#-archetype

[bungobble-my-balls]

OK correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like the main 'yin/yang' parallel with Atsushi and Akutagawa is not something like 'this one is bad but secretly has a good side and this one is good but secretly has a bad side'.

I feel like it's more about 'who they are at their core vs who they choose to be'.

At his core Akutagawa is kind and at his core Atsushi is not. But despite this Atsushi tries every day to make the kinder choices and I love him so much for it. He has to work so hard to be good.

He wants to be a bitch SO bad I know he does but he tries his best to help people and be nice (sometimes he fails but that's OK <3)

Atsushi doesn't always WANT to help people, a lot of the time he's selfish and scared, but he does help people anyway. He keeps helping people over and over again. There's still some selfish motivation to it, and his initial motivation for helping people was because the headmaster told him that's all he was worth, but overall he does care about the people he helps and it weighs on him if he fails to save them. And of course, as the series goes on he starts helping people more because he can rather than because he feels like he needs to.

In Akutagawa's case, he's still capable of being kind but his environment led him into being someone who chooses to hurt people. But he's always been a protector at heart. In the start he was bad compared to Atsushi because he was choosing to hurt people and keep the cycle of abuse going. Just like how Atsushi developed in why he saved people, Akutagawa starts to get redeemed when he chooses to not just act on his rage. Not only does he start to spare people, but he speaks more kindly to them (apologising to Higuchi and telling Kyouka he's proud of her). It all culminates into the moment he chooses to help Atsushi and sacrifice himself for him, going back to his core value of being a protector. Even when he's finally revived, he keeps this role in his new position as Aya's Knight.

I kind of see the streaks of white in Akutagawa and the streaks of black in Atsushi not as their 'hidden sides' but as their fundamental selfs. That's who they are at their core, and their main colours (black for Akutagawa and white for Atsushi) are how they're presented to everyone else and how they try to have people see them as.

[canisalbus]

✦ Bread ✦

[valtsv]

will never understand the misogynistic inclination to pigeonhole every female character into the "exasperated sensible mom friend" role as if there's anything better than a woman so devoid of maternal instincts that she makes wire mother look soft. woman who rolls over and walks out onto the balcony to smoke a post-coital cigarette alone and leaves without a note or any kind of acknowledgement after sleeping with you because she can't stand the vulnerability of sleeping next to someone, or waking up beside them the following morning. woman whose idea of relaxing is abusing substances alone in a dark corner somewhere, and snarling and snapping at anyone who approaches her, regardless of intent. woman so emotionally unavailable she fails or refuses to notice that her lame ass partner is trying to push the divorce papers until they've taken the kids and left a heartfelt but scathing note pinned to the fridge. woman with more vices than genuine friends. woman whose expression stays blank and arms remain limply at her sides when you wrap her up in yours for a hug. woman without a gentle touch in her body, with nothing but rough edges and sharp angles.

[lord-m]

pathetic isn’t really a word I‘d use for colin bridgerton. simon rather dying than marrying daphne was pathetic. anthony going through with marrying edwina until SHE mustered the courage to call everything off was pathetic.

colin contemplating his feelings, calling out his male acquaintances for their chauvinism, seeking advice from his mother and then immediately taking action and putting himself out there without even knowing if his feelings are reciprocated is the complete opposite of pathetic. that requires a whole lot of bravery.

[metanarrates]

you can instantly make a cool female character if you just take any stereotypically masculine character type and make him a butch lady. easiest trick in the book. you can try this at home

[spiritsonic]

watching yu yu hakusho while working did not, in fact, increase my productivity

[firelordes]

my favorite genre of character is icarian sunshine boys who inherited their hearts from the mothers they look like.

[umbrellainkart]

Hey can we talk about Wendy. I’m dying to talk about Wendy. Let’s talk about Wendy. Hey can w

(Hcs and character ramblings under the cut)

[ahsteria]

bitches love me for my deeply tragic yearning concealed with boyish mischief

[bobauthorman]

Every good series has...

...An awkward protagonist...

...A goofy goober...

...A wily elder...

...And whatever this is supposed to be.

[grape-souffle]

[sparrowlucero]

Inktober 1: The Storyteller

(Strum, an ichthyornis)

[prokopetz]

I think the biggest thing that's helped me to stop being annoyed by odd charactersation in fandom media is realising that much of it isn't really about its ostensible source material. It's basically a bunch of nerds re-inventing the commedia dell'arte from first principles. You've got roughly a dozen broadly sketched archetypes with pre-defined roles, and while they may appear in guises taken from popular media, it's really always the same "characters" in a variety of masks. Sometimes the Grumpy DILF wears a Bruce Wayne mask and hangs out in the Batcave; sometimes the Grumpy DILF wears a Luke Skywalker mask and has telekinesis; it doesn't terribly matter what Bruce Wayne or Luke Skywalker are "really" like in in their respective source material, because the persona is just a framing device – this week the Grumpy DILF is a superhero, next week he's a space mystic, and so forth. What will the Grumpy DILF be next?

[causalityparadoxes]

The fact Rogue didn't push the button while kissing the Doctor. It would have been so easy. In character for what the Doctor might expect even. He's the Rogue after all, the classic morally dubious role.

I think with that quiet 'no' the Doctor was expecting him, maybe even asking him, to take the decision out of their hands. To press it for them. Then they'd both have the fresh pain of losing someone and could go on to travel together.

But the Rogue isn't into cosplay, he isn't playing a character. So instead he puts the Doctor's happiness with Ruby above his own life, and above a life with the Doctor. He pushes Ruby out of the way, taking the controller with him so the Doctor still doesn't have to choose. That sad, cheeky, rogue-ish grin as he does it. Its just so unbearably sweet

[thewisestdino]

Jayfeather and Half Moon

[whump-in-the-closet]

whumpee characterizations ? and what it takes to break them

thief whumpee: silver-tongued/ can't keep still/ uses humor as a coping mechanism-> gagged/ stress positions/ a casual whumper whose indifference immobilizes whumpee

royal whumpee: stoic/ proud/ seeks revenge after their imprisonment-> forced to kneel/ public humiliation, dragged around like a trophy, collared, branded etc/ enough scars to look like a constellation on their skin

healer whumpee: kind/ keeps up an image for the sake of others/ skilled in their trade-> pushed to the edge/ others have to take care of them/ hands or fingers so badly damaged they'll never be able to help anyone else again

innocent whumpee: naive/ trusting/ hopeful-> "no one is coming for you"/ left to die/ a whumper who twists whumpee's anger against their friends

bitter whumpee: apathetic/ shrugs off what they've been through/ exhausted-> "I'm fine." followed by collapsing/ vivid flashbacks where they wake up screaming/ refuses to fall asleep after their ordeal

leader whumpee: independent to the point of isolation/ tries to protect everyone/ mentally well-adjusted (mostly)-> set up to fail/ forced to hurt their teammates/ they come back changed, and everyone avoids them

villain whumpee: defiant/ insults whumper every chance they get/ so many failed escape attempts-> non-con drugging, left a shadow of their past selves/ conditioned to obey/ kneeling next to whumper at a press conferences