venticuliao

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#Literally Rhinedottir when she sent Albedo to Mondstadt

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tbh villains are hard to write, the stakes of crisis in a story rely on them, and u can either fuck up the entire thing or just one character, so it’s safer to make ur villains one dimensional or have motivations that are stupid as hell as long it justifies the rest of the writing.

case in point: thanos in the marvel movie had to act as this cosmic threat that would wipe out half of life in the universe. his reason? not enough fuel to sustain that life.. okay? so his goal is to preserve life by sacrificing part of it. his solution? a magic glove that could easily fix the root problem in the first place but he chooses murder bc he’s sooo evil.

stupid? yes, but they didn’t need the audience to like thanos, either from an emotional or technical perspective in terms of the writing. in making such a stupid villain though, they prompted stupid conversations around him and made ethical smoke and mirrors around his character as a villain.

and tbf another reason why good villains are hard to find these days is there is such a focus on making transparent one’s own values and morals through them. nobody’s brave enough to make their villains be committed to their goals with actual reasons. do u as a person that exists in the real world justify or agree with such evil? thanos was a stupid character, why is this even a discussion.

but the thing is this type of things are throught experiments, ur free to explore anything u want in fiction, it doesn’t reflect anything about u if u indulge in the fantasy horror of eco fascism or enjoy the different dilemmas and complexities that a character would face before such a topic. it’s just thanos was stupid as hell, but what if there was an interesting well written villain who explored this subject in a better way?

enter: utopia’s Mr Rabbit

utopia is about a secret massive organization that wants to reduce the population on earth by introducing something in the vaccines for a flu epidemic (it was made years before Covid though), but they themselves don’t know what exactly will be the result, they just know it will work if they are able to get their hands on it. they know they can find the science of it through a graphic novel that was made by a patient in a psychiatric hospital decades ago, which a niche popular conspiracy claims has predicted multiple illnesses through the years. the organization is more or less running against time, as the daughter of the mad scientist is also after the graphic novel.

the backstory behind this all is the mad scientist once met a woman at a party that only the most brilliant minds in the world were invited. nobody wanted to talk to him because he had these fucked up ideas about malaria doing a great job of killing people in a planet that soon would not be capable of sustaining human population, but the woman agreed. she confesses she once was in a massacre, and would rather kill herself right there than face something like that again.

so, they start working together.

Milner, the woman, once played many political sides against each other, and as a result got almost killed. she survived, but she had the Chinese character for rabbit carved into her skin, and eventually became known as Mr Rabbit, although her actual identity was never revealed. this event shapes her mentality about the future, hence why the scientist’s words stuck with her. the story doesn’t bother putting too much emotional weight on it, it’s not that important in contrast to all the events in the world that support this rhetoric of overpopulation.

Milner has a husband and then a son who suffer from a deadly illness, but through it all she falls in love with the scientist. she considers him a god for what he’s doing and his genius. to her, there is no doubt they are working for the preservation of humanity, to the point she murders her husband when the illness has begun to shut down his body (years later, she also does the same to her son). there is never a doubt that she loved them, she isn’t unfeeling or cruel, but her commitment to their cause comes before everything else. and so, even though she still loves him, when the scientist regrets his decision and tries to escape, she hunts him down and has him tortured, threatening to also torture his daughter if he doesn’t reveal what change he made to the vaccine before leaving.

Milner is never portrayed in a way that makes u doubt her soundness of mind or her feelings, she is simply committed to what she believes. she doesn’t act cruel to people, and she’s a fairly normal woman when other characters meet her, it’s just she’ll shoot a bitch if and when she needs to. even if that bitch is her beloved or her child, she is willing to do what it takes, including losing her own life.

the main characters, not knowing she’s the one behind it all the entire time she’s helping them, from the very beginning oppose what the organization is doing, although they’re all just a bunch of guys, normal people who were just pulled into the whole conspiracy because they knew the person who bought the unpublished graphic novel the organization is after. one of them, Wilson Wilson, gets tortured by two of the agents and his eye is removed. not surgically or all too violently, but with a spoon.

Wilson Wilson goes through an entire act over the two seasons of the show in which he vehemently opposes the very notion of sacrificing part of the population, and being unable of even shooting the man who pulled his eye out with the spoon, to becoming Milner’s ally. he’s completely changed his mind from what he’s witnessed and what he’s come to understand of the world on his own.

when Milner dies, as the final plan is already in motion (and it won’t kill anybody, but instead make the population infertile), Wilson Wilson takes over the organization and carves the rabbit character into his stomach, thus becoming Mr Rabbit for the rest of the world

and those to me have been the most enjoyable well written smart villains with evil motivations who commit evil actions for evil goals without bargaining through a tragic backstory that I’ve ever seen thank u thank u

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i guess an issue with "anonymized people of the global south" (truly a phrase that keeps on giving) is that it is perhaps true that there is a hypothetical limit to what any given people can care about. geography, race, politics and shared cultural factors such as religion and language certainly play a role in what people necessarily care about, and also what the scope of that care entails. like most decent people feel a sense of empathy and sympathy towards a beseiged or starving population in any situation, and may even be moved to donate to them or learn more about them or raise money and/or campaign for them even if there is no pressing political need to do so (remember #stopkony?)

but the issue with american politics is that it isn't a matter of caring due to some abstract moral or virtuous show of solidarity. it is not a matter of progressives or leftists showing empathy and extending solidarity to a cause based on personal interest or inclination.

the US is in the unique position of being directly involved in (almost) every single major conflict in the world due to its self-assigned role as the "global police" (or the leader of the free world, or in short: imperialism) and a self-styled democracy, unlike other empires and other aspiring empires, like russia and the UAE, whose citizens do not live in a democracy. so this leaves us in the uncomfortable position of begging for attention from people whose votes are directly responsible for our lives, when they should have already been paying attention before they voted.

it is us asking you for accountability, being reframed as asking for sympathy. whatever you fear from trump you have already visited tenfold upon the middle east under obama, under trump, under biden.

this is not abstract or metaphorical, it's quite direct. american politics are bipartisan when it comes to horrific foreign policy and the US war machine is also bipartisan. the middle east in particular has seen the impact of these policies intimately and violently.

in a hundred years' war on palestine rashid khalidi makes the case that because so many zionists were american by birth and had close connections with the US, they were far more fortunate in the exchange of power that happened post-1948, from britain to the US. meanwhile palestinians had absolutely no familiarity with the US or its lobbying system, having been colonized by the english and more familiar with the british imperial system as opposed to the newfound american one.

this led to palestinians being marginalized from the mainstream they needed the most to make their case, and over the next few decades seeing successive political and human losses as israel took its role as an american outpost in the middle east, and the UN acquisced to US influence again and again and again, culminating in the situation we have today: a right-wing israeli government with no chains, a genocide, and a second nakba.

the point is that we don't ask for american sympathy for an anonymized people of the global south for proof of moral fibre. it's not a request to show your ability to be human and show empathy. it is not a request to show superhuman virtue and put another people's welfare above your own. rather, its a demand to look at the full spectrum of your pre-existing political involvement, as a citizen of a supposed democracy that is directly responsible for the enormous devastation on hand. it is a matter of staying informed because your ignorance is killing us, our friends, our neighbors, and the disregard for the so-called rules-based world order has become insurmountable.

people have more or less sucked it up and accepted this reality across the board. nobody is pretending we don't know we are an anonymized people of the global south, we are simply dealing with the consequences of that reality. today that means playing ball in the attention economy, it means campaigns and hashtags and a war of narratives and humanizing and normalizing and organizing, all of this ultimately to de-anonymize the people of the global south for you, because they are already de-anonymized to the bombs and soldiers subsidized with your taxes and your UN veto.

[venticuliao]

Last Song: one of a kind by placebo

Favorite Color: i want to say orange

Last Movie/TV Show: movie Judas and the black messiah, and tv show mm does a Turkish telenovela count

Sweet/Savory/Spicy: sweet or else my stomach takes it personally

Last Thing I Googled: savory meaning 😭

Current Obsession: cynocynocyno

Last Book: I been jumping thru pedro cayuqueo’s works

Last Fic: I only read haino these days

Looking Forward To: lower temperatures jfc

tagged by @shuuumaaaaa-main

nine things / nine people / nine companions

Last Song: i think it was a purrple cat song but cannot remember exactly which one

Favorite Color: is it bad that I don't even know the answer to this question anymore? T_T lets say light purple today.

Last Movie/TV Show: Movie was Looper, TV show was Nathan For You

Sweet/Savory/Spicy: I like all of them but prefer savory.

Last Thing I Googled: the sound and the fury pdf

Current Obsession: reading tbh I have just been reading reading reading, anything I can get my hands on

Last Book: I was listening to If We Burn by Vincent Bevins on the way home today.

Last Fic: probably an aventio fic

Looking Forward To: officially becoming a permanent employee at my workplace after nearly two years of being temp/as-needed so I can get some healthcare. I've had several health problems and a metric fuckton of stress this winter and I just want to get this sorted out so I can start writing again.

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if you want to do it, do it!:

@narzissenkreuz-ordo @narwhalandchill @trashcanlore @gnawrden @venticuliao @celestiabyss @the-fifteen @s-b-party @fa1rytunes

#I forgot I wanted to read that Vincent bevins book 👁 #thank u for tag !!!!!!!!

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#whiplash from seeing it on the dash 😭 #this was like my first wenzhou fanart i think

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roses are red violets are blue you ain’t got one?

#gotta reblog it every year

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lmao okay guys

#that weird ass power almost killed u twice and u just accept it as a part of him and him as a whole with it? gay ass

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"Don't misunderstand. It's not like we like Jin or anything. " -Boyfriend and Imouto

#-man who took a grenade for him #tekken 8 spoilers

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"I don't buy it. Which is all the more reason to keep an eye on her...Isn't that right, Jin?"

#cunning little bastard ily #tekken 8 spoilers

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Stonehead | Tekken 8

#YOUR HONOR SHES EVERYTHING 2 ME #tekken 8 spoilers

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#I yelled

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tekken 8 spoilers (leaks) second half ///

I’m more interested in the crumbs they left behind unanswered tbh. I really like reina and I’m mad I don’t know whose those shoes at the end were.

Im not gonna call it what I’d rather call it but it is very uncomfortable to see an island at the end of Japan filled with soldiers waging a war. Tekken was made 20 years ago yaddah yaddah it doesn’t make it any less uncomfortable to see given the current situation. Not pointing fingers or anything, but media obviously doesn’t exist and isn’t perceived in a vacuum.

I’m sad they killed Claudio and zafina, I didn’t like zafina’s death but I thought claudio’s was earned and well executed.

I need jin/devil jin asap

Bamco I’m gonna get ur ass for making my peruvian girl fight for the bad guys over interests of capital (that being said the dynamic with Leo was cute I like the ship)

Victor being a bland white man in a cast of characters that are anything but kinda gives him a charm tbh pops can get it

I didn’t know the whole kazama clan had been killed by ogre like that makes jin a survivor in other senses but idk if they just added it now or it was always there bc they only ever made him mourn his mom

Reina has to be my favorite character I really can’t wait to know more about her bc her personality is amazing and her connection to heihachi (whatever it is) is one of the best turns I ever saw in this game. Like rescuing a character that’s central to the spirit and value of tekken as a franchise but without the negative aspect of his character that definitely were already worn out and turning him into the coolest cunning girl. I love u reina

kazuya getting trauma flashbacks from Lars was fucking funny

I had to just turn off belief for most of it bc it doesn’t fly well to call jin the hope when everyone hated him like a game ago shsjdj but it is what it is, I’m just making up the missing development in my head. I would have liked if it was more cynical tho, like ppl resentfully calling him hope just bc there’s no other option

tekken 8 spoilers (or leaks??) ////

There was no way they could salvage jin’s character after t6 so this redemption arc is whatever, it’s better to fully suspend belief and just take it as it is.

Kazuya is rly fun as a diabolical villain.

Who even is that French guy. The shipping economics in tekken have been struggling a bit so it’s nice to see boss x assassin old man yaoi.

Reina is rly cool I like her a lot. I think that cute voice/deep voice type of cunning female character is one of my favorite tropes. She’s rly cool I’m going insane.

They made jinhwoa gay as hell. What is this. Don’t piss me off.

And then this implicit confession of love like he’s not saying he accepts him despite knowing there’s something deeply wrong with him (not that he didn’t already know by virtue of almost getting killed by devil jin. twice)

And then not content with that they drop the gayest fucking concept in the game

He just fought Hwoarang, was able to use his devil gene not through the fear of death but that “fire” and “heat” and now you’re telling me it’s desire. Don’t piss me off.

Thank you Leo for the yaoi physics lesson

Zafina and Claudio are such a great duo, they can just breathe next to each other and the vibe is great. Great shipping content so far.

They need to invent a new bechdel test for Hwoarang and Xiaoyu cus everything always revolves around Jin and it’s kinda funny

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what's the point of beating a monster like you?

i always thought this line sounded out of place with hwoarang as a character. he's chased jin through 4 tournaments and around the world with the excuse of a rematch, even in scenario campaign he's reluctant to let anyone catch him before he does. we know from his t4 ending his relationship to jin goes (or has the potential to go) beyond a simple rivalry, and whatever he feels for him prompts him to protect him from a grenade explosion to his own detriment. his characterization in blood line confirms this interpretation of the character. so why would he still call him a monster, as hotheaded as he is?

this is the original line in korean

괴물 상태인 너한테 이겨봤자 의미 없다고

the more literal meaning, checking the words used, would be something like

even if i win against you, in a monster state it's meaningless

he's not saying that jin is a monster, but that devil is something he turns into basically, and fighting against him has no purpose for hwoarang.

so we can assume that despite all of the harm and the war crimes he's committed, hwoarang still is able to separate jin from devil.

#and this too ofc

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t8 spoilers ////

whenever I made shit up about devil Jin I always held myself back like “no.. I can’t make it self indulgent there’s some degree of realism not influenced by the shipping brain cells I have to employ” and then bamcos like ok so it triggers with desire

#what am I gonna do now #it’s like they fed jinhwoa in retrospect cus now every devil Jin interaction with hwoa is canonically gayer #I’m standing here like Right so ur just handing me this like this without warning #tekken 8 spoilers

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So what the hell was the desire here lmfao

tekken 8 spoilers (or leaks??) ////

There was no way they could salvage jin’s character after t6 so this redemption arc is whatever, it’s better to fully suspend belief and just take it as it is.

Kazuya is rly fun as a diabolical villain.

Who even is that French guy. The shipping economics in tekken have been struggling a bit so it’s nice to see boss x assassin old man yaoi.

Reina is rly cool I like her a lot. I think that cute voice/deep voice type of cunning female character is one of my favorite tropes. She’s rly cool I’m going insane.

They made jinhwoa gay as hell. What is this. Don’t piss me off.

And then this implicit confession of love like he’s not saying he accepts him despite knowing there’s something deeply wrong with him (not that he didn’t already know by virtue of almost getting killed by devil jin. twice)

And then not content with that they drop the gayest fucking concept in the game

He just fought Hwoarang, was able to use his devil gene not through the fear of death but that “fire” and “heat” and now you’re telling me it’s desire. Don’t piss me off.

Thank you Leo for the yaoi physics lesson

Zafina and Claudio are such a great duo, they can just breathe next to each other and the vibe is great. Great shipping content so far.

They need to invent a new bechdel test for Hwoarang and Xiaoyu cus everything always revolves around Jin and it’s kinda funny

#I’m so used to taking Ls I can’t believe they fed the jinhwoas this time

[venticuliao]

tekken 8 spoilers (or leaks??) ////

There was no way they could salvage jin’s character after t6 so this redemption arc is whatever, it’s better to fully suspend belief and just take it as it is.

Kazuya is rly fun as a diabolical villain.

Who even is that French guy. The shipping economics in tekken have been struggling a bit so it’s nice to see boss x assassin old man yaoi.

Reina is rly cool I like her a lot. I think that cute voice/deep voice type of cunning female character is one of my favorite tropes. She’s rly cool I’m going insane.

They made jinhwoa gay as hell. What is this. Don’t piss me off.

And then this implicit confession of love like he’s not saying he accepts him despite knowing there’s something deeply wrong with him (not that he didn’t already know by virtue of almost getting killed by devil jin. twice)

And then not content with that they drop the gayest fucking concept in the game

He just fought Hwoarang, was able to use his devil gene not through the fear of death but that “fire” and “heat” and now you’re telling me it’s desire. Don’t piss me off.

Thank you Leo for the yaoi physics lesson

Zafina and Claudio are such a great duo, they can just breathe next to each other and the vibe is great. Great shipping content so far.

They need to invent a new bechdel test for Hwoarang and Xiaoyu cus everything always revolves around Jin and it’s kinda funny

#tekken 8 spoilers #I don’t know if u nerds need the spoiler tag but just in case