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comicaurora · 10 months

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Hey red, what's your opinion on some modern writing that's very lamp shady? And do you have any advice on how to avoid "Well that just happened" dialogue?

It's an interesting question!

The thing is, lampshading exists for a reason, but it's not the reason it gets used a lot of the time. Writers might lampshade a narrative choice they're insecure about, while characters lampshade because the things they go through in a typical story are kind of bonkers, and we might expect them to notice. If a character signs on for a simple mercenary expedition and ends up discovering they're the long-lost prince of a kingdom they've never heard of, that's weird and they probably feel weird about it. If an ally is determined to 1v1 their super overpowered nemesis with no help from their friends, those friends might have opinions about how dumb that is.

This is a form of lampshading that doesn't break immersion because it's entirely in-character and doesn't lean on the fourth wall. There's a difference between a character noticing how weird their life is and a character pointing out how cliched a recent experience was. In the latter case, the character is treating their life like a story, and while it IS a story, they shouldn't know that.

There's a spectrum here, with "complete sincerity and taking every turn of the plot at face value" defining the 0-point and "complete self-aware uninvestment" at the far end, but healthy levels of lampshading live somewhere in the middle. Characters at the 0-point accepting everything that happens without question can feel just as weird as characters that won't stop pointing out the TVTropes entry they're currently living. It's about what it makes sense for the character to find disruptive or noteworthy. A hardened badass probably won't see the need to point out how bonkers a recent fight scene was, but a newcomer to the Cool Bombastic Adventure scene might be really excited when they pull off a cool special move and want to point it out.

I think this is why the recent D&D movie worked for a lot of people, because while the main characters all lampshade their lives to varying degrees, the way they do so makes sense for all of them. Edgin is a bard and storyteller so he has a slightly meta perspective on a lot of things, purposefully avoids playing along with certain narrative conventions and sometimes responds to other people's dialogue by critiquing their dialogue instead of just responding normally; Holga doesn't really care to understand how the world works and so keeps pointing out that they should just use magic to solve their problems, which is probably the most popular lampshade in the whole genre; Doric and Simon don't get a ton of time to shine character-wise, but they'll both occasionally poke holes in the pretense of the story they're in. The thing that makes this all work is Xenk, who plays absolutely every moment completely 100% straight and is entirely immersed in the objectively ridiculous setting of D&D. Same goes for most of the villains, except for Forge, who's probably the wackiest and most self-aware character in the entire movie, but in a way that makes him feel callous and disregarding of the people around him, like he's uninvested in the world not because he knows he's a fictional character but because he has too much money and power to care about anything. The ways each character does or does not lampshade their surroundings make sense for who they are as people and reinforce their characterization and place in the world instead of undermining it.

I recently watched a couple episodes of Stargate Atlantis and noticed something similar - the main character and, to a lesser extent, the rest of his associates from Earth have a tendency to make wry observations about his objectively bizarre life and the eccentricities of the people around him, which helps contrast against the extremely serious and businesslike Cool Space Warriors they keep accumulating, which helps make them feel (a) distinct from each other and (b) relatable considering all the weird stuff that happens. And the protagonist switches off the quips as soon as things start looking perilous for his team, so you never get the impression that they aren't invested in the story they're living, and as a result the various quips and lampshades come across more as a habit or a coping mechanism than a disruption to the narrative itself.

So basically I think you can get away with a lot of lampshades as long as the character doesn't feel like they know they're in a story.

#asks #writing stuff

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caligvlasaqvarivm · 2 months

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what are your thoughts on the ministrife situation? imo literally the worst fate for eridan to be damned to tbh

i think he will eventually (after <5 minutes) just shoot cronus and leave. (CW for mentions of abuse and cronus's romantic grossness and stuff under the cut).

Ignoring the extremely creepy and gross fact that Hussie doesn't seem to have a problem with the age gap (it's There, we've acknowledged that it's creepy and weird, i personally think it highlights how immature the dancestors are despite their physical age, and it actually serves to hint at how trash they are, but it's still really uncomfortable in the moment and never gets properly called out. In any case we've talked about it critically, we can move on and talk about characterization now), he and cronus are actually kind of polar opposites. Given that Cronus, along with many of the dancestors, are riffing on what the fandom interpretation of their Alternian counterparts are, it's kind of a fascinating look at all the things Eridan ISN'T.

The fandom (especially at the time) had flattened Eridan down to "overdramatic Nice Guy hipster who won't stop hitting on people," with varying degrees of sympathy. In other words, they took all of Eridan's outward presentation - the narration calling his genuine anxiety and distress "overblown emotional theatrics," the fact that his being rejected was a running gag - entirely at face value, while also missing what sort of archetype he was actually supposed to represent.

At no point does Eridan ever actually mention a hipster interest, like vintage clothes or indie media. It's all entirely in his design and Karkat calling him a hipster (it's not even in his character introduction), so presumably, it IS a part of his character (Karkat knows him really well), but it's probably a part he keeps to himself, like his love of wizards.

Moreover, he isn't really a Nice Guy. The closest he gets is thinking Nepeta owes him a chance for saving her life, but as far as we can tell, he only ever asked her once, got rejected, accepted that rejection, and has never taken out that rejection on her. When he complains about it, he frames it as a bitter "I guess what I did wasn't enough," not "she's an unreasonable witch withholding romance from me even though I'm so nice to her." All other romance attempts are crimes of... just being way too forward.

He bursts into Kanaya's DMs demanding she auspicetisize with Vriska because... that's what she likes to do, right? The same happens to Terezi in [S] Karkat: Wake Up. He comes on strong in Rose's DMs and after getting a little annoyance back, goes "wow, we kinda have something," and does not realize her blowing up his computer is a rejection because she didn't explicitly tell him no and he's a dumbass. And even though he's nasty at Sollux because emotionally, he's still bitter about Sollux "stealing" Feferi from him, at least CONSCIOUSLY he's recognized the rejection on both fronts and has repeatedly told Feferi that he has no more interest in getting back together with her, in spite of her recognizing that he's emotionally not over her. And speaking of Feferi, his confession to her is entirely genuine and respectful toward her feelings. At no point does he indicate that he feels like she owes him a date.

These aren't Nice Guy actions, they're "I have 0 social skills or self-awareness" actions. And also a little bit "due to my trauma and anxiety and desensitization to murder, I struggle to care about other people" actions. He's not even actually casteist or genocidal - I spent an entire essay arguing that.

But regardless, that's what the fandom ran with, in large part because they didn't bother reading between the lines. Ironically, like Eridan, they just believed what he told them. I don't even necessarily blame the fandom - at least part of this obfuscation was intentional, and a clever trick on the part of the writing. By highlighting Eridan at his worst, and having the narration be complicit in his self-delusion and mockery, the story is able to put the audience in the same mindset as his in-universe bullies - Eridan is dumb weirdo whose emotional problems are worthy of ridicule, not sympathy. Let's all point and laugh!

This sets up his meltdown to be more of a twist - even though his literal introduction is him killing something and talking about genocide, the very real danger he poses is forgotten both by the audience and the other characters because they've gotten so used to dismissing his feelings that they ignore his cries for help and the warning signals he gives off. And it makes his character more relevant and meaningful, because this happens in real life all the time - I'm sure we either all either knew, or were, the friendless weirdo at school who, upon reflection, definitely had either some bad shit going on at home or severe and untreated mental illness (or both).

The reason I'm bringing up this fandom misinterpretation is because, like a couple other dancestors, Cronus is very much a riff on the fanon version of his Alternian counterpart. Unlike Eridan, who's not actually casteist, but desperately trying to act the part, Cronus IS a casteist sea dweller who thinks he's better than lowbloods and land dwellers. Unlike Eridan, who seeks emotional connections with others, and accepts rejections, Cronus is only looking for some action, and keeps trying even well after he knows he's been rejected. Unlike Eridan, who's so consumed by anxiety and trauma that he's pretty much unable to function properly, Cronus DOES exaggerate his problems and explicitly leverage them for attention and sympathy. And unlike Eridan, who feels crushed under the weight of duty and responsibility, and tends to blame himself when things go wrong, Cronus refuses to take responsibility for anything, immediately blaming anybody BUT himself.

They're practically exact opposites, and this is, again, a clever trick on the part of the writing. It's an excellent usage of a foil: though superficially similar, the differences between these two really serves to highlight just how much Eridan is NOT the things that Cronus IS.

And it's especially interesting given that Eridan spent his entire life trying to emulate Dualscar, to the point of modeling his outfit after the guy. To him, it was not only his duty, but his inevitable fate, to wind up as Dualscar's successor. And when he finally meets the guy in person, his opinion is "even I think you're trash."

If that isn't a form of rejecting the values his society has told him repeatedly that he has to uphold, maybe in the service of perhaps setting up some sort of redemption arc or something, I don't know what is.

I've seen people point to this moment as kind of a hee haw funny one-off joke, look at how little Hussie cares about Eridan, but that's not what it is to me. You don't really need to say anything more about their relationship to each other. Eridan thinks Cronus (and by extension, everything Cronus stands for - and everything Eridan has tried to be) is garbage, but is lonely and friendless and desperate enough that he feels pushed into accepting it anyway. It's extremely consistent with his characterization and character arc.

So uh, yeah. Join me next time for more deep dives on how this funny innocuous thing in Homestuck actually Means Something.

#homestuck #eridan ampora

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poetry-protest-pornography · 7 months

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There's been a lot of "this character is so selfish" (mostly about Ray, but I already tried about that), and like. That's the point.

They're all selfish in their own way.

They're 22, they're all financially comfortable, they're emotionally illiterate.

Cheum and Mew have cast themselves as superior to the rest of their friends, and treat them all accordingly.

Cheum sees herself as a good friend, as a caretaker, as the one with their shit together; the rest of them are useless fuck ups. She can't even not complain about April-- who is basically perfect, because April wants validation for her movies, and Cheum doesn't get them, so she's annoyed at having to watch. She's constantly talking shit about her friends.

Mew thinks his not chasing sex and relationships makes him superior to his friends. He introduced them all in unflattering ways, while holding himself above them. He doesn't really see them as people, they're characters in his life, and that means he can't see them for who they are. And all this is before his revenge fantasy kicked off and he actively manipulated and used Ray.

Ray's addiction makes him selfish. He wants to be loved so he goes where he thinks he'll get it, even if it's not good for him. When you spend so much of your time trying to numb yourself, it's hard to see anything beyond that. He's still generous with his care and his money, but he doesn't share a lot of himself with most people in his life.

Sand let his need for revenge on Top drive him to do something that he knew would hurt Ray, and used Ray's feelings against him to do it. He lied to Nick and went through his phone.

Boston can't see much beyond his dick, and where his next orgasm is coming from, and even though he isn't particularly fond of anyone in his friend group, he plays the part while purposely doing things to hurt and work against them. He uses Nick's feelings to string him along so he has someone who will provide all the trappings of a relationship without having to commit to someone.

Nick went through Boston's phone multiple times, including before they knew each other for jerk off material. He was so focused on getting Boston to be his that he recorded him and Top, and then told Sand about it, which led to that whole confrontation -- Nick knew about Sand and Ray, and about Ray knowing Boston and Mew at this point, he had to know that that wasn't staying secret. Also, I think it's possible-to-likely that Nick is at least subconsciously manipulating Boston into moving his commitment line every time Nick mentions he might start seeing other people (a friend read this theory and I'm obsessed with it, going to rewatch with this in mind. If you're op of this idea, please lmk!)

Top... Top let petty jealousy over something that Boston-- who he doesn't trust -- told him happened convince him that having sex with Boston again was fine. And then he lied about it, and he consistently used the same "I win you lose" type of language about Mew that Boston does. (I know Top feels bad now, but I don't think he really realized that he loved Mew until Mew dumped him)

They're all dicks in certain ways and circumstances. They're all selfish and self involved and messy.

That's the show, friends. None of your faves are unproblematic. They've all got something that makes them sympathetic to varying degrees, too, but this is about a group of messy bitches who are struggling to keep themselves together, and to hold onto what appear to be the only relationships any of them have without destroying each other (which means lying, or hiding, or ignoring important things).

This is literally just a group of college kids, y'all. And they're here to hurt our feelings and entertain us.

(And maybe let's especially stop calling out the addict with mental health issues for being irredeemable and bad, eh?)

#only friends the series #only friends

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teecupangel · 1 month

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Yes public answering is allowed.

Take your time, I know I am not the only one with asks.

Desmond Miles, Malik Al-Sayf, Kadar Al-Sayf, Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad, Leonardo Da Vinci and Ezio Auditore all playing Dungeons and Dragons pre canon (pre AC.) Desmond has no idea who his friends are cause he didn't pay attention to history lessons and drowned out his father after awhile of his bloodline importance speeches. Kadar is the Dungeon Master/Storyteller. Malik and Altaïr play Paladin and Cleric respectively. Ezio pretty much plays himself, charming flirt. Leonardo, plays powerful characters since he feels powerless often. His friends enjoy Desmond's company that when he goes missing they step up to find him. And Desmond's mind is blown after viewing Altaïr's memories that he figures out who the other two are.

Once again take your time.

Okay.

What if Altaïr is in a forced sabbatical?

Maybe it’s similar to what happened in 1191 where Altaïr’s actions led to the death of someone. Maybe it’s because he deliberately got between their team and the Brotherhood under William Miles.

If you want to keep Clay alive, maybe he saved Clay and that led the Templars and the Assassins into almost recognizing him so they’re all lying low.

Altaïr being not allowed to leave the house is his punishment XD

Malik is an inch away from actually strangling the man with the lan cable for his computer because a bored Altaïr is an annoying one and Kadar took a part time job because he’s that bored.

Kadar met Desmond because his part time job is a delivery man for a specific brand of alcohol that Bad Weather keeps on stock.

Kadar recognized him immediately as William miles’ runaway son and befriended him because he’s curious.

Their friendship leads to Desmond admitting he’s curious about DnD but doesn’t have friends to play with. Kadar invites him because he has online friends that he actually plays DnD with (one of those friends being Rebecca and, if you want a watch_dog reference, Wrench) so he gets the others to play DnD as well because they’re all varying degrees of noobs.

Also, this way, Altaïr would actually have something to do XD

Before Desmond gets there, Kadar makes them promise not to talk about anything Assassin related because Desmond is the first actual offline friend Kadar has made that wasn’t part of the whole ‘we sorta got reincarnated/transmigrated into the future but we’re not gonna talk about that I guess’ thing.

(I’m using http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/ for character info and I am absolutely not sure if they’re already available by 4e XD)

Unorganized Notes:

Kadar uses 4e rules but is fast and loose with them (because I wish to give them 5e but 5e was relased in 2014 TTATT). Leonardo makes the minis but Kadar makes the maps (he does check online for references). It’s his own campaign but his online DnD group helps him (he actually plays a Rogue online named ‘Altair’ without the ‘ï’ because he’s still a fanboy)

Everyone agreed Rogue is off-limits because they might all choose Rogue and also to not tip Desmond off so no one is a Rogue. Desmond screws this up by actually picking Rogue. Desmond actually goes for Assassin Rogue because he loves irony XD His backstory is that he left a cult of assassins as a child and is trying the adventurer life. Everyone just feels a bit awkward when he told them that backstory but Desmond just breezed through that so it was just for a moment XD

Malik is an Oath of Vengeance Paladin who share the same deity as Altaïr. In-game, this is because Altaïr is a Cleric on a mission to appease their god and Malik is there to keep him in check. Out of game, Malik wants to be the one to finally annoy Altaïr this time around and this backstory gives him an excuse to do it.

Altaïr is an Arcana Domain Cleric who is on a mission of redemption as ordered by his deity. The reason why he’s in a road of redemption is unclear and it’s clear that Altaïr has no respect for his deity. In-game, everyone who worship the same deity call him their god’s ‘Chosen’ and he hates it (Kadar absolutely loves to ham out the worshipping of the 'Chosen' XD). Out of everyone, he’s the player who is absolutely min-maxing his character.

Let’s be honest, we’re all expecting Ezio to be the Bard and he is. He even plays the guitar because, according to him, it’s better than a minstrel's lute, whatever that means. Absolutely a School of Swords Bard that has the highest Charisma stat among all of them. He’s the designated leader and the one who pulled everyone together into this weird group of adventurers. He may or may not be a noble who ran away from home.

Leonardo is an Artificer. While Artificers are already available as a class in 4e, their specialties were officially created for 5e but fuck it, let’s say it’s a modified Artificer class because Leonardo should be an Artillerist Artificer. If you don’t want the Artificer class because of how questionable it is possible for 4e, my alternate suggestion is Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer for pure magic destruction or Great Old One Warlock (unli Eldritch Blast). He plays Ezio’s character’s long suffering childhood best friend who joined the group because Ezio ‘begged’.

The campaign may or may not be a chosen one absolutely not wanting to do his mission as said chosen one and being dragged along by his god approved babysitter and a misfit company (the twist is Altaïr's mission is to actually find their god's child that is supposed to save the world... it's Desmond. Desmond's the god's child. The cult he's from is worshipping the same god as Altaïr but Desmond, Altaïr and Malik don't know it. Kadar thinks he's made such a good plot twist XD)

(I left their races ambiguous for you to play with. I personally would suggest making Altaïr a kenku for the lols XD)

#i’m just imaging them being as chaotic as the oxventure #damn i focused on the dnd aspect #sorry #ac characters play dnd #assassin's creed #ask and answer #teecup writes/has a plot #fic idea: assassin's creed #desmond miles #altaïr ibn la'ahad #ezio auditore #kadar al sayf #malik al sayf #leonardo da vinci

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yuri-is-online · 26 days

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A while ago you said in a post that Ace’s isolation seems to come from how he values Yuu and Deuce’s friendship more and I think you perfectly worded how I feel. I would like to hear more about it if you have more to say!

Like yeah he’s a very friendly and outgoing guy. He can easily make friends/acquaintances but there’s also a clear line between those friends and where Deuce Yuu and Grim stands.

He gets along really well with his seniors as seen by his relationships with the basketball club, Playful Land and hell I bet this new event will prove that too. But it gives me more of a vibe of a younger kid endearingly annoying his older classmates than friendship.

Among the first years, he doesn’t seem to be as close to them as Deuce is. Like Deuce and Epel have this whole bond going on because of Chapter 5, Deuce and Jack are in the same club etc. Ace is kind to his fellow first years and helps them out like in Fairy Gala If with Ortho but again there’s this divide. Everyone knows it’s Ace, Deuce, Yuu and Grim as the group.

Multiple people have mentioned how those 4 are constantly together and how it’s rare to see one without the other and I think that’s really important when you take into consideration on how Ace literally ditched his last girlfriend because they were too different in terms of taste (well there’s more to unpack with that but that’s not what I’m here to talk about). Quality time is hugely important with Ace in my opinion, he wouldn’t hang out with people he hates and seeing the amount of time he spends time with those three and how the game makes an active effort to make us pay attention to it tells us that yeah Ace definitely values his friendship with Deuce, Yuu and Grim more than the others and why Ace feels so separated from the other first years at times.

He also tends to keep people at arms length because of his inability to really express affection towards his friends so it just comes across as him being snarky and mean when that’s really not the case. This also does show with Deuce Yuu and Grim yet goes to help them whenever he gets the chance, buys gifts for them, spends time with them etc. Like bro his actions tell otherwise it’s so funny he’s like a tsundere.

I think his exterior kind of makes it hard to people to really get close to him and I think he purposely does that, so to see him have obvious bias towards a group of people is really important.

Gotta admire his loyalty, once you’ve proven yourself he’s sticking with you for the rest of his life. Sorry for rambling but uh yeah your response gave me thoughts.

I would like to thank the aceyuu community for their continued dedication to putting deeply insightful character analysis in my inbox. I love you all so very much. I also love your icon very much, Gen 5 best pokemon (˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

it gives me more of a vibe of a younger kid endearingly annoying his older classmates than friendship.

Yes very much this. Ace is the baby of his family, and there seems to be a decent age gap between him and his brother. He repeatedly talks about wanting to be like his seniors, and Jamil mentions at least once he is generally respectful towards them. His level up lines imply he wants to try challenging Riddle again, but it seems less because he disrespects him and wants to be dorm leader and more because he wants to prove he's gotten stronger.

Friend groups

So I have been thinking since the first and second time we talked about this trying to pick out who exactly Ace's friend group even is outside of Yuu and Deuce and ??? Deuce knew who Epel was before you properly met and he and Jack do seem to get along pretty well but Ace? I feel like maybe the intention might be to have him be closer to Ortho and Sebek, which sort of makes sense. They're all the youngest in their families and look up to their seniors to varying degrees but still. Ace specifically, like you said, is literally always around either Yuu or Deuce. In Idia's lab wear vignette Ace literally stays over alone with Yuu to watch horror movies and sends Grim to get the drinks alone 💀 like sir? Hello? And he implies he's done this more than once??? I like the idea of quality time being important to Ace, he says the most important thing for him in a partner is someone you have fun with and like being around so yeah. That makes sense for him.

I think back on how Ace initially interacted with Yuu and Deuce and, while at first I was a bit hesitant to say Ace keeps people at arms length, but you can literally see him doing that in the prologue. He's a brat towards people his own age, and while I imagine he has always been super popular to a degree I don't know if I can see him ever having had as deep of a friendship with anyone as he has Yuu and Deuce. I'm not sure if I would say he does it on purpose 100% of the time, but his Suitor Suit vignette does seem to imply he does it when he feels particularly embarrassed by something. He isn't just like a tsundere, he is one and honestly I was not expecting to like him as much as I do because tsundere isn't really one of my favorite tropes.

Gotta admire his loyalty, once you’ve proven yourself he’s sticking with you for the rest of his life. Sorry for rambling but uh yeah your response gave me thoughts.

Never apologize for rambling, it is the last thing I will ever take issue with and that goes for anyone in my inbox.

I hard agree. Ace's loyalty to Deuce, Yuu, and Grim should scare anyone trying to mess with them. I am waiting with baited breath for Grim overblot he is just going to pop off I JUST KNOW IT PLEASE YANA PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE

#<3 asks #twisted wonderland #aceyuu #ace trappola #i was deeply surprised to see you in my askbox after watching you go sicko modes in my notes #it made me very happy i am so glad i was able to give you some thoughts #i shall have to think of some happy aceyuu content to reward us all

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kanonavi · 3 months

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hello tumblr user kanonavi who is 1/3rd of the reason i started rereading tgcf. i have come to collect my personal apology for the emotional damages inflicted upon me for the past 5 days. and i have also come with THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS (mostly feelings)

- icb i put off this reread so long hualian are so romance. theyre jsut Romance......... absolutely floored by every throwaway bit of dialogue they had....... in shambles forever....,

- sqx arc was not as painful as the first few times i read it bc i now stand with my cancelled wife (he xuan) I STILL LOVE SQX AND THEY DESERVE EVERYTHING GOOD. BUT HX WAS REAL FOR ALL OF THAT. i love revenge

- i wanna know your thoughts on ling wen bc u mentioned having mixed feelings on her but i loved her so bad all the way to the end so im curious ljdkdjf

- i am not immune to backstory arc pt2. read it last last (?) night at like 3am and cried myself to sleep its just so gutting every timeeeeeee.... the hc plot that builds in that arc is ofc one of my favorites in the entire novel though :')

- the chapter w the cave of statues took me like 2+ hours to get through because i was feeling so insane abt it

i feel bad dropping this block of text in ur askbox sorry. will leave it there for now LOL

Omg hiiiii tumblr user stardust-make-a-wish welcome back from the yaoi cocaine pit :3 I know you're here to collect emotional damages, but I must make it known that I'm not even remotely sorry <3

Also you should feel bad for yourself instead of for me because I can only respond to huge blocks of text with even bigger blocks of text, so (TGCF Spoilers Ahead) and also I am so sorry lmaooooo

UGH you're so right that hualian is the most romance forever they are just so *clenches fists and sobs*....... They're always there for each other and they're so in love and they've been through so much and I just want them to be able to rest because it's what they deserve.

I will never once say that Hu Xuan wasn't justified in everything he did cuz like. Shi Wudu had it coming what a piece of shit. But at the same time Qingxuan is my wife and I will not tolerate my wife being harmed. So like revenge slay yes but also I am still cancelling He Xuan and spraying him with the water bottle (even though he is already very very damp).

Yesyesyes Ling Wen. So my thought about Ling Wen is that she kinda girlbossed a little too close to the sun, but at the same time you look at her circumstances both past and present and have to understand why she did all of that. It already would have been hard enough for her to gain any kind of recognition as a woman, much less in the Heavenly Court, so her ruthlessness is completely understandable. But at the same time, I don't really think the Brocade Immortal deserved what she did to him nor was taking Bai Wuxiang's side in the final conflict a real cool thing of her to do. I can't fully be a hater though because her own thoughts about everything are clearly so nuanced (See: The final convo she had with Xie Lian about the Brocade Immortal, which I am still thinking so incredibly hard about to this day).

I think that Ling Wen is interesting in the same way that I find other characters like Mu Qing, He Xuan, and Yin Yu interesting. It's in the sense that even if I don't really agree with all of the actions that they took, it's very easy to look at them and come to an understanding of why they did what they did. And I have varying degrees of like for all of the characters I just listed, but that doesn't change the fact that they're all Compelling. So it's almost like a begrudging respect that I feel for Ling Wen, if I were to boil it down into simple terms.

aaaaaaaaaa The Horrors(tm) :sob: Even though I could talk about Xie Lian's arc through that part of his backstory for a million years, you're so right that Hua Cheng's arc through it is also so interesting to watch. It really goes to prove that Hua Cheng is different from everyone else in Xie Lian's life up until this point, because yes there's the very obvious throughline of Hua Cheng wanting to protect Xie Lian (rather than expecting his protection), but even more importantly that feeling never changes even when Xie Lian has his mini corruption arc.

Like, Hua Cheng fell in love with the pure and virtuous Crown Prince of Xianle but not for that quality. Instead of being ashamed and looking at Xie Lian with scorn when he was like "What if I kill everyone actually" Hua Cheng is like "Then let me be your sword". There's the element of not wanting Xie Lian to dirty himself that Hua Cheng carries for the entire story but the point is in that he is not a voice who would tell Xie Lian to stop having those thoughts if it's truly what he wants (Unlike what his parents or Feng Xin and Mu Qing would probably say).

I'm going to write an essay about their character dynamic one day istg I am chewing through the drywall

The cave statues chapter......... *passes away*. Like on one hand that chapter is so funny because yes Hua Cheng is just an absolute certified freak (POV my roommate telling me earlier on in my reading that HC is a porn addict and me being like "pssht noooo" but then getting to this chapter several months later and being like "O h.") but on the other hand THE CONFESSION??????? Like. All I can do is gesture wildly at the storyboard animatic that someone made of that scene on YouTube while absolutely fucking sobbing. There is a reason why the cover of volume 6 felt somehow more intimate than the cover of volume 4 where they're literally making out.

Anyway I'm patting Hua Cheng on the head like It's okay buddy Xie Lian loves you because you're a certified freak, he's seen too much of this world to be weirded out even a little bit. Which is why those two are perfect for each other <3

I'm glad you had so much fun on your reread, have fun with the brainworms :3

#navi answers #stardust-make-a-wish #Once again I am so sorry for my ability to Talk lmao

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whoops-im-obsessed · 1 year

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Moments I loved in Newsies London

UKsies is a fansie's dream, every member of the cast is so in character even after the show ends and it leads to brilliant moments and interactions such as these:

*spoilers under the cut*

During 'Santa Fe (prologue)' there is fully a newsie undressing on the side of the stage, if you're sitting in the Bronx you'll get a lovely view

Zipline

Specs breaks up a fight between Race and Albert before 'Carrying the Banner' even starts

Crutchie has his own slingshot and shoots various members of the cast with varying degrees of accuracy

*steals apples from fruit cart, celebrates, gives one to a newsie sat alone*

Splasher jumps a skipping rope, he then proceeds to do a back flip in said skipping rope. You'll be hearing more about Splasher (Ross Dorrington) he is Something Else

Race actually smokes his cigar and blows the smoke in Morris' face

Splasher gets yeeted, cheerleader style

Oscar deliberately takes the paper from Davey's stack

Les makes sure to show his sad face to each side of the audience

Newsie fully asleep on the stairs on the side of the stage during 'The Bottom Line'

'Football? VIOLENT'

Davey tries to sell his last paper to the audience 'paper for you? Nope? Okay then :(

Les blows a bowery beauty a kiss and she gives him a feather, adorable

Couple of newsies watch Medda's show ('she's talking to me!' 'Nah, she's talking to me')

One of the newsies (?Race) nods his head along to all the knocks in 'Don't Come a-Knocking'

Bowery beauty kick line punctuated with 'woo!'s

Flirting 101 with Jack: 'the new york sun? I work for the world :D' *swings his legs and shows off his newsie bag proudly*

There is so much hugging in this show, this cast is so affectionate, its adorable

'AiNt wE tHe HoI PoLlOi'

'We got a ton of rotten fruit and perfect aim' *slingshots newspapers everywhere*

References to bway seize the day choreo in world will know

'Who wants Brooklyn?' (?race or tommy boy, couldn't see) *puts cap over face and plays dead*

Jack stays to talk to Katherine instead of going with the boys, Crutchie tries to get his attention - 'Jack come on! Oh for God's sake' and walks off. From where I was sat it sounded like ffs

The newsie wheeling Katherine's chair on stage for 'Watch What Happens' rides on it and goes 'woo!', she thanks them

side note: Matthew Duckett's Crutchie uses his crutch on the (technically) correct side, i.e. opposite side to injury, random but we love to see some medical accuracy in our shows lol

Crutchie initiates fighting the scabs and looks disappointed when he's stopped

Splasher doing no less than 10 box jumps in a row, possibly more

Splasher gets yeeted pt2

Les ascending

Crutchie using his crutch as a jousting pole

'They're slaughtering us!' *Splasher gets yeeted pt3*

Act 2

Cup clinkage

Driving the tables like cars around in kony - 'Zyoom!!!"

Ascension

Katherine's fork crown, apple orb and paper scepter

Crutchie breaking the forth wall and grinning conspiratorially at the audience in 'Letter from the Refuge'

Specs coming to get the letter from Crutchie and a refuge newsie helping him offstage

Jack putting les on his shoulders in 'Watch What Happens (reprise)'

Jack dusting himself off a seat in Pulitzer's office

The general reaction to Brooklyn

Jack hurriedly taking down his drawings when Katherine's there and hesitating before taking down a pic of (who I assume to be) Crutchie

'These kids put out a pretty good papeeerrrr' *runs away from pulitzer*

Roosevelt handshake fangirling

Spot intimidating Pulitzer

Crutchie wearing a police hat when he comes back in ('aint been the same without ya man!')

Crutchie holding his character and wincing to himself after getting his papers in the finale

'You already work for my father' - cue Crutchie breaking the 4th wall again to look directly at me and call Jack a numbnuts

Race greeting Wiesel with 'hey beautiful'

Spot to other newsies 'im not scary!' *hugs*

*standing ovation*

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egg-emperor · 7 months

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WHAT DID I FUCKING SAY Y'ALL????

youtube

Eggman isn't the overly physically affectionate gushing and throwing arms around people type, it doesn't suit his demeanor and behavior and I'm glad to see that hasn't been suddenly forced with Sage. And that's even aside the way she's still actually not a physical being in the way she's a digital program so he'd surely just phase through her anyway since I'm pretty sure there isn't a solid physical sense of touch actually going on here between them, but again that's besides the point anyway-

This isn't over the top and uncomfortable OOC like in fanon. I like how it's a subtle and small gesture, with him extending his arm with hand out to her but looking away and forward. He's quiet, solemn, and reserved. His demeanor and body language is very important. He takes a breath that seems like a "sigh well, here goes" kind of way then mumbles it, not much, just small words of praise towards her doing the very things he created and praised her for before- doing what he wants her to and serving her purpose as his protector like she protected him in the fight, and calling her his daughter also has the same effect in encouraging her and he knows it, as well as how it's appealing to him for his pride as he said in the memo.

Also wow his bear paws are so fucking big do you see what I'm saying god damn lol I wanna hold them so bad too ahhgufdbkgshj 🥰 Speaking of, this is literally exactly how I imagine such gestures with him in my self sh!pp!ng too and I think anything different would be OOC, this is the way that works in any form I think

It's very important to acknowledge that he's not shy at all, that's the last word to describe him. He has the highest self esteem, self love, and confidence and it's all genuine. It's just that hyper affectionate super warm and mushy gushy-ness, be it through feelings, words, or actions isn't his thing. The most he's ever going to hype someone up close to it is in a performative manipulative way to urge them to continue doing what pleases him, and he forces it in some cases more than others, you get varying degrees.

But I like how it's on the more subtle side here a lot because it's even more telling of his true character. When he's acting like this it aligns with that reasoning again but with a new look at his style of showing it in a physical subtle manner, with his behavior being similar to the scene where she saved him in Cyber Space and said he was proud of her for it- only it was only through words then. We've now seen how he can show this verbally and physically and I like it a lot, it's the only way this can work and they did it. This is the best outcome.

Let me elaborate further; I truly believe that he doesn't know how to feel the typical conventional idea of "love" for anyone but himself because he is the biggest egotist and narcissist in all of existence and is extremely selfish and y'all seem to be forgetting what that entails for his behavior and personality feelings, and mindset with his self absorption and low empathy. There are no sudden exceptions to this, Sage is literally just another perfect example of it, nothing has changed with him.

The only way he can value anyone that isn't himself is in what they can do for him, what's in it for him is always his mindset, so it's the same thing of self praising, self serving, and self-centered, just being served through another person appealing to that through serving him, agreeing with his outlook, and having a willingness to serve and good use to him. And guess what? That's still the exact reasoning behind it with Sage. This is known and true in the prequel comic, memos, and Flynn's words and hasn't changed.

And why wouldn't he be pleased with her for this and praise her for it when it goes along the exact lines of that?

It's in character because Sage is the one giving some thing to him, protecting him, serving him, and showing loyalty, support, and respect for his desires. She does exactly what he wants as she's created for and is genuinely willing and enthusiastic about it unlike a lot of other creations of his. Eggman still hasn't done shit for Sage except praise her when she does what he wants but then becomes grumpy and snaps at her every time she does something he doesn't.

In fact he does it again in this scene too where he's seemingly really jealous and pissed when he notices her looking at Super Sonic with admiration lol

It's selfish on Eggman's side and selfless on Sage's side, so it works.

That's why I still wouldn't put the word "love" to Eggman's side of the dynamic because I feel it has connotations that don't accurately define his feelings. Though you could at least say he "loves" and "cares" for her "in his… own way" as Sonic put it, because there's actually selfish and unsettling reasons behind it as Flynn himself put it too. But it's not hyper affectionate, unconditional, or genuinely selfless like people are acting like it is. And it's so much more interesting that way and fun to analyze.

Eggman commending Sage for her work and for serving her purpose makes sense and is in character. It's nothing different to the reasons I said the standard base game ending was. The only difference is a hand hold presented in the best way. He finally has a creation genuinely enthusiastic and willing to serve him and being her creator and father gives him a lot of pride for being the one to create her and make her that way and his success and pride in doing so with the ways she benefits him and values his selfish desires are what his value is factually rooted in in the game.

So overall yeah, I really like how Eggman and Sage and their dynamic were handled in this update. They'll probably be a lot more in depth thoughts to come because I'm short on time right now, this is a mini essay in itself but l have tons more like always lol. But for now, since nobody seems to understand my take on their dynamic despite me just relaying what the game itself showed and repeating what Ian Flynn says, let me just remind you of my actual summarized take on how I see it is and how I cleared up misconceptions people have about my take on it here.

And everything we saw in this update aligns with and doesn't contradict any of what I've perceived and analyzed and discussed throughout my Sonic Frontiers tag on my blog! Very pleased. 👏

#dr eggman #eggman #dr robotnik #dr. eggman #sonic frontiers #sonic frontiers the final horizon #sonic frontiers the final horizon spoilers #sonic frontiers spoilers #eggdad #sage the ai #sage robotnik #eggfam #sage sonic #analysis #my post

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blackfeatherdragon · 2 months

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I'll Become Your Sword and the Shield to Protect You!: An Aztecshipping Manifesto

Happy III day! I wrote up an entire meta post explaining Aztecshipping and why it's good!

(Also available on Ao3 here)

The Basics

Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal is one of multiple spinoffs of the Yu-Gi-Oh anime series, produced by Studio Gallop from April 2011 to March 2014. The main character, one Yuma Tsukumo, is a thirteen year old boy who breaks from series tradition by starting the series with very, very little knowledge of how to play the central card game (Yugi, Yami Yugi, Judai, and Yusei all knew how at the start of their respective series), but ends up going through massive character growth to become able to more than hold his own through his interactions with the main cast and his teamwork with the amnesiac alien Astral. Basically, Yuma is a very determined guy who refuses to ever give up or admit defeat, pushes on with his special catchphrase 'kattobingu', but at the same time still misses his missing adventurer parents dearly, to the point of choosing to sleep on a hammock in the attic where the artifacts collected through their adventures are stored. His relationship with his older sister Akari is a bit rocky due to her barring Yuma from playing Duel Monsters at the start of the series, but it's clear they (and their grandmother/guardian Haru) do care about each other.

Once you get past the shock of the Zexal protagonist being a highly energetic but unskilled Duelist of a thirteen year old (especially if you choose to start Zexal right after finishing the previous spinoff Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds), he's actually a really fun protagonist to root for. You want Yuma to succeed and help Astral collect the Number cards needed to unlock Astral's missing memories. You want Yuma to find a way to save everyone in the final stretch, even characters like Vector, who tricked Yuma multiple times.

(That's a great protag right there.)

On the topic of shipping, there are many different pairings involving Yuma in some way. The two most popular by far are Sharkbaitshipping (Yuma/Ryoga 'Shark' Kamishiro) and Keyshipping (Yuma/Astral), with Sharkbaitshipping holding 274 fics on Ao3 and Keyshipping holding 239 fics at the time of writing this. Other ships command varying degrees of popularity too, including Skyshipping (Yuma/Kotori, 45 fics), Seraphshipping (Yuma/Alit, 35 fics), Negativeshipping (Yuma/Vector, 169 fics), and Dokidokishipping (Yuma/Kaito, 144 fics). But there is one that is, in my mind, criminally rare: Aztecshipping, or Yuma/Michael 'III' Arclight. At the time this was written in March 2024, Aztecshipping had a mere 29 fics posted to Ao3. (30 fics if you include this!)

You explained who Yuma is, who is III?

I mean, if you're here you probably know who III is, buuut he's my special little blorbo and I'm posting this for III Day so I get to talk about him.

III (birth name: Michael Arclight) is the fifteen year old youngest son of the Arclight family, a group of four people who acted as one of the antagonist groups of the first half of the series. (The other three members being his older brothers IV and V, and his father Tron.) III is the nicest of the family and is seen to defuse arguments between his brothers, but at the same time has his own problems stemming from his broken family situation.

III is shown to be intensely and unwaveringly loyal to his family, displaying a willingness to both kill for the sake of those he cares about and die for their sake. In fact, during his Duel against Yuma, he deliberately goes out of his way to mentally break Yuma and kill Astral out of jealousy towards Yuma's healthier family and desperation to protect his own, only backing down from his desperate rage when a card he played (Final Prophecy) tried to punch a hole in reality to open a portal to the Barian World.

Tying into this, III puts up little resistance to his father's scheme to get revenge against Dr. Faker, often going along with all but the worst of his family's actions. He delivers a dangerous Number card to Shark at Tron's request, knowing that the card would try to control Shark, but later expresses discomfort when Tron performs a ritual to steal Haruto's power, due to the ritual causing pain to Haruto.

(Remember III's loyalty, it's a surprise tool that will help us later.)

Finally, III has a strong interest in ancient civilizations (with a dash of Ancient Aliens style conspiracies about out of place artifacts coming from other dimensions mixed in), much like how his father was once invested in researching interdimensional portals. This is also a surprise tool that will help us later.

The Ship Summary

To explain Aztecshipping, we have to go back to Yuma and III's fathers: Kazuma Tsukumo and Byron Arclight.

Byron was working with Dr. Faker and the explorer Kazuma on interdimensional portal research, and the three eventually went on a trip to uncover one of these portals. Unfortunately, Dr. Faker ended up betraying both Kazuma and Byron, sacrificing them to open the portal.

While Kazuma ended up trapped in the Astral World after this, Byron ended up stuck in the Barian World, and ultimately struck a deal with the Barians where he was granted power to get revenge against Dr. Faker in exchange for gathering Number cards for the Barians, and eventually returned to Earth as Tron.

As for their families that were left behind on Earth, the Tsukumos were able to stay relatively healthy, with Haru taking over as guardian to Yuma and Akari in the absence of Kazuma and his wife, the severely plot neglected Mirai. Yuma still missed his parents dearly, but his family remained functional.

The Arclights were not so lucky.

With no parents in the picture and oldest son Christopher too young to act as a guardian to his brothers/busy investigating what happened to his father while working for Dr. Faker as an assistant, both Michael and his second brother Thomas were left to an orphanage, only returning to their family when Tron came back and Christopher realized the truth. Tron reduced his sons to mere pawns in his revenge scheme, forcibly renaming Christopher, Thomas, and Michael as V, IV, and III respectively and granting them special crests to give them power, and subsequently allowed his family to fall to dysfunction as he obsessed over revenge.

In this way, Yuma and III are mirrors of each other, both losing their fathers in the same incident but reacting in opposite ways. Yuma is connected to the Astral World from the start with his friendship with Astral and his father's fate, while III is connected with the opposing Barian World due to Tron's deal and the fallout of it.

To that end, Yuma and III initially opposed each other, their first significant interaction being a Tag Duel where Yuma (working with Kaito) Dueled III (working with IV) in a bid to rescue Kaito's younger brother Haruto after his kidnapping at the hands of the Arclights. However, it really wasn't long before III became curious about Yuma and his determination, going out of his way to break into the Tsukumo household to investigate (and was subsequently distracted by the artifacts in the attic/started infodumping about them to Yuma. Nerd.)

(This is actually likely where the ship name Aztecshipping comes from, between Yuma's idolization of his absent father and III's love for ancient civilizations/his favourite card being Chronomaly Aztec Mask Golem.)

Desperate to protect his family from being potentially opposed by Yuma and jealous of the actually functional Tsukumos after meeting them, III challenged Yuma to a Duel, in which he tormented Yuma and killed Astral, before attempting to sacrifice himself in a forced tie just to stop Yuma. The turning point came when one of III's cards, Final Prophecy, started trying to forcibly open a portal to the Barian World at the cost of ending the world, forcing III to share his crest power with Yuma to try to revive Astral and stop Final Prophecy's effect.

The plan was a long shot; there was no guarantee that Yuma would be able to take that amount of power. Yuma withstood it though, and with Astral back, managed to work together to defeat III and stop Final Prophecy. This was the true turning point of their relationship, as III recognized Yuma as his first and only friend and trusted him to be able to save his broken family.

Remember III's intense loyalty? Good, we're coming back to that now.

After this, III vanished from the plot for a while, eventually returning to protect Yuma from being menaced by the Barians Mr. Heartland and Semimaru by way of throwing a sword at Mr. Heartland and outright declaring that he would act as Yuma's 'sword and shield' before teaming up with Yuma to Duel Semimaru. In turn, Yuma trusted III to have his Number cards back, after III willingly gave them up to Yuma after their Duel some time earlier.

It seems that by now III's undying loyalty fully extended to Yuma, as he went out of his way to redirect an attack that would have hit Yuma and his monster to strike him instead, once again showcasing his willingness to sacrifice himself for those he cares about. After the Duel, which ended with III and Yuma working together to combine Yuma's 'Number 39: Utopia' and III's 'Number 6: Chronomaly Atlandis' to beat Semimaru, Yuma let III have the new Number card won off Semimaru: 'Number 3: Cicada King'.

III continued to stay with and protect Yuma after this, temporarily living in the Tsukumo household and sticking alongside Yuma at all times to fulfil this. To that end, III calls to mind a knight, someone willing to fight and die for the one he protects without thought for himself. III is also seen to become concerned for Yuma's mental state due to Astral seemingly dying at the hands of Black Mist several episodes prior, and after Yuma returns from a trip to the Astral World to find and bring back Astral, is relieved to see him again.

III sacrificing for Yuma came to a head when he and V went out of their way to stall several Barians to protect Yuma, Astral, and Kaito during the big Barian invasion. III knew going in that he would die doing this, but he didn't care, willingly sacrificing himself to save Yuma one more time.

Initially, III claimed to Yuma that he and V were going to confront the Barians to get revenge for IV's death earlier, saying that he'd grown sick of Yuma's optimism, but this was a lie meant to stop Yuma from following him. When it became clear that the brothers were fighting a losing match against the Barian Mizael, V opened a video link to Yuma to deliver a final message. III took the opportunity to apologize for lying, saying that Yuma was a true friend and say goodbye, before declaring that he'd be with Yuma in spirit as Mizael launched his final attack, killing both III and V.

This sacrifice caused Yuma to break down sobbing at being unable to stop it from happening due to traveling to track down the Barian leader Don Thousand.

Luckily, after the defeat of the Barians, everyone who died in the final invasion came back to life, III included. The final episode reveals that III enrolled in Yuma's middle school, somehow ending up in the same year as Yuma despite being two years older than him. III's literal final scene in the series has him declaring that he'll fight alongside Yuma anywhere, which again. Knight motifs.

Ship Dynamics

Yuma and III start off as enemies, facing off against each other as their goals and family situations clashed. However, it really isn't long before III starts viewing Yuma as a friend due to Yuma's unending determination and aid in preventing the end of the world via Final Prophecy, eventually even extending the loyalty once reserved for family out to Yuma. Once this shift happens, the dynamic changes to that of a knight protecting his charge with the power of his sword and his own life on the line, willing to die to see that charge safe.

In turn, Yuma seems rather okay with III protecting him despite their notable rough start. He allows III to live in his house for a time and even gives III's Number cards back and temporarily shares his school uniform with him just so that III isn't wearing the same clothes the whole time (this is before III joins Yuma's school, by the way). He's distraught when III (and V) sacrifices himself to hold off the Barians, breaking down in tears after watching the final blow.

It's not all III protecting and sacrificing for Yuma, either. They work together very well when Dueling Semimaru, coming up with a plan to join their monsters together via Chronomaly Atlandis's effect to stop Semimaru. Yuma also promises to help save III's family where III could not, seemingly genuinely forgiving III for his actions during their Duel against each other.

They also have a connection via their interests; Yuma idolizes his missing explorer father and has a number of ancient artifacts in his house, while III has a strong interest in ancient civilizations. It's not hard to imagine them working together on explorations and archaeology digs as they get older, helping and protecting each other as needed.

Tldr: Aztecshipping is a very cute ship with protector/protectee themes and two young nerds. They should be together.

References

-Yugipedia (Crossreferencing canon events and characters) -zexual-shippings (Various ship names) -Ao3 (Fic counts for various ships)

Specific episodes:

-Episodes 41-43: III and IV vs Yuma and Kaito. III starts to become curious about Yuma and his determination at the end of episode 43. -Episodes 46-49: III vs Yuma. III spends most of the Duel proper (47 to 49) tormenting Yuma and Astral, only coming out of his desperation and rage when he realizes what Final Prophecy is doing. III and Yuma work together to stop the effect of Final Prophecy in episode 49, followed by III admitting that Yuma is his first friend and asking him to save his family/giving up his Number cards to Yuma. Episode 46 also contains III nerding out over the artifacts in Yuma's attic. -Episodes 112-113: III and Yuma vs Semimaru. 112 has III throw a sword at Mr. Heartland to defend Yuma and state that he'll be Yuma's 'sword and shield'. Yuma also trusts III to have his Number cards back in 112, followed by trusting III to have the new Number card 'Number 3: Cicada King' in 113. -Episodes 114-116: III continues to stay with Yuma to protect and help him in Astral's absence, including staying over at Yuma's house and borrowing a school uniform from Yuma. III also becomes concerned for Yuma's mental state in the wake of Astral seemingly dying again. -Episodes 126-128: III and V vs Mizael. III claims he's sick of Yuma's optimism to stop Yuma from following him to the Duel, knowing that Yuma needed to go on while he and V stalled for time. III gets the chance to apologize for lying and say goodbye/that he'll be with Yuma in spirit right before dying to Mizael. -Episode 146: III is shown to have enrolled in Yuma's school and is in the same year as him despite being two years older. III later states that he'll fight alongside Yuma anywhere towards the end of the episode.

#yugioh #ygo #yugioh zexal #aztecshipping #michael arclight #iii arclight #yuma tsukumo #ship manifesto #meta #happy iii day everyone have my ship thoughts-

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axe8472 · 11 months

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I have thoughts in my brain about six of crows and they may or may not make sense. So. The thing is when people talk about how the crows couldn't possibly be 16-18 because they're overly mature and competent and have life experience etc etc. i get that BUT is that not the whole point? I mean the books really hammer it home that notions of childhood in their world are entirely different from ours, like to the point where i would even say it's a main theme and kinda the driving force behind all the events in the duology.

Kids are taken away from their parent at like 11 to train as soldiers. Kaz was all alone in Ketterdam at 9 years old and there doesn't seem to have been any functioning system of care for kids like him, nor mandatory schooling. In Fjerda, it seems like the closest thing to foster care is being taken on by the Druskelle. Inej started training as an acrobat pretty much as soon as she could walk and was playing starring roles in performances by the time she was 14 (and probably a fair bit younger). I don't remember Jesper's backstory perfectly but I think he was put to work in the jurda fields (a hazardous agricultural job) as a small child, then worked with guns in some way, then got sent to school in a different country when he was like 15. This isn't exclusive to the crows - it's mentioned a lot that there are many kids in situations similar to Kaz and Inej in the Barrel. Even Joost, despite seemingly being quite sheltered, is working full time night shifts as a guard when he's not even old enough to grow facial hair.

It seems that there's just much more of a vocational focus for kids/teenagers in the grishaverse. This makes a lot of sense because many elements of culture across the grishaverse countries come from the ~1800s when the attitude towards kids was that they weren't all that different from small, inexperienced adults, especially in working-class and rural settings where you just had to get on with things. Kerch especially took inspiration from victorian England, where kids as young as 9 could legally work up to 60 hours a week in dangerous conditions. So yeah that's kind of the whole point imo. It's especially interesting because I read the soc duology as a (potentially semi-unintentional?) criticism of capitalism. This is highlighted by the fact that Wylan, the only one of the crows from a rich background, is also the only one who had a childhood and got an education even vaguely comparable to what we would consider normal. So clearly the whole childhood innocence vs being put to work at like 4 thing is closely tied to class. (obviously Wylan did not have A Good Childhood but it seems from the books that the standard for merchers' kids is to give them a really good and varied education with 1-to-1 tutoring etc, which is very different from what all the other characters seem to have had as kids.)

And okay yeah they're unrealistically skillful and competent and just generally smart, but that would be the case even if they were adults. Like you kinda have to just take liberties with your characters of they'll never manage to do anything, especially in a world that's so hostile toward them. And it's actually kinda hard to even say how unrealistic their capabilities are because their experiences are so different from the experiences of real-life modern teenagers. Like kids are crazy adaptable and good at learning things, especially when they've had no other choice, and the crows actually mostly have quite a lot of experience and had time to develop their respective skills because they haven't spent 8+ hours a day in school for most of their lives. The same goes for the degree of adult-ness in their general behaviour - they're really quick thinkers and less likely to panic in a crisis than any teenager I've ever met. Again I'd say that's the whole point. The charaters are acting older than they have any right to because the experiences they've had have forced them to develop the capacity to do so.

Idk maybe i just read it differently to some people but yeah i think that cross-cultrually throughout the grishaverse children just have very very different experiences to kids in real life. It makes sense that they would then grow up to be very different from real-life teenagers, and obviously the crows are an extreme example of that but there is like. clear historical inspiration behind a lot of the crows' backstories and the general cultural backdrop of the duology. And the whole thing with the books is yeah they're doing all of this stuff and they're capable of these amazing things but actually they are literally children and they are doing all of it mostly for the sake of survival and taking back the things that they deserve from the world. And everything they've done for years and the people that they've become has all been for the sake of survival. And they're kids.

#my posts #soc #six of crows #i hope this makes sense i did not proofread it and i took like a total of one english class in school rip #there's also something to be said here for survivor bias like the book is written about this group of kids who've survived in a very #hostile world #partially because of certain capacities or gifts they already had and partially because they are unusually smart and adaptable #if they weren't then they wouldn't have lived to that age anyway yk?#okay ill stop now #also i know this piece of writing is not up to academic quality its because im using it to procrastinate on my academic work #dont go to school kids its not worth it #the fact that i wrote these 800+ words in less than an hour and im still gonna have to write twice as fast in my 4.5 hour exam next week #okay ill stop now im done

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tacky-optic · 7 months

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I've been cooking, folks. Grilling. Simmering. Boiling. Various other synonyms. About *JigZeni* of all things. My fixation ship just HAD to be a rarepair, didn't it?? I tried to condense pretty much all of my thoughts into one post and I might have gotten a *bit* carried away, oops. It's probably not THAT long, but still. I regret nothing.

- I imagine (in a general sense, headcanons aside, characters as base as can be) that if Lupin were to never make a move and continue with the coy "will we won't we" shit with Jigen and Zenigata, that they would get fed up to a point where they might attempt to seek solace with each other on a somewhat frequent basis.

It'd probably happen on accident at first; a chance meetup at a bar, the gang gets split up, Zeni has Jig cuffed in the back of a squad car just-another-day-of-the-week style, and one gets to talking while the other decides to humor for once. And I doubt either would be against chatting again after, and lord knows these two like their seedy bar trips, so why not let fate decide when?

- This can be to varying degrees of intimacy!! I love how all of the ships let you do that in some capacity, but JigZeni feels like one of the more flexible ones.

Whether it be as simple as complaining over drinks for a few hours or taking things a step further and heading back to some motel to "get it out of their systems" in "other" ways, ahem ahem.

Either way, they find that they enjoy the other's company and, to their abject horror, whatever weird friendship thing they've developed ends up turning into something genuine and (even worse) autonomous from Lupin.

Because what are they without him? What would they become?? They sure as hell don't know!! But hey, at least there's one other human being on this planet who GETS it.

- And I say that with relative confidence because I see Jigen and Zenigata being on the more (since a better word escapes me) *monogamous* side?? Like they put a lot of weight into a few singular relationships.

They have acquaintances, yes, but how many can they truly call a friend? How many can they trust, *beyond question*, to have their backs, to keep their secrets, to protect their lives, even?? Because trust is a big thing for these two!! Losing someone close hits them way harder than most, to a point where it's actively harmful and discourages them from pursuing anything concrete (also doesn't help that their luck with partners is absolute *shite* and things rarely ever end on a decent/ non-tragic note).

Jigen got SO lucky with Lupin. They ooze trust for each other, and the same goes for Goemon, too. And for a guy like Jigen, having not one but TWO whole-ass people he can depend on is absolutely WILD to him. They're all he needs, really. Zenigata still hasn't found something that concrete yet (on HIS side of the law, at least), and given the nature of the series and his role within it, there's an incredibly low likelihood he ever will.

But at least Jigen knows that pain. He's been there! He can relate! He can console! And Zenigata KNOWS it's legit because he's read, like, *so* many files about this guy. He's Lupin's not-that-much-better half ffs. Zenigata knows Jigen's Been Through It and the fact that Jigen even TRIES to relate despite his rough-ass persona really gets through to him in a way that no one else can.

- All of that baggage would bleed into why they're hesitant to blatantly pursue Lupin. Even though they know that Lupin CAN and WILL reciprocate (enthusiastically, even), Jigen and Zenigata, deep down, also know that he'd never be able to give "all of himself" to them like they are willing to for him.

Jigen is dissatisfied (probably even jealous) of Lupin and Fujiko's goings-on even though he knows it's a *consensual* sort of give-and-take, and you CANNOT tell me that Zenigata isn't the slightest bit jealous of Lupin's tight-knit camaraderie with his crew. "I could treat you so much better", "I wish I could have that attention all to myself" sorta vibes. Don't even get me STARTED on how the excluded party would feel about JigLup/ LuZeni, yeesh.

- Lupin loves them profoundly, no doubts there, but Lupin also loves *everyone*. Which basically turns into if they can't have all of *him*, then at least they can have all of *each other*, y'know??

Even if their friendship (or something more) lasting is impossible, at least they can pretend for a little while.

At least SOMEONE gets it, and that someone also happens to look pretty damn handsome in a fedora, too.

Plus Zenigata is Jigen's type. End of discussion.

now that you're down here in the trenches with me we can hold hands and enjoy overanalyzing hat trick together <3 <3

I DO wanna hear other people's thoughts, though! I can't help but think I'm missing SOMETHING despite writing them for so long (and there's only a handful of people out there who know I have been *writing them*, hooh boy). Hopefully I'll be able to get some of that stuff out there one of these days, but MAN am I a slow writer. Fingers crossed.

#ofc all of this would be instantly resolved if they agreed to the occasional fivesome like. once a month lmao. polygang is the easy answer #i rarely (if ever) do text/headcanon posts so lets see how this goes #anyway i am STARVED for these two interacting please give me food #lupin iii #koichi zenigata #daisuke jigen #jigzeni #*gazes longingly at tag* i'll feed you more content someday....

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shockersalvage · 8 months

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Salvage Showcase - Mukuro Ikusaba....'s Cult

Back to Killer Killer, home of Danganronpa's most wasted potential in terms of characters, settings and concepts.

Last time we spoke of Ted Chikatilo and how the writers didn't want him to be anything beyond an Ultimate mad bomber. So this time we have the penultimate villains of Killer Killer: the Cult of Mukuro Ikusaba!

Summary

Like with many villains and characters from Killer Killer, the cult's background prior to the events of the manga is unknown. What is known is that they are women who are very devoted to one of the Despair Sisters - Mukuro Ikusaba. It's to the point that they all dressed in exact copies of her old school uniform and modify themselves to look like her physically (by some method anyway).

The cult first appeared following a report that the deceased Mukuro Ikusaba broke out and was attacking the 8th Branch. When Takumi, Misaki and Shuji arrive they found Ruruka's security detail slaughtered and confront Mukuro. But she isn't alone, she is with an entire horde of lookalikes that attack them. But, despite their efforts, none of the Mukuro's are a match for Takumi and they begin to suffer heavy losses. Takumi is pretty angry since he considers them a bunch of cheap knockoffs that couldn't hope to compare to the real Mukuro. He gives them a 0/100 for their murders (putting on the same level as Kenji Tsuruhashi).

It's during this fight that Misaki is really grappling with the idea of Takumi being Killer Killer, not wanting him to kill them. She even goes out of her way to knock a few out with muscle relaxant ammo so that they could be taken in without need for killing...only for Takumi to save her from the last batch by slicing them in half. Confirming that he is Killer Killer once and for all in her mind....

And then a second later she gets stabbed by Shuji. Turns out he hired the cult as a form of shock therapy for Takumi, to get him to stop being Killer Killer, but that failed. He was going to kill Misaki, but several of the Future Foundation Directors and Ikue Dogami arrive on the scene. Shuji escapes by detonating a bomb inside the pocket of a Mukuro and using the explosion to run away. If the cult wasn't completely killed by Takumi, the survivors that were knocked out would have been arrested. No matter what, they are out of commission for the rest of the story.

The cult is pretty straightforward and all hold pretty much the same demeanor. They are a bunch of women that worship Mukuro Ikusaba and imitate her down to the T. They seem to act as mercenaries given Shuji was able to get their aid in his plot, and hold immense skill given just one is able to slaughter numerous security guards without effort. However, against Killer Killer, or even someone skilled with a gun, they are able to be taken down en masse, showing they still lag behind the original Mukuro. In battle, they are hyper focused on killing anyone in their path, even when hurt or other cultists die. They will not give up until someone has either killed them or knocked them out.

Rundown

In Killer Killer, if I were to provide it a theme, it would have to be Passion vs Shallowness. To have true drive for your profession and do things out of love for what you really want to do. That's Takumi's whole deal with his murders and what he criticizes the villains of Killer Killer for lacking, to varying degrees. Their passion isn't for murder, but using it as a means for their own goals.

In the cultists case, their Passion is Mukuro Ikusaba. Sadly, we never get a reason why they worship her, but it's clear they hold her in some mahor esteem given their appearance and actions. They are utterly devoted to the late Ultimate Soldier and giving it their all for her, even if it costs them greatly...

But Takumi ranks them 0. Putting them, in the same vein as Kenji who is really the epitome of the Shallowness theme. He kills out of a means for an end. No love for it at all besides the backlash it can cause others. No regards to people's lives, especially the one he stole. So why is the cult, who clearly hold a strong passion for something, strongly disliked by Takumi?

Well, he says it best:

They may love Mukuro, but they hold no true love for their actions. They're fangirls that commit atrocities to be like their idol, but with the case of some fans, utterly miss the point of what she's about in their quest to be like her. (Ironically, so is Takumi, but that is something for another time...). If Kenji is Shallowness to the extreme of just doing something for the practical benefit, the cultists of Mukuro are Shallowness to the extent that they are doing it out of obligation. 'If they want to be like Mukuro then clearly they have to kill whoever is in their sights!' In Takumi's eyes, it pretty much just reduced murder as apart of something to check off on a list if they want to be like someone's replica of all things. An extreme offense in Takumi's eyes, which is why he outrights fails him.

That isn't to say they don't succeed in being like their idol in some degree. Both the cultists and Mukuro were used as means to an end by the Masterminds of their respective entries. What separates them in turn is that Junko did legitimately love her sister, getting a euphoric sense of despair for killing someone she loved with all her heart (just like she got before when she killed her boyfriend).

Shuji, though, did not give a feather about them beyond their use in potentially getting Takumi to quit being Killer Killer. He leaves any potential survivors to be arrested, if they weren't slaughtered by Takumi, and even blows up a cultists body to escape from being arrested. While their idol was at least loved enough by her killer who used Mukuro's aid to alter their world forever, the imitations end up as just collateral damage in Shuji's pipe dream that only resulted in both Mastermind and his hired goons demises. It's the worst end by a long shot for them.

On a minor note, the cultists being taken care of so easily by both Takumi, and even dispatched by Misaki, also wraps back around the dilemma with the Madarai clan and the Despair Sisters issue of quality for quality. Danganronpa is a series that values individuals talent and being unique (even it can be detrimental). Trying to mimic someone else, while it can throw people off for a bit, will never work against someone genuinely being original and just makes yourself predictable to being outplayed. Again and again. It's funny how in their quest to be like Mukuro, the wound up making the same mistake Mukuro criticizes the Madarai of doing.

Personal Thoughts

As a concept, I love the Mukuro Cult! When it comes to Ultimate Despair, while it very much makes sense that Junko would be the head honcho revered by its members, the fact Mukuro (essentially its co-founder) was left by the wayside was a bit sad, though it made perfect sense.

But these guys? The fact Mukuro herself had an entire cult dedicated to her is amazing! Like with the Warriors of Hope for Junko, it gives the feeling that these girls were larger than life and had clear influence that still wreaked havoc on society even beyond the grave! It's a excellent idea...

But like with most things in Killer Killer, it's extremely undercooked. While Another Episode goes very in-depth to show why the Warriors worship Junko and love her to the point of being inspired by her to make their paradise/being a devious pickle gremlin, the cult gets nothing. No real reason why they worship Mukuro or how they got to perfectly look like her. They're just fakers who can't compare to Takumi and go down after pissing him off.

While not as bad as Ted's deal, the writing feels like they just wanted a shock factor for their brief screentime, rather than legitimately explore the concept in any meaningful capacity. What if they were women who were taken in by the Remnants, broken by society and given meaning by becoming Mukuro? Or maybe they somehow admired Mukuro being sacrificed for someone else, and wanted to become her to get a fate like that? Maybe they were girls that Mukuro ended up saving while during her Fenrir days so becoming her and carrying on her legacy, if misguided, was their way of honoring her?

There's so much you can do with this concept...and it went to waste just as fast. It's a pity, but what can you do?

Aftermath

Concerning this Killer Killer showcase from last time, while I do still believe Ted is just a flash without substance character, I also feel that I did lean a bit too hard with it in terms of my rundown and personal thoughts (I didn't even give the theme for Killer Killer for last time). So I wanted to be a bit more structured again and dial back more of my dislike of Killer Killer as a whole. Is it still the worst of the series to me? Yes, and I will call it out for that, but I don't want that to really get too much in the way of analysis for the casts of these guys. I hope this works out much better!

#danganronpa #dr1 #danganronpa killer killer #mukuro ikusaba #takumi hijirihara #misaki asano #shuji fujigawa #ultimate despair #danganronpa 3 #dr3 #salvage showcase

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kerubimcrepin · 3 months

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Episode 31 - The Break

It will be so refreshing to liveblog an episode that isn't heavy on characterization or analysis, oh god, I am tired of typing words.

He is so sad and for no reason... I just want to wrap him in a heated blanket.

World's most serious case of Sads, finished off with an evil little glare.

I can imagine adult Joris doing the same thing to Kerubim even by Wakfu times. Just a cunty, unamused little gaze. I can see it so clearly. This will happen in season 4, mark my words.

Also, inside me are two wolves. One of them wants to say "perhaps it's unusual for Joris to not go hook line and sinker for whatever ideas Keke proposes", and the other wants to say "Joris and Kerubim having psychic vibe battles moment #5"

He is so unserious.

Joris loses this round in the game of mutual psychological manipulations.

(Guy who notices landmarks in this show voice) (Also, guy who, for some reason, has developed a parasocial relationship with this setpiece in a kids show voice) THE TOWER. THE FUCKING TOWER

I've already spoken on this topic, but Kerubim already being known to sell stuff and have strong opinions on the ethics of museums makes me so unwell. Especially with implications of the Crepin family being salespeople.

I am not going to elaborate. You've read my other posts. Just... yeah.

Can I get some love for non-Cra archers in this universe? The degree of unemployment must be hellish.

Also Lou has two swords, and Nella has two quivers. They are so normal.

Some may think that Kerubim is out of shape, but I will argue that this is his Farm Boy shape. His "not constantly on the road and fighting monsters while worrying about travelling supplies" shape.

He's still muscular, because Herding Animals is Serious Business, but he's got a bit of a gut going on, because there's no food insecurity, and the food he has is mostly meat and milk.

Considering old Kerubim also has the gut, — and is, notably, still very agile, — I think that this is just, like, Kerubim's natural shape when he's eating well and living like a normal person.

Sorry for overanalysing his body. I just wanted to talk about my "adventuring should be deconstructed as a concept and examined more closely, considering the multiple characters who had been ready to die "to become legends" about it. Like is all the trauma, food insecurity, and violence worth it, when the only way for people to truly respect you in this career, is to die in a cool way?" agenda.

The resemblance between young Keke in this episode and his older self is actually scary.

Say NO to alcohol, say YES to being a calcium-based lifeform.

I've never mentioned this before on this blog, but it's very likely that Kerubim is kind-of-sort-of accidentally implied to have an underbite.

It varies, whether he has his teeth in a normal bite, or an underbite, — and it is an art style choice, it happens to some other characters, albeit nowhere near as often as it does to Kerubim, — but, once you see it, and know what I'm talking about, you can't unsee it. Hell, it's on half the screenshots in this episode already!

Underbites are something that goes in families, which fits really well.

Because, like... yeah. That sure does seem like a family thing.

Together with the "pale-ish brown pigmentation around an eye or both eyes" thing, and the triangle-ish shape of their heads and snouts, Keke and Atch are the Bouba and Kiki of siblinghood.

Anyway, for transparency's sake, despite the underbite being one of Atcham's very notable character features, he is also sometimes drawn with a normal bite. Which might point towards Kerubim's underbite also being a genuine part of his character design, — instead of it being a case of animators liking the look of it a lot.

Personally, I like to think that both of them had been trying to fix his underbite his whole life by simply willing it away, and it's Not working.

If they actually realized they care about one another, and could be chill about it instead of immediately starting a Doomed Toxic Cottagecore Farm, Pangaea would reform.

Oh? You like Kerubim and Lou? Well, then, do you think Lou and Kerubim efficiently utilized girl power when they, Bontarians, went to their oh-so-hated Sidimote Moors and Brakmar, to conduct what they call a "slaughter-safari"?

This is not a Divorce Theory I usually subscribe to, but my funny crack theory is that she left him to go adventure around the world because he wanted to settle down and adopt a kid or whatever.

Truly, the possibilities of kerulou divorce theories are endless.

If they formed a polycule, Pangaea would explode.

I like to think that whatever Julith has going on is a cloak with a similar, but more complex enchantment.

This item is real, but I can't really find the sword mentioned by Lou moments prior.

I need to inject this image inside, intravenously.

...Anyway, you will never guess what my newest addition to the desktop wallpaper rotation is.

#ep31 #ro liveblogs dofus #dofus #wakfu #krosmoz #atcham crepin #kerubim crepin #tagging them because i finally brought up The Crepin Teeth Agenda

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satansleftnutcheek · 7 months

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Just had like the biggest brain realization about Astarion bear with me I think I'm onto something here. Spoilers ahead for those who don't know about his "condition" or haven't heard about his tragic backstory™

I think people generally overlook the bite scene in favor of focusing on how it reveals Astarion being a vampire, how it can benefit the player if you're trying to romance him, or find an easy way to get him out of your party. I would like to note that there’s nothing wrong with this response! I did the same in my play through because I already knew he was a vampire due to spoilers. I just saw the scene as Astarion looking for his equivalent of a sandwich when it happened.

But why does Astarion bite Tav of all people?

The obvious answer is because Tav's the protagonist. Any important character scenes will happen to or involve them because they're the player character. It's the nature of how RPG stories are told. However, Larian Studios has put a lot of thought into this game, so why not dig a bit deeper?

Assuming Tav has everyone in their camp when this scene is triggered, Lae'zel and Shadowheart are off the menu purely because if things go wrong they'd immediately kill Astarion. Not good! If things go wrong with Karlach he could possibly smooth talk his way out of it. After all, she's a very kind person who goes out of her way to help people. But she's also twice his size and could snap him like a twig, which is not a risk worth taking.

Wyll isn't nearly as much of a threat as the other three, if it came down to it, Astarion could probably take him in a fight. The main problem here is that Wyll happens to have a habit of killing monsters, which would make talking things out really difficult. Astarion's relied on skills like persuasion for the past 2 centuries so he'd probably want to have his best skills be viable options if things go awry. Halsin, much like Karlach, is twice his size and could kill him with ease. Hard pass on that! This leaves Gale as the last, and really only, viable option. I mean look at him, he's frail as hell, always having the lowest HP in the party, and his weapon is a stick. Worst thing that could happen to Astarion is a bonk on the head.

So then why Tav? Why are they the one Astarion bites?

Now Tavs come in a lot of varieties. The player could be doing a Dark Urge run, they could be playing as the embodiment of pure evil, the kindest soul that is second only to Jesus, or somewhere in between. However, the one thing that unites them all is their power. They're the leader of the party and the others (to varying degrees) respect them. Tav is the one that chooses where the party goes, who they help, who they kill, and even how they'll have the tadpoles removed. In a way, Tav controls the party.

Remind you of something that Astarion openly talks about wanting?

For two centuries Astarion hasn't had autonomy, respect, freedom, resources, or control. What he's learned from those centuries is that power always gets you what you want. If you want freedom you need the power to control others. So while biting Gale would be the easy answer, it doesn't have the perk that biting Tav does.

If Tav wakes up during his biting attempt, Astarion could smooth talk his way out of it. If things go okay and Astarion gets to keep his head, he'll have gained more of Tav's trust. This in turn would give Astarion greater power over them as they'd be easier to manipulate, which in turn gives him more control over the others. If he ends up killing Tav then that technically would open up a power vacuum in the party. Whoever fills it would have all the power and control that Tav has. I don't think any of the other characters would let that happen though. Astarion's the person who you don't want to be the leader because he's clearly performing this role for his own self-centered reasons. Also seeing as this scene generally happens early in the game, nobody likes him enough to just let him become the leader.

Now if Tav lets Astarion bite them things get more interesting. It's a possibility that never occurred to him, but he isn't going to turn it down. First of all, it establishes Tav as an easy food source. Astarion has a consenting snack that in the future, might let him bite again. If that happens then Astarion's food source becomes far more reliable and surviving becomes significantly easier. Tav's consent also reveals how much they trust Astarion. From his perspective Tav's shown too much of their hand. Astarion's simple plan to manipulate Tav for the sake of his security has become child's play at this point.

All this being said having Astarion choose to bite Tav over Gale reveals so much about his character. While Gale is the safest choice to make, Tav's position of leadership is what entices Astarion to bite them over Gale. After experiencing two hundred years of mental and physical abuse, Astarion values power so much he'd be willing to risk his ability to not become a mind flare, and his life, in order to gain it. All because this is what he learned from being Cazador's slave for 200 years.

#slaps astarions head #THATS A LOTTA DAMAGE #you think you understand the story and know know how deep his trauma runs but then you write an essay and suddenly youre crying AGAIN #astarion please god get some help #somebody give this boy a hug #larian studios if you thought of this then i hate you for being so good at what you do how DARE #i havent even finished act 2 yet and astarions story is only getting sadder and richer and damn its written so well but OW #fuckin OW #astarion bg3 #astarion baldurs gate #baldurs gate 3 #baldurs gate iii #baldurs gate three #baldurs gate astarion #astarion #im officially gone there is no me only bg3 #is now when i admit that ive never written an essay analyzing something i love unless it was for class #the brainrot has never been so real

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