#(a lot of the writing and plot beats just also feel kind of... shallow?) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

tokyopewpew · 13 days ago

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Part whatever of Veilguard Breakdown!

Themes, gameplay, Overall Plot, and ruminations on the Production behind the game aka wild speculation.

Spoilers abound as well as some disclaimers under the cut. Buckle up this is going to be a LONG ONE.

Ok I am going to try and organize this so it isn’t just a ramble. I also don’t meant this to come across as a defense or shilling for Bioware or EA, if it sounds defensive or you think I’m giving a lot of grace, please know it is for the actual real, physical people who had to make this game. The writers, the game designers and directors, who I think had an incredibly difficult job to pull off with this game. ( and if you couldn’t tell already, i really liked it so I think they did a great job!)

My credentials to talk out of my ass are: I work in *vague general gesture* entertainment. I studied anthropology, writing, film and tv (specifically animation) both seriously in college and in my free time. I write and draw comics, I animate, and do general writing/editing for novels and scripts. I am not saying i am right in any way shape or form, but I have some extra insight maybe, which I think puts me more sympathetic towards to rough spots in this game.

I’m also a Solavellan Truther so be warned.

That being said here we go:

Gameplay:

Overall I really enjoyed the game! Like most action games it took my a bit to get a grasp of all the buttons (oh my god so many buttons). I played the new God of War games and enjoyed that gameplay quite a bit, ergo I liked this gameplay. GoW was much more of a power fantasy than this though, where you felt monstrously strong from the jump. Playing as a mage, and only starting with Mage and Rogue companions did have me feel a little squishy, but by the end I was ripping enemies apart left and right. I think I beat Elgar’nan in like 6 minutes? It did not feel like I was fighting a god lmao.

I’m kind of weak on the critique for the gameplay. I’m glad there’s no crouch or stealth option thank christ. Like most action-y rpg’s there’s a light and heavy attack, a dodge, a jump, a sprint. The lines kind of blur for me on “how dare you copy these controls wholesale” and “these controls are generally linked to these actions, for ease of use for the player we’re staying consistent with other games for an easier onboarding.”

Also I have never played a dragon age game for the combat. I’m happy to have encounters and do fights but I could/did pretty much play Origins and 2 with a cocktail in one hand because it wasn’t that involved. Inquisition too just being kind of like eh, don’t keep tension in your finger, you’ll keep attacking don’t worry about it. I’m playing for the story and the plot, not the buttons I have to press to get to that. That being said, because of the total difference in game play, from past DA games, i do think this one is the most fun to play/fight in.

One of my very few combat gripes was that, given what a difference damage type makes in a fight, I wish I could change my weapon in the middle of combat. I don't want to have to leave a combat area, cool off, and then swap out my orb. Just let me change it mid combat please.

THAT ALL BEING SAID LETS TALK ABOUT THE PLOT AND PACING!

I do think this game has some recency bias against it. The other games have 10+ years of us rolling them around in the Fandom Rock Tumbler to shine them into perfect glowing beloved, well understood in totality creations. It’s been two fucking weeks with this game, of course it feels shallow in comparison. Give it some time and we’re gonna chew on it more.

That being said: I do agree that it feels softer than other games, but I can identify why that might be.

I think this game is a lot tighter on its narrative than any other DA game. By which I mean the main narrative is always very focused on defeating the gods. The companion quests feel very brief, sometimes just being conversations, and even though their personal quests are meant to in some way link back to the Evanuris, they feel like such small fish in comparison. Taking down any or all of the personal villains for each of the companions does not feel like I’ve made a tangible blow against the Evanuris the way destroying Corypheus’ lyrium mines and Samson’s armor did in Inquisition or the way recruiting the different factions did for Origins.

But here’s where I append my little caveats. (I'm gonna harp that DIFFERENT doesn't mean bad to me). I do like the breakneck pace of this plot. They did start off as cartoon-ish new villains being thrown in, like they do in every Marvel movie. But I think they did a good job of ramping up how terrifying they were pretty quickly and actually making them feel threatening. The odds felt forever stacked against us, and it matched the streamlined, focused main quest line. And hey, let’s be honest, the fetch quests and padded content was a big complaint against Inquisition (or many open world games).

Which is what makes me see a lot of the complaints against VG are ones where I don’t think people connect that Bioware is damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Do you want a streamlined, focused game without a lot of cruft, a complaint lobbed at many open world games? Ok you won’t get as many little side quests that feel like they add weeks to the plot.

I do think the companion quests are the things that actually make the plot slow down. But we love and want as much companion content as possible? Again, I think this could have helped if the companion personal villain quests felt more essential/woven into the Evanuris that would have helped. I think some more friction between the companions could have helped, in like banter where we saw that they're personal issues are bleeding into making problems with the team. HOWEVER: that's an easy criticism to make if it weren't a game where you can do many things in many different orders. Maybe there was more Davrin and Lucanis bickering, I just missed it because I didn't take them out in the field together, or I resolved more of their quests before I had them both in my party again.

Some Ranting about the SETTING

Seeing a lot of people throwing out that this game is a Soft-Retcon/Tonally Light compared to other DA games. Yes and no. I think it’s through some narrative necessity. I do wish Bioware would trust the audience more with some heavy shit but lets be fr media literacy is on the decline. I don't like that they're dumbing stuff down but has the public at large not proven they can't fucking comprehend a lot of what is thrown at them?

A major comment circulating is about the Crows being turned into Good Guys and Tevinter not going into the class system and slavery enough. I also experienced ZERO racism against my elf character or suspicion of me as a mage. Which, yes, is tonally different from the other games. And I would have liked the depth, I'm not gonna lie.

But given The Real World: I'm ok with not having slurs thrown at me in a game right now.

I also see that as a narrative choice. These are supposed to be your allies that are integral to making it through the game if you want everyone alive. I think they wanted all the antagonism and focus set on the Evanuris and Solas and didn't want to distract or give players the option to kind of question the factions they're petitioning support from.

It's in line with this game having far fewer consequences to your choices. They are more railroading with the plot/important decisions you make which I get isn't going to be to everyone's taste (again, more God of War feeling than DA Origins).

But I also think previous games had a really easy time talking shit and building up off-screen monsters. And now, narratively, they need to bring those off-screen monsters in and humanize them so you won't refuse to work with them outright.

Par example: Playing Origins and loving Zevran. Oh my god his horror stories about the Crows?? How can you support the Crows at ALL hearing what he’s said about them or how many times they try to kill him?!

Psst it's because Origin's goal was to humanize and make him likable as an individual and the narrative tool they used to do that was giving him a tragic backstory of poverty and abuse. Which is not unique to many assassin guild characters. But that kind of shoots them in the foot if they want to have any other Crow companion or involvement because they poisoned the well themselves. So what do they do? Just never include the Crows in a main story on the side of the hero ever? Do they introduce another assassin's guild and say no don't worry, they train their professional killers totally ethically and cool, you've just never heard of them? Or do they kind of work around what they've already got?

Meanwhile, the ones I haven't seen nearly as much critique on is the Lords of Fortune!! Oh my GOD were they sanitized to be Unproblematic! I was cringing so hard when they talked about being treasure hunters but they had Taash EXPLICITLY SPECIFICALLY clarify they don’t steal and they are careful with culturally sensitive materials, sending them to the appropriate people.

This is some Indiana Jones "it belongs in a museum" RetCon. But that's FINE because it matches our real world sensibilities.

Like I don't want to complain that the Crows can't have grown and evolved as a group (forcibly or of their own volition) and not also joke that Isabela really learns her lesson after DA2 to not fuck with culturally significant artifacts and turned the Lords of Fortune into the "pirates never steal another person's property" meme.

Complaining that the ASSASSIN'S GUILD isn't operating ethically is an oxymoron. We need some fantasy elements, some suspension of disbelief. Otherwise we're filing a million OSHA violations against Treviso too for the lack of railings in the Casino and Rook should go to jail for murder.

Like I said, it's not bad, it's just Different.

It's the change in landscape of 10-15 years of game/narrative. development. Of them listening. Sorry it can't go both ways. Gotta read up on the Ludonarrative dissonance again which I think is a huge struggle in making more realistic worlds and still having it be a fighting/action game.

For those that don't know: Ludonarrative dissonance is when the narrative and gameplay are at odds with each other. Kind of noted in games like Uncharted, where Nathan Drake is supposed to be a kind of every man, but the gameplay has you be a fucking action hero.

Or, since everyone loves to compare this to BG3 here is my own experience of it when playing that: I listened to the narrative the first time I played which said ANY SECOND NOW: YOU WILL BECOME A MINDFLAYER. DO NOT SLEEP DO NOT REST HOLY SHIT YOU’LL DIE.

So I only long rested like twice for all of act 1 and was confused when I didn’t get any cut scenes, plot, or dialogue people were talking about. And looking it up, I was not the only one who made that mistake. I listened to the narrative so damn good, that I was going to die any second, I didn't get the cut scene that told me it was ok to take a break, this artifact is going to protect you. So i reloaded an earlier save and re-played a good chunk of act 1 and rested often. Lo and behold: I got all the cut scenes that had previously eluded me! That to me was a big annoyance that the GAMEPLAY and the NARRATIVE were at odds like that.

Veilguard and Dragon Age suffer a bit from this in how they are trying to present a fleshed out, intricate, geo-political world, but you still need enemies to fight in the game. But not demonize entire cultures.

It doesn't help that Origins started off with kind a weak fantasy basis that doesn't hold up as well today. Europe but upside down, cultures are real world stand ins etc etc. And then add 15 years of not just games culture changing but culture culture changing and things that passed in the first game can't and shouldn't be carried over to the newest iteration. Or even mentioned above, where earlier games build up groups or areas as evil, which shoots themselves in the foot when they want to re-examine that later.

Like they have gotten a lot of flack for some of the elven and qunari depictions because they made the direct parallels to native americans and Muslim cultures. They have clearly learned their lesson to not demonize and ENTIRE culture and every person from that culture.

But then how do you have diverse enemies in games but also make it clear you aren't fighting an entire country/culture? We get the kind of weak so uh uh we have a separate faction now! the antaam are the BAD qunari like the venatori are the BAD Tevinters! We need enemies for you to kill and NOT FEEL BAD ABOUT IT but you have to know THESE are the cult ones which makes it ok! Which is something most video games do nowadays.

So when the comment is that previous games were darker, I believe the previous games were more grim because you were up against the world. It was a more brutal land of prejudice and strife and every faction you could join abused and indoctrinated kids in some way. Like that was of the time period to say "Look how Real and Serious our game is? Look how terrible everyone is, everyone is greedy and out for themselves and shitty, but you'll bend them to your will with your awesome might."

But that is not the tone of Veilguard. Which I would almost guess IS a real world reaction to purposefully NOT HAVE a lot of built in bigoted content for the sake of "realism." Both for it to be a fun, escapist game, and a power fantasy.

With the narrative of this game you need to be involved in all the factions which, I would guess, they decided to go more friction-less and have them all be groups you felt like deserved to be saved and that you care about rather than make you begrudgingly help someone you hate.

ANOTHER FOR EXAMPLE: The discourse ALREADY HAPPENING about the choice between Minrathous and Treviso. Like both options are TERRIBLE but saying that because Tevinter has slavery, it deserves the dragon attack? Wild!

Can ya maybe see why they chose to omit some stuff or not pack in anything that would make you doubt your allies? Or be ok with dooming them in the end game as some sort of catholic retribution for their Sins?

Another way to put it is that while I'm disappointed by maybe the lack of exploration on some of the deeper Geo-poltical topics, 1. I don't think that was the goal of the game. And 2. I would rather they recognize that they wouldn't be able to do it justice or go to the depth they would need to so it's better to cut it rather than deliver something they aren't proud of. Like the game shouldn't have to tell you that slavery is bad to know it's bad, even in the fantasy world. The goal of the game is also not to dismantle slavery in Tevinter.

So I ask the room: do we want to see slavery in our fun after work game? Do we want to be called knife ear and not be able to shop at merchant's if we're an elf? I'm kind of cool with not having that.

Disclaimer though: I am white as hell! I've seen black creators express frustration with the lack of conversation on these subjects and how that feels like Bioware pulling punches and it is totally fair to want more meaningful discussion of the topic in the game.

Seeing the bones through it's skin: thoughts on the production of the game:

It's a weird line to walk when Bioware is clearly wanting to make an inclusive, fun, first person game, but have depth and realism in a world that does include that from its shaky foundation. Has Thedas improved in the 10-20 in game years to be more inclusive?

The narrative design for a game is also super different from books or comics and why we generally want happier endings in games. One of the major criticisms against The Last of Us 2 was how fucking bleak it was. How do you get people to keep holding the controller when it's a tragedy? When it's a slog to get through? So I can see the decision to water down or sanitize areas to avoid turning off or downright triggering players.

Which also, same problem mentioned again. I don't think this is anyone here who's gotten this far into my rambling lol, but game design and writing having to be for BOTH new and old players makes it a much different writing experience. I think people have been trying to apply Book Continuity Rules to Dragon Age rather than Movie continuity. What do I mean by that?

Did you know that for comics, you should prepare for your second issue sales to drop by half? Because presumably, a lot of people will try your first issue but won't necessarily want to stick with it, and who in their right mind is going to pick up the second issue and not the first? And every subsequent issue sees a similar decline in order numbers BECAUSE it's a linear story where if you pick up the fourth one you won't know what the hell is happening and the payoff won't work. Video Games can't work like that, the same way movies try REALLY HARD to make sequels as easy as possible for someone to come in completely unfamiliar.

This has been the fault of Dragon Age and Mass Effect Andromeda overall. Trying to be a high fantasy series, but also anthology so you don't have to start from the beginning, with writers coming and going makes it a weird collaborative continuity that is BOUND to change OVER THE COURSE OF 15 YEARS.

Storylines and plots have been picked up and dropped and told they'll matter and quickly wrapped up across the course of every game. Because they have to make way for this to be someone's FIRST Dragon Age game. Inquisition was my first one and I think I made it 15 minutes before I had to stop and google Chantry, Templars, why the fuck do they hate elves? IT WAS A STEEP INTRO is what I'm saying. I've now since played all of the games and adore them all for their own reasons. And I'm sorry but I don't get why its so hard to grasp that the games are not being made to entirely be fanservice to existing players.

I get the frustration over only 3 choices carrying over but like... There cannot be a google survey at the beginning of the game.

"But what about the keep?" You may very well ask. I already commented on this in the tags of another post but I need y'all to really think and remember that the things brought over from the Keep are pretty much just as light, and most often only result in mild flavor text.

Given the development hell this game has gone through and what feels to me like a desperate attempt to limit scope and streamline the game, I can be disappointed but recognize it is realistic that those cameos are nice icing but not essential to a good story. Use your imagination. I think Mary Kirby said she gets the desire to see characters again, but you should not want them back for the Plot. If they're In The Plot, that usually isn't good for them. Varric. That is what fanfiction is for, so they don't invalidate people's headcanons or how they imagine the world to be.

Which I think they handled what they could well enough. Referring to Divine Victoria is a clean crisp way to let you yourself fill in the blanks. They just have to say Orlais, they don't have to specify whether it's one of 5 potential ruling situations. The more branching possibilities, the more chances for a game to break and I'm sorry it is a fucking MIRACLE this game ran smoothly and perfectly for me from day 1. I'd rather have that than a bug report that if you have a timeline with Old God Keiran, and Gaspard as ruler of Orlais and Divine Vivienne the game crashes and is unplayable.

I'm ok with Utada Hikaru, Simple and Clean writing that covers a lot of bases and lets YOU fill in the gaps yourself so that your world is not invalidated!

I think a lot of people are looking at it saying Bioware has endless EA money and this game had 10 years why couldn't it do Everything AND MORE. When that is not an accurate timeline. This game had 3-4 years of development built on two corpses that also had 2-4 years of development. And you can absolutely feel it sometimes. In that sense, the plot of being a core group of weirdos, trying their best, beset by development hell, met with huge expectations and criticized for it's divergence or lack of inclusion of past game decisions WELCOME DRAGON AGE 2: 2 THE VEILGUARD.

Ok whew I think that's going to be it. I love you goodbye.

#blah blah blah #dragon age spoilers #veilguard #veilguard apologist #but also #veilguard critical #but mostly apologist #da:vg spoilers

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wordsandrobots · 5 months ago

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On reflection, I think quitting 86 EIGHT-SIX because the subtitles wheeled out an actual Nazi slogan is as good a reason as any not to write anything in-depth about it, so I'll simply summarise my thoughts about being recommended this anime as something in the same vein as Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans.

It's not.

There are broad aesthetic similarities but where IBO is a tragedy, the plot driven by characters' flawed reactions to bad circumstances, 86 -- at least for much of its first season -- falls more into the region of moral horror. That is, the horror of being stuck within a society entirely at odds with your personal morals. In this mode, it's quite effective, particularly when using small victories to highlight the wider, inescapable nature of the situation.

Unfortunately, from my perspective, 86's second season promptly drops any pretence of having anything other than a standard heroic arc, ditching the implication of a crushingly cyclical conflict and also any sense of real stakes for the protagonists. Given the show is an adaptation, I'm not sure where to place blame for that. Frankly I'm not inclined to delve further to find out. Within a horror context, the juvenile fantasy racism that forms the impetus behind the characters' struggles isn't a particular flaw. The emotional beats land despite the details. But with the horror elements becoming mere obstacles to be overcome, it's just asinine. This is a world where the major act of exterminationist racism is prompted by an AI apocalypse scenario, and the oppressed peoples are afforded no deeper identity than simply not being blue-eyed and silver-haired.

(In case it's not fully clear what I mean by that, the anime spends zero screen-time on non-conscripted District 86 people. There's no sense of a culture being obliterated by the official policy that stripped them of their personhood, nor of what remains to be saved should that policy be overturned.)

Again I can't say if this comes from the adaptation or the original light novels. It's a fairly brief anime that, in fairness, makes the most of the space it gets. But we circle back around to where I started. At best, the sense I get is of a piece of fiction existing within something akin to the 'imperial anti-imperialism' framework of, say, Code:Geass (or War of the Worlds, if you want the classic British example of the type). At worse -- well, suffice to say 86 is now something I won't recommend to anyone, ever.

It's also just not particularly good, in my opinion. Outside the horror elements, the characters feel extremely stock, lacking interesting details or nuance. There's nothing like IBO's thematic tightness and 86 certainly bears no relation to real-life child soldiers. What it does in this regard is not utterly divorced from reality, but it's framed in terms of conscription, not the reasons kids get drawn into fighting in the situations we usually mean when we say 'child soldier'.

The most positive thing I took from thirteen episodes of 86 is a fresh appreciation for how 'mecha anime' functions as an aesthetic genre, often obscuring narrative genre. If you enjoyed what IBO does, I doubt you'll find much to chew on in 86. Even setting aside its comparative shallowness, it's not remotely the same kind of story.

Anyway. Don't like spending words on stuff I didn't enjoy, but PSA for anybody who gets recommended 86 off the back of IBO: its subtitles have Nazi shit in them, and you won't be missing much by not watching it.

If you can, go dig out Fafner in the Azure instead. I know I rave about IBO a lot but Fafner is by far and away the best mecha anime I have ever watched. While also not a tragedy, it's an exceptional, heart-breaking story framed around war with an 'unknowable' alien horde, that unfolds into a deeply sincere exploration of what it means to fight in defence of home and community.

#86 eighty six #gundam iron blooded orphans #I stand by the difference between juvenile in the sense of 'this is aimed at teenagers'#and juvenile in the sense of 'this displays a lot of shallow ideas about the world'#the former is value neutral #the latter can and should be critiqued #as should translators who ought to fucking know better #and if they do and did it anyway then fuck them

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gammagoop · 1 year ago

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my recent fixation has been the wings of fire book series since ive been rereading it, which i feel is not very related to any of my other interests and so i havent posted much about it. but i literally have “post whatever i want” in my bio so i’m not going to let the whims of an audience stop me any longer

all that to say heres some of my series opinions in the form of tierlists

(not including 3rd arc bc i havent gotten there on my reread and i dont remember it very well)

character tierlist! (added the legends: darkstalker characters manually since they weren’t in the tiermaker version)

notes:

mightyclaws is my background character fave. category 10 glup shitto event

i need to do a long post on how much i love whiteout. another day

i realy like clay in the first book and if he retained the same level of depth throughout the series he would be in the top tier-- its just that his writing makes him so shallow in the rest of the books it makes me so sad :[ i was listening (audiobook) to hidden kingdom and like. 90% of his lines/actions were about food and the other 10% were about protecting the other dragonets..... i related so much to his anxiety in the first book and his empathy and his ability to see both sides of things... gah. sad.

jambu is also one of my glup shittos. i love his whimsical ass

foeslayer is a hard one for me because she never did anything wrong she's just..... not as present as i wish she was. she's treated as a very vital character with how many large plot points hinge on her, but she doesnt have much agency herself. its stated a lot that she's extremely important to darkstalker but in the legends book we dont see much of them interacting? idk. i like her but she always feels so uninvolved

the 'beat you to death (funny)' tier is just for characters who i like on some level but are also pathetic and worms. out of that tier i like deathbringer the best and mastermind the worst

tier after that are for characters who i have a positive opinion on but not really a strong one. anemone and sora are more complicated, but i do generally like them. i really just feel bad for them if anything. i think i like clearsight more than the other characters in this tier, but she's not in the 'wonderful :D' tier because i dont think she has a very strong personality

the 'conflicting feelings' tier is kind of a trainwreck because it means a lot of things

obviously riptide is the outlier since he hasnt done anything nearly to the degrees of coral, glacier, and albatross-- but i do have conflicting feelings on him. riptide is completely inoffensive, hasn't done anything wrong, i just dont like him because he has no real reason to be in the story. like you could write him out very easily. his only purpose is to be a love interest for tsunami which is like...... gh. dude. she doesnt need one. if she's gonna have a romance it should come naturally. not "wow this seawing is handsome and also he's the first one ive properly met as well as a guy do im in love with him now" like girl do better

coral and glacier both have done bad things and obviously have bad intentions but also.... theyre not the worst. bad but not the worst.

albatross is a victim of emotional abuse and even though that doesnt justify his actions it does explain how they could have been negated

next 3 tiers are self-explanatory. i forgot to put her on there but queen vigilance goes in 'the grime beneath my shoe'

actually no i wanna talk about scarlet and battlewinner: i think the thing that i like about them is their theatrics. they bot have such a huge presence, like a disney villain. whenever i read scarlet dialogue it almost feels poorly written with how over-the-top she is but. no other character talks like that. its just how scarlet is. and i think thats so good. whereas battlewinner's situation conceptually is just cool as hell. i love how she struggles to speak because of the ice in her throat, her rage, the way she's hinted at but her reveal is completely unexpected...... very very good

no one likes morrowseer

when im in an emotional abuse and classism competition and my opponent is queen lagoon 😧

ship tierlist! (made on ms paint since i couldnt find any good ones on tiermaker. turned out to be nice since i can mess with the placement more)

notes:

top tier is /j i just dont really like how tui writes romance

i was kind of against glorybringer at first for the same reason i dont like tsunami/riptide but honestly it grew on me. their dynamic is so fun

anemome/tamarin is good i just think tamarin could do better if she wanted to. but i understand the "i can fix her" mentality and i do genuinely think tamarin could help anemone

sunny/fatespeaker is kind of a funny concept but also i can totally see it

i genuinely forgot turtlejou was a thing in canon ... it does not make sense to me. who came up with this. in the words of my friend "forced heterosexual on both parts tbh"

i love turtle and peril as friends so so so much if i saw someone romantically shipping them i feel like i could get mad

smolder/thorn is like if glorybringer was bad. mostly just because thorn can do way better than him. smolder and vermilion should kiss each other and bond over being wimp princes who havent actually done anything wrong themselves but bow to tyrant relatives to avoid getting killed

i dont know if this will be an unpopular take but clay and peril is such an awful ship. i like them as friends, i think theyre great as friends, but a romantic relationship between them would be so deeply unhealthy considering their situation. peril would be even more dependent and attached to him than she already is, and clay is not the kind of dragon who has an easy time saying 'no' to things. it would not be a malicious relationship in any way, but it would not be good for them. peril needs to learn how to live for herself, not for the approval of anyone else

okay thats all for today friends. thank you if you read all of my mismatched thoughts if you did ^_^ i love talking

#wings of fire #long post #wof #masontalking

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ladyirisreviews · 1 year ago

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Breath of Fire 2 - REVIEW

After playing Breath of Fire 1, I was very excited to see what the sequel brought to the table, and honestly, I am glad that I played this, despite not being exactly what I wanted out of it.

I'll skip the prelude to talk about the stuff that happens in the "current time".

The protagonist and his friend, Bow, are both orphans who became rangers when they grew up, but someone framed Bow for a crime he didn't commit, so he is forced to flee the village, and it's up to the protagonist to clear his name, You'll meet several characters along the way and discover something sinister brewing in the land.

In this game, characters are more fleshed out and move along the plot, unlike in the first game where it's only the bad guys showing up and you have to beat them up.

Characters still join you without much reason, but at least most of them get some spotlight, they still don't interact with each other but it is a step forward.

There's also a place where you can directly talk with them, and they will comment about what is going on, which I think is a neat detail even if the dialogue is shallow.

I wish they could have had dialogue for all of your party members every time the plot was progressing, but for the most part, they are as silent as the protagonist, the exceptions being when they are first introduced and when their time in the spotlight comes.

The plot is also a huge step forward, the introduction does a good job at building a specific type of atmosphere and some mystery, as well as having some pretty well-made cutscenes throughout the game.

It's still pretty simple, both the story and the characters, but it is a noticeable upgrade.

I also liked how in very few instances, the game used the battle screen to make a cutscene play, I thought it was pretty cool, and I wish the game used that trick more, it would have made some scenes even more impactful.

As much as I appreciate the work that was done in everything related to the writing, The translation work is kind of terrible.

There are multiple instances where the text will be badly formatted, sentences will have weird wording, pronouns will be wrong, and even options will do the opposite of what they say.

I like everything that the plot tried to do, but the horrible translation does bring it down a bit, thankfully it doesn't make the game unplayable, or make you unable to appreciate some of the stuff that it does.

But man, I wish they released a re-translation for it.

Now going into the combat.

Right off the bat, I think getting rid of the icons was a good choice for the UI, which felt kinda clunky in the first game.

On top of having an attack option and a special option, every character has a special skill unique to them.

The main character, for example, recovers HP depending on how low his HP currently is, the effect being stronger the lower it is.

I felt that overall they didn't influence the battles a lot, the one for the main character is nice but I felt all the others were disposable, but it is still cool that each character has unique stuff.

Also, you can defend and switch formations by pressing L or R.

Formations are kinda neat, it's a step above just making a character be in the front or back row, deciding the risk of a character being attacked in that way was interesting for me, and I found myself changing the formation multiple times during my time playing the game.

As for magic, there are points when it feels underwhelming, especially around the middle of the game, but at the start and the end, magic can pack a punch.

Which is a big upgrade compared to how it was in the first one, where the only worthwhile spells were the healing ones, weaknesses still feel like they are kind of an afterthought, but at least they exist.

I do have to say though that making bosses immune to all the status-inducing spells and debuffs is very lame, I don't mind bosses being immune to things like sleep or poison, but being immune to debuffs as well makes the debuffs feel completely worthless, you won't be needing them on random fights either, since they end very quickly.

Despite this, the combat feels like a huge step forward compared to the original game, bosses will have you managing resources and you will need to watch out for random fights towards the end of the game.

A lot of random encounters are still solved by pressing the auto-battle button though, but if you use it during the last dungeons of the game odds are one of your party members will be KO'd.

There's also another mechanic that impacts combat, and that is the shaman system.

You will encounter shamans along the way that can fuse with your characters to increase their powers, there's a total of 6 shamans in the game and you can unite a max of 2 shamans to any character.

The catch is that characters are only compatible with some of the shamans, some being able to unite with most, and others with only a couple.

Also, if you happen to discover a special combination the character's color will change and the effect of the bonus will be stronger, or even better, their form can completely change and get a bonus in all stats.

I have some problems with the system though, it's lame that you can't fuse the shamans with everyone.

Allowing that extra customization would have been very cool, of course rewarding the secret transformations but still giving a little bonus for a non-special fusion.

Another problem that I have is that the fusions come apart very easily, when a character reaches critical health, or passes out, the fusion comes apart, but it also happens after a lot of cutscenes, which is pretty lame and annoying.

It would be better if you could have access to the fusions everywhere, or even at safe spots, but they are restricted to only 1 city.

So if you lose it in a long dungeon it's either go all the way back or finish the dungeon as is, which makes them feel a little bit worthless.

The overworld abilities make a comeback, but like last time, they feel a little bit like an afterthought, I saw it being used mostly to force a certain character into the party.

It would have been better if some character interactions led to them being forced onto the party, since if they are not with you and you encounter the obstacle you need them for, you need to go all the way back for them, which is the same place the shamans reside after you find them.

This can be kind of annoying.

And the worst is that they were perfectly capable of just forcing them on your party.

There is this section where you need a specific character to be with you to talk to another character, you get transported into a dream world with some save points available where you can change your party, but the character you need can't be removed.

And there is nothing inside the dream world that requires them, they don't even get dialogue inside, it's a bit frustrating.

This is one of the only things I think were better in the first game, you could freely change your party from anywhere, and that type of backtracking didn't exist thanks to this.

And like I mentioned, if they forced characters into your party with some plot in the middle it wouldn't be a problem, it would even flesh out the characters more.

Breath of Fire 2 has a way lower encounter rate than 1, so at least the backtracking isn't as bad.

Moving forward though, there's another new mechanic.

As you advance through the game you get to build a town of your own, and there are a lot of factors that change quite a lot of stuff.

Depending on the carpenter the look of the town will change, and you get to recruit people from around the world to open shops, only 6 though, and once you invite them to your town they will remain forever, so choose carefully.

Some sell pretty good stuff and others are useless, by talking to them when you first find them you will be able to know what purpose they would serve in your city.

And you could just save, recruit them, and then check out what they do, I think it's a very neat feature.

With the main features out of the way, I want to talk about the rest of the details.

Like in the first game, the overworld feels pretty small and looks pretty similar all over the world, at least there's more variety in the locations you get to visit in the dungeons, but also, like in the first game, they are very short and have barely any puzzles, the reduced encounter rate makes them more enjoyable to me though.

I had a nitpick in the first game, in towns, whenever you entered a house, the town theme would fade out and a different song would start playing.

This bothered me very much, and I am happy to say that doesn't happen in this game, but I have a different nitpick related to the music now.

And is that almost every dungeon plays the same song, this also applies to the towns, and they are not even that good in my opinion.

I am very glad the last few dungeons had unique songs, I would have been pretty mad if they didn't, but outside of those 2 songs, I think the game has a pretty good soundtrack.

Not every song is that great, but there's a couple that are very remarkable in my opinion.

I'd say I would definitely recommend this game over Breath of Fire 1, you don't miss on much lore if you skip it, as stuff that you would need to know is explained in the main plot of the game.

Writing this review made me realize how much I appreciate this game, especially when comparing it to the first one, it's such a big improvement.

I wasn't very optimistic about the series after I played the first one, but after looking at all the improvements they made in 2, I am a bit hopeful about Breath of Fire 3, and what improvements they could make.

Like more character development, a tighter combat system, or better dungeons.

Unlike the first game, which I think only people who enjoy very simple RPGs with almost no plot would enjoy, this game feels a bit more accessible, and I think you lose nothing in giving it a try.

The horrible translation could make it difficult to get into it, but once you do it's pretty fun to see through, at least in some parts.

It still has some issues, especially for how optimized RPGs are these days, but I felt it was a genuine attempt at making a better game, even if it still falls short in a lot of things.

There's a lot of plot-lines and concepts that I wish were developed more, characters that had more screen time, and of course, a better translation.

I kind of wish Capcom would remake this game someday with the proper care put into it, I think it would be incredibly good.

They don't need to waste millions in giving it mind-blowing graphics, as long as they get good translators, polish some of the rough edges, add some QoL stuff, and maybe add the Game Boy advance portraits.

It could be a very good quality release, but I know that will never happen, I still can dream though.

#capcom #breath of fire #snes #super nintendo #rpg #jrpg #game review #retro games #trans #I'm the trans content in this post #long post

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house-vestra · 2 years ago

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fe17 thoughts (part 1)

first round of engage thoughts... i just beat chapter 17 but this is mostly about the firene gang so probably only spoilers for the early game

probably the worst FE in terms of line writing; ppl rag on fates for bad writing but mainly for plot holes/concept but i didn’t mind fe14 on a line level. there have certainly been more times during engage where the actual lines characters were given felt very amateurish.

in terms of characterization, i feel this game is probably the weakest as well. the character gimmicks are fine to me (none feel very egregious at this point) but i think the characters are hurt by how short the supports are. i think these are the shortest supports in an FE game? generally i feel like in FE, supports generally each contain a full story beat so a support chain will consist of 3 separate encounters, usually with at 1 or 2 reversals in there, but fe17 supports sometimes take all 3 levels to cover just one story beat (i.e. the b support picks up directly where the c support conversation left off, rather than being a new conversation resulting from the characters getting to know each other better). that gives the impression the characterization is much shallower than in other FE games. but i’m not convinced it... needed to be this way? there are moments where i feel like some characters DO have other things going on for them other than the 1 gimmick/character trait from their c-support.. i’ll revisit this when i’ve unlocked more a-supports i guess

like many people, i was taken aback by Alear’s design but I’ve mostly come around to it. I played M!Alear because he has less hair to look at. ppl have criticized the divine dragon thing being an excuse for protagonist worship but I don’t mind it; the game plays with how being worshipped is actually something uncomfortable for Alear and there’s a minor recurring theme about the nature of worship in Elyos which is a little juicy

mixed feelings on framme/clanne (i always want to write framme/cramme lol). probably least fav christmas cavs, which is a feat when alan/lance exist. i actually do think the Divine Dragon Fan Club is very funny... but i don’t like either of their designs and i feel like.... they’re annoying??

alfred is a wannabe himbo and i love that for him. it’s an interesting choice to give him that personality but make him look like That. i liked most of his supports; he is very funny.

reserving judgment of celine until i’ve gotten her later supports. she does talk about tea a lot but i sense she does have more going on; i like that she’s more canny and mature than a lot of kind younger sister types. i feel like a lot of the character supports are padded by polite pleasantries but celine sometimes cuts through the niceties in a way that suggests there’s more going on with her?? i will return to this point after i get more supports. i do like her design; she is cute and her big poofy dress is funny.

chloe is pretty. i think her thing with eating weird foods is funny as well, but the writers (possibly localizers, could be in the original jp context as well) missed the mark with calling the food “folk food.” it would be one thing if what she was eating was actually established in lore to be what commoners or regional peasants eat as a fact of the world. we do have a lot of noble characters who could be aghast by that. but we also have characters from poorer backgrounds and nobody eats what chloe is shown to be eating, so it doesn’t feel like honest world building when chloe lectures other characters about the authenticity of weird regional delicacies

(but it could have been funny if chloe could only cook weird things that no one else likes in the cafe)

louis’s thing with watching ppl is a little uncomfy for me but i could change my mind at some point. i do like his green eyes when he opens them, and i like that they do have him open them at times; that endears the character to me. i like that he’s a pushy big brother to zelkov

limited thoughts on boucheron; i do like his reactions to alfred and etie harassing him and he makes a good straight man to them. “those are my abs” from the etie support was great. his model does make it abundantly clear that the shoulders on the adult male model are too broad, so that’s distracting.

i actually like most of the firene gang on their own... but as a group they are too nice lol and it makes most of the conversations/supports in the early game feel kind of bland and samey.

ESPECIALLY QUEEN EVE; i feel like her design is very regal, proud, and borderline-could-be-a-bitch but then she just is a normal nice lady, so i was disappointed.

as a side note, to all the people (on reddit) who keep saying they wrote etie to be a buff bodybuilder but didn’t draw her as one... they didn’t write her to be a buff bodybuilder. they wrote her to aspire to be a buff bodybuilder, but she struggles to put on muscle like alfred does, read the words on the screen, i beg of you.

thought jean would be a stronger unit but he’s... not that good for me; i feel like... qi adepts aren’t good???? i don’t mind that he and anna are children but i have seen some criticism of their ages.

anna is cute. i have the same criticism of her as i do with all post-fe12 anna’s, which is that fe12 anna is best anna. the money thing is more toned down in engage, which i appreciate. she is so little. i think she has good growths but i haven’t noticed her being that good because mine is flimsy as paper.

gameplay-wise, the emblems are really fun. this is a new level of unit customization for Fire Emblem. class changing/skills were serviceable before but they required grinding and some level of commitment to them, whereas i’ve been swapping emblems on and off characters very liberally so the way i play each unit changes between battles. that is very neat.

edelgard/dimi/claude is my favorite emblem; fallen star is very good, atrocity is strong but less useful, raging storm is mostly not useful due to the cost but i’ve used it once. tiki is good as well as she’s strong; i’ve not noticed her increased growths having that much effect but could be because i swap her on and off people.

for base game emblems, i think probably... micaiah > lyn > sigurd > byleth > celica > eirika > corrin > ike > lucina > leif > marth > roy

i haven’t used leif and roy that much so they could be better than i recall.

unit-wise, i don’t think i’ve noticed many stand outs for me? everyone is roughly usable, and i’ve trained everyone but clanne and vander (i’m in desperate need of more master seals)

everyone is saying you need to promote at level 10. THERE’S NOT ENOUGH MASTER SEALS TO DO THAT. i promoted everyone at level 20 and i still have people sitting there waiting for master seals.

speaking of not having enough of a resource, i’m also very poor. i upgraded all countries to level 2 to get their regional clothes but the level 3 is TOO EXPENSIVE. i have a lot of gold skirmishes but they’re rough to do bc they’re pretty high level and if i use my high level guys, those guys will level up, and then the skirmish level will INCREASE MORE. this is... like a punishment for sisyphus

they buffed armors so much that mages are really indispensable. hammers and armorslayers... do not work lol

i appreciate that they gave us lots of shiny staves to use, and pretty early too. i have not used them.

i guess alear is my strongest unit??? they’re pretty dodgy but didnt stop marni from ONE SHOTTING ME.

i’ll do brodia gang next; i have lots of thoughts on them. i’m recording these for future me’s reference, but i’m happy to hear other people’s thoughts too!

#m #fe17 #elyos #mine #i'm not finished w the game so could change my mind at some point #i wonder when the fe17 ao3 category will pop off #there's only 79 fics rn but i assume most ppl haven't gotten most of the content yet #my wager is it certainly won't get the readership 3h did but it should get several thousand like fe13 and fe14

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bronzeandsage · 3 days ago

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DWC 2024 - Day 7 - Peculiar/Theory

Flashes of red in the darkness floated through his vision. Swimming bits of light and fuzz in a familiar void at the edge of sleep. There was a kind of terror to it but a comfort as well, the familiarity that he knew from dreaming as a child. Or resting under a tree among the tall trees of Nagrand. The warmth of a hand on his chest and the clicking of tusks to tusks. Beautiful.

But it was getting warmer. The hand was gone. Hot breath on his skin growing stronger and less controlled. The red growing brighter and brighter until it was beyond uncomfortable. He needed to cover his eyes, which meant opening them.

A blue sky stretched far and wide carrying lazy white clouds and the wisp of hot breath mingled with dimming grains.

Grains? His eyes would blink faster as he looked up, focus slowly returning as he caught clearer sight of the clouds. Felt the heat of the sun far above him. The hot wind of the grasslands punishing bare ruined skin. Dirt under his fingernails.

"The hell?" Sevlaz heard himself croak, the words foreign to his ears and the empty echo around him. He did not want to do that again.

He would slowly trace the ground, the soil running beneath his fingertips as they brushed against coarse fibers that could only be high grasses of a field. The grass felt soft and brittle to his touch as if the sun had stripped it of any kind of moisture but it was too stubborn to just roll over and die. Apparently he could relate more than he thought as he let the idea sink in.

He should be dead.

Or was he dead?

If he was dead, then this could either be heaven or hell but the sun was far to bright to be either of them. Weakly his hand would come to his chest, just like a memory had before. He sat very still, letting his breath come by slow shallow means as he waited to feel. Something. Anything.

Thump.

Thump thump.

It was beating.

"How?"

Sun above disappeared from his view as a shadow fell over him, his eyes desperate to focus on the source. A voice carrying the same weight and thickness came as the shadow stretched but dipped with the arrival of a face.

"Easy, friend."

Green skin. Dark hair. Red eyes. No. Not like his. They were red and orange, like a rising a sun. He'd seen that color a long time ago.

A hand would gently dip to cover his own hand, bearing scars and roughness much like his own. It gently squeezed his as the voice spoke again. "Just take a moment friend, help is on the way. You're safe."

He was safe. He was alive.

He'd survived.

@daily-writing-challenge

"200 gold, fucking robbery," Sevlaz grumbled as he stalked along the streets of Orgrimmar, having told Erik to give him some space while he tried to figure out what to do next. The fox had been adamant about being paid to which Sev had been all to happy to provide him with a half a crate of wrecked mangoes seeing as he had now become a 'primary investor'. Sans a crate and a coin purse, the thief had to figure out what to do next.

That damn cow had cost him way to much but had made it also very clear that he was going to be paying in pieces if he didn't get the damn job done for An'wei. Stealing from a house patriarch in the heart of Silvermoon was not the brightest choice, but when you're desperate and someone is willing to front you the first half of the fee it was hard to say no. With a groan, his hands would come up to rub vigorously at his face trying to clear his head.

He wanted to scream. It likely wouldn't have been out of place to do so given he was alone on the rampart looking out over Durotar.

"Could run," Sev muttered to himself as he began to search on his person for his clay pipe. "Could run south or across the sea. Not that hard to do. Hell heard about the dragon isles or that rock dwarf island. Lots of place Wei wouldn't find me."

The idea of this plot sounded better by the second as he imagined starting again on that island. Rumor was there was a bunch of fanatics underground worshiping a glowing rock and spider people all around. Money to be made for sure and easy to hide. Catch a boat, lay low and let the heat die down. Raincaller be looking for him but he'd not heard of him going much further than Tanaris or even across the great sea. Cow hated the water as far he knew.

"Yeah that's what I'll do-" There was a soft snap in his hand.

The pipe was cracked in half, bowl from stem with bits of silverleaf grain floating off into the wind.

Always with the grains.

His head fell just as the bits of clay fell from his hand into the air below to disappear over the ramparts of the great gate.

"Damn it."

He couldn't run. In more ways than one. This was supposed to be his second chance. Or seventh. Could one with this kind of reputation really keep count? Did he want too?

Chin raising he'd let his eyes close as he breathed in the dusty air, trying desperately to find some means of making this work without getting himself to dirty. Mind racing, imagination churning, and heart sinking into his stomach he knew very clearly what he needed.

A crew.

"Here we go again."

The words hung in his ears and in his heart before letting his out another deep breath and turning to head back into the city. He only had a week to figure this out and gather the right set of 'tools' to make it work. An'wei was only for promises.

A gentle desert breeze blew in behind him with a even softer reedy whine through the gables of the gate. The hot air would caress the back of his neck causing him to reach absently to shake off the bits of dirt that pelted him.

Grains of sand in the wind.

#novemberdwc2024 #novemberday72024 #bronzeandsage #sevlaz #fenrag #erikred #cahall #peculiar #theory #world of warcraft #wyrmrest accord #moon guard #roleplay

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threewaysdivided · 3 years ago

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Young Justice: A Massive Failure of Narrative - The Masterpost

A few people asked for this, so here we go. Apparently I have had a lot of thoughts about this show that I only love a single season of, in my attempts to wrestle with why I found Invasion and especially the revival not only not engaging but also unsettling and kind of upsetting on a creative and ideological level, and why it was that my brain just couldn’t let it go. Now collected, for your perusal.

Quick version: ‘Scope Management’, ‘Toxic Friends’ and ‘Invasion: A Case Study’ cover pretty much everything. The rest are mostly elaborations

Structure, Scope Management and Audience Engagement

In this long writing-focussed essay I take an overarching look at the structural issues hurting the show; how the constant influx of characters creates an enormous scope management problem, how this problem is compounded by timeskips which make over 80% of the critical narrative substance inaccessible, worsened by a choice to imply important skipped content rather than showing or telling it, how the companion materials are an ineffective solution to this problem, how the show fails the Death of the Author test, how it over-relies on audience’s pre-existing knowledge of/ parasocial bonds with the characters from the comics in a way akin to fanfiction, and how all of this has contributed to the erosion of characters, plots, themes and narrative as the seasons progress.

This Can’t Go On Forever

Greg Weisman has openly said he wants Young Justice to go on forever. Here I briefly look at the kinds of shows and narrative structures that easily allow that kind of perpetual extension, and how this is completely at odds with Young Justice’s tightly chronological, momentum-driven approach. (Which beggars the question of why he would write an intrigue/mystery if he doesn’t believe in denouements.)

The Illusion of Story/ In Service of Nothing (But Profit)

“The director has learned from better films that directors sometimes tilt their cameras, but he has not learned why.” In this ask-response I talk about the idea of using story elements in service of narrative and how Outsiders very obviously fails to do so. Particularly discussed are the use of violence for shock value, attempts to be seen as ‘topical’, gestures towards ‘representation’ that feel disingenuous, nostalgia-exploitation, the formulaic reuse of ‘secrets and lies’ plot beats and how - in pursuing a shallow moment-to-moment appearance of story without consideration for the story those elements combine to tell - we end up in a situation where the heroes are praised for recreating the exact same status quo they formed the Team in response to.

Toxic Friends and Partners

An examination of emotional/ psychological abuse red-flags in the writing of Superboy and Miss Martian’s relationship across Invasion/ Torch Songs/ Outsiders and the shades of abuse apologism/ victim-blaming in the way the narrative constantly puts the emotional burden on Conner to forgive what is done to him. Followed by a wider look at the implications of the original Team’s treatment of Conner (and to lesser extent Artemis) across Invasion and Outsiders, how Conner is increasingly isolated as the show progresses and how on a fundamental level the characters’ actions reveal that these are no longer friends who respect and trust each other but people who need, use and then discard each other once the relationships are no longer convenient.

Grandon’s Tragic DC Zombie-fic

An examination of major flaws in Invasion’s mole plot and the fridge-tragic fates of the Season 1 team members by the end of Outsiders. Followed by a look at why ‘the comic book context’ is a poor defense for the weak writing of Young Justice’s later seasons, how the show expects an unreasonable and inconsistent burden of extra-textual work from the audience, the audience expectations that were set by Season 1, how all following entries betray those expectations, the balance of creative power on the Production Team and how Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti probably weren’t the writers who made YJS1 what it was, Grandon’s personal creative weaknesses and how the show has changed and declined in quality as they have consolidated creative power, how the narrative construction of Post-Season-1 Young Justice exhibits the symptoms of ‘zombie-fanfic’ and how the lack of caring on the part of the showrunners reflects in a cast of ‘heroes’ who no longer seem to care about others.

A Show That Hates Itself

In Season 1, Superman states that the Justice League of Earth-16 upholds the ideals of Truth, Liberty and Justice. A look at how (under new Production/ Executive direction from Season 2 onward) the forcible re-writing of the Season 1 cast into characters who routinely lie with the intent to control others while refusing to be held accountable not only contradicts their personal values and fails their arcs, but creates a series that is cynical to the point of hateful toward those stated heroic ideals.

Invasion: A Case Study in Losing Your Thesis

In this ask response I throw the microscope on Invasion as a case study/ writing exercise - drilling down through (and suggesting potential ways to address) the issues of scope management, failure to progress storylines, broken continuity between seasons, contradiction/ undermining of central themes and the nature of conflict, in order to get to the root problem at the heart of every other problem with Young Justice as a series: that it doesn’t have an actual narrative, and the one it did has been irreparably shattered.

Greg Weisman: Bad-faith Bigotry

Sometimes having friends in other fandoms can be an incredibly cursed thing. As it turns out, Young Justice is not the only story to have seen a substantial decline in quality after Greg Weisman took control as lead writer... and the patterns that emerge are as revealing as they are depressing.

#this show man #what a waste #Young Justice #writing analysis #Young Justice Critical #Grandon Critical #Greg Weisman Critical #Young Justice: Invasion #Young Justice: Outsiders #YJ Meta #Young Justice meta #masterpost #scattered thoughts #frustrations with #Needless to say I am 100% NintenDONE with all YJ Canon post Season 1 #it is just a mess #3WD

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un-pearable · 2 years ago

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s4 thoughts: okay honestly im really surprised the tournament arc came this early in the show because for some reason i thought it came a lot later. either i had. so much fun this was such a fun arc. i was also familiar with wayyy way more of this season than the other ones which was surprising so i mustve watched the bulk of it at least twice or something.

okay lets get the worst thing out of the way so that we can talk about things i really liked. the . euuuuuugh the garmadon / misako / wu love triangle that they still keep bringing up for some reason. actually im just going to take a snippet of one of my angry discord rants and leave it at that

number 2: THE RESOLUTION OF THE JAY/NAYA/COLE LOVE TRIANGLE!!!! thank GOODNESS im so glad that is done. i'm glad we're all friends again and dont have to bring that up in any sort of significant way going forward. hopefully. id like to see more friendship shenanigans please writers please

number 3: im obsessed with how absolutely and entirely confused i am about the timeline of ninjago. i understand nothing. i really dont and i think the writers are just as confused as i am

number 4: i think they did a better job w skylor/kai than any of the other ships so far but also half of that is because im pretty sure it being kind of shallow but having the potential to be an actually functional and mildly interesting relationship is the point instead of on accident this time. at least thats what i got out of it

number 5: speaking of skylor, who the heck is her mom. real question. this is always my question whenever any dude has a child with no mention of a mom especially because half the men in question i could not see anybody getting married to them in a million years.

number 6: i feel like the writing got significantly better this season. the plot was tighter and the jokes were a lot funnier and . yeah i dont know i had so much fun the fights were engaging without dragging on too much on characters we dont have any real investment in and i really like how they didnt just put everybody into the same stone pit and had them beat the snot out of each other. many points for creativity.

number 7: your tags on my last ask

literally SOOO true nothing else to add you hit the nail on the head. tangentially related question but is it ever explained how chen got his hands on pixal & zane (???)

number 8: lloyd & garmadon continues to be the most interesting and compelling relationship in the show, which is great for me because im terribly invested in this. my curse in life is that the more invested i am in a character or relationship the more my brain locks up when i try to talk about it so trying to put something into words is like pulling teeth but !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEY WERE SO GOOD THIS SEASONNNN im also really glad they let lloyd be mad for five minutes when garmadon decides to send himself to the spirit realm or whatever to save ninjago. thank you writers. also having lloyd be the one to send him off like 😭😭😭 wow yall really out here making him kill his dad Again but also YESSSSS yesss couldnt have chosen anybody better this was so good

number 9: some more miscellaneous things, but like. dude this season was so fun. the premise is "the ceo of this megacorp noodle company is actually is holding an underground fight ring between all the elemental masters so he can steal all their powers and use it to turn all his men into anacondri" is absolutely wack and i am 10000000% here for it. still not over how the prisoners built a jet to escape the underground noodle factory, btw. some other misc observations

also cannot believe they worked literally DARETH into this. incredible showstopping spectacular amazing this was so much fun. 9/10 (<- one point docked for subjecting me to more garmadon/misako/wu) arc

1) ah yes,, the misako frustration reigns eternal. i will never get over how interesting she had the potential to be (implied to be badass archaeologist adventurer who’s also setting the trend for deadbeat moms? at the very least she could be frustrating but fun) and the dedication to making her the good guy in all conceivable situations is ACTIVELY harming the narrative. i wish she could be shitty in a fun way so bad

2) hell yeah!!!! the love triangle is annoying but cole and jay’s dynamic through out this season is very dear to me. its stupid as hell but dear.

3) mhm mhm mhm. it gets so painfully clear that they grew out of the original plan for the series VERY quickly after s2 and over time it only gets funnier as they try harder and harder to justify each new season’s premise. personal fave is “fuck it video game”

4) skylor and kai is fun!!! i’m not usually a fan of those kinds of dynamics but they’re more convincingly attracted to each other and maybe have the momentum + desire to make it work than. pretty much every single other romantic relationship at this point

5) ahh… the villains inexplicable child dilemma. theoretically she had to be the previous master of amber but imo it’s much funnier if chen just yoinked skylor from somewhere. or she was just 100% down for evil machinations and skylor’s the weirdo in the family for being half decent. either way good fuckin question why is this so ridiculously common

6) yeah!! the fights and competitions are actually pretty creative and the structure did tie the whole season together well,, this seasons technically less exciting than the others but you can def tell they had a much clearly vision and plan for it. and the roller derby is funny as hell so

7) i could talk about zane for ages and ages.. the day i finally write the android-becomes-human trope fic about him and pixal (is probably never going to come bc i can’t decide When it should take place bc his opinions would be vastly different) is the day i win. i believe it’s canon that robin’s the one who turned them over? zane rebuilt himself, pixal found him and then they got captured (the ending of s3 was supposed to tease about zane’s new body but i think it didn’t get animated correctly). i very much could be wrong but i’m like 80% sure that’s canon

8) GOD YEAH ITS SO GOOD. lloyd and garmadon carry the character dynamics for the entire show. utterly tragic. stunning. i also have nothing coherent to say about them but will never shut up about them. i want to stick s1 lloyd and current lloyd into a box and shake it until the emotions and complex feelings about their father come out

9) IT IS IT REALLY IS. ninjago at its core MUST be goofy as hell and s4 embraces it in SUCH a good way. later they get too good at angst i need stupid shit and stupid shit we get. (okay not really. what i mean is early goofiness fits with the established show, where later stuff is more. spontaneous and lol random wouldnt-it-be-funny-if stuff rather than part of the narrative’s status quo) agshdjfjfkf tysm for your reactions im never going to be able to watch it w/o those being in my head again.. ooohh there’s something there about ourboros but i don’t have words for it rn. the narrative is constantly eating itself to rewrite what was once canon so they can tell new stories. it’s crumbling under the weight of needing to tell more and more new and creative things in a world that was built for four ten minute glorified advertisements,, consuming itself and rewriting its own history by necessity…

#idk where i’m going with that last bit. anyway hell yeah my main man dareth #also!!!!! i know it’s in your next ask and im gonna do that next but don’t stop!!!! im really enjoying this #i LOVE live-blogs i’ve just been busy today #i totally thought i’d posted this one but it got stuck in my drafts apparently #i’ve been spending 99% of my time drawing lately and forgot to check 😔#i’ve been enjoying the hell out of this though so if you want to keep doing it im absolutely here for it im having so much fun #sorry these are basically essays now agdhdjf #fun though. you’ve got killer insight and it’s super interesting seeing what you latch onto #text✨#ninjago #liveninjablogging

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dmbakura · 3 years ago

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I’d love to hear your thoughts on DmC if you feel like sharing asdfghjkl

(I haven't finished the vergil's downfall dlc yet but I don't think it's gonna give me any earth shattering revelations about the plot so anyways) I guess I should list whatever positives I can think of along with the negatives. WHOMST READY FOR AN ESSAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY

Positives:

gameplay and level design is good. some bosses suck. there's one great boss fight (bob barbas) that, if the rest of the game reached that level of creativity it would have been way better. it's an aiight game overall with decently fun mechanics and weapons

the setting is mildly interesting. I do like the dystopian punk mass media surveillance state it had going on and wish more was done with it

idk that's it really

Negatives:

to expand on above, it really just didn't do much with the world it established. in the second half of the game any worldbuilding it had going on becomes second to the family drama they try and shoehorn in to make it more like the actual dmc games. which I really don't understand because they seem to want to establish this as its own thing and yet?

dante and vergil's dynamic is so fucking bad. they have no chemistry. I don't understand why they try and set up this rivalry when neither of them even properly remember it. It just doesn't work, and it especially feels off given they're allies for 90% of the game. None of their interactions come off naturally and their showdown at the end feels forced as hell

vergil's character is baffling. it's like they took one look at his canon counterpart and said "ah yes he's the order man" which is a very shallow reading of canon vergil's character. as such, the reboot version of him comes off as a really gross misinterpretation. and fine it has no connection to the canon material, but the character still shouldn't be completely unrecognizable. and they also give him similar story beats to canon vergil which now make very little sense given the new context. would it not have been more fitting for him to be some kind of rogue hacker out for his own gain instead of a vigilante justice type character with a skewed idea of order? or for him and dante to be at odds? they might have played better off each other that way instead of their stiff interactions as "allies" in the game, where they're forced to get along to face a greater threat, and this also might have made their fight have more weight. also, he doesn't fucking do shit in this game until the very last battle.

really all the characters suck. dante is only barely tolerable at points because he has shades of nero in him. kat is... The Girl. mundus is laughably bad and I don't get the attempt at humanizing him. I feel like he's not hard to write. mundus has such weight in the og games because he doesn't have much characterization. he's this omnipresent god like figure that you mostly SEE the aftermath of and gain the full context of his complete and utter EVIL through people like vergil who were destroyed by him. DmC mundus just tells you he's a 'god' (and also his human alias is """kyle""" what the everloving fuck) like that's supposed to mean anything. I think that's the problem with basically all the characters tbh. they just Tell you what they are instead of Showing it.

it's probably been said before but the tone is so edgy and in a completely terrible way that lacks any charm and doesn't at all try to endear itself. it's mean spirited on a meta level ("not in a million years") and relies on shock value for a lot of its story beats. there's an uncomfortable amount of misogyny/understated homophobia in the game too. every single woman in this game is referred to as a whore at some point. kat's entire character is written to be this sad abused girl with no agency, even throwing in an offhand "oh my dad molested me" out of nowhere. there's a scene where mundus rapes (?) his blonde henchwoman. there's a scene where the evil newscaster calls dante a "known sexual deviant" with a wink wonk kinda face and given the context of the scene it feels like a jab at actual dante (who the devs of this game called a "gay cowboy" derogatorily). this game is CRUSTY.

I hAvE TeRAByTES oF pLAnS We CanT LeT MuNDuS GeT HiS hAnDS On (vergil what the fuck does that MEAN)

#i have brain damage from this game and it's the bad kind

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murasaki-murasame · 3 years ago

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Thoughts on Higurashi Sotsu Ep6

Let’s just file this one under “top 10 shittiest anime deaths” *badum-tish*

Thoughts under the cut.

I feel like in a lot of ways this episode kinda highlights the highs and lows of the new series, and how it feels like it’s trying to be like three different stories at the same time and usually only succeeding at being one of them.

This episode, and this arc in general, as a standalone part of the franchise was actually really good, and delivered on the promise of ‘what if Mion actually became the culprit in one arc’, but as part of the answer arcs for the new series it just continues to feel kinda pointless and predictable. I still think that a lot of this has to do with them trying to be both a sequel and a remake at the same time, but unlike with the Rena answer arc, I honestly feel like even new fans could have guessed everything that happened in this arc, since it didn’t actually go into anything that wasn’t already discussed in Gou. So even on that level it doesn’t really feel like it’s providing essential answers that couldn’t have been worked out in advance.

It’s kinda weird how little this arc actually explored anything about Mion and Shion that wasn’t already shown in Gou, considering how much stuff from the VN related to them hadn’t been covered. A lot of their backstory stuff ended up not exactly being relevant to how this arc played out, but it just feels like a weird thing to gloss over when they’ve spent so much time going over stuff from the VN as it is.

Though on that note, I’m really curious about how they’ve made absolutely zero reference to the fact that Mion and Shion swapped places as kids, or anything about Mion’s tattoo. At this point I have to wonder if maybe Ryukishi just doesn’t actually like that plot point in hindsight, and is choosing to effectively write it out of the story here. I can see why, though, since from what I remember it kinda verges into being a twist for the sake of having a twist, and doesn’t actually do much for them as characters that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

The lack of basically anything to do with Shion’s backstory and her relationship with Satoshi still feels a lot more iffy, but at least some of this stuff feels like intentional revising on Ryukishi’s part. Which I think is a really interesting aspect of the new series as a whole. It feels like he’s taking the chance to look back on the VN and show us how he feels about it after all this time. The stuff with characters like Teppei and Rina seems to be his way of making up for them being shallow villains in the VN, and Satoko being evil here seems to be in part inspired by how little agency or control she had in the original story. I guess the big issue here is that a lot of people probably just straight up disagree with the things that Ryukishi thinks of as being problems with the VN that he’s trying to ‘fix’ here, but I think it’s really interesting to see him do this sort of thing, even if it’s messy and overly ambitious and doesn’t fully work.

For the most part I agree with all the criticisms about these arcs feeling like a bit of a waste of time as we wait for the story to eventually loop back to the Nekodamashi cliffhanger. Even from the perspective of this being mainly for the sake of new fans, it feels kinda strange to see such straightforward ‘this is what was happening behind the scenes in the question arcs’ style answers, with lots of reused footage and basically zero twists or reveals. The VN’s way of designing separate arcs that provide answers for the question arcs was more satisfying, and Umineko went even further with that by just vaguely going over the basic keys to figuring out all the how-dunnit mysteries of the question arcs, and everything else about the answer arcs there was just a continuation of the meta plot. So it feels kinda weird to see him loop back around to the opposite end of the spectrum here.

It makes me wonder if there’s some sort of larger meta mystery going on here that’ll become more apparent in the next arc, and will reveal that we didn’t actually know everything that was going on like we thought we did, but at this point I feel like it’ll probably all end up being a lot more straightforward than we predicted. But there’s still the looming specter of the meta plane stuff, the hints dropped about where this series fits into the wider WTC universe timeline, and the fact that the whole point of the new series in the first place seems to be guiding Rika and Satoko down the path toward becoming their Umineko counterparts. So all of that stuff makes me think there might be some curveball twists going in the future that expand the scope of the story, but I have no real idea what to expect from that, and if it’d even feel satisfying. As much as I’m a diehard Umineko fan who loves the idea of this being a Lambda and Bern origin story, I still worry that the execution might not work once we get to the end. I also don’t really think that anything the series does in the final arcs will completely make up for how predictable these first few answer arcs have felt on a week by week basis, lol.

In general it gets me thinking that in spite of how predictable the answers have been thus far, I’m largely clueless about how I think they’ll actually wrap up the overarching story with Satoko and Rika. It feels like there’s still a lot of different directions they could take it in, and a lot of it depends on just how far Ryukishi wants to go with tying this into other WTC works.

For one thing, I’m not even sure how to expect them to follow up on the Nekodamashi cliffhanger. It’s at least hard to imagine how they could stop Satoko from shooting Rika then and there, considering how this episode in particular went. And one way or another, we’ll have to see how Rika and Satoko handle being in a situation where they both know what’s going on with each other. I think it’ll then just depend on what Satoko’s mental state is like at that point, and also what they plan on doing with the whole looper-killing sword thing. I think Ryukishi’s implied multiple times now that the next arc will start to test Satoko’s resolve, and going by her attitude during the infamous gut-ripping scene, as well as her traumatized reaction to the punching glove box prank, I think she’ll be much less confident in her goals by that point, and probably more willing to talk about what’s going on.

I don’t think it’ll be as simple as ‘she just gives up and everyone forgives her’, or even ‘Rika beats up Satoko while everyone cheers and they all move on and abandon her’, though. I think there’ll be some kind of balancing act between redemption and punishment, but I also think that ultimately it’ll also tie into the Lambda/Bern origin story stuff they seem to be going for. I think I’ve said this before, but my best guess for how this will end is that the looper-killing sword will be used to separate their ‘meta selves’ who are aware of the loops and stuff, while leaving behind their regular physical selves who thus lose most/all of their memories of the loops. At least that way they can have their cake and eat it too by showing how Lambda and Bern became witches, while also having separate versions of them that get to stay behind and mend their relationship or something. But I’m not even confident about all of that, lol.

It’s also worth noting that the key visual for Sotsu features Satoko and Rika as teenagers, and the OP also features that pretty heavily, along with an ominous scene of the other main characters as teenagers. So that makes me think that the story will somehow get back to that whole time period, which makes me a bit more unsure how the last arc will go. One option is that the final Nekodamashi arc will just keep going until they become teenagers again, but the way those scenes are presented in the promo material makes it seem like Satoko and Rika’s relationship is still bad then. So maybe on the other hand we’ll just go back to the original Matsuribayashi timeline where Satoko first met Eua, but I feel like that’d probably be the happy ending where everything goes back to the original timeline and they all end up reconnecting again, so I’m still not sure how the ominous presentation of the teenage characters might play into that.

Either way, I think all of that stuff will probably just come up in the final arc. The next one will probably be covering Tataridamashi and Nekodamashi from Satoko’s perspective. The next arc should be where things start to shake up, but I still think they could easily cover both of those arcs in just five episodes. Nothing much seemed to be happening with Satoko until the final days of Tataridamashi, and I can’t imagine there being much to explore with how she set up the rapid-fire loops in Nekodamashi.

With what’s been hinted at about the next arc not going according to Satoko’s plans, and her resolve being tested, I think that this will probably be where things go entirely out of her control and she starts to doubt whether or not she should continue with her plans. Specifically I think that being in a new loop with Teppei being nice to her, and watching everyone else try to save her from her [perceived] abuse, will start to sway her toward thinking that maybe that sort of timeline is worth staying in, even if it means giving up on controlling Rika.

One way or another I think Ooishi went crazy all on his own. I think Ryukishi explicitly said in an interview that Ooishi went L5 naturally, and I think the manga version of Tataridamashi made it clear that Satoko was genuinely thrown off by how things went there, so she probably didn’t want Ooishi to kill anyone. I can see how he might have gone off the deep end by interrogating Teppei and realizing that there was basically a witch hunt going on against him, but I’m not sure how he would have ended up specifically blaming Rika unless Satoko pushed him into it. Either way, Teppei probably really did attack Keiichi at the end of the arc, and we know that Satoko just has one syringe to use, so at most she probably injected Teppei and then Ooishi went L5 naturally.

I’m also curious to see if/when Satoko learns about Rika being given the power to remember her deaths, since that’d also go a long way toward explaining what her intentions might have been with how that arc ended. I think Satoko is at least aware that Rika doesn’t remember how she dies, so I’m at least not sure what she’d try and accomplish by setting up a loop that only goes to shit at the very last second. It feels like it wouldn’t do a whole lot aside from making Rika confused in the next loop. But Rika only gets her ability to remember her deaths after that loop already ends, so Satoko could have only known about it if there’s some sort of conspiracy going on about Hanyuu. Which there probably is, since her whole presence in this is weird and her deciding to give Rika a new set of powers was always super suspicious, but still.

I’m also curious to see if we get any real payoff to the idea that Satoko’s looping is causing more and more people to remember past loops. Especially when it comes to the main club members, since there’s various moments in Tataridamashi and Nekodamashi, both in the anime and manga, that seem to imply that most of them are starting to remember things.

Even though the execution of this whole new series makes me a bit more wary about how any sort of new anime for Umineko along these lines might pan out, I can’t help but still really hope this is leading to something like that. For one thing I just think that if he’s going for a Lambda/Bern origin story with this, at the risk of alienating lots of existing fans, I think there should at least be a more concrete payoff to that than just ‘ok now you can go back and read the Umineko VN’. But I think there’s a lot of potential to be had with some sort of remake or sequel to Umineko where he gets a chance to revisit it after more than 10 years. One of these days I should still just make a whole post about my hopes and predictions for what could be done with any sort of new Umineko anime, lol.

Anyway, this got longer than I planned, but all in all I enjoyed this more than it probably comes across like I did, lol. Even if the plot’s been kinda boring, I think Sotsu has done a great job of elevating it with good direction and visuals. The moment to moment pacing can still be kinda choppy, and sometimes the presentation of flashback scenes is confusing and ambiguous, but in general it still feels entertaining to watch unfold, and the brutality has a lot of impact. I’m just hoping that the rest of Sotsu is more ambitious and surprising than these first two arcs have been.

#murasaki rambles #higurashi #higurashi sotsu

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thecaffeinebookwarrior · 5 years ago

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The Many Faces of the Strong Female Character

The much-requested, positive counterpart to my classic “Female Characters to Avoid in Your Writing” and it’s much-later sequel.

Here, I will discuss some of my favorite fictional ladies and what makes them work so well; given my rapturous love of women, there will probably be a sequel! In the meantime, I talk more about portraying female characters here.

Happy writing, everybody! <3

1.) The Warrior

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When most people hear “strong female character,” they picture the most popular definition of the term: a stony-faced, emotionally shallow, conventionally attractive broad who punches and kicks stuff. She may occasionally shout things like, “I DON’T NEED NO MAN,” while perhaps punching a small baby.

I decided to start with my wife Diana, because she is the perfect antithesis of this trope. She isn’t stony, she’s courageous. She’s unabashed about showing her doubts, hopes, affections, and optimism. Her love interest never steals her spotlight, but she feels no need to shun romance to appear “strong.” She’s beautiful, but not sexualized or objectified.

And while most Strong Female Characters™ are ironically reduced to damsels in distress at some point in their own narratives, Diana consistently takes the lead, totally autonomous over her own story.

You can kick ass AND love babies, people. Joss Whedon, please take notes.

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Other examples: Okoye from Black Panther, Furiosa from Mad Max: Fury Road, Rey from Star Wars, and Ser Brienne of Tarth from Game of Thrones.

2.) The Comedian

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If you haven’t watched Chewing Gum on Netflix, stop whatever you’re doing and watch it right now. Its relatively simple premise – a twenty-four-year-old from a fundamentalist Christian household struggles to lose her virginity – is a segway into a hilarious, genuine exploration of human sexuality, relationships, and how we forge our identities.

Brilliantly portrayed by the series’ creator, Michaela Coel, Tracy is essentially that one friend who knows exactly what you’ve been thinking and isn’t afraid to say so. She is never relegated to a single trope or stereotype. She’s stumbling, clumsily but enthusiastically, through the life experiences that shape us. Most importantly, she is allowed to be sexually curious, awkward, aggressive, insecure, and – I can’t stress this enough – hilarious. The dialogue is infinitely quotable, and endlessly relatable.

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Watching shows like Chewing Gum makes me realize how few female characters – and even fe wer Black female characters – are portrayed as truly human. Typically, they’re allowed to be sexy, but not sexual. They’re allowed to be awkward, but only if it’s cute. They can be insecure, but only if that insecurity can easily be solved by the affirmations of a male love interest. And they’re rarely allowed to be the main source of a series’ comedy.

So remember: let your female characters be human. Let them be awkward, funny, sexual philosophers. It’s easier than you think.

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Other examples: Abbi and Ilan from Broad City, Leslie from Parks and Rec, Tina from Bob’s Burgers.

3.) The Drama Queen

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Watching Riverdale is like hurtling along on a structurally unstable rollercoaster. It’s utterly insane, a lot of fun, and once you’re on, you can’t stop.

But amidst the explosions of batshit crazy plot points, killer cults, and the existential perplexity of finding yourself attracted to emo Jughead, there are some real gems. One of these is Cheryl Blossom, and pretty much every plot line surrounding her.

Cheryl is introduced as a fairly one-dimensional, catty mean girl, though the Regina George-esque charisma with which she’s portrayed makes her instantly likable. Initially, we expect her to be a character we’ll love to hate.

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And yet, within the first few episodes, I was impressed by how layered and complex her motivations were. Much of contempt towards others was misdirected rage from an upbringing of extreme emotional abuse, and grief over her dead brother -- all portrayed without a Snape-style condonation of said behavior. By the end of season one, my thoughts were generally, “Oh, crap, I don’t think I can claim to be watching this ‘ironically’ anymore,” and “MORE CHERYL.”

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Season two answered my wish, and then some. Cheryl was saved from an (impressively conscientiously portrayed) attempt at sexual assault by a pack of her female friends, and her attacker got the shit beat out of him in one of the most cathartic moments of modern television.

To the exaltation of my queer heart, she also came out as a lesbian, in a deeply moving story arc that I never would have expected from this show. Without spoiling too much, she and her new love interest kissing in front of anti-gay propaganda footage was legitimately one of the most powerful moments I have ever witnessed.

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Before the season was over, she viciously threatened her abusive, homophobic mother while covered in blood, shot a serial killer with a bow and arrow, and joined a gang. If that’s not gay culture, I don’t know what is.

Oh, how I wish this show was just about her.

Other examples: Alexis from Schitt’s Creek.

4.) The Lovable Bastard

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Ah, The Good Place. I have never experienced such a breath of comedic fresh air. A new philosophical principle each episode, examined and applied in hilarious and thought-provoking ways. A complete absence of harmful stereotypes. Incredibly lovable, three-dimensional, and ever-evolving characters.

I was considering using my queen Tahani for this list, who externally larger-than-life and internally vulnerable after emotional abuse by her parents. Also, she’s hilarious. Everyone and everything in The Good Place is hilarious. And I also thought about talking about Janet, who is the best character in anything ever, but of course:

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Instead, I’ll be talking about bisexual icon Eleanor, who is something very few female characters get to be: the lovable bastard.

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Eleanor, when we first meet her, is not traditionally good in any sense of the word. She turned down a high-paying job because she was expected to be nice to people. She sold placebos to the elderly, and was great at it. She was drunken, slovenly, hedonistic, and selfish. And she’s instantly incredibly likable.

Why and how Eleanor is so enjoyable, even at her very worst, merits an essay all its own. But in a nutshell:

We empathize with her. We are introduced to “The Good Place” completely through her eyes. We are in her shoes.

The stakes are high. When we discover that her entry into the good place was a mistake, we want her to be okay.

We come to understand her, and how her terrible childhood shaped her destructive behavior.

She wants to be a better person, and with time, effort, and character development, we watch her become one.

Not only is this an amazing lesson in how to endear audiences to your character, it is also infinitely refreshing. The most famous lovable bastards are all men -- Han Solo, Dr. House, Captain Jack Sparrow, the Man With No Name, et cetera -- but women are rarely afforded the same moral complexity. If a woman in fiction has done bad things, she’s not usually a lovable bastard. She’s usually a bitch.

Eleanor isn’t just a great character. She conveys an important lesson: women are people. People with the same capacity for mistakes, growth, redemption, and love as anyone else.

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Other examples: Chloe from Don’t Trust the B*tch in Apartment 23

5.) The Cinderella

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Yep. I said it. Cinderella is a strong female character.

My girl not only survived in an abusive household, she persistently stayed positive. She worked each day to make the best of an impossible situation, from which she had no means of escape. That takes an insane amount of courage and tenacity.

But Caff, I hear you scream, she needed help to escape!! Well, my imaginary counterargument, so the fuck what? MOST people need help to escape their abusive situations, and there’s no shame in that. Accepting help from someone you trust is the best thing you can do in a situation such as that, and implying otherwise is horribly damaging to victims of abuse.

But she married the prince, you more feebly protest. Yes! She did! She found love and happiness and a great life in a socially influential position! And that’s an amazing message!

So in the flurry of female warriors, let’s not forget Cinderella, who tells people that their terrible circumstances won’t last forever, to stay hopeful and kind, and that accepting help from a trusted friend can lead to a happy life.

Cinderella is a bad bitch, and she deserves her happily ever after.

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Other examples: For some reason, I’m thinking of Sansa from Game of Thrones. When people try to discredit her as a strong character, they often make similar complaints. But both, quite fittingly, end up as queens.

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sammysdewysensitiveeyes · 4 years ago

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Things Duggan could do/could have done with Pyro in Marauders:

This list is partially me being bitter, but it’s also just kind of a creative exercise, thinking about the development potential that Pyro has.

1. Redemption arc - This seems obvious. Pyro is already hanging with the good guys, but is he actually undergoing a redemption arc? Is he actually changing his views or becoming a better person? We don’t really know because we barely see anything from his perspective, and it’s usually shallow comic relief when we do. The groundwork is there to give Pyro a redemption arc. He was already regretting his actions and questioning the Brotherhood’s methods when he had the Legacy Virus, leading up to him saving Senator Kelly. Why not follow up on that? Does he still feel the same way, or is he disillusioned because Kelly was killed right after he saved him? Are the Marauders (all of whom are better people than Pyro) rubbing off on him a bit? Maybe he’s starting to enjoy helping others or learning to trust humans? (Or not?) In today’s issue, Iceman was confronted by a Reaver that he had previously maimed, which was interesting, but that’s another storyline that I think would also fit Pyro. Pyro has surely been maiming some people - maybe being confronted with the results of that would help him reconsider his actions.

2. Legacy Virus stuff - Pyro hasn’t said a damn thing about the way he died, and I understand him not wanting to talk about it. But again, that sparked a semi-redemption arc for Pyro back before he died. And now he’s on a ship that is taking medicine to humans that need it, and just built a hospital in Madripoor. Maybe his experience being sick has given him a greater sense of empathy, and a desire to help sick people. If Masque can find meaning using his powers to help humans, you’d think there would be space for Pyro to say something serious about his Legacy experiences while they are dedicating a new hospital. Even just a throwaway line. Hell, Storm was dying of some kind of nano-virus for part of Marauders (although it was never mentioned in the book at all), maybe he could have sympathized with her over that? Maybe having Yellowjacket inside him - another case in which his body has been invaded by something microscopic that can kill him - triggered some Legacy feelings? We could have explored that, instead we got a “funny” scene of Magneto pulling Yellowjacket out of Pyro, and Pyro wanting to kill him.

3. Team bonding - Pyro has been accepted on the team surprisingly quickly. Faster than I would expect, really. And of course, he’s small-potatoes evil compared to even some people on the Council, but I’d still expect a little bit of friction between him and his team-mates, given that he used to try to kill them. Even without that history, he’s still the odd man out on a team that already knows each other, and are friends, or at least former team-mates. We had that kind of friction with Emma and Storm, why would we not get that friction between Pyro (the former terrorist criminal) and the others? I would have expected at least a little bit of distrust, followed eventually by some kind of bonding issue where Pyro is more accepted by the team, and in turn accepts his place with them. Who does he even consider a friend when he refers to them as “his friends”? He seems to like hanging out with Bishop and Iceman, but we’ve mostly gotten that through wordless background panels and a couple of “funny” scenes. Do any of them even like him or consider him a “friend,” or do they just tolerate his presence?

4. Writer - One of the things I find most interesting about Pyro is that he had a whole-ass career before joining the Brotherhood. He traveled around Southeast Asia, he was a journalist in Indonesia and Vietnam, he wrote romance novels. And most writers don’t explore that at all, but you’d think it would come up when the Marauder is traveling around the ocean. Maybe he speaks another language that would be helpful. Maybe his investigative skills as a journalist come in handy. Maybe he takes them to an old haunt or meets up with an old contact he knew in Vietnam. Maybe he spends his spare time writing smutty historical pirate-themed romance. I would have enjoyed that much more than the goofy “dream sequence” that Emma planted in his head, at least that would have felt like authentic character development rather than something being pushed upon him from the outside. Most comics writers don’t really get into Pyro’s civilian career, but as a regular on a book, I’d expect it to come up at least once, even as a thowaway line.

5. Brotherhood and past history - Pyro has had absolutely no contact (that we know of) with his old Brotherhood pals. He doesn’t even mention them. Why is that? Why isn’t he hanging around the bar with Blob when the Marauder’s at Krakoa? Why isn’t he texting Avalanche? Has he become estranged from them after saving Kelly (which would be an interesting plot point if Duggan developed it), or is he just hanging out with them off panel? You’d think there would be some mention of his past history at some point. Even in today’s issue, when he, Iceman and Bishop got attacked by Reavers. Pyro has a history with Reavers! He fought them on Muir Island as part of Freedom Force, and the team lost both Stonewall (which happened right in front of Pyro, and he seemed broken up about it) and Destiny (which completely destroyed Mystique). The Reavers in this issue were not the same ones, they were a new breed, but you’d think Pyro might have something to say about encountering Reavers again.

6. The gay thing - This is more my own personal preference, but Pyro WAS deliberately queer-coded in his earliest appearances, and John Byrne intended for him to be gay. They couldn’t openly write him that way back in the day, but nowadays I think no one would bat an eye if Pyro, a fairly minor villain, was somewhere on the LGBT scale. He wasn’t always queer-coded, but he had an ambiguous relationship with Avalanche, his sexuality was never firmly established (he was never in an open romantic relationship anyone), and he died a lingering, painful death from the virus that was intended to be an AIDS metaphor. It would be quite interesting to see Pyro as a closeted gay (or bisexual) man resurrected in a world where different sexual orientations are far more accepted, and slowly opening up about it to Bobby and Christian (or even Shinobi). Not to mention, it would give Bobby and Christian more to do, and Christian could talk about his own traumatic experiences without it being all swept under the rug.

7. Doubts about Krakoa - When the team first met Pyro, he was trying to steal a boat and run off, because he’d realized that his resurrection was mostly just a lab experiment to test the process. Now he seems to be all-in, and dedicated to the Marauders’ mission. What changed? Does he harbor any doubts about the Quiet Council, or is he a true believer now? Does he EVER talk to Mystique, to whom he used to be extremely loyal? Pyro can be written as dumb at times, but more frequently he comes across as one of the more intelligent and thoughtful Brotherhood members. Maybe he’s decided that everything on Krakoa is so new and confusing, he’s just gonna turn his brain off and enjoy his new life? That would also be fine, if it was actually treated as character development.

8. Divided loyalties - If I’d expect anyone to betray the team, it would be Pyro. And that doesn’t necessarily mean I want him to do that, but I’m surprised it hasn’t come up. You’d think Shinobi or Sebastian Shaw would approach him to act as a mole in exchange for lots and lots of money. Hell, I half-expected him to be spying for Mystique when he first showed up. And again, it could still happen, but there’s been no lead up or suggestion of that at all. I would honestly find it disappointing if Pyro suddenly turned on the team or was revealed to be a spy, because he hasn’t bonded with them well enough for it to be meaningful at all.

The thing is, any of these ideas could be explored, and still keep Pyro as the comic-relief party animal that Duggan is currently writing. He wouldn’t even have to have significantly more focus (although some focus would be nice). This could be accomplished through small scenes, little asides, throwaway lines. Duggan wastes so much page time setting up “moments” and atmosphere (Kitty and Emma riding horses up to Sebastian’s castle comes to mind). He spent a whole issue beating up Sebastian Shaw without any other significant plot advancement (then crams all his plot into the issues that feature other characters). He spent a few pages on a goofy fantasy dream sequence that told us nothing new about Pyro, and again, turned out to a falsely manufactured dream that Emma planted in his mind. We could have used those pages to show Pyro writing something, or show a different side of him through Yellowjacket’s spying, and it STILL could have been comic-relief. If Duggan actually wanted to explore Pyro in a more serious way, there’s both the space and potential for it. He just.....doesn’t.

Anyway, this is all wishful thinking of what could be. I’ll just have to write fanfic or something.

#pyro #st. john allerdyce #like I just want to rewrite this whole series #give sebastian more dignity and weight as a villain #properly develop bobby and christian's relationship #give bishop his due as a captain of krakoa #and give pyro some proper development

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analyzingadventure · 4 years ago

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Psi: What we’ve learned so far (1-8)

Before we get into the actual thing, I wanna explain what this post is going to be about and why I’m writing it; if you’re not really interested in that you can skip ahead

On my first watch of Psi’s first 19 episodes, I’ve had this struggle with the series. To me it has often felt like the world of Psi feels empty and hollow, the characters shallow, and the pacing of the first arc has felt off, like the pace of the overall story going at a snail’s pace and little to nothing actually happening in each episode.

Now there’s three main elements that I think could be causing this impression on me. First, it’s the unavoidable comparison to Adventure, a series I am far too familiar with for my own good if we’re being honest, and a series where I could probably list off every imporant detail from each episode from sheer memory. Second, I often enjoy a series better on a rewatch, my first impressions tend to be incredibly luke-warm and because I’ve only experienced the story once, I don’t remember it quite as well as something I’ve seen at least a dozen times. So between these two factors, it is very possible that my first impression of Psi’s first 19 episodes has felt as negative as it did due to nostalgic overfamiliarity vs unfamiliar first impressions.

But there is that third factor too. It is entirely possible that Psi just isn’t written like Adventure (not nececarily better, more like “in a way that panders to me”), and my observations of it so far have been accurate

And really, I just want to get to the bottom of it. I want to try and figure out why Psi has felt the way it has to me so far, and that is why I’m going to make these posts (because this post is way too long already and I had to split it into two parts)

So what this is going to be is quite simple to be honest; like I mentioned above, I could probably list every major story element in Adventure for each episode from memory, where as with Psi I can’t do that. So in this post I am just going to rewatch each episode of Psi and write down what we learn about the series in each episode; what we learn about the world, the characters, the mechanics, the lore, the beings that live in it. This is mainly so that I can form a better, slightly more objective view of Psi in my mind instead of depending on the vague memory I have of it so far.

And yes, this is going to be just, mostly, me writing bullet point notes of obvious things we learn in each episode; not plot summaries or a timeline of key-events, just things we can “learn” from the episode. For example, while a Digimon evolving is a key-event, if we don’t learn anything new about the Digimon that relates to their backstory or personality, then it’s not worth mentioning, and will try to do my best to not repeat information that gets re-inforced through out different episodes. Also, this isn’t a critique of Psi’s writing

Also, I am going to do my best to write these from the perspective of “not knowing anything”, in the sense that I’m trying to parse out info and write it out like someone who knows nothing about Digimon would be able to get out of it. Also, I won’t nececarily write these in the order they happen in the episode, rather I might write what we learn from specific subjects in bulk (character establishment, world building, etc)

One last thing, I could possibly do this for Adventure later on, just for comparison’s sake, if I have the time, but first let’s just start with this.

Episode 1: Tokyo Digital Crisis

Opening Monologue doesn’t get too many points for what we learn from it as it is an opening monologue, stating kind of obvious stuff we’ll learn very fast, but none the less; it’s the year 2020, our world is connected by the Network, and in there live Digimon

Tachikawa Computer; minor foreshadowing for later

We're introduced to the main character Taichi, supporting cast Koushirou, getting a decent idea of their main personality traits (Taichi is friendly and very open, while Koushirou is polite, a little bit more withdrawn/closed) and briefly get to see Hikari (as well as Mama Yagami and Miiko)

Taichi is putting great effort into preparing for the summer camp; he’s the type of person who likes to plan ahead it seems. That said he can also rush into action without thinking if he’s worried enough/the situation is dire enough; this is elaborated when Taichi learns his family could be in danger, when he leaps in to catch the falling Koromon, or when he leaps into battle with Agumon

Taichi is surprisingly calm when realizing he’s been spirited away and sees a weird little disembodied pink head floating in space, only really appearing shock after a small dinosaur speaks to him; he sometimes needs a moment for everything to settle in before he even knows how to react

Taichi is more than willing to get physical beat up weird monsters

Koromon knows Taichi’s name, and Taichi somehow heard Koromon calling him; there’s a mysterious connection between these two

Agumon is more than happy to see Taichi, immidiately willing to both protect him and help him achieve his goals; Agumon seems to love Taichi unconditionally, despite only meeting him for the first time

We learn that one of the primary features of Digimon is their ability to evolve, Koromon evolving all the way to Greymon and the unnamed enemy’s (Algomon’s) evolutions being examples of this

There is a mysterious, unknown force in this universe, one that tends to manifest in the form of mysterious, glowing symbols (the Crests), that will appear in certain moments to certain people (our main characters), almost like it’s reacting to said people’s actions and/or feelings

Taichi and Koushirou are both granted mysterious devices, which we soon learn can be used for communication purposes as well as evolution, the devices coming from seemingly the same mysterious light/force as the symbols

Digimon causing issues within the Network have an immidiate effect in the electronics of the Human World, and the Digimon rampaging in the Network are willing to hurt and kill other Digimon too (not that many seem to be present there); they are an active threat to everyone but themselves and need to be dealt with

We see glimpses of other children who seem to have a 6th sense, reacting to Taichi’s actions (establishing the connection between the kids); foreshadowing

Taichi and Koushirou aren’t the only ones who have been sucked into this mess with Digimon, there’s another child within the Network as well, with his own Digimon along side hime

Episode 2: War Game

The villian of this Opening Arc, the Algomon, seems to act like a hivemind

Yamato is established as being distant and somewhat cold, seemingly uninterested in others as he’s more focused on other (more imporant?) things. He also seems to be more experienced in dealing with the Digital World/Digimon (in Taichi’s mind who wonders how experienced Yamato really is with Digimon). Despite how cold he seems from the outsite however, Yamato will quietly make plans and put them into motion, expecting others to catch on and follow up. His general unwillingless to intentionally and clearly team up is a character flaw for him though, it causes issues during battle and it’s something he struggles with. But he also worries about causing harm to Garurumon (and Greymon), so he does care for the well-being of others; all of this could suggest that Yamato is a tsundere

Greymon and Garurumon are established as knowing each other, implying they have a history

Greymon and Garurumon both tell the kids they can handle the rough plan; they’re comforting

The episode fleshes out the severity of the danger Digimon rampaging within the Network can cause; it can reach nuclear disaster leveks

We learn that Digimon can fuse

Feathers appear to Hikari and Takeru; foreshadowing for later. When the feathers touch their hands, mysterious symbols appear once more, implying a connection between them coming in contact with the feathers (and what they symbolize) and the fusion of Digimon

Episode 3: And to the Digital World

Taichi clearly loves his sister and takes good care of her

Hikari seems to know more than she lets on

A connection between Yamato and Takeru is established, as well as the fact that Yamato isn’t in Tokyo (at the moment at least)

Sora is established, us learning that she is a character much respected and liked by her classmate and that she and Taichi know each other really well (also we see an unnamed character fumbling comedically; foreshadowing for later)

When the danger was cleared, Taichi and Yamato were returned were they came from; whatever summoned them will also return them when their duty has been completed

A new mysterious threat is introduced to have been born, its birth causing massive power outtages and electrical issues

We see three lights fly through the gates of the Network, followed by three other lights;we learn that six children have been spirited away

We see the Digital World for the first time. Unlike the Network’s surreal, Tron-like landscapes with no sentient life in sight, nor water, clouds, plants or anything, the Digital World is alive and beautiful, though clearly fantastical based on the strange, arching mountains in the distance, and it’s fantastic, digital inhabitants

The fused Digimon is super duper strong and has some special powers that Greymon and Garurumon didn’t have; there’s a distinct difference in the level of power

Episode 4: Birdramon Soars

We get to know Sora a lot better in this episode, she could be described as being Just Really Cool; she seems to be super chill (not like “laid back”, more “cool”), taking in being thrown into a different world really well and calmly, not even surprised by the existence of Digimon aside from them being able to talk. Sora was also in the middle of buying supplies to get through the power outtages before getting summoned to the DW, so she’s come in well-prepared. Whether she went out to buy the supplies because she was requested to, or she did out of her own inniative, it does indicate she’s very responsible and trusthworthy. Much like Taichi too, Sora isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty, being more than willing to come rescue Piyomon from the mouth of a giant mantis monster

Piyomon, scared out of her mind, doesn’t really do or say much for a long time, only clinging onto Sora for her dear life, until a calm washes over her as she seems to remember or recognise something; when Piyomon wakes up, she knows Sora’s name without ever being told it, much like how Agumon knew Taichi’s name, and Piyomon tells Sora she’s been waiting for her. Sora being present also brought confidence to Piyomon, inspiring her to be active instead of fleeing from danger, as she now has someone to protect.

We’re introduced to the kind Tentomon and his odd Osaka-accent; Tentomon, being more familiar with his home world, explained all sorts of things to Koushirou. Tentomon, much like a parent would, thanked Taichi “for looking after Koushirou”, indicating that while the two have only known each other for a short time, Tentomon is very fond of Koushirou, much like Agumon is of Taichi

We are introduced to an ominous silhouette, most likely a future villian

The DW lies within the deepest part of the Network, so the DW isn’t a separate world from the Network, just a specific section of it. Also, athough we had previously not seen Digimon the Net beyond the relevant characters Whamon being there do imply that some Digimon do indeed just like to hang out within the Network

Within the Digital World there are tablets and stone ruins of an ancient civilization, with text written on them; the Digivice react to the ancient texts, guiding the children to them and using the children as vessels, translate the message to them. The texts are instructions to guide the children, meaning whoever wrote them centuries ago, for-saw the coming of the children. At the mountain we see more ruins mysterious writings and ancient statues of winged figures. If it is a temple as Sora thinks, then that implies the existence of a religion that is or was worshipped in this world

Moving away from the lake, what we next see of the DW looks like a tropical paradise, with lots of lush jungles and forests with plants both familiar and strange. But through out the world there are these tiny visual “glitches” all around, small colorful lines and dots scattered through out, which give the world a subtle, artificial feel. There’s also a glittery rainbow mountain in the distance, further driving in the point that we aren’t in Japan anymore

We do learn that despite the world looking like a paradise, the Digimon do seem to hunt and eat each other for food; the aren’t many food sources then (like Meat Trees), or if there are, some Digimon ignore those for the Fresh Meat instead

The episode starts out kind of suggesting that maybe Sora ended up in the Digital World by accident, but as the episode progresses it gives out suggestions and hints that maybe Sora didn’t come by accident after all until she finally gets her Digivice. This is foreshadowing for the idea that none of the Children came by accident, they were brought there on purpose and for a reason.

We learn that while the kids can make the Digimon evolve, the Digimon will revert back once a danger is cleared

Episode 5: The Holy Digimon

Koushirou can remain calm even when swallowed by a Digimon, as long as he has his comfort item (tablet); foreshadowing for later

Koushirou can be a little bit shy, embarassed to repeat himself saying that maybe they were meant to meet

Tentomon really loves Koushirou

We learn that Orgemon (whose name we learn in this episode) can’t speak very clearly, which probably implies he’s not very smart; not all Digimon have the capacity to full-speech it seems

We see the super ominous silhouette of a yet unnamed villian sending orders to Orgemon; we have a hierachy, and this guy is at the top of it

We learn for sure that the kids are being specifically targetted and being tracked by the dark Digimon, the troops being lead by Orgemon and some small surveilance Digimon (SoundBirdmon) that can control other Digimon with the power of sound, as well as send messages between Digimon

The Holy Digimon tells us that the warriors that fought in the war long ago were reborn, Agumon, Piyomon and Tentomon being the reincarnations; the three take notice of specific Digimon in the Holy Digimon’s vision (themselves no doubt) and the sight brings them to tears; although they can’t remember anything, their souls/hearts can, and what they experienced must’ve been sad

Agumon doesn’t remember evolving into Omegamon, despite remembering meeting Taichi; this must imply that evolving to Omegamon was a blur even for him

There once was a large city in the location of the temple, with beautiful, artistic architecture; the former civilization here was truly prosperous

The rainbow glitter wasn’t as much of a mountain as it was a desert (or a mountain range, hard to tell which)

We learn that this land mass of unknown size (is it an island or is it a continent? Never stated) isn’t the only ones, there’s oceans at least one continent beyond it, its name being Cloud Continent

We see a small village in the middle of the forest, the houses looking sort of like hollowed out pumpkins with palm leaves coming from the top; while major civilization has crumbled in this post-apocalyptic Digital World, with most Digimon seeming to live on their own like, minding their own business, some Digimon do form communities

We learn the name of the Digivice

We learn that the statues at the temple are depictions of certain Holy Digimon, and that with the last of their powers they had left a message for the children from beyond the grave as they’ve passed a long time ago

The Holy Digimon had had a premonition that human children equipped with Digivices, also known as the Chosen Children, were “a power” that could surprass the natural law of evolution

It’s not quite explicit, but we are vaguely introduced to the evolution stages and their names (the natural law of evolution)

We gain confirmation that the feathers we have seen through out the series so far are indeed connected to the Holy Digimon

We learn that the Holy Digimon were ones that “governed the good of the Digital World”, most of them and the city that once stood in the place of the temple perishing in a great war between light and dark when dark Digimon disturbed the balance between the two.

The major parties on the side of light in that war were a great army of holy Digimon, eight special holy Digimon, six warriors and even Omegamon, who managed to vanquish the darkness at the cost of their own lives

We do learn that the six warriors turned into eggs, and are told that the Chosen Children would appear to guide the ressurected souls once the enemy would make a move once more

We learn that Taichi and co must go find the Holy Digimon of Light and Hope at the Cloud Continent as they will fight along side them against the dark Digimon

Although the Network is tightly connected to the Human World, the Digital World isn’t; disaster taking place there won’t affect the Human World. We also learn that monitoring the spread of dark in the Network is impossible to do from the Digital World

Episode 6: The Targeted Kingdom

We’re introduced to Mimi, the queen of Mimi Kingdom, the village we saw in the previous episode that she took over between being spirited away and Taichi’s group arriving.

Mimi, much like Sora is pretty cool with the situation she’s in. Ehile we do learn she was lonely after being stranded in the DW alone, after Palmon joined her side she’s been seemingly a-okay, not afraid at all of being (as far as she knows) the only human in a different world. In fact she is super into ensuring her kingdom remains peaceful and her underlings well-fed, as she has put great efforts into making sure Tuskmon don’t come and steal all the fruit the Tanemon live on. Mimi has a kind heart, and that she hates seeing others suffer.

We also learn the Tachikawa Industries we had heard about was her family’s, her grandpa being the chairman. Mimi’s grandpa must be important to her as hearing his words on video touched her, reminding Mimi she has to do what she can, which to her translated to taking care of her adorable underlings. Those same words later inspire her to leave her beloved kingdom behind to help the other kids

Palmon adores Mimi a lot, acting in a kind of enabling way, playing into and encouraging the whole Queen-thing just to make sure Mimi’s confortable and happy, feeling loved.

The Tanemon have a signaling system to pass messages on; whether this system was set up and taught to the Tanemon by Mimi or if they have invented it before Mimi took the kingdom over is unclear

Although Orgemon seems to lack intelligence based on his very basic speech, we do learn that he is a Digimon of honor, and losing his horn has gravely hurt his honor

This landmass does seem to be mostly forest as far as the eye can see (aside from the rainbow mountain range/dunes and the lake-area)

We learn time passes at a different rate between the Human World and Digital World, the DW being much faster, the time becoming more distorted the deeper into the Network you go (the Digivices somehow bypass the distortion to ensure communication happens at the same rate)

We see what a near-death Digimon looks like; colors washed out, glitching in and out a little, but evolution will instantly heal the Digimon from that near-death state back to full health

Episode 7: That Boy is Kido Jyou

We learn Mimi likes tea and has been teaching Palmon how to make tea; she also seems to enjoy things that make her come off like she’s a KIND, LOVING pampered rich kid, as indicated by her cup and chair etc

We learn that Palmon was familiar with the area and was able to guide the kids to the ocean (something Agumon and Piyomon couldn’t do)

Jyou is so serious about passing his exams it’s kind of becoming an unhealthy obsession for him, to the point he might somewhat lash out and take his anger out by beating up trees and even self-harming. This kid, is super stressed out, the weight of his family’s achievements (everyone being doctors) really pushing him down. Due to this, he is super unwilling to go save the world, all that matters to him is making sure he can study and pass his exams so he can have a prosperous future. Jyou also doesn’t seem to like himself much, as he asks if Gomamon was disappointed by what his partner human was like

Jyou is studying for his exams, as he has priorities set straight and nothing will stop him from passing his tests, not even being spirited away into a different world all alone. While seeing other kids did make him somewhat glad, it was only because he assumed it meant there was a way out of this world so he could get back to his life.

Although Jyou said he wouldn’t participate in the world saving business, he did keep an eye Gomamon, and seeing him get hurt did send Jyou running; while Jyou tried to seem like he didn’t care, he did, a lot

Unlike Jyou, Gomamon is super willing to go save the world; if Jyou’s duty is to study, Gomamon’s duty is to save the world, and Gomamon would like it if Jyou realized they share their duties. Even without Jyou, Gomamon is willing to help as much as he can, even if he’s alone

Gomamon is super observant, seeing how and why Jyou is struggling, and he just wants to help Jyou too, Gomamon even “nursed Jyou” back to health after finding him passed out in the DW

We learn that Taichi, Sora and Jyou (as well as Koushirou) do go to the same school, its name being Musako Elementary

The hut we’ve seen was either built by Gomamon (which implies that Gomamon is super crafty), an unknown party or was always there; Jyou didn’t build it as he woke up inside it after Gomamon brought him there

In the Human World we see it is now evening, the kids having been spirited away sometime around noon-afternoon.

We do see that Jyou has spent at least one night in the DW, which could mean the other kids have as well, if not even more

Episode 8: The Children’s Attack

Ikkakumon is strong enough to swim across the ocean while carrying 4 kids and 3 Child Digimon

We learn Jyou gets motion sickness and that he can’t swim

Jyou is somewhat irritated and/or imidated by a kid 3 years younger than him having so much info and being more aware of the current situation, which ties into his need of trying to be in-control of the situation and lead the group; this leads to Jyou trying to be responsible and ensure everyone survives unharmed by surrendering to the enemy (his heart is in the right place)

We learn that Yamato has been on his own this whole time; considdering the other kids were brought to this world, scattered around a little, it is possible Yamato was brought directly onto the Cloud Continent

Yamato is charmed and touched by the other kids and the Digimon cheering him on and believing in him, despite him being so cold to them; he is super tsundere

The first thing we see of the Cloud Continent is a beach with high cliffs and a lone fortress guarding it. On the outside the enemy fortress looks like old and realistic (in the sense that you could probably find a fortress like this in our very real world), but is straight from a sci-fi movie; the enemies have access to some advanced technology

With this episode taking place over night, we are moving onto at least Day 3 (if not further)

We see the Black Miasma for the first time

#Psi #Text post #Me? Posting researched content in 2020? That's just unheard of #For the record I have completed the rewatch and written the notes for the remaining episodes (up to ep 19 since that's what I was rewatching #I just need to read through the notes and edit them so they're like legible and in a comprehensible order #And cut out unnececary commentary #So yeah I have gotten started on the second part of this but it's not done and IDK when it'll be done #Depends on when I decide it's a good time to procrastinate #Also I doubt I'll do this for the rest of Psi because it does take a lot of time to do #(To the point I was actually rewatching Psi at double speed so I could get through the episodes faster)#(Which is valid because I take forever to write notes and I don't have all day to do this)#Also the purpose here was to come to a conclusion of the writing in the first arc or two (hard to divide them rn)#And I do think I have come to a conclusion about it already #But I'll save that for later

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wiltedwisterias · 4 years ago

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Useful Things To Know When Writing Pianist Characters/Characters that play the piano

From someone who’s been playing the piano for more than 10 years.

Things that happen during practice that you might not have known

Weird sheet music cuts are among the worst things to ever exist, and it occurs more often than you’d think. Page changes occur during the middle of a phrase or a section a lot of the time and this is the most annoying thing ever if you don’t have the entire piece memorized when practicing because it completely disrupts your flow, it cuts off the emotion and the transition from phrase to phrase won’t be smooth because you’re constantly interrupted at the same spot.

Playing the piano can be a very sweaty experience (not very attractive yeah), especially when you’re practicing, because you’re putting in a lot of concentration and there’s a lot of physical exertion for a long period of time (playing sonatas and concertos require stamina I am not kidding). But you can’t turn up the fan speed because that will in turn, create the problem of sheet music flying off the music rack in the middle of your practice! I live in a tropical country where it’s hot as hell all the time and let me tell you that sweating buckets when practicing is the norm.

Clicking fingernails. Pianists never have long nails, because the sound of nails clicking on the piano keys absolutely ruins the music. If a pianist hears their nails going clickity-clack when playing, it’s a bright neon sign to go cut their nails.

Getting distracted. Duh. I often go to YouTube in the middle of practice because I’m not sure how a section is supposed to sound like, so I have to listen to and learn from professionals who know what they’re doing (unlike me). However, sometimes I get whisked away by the video recommendations and 30 minutes later I’m watching child prodigies playing Paganini Caprices instead of practicing. D:

Technical flaws to piano playing (can be used to criticize others or when your character is practicing)

Uneven chords. When two or more notes have to be played together by one hand, it’s best to press all the notes at the same time so a clear, sharp sound is produced. Some compositions have consecutive and fast chords, which can lead to uneven chords with insufficient practice or if the pianist is less skillful.

Inaccurate jumps. Jumps are a pain in the arse. Imagine that you’re playing the piano and really feeling it, and suddenly you slam on the completely wrong notes. Most of the time, it’s not a mistake that’s easy to cover up, more so if they’re chords.

Faked running notes. Not exactly “faked” per se, but it’s very easy to slip and miss a handful of notes during runs and it’s something that could pull someone out of your performance, especially someone with a trained ear or who’s familiar with the piece. Normally it’s not a big mistake, but it does spoil the quality of the music.

Speeding up. I think this is something that all musicians tend to do when they’re either excited or nervous, due to the adrenaline. Personally I feel like this sometimes does allow the musician to feel the music and enter the “zone” more easily but sometimes it causes them to slip in the already-fast passages as well, since they’re going faster than they are used to.

Unclear dynamics and phrasing. Dynamics and phrasing are gigantic parts of classical music in general and they can define an entire performance. A performance with unclear dynamics and phrasing is like a movie with a bland and ill-thought-out plot. You’d want listeners to be able to distinguish and feel the ups and downs of the music, not feel bored out by it.

Too much pedaling. If you’re familiar with piano you should know that pianos have a sustaining pedal that is used to sustain notes that would otherwise be out of reach and produce a richer, fuller sound. However, the pedal should be changed (lifted and pressed again) every few beats, or else the piece will sound noisy. This can become a problem because sometimes, pianists themselves don’t notice that the sound gets blurry, as the vibrations spread out away from them, and listeners will have to point it out to them.

Other things to note:

Statistics prove that females generally have shorter fingers than males, which can be a disadvantage to playing piano, mainly because of the inability to reach wide chords in compositions, though this can be solved by playing them in arpeggios (spreading the notes out to play instead of playing them all at once). Another thing is that having longer fingers can minimize wrist movements which makes playing easier.

Every single piano has a different touch when playing, due to the difference between the weight of the keys. In addition, keyboards, clavinovas, upright pianos, baby grand pianos and grand pianos all have different technologies in producing the sound. Keyboards aren’t favorable most of the time as they are relatively shorter (have less keys) and the keys are very shallow in comparison with an actual piano, which limits the music dynamics (loudness and softness) that can be produced. The good thing about keyboards and clavinovas though is that nowadays, most of them have audio jacks, so pianists can play with earphones/headphones plugged in, which makes it much more convenient for practicing as the sound won’t impact other people living in the same building/vicinity.

Regarding practice time: in all honesty this probably differs from pianist to pianist. Nevertheless, professional pianists generally practice 4-5 hours a day. For people that play the piano as a hobby or on the side, practice duration is usually much shorter. As an example, I used to try and squeeze in 2 hour practices on Saturdays and Sundays for my Grade 8 exam as my weekdays were packed full with school and co-curricular activities, this however, was the best-case scenario. If I had other activities on weekends, piano would be deprioritized and practice duration would be made up for during the next week. It was the same for all my classmates who played the piano outside of school as well, but keep in mind that this kind of practice schedule isn’t ideal and it’s best to practice every day even if it’s just 15 minutes per day. When I started preparing for my diploma exam, I tried my best to practice at least an hour a day because I was scared of failing it hahaha. Once again, practice duration and schedule is highly specific for every individual based on where piano is placed on their priority list.

I hope this was helpful! I’m also planning to do more posts like this so feel free to ask me if you have any questions :D

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