#[[basically posted to compile all the stuff from this arc]]

[perdicinae-observer]

{ Nemophilist's Hunt—»

A dove fled its gilded cage.

The land of Savigny has been consumed in the snow. The same trees repeat and stretch for as far as the eye can see. The château, too, disappeared among these trees. The mysterious letters ― fleeting salvations ― scatter across the land. Time is aimless, and so are these lands.

The dark branches breathed.

A carbine in hand and a will, its only occupant realises that he was never alone.

Be vigilant, for you are no longer the master of this realm.

——————————• General tag

Backstory i , ...

Interactions ⇲ Respite (The Masquerade) ⇲ Respite (Ney) ⇲ ?

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[littlelostmoth]

The Final Double Exposure Post

Okay, the game is out now and just wanted to share some final thoughts about Double Exposure and the big problems with it. All spoilers below the cut.

Ultimately, even outside of the brutal murder of Pricefield, gaming's most classic wlw couple, the game is just very poorly written. This post will acknowledge that breaking up Pricefield is terrible writing and they do not do it in a way that makes any remote sense whatsoever. While everyone can sit and say "It makes sense they broke up," it didn't. These characters are characters, ones designed to tell a story. Characters who exist as a bright spot for sapphic and queer people playing video games in 2015.

It's the same thinking as everyone used to say "Well if Nathan just had therapy, he'd be better." And to which it would be answered, "No shit, maybe he would have been better with therapy, but it's a story and he rejected going so no he didn't get better and won't get better because that's not the point of the story." Point being, you can self-justify the Pricefield break up with real world logic all you want, but the fact that even Dontnod is sad about the state of it should be telling. That in addition to the leaks about Square hating Chloe and the D9 narrative team hating her, and it was not done as a good faith way to tell a story. Ultimately, the game encourages you to choose the "Kill Chloe" ending of the original game so that Max can retain her memories of her in a pure way, while also removing her from story. If you choose what the D9 devs believe is the morally evil choice, you get horrible Chloe.

There is SOME good stuff in here, but it's not enough to justify the game's existence. Here are the short amount of pros we compiled for the game: the music is well done, the environments are very nice, and the side characters are fine for the most part.

That's it. Everything else is a con: the story, the handling of Max and Safi as characters, the entire mystery of the game basically being shafted in favor of... making the most important thing about Life is Strange the superpowers. It just seems like this game misunderstands what Life is Strange is or was at any point.

Max is so horribly out of character in this game. Why? Why does she do the things she does? Sometimes she feels like a natural adult version of the original game's Max, while other times she's overly horny to the Nth degree. Max has the ability to cheat on her two love interests, and both love interests reject her in the appropriate timelines of pursuance. Within the text of the game, she uses her powers to circumvent the fact that they've rejected her.

Remember the original game's ending? Nightmare!Max accuses Max of selfishly using her powers to manipulate others to her own selfish end. Ultimately, we're left with the fact that Max used her powers to help get others to like her because she didn't have many friends and was a target of bullying. It's morally dubious, but she wasn't doing any of it for like selfish personal gain. It was an extension of her anxiety.

This game goes around this and makes Max purposefully use her powers for selfish gain. The entire first game revolved around the concept of whether or not she was using it for selfish gain. She wasn't. Now the game forces Max to go through the same exact arc, but this time she is actively being awful instead. Not only cheating, but using it to get around being actively romantically rejected.

Then there's how the game handles its story. Like what the hell is going on here? How does any of it make sense. Spoilers again, but the mastermind is Safi, and Safi is a shapeshifter. She wants to take over with world with Max and collect her own superhumans to form a what? A Legion of Doom? Why? Why is Safi a villain? Her villain arc literally comes out of nowhere and the game does little to sell how she goes from wanting a book deal in the beginning to "I have godlike powers, let's take over the world together." Like honey, WHAT? WHY? And the fact the final choice is to join or refuse her??? LIKE WHAT? WHERE DOES IT COME FROM? WHY WOULD MAX, WHO EITHER HAD TO MAKE THE CHOICE TO SACRIFICE A TOWN OR HER LOVED ONE AND IS ETERNALLY TORMENTED OVER BOTH... SUDDENLY ONBOARD WITH BECOMING JUST A GENERIC EVIL GIRL?

And that's it??? Nothing else in the game matters. The romances go nowhere, thus making breaking up with Chloe pointless since it's not like the game allows Max to pursue a relationship seriously any further. Or just the mere fact she's shitty for doing so. None of the plot points of this game matter, and the mystery the game is built on doesn't matter.

It's like... Here's a murder mystery! Without the murder or the mystery! And then... the game just ends. It just ceases to exist and stops without any sort of... ending that feels satisfying. We get an AVENGERS LEVEL END SCREEN OF "MAX CAULFIELD WILL RETURN."

We think about the endings to the other game's endings. They all have some sort of conclusion that feels like its own self contained experience. You get this long and depressing ending of Chloe dying and her funeral... You get this wistful drive out of Arcadia Bay as Obstacles plays. You get Sean surrendering himself to the police so Daniel can live to grow old and not suffer for the sins of those older than him, and how Sean comes out after. You get to see how Chloe and Rachel grow as time passes to the first game. You get to see how Alex chooses to live her life on her own terms after so long of feeling like she was trapped. You get all of these different endings for the game and here you get... what amounts to the exact same ending depending on your choice which is to be horribly evil supervillain when the time comes or not, and then sequel bait with Diamond and Safi. Why? Why does she have a bleed from her nose? Since when did that become a common occurrence for superpowers? Or storms when powers are overused along with nightmares?

In the original game, the nosebleeds are a result of Max twists reality around her as the epicenter. It's the physical damage she gets for what her powers are physically doing to existence. The storm? The point is, we don't know why the storm comes.

When did Life is Strange become about superpowers and taking over the world? When did it become all of these things? Like True Colors isn't a perfect game by any means, but for fuck's sake it at least knew the scale of what a Life is Strange game should be. Small town mysteries with a colorful cast we love and hate. To this day, I still think that the Jed stuff is some of the most morally fascinating questions to be raised in the franchise. To have that final choice be to either forgive him or not? It's an incredible final choice that is so intertwined with the game's themes. To leave or to stay afterwards? They're both extremely meaningful, dual choices.

This game does nothing. That's ultimately it. What did we gain from Double Exposure? Nothing. It doesn't continue Max's character in any meaningful way. It does little to build upon the actual lore of the original game. It doesn't actually use any original characters except Chloe and that's solely to drive it in how much they despise her from a writing perspective.

Regardless of how well each game did at telling their stories... They all had something meaningful to say in some way. Even if Before the Storm is not a game that I'd necessarily say is amazing, there is some thought and thematic purpose put to that game. It's still 1000 times the game this will ever be.

When I was first exposed to the game's ending... the emotion I felt was pure and raw bafflement. Not anger. Not sadness. Bafflement and bewilderment. I had no idea what the fuck I just played or what I gained from it? What does Max as a character gain from this story? What do any of the characters in this game gain from the story? Nothing. The game starts and then it ends. And we all gained absolutely nothing from the experience. (And in BtS the ending is fine, because it's a prequel that has to have a clearly defined ending to lead into the first game. You can't break Chloe and Rachel's relationship, it always has to be what it is.)

For a long time I really hated the Life is Strange comics. It felt like a kick in the head to the original game's story. But then after it ended and this came out, we can view it as a more honest and genuine follow up to the games as opposed to... whatever we got here.

The comics focus heavily on Max's perceived guilt over what happened to Arcadia Bay. She comes to believe that she, herself, is the problem in reality. That she makes everyone around her unhappy, including Chloe. While Chloe reassures her this is not true... she ends up displaced and removed from reality... and punishes herself by sending her to a world where Chloe is happy with Rachel.

The rest of the story is Max and Chloe apart for years, as Max wrestles with her guilt... while Chloe waits for her. Chloe waits and knows Max is out there still. Max eventually realizes how wrong she was after self-reflection and being around the alt!Chloe and Rachel helps her realize she was wrong.

Chloe builds them a home.

Chloe comes to move past her own grief, just as Max did.

Chloe helps rebuild Arcadia with her own hands. She decides she has a home. This town, with Max. And then they're together... And that's what matters because... like Michel said: "They have each other."

And that is what Life is Strange was about. These two young women, who were best friends... they grew apart through tragedy and life circumstances... And then they found each other again, fell in love, and even in tragedy had one another to rely on.

I am who I am because of Life is Strange.

I met the love of my life because of Life is Strange.

And no matter how bad Double Exposure is... It can't take away Life is Strange, Max, or Chloe from me.

No.

It can't take them away from us. From all of us who cared enough to stick around this funny little 20$ adventure game from a decade ago.

[haven-of-dusk]

Thoughts/theories/predictions/ideas/possible plotlines/etc. for S8

I thought I would compile these so I don't create seven or eight posts in a flurry.

Bobby/Athena: Some type of tandem storyline as part of Bobby reclaiming the 118 from Gerrard's grip where he and Athena uncover a corruption scandal in the LAFD tying to Councilwoman Ortiz, Gerrard (obviously) and others. If more plotline is needed for them after that (if it wraps up by the midseason finale for example) then I would like seeing Bobby's health issues worsen bit by bit and him struggle to be honest with the rest of the team about that. Related to that plot, perhaps have Athena learn from Harry that Michael's cancer resurfaced with a vengeance and claimed his life (it's not like we're getting Michael back on the show anytime soon considering the actor's behavior), which compiles with learning about Bobby's health and starting to worry she'll lose him too. Plus both of them spending more time with Harry.

Hen: In addition to participating in Bobby and Athena's plotline of uncovering corruption and taking down Ortiz, I'd love to see Hen become more comfortable with leadership around the 118, especially in response to Gerrard. Perhaps have something happen in the field where Hen contradicts Gerrard's orders and the rest of the team (beyond even just our main cast, the whole rest of the team) follows her orders instead of his. And subsequently when he tries to punish her, say, by trying to make her scrub the rigs by herself, he finds the entire group cleaning together, chatting, and having fun (Hen didn't ask them to help, they just did so of their own volition) Despite being enraged, Gerrard struggles to find a way to punish them since it's not like he can fire the whole house, and any punishment he tries they find a way to circumvent, with Hen leading the charge. Basically she gets to be the ringleader of the 118's internal war with Gerrard. And along the way we get more Henren home stuff and building on the connection with Mara.

Chimney: WHERE THE HELL WAS ALBERT?! I would not at all mind Chimney having an arc where he realizes he hasn't heard from Albert in a while and ends up decrypting where Albert ended up (could be as malicious or innocent as they want, anything from Albert deciding to join an Amish community temporarily while traveling the country and not having a phone while there to straight up human trafficking. Take your pic, writers). Outside of that, I want more of Chimney getting to be the Dad he never had. More of him and Jee-Yun in general. Along the way, maybe have Gerrard's treatment trigger Chimney? Situations Gerrard puts him in drag up Chimney's trauma about Kevin, something like that.

Maddie: I don't really know what I want for Maddie per se, outside of I wouldn't mind this season being her turn to not have trauma or pain. Kind of the way her brother got off easy this season. See more of her interactions with everyone, give her the occasional intense dispatch call to show off her skills, show her being happy and domestic with Chimney and Jee-Yun, all that good stuff. If we need to give her a full plotline, perhaps she could get involved if something were to happen between Buck and their parents (we'll talk about that in a sec in his section), or be a rallying point for the other plotlines whenever they need her help, or, if we wanted to go far afield from her usual stuff, perhaps have her express interest in returning to the medical field to some degree, maybe even thinking about trying to be a paramedic? Idk, I love Maddie, but I'm not certain what to do with her character at the moment outside of just letting her be happy, since she probably got the least amount of setup from S7.

Buck: What I most want from Buck, at least in the first half of the season, is to focus on how his bisexuality affects him and his mental health and let him continue to explore those emotions, perhaps with conversations with Hen, Josh, Karen, etc. As the season continues, he realizes his relationship with Tommy has...stagnated, they go on dates, they hang out occasionally, but there's just not much energy to the proceedings, so Buck thinks maybe that means it's time to propose. (This may not be going where you think it's going). So he has an episode where he goes around to Henren, Bathena, Madney, asking all of his married friends basically how they knew they wanted to get married, and while they give different, unique answers, the general takeaway is that you shouldn't feel you have to marry someone, but that you want to. That they are your forever person. And the episode ends with Buck going to look at rings...and deciding not to buy one, leaving the store looking a bit conflicted. Within a couple episodes of that, he and Tommy break up. (I would probably want it to be amicable in this scenario, to demonstrate Buck making the mature decision that he didn't have anything against Tommy, he just wasn't his forever person, but if there had to be some drama there, Tommy making a nasty comment after Buck says he wants to break up to reassure Buck's decision and leave him with no regrets. Then after that...give Buck time to realize that Tommy was, in a lot of ways, store-brand Eddie. But Buck doesn't like Eddie, right? I mean he likes him, but he doesn't like him, right? (Spoiler alert, he does)

Eddie/Chris: The first half of the season needs to be Eddie in therapy leading to Chris' return, though I would love for Chris' choice to be...borderline untethered from Eddie's plotline. Not in the way that it his absence then subsequent return has no effect on Eddie, but I think it would be good for Chris' character to have him converse with Eddie's parents, family, etc, and have him realize on his own what his father has been through and the extent to which Eddie loves him, and then the talk with Eddie is the final piece of the puzzle, not the only piece of the puzzle, if that makes sense. And I also think it's crucial that Eddie not be "cured" when Chris returns. He's still working on himself, he's still healing, but Chris is ready to be back with him and stay with him. Building on that, I think it'd be powerful for Chris to be the one to force Eddie to confront the idealized version of Shannon he's built up in his head. Even if it happens indirectly through something Chris says, it'd be powerful for them to start healing that wound together. Then once Chris is back in LA (by the second half of the season at the latest), part of Eddie's therapy arc involves him realizing piece by piece how much he's pushed the past few seasons' girlfriends away, and why, and perhaps even he runs into Ana again and finds out she has a fiancé, and they chat about finding love like that. Along the way have Eddie talk to Athena for sure, since for some reason they haven't really interacted despite her being a pretty perfect person to talk about lost loves (Bobby too, but he and Eddie have talked more than once). But all this forces Eddie to confront who he is, who he's always been, what he's been pushing down and pushing away for years, and when that arc collides with Buck realizing his feelings, the season ends with the big Buddie canonization.

I realize I went into more detail with Buck and Eddie than the others, but part of that is down to mixing their personal arcs with the 'relationship' arc which could honestly be its own section. And possibly should have been.

Every section here is compressed anyway, but part of this post's purpose is to be an organizer for my thoughts that I can add to and expand upon as more come during this hiatus (as relatively brief as it is, it will probably continue to get more and more brutal)

I can also obviously expound on something if someone wants me to...though I know that's unlikely.

[angeart]

can u feed us some hybrid au 🤲

always!! (brb running around in circles, bouncing off the walls etc, excited)

i wish i knew if you want mimic stuff or general hhau (i certainly have both) (reminds me i should go and compile more mimic arc rambles. the next part is the aftermath!! it's been a hectic couple of days sorry kxcjbn)

you can consider this a bonus to the hhau mimic arc rambles part I, as I skipped this bit thinking maybe i'll make a mini post about it later. this is about the mimic learning there are places that aren't as horrible as this world. and that grian and scar are so different, because they're from elsewhere. (~1k words long, below the cut <3)

so here's the thing. the mimic gets attached to scar for various reasons. desperation, safety, right? but it's the kindness. it's the kindness that seals the deal.

touch-starved and never once in his life treated truly kindly, like he matters, the mimic keeps to scar like a lost puppy, trying to understand this. trying to wrangle with this feeling of being treated well? like an actual person that has needs and feelings. it's so wild to him. so strange. it hurts a little bit, but in a good way. in a way that leaves him craving more. (in a way where he doesn't think he can survive without it anymore.)

and it's so hard, and it's so skewed, because scar is threading a fine line of, basically, how to treat the mimic nicely versus trying to not hurt grian too much. since the mimic looks like grian and grian already feels lesser, like a burden, etc. like he could be replaced. like maybe one day the line blurs a bit too much—

and grian doesn't want to be mean to the mimic, either. he's just a hybrid in distress, trying to stay safe by any means necessary. grian recognises that, even though he hates these particular means. it's so hard, to see the mimic constantly around. to have him near not only himself, but near scar. to watch scar be attentive and gentle towards this look-alike.

but, just to be clear, grian isn't treating the mimic badly. he's just distant, and they have more ravines between them than any attempts at bridges. (there's this mix of really complex emotions, in all three of them, that are incredibly hard to navigate.)

anyway, that all being said.

one day, the mimic asks grian. scar is close by, but out of earshot, and the mimic is struggling wtih his feelings and comprehending who scar is and why he acts the way he does. so he asks, quietly. "how does he do that?"

grian is slow to speak to him. still uncomfortable. "do what?"

the mimic watches scar, kind of mesmerised, but there's an edge of confused trouble to his expression. "stay so kind."

and, you know. maybe grian's first thought is that this is about scar being a vex? vexes are meant to be scary and dangerous, after all. but no, no, actually, that's not it.

it's just that nothing in this world is kind.

something about grian and scar being from elsewhere. a much kinder place.

something about them never learning how to be selfish and cruel.

something about them never having to fight for survival like this.

maybe grian tells him then. that they came from somewhere peaceful and kind and silly. that the meanest things that could happen were pranks that were laughed off and cleaned up and made up for, never meant to be malicious. that it didn't matter who is what kind of hybrid. they were all free to do their own things and interact and wander, build and laugh and live, unafraid. (oh how that word now wobbles on grian's lips—)

he tells the mimic that him and scar knew each other before. that they come from the same place.

grian talks quietly, and there's such a stab of aching nostalgia in each of his words. (he can barely say these things.) (the memories of hermitcraft are painful; he doesn't know what happened to his home and to all of his friends. he doesn't think him and scar will ever get any of it back, and it's scary, and it's paralysing.) (but it also feels like warmth, to think about all of that—about him and scar somewhere less complicated, less cruel. a place that doesn't hurt.)

the mimic listens, bewildered, curious, horribly envious. he can't comprehend a world like that, but he can tell this isn't a made up story, an escapism fantasy or what not. he can tell that this is real and true and scar and grian aren't meant to be here, it explains so much about them, actually.

this isn't what the mimic expected of them, originally. based on previous encounters with hybrids. based on their wanted posters. he thought— he thought there's an avian with beautiful feathers (they don't look so beautiful from up close, broken and messed up and muddied), feral and unafraid with a vicious vex guard by his side.

and instead—

instead it's this broken pair, clinging to each other for kindness and life.

(how he wants to be a part of that.) (how he wants to also cling to kindness and life.) (how he wants to also burrow his way to a sliver of hope that existing can be more than just terror and frantic, exhausting survival.)

---

grian burrows extra close to scar that night and cries while scar holds him. talking about their home—about hermitcraft, about their friends—takes a toll on his psyche. and he finds the safest place to break down. (he finds scar. scar's arms are the safest place.)

scar doesn't question it. he wraps his arms around him and kisses his hair, happy to provide all the soothing affection he can.

and the mimic's heart hurts, because he'll never get to know what that feels like. to be safely burrowed in someone's arms. to be allowed to be weak and fall apart. to be so irrevocably cherished. (to be loved.)

---

and if the mimic ever asks them if they think they'll ever get to go back home? (an uneasy question, as it makes him think of being left alone in this hopeless, dreary world)

well— scar and grian both just go silent. (it's a too heavy question. destabilising. horribly painful.) (it's too much to admit they don't really hold hope. not anymore. not after all this time.) (the only thing they have left of their home is each other, and they'll fight this world tooth and nail to keep that.)

[goldentigerfestival]

Since I'd been talking a lot about JP Vesperia (primarily Yuri and Flynn and the heavy changes that surround them, and because I'm highly passionate about them in their original context), I wanted to compile some more jarring if not outright glaring mistakes in the localization (or what were likely intentional changes, because I can't look at some of these and just call them "mistakes"). I'm not going to mention every little change throughout the game, so smaller things I'll mostly be leaving out (namely things that don't really affect characters or context). I primarily just wanted to give some insight on some of the bigger parts.

Some of the changes seem to have been mistakes in translation itself (not just localization, but misunderstanding what was being said in general; such as, there's an instance I mention of that between Patty and Don), so I've got some mentions hanging around for clarity purposes as some scenes didn't make much sense, likely because of this.

Vocal tone with Yuri was the most prominent issue that got me making this, and the context that was changed being right after if not equally next to that (most often also with Yuri but also Flynn).

This is something that has been bothering me for a while and I've been wanting to share this stuff with people interested in seeing the game with its original context. Generally speaking, the plot and story themselves are on point. The majority of the differences surround Yuri and Flynn respectively, so there's going to be a lot of mention of them throughout.

I've also posted video clips of my favorite scenes and the heavy changes, so consider those a supplement to this and vice versa.

Part 2.

Part 3.

Part 4.

(Other) GTF Favorites.

I'd like to preface this by mentioning the chief director and producer of the game itself has also spoken about localization inaccuracy issues, so that's something to keep in mind (it's in Japanese, but you should be able to use the offered post translator).

I'd also like to preface this by mentioning that in the original, Yuri is more playful and relaxed/casual (generally but including with Flynn, which the dub pretty much entirely changed until arc 3), but also gentler and softer. He has a very large variety of tonal behaviors/tonal "moods" that were pretty much nuked from the dub.

Basically, to get the full experience for Yuri, I can only really recommend playing the game in JP audio. Obviously you won't get the actual context because all you'll have is the dub context, but that's also partly why I'm making these posts - to cover the contextual changes while the video clips cover some of the tonal changes (because lbh I don't expect anyone to actually go watch the entire game in JP with subtitles unless you're as insanely dedicated as I am, and I'm largely doing it out of my love for the original Yuri and Flynn and my disdain for how the localization treated them).

As a heads up, there won't be many skits in here because I'm going through a specific YT playthrough for these screenshots. Specific skits won't always come up in the playthrough in question, and I can't find a whole list of skits in JP anywhere online. I don't have all skits unlocked in my own save either yet (you can unlock all skits with Grade which I have yet to do in the DE), so I can't use that to compare all skits right now.

There are plenty of small changes here and there that I won't be including in these posts because there are some sentence changes that aren't impactful but do exist. I just don't want to be here for a year covering the random changes that don't matter much. I'm also not going to include details of a lot of honorifics because I'd be here all day, but there is one one major instance that I mention later on.

For reference if anything wants to actually watch the game in JP with the subs (it goes until just after Hypionia), most of the references come from here. Since in some cases the subber just reused localized text even when the context wasn't the same, I did bring some of those up in these posts too. These were subbed before the DE version came out. I used screenshots with subs where possible to make it easier to follow along.

I have a lot of passion for JP Yuri and I hope I can pass on some of that passion to others. 🙏

Apologies in advance if some of these sound cranky. If I sound cranky about some specific changes, it's probably because I am.

---

Since I talked about the whole, Raven being shady and Yuri therefore not being grateful to him incident that the localization for some reason butchered and made Yuri sound like a generally ungrateful or just outright dumb person who doesn't understand gratitude, I'll summarize that one again here:

Yuri has a skit with Estelle originally talking about how he can't find himself being grateful to someone like Raven for showing him how to sneak out of the castle. Basically, Raven is shady and he's not sure he should be grateful to someone like that, and is confused as to why Estelle would be so grateful when she doesn't even know him (because in his mind, he isn't sure he wants to trust a guy with those vibes). The dub just kinda... makes him sound like an ungrateful jerk and not so much because he's not sure he wants to trust Raven. It doesn't really sound like it's an issue of his with Raven specifically but more that he just generally doesn't feel grateful for the aid (and that in general one shouldn't feel grateful for aid like this), which gives off a really wrong impression of him that doesn't hold up throughout the game. Yuri wasn't wholly ungrateful for the gesture itself, but because of who it came from (and I imagine a weird peppy guy in jail is good cause to be skeptical).

We start off we a classic "Yuri, you idiot!" that was changed to "come on already!".

Yuri's response to Estelle mentioning he'd been in the knights doesn't actually give a time frame for how long he'd been there (the dub made up three months, but there was never originally even a time frame given).

Here when Yuri asks Estelle why she can't just leave, her response indicates she actually does know why. The dub made it more ambiguous, which could be easily misinterpreted as she really doesn't know, so I'm dropping this one here.

For some reason the localization seemed to have Estelle responding to Karol directly about the ace always performing their attack last ("I don't think so"). What she was referring to was the tiny monster that walked by, asking for confirmation that that monster was not the eggbear they were looking for (I wasn't gonna fight with the video to get a better screenshot without the annoying YT red bar in the way so the monster is in the corner mid-movement lol). Not sure if that was a genuine mistake, but it was an odd one.

(Also, side note and not putting an image here because it's more general, but Yuri refers to Karol as "Karol-sensei" which was translated in the localization to "Captain Karol". Basically, Yuri calls him "sensei" because that's a teacher/professor, and he's making a play on Karol's knowledge and being their "teacher" about monsters/maps/etc.)

I'd say this is more along the lines of overexaggerating and not overreacting, but this line was literally changed to "haha" in the dub. The whole point wasn't that Yuri just brushed her comment off or found it funny. At this point he still literally thinks she's exaggerating about her lack of knowledge out in the world, her excitement, etc.

Not the only instance you'll find of the dub just changing entire sentences to something meaningless as if they ??? didn't know what it meant (they actually changed Patty saying an entire sentence to "aye"). In some cases they added entire sentences that weren't even there...

Even though I can kind of see where they went with the dub here, the point was supposed to be that Flynn actively thought he would be happy for Yuri to go outside the barrier and see the world.

The dub changed this to Flynn saying that he, in the now, is happy that Yuri is outside the barrier, but then says he got a little less happy when he saw the wanted poster, indicating he was previously happy but got less happy, yet says in that moment that he is happy.

It's a weird case of (past/present) tense usage for the most part, but they also removed the fact that Flynn is literally saying "I thought I would be happy" (thus expressing he'd been wanting Yuri to see the world outside the barrier and would've been happy to find out he did). The reason he's not finding himself happy is because of the wanted poster and the crimes listed on it, following up that his honest happiness for Yuri (ultimately because of the poster) was a lie.

This also means they removed Flynn expressing the honesty of his happiness for a positive concept for Yuri, which, given all the changes toward Flynn in the dub, already now takes away from the fact that he'd been actively hoping for good things for someone and we're left with this more sarcastic take on him being "happy".

Obviously his happiness wasn't really a lie because most of the crimes were falsified (primarily the ones that would make him actually mad, because Flynn has had to have been aware this whole time that Yuri has committed small time crimes for the past few years now), but at the time, the focus on this conversation is that Flynn thought he'd be happy at a time that Yuri left the barrier; meaning he'd been hoping for it prior to it happening.

I'm also mentioning it because it's the very first in a whole line of changes the dub made to their relationship (and it's their first in game interaction ffs) and to Flynn himself as he's perceived as a character. The original is much more expressive of how important they are to each other in a lot of various ways.

Inserting the JP audio version of the following scene with Flynn here.

And... the following one from there.

This was changed to "damn, we if lose our balance...". I know they did it because Yuri had just fallen over, but I'm including this one because the context isn't... really the same thing?

This dub change is a bit odd to me. They had him saying something along the lines of "she is a princess after all" in the dub, regarding the council backing her.

The original context is more like, the council is backing her and he's hearing it directly from Ioder and he probably doubts Ioder would lie like that or about that, cementing that yes, she truly is, like he suspected, a princess, but it's almost still a bit odd to know. It's sort of like, he knew/had suspicions but hearing it directly from Ioder just confirms it for certain.

The dub just made it sound like well yeah, it's obvious they'd want to back her, she's a princess... but Ioder is a prince, so that doesn't explain why they're not backing him. She is a princess after all, so of course they'd back her... but what's stopping them from backing the prince?

Another weird one for me. In the dub Yuri says that "even the Commandant was a little in over his head", when he actually... really wasn't? All he did was step in. Things got bad enough that he had to, but he wasn't in over his head. Not sure how or why the dub ended up with that.

An example of the dub having a habit of just adding in random lines that didn't actually exist (and in this case the one added didn't even contextually make sense. This was no thank you from him, this was literally him making Yuri do something for him because he was going to ask Flynn for a favor and ended up with Yuri in the cell instead).

Another super weird one in the dub. They had Yuri saying Flynn was "too" late, implying he hadn't made it in time, but he did. He made it just before the battle started, but the original context only says he's late, not too late (which makes sense given that they were ready to fight but hadn't started yet).

This was changed to Yuri just mentioning there was one way they could get out of there without actually saying what it was, and Judith saying if he thinks it might work what's the harm in trying it out. Not sure why they changed Yuri literally telling her his plan, so... again, a super weird change that I don't get why they didn't just keep the context the way it was.

Third image was changed to "someone get me away from this psycho", which... I also don't get why they put that there unless they just wanted so much flavor text that they wanted to change the whole "they're in a fight and he's telling her not to come over here because he's pissed at her because they're fighting" part of the fake fight they had going on.

Not one I have a huge problem with, but definitely good examples of them going out of their way to change just... perfectly normal stuff that literally has no reason to be changed? Some of it is flavor text and some of it feels over the top for me. Stuff that makes me like... why would you change that when there was no reason to? Could be more of a personal pet peeve of mine, but I just don't like unnecessary changes when there was nothing wrong or odd about the original text and doesn't at all come off odd in English. Unfortunately Vesperia got littered with those.

I didn't feel like getting a whole video for this, but basically Judith gives a little laugh instead of just the more upset/distressed(?) sound she made in the dub. Feels more fitting imo to keep up the "lie" Yuri started for her. The dub makes it seem more like she feels guilty, versus here she's giving a little forced giggle to go along with it. Again, a change I'm not sure why they put in.

Ngl I get completely different vibes from these. The JP comes across more as concern, rather than... treating them like they're some mob on the loose...?

Once again, this gives off negative vibes toward Flynn as a character imo.

Here Judith gives more of a reason for coming with them, which they changed in the dub to "with the circumstances being what they are, this is just how things turned out". Reasonably, she didn't have to stick around after they ran from Dahngrest, but here she gives a quick "reason".

The dub changed this to "I'll bet he is". They were just told he's the current magistrate in Heliord, and all Yuri says here expresses he's letting it sink in and realizing exactly why all this is happening here. It's not a huge story beat or anything that gets changed, but it's an example of changing things that don't need to be changed as if trying to play things up in a way that... doesn't feel necessary to me? In this case the situation is kind of dawning on Yuri as he realizes how bad this situation could be/why it's like it is, but in the dub it comes across as more just unimpressed and "of course he'd do that".

An unfortunate, classic moment of them changing how much Yuri believes in and trusts Flynn. They changed this to "gotta run, Flynn!" and he just... leaves. I'm sorry but in what universe does "leave the rest to you" equal "gotta run"???

This one is one of those cases where the localization text was super awkward and wonky, and worse, they actually voiced it that way (like "we have guild's job to deal with". Yes, they actually voiced it that way too on top of everything else grammatically wonky with the entire conversation that they didn't bother fixing when the DE came out).

Also here, they changed what Yuri says about Cumore and Flynn. "I don't know how I could explain this to Flynn" doesn't, at least to me, carry the same weight as Yuri actually feeling ashamed (in the dub he says "what a shame", but does not express shame, versus him saying "how pathetic" and expressing shame in feeling pathetic) and saying he can't even face Flynn because Cumore got away. The thing is, Yuri does tend to posture, so when he fails at something, it hits him pretty hard.

And let's be honest, this just hits way harder than "he will get what he deserves".

Interestingly, Yuri could also fall into the category of viewing himself as sinful later on, which I talk about in my favorites post and the usage of "crime" and "sin" within the JP context.

Not particularly important, but just another (more mild) case and example of how the dub just randomly changed tone/mood/wording for no reason.

Another case of Yuri being more aggressive in the dub than he actually was. Here, all he says is just a plain statement. In the dub, he has an attitude about it and says it in a tone that's more insulting that Ioder didn't know about Heracles.

This isn't the only case of dub Yuri acting aggressively toward Ioder when he wasn't supposed to be and we'll get to that, but Ioder is another similar case of the dub making Yuri unnecessarily vocally rude (despite that Ioder is very polite toward Yuri).

(I left out the subtitles because all they did was copy the dub's localization, which kinda defeats the point of this post LOL. This will be the case going forward for any same circumstances.)

This one's a more interesting tidbit to me and less of a harmful change (i.e. I find that a lot of if not most changes relative to Flynn do more harm than good when compared with the original context). Basically it's saying "sweet mask and sharp eyes", implying Flynn's sweet face is a mask and saying it contrasts with his sharp eyes. I could get into a whole rant about why I love that in relation to some side material, but even in the game itself, there's the knight Flynn with his sweet, polite side and his real side that only shows when he's around Yuri (basically, who Flynn has to be for his job and who he actually is as a person, which he only gets to be around someone who knows the real him).

I'd guess this got changed in the dub because they weren't sure how to word it, though there's no mention of "heartthrob" here at all and instead actually says "sweet mask" as if, again, to say his sweetness is just a mask. It's actually a very interestingly accurate representation of his character - how he tends to not be himself when he's being "knight Flynn", and how that sweet face is contrasted by the look in his eyes (which they say, you know, eyes are the windows to the soul, so this would imply the sweet face is the mask and the eyes are the real Flynn. And of course, this Flynn is implied to show himself in his sparring with Yuri in Aurnion, where sword fighting is the best way to express himself. This isn't to say Flynn being a nice person in and of itself is a lie, but that his overly polite, respectful, kind knight side is a sweet mask contrasted to the man who loves to fight and has a sharp look in his eyes)

For now, we'll be back at Mantaic in the next post (due to image per post limit).

[m0e-ru]

tohruest adachiest manager's choice experience as compiled by the tumblr branch moel gas station 2023

helloooo my dearest okyakusan my most wonderful customers whether you have a membership card or just passing by. Here is the manager's choice of how to have the most tohru adachi experience ever 📣📣📣

this post will have a breakdown of the whole diagram with highlights, and my own opinions of each medium stated. Otherwise, here's a summary as a list!!

YES!!

Persona 4 (PS2 2008)

Standalone Drama CD Vol. 3 (scattered cameos)

Manga Adaptation (Sogabe)

adachi jumpscare table

Vol. 10; Chapter 54

Vol. 12

Arena Ultimax; Episode Adachi

Arena Ultimax Manga Adaptation (Rokuro Saito special mention!??)

this is a bit cool too

The Golden Animation

Blu-ray/DVD Vol. 2; Bonus Drama CD: A Sense of Gratitude

Blu-ray/DVD Vol. 4; Bonus Drama CD: Boo ~ I bear a grudge on you ~

The Animation

Standalone Drama CD Vol. 2: You'll understand when you get older

The Golden (PS VITA 2013) (Social Link, new events, etc.)

um

The Golden Animation

Episode 6: See? I told you Yu.

Episode 7: It’s cliché, so what?

Unaired Bonus Episode “Another End Episode”: Thank you Mr. Accomplice

other opinions 

I’ll be linking all available online resources for everything I’ve stated!! If a link is broken or the media is inaccessible, hit me up!! I have my own personal archive.

YES!! segment !! wahoo !!!!! this is where i constantly stuff my nose in whenever i want a good reference on adachis character. AND THEY'RE ALL PERFECT TO ME!! <- about the media

Persona 4 (PS2 2008)

Back to basics everybody!!! Let’s remember who this goofball is from the start. Forget he has a social link and see him be the bumbling fool for plot exposition and the real murderer !!!! Just like how I tell you not to reference the attendant during 3/20, we can put Shadow Adachi’s mannerisms and his influence under literal god aside and try and focus on what that means as symbolism and extra information on Adachi himself!!

Standalone Drama CD Vol. 3

THIS IS A FUN ONE he has scattered cameos throughout the drama and was essentially being dragged around by Dojima.

Basic premise of this volume that it’s sports festival season!! Yasogami’s at it and the IT are participating, as well as Nanako—although she worries that her dad won’t even come to see her and that she wouldn’t even be able to do the family three-legged race.

Adachi’s appearances here are so stupid, he says he was an “elite” then flops trying to help high-schoolers with homework because Naoto’s there. He does his usual begging and whining with Dojima etc etc he also drove Dojima to compete with Nanako after saying the man finished all his reports as fast as possible.

I like this one because it reinforces who Adachi is based mostly from the main game. With the context that fans listening are aware he’s the culprit (or not), they do sprinkle in his “emptiness” (<- no i'm exaggerating it sorry) and bring it to the front of the picture a bit.

Translated Transcript: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14uOTyzic9Ij9DjN4ZRNBLFTcGe0UF-PvX4qMnqcs2Fk/edit#gid=283104639

Available video link: https://youtu.be/p3yDNbczEqg?t=228 (timestamped to 3:49)

Manga Adaptation (Sogabe)

SOUJI SETA TRUTHER COMING IN STRONG also i just adore Sogabe’s adaptation on the game as a whole. While I am Marie lover#1, this manga did begin in 2008, and I like to think it’s the hypothetical that Marie really was expunged completely OKAY WHERE WAS I

As mentioned, this whole adaptation focuses on the game before Golden was ever a thing. No scooters, no extra events, no nothing. Although, Sogabe did write in a bit of Adachi’s Social Link in a context best suited for Souji.

I like Sogabe's take on Adachi in the manner of how he draws him and writes him as a character. It's not as whimsical or lazy like the anime, and the way he took the downhill spiral of the Hospital arc, from November to December, just actually felt like my emotions were ready in the right places. Surprisingly, in every adaptation, I was really enamored to see how Adachi acted differently in each one.

In the manga, he didn't seem as slack jawed as he did in the game at least. He looked like he was trying so hard to act concerned when he he actually feels guilty for everything going down !!! OR MAYBE NOT !!!!!!!

compared to the game, you can really how much he exudes of being so. plastic. ung kaplastikan. and you're mad not because you're stuck with ps2 limitations of three polygons of an arm waving around, but you're mad that he reeks of faking concern. But also unlike the game, you don't understand what's going on anymore because of the things that have transpired in relation to Adachi's character. Which is Sogabe's adaptation of his Social Link with Souji through having dinner with each other.

and Souji doesn’t know him! They share things with one another that one dinner but otherwise, Adachi’s never rambled on about himself as much as he does in a normal Social Link run. There is a different sort of motive with Souji and he wants to some things wrap things up while everything else is falling apart around him. If there’s a chance to help someone, even if he’s only talked thoroughly once or twice and that the other party’s opened up a single time to him, he’s the boy who wants to get through to people either way. What if Souji’s a bit selfish himself and wants to be in control of things when everything in his life and vision are literally blurring as he breathes? (takes place in november when nanako's hospitalized btw)

I love the lack of intimacy between the two, contrary to what majority of the fan base wants or even BELIEVES. Souji is a kid with a year in Inaba, of course he does a million other things with his time than hang out with an adult that’s some kind of darker version of himself and a representation of a possible bleaker future considering how similar they are. 

As for the specific chapters, I think it’s fulfilling to go through the whole manga from the start. Like, forget everything you know about P4 for a second and experience it as fresh as possible. Then you get to Chapter 54 to see Adachi’s condensed Social Link and get to Volume 12 to see things come together. Sure, I start getting a bit iffy with Volume 13 but I enjoy the parallels between the two, genuinely.

i have more stuff locked and loaded but uhmmm yeah 👍

Available manga link: https://manhuascan.me/manga/persona-4-official 

VISUALIVE (stageplay)

you will never see adachi ever act like a cunt like this ever again. he only does it once because hes gay.

i have made a million essays about this this is the foundation of this gas station itself

Available video links to the only things i’ve subbed ever because they’re the most important ones to this fruit’s development:

https://youtu.be/mWRB1dIgFNE

https://youtu.be/QRps3M9uXiw

or you can watch the whole thing because Masami Itou’s portrayal of him is just delightful: https://youtu.be/7oTpjmeD-mk 

Arena Ultimax; Episode Adachi

hahaha. haha. laughs weakly. haha.

I would kindly ask everybody to do this in Japanese dub but otherwise ehmmm yeah ! Episode Adachy. I do enjoy how they try to elaborate how his personalities are coalescing into a single face as he doesnt have to fake around people anymore. Like the fact that his lame humor is still present and he’ll do stupid voices, which makes you wonder if he was always like this or that it’s something he adopted while acting out the last facade he’s done for over a year—or more. 

HE IS SO FUCKING OPINIONATED AND THINKS HES SO COOL he has SO MUCH PRIDE but also he doesnt at the same time. you think hes a soldier surviving in the idgaf war but hes still dying in the mines he planted and crossfire for multiple reasons. hes simultaneously a teenage girl and a man in his late twenties.

Adachi is totally giving a fuck, not just in a white girl bully “I’m better than everyone” kind of way but like he’s totally giving a fuck about a lot of things. “Oh I gotta stop whatever this god has going down for this city in bumfuck nowhere because the case is going to go around in circles and i’ll never serve jail time in peace” how many times has he turned corners in an alleyway maze just by saying this.

hes literally trembling in his shoes with everything happening in that hour but hes just so good at bottling up emotions from others and HIMSELF. Theres only so much he’ll admit in his own monologue—in his own thoughts. That hes aware of things but he’ll never say it out loud even in his own head i’ll tear him apart with my bare hands <- i am just genuinely annoyed he can do this and not me but i should be grateful that i can express myself than be an emotionally repressed asshole 

He finds kids who are mirrors where he sees himself in. One, a goody two-shoes who has it all, the other an actual brat with a fucked up life from loneliness, isolation, and abuse (a million other things). And he’s not annoyed only because he finds similarities between him and them, but the fact that they’re children and they have at least a decade more than his ass which he spent sulking about with.

He’s mad at Bancho because he has his way from the kindness and generosity of his time he’s spent with others, something Adachi didn’t do; in which he could use his situation with his family and education as an excuse, but he never brings that up because as much as he likes seeing others eat shit and he has his way, Adachi also considers himself a fuckup. can you see this irony. So many chances to get out there and socialize, but he stuck his nose in his studies thinking a good future’s already laid out for him—BUT THE BUBBLE POPPED which is what fucking happens when youre in Japanese economic depression after the bubble economy. and you dont bother to leave your comfort zone either EVEN WHEN YOU DONT NECESSARILY like the things youre doing because it’s the only damn thing you’re used to !!!!

He’s sick of Sho because he’s an oversized 10 year old who’s doing the exact same thing Adachi’s done in the past and Adachi is sick of that. he hates himself. and he’ll hate a kid for acting the same way. He’ll project so much he’ll fix another person’s mistakes not out of pure goodness of his heart, but because he doesnt like himself as a person no matter how much he tries to deflect these thoughts in his own head.

Adachi’ll scoff and nitpick Narukami because he doesn’t want to admit this better version of him is better. That he’s not this other guy, but rather, he’s just himself. He complains and whines about Dojima and even says he “hates him,” but is everyone not aware he’s the second biggest tsundere in this series next to Marie at this point. they are COMPETING for that number one title.

no matter how many times he tries to sever connections for the sake of the other party, those bonds are developed enough for the other party to WANT to tie it back together. he doesnt know how to build bridges, but he doesnt know how to properly burn them either. hes sloppy at everything he does. he is gay.

okay sorry about that im sososo dizzy honestly. where was i. i talked about his issue with his Persona before and how it isnt his Persona a million times on this blog sorry i really everything's spinning right now 'and you're still writing an adachi essay?' hushup

Japanese Bubble Economy: https://www.britannica.com/topic/bubble-economy 

Available Video Link: https://youtu.be/0TkRLCGqT3g 

Arena Ultimax Manga Adaptation (Rokuro Saito)

this is a bit funny. i read it mostly for Sho like. while i do adore it as very beautiful adaptation. when it comes to adachi uhh. hmm. looks around. the rokuro saito effect. he did mementos mission too if you're wondering and what I mean by this.

I mean he did reinforce Adachi getting proper police training and essentially being above average to the top of his classes (krav maga, shooting accuracy, detectivisms, etc.). His humor and mannerisms are also delightful i think personally with the way they're illustrated and essentially visualized. Rokusai has his quirk for drawing everybody really pretty which he does really well for Persona characters, but it also caught me really off guard when he works on adachi like okay! sho breaking his ribs can fix everything itsok.

Available manga link: https://m.manganelo.com/manga-cn116859

OH now this is the section where im a bit iffy with the characterization here but i still like to reference it sometimes

The Golden Animation

Blu-ray/DVD Vol. 2; Bonus Drama CD: A Sense of Gratitude

Adachi doesnt have a big part here he’s literally there to help with the Dojima garden and Narukami plants cabbages for him.

Available Video Link: https://youtu.be/1SNKljdyUcY?t=640 (timestamped to 10:40)

Blu-ray/DVD Vol. 4; Bonus Drama CD: Boo ~ I bear a grudge on you ~

THIS. this, goodness gracious it was so silly. Adachi’s here for a few segments with Dojima in the pub. Detective yaoi if thats what you’re into I guess. He also sounds a bit cheeky here in speaking tone and the scheme he’s pulling to call Naoto to do their job while Dojima’s knocked out on duty.

Available Video Link: https://youtu.be/PasKTZtKx_c?t=720 (timestamped at 12:00)

The Animation

i dont have much to say about the actual anime i dont really watch it, but i respect the Narukami truthers out there. It’s just not for me, nor do I reference it for Adachi at all. why does he look like this

i dont have that much judgement to say if it's good enough to use as reference for Adachi besides it visualizing how much of a goofball he is, I guess I could mention that. I have issues of it depicting lore but otherwise i dont think it's that much different than what the base game pulls besides it different pacing to better fit the animation medium.

Standalone Drama CD Vol. 2: You'll understand when you get older

Not particularly partial with this one because the anime gave Narukami a face, like he’s his own character here. Dojima makes Adachi go to Okina and deliver something because his clown ass forgot to hand it over to the other prefect police who visited within the day. Narukami’s off to go help Ebi stand in line for a makeup promo and Dojima says they can go together. There’s a subplot with the IT where they think Narukami’s being arrested lol so they go follow him throughout the rest of the drama.

Adachi just hangs out with the silly billy that is his boss’ nephew who has so much kindness and generosity that it could get the kid killed one day.

Available Video Playlist Link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2Wysh6PBhe_jyqxxIcyt_XrW6GcKHRn0 

The Golden (PS VITA 2013)

I scratch my head and wonder what they were going for with Adachi’s Social Link besides the fanservice. I mean thats what they did with akc in royal i guess. <- has my own opinions about this but im closing my mouth.

It feels a bit too… intimate for me? What’s the deal with WANTING to invite him for dinner… without Dojima around either. Like they’re a two in one package for me, you can’t see one without the other most of the time. Like Adachi’s slacking off work while Dojima’s slaving away by himself? I’ve always believed they get off at the same time or something because of the subordinate status.

I did enjoy the Junes segments though, it kind of felt like it was a good placement—if you move things around a bit. Him hiding behind your back while you’re doing groceries so it looks like he’s busy was a bit funny, and him chatting you up while you’re supposed to be busy yourself is also silly if you consider that Bancho himself wants to bail and was just caught into his chismosa and whining. He has enough of a degree of association with you as you’re putting your nose into the murder case and that you’re his boss’ nephew, so that’s kind of why you’re the only few people he can talk to.

(pauses yes or yes ) i also ate ice cream where was I going with this

dont make me talk about the accomplice ending that thing’s pretty corny to me but also unnerving i dont want to think about it alot.

With the way things have gone for Adachi’s new characterization with the added Social Link and the new events for Golden, it personally made me think twice about it all, especially when his TV studio and Shadow self ended up the same. There’s a lot to go about this? (<- deranged) and I will admit that I myself got sucked into the idea that he’s an antagonist and couldn’t truly experience everything right at that point. whoopsie. Then again, looking at it at this point in time after a few years makes me realize yeah maybe this does make a bit of sense! The nature of the fog has changed, which can explain the drastic change in character between Namatame and Adachi. which is an essay for another day I really feel a bit out of it.

The “um” segment. Stuff I dont really like to reference nor put in the pot that makes adachi soup because im really iffy with it and how the writing was taken liberally for the sake of the audience rather than the reinforcement of source material itself.

The Golden Animation

The Adachi centric episodes 6, 7, and the accomplice ending bonus episode lol, as the whole Golden anime was really for Marie and other new Golden add-ons like Okina and scooters and ski trip and etc. 

how do I put this. im really opinionated on this segment it’s okay if you dont take my word for it. I dont like the production quality. The animation is honestly really bad and the artstyle itsnt tasteful with how it’s executed. There’s enough frames of Marie that people looking over my shoulder while I watch would call her Adachi. It really is a boatload of a cashgrab and fanservice that kind of adds new insightful things to the lore but honestly? I don;t trust it. Like the writers forgot what they were writing about and started writing fanfiction of what they originally made.

It did give some insight with Adachi, but I hate how they just made Narukami the way he is for this adaptation. Like the boy does have all the time in world and hes not an overworked high-schooler with so many commitments now he can… make a man dinner and deliver it to him…? I would definitely say “> Adachi doesn't seem to lead a nutritionally balanced life...” and leave it at that, i am not making him dinner i dont have time for that. can someone get this guy a girlfriend please. Don’t get me started how they treated his character development and lore surrounding him overall im sick of it. At least Sogabe made it all look pretty.

anyway here’s the part where i can add my closing thoughts as someone who fills a niche solely because they think and enjoy things so differently than the present majority. I don’t think im mature enough to enjoy things peacefully in a community full of different people but also because im losing the idgaf war myself. I’m glad I can enjoy a media in general and I’m so happy when people can enjoy it with me. (had to stop the cat from clawing on the vacuum he likes the texture apparently) where was I

hold my hand as i go through a hundred coming of age arcs in my life and that one day i wont be as embarrassed as i am now to admit i like tohru adachi as a character and talk about him with a restraint so childish because I dislike how a majority depict him. he’s part of my journey as i learn things about myself as much as mimi but in a more human way because. hes human. or something. one day i can forget his reputation in the community and create all the things i make with pure love that is not fueled by spite to be right and correct. I already know i am right and correct because everyone can enjoy things their own way and find things that they like in one thing that are different from things others like. for now, i will still treat him like an insufferable uncle older brother thing whose arm i periodically chew on until i reach bone and let him carry me back to bed when im tired of being annoyed of him. 

[featherlumina]

8, 12 and 17 for the ask game 😁

Thank you so much @duttfisch! Apologies for the Genesis spam below, haha. XD

8. Common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about.

GENESIS BEING INCLUDED IN THE NIBELHEIM INCIDENT. People treat this like some unholy retcon, the greatest narrative sin Square Enix could've committed via the Compilation. And I for one think that's a complete over-reaction.

Seriously. Sure, Sephiroth's definitely not in a good mental headspace by now, but having Genesis water the freshly planted seeds in Seph's mind in the reactor only serves to drive him further down in a really believable way. I always found it a little odd how quickly Seph seemed to spiral in the OG (admittedly Rebirth handled it better), so I think the addition of Genesis makes the scene more fleshed out and raises even more questions for Sephiroth to investigate in the manor.

And a fun one for good measure that's been disproven by Nomura himself - the fact that everyone is like 'hurr durr Genesis can't come back cause Gackt says no / Square won't pay for his likeness'. Admittedly less people are using this as a 'ew no Genesis is icky he can't come back' now, but it was SUPER annoying for like a decade up till this point.

12. The unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them.

Feel like I should be putting my clown makeup on at this point because yep, my answer's Genesis! Again! XD Between the rest of the awesome peeps / moots on Tumblr who've argued for why Gen actually is or has the potential to be really interesting, I think it's fairly obvious why, but I'll summarise my view.

Basically, Genesis suffered from poor writing. Between that and the intense LOVELESS quoting making up the majority of his dialogue, I can see why it frustrated people. But if you look beyond that you'll discover some really neat stuff:

Having Genesis (and by extension, Angeal) as prototypes to Sephiroth actually makes boatloads of sense scientifically. You can't expect ShinRa to pop out Sephiroth on the first try, can you?

Genesis can basically go toe-to-toe with Sephiroth for an extended period of time, which is just... insane, when you think about it. Cloud and Zack have both reached similar heights but Sephiroth is just on a whole other level, so the fact there are a select few who can last against him is just really neat.

Bro had his world shattered and understandably lashed out at the company that shaped and controlled his entire existence. We're on Zack's side for Crisis Core, but it's pretty clear the real world-destroyers are ShinRa, and I think Crisis Core could've done a better job at helping us see Gen's perspective a bit more.

His aesthetic is just gorgeous, let's be honest here. That red coat is iconic and I want it. Superb character design (bless you Gackt for choosing red over black or white.)

Canonically he was well-liked and respected by the majority of SOLDIER, given that he convinced so many SOLDIERs to leave with him. People don't just follow you to the ends of the earth willy-nilly. Also, despite being an 'introvert' and averse to large people groups, he displayed kindness and gentleness with his younger comrades. Gillian called him 'such a good boy' for a reason, damn it!

...and I probably have more, but my hands are tired. XD

17. There should be more of this type of fic/art.

Honestly, I'm a sucker for hurt/injured/degrading Genesis and him both going through trauma and then being comforted and cared for by his loved ones. It's a major part of why I started Thing With Feathers after all. XD

I also love seeing how people explore Genesis' relationship with his changing body/his wing. I could read stuff about that for days.

Also would love to see more written redemption arcs for Genesis, whether it's through 'what-if' AUs or post DoC.

Lastly, I'm not hugely into overly sexual stuff, so any of the above fics without anything explicit is just *chef's kiss*. Of course I understand that many folks love the spicy stuff on its own or mixed into a plot, and that's okay! Just not my cup of tea is all.

[ineffablelunatic]

The coffee theory

This is a compilation post of evidence I've seen that the coffee that the Metatron gave Aziraphale was drugged and he didn't go by free will.

The Metatron's powers include changing people's thoughts on things from negative to positive

Menacing music when he arrives

The best way for him to get to Aziraphale would be through food, and why else would he randomly bring him coffee?

He basically asks Aziraphale to drink it

He's very friendly towards Aziraphale, trying to sympathise with him, saying that he eats food sometimes too and stuff like that

The horrible little look he gives Crowley as he leaves the bookshop with Aziraphale. He's not really nice, he's just pretending

As Aziraphale drinks the coffee there's a little miracle noise

When the Metatron first comes into the bookshop Aziraphale says that he's "made his opinion quite clear" and doesn't seem like he can be swayed

Metatron tells him to take some time to think on his answer, but when we see him talking to Crowley it seems he's already agreed

He seems to go straight back to thinking that Heaven are the good guys and Hell are all evil, which is to be against his character arc

When Crowley kisses him, he seems to be trying to kiss him back e.g. trying to put his hand on his back, but he can't

He was crying after the Crowley scene but immediately brightened up when the Metatron came back

He seems to try to say that he wants to stay, but then there's a pause and his expression changes and he says everything is fine and there's nothing he wants to take with him

WHY WOULD HE LEAVE HIS BOOKSHOP WITH MURIEL WILLINGLY.

Metatron asked Muriel to stay behind, almost as if he knew that Aziraphale would say yes

Aziraphale initially refused to take up the job but then suddenly changed his mind

He looks back at Crowley right before he leaves and he looks SO SAD

Constant weird brainwashed smiles while the Metatron is around

Why is he fine with the second coming of Christ? They spend the whole of season one trying to prevent the apocalypse!!

In the lift right at the end of the credits he randomly smiles and it's so creepy!

I'll add to this later if I find more but I fully believe this theory. This wasn't my boy

[colorful-bees]

I feel so cringe, I'm hyperfixating on my own AU so hard right now. Who let me do this?

Anyways, I'm going to ramble about my N in Hisui AU real quick because I'll go insane if I don't talk about it. Nothing specific, just stuff that I want to get out in no particular order.

I absolutely adore the idea of making N complete a Pokedex, no ifs, ands or buts about it. And its really just salt in the wound that it's the first one to exist (at least in the Hisui/Sinnoh region). This is going to be a world changing compilation of information that will influence how people interact with Pokemon for generations to come, a staple of the modern world of Pokemon research. And here's N, having no choice but to contribute to that.

Arceus (and also the worship of Arceus) is not as prominent in Unova as it is in Sinnoh but N is at least aware of who Arceus is (especially after it speaks to him before drop kicking him into the past). In a weird sense, N considers Arceus his friend, much like he considers every other Pokemon his friend in the same way. N doing this for Arceus is a weird mix between "doing a favor for your buddy" and "God himself just spoke to me Joan of Arc style and now I guess my whole life is doing side quests for the divine." All joking aside, N's relationship towards Pokemon is a big reason why he begrudgingly is okay with this. Not only is an all powerful being basically demanding it of him (he can't go back to Unova if he doesn't), but also. His friend needs something from him.

(More rambles under the cut, this post is just getting really long lol)

And then there's also how Team Plasma is reacting back in the modern day. Their King is just. Gone. Bye, bye, see you later. Where'd he go? Who knows but they really need to find him. And Ghetsis is so pissed. He's waited years to take control of Unova (and eventually the world) and just when he's so close to finally having achieved that, his main pawn just vanishes without a trace. N hasn't even awoken Zekrom yet so Ghetsis can't even command it in N's absence. Team Plasma is in full on panic mode with N gone and no matter how hard they look, they just can't seem to find him.

Meanwhile, back in the past, N has been found by the Galaxy Team and he despises them and pretty much anything they do. He's miserable working with them. From their usage of Pokeballs, to their goal of completing the Pokedex, to the way they talk about Pokemon is such a horrid way, everything about them turns N off from them. The one thing he does slightly enjoy is the pastures. Since boxes and PCs don't exist yet, the caught Pokemon are left in the pastures instead which N feels is much more humane and a nicer way to treat them. He still believes they shouldn't have been caught at all but small victories and all that.

N dislikes Pokemon professors and Professor Laventon is no exception. And his assistants aren't much better either. They're pretty amazed at not only his fearlessness about Pokemon but his ability to communicate with them as well. I mean, from Professor Laventon's perspective, that could fundamentally change researching Pokemon as a whole. N wants nothing to do with him and frequently gets angry with him for prodding him about his abilities. His friends aren't tools for research and neither is he.

But Rei and Akari? Oh, they think N is so cool. He's fearless about Pokemon in a way no one has ever seen before and he can talk to them? To these two fifteen year olds, he's one of the coolest adults ever.

And speaking of those interested in N. Volo. I don't even know where to start with the dynamic these two would have. Volo is interested in N right from the get go and this person who "fell from the sky" and is only even more intrigued when he learns N can communicate with Pokemon. N considers Volo to be just a regular human like all the rest and cannot understand why Volo is so insistent on being around him. N, being Arceus' "chosen one" as you could put it, is automatically of interest to Volo. Obviously, Volo has no knowledge of N's role as Hero of Ideals but if he ever found out, it would not be surprising to him, based solely on the way N acts. And, as Volo is the way he is, he has this bitterness towards N over Arceus communicating with him. Is it because N is special? Or does Arceus simply like anyone else more than Volo? Either way, N's both an object of Volo's intrigue and also someone he maybe kind of hates a little bit.

I have more thoughts but that'll probably be another post, this is already long and I am tired. But as always, feel free to send me asks about this AU, I will never turn down an opportunity to talk about it and I love it when people engage with stuff I make :)c

(Masterpost for this AU)

[brighteyesredfire]

🌟 AI: NIRVANA INITIATIVE | FUCK MY LIFE

beloved sequel to aitsf it sure kicked me in the balls

I just remembered a google doc i compiled of my post game flurry of thoughts after playing this one and decided perhaps they deserved a little cleaning up and placing here. So Here they are.

TL:DR i liked parts of this game but some really big glaring aspects kind of spat on them and destroyed any persistent good will i still had for it in me...especially reflecting back on it months later.

/ spoilers from here /

To start this is largely a visnov so i wont be saying much about the gameplay, the qte's are what they are i have no strong preference for them either way. I'll mostly be commenting on the narrative here.

God Uchikoshi you really grind my balls sometimes.

To start off, the main twist. We all know it, the beautiful stupid DNA timeline twist that warps at the end and gives everyone a headache when they go oh god wtf is the continuity doing here actually.

After all has been said and done i don't know what the purpose of hiding the fact the story was split the way it was... WAS in the first place. It didn't really resonate emotionally with anything, it was mostly just a confusing 20 minutes of me staring at the screen once it happened. It basically lives in service of being a fun twist... but for what!?! the entire story forces itself to bend around this twist so the player doesn't see it coming (to its own detriment) and it doesn't even do anything with it. It's just there to Be A Twist.

You could rewrite this entire game with Ryuki doing all the past segments and Mizuki all the present somehow, and then just shuffle it if you wanted the presentation to be confusing to the audience lmao. But Bibi secretly being past Mizuki, i really don't know what we get from it in the audience other than LMAO didn't see that one coming!

The most this game gets from splitting the story like this ill grant it is that it does help make the audience almost feel Ryuki's dissociation more because some shit just doesn't make any fucking sense between scenes. The off kilter way characters will just say or mention something that completely confuses you as a player is fun but i don't know if its worth all the bullshit required to trick the audience 😭

The swapping also helps hint at timeline nonsense for SIMULATION THEORY stuff but you could also have just done that without the two Mizuki trick, hell just have mizuki and ryuki be literally communicating between the past and the future instead (zero escape fan jumping out sorry).

Ryuki can shoot someone else to save tama in the past to make the plot go, it doesn't need to be Bibi! Offscreen Abis psyncer #4 get over here like, lmao Bibi's existence just continues to horribly grate for me.

Speaking of, my next gripe, Bibi and Mizuki! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Starting off on a positive note, I liked the interactions her and Mizuki had actually, that is to say i liked them so i didnt really realise why i was so bored recalling them at first.

But it is simply because i don't really care…. about the designer baby twist or secret sister twist like did we need to shove another secret backstory onto mizuki for some reason? it felt. EXCESSIVE. to the point of it being nothing (getting apollo justice ptsd rn dude).

Mizuki could still have been experimented on as a baby unknowingly somehow (renju and shoko wake up) and i don't mind them wanting to explain her hulk strength but like i didn't need the secret clone twin and i was raised at an orphanage stuff.

Also Bibi being so similar to Mizuki personality wise, that they're nigh indistinguishable while playing is just kind of boring. I dont want mizuki 2… id rather a different new character…!?! It also just steals screen time away from... MIZUKI!? WHO'S KIND OF MEANT TO BE THE TITULAR CHARACTER OF THIS SEQUEL. AND ALSO IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY FUCKING SENSE WHY THEY WOULD ACT EXACTLY THE SAME (EXPLODES).

Everyone and their mother has also complained that it just shoots her arc in the first game in the head, i dont need to repeat myself but oh my god bro. I guess it makes Shoko's abuse and Renju's distance almost paradoxically worse if she was adopted too because they would have adopted her into. A FAILING MARRIAGE, its almost cartoonishly bad now.

In retrospect i realise i liked Bibi and Mizuki's conversations just because it felt like caring dialogue between Mizuki and another character, and her getting a chance to be wistful or vulnerable for a few scenes in this game (that she gets alarmingly few of). The thing is, i would vastly have preferred she got these scenes with any other existing characters in the cast… that she actually has a developed relationship with, so it's like a sea of wasted potential. I don't care about Bibi!? Frankly i don't know why Mizuki kind of does!? She doesn't really know her either!? AHHH!!!!

Her one scene where she actually reunites with Date in this game is comically short and undercut bc the plot is fucking zooming by and cant take the time to actually do anything too emotional with it. BUT BIBI AND MIZUKI GET ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD TO CHAT ON A PARK BENCH. im so angry sorry. Bibi is just so pointless and i hate her twist i hate her purpose in the story, nothing would be lost if she was written out out of this thing to give mizuki a better spotlight.

Regarding Mizuki's writing in general in this game, it is kind of terrible. She can barely do anything with the time she has and she also... barely develops or changes throughout this game despite the list of shitzillion alarming things that supposedly occur to her during its timeline!? (because no one can change bc of the goddamn dna twist).

I wish she was slightly less chipper most of the time considering her 6 years suddenly being abandoned again, suddenly parent-less again without Date and somehow coping. Ryuki becomes a depressed alchoholic in that same time near her, WHYS HE HOGGING ALL THE DATE ANGST….? ITS ALMOST FUNNY.

I almost wanted her to be more similar to how she is as a kid, a bit guarded and combative (acting out or being hardheaded), especially to Boss. It would have been an interesting dynamic seeing as she's her new guardian (and literal work boss). It would make the moments she is happy or upbeat again stand out more. So many of these relationships between games just feel underutilized.

You could make her get along better with Pewter over Boss, bonding via shared trauma or talking about Aiba. Those early few moments they wrote in Ryuki's somnium with her hyping him up and thinking hes cool because of the tech hes made were so good lmfao, but there's barely anything else like them.

I think her hanging out at ABIS more than home after Date dissapears even if its awkward (ryuki, boss, pewter all in the same place) because it's preferable to being alone is so interesting as a thought… but none of this or how it effects her is barely touched on. IT SUCKS!

Let's move onto Ryuki, shall we...

Going into this game no one thinks they're going to like Ryuki over Mizuki, no ones thinking hell yes this new random twink is going to outsell Mizuki in her segments and writing, im going to be madly attached to him over any other reoccurring character in this game. Well Guess What HE DID IN FACT DO THAT. Thats how bad they handle the existing cast in this thing. Uchikoshi we have to stop letting you write sequels.

Ryuki's great, his brain is broken, his got an evil video game virus, hes bisexual, hes fail, he's gods special-est little psyncer, i could go on. The fact this is his introductory game means he actually gets to have a semblance of an arc, which compared to every other character in the game is a big win honestly.

On that note however, there are still downsides. His background is brought up then not incorporated at all which was funny, and i dont have a real problem with it. Though if they never called the masked woman, a woman, i would have instantly thought it was actually his brother, because as a stupid anime twist it'd make more sense than MIZUKI having one. and would have been. like. more interesting lmao.

Im resorting to writing au fanfic now in this review don't hold it against me but that is how much i dislike the bibi twist. You don't need to make his secret dead brother an ABIS agent either to take her role, he can just be fucking, vigilante man. Invent a good reason he didn't say anything to Ryuki here, its not that hard, maybe after his accident Chikara grabbed him and did x amount of horrible things to him and only after he died did he find freedom. Then over the next 6 years remember who he is, YOU DID IT TO DATE LIKE. LOL CMON.

His brother resents a choice he made blindly pursuing justice and it ruined his life. Just like a certain Mr Ryuki does in this game? Who is trying to cope with forgiving himself, now reflected back? Hmmmmmmmmm ? Cmon. Cmon. im giving this away for free.

I used to have an idea brewing in my head too over marco somehow being based on his brother, or having part of his brother in him but that would require some heavy rewrites like just make shit up territory now roflmao but ..! Yknow ! My point is we could have given any of this more relevance and it would have been probably better off.

Speaking of TheBestCharacterInThisGameRyuki, hes offscreen for some significant endgame time to the point that he felt almost like an afterthought, which was also amusing. Also, and perhaps this is due to the nature of the timeline lying to you, it just seems like at the end of the game hes just like dont worry. I got better 👍 and we then just moved on from his problems lol.

One of what'd be his most pivotal scenes is offscreen? We get the peptalk from Date after but its still kind of ridiculous. We don't get to see the depressed bisexual man see the guy he loves on screen again for the first time after thinking he killed him for six years!? Mizuki's Date reunion gets shafted, why is Date even in this damn game.

And, I mean Ryuki is probably still mentally ill and coping better after date has re-alived but as for how the timeline was resolved its just a little flippant regarding his emotional arc, it kind of peeters out... the fucking secret routes almost more of an ending to his character development lmao. Yet, the meta stuff is also underbaked, i wish it had more relevance in this actual plotline.

Moving onto the rest of the cast...!

CAN YOU FIX DATES FUCKING FACE UCHIKOSHI.

Regarding the others - Lien and Kizuna dragged Mizuki segments down considerably on account of they suck; they were both snore and nothing characters. Remove or redo them completely or even just tie their character development to OTHER CHARACTERS and not each others godawful ROMANCE.

Have Lien be more tied to his Gen, Date bestie trio (even his past with moma!? wow something for him to do in this game) or have Kizuna relying on Iris in her rough time after getting caught up in an explosion instead (and wow here's something for Iris to actually do in this game now too). Just stop gods worst straight pair ever written in these games PLEASE. U CAN KEEP THE DUMB PROPOSAL JOKE SCENE IF U REALLY NEED TO. BUT JUST HAVE LIEN GO FML…okay w/e and move on. stop this.

Mame as a character to focus on was great, Gen can be written less tropey and melodramatic so i dont fucking laugh at all his cutscenes but otherwise, he was fine. Outside him also being in love with Amame (stop doing this). I liked Shoma and Square Dad just fix his head its so hard to take him seriously, in my perfect world Shoma gets an older model and doesn't get hit with super non aging but i can let slow growth go…..for now…..

Tama and Aiba were great, i do think there needs to be some sort of resolution over Date and Mizuki sharing aiba now that hes back…maybe this is where marco can come in and be Mizuki's new permanent in the epilogue scenes lmao, (blue!) though she still switches Aiba in sometimes bc thats her ai mom… :)

At this point im dreaming up things to make myself feel better because i hate thinking about this games execution. All of this crap essentially boils down to, we had to sacrifice a bunch of shit to make our big twist work, and it wasn't even a good twist and i dont know why the fuck we did it.

Good aspects and characters saved it at times, but ultimately, this games feels like a waste and a wash and a sea of lost potential.

[alovelyburn]

The last Twitter Stuff Post (probably)

I’m gonna be honest, I find reading about Miura kind of depressing and reading about his plans for the series quite depressing as well, so I decided to go through the whole twitter (well as much as the site will permit), grab the rest of everything of note to me and put it all in this post.

So yes, More Stuff Miura Said

1. The Lost Chapter - did you know it’s usually posted with the pages out of order? True story. [ link ]

1a. Clarification on the canonicity of the lost chapter - he just revealed too much too soon. He thought something that big should wait until the end. [ link ]

2. People like to say Miura said the ending of Berserk would be happy, but I’ve never found a source for that. The closest I’ve seen is this (I’ve seen it before now but you know the link is here so), which is basically just “I’m trying not to make it a tragedy, idk if it’ll be happy but I want to leave at least some sense of hope.” [ link ]

2a. He also had another quote that was basically the same, where he said he didn’t think such a long story should have a grim ending like Guts suddenly dying. Which like,. lmao, there’s that Go Nagai jumping out again except he pushed it back in the box.

3. If the kojion (the twitter user) ever posted this in the original japanese I missed it, which is a shame because i can’t quite parse the final part, but it seems to be saying that the time when everyone is traveling together is about to end. ...I really really miss Miura. [ link ]

4. The faces that line the world during the Eclipse represent the common will of humanity? [ link ]

5. Oh yeah, here’s the famous (to me anyway lmao) line where he talks about the androgynous characters and says usually (but not always) a beautiful androgynous protagonist’s femininity comes out and they fall in love with men. And that he felt he should provide a character like that with both male and female love interests. He’s talking about the protagonist to Duranki btw, but it’s interesting considering the way he drew Sheephead. [ link ]

6. Here’s some information on extent of Mori’s involvement in Berserk - I’ve seen a lot of people fear that Mori was working on 20 year old memories from the first time Miura sat down and plotted the rest of the series out, but their conversations were ongoing. [ link ]

7. Someone asked Miura if Guts and Griffith will fight in the end and he just kind of launched into a discussion of Berserk’s cosmology and what it would take to hurt an astral body. [ link ]

8. About Casca, it’s well known that he said he designed her physically to match his taste at the time, but less discussed that her personality was designed as a compilation of his own complexes and weaknesses. That’s pretty interesting to me because I always thought she was meant to be a strong badass but he was just bad at writing women back then. But it appears she was perhaps just not intended to be as strong and badass as I’d assumed.. [ link ]

9. This is just kind of funny to me - Miura complaining about all the Huge Swords that came after the Dragonslayer but without the kind of consideration as to what kind of body or stance it would take to actually wield something like that. [ link ]

10. Explanation of the nature of behelits - they are souls that fall from the astral plane, and their messed up face represents their fragmentation. ...but he made that up to explain it after he’d already designed them, which he did on a whim. [ link ]

11. kojion kept talking about a second golden age-esque arc that covered the Skull Knight’s history, and when asked where that came from, they explained that it was mentioned in the video interview that showed at the Berserk exhibition. [ link ]

12. This is pretty fascinating - he said that looking at the Eclipse made him want to hit his younger self in the face and ask what was wrong with him, and that he couldn’t do it now because he isn’t depressed anymore. You know, that’s interesting because there’s been a lot of discussion (mostly elsewhere) about the question of whether Miura ended up regretting some of the extremes in the Eclipse, and most particularly Casca’s rape. Because it.... gets played down a LOT and had absolutely no effect on Griffith’s presentation. And I do think part of that is Cultural Differences, because the West is a lot more angry about rape in fiction than Japan tends to be. But it does kind of sound like maybe he wouldn’t have done it again, if he had it to do over. [ link ]

13. I wish I could find it, but there’s a tweet in there somewhere about how he wouldn’t have women in the manga at all if he just did whatever he wanted, but that would be bad for the story. This is kind of tied into something he talked about a lot that I didn’t link to because I’m not trying to catalogue Miura’s life - he just didn’t know any women aside from relatives and his best friend’s wife, because he didn’t date at all or have many friends due to his being a shut-in who worked on manga 24/7. Anyway, I’ll look for the link again later and add it if I can find it.

14. According to Miura, all the relationships and such in the Golden Age really happened to him and his friends (in a not-fantastical way, of course). Which I think explains some of the tonal difference between the GA and the rest of the series. [ link ]

15. I believe this is his speech from when he won the Tezuka Osamu Award. [ link ]

[ilikekidsshows]

Hi! I loved the Adrinette analysis you made...do you think you could make a similar one for Ladybug and Chat Noir over seasons 1 to 3?

I knew I was leaving myself open for this ask, and I kinda dreaded it, because 80% of Ladynoir screen time is dedicated to defeating an Akuma, meaning the characters have something else to focus on rather than progressing their relationship, and most the relationship stuff is just Marinette being really stubborn and refusing to properly look at her partner. In other words, there's significantly more screen time, but also proportionally less stuff going on in Ladynoir than in Adrinette because the characters are superheroes on the job and one party is actively resisting any development happening. It's also a very different kind of arc and relationship to Adrinette where the goal is just the two of them getting closer and more comfortable with each other. Ladynoir has that as well as all the trust issues and superhero team dynamics. Basically, this post is definitive proof that Miraculous has had plot development before season four, and it has had a lot of it. I got almost dizzy with it while compiling this.

Once again, I’m trying to go in a somewhat chronological order to properly track the relationship.

In 'Origins', we only get one-sided Ladynoir stuff. Marinette is new on the job and completely focused on solving the Akuma problem and nothing else. Meanwhile, Adrien actually takes note of his partner. He sees her flounder but ultimately put together a clever plan. He sees her lose faith but ultimately pick herself up and deliver a really badass speech at Hawk Moth. It's really no wonder he fell in love. The number one thing he learned about Ladybug is that she can fail and the second thing was that she could pick herself up again and grab the win anyway. I've brought up earlier in the Top Adrinette Scene discussion that Adrien is very scared of failing, because his father does not forgive failure, so Ladybug being someone who can turn a failure into a win understandably makes his heart go pitter-patter.

Meanwhile, Marinette barely noticed her partner. As I said, she was fully focused on solving the problem, but she was also getting distracted by her own insecurities. Marinette's first experience with Cat Noir was that he was kinda smooth and seemed to be much more confident than Marinette. Her second experience was that he tended to leap before he looked, but was perfectly willing to listen to her say-so. We have a very brief attempt at flirtation from Cat Noir, that Ladybug barely seems to even notice.

In 'Bubbler', Cat Noir actually gets to flirt with his Lady. He's clearly intent on getting her to notice what he's getting at, but Ladybug seems mostly exasperated with him. At this point their partnership is new and Marinette is most likely thinking back to their first case, when Cat Noir was so patient and supportive and not this...much. She still doesn't tell him to quit it, though, meaning she’s trying to accept him being a lot.

'Stormy Weather' has Cat Noir continuing in his attempts to get Ladybug to notice him and this time she responds playfully when they're not right in the middle of a tense situation. She's getting used to this being Cat's way of interacting with her and keeping the mood light.

'Lady Wifi' has the pair discussing the secrecy between them, with Adrien actively making the decision that honoring Ladybug's wishes concerning keeping their secret identities is more important than knowing the identity of the girl he's in love with, that doing so is the proper way to love her. 'Lady Wifi' is also the first time Marinette panics at the idea of something romantic being suggested about her and Cat Noir, when Alya says Adrien might be Cat Noir, that Cat Noir might be the boy she's repeatedly told Alya she's in love with.

'Copycat' shows us for a fact that Ladybug has no idea that Cat Noir's flirtations with her are genuine, and Cat Noir is growing tired of his feelings going entirely unnoticed.

Because of his growing frustration over not being able to communicate his feelings to Ladybug in a manner that she'd take seriously, Adrien goes the extra mile to write her a love poem in 'Dark Cupid'. When he receives a response that appeared with no sender, just a ladybug, he entertains the thought that Ladybug answered his poem and does in fact return his feelings (not realizing that Ladybug would need to know his identity to deliver such a note to him specifically, but Adrien does generally worry less about secret identities than Marinette). 'Dark Cupid' is also the first occasion of Marinette's by-now patented plan "Pretend to be in Love with Cat Noir" to solve problems, except that she was absolutely certain that a True Love's Kiss could occur between them, so there isn't even much room for pretending, but Marinette's denial is so powerful, she'll try.

In 'The Mime' we see Cat Noir actually testing Ladybug's receptiveness to a date, by suggesting that they could have gone to the play together if they didn't have to detransform. Ladybug replies that she has other plans before zipping away, and Cat Noir merely smiles after her. His feelings are growing, and he might still be remembering the love note he got. In fact, this is probably why he says "We are meant to be," in 'Gamer'.

In 'Animan' Ladybug actually does some of her own flirting with Cat Noir by giving him chin scritches. We also see a very straightforward gesture of affection from Cat Noir to Ladybug, when he hugs her in relief after the battle. Ladybug smiles softly at him, seeing that her partner cares about her well-being, while Cat Noir jumps back, embarrassed over his own reaction, or perhaps even afraid of censure. Adrien isn't the type of person to suddenly grab people in a hug, most likely because such "overly emotional" displays are discouraged in the Agreste household. This is the first occasion of Adrien projecting his father's supposed reaction to a thing he does on Ladybug, so he runs away from her.

In 'Simon Says', Cat Noir clings to Ladybug when faced with Gabriel looking at him weirdly (he's trying to figure out if he's Adrien, but Adrien himself never realizes his father was suspicious of his identity). At this point, Ladybug has started to become something of a security symbol to Adrien specifically against his father.

'Reflekta' is the episode where Cat Noir reminds Ladybug that he doesn't just deliver quips and he is actually a hero in his own right, even with diminished capabilities, in response to Marinette almost leaving him behind because he couldn't use his Cat Noir powers, because he'd "just slow (her) down", and then it turns out she couldn't have won without him. However, with the scene of Cat Noir taking the hit, Ladybug also starts on the process of realizing exactly how important her partner is to her success. Noticeably, it's while they're plotting together that Ladybug responds to his flirtation by flirting back, even if not very well (protip, Marinette, demeaning someone isn't funny to anyone but the person doing the demeaning, the other person is not suddenly lacking a sense of humor). Cat Noir is also a bit softer with his overtures in this episode, his cheeky flirtation gaining a bit more intimacy.

In 'Antibug', we can see the lessons Ladybug learned in 'Reflekta' sticking, with Ladybug listening to and valuing Cat Noir's input, unlike how the last time he tried to give her advice in a Chloé situation in 'Evillustrator', when she acknowledged he was right but couldn't bring herself to follow his advice. She also flirts with Cat Noir of her own volition, when she rings his bell. Cat Noir also keeps showing genuine warmth towards Ladybug instead of being just cheeky, when Ladybug compliments him. They affirm their bond after taking down Antibug.

The events of 'Reflekta' and 'Antibug' together influence what happens in 'Volpina', where Marinette is very suspicious of a new superhero showing up, without ever suspecting she could have been an Akuma in disguise. Cat Noir is her partner, and Cat Noir is her only partner. She’s not only learned his value, but has grown possessive over him. There's no need for any outsider. This jealousy over Cat Noir is actually something Marinette doesn't get over during the first three seasons the way she learns to deal with her jealousy over Adrien.

By the time 'The Collector' happens, Adrien has developed enough trust in his partner to ultimately believe her over her suspicions about Gabriel being Hawk Moth. This episode also has the first time Marinette voices concern over Cat Noir's emotional well-being instead of merely physical, who, of course, can't tell her what's wrong because it would break the secret identity clause.

'Prime Queen' has some very nice mutual Ladynoir flirting at the start of the interview. However, they're both mortified when Nadja comes out with the pictures. Cat Noir is confused, because he had no idea that their relationship could even give that impression, he must have been feeling like he hasn't been making much progress in getting closer to Ladybug. Meanwhile, Marinette goes defensive for the first time since 'Lady Wifi' only, this time, even more so. She even runs out on Cat Noir when he, very understandably, wants an explanation why he head to learn from a reporter that she'd planted one on him instead of from her. The episode confirms that Marinette will refuse to, in any way, discuss anything romance-related in relation to Cat Noir, even when there's an innocent explanation, like breaking an Akuma's spell. She's so defensive it's suspicious.

We also have another occasion of Marinette "pretending" to be in love with Cat Noir to solve a problem. While Cat Noir purrs either over the confession, having her close, or both. Marinette also jumped at the chance to "pretend" to confess her love so eagerly, that it left Prime Queen unimpressed. Still, Marinette refused to commit to the "ruse" enough to kiss Cat Noir while he's actually conscious and aware of it, because then she'd have to deal with the aftermath of kissing him.

'Dark Owl' has the first true test of faith between Ladybug and Cat Noir, when both of them have to trust the other not to look while they have to recharge. Although, considering 'The Collector', this is actually the first test only for Ladybug. At the end of the episode, Adrien also genuinely asks Ladybug out on a date for the very first time when they unexpectedly have free time from Owl-sitting, but Marinette preferred to skip off to spend time with Alya since she hadn’t gotten to see her while being so busy with The Owl's antics for so long.

'Glaciator' has Cat Noir planning an actual outing for Ladybug. The thing is, before 'Glaciator', Marinette's response to Cat Noir asking her out has always been that she has other plans, no can do. However, in 'Glaciator', she specifically says: "We'll see," and then she ends up ghosting him because she forgot to even send him a message that she didn't feel like going anywhere. At the same time, Gabriel purposefully stands him up for dinner, causing Adrien to project onto the Ladybug situation so hard that he doesn't think Ladybug even sees him as a real friend. Considering Adrien was under the same impression about Marinette in 'Puppeteer 2', it is typical for Marinette to send these kinds of mixed signals (which is fitting, considering how clear communication seems to be the biggest bullet point in her character development agenda).

On the upside, Cat Noir's compromised emotional state led to him being more frank about his feelings to first Marinette and later to Ladybug, finally making Marinette understand that Cat Noir is actually in love with her and how sensitive her partner can really be and that she can hurt his feelings. Notably, in this episode, Marinette particularly enjoys employing her "Pretend to be in love with Cat Noir" gambit, this time even going as far as kissing him, after finding out he's actually in love with her. Indeed, at the end of the episode, her rejection to Cat Noir is entirely focused on her having feelings for someone else (as well). She never once said she doesn't love him, and, in fact, never claims so in the English dub.

In 'Sapotis' we also see a brief glimpse of Marinette's jealousy over Cat Noir when he welcomes Alya onto the team so warmly but, because Rena Rouge was a teammate Marinette herself chose and trusts, she doesn't feel threatened enough to express it more than by merely keeping an eye on their interaction. 'Sapotis' also starts the arc of Cat Noir starting to lose faith in Ladybug having his best interest in mind when Rena Rouge appears out of nowhere and he's expected to just accept that no-questions-asked.

'Gorizilla' notably has Marinette repeatedly voicing her belief that Cat Noir will show up, something Adrien appreciates a great deal, going as far as blushing over something so simple. He's astounded by the fact that his Lady has faith in him, but it seems he still believes it despite the notion being strange to him.

'Frightningale' really drives home the arc going on in this season. 'Riposte' was the first time we saw Ladybug and Cat Noir seamlessly working together to neutralize an Akuma, but in this episode, they move in perfect synch while fighting Frightningale while handcuffed together. Cat Noir and Ladybug's teamwork has reached phenomenal levels.

I've repeatedly said that 'Syren' is less about Cat Noir and Ladybug's relationship and more about Fu's relationships with his two chosen. Still, this is the episode where Marinette gets put on the spot and comes through for her partner and Cat Noir learns that Ladybug keeping secrets from him wasn't of her own volition, but because of Fu, restoring his faith in her completely.

It's most likely because of the trust Ladybug showed towards him in 'Gorizilla' and their perfectly synchronized teamwork in 'Frightningale' that Cat Noir tries to confess to Ladybug again in 'Frozer'. These two episodes could give Cat Noir hope that he might be winning Ladybug over, especially since, as I said before, Ladybug has not said she doesn't have feelings for him. But she, of course, rejects him, although it's notably with more wistfulness than the last time, especially when she comments how she doesn't think it's possible for the "other boy" to not be a concern. 'Frozer' takes place during the arc in season two that covers Marinette's growing frustration at her inability to progress with Adrien the way she wants to and the discontent shows in her interaction with Cat Noir as well.

The change in how Marinette regards Cat Noir's input in fights between season one and two is especially noticeable in 'Style Queen' and 'Maledictator'. Both times Cat Noir is absent in a fight and this influences how Marinette approaches fighting the Akumas. In 'Style Queen' Marinette tries to play it sneaky but also needs to be saved by Plagg's intervention in his holder's absence. In 'Maledictator', Marinette's plan involved siccing the brainwashed Cat Noir on the Akuma's goons. Cat Noir has become necessary to Marinette, which is why he's able to galvanize her during 'Heroes' Day' by reminding her that the two of them against the world is what's always worked.

Season three as a whole revolves around Adrien losing faith that Ladybug could ever return his feelings the way he wishes and Marinette getting several warning signs about how she could lose Cat Noir. I might even go as far as saying that this season has negative Ladynoir development (in that their relationship grows more frayed and brittle instead of stronger).

A big reason for this new development direction is 'Reflekdoll', which, according to the production codes, happens early in the season. In this episode, Ladybug and Cat Noir learn the worst possible (false) lessons about themselves and each other and they carry those lessons for the rest of the season. In my 'Reflekdoll' conflict analysis, I wrote that Ladybug basically "learns" that Cat Noir is fae-like in that he isn't bothered by mortal things like stress or heartbreak. Cat Noir, meanwhile, "learns" that, while it doesn't matter if Ladybug makes a mistake because she can always fix it, him making a mistake makes him fundamentally less worthy as a hero and a person, so he could never be as valuable as Ladybug even as a person and not only strategically.

'Weredad', meanwhile, is the quintessential evidence episode for Marinette being both possessive and in denial about Cat Noir. She's literally pretending to be in love with him to him, while totally denying to herself that she feels anything for him, all the while she's feeling jealous over him seemingly moving on from her to be in love with her. The reason it's so important that no one but Marinette herself and Tikki know what went down in this episode is that Marinette's denial would never last if someone actually questioned this whole mess.

This is also an episode where we can clearly see the aftermath of what 'Reflekdoll' did to Cat Noir. He's once again projecting his situation with his father onto someone else (this time Tom), but he's also blatantly refusing to fight Tom at full strength, because he feels that it's his fault he got Akumatized, allowing himself to get hurt severely because he feels he's not that important, that he might even deserve it.

'Oblivio' has Ladybug once again do the whole: "How dare you say I'm in love with Cat Noir I am quitting this conversation right now!" routine. Cat Noir also got actual confirmation that something about him made his Lady want to kiss him when their memories had been wiped.

'Desperada' has the semi-infamous scene of Ladybug saying she doesn't need Cat Noir and, while she learns the valuable lesson that yes she flipping does, this is also the episode where Adrien repeatedly fails to use the Snake Miraculous correctly, having to give it up to someone else, feeling like an undeserving failure *turns to look at 'Weredad' and then at ‘Reflekdoll*.

'Kwamibuster' is an episode where everyone keeps telling Ladybug not to trust Cat Noir and she believes it to the degree that she sees him as a bigger threat than a Kwami-targeting Akuma. In other words, Cat Noir being treated like a part-time hero again in season four is because of 'Kwamibuster'.

'Gamer 2.0' is actually an important episode for the Ladynoir dynamic. This is the episode where Marinette takes on way too much responsibility (voluntarily) and is really stressed about it, while Cat Noir dismantles that stress with his good humor and positive outlook. This episode enforces the lesson that was stated outright in 'Reflekdoll': "Everyone has their role", and Cat Noir's role is to be the jokester who makes Ladybug feel better. Also, Cat Noir doesn’t even hesitate to make a sacrifice play for his Lady, because he’s less important.

'Timetagger' foreshadows that Marinette's words of affirmation are losing their effect. She repeatedly says things like "I trust Cat Noir", "You're irreplaceable", "You know you're the best", but she doesn't know how to express her regard to Cat Noir in actions. And it's important to note that Adrien was raised among liars and manipulators. Even if he doesn't doubt Ladybug's intentions, he might doubt the depth and truth of her feelings for him. Because Ladybug is so nice, she might lie about valuing him to make him feel better. Words aren't enough when words are the only thing between you and your insecurities. This is also an episode that feeds into Cat Noir's worthlessness arc, with Bunnyx repeatedly insisting that Ladybug in the future is just awesome, while Cat Noir broke her Miraculous. Even Ladybug shoots him down at the end of the episode when he tries to ask for extra affirmation, claiming he "already knows he's great".

In 'Puppeteer 2', Cat Noir's hope from 'Oblivio' that Ladybug might be starting to be won over by him comes back to bite him when the wax Ladybug gets close to him by pretending to be coming onto him. He only realized she was a fake because she smelled wrong, something that comes back to haunt him in 'Ladybug', when he's faced with a perfect copy, whose only difference to the original is that she's apparently in love with him. The villains clearly know he’s so in love with Ladybug it sometimes blinds him.

With the villains using this clear weakness as an in, it's no wonder that Cat Noir finally makes the decision to move on from Ladybug in 'Heart Hunter'. He tries one more time to test her interest to see if she'd be jealous of him dating and, when she's merely overjoyed, he decides to finally move on to Kagami. However, when faced with the actual reality of Cat Noir giving his attention to someone else instead of her (instead of in addition to her), Ladybug actually finds herself hurt and questions the lack of "My Lady" in Cat Noir addressing her, but she instantly denies it when Cat Noir notices. Denial denial denial...

Aaaaaand that's a wrap! Putting this together made me realize just how interconnected the show really is but no one notices because there aren’t any secret identities being revealed, people getting together or lore being revealed. Even something that seems like a breather episode like 'Gamer 2.0' has a larger role in the arc of developing the relationship between our main heroes.

[leviathan4good]

Leviathan Fandom Charity Event

Hello, my fellow die-hards! By (semi) popular demand, here it is! The Leviathan ARC Charity Drawing!

For those who may have missed the original post on my main blog, welcome! The concept is simple: Stuff is kind of wack all over the place. Lots of people need a helping hand right now, so what better time for a charity event? There will be more detailed information below, but basically, from today, April 18th, until midnight on May 3rd, charitable donations of $5 or more to any of the organizations on the list I have compiled below will earn you an opportunity to win an advanced reader copy (or “ARC”) of Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, featuring the original, unused cover art for the novel!

An additional entry will be earned for every $5 you donate. On May 4th, two winners will be randomly selected from our pool of incredibly generous and kindhearted participants to receive their prizes!

More info under the cut, and thank you so much to everyone!

List of Non-Profit Organizations

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Instructions:

1. Please read the full list of instructions and rules for this event.

2. Choose from the eligible non-profits listed here, and make a donation of $5 USD or more any time from April 18th until midnight on May 3rd.

3. Screenshot, download, or photograph a readable copy of the official receipt for your donation, attach it to an email, and send it to leviathan4good@gmail.com along with your preferred method of contact: either phone number or email. Personal information on your receipt may be redacted, but please leave the organization name, donation amount, and full date uncovered, or I will not be able to count it as an entry.

4. You’re done! For every $5 you give, your name will be entered into the drawing once. If you would like to donate to more than one organization, that’s fine! Simply attach both receipts in the same email, or send a separate email if the donations are given at different times.

5. On May 4th, a random drawing will be held to select two winners, who will each be contacted to provide additional information in order for me to send them their books!

~~~

Rules:

-A viewable copy/screenshot of your official receipt confirming your donation of a minimum $5 USD must be sent to leviathan4good@gmail.com by midnight on May 3rd, 2022 in order to be eligible for participation in the drawing. Unofficial receipts will not be accepted.

-Your name will be entered into the drawing for each $5 you donate- If $10 is donated, your name will be entered twice; if $15 is donated, your name will be entered three times, and so on. There is no cap limit on donation amount, and multiple donations may be made to different charitable organizations.

-Donations to your choice of any of the listed organizations will be accepted. Donations to unlisted organizations will not earn an entry into the drawing. If you feel strongly that a certain non-profit should be added to the list, please contact me by email at leviathan4good@gmail.com before making a donation. I will review it, and potentially add it.

-Two winning participants will be selected via random drawing on May 4th, 2022. Winners will be contacted by either email or phone, depending on their preferred method of communication as indicated in their original email. Multiple attempts will be made to contact the winners, but if a response is not received within a week of the drawing date, a new winner will be drawn from the remaining pool of participants.

-Winners must be willing to divulge their name and address by private email or text in order for their prize to be shipped. It is acceptable for participants to redact any personal information from their receipts, except for the date of donation, organization name, and amount donated. All personal information will be kept entirely confidential.

~~~

FAQ:

What is an ARC/Advanced Reader Copy?

Well, in the words of Sir Westerfeld himself: “Advanced Readers Copies are a special, cheap-paper print run for publicity purposes. They are sent to buyers at major chains, indie bookstore owners, well-connected librarians, book clubs, reviewers, my agent, bloggers who beg really well, and me, roughly in that order.” Notably, in this case, the ARCs I will be giving away feature the original cover art for Leviathan, with Alek and his Stormwalker! While ARCs in general may or may not be valuable depending on who you talk to, these are a pretty cool thing to have for anyone who’s a big fan of the series!

Are the books new?

Alas, no. These are, realistically, limited-run promotional copies of a novel that was published over a decade ago. They are used, so both have some very minor cosmetic wear and tear, but overall are in very good condition. Both books are entirely readable, and do not have any markings, stains, or stickers on them- Nothing that will prevent you from enjoying them (or the gorgeous art) to the fullest extent!

I don’t have a lot of money. Isn’t it unfair that people who can afford to donate more will have a better chance at winning a book?

True, donating more money increases your chances of being one of the winners. For a normal drawing, I would absolutely do everything possible to make sure that every participant had an equal probability of winning- but remember, this is a charity event! The goal is to raise as much money as possible for good causes. Therefore, I’ve elected to structure this event more like a lottery- and, hey! Just like the lottery, lower odds don’t preclude you from winning! Even if your chances aren’t good, you still have a chance!

What if I want to donate for the event, but am not actually interested in receiving a copy of the book?

No problem! Just indicate in your email that you aren’t interested in being entered into the drawing.

~~~

Still have questions? I promise I don’t bite. Feel free to send an ask here on tumblr, or shoot me an email at leviathan4good@gmail.com with the word “question” in the subject line. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible!

[glowyjellyfish]

I have been thinking about FF7 yesterday and today for some reason, and read a bunch of discussion, and now I wanna talk about Reeve. Yet again. I can’t remember how much of this I have actually posted before, as I have a tendency to get rambly when I write things up and then cut them back. Maybe I’d be better off looking for discussion on Reddit, but I’m more comfortable here. I’m curious whether my headcanons and concept of him are even accurate within the larger compilation—I went too deep and am trying to temper my expectations.

1. He’s my favorite. He was my favorite before I formed all these headcanons and theories over the last couple years, so it probably won’t distress me too much if I’m 100% wrong. Maybe. Always been fascinated with the double life dichotomy and the contradiction with Serious Competent Businessman whose alter ego is a Silly Magic Cat Robot.

2. Soooo a few years ago, probably before Remake was even announced but definitely within the last decade or so, I read the Ultimania BTS that the concept for Reeve was that he controlled Cait Sith with a magic ability. I don’t know what the Compilation has to add on the subject (beyond “Reeve definitely makes and controls robots”), but I quickly realized that this actually works better in the OG than the more common assumption that he’s got like, remote devices or something. You don’t hold two completely separate conversations at once and get confused about who you’re talking to and when, with each side only getting select parts of the conversation, if you are using a remote and talking into a mic. Honestly I don’t know how Reeve even could have pulled off the simultaneous conversation with Scarlet and Heidgger and everyone on the Highwind without bare minimum Cait Sith’s control device being implanted in his brain and controlled mentally. Not to mention all the times Cait Sith casually slips into clearly speaking directly from Reeve’s perspective. So as you can see, this rapidly became my headcanon for him, and I don’t think it’s actively contradicted anywhere. They just... don’t talk about how he actually controls his robots.

3. So I started writing stuff about that into my FF7/FF8 crossover fic, which injected new life into what was before just a little collection of script scenes with nowhere in particular to go. This led to Reeve developing a solid arc in that fic, feeling out of place because he can’t fight, struggling to continue hiding his ability because he can’t imagine not hiding it but at the same time he can’t not use it and feels like it’s his only asset, finally confessing in an attempt to prevent everyone’s cover stories from unraveling, and getting shipped to Esthar with Ellone for his trouble. There’s a lot more to it, but that’s the basics, and his arc ended up driving a lot of the plot I have so far.

4. I ended up constantly reassessing my concept of how Reeve is as a person in the lead up to Remake, and the way he was portrayed informed my current position and led to my Cait Sith to the Rescue fanfic (actually called Trust. Probably.) Before this, I had a lot of theories about Reeve maybe being coerced or blackmailed into spying, because it’s odd he would add “spy via magic robot” to his already very full plate. But Remake showed me Reeve is angry. And he’s frustrated that he can’t change anything even from his position, and he’s willing to do whatever he can under the radar. And then I realized it actually makes a lot more sense if Reeve uses Cait Sith to covertly join Avalanche. Sincerely and of his own free will. He obviously isn’t going to fully trust them, and I bet he’ll also be doing whatever he can to make sure Avalanche doesn’t cause any casualties, and has no problem navigating both sides to reach what he sees as the best possible outcome.

5. This leads to my current opinion on the Keystone Betrayal. I don’t think Reeve was intending to actively betray them. If you reread the script of the return to the gold saucer, it almost sounds like Cait Sith was trying to ask Cloud why they needed to go after the Black Materia at all. My theory is that Reeve was getting worried about Cloud’s increasingly odd behavior, and Cloud’s inability to explain himself was what sealed the deal. I think Reeve wasn’t trying to throw in with Shinra, but figured it was better to let Shinra take the Black Materia and store it safely in Midgar while unreliable Cloud and friends run after Sephiroth. And Reeve couldn’t exactly suggest something like that without looking suspicious, and in any case he’s extremely used to making his own decisions and going behind his peers’ backs to achieve them.

6. I can’t really justify the kidnapping of Marlene, though. I think it’s either Reeve veering too hard into ruthlessness to get the job done because that’s what he’s had to get used to working for Shinra, or it’s something Tseng suggested and added to this plan as a guarantee. I suspect Remake will do something resembling the latter, if they include it at all.

7. If I was writing Remake, I would then proceed to have Cait Sith be fully kicked out of the party at this point, which makes more sense than just keeping him around even with kidnapping and blackmail, and would be cathartic to the players who find the betrayal enraging. Then, maybe around the time the player reaches the Temple of the Ancients, I’d have a little section showing Cait Sith going to the Temple with the Turks. I’d have the player control Cait Sith with the Turks as awesome guest characters, and this covers the Turk Temple flashbacks from the OG. A bit of Cait Sith stealthing around trying to avoid Sephiroth, maybe. Ideally with considerably better and more fun mechanics for him, too.

8. It’s also my headcanon that Reeve needed to be controlling Cait Sith directly to solve the Temple and get the Black Materia, and even though it couldn’t actually kill him with Cait Sith as a proxy, he remembers the whole experience and has nightmares about it sometimes. I feel framing it a little more this way helps make it feel like an actual sacrifice, the way the OG hams it up. Again, if I was writing the remake…

9. Last headcanon: in the return to Junon after Meteor was summoned, Cait Sith/Reeve spearheaded the shit out of that rescue operation. Who else was going to? Although we weren’t shown it, I refuse to believe Shinra would have imprisoned Barret and Tifa and planned to execute them and just let everyone else wander free to plan a rescue. I have in fact written an entire fanfic about this. (the Cait Sith to the Rescue fic). He’s furious that Rufus still won’t try working with Avalanche to stop Sephiroth, and even more furious about the upcoming execution without trial to pin the blame on them, and this leads to him finally giving up on the idea that he can navigate both sides, and he comes down hard on the side of Avalanche. He immediately starts making plans to free everyone, plans which involve discretely shipping in another Cait Sith in order to free himself, and has to communicate the plan to everyone and convince them he can be trusted. The fic treats Reeve and Cait Sith as the same person, but closely follows Reeve’s perspective as he uses Cait Sith to mount a rescue, and I am also very pleased with the way I have progressed to treating my headcanon on Reeve’s ability like it’s normal, and not constantly explaining it like I did in the FF7/FF8 fanfic. Reeve worries a little bit about saying too much, but mostly it’s just a totally normal part of his daily life, and hopefully readers could piece it together themselves.

...I don’t think I will be totally disappointed if Remake parts 2 and up come out loudly saying “he has a remote control and Cait Sith is also an individual person!” (...even though I think remake part one very lightly supports my headcanon with what little we got), but I will definitely be bummed if they don’t tweak the betrayal at least a little and emphasize his involvement in the Junon rescue. It would be naive of me to expect anything too close to my fanfic and concepts, but it sure would be cool if I am anywhere in the ballpark of what ends up being in Remake.

[dax-micro]

I never watched Critical Role. I saw some youtube compilations and snipets here and there of all 3 campaigns. I saw a LOT of posts and gifset about it on tumblr and shared some of them with my brother who does watch Critical Role (he even gave money in their kickstarter for the series to be a thing).

And then, their animated series became real. And after 3 weeks I finally decided to watch that at least. I already knew a lot of things about the series and I know some stuff that will happen in the future, but I don’t know all details.

But I loved it.

I’m writing this on the eve of the last 3 episodes of the season being available. And yes I look forward to seeing them, and I know that the Briarwoods is basically only the second arc of the first campaign (from when it became Critical Role and public). And I know that they still have like 80 more episodes of the streams to cover in future seasons, but I’m already thinking about how when they’re done with “The Legend of Vox Machina” I’d love to see a new series on the Mighty Nein, and then one on the currently unnamed group**** from Campaign 3.

**** Edit: I have been informed that their name was revealed in the latest episode, it’s Bell’s Hells

[gamingstar26]

Duck AU Ideas and Stuff

just reposting some ideas and shit ive posted on amino. you can suggest ideas for my au if you want. its going to be long so here we go: 

Super Paper Ducktales Roles Help

I need help with some characters roles I haven’t decided on yet here are the ones:

Bowser for the adult heroes ver

Dimentio for the adult minions ver for now it’s Magica but idk if I’ll keep it.

Most of the important side characters

The characters can come from any Disney Duck media not just Ducktales.

(Note: Merlon and Nolrem are counterparts to each other. Same with Fracktail and Wracktail. Bonechill is basically Satan/Lucifer.

Jaydes is basically Hades and Grambi is basically God. Luvbi is the child to Jaydes and Grambi.)

Merlon

Nolrem

Luvbi

Jaydes

Grambi

King Croacus IV

Old Man Watchitt

Fracktail

Wracktail

Flint Cragley

Bonechill

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Myth AU Ideas Part 1

I’m mixing different canons together for this with dt17 being the base.

Some of The Coots and Ducks have creature forms but it’s a 50% chance overall. (It’s genetics in this case. While with the McDucks it’s a bit of genetics and curses) Here are some of them that have creature forms:

Coots: Elivira Coot (Grandma Duck), Casey Coot, Gus Goose, Don de Pato aka Don Dugo, Cuthbert Coot, etc

(fun fact while doing some looking into Don de Pato, also Don Dugo is his German name. he was originally from the McDucks, but in the LOT3C he was changed to be a Coot ancestor instead. Also the conquistador armor makes more sense now cause he’s actually from Spain. His creature form would most likely be something Spanish but idk yet and with the others idk what there creature forms would be. Also that maybe Panchito and José’s ancestors would also have a form, there’s will also be European for Jose’s ancestor Pascoal Papagaio it would be Portuguese not Brazilian because of the time period same with Panchito’s ancestor Gallus Maximus it would be Spanish not Mexican.)

Ducks: Pintail Duck, Eider Duck, Abner Whitewater Duck, HumperDink Duck, etc

people with creature forms have two different puberty’s the regular puberty and first few transformations. 

In Lena’s redemption arc in the au will be a bit different her creature form changes a bit kinda like the mlp changelings in season 6.

Goldie is a mix between a Sirin and Alicanto from Russian and Chilean myths with a bit of Siren. Alicanto is a gold associated mythical bird and Sirin is a bird woman hybrid.

Those who have creature forms are usually seen as a different group compared to those who don’t have one, you usually can’t tell someone has one unless you see them transform. There sometimes seen as a minority depending on the location.

There’s an really rare case where one person has more than one creature form, it’s usually for those with a personality disorders for example D.I.D. but can also happen without the personality disorders, but it’s extremely rare.

The Legend of Three Caballeros Versions of April, May, and June will be in this au as Daisy’s nieces along side the clones May and June from dt17 canon. Webby is not a clone of Scrooge in this au or any au/ new headcanons I make. but May and June are still clones of Webby. TLoTC April May and June all have creature forms I don’t know what they’ll be yet.

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Myth AU Duck Family stuff

just to catalog which ones would have a true form and ones that don't, for future reference.

i had to look at a couple of duck family trees for this. and i thought my family tree is complicated. i would add more but this took so long to compile so yeah.

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McDucks: All of McDucks have creature forms

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Spouses/Parent/Lover that have one: Downy O' Drake, Daisy Duck, Goldie O' Gilt, Donna Duck, etc

Spouses/Parent/Lover that don't have one: Molly Mallard, Ludwig Von Drake, Goostave Gander, Lulubelle Loon, Luke Goose, Grstchen Grebe, Gertrude Gadwall, etc

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Father of HDL: Unknown

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Ducks:

Has a True Form: Pintail Bos’N Duck, Humperdink Dabney Duck, Eider Duck, Abner Whitewater Duck, Donald Fauntleroy Duck, Della Dumbella Thelma Duck, Huebert Huey Duck, Dewford Dewey Deuteronomy Dingus Duck, Llewellyn Louie Duck, April Duck, May Duck, June Duck, Clones May and June Duck, etc

Doesn't have one: Daphne Duck, Quackmore Duck, Fethery Duck, Gladstone Gander, Moby Duck, Dugan Duck, Dickie Duck, Clyde Shamrock Gander Duck, etc

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Coots:

Has a True Form: Elivira Abigail Coot, Cuthbert Coot, Casey Coot, Don De Pato Dugo, Gus Goose, Kildare Coot, etc

Doesn't have one: Cornelius Coot, Clinton Coot, Fanny Coot, etc

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Honorary Family:

Have True Form: Webbigail Webby Vanderquack, Bentina Beakley, Launchpad McQuack, Lena DeSpell/Saberwing/LeStrange, Gyro Gearloose, etc

Doesn't have one: Fenton Crackshell Cabrera, Violet Saberwing, Goslayn Mallard, Drake Mallard, Boyd, Panchito Romero Miguel Junipero Francisco Quintero González III, José Carioca, etc

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All Duck AU’s and OC’s Ideas and shit

Super Paper Ducktales Ideas: im going to try not spoil anything from the game (even tho it’s 15 years old but still) cause I highly recommend you watch a let’s play or play it for yourself to understand what im trying to do. Plus it’s a amazing game.

Since Mimi is Webby (kid minion) and Della (adult minion) they both should have the “true” form like Mimi does In the original game (if you know you know) idk if I’ll stick with the spider aspect of the original or go for something different. The Thing aspect of the original will still be there, it has to be terrifying.

Some scenes change depending on the version of the au. Like for example the love simulator portion of chapter 3-4 will stay both versions with slight differences.

Im thinking Gladstone or Dapper Duck for Bowser in the adult hero version, but Im debating whether or not it’s a good idea.

Some events are completely changed or removed to make it fit more with the duckverse.

Angst potential everywhere. >:) Donald and Louie get tortured to hell and back (literally) just like Luigi does in the original game. (My favs getting lots of trauma is my fav thing to do cause I love em)

Some Super Paper Mario lore (and yes there is more for this, seriously look it up) will stay the same like pixels origins for example, while others will change to be more close to the duckverse like the origin of the prophecies. Etc.

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Mythology AU:

I’m adding aspects of the legend of the three caballeros, cause I love that show and the mythology parts of the show fit perfectly with what my au is about in a way. And aspects of other duckverse canon.

The forms for Jose and Panchito’s ancestors are based on forms from Portugal and Spain or Rome, due to the most possible time period which is the 16th century, during that time Portugal and Spain conquered Brazil and Mexico. Theirs come from curses (this is the reason why Jose and Panchito don’t have creature forms because it never passed on to their families. Maybe some family members would have one but it’s rare.) not blood like Don de Pato, who passed it on to some members of the coot kin. Their forms are: El Coco, El Cuco, etc from Spanish and Portuguese folklore for Gallus Maximus (Panchito’s ancestor) and for Pascoal Papagaio (Jose’s ancestor) Besta-Fera a Portuguese centaur.

The Shellgoose family could have creature forms as well that comes from a curse from passed on through the generations. It could skip generations. (There’s also a the possibility that Gladstone could be part shellgoose as well which honestly is a really interesting theory)

Xandra has some knowledge on the possible origins of why the mythicals exist.

People who have creature/true forms are called mythicals

April, May, and June (not the clones) have creature forms, but there’s will be different from each other. But I’m still thinking of what it will be.

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Zelda AU:

Like the Super Paper Ducktales au some things will change others will be removed or added to fit with the duckverse.

The only ones I’ve thought of so far are the Twilight Princess and Ocarina of Time/Majora’s Mask eras. And some characters roles.

Lena is link in twilight princess era and can transform into a shadow wolf.

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UnderDuck AU:

Humans exist in this au just like in Undertale.

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Lost Limbs AU:

Almost everything that happens in Ducktales 17 canon is the same in this au, except for Donald losing his limbs.

Donald feels very insecure about the fact that he lost his limbs. Unlike Della who is more confident about it.

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Vacuum:

Vacuum’s nickname is Vac or Victor

He’s really good at making crochets

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Xena:

Xena has committed murder before, but it was accidental, and sense then has become deathly afraid of losing control of herself again.

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That’s all I have for now