#they both see the other as the WORST version of themselves and they can't stand it. They can't shatter the mirror but they think they can-- | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nanatsuyu · 6 months

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what makes you like kandrew so much?? what drawns you to them??

(not trying to sound rude or condescending or anything im just curious lol)

I really adore characters that bite and snarl at each other for the purpose of enrichment in their respective enclosures.

On a more serious note lol—other than the fact that I have A Type when it comes to pairings (davekat, edxizzy, amberprice, etc), I enjoy characters that have somewhat of an unhealthy codependency on one another. Which is the extremely general way of putting it. I like characters that are kind of doomed to the narrative to never really be sated by what the world has to offer, but their person makes up for that (not that they always recognize it as such or that it's entirely positive or sometimes even completely mutual). And I don't mean doomed in a "never amount to anything" way, but in that bittersweet tone where both of these characters, wherever they fall into each other on the timeline, are at a place where their lows sync up, and that harmonizing rattles something to the perceived tune of "we're the best we're ever going to get". Again, that's all really general for the vibes of why I was drawn to them. There's a bit more nuance for them (and the other pairings ofc).

I like that they have a deal that encompasses both of them trying to push the other into being a better version of themselves but they're both too stubborn/scared to move first because realised potential means you have to recognise it too. Kevin can't expect Andrew to try his best when he himself is not, and Andrew can't expect Kevin to show him his worth* if he doesn't bother to try in the first place. (Though I know their deal was labelled more as moriyama protection for Kevin, I think that kind of encompassed the idea that Andrew would be a crutch till Kevin could stand on his own if that makes sense)

Not to quote the ec but it's one of like 3 parts I would willingly print and eat:

Andrew is the kind of character I adore because he says this and he really genuinely means it. Keeping what little he has left of himself is a last ditch self preservation tactic because he can't get hurt if he has no hopes/expectations/aspirations. No one can let him down if he doesn't let them. But he's so wonderfully flawed in his own ruleset because he keeps doing just that in the hopes that maybe someone will be different this time . Like maybe this time someone will be right when they say he's worth it** like maybe Kevin is right and he can make Andrew see what he's been refusing himself.

I also love that their deal extends far past the deal itself. In the most basic of terms, it was: 'you go, I'll go.' Andrew didn't have to trust Kevin beyond that. But he gave Kevin his meds and trusted him not to abuse that. Kevin had even already promised to help him figure out a way to wean off them before if they could earlier (and I genuinely think his fear of Andrew getting off his meds early was both a kneejerk 'the game/my safety' reaction because Kevin has a lot riding on this semester too, but also because he knows he made his own promise to Andrew and he thought Andrew coming off his meds early might have been an obstacle even Kevin's stubbornness couldn't hurdle when it came to helping Andrew on his feet after). Likewise I have to imagine that very few people put their trust in Kevin with much of anything outside of Exy given his temperament and wallflower disinterest in team building extra curriculars. So for Andrew to willingly give Kevin his meds to hold onto that he's gotten violent over before probably created a very morbid sense of.. pride, I guess? Like I trust you to hold onto the thing that ruins me is so... clenches fist

There's also this rough handed care that comes with all of that. They're unforgivably honest with each other at the best of times and unnecessarily biting at wounds just to get a genuine reaction at the worst. But then they also have these quiet side/off screen moments that are unyielding in tenderness? Andrew inspecting Kevin's hand for injuries. Kevin covering for Andrew when he's sick on court. Andrew telling Kevin to trust him during a panic attack and that he'll take care of it. Kevin turning his entire attention away from the Raven's to pull Andrew up to his feet. Them smiling at each other first genuinely?? Being idiots on the court with playful mocking shoves that don't get heated?? Like you give me these two characters who make it seem as if their hearts will genuinely stop beating if they stop nipping at each other, and then show me that they're actually wrapped up in one another so tightly that they're rarely seen apart? And are burdened (affectionate) with the task of keeping the other from doing the very thing that drowns themselves?? Okay

Also a looooot of this is from my perspective on Andrew's perspective on Kevin since we're given a lot more to work with, but I genuinely think Andrew was the first to push back at Kevin and make him prove things to Andrew and himself. Kevin had maybe a couple people at most before he fled to the foxes. Like he had nothing other than his name and reputation, good and bad, when he showed up at wymack's door. I can't help but imagine some part of Andrew saw this as amusing but also rather tiresome when it came to seeing Kevin constantly shut away in hiding. He was so loud before, where is all that roar now? When Kevin left Jean, he really left his only friend behind (sorry Thea fans I know she's there I know). So here you have Andrew, offering a deal that becomes this codependency because being out of the nest alone most certainly took its toll for a while, and it sounds too good to be true but most things are. So Kevin snatches it up and then there's the trust in the meds and the constant presence (in the sense of comforting consistency in spite of any disagreements (but abandonment issues kandrew is a whole other post now innit)) and the care and it all looks a lot like what someone might call a friend. And I mean they could both say they're not friends till their dying day but they're the only ones they're still trying to fool.

I just like that they gnaw on the scraps that they snag off one another, these leftover cuts from failed attempts at love and kindness, and act as if they didn't hand the pieces to each other themselves in the bed they share.

—

*Andrew is worth more than his ability to play Exy obviously, but I'm working from the angle that these boys have a very limited vocabulary in how to express that given their upbringings lol ie: my absolute Favourite part of the ec:

Like again I have my hangups with some of the ec but this provides soooo much more context to their beef pre-canon and the history behind Andrew's failed recruitment. Not to mention Aaron internally calls out Andrew for blatantly lying to Kevin when he tells him he doesn't care. (I think Andrew probably holds a certain disdain for Kevin struggling to verbalize how he measures worth and how that might differentiate off the court, because that line between wanting to be told you're worth putting in the effort for versus being told it's because of your latent potential is most likely rather precarious. Shipping goggles on: I imagine wanting to get someone's attention whose love language was built up around Exy is a tad difficult even if Andrew does in fact hear what Kevin's trying to say. I also don't think Kevin's malicious in his inability to truly express that Andrew really could have everything and it's infuriating to watch Andrew self destruct.)

**And for me, this, coupled with the above conversation with Renee, really puts into perspective how agitated Andrew is with Kevin for squandering his potential. He thinks Kevin has zero self preservation skills when it comes to maybe not putting all his balls in the exy basket, but that's also why he's so drawn to him because he has this insatiable drive to live for this one thing? And yet he's not even giving it his all like he's asking of Andrew despite that? It'd be easy to dismiss Kevin's overzealous love of the game as gross infatuation that's bled into Andrew's life, but if he smothers Kevin's drive and doesn't encourage him to be exactly as he sees Kevin, this person who really can achieve these things, what is there for him? He wants Kevin to thrive, but Andrew also wants Kevin to be right and that he can thrive too.

#im sorry anon do you regret your question now lol #im kind of bad with articulating my points sometimes because theres A LOT #like i think how they view themselves and each other is blurred with how others do #and what they tell themselves versus what they themselves can articulate makes it really messy #and thats what i gobvle up about them #theyre messy and mean and have a vice grip in each others collar and constantly demand more #and at the same time theres a certain kind of devotion that comes with promising to be the reason someone wont break thats so #agonizingly tender #kiss with a fist‚ love from the back of a broken hand etc #thanks for coming to my ted talk hope literally any of this made sense #aftg #aftg meta #kandrew #nana asks #otp: did you have fun #i should be sleeping but im thinking about ✨them✨

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missamericadog · 7 months

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on my way home from the gym i had a really stupid thought of "hey it's been 7/8 years since aa7 so what if capcom reflect that by doing another fucking time skip" i then tried to roll with this bad idea and flesh it out a bit and see what it could look like

so here i present to you my version of the worst ace attorney 7 pitch in da whole wide WORLD !!!

[SPOILERS FOR AA4 AND AA6, NOT REALLY AA5 CAUSE UH NOTHING TO REALLY SPOIL I GUESS LOL?]

come 2024 it will have been 8 years since AA6 so fuck it, 7 years time skip (Again 🙄🙄🙄) to reflect that time

introducing Ace Attorney 7, or Justice & Cykes: Ace Attorneys

Apollo has been in Khurain for the past 7 years restructuring its legal system, meanwhile Phoenix has retired from law to do the same with Edgeworth (who's stayed as Chief Prosecutor) in Japanifornia. He's still acting as a mentor to Thena and is still in charge of the WAA, but doesn't take cases himself any more. Him and Polly don't really keep in touch as much as they should, as both are too busy

maybe Apollo gets homesick tho, or Phoenix offers him his old job back or what, but either way a 31 year old Polly moves back to Japanifornia to be a lawyer there again

case 1 is a tutorial for two reasons:

1) apollo hasn't done law in this country in nearly a decade

B - phoenix has reworked the WHOLE system (i.e. introduced two fun mechanics from GAA)

it should be a simple case, but the problem is that this new system nick introduced fucking baffles polly: why does he now have multiple witnesses on the stand at once? and why is there a jury system? (does this take away from GAAs unique identity? idk)

he solves it btw ofc he does, with help from his professional magician assistant trucy

at the end of the case phoenix calls polly & trucy to his office and tells them they're siblings

cut to case two, where we are focused on an Athena case (possibly set before 7-1? so as to keep the weighty cliffhanger as long as possible). trucy is assistant for this too. fuck it. she's assistant for most/all of the game. trucy deserved better in 5 and 6, capcom.

reintroduction to investigation segments, which remain unchanged. athena, now mid 20s, is a lot more confident and independent, though maybe still needs to ask for help and advice from nick more than she'd like. solves a two day case just fine, even with new prosecutor (maybe Sebastian Debeste? or a rookie who has a similar character arc to us in previous games)

case 3 back to apollo, and him and trucy are probably taking the news itself well but not the fact it took OVER A DECADE FOR NICK TO TELL THEM, and it doesn't help that nick just pins it to him being too busy and forgetting lol

either way a case has come in so the two of them take it to distract themselves but there's gonna be a little awkward tension in the air throughout especially whenever they visit thena and nick

solve it

case 3 back to thena, and her journey of independence & also now dealing with Wright family drama lol

solves case

case 4 back to polly, who's still miffed but is trying to be an adult about it

solves case

case 5 nick is suspected of murder, and trucy is witness so Apollo and Athena work together to solve it, with alternating trial days or maybe one leading investigation and the other court

there'll be a moment where apollo can't help for whatever reason and this is athenas big breakthrough indepdence moment as she solves this bit alone

also guest prosecutor franzy von karma; reveal she was the mentor of previous prosecutor (maybe on the bench with her? why has this not been a thing other than dgs3-3 capcom.)

solves it's not nick or trucy, all of them gain confidence within each other and themselves

game over everyone's happy

#ace attorney #aa7 #ace attorney 7 #aj spoilers #aa4 spoilers #aa6 spoilers #soj spoilers #apollo justice spoilers #spirit of justice spoilers #ace attorney spoilers #phoenix wright #apollo justice #trucy wright #athena cykes

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man-down-in-hatchet-town · 11 months

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Ani: A Parody and the Radical Act of Recovery

Okay, so let’s talk about Ani, and why I love it. It’s not my favorite Starkid show (look, they can’t all be), but the older I get the more precious it becomes to me. And I think that's because of the way it handles failure, damage, and healing.

Ani is of course about the villains, but in some cases it's specifically about those who are the villains of their own story. It's about the losers, the characters maligned for years for being too cringe or pathetic, the ones who self-sabotaged their way out of all success and potential they once held. Even Tarkin, who in A New Hope was a pretty cool and collected guy, is an awkward mess in this version of the story. In different ways and to different degrees, Ani, JJ, and Jeffrey (looking purely at his relationship with Emily here) all start from a place of hopelessness, a nest of despair they each built for themselves despite having once been at the top of the world (for Jeffrey, that would be holding a position of power inside the Empire that could easily impress Emily).

And they're also founding members of the Empire. The creation of the Empire went hand-in-hand with Ani's worst moments and JJ's worst instincts. Really, if you want to get symbolic about it, the whole damn system is a representation of those two characters' failures and traumas. Without even really realizing it, Ani's cast spend their entire lives drowning in a manifestation of their worst selves and mistakes. And whether they are able to put it into words or not, it's clearly not working out for them.

To borrow from Black Friday, the characters' psyches are riddled by holes caused by the decisions they made within the lives they lead. The idea of these "holes" is of course not unique to Ani. Characters having unmet wants and needs is a vital component to storytelling. But Ani stands apart from other Starkid shows because its protagonists start in a place of dreamless failure, where they have already fallen so completely from grace, and dare to dream anyway. Despite all reason and learned helplessness, Ani gets back in that podracer. He chooses to believe that the holes can still be patched.

Obviously, we aren't villains like Ani Skywalker (I mean, I guess I can't speak for you guys, but I hope that's the case). But Ani is nonetheless a show about potential that has already been lost, an adult life that has already and irrevocably become something different and worse than dreamed of years ago. And that's... what life is. At least when you're like me (and at the time of writing Ani, that's what the Langs and Brian were), and just trying to survive your late twenties in an unsteady industry fueled by latent dreams but swamped by late-stage capitalism (hahahaha the arts). And I think it's probably true for people in other paths as well. Unless you're very lucky, growing up contains that moment where your life turns from something you will get to live into something that you are currently enduring until it can be fixed, if such a thing is even possible. Can you recover from this fall? Are you your hero or your nemesis? Did you make the wrong choices? Are your weaknesses and failures going to be what defines you in the end, drowning out all that promise and hope you felt in your youth?

Black Friday says "Probably. All you can do under this system is learn to see the holes, accept them, and stop them from making you worse."

Ani says "No. It doesn't matter how fiercely you burned out. It's never too late to heal." More than lost potential, it is a show about recovery as a radical but ever-possible action, about re-learning to get Back of Top once more no matter the obstacles.

And I think both answers are important.

#Anyways I've been trying think of how to say this for days #I hope this makes sense #ani: a parody #Starkid #starkid meta #black friday #Talkfine #Starkid ani skywalker #Moff Jeffrey Tarkin #Starkid JJ #rewatchers2000

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babyrdie · 3 months

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Medea and Jason

I'm a little obsessed with them!

Honestly, I think Medea xJason dynamic in Argonautica is funny! (impractical for my life that they don't have a ship name)

Like, all the descriptions of Medea's feelings were simply EUPHORIC, it was a level of description of this woman's desire that I had never seen in any Greek mythological character before. She doesn't even do anything THAT strange in Argonatica, definitely nothing like Medea from Euripides' play, but you can still feel that she's OBSESSED and that the arrow of Eros was SUPER efficient. I think Apollonius' Medea has a more harmless kind of obsession compared to other versions of her, she just adores Jason too much.

Meanwhile, Jason himself seems much less invested than her, but still interested. He also gave me the impression of someone willing when it comes to pretty girls. I mean, the dude was stuck on Lemnos for days fucking with Hypsipyle and Heracles even makes fun of it when he goes to scold Jason. Hypsipyle was nice to Jason, but I bet he'd still consider her even if he'd stuck a spear in his face after the Lemnian armed themselves. After all, there are versions in which what Medea did to Absyrtus was MUCH worse than Apollonius' version and, even so, in these versions Jason is willing to stay with her. He saw Medea, a beautiful princess offering him all the ways to the success of the mission, and thought: why not?

So yes, I bet that their version in Argonautica is a couple that when it comes to kissing, Jason is all excited, closing his eyes and waiting for a French kiss and meanwhile Medea is staring at his face passionately (in a somewhat obsessed way). Certainly, on the night they consummated their marriage on Phaeacian Island, I think that Jason slept like a baby and Medea stayed up most of the night watching him sleep in a somewhat disconcerting way.

Medea's obsession for Jason is so complicated because, in Argonautica, we see that it never harms Jason and only brings him benefits. Euripides also shows how she goes so far with the whole Pelias daughters thing to benefit Jason, who at the time was apparently okay with it. But Euripides also shows us that such a great obsession has the potential to ruin Jason from the moment he takes the wrong path. The wrong path isn't even that he's immoral or something, it's that he doesn't consider her the way Medea considers him.

So yeah, he tried to marry someone else and that's it, Medea showed her madness. He could be the worst man in the world and she would probably still love him as long as he was hers, what she can't stand is feeling like he's not hers as much as she feels like she's his. She cares so much more about him than anyone else. Even when she hates him deeply, Jason is still the one who matters most. She goes so far that any love she has for her children doesn't compare to the hatred she has for Jason. Even though she regrets what she is about to do, she never changes her mind. Medea is a perfect example of love and hate being two sides of the same coin, of how obsession has two forms.

They're certainly a dysfunctional couple on both sides (more on her, for sure), but I feel like that's part of what makes them interesting. On one occasion in Argonautica, Jason even tells the story of Ariadne and Theseus to Medea, meaning that she would be his Ariadne: the princess who goes against her father's wishes to help the traveler hero on his mission and, as a reward, returns home with him. The link in Ariadne's story is reinforced by the fact that Jason had even previously received a cloak from Hypsipyle where Ariadne and Dionysus generated Thoas (father of Hypsipyle, who also owned the cloak). Another link is Medea's own family, who, as she is the granddaughter of Helios on her father's side, is also the niece of Pasiphae, Ariadne's mother. Interestingly, Jason does not mention the part of the story where Theseus abandons Ariadne on Naxos. Personally, I consider this a clue as to how Medea and Jason also did not end up as a happy couple.

They're a fun couple, that is it! In the case of Argonautica, it's even more interesting because Apollonius makes Jason not a typical hero. Not only is Medea not typical (in any version of her), Jason is too (depending on the version). This makes them a kind of atypical couple.

There are many interpretations regarding Jason's actions in Argonautica:

Some consider him a coward, as he several times expresses hesitation in an atypical way in heroic epics of Ancient Greece.

Some consider him an example of a young man beginning to mature, as is notable for being much less useful in the first two books compared to the last two. But some consider that Jason's "passivity" is because he didn't want to go on the trip, he was just ordered to. This is made even more evident by the way he cries as he distances himself from Iolcos. In Argonautica's version, he doesn't even plan to get the throne back (like in other versions), he just wants a chance to live in Iolcos. Also, in this idea, Heracles is seen as out of place among the Argonauts precisely because he has already achieved a lot and isn't at the same level as the others.

Some consider him the ideal leader precisely because he prefers to resolve problems without physical conflict and because he tends to ask and consider the opinion of his crew members rather than taking all the leadership and being violent, thus being a diplomatic type of hero and Heracles being abandoned in the middle of the route would mean that the path of violence and a lot of attitude would be abandoned in Argonautica as well.

Some consider him a "lover hero", being the type who achieves things through charming others rather than through direct conflicts. Shown in his involvement with Hypsipyle and, mainly, with Medea. But also because of the way he deals with his crew, never trying to win them over with anything other than his personality. The fact that Aphrodite and Eros are essential figures for his success in Argonautica and Aphrodite is also mentioned as important in Euripides' play are also used as an example of this interpretation. His beauty is also greatly enhanced, on more than one occasion related to its effect on women.

For Jason, I kind of mixed these interpretations. I wanted to emphasize that he is young, so no beard (but when he's older like Euripides play, he'll have a beard). I wanted to give the "lover hero" idea a chance and I was also inspired by the comparisons made between Jason and Apollo, and that formed the rest of the design.

As for Medea, the golden eyes because in Argonautica it is mentioned that Circe recognizes her as a relative via Helios because Helios' descendants have a specific type of eye. She is mentioned as blonde in Argonautica and I don't remember Euripides giving us a hair color, but I went with brown because I always imagined her as brunette and also in my opinion it matches better with the rest of her palette. She's tall, taller than Jason, to highlight her divine heritage as it is a very prominent part of her character.

#ik #digital art #greek mythology #tagamemnon #medea #jason #jason x medea #medea x jason #artists on tumblr #argonautica #argonauts #jason and the argonauts

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aseriesofunfortunatejan · 1 year

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I don't know if I can even say that One Post about Shinguuji is written embarrassingly because it's kind of hard to write long posts in an Entertaining Way while still being Serious and doing that thing where I over-explain everything out of fear of misunderstandings (but it actually causes people to overthink it, which causes misunderstandings). Whatever way I went about it in 2018 (holy shit) was probably fine to me at the time. And tumblr posts should NOT be perfect.

[content warnings: references to incest, abuse, sexual abuse, sexual assault]

Anyway, I still stand strongly by my theory that we're meant to understand that Korekiyo's sister is the one who killed Angie. Unfortunately, I think for some reason, a shitton of Korekiyo's characterisation was buried very deep between the lines, in tiny characters. I haven't played DRV3 in a long while, but I feel like he's possibly the worst example of that writing flaw.

At this point in time, I really can't view Korekiyo's situation of incest as anything but a case of him being a victim. I was just thinking about his Love Suite Event... (rewatches it for reference...) ... HOLY SHIT IT'S FORWARD.

...I was just thinking about his Love Suite Event, and the possibility that he, himself, hasn't known anything but this. If I recall, his Free Time Events (or Bonus Mode, you'll understand that this is my brainrot archiving Korekiyo memories, and not that I played the game recently) implied that he had experienced being bound himself.

(Screenshot from the Danganronpa Wiki on Fandom.)

...Right. (I am not a fan of Shuuichi but "I feel like that door should remain closed." is an objectively funny line.)

The rest is about being reunited with, assumedly, his sister, and the entire event is him describing things very vaguely. It's completely unclear - to me at least - what the practice he's referring to is. Obviously, this is on purpose.

[Placing a cut here in consideration of anyone who may need this post to be shorter on their feed.]

But my reading of Korekiyo (she's writing another Korekiyo post right now isn't she) is that of a victim of abuse who has not realised it's abuse. Personally, I view his insistence on the beauty of both the "beautiful and ugly" of humanity as something he's saying to reassure himself - a world-view he made himself adopt because the truth is much scarier.

In his fantasy, Korekiyo is the one in control. And I can't help but view his description of the other person's feelings - something ugly, that he cannot love, only toy with ("responding to out of simple curiosity") as a projection of how he views his own feelings, or has been made to think them as. Though of course this could be doubly, or solely read as a reference to him already considering his heart taken.

...And with my reading of it, of course the fact that he sees it as normal to stop Shuuichi from running away, might just be what has been hammered as normal to him.

(That does not make it right. The rest of the event puts it as though Shuuichi does fall under his charm, because it's not trying to be that dark, but the entire event is a horrible, inappropriate way to approach BDSM. My point is exactly this: this isn't healthy. It's a torturous reality that victims of abuse might turn out to be abusers themselves for lack of knowledge of anything else, or of where the boundaries between "abuse" and "normalcy" lie - and I don't shy away from reading Korekiyo's writing as such because I know Kodaka hasn't shied away from writing a grimmer version of this in a previous instalment.)

His final FTE, in which he describes being bound and whipped, contributes to my reading that he refuses to acknowledge he's being abused. Being in control in his fantasy could be an attempt to reclaim control over BDSM acts - but because it's not described as him consenting to a clear act with Shuuichi, and rather just a fantasy that lies in his mind, I mostly view it as... he doesn't have any other reference for how it's done.

To come back to his relationship with his sister, as I've explored in past posts, I view it in a similar lens: she was the one controlling him, and at the time of his death, he hadn't had the ability to get out of her control. (Most abusers disappear when they die, but she did not. See "I'm Glad My Mom Died" by Jennette McCurdy - in her very real experience, she struggled as a kid as she both loved and feared her mother, and as an adult, was able to put words on the fact that she'd been abused after her mom was gone. Obviously, Korekiyo's very loose writing of such a situation is not a good reference to learn about this type of abuse and its survivors at all.) Her lack of love - despite pretending she cared - for him was hinted at in his execution, although again, this isn't set in stone, as it could just be a case of Monokuma using her image to torture him.

All of this does nothing to change the crimes he committed - what it does is put his situation into perspective.

Of course, there's the matter of... "how much of this is headcanon, rather than reading between the lines?" and you may judge me however you like. (The most harshly the most you disagree with my takes.) I personally identify this as my reading of canon, so I wouldn't use the words "headcanon" or "theory", but because canon gives us so little, I veer into theory territory. My main wish is that the writing of Trial 3 had been a lot more transparent about Korekiyo's surprise to "how much their accusations [about Angie] sounded right". Korekiyo was one of Danganronpa's most obvious killers, and the trial could have done with some confusing or heart-tugging "wait, I really don't think I did it", before his sister gets here and convinces him to accept it. Similarly to the way Danganronpa 2's Trial 2 blurred the lines about Peko's culpability a bit, without making the player doubt it too much either... it's just good characterisation. From that point on, I think it would have been a lot easier for many players to question the position his sister had towards him.

Something I haven't mentioned here but that contributes to my assumptions is that the very reason incest isn't accepted as a form of regular love in our society, is that it's a high-risk situation for control imbalance, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse - or alternatively, it exists as a result of familial/child abuse. Real cases of incest have shown to exist with these reasons, rather than healthy love. It's with this knowledge that doubt is immediately cast on Korekiyo having genuinely been loved by his sister.

Of course, one could read it the opposite way - that he had an unhealthy obsession with his sister and was the one to abuse her - but to me, this is disproven by her act of pretending to embrace him before laughing at him during his execution, and the fact that she was the one to possess him and during the trial, he responded to her control/wants/orders (there was nothing to show he was acting on her behalf without her consent or knowledge; even a theory that she killed Angie to cause him to get caught doesn't hold water, since he was putting together Tenko's murder at the time, and finally, she made the damn uniform for him - it all comes back to the uniform in the end!!!1!).

But uuuh don't quote me on this or anything

#danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #ndrv3 #korekiyo shinguuji #korekiyo shinguji #jan essay #omg i remembered this tag

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luminouslumity · 1 year

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Some more retellings I read recently! I've actually alluded to having read DoS before, but wanted to wait for TSoP to come out before making an actual post first. And unlike last time, I wasn't a big fan of these books. Though in hindsight, I probably should've known that when I saw the cover for DoS; no, but seriously, Greek is a beautiful language, but seeing it used as font will never not hurt the little linguist in me. Also, Nestra... No. Just no. And as for the books themselves? Well, what I like to do when reading or watching an adaptation of a work is to look at it two ways: first, does it work as an adaptation, and second, does it work on its own? And in the case of Heywood... not really for both.

I do want to give credit where credit is due though, I actually did enjoy Heywood's writing as well as how she incorporated some pretty minor details from certain sources that I haven't seen any other retelling use (ex: Menelaus having a son by a slave woman, something that's actually mentioned in the Odyssey), but that's as far as my praise goes, at least as far as her first book is concerned.

Another thing to keep in mind is that her books are one of those retellings that strip away the mythological aspects entirely for the sake of telling a historical narrative and I honestly have yet to find one that actually does this well, because without the presence of gods or monsters, you run into some really stupid contrivances at best and quite a few gaping plot holes at worst. Then we get scenes like Helen literally kicking and spitting on Eileithyia's rock because she doesn't want to get pregnant again and Iphigenia getting sacrificed because the priest Calchas wanted revenge after he blames Agamemnon for his sister's death, and a part of me honestly can't help but feel uncomfortable reading scenes like this, almost like it's mocking an ancient religion that many still acknowledge and practice to this day. Oh, and just so no one misunderstands me, I'm taking issue with Helen basically insulting a goddess specifically, even if that goddess is physically absent.

TSoP does seem to tone this down, or at the very least, it's not to the extent that we saw in DoS from what I noticed, though it's also completely possible there was something I had missed. One moment that does stand out to me though is when Danae internally compares the light coming from a torch fire to a golden shower and then we immediately get the reveal of Perseus' actual father, which I actually thought was pretty funny. It helps that Myron himself was really sweet from the little we knew him, which also makes me sad because there really didn't seem to be any reason for Danae to lie to Perseus about who his father was. It's not like Danae was ashamed of Myron or anything, either; it's one thing for her to want to keep her past a secret from her son for now, it's an entirely other thing to lie to him and say his father was a god!

And speaking of the characters, I actually really liked Claire's version of Helen, I just hate that it comes at the expense of turning her into a neglectful parent even before she runs away with Paris (thankfully, her actions aren't exactly glorified, either; actually, I feel like I would've enjoyed this plotline alot more had it been executed better), as well as turning Menelaus into a distant husband and Leda into an awful mother. Meanwhile, Agamemnon is horrible even long before he sacrifices Iphigenia, and Klytemnestra once again never kills Kassandra in cold blood, even though the entire point of the myth is to show the senselessness of violence and vengeance and how her grief had corrupted her in the years her husband had been away at war.

I am once again asking, what's wrong with being direct?

And as for TSoP, the characters here are certainly a lot more enjoyable personality-wise... but that's also an issue, because it all comes at the expense of turning Perseus—whose entire quest revolved around saving his mother—into an entitled brat. First because he thinks he's a demigod, then because he finds out he's the grandson of a king and has a prophecy to fulfill. In fact, he doesn't even go on a quest at all, just sent away because his mother actually wants to marry Polydectes and he won't stop throwing a tantrum about it. Then we just skip to him meeting Medusa and then killing her after she rejects his feelings for her, "saving" Andromeda from what was basically a symbolic sacrifice, mistaking the hospitality feast he's given for a wedding banquet in honor of himself and his supposed new bride due to the language barrier, killing her actual betrothed before she finally decides to go with him, killing Polydectes when he refuses to stand down, and then nearly killing an old Acrisius before finally listening to what his mother and wife want and letting his grandfather live.

That's it. That's the book.

And I liked the use of the Prophecy Twist at the end and also how Danae refused to forgive her father for what he had done, but really, whatever positives I have to say about either book aren't really enough to outweigh the negatives.

And I mean, compare everything I just said about TSoP to the original myth; an evil king wishes to marry a beautiful princess who'd been rescued from the sea (or he already has married her in some versions), but she has no interest in him, so he sends her demigod child, who was protective of his mother, on a quest to slay an unslayable monster in hopes of getting him out of the way for good. With help from the gods, he manages to succeed and even rescues a princess on the way back after she's nearly sacrificed to a sea monster as punishment for her mother's vanity. Afterwards, he saves his own mother by presenting the head of the monster to the other monster and turning him to stone, before later killing his grandfather by accident! And it wasn't even Medusa's head that took him out, either, but a discus!

See how sweet and simple the original is? But no, instead we get Perseus who keeps throwing these violent tantrums because he isn't getting what he wants, made worse by the fact that his character has about as much depth as a rock. In fact, why have this be a retelling at all? This solution can pretty much apply to just about any other one too, but for TSoP specifically, it could've very easily been about someone who grew up being inspired by the tales of Perseus, maybe even facing a similar situation to him and becoming desperate to escape it, and then later becomes their own downfall by the end of it. That would've been much more interesting, methinks!

And before anyone brings up the Medusa thing, the version everyone talks about actually comes from much later sources, specifically Ovid, who was Roman, and a pretty spiteful one at that; in fairness, the Greek poet Hesiod does describe her as having been a mortal who had sexual relations with Poseidon, but even then, he makes no mention as to whether the encounter was consensual or not, just that they did it in a meadow—yeah, not a temple, a meadow. Other Greek and even some Roman sources also have her always be a monster, even being descended from the mother of monsters herself, Echidna.

As for Athena changing her into a Gorgon for her own protection, I can't find an ancient source anywhere that states this, never mind that it's not like women wouldn't have been immune to her curse, either. And as awesome of a concept as a monstrous figure being seen as a patron for women is... that's not exactly true either. Ancient Greece didn't have women's shelters, for one thing, and though it's true that engravings of her head can be found on buildings, they can be found everywhere else as well, including on tombstones. That's because it was actually used to ward off not any specific human, but evil spirits instead. Because nothing was seen as scarier than a Gorgon. Also, there were several deities whom women prayed to (and still do!) for protection, including Athena herself, so praying to Medusa—who they would've considered a monster—wouldn't have really made much sense. Again, cool concept, but it kinda falls apart once you think about it for more than five seconds.

But yeah, these certainly aren't the worst retellings I've read, but still there's nothing particularly outstanding about them, either. Not in a good way, at least.

#greek mythology #claire heywood #helen of sparta #helen of troy #clytemnestra #menelaus #agamemnon #perseus #danae #medusa #andromeda

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blazehedgehog · 2 years

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What are the GOOD Sonic games?

It's a matter of perspective. "Good" is subjective. However, if I didn't know the person and I wanted guaranteed safe recommendations, I'd say:

Level 1: Safe, Universal Recommendations

Sonic 2 - The classic crowd pleaser. Sonic 1 is rough and full of levels that are still figuring themselves out. Sonic 2 is it feels like Sonic truly becomes established. We get the Spindash, we get Tails, we get the Death Egg, and we get the first appearance of a version of Metal Sonic. The main bummer is that the last quarter of the game (Metropolis-Sky Chase-Wing Fortress-Death Egg) kind of sucks. Unnecessarily difficult or gimmicky or both.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles - If Sonic 2 established Sonic, then this is where it feels like Sonic was truly defined. We get Knuckles, The Master Emerald, and the Floating Island. We get the elemental shields, introducing the bounce attack and ring magnets. Big huge levels, with character-specific routes and lots of exploration. Again, not all the levels are winners (Sandopolis) but it's shocking to think this game was the most frantic, rushed Genesis Sonic, because it is such a heavyweight.

Sonic Advance - It's not a life changer but it's basically Sonic the Hedgehog 4. Good artwork, decent music, just a little bland. But safe. A solid 7/10 experience.

Sonic Colors - I personally am a little cold on this game, but I acknowledge a lot of people like it and it was once considered where Sonic "bounced back" after Sonic 06. I will accept I am maybe too hardcore of a Sonic fan for this game, but maybe I also have a video about this in the works. But for, uh, "normies" (for lack of a better term), this works.

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing - One of the few legitimate contenders to the Mario Kart throne. Stands toe to toe with games like Crash Team Racing and Diddy Kong Racing. Nearly everybody loves a good kart racer.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed - The sequel is as good if not better than the first one. Depending on the day of the week, I might say this is better than Mario Kart in some aspects.

Sonic Generations - Probably the most all-around modern Sonic game (still). Almost everybody loves this game. I love other games more, but it's not about me, and I can't deny the universal appeal of Generations. It's telling that the two games to follow this one were equal parts trying to recapture the magic of both Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations (and failing miserably).

Sonic Mania - You can't go wrong with the highest rated Sonic game since 1994. A celebration of Classic Sonic like no other.

Level 2: For the Curious

Sonic 1 - It's not a great game, but if you graduate from experimenting with liking a Sonic game, it's worth looking at once. But it's very difficult, weird, and if I'm being honest, not very memorable. Everything done here was done better in other Sonic games, but you don't get those without starting here first.

Sonic CD - Some people really love the slower, more methodical pace of this game. There's a reason its earned a reputation for being this amazing classic, even though it really isn't. It's easy to be hot/cold on it, because it truly has some fantastic style and great ideas.

Sonic Adventure - Pretty ambitious for the era and the thing that established the tone and candor for so much of 3D Sonic. Been through a cycle where people loved it for its ambition, hated it for being busted and weird, and now love it for being a nostalgic ugly duckling. They definitely don't make games like this anymore.

Sonic Adventure 2 - Almost a necessary chaser to SA1. You gotta see how things evolve between these two games and how much they were willing to ditch. Also a prime example of Sonic's tendency to have 3D games that are described as "When it's good, it's amazing, but when it's bad, it's the worst game on earth."

Sonic Rush - Just barely makes it in to this category for being an extremely difficult game (as in, I almost put it in level 1). But it's got a killer soundtrack and invented the boost mechanic that is so important to a lot of future Sonic games. You just gotta stick with it and be willing to optimize routes.

Sonic Rush Adventure - A kinder, more gentle version of Sonic Rush. If you bounce off that game, give this one a shot. It doesn't have quite as much audiovisual style, but it's still a heck of a great game. I almost put it in to the first category, but I feel like its tied to the first Sonic Rush and both games have to move together. Can't play one without playing the other.

Level 3: For the Sickos

Sonic Unleashed - I almost put this in level 2. We would not have Sonic Colors or Sonic Generations if this did not exist. I love this game deeply, but the parts that turn people off really, really turn them off. Like rage-quit inducing. You gotta be extremely dedicated to see the credits roll on this. I've done it twice, almost three times.

Sonic R - This game has a reputation for being a nightmare to control. It's also comically short -- once you master the odd controls, you can blow through the whole game in about fifteen minutes. But you can't deny it is jam packed full of a certain type of charm.

Sonic Advance 2 - In a similar vein to Sonic Unleashed, we would not have Sonic Rush without this game. And like Sonic Unleashed, the people who hate it truly hate it. Very much based on twitch reaction times and memorizing level layouts.

Sonic the Fighters - FGC people hate this game for its shield mechanic, but it was made by AM2 during the peak of their output. I think it's a great game, with a fantastic visual style and a uniquely energetic soundtrack. FGC people are just afraid of what they don't understand.

Sonic Battle - Another Sonic fighter. This has a weirdly deep story mode but it eventually turns in to a difficult grind that most people won't see through to the end. Has, or had, one of the greatest stories in the entire Sonic franchise. I loved it at the time, but I can't bring myself to ever replay it. I don't know if it holds up.

Sonic Riders - This is an overly-complex racing game where everybody (including Sonic) races on hoverboards. If you can break through its learning curve, I think it is great fun. But a lot of people bounce off of it because it can be rather unforgiving to newbies. Later Sonic Riders games completely redesign the mechanics, too, so this is the only one that plays like this, and the only one that I personally think is any good. You just really gotta dig to find the fun.

Knuckles Chaotix - This is one of those games where the music, art direction, everything about it is great... except the part where you have to play it. It sucks to play. But it's easy on the eyes, easy on the ears and easy to imagine all this stuff being used in a better game.

Sonic 2006 - If you're ready to dig in to the depths of Sonic the Hedgehog, this is the one turd everybody has to smear on their forehead. It's almost a rite of passage at this point. It is Sonic's "The Room." Try to play it with friends, because you're going to want an audience to make fun of it. Trust me. Misery loves company.

#questions #Anonymous #sonic the hedgehog #sega #sonic team #recommendations #sickos

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daensa · 2 years

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i hope this isn’t a weird question but since you are one of the very few rhaelicent blogs who doesn’t completely hate/ignore daemon i would like to hear your opinion on him + rhaenyra especially in the light of the last episodes. i personally think that the show has done a very good job to depict the relationship as something that clearly wasn’t right (i.e. grooming) but also show us that daemon does indeed love rhaenyra for real. both daemon and alicent are the fundamental relationships that define rhaenyra as a character and imho it’s a disservice to ignore one or the other.

not a weird question, i love talking about daemon! he and viserys were my faves in the first half of the season.

that being said, i have been severely dissapointed with daemon/daemyra/the blacks since the time skip. basically i think daemyra is suffering from (1) the pacing not giving them enough time to develop and wrap up their past relationship and then pick up rhaenyra/daemon again and (2) attempting to make them... too likeable and avoiding them to be grey and a little evil

i went into further details of my thoughts under the cut. sorry it got so long! i love daemon so i had a lot to say <33 i focused more on daemyra, but i have a draft of a post talking more about rhaenyra's position and how daemon influences her arc - maybe i will finish it some other time

i do think the show did a decent job covering the grooming aspect of their relationship in the first half of the season. i am not comfortable calling it great, simply bc i am not expert. i think the bigger issue was the fandom purposefully ignoring the show writing their relationship as grooming. but post time jump errr i am a bit confused with that the show is going for

i really hated eps 7 writing, and in terms of daemyra i can't seem to make up my mind. as it is, the (1) 'i am not a child anymore' sort of speech reflects the grooming of the relationship, (2) the sex scene paralleling the viserys/alicent sex scene, and (3) the choice of having them go at it during the funeral, also frames the relationship as unhealthy. but then they retract the toxicity with how they handled the laenor death thing (which i had tangent issues with), trying to frame daemyra are balanced and good. it becomes messy like the show can't make up it's mind on what they want daemyra to be. combined with the weak dialogue, i dont see daemyra living to it's full potential atm

this past eps i was ? they just came off so. boring. daemon is established as a 'wild card' which is why viserys names rhaenyra heir to begin with. if early alicent is meant to be read as someone who brings the best out of rhaenyra, daemon represents what brings out the worst. but rhaenyra (the crown) also brings out the worst of him, which is why i read him moving away with laena as him trying to be away from KL, where he could be the best version of himself for his wife. the whole 'domestic life' from the past eps was dissapointing to me. i hoped they would come together again and be more interesting and grey, in an all consuming type of passion. and when the show fails on this, both of their characters become bleak and uninteresting, and loose the spolight to the fleshed out and 'evil' greens who have been allowed to be more grey and ambitious

i find this uniquely annoying in terms of daemyra bc their love story allows them completely stand out from the greens since honestly... none of the greens romantic relationships can compete with the complexity of daemyra under my eyes.

what i wanted daemyra to be was a horror type of love. i am a fan of horror and of complex and grey characters. and entering hotd i was hoping for that since it's the perfect basis for it. if we got to see them being the best version of themselves with harwin and laena (both ppl i read them as truly loving), seeing them becoming a worst version of themselves with each other would have been very interesting. i wish we saw more of daemyra being grey and gothic, this horrible love that pays with blood. jaime and cersei were as such, and i wanted daemyra to have a chance to also explore this darker side of an their relationship bc i believe both matt and emma could shine at these scenes.

and please, i do say with love for this sort of dynamic. i love toxic love in media. the moment i enjoyed daemyra the most so far is 100% the wedding bc... oh lord how could i not? the whole valyrian ritual made me think of one of my favorite movies, crimson peak, which also features an incestuous relationship (i just reblogged a post with the movie if you would like to see). the movie has a very famous line 'but the horror was for love' and there was something about them choosing this time (after they had already fulfilled their duties of a westerosi marriage) to marry for 'love' in a horrorfying blood binding ritual... it's so gothic! i can't help to be fascinated. it's very wuthering heights, and it's what i was hoping for and wish to see again.

i don't expect or want their 'love' to be believeable or true, bc i dont particularly read it as possible. what they have is not love. it's not bc she is an adult that suddenly is true love, it isn't. love doesn't bloom from grooming. but that doesn't mean the show can't give us a great story, just like so many other fucked up lovers have given us incorporating their fucked roots in the story. it's all consuming passion and desire. so give us that! give us remarkable lines! give us fire and blood! give us gothic horror! they make up for good storytelling, the sort that haunts you for years, so let us have it.

#captolinaposting #sorry this got so long but it came from a place of love LOL #i was so looking foward to this so i had a lot to say #show thoughts

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thxtandromedatonks · 5 months

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She couldn't get the nagging thought out of her head. She'd not seen him for a good couple of hours now. Not since he had left their home wihin a puff of green smoke whilst standing within the fireplace. He'd returned to Diagon Alley for the first time in a few months. With Winter starting to feel like a feeling in the air more than usual they'd taken it upon themselves to start feeling slightly festive, to collect some roast chestnuts from one of the street food vendors. They were his all time favourite food. He'd exclaimed many a time, and at least once a year, that the wizarding world version was far better than the Muggle worlds. She had to agree for she discovered this a few years back when they were visiting for some reason of another. They didn't visit much round the colder months, bar their coffee shop haunt.

She was starting to feel physically ill with worry. Started to pace the room. She'd started to wonder whether it was worth sending out Scraggle on a mission to see whether their owl could indeed spot its other owner. There had been a spate of abductions from the Alley of recent and she was terrified that he could have been involved in another. Oh how dreadful the thought was that ran through her mind. The regret of letting him go upon his own, even under the guise of someone else after being dosed up on Polyjuice Potion. Now he had been gone so long that the potion would most likely have worn off by now. This realisation collapsed her to the ground fearing the worst. Fearing that... she dare not even finish that thought.

He'd spent all morning convincing her that he would be ok. She'd said she would go but he was admant on going. He knew her birthday was coming up and wanted to get her something special. She'd told him many a time she was more than happy to forgo that day because she had got her wish the moment she realised her future was with him. But he wouldn't hear of it, however much she tried to presuade him not to. At the moment she would do anything to hear a sliver of news, or to see him, just to know that her fears were just that... fears. The truth could be far too painful for her to take in if she heard anything that was indeed to confirm it.

She'd started obsessively tidying the place up, had started to work upon areas of the home they were renovating. Just to keep her morale up, her thoughts at least dented by something that would stop her thinking of what could be happening if the worst were to happen. Most likely her elder sister. That thought stopped her in her tracks. She'd not heard or seen of her for awhile. No reports. No potential that an incident could have been her doing. No nothing. She knew her sister well enough to know that when she read the Daily Prophet that there was indeed a potential indicator that her elder sister had been behind a dreadful incident that had gone on. Oh how bad some of them had been in the past couple of years. Her elder sister had gone from obsessive, to controlled, to almost psychotic. And all for the love of that half-blood creep that she had met back in the days when she still lived at Black Manor.

Suddenly there was the sound, and smell of green smoke appearing within their fireplace. She spun round as fast as her beaten up heels would allow her to only to see one of her cousins' confidantes standing in front of her. The werewolf one. She got on well with him. They'd been to parties before when they were younger, and she had first starting dating her now husband whilst in secret. They;d both found themselves feeling like they didn't belong and so had bonded due to the fact of how uncool they felt. This particular day did not feel in the slightest like it had the last time she had seen him.

"Can't stay here long sadly Drom. On my way elsewhere. But just passing on the message that your husband wanted to say that he won't be long. He's just got called away for this Hogwarts stuff you both are doing for us at Christmas. He's doing good. No need for you to worry as he knows you probably are. Cheers for that by the way."

And with that he was gone. Like he was never there in the first place, but she had the evidence of the smoke and ash settling to say that someone had actually been there. He always had called her Drom. She wasn't keen on it but she wasn't about to argue back. Especially this day. Everyone called her something different it would seem. But at least someone from that circle wanted to talk to her. Unlike her cousin. She got the feeling she would be seeing him again but not anytime soon. She also got the feeling that they were about to be caught up in some war related situation. Oh how she hoped that wasn't the case, and that really this whole Hogwarts situation was a way to keep them safe.

It was less than a month before they would be there. The only people in an empty uninhabited castle of a school which was in the middle of nowhere. Her and her husband had already planned how they were going to keep their home safe. They'd already started in fact with the added protective charms. She knew that spellbook inside out and back to front with all the different types and versions that there were. She'd even tried out rumoured ones on inanimate objects, and then had been so good at them that she had lost said object! But Charms had always been her strongest subject, much to her parents' dismay at the time. The last thing either her or her husband wanted was to come back to discover this home going down in flames, like their one previously had only a few months ago.

She was metaphorically going to kill him when he turned back up at home, she had decided. She was keeping one eye on what she was doing, and out of the corner of her other the fireplace to make sure he knew of her displeasure of keeping her waiting. However much distance she put from herself and her family there were some traits that just wouldn't go away. Inpatience being one of them. But he knew this, he knew her well enough that apparating to her other side was the best way to keep her from being mad at him. So when she finally pulled herself together after the visit, and had decided that the fear was something that wasn't going to be as bad now that there was a glimmer of hope... but she was still mad at him when she realised that he had actually been sitting on the floor opposite for a good 10 minutes whilst she had been distracted by her thoughts, and the potential happenings at the fireplace.

"You extremely dreadful wart of a wizard for making me fear the worst!" She gasped in despair, as he looked up at her and smiled hopefully that she wasn't as angry as he had feared her to be. "You made me fear your death, you loathsome gargoyle for doing that!"

"Woah, woah.. you know I didn't mean to be back so late." He gasped as he wrapped her up in his arms to make sure that she knew he was back. He knew why she felt that way and he had known as soon as the potion wore off that her fear would have returned ten fold. He leant back, to push the hair away from her fact, only to discover the tears rolling down her cheeks. "Hey, hey... no need for feeling like that. I'm back now and I ain't going anywhere anytime soon."

"Please never let me feel like that anytime ever again. The Polyjuice Potion..." To stop her finishing that sentence he lifted his finger to put it against her lips for he felt her fear boil up inside him.

He'd never really left her life that before. They always knew where the other one was and what they were doing. She had a good idea why he had been gone so long for she could see it over her shoulder, and instantly there was that pang of regret for making him feel bad. The effort he had gone to.. she just wasn't expecting it.

"I know. I know. It's ok my love." He whispered against her ear as he once again wrapped her up in his arms.

One of the problems with this darn war was it made them both feel far needier than they actually meant to be. Mostly because they needed to know the other was safe, they needed to rely on each other, and that they both knew with where they stood being alone in this war was going to be far more dangerous than any of them knew. Neither was ready to let go of the other just yet. They both knew that time would come someday what with both having different blood statuses, and this whole darn war being all about that. But until then they would do anything to make sure that they weren't separated.

"Happy birthday my love," He whispered once more, wrapped her up even tighter before swaying her to the music that he heard within his mind. "I know it isn't much but over my shoulder you have yourself the perfect candlelit meal, with all your favourites."

She smiled a bit more cheerfully as she leaned into him following his lead as he moved her to the tune she suspected he was dancing them both to. She felt him twist her fingers around his as he moved her arm so it looked like they were to be waltzing, his other hand slowly running its way down to the small of her back. She leaned back, lost in his eyes, in the way they both felt about each other.

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spinningbuster98 · 8 months

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youtube

Mission 5 sees the introduction of the Mephistos along with their more dangerous cousins the Dr.Fausts

Their cloaks of darkness make them invulnerable to attacks and they can also phase through walls

In order to damage them you must destroy their cloaks either by spamming the Devil Buster or by using charged shots (which is more effective since the resulting explosion deals additional damage). After that they will lose the cloak and turn into simple insects that can't defend themselves and you'll have to defeat them quickly before they get their cloak back

That one fight against Mephistos and Ice Lizards I swear is one of the hardest in the game on DMD, I swear I always make it out of there by a hair's breath

Mission 6 is the first truly problematic level of DMC4, and I'm sure you can guess why

First off there's the Die room:

You have to hit the Die in order to move the Nero statue over that board and, depending on where it stops, it will either spawn in Red Orbs (blue), teleport it somewhere else on the board (yellow), spawn in enemies or even one of the previous bosses (red) or spawn in more dangerous enemies (purple)

This sucks

A lot

ESPECIALLY if you don't know how to manipulate the Die

You see every time you hit it the number on the top side will always be the one that was on top just before you hit the die. If it was a 3 it will roll a 3, if it was a 4 it'll be 4 etc

The game doesn't tell you this, in fact it tells you that the result is random, which would make sense right?

Well if you don't know about this trick then your ass ain't leaving this room for a long LONG time, ESPECIALLY on higher difficulties which make the layout of the board more complex and hazardous.

Consifder this: you have to move the statue PRECISELY on the last spot, if your dice throw is off by even 1 step then the statue will move one step BACK which is what happens to me here!

This is such a crappy as FUCK gimmick! You pretty much NEED to consult the Internet in order to get by, or at least have enough of a keen eye to notice the way the die works which is very counterintuitive to how such a minigame would usually play out.

And right after that we have the "boss fight" (if you can even call it that) against Agnus

Just look at this mess: you're literally fighting a window, a window that can only be damaged by throwing those demon swords at it all the while the game is throwing literally everything and the kitchen sink at you! And the floor gets electrified every now and then!

The main issue is that the animation for Nero grabbing and then throwing the swords is pretty long and it allows for the other enemies to make a bee-line towards you and interrupt you, usually also causing you to fall on the electrified floor.

It's true that I'm playing on the highest difficulty (and with Turbo mode on on top of that) but come on! Does this look incredibly cheap or what?

On the plus side I love Agnus: you could fill a whole butcher shop with all the ham he exudes. Man I wish he were the main villain...

Also this is when you normally get your Devil Trigger and Nero's is pretty awesome: instead of turning into a Demon himself he instead develops a stand a ghostly version of his demon form that attacks in tandem with you and it's so fucking cool and satisfying to see in action, especially because the amount of total hits you inflict on enemies makes them easier to stun! You also gain 2 new moves exclusive to this Devil Trigger, though they both have a large windup animation making them tricky to pull off.

Also yeah if you hadn't noticed: that was the Yamato, Vergil's sword. Kinda funny it would react to Nero of all people huh?

Anyway the game has suddenly fallen down a cliffside because this was one of the worst stages in the game. Thankfully the next few will pick up the slack but....

...well consider this a sign of things to come...

#devil may cry #devil may cry 4 #my gameplay #Youtube

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baekhvuns · 2 years

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Sleeping in the same position for hours is THE WORST I feel like a grandma after waking up. Is your elbow better?

Some people, bless them, but they're whole ass adults yet act like teens, pls behave 😭 this includes my friends... I need to snap them out of their daze from time to time

Exactly Treasure has vocals, but it's so hype and pirate-y too! The MV is simple, but they filmed it in such a pretty place! Fhjsyehshehhse Jongho belly dancer, but he's wearing a coat still. I see him as the snake charmer with Seonghwa being the snake. No because belly chain Seonghwa, we remember, we cry 😭😍

I'm not a Jopper, sorry but compared to Step Back, not only were the lyrics ugly but the song? So bad. I'm so sorry to my ladies </3

Yes I saw some Taemin-esque vibes! I love the beat it H I T S and TY's voice?!?! The cinematography and choreography were so good too, I didn't expect to be so obsessed 🤯 I don't know what's going on with the solo releases, but it's so true they're serving! I'm looking forward to more solo stuff from TY I hope he goes into this direction, so he can show a different side than the NCT noise and whacky concepts - no offence, but I've always been a Taeyong enthusiast. Ooooh, yes God Damn was a vibe I remember listening to it a looooooot last year 👁👄👁

I GOT MY SVT ALBUMS AND OMGGGG I forgot that you get tons of photocards with the Carat version OF THE SAME MEMBER so I have over 20 of ONE man lolol, if I got 24 photocards of Seonghwa I would be gone. Not that I'm giving KQ ideas ☠ but it's so much better than jewel cases that both SM and JYP are doing, you don't even get cards of the member on the cover most of the time 🙃 I'm sitting here with over 60 SVT cards HELP they also included highlighters. Please don't steal my money I need to feed my kids :(((

Nah drinking coke only is not it, but I drink flavoured water or ice tea or juices and other fruity stuff, I need to taste something water is so bland, I only like sparkling water with some lemon in it, but it gets boring. WHERE'S THE FLAVOUR

I'm sorry I only accept DILF Hwa, but I will see what's going on with y/ns father...

Wheew I was almost worried you were doing the nasty against the wall GET A ROOM. My latest Hwa dream involved us hiding in a classroom with other people, idk what was going on but some of them were doing some BAD things and whyyyyy 😬 and I think I had a boyfriend? Then I remember me and Seonghwa standing outside my building at 6am?

Yes this is what I mean for bb x bg! Make it funny and chaotic, but let's throw some parental issues in the mix, so they can bond over their traumas <3 noooo I haven't let me check the lyrics 👀 oh so it's sharing the hotel bathroom too, inchresting

There's a difference between an OC and Y/N, somehow I find myself not liking the OC stories? I don't know why, maybe they're too self-indulgent, I like to come up with my own OCs for Y/Ns so maybe that's why? I can shape them the way I want and if someone wants to insert themselves vague descriptions are the best.

https://twitter.com/hwascloud/status/1222693373170946048?s=20&t=dNR4o7kUFywwXa5noW4OUQ 😌😌😌😌

Everytime Seonghwa posts pouty or kissy selfies I'M LOOKING AT L I P S plsssss. And your mum knows it, she likes slutty gender envy men <3

I know I can't be greedy with my Seonghwa agenda, but I also know people want other members as well. I would say San, but one of my besties says Mingi ksydkdhshskshegs

In the 1st photo he said 👍🧍‍♂️ https://twitter.com/hwalilac/status/1534378398457692160?t=GsxdUCAFyPF55EVEBZvHUQ&s=19

Ok these are DILF, the 1st one is lowkey an embarrassing uncle on holidays but a H O T uncle nevertheless. I have similar sandals, but they're not as stompy 😭 also PRADA. If I was on that carousel and he suddenly showed up I'd fall off my horse for sure. Anyway look at his smiley eyes, uwu https://www.instagram.com/p/Ceg-uJDN25p/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

A question: how would you rank the members in order for your potential roommates? I had these convos with people multiple times and I'm always curious if they choose their bias. - DV 💖

hi hello!!

Sleeping in the same position for hours is THE WORST I feel like a grandma after waking up. Is your elbow better?

NO FR WAKING UP WITH LIKE LINES ON YOUR ARMS AND CHEEKS THE BEST SLEEP EVER esp if it rains,, the little razzle dazzle 🤌🏼 the cold and the blanket 😮‍💨😮‍💨 and yes it is!! back to normal just a little sore!

Some people, bless them, but they're whole ass adults yet act like teens, pls behave 😭 this includes my friends... I need to snap them out of their daze from time to time

NO FR SO TRUE 😭😭😭 sometimes it’s rly embarrassing but bro pls grow up it’s annoying to take responsibility of ur actions everytime 😭😭🤚🏼

Exactly Treasure has vocals, but it's so hype and pirate-y too! The MV is simple, but they filmed it in such a pretty place!

EXACTLY !!!!! the whole middle eastern concept in that mv was chefs kisses,,, tho im still questioning that white man that was in the mv for no reason HOW DID HE MAKE THE CUT DID NO ONE SEE HREKFH 😭😭 THE BASS LINE IN TREASURE IS SOME OF THEIR BEST

Fhjsyehshehhse Jongho belly dancer, but he's wearing a coat still. I see him as the snake charmer with Seonghwa being the snake. No because belly chain Seonghwa, we remember, we cry 😭😍

LMFAOOOO STOP A BELLY CHAIN ON TOP OF JONGHOS LONG COATS 😭😭😭😭 seonghwa, the snake, the siren, the everything sexc,,, belly chain hwa BUT GIVE HIM SOMETHING WITH A LITTLE MORE FLARE AND CATCH ME PASSING OHT

I'm not a Jopper, sorry but compared to Step Back, not only were the lyrics ugly but the song? So bad. I'm so sorry to my ladies </3

NO SERIOUSLY WHAT WAS THAT SONG??? the hideous auto tune and the beat 😭😭 jopping outsold <3

RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT !!!!! i have it on repeat ever since it came out and im so entranced by him 😭😭😭 YEAH THEYRE ALL SERVING FROM THE TITLES TO THE BSIDES THEYRR ALL SO GOOD??? god 😩😩 no one can match sm soloists YES ME TOO i thought his song would be like mad dog with that bass but he completely surprised me im so hooked and so excited to see his stuff,,, he gives me post malone vibes and i will take it ALL. no fr me too, bias like strong ✊🏼 RIGHT FBEJFHEJ I LOVED I.MS WHOLE ALBUM WAS SO SO GOOOOD

20 OF ONE MAN????? WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON IN THERE ????? no fr sm jewel cases are so pretty bc the photoshoot in it is superior but they gIVE BARELY ANYTHING IN IT 😭😭😭 I EXPECT A SMALL POSTER AND PHOTOCARD AND A POSTCARD IDC IDC ;!2&;)2@ 60???? HIGHLIGHTERS??? HELLOOO????????????????

WHAT DO U MEAN WATER GETS BORING FHKWHDWK IM SCREAMJNG DO U SHOWER IN FLAVOURED WATER TOO ?????? ANON THIS MENTAL 😭😭😭😭😭 UR HEALTH ??????

I'm sorry I only accept DILF Hwa, but I will see what's going on with y/ns father...

NAURURURURUUR 😭😭😭😭😭 u had a boyfriend while hwa was beside you?? how dARE YOU JCBSMDH lmg was it a apocalypse or something bc ??? 😭😭😭😭

YES ABSOLUTELY I WILL WRITE IT !!!! more like the bride and groom forcing the best man and maid of honour to stay in one flat together bc they are the ones handling the wedding deco and do not agree on nothing 🥰🥰🥰 u will see a hair straightener being chucked at seonghwa <3 he likes it bad <3

YES !!! it’s easy to write y/n’s bc everyone just makes and moulds them into what they wanna be presented as,,, for oc’s it’s restrictive but also sometimes off putting when they go in crazy details of certain stuff that’s self indulgent fbwmdhsj

https://twitter.com/hwascloud/status/1222693373170946048?s=20&t=dNR4o7kUFywwXa5noW4OUQ 😌😌😌😌

i-i just d worded.

Everytime Seonghwa posts pouty or kissy selfies I'M LOOKING AT L I P S plsssss. And your mum knows it, she likes slutty gender envy men <3

EXACTLY IM LOOKING AT HIS LIPS IM GONNA ROB THEM BUT FIRST ILL SMOOCH FBWNBD

LMFAOOOO SHE LOVES SLUTTY MEN 😭😭

I know I can't be greedy with my Seonghwa agenda, but I also know people want other members as well. I would say San, but one of my besties says Mingi ksydkdhshskshegs

i have around, 2 hwa fics upcoming <3 OHO DOES UR BESTIE ALSO READ FICS 🔫

In the 1st photo he said 👍🧍‍♂️ https://twitter.com/hwalilac/status/1534378398457692160?t=GsxdUCAFyPF55EVEBZvHUQ&s=19

and the second photo he said ateezmakemeweep’s dilf hwa 😭😭😭😭 I WANT THAT ONE

DOMT TRY TO DIVERT THE ATTENTION WHAT THE FUCK IS HE WEARING IM SCREAMINGJRVWMDJWK THOSE ARE CHONKY C H O N K Y GOD DAMN HE WOULD KILL AN ANT WITH A SMALL STEP FBWNBDNE I JUST WANNA KNOW WHAT WERE U THINKING BUYING THOSE 😭😭😭

i have something for u too. what the hell is this.

A question: how would you rank the members in order for your potential roommates? I had these convos with people multiple times and I'm always curious if they choose their bias. - DV 💖

omg ok i like quiet ppl bc they wont talk and u have the best time doing ur own thing so id say yeosang,, hongjoong, seonghwa and then the rest BUT WOOYOUNG IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE LIST how about u omg who’s the one everyone chooses the most??

#✉️ : ask #dv 💖 anon

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barelyalivebutnotdead · 3 years

Conversation

Chaos

[The bat-brothers: Dick, Jason, Tim and Damian sitting at the dining table in the Wayne Manor. They all sit in chairs lines up, facing the Fanon version of themselves: 'Perceptions']

Tim: (reluctantly) So, these guys are our 'perceptions'?

Dick: (nodding, slightly uncomfortable) Yeah, Zatanna said she will drop by once she has figured out to fix this without collapsing the multiverse in on itself.

Tim: (gulps and points at Fanon!Tim sitting directly opposite to him) Why do I- I mean, why does he look like that?

[Cut to Fanon!Tim with sunken cheekbones, pale skin, skinny frame and dark, chapped lips. He looks undernourished and his eyes are laden with dark circles from sleep deprivation. He looks like a zombie.]

: readmore:

Tim: (whispering to his brothers to not offend the Fanon versions) He looks like a zombie...

Dick: (speechless)

Damian: (Smirks) That's the vibe you emit, Drake. Face the truth.

Jason: (also speechless, raised eyebrows, regrets life and death decisions that led up to this moment.)

Dick: (has the most optimistic 'wtf' look on his face looking at Fanon!Dick)

[Cut to Fanon!Dick sitting on the chair with a huge, 440-watt smile. He looks like the himbo version of a dog wagging his tail.]

Dick: (in both wonder and bemusement) I swear I can see rainbows and sunshine in his eyes...

[Dick internally wonders where Fanon!Dick got the childlike innocence from, considering his sanity has been crumbling for a long, long time now]

[THUMP!]

[Cut to Fanon!Tim faceplanting on the table. Jason looks like he regrets coming back to life. Tim is unsure what to do. Damian's eye is twitching from being around the Fanon imbeciles. Dick is this close to giving up on everything.]

Fanon!Jason: Oh no, baby bird! (Worriedly goes to Fanon!Tim and lifts his head)

[Fanon!Damian sits with hands folded and a scowl, in Fanon!Dick's lap, who hold him very dearly]

Jason: What the fuck?

Tim: What the fuck?

[Fanon!Jason lifts Fanon!Tim's head to reveal a... Less than pleasant face]

Fanon!Tim: (in a very scratchy, weak voice) Coff- coughs -fee! (and then THUMPS on the table head-first, again.)

[Fanon!Jason catches ahold of Fanon!Dick by the collar and gets into his face]

Fanon!Jason: You weren't a good brother to me and now you can't even take care of my Timmy?!

[He huffs and leaps for the kitchen to make coffee.]

[Dick facepalms, he cannot see this. Jason flinches in fear of Alfred's swear jar each time he hears Fanon!Jason swear from the kitchen. Tim buried his face into his hands and slumps against the table, he wishes to disappear and never face reality again. Damian is already reaching for his sword.]

Fanon!Damian: (scoffs) Let the imbecile die. A pathetic soul like his deserves a pathetic death like this.

Damian: (he stands on the table wielding the sword to Fanon!Damian's throat, eyes raging green) What the hell did you just say?!

Fanon!Dick and Canon!Dick: Shut up, Damian! (Who said that to which Damian, I'll let you decide)

[Dick and Tim pull Damian back from killing the Fanon!Damian, fearing that killing them would cause something to go wrong in the multiverse]

[Fanon!Jason returns from the kitchen with a tray in which he decorated a large mug of coffee, a flower vase and a bowl of hot soup.]

Dick: (In astonishment and disbelief) Jason?

[Fanon!Jason doesn't answer him. He goes and sits by Fanon!Tim and sets down the mug of coffee. Then, with cooing words, feeds Fanon!Tim the soup, gently.]

Jason: Where's my crowbar.

Dick: (Lets out he most tired sigh and pinches the bridge of his nose, others are unsure whether he is frustrated over Jason's crowbar or the Fanons.)

Tim: (Turns to Damian with an earnest, pained expression) Damian, kill me before this is embedded into my memory forever.

Damian: (takes a breath and turns to Tim, his voice polite, soft and genuine. Vicarious pain and embarassment flashing in his eyes) I hate this too, Drake. Believe me, I really do. But since this hurts you more than it hurts me, (In the same soft, genuine, polite voice but evilly dramatic tone) suffer.

[Dick looks at Fanon!Dick, somehow glowing with childlike happiness.]

Dick: I wonder how he is so happy?

Alfred: Sirs? It is time for Dinner.

[The boys all get up and help in setting the table. Chaos ensues]

Jason: I'll get the plates. Tim? Get the caserols.

[A very 'undead' Tim walks in, dragging his feet and hunching over with slumped shoulders.]

Fanon!Tim: (Groans) Coffeee!

[Despite having met death, Jason backs away from Fanon!Tim for the fear of God knows what. He watches in a moment of sheer patience Jason didn't know he had as Fanon!Tim streches for the coffee jar on the top shelf, knocks it off as he collapses and proceeds to shove the raw coffee grounds into his mouth. Jason slowly backs away from him.]

Jason: (to Tim, visibly shaken up) I'm not going near that Tim, you shouldn't either.

Tim: (Putting down the caseroles a little lazily) Is that what my 'perception' is? A zombie looking Edward Cullen who survives on coffee and (shudders, refering to when Fanon!Jason fed Fanon!Tim soup.) That.

Jason: I'm going to get Zatanna to erase my memory of this event.

Tim: Yeah, call me too.

[Fanon!Damian sits atop of Fanon!Dick's shoulders, carrying a bunch of spoons while Fanon!Dick walks with glasses in his hands, laughing with Damian while he growls in return]

Dick: (thinks, Should I try to be as happy as him? Then looks down to see Damian watching in stoic horror as Fanon!Damian begins acting like a baby.)

Dick: (Opens his mouth to express his thoughts)

Damian: (Looks up at Dick and squints into a mini-bat-glare before Dick has the chance to say something) Grayson, I know what you are thinking. If you ever try to manhandle me like a baby, you will lose an organ.

Fanon!Tim: (Walks by shoving a handful of coffee grounds into his mouth) I hope it's a spleen. We'll have something in common to talk about then.

[Both Damian and Dick are thorougly spooked.]

Fanon!Jason: (Quivering out of anger at Fanon!Tim's broken, sad, lonely tone) Your fault, Dick!

[Dick gulps wondering if the Fanon!UniverseJason ever got out of the pit madness.]

Jason: (In a tone more broken, hopeless and sad tone than Fanon!Tim's) Why...

[Everyone sits for dinner. Alfred serves]

[Fanon!Dick suddenly gets up, walks up to Fanon!Damian and hugs him. Fanon!Damian responds with a bite. The he goes and hugs Fanon!Jason, he responds by shoving Fanon!Dick away, grumbling about how cruel he was to Tim. Finally, he goes to Fanon!Tim and gives him a hug. He is too busy chugging more coffee to respond.)

[Dick, Jason, Tim and Damian are exasperated, to put it simply.]

[Dick slumps onto the table. Jason finally pulls out his crowbar. Tim crumbles upon himself. Damian closes his eyes in an attemp to not lose whatever is left of his sanity.]

Dick, Jason and Damin: (in unison) I wish I had stayed dead than waching this.

Tim: (feels more nightmares of Jason coming to his nights.)

Author's note: Okay, I admit, this may not be as funny as I meant it to be but... I can suck, you know? Besides, this may be terrible but in a universe with the CW's PowerPuff Girls script, it cannot objectively be the worst. And yes, I categorize this as a shitpost.

Sorry for creating this, but I had fun.

174 notes · View notes

jostenneil · 3 years

Note

what parallels about brutalia and dickkory stand out to you the most?

it turns out i answered this once before on twt so i’m gonna copy paste my answer with some modifications lol

to me, dick is more like bruce than he wants to admit. i think this stems not only from bruce nurturing him as a fellow crimefighter but also from the inherent need in any child to feel like they can meet their parent's standards and be worthy of their love. dick's high standards for competency obv have their origins in how he's trained (whether as an acrobat or crimefighter), but he also probably learned to hold himself to a high standard bc he suspected it was what would make bruce respect him as a partner (though obv this is a misconception on his part. bruce isn't interested in competency to meet some standard, he's interested in it bc he wants his partners to be safe rather than reckless). and that high drive for competency and effective crime fighting, despite it stemming from different places for dick and bruce, renders them both into. . . quite ornery people at times. they're very harsh on themselves and sometimes in particularly strenuous circumstances that can impact their interactions with others and render them quite unlikeable and intimidating, despite the fact that they may very well be right about something on a practical level

where kory and talia factor into this is that they're intimidating figures in their own right, imo. their unique upbringings have sort of demanded they maintain a level of internal strength that doesn't so easily falter even in the face of harsh circumstances (altho admittedly, this is a pretty depressing fact about them). donna and roy are dick's closest friends, sure, but they're also just as young and in many ways unequipped to handle the unique kind of pressure and expectations that dick's dealing with. kory, uniquely, is foreign to human customs. there's some sentiments that any lifeforms will share on a base level, but her ideology is still different and i think it allows her to approach dick from a different angle that he very much needs. she challenges him in ways that other people simply won't, and the mask doesn't mean much to her. he's just dick, even before he’s her leader, even before he’s batman’s sidekick. that's why their relationship feels like one of equals even when they're apart, at least to me. there's a mutual respect there from how they've inspired and driven each other to be better, more whole versions of themselves that feels very constant to me. dick also challenges kory in ways that no one else can, and even in cases where their methodologies ultimately diverge, she still values what he stands for in the face of cruelty and injustice. she values his heart, and that counts for something

along a somewhat similar vein, bruce doesn't have many like minded adults in his life whom he can connect with on a personal level. the justice league, sure, but they're still people he holds at a distance (at least until tower of babel) and can't necessarily talk to about his personal trauma or problems bc he doesn't feel entirely comfortable disclosing them. talia, uniquely, is someone who's privy to bruce's personal life early. she sees who he is beneath the mask, and all of the ugly, messy emotions are on full display for her regardless of whether he's wearing the mask or not, bc she knows him, the real him, and i think that gives her an advantage in that she can't be cowed by him. he can break her heart, sure, but she stands up to him time and time again bc she knows intimately that he's still human beneath the mask, and that he can't always close himself off behind it and all of the other baggage. talia’s belief and inspiration in what bruce stands for as the batman is what compels her for so long to refuse to give up on him. she knows he can always be better, even in his worst moments, and she’s one of the only people willing to challenge him to be better rather than let him wallow in guilt and darkness forever. bruce also challenges talia in ways that aren’t entirely antagonistic despite their stark differences in methodology; he believes in her motives and intent even if he doesn’t necessarily agree with her actions, and the persistence of his morality does play a part in her eventually breaking away from ra’s, even if it breaks her away from him, too.

talia and kory to me are similar in that they're both driven by a sense of love and justice that applies not just to what they do by way of saving people but also to their relationships with dick and bruce, bc they don't let dick and bruce sink beneath the cowls and lurk there forever. as much as dick and bruce are inspirations to them, they also inherently drive dick and bruce to be the best versions of themselves bc they're strong and unrelenting in the face of all that bat clan baggage and trauma, having gone through so much trauma and survived it themselves. they're just. . . the right kind of people to challenge dick and bruce without necessarily acting as antagonists to them. they call them out on their bullshit, but they do so out of an inherent knowledge that either man Does have the capacity to be better, and that's a kind of faith and accountability that isn't as strongly mirrored in the guys’ other relationships, at least imo. i also want to specify that by challenge i don’t mean fix. i don’t think kory and talia are the solution to dick and bruce’s man pain, and i like that both women realize they deserve to put themselves first above their relationship. tbh, to a degree, i don’t think dick and bruce actually even deserve them. but i still appreciate that kory and talia are unafraid to stand up to them and to weather their storms, not out of some desire to fix either man, but bc they know either man can be better and should be better than whatever he’s like when he’s at his worst. it’s the way both couples have a love language of holding each other to a higher standard. and it’s not a standard set out of self interest or idealization, it’s a standard set bc when you love someone you know they deserve to be at their best as much as you deserve to see them at their best, and that’s a level of faith that only the strongest relationships can really exhibit, imo

#dickkory #brutalia #dick grayson #bruce wayne #koriand’r #talia al ghul #dc #asks #mine:meta #does any of this make sense. idk it’s like midnight lol

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t4tlawlight · 3 years

Text

YOU'RE AN AVENGER, A DEATH ANGEL. YOU KILL PEOPLE WHO ASK FOR IT, WHO DESERVE TO DIE. YOU'RE A WATCHDOG, A PROTECTOR OF THINGS DECENT. YOUR COMFORTS ARE SACRIFICED FOR EFFICIENCY -- YOU CAN'T DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE WITH PEOPLE MOANING AND CLINGING TO YOU, YOU CAN'T STRIKE WITH POSSESSIONS WEIGHING YOU DOWN. YOU HAVE A CLEAR HEAD AND NO REGRETS. YOU CAN TAKE OUT ANYONE BECAUSE YOU'RE STRIPPED DOWN AND YOU DON'T DEPEND ON OR TRUST A SOUL. YOU ARE EFFECTIVE BECAUSE YOU DON'T LOVE ANYBODY OR ANYTHING. YOU'RE A ONE- MAN FORCE, THE PERFECT INSTRUMENT OF DESTINY.

– "INFLAMMATORY ESSAYS 5" by Jenny Holzer

(this is a companion piece to Love and Belonging, my early drama light analysis! [LINK] i heavily recommend reading it before continuing this analysis, as i reference events and ideas explained in that post.)

in my previous analysis of drama light, i focused on the events that led him to become the man we see in the beginning of the drama: a gentle, kind man who is underachieving but still brilliant, who takes a maternal role in his household after the death of his mother. This is all crucial to understanding Light’s character in the drama and how the events leading up to him becoming Kira change in line with his altered characterization, but that analysis only barely skimmed the surface of Light’s character development throughout the drama, and especially after L’s death.

the drama fandom--including me!--is somewhat guilty of making blanket statements about drama light’s morality as opposed to his manga counterpart, that drama light is kinder and gentler in comparison to manga light. this may be true early on, but i would argue that as the series progresses, drama light willingly and deliberately throws away his love and humanity just as much--if not more!--than his manga counterpart.

to understand what i mean it’s important to compare light’s relationship with his father between the adaptations.

in the manga, light grows up idolizing his father, loving and admiring him and wanting to follow in his footsteps as a police officer. his morality that leads to him ultimately becoming Kira comes from Soichiro, as does his dissatisfaction with the world as he sees his father work himself to the bone trying to eradicate crime that seems to never end.

there’s a lot more that can be said about the nature of their relationship and about how Light desperately seeks his father’s approval, but instead of typing out an entire analysis i’ll link you to this post by tumblr user mikami [LINK], which is a very good analysis of the two of them in the manga.

conversely, in the drama Light begins much the same, but Soichiro choosing to chase a criminal instead of being by his wife’s deathbed--leaving his children to witness their mother’s passing alone--strains Light’s relationship with him. Light has much of the same morals and worldview as manga Light, but now believes that his father’s morality is more or less worthless, since he had to give up his family to pursue justice.

Light: When my mother died when I was a kid, my father was off chasing a criminal… I thought my father’s form of justice couldn’t be worth much, if he had to sacrifice even his family to see it through.

– Episode 7

however, it’s important to note that while Light is cold with his father and resents his occupation, that does not mean that Light does not still love and idolize his father. he wants his father’s love and support, and he cares as deeply for him as does his manga counterpart. in fact, drama light only becomes kira out of a desire to protect his father--after his first, accidental murder, he throws away the Death Note and tries to forget about it. however, his father is taken hostage by a criminal who intends on seeking revenge for Soichiro putting him in jail years ago, and Light is forced to retrieve the note and write the criminal’s name to protect his father.

[photo: a zoomed in shot of the Death Note. Light is writing the name “Otoharada Kuro” in Japanese. the penmanship is shaky and nearly illegible from how hard Light’s hand is trembling.]

– Episode 1

Light is literally shaking with terror as he writes the name of the man about to kill his father.

and this is not something Light does lightly--after he saves his father and it’s announced that Otoharada is dead, Light is absolutely stricken with guilt and horror for murdering two people, including the man who was about to kill his father. he saved his father’s life at the price of another, because he loves his father--and his entire family--very deeply.

it’s also worth noting a slight difference between the manga and the drama; after the mock execution, drama Soichiro admits that he believed Light could be guilty and was prepared to die. Light--who at this point has no memory of being Kira and thus completely believes himself to be wrongly accused--does not blame his father for not trusting him. Light, who desperately wants his father’s approval, does not blame him in the slightest: instead, the subject of his anger is Kira himself for putting Soichiro in this position and making Soichiro suffer.

Light: I… I hate Kira. Kira, who made you suffer this way… I hate him so much. Soichiro: Light… Light: Please catch him. I believe that you can catch Kira, Dad.

[photo: Light and Soichiro in an abandoned parking garage. the two of them are crouching beside Soichiro’s car. Soichiro is hugging Light, who weakly raises his hands to hold his father in return.]

– Episode 6

the two of them embrace and weep before collecting themselves and returning to Countermeasures.

by this point in the story, it’s obvious that both versions of Light love Soichiro very much. Light is creating his “new world” for the good of humanity but also for the people he loves the most--his family.

later, the emotional death of manga Light comes after the passing of his father, which he never wanted nor planned for. he never wanted Soichiro to be in a position to get hurt and he is never, ever the same after Soichiro's death, especially because he never gains his father’s approval for his actions as Kira--in fact, Soichiro leaves him with an outright rejection of Kira entirely.

[panel 1: a close up of Soichiro’s eye. he looks like he’s in pain. the speech bubble above his head reads, “I still have the eyes. And according to that Shinigami… Ryuk, I can’t see the lifespan of someone who owns a notebook.

panel 2: Light is standing above his father’s prone body. Matsuda stands behind him, bandages on his face and arms. Soichiro continues, “Light, you’re not Kira… I’m so glad…” Light looks shocked in response, a speech bubble above his head reading only “!” Matsuda says, “O-of course he isn’t! You were still worried about that?"]

the fact that Light can never gain that approval leads to him becoming incredibly dissatisfied and simply going through the motions--it’s what leads to him treating other people like cogs in a machine that will listen to him without any free will of their own, which is what makes him not foresee that Mikami might take action of his own accord. this is how Light gets caught in the end.

in the drama, however, Light experiences more than just his father’s rejection. Soichiro confronts Light directly about being Kira, catching him in the act. this is, of course, Light’s worst case scenario--he does virtually everything he can to lie his way out of it, to get his father back on his side, but fails. Soichiro acknowledges the fact that it was his fault that Light turned out this way, and also that he failed to notice that Light was suffering up until now--and then begs Light to turn himself in, in a scene that echoes L’s confrontation with Light from a couple of episodes prior.

when Light refuses, Soichiro begins to write his own name in the book.

Light: No way. Dad… Stop it. Dad! Stop it! Dad! Soichiro: There’s a struggle going on in your soul right now, isn’t there? That’s what it means to take someone’s life. That’s the weight of a human life. Do you understand, Light? Light: If this suffering is the real thing, I really can’t forgive criminals. I realized it, Dad. Even someone like me… There’s something even I can do to serve the world. Soichiro: How does killing people serve the world?! Light: I’ve sacrificed a lot of things, too! You of all people must understand how I feel! We’re working for the same thing. To protect the peace for everyone. With that notebook, I can create a world without crime! I’m just like you! Soichiro: You’re wrong. Open your eyes, Light. Come back, Light.

– Episode 10

with this ultimate rejection of Light’s actions, Soichiro finishes writing his name and Light allows him to do so. it isn’t as though Light couldn’t have stopped him if he really wanted to, either; on one level, turning himself into the police as Soichiro requested would have saved his father. on another, we see him rip the Death Note from Soichiro’s dying hands moments later as his father attempts to burn the book. Light is perfectly capable of saving the book and only acts when the Note is in danger, not his beloved family member.

of course, we never see manga Light exactly in this position, either, and I can’t say that I think that manga Light would have turned himself in or physically ripped the Note from Soichiro’s hands. both Lights did virtually everything they could to never be in a situation where they had to choose between the safety of their family members and being Kira, and I doubt manga Light would have done well emotionally with Soichiro outright rejecting him, his actions, and his ideology.

however, their actions and behavior immediately after Soichiro’s death is extremely telling. when manga Light is rejected by his father, who died as a result of a plan gone awry, he is completely devastated.

[photo: a panel of Light Yagami screaming over his father’s body. tears are running down his face, and he yells, “Dad! Dad! Don’t you die, damn it!”]

he sheds tears--which are rare for manga Light--and he mourns over his father’s dead body for quite some time. as i said previously, he is never the same man again after his father’s death.

drama Light sheds tears as Soichiro writes his name and is clearly upset by his passing, but his mourning period is immediately interrupted by desperation to get the Note back. he spends Soichiro’s last moments wrestling with him for the Note, and once his father collapses he takes the note, wild-eyed, and holds it to his chest protectively. in this instant, he cares more about the safety of the book than his dead parent--because he had just chosen the notebook, and being Kira, over his father.

after Soichiro’s funeral, Light thinks this:

Light [internally]: Dad really did open my eyes. If I am to become a God, sacrifices are inevitable. No matter who it is that pursues Kira, I will erase them.

– Episode 10

this is Light implicitly saying that sacrificing his family members--sacrificing Soichiro, the man he began killing in order to save--is inevitable if they oppose Kira. of course, this is very similar to the way that manga Light distances himself from Soichiro after Soichiro’s death, to save him from the hurting that it caused him.

[photo: a panel of Light Yagami’s face, zoomed in close so we can only see one eye, his nose, and most of his mouth. He is scowling, most of his eye cast in shadow, and he’s sweating and panting. He asks, “Dad? Are you talking about Soichiro Yagami?”]

of course, all of this begs the question of how drama Light--who began a sweet, gentle boy who was more or less coerced into using the Death Note to begin with--got to a place that even manga Light didn’t have the chance to get to, where he was more willing to save the Death Note than his own father. it’s important to consider another relationship that drama Light has that’s much different from manga Light’s--his relationship to L.

manga light respects L's intelligence and sees him as an equal, as entertainment at times, but he doesn’t like him. not even during yotsuba arc, where they’re ostensibly on the same side--in fact, i would say yotsuba Light has more reason to dislike L, seeing as though he believes L to be falsely accusing him and having tortured him for virtually no reason. they're not actually friends--it’s a manipulation tactic. moreover, L sees him the same way. they were not friends and they both intended on killing each other until the bitter end.

by comparison, drama light and L's relationship starts that way--with the two of them wanting to kill each other, with a pretense of friendship that is actually an excuse to get close to each other to try and test for weaknesses--but the difference is that they, well, fall for their own bullshit. during yotsuba arc, Light’s memories are rewritten in such a way that he believes that L and light are genuinely on friendly terms, and L finds himself over the course of the arc going from respecting Light’s talents and thinking him as something interesting to genuinely wanting him to not be Kira and seeing him as a friend.

if you want to know more about L’s thought processes during the series and specifically the blue scene I recommend reading my analysis about him [LINK] but what is important to note is that L does not want to kill Light anymore by the time episode 8 rolls around. like Soichiro later will, he attempts to convince Light to confess--with the intention, we later find out, to potentially give him a way out. of course, Light doesn’t understand this and believes, for the moment, that it’s a fight to the death--so he writes L’s name in (what he believes to be) the Death Note.

this is intrinsically different from the way Light kills L in the manga. manga Light convinces someone else to do the dirty work and he is absolutely gleeful when L dies, gloating over his dying body--but up until this point L has made manga Light’s life an absolute hassle and expressed time and time again that he intends on executing Kira, who he believes to be Light. L wants to kill him, and they are not friends. while drama Light also believes it’s a “me-or-him” situation, he cannot deny that he actually likes L, that he wanted to be friends with him--he wanted, like Soichiro, for L to accept him and to be a part of the world Kira would create.

[photo: Light, cast in blue light, is bent over double. we’re looking at his face from below, from L’s point of view on the floor. his face is contorted with grief, face wet with tears and spit. He says, “I’d have wanted to be your friend forever.”]

– Episode 8

these are what Light believes to be his last words to L, so he has no reason to lie. he’s weeping as he says it, seeming absolutely heartbroken. this is the first time that Light kills--or attempts to kill--someone he cares about, and it’s the moment he decides to throw his humanity away. if he hadn’t cared so deeply for L before deciding to kill him, I don’t think the scene with Soichiro would have played out quite the same. Light even says it himself right before he writes L’s name:

Light: I can’t afford to lose to you. I’m creating a perfect world, without crime. To see that happen, I… L: Light… Light: I… I’ve decided there’s nothing I won’t do!

– Episode 8

these words are immediately followed by Light attempting to kill L. this is the fundamental moment that Light throws away his humanity, literally deciding that he would do anything for his new world, including killing his friends if they stand in his way. this culminates in him letting his father die and ripping the Note from his hands. he believes that the ends justify the means and that this is the only option he has.

it’s important to note that it isn’t that Light stopped loving his father, or stopped liking L--it isn’t that he lacks guilt over their deaths. it’s exactly the opposite. while their deaths--and the deaths of the Countermeasures team that he planned to take place, as well as the FBI and countless other people--are a necessary evil in order to make the world a better place, Light has to absolutely jump through hoops to justify it to himself and compartmentalize the guilt. as I said earlier, Light saying that Soichiro’s death was inevitable is a way to distance himself from the pain and guilt and rejection he feels, but as he’s dying that guilt cracks back open wide. when he sees that the Death Note is on fire, he panics and begins crawling towards it.

Light: Not yet. I can still do more. If I give up now… What was it all for?

– Episode 11

this is immediately followed by a flashback to Soichiro’s death, where Soichiro questions him about how killing people serves the world--after he crawls a little further, he flashes back again to L, recalling L’s desire to be friends with him.

these flashbacks go to show that Light feels a deep and profound guilt for killing both of them. he’s justified and rationalized it to himself as being for the good of the world--he chose being Kira over both of their lives. however, this means that if Kira fails, if he dies and the world goes right back to the way it was, then all of it was for nothing. he gets himself into a situation where he has to keep killing and killing people he cares about because if he stops then it means that all of it was for nothing.

it’s honestly an incredibly sad situation, that someone so full of kindness would become ultimately cold-hearted in an effort to cope with guilt.

#death note #death note drama #light yagami #soichiro yagami #death note analysis

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fils91 · 3 years

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The things that I dislike about "Big Mouth" are as follows:

One-dimensional characters. All Jay does is fuck pillows and other non-sentient objects; all Andrew does is whack off all the time (both of them need to be chemically castrated and sent to therapy); all Lola does is be annoying and the female version of Cartman; all Caleb does is say random things that no one cares about and states the obvious; all Lars does is act like Craig Tucker in Timmy Burch's body; all Cheryl does is want to fuck his own cousin; all Vicky does is be an unbearable redneck stereotype who pursues Nick to the point of acting jealous whenever he looks his eye at someone else (like Jessi, for instance).

Portraying people the same way that "Family Guy" does. Which comes as no surprise, seeing that co-creator Andrew Goldberg used to write for FG. Along with cutaways that serve nothing to the plot and pop culture references that its target audience (teens who are going through puberty and young adults who went through puberty a decade ago) will not get, it also doesn't shy away from offending a group of people--such as the case with "Florida", for instance. Leave the offending groups of people to "South Park", thank you very much.

Dropping the c-word around like it's a British show. Apparently, all four creators of this show attended the same "be edgy as possible and drop c-words and homophobic language" school as The Whitest Kids U'Know. Speaking of homophobic remarks (Judd, Val and Kurt are 100% offenders in the department), it's not 2007 anymore. It disgusts and offends me that that type of "humor" still exists in these shows. Seriously, when you're on the same level as one of the worst sketch comedy shows of the 21st century, you're immediately on my bad side.

The non-sentient stuff such as talking pillows and talking snatches and talking dicks. The Hormone Monsters and Monstresses are one thing (because they are manifestations of teens' hormones), but to go down the same route that every other adult animated show has gone down and have basically everything talk is another thing. Can't anything be realistic or in this show's case semi-realistic for once? Just because it's a cartoon doesn't mean you should be non-realistic.

The show's misandry--which is a hatred of men. I don't know what the writing team has against men, but I am so fed up with how my gender gets the short end of the stick every chance the show gets. This is why I dislike some of Judd Apatow’s films (“Knocked Up” comes to mind).

The show's self-fellating, high-five-ing sense of breaking the fourth wall. A true sign of just how pretentious and full of themselves the creators are (and the same can be said for Trey Parker and Matt Stone).

This is minor, but all the kids having adult voices. Like most people, I cannot stand that. There's a reason why shows such as "South Park" have the adults voicing them having their voices pitch-shifted to sound like kids. So why can't "Big Mouth" do the same? I would love to see a Tumblr blog dedicated to doing that. Somebody make that happen.

All in all, "Big Mouth" is in the same category of "love-hate, but recently to the point of hating it in the end" shows such as "South Park". I can get past the stuff that everyone still complains about when it comes to puberty, because that's what literally everyone going through puberty has experienced at one point or another. If you're expecting a show about puberty to shy away from the explicit stuff, then you'd be dead wrong. But when it veers into gross-out territory, that's another way to put the show in said category. As Jeremy Scott of CinemaSins once said: stop showing people puking! Not every single adult animated show has to be needlessly vulgar and juvenile and hateful. S4 has become so into the gross-out shit a lot that the show has as a result gone downhill, and the fact that S5 ups the ante with horror-movie levels of gore is not helping any matters.

#big mouth netflix #south park

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