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vidavalor · 6 months

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Maggie's individual scenes with Crowley & Aziraphale & what they might be suggesting

In 2.05, Aziraphale sends Crowley out to make sure that Nina and Maggie are both on their way to the bookshop for the meeting ball. While Crowley officially met Nina in 2.01 and has had several scenes with her since, this is then Crowley's first scene directly interacting with Maggie alone that we've been shown and the only one still to date by the end of S2. There's a few interesting things happening in it, imo..

The only time we actually see Crowley and Aziraphale in the same place with Maggie is during the ball and briefly in the big group scene in the morning before Crowley gets Maggie and Nina out of the bookshop. Aziraphale is only just coming back as Maggie and Nina are leaving after talking to Crowley in the bookshop in 2.06, so the only scene of Crowley, Aziraphale & Maggie all together of any real note is the ball, where other characters are occupying their time and then the bookshop is attacked. My point is that both Crowley and Aziraphale get moments of interaction with Maggie-- alone, in her shop-- but we don't see them together around her. She is the only Whickber Street shopkeeper who doesn't have an individual scene with both of them-- even Mr. Arnold, who is only in about 2 scenes, does. Why might this matter? Look at this Crowley and Maggie scene here...

When Crowley & Aziraphale went around the neighborhood to get the Whickber Street shopkeepers to come to the meeting, we saw them at Goldstone's, at Marguerite's, at Arnold's Music Shop, talking with Mrs. Cheng *and* talking with Nina about the meeting. Mr. Brown of Brown's World of Carpets did not require persuading to come to his favorite thing in the world and also he had come to the shop earlier to drop off the chairs so he had already been confirmed in attendance off-camera, as we learned at the ball. Mrs. Sandwich arrives at the meeting ball and speaks with Aziraphale, indicating that she's not sure why he wanted her to come to the meeting. This is something that she probably would have already said if Aziraphale had come over to invite her directly. He did want her there but since she's the only Whickber Street character who has met both Crowley and Aziraphale per the ball scene but knows Crowley more and doesn't know most of the other shopkeepers, it's likely that Crowley was dispatched alone to invite her. This leaves only one shopkeeper-- a crucial one to the ball-- that we never see actually invited to the meeting but who knows it's taking place and that's Maggie. That means we actually were intentionally *not* shown the scene of Crowley and Aziraphale stopping at The Small Back Room-- which was on Aziraphale's clipboard list when they went around the neighborhood-- but we *were* shown even the brief moment with Mrs. Cheng instead. All for reasons that aren't immediately clear to us by the end of S2 but are extra interesting because of Maggie's kind of mysterious backstory.

In the scene with Crowley, Maggie has just closed up shop when Crowley knocks on her window and she comes to the door of her shop. Crowley says: "He says to tell you that the meeting of the Whickber Street thing-y is starting now." There is no introduction here and Maggie answered the door after closing her shop, which means they know who one another is. They've met before. They're also aware of one another in a capacity that centers Aziraphale as the common person they know. Crowley didn't even say "Mr. Fell says to tell you", just "he says." He didn't introduce himself and he expected-- correctly-- that Maggie knew that he knows Aziraphale, which means that Crowley has met Maggie in a capacity connected to Aziraphale in some way and isn't just a frequent shopper at The Small Back Room.

Maggie just says that she never misses a meeting and she'll be right there and Crowley says "no problem." He seems mildly nervous-- not yet in the way he was when he began to sense danger when rounding up Nina-- but different than he was with the other shopkeepers. Is he just awkward because he's been playing Cupid all week for her and now he's got to talk to her lol (but he's not really like that with Nina?) Why do they feel like it's important for us to see the short interaction in this scene?

This scene is presented to us as something of a surprise because putting it here in this way without having given us Crowley & Maggie before then gives it more weight, especially since the show gave us literally every other shopkeeper meeting Crowley prior to this and Maggie and Nina are the most important to the story. When we think back to earlier in S2, though, we might realize that there was a scene earlier in the season that also suggested that Crowley already knew Maggie.

When Aziraphale and Crowley are in The Dirty Donkey and Aziraphale is explaining how he lied to Heaven about the Gabriel miracle by saying it was to make his shop lesbians fall in love, he refers to Maggie in such a way as to make it seem like Crowley already knows who she is and Crowley doesn't ask for clarification, indicating that he does. This would then now mean that not only had Crowley met Maggie prior to S2 but that Aziraphale was aware that he had. This then makes Maggie the only shopkeeper Crowley knew personally before S2 aside from Mrs. Sandwich. Why? How?

At this point, it probably wouldn't be enough to say that Crowley might only know Maggie because he's into music and she runs a record shop. That could be one reason but Aziraphale knowing that Crowley knows who Maggie is in 2.01 before her story really gets started indicates that they've at least discussed Maggie together before in some capacity in the past... and then there's the Aziraphale and Maggie individual scene from 2.01 that starts the whole Operation Lovebirds thing in the first place...

We're busy at this point in the story trying to figure out what the deal is with Gabriel and "Everyday" and then distracted by Aziraphale using Maggie and Nina's situation as a lie to Heaven about the miracle he and Crowley did to hide Gabriel but... what about the fact that Maggie is in love with Nina and doesn't know what to do and she's asking *Aziraphale* for advice?

Yes, Aziraphale is kind and older and queer and she feels safe in asking him for help but as a general rule, you don't usually tend to ask for advice for pursuing a romance with the person of your dreams from someone whom you believe to be your neighborhood's most eligible bachelor.

You ask the long-married or long-partnered people you know. The ones who found their person long ago and are years into the kind of romance you want to have with this person on whom you have this epic pash.

Why does Maggie think Aziraphale can tell her how to court Nina?

What about Aziraphale would scream to anyone who vaguely knew him-- let alone Maggie, who seems pretty close to him, more than other humans-- that he knows a lot about Maggie's brand of gentle, loving romance here?

The entire street, including Maggie, saw Gabriel arrive at Aziraphale's door earlier lol. Maggie would be well within her rights to think the same thing as the rest of the street-- that the rich, old bookseller gets him some and good for him-- and leave it at that.

Aziraphale is not married. He's single enough seeming to others that at least some of us (ahem, including me lol) believe that Mr. Brown of Brown's World of Carpets has been trying to bag him for awhile now. Why does Maggie seem to know him differently enough to ask him what she should do about Nina and when and how did she meet Crowley and, even if Maggie has it all wrong about them (and I don't think she does), is it even possible for these things to not be related at this point?

#ineffable husbands #good omens #good omens 2 #crowley #aziraphale #maggie good omens #good omens maggie #good omens meta #ineffable wives #nina good omens #good omens nina #aziracrow

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sh0tanzz · 2 months

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seunghan as your bf and ideal type please

SEUNGHAN AS YOUR BF ~ based off astrology obsv.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Libra Sun: ofc this man has venusian influence do you see how fine he is. He's super charming and flirty and most def has a way with words with you since paired with a charming libra sun he has mercury in virgo which makes it exalted (meaning the placement is well expressed). He has sun square saturn which can possibly make him a big perfectionist towards both himself and you as well. His sun is trine neptune so hes VERY sensitive or on the more emotional side. Might also try to make his relationships have a "dream" like quality to them (even situationships)

Sagittarius Moon: literal happy pill. He'd enjoy feeling "free" in a relationship and for there to be extreme trust and for things not to be too possessive or would prefer if there wasn't much jealousy from his s/o (would probs be better with someone who isn't too sensitive). Would want to party and have lots unlimited fun with his s/o. I've noticed every dude I met with a sag+libra influence are super into smiles and nice teeth so that would probably be something he consistently compliment you about. Might suffer from impulsiveness when the relationship seems too stable and will "shake things up" Would definitely tease+make fun of you especially paired with that virgo mercury. Might run away from his problems/feelings if they're too severe or intense in the relationship. His moon is trine jupiter so once again an indicator of him using his feelings to navigate the relationship

Virgo Mercury: His mercury is exalted which means the planet expresses itself pretty well and properly compared to its detriment/fallen counterparts. He's a pretty good communicator which is lowkey ironic since he avoids conversational conflict but..having an exalted mercury (paired with a libra sun) he might be super good at talking himself out of/diffusing arguments with you. Pays attention to the small details and points of what you say; similar to Shotaro he remembers A LOT about you, things you've said, the things you love. Could be a little critical once again, might tell you where you fucked up but will try to be funny and lighthearted about it since his moon is in sag. His mercury is square pluto which also explains that he CAN communicate but sometimes he feels like words are too much and would rather be affectionate to show his feelings. Like if he missed you on an extreme level he'd prefer to just lay in bed with you holding you tight until you both fell asleep.

Libra Venus: has luck with the ladiesss most definitely. the headcanons of having to deal with girls approaching seunghan might be true I fear. but with the right person he’d have a good sense of devotion. Gloats to his friends about how pretty, perfect and attractive you are and probs enjoys people being jealous of him for having you (similar to sungchan). Dates would be a balance of idealistically romantic dates but combined with simple super fun dates like you two trying new things together or even going out partying/drinking together as a pair. Lowkey might constantly bring up how you two “compliment” each other or “balance each other out” or maybe even people outside of the relationship may think so. Would be super into gift giving and physical touch as love languages. Would love getting/giving expensive high quality gifts. Venus is sextile Pluto so he likes romantic/sexual intensity and control !!

Pisces Mars: Tries to be on the middleground especially since his sun/venus is in libra so he'd most likely be passive and indirect when it came to disagreements and arguments. Would try to subdue the situation rather than actually talk it out. He might even use affection or buttering you up to end the conflict ngl LMMFFAOOO. Imo he might need a more mature partner to help him actually participate in hard conversations. His mars is conjunct Uranus and that paired with his sag moon he might once again be pretty impulsive and do/say things just for the sake of it like imagine he suddenly does something risky as fuck with you in public and then when you ask him about he'd be like "wdym bae 😗". Also has mars square lilith so ngl...he'd try to use physical affection after an argument or upsetting you to make you feel better PLEASEEEE.

Authors Note: Sorry for the lack of answered requests I have 45 in my inbox and have been swamped at work LOL

#riize #kpop astrology #riize fluff #riize imagines #riize reactions #riize smut #riize x reader #riize seunghan #hong seunghan #riizenet #riize hard hours #riize hard thoughts #riize soft hours #riize soft thoughts #riize reading #riize astrology #briize #seunghan x reader

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in-flvx · 5 months

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I still find it interesting how so much of the perception of Sirius as a character is swayed by his haughty expression.

Most metas (this is not a dog against those btw, I love Sirius metas, just want to add my own) etc I've seen go with this, his ultra love for james, and his derision towards Peter as the most prominent shows of his character, and infer meaning into every other relationship he has from that point out.

And I think these are outliers.

He looks haughty? Some people are born with resting bitch face, what of it?

And I'll discard any mention of James and Harry right now, bc these are outliers of the greatest magnitude, and looking at every relationship Sirius as extensions of his love for james imo just cheapens his bond to him.

His derision towards Peter is very reasonable, and also the most obvious outlier, and I don't think I need to explain it further. Instead I'll add snape and mundungus fletcher into the mix here, and go on to talk about the often-talked-about usage of certain descriptors within the black family towards people they don't like. As others have pointed out before me, the preferred way to insult people within this family is to insinuate uncleanliness. Walburgas portrait, kreacher and I think also Phineas nigellus use these kinds of insults on a pretty regular basis - many of which go against Sirius as well. And Sirius has adopted these insults, and uses them when he really wants to cut deep. He has many people to be angry with, is surrounded by a whole lot of poor people (for example the entire weasley clan, Remus, and mundungus fletcher), and we even see him in battle.

But he notably uses these cleanliness based insults on two specific people: Peter, and snape. What do these two men have in common? For one, obviously, they all went to hogwarts at the same time. For another, Sirius has, or had had obvious respect for both. Peter as one of his closest friends, as a person he confided in and cared for, and who he then expected to care for him in return (and we know how that turned out). And snape as a rival. As much as Sirius likes to insult snape to his face, he also never misses an opportunity to praise his intellect. Similarly to the way he praises and goads bella in his last duel.

Meanwhile, again, he purposefully surrounds himself with people, who the malfoys regularly call dirty ( the weasleys, hagrid, Remus, hermione), and is also on notably good terms with mundungus fletcher, who everyone from the order likes to call these things too. All of which Harry has described in several shades of dirt as well, tbh. And I'm saying this not in a 'oh wow, the rich boy lowers himself to the commoners' kind of way, bc to me he never gives anything close to this impression. The weasleys come closer to this kind of mindset toward any kind of marginalized person lbr.

What we do see, though, is sirius being incredibly forthcoming and caring towards literally everyone.

He has discussions with hermione about elf rights and their projections of the coming year. He obviously cares about Ron's well-being, long after he mauled him. He jokes around with the twins, and helps them with their inventions. He forgives Remus for thinking Sirius was the spy. He makes a considerable effort to be friendly with Molly after their fight. He adheres to dumbledores bs orders. (I think he told ginny about the repellant charm on the doors but don't quote me on that.) He had the most emotionally honest relationship with lily we see in the text. He cared so much about Peter that lily notified him of his emotional state as something Sirius should see to. He organizes the best Christmas he can manage to keep everyone's mind off of their worry for Arthur. He came close enough to kingsley for inside jokes to develop - jokes urgent enough to be passed to him as quickly as possible.

In my eyes Sirius Black is singular in the way he develops relationships, and in the way he cares for everyone he surrounds himself with.

Even with those he hates.

#sirius black

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blueskittlesart · 5 months

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Hey it's the anon who wants to play BOTW but is egregious bad at video games again. I took your advice and I've shocked myself at how much progress i've made, I got to the goron village, korok forest, and rito village. One current issue is that I am still. SO bad at the combat. Like SO bad. I panic immediately and lose all coordination (which I already had very little of). I managed to get myself killed before I could even get to the point where Sidon GIVES YOU the quest to get to Zora's domain. I completely fumbled through a minor test of strength.

Any tips for improving general combat capabilities. HELP

hi! first of all, i'm gonna go over the basics of combat and how/when you should use them. the game does technically tell you these things, but they come up early game and are pretty easy to miss imo. you might know some of them already tho!

the first thing that's probably going to be really helpful to you if you don't already know about it is enemy targeting. this locks the camera in place on a specific enemy, even within a horde of them, giving you free reign to abandon the right stick and focus on button pressing. to target an enemy, get close and press the left trigger (ZL.) this will also equip your shield if you're using a one-handed weapon, but the targeting is the most important. Once you're locked in on one enemy, so long as you keep the trigger pressed, the camera will auto-lock into a straight line from link's back to the enemy, so there's no need for you to worry about camera controls. if you DO touch the right stick while targeting, the target camera will jump to the next closest enemy to link and auto-lock again. in general, when fighting, your left pointer should be pressing the trigger to target at all times, your left thumb should be on the stick moving link around, and your right thumb should be pressing Y and shouldn't move from that button. that's the basic combat configuration and there aren't a lot of scenarios where you're going to have to do much more than that (except maybe the right trigger for your bow.)

next is weapon classes. there are 3 different melee weapon classes in botw--swords, greatswords, and polearms. each weapon class has a different attack pattern and speed, and each class has its own strengths and weaknesses.

swords are any weapon link swings one-handed. (examples include the master sword, broadswords, tree branches, boomerangs, small boko clubs, etc.) they have a decently fast attack pattern and when they're equipped link can also use a shield in his left hand with ZL. this is my favorite weapon class, as it's pretty middle-of-the road, usually they have mid-range attack points, as previously mentioned their attack speed isn't too slow, and they come with the added bonus of being able to use a shield. if you're fighting something like a guardian where shielding is necessary, you should always aim to be using a sword-class weapon as it's the only weapon class that link can also hold a shield with.

greatswords are heavy two-handed weapons (examples include claymores and bigger boko clubs.) they usually have very large attack stats, often in the 50s or above, which makes them tempting, especially early game. however, they have several noticeable drawbacks that make them my least favorite weapon class. because of their weight, their attack speed is very low, and because they're two-handed link can't shield when he has one equipped. I personally stay away from this weapon class early-game--imo they're only worth it if you have both hearts and stamina to spare. I only ever use them for hard-hitting charged attacks after stunning an enemy, and will almost always switch back to a sword-class weapon for regular combat.

polearms are long, light two-handed weapons that link holds like a spear (examples include spears, halberds, and tridents.) these have the fastest attack speed in the game, but because they're two-handed link still can't shield with one equipped. these weapons also usually have a longer reach than swords and greatswords, so they can be useful if you don't want to get too close to what you're fighting (however you forfeit the more reliable protection of a shield in order to get that benefit.) these are useful in a pinch, and personally i won't actively discard them like i tend to do with greatswords, but they definitely don't have the same versatility and ease of use as a sword-class weapon.

for early-game, i'd try to stick to sword-class weapons as much as possible, and ALWAYS have your shield up with the left trigger/ZL when you're in combat. this alone will make you harder to hit and let you last a lot longer. with the limited weapon slots you have early-game, i'd focus on collecting weapons that are easy for you to use rather than the ones with the highest attack stats, especially since they're going to break anyway. be willing to sacrifice a high-attack greatsword for a lower-attack one-handed sword in a pinch.

as for the actual mechanics of combat, there are plenty of fancy things you CAN do, but very few of them are actually necessary to beat the game. you can get through 90% of all combat in botw by just targeting with ZL and mashing Y, maybe occasionally sprinting with B to avoid enemy attacks. there are shrines and npcs that will teach you fancy things like backflips and perfect-dodges, which are useful if you can reliably perform them, but if you're someone who gets easily confused when you have to perform a lot of button presses in quick succession, it'll probably be more useful for you to just stick to Y attacks.

the one special combo attack you ARE going to need to learn in order to get through the game is a perfect shield parry, which is going to sound scary and difficult when i explain it but i promise it becomes like second nature after a while. this combo is the easiest way to combat anything that has a laser-beam attack, like guardians and certain late-game bosses. you hold your shield up with ZL, (this combo can ONLY be performed if you're holding a one-handed weapon, and make sure you're targeting the enemy attacking you and not just holding your shield up at nothing) wait for the laser to lock onto you, (the target line will blink rapidly and then disappear just before the laser fires) and then, right when the laser hits your shield, hit the A button to redirect the beam back towards the enemy. there is some level of danger here, because if you press A too early the beam may hit you, but most of the time if you fail to perform a perfect parry the beam will still just bounce off your shield and not do any damage to you. there are plenty of stationary guardians on the map you can use to practice this skill until the timing is ingrained into you, and i would highly recommend practicing it as it's super useful late-game.

as a final note, remember that botw is a game designed for versatility. it seems like you're doing everything very by-the-book--fighting whenever the game tells you to fight, regardless of whether you really WANT to fight. and there's nothing wrong with that, but it's also by no means the only way to get through the game. if you find yourself struggling with melee combat, there's nothing stopping you from buying a bunch of bomb arrows and just firing them off at enemies from afar, or even just eating a shit ton of stealth food and sneaking around them. certain combat scenarios are going to be unavoidable, but botw is a game that prioritizes player innovation, meaning that very rarely is there going to only be one way out of a situation. if you're struggling with melee combat, try something else! try your bow, or a rune, or avoiding combat altogether, until you find something that sticks and makes the game fun for you. there's no wrong way to play!

#also worth noting--if you get scared by the quick weapon-switch mechanics mid battle you can literally just pause and open your inventory #to manually switch if your weapon breaks. you don't NEED to use the D-pad for anything except runes if you don't want to #asks

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currantlee · 7 months

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youtube

(I didn't find this cutscene by itself on YouTube in English, so y'all are gonna have to deal with a link to a specific timestamp in the video - anyway, here's the Japanese version sans subtitles)

Okay, but can we talk about the Revelation ending cinematic for a second, please?

Like, I know this game is several years old at this point, but this cinematic is still so perfect, like, come on!! Apart from the strellar video quality that all of the 3DS games have, there is so much love and detail in just this one scene.

You have eight characters in the scene, and none of them are standing around and doing nothing. This is obviously not counting Corrin, who is really more of a stand-in for the player in this scene - also, funfact!

Theoretically, you should see Corrin in this shot since in the end of the cutscene, when the little sisters drag Corrin to the rest of the siblings, they're running in the direction of the trees in the background, indicating that this is where Corrin should stand. But they're not in this shot.

Regardless, having eight characters in one scene and each of them not just say something, but do something (rather than just standing by idly until it's time to say their lines) is impressive! Even more impressive is that the things they do are not just standard / repetitive motions, but rather small details that are easy to miss, yet so in-character. I put some of my personal highlights under the cut - what are yours?

Right before the little sisters run towards them, Camilla smiles and gives Corrin / the player a little wave, and it's the sort of smile that we rarely see from this character - a very sincere smile that reaches her eyes.

Very easy to miss, but I love how just before the little sisters run to Corrin, Takumi (and, less obviously, Leo too!) look lovingly at their little sisters (whom both of them are shown to have a close relationship to in the supports, it's such a nice touch IMO!), while Camilla and Hinoka are looking at Corrin, and Xander and Ryoma are looking at the scene unfolding in front of them.

There is also this cute interaction Takumi initiates with Leo, which I find especially cool because after Ryoma and Xander make their vow to keep peace and Elise cheers that Sakura and her can be friends now, Takumi remarks how he wishes it were that easy to forgive, and Leo responds by saying that healing can only begin with trust - which is not only very true in my experience, it's one of my favorite lines from the entire game. If you take anything away from Fates as a story, it should be this.

So anyway, Takumi seems to think about Leo's words a bit before he nods and agrees. So regardless of whether you ship Leokumi or not (I do, and this interaction is definitely a bonus to me), you can kind of see this interaction as an extension to Takumi's agreement from earlier, where he specifically decides to trust and befriend Leo.

The next part of this interaction is a bit harder to see because the camera pans to the sisters. Camilla and Hinoka have a little interaction with Sakura and Elise. Hinoka even bends down so they're on the same level (cool aunt character indeed), and it looks like they're moving their lips to actually say something, even though that's not part of the dialogue. Xander and Ryoma also watch this unfold (while Leo gets shoved in a friendly way by Takumi).

Leo, judging by his expression, did not expect this and is not exactly happy about in the first second of surprise. You can actually see him breathe heavily directly after stumbling forward, indicating that he was indeed startled by this. However, he then goes on to laugh it off, like "haha, you got me". Meanwhile, Takumi does not instantly turn around to Corrin again, but actually takes a step towards Leo and even turns to him for a bit, as if to make sure he's okay. The other siblings (safe for Elise) also turn to them briefly.

By the way, at the end of the scene, Takumi's hand is still on Leo's back. Also, Camilla is actually the last one to turn around to face the camera / Corrin. Instead, she takes a long look at the united families until her gaze lands at Corrin when the screen already fades to white.

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godtier · 3 months

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so i wasn't gonna make a separate post about this but @sapphire-weapon had a post (that i reblogged a few days ago) in which someone mentioned that they think it was a missed opportunity in RE6 for jake to not have spoken to wesker. i had a p long conversation with sirea about it and my thoughts about that sentiment, but it was also nearly 3 AM my time when that happened so i dunno if i was even articulating my thoughts properly lmao

and yes... this is technically a meta post and i know i said i was gonna do the mmx meta post first... but this one isn't gonna be nearly as long (i hope) and i gotta get the brainworms out before i die

(quick edit note: i reworded the list item below from saying he was "likely a drug addict" to "likely a recreational drug user" because i feel like that better encompasses what i'm trying to get across

(another edit note: i made another post regarding jake's usage of drugs that stemmed from this post! it's marked as mature bc of drug usage, so it won't show up in tag search. if you're interested in that, look here!)

so the idea that wesker being alive in OG RE6 would have brought an opportunity for jake's character is kinda, imo, antithetical to the purpose of jake's character in the first place.

when we meet jake, we know a few things about him, right off the bat:

he's a mercenary

he's likely a recreational drug user or at least heavy/risk-taking user

he doesn't give a fuck about anything but making money

his whole character journey is going from this selfish, money-focused dickhead to someone who actually cares about doing something good, just because it's the right thing to do. at the start, jake refuses to simply give his blood away when sherry mentions needing it for a vaccine. no, he wants a cash payout. 50 million dollery-doos for a pint of his blood. by the end, he lowers the price to a mere 50 dollars. one could argue that was symbolic and he actually didn't care if he was paid or not, but that's neither here nor there.

but why was he like this? because his childhood was shite; his mother was sickly, he had no father figure, and by 15-ish, jake had to learn how to hustle to keep food on the table. and by "hustle" i mean "do a bunch of mercenary work and killing people." and when shit went south with his little group of mercenaries (their entire group was sold out by a heel-turner), jake basically went "fuck alla y'all" and lost all sense of conviction or morals.

during the game, he expresses his bitterness for his father, wesker, pretty clearly. even though his mother still loved wesker, tried to raise jake to respect him despite never knowing him, it didn't matter to jake. he hated that guy. well, really, who doesn't?

we're not gonna talk about excella rn ok

jake's entire character arc is built up around this hatred as well as a subconscious fear of becoming his father. the fear part doesn't show up until later in the story, after he and sherry were captured by the Big Bad's organization. they were both experimented on for several months, during which jake overheard the researchers talking about his father, wesker. this gives jake a sort of "explanation" as to why he is the way he is; he takes the "nature" side of the nature vs nurture argument.

ofc sherry scolds his ass and basically tells him "grow up and take responsibility for your actions."

and here's the thing... this fear, narratively, works just fine without wesker being there.

(since this got obscenely long, pls continue below for the actual explanation lmao)

jake eventually comes to the conclusion that yeah no it's definitely up to him to not become wesker, not his genetics. he does this without wesker being there. that's the entire point of his character journey. in order for an interaction with wesker to even matter or have any sort of impact on jake's character arc, his character arc as a whole would need to change.

see, imo, wesker being there diminishes a lot of the power of that journey. in the game, he isn't there for jake to scream at, to question. all those thoughts in his head that might be circulating around, like why he left his mother, why he did what he did, etc, cannot be answered. this is not a bad thing in a character arc as this is shit that happens to people all the time. people don't always get the answers they may want from family members because those family members are dead. they have to learn to move on without those answers or they have to rely on people who knew that person to fill in the blanks. this is what jake already does in game. he has to rely on sherry, and by a smaller extent, chris, to fill in those blanks for him.

but we as players, observers of the narrative, already know the answers to some of those questions. why wesker did what he did, primarily. anything else is only pertinent to jake and him knowing those answers doesn't change anything for his character arc as it is.

if wesker was there in the game, what would that even add to jake's narrative? a scene where jake yells at his dad? asks him "why did you leave?" when wesker wasn't even aware that he had a kid in the first place? remember: wesker had no fucking idea that he had a child. there would be no reason for wesker to even believe jake in the first place. sure, there could be a scene where he goes "well i'll be damned, ig he really is my misfired chromosome," but... then what? what does that add?

you could argue that wesker could use jake, maybe try to manipulate him into doing shit for his plans, but... that wouldn't work with the way jake's characterization is mapped out. his entire characterization would have to change for this to work in a satisfying way.

jake already hates wesker without ever meeting him. he would not willingly participate in anything wesker offered to him. he already knows that wesker nearly destroyed the world multiple times and had a hand in destroying an entire city. even if jake has no moral compass at the start of the game, by the time he learns about what wesker really did, who he really was, he's already showing that he does have one, it was just dormant up until that point. he's clearly disgusted by what wesker did. what foothold would wesker have that wouldn't immediately result in it just falling flat?

given how wesker is, i could see him perhaps belittling jake, maybe saying "wow you suck for being my spawn," or something during a fight with the intent to rile him up. would that work? no, not narratively nor not in the way jake is characterized. again, jake doesn't want to be like wesker. why would insulting him and saying he's not "as good" as wesker expected him to be motivate jake or even anger him? it shouldn't, because jake doesn't want to be anything like wesker. if anything, it may annoy him, but that's kind of a lame reaction, right?

if anything, the most i could see culminating out of this would be jake standing over wesker after he's defeated again (because it's resident evil and obviously wesker can't win) and having a "wow idk what i was worried about" moment. that's it.

but he doesn't need that. having a scene like that cheapens the weight of him figuring that out himself, without wesker there as "proof."

because the point of his story, of his character arc, is that he figures that out on his own (and with the help of sherry and the events he witnesses) because he has to. he doesn't need wesker there to spoon-feed that to him. he figures that out by working with sherry, by seeing the effects of the C-Virus on everything that it infects. wesker being an abstract entity in his life is enough, because the frustration of not seeing him, not being able to put a bullet in his skull himself, fuels the rest of his journey.

this is where i think that people who make these observations or criticisms (primarily those who think that jake's character would have been improved if wesker was there) need to understand the difference between what's good for a character as a person and what's good for their arc.

interacting with wesker would be good for jake as a person, in that he would no longer need to wonder about it. the answers would be spelled out for him, and he wouldn't have to do any wondering about the what-if. he wouldn't have any doubts left that he'd need to untangle.

but in doing that, it cheapens his arc; it would do more of a disservice to it, imo, than anything else. it would make his journey more formulaic and boring.

it would also clutter up the already cluttered narrative of that game. you have him not only struggling with his heritage, struggling with the fear of becoming his father, struggling with needing to be the "savior" by giving his blood, struggling with his moral compass, but now also struggling with seeing his father for the first time in person?

it makes his arc top-heavy. in that scenario, you could easily replace him with another, completely new character who has zero ties to wesker and the story wouldn't change in any meaningful way. the reason why it works the way to does now is because wesker is already dead. it creates that internal conflict, that internal frustration, that jake has to learn how to deal with since he cannot take that frustration out on his father in-person. he has to make peace with that struggle in other ways.

now, that's not to say there aren't ways that adding wesker into the story of RE6 that don't disrupt that balance. primarily, when it comes to a potential RE6 remake, the writing team can (and hopefully will) rework aspects of the entire game to make the plot more streamlined. this could include adding wesker in and redoing jake's characterization and character arc entirely.

this would be the only way i could see it working out. if jake's entire motivation was changed, his entire backstory was tweaked, then wesker being around could probably work! an interaction between them could be made to make sense and not bog down the rest of the plot as a result.

sirea also mentioned to me in our conversation that adding wesker in to RE6 remake could actually help streamline the plot and i do agree with that. she mentioned that all of the main characters have a tie to wesker in some way, which is absolutely true. having him there would neatly tie their campaigns together in the plotline and make the game as a whole feel less disjointed and messy.

this is especially true when we consider there are 4 fuckin campaigns that all run alongside one another and intersect at random points. it gets so fucking difficult to page through and figure out when certain things happen in the plot. you'll see them happen in order in chris's campaign, for example, then you go start leon's campaign and have to start over again and try to remember what happened at the same time during chris's campaign and so on.

now imagine that not with just two campaigns but four. it gets gross quick. sure, there are parts where the characters run into each other and that helps ground a general timeline in your head, but as far as time elapsed... it's so fuckin hard u guise

there's a reason why it's so hard to summarize the plot of RE6. it's because there is just so much going on in that fucking game.

anyway, that's my rant/sort of meta analysis about why i think wesker didn't need to be in OG RE6 and probably would have made jake's entire arc stupider than it already was

#resident evil #resident evil 6 #jake muller #albert wesker #meta analysis #pls don't look at me i only write posts about characters no one cares about #stay tuned for my meta analysis on HUNK next #(may or may not be serious about that)#(also this post is the epitome of tl;dr)#(u been warned)#text post

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voidoftheotherside · 2 months

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This is gonna be disorganized but I haven’t seen anyone talk about it so I wanna share it before it gets proven/disproven, I’ll tidy up later with details and sources

Jujutsu Kaisen theory: Yuji Itadori has a heavenly restriction like Maki Zenin (pre-powerup)

Spoilers for some amount of the manga ahead:

We know that itadori is crazy strong, to the point that megumi claims he could physically beat maki during the planning for the exchange event. (Plus casually breaking world records and all that) Jujutsu techniques are often passed down from parent to child, and I have two theories as to how this could’ve happened, yet he seemingly has none at the beginning.

Theory 1: kenjaku is the source of his power

Kenjaku had possessed yuji’s mom from some time prior to his conception to some time after his birth. We don’t know the details of kenjaku’s technique so it’s possible he passes it down. Gojo states that when someone is possessed by a cursed object the cursed techniques are slowly etched into the host body, which means there’s already a possible in universe basis for this idea.

Theory 2: his mom is the source of his power

Every person who we have seen kenjaku possess (ex: Noritoshi Kamo & Geto) has been 1. notable and 2. a strong jujutsu sorcerer. Except itadori’s mom seemingly, who we know almost nothing about yet was for some reason his choice even during a very important time period. Imo this suggests that there is more to her story and she most likely was a sorcerer or at least from a sorcerer bloodline.

Either way his creation involved a powerful and/or important sorcerer which if passed down to him would explain several things, such as why he could withstand eating sukuna’s fingers and why he learns so fast. Learning rct in <3 months and black flash in like half an hour of trying is unheard of, especially because both were within a year of gaining cursed energy and one was despite no longer being sukuna’s vessel.

I feel like there’s more I’m forgetting, but I’ll double check everything later. Also sorry if someone has pointed this out before, it’s entirely likely I’m not the first and just missed it bc I’m not super active in the fandom. Good luck to everyone on the next chapter lol here’s hoping all our faves survive.

#jjk #jjk spoilers #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu itadori #yuji itadori #jjk itadori #gege akutami #jjk thoughts #gege when i catch you gege #kenjaku

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menstits · 6 hours

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this is a 100% slash gen question but how do you stay motivated to keep playing genshin after this long? i first got it back when it was still pretty new, around the second ever banner, and played it for a good year but the more things they kept adding the more overwhelmed it started to make me. i do miss it tho, so i wonder how you manage to still play it so consistantly

In all honesty for most of my time playing genshin i've been obsessed with a handful of early game characters (kaeya and his ugly brother and childe mostly, and they're still my faves) and largely didn't give a shit about everyone else, so up until like halfway through sumeru i was playing like. Waiting for kaeya/abyss and khaenri'ah related lores to drop mostly. Like in all honesty especially during inazuma it was dire i didn't give a shit about 90% of the cast and the environment was unpleasant to explore too 🧍‍♂️ but after getting past the samsara part of the sumeru archon quest i started getting genuinely more invested in the storyline. When i got to fontaine i expected it to be a bit of a filler region honestly but the writing quality has been steadily increasing after inazuma imo and the conflicts have become more engaging too... Like i think the main issue for me in inazuma was that they kept trying to get me to give a shit about some npc whereas several of the playable characters felt underutilized and their presence kinda pointless. From sumeru onwards they've started writing the playable cast as more fleshed out and interconnected to one another which is something that i was really missing from early game, and this is even more apparent in fontaine's writing too where everyone has some kind of beef going on with everyone else (it was really fun imo how everyone in mondstadt knows each other because it's a small town and i wasn't really hoping to see that degree of characters being all up in each other's business again in later regions so fontaine was a nice surprise in that regard).

As for your question honestly i think that. In order for genshin to be enjoyable at some point you have to allow yourself to not give a shit about whatever doesn't compel you and instead try to focus on what you do like, for example i kinda hate doing spiral abyss so I don't really touch it unless I'm pressed for primos and instead run around and explore a lot. For story quests i prioritize ones for characters I'm already invested in and leave others for whenever I don't have anything better to do. I'm an insane completionist about this game but it's genuinely fine to focus on the parts you personally find more engaging. I guess sumeru was annoying because long as fuck world quests gate the exploration of certain areas, but fontaine is MUCH better in that regard and the world quests feel much more manageable.

Also tbh i think the increasing relevance that khaenri'ah/abyss and celestia-related stuff has both in the world quests and in the main story along with more harbingers making on screen appearances also contributed to keeping my interest active because that's what I'm mostly invested in other than kaeya-centric stuff 👍

#sorry for the rambling answer tl;dr is that the writing quality improved a lot and sumeru and fontaine the open world areas are #significantly less eye strainy and annoying to traverse so the open world is also more pleasant #AND you can dive in pretty much every water body of fontaine I'm super obsessed with that it's so fun #asks #anonymous #but yeah also honestly this game is literally kaeya impact to me #i literally cannot get into any other hoyo games because they don't have kaeya in them.#and even at its most dull they brought him up just often enough that I didn't ever feel inclined to drop it because i was like #next kaeya crumb is just around the corner

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i-am-befuddled · 8 months

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Ok honestly, I think “Oops” is the best Helluva Boss episode of season 2 thus far. The previous ones have struggled with tone switches and using too many vulgar jokes in the place of substance, but imo this episode knocked it out of the park. (Details below, long post warning)

Yes, there were sex jokes but that’s to be expected in HB, and I didn’t feel like they were out of place majority of the time. The tone balancing felt pretty good overall, and I loved seeing the different sides to each of the characters.

Fizz and Ozzie are somehow the cutest and most wholesome couple, and they were a great contrast to Stolis/Blitzø. I adored getting confirmation about Fizz and Blitzø’s backstory, and the added detail that Blitzø actually had a crush on him was cute and made it all the more heartbreaking. It also confirmed that he lost his mom in that fire too, but I find it interesting that he keeps this detail from Fizz. I think he’s still holding onto that guilt/doesn’t want to burden fizz with it, so that was really interesting character writing.

I’ve seen a couple complaints about the apparent “miscommunication trope” between them, but I somewhat disagree. Yes, miscommunications are always annoying in fiction, but they do happen irl. And given what we know about blitzø, communicating has never been his strong suit. It’s implied that their relationship was stressed leading up to the fire, due to some jealousy or insecurity, and given how severe both of their injuries were (and the emotional damage dealt), I think it makes sense that they wouldn’t investigate the miscommunication. Fizz did have every reason to cut blitzø out, even if he didn’t have the whole story. And blitzø was dealing with enough of his own trauma and guilt to let it fester. They both turned to bitterness and lashing out in anger, so I’m glad they had the opportunity to set the record straight (and that they’re not entirely on good terms yet, but can grow)

Also Fizz talking about his disability in a mostly positive light was really cool to see. He acknowledged how it was painful and took a lot of adjusting, but he’s happy with where he is today and has learned to live with it.

I’m also enjoying seeing blitzø reaching out to more people in his past. First Barbie and now fizz. I assume this has to do with Stolas getting hurt, but whether Blitzø is doing it consciously or not remains to be seen. Regardless, I think we might see a real turning point in his character soon.

Like I mentioned previously, I also loved seeing the different sides to each character. I liked seeing Ozzie interacting outside of a stage and as a business person, as well as how he acts around fizz. Seeing Stolas admitting to catching feelings and still wanting to be respectful was awesome, as well as seeing the side of him that’s not just a horny owl.

Also seeing that crimson and striker are still threats was helpful. While I was missing their motivation in the beginning, I realized that kidnapping Fizz and Blitzø wasn’t really their plan — it was happenstance that they took advantage of. Which feels in character.

Only minor complaints I have are that Fizz’s song went on for just a touch longer than I felt necessary, and some of the characters (Blitzø, crimson and striker) felt like they were just in Greed for the plot to happen, but that’s sometimes necessary for storytelling. I might find a couple other critiques upon rewatch, but my immediate takeaways were largely positive.

Overall, fantastic episode. The animation was stellar, as was a lot of the character work, and the voice acting was very good. I really hope that future episodes can take after this one.

#long post #helluva boss #fizzarolli #blitzø #Stolas

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cotgar2 · 1 year

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if greed and ling and maybe some of the Other Characters went to high school present day what do you think theyd be like

Ok i’ve been saving this cuz every time I come across it, it takes a whole brainstorming session to think it out lmaoo

And although there is some art by Arakawa with a chunk of the characters in class, I got my own modern day American public school ideas >:)c

If anyone has any other ideas, please feel free to throw them at me! Or if you wanna hear my opinion about so-and-so that I didn’t do, go ahead! (I did have more but tumblr mobile doesn’t like too many paragraphs after read more, so I’ll leave it where it is). I’ll even take art ideas, high school aus are so fun imo…

Ok so first off the bat since greed and ling were mentioned

Ling: the kid who comes in late constantly cause he had to get a starbucks coffee before class. He rarely studies or pay attention, but does extremely well in classes anyways. He will show up in outfits either way too planned beforehand or literal pajamas. Also he has been known for being punished because of eating in class when asked not to several times.

Lan Fan: Honestly not much different from Ling behavior-wise. She will study and pay attention sometimes, but mostly just to fill Ling in on what he missed. She has also been asked not to eat in the middle of class and got punished for doing it repeatedly lol. She’ll show up with a coffee with Ling in the mornings, plus wear an outfit that kinda screams “don’t look at me the wrong way or I’ll fuck you up”. Actually, maybe she just radiates that energy period.

Together, Ling and Lan Fan have totally gotten into their own handful of trouble, to the point where Fu had to pick them up and scold them lmaoo

Greed: ….ok well I either gotta ommit the fact that he’s practially 200 or looks like he’s in his 20’s or 30’s or just.. older than highschool age. So.. uhh if he were actually valid for being in school.. he’d probably surprisingly try his absolute hardest to understand material but not get it at all. And never actually go in for help or anything. Just picturing him trying to figure out math homework is not… yeah that’s not gonna go well lmaoo. He’s got the drive to do really well, and tries! And that’s all that matters! (don’t look at his grades)

Ed: The kid that pulls up in punk stuff (can’t forget the foot-tall platforms), and doesn’t actually try in most of his classes. He’s a natural prodigy and knows it, taking advantage of it constantly. The only classes he pays attention in are his science classes, to which then he studies ahead of the class and knows the ins and outs of everything they talk about.

Al: Pulls up in the most cozy academia outfits, but does almost exactly the same as Ed; pays attention only in sciences. Also a natural prodigy, he doesn’t exactly pay attention in other classes, again just like Ed. I will say though, unlike Ed who would probably put the minimal amount of effort to get 100 on assignments, Al wouldn’t half-ass it and put full responses on stuff so it looks like he was fully engrossed. Doesn’t mean he is, but at least the teacher doesn’t know that.

Would like to also add that they have gotten in their own fair share of trouble, to which they then get an earful from both Winry and Pinako. They’re (and by that I mean Ed’s) probably most likely to get into a school fight with Al trying to stop it, but that means he gets involved too

Winry: Befriends most students and all of her teachers, or at least tries. She also immediately sniffs out the bullshit teachers too. (This one’s in reference to the school I went to that offered technology courses where you can do woodwork and learn engineering skills, but) she would often hang out after school in the technology rooms, crafting whatever her mind was thinking that day. She gets constantly teased by Ed, but that’s mostly because both him and Al have to sit with her for hours, waiting for her to be done so that Pinako can pick them all up from school.

(Mr.) Mustang: One of the chemistry teachers in the building. Mostly liked by the students, although everyone’s definitely off-put by how much he talks about his wife “Elizabeth” when sometimes on the phone (some kids suspect it’s Mrs. Hawkeye). He’s notoriously know for how fun his class is in certain units, most notably the combustion unit, where he does some.. flashy demos. Overall though, a teacher I wish I had lol

(Mrs.) Hawkeye: Surprisingly, one of the English teachers. She’s one of the “strictest” teachers, but that’s only seen by the kids who don’t try in her class. She actually makes for a very good teachers, keeping everything in order and making sure that there’s fun… every so often. But kids always feel welcomed by her warm smile, and she feels that every kid has the potential to do well in her class.

#hah well there goes 5 other paragraphs with characters that I wrote out :p #not my art #ask #fma #fmab #fullmetal alchemist #fullmetal alchemist brotherhood #fma school au #fun fact: I had made (as a joke) an old high school au #but instead of it being normal it was based off of disney high school movies #aka something’s wrong with the school and the main cast has to figure it out #I actually have an old drawing of Mei I posted that was from that au #but so some of these were curated from that old au I had a few years ago loll

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rmorde · 3 months

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With talks about RCT output and worries about Shoko getting shafted regarding her powers... let's see the rough translations.

Warning: Spoilers

Sukuna: No, when you use RCT on another person, the efficiency is usually less than half compared to when you heal yourself.

Kinda make sense? It was already established long ago that RCT is incredibly difficult to pull off.

Shoko doesn't have any Innate Technique. Since her name implies that she is not part of a clan, she likely has no Inherited Technique either. So all she has is usage of Reversal (RCT). Considering how highly valued she is by the school, she must be incredibly good at it.

Now, her feats were said to be healing and re-growing limbs. However, we saw how Toge is still missing an arm and so does Hana. Maki is also heavily scarred.

But it's not all failures tho, Shoko is the one that healed Nanami after fighting Mahito the first time and he seemed perfectly fine the next day. Another example is Geto who was severely injured in the afternoon, but was back to normal within 24 hours.

And... that's about it. We do not have any further clue regarding her powers. This is both a boon and a bane.

Let's start with this lack of info as bane.

Sukuna: Her RCT isn't even as powerful as me or Gojo Satoru

This is what people are worried about. Frankly, so do I. This devalues Shoko's skill. It is not helped by the fact there are other characters introduced already that possesses RCT.

Sukuna's observation here could be taken as Shoko being not that special after all especially since we do not really have much information about what she can truly do so far. With her confirmed heals being 2 Perfectly Fine and 3 Not Exactly Fine, it may seem Sukuna is right.

HOWEVER!

#1 Sukuna has been wrong before. He has a habit of underestimating people right until he spent a lot of time knowing them through fights.

Case in point #1: Gojo. From fish to the guy he never shuts up about, Sukuna seem to like/respect (?) him in the end. I mean, just an observation here, Sukuna tends to name drop Gojo a lot actually like with Megumi.

Case in point #2: Yuji. Sukuna is practically annoyed with Yuji because he doesn't see any value in him. Yet, in this very recent chapter, he acknowledged Yuji at last! Sukuna hates it but he admits that Yuji isn't as bad as he initially thought.

#2 Sukuna is comparing Shoko to Gojo. GOJO who is The Strongest sorcerer?! IMO, Sukuna is being extremely biased here. Like really?! What did he expect? For every single sorcerer Gojo hanged out with to be on the same level as he is in terms of everything he does?! Then again, Sukuna fucking expected Hiromi to pull off the insane feats Gojo did during their showdown (and Hiromi delivered! My beloved! He was taken away so fast.)

Therefore, Sukuna saying Shoko isn't as great as him and Gojo is not really a downgrade exactly. They're two monsters on an entirely different scale. Shoko not being on their scale is just expected.

Seriously. Wtf is up with Sukuna? He's like a heavyweight champion whining why a featherweight champion (Shoko) couldn't compare to him and his rival (aka Gojo) in punching power right after beating the lights out of a promising rookie (aka Hiromi).

#3 We still lack information about Shoko's RCT to fully judge her. So far here are the solid facts:

She can heal people and help them regrow loss limbs which is legit since they are keeping her away from any fights.

There is probably a time factor for her abilities. -> Nanami & Geto probably got healed immediately by her so they recovered 100% -> Maki, Toge*, and Hana* probably missed the time window to become 100% healed -----> *Maybe Sukuna being the one to maim Toge & Hana is a factor too.

Her power level is not Sukuna/Gojo Grade.

The new info that RCT is only 50% effective when applied on others seems to be a general fact which may or may not apply to Shoko. Maybe she is greater than 50% effective at using RCT on others provided she heals a patient within a specific time window.

This could be copium but we actually haven't seen for ourselves Shoko healing someone. What we often see is the result/aftermath of her work.

I may misremember it (if I am please tell me) but I think this is the only image we have of her actually doing RCT... until she got distracted by Satoru and Suguru's shenanigans with Yaga that is.

I just don't want my baby girl be done dirty. Shoko is THE jujutsu doctor for fuck's sake.

GIVE HER RESPECT!!!

#jjk spoilers #jujutsu kaisen spoilers #ieri shoko #i do not accept shoko slander especially from sukuna!#gojo acknowledged her strength!#we haven't seen exactly how her powers work #i believe in shoko! shoko supremacy!!!

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anghraine · 2 years

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A lot of Austen literary criticism is really bad, IMO—often because it's more concerned with using Austen as a vehicle for the critic's pet theory than her work in itself, or obsessed with compartmentalizing her politics in a very false dichotomy kind of way (and frequently an ahistorical one, also). And frankly, I suspect that many critics just do better with messier authors, and tend to flail a bit with severely disciplined ones like Austen.

All of that said, some of them do have really interesting insights and such, and one that's always stuck with me was an essay I read many years ago that pointed out how Elizabeth and Darcy increasingly perceive only what they want to perceive through the Kent scenes in particular, culminating in the Hunsford proposal. There's a lot going on in that scene, but the critic argued (as far as my recollection goes /disclaimer) that a major feature of it is that neither is quite "real" to the other in that scene.

This is pretty obvious in terms of the overview of what Darcy's proposal is like—although his feelings for her are real and Elizabeth never questions that afterwards, the proposal itself seems addressed less to Elizabeth specifically than to [woman of less consequence with unfortunate connections] but without engaging with who Elizabeth specifically is as a person (in some Mary Russell Mitford AU where he fell in love with Jane instead, the proposal would likely be identical).

Something that struck me in some of the responses to my post about Darcy's proposal vs Mr Collins's is that the people who went "well actually they're equally bad" or even "Darcy's is worse" had a very strong impression of what Darcy says in the first proposal, even though we hear almost nothing of what he actually says, only its impression on Elizabeth.

This isn't to say that her reception is so detached from reality that it wasn't actually bad, but the critic pointed out that we hear less and less of Darcy's direct dialogue as tension builds up to the first proposal, because Darcy is not fully "real" to Elizabeth as an actual person, either. Her responses to him at this point often tell us more about Elizabeth than about who Darcy is or what he's trying to say, and this is mechanically underscored by the increasing reliance on vague Elizabeth-POV summaries of what he's saying (her misunderstandings are still sometimes pretty obvious, but the overall trend is executed so smoothly and Elizabeth's POV is so engaging that many people miss it anyway).

So it is important not only that Darcy's first proposal is bad, but that we don't actually hear most of it and can't judge the exact balance of Darcy's arrogance vs Elizabeth's uncharitable assumptions and how both of these obscure the other's personhood, yet audiences often come away with strong convictions about what happened. This is probably reinforced by the argument after the proposal and then Darcy's letter, in which we do get their direct voices at considerable length, and this marks the turning point in their relationship.

The twinning of Elizabeth's rejection and Darcy's letter put both in a position where the reality of each other's autonomous, specific personhood and existence becomes undeniable. Darcy would like to just be righteously angry and Elizabeth would like to dismiss the letter, but they are fundamentally incapable of doing either because of who they are as people, and the way this is reflected in dialogue is very interesting to me.

(People sometimes attribute the omission of Darcy's first proposal to Austen's general caginess around such scenes, but given that we do hear Darcy's second proposal as well as other declarations of love or proposals in Austen's other novels, I find that explanation pretty unsatisfactory. And the contrast between getting less and less dialogue from him -> barely hearing any of the proposal -> the usual barriers shattering in their fight and afterwards in the letter works incredibly well IMO—too well to be accidental with an author this deliberate.)

Anyway, I'll see if I can ever find the original passage again, since I think I was in high school when I read it (= 20 years ago) and just don't remember the source. But I do retain a strong impression of teenage me going "oh" in the way that makes literary criticism so great when it's done well.

#me: ooooh halloween in gw2 is a go!#also me: okay. but about my otp #anghraine babbles #anghraine's meta #austen blogging #ivory tower blogging #elizabeth bennet #fitzwilliam darcy #otp of otps #austen fanwank #long post

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fairydares · 1 year

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imo Nirvana was one of Fairy Tail’s weaker arcs but some points were stellar

1. the official guilds decided they needed to create an alliance and show a united front against the dark guilds, so which wizards does Makarov choose to send in the name of unity and cooperation? Natsu and Gray, who share one braincell when in the same room and fight constantly; Erza, who’s fascist on accident unless it's on purpose; Lucy, whose local nickname is “the Blonde Devil”; and Happy, who thrives on chaos and the annoyance of his comrades.

2. Brain is somehow under the impression that Jellal being revived will go well and cause no problems for him whatsoever. After Wendy is forced to heal Jellal, he wakes up and--in true Kikyo form--blasts the shit out of anyone who attempts to breathe in his direction. Then, without missing a beat, he ambles gothly through the woods to make a suicide pact with the gate to entropy without a single thought in his head--quite literally, as Cobra explicitly confirms. Intermittently several people scream at him that he’s a huge piece of shit and they hate his guts and they're going to kick his ass and the entire time he’s like

3. Gray and Lyon fighting together

to beat this guy

who brags literally every single second he's on-screen about how he’s faster than Lightning and even goes so far as to claim he’s "the fastest man alive"--only for it to turn out that he moves at aggressively average speeds and just makes everyone around him move really slow lmfao

4. Angel's entire character design. I'm not denying it's fanservicey and normally I hate that but I just can't make myself dislike this look. Made me wistful on my last rewatch because I personally think her character design goes to shit by the end of the series

5. The foreshadowing of how Wendy is bound by fate and history to both Natsu and (even moreso) Erza. Natsu recognizes Wendy even though he didn't recognize Gajeel. Erza and Wendy notice each other right away. Wendy ignores everyone else's protests and follows her own moral code to revive Jellal, the love of Erza's life and the mage who would wind up up playing a crucial role in helping Natsu defeat Brain/Zero & ending the potential threat of Nirvana. When the Cait Shelter's secret is revealed, Erza is the first one who understands what this will mean for Wendy, and she's the one who offers the girl comfort in her own grief.

6. Debut of the "wouldn't you like to know, weatherboy" Dragon Slayer, AKA Cobra.

7. Celestial spirits go on strike finally. Even though a lot of things immediately leading up to this were kinda stupid imo it was both sad and inspiring to see Gemini and Caelum refuse to attack a mage who treated them with respect and compassion instead of like slaves. These guys need a union. Urano Metria was cool, too, but I don't love how Lucy learned it tbh.

8. I actually thought Natsu accepting Jellal's Flames of Rebuke to beat Brain was a really good poignant moment. Brain said something to the effect of, "The recipient of those flames accepts the sins of the caster," as Jellal was offering them to Natsu, not-so-subtly indicating that Natsu's acceptance of the flames was him taking the first step to forgiving Jellal and accepting him as an ally.

#fairy tail #natsu dragneel #ft #nirvana arc #fairy tail nirvana #jellal fernandes #erza scarlet #wendy marvell #lucy heartfilia #cobra #jerza

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blueskittlesart · 9 months

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i've been occasionally watching critiques of totk just to hear differing opinions and a lot of them feel really nitpicky but the one that stuck out to me the most was the guy who wholeheartedly believed that the stories in these games could be improved by. removing link as the main protagonist. it should be pretty obvious that this take sucks ass but i wanted to see if you'd share your thoughts since you're good at putting your thoughts into words with this kind of stuff ^_^

ok this one is. strange to me. I'm not sure i'm equipped to critique it without getting the full argument from its source, because i assume that if the argument is that link SHOULDN'T be the protagonist, then they're arguing someone else SHOULD be instead, and not knowing who that is makes this a little harder to dissect. for the sake of this post i'm going to assume we're arguing for protag zelda, because she's the character who is the vessel for most of the story in botw/totk so i think she's the only character that makes sense. I'm also curious if they're advocating for removing link as a character from the story entirely or if they're just advocating for a change in framing from one character to another.

in any case, If i'm right about the above assumptions this seems to be another case of someone missing the central themes of the games. Because I concede that, at a glance, link kind of doesn't have that much presence in the story of either game. both games very heavily focus on zelda, with botw's primary story being about her struggle pre-calamity with her agency and her powers, and totk's primary story being about her journey in the past with sonia and rauru. arguably, the protagonist of these games in the traditional sense, i.e. the character who primarily experiences the highs and lows of the story and goes through an arc of growth, is ZELDA. link is, for all intents and purposes, the framing device through which we as players are witnessing ZELDA's story.

(full disclosure this turns into an essay on the way link is used as a character and a plot device bc i have no self control lol)

so why is link necessary, then? what is the point of the player experiencing the plot through a framing character like him instead of through zelda herself, the active protagonist? I think there are several layers to what makes link's presence in these games both necessary and irreplaceable.

the first and one of the most important reasons to have link in the active role is interactivity. I'm incredibly interested in video games as a modern art form and storytelling method, and imo the thing that sets video games apart from other methods of storytelling is their interactivity. In order to tell a story, an rpg drops the player into the middle of it. the player is an active participant in the story as it unfolds, and the player gets to experience and potentially alter the events in real time. from a consumer standpoint this may seem obvious and uncomplicated to execute--just take a prewritten story and put the player in control of one of the characters, right? but from a writing standpoint, it becomes really complicated really fast.

most stories are written linearly in a sort of cause-and-effect model, meaning events and actions will build on each other throughout the progression of the story. e.g: a monster attacks a village > because of the monster attack the villagers lose their homes > because they are now homeless, one of the villagers decides to slay the monster to take their village back > the villager slays the monster and the village is saved. each event builds upon the one before it, and if any of the events in the sequence were altered, the events after it would also be altered as well. if the villager decided to leave the village instead of fighting the monster, the event after that one would be altered and the village wouldn't be saved. What this means for interactive storytelling is that, if you want to have a single set course of events and ending (the standard model for zelda games) you can't allow the player to alter any events in that sequence. whatever character you give the player control of has to be able to experience the story WITHOUT substantially altering it. this becomes a dilemma because you as a writer need to toe the line between giving the player too much choice and altering the story/creating plot holes and giving the player too little choice and limiting the interactivity of your story. this is where the silent protagonist comes in handy.

the silent protagonist is a term for a player character which takes no action outside of what the player specifically orders them to. Link is one of the more famous silent protagonists, but other well-known ones include frisk from undertale and joker from persona 5 (worth noting that SPs don't have to be PHYSICALLY silent to be SPs, they just can't take any story-altering action without player input. joker actually has voice lines & is still considered an SP!) the silent protagonist is a popular model for RPG player characters because it basically solves the interactivity dilemma. A character with no personality is incredibly easy for players to project themselves onto, making them FEEL very in-control and immersed in the story even if they're not REALLY making any story-altering decisions. As long as your protagonist never breaks from player control and makes decisions on their own, the player feels like they ARE that character and will be much more susceptible to being thrown around by the story. A character with no personality or backstory is also conveniently lacking in outside motivations, meaning they're unlikely to need to substantially alter the story in any way that they aren't directly prompted to. for example, if we go back to that monster & villager story, if we turn our heroic villager into a silent protagonist, it puts a layer of distance between the hero and the villagers. the hero CAN choose to save the village, but they likely WON'T if the game doesn't prompt them to. this opens up several possibilities to us as writers--we can prompt the player to save the village, if that's the way we want the story to end, but we could ALSO prompt the player to side with the monster, or to ignore the village altogether, depending on what the story requires. when the hero has a backstory connecting them to the village, it's difficult to rationalize any response other than them attacking the monster, but removing that backstory gives us as writers more control AND keeps the player more engaged with the story at the same time.

so why does this matter for link? as previously mentioned, link is arguably the most famous silent protagonist of all time. this is something that's VERY important to the developers of these games--throughout the entire franchise, you will NEVER hear link say a word, and you'll also never see him take any action without the express confirmation of the player. link isn't a character through which the player is experiencing the story, link IS the player. thus, link is silent and takes no action outside of the player's control. relative to the story of botw/totk, link feels like he lacks presence in the story because HIS story takes somewhat of a backseat to zelda's. link's story in botw/totk is a relatively straightforward one--he wakes up, regains his memories, and saves the princess. that's his arc, and that's the arc that we as players are physically experiencing through him, but it's NOT the primary story arc of the games. the primary arc is ZELDA'S. at a glance, then, it almost would make more sense to make zelda the playable protagonist of the games. why are we required to witness her story as an outside observer in a medium which allows players to experience a story firsthand? why not drop us into HER body instead of link's?

because zelda isn't a silent protagonist.

Nearly all of zelda's story in both botw and totk is driven by her backstory and her internal struggle. she makes the decisions that she makes in botw because of her history having her agency denied by her father and being scorned by the goddess, and because of her passion for ancient technology and science. the plot of totk is similarly driven by choices she makes based on her emotions--most notably, her choice to become a dragon requires her to have complete faith in link and the courage to take a step that means losing herself. Because of the way these choices rely on zelda's internal emotional state and the context and backstory of her character, a player dropped into her body can't be expected to make them. We actually saw it a lot with criticisms of the way she acted in botw--people claiming that if THEY were in her shoes they wouldn't have been so emotional, they would have been nicer to link, etc. And it's true that a player who hasn't experienced the things that zelda as a character has gone through may have been able to have more rational or logical reactions to the situation she was in, but it's crucial to the plot that zelda COULDN'T set aside her emotions or the way that her past colored her perception of events. zelda is essentially the anti-silent-protagonist. she is the VOCAL protagonist, whose backstory and voice and autonomous choices are so crucial to the plot that removing them becomes nearly impossible. in order to tell her story in an interactive medium, she requires another character who CAN be controlled and whose decisions can be altered somewhat without derailing the plot entirely, hence why link becomes the vessel through which we see her story.

no less important a point is the fact that link is thematically important to these games as well. As previously mentioned, zelda's story serves as the primary narrative to both games. Link's story is still present, however, and it serves to reinforce and expand upon the themes present in zelda's.

in botw, zelda's story centers around her lack of agency. she is expected to inherit her familial power from the goddess hylia, a power which is required to stop the calamity. she spends her entire life training for this purpose despite the fact that she resents the pressure and wants no part in the war against the calamity, and when her powers don't manifest she is treated like a failure for it. she ends up believing she is worth nothing if she can't contribute by awakening her power and develops a harsh internal conflict between her desire to be accepted and needed and her desire to break free from the oppressive role she's been forced into. Initially, both she and the player believe link to be the polar opposite to her--the golden child to her black sheep. he's her age, but he's already mastered HIS power and is more than ready to take on any challenge, including the calamity. he's constantly receiving praise, he's well-known and well-liked, he's everything zelda isn't. however, as the story progresses, it's revealed to both the player and zelda that link is actually essentially in the exact same situation as zelda. He finds the role he is playing just as oppressive as zelda finds hers, despite being able to play it so well, to the point where he goes mute due to the pressure to perform. he functions in this story as a foil to zelda, the character who she plays off of. In learning about him we learn about zelda, and vice versa, and both characters undergo growth when they work off each other. much of botw's theming centers around growth, healing, and change, and link serves as a vessel to propel zelda's change by giving both her and the player a different view of their situation. He is confirmation that even if she DID perform correctly, zelda STILL wouldn't find the happiness and validation she's seeking, which in turn forces her to stop seeking validation from her father and hylia.

this same utlization of link is present in totk, though in a slightly different way. in some ways, totk link is more of his own character than a foil to zelda a la botw. Totk has two main central themes: the first being that hope is not lost due to one mistake, and the second being teamwork and community as an essential tool for survival and happiness. rather than playing off each other in totk, since link and zelda spend so much of the story so far removed from each other, they both play off these themes in their own ways, with both of their narratives coming together to reinforce the theming. zelda finds friends and community in the sages in the past, and her trust in her friends and community in the future is what allows her to send the master sword through time via draconification. In the future, link repairs communities that have been fractured by ganondorf and forges bonds with his own sages that will become his greatest assets in the final battle. Zelda works tirelessly to prevent the first rise of ganondorf, and even when she fails, link is there in the future to fix it. zelda loses her humanity in order to bring the master sword to link, but link manages to bring her back in the end. link loses his arm when he fails to save zelda under the castle, but when he DOES save her in the end, he gets his arm back, too. each of their stories play off each other and reinforce each other thematically.

I'm ngl this did get away from me the second i started talking about silent protagonists as a narrative device (i am crazy <3) but anyway. I do sincerely think that link is an irreplaceable part of these stories and I also don't think it's feasible to tell the story from any other angle. I think using him as both a framing character and as a narrative foil to the active protagonist was a really smart way to tell zelda's story while still keeping the player active within it. tldr link is the specialest amazingest most important boy in the world if you don't cheer and clap for him i'll fucking blow this whole building up

#asks #zelda analysis #this one is. long. lol #totk spoilers #<< under cut but still

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