#yet another ideal character type in a show of ideal character types

[thankskenpenders]

Amy's fortune cards

The Sonic fandom has long been the kind of fandom that takes minor details very seriously, for better or worse. On the one hand, this means fans will really dig for the diamonds in the rough, latching onto fun character interactions, animations, bits of background worldbuilding, and more in pieces of Sonic media that many would write off as "the bad ones." But it also feels like every week another needlessly hostile debate over Sonic minutia erupts on Twitter, whether it's over individual lines of dialogue, fanart that makes Tails' shoes blue, or the ideal length and volume for Sonic's quills.

So it was probably inevitable that a fandom-wide debate would erupt upon seeing Amy's new gameplay style in the DLC for Sonic Frontiers, which takes the once-obscure fact that she enjoys reading tarot and shines a spotlight on it like never before.

I mean:

The thing is, while I basically always try to tune out Sonic fandom bickering... for once, I kind of sympathize with the detractors? Don't get me wrong, I like Amy's tarot stuff, and people on all sides of the discussion are being overly nasty about their opinions, as usual. (Sonic Twitter remains my personal hell.) But when I set aside the hyperbole and zoom out, I do think I understand why some fans are put off by the sudden shift in focus for the character, even if I think it's cool.

It's complicated. Let me attempt to present the cases for and against Amy's fortune cards

For years, I was always one of those fans who thought it could be fun if they played with Amy's tarot reading, or even leaned into some kind of magic with her. Part of that is my own biases showing, but there's just something that makes sense there, especially when you look at Sonic, Tails, and Amy as a trio. (I would argue that's the real "Team Sonic" these days, especially in the comics where Knuckles is more likely to be stuck on Angel Island or otherwise doing his own thing.)

You could argue that Tails is all about logic, relying on science and technology and deductive reasoning to solve problems. But Amy is all about emotion. She wears her heart on her sleeve, is extremely empathetic, and is very prone to magical thinking - both figuratively and sometimes literally. Her origin story has always been that her tarot cards told her it was her destiny to meet Sonic on Little Planet. She's claimed to be able to "sense" peoples' presences - particularly Sonic's. She's the type to believe that The Power of Love is a literal magical force. So, on some level, it makes sense to mirror Tails's science by having Sonic's other best friend believe in magic. And then Sonic is somewhere in the middle, primarily following his own gut instincts but taking advice from both of them as needed. This isn't totally accurate to how their dynamics actually function in canon stories, but I think it's a mode that could work for them.

Going off of that, it's fun to lean all the way into Amy being a magical girl, or even a witch, using her fortune telling as a foundation. Take, for example, this version of Amy from Diana Skelly's old Sonic cast redesigns from before she freelanced for Archie and IDW. This is one of MANY such redesigns for Amy.

Fast forward to the 2020s, and Amy's tarot cards are, in fact, finally getting brought up again in canon. Which is fun! I like seeing that. I like all of the individual stories involving Amy's fortune cards. This is a fun character trait for Amy, a fun nod to old lore, AND a fun storytelling device, all in one. It's really cool that the Sonic universe has its own thematically appropriate arcana, and that the cards are getting made as physical merch. And sure enough, the official card backs and borders were designed by none other than Diana Skelly, in yet another cool example of an ascendant fan leaving their mark on the series.

BUT... when you step back and look at the big picture, I get why some fans find this shift in focus jarring. At the moment, it's starting to feel like every new story about Amy involves her fortune cards to some degree.

The most recent mainline comic arc to feature Amy as the lead character, 2021's Trial by Fire arc, prominently features a sequence where she reads fortunes while camping with the girls. The Origins version of Sonic CD now bookends the game with scenes of Amy and her tarot cards. Sonic randomly mentioned it in a scene in Frontiers. And now, just this week, we got the (very cute, gorgeously illustrated) Amy's 30th Anniversary comic with a story revolving around Amy's tarot cards, followed the very next day by the Frontiers DLC in which she gets a brand new tarot-based moveset. Even her base melee attack now has her throwing tarot cards instead of swinging her hammer. Again, I like all of these individual things, but after years of it almost never coming up at all, it's VERY noticeable that Amy's tarot cards are suddenly everywhere.

To be fair, I'm looking at this from the perspective of a superfan who's actively following ALL Sonic media. Casual fans - especially kids - aren't necessarily going to be reading the comics every month, buying the thousandth rerelease of the Genesis games, or playing the ultra-hard new alternate ending DLC for a game that came out last year. Each of these stories is going to be someone's introduction to the idea that Amy can read tarot, and that's probably part of the idea behind this unified push.

But to play devil's advocate, for my fellow superfans, I understand why it feels like a very minor footnote of Amy's character is suddenly becoming the entire focus of her personality. While Amy has always been said to enjoy fortune telling, that wasn't really a character trait in and of itself, but rather an example of her being a typical girl who hopes she'll be able to find true love one day. It's less that Amy can literally predict the future and more like her using a cootie catcher or going "he loves me, he loves me not" while picking the petals off of a flower. So I get not vibing with this stuff, or feeling like it's being pushed very hard out of nowhere.

What I don't agree with are comparisons like "it's like if they made Knuckles' moveset revolve around him liking grapes." Like, I get it. Ian Flynn loves shoehorning in his little winking references for us nerds, and mentions of Amy's tarot cards were previously on the same level as other random bullet points from old Japanese manuals. But a multifaceted hobby like fortune telling that opens up so many narrative and aesthetic possibilities is obviously very different from having a favorite food. It's ALWAYS been a part of her story, not just a random fact, and there's no reason why the fortune telling can't be elevated to something more.

And, hell, even if it wasn't an established character trait, there's nothing inherently wrong with injecting new ideas into a character. One of the best Amy stories in recent years, the Free Comic Book Day special "Amy's New Hobby" written by Gale Galligan, came up with the idea that Amy's secretly been drawing little comics about her and her friends. Is this based on Lore? No. But it's cute, and helps tell the story of a younger Amy who's still coming out of her shell as both a hero and a friend.

Certain fans are also looking at Amy's Frontiers moveset and using it as evidence that once again the Vile American Contributors like Ian are CORRUPTING Sonic Team's perfect vision of Sonic with their misinterpretations. And like. Come on. Ian does not control the gameplay. He's a freelance writer. The tarot stuff is clearly something that Sonic Team likes if they made it the basis of Amy's new moveset - and, you know, if they keep approving comics and animations about Amy's fortune telling. None of this gets made without their blessing, and lord knows how much they can micromanage shit and shoot down ideas over the most minor of details.

Like, yeah, Amy's fortune telling was probably conceived less as a sign that she Knows Magic and more as a pretty mundane hobby for a lovesick young Japanese girl to have. But you're gonna sit there and tell me that using Amy's tarot cards for more than that could only be the result of a cultural misunderstanding? That nobody in Japan uses tarot card theming and aesthetics (or the general idea of magical cards) for the cool factor? Stardust Crusaders? Persona? The Astrologian class in FFXIV? Cardcaptor Sakura?? Hello??? Do you think Capcom put Gambit in Marvel vs. Capcom ironically because they thought using magic to throw cards at people was stupid? There's tons of precedent for this! It's nothing like Knuckles throwing grapes at people, be for real.

Giving Amy a very magical girl-esque moveset also just makes a lot of sense. For decades her hammer attacks have literally made sparkly heart shapes appear around her. Leaning into both that and her tarot cards in her new moveset makes a lot of sense to me.

But, admittedly... I do think it's very odd that her hammer is treated as a secondary element here, rather than having her primarily use her hammer and adding the cards for extra flair. If hitting the attack button made her swing her hammer instead of throwing cards, I'm not sure we'd even be having this discussion right now.

But the tarot-cycle and Amy riding her hammer like a witch's broom are fucking SICK and I will not concede on this point

The thing is, this whole fortune card discourse is but a small piece of a bigger problem. Amy's been a character who needed some work for ages, but there's basically nothing you can do with her without pissing SOMEONE off.

Years of stories where Amy's crush was her primary motivator and Sonic went "Ew, cooties!" have lead many casual fans to believe that being Sonic's obsessive fangirl is Amy's entire personality. At best people might call her Sonic's Minnie Mouse. This isn't just a matter of Amy having haters within the fandom - venture outside of that bubble and you'll realize that this is how MOST video game playing people seem to see her to this day. I don't feel like this is a fair assessment of the character, but this idea didn't come from nowhere. No matter how much good deeply entrenched Sonic fans may see in their old dynamic where Amy perpetually chases Sonic, this is a very real problem that Sonic Team has to contend with for their leading girl. Of course all those games where the way-past-cool protagonist thought Amy was annoyingly clingy and tried to get away from her made people think less of her.

If new stories were to go back to emphasizing Amy's crush on Sonic a little more, they'd probably be taken as confirmation that Amy's just the girl with a crush on Sonic and that this is her entire personality. Conversely, when the crush is played down, you piss off the hardcore SonAmy fans who don't seem to understand that they're Charlie Brown and Sega is Lucy holding the football. You can't win.

And so here we are. In the absence of what was once her defining trait, now reduced to an occasional blush or wink in Sonic's direction, new stories are trying to mine Amy's past for additional material to work with. Having been a thing fans wanted to see for years, right now we're getting a lot of tarot, but we're also getting reminders of her compassionate nature and her desire to go out of her way to help the little guy. This is an ongoing process. I continue to hope that her bubbly, exuberant demeanor can shine more in future stories. Now, I also hope that the tarot stuff gets balanced out a little better with other traits of hers. But I don't want it to go away. I think it's fun.

This course correcting is far from exclusive to Amy. Knuckles is getting stories that remind us that he's a competent fighter, an experienced treasure hunter, and even a self-taught archaeologist after years of him being perceived as either the dumb one or just the guy who stands in front of the Master Emerald all day. And Tails has been getting some stories reminding folks that he's a capable hero in his own right and not just Sonic's timid kid sidekick.

But no supporting character will ever compete with the sheer number of new ideas Sega has tried with Sonic himself. Like Amy, his Frontiers moveset has also given him half a dozen new superpowers that he never had before, from the Cyloop to air-slicing projectile attacks to his own take on Shadow Clone Jutsu and beyond. He's also been a hoverboarder, a swordsman, a time traveler, an Olympic athlete, a racecar driver, cursed with a Flame of Judgment, imbued with alien power, a fucking Werehog with stretchy powers, and on and on and on.

If Sonic can do all that, Amy can try out using a tarot-cycle.

Anyway TL;DR the REAL problem with Amy's current characterization... is where the FUCK is Amy's bestie, Honey the Cat???????

#tkp post

[azure-cherie]

PAC : which type of seducer are you

•1~9•

This is based on " The art of seduction" by Robert Greene

With your intuition choose a picture of Adriana Lima , you can choose multiple as well . This is based solely on my intuition however you must observe yourself more for greater accuracy . This is for entertainment purposes.

Pile 1 :

The star

The Star is almost (or completely is) of celebrity status. They, like the Natural, poses the powers of the uncanny -- specifically mixing reality and myth. The star is a dream come true. Physically present, but almost legendary and mythic in essence. They are almost too dream-like to picture in front of us. We imagine them too far out of our league, and that is what makes them so attractive.

Pile 2 :

The Dandy

The Dandy is the Siren or the Rake of the same sex. They attract the traditionally-male with psychologically masculine traits, and they attract the traditionally-female with psychologically feminine traits. They tear down the labels that society has put on sexuality and they play in all spaces. We're attracted to Dandies for their ambiguous and obscure personas, and their freedom to break prejudice sexual behavioural roles.

Pile 3 :

The Rake

The Rake is characterized as the masculine Siren. Playing on society's roles that a female character must abide by, the Rake brings out the oppressed behaviours of a traditionally-femine figure. They bring out the excited feminine in us. Again, male, female, or neutral, we're attracted to Rakes when we've been too confined and comfortable - too restrained - too neutral and unenergized in our day-to-day lives.

Pile 4 :

The natural

The Natural is a reflection of those golden years of comfort and innocent affection - childhood. They portray what both Kubrick and Freud would describe as 'uncanny'. Familiar yet strange. The Natural brings into their persona a sense of youthfulness in an adult body, drawing those that long for the times of no responsibilities, harmlessness, and naive spontaneity.

Pile 5:

The coquette

The Coquette is hot and cold. They touch and go. They attract you with hopeful words or sensual maneuvers and then step back and distance themselves from you. They entice you and frustrate you at the same time, and we're attracted to this because of our human nature to want what we can't have.

Pile 6:

The siren

The Siren is of highly charged traditionally-feminine energy and tends to attract those of a completely opposite, traditionally-masculine energy. Whether or not you identify as male, female or neither, you'll tend to be attracted to a Siren when you show characters on the extremes of traditionally-male behaviour.

Pile 7 :

The charismatic

The Charismatic is the excitement in the room. They exude confidence and energy in all the right places. They are mesmerizing and we're attracted to them because of their sincere obsessions and opinions and actions. They glow a sense of charisma with their animated gestures and fiery persuasive voice. And if they fit our values, they're just a good time to be around.

Pile 8 :

The ideal lover

The Ideal Lover comes to us from our childhood dreams, or rather our lost dreams. They are the ones that bring a hopeless fantasy to life with their ability to mirror the ideals we once had as innocent happy-go-lucky children, but have lost to grey world. They are highly astute at understanding our deepest desires and definitions of affection and bring them to fruition.

Pile 9 :

The charmer

The Charmer has almost a devilish smile you're willing to swoon over. The word "charm" comes from the Latin "carmen" -- a song or a chant that is synonymous with a magic spell. To charm is to literally cast a spell on another. The way that they do this, and the reasons we fall for them, is because they understand 3 fundamental laws of human nature: The law of narcissism, the law of defensiveness, and the law of grandiosity. It's our egos that they stroke, our vanity emotional walls that they align with, and our self-esteem that they praise.

Definitions from the website:

https://aarondanielfilms.com/blog/the-9-archetypal-lovers-you-are-attracted-to

Thank you, hope you resonate 💕

Have a great day/night ahead 😘

#pac reading #pick a card tarot #pick a photo #pick a card reading #pick a picture #pick a card #pick a pile

[ozzgin]

I can't get your yakuza headcanons out of my mind, Daitou's got me in a chokehold and I'm not complaining, like--

in regards to that doodle you made to show height difference between reader and the boys [I love your art btw (●♡∀♡)] - I can't picture myself in reader's style, I'm currently going through my goth phase in my 20s lmao; picture a big bitch with tattoos and messy hair who's listening to nothing but 2000s hits and screamo bands - so I'd like to request a headcanon of how Daitou would react to a gender-neutral reader like this :D I also like to incorporate the idea of them once being in a famous band that he's a fan of! (sorry if this seems like a lot, I have a huge imagination hehe)

but if he's more into the cute and helpless type, I'll just walk my ass out the door and yeehaw my way into another yandere's arms ✌😔

That's on me for not drawing the reader inserts as cartoonish cinder blocks :') In truth I'm a little bit embarrassed seeing how many likes that doodle has gotten, it was something I put together in a hurry and the clothing was meant to be baggy, shapeless, with not too many folds for the sake of simplicity. I myself am more of a pilgrim goth, just to emphasize the randomness of the choice.

Drawing reader inserts always leaves me a little anxious. If I use a light shade of gray, will people think I'm excluding poc? Will plus sized readers feel like they've been disregarded? What about masculine readers? As someone who's demiromantic I always struggle taking appearance or gender into consideration, because to me it has no influence whatsoever. Which is hard to express when you want to offer blank slate visuals as an extra to the story.

What I'm trying to say is that all of my characters would like you for who you are. Sure, they find your looks cute, but it's not the defining reason. Maybe you have similar traits to them, maybe you're the complete opposite and they find it intriguing. You could be a buff man and Daitou would be just as grateful to have someone who isn't afraid of him. I usually stick to a female reader for bigger stories to avoid messing it up long term, but in the grand scheme of things it makes no difference. I always imagine reader to be a shapeless blob that provides the dialogue I need for the story mood. There's no concrete preference or type for any of my OCs. I mean, ideally you'd like them back and not hang them upside down above a BBQ pit but I feel these are sensible requirements (?).

And now for the actual headcanons since my ramble is over.

First encounter is comically awkward but for reasons you’re unaware of yet. You’re obviously used to people staring at you (more so in a country like Japan), so you were expecting the curious glance every now and then. On the other hand, being under scrutiny, from a man even more unusual looking than you at that, is odd. Mildly uncomfortable. You’re shifting yourself from one leg to another, hoping to be done with the introductions soon.

On his end, Daitou is anxiously fidgeting and trying his best to focus. He’s seen this face before and he can’t shake off the familiar feeling. Where the hell…He obviously can’t downright gawk at you, and he isn’t sure how to politely formulate a question. After several sheepish peeks, it finally dawns on him: weren’t you part of that band he really likes? No, what would the chances be? Then again, how many people out there would look exactly like you? Is it rude to ask? He has no idea. He resumes his mumbled description of the apartment and hands you the papers to be signed.

Back at his place, he finally digs through his merch and sprawls out the available clues. “I didn’t know you were into this kind of music”, Kazuya comments as he looks over the man’s shoulder. He’d come over to ask about the new tenant. “I’m pretty sure it’s them.” He concludes, confidently placing his index over a CD cover. “Huh? Who? The tenant?” Kazuya holds back his chuckle. “Why would a celebrity show up for a shady apartment offer? You’re tripping, man.”

“I’m sorry, this is getting ridiculous.” You finally exclaim, annoyed by the persistent stares of the now two men facing you. You’re standing in front of the apartment building, arms crossed, huffing at the tall scarred man and his blonde friend. “No, I’m sure of it. Even the tattoo is the same.” Daitou turns to whisper to Kazuya, oblivious to your complaints. In turn, Kazuya lightly elbows him, mouthing something about being rude. “Just ask them, man.” He adds, this time louder. “Ask me what??” You groan. “W-were you…um…in this band by any chance?” Daitou manages to blurt out, searching his pocket for the CD case and ceremoniously laying it under your eyes.

Ah. It finally clicks and you exhale, relieved. You confirm their suspicions and show them some backstage photos to solidify your claim. You ask Daitou if he wants an autograph or something, then swiftly scribble your signature on a piece of paper and hand it out to him. He holds it with a wide, childish grin. “You’re a weird one, you know? You could’ve just asked. I guess I didn’t expect to find a fan in the wild, especially here.” Daitou carefully folds the souvenir, eyes lidded with nostalgia. “Oh yes, it’s great. Drowns out the screams.”

#yandere yakuza #yakuza x reader #daitou

[nortsauce]

HERE COMES NORT, YAPPING ABOUT FANDOMS THAT I’M NOT EVEN IN!

(And i’ll be typing the rest here because there are too many slides so read bellow)

⚠️ WARNING ⚠️

My LONG ASS rant on how MHA (among other things) fails to present its ab*se victims in a good way,

Starring the todoroki family

So, i know literally no one cares but i feel like it needed to be said: but MHA has a BIG issue with victims of abuse being treated kinda shittily, to making whole arcs about their abusers.

This isn’t a HUGE thing, as the lack of sympathy for Hawk’s abusers was definitely there, but they still were portrayed in a semi-sympathetic light. This is not the main focus however.

I’m sure many could go on and on about Bakugou and Midoriya’s relationship, but thats not what i’m focusing on.

I’m focusing on the most OVERLOOKED and ABHORRENTLY handled dynamic of the Todoroki family

I will be going over each of the characters and why they suck in some way, but as a whole i have to talk about this: Each one of the characters of the family are all victims of abuse in some way, and represent the different ways that trauma affects the victim, i understand that.

All in all, they do a good job of portraying the different ways in which the people handle abuse,

Endeavor being one who never dealt with his past egotistical superiority complex and threw his baggage onto his family/children to live vicariously

Rei being the one who is emotionally/physically damaged to the point of a mental break

Touya being the ex-golden child, and the one who continued the cycle of violence (and misogyny but thats another topic for another paper)

Fuyumi being the one who holds onto an idealized version of a family that possibly only existed in her dreams, being codependent and longing/working to get those “happy times” back with her family, clinging onto smth that was possibly never there

Natsuo being the one who is (justifiably) angry at his abusers, cuts his family off and goes to pursue his own life/dreams

and finally shoto

the one who realizes his role as the golden child is only for his parents to live vicariously, breaks his cycle and is trying to figure out who he is.

These are all great representations of how people cope/handle trauma, and i believe that was on purpose, considering that it also speaks on abuse of children on baselines of being in a famous family.

However, certain aspects are clearly not handled properly; allow me to explain.

Shoto, the youngest of the family, is often seen as the architect of the abuse, as the family was actually quite “fine-living” (i’ll come back to this) before shoto was born.

There were obviously cracks in their family from the beginning, Touya being the golden child despite not being able to physically handle his own power without hurting himself (an allegory i’ll discuss), the fact that Enji (endeavor) basically bought his way into marrying Rei, and of course enji’s complex of being less than All-might.

However, many characters seem to blame the birth of Shoto for breaking the camel’s back, and starting the domestic violence that had already threatened to spill through.

It’s shown through the anime that shoto has a kind heart and never liked enji, due to the fact that he would harm him, his siblings, and his mother,

but for being the tritagonist of this show, we never get to see how he really feels. In all of this, perhaps we could see him feeling guilt for being the reason his family is broken, the possible resentment yet dependency he has for his father, the thoughts on how he feels conflicted yet guilty about his mother and continues to blame himself.

Its interesting how he never stops blaming his father, but regardless we only get his apathetic views on his father and no one else. Its saddening to see the sideline of the victim of abuse while his abuser gets a whole arc. But i’m not there yet.

Moving on we have Natsuo and Fuyumi. I grouped them together because they both have opposite ways of dealing with their trauma, as Aforementioned: Natsuo tries to cut all ties while Fuyumi tries to be a “normal” family with her remaining members.

Both of them have valid ways to why they act this way, and its tragic, however, the way they deal with their youngest sibling, shoto, is disheartening to say the least.

Both of them understand how Shoto was physically abused since he was 5, and neglect to form any sort of connection with him despite his better efforts in natsuo’s case, using him as leverage against his father and nothing more, while in fuyumi’s case, basically presents him in her fantastical version of him in their fantastical “perfect” family life, causing him to have multiple meetings with his abuser and forcing him to relive the trauma so she can have peace of mind.

In hindsight, this is all interesting heavy topics to explore in a character, and i was honestly curious to see how it would be handled

however it all faltered as soon as I saw the hospital scene.

SPOILERS:

After Dabi’s Dance, the todoroki family comes to visit Shoto and Endeavor in the hospital, both of whom are heavily bandaged and bed-ridden.

Despite this all, Rei, Fuyumi, and Natsuo force todoroki, who is burnt and recovering his voice, to get up and walk over to his father’s ward to speak to him.

Shoto, despite being unable to form full sentences, makes it FULLY CLEAR he does not want to be there, by closing the door to his ward, and attempting to leave. Despite his clear efforts, his family makes him go in to talk to him.

this 16 year old boy being forced out of RECOVERING, fully bandaged and barely able to talk, forced to visit his abuser to hear him cry about not being able to fight his own son, depsite also being his son and physically harmed by him since childhood.

In my opinion that wasn’t a good move on any of the family’s part.

Rei is a difficult subject to discuss. She is clearly a victim and has been for. while. She is mentally distant after being harmed for so long and spent time in a psyche-ward to handle herself.

Saying that she was a bad mother would be too far in my opinion, as she did her best to provide a nice life for her kids as well as defend them from her husband.

Not much is said about her, but from what we can tell she loved her kids very much, until the abuse started.

I feel the blame for shoto began with her, not being able to face her own son after the “death” of her first and the fact that his face reminded her of the abuse she’s faced from endeavor.

Her character is honestly an interesting one, but she is not safe from my scrutiny of the hospital scene. She was very brave for facing her abuser like this, however, she did not have to drag her bedridden youngest into the fray.

She is the DIRECT reason shoto has a scar on her face, (indirectly endeavor’s fault)

But i will never blame her for the abuse she faced for her children, by her husband and to an extent, her own son touya, which leads me into my next point

SPOILERS

Touya, aka Dabi, is the “Late” eldest brother who was originally Endeavor’s ticket into living vicariously to defeat all-might and be the number 1 hero.

I could go into the psychology of his character but he is ultimately very interesting. In all honesty the way he is presented as being the consequences of endeavor’s actions is palpable and honestly quite raw. At a young age, he was handling the pressure of being his father’s perfect creation, and the fame and fortune that followed as he sought his father’s approval. Soon, his quirk began to burn him every time he used it, a fact that endeavor ignored to pursue his goal. Touya’s power became self-harm at some point, an allegory for his disregard for his own life and well-being for his father’s dream which ultimately (literally) exploded on itself.

Touya’s story is interesting, from his abuse causing him to act like his father craving his approval, which lead him to act put against his mother and shoto, while laying his baggage onto his younger siblings, to losing his mind and realizing that he wanted his father dead and continuing the cycle of abuse further.

This is all a deep and interesting way to look at abuse and how the abused may become an abuser, HOWEVER.

MY critique here, is how sidelined his whole arc is, as his story is more portrayed of Endeavor’s past coming to haunt him, all for the watcher to sympathize with endeavor rather than understand how the abuse endeavor put onto touya made dabi. This whole arc was framed to be sympathetic towards endeavor, and to fear Dabi. Don’t even get me started on how Shoto’s feelings meant nothing in this arc, as well as being immediately cut off by a surprise cameo of a character that possibly discredited Dabi’s expose video on his abuser.

Finally, we get to talk about the elephant in the room: Enji Todoroki, endeavor himself.

What is there not to say about this man.

I feel I should start eith the obvious:

The forgiveness/sympathy arc for endeavor was quite possibly the worst thing to ever happen in the anime, and this is not subjective.

The whole arc is based around how Endeavor is a victim of his own mind and is trying his hardest to make up for being a terrible person.

Personally, i love to see character arcs of villains becoming a better person, but thats the very thing: Endeavor is trying to ask for forgiveness from his family, who he abused for 15 YEARS. This is no exaggeration as Shoto is now 16, and his cracks started forming as soon as he was born.

Endeavor had illegally married a woman that he basically bought his way into,

was illegally “breeding” (eugh) for quirk benefits,

Treated one of his son’s like a vicarious version of himself

Physically abused his son (age 5+) his wife, and verbally abused the rest of his children

isolated his son

treated his son like a weapon

and finally felt too prideful for any sort of meaningful apology.

This all adds up to a character who only felt sorry for his actions after the consequences started hitting him in the face, as he only felt remorseful when Shoto refused to be associated with him.

Now, some of you may be thinking: “A lot of characters are forgiven for more, why would he be the exception? It’s fictional why do you care?”

There are several reasons to why I care but i’ll speak in terms of framing for now. This show is highly influential to not only kids (as it is a KIDS SHOW) but to adults as well. May i direct your attention to the man who saved a woman from a murderous ex-boyfriend by blocking his machete hits all because My Hero Academia inspired him to take action and be a hero?

Or how about a murder that took place because the accused was inspired by an invader zim episode (the dark harvest)

Whether you like it or not, fiction HAS an affect on reality. Yes, we can determine what is real and what is fake, but you cannot deny that a lot of what media we consume helps us be who we are.

If the show promotes more sympathy towards an abuser than their victims, then people may find themselves sympathizing real world abusers over the voices of victims.

I wont speak on delicate subjects but I can already see affects of this happening, as people rally to defend famous people accused of being abusers rather than listen and provide support to the alleged victims.

In conclusion, These topics are definitely not easy to write, and I, for one, am NO expert and my word should not be used as gospel truth or a guideline on how to write these characters.

This is all simply my opinion on how the bias towards abusers in the show leads for the message to be skewed and marred in action.

I understand that no one is perfect, but if we only reward and sympathize with those who only seek redemption after they face scrutiny, then we lose the meaning of what makes someone worthy of forgiveness.

These topics are deep and interesting, but the way they are handled in this show is simply bad writing.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk and again: no shade towards the writers. Just critiques!

#nort speaks #media analysis #//abuse #mha #my hero academia #todoroki #the todoroki family #touya todoroki #shoto todoroki #rei todoroki #enji todoroki #endeavor #dabi #natsuo todoroki #fuyumi todoroki #dont expect me to suddenly start posting abt mha #im not arguing with anyone either #thesr are my thoughts 💪

[tossawary]

I think SVSSS as a 2D cartoon would be the best moving medium for it imo.

I mean, personally, yeah, that's how I'd enjoy seeing it as well! My ideal slightly pretentiously artsy SVSSS screen adaptation would probably look only a little more detailed than linograph prints (2D or shaded 3D?) (someone hit me up in like two weeks to draw an example of what I mean, if I don't remember on my own, I don't have access to art stuff right now), very stylized and vibrantly colorful, because that's one of the art styles that I particularly enjoy.

I'm not a personally a fan of the 3D SVSSS show because I find the characters a little too doll-like and same-facey for my tastes? It's fine! It works! It's serviceable! It's just all, backgrounds included, a little... safe? I tend to like over-the-top bright colors and intricate details and impractically weird shapes and yet also coherent world production design in my fantasy, which is a lot to demand of any production, perhaps especially with animation productions, which are always squeezed for time and money.

(EDIT: I know the SVSSS show was under heavy constraints and the results are impressive considering their resources; it doesn't change the fact that I just don't like the art style and nevertheless find the results underwhelming. I don't like a lot of "realistic" modeling / rendering styles, not just "anime" ones, even if they are extremely technically impressive. Believe me when I say that I know the vast majority of the entertainment industry is overworked and underpaid and creatively restrained.)

Slightly tangential general note: I don't think 2D is inherently superior to 3D (EDIT: NOT trying to imply asker is saying this, just having some general thoughts), especially because, with the realities of production, each have their advantages. 2D has a lot of stylistic advantages still, but 3D shaders are catching up and doing some incredible things these days! More advanced puppet controls and particle effects and such are doing some beautiful things for 2D shows as well these days. A lot of stuff has been subtly mixed media as soon as 3D became possible. It is potentially possible (note: not saying any studio would actually greenlight this) to do an equally slightly weird and artistically stunning 3D SVSSS show, given the freedom to work. (Good boarding and writing is also sooooo important in both mediums, obviously, it's not just about the art design. You can get away with incredibly limited animation with good boarding, writing, and art design.)

Another slightly tangential ramble: both 2D and 3D have the potential for stiff animation and poor character acting, which also comes down to production limits and animator skills? (I often think of character animators as a type of actor!) There are a lot of 2D shows that I don't really like because I find the animation incredibly stiff, both puppet and handdrawn (there's great 2D puppet stuff out there these days), which pretty much always comes down to production limits (deadlines and budget and software, saving up their animation for the coolest scenes). One of my favorite things about Studio Ghibli films (which as features get a lot more space to focus on art compared to the demands and restraint of television) has always been the squash and stretch in otherwise relatively realistic action, making things like hugs look SO nice for example. But 3D stuff is getting better at that these days! The ways characters slumped into each other in "Nimona" for example was great. And it's just fascinating to look at the elasticity / stylized sculpt of expressions in "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" compared to the technical limits of the models / rigs in "Shrek" or "Shrek 2".

Adding these side notes because I want to be clear about my respect for both 2D and 3D artistically! A lot of video games are doing cool stuff in 3D that looks very close to 2D with stylized shaders, which you can sometimes spot by the large or small rotations in character action / acting, which is difficult (and therefore often expensive) to do in 2D with all of those extra drawings / angle poses. Also, I think the current push towards funky shaders in 3D is so cool and it's hard not to gush about them!!!

#foreverliminal #tossawary svsss #ask tossawary #long post #tossawary watching

[raayllum]

Been thinking recently about the idea in fandom that boils down to, usually, "the Character that Changes the most being deemed 'the most complex'" and that character development (i.e. character change) being held up as The Golden Standard of a Good Character and...

I fundamentally disagree, but first, a little bit more explanation about what I mean

Very often shows and movies, when being recommended on tumblr, are sold on the basis of having enjoyable/in-depth characters. Often times this also means conflating enjoyable with likeable, but that's a discussion post for another day. And even more often, it means there are characters who are seen as Deep because of how radically they change over the course of a story.

Lots of times, this falls into two camps:

Characters change radically, but early on in the story, and remain largely the same past that point of change (think anytime in a first season) until the end of the story

People recommending shows based on characters having traditional redemption arcs (enemy or bully to friend / good guy / love interest)

Now, I'm not saying that 1) character change can't be deep or 2) that character growth is bad. Neither of those things are true, even subjectively. What I am saying is that 1) character change / a character changing is not the same as automatically being a good, interesting, or well written character and 2) character growth is not the be-all-end-all of character writing. Yes, there can be problems with characters be overly stagnant, but typically that's only an issue if 1) a work is serialized and concerned with character development and they don't change at all, 2) a character never adjusts (rightly or wrongly) according to their mistakes, or 3) all of the above but they're a main character.

However, assuming that Character A has to be radically different at the beginning of a story in terms of their personality/values/etc. as they are at the end of the story is just... not how it works, necessarily. This is, I think, one of the reasons why antagonists who get redemption arcs tend to be more popular than heroes who had good values the whole time, because there's more opportunity to point and go "look, they've changed! they act on and have basic compassion now!" Which, fair enough, but again: other types of characters are fine too.

Particularly for characters fandom tends to have the hardest time with: paragons.

Paragons are characters who are usually the central hero, pretty morally if not entirely moral upstanding, and because they already start out in a place of "always doing the right thing," they rarely radically change by the end of the story. Instead, paragons are used to progress theme/messaging and inspire other characters around them to change (a good example might be Buddy from the Christmas movie Elf and to a lesser extent - as he's more transformative as a character - Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender, who's there to return childhood to his friends as an ideal and carry on Air Nomad values).

And for TDP, that's Ezran.

He's the youngest in the main cast and by far the most measured. While Callum and Rayla are off fighting, he keeps a level head. He assumes responsiblity largely without guilt, holds other people accountable most often without being cruel, he's kind and deeply compassionate, he shows regular empathy for his enemies even when he has to treat them like enemies, he loves his father but does not idealize him, he is king without craving power, he's trusting and honest and while he has his flaws (overly optimistic, his passivity, sometimes struggles to consider other people's emotions, naivety, etc), they - as of yet - are not overly connected to his sense of morality (which is a distinct difference compared to the rest of the main cast).

Now, TDP is less concerned with the theme of Childhood compared to something like ATLA, but Ezran being a child (again, in a way the rest of the cast is not) is also very important. Ezran, and Callum to a lesser extent, is the embodiment of the concept that children aren't born with hatred in their hearts; it's learned, or earned, through experience, society, and suffering. And as Ezran spells out for us in 4x03, he has suffered and been hurt - and he believes in breaking the cycle and believing in hope for a better future anyway.

Ezran's steadfast reflection of the series' core theme of "true strength - to break the cycle - is found in vulnerability, in forgiveness, in love" in both word and action does make him the closest thing to a paragon in the series. He's the one who finds the egg; he's the one who forgives Rayla and Soren; he's the one who still tries to help Claudia; he's the peacemaker, the literal bridge between peoples and species in spite of witnessing so many of their worst crimes/actions.

In both arcs, there tended to be a trio of characters who rapidly change, and a trio of characters who are more, comparatively, stagnated. Early S1 Rayla, Callum, and Soren are radically different in a ton of ways than they are even at the beginning of S3, but especially by the end. On the other hand, Viren - post 1x03 at least - Claudia and Ezran are far more consistent in arc 1; their circumstances change, but their viewpoints and realities and choices are largely the same from season to season - they just keep doubling down. This doesn't mean they don't change at all, but they don't radically transform - they just become more of what they already are.

I'd say that in arc 2, things have switched up, with Callum, Rayla, and Viren being the three who are radically transformed (thus far) with Soren, Claudia, and Ezran still being in the more stagnated corner. (For more notes on Claudia and Ezran's shared passivity, check out this pre-S4 meta.)

Ezran starts out the series as a good hearted, slightly mischevious little boy who loves his family and believes that people can be good. The point of the series is not to change these parts of him. It's to demonstrate the difficulties - losing both his parents, taking on the kingship, struggling to make the right choices, keeping his friends together, caring about peace and sentiment in a world that increasingly does not - of maintaining those positive traits, again, in a world that is determined to test those ideals and attributes.

Ezran is not here to be transformed by the storm, the same way his friends and some of his companions are. He is here to demonstrate the strength and necessity in weathering the storm so that the world cannot make you cold, or uncaring, or violent, even when those paths and emotions would be much easier to go down.

Good character development isn't about changing your character; it's about changing your audience's understanding and perspective of your character. Sometimes that means the character is also changing simultaneously, but that's far from a requirement for a character to be interesting. Like most things in writing, what it really boils down to is execution.

And I could go on about why I think people gravitate towards characters who start off evil (often part of imperialist empires or older, institutionally backed systems) and learn that the evil was wrong actually (and sometimes not even that) but that's a meta for another day, and this one is long enough.

TLDR; Ezran, like a few other characters in the show - antagonists and protagonists alike - is not meant to be a radically transformative, even though he very much has grown and changed. Instead, he's meant to exemplify the importance of not losing your sense of self in an increasingly cruel or difficult world, and what parts we should arguably try our best to hold onto as well.

#writing advice #tdp #as an example #analysis series #analysis #tdp ezran #ezran #the dragon prince #writeblr #i've always preferred paragons / non traditional redemption arcs so my preferences are #very opposed to general tumblr's but not at all surprising #also don't think i need to spell out why paragons would be particularly compelling for ND / autistic folks

[mellorphic]

In Defence of c!Niki - a Four Part Analysis of Every Arc

People who didn’t watch C!Niki see, in the fandom, a big sister type character with girlboss energy who wants to kill a child. Niki isn’t that. She has a well-written narrative which focusses a lot on her relationships with others. Here is me breaking it down!

PART ONE: c!Niki’s Early Days (you are here)

PART TWO: c!Niki’s Rebellion

PART THREE: c!Niki’s Disillusionment

PART FOUR: c!Niki’s Healing

Niki joined the server a little while after the L’Manberg War for Independence and she immediately joined the nation as Wilbur invited her to it. Of course, Niki was close with Wilbur from the beginning and quickly she got close to Tommy and Fundy too. But a relationship that I find interesting was her bond with Eret.

From the get go, Niki is told by L’Manberg (read: Tommy and Wilbur) that Eret was a traitor and wasn’t trustworthy, and while she understood their apprehension, she remained friendly with Eret as they were nice to her. She had no real reason to dislike him because she had not been there during the war and therefore wasn’t betrayed by her.

Wilbur ends up talking to her about this.

N: you know I’m loyal to you, Wil! You know I’m loyal to you.

W: I don’t- I want you to be loyal to L’Manberg.

N: and to L’Manberg! I am!

W: […] just stick with L’Manberg! That’s all I’m looking for- that’s all I look for in- in a woman- <laughs>

N: I promise, I promise I will

W: okay..okay, I’ll trust you..

N: I mean, y’know, that is why I joined! I joined to join the independent nation, didn’t I?

W: you did.. you did. You did. And just not their independent nation.

N: no. Our independent nation.

I think this is the first really important bit of Niki’s character - she is loyal. But she won’t take what people tell her and trust it blindly. She wants to form her own opinions on things and on people rather than listening to what others tell her about them. And yet, even when she ends up disagreeing with someone on something it doesn’t affect their relationship. Niki quickly begins to trust Eret a lot and Wilbur doesn’t trust him at all. Despite this Niki remains loyal to Wilbur and assured him she’s loyal to L’Manberg too.

That’s another thing - she promised Wilbur she was loyal to L’Manberg. And she kept this promise for as long as she could. Throughout this analysis I’m going to reference this promise a lot because while it’s a mostly forgotten piece of lore I think it has a lot of potential to be bigger and to be talked about a lot more often.

Additionally, I think this shows that Niki is pretty good at reading people - she obviously knows Wilbur very well and can read him because of this, even starting to say ‘and to L’Manberg’ before Wilbur had even finished saying he wanted her to be loyal to it. At the same time, she’s able to figure out from Eret’s behaviour that he’s trustworthy. Analysing motives and behaviour is how Niki figures out who to trust and it’s important to remember this for the Manberg era when suddenly the behaviour and motives of people around her didn’t match up.

Niki showed her loyalty by making the nation’s flag, by telling Wilbur her fox Fungi was the mascot of L’Manberg, by creating her bakery, and by giving everyone lots of gifts. I’ve said it before that she was the soul of L’Manberg. She loved that nation and she lived and breathed its ideals. C!Niki was an idealist. I truly think she would’ve been happy to remain in L’Manberg forever, if it hadn’t changed. Unfortunately, though, change is inevitable and attachment is a main theme on the Dream SMP, and there were many people attached to L’Manberg. It wasn’t ever going to remain the same.

The first pet war was the first time we really saw how strong of a moral code c!Niki had, and it’s something a lot of people think she only developed later on. While she was initially angry at Sapnap, Niki only wanted an apology (but she refused to beg for one). She never wanted revenge like Tommy and Fundy did.

Early Niki is often regarded as naive, but I genuinely don’t think that was ever the case. She was kind and compassionate but she was never a pushover and she’s always been headstrong.

Niki joined Coconut2020 in the elections as Fundy had told her they could bring peace to the Nation and make it better. It’s important to note that she was extremely upset when she learned he had committed voter fraud. Niki cheered despite coming in last place and this made it clear she’d be happy regardless of whether or not she won, as long as the people were happy.

#dream smp #niki nihachu #c!niki #c!niki analysis #dsmp #nihachu analysis #l’manberg #l’manberg era #c!wilbur #orphic talks #in defence of c!niki

[fabrickind]

📸Want to do cosplay photoshoots but don't know how to find that perfect place to shoot? This tutorial covers how to brainstorm a location for your shoot, logistical and cost concerns with shoot locations, and how to actually find your dream location.

📸This tutorial can be applied to shoots of all types, including but not limited to self shoots, shoots with friends, and shoots with hired photographers. Self shooting or shooting with friends only requires a camera (a phone works!) and possibly a tripod.

Part 2: Finding Locations

Now that you have a shoot concept in mind, it's time to find the location itself. If you don't already have a location in mind, you will need to do some searching to find one.

The Detective Work

Whether you have a type of location in mind or not, you can poke around online to find the ideal place. If you have a type of location in mind, Google Maps or similar can help you find locations if you search for your location type, such as "beach." If you don't have a location type in mind, you can look around at websites like Atlas Obscura or at your local parks district websites. If looking to rent a location or use an indoor location, Peerspace is a site where you can rent photography studios and event spaces, often with equipment of their own for you to borrow, and you can usually shoot in hotel rooms or Airbnbs if that suits your character. If you are out of ideas, look around at what other people in your area use. Other cosplayers are a great resource, but I also recommend looking for engagement photos or graduation photos in your area for ideas on where non-cosplay photographers shoot. Finally, there's a tool called Cos-Map that contains user-submitted locations and detailed discovery tools; it doesn't have a lot of use yet because it is still in beta, so if you have locations to submit, please do so and help other cosplayers!

Cos-Map link: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/556b7aba7e984c94b7054c405d640635/

Brainstorming

​When brainstorming your location types, think of all aspects of the character, series, and your shoot goals and try to match these aspects to real-life locations. I've also worked backwards a few times and chosen one character over another on my list of possible cosplays because I had a shoot location already in mind! Knowing who the character is, what genre of series and shoot you want, and where the series takes place can help you to find somewhere that your character looks good in.

I also have here a list of location types that you may find helpful, and hopefully it includes types of locations you hadn't thought of. This isn't exhaustive, and not all these location types exist in all areas, but this is to give you a jumping off point for thinking of your cosplay shoot locations. Locations like studio shoots, a beach, or a forest may seem obvious, but also look at places like local tourist attractions, areas with graffiti on the walls,  and keep an eye out for any selfie museums in your area or touring pop-up museums for unique cosplay shoot locations.

As always, check the rules of anywhere you shoot, and be sure to get permission to shoot there. Part 4 covers this process in more depth.

Getting Creative

If you really can't find a location that suits your character, get creative! You can do anything from a printed backdrop or solid color drape shoot in your own home to a shoot against a cool-looking wall. Often, tighter framing works best with this type of shoot, as you only want to showcase the area directly around you and not the full area that may not be suitable. A wall or some hedges work well for medium shot distance portraits, and some ground or a piece of furniture work well for reclining shots. You may only be able to get a few photos with this type of background, depending on what the background and cosplay are, but if you want to show off a costume now and get a different type of photoshoot later, you can.

Links to other parts: 1 Location Types, 2 Discovering Locations, 3 Indoor vs Outdoor Locations, 4 Location Permissions, 5 Location Logistics

#cosplay photography #cosplay tutorial #cosplay help #cosplay tips #cosplay advice #cosplay #helpful things

[xxsabitoxx]

Dating Rengoku Kyojuro - Modern AU

Reader is gender neutral

Warnings: fluff, a little bit of angst, mentions of injury briefly, suggestive content but no descriptive smut

A/N: I actually enjoy this new layout I’m trying with my posts lol — takes a couple extra minutes to make but I find the end result to be pretty cute 🥹 As always, if you’d like to see another character for this type of head canon, feel free to comment or send me an ask

This man is so so so shy when he realizes he has feelings for you.

Naturally, he turns to two of his closest friends for help.

Mitsuri and Tengen have two wildly different suggestions on how to go about the confession, but both come to the same conclusion of just going for it

So, that’s what Kyojuro does. And boy does he go all out for it — per their suggestion of course. “Make it flashy” paired with “make sure they know how much you care” turned into dressing fancy and inviting you to a pretentious restaurant that is totally not either of your styles. Oh and don’t forget the bouquet of red roses 

This restaurant is one of those white table cloths and white cloth napkin deals. The ones where you feel uncomfortable to so much as undo the intricately folded napkins to wipe your greasy fingers — but then they serve really greasy food… ya know?

He’s so nervous that it makes you feel a bit uneasy as well. It takes about twenty minutes into the dinner for Kyojuro to loosen up a bit — to which you joke about him being nervous when he’s the one that asked you on a date

Dinner goes surprisingly smooth but Kyojuro still hasn’t popped the question — he decided the fancy restaurant isn’t super ideal so he’ll ask you after dinner.

When dinner ends he actually holds your hand and walks you down to an ice cream shop he stopped on the way there. I’d also like to mention Kyojuro paid for the whole meal :)

Kyojuro finally tells you he likes you while you are mid-bite of ice cream. The surprise makes you get ice cream on your noes to which you both laugh.

You had a feeling that was the reason he asked you to dinner — but it still came as a surprise when the words left his mouth

Of course you accepted, all the while he was taking a napkin to clean your face. If the whole extravagant date didn’t win you over, that little moment right there did

Even in the modern world, Kyojuro lives each day like it’s his last. So that shouldn’t be a shock when he proposes you two move in together after only 6 months of dating

Kyojuro knows that may be a really overwhelming question so he’s okay if you say you aren’t ready for that.

However, when y’all move in together it kinda feels like a dream

Kyojuro is so attentive

When y’all move in, he won’t let you lift a single thing. He’s convinced he can do it all himself and he wants to show off just a bit

You end up convincing him to let you help with the furniture so he doesn’t hurt himself — your persistence in trying to help him makes him fall in love a little more

Speaking of love, you two haven’t said it just yet.

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t love you, hell he’s pretty sure he fell in love with you the moment he met you. But again, he doesn’t want to overwhelm you

Part of him hopes you say it first

The first night in your shared apartment was a date of sorts. You didn’t have a bed frame yet so your mattress was on the floor. Kyojuro set up some fairy lights and all the cheesy Pinterest pillow fort date ideas

You two ended up taking, watching the city around you through the large window in your bedroom. Right before you fell asleep, so certain that Kyojuro was sleeping, you whispered a soft “I love you.”

Kyojuro, of course, heard every word

Because of that, he felt more confident when he finally got to say it back to you — he wasted no time either

Instead of his extravagant date to ask you out, he simply said “I love you” the moment you woke up.

Now here is the thing, he’s super accident prone. Like he’ll find a way to give himself bruises or paper cuts and all that and it stresses you out lmfao

He likes that you are so soft with him when you go to put a bandaid on his new cut or pluck a splinter out of his finger

Kyojuro is the type to come home with a small gift every time he leaves. Sometimes it’s flowers, other times it’s your favorite candy or snack, maybe even a plushie you’ve had your eyes on

He loves you for you, so if you have something you are really into (a movie, anime, tv show, a band, collector items, etc etc) Kyojuro will absolutely let you ramble for hours upon hours

He’ll also go out of his way to educate himself on the subject so he can hold a conversation about it with you, he loves the way your eyes light up when you see he’s interested in hearing more

The next step in his mind is marriage. For you? It’s a pet.

So, he compromises and adopts a cat for the both of you to look after. It was also per Mitsuri’s request!!

Tengen gave him some advice saying that it’s best to try and raise an animal together cause it “brings out true colors” Kyojuro listened of course, Tengen has 3 wives so he must be doing something right

This brings around the topic of arguments & stressful situations — something that happens in every relationship.

Kyojuro can occasionally have an attitude — that’s how you know something is really bothering him

There will be some occasional arguing — it just depends on if you are both in bad moods and something ticks you off

I’d say Kyojuro is the first to calm down and find a solution — he realizes how stressed he is when he starts to get snippy with you & quickly wants to fix that

He’s the type to genuinely apologize but also the type to try and lighten the mood by making you laugh

It’s really hard to stay mad at him when he’s making those faces tbh — or in general

Though he’s no stranger to apologizing in bed *wink wonk* speaking of…

Kyojuro is down for whatever you wanna do

He’s a bit against anything BDSM related but will give it a go if you are super into it

He’s got a manageable sex drive but prefers when you initiate things, unless he’s really pissed off.

Sex is usually a stress reliever for the both of you — not sure why some people get offended by that tho??

To bring up marriage again, Kyojuro is okay if you don’t want to get married. He’s content so long as you are in his life.

Same goes for kids — whether it be biologically, a surrogate, adoption, etc. I think he’ll have a bit of a hard time if you say you don’t wanna have any kids but he’ll accept it eventually. 

You and your pets are more than enough. He absolutely sees your pet cat & future fur babies as you children

This is a little bit all over the place but let me just say, you two throw amazing dinner parties. You’ll often invite over Kyojuro’s fellow teachers (the pillars) and their partners for a lovely evening of dinner and drinks :)

But don’t worry, Senjuro, the Kamaboko squad & Muichiro aren’t cut out! Senjuro honestly spends so much time at your place, it’s so cute

Kyojuro always says he can invite his friends over to hang out since he knows their father can be scary. You love having the company & see them as little siblings :)

Overall Kyojuro is such one of a kind man. He absolutely would give you the world if he could

#kny #demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer imagines #demon slayer fanfic #demon slayer smut #demon slayer headcanons #hashira #demon slayer fluff #rengoku kyojuro #kyojuro rengoku #rengoku headcanons #rengoku fluff #rengoku smut #kyojuro headcanons #rengoku x y/n #rengoku x you #rengoku x reader #kyojuro x reader #Kyojuro x you #kyojuro x y/n #xxsabitoxx’s work!

[shiroganeryo]

Here's yet another BSD OC I've been meaning to introduce since last year but alas, free time grows ever so scarce. She's inspired by Haruko Enomoto - mostly notably known as Haruko Kunikida, Doppo Kunikida's second wife and novelist!

Her ability is a reference to one of Haruko's works, True Heart. More info under the Read More break~

Kanji: 榎本治子 Rōmaji: Enomoto Haruko

Personal Information Gender: Female Age: 24 Birthday: August 7th Height: 162cm Blood type: O Likes: Flower arranging, drinking at kyabakura, fish tempura Dislikes: Unplanned events, improper use of the law, condescension

Professional Information Occupation: Private Investigator Affiliation: Yokohama Police Department

Voice Actors Japanese: Mamiko Noto

Ability

True Heart (真ごころ, Magokoro) reveals the truth in an affected person's words as well as their connections to other parties, be those personal, professional and/or criminal.

When activated, Haruko's ability will allow her to see the affected person's words as bright blue visual writing in front of her eyes, much similar to a projection. Anything colored in red, no matter how small it is of a detail, is 100% a lie, even if the remaining of the sentence is colored normally.

If she chooses to further investigate the person in question by 'searching their heart', her ability will show her their involvement with other people through projected lines that connect one to another; the color of the connecting line is indicative of what kind of relationship it is. As much as it intrudes on people's privacy, showing even personal relationships no matter how much of a secret those are, this has been a key trait of Haruko's ability that has aided her on solving many cases before in which multiple criminal parties were allied to each other.

When in use, True Heart will turn Haruko's eyes a brighter blue with scarlet-colored pupils and irises ends. There are no exceptions to the effect of Haruko's ability other than herself and Osamu Dazai.

Personality

Haruko is a down-to-earth, level-headed woman. Her usual composure when at work usually tricks others into thinking she's the stern type but once she's off her shift and breaks character, her joyful and good-humored personality shines through. She eases up the most while drinking at her favorite kyabakura, especially if in the company of a drinking buddy, becoming chatty and endearingly silly.

Extremely adaptable, despite her overall considerate and caring nature, she's not one to be lenient with the unjust and will seek to punish those accordingly.

She carries a stationery store-bought small notebook on her at all times whose notable features are its flower-print cover embellished with the word 理想 (Risou, Ideal) in golden letters. In a similar fashion to Kunikida, Haruko is into scheduling and planned routines albeit hers are much more flexible than his. That didn't stop them from hitting it off as soon as they met however, quickly bonding over their shared interest. Now and then she changes notebooks once they run out of pages to write in, but the flower-print cover and golden writing are always a must-have for her.

As a police department employee, she's proficient with handling firearms and has remarkable physical combat skills, being well-versed in mixed martial art styles such as taekwondo and kickboxing. Her strongest traits are her endurance and willpower.

Backstory

In the original story's timeline, Haruko is first introduced rather early on but becomes more relevant as a character during the events of the Sky Casino arc. She works as a private investigator under her senior officer, Minoura, as he's the only one who knows about her ability and keeps it a secret since the use of those without a permit is considered taboo. Given that the information she finds thanks to her ability always leads her to uncovering actual, relevant clues and evidences in the cases she has solved, no one has ever suspected a thing.

However, it was exactly because of her ability that she was one of the few people that doubted the truth imposed by The Book when reality was altered to frame the ADA as a terrorist group, to the point of questioning her own judgment when no one else did. This state of unrest led her to conducting an investigation on her own, trying to find loose ends whilst staying out of the police's sights in order not to be accused of coniving with the ADA. After all, she believed in their innocence thanks to their previous collaborations with the Police Department, having personally met and inspected most of its members with her ability.

She's finally able of making a breakthrough once Ranpo shows himself on broadcast; while that geared the people affected by The Book to think for themselves and see the situation more clearly, that allowed Haruko to use her ability on Ranpo and not only confirm everything he said was true, but also gave her some leads to follow, cueing her into investigating the Decay of Angels more closely. She's come very close to finding out Kamui's real identity thanks to that.

Currently, she's helping the Police Department deal with the aftermath of the vampire outbreak.

Trivia

🌸 Similar to her irl counterpart, Haruko comes from a financially poor background. When younger, she lived in a humble village and made a living off flower arranging lectures, only moving in to the city after getting her job in the Police Department to support herself. Nowadays, flower arranging is one of her favorite hobbies as it gives her a warm feeling of nostalgia. 🌸 She can hold her alcohol pretty well but if she drinks to the point of becoming too drunk, she'll start crying over pointless things (like how one time she saw a mother goose with its young trailing after and thought it was very cute, for example). 🌸 Despite Haruko's dainty appearance, she's physically stronger than she looks. Rumor has it that she's able of effortlessly lifting Kunikida off the ground regardless of him being comically much taller than her. When asked, he neither confirms nor denies the claim. 🌸 As expected of someone in an investigative career, she's clever, with a good sense of responsibility and a keen intuition when it comes to predicting outcomes in the cases handed to her. Such adeptness paired with her ability make Haruko an obnoxious foe to face head on. 🌸 Even if the concept of ideals draws her in, she mostly relies on a very personal, strong sense of loyalty and duty rather than idealized courses of action. 🌸 Much like Kunikida, she does have a 'requirements list' for an ideal partner and even with her list not being as extensive as his, he still does not fit all requirements. That didn't stop them from falling in love anyway, as she does not fit all of his requirements either - being 4 short of being a perfect match to the list.

#bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd #bsd oc #oc #bsd fan character #I'm speedrunning these introductions because there's something I wanna do ~soon~ involving these ocs #she made a cameo in my dazatsu wedding fic also! Didn't appear but was mentioned #so she's been in the works even before that #my art #I'm sorry for the JP wiki link but I literally can't find anything about her in English

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

I like ur takes and I just wanted to share some stuff from another side. I watched spop as I was in my teen years, incredibly sheltered, queer, and lashing out because I was also dealing with abusive family dynamics. So… yeah I shipped it. I idealized it. And I heavily identified with Catra. But unlike with Zuko(who I also identify with) Catra didn’t change.

Every time she’d travel to a new part of the world I thought omg her moment is coming! Escape!! But she’d just get into a slap fight with Adora and then go back to the Horde. It was so strange it felt like every other character was in a story progression show and Catra was the villain of an episodic show until s5

And s5 was…. Weird. I don’t understand how Catra has a change of heart by getting more hurt by Horde Prime. She was getting hurt the whole series??? I still cried and was elated at the series finale but only bc I wanted an Adora who’d forgive me and love me and say I wasn’t bad. And I think a lot of people are like that.

Everything about the way Catra is framed points to her redemption even in the first episode… but it just makes me feel insulted now. To me as a survivor… it’s like they waved a magic wand and killed off the abuser and gave Catra a gf and that was supposed to fix it. It doesn’t work like that. My abuser died and it made things WORSE for a while (I think it would especially damage someone like Adora since Shadow Weaver “sacrificed” herself and therefore can’t be bad ever) . And I’m not looking for hyper realism in a Princess cartoon but at the time I watched it I couldn’t have really used yknow ?? Some guidance??? Something that wasn’t a fantasy lala ending that once the initial high wore off left me feeling confused and hollow. There is nothing in spop that teaches you how to get that kind of happy ending. Especially if you’re Catra who just says I love you and is suddenly resurrecting ponytail Jesus. To the me who identified with her, it was mostly about wanting to FEEL redeemed through her. FEELING strong and badass and GOOD and like things would be okay even if I was never a princess type. The actual result was feeling like I would never attain a happy ending of any sort because Catra’s didn’t feel real and her “arc” had no footsteps to follow in. How do you make a kids show and not teach good lessons??? Idk the show bad no matter who you identified with was my whole point.

At least I had/have zuko.

Also shipping zuko x sokka x suki is based I do too lmao.

first off, i'm so sorry about all the trauma you went through. i hope you are healing now, and thank you for sharing your story.

secondly, i think this is what a lot of fans felt. i can understand that people relate to catra. hell, even i relate to her a little. i know what it's like to be considered useless and weak, and to desperately want validation from a parent. i get it. when i say i dislike catra, it's not because she's a traumatized child or even because she adopted many of the toxic habits that shadow weaver portrayed. it's that she faced no consequences for any of this.

as much as spop tried to be mature, in the end, it was really childish. s5 got rid of all the complexity and just went "everyone deserves forgiveness", ignoring all of the glaring issues it had yet to solve. the protagonists forgave catra because the writers wanted them to, not because that's how it would have went down in real life.

most spop critics aren't heartless monsters who despise abuse victims, they are people who relate to either catra or adora. and they just want to see a better representation of abuse victims.

it would have been much more fulfilling and satisfying to have catra and adora take some time explore themselves and heal from their trauma, separated from each other. this kind of relationship is harmful for both of them. as long as adora is with catra, she'll continue blaming herself and putting pressure on herself, feeling as if she was responsible for everyone's problems. and as long as catra stays with adora, she'll continue deflecting her issues and being envious of adora. they needed time away from each other, but spop chose to invalidate trauma instead.

it's a pity that spop was one of the very few representation we had, at the time it came out, so people genuinely believe that c//a is a healthy ship, because they don't have many other examples to compare it to. i'm glad there are more and more queer shows coming out lately, and most of them seem to portray healthy relationships.

#btw ponytail jesus made me cACKLE #we should all be grateful for zuko #best redemption arc fr #spop critical #spop #spop salt #spop discourse #spop criticism #anti catradora #she ra #anti catra #abuse tw #tw abuse #tw trauma

[yanderes-galore]

can i request a concept for my main man dreadwing (transformers prime)?

Sure! I'll try to keep it general. I haven't entirely finished season 2 but I hope I keep things accurate! Sorry for the long wait :) Sorry if this is OOC, I wasn't sure what type of darling to focus on and I don't entirely like the yandere type I picked for him. In the future I may try to focus on one type of darling as I feel he acts different with each one.

Yandere! TF:P! Dreadwing Concept

Pairing: Romantic/Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Human/Cybertronian or Cybertronian/Cybertronian, Obsession, Violence, Sabotage, Manipulation, Dubious companionship, Attempted murder, Kidnapping, Implied jealousy/Possessive behavior.

Despite technically being allied with Decepticons, Dreadwing is a Cybertronian who is capable of thinking for myself.

He originally came to Earth with the intention of confirming his brother's death.

As a result he sided with Megatron to gain revenge.

I'll try to keep darling as neutral as I can, but I will mention Autobot, Decepticon, and Human Darling differences.

Dreadwing is depicted as an Anti-Hero character.

He works with others yet it's usually to his benefit somehow.

Obviously he'd get along the fastest with a Decepticon darling.

You'd be on the same side and it's just less of a hassle.

Dreadwing is a mech of loyalty, becoming attached to a Decepticon would not brand him some sort of traitor.

A more difficult darling for him to obtain would be a human darling.

Humans are so easy to capture and he'd have to catch/work with you for a reason.

You could have info on Autobots... or you are willing to work with Decepticons in some way.

That or maybe somehow you caught Dreadwing's eye by chance and are not involved with either party. Perhaps you fixed him out of naive kindness, proving you understand his biology somehow.

Those are some examples of how he'd take to a human darling, which also doesn't count as treachery.

Then there's the hardest darling for him to be obsessed with, an Autobot.

A connection to you counts as treachery and the whole obsession would result in an enemies-to-lovers situation.

First he'd try to kill you... then he tries to consider something other than violence between you.

That's the rarest darling for him to have yet it's possible.

Let's talk type of yandere....

Dreadwing is Loyal, Manipulative, Clever, Obsessive, Slightly possessive, Calculating, yet Cruel in his tactics like most Decepticons even if he doesn't fully agree on their agenda.

Dreadwing plans and considers all options in battle and the same can be said about him within his obsession.

He plans how to keep you trusting him and is very tactical in executing plans.

He's very smart with his obsession, be it kidnapping, sabotage, or simply keeping your loyalty.

As a result he can be scary as a yandere, mostly to other people.

Dreadwing, like his loyalty to Megatron, can respect and show loyalty to his darling once his obsession fully settles in his processors.

If you're a Decepticon it's expected.

Although he keeps his loyalty/care about you if you're a human or Autobot as a secret.

Dreadwing may not agree with Megatron's ideals nowadays, but he has to go along with it.

You're important to Dreadwing as his obsession, he holds respect for you and couldn't go against you all the way due to this.

Dreadwing, like most Decepticons, can be manipulative.

Some are better at it than him, yet he knows it just enough to fool his darling at times.

Everything he does during his obsession is carefully planned.

He plans on how to get you alone, how to deal with rivals, and he doesn't mind how much blood or Energon he has to spill to do it.

He's used to being sent as a hitman anyways.

Most of his obsession would be him planning.

If he wants to get rid of someone around you he places bombs with precision.

I'd imagine if he wanted to get an Autobot away from you, or another Decepticon, then he'd set up a plan to lure them and scrap them.

If you have human friends he could get rid of them if he felt they were a threat.

He'd probably ignore them if they weren't.

Dreadwing doesn't really plan out any sort of future with his darling.

He just plans on how to obtain you then goes from there. Although, depending on the darling, he has a general idea of it.

He'd kidnap, it's easier if you're human.

A Decepticon darling, if you trust him, doesn't need to be captured.

With a human he can trap you in his cockpit as a jet.

Autobot darling would require a bit more effort to catch....

More firepower, too.

Dreadwing is cruel due to how he dispatches those close to you.

He uses heavy weaponry and often uses explosives.

He doesn't care too much if you see the chaos he caused happen.

Dreadwing tries to show you care once he has you in his grasp.

With a Decepticon darling he tries to ease you into the idea of being partners.

Him and Skyquake used to be partners, he uses that as an excuse to encourage you to accept his offer.

You'd listen and work with him, a loyal Decepticon, right?

With a human he treats you like a pet.

After all, Decepticons refer to you fleshies as pets at times.

You're small enough to fit on their shoulder and the servos in their hands.

He could carry you everywhere and you couldn't complain.

After all... he knows you'll need him in the end.

He's powerful, he plans well, trust him... no one's coming after you with him here.

With an Autobot darling he'd kidnap you then convince Megatron he'd interrogate you himself instead of Knock Out.

He'll go easy on you since he likes you so much... but he'd never let you go.

Dreadwing isn't the most affectionate mech but he tries to give you comfort.

The most significant thing I can think of for his obsession is the lengths Dreadwing would go to keep you with him.

I'm talking death traps.

Dreadwing is good at outsmarting others.

He shows respect to those who deserve it, yet if someone tries to take you away from him?

Boom.

He doesn't care who they are or if it's treachery or not.

They won't be moving if they try to take you.

Dreadwing doesn't mind offlining those who who disagree with his choice of obsession.

You should only be concerned with him, no one else.

I wouldn't say Dreadwing is a very physically affectionate yandere.

He's more verbal.

Which works for him as he is someone who builds relationships on respect in some way, regardless of side.

He'd tell you he cares for you regardless on the type of attraction and does everything in his power to keep you at least healthy beside him.

Even if you aren't happy with the arrangements.

Overall, Dreadwing can be a menacing and intimidating yandere due to how efficient he is in his craft.

Those trying to seperate him from his darling should watch their step...

It may be their last if they continue to pursue you, Cybertronian or not.

#yandere transformers #yandere transformers prime #yandere tfp #yandere tfp dreadwing #yandere dreadwing

[gameguy20100]

Why Alastor works where other's fail.

So anyone who follows my blog knows that I have a large distaste for the growing amount of characters who act like villains but always get sob stories in an attempt to make me feel sorry for them. The most glaring example being Felix Fathom from Miraculous Ladybug

I'm expected to feel bad for this character and feel sympathy for him but his actions are indistinguishable from the villains of the story.

Yet, I don't in fact, I hate him. And I was sure I'd hate this archetype until I watched Hazbin Hotel. And Alastor, despite being a similar type of character swiftly became my favourite.

So what makes Alastor a good character and Felix fail as a character for me? Well, a big part of it is Alastor is a lot more fun to watch.

Pretty much every scene he's in Alastor steals the show completely. With a combination of his VAs impeccable performance, the animation distorting in various ways to enhance his creepy effects, and of course that constant smile. Felix doesn't have anywhere near the level of charisma and charm to make it work.

Probably the biggest factor is who these characters direct their hatred and malice towards.

In Alastor's case, while he's clearly not a good person his actions do actually benefit Charlie and Vaggie. The protagonists of the show and ideally the characters you root for. Who does Alastor antagonise? Vox, a character who is depicted with every negative stereotype of CEO's ever, and Adam, the main villain of the story. While he does rile up Lucifer, the bitterness is mutual and hilarious.

Felix on the other hand? He claims to be against Gabriel, but his actions end up helping him and making the lives of two people who have done nothing to him, and in Adrien's case outright love him and do everything he can to help him, suffer. I'm sorry but if a character causes the hero to do this

They are a villain.

But another major factor is simple. Alastor isn't annoying. What do I mean by that? Well, despite Felix's claims to love Adrien he's caused him quite a lot of trouble. The main instances being gaslighting his friends by pretending to be him and insulting them, then betraying Ladybug making his life as Chat Noir much harder. Yet he's never punished for it and we have to listen to him whine about his daddy issues. Alastor does let slip that something else is going on but he never whines about his "Tragic past" If anything he seems to want to make sure nobody finds out, he even threatens Husk for even mentioning it.

Nobody likes seeing bad people go unpunished or go on about how hard they have it. Oh? You blew up a building because your child died? Cool motive, still terrorism.

Felix however never shuts up about how hard he has it, and make it everyone else's problem to the point where I lose all sympathy for him.

Yes Felix, your life is so hard and tragic. Now can we talk about the time you did this?

Or this

Or THIS?!

Sexual assault, giving a terrorist magical artefacts and betraying an innocent girl, framing your cousin in the process, and Genocide. But you know... he had a hard childhood.

So maybe I don't hate the archetype. Maybe it's just a bad idea to try and make a character's archetype go against everything they've shown.

In Alastor I see a monster who's taking down other monsters and the narrative shows him as that,

In Felix, while the story wants me to see a tragic anti-hero, all I see is a spoiled brat.

#miraculous ladybug #hazbin hotel #comparison #anti hero #Felix fathom #hazbin alastor #ml analysis #hazbin analysis

[13eyond13]

Who are your top 5 (or top 3) favorite characters from Berserk? And why you loved them? And your top 5 favorite moments from the series? Thanks.....

I think I kinda only have 4 main faves, really? And that's probably a pretty obvious bunch (Guts, Casca, Griffith, and Puck). I got attached to them all in the first arcs and then stuck out the rest of the stuff mainly just for them without getting extremely attached to anybody else (though I do think the rest of the story is definitely worth reading, and there are many amazing things that come later on as well).

(Warning for spoilers below):

I love Guts because I just cared about him and what happens to him way more than I initially expected I would. I think he's very relatable to me personality-wise and just not your typical macho protagonist guy in some pretty interesting and unusual ways. I also like that he's both kind of simple and complicated all at once and not just a corny noble typical hero type guy, but not completely boring and edgy and nihilistic either. It's a fun blend. I felt a ton for Casca as well and just thought she was very sympathetic and tough yet vulnerable too. I think Griffith's idealism and ambition makes much of the intriguing drama and plot happen that I actually care about in the story, and that he's definitely a complex character that's maybe the most fun one to analyze in a fandom sense. And Puck is just that cute little voice of reason / comic relief sort of character who keeps you going when Guts is being particularly grim and surly and difficult to connect to and when the story is verging on way too dark and bleak, and since he's with you from the very start it's hard not to get attached!

Some Top Favourite Moments (I couldn't narrow it down to five):

-Guts's interactions with Theresia, the Count's daughter / that entire scene in the Black Swordsman Arc: Maybe a bit of an oddball choice, but I distinctly remember that this part of the story was surprising and interesting to me in a good way because it just showed some sides of Guts's character that I didn't expect, and made him seem a bit more unusual and interesting of a character to follow in my eyes. I felt like his weirdass/awkward dark advice to her to just kill herself if she really didn't want to live anymore was obviously because he himself had gone through something like that as a kid and then come to that conclusion based on his own survival instincts as well, and just spoke a lot about how strange and rough his own life and upbringing and worldview probably was, to see that as sincerely good advice to give to a kid at that time? It was different than what you'd expect a typical hero to say or do, and the fact that Puck comments on it like "dang, he's not even trying to be an asshole or mean, he legit thinks that's a good thing to say to her" made me laugh as well, because that was the impression I got from it too. It was also surprising to see him like tearing up afterwards? Idk it just marked a moment to me where my interest in the story and in Guts as a character deepened and changed a bit, so I like it for that!

- Guts and Griffith's first swordfight:

So good and iconic and also perhaps one of the most homoerotic things ever to be put on a page

-Guts holding his sword up to the moon and deciding he was gonna fight for Griffith's sake

- Guts and Casca's first kiss: I kinda get the feeling from most Griffguts fans that it's not super popular to have and share positive or warm feelings about this pair, but I thought the moments between them like their first kiss were actually so cute. I thought it made sense for them and their relationship at the time, and was nice to see them both having a soft and warm and consensual moment with someone else that they trusted that way

- Guts explaining how Griffith is the only person he can't stand looking down on him to the rest of Band of the Hawk:

Another moment where Guts pleasantly surprised me as a character, this time with how self-aware and forthcoming he was about his thoughts and feelings on this front. He's a pretty close-lipped character about such things and also pretty private and secretive most times, so whenever he does share those kinds of feelings I'm just like !!! and very invested in what he has to say. I also didn't expect the story to take this direction so explicitly, and thought that his prioritizing of his relationship with Griffith over everything else would remain background and buried in his subconscious at best, so I was pretty intrigued that this part actually happened at all

- Guts and Griffith's second sword fight in the snow:

So many interesting things going on between the main three characters here, and I feel like this was one of the most suspenseful parts of the story to me, I was having actual like heart racing physical reactions to it. I also love how it teases the audience a bit with certain clever fake-outs and whatnot, like making you think this is probably going to be how Guts will lose his arm...

-Griffith's visions of his childhood self / guilt about his dream:

Anytime we got a glimpse right inside Griffith's head was a fascinating treat for me, and I think the scene of him being guilted by the God Hand over his childhood dream was a fantastic bit of writing and artwork, and so important to the story as a whole.

-The Eclipse (up until that one scene):

You love to hate it and hate to love it, basically? It's an awful and traumatic time, but also just so effective at doing what it's supposed to do and such a great buildup of dread for this extremely climactic scene, and the horror of it all is super well done to me (though once it gets to the Casca and Femto part it lost me a bit, because I did not like how tastelessly that was depicted at all)

-Griffith's frozen heart starting to beat again:

There's no way that's just because he's fused with the Moonlight Boy or whatever, right? Love the idea that there's still a kernel of his old vulnerable self in there that he couldn't completely kill

-Casca's healing: this was such a LONG TIME COMING and I was so glad it actually happened and that Miura got to depicting that part of the story before he passed, I felt like it actually took 1000 years, and it was one of the major things keeping me reading due to wanting to see it resolved

#berserk spoilers #ask #anon #p #berserk

[noxiatoxia]

HEY so I know its been a minute since I've sent an ask, but I saw some of your posts about danganronpa, specifically regarding another episode, udg, and I was agasp because I was literally in the middle of playing it for the first time lmao. So after finishing the game last night I really wanted to ask, if you want to ofc, your in depth thoughts on the game and why you like it so much, or even thoughts on the gameplay and mechanics since its so different than the danganronpa staple. I quite liked it personally because of Komaru and Toko's relationship, them becoming two of my fav characters in the franchise so far, and because I became very endeared to the kids by the end of the story. I have some qualms with how Kotoko was handled in chapter 3 at... that part... but she's also my favorite of the kids at the same time lol.

Anyways yeah no pressure at all, I just was really curious because I liked the game a lot and found it so funny that you posted stuff about it as I was playing it. Also because I really enjoy your ouran opinions. But again I get if not, the game has some senstive subjects for sure. Thanks!

THIS IS LIKE THE BEST ASK EVER FOR ME TO RECEIVE. I AM SO PASSIONATE ABOUT THIS GAME AND HAVE BEEN FOR NEARLY A DECADE AT THIS POINT.

Okay....where to even START....

(I will be referring to UDG as DR:AE or just AE in this. SPOILERS FOR ALL OF DR:AE.)

Firstly, the environment. Unlike the main series, DR:AE does not take place in a secluded area away from the real world. It does the opposite; you are in such a vast area, you are not caged, yet you are still trapped. Even if Komaru didn't have that wristband on her, where would she go? The game is great at highlighting what the world outside of what we are told in the mainline games is actually like, how caged things are even outside, all while expanding upon existing characters' backgrounds by introducing family members, or little pieces of dialogue that serve to flesh out the world.

The gameplay itself, personally, I find VERY fun. I'm not a shooter game person, but DR:AE was a game I could play many times over. I love the different types of ammo, the puzzles, the possibilities with how to destroy the monokumas. Just a fun game all around. It's by far the most replayable Danganronpa game, as the main series games are all about the story. Once you know the story, there's really no reason to replay them. In fact, they are quite slow and boring without the intrigue of the mystery.

But the highlight, obviously, is the characters. As is Danganronpa's specialty.

While I still maintain Hajime is the most interesting protagonist of the series, Komaru serves as a great subversion of the expectations set up by Makoto's actions in the first game. Makoto is someone who preserved no matter what, changed those around him with his hope. He was your quintessential paragon protagonist. While Komaru displays this a little in some scenes (namely rallying the adults under Haiji's protection) this is only the result of speaking from her own wants and experiences. That is to say, unlike Makoto who always tried to help others even if it cost his own life, Komaru is much more realistic. She cares, first and foremost, about her safety. Her helping others to stand up for themselves comes from her own desire to keep fighting so she can live, and so she imparts that onto the people around her. Fight so you can live. She says it herself: she is not like Makoto. She is selfish, she is not endlessly optimistic. She's more like Hajime in this way, but unlike Hajime who find his own brand of philosophy, Komaru really doesn't. Rather, while Hajime's character serves to show you don't have to choose a predetermined path (hope or despair) and rather your path can simply be believing in yourself, Komaru's character shows that sometimes, and maybe even most of the time, believing in yourself or a specific ideal is not feasible. Komaru believes in the people around her - namely Toko. She believes in her friend, and believes with her friend that things can keep going. This in my opinion is an excellent twist on Makoto, who was, by all means, that friend that people believed in, not the one doing the believing.

And, as an aside, Toko and Komaru have the best development of any pair of characters in the series. Yes, even moreso than Hajime and Komaeda (who I maintain never really had "development" between each other than just a very, very good dynamic from the get-go that was influenced at points by outside plot forces on Komaeda's end. Think Light and L from Death Note in this manner).

Now, let me talk about the real meat of the game, and my favorite characters to date in the whole series: The Warriors of Hope.

I won't lie that I'm biased. I'm very biased for these guys. But I think a lot of people don't give these guys the credit they deserve considering this is a Japanese game. In Japan, child abuse is a bit of a taboo topic (that thankfully has been resolving over time). Due to the nature of Japan's politeness system and "family above all else" attitude, many child abuse cases not only go unreported, but are flat out ignored. The epidemic of babies dying in coin-operated lockers being an especially egregious example of rampant child abuse that occurred. Despite being prevalent since 1971, it took till 1993 to be socially addressed.

This is just one example, but I think it serves my point: child abuse is/was an issue in Japan when it comes to socially speaking of it. ( In fact, in the game itself, Nagisa and Kotoko both directly say they tried to reach out and get help, but were ignored by adults). This is why art regarding child abuse is so important. And that's why a huge series like Danganronpa centering a game about child abuse is such a huge deal. It sparks discussion and promotes visibility of the topic. Not to say media before hadn't talked about it - in fact, there is a lot of Japanese media about child abuse for this very reason - but that does not undermine the importance of Danganronpa deciding to portray it so openly. It is even more important, to me, that they do not stop at physical or sexual abuse. Rather, abuse focused on verbal harm and emotional neglect are portrayed as being just as damaging, which is one of the most overlooked and underplayed forms of abuse in general.

Their portray of abuse also is rather accurate. I will make a confession: I was definitely a bit too young to play danganronpa when I did. Definitely not 18 yet. But I was a teen, and very aware of different types of abuse, sexual abuse included. But despite all the PSAs, books I had read on my own or even ones assigned to me for classes, I had never seen a sexual assault victim be portrayed as hypersexual before. In fact, I didn't even know such a thing was possible. Yes, it is very, very likely I just got Komaeda levels of unlucky to not encounter that in any of my reading or research material at the time, but I think it's common, nonetheless, that people to this day still have the misconception that sexual abuse victims are all afraid of sex or anything sexual. While that is true for some, many people are now becoming more aware that sexual abuse survivors can often display hypersexual tendencies. In this way, I DID learn a lot about the effects of sexual abuse based on how Kotoko acted, and was able to do my own research from there to learn more. Furthermore, the game is good at portraying things like specific triggers in the form of words, smells, items, or specific phrases. Again, I feel it's mostly stereotyped that most triggers are objects that "make sense" like cigarettes or alcohol (much like with what Masaru was afflicted with). But the game made sure to include ones that were "non conventional" like specific words ("gentle" in Kotoko's case) and portrayed both triggers, no matter how common or uncommon, as equally severe. The game also shows negative effects child abuse can have on those around the children. After all, the WoH would not be doing the things they were doing if it weren't for how they were treated in the first place.

(Aside: This is particularly WHY I get so mad when people hate on DR:AE for being "icky". If you are personally uncomfortable with topics of child abuse, that is wholly reasonable and you do not have to play or even like a game that centers on that. You are in your full right and perfectly valid to say "I think this is gross and uncomfortable, therefore I do not like it" or "I don't like this game because I felt personally overlooked/triggered by it" or "I don't like this game because I felt it was not fun or well written". But to say it is objectively "problematic" or "disgusting" to have a game like this exist? That is just spitting in the face of people trying to advocate for visibility of child abuse. You are doing nothing but making people like myself who felt vindicated, seen, or educated by this game like bad guys. Sincerely, please do not call a game that does not shy away from the uncomfortable realities of child abuse "problematic" based on that alone.)

(Aside aside: there are "problematic" elements in the game and things to criticize as is true of all media. The Kotoko minigame I would say is the biggest "why is this in here" moment and is definitely just a fan service scene. I don't like it either. This does not mean the game itself and as a whole is valueless or bad.)

That leads into my next point: I love how morally gray the "good" and "bad" guys are. The WoH aren't doing what they're doing (save Monaca) because they want to hurt people for the lolz (though they have fun with it, as kids would). They think what they're doing is genuinely good. It's a good way to rival Junko, who knew she was evil and batshit crazy, but didn't care. These kids think they are helping children and keeping them safe. And they're kids - young kids can't really think in very complex manners. If you were treated horribly by most adults in your life, and your peers were as well and shared the same sentiments as you, you would be 100% convinced your convictions were righteous then. Hell, I've met adults that think this way (pretty much all extremists who think anyone part of x group, race, gender, religion, etc is evil). A kid thinking this way is very realistic. They are also all different levels of "morally gray". Nagisa, for example, ends up helping Komaru because he feels that a paradise for children is more important than the sole idea of killing all adults. Meanwhile, Monaca, perhaps because of the abuse she suffered all her life, has become a person that we can assume will just enact similar abusive tactics on everyone around her till the day she dies. While it's a misconception that people who suffer abuse often turn into abusers themselves (they simply just have a higher chance to commit crimes, anything from petty crimes to violent ones) there are undoubtedly cases where this does happen. A real life example is Douglas Spinx (HUGE TW; CSA & BESTIALITY). My point is: the portrayal of abuse victims in many different lights from people who can inflict harm unintentionally but with help and intervention can make recoveries to those who, in the rarest and saddest of cases, will turn to a full life of inflicting harm on others intentionally, is important - for someone like me, at least. Without the proper care or attention, horrible things like these can happen. I find this a very important thing to be open about.

Then we have Haiji. Haiji is supposed to be a "good guy". He's cowardly, yes, but he does fight to help the adults being killed. He attempts to bolster moral. But...despite having good intentions and even doing some good things, he's kind of horrible. After all, he's the one who contributed to Monaca's abuse and made her the way she is now. He's just like the kids except reversed; he thinks all children are evil because they're the ones killing everyone. And in his position, I do think most people would feel that way. I mean, if literally every kid in your area was wearing a helmet that turned them fuckin murderous and were killing all your friends and family would you, after enduring months of this, still bother to be like "not all kids though!". Likely not. Even though it is wrong, it is still a realistic way these things would pan out, much like how it did for the WoH. I mean, for a real life example, one need not look further than one of those extremist radical feminist blogs here on Tumblr that believes every single person born male is a brute. Most of those people believe that way because they have personally been hurt by one or several males in their lives, and y'know, fear and pain leads to hate and all of that.

Speaking of, I like the brainwashing in this game far more than in DR3 the anime (spoilers for that later on but tbqh DR3 is not worth anyone's time). I never liked brainwashing as a trope - I feel it is lazy. However, in DR:AE and DR1 they're utilized pretty well. In DR1 it's literally glossed over as "does it really matter? The outcome is more important than the means" which considering DR1, moreso than any other game in the series, is a satire and is supposed to focus on absurdity, I think having the brainwashing LITERALLY be hand-waved as "eh, it just happened" makes a lot of sense thematically with the goofy writing. But as you know, as DR went on, it became more and more serious with itself (for...better and worse...) in DR:AE, I like how the brainwashing affects only the nameless children. DR3's anime was lazy by having all the main characters get brainwashed by a funny little video, both in future&despair arc. In AE, it's a helmet. I think this makes much more sense as theoretically the helmet could be attached to the actual brains of these people. Plus, as said in the game, they blow up when the controller is destroyed, giving credence to that theory. The brainwashing in AE is not a vehicle to explain why main characters act the way they do. Rather, it's just a device used to create background conflict/build up the main villains, leaving the main characters to be affected by persuasion and manipulation (the objectively better version of "brainwashing").

Circling back to the WoH, outside of their thorough portrayals of abuse and standings as "villains who think they are doing the right thing", they're just fun. Like, legit, I just think they're fun. Outside of their trauma, they aren't very complex, but that's the point. The game is a commentary about abuse and how it affects you, the people around you, and the world. The WoH are not the characters meant to be developed and complex entities who undergo deep changes - that is left to our protagonists. As most series with static characters do, they assign each member a core personality. Every Warrior of Hope has a number of traits influenced by this personality (the "sporty" one, the "smart" one, etc) that make them vastly different from each other, making them not only distinct but just fun to watch their personalities clash. After all, if they were not bonded by their trauma, they probably wouldn't be friends at all. it's honestly like a Teen Titans situation in that way, and I've always loved stuff like that. Of course, their personalities are also heavily influenced by their trauma, again a realistic depiction of how trauma can and will change who you are as a person and present itself in many facets of your actions.

I THINK that's all my MAIN points. Suffice to say, DR:AE is my favorite game in the series. I think it's the most fun, has the best character developments and dynamics, I think its story is the most emotional and deep-cutting, and it really spoke to me during a time that I needed something like this to reach me. I won't say it's the best DR game in terms of overall narrative (that honor goes to SDR2) but it comes close. And I know not everyone will feel the same way about this game that I do. Thanks for this ask; yet another reminder I need to do my bi-yearly replay of this game.

(Footnote so I don't get "so you hate waffles"'d: my bringing real-life examples into this is not to say those instances are exactly like what happens in the video game nor to say they are on the same level of importance. Obviously real life is far more important and complex than anything that could happen in a game. I only bring them up to support my points about certain aspects being realistic by using, well, real life examples.)

#;noxiatalks2ya #danganronpa #danganronpa another episode #ultra despair girls #dr:ae #dr udg

[jigsaw-block]

The other tie for the second place on my postpoll was to post about the new Archeology stuff, so here's the info about the new archeology stuff for my minecraft mod, Valley of Plenty!

Again, this'll be coming to the 1.1 release, not the 1.0, and is for an update focused on Deserts & Painting. This update is largely already finished, despite the 1.0 release not being out yet! I just like talking about my ideas, too 🤷‍♀️

Essentially, I'd like to introduce a few new pot shapes, some new options to decorate pots with, more pots with loot tables in pre-existing structures, and more archeology sites to begin with. Another huge part ov this is that I want to introduce more things for the Sniffer to dig up, way more biome-based, so you actually have some reason to bring them places.

For the archeology system as a whole, I want to change things a bit, so that when players dig something up, it starts off as an unidentified artifact! These artifacts can be identified at a new archeology workstation, essentially making it so that players don't just start brushing, see a stick, and decide to call it quits.

I've got some plans, also, to make it so that even with things like sticks, what you dig up actually reflects some ov the culture surrounding the place you're digging in. For instance, instead ov just finding a golden nugget, you might find an old piece ov broken golden jewelry- functionally, still just working as a nugget, but like... adding some more character to the system!

I want to introduce some rare / unique artifacts! The idea is to use new loot table functionality so that the first time a player meets the conditions to find one and does so, they'll retrieve the only "legitimate" original copy ov the item. The item can be found in recreations, otherwise, and can be recreated, itself, but ideally I'd like to incentivize players to build museums for things by actually implementing more scarcity to them in the first place. Think sorta how Animal Crossing has "real" artifacts, and very-close "fake" artifacts. Additionally, if any ov these has a function, the function will only work with the recreations- the idea being that the originals should probably not be being used for risk ov damaging them.

I'd also like to introduce a couple ov "multi-part" items able to be found in dig sites, so that you need to collect at least 1 ov each unique piece from the dig site to be able to complete the artifact.

Another part ov this is the introduction ov a handful ov blocks that are very similar to pre-existing blocks, but cannot be collected by breaking them! You'll either have to display them on-site, or move them with pistons if you're really dedicated. Like, make fossils out ov "Fossilized Bones" instead ov just bone blocks, so that if the player wants to show off the actual fossil, they'll have to put some work into it, instead ov just making a recreation ov said fossil. I really want to make all ov this stuff very niche, so that it doesn't ever become an issue ov "this block is way too valuable for this type ov build to be scarce".

Also, new paintings the player is able to dig up, and a couple ov new banner patterns! I'd also really like, with my new painting system for blocks, namely the Painting work station, to be able to introduce a sort ov "Armor Trim Template" type item to some blocks; the item itself would essentially be a "Pattern" template for players to apply to some pre-existing blocks, with the Pattern 1) taking durability damage in the crafting process, and 2) being replicable a la smithing templates.

#minecraft #mc #mod development #valley of plenty