealing attention

but in reality is gauging their personality and how they’ll react to gradually more and more annoying things

his endgoal is to get the person he wants attention from to drop their new interest

plants every trap he can to make the other person look bad

master of manipulating the situation to play the victim

thinks it’s funny to pit the object of his affection against their new interest and watch the hurt feelings spiral

poses as the comforting safe place for the object of his affection

Knuckle

pouty. so pouty

knows he’s jealous and tries really hard to control it

spams dog pictures for attention

tries to bake things but messes up on purpose so he has an excuse to call and ask for help

tiny little gifts to regain attention

huffy whenever the new interest is around to ‘steal attention’

he tries really hard to stay civil though

but he is growly and hard to approach regardless

offers to help with literally everything

ends up cracking and confessing his jealousy (especially if he’s dating the other person) to apologize

generally realizes that he’s not entitled to attention so he just tries really hard to earn it

Thanks for the ask! Askbox: 1/15

#hxh #hunter x hunter #knuckle bine #illumi zoldyck #hisoka morow #chrollo lucilfer #pariston hill #hxh pariston #headcanon #headcanons #jealousy headcanons #four assholes and one good boi #ask box

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honeyfreckled · 5 years

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we have talked a few times and im sorry for this but you are the most accepting and easiest person to talk to honestly i dont have many people in my life i can tell anything real to. but the thing is ive been thinging about relapsing a lot more since i broke up with my boyfriend and i work with him so it makes work depressing and impossible to get through a day without crying sorry this is anon but i am scared ily dont hate me i am not trying to stress you out

ok wow first lemme just say: I DO NOT HATE U. EVER.

and don’t be srry i don’t have a lotta ppl irl i can tell my shit to so i get it. pls know u can always ALWAYS ALWAYS come to me, and u dont gotta be scared to come off anon. i get it and it’s ok if u prefer it that way- but pls know i dont keep it on alot bc i get hate and then i turn it off bc i gotta look out for myself and dont post all the hate bc i dont wanna bring yall down or give them the satisfaction of knowing i have given it a read and response. so u can message me or make a sideblog or idk im just saying this so if it’s off later u dont blame yrself or feel scared to come off anon. ok sorelapse is a real thing and it’s fucked and hard and addiction is fucked up and a real life struggle and we dont treat addicts w the real tenderness, respect, kindness, and acceptance they deserve. but u DO deserve it. and there are hotlines, apps, churches, groups, chatrooms/boards, and sites that are more versed in what are the appropriate things to say to u- i say this bc while i’ve been thru it w loved ones i have not myself struggled w addiction w substances. my addictions were to self harm and victimhood so those are the things i searched for help on. but if it’s alright i’d like to give u some tips or things i used and have heard work for addicts of substances

places like i said like churches, groups, chatrooms, sites, apps, hotlines the apps and hotlines are good if u cant travel or want to talk to ppl who wont share their story bc maybe u cant hear it like its not the kinda help ur looking for. hotlines are sometimes tricky bc some of those folks are not educated they are volunteers so judgment leaks thru and in that case u ask to be redirected and report that volunteer so hopefully they dont repeat that kinda mess to other vulnerable folks looking for help

make a list of things, anything. list of foods u like to order, list of things that make u clench yr teeth, what were yr fave gifts you’ve ever got, style icons of urs, hobbies u tried that annoyed u, movies u can always watch, places on yr skin u hate being touched, any list of anything it doesnt have to be the usual thing of “what to live for” bc when yr depressed those kinds of things arent easy to think of. but if u get a list going of like “best things ive ever touched” “sounds that make me laugh” “trends that were stupid af” “popular things that i didnt like n couldnt figure out why they were popular” “weirdest ppl ive met” well those things might get u on a roll of good memories or laughing or seeing that theres more to yr life than what has been occupying yr thoughts

dancing. dance in yr room in the dark. clear some space. put on some headphones. lock yr door. do it in the shower. just dance. i had to start w closing my eyes and picking songs that i was taken by emotionally. songs that made me jump and slamdance tbh and then it’s just gotten more and more something im not as ashamed w. i spent a date night w james just dancing and then we ya know ya know bc the dancing got so wild. now i make playlists of songs that set moods for diff kinds of dancing

watch shows w ppl who arent doing better than u. they dont live in fancy places, they dont do much w their lives, they dont dress better than u, they struggle, they arent eating good food u dont have access to. iasip. freaks and geeks. letterkenny. undeclared. jake and amir. tpb. the state. youtube. tiktok/vine comps. lots of these kinds of vibes on youtube

podcasts. improv comedy podcasts tbh saved my life. comedy bang! bang! has best of’s those are good ones to start w. improv4humans bc matt besser has great guests of some of the best improvisers out there and he has musical guests and they’ll play a song and the improvisers will use it as inspo for a scene

make things. moodboards. pinterest. playlists. fill a shopping cart and tell yrself “i’ll get it when i win the lotto and move away from anyone who knows me so i can be the me i wanna be w/out judgement” make tea. make a meal if u can. make yr bed. clean one thing. clean the sink. hang some clothes or go thru yr drawers and clean them out. throwing things out feels hard at first but then it’s nice bc u feel less bogged down

find something to throw yr obsession at for a bit. something that wont hurt u as bad, being obsessed in general isnt good. everything in moderation irl. too much of something is bad just as much as too less of it can be bad. but yr looking for something lower risk here and if u gotta be obsessed w a celeb or a song or a food that’s ok. yr focusing the energy on something that isnt a substance so be proud of it

give yrself a break. give yrself some credit. everyday isnt gonna be on the “best of your name here’s days” but sometimes u just live to live bc that’s what u do. u wait it out and get thru it and wait for the sun to come back out. and if u cant get outta bed. or if you hate yr job and wanna scream- that’s normal it’s more normal than always being happy ppl just dont like talking abt bc society kinda trains us to hide our fucked upness idk why but thats how it is. they dont wanna tell us to do preventative care until we’re in the pits

all in all- it comes down to (at least for me) not planning w an endgoal in mind. it’s not over til it’s over and rlly we dont know. it’s all fluctuating and not meant to be a finish line we cross and then suddenly we’re done and we dont suffer anymore and the feeling of shit is gone or the risk of relapse is gone and the depression is cleared away never to be seen again. it’s not realistic. bc it isnt real. on the real- risk is always there and the downs and ups mix and run together and depression is not curable (this isnt something to be miserable over tho) depression isnt curable, yeah ok, but it is manageable. it can be quieted down from time to time and if u keep up w yr healthy routines and coping mechanisms- depression will still find its way to u bc the real world is not something u can manage. death in the family, loss of money or job, car breaking down, sickness outta nowhere, depression grows wild when these very real life stressors come into our lives. but all that too eventually gets easier and easier at least from a “ok i have some distance now” standpoint. and then as those days get more and more btwn it u can then be like “oh wow, ive made it thru X amount of days! ive put up w it this long! whats one more day, whats one more week, hell might as well see how much prouder i can feel once ive got a year under my belt!” plus u will be more capable of handling the bullshit if u know u can still find some safe places in yr coping skills or friends or resources.

ok so this is prob a mess but bottomline know this:

I love you and i will be here the best i can should u ever wanna come spill or if u need me to just send u pics of my dog or boring pics of knickknacks or selfies or memes or links or anything just tell me what u need and i will try my best to show u my love. i hope u can see that u reaching out is just already a HUGE major step in the right direction, give yrself credit! thats amazing! yr already doing it pumpkin look at u! it’s hard ik. but i also know if u are capable of saying u have this problem going on, u are capable of getting thru this. u are a light in the world. u offer goodness and u offer yrself and that’s enough. even if yr fucked up right now- u are contributing to the world by simply being u. there is literally NO ONE ELSE WHO IS YOU. so u are unique by definition. i hope u get something from this post and if not i hope it strikes an idea or thing u can do that will help. i hope u know im here and i hope u see this.

i am sending u all my light and love and good vibes and i can’t wait to see or hear from u again. u are never bothering me, a burden, or stressing me out. tbh it stresses me more that u might be struggling and not telling me or anyone. i dont ever want u to suffer in silence bc u feel guilt or scared or anything. u deserve to have a place to voice yr shit. im here to listen if u do wanna tell me anymore.

everyone else-if this helped or if u can think of anything that might help anon or anyone else- feel free to reblog and get some good NONJUDGMENTAL advice or tips and tricks going, but please please please remember to not come off as judgey or flood it with your drama. keep ur drama out of this post so anon or anyone else doesn’t get triggered by it.

and dont ignore my rule and do it anyway and then say some shit like “ik u said not to but i think this will help lol sorry” like we need this post to stay on this vibe that i set in motion and not a struggle contest or dick measuring or all sad personal reminiscing. go make yr own post for that this is NOT the space.

#Anonymous #sorry if this is a mess but i got a lot of feelings abt the shitty advice that's out there for addicts and i dont know shit except my ideas #and all i can do is pass it along but pls still remember there are plenty more things that could work so if these dont strike a chord lmk #and i can try to think of more and reach out to my friends who are addicts and see what works for them #i love you i love you and i love you and i like you

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