#I mean she's the parent of a FE main character

[elysianstars]

After completing Chapter 24 of Engage, I now understand Lumera perfectly. I, too, feel that Alear is my precious child who I would kill or die for. Poor sweet Pepsi-kun, stop being mean to him.

[pencil-peach]

Thinking about Persona 4 Arena Ultimax

Specifically the Persona 3 side of it.

I think it's interesting (and kinda funny) how a lot of the P3 content in this game is built upon the many CD Dramas that released in Japan following Persona 3/FES' releases, specifically the New Moon/Full Moon and Daylight/Moonlight Duologies.

As what's most likely the largest example, Labrys, one of the two major characters introduced in the game, was actually named in the Moonlight CD, which was released back in 2007 (Arena was released in 2012, for reference)

"The 7th Generation, Aigis, was created from all the data we'd obtained from all prior designs up to the 5th Generation, Labrys." (Moonlight)

Aigis' and Labrys' motivation of finding their mother is also building upon the story of Moonlight, where Aigis is able to speak with the girl whose personality was one of the bases used for the Anti-Shadow Weapon development project, and who refers to herself as her mother (but looks more like her younger sister).

"That's right... in human terms, I guess I'm kinda like your mother or something? A-ah, but based on our outward appearances, I guess I look more like your younger sister?" (Moonlight)

(For context, she is forced to forget this meeting at the end of the CD, but resolves to meet with the girl in real life. She isn't named, but we're told she has black hair.)

I think Mitsuru is the most interesting, as her appearance in the game is almost wholly influenced by the story of the New Moon/Full Moon Drama CDs, which are a side story covering her and the broader Kirijo Group's situation immediately following Takeharu's death, released in 2009.

Mitsuru's story opens up with her going public about the bloody past of the Kirijo Group and the existence of the Dark Hour and Shadows. This is following up on her resolution near the end of Full Moon, where she states plainly that this is the path she's going to take.

Ichiro Takadera: "Well then, do you intend to make a public announcement regardless of what follows? About the Shadows and so on?"

Mitsuru: "That is my path in life. I cannot stray from it." (Full Moon)

Kikuno Saikawa, Mitsuru's right hand maid and one of the shadow operatives, also made her debut in New/Full Moon. The two of them met when they were children, and Kikuno vowed to protect Mitsuru after she'd saved her from her despair as a child.

Kikuno: "Six years ago, when I learned my stay at the hospital wasn't because of illness but because I was sold over by my parents, you were the one who saved me from my despair. On that day, I swore I'd devote my life to following this person." (Full Moon)

Ultimax was the first time she was given a design, but she would later appear in the Persona 3 Movie: Winter of Rebirth. Her characterization in Ultimax is pretty faithful to her depiction in the CD.

(A fun fact is that Kikuno was also mentioned in the "Seaside Vacation Before Death's Scythe" Drama CD, which was released in 2013 as a promotion for the then upcoming first Persona 3 Movie, Spring of Birth.)

One of the Kirijo artifacts mentioned in Mitsuru's prologue is a ring that gives its wearer immunity to the effects of the Dark Hour. This too is an object introduced in New/Full Moon.

"Also, there is no need to worry, as everyone who are not in possession of special powers, including me, will wear this ring. While it's on you are able to experience the Dark Hour and even when you take it off your memories of it will remain." (New Moon)

Something that doesn't come up in Ultimax is that if you smash the jewel in the center of the ring, you'll lose all your memories of the Dark Hour. It's an interesting little thing! I mean it's. Useless now cause the Dark Hour is gone but it's pretty cool...

Mitsuru's main internal conflict is her inability to ask others for help for fear of burdening or endangering them. This is something that comes up in Persona 3, but in the Drama CDs this aspect of her character is very deeply explored. It's her main emotional arc and the source of her conflict with Yukari in both the New/Full Moon CDs and Persona 3 Character Drama Vol. 4, which focuses on their relationship.

Yukari: Is your faith in us that weak?

Mitsuru: To be frank, I can't bear it anymore. I don't want others to die for my sake!

Y: And you're gonna sacrifice yourself because of that? Why do you take on so much by yourself? Is that really okay with you? Don't you want to see your friends and family again?! And to survive?! Why can't you just be honest?!

M: Of course I want to! But...that is...what should I say? It's always like that...whenever I get soft or burden others... They might end up dying again. [...] Aragaki, and my Father... What am I supposed to tell you after all that happened? Even if I'm afraid and wish to be saved, what do I say?! What should I say?! (Full Moon)

Yukari even brings up that they've had this talk before. It could be referring to their heart to heart in Kyoto, but I think it could also be read as their conflicts in the CDs too.

When Ken asks Kikuno where she learned to fly a helicopter, she states that she learned it after being involved in an assault operation on a high school dormitory, an incident which Ken says he remembers. (Say it with me now!) This is most likely referencing the climax in Full Moon, where the Kirijo Group led by Takadera attempt to raid Iwatodai Dorm and forcibly apprehend SEES, so as to avoid the possibility of Ikutsuki's plot and the Group's sins from becoming public.

There's definitely more stuff, but I just wanted to point out the things I noticed/particularly liked with Mitsuru's story.

I think Junpei suffers the most from having a lot of his characterization be taken from the CDs. A lot of people were (and still are) confused about P4AU Junpei's seemingly sudden hard pivot to Baseball, as in Persona 3 proper, it's not a very large aspect of his character.

But in the CDs, Junpei being Into Baseball is MUCH more prominent. As in he refers to everyday situations in baseball terms sometimes.

In Persona 3 Character Drama Vol 2., (released in 2008 and centered around Junpei and Chidori) Junpei dreams about taking Chidori out on a date, and eventually settles on asking her to go to a baseball game with him. (She accepts, if you were curious).

He talks with Chidori about baseball so much that she got into it herself and started watching baseball in the hospital.

At the end of Moonlight, the SEES gang talk about what they want to do after they defeat Nyx, and Junpei says he wants to go to a baseball game. They even kind of tacitly explain why he didn't talk about it all that much ingame by saying he'd fallen out of interest in it but that he "feels like it's returned in full force!"

The thing about P4AU's heavy references to the CDs though, especially in Junpei's case, is that they were never officially translated or released outside of Japan. To this day the only way for non-Japanese speaking audiences to experience the CDs is to listen to them with (usually slightly incomplete) fansubs online.

While I kind of appreciate the novelty of that, it's definitely caused some confusion when it comes to characterization. In P3 Reload, for instance, Junpei makes a lot more references to baseball in his dialogue. And for a lot of people, it feels like the purpose of that is to retroactively make Junpei's appearance in P4AU make more sense.

And while that's not incorrect, it misses the fact that Junpei was already established to like baseball in supplementary material before Arena came out. It's more like making his character consistent with the same material that P4AU used when writing Junpei.

But it's not like you can even blame people for thinking that because a lot of people are normal and don't listen to 16 year old fan translated Drama CDs uploaded to youtube. It's just interesting to me I suppose. I wonder how much characterization we miss due to lack of access to supplementary material.

Anyway you should listen to the CDs though they're really good. New Moon/Full Moon especially.

Moonlight is also very good, it's a pseudo-prelude to The Answer, and the character writing is top notch.

But that's all I had to say, really. Just thought it'd be fun to talk about.

Translation Credits: imaginary_numbers (Moonlight) pipeds (New Moon) pipeds (Full Moon)

[emblemxeno]

Decided to take a shot at my own interpretation of “FE Warfare Morality” and whatnot that the fandom is screaming about.

Pacifist: War is absolute last resort no matter what. Celica, Eirika and Corrin could all realistically move to Pragmatist-Retaliatory and fit, but I put them in their own pacifist tier because they all have multiple in-story instances of diplomatic attempts at ending conflict of varying success (sparing enemies, reasoning with bandits, sacrifice of self or possessions); too many to not go noted imo.

Pragmatist-Retaliatory: Diplomacy and peaceful solutions are preferred, but warfare isn’t shied away from. Well aware of war’s reality, and if push comes to shove, they will take up arms. Characters in this tier often had homes invaded and/or parents killed by main aggressor. Avenging homeland or kin may also play a part. Eliwood could actually move up to pacifist because he is that self sacrificing, but I think he fits more where he is. Alm could go to Circumstance or Martial, but idk, he’s willing to give Fernand the benefit of the doubt in Act 3 and outright sends Rudolf an offer of a peace accord in Act 4 so I put him here. Seliph could also go to Circumstance because his willingness to try diplomacy more or less comes after the deed is done (such as questioning having to kill certain people being a necessity), but since his mercy and desire to prevent/avoid conflict is a part of his character, I put him here.

Pragmatist-Circumstance: Views and actions in regards to war are dependent on circumstance:

Lyn offers no quarter to bandits, pirates, or absolutely anyone who harms her family or friends, but is fair to special cases like Jaffar and Nino and does have instances of reasoning with others. 

Ike is a merc, so he often says how he feels doesn’t matter, but is regardless known to try and talk sense into people and be willing to smack folks around in equal measure. 

Micaiah doesn’t like needless conflict but understands the necessity in toppling Begnion’s oppressive rule in Daein and is forced into becoming a ruthless general during Part 3. 

Robin is similar to Ike, in that as a tactician his feelings don’t technically matter but is also known to value diplomacy or winning a battle depending on context. 

Lucina isn’t really in the leadership position enough to make peaceful or action-initiative calls, and when she is the leader in Future Past, it’s against the undead and the very evil Grima. However, her attempted assassination of Robin and general mixed feelings on what she’d do to save the future is enough for me to put her here.

Ryoma can techinically be retaliatory, but his own ignorance and xenophobia towards Nohr often prevents him from being diplomacy seeking, such as in CQ chapter 12. Nevertheless, he’s diplomatic enough after character development that he’s more dependent on circumstance.

Xander actually encourages the diplomatic approaches of Corrin more than once, before route split and during Conquest and Revelation, the latter two which he’s also an active participant in. However, his complicated feelings in regards to Garon and Nohr leads him to do bad things in the belief that it’ll be worth it, so he’s also circumstance.

Azura values peace and is known to compliment successful diplomatic approaches; however, she often questions Corrin’s more naive choices, weaves some relatively cold and calculated plans of her own, and is known to justify conflict more often than Corrin does.

Byleth is hard to guage because his alignment is route dependent, and he more or less serves as a support for the actual main character of said route. Plus his status as a silent protagonist muddies the waters a bit. Still, there is difference enough between the lack of mercy given to the Agarthans and the merciful fights towards former students that lets him land here.

Pragmatist-Martial: Preference for action over treaty attempts or negotiation during wartime, however, that doesn’t mean diplomacy is outright disliked or not valued by them. Hector, Ephraim, and Chrom are all appreciative of how their siblings strive for peace, and the latter two even attempt to emulate such actions on occasion. Sigurd was more than happy to try and pull out of Agustria, but even then, his most common solution to injustice was always marching on the enemy. Leif from the jump was gung-ho about taking down the oppressive forces in Thracia and had to be mellowed out a tad. Dimitri during his descent on the Azure Moon route could fit here, too, though honestly he’s such a unique case. Rhea I would also put here, or maybe Circumstance.

A lot of characters in the Pragmatist-Circumstance and Pragmatist-Martial tiers could also be lumped into Pragmatist-Retaliatory by general technicality (e.g. lots of these characters had homes invaded so retaliation is the expectation), but I wanted to be specific in talking about attitudes towards warfare.

Emperor: It’s just Edelgard lol. Despite her words about “not wanting civilians harmed” or her claims about the war being the only option, it means nothing when her first action in the game is attempted assassination of two people who she (at least to her knowledge in Dimitri’s case) never met. The assistance in kidnapping, subterfuge, conspiracy, human experimentation, and of course the 5 year war which inflicts copious amounts of different harm on the populous also cements her place here.

Plus the devs outright compared her position to past FE villains where she’s different in that she’s 1) a woman and 2) playable, so the twist where she’s behind the war is more of a surprise.

So yeah, that’s my list. Though really, I think trying to fit characters into these types of boxes is kinda stupid in the first place because all the main characters are just that different due to the contexts of their stories, so it’s just generally impossible to make the kinds of compare-and-contrast tier lists like these. Except Edelgard because of her inciting conflict being the one thing no other lord ever does.

[arcstral]

ooc; TOA Anniversary Munday!

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is. Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing! Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

Name: Soji

Pronouns: She/her

Birthday (no year): October 14

Where are you from? What is your time zone? United States. Both my parents are from South Korea. East coast resident (EST)

Roleplay experience: A little over 13 years of roleplay experience

Got any pets? One chinchilla affectionately dubbed Souji Man and a 'Shavanese' dog (short-haired Havanese) named Happy

Favorite time of year: Autumn

Some interests and things you like: The holy trinity of cosplaying, writing, and drawing

Some fun facts & trivia about you:

— I joined TOA during the peak of Covid quarantining in 2020 when there was a huge convention dry spell. The indie roleplay scene for Fire Emblem during this time was uneventful too. Having no productive outlet for cosplaying or writing, it lead me to join my first RP group which was (jazz hands) TOA

— My zodiac animal is a rabbit

— I have hundreds upon hundreds of hours clocked on Super Smash Bros from Brawl to Ultimate. You'll never guess who I main.

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? Final Fantasy XIV, Project Zomboid, Phasmophobia, Touken Ranbu, and Stardew Valley in order of frequency.

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: I like bug types; my favorite Pokemon is Scizor. While not Pokemon my favorite Digimon, Kabuterimon, is also a bug. Honorable mention goes to Greninja.

How did you get into Fire Emblem? Saw Shadow Dragon in my local Gamestop one day and didn't buy it even though it stuck out to me with its somber and less colorful boxart. Next time I saw a Fire Emblem game in the store, i.e., Awakening, I bought and played it. The rest is history.

What Fire Emblem games have you played? If we're talking start-to-end I've played and finished FE1, FE3, FE7, FE9, FE11, FE12, Awakening, SOV, 3H, and Engage. The remaining games in the series I've played to either early or mid game.

First Fire Emblem game: Awakening

Favorite Fire Emblem game: FE11 Shadow Dragon

Any Fire Emblem crushes? FE7 Rath was my first and only concrete FE crush. Marth was initially more of an aesthetic source of admiration though knowing his character better he likely exemplifies the ideal partner. Similar to Marth he's not really a crush, but right now I think a lot about Rafal, ironically less in the realm of looks or perfection and more at his attractive hot-and-cold personality.

If you’ve played the following games, who was your first S support? - Awakening: Chrom - Fates: Kaden was my forecast - Three Houses: Dimitri - Engage: Alfred

Favorite Fire Emblem class: Dracoknight

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class? Archer. My first class in FFXIV was an archer and my FE tastes will reflect that too.

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? Blue Lions

If you were an Engage character, which Emblem would you Engage with? Marth. Need me a princely ghost boyfriend I mean advisor with a good head on his shoulders.

How did you find TOA? Through Fire Emblem roleplay related tags

Current TOA muses: Marth and Rafal

Who was your first TOA muse? If you don’t have them anymore, could you see yourself picking them up again? Marth is my ride or die Fire Emblem character and that extends to him as a muse.

Have you had any other TOA muses? Besides Marth and Rafal I've also written Xane. Though there isn't a lot of data, my second muse slot historically (and presently) being reserved for dragons tickles me a lot.

Do you think you have a type of character you gravitate towards? Not really. My tastes are unexplainably versatile. I can favor the sweet and friendly golden boy type characters, or the less pristine and morally ambiguous "bad boy" types, and everything in-between. This isn't just true for TOA but also for characters from different series. My friends have a lot of trouble forecasting possible favorites for me because of it.

What do you believe you enjoy writing the most? Emotions. Conflict with those emotions. Mwahahahaha

Favorite TOA-related memory: The first few months into my TOA debut when everything was bright, fresh, and new. Meeting new friends and forging bonds with other characters was super fun and I still remember who was around me during that time. Farina (written by Maxie) is the closest muse to Marth in terms of when they joined TOA and who has stayed to this day.

Got any delusions that didn’t see the light of day in TOA that you’d like to share? I tend to be very stable, loyal, and proactive in my delusions. If they're strong enough I pursue them, like Xane and Rafal. Rath would be among them if I ever replayed FE7 and if I determined having three muses wouldn't make my performance suffer over all.

[aresmarked]

Ah maybe [1] day. Being perceived is scary 😔 but aside from that, I do think Mafuyu will send her well wishes at least. Though I saw some people saying things that were quite curious. I believe there are people who think that Mafuyu hasn’t been to school since that day but I don’t think that’s true? Especially because I’m sure that would draw unwanted attention to herself and family since people will be wondering what her parents are doing about it. Though thinking about her attending classes with her good girl persona is sad in its own way. I wonder if the general student body (anyone not in the main cast) would shun her if she chooses to be her true self. After all, it’s this image of Mafuyu that they all like. It could parallel Honami’s past when she was alienated. Forgot to ask this but after reading the card stories, what do you think Shizuku’s Sekai, if her feelings were strong enough to make one like Mafuyu, would be like?

Hrhrhr, fair. But the door is open should you like it.

It's hard to say given all niigo's map talks after the event were in sekai! we don't have a confirmation one way or another, but she's definitely in a position where... there's a risk if she goes, though her mom's plan does seem to be to wait for her to 'come to her senses', and there's a non-zero chance we see some legal stuff enter psekai story?? but yea. i imagine she'll have to ease herself off the habit of leaning on her 'sona at school, which will definitely be, an adjustment for folk. i can see rumours happening. but simultaneously she is a well-meaning kid behind that sona, she does care about people. and i can't see airi and shizuku standing by if people are gonna be assholes about it. lord knows they're all too familiar with how talk can hurt.

i imagine that while she'll be more mindful of taking on too many things just 'cause it's what a 'good kid would do', there is still sincerity to her looking out for folk. it's just a question of where the boundary will be drawn now.

MMJ's Sekai was a shared one, unlike Tsukasa and Maf's, but let's say for interest's sake we're talking the fragments from Fes cards, since those try to reflect on a fundamental part of the characters as they get them. I imagine Shizuku's will be something, less like the ones where it's, recalling? something key to them, but more akin to Kohane's, Mizuki's, Honami's... the ones where the owner states, in some way or another, this is me, where they decide something and it's something they can do because of who they are now. Honestly it's hard to say what Shizuku's might be but given her work as a model... a walkway would be really cool. absolutely something that plays with perception. i would've guessed mirror house if Kohane hadn't already gotten it, albeit in an odd manner. They're doing neat shit with the fragmentary sekais, so honestly I'm just looking forward to it.

[imustbenuts]

Kiran is (functionally) a Bodhisattva/Deva and Askr is gambling on them (A wild almost baseless theory)

I'm out of my damn mind and I've decided to make you guys suffer through my insane thoughts.

To get this out of the way, a Bodhisattva is roughly translating, ‘the enlightened one’ in Buddhism, one who has grasped the truths of the world and are able to break away from the cycle of suffering and ascend into an actual Buddha. But choose not to, instead remain on the current plane of existence to help alleviate others' suffering in hopes that others may attain the truths and do the same. (This is NOT a perfect, total summary but I hope its enough to understand what a Bodhisattva, functionally, is.)

So for years I've been holding onto this idea that Kiran is a supernatural being in the context of the world of FEH. I mean, if they’re from our world and played the series, I reasoned some things:

Our world relatively speaking is one of incredible comfort, even more so than what monarchies of the medieval eras can achieve at their height. Specifically, Kiran is akin to a Deva of the variety of deities in Buddhism before they were pulled into FEH. Here's the wikipedia link explaining the nuance of what a Deva is. The takeaway: They live longer, are able to die, but their lives are one of pleasures and comfort. (Remember Peony’s words of how the World of Steel is one of comfort?)

They have knowledge of all FE characters, some more invasive than others. Conversely, native zenith folks are completely unknown to them. This makes them a bit supernatural despite being a human being, and makes them aware to the suffering of characters in the FEverse.

They must then know certain repeating tropes that has been occurring in FEverse. Masked dudes being sus, dead parents, blue haired lords, divine dragons subject to mental degradation, etc etc. You get the idea.

As blue haired lords with sisters are typically the main criteria in general for FE lords to be recognized as the protagonist, it is theoretically possible for Kiran to over-attach themself to Alfonse based on point 3 at the point of first contact.

Kiran has some level of perception towards tropes, which is why I think they caught on to  Bruno/Zacharias’ identity in book 1 so easily. And how many of us were thinking, 'Gustav is totally gonna kick it' when he appeared?

If Alfonse can open pathways to other worlds, then one inferred reason why Kiran doesn’t leave is because they realize if they do, Alfonse is completely screwed. (twisting this can also mean: delay to ‘ascension’)

By book 2, the name of Sutr and the prophecy referencing Ragnarok is clear, and the presence of Loki throws in a very high possibility that Ragnarok will happen even without Sutr. Loki is also, across all interpretations, a chaotic basket of fun and does things so long as she has a laugh. Point 6 is reinforced.

I also thought about why the game explicitly refers to Kiran as us, the players playing the game, when they could have taken the Blazing Blade route when they could turn them into a Mark v2.0. Those 7 points i listed are ultimately wild theories of a theoretical Kiran who thinks like me, and so I have to admit it doesn’t hold much weight on its own.

It just has to be an avatar, is what I'm getting at. An avatar functionally more akin to Robin or Byleth, characters with their own personalities and goals while we drive the plot forwards.

Except, then, there are Norse gods. And Norse gods means a lot of self-indulgent deities with Odin/All-father who has the Twilit Runes, ie he has already seen EVERY bit of fate that’s to come. But Kiran wasn't there at the point the runes were made, so far away in our world without magic and so insignificant that it doesn't matter. Probably.

As a direct result of their presence/interference, Askr isn’t at Embla’s mercy by the end of book 1, and Ragnarok doesn't occur as prophesied in book 2 by the hands of Sutr. I think its possible that Fjorm would have perished instead by book 2 originally if not for Kiran’s presence bolstering Alfonse’s fate/desires to defeat Sutr.

So Kiran does have a function in the world of FEH.

So then that leads into who made Breidablik and the prophecy behind them? I thought it could be Askr, Baldr (if they even exist), someone, or even Eitri, but seems like Eitri wasn’t involved in the creation of Breidablik. Baldr remains non-existent at this point, so, I thought, someone who knows of the Twilit Runes wanted to stop it made Breidablik. And maybe Breidablik just looks for whoever understands enough of 1. sticking to the blue haired lord, and 2. Norse mythos, to roll on with the plot of FEH.

But that's all the thoughts I had for years.

Then book 6 starts raising my eyebrow. Ash’s beast form is a cow. A cattle. One of the most sacred creatures in Buddhism/Hinduism. Cows in general are a very rare and unique character design choice so I didn't dwell too much on it. (EDIT: here's a write up expanding on this idea) Since this is ultimately entertainment, so sometimes they do random things in the name of cool. Askr is a divine dragon anyway, right? Lizard and all, I thought.

But then. then. On April fools 2022, Lonely Puppeteer (Spring Remix) drops, complete with a fully rendered MV

And I see Kiran on a goddamn lotus. Lotus in Buddhism/Hinduism is representative of purity above material attachment and physical desire. It's a big thing there, but ok, still nothing definitive. I'm also reminded of how Kiran technically resisted the lust pollen in book iv. But ultimately it looks fancy and cool, and it's April Fools, so whatever.

(I want to stress also that there are countless depictions of deities and Buddha sitting above the lotus in peaceful meditation. The lotus is some serious symbolism in Buddhism and Hinduism.)

Then Askr's design comes out. He's a DIVINE. BULL. DRAGON. DEITY. I just about fucking lost it.

Immediately I notice the Third Eye on his forehead.

In many parts of Asia, the Third Eye is said to allow the user to perceive things which are beyond normal perception. Some think it predicts the future, lets the user see ghosts, divine fates, or even see beyond our own material world. Now, I don't know at this point if that third eye, if it is even one, lets Askr do those things, but I'm willing to bet the ability to open gateways to other worlds is in synergy with it at bare minimum. After all, Anankos was able to see the world of Awakening despite being in Fates, so this seems more than plausible.

And if my bullshit is right, the one responsible for Breidablik is likely Askr, who has seen the future and wants to prevent Ragnarok. (EDIT: JOSSED, it looks like. oh well!) So he pulls in a being from a wildly different plane of existence, maybe with said prerequisites of understanding 2 rules, 1. sticking to the blue haired lord, and 2. Norse mythos, all in hopes that the chance of breaking the prophecy of Ragnarok is above 0%.

Thanks for coming to my Ted-talk. Admittedly I've only bounced this idea off 2 people, one who hasn't caught up on FEH and doesn't know too much about Buddhism, and another who has dropped the game. So this idea is unrefined.

TL;DR: Title

I'll go back to writing Fanfic on AO3 now lol. I wrote Hello Hopeful, and this is my AO3 account. I’m losing my fucking mind rn, cheers. If you find my fic interesting, Id be super happy if you could leave a kudos!

PS: Third Eyes also enables the user to see Devas according to that Wikipedia article. Divine Eyes and Third Eye means the same thing in Mandarin, so wtf lol

PPS: Devas are not creator gods either. they are more of a human, mortal deity who can observe the realms ‘below’ theirs, but rarely intervene/offer counsel. There's a belief that we all once had the ability to fly and glow and are Devas ourselves, but lost the ability to do that over time in buddhism

EDIT: This theory is a shallower exploration and mostly made from speculation. I made a better one! For a more in-depth meta analysis feel free to check my pinned. Thanks!

[cognidoodledoo]

We can’t forget about giving these guys their own intro, types and enneagrams, now can we?

More info down below:

From top to bottom function, they get visibly less and less humanoid + the dark sclera compared to the main functions since they aren’t as developed or even expressed/made aware of as often as the first four (especially Te and Si).

In a way they’re all symbolic “opposites” to their functions’ counterparts! More of this will be detailed in their individual bullet points.

The similar color schemes and designs for Ne and Si to @cognitivedoodles​’s still apply here: shadow ENTP/INTJ and ENFP/INFJ have Ne and Si in the same slot, but influenced by different auxiliary/critical and tertiary/trickster functions!

The introverted functions having a more muted palette and the extraverted functions with a more saturated palette still applies.

Introverted functions tend to have longer hair while extraverted functions have shorter hair; I’ll delve into this a little more for each relevant individual function.

Hopefully I delivered with the semi-compensated colors that represent both Fi and Te!

Opposing Ne

Ne’s design is meant to be reminiscent of a spider, since I associate opposing Ne as being “caught up/stuck in a web of possibilities”.

The intuitive functions are the only functions that don’t contrast each other through the “roles” they represent; they do it via imagery alone.

Compared to Ni’s ponytail made of converging the strands of hair, Ne gets twin tails and diverge at the end as a contrast to their way of processing patterns and information!

Another part of the design that points towards this is Ne’s multiple eyes; seeing multiple possibilities in equal weight.

The ribbon-like part of the outfit are supposed to act like extra limbs since I figured the actual extra limbs are reserved for Se. They’re also used to further hammer in the “multiple possibilities” aspect of Ne.

Ne has a bad habit of provoking Ni (re: everyone) when given the opportunity, which further serves Ni’s paranoia of needing to suppress them as much as they can.

Ne has a soft spot for Se though, given that they’re both the only manic functions around.....maybe when Ni finally slips up Ne can make her acquaintance with Se.

For all her teasing, Ne can at least respect Ni’s dedication to the user. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t harbor any hard feelings toward them though....

Critical Fi

Fi’s a ragdoll, which explains the stitches around on her body, fake blush on her cheeks, patches on her dress, and heart motif patched onto it which contrasts with Fe looking more clean and polished as a China doll with porcelain glazed skin and his heart motif as a shiny brooch of sorts separate from his body/outfit.

Also eye contrasts! Fi having buttons for eyes and basically an ‘x’ for pupils while Fe gets “actual” eyes with a pure white heart for pupils.

Not to mention hair contrasts- Fi with her long, lush, and thick hair that touches every inch of her body while Fe has shoulder-length hair and neat bangs.

Fi contrasts Fe’s role as a doting and sociable parent by being the silent and critical parent; she could give Si a run for his money when it comes to who’s the least talkative, given that she generally only speaks when spoken to.

In that same vein, Fi actually more often than not calls out Fe on his bullshit when she gets the opportunity and sees it, much to Fe’s chagrin. But there are also other times where Fi’s the only function to notice and recognize what Fe actually misses when reading others. and himself

Trickster Te

Te’s an automaton, hence the shiny body! (Based on many Te dom characters I love lmao) Also his “glasses” are actually just a visual provided by the screen, they’re not real glasses (or eyes for that matter).

Te contrasts Ti’s role as an innocent, tight-lipped, knowledge-hungry school girl by being the stern, aggressive teacher that always has something to say when everyone else is being inefficient, or worse, unable to make their plans work out.

Te definitely has issues with the entire main function stack being “disorganized” and “inefficient” because of the many notes he’s jotted down about why and how they could improve if they just let him and the other shadow functions take control for one second.

He mostly has issues with Ti, calling her “slow” due to her need to know every single little detail and fact (unbeknownst to Ti of course because of a few strings Ni and Fe managed to pull so a function like Te and the rest can stop threatening to take control of their spots and ruin the user even more than Se could ever dream of)

The whip is also another reason Ni and Fe don’t want him around lmao

Demon Si

Si’s a timekeeper demon that actually hates his face so much he opted to wear a mask so he doesn’t have to face (heh) himself

Si contrasts Se’s role as an eternally youthful, joyful teenager by being the eternally elderly, depressed time demon that would rather be left alone forever but sticks with the shadow functions under the excuse of “keeping them in check”.

The broken off demon horn is to emphasize the fact he’s a demon since the original one whole circle horn is supposed to symbolize him being a timekeeper (eternity). The demon and self-loathing emphasis references how INFJs/INTJs internalize Si negatively more often than not.

Si has only ever interacted with Ni a few times and Ni’s more paranoid about him than any other function; he fuels their anxiety more than everyone else combined, to say the least.

No one admits it, but Si is in some weird way the glue that makes the shadow functions stick together.

[fayesdiary]

Picrew link

Meet Gaia!

She's the first (and for now only) OC I've ever made and I'm really proud of her :D

I have talked about her months ago in a post, and this was supposed to come up shortly after to show her design if anything else, but then i procrastinated and long story short, this post has been sitting in my drafts. For months. With just her Picrew artwork.

So, this is gonna serve as a massive refresher. ..For the both of us.

Background

If I had to sum up Gaia in one phrase, it would be "basically the opposite of Alm".

She's the sole princess of her kingdom, but the truth is that she's adopted.

Normally this wouldn't be an issue... if the world they live in didn't have bloodlines similar to Jugdral, giving you essentially superpowers and the ability to wield weapons with unfathomable power, which makes heritage an extremely important thing in nobility.

Gaia's adoptive parents, however, were never able to make a child of their own, which made them increasingly worried by what would happen if they ever left their thrones empty. Which is when Gaia enters the picture. Of course, everyone would notice soon enough that they weren't related due to the lack of sacred blood and all the quirks heh that come with it, and the two only managed to find a temporary solutions through special blood transfusions that let Gaia inherit their blood without her knowing... for a while.

Very few know about this secret, and Gaia is obviously not one of them.

However, the need for an heir is not the only reason they took her hin.

She's the daughter of the King and Queen's most trusted retainer and closest friend, who died in an accident shortly after she was born, which is the real reason why they raised Gaia as their own child, as a last favor to their late friend.

And no, Gaia's adoptive parents don't kick the bucket. I know, unbelievable.

Personality

She's one eccentric, let me tell you.

Always trying show off and into theatrics (though not as much as Owain, let's just say she picked the cape herself just because it was cool in the wind), a bit too selfish for the typical FE lord. Not to mention all the bias that comes with her environment.

All of this is mostly a facade for her insecurity and impostor syndrome, because deep down she knows she's not the king and queen's "true" daughter no matter how much she's in denial, and she's always scared of feeling like a hack that everyone will find out. She already feels barely tolerated by her peers after all, and she has no genuine friends. She desperately wants companionship and to belong, which is why she tries to imitate her peers so hard. definitely can't relate at all

Hell, she started with the theatrics just to fit in.

But despite everything, her heart is in the right place. She means mostly well, and she is a bit too down-to-earth for the average noble. And, eventually, she starts accepting herself for who she really is, and find people who genuinely care about her. She becomes more serious, but at the same time she's a lot more happy!

Design

Given that she's actually of common birth, I made her look relatively normal. Regular dark hair, freckles and all. The armor she wears is similar to that of a regular knight because, well, those armors are cool! Look at her! I did want her to have pink hair ornaments for her ponytails as a callback to another character called Gaia I loved as a kid (long story, I'll tell you if you're interested)

She wields both swords and magic (although I'm not sure which one is her main weapon and it all depends on what I want her kingdom's Sacred Weapon to be), and when she promotes she uses staves as well to fit more into her new support role, as well as being more of a jack-of-all trades.

The whole idea of her gameplay self is that she starts relatively strong, but starts falling off statwise after she permanently loses (or rather, gives up) access to her parents' Sacred Blood. To compensate for it, she slowly gets a bunch of skills to help her support the army, be a general utility role and deal with Sacred Weapon users. Don't expect her to come out on top in a one-on-one fight, though.

[somedayonbroadway]

I just finished watching The Parent Trap and I forgot how much I loved it wow. Could you make an AU for that?

I love The Parent Trap, and once again, the Lindsey Lohan version is my favorite one, so it’ll be based on that one.

Characters

Mike — Hallie Parker

Ike — Annie James

Jack Kelly — Nicolas Parker

Katherine Plumber — Elizabeth James

Harrison Parker — Meredith Blake

Racetrack Higgins — Chessy

Spot Conlon — Martin

Medda Larkin — Marva Kulp Sr.

Smalls — Marva Kulp Jr.

Joseph Pulitzer — Charles James

William Snyder — Les Blake

This story begins at a summer camp in Maine, where Michael Kelly is hoping to make a few friends and have a good summer, though this means he’ll be away from his dad for the first time in his life, for a full month. He’s never been away from Jack like that before, and he’d never been out of California aside from when he was born in Santa Fe, but he manages to make some good friends right away only to find someone that must be his absolute worst enemy later that week.

Isaac Pulitzer is visiting Maine from New York City. His mother wants him to get better socialized because he is homeschooled and doesn’t have many friends. When he gets to this camp, his “manny”, Spot, drops him off and gives him their secret handshake before promising to pick him up the moment camp is over. Ike is not excited to be away from Spot or his mom, but he still goes in and makes a few friends, meeting what must be his nemesis during a fencing game and winning, before being pulled down into a trough of water.

The boys see each other for the first time after taking their helmets off and are stunned to find that they are staring at what looks like mirror images of themselves.

They deny looking like each other, and later that night, Mike decides to get back at Ike for beating him at fencing by taking on Ike at poker, a game he’s been playing with his dad for years. He wins after waging that the loser will have to jump into the lake naked. The whole camp, aside from the chaperones of course, watches Ike jump into the lake and Mike steals Ike’s clothes, leaving him to walk back to his cabin with nothing but his shoes.

The next afternoon when Mike is headed back to his cabin with his roommates, they find their furniture up on the roof, compliments of the Brooklyn brat that Mike is coming to despise. So that night, Mike and his friends break into Ike’s cabin to prank all of them, placing shaving cream, syrup, whipped cream, water balloons and booby traps everywhere.

When they go back in the morning to find Ike’s cabin freaking out, they end up getting caught by Medda and Smalls, the heads of the camp, and Mike and Ike are taken to the isolation cabin for the rest of the camp as punishment for causing such chaos.

That night when it starts raining, the boys accidentally see pictures of their parents and realize that their parents used to be together, when they were very young, leading them to the realization that they must be twins.

They go through the rest of the week, the boys do their best to get to know each other revealing that they both want to get to know their other parents. So for the rest of camp, the two plot to switch lives, figuring that even if they were found out, their parents would have to see each other again.

So once camp ends, Ike gets on a flight to California and Mike does a secret handshake with Spot and is taken down to New York City.

When Mike sees his mother for the first time he’s nearly frozen in place and all he can do after a moment is rush to hug her.

Katherine is a novelist, she’s written a few best selling series and she loves to let her son help her edit and write with her. She also loves to have her son help her come up with illustrations because he got his artistic ability from his dad.

When Ike meets Jack for the first time, he instantly finds that Jack is one of the goofiest people he ever met. Jack owns a winery and is very wealthy and they live on a vinyard. When Jack takes him home, Ike meets Race, one of Jack’s old foster brothers who is now somewhat of a live-in nanny and housekeeper, and their dog Riley, a large French Mastiff. Jack tells Race to help his boy unpack before bringing him down to meet somebody.

Race does, telling the kid that the somebody wasn’t someone Race himself was too fond of. He makes the boy his favorite snack and helps him unpack before sending Ike into the backyard to meet none other than Harrison Parker, a hood looking, conceited man who Ike is suspicious of from the start. So Ike tries to chase Harrison off after seeing how possessive and controlling Harrison is over Jack. When it doesn’t work, he tries to call Mike, only making Race suspicious of him.

The next day, when Jack takes Ike on a horseback ride, Jack reveals that Harrison proposed to him. So Ike rushes back to the house where Jack follows and tries to calm him down, only for the boy to start yelling at him in French. This shocks Jack as the only other language his son knows is Spanish. He lets it go when Ike says he learned it at camp and Jack just leaves for a moment to take a walk, while Race wonders out loud if the boy wasn’t who he said he was.

The boy asks if Race was wondering if he was Isaac. Race freezes and asks the boy how he knew that, prompting the kid to reveal that he is Isaac. Race is too stunned to reveal that to Jack when he comes in to talk to Race again and keeps it a secret.

When Mike tries to call Ike from New York after seeing an SOS fax in Spot’s hand, he is caught by his grandfather trying to call from a pay phone. So Joe encourages him to tell Katherine the truth, and Mike does, lying to his mother about having called his father and told him everything. Katherine is stunned and asks Spot to come with her to switch the twins back and get on with their lives.

When they arrive in California, Jack is only at the hotel they’re at because he’s trying to plan a wedding. Harrison’s uncle, Mr. Snyder is there to help them and Ike overhears them talking about taking all of Jack’s money.

Katherine gets drunk on the flight over and is hammered when she sees her boys together for the first time. Race and Spot end up hitting it off and sneaking away and the first time Jack sees Katherine again, he falls into the hotel pool, hitting his head and letting Katherine take care of him only for her to meet Harrison and reveal the fact that Mike is a twin. Harrison is not happy with the information, having planned on sending Mike to a boarding school once he and Jack were married.

Eventually, when Katherine tries to take Ike home, Mike and Ike refuse to tell their parents who is who and demand to go on Jack and Mike’s end of summer camping trip together. Jack and Katherine reluctantly agree.

When they go on the trip, it is revealed that Katherine encouraged Harrison to go instead of her and on this trip, Mike and Ike spend the entire time tormenting the man they can’t stand until Harrison tries to make Jack choose between him or his sons. Jack instantly chooses his son’s and goes home, asking Katherine out on a date.

The two eventually get married and Spot proposes Race at the reception.

I love this one.

For more Mood Boards and AUs, click here!

[bronyinabottle]

MY LITTLE PONY: A NEW GENERATION (G5 Movie) THOUGHTS

It’s finally here. The beginning of Generation 5. Though before I get into the movie in some detail I’m going to reiterate one more time what G5 means for my content and a non-spoilery summary of the movie.

Again, I will say that the movie nor will the G5 series coming later have much of an effect at all on any of my blogs. The revelation in Secrets of the Dragon’s Tear that life itself is also magic means that a world that implied to have no magic for years would mean the extinction of all life (Perhaps resulting in the wasteland we saw in the Season 5 finale). There may be something I’ll probably do at some point on a certain different blog. But even then, that may likely be a one-time thing and probably come around the time the series is starting to air.

That said, just because I’m continuing with mainly G4 content doesn’t mean I disapprove of G5. In fact, my non-spoilers thoughts on the movie is I think it is a good start for this new generation. There are questions I have that I’m not sure will be answered (Though many of those questions are the same ones I had in my Trailer/Preliminary thoughts) quickly enough. But the movie is structured well enough, in fact it’s probably a better movie as a whole compared to any of the movies G4 had (The 2017 movie, Rainbow Roadtrip, and all 4 Equestria Girls movies). As the 2017 movie was fun, but it jumped around a lot, sometimes scenes transitioning too fast. And while Rainbow Roadtrip may have been this on purpose, the entirely slice-of-life story taking up a long length… made it something of a less interesting plot to follow. It feels like some of that special could of been cut to at least a two-parter length and keep the same beats they hit. And while i have a soft spot for the 3rd and 4th Equestria Girls movies, I’ll always say a full-length pony adventure feels better suited for what I want to see out of MLP then spin-off movies with high school movie cliches and weird pony/human world shenanigans.

So movie-wise I’m not a G4 purist. It’ll take some time to see how Gen 5 compares to Friendship is Magic when we get to the series. As I feel it’d take a lot for it to surpass G4 in my mind. But I’m going to try to be as fair as possible and judge on it’s own merits. The implied connection to G4 by referring to G4 being ancient Equestria is going to naturally get the staff and hasbro pressured by fans to tell us what happened in-between the generations. Because that’s the trap they put the writers in when they made it so they want to try to say it’s in the same universe. That’s the double-edged sword Hasbro chose to have, trying to appease the G4 fanbase and keep at least some of them around. But at the cost of questions both nitpicky (Such as character design being inconsistent) or actual honest questions that need to be known (Why did magic disappear, and what happened to the Alicorns) for some of us to truly see this as the same Equestria.

After the break, I’ll have more spoilery thoughts

Even for a brief moment, it was nice seeing the Mane 6 and 2D animation. The former because of course those are the ponies many of us that saw all of G4 loved. And the latter, because while the animation wasn’t bad in this movie. I’m one of those who’d prefer to have 2D animation in an animated film. As in most cases aside from Pixar, it’s just a strong preference of mine. If this had the animation of the 2017 MLP movie but otherwise everything else was generally the same here, I feel that would of have been great.

I wish they didn’t have to have Sunny’s dad die off-screen, as he seems like he could of been a compelling character. And not to mention if perhaps he has any connection the “ancient” days in any fashion. But *sigh* I get it, it’s an old trope where part of the character’s offscreen growth is not having their parent(/s) around.

On a side note there’s quite a few times during the beginning of the movie that somewhat foreshadow what happens to Sunny later. 3 times where she had a fake horn and wings on her. Once in the flashback, then 2 separate times when she’s doing her protest where she has her own costumed wings and horn. As well as the helmet and mechanical wings.

Also, there’s no way around it. Some of the discussions this movie are going to get quite political. (Namely one part of Sunny’s song that could be seen as having a double meaning of a jab at Trumpsts regarding “Building your wall”) From the very premise in the early times, we know that the inspiration for the story was last year’s Black Lives Matter protests. Which honestly, I do support the message they’re going for. Having an anti-racism message to tell kids from the very beginning and making a focus on it is important when in G4 it only got briefly touched upon in Bridle Gossip and the Heath’s Warming Eve play. Although it certainly rose up to some form of prominence with Season 8 and onward. Still, while you can argue if G4 executed the anti-racism message well. it does come with something of a problem that the series finale left Equestria in the least divided it’s ever been.

And personally, I feel it’s a terrible interpretation of time to say “Well, it’s a realistic take. Racism has existed for years in our world. Same should go for the ponies” and while yes, racism is still rampant in today’s world. That said, that ignores that if we went from The Last Problem to the start of G5. There’s a huge difference between our world and Equestria. There is no ancient civilization that we look at like “Yeah, those were the golden days of world peace” when normally the “Golden age” was reserved for the high classes of Ancient Greece or Rome. It was most decidedly not perfect, with slavery rampant and wars for the sake of expanding an empire. While if you look at The Last Problem’s Equestria, you not only have peace between the three main types of ponies. But you literally have non-pony citizens in Equestria. You can see a dragon handing off a flower to a pony which can imply cross-species romantic relations. With the Friendship school still going strong, and was the reason that the world was saved in The Ending of the End. While perhaps it may be too glowing to say that future is perfect for everyone even in-universe. It’s certainly a hell of a lot better outlook then comparing to how we view even the so called Golden age of ancient civilizations. The Last Problem’s Equestria implies it looks to ally with every country outside of Equestria, not conquer them.

So it should still be a valid question on just how this world collapses to the point it gets to where G5 is at the start. I at least assume that it’s not the fault at all of any of the Mane 6 nor Twilight. Or at least I hope it isn’t, as I’d rather the MLP fanbase not have to deal with a The Last Jedi Luke Skywalker situation. (Where after the joyful end of the original trilogy, things go wrong as Luke almost murders the son of one of his best friends and his sister despite trying to hard and succeeding at redeeming his father who at that point in the canon was a galaxy-wide known ruthless mass-murderer.) I assume we’re at a point where everyone of the Mane 6 sans maybe Twilight are presumed dead. And even in Twilight’s case, there’s a chance that G5 decides to say that G4 overestimated the whole Alicorn immortality thing. Though I wouldn’t put it past Hasbro to have some event where the Mane 5 of G5 meet the Mane 6 in some special event whether that’s a a Season finale or a sequel movie/special. Where either the Mane 6 return in a limbo situation similar to the Pillars at the end of Season 7 or Time travel gets involved. They may even string us along on answering just what in the heck happened until they involve a meet-up with the Mane 6 in that way. Though I hope they don’t, I’d really like the beginning of the series (Or I guess this supposed special coming up in Spring supposedly?) starts to answer some questions. G5 should get a chance to stand on it’s own, but I hope the writers are actually well aware there will be so many questions people have and address them in the show. A cynical part of me feels like they’re likely to string us along until at least the Season 1 finale.

Onto the characters for a bit. I think Izzy Moonbow was absolutely the most stand-out character in the whole movie. She was energetic, funny, and aside from “The pegasi are bad news” she along with Zipp and Sunny were the most averse to the way the world was. She was already the most popular due to the tennis ball memes. But now it feels like she legit stands on her own and most certainly deserves to be the most popular character of G5 thus far. Behind her in a bit of a surprise to me was Zipp, who I thought would be mainly a Rainbow Dash-expy. Though she really helps out Izzy and Sunny in Zephyr Heights. Despite having Twilight be my favorite pony from the very beginning of G4 all the way to the end, I didn’t feel as strongly about Sunny for some reason. So she’s in the middle of the pack, she could grow on me later. I just don’t know if I click with her as much as I did with Twilight. As for the last two, while I don’t hate either of them. Either one could be the lowest of the 5 for one reason or another. Pipp (Although I will say she's probably my favorite character design out of the 5) feels like she doesn’t do a whole lot in the movie and it takes until she’s forced to be an outlaw because the other choice was to get imprisoned like her mother was. So she may come off as quite pretentious, though it’s arguable Rarity was the same way early in G4. But she definitely grew later. Could be the same case for Pipp. And as for Hitch, he has shining moments in the film. But what might hurt him is the fact he was such a bad friend to Sunny up until the campfire scene. “I’m the last real friend you have. You really want to lose me too?” is not a healthy friendship. Hitch may have been Sunny’s friend the longest, but it definitely feels like Izzy connected immediately. I don’t know if this show will get into shipping any of the main characters between each other mid-show, but if they do. I hope it’s between Izzy and Sunny currently, cause Hitch and Sunny just gives bad vibes even with Hitch getting better later.

None of the songs I felt were particularly too special. Though I think the closest was Sprout’s “Danger, Danger” song that has similarities to Smells Like Teen Spirit in some parts of the song since I tend towards more rock/metal-esque music.

I touched upon it earlier, but there’s perhaps a stand-out reason for why the G5 movie outdid the 2017 MLP Movie. They have the typical “Our heroic group splits after a sad moment before coming together again for the climatic good end” in Sunny seeing that that the two crystals don’t instantly bring magic back, and when Twilight left the group after an argument that happened with Twilight trying to take a pearl. They perform the same purpose in the movie. But the crystals not working, crushing Sunny’s hope for a little while works better into the story. Where as Twilight’s part frustratingly brought the sea pony scene to an end too quickly and/or doesn’t feel right of Twilight to have done that. It felt forced in the 2017 movie, but works out in the G5 movie. Especially since a part of it is that it’s not the crystals themselves capable of bringing magic back. But it’s the journey going after the crystals that brings the ponies themselves their magic back.

Just a small note on dictator Sprout, he tries to cause a war. Though admittedly the film seems to treat him as a joke the entire time despite his seriously evil ambitions. With the only repercussions is he gets a wishy-washy answer on if he was a good sheriff from his mom. I don’t quite know how I feel about that yet, but I wonder what they’ll have in mind for Sprout given his actions. He and his mom are the only ones that feel like a true antagonist. Though they seem to be ok with things fast when the magic comes back.

But anyway on to the ending, we see that Sunny becomes an Alicorn. Which I guess with no other real Alicorns around, I guess it makes sense to alicornify her since she’s the real leader behind what united the leaders of each type of pony again. Though there is of course this weird thing where her horn and wings don’t seem like as much a part of her body compared to very obvious connected wings on Twilight when she got hers. Sunny keeps her horn and wings to the end of the movie, and has colored streaks in her hair. Though I do wonder if that;s truly permanent. If it is permanent, I suppose at least they got to have a headstart and have it established at the end of the introductory movie rather then have it shock people at the end of a shortened 3rd season. I still feel like Twilight had well earned her alicornhood considering that besides what she did in the series. She has a whole childhood and time as a teenager learning under Celestia. Which had to mean something, and I’m not sure Celestia just leaving her to live the rest of her days with her friends in ponyville was that. Sunny has no doubt been trying countless time to try to spread friendship throughout her life even after the tragedy of her father’s passing. So there’s no doubt she’s been through a lot, and may indeed be worthy of being an Alicorn at this point. Though in terms of screentime before Alicornhood it's definitely a lot less then Twilight had. And it is at least nice to see that it is possible for non-unicorns to become one. (The only case of that we sort of got was a children's book that may or may not be canon that implied Cadence was a pegasus before she ascended)

Though you have to wonder if the visual differences such as Sunny’s alicorn horn and wings, the cutie mark only on one side (Yes I know that’s how it was normally in the MLP generations before G4. But a distinct visual difference between shows is still noticeable even if the context of G4’s cutie marks on both sides of the flank was about it being easier on the puppets for Flash), and how animals can have wings or weird round shapes such as those bunnies when G4 has normal looking animals. There’s enough striking visual differences for any nitpicky G4 to say “This isn’t the same Equestria”. And if someone tries to say maybe some sort of evolution happened. That’s still trying to put a little too much real world logic on this fantasy world. And evolution tends to take millions of years to have such dramatic changes. Not 1000 years or so, there should still be normal looking animals at this point and time. And these small details are probably going to be the things most ignored but nonetheless can build a case that this isn’t the same Equestria. Even if they touch on the important questions like how magic disappeared and what happened to the Mane 6, there will be details they make different that will add to the case that this is it’s own universe if it doesn’t quite matchup with what was remembered about G4. There will be fans who will be that nitpicky to call G5 out of continuity for small details like that. That is again the trap they put themselves in when they decided to try to say it’s the same Equestria.

All-in-all though, I think that’s at least a good enough chunk about my thoughts on the movie to end off here. If there’s something I missed or something from the movie you’d like me to give a particular opinion about or elaborate on something feel free to ask me here. G5 is indeed off to a good start, just I will be along the many hoping some questions get answered sooner then later. And I’m not sure I’m confident in getting anywhere until a Season finale or a 2nd movie. And it’ll be a year before the series starts proper (Though again I guess there’s a 44 minute special coming in Spring to try to hold us over). But I could definitely see G5 finding it's own following, now there's just the inevitable clashes between some of the more vocal fans of each generation bickering at eachother. But hoping there will be enough that take the movie's lessons on divisiveness to heart and be able to enjoy both even if there may be preferences.

[hopeymchope]

Persona Lite with Fire Emblem sprinkles on top

I’ve been addicted to Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore on my Switch for the past few weeks, and I’m getting close to wrapping it up. I figured it’s high time I talked about it a bit.

The game that would become Tokyo Mirage Sessions (TMS) was first announced as “Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem,” which is absolutely not a good way to describe what this became. 

This title led so many people astray.

What comes to mind when you think of (mainline) Shin Megami Tensei games? An apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic setting. First-person-perspective battles. Negotiating with demons. Battles against deities. TMS contains a little bit of the third thing on that list, and none of the others. 

What comes to mind when you think of Fire Emblem? Medieval-era settings. Permadeath (either optional or mandatory). RTS-style combat. The famed “weapon triangle.” Support conversations. TMS contains the fourth thing on that list, and none of the others. 

But let’s be honest here: For most people (especially Westerners), the first thing you think of when you think about Shin Megami Tensei isn’t even the games with “Shin Megami Tensei” in the title. It’s the Persona series! They’ve grown far more popular than their parent franchise at this point.

So I suppose it was natural that TMS is, at its core, a “Persona Lite” game. The darker edges of Persona titles are removed in favor of something more T-friendly, but the basics are all there: A group of teenagers in modern-day Japan discover a strange alternate dimension that they can access which also gives them the ability to summon supernatural powers/entities. When people start to go missing in this other dimension, it falls to this group of teens to unite and save the day, ultimately leading to them discovering the reason why this alternate world has been bleeding into modern Japan in the first place and, in the end, saving humanity from annihilation. That’s totally how Persona works, and it’s also totally how Tokyo Mirage Sessions works!

However, instead of summoning Shin Megami Tensei demons as “Personas,” the heroes of TMS summon Fire Emblem characters that are “Mirages.” Each character is permanently linked to a single Mirage, so there are no “Wild Card” characters here. However, you can level the characters’ mirages up to make them take on new forms and new abilities. FE fans will notice that all of the characters here are from the Falchion/Tiki/Shadow Dragon stories - the two Marth adventures (Shadow Dragon/Mystery of the Emblem) and the semi-recent 3DS hit Awakening.

For some weird reason, all of the Fire Emblem “mirages” wear helmets, masks, or other face coverings 100% of the time. The only exception is Tiki.

The lack of the darker themes in many Persona games and the fact that there’s no “Wild Card” to manage is what makes this, in my opinion, more like PERSONA LITE. And then you get your Fire Emblem backup characters to serve as extra flavoring. The characters we meet from Fire Emblem are rarely the focus — you spend most of your time with the teen heroes — but they still manage to show off their unique personalities and carry in a load of FE fanservice. (The good kind of fanservice where it’s full of references and nods to the continuity of the series, I mean. Not the other kind where it’s softcore porn.)

Fire Emblem fanservice was one of the biggest delights for me here. If you’re looking for any SMT/Persona characters to pop up and link the continuity together, you can stop looking because they aren’t here. But if you want to see specific characters from the three source FE games pop up here, a metric ton manage to do so. For example: Tharja (from Awakening) creates two golems for training purposes, which she names Bord and Cord after the pair of heroes from Marth’s era. And then the actual spirits of Bord and Cord possess those golems. So naturally, they start bickering and fighting. It’s delightful. 

So yeah, there’s plenty of nods for FE fans to appreciate even if your favorite characters are taking a back seat to a bunch of teenagers. Fire Emblem fans will recognize the heroic mirages, the enemy boss mirages, the weapon triangle weakness/strength system and lots of musical cues. On the flip side, Persona fans will recognize the story structure, the magic spells the characters wield (things like “Mazio” and “Diarama” and “Rakukaja”), the common enemies you encounter and cameos from a few of the more famous demons found on signage around Tokyo. Sadly, there are no familiar sounds or music pieces borrowed from SMT/Persona that I noticed.

In addition to the main story, there are also “Side Stories” for your party and side quests from various NPCs. The whole game lasts around 50 hours even if you aren’t trying to 100% it.

And while the music here is mostly pretty good — especially the Fire Emblem themes — I really wish we’d gotten some Persona-style tunes in here. Persona soundtracks are absolutely killer and everybody knows it. I wanted to hear some Shihoko Hirata, some Lotus Juice, some Yumi Kawamura, some Lyn Inaizumi. Alas, that never happens. Sad face.

In fact, as far as vocal tracks go, you’ll only be hearing the performances of the main characters. See, the story this time revolves around a group of teens who are hired by a talent agency to become young starlets of the stage and screen. You meet plenty of pop idols, a cooking show host, aspiring actors, and those who do combinations of the above. There’s a lot of focus on the Japanese entertainment industry, and it’s mostly a very positive portrayal about how hard teen stars work to reach their dreams and how fulfilling it can be when they express themselves through their artistic pursuits. Speaking as someone who legitimately does not care one iota about the idol industry in Japan or Asia as a whole, I’m very happy that these characters managed to remain likable and their pursuits stayed enjoyable throughout. No one here is an ultra-deep character, but no one here is a total cipher, either. I’m additionally thankful that the vocal songs are another highlight of the soundtrack alongside the FE tunes. 

The last thing I’ll bring up is the “Sessions” mentioned in the title. It’s a battle mechanic wherein striking an enemy with a weapon or element they’re weak to will enable other characters to start jumping in with follow-up attacks. At first, it’s just one or two follow-ups, but by the game’s end, you might be sitting there for 15 or more consecutive strikes on an enemy after you initiate a “Session” of follow-ups. The greatest quality-of-life improvement built into this Switch port is that you can turn on “Quick Session” to make these attack animations much shorter and more rapid than they ever were in the Wii U original. I never had to play that one, but I can’t imagine I’d have much patience for constantly triggering 15 attack animations with every round. SO glad I don’t have to sit through that.

This is just a two-strike Sessions, so it won’t last long enough for you to take a beverage break.

So yeah, there’s a lot for RPG fans, Persona fans, and most of all, Fire Emblem fans to dig in “Tokyo Mirage Sessions.” And since we already covered that Danganronpa fans are apparently predisposed to enjoying Persona and Fire Emblem, that probably means that YOU, dear reader, are likely to dig this game as well. 

[vampiremeowny]

okay in the heights thoughts that no one asked for let’s go (spoilers ahoy)

THEY STRAIGHT UP KILLED NINA’S MOM FOR SOME REASON?? like sis was just GONE. which means they cut “Enough” which like. okay it’s not really that essential of a song but like they also had to change some plot points and some lyrics like in “Breathe” Nina couldn’t say “what will me parents say” because she only had. one parent. but yeah I think that really took away from the motif of family in the film??

speaking of Nina REALLY wasn’t in love with the way she was portrayed. I feel like the outfits they gave her didn’t reflect her character? I did think it was notable how in the first scene her hair was straight and in like every other scene it was in its natural state showing her return to her roots but like. I feel like her outfits didn’t match her narrative or her personality or her story

also this might be a cold take but I seriously was not in love with Nina’s voice. like Leslie Grace is a singer but it really didn’t show through in the film.

really really in love with Anthony Ramos as Usnavi!!! but that didn’t surprise me at all tbh, I’m v familiar with him and Lin always casts him perfectly

a lot of things in the movie reminded me of like. Edgar Wright type directing? like there were animations on screen for “When You’re Home” and “96,000″ that I thought were really neat! also cuts and scenes that show how the world lines up with the music, like people placing dominos down to the beat... they also like. had title cards with the temperature of the day which seemed very Edgar Wright to me

OKAY THEY DID WHEN YOU’RE HOME SO DIRTY. like it probably my second favorite song but in the movie there was like. too much instrumental background and the singing and the story really didn’t shine through, musical version of when you’re home was way better

OLGA MEREDIZ MA’AM YOUR PIPES. MA’AM!!!!!! 

okay but spoilers this movie tries to fake you out so many times. first they took “paciencia y fe” and had it be the song right before abuela’s death, and they don’t reveal abuela won the ticket so I was like ????? and putting it right before her death (and having her death during the blackout) changed like. the whole meaning of the song and it hit different which was interesting but I think I prefer the stage musical version where she doesn’t die at the end lol

because they killed abuela early they cut hundreds of stories :( we still got the US navy joke tho

they cut a good handful of songs actually? off the top of my head they cut inútil, sunrise (THEY CUT SUNRISE!!!!!!!), hundreds of stories, enough, everything I know, and the piragua reprise

okay but seriously can’t BELIEVE they cut sunrise ngl I was devastated for that one. although the opening notes of sunrise played in other parts of the movie, I think for the most part they wrote out the concept of Benny not being latino, I think this is because the movie tries to focus on Usnavi and Vanessa as the main couple, which I did appreciate

but yeah Benny and Nina’s roles were a little smaller than their roles in the musical? I did appreciate how they actually like. gave Nina a compelling reason to go back to college tho 

Sonny’s character was really well done!!! he was actually one of my favorites, really like that his personality and backstory shined through, and I think they really captured him well, especially when you consider they address current real life issues with his character

the movie: oh yeah Daniela and Carla are married me: I KNEW IT

Dani and Carla,,,,, are cute,,,,, just wives being together at the pool,,, dancing in the apartment,,,, playing bingo,,,, my heart is full

REALLY enjoyed that they made Vanessa like. a full person lmao like she had a REASON to go downtown and she was shown to like. have a personality (the bar is on the floor but still. I appreciated it)

okay but piraguero?? lin isn’t that bad of a singer actually? like he’s no Freddie Mercury but like. chill

my mom, during alabanza, five seconds after Usnavi explained what alabanza means: what’s alabanza????

really surprised by carnaval del barrio!! it was my least favorite song in the musical but the movie version was REALLY WELL DONE, the music and the choreography and the colors and the sense of community,,,, very good. dunno why people are getting on stephanie beatriz for her line delivery tho

in conclusion. very good. very well done transition from stage to screen. tells a story about the latino community that’s not a sob story or trauma p*rn. good job lin and jon. go see in the heights it’s literally so much better of a story and more meaningful of a story than hamilton lmao

[funkymbtifiction]

INFJ or ENTP?

So there's a debate going on regarding a certain character's type (anime so I won't send in a specific typing request since you don't do anime) between INFJ or ENTP. ENTP seems to be the majority consensus but the guy really does seem to be more INFJ/Ni-Se then Ne-Si...

Mod: He sounds like an unhealthy INFJ, yes. While ENTPs do get tunnel vision / fixated on one thing, they don't overall act or emotionally tune into intuitively reading people like he does. He's clearly also motivated by his feelings.

(Argument from reader continues under the cut:)

He's an extremely aloof, detached character who always has his nose in a book.. In series he's described as a "ripple in the water" as in he's the type of person "who may brush up against your feet, but when you try to grasp it he just drifts even further away and leaves you wondering, he's a man who can't be caught" He also almost never shows his true self (only to a select few) & is always wearing cloaking his true personality upon layers & layers of masks, he can basically be thought of as the evil mastermind of the story.  So anyways this character gets a vision/prophetic dream of another character as a child and feels that this character is his true love. From then on he plots & schemes meticulously in order to make this other character his as she's his main goal in life. He's also almost psychic like, he's able to easily deduce & see into the true feelings of others even just from one meeting, (he picked up right away when he was only a child of 6 that the true reason for his love interest's mother raising her as a boy was out of misplaced jealousy) he's also the only character out of the entire cast who's able to correctly predict that the main plot's curse is about to break (which he uses through Se-like observations I believe such as noticing the evidence that this is the first time in generations that all who were cursed were born together and the fact that their cursed animal forms are weaker forms than the originals)  When he gets betrayed by his love interest after she cheats on him he lashes out in revenge by sleeping with her mother, using sex as a weapon. (He also sleeps with her partly because she's the spitting image of her daughter and he tried to imagine her daughter in her place) does this not read as Dom Ni-inferior Se rather than Dom Ne - inferior Si? He struggles with feelings of meaninglessness & apathy, truthfully the only reason the dream effected him to the extent that it did (it was part of the curse, other boys his age also had the same dream yet they never latched onto it to the extent he did) is because it was the only thing in his life that ever managed to make him feel. He admits he believes he's twisted as he's someone who never even desired the love of his parents or thinks it's sad that he's cursed (unlike all the other characters in the series who are cursed, they hate it because they feel like they're being chained into this forced destiny, with this foreign animal spirit encrouaging on their body & trying to take over their individual self-hood) for this character though it seems like the curse is the only thing giving him his reason to live) which suggests an extreme disconnect of self. It seems this character fears meaninglessness & having no purpose more than anything else, Is this not an inferior Se issue? Needing/wanting a deeper meaning/purpose in life (which is why he's the only Zodiac to attach himself to the dream of Akito so readily) thus forgetting to just live in the moment and enjoy their life in the here and now, i.e. their discomfort with Se? Also like a Se user when he first has that dream of his love interest one of his first remarks is how he wants to be able to "hold it in his hands, in a physical form"  I really don't see the Ne anywhere in him at all, especially it being Dom. At one point of the story he even muses quietly to himself how he wishes he could've dreamed of someone like the main character, i.e. that he wishes he could've fallen in love with someone more like her. He uses the specific wording of DREAMED rather than LOVED, basically outright stating to the audience that he can't even FATHOM trying to fall in love with someone the normal way without that dream. How could he be Ne dom with a mentality like that? Aren't Ne-doms always considering the myriad of possibilities and never get themselves stuck on Tunnel-vision on one single concept like this guy does? Isn't that precisely what seperates Ni from Ne?  Other aspects of inferior Se he displays is that he's a smoker, sometimes binge drinks when he's down and is also uncomfortable getting

dressed up. I think the only reason people are typing him as an ENTP despite him being a clear Ni-Se over Ne-Si user is because his Fe does look more Tert than Aux. (And other than his incredibly passionate, almost obssessive feelings towards his love interest, he does come off as more Fi-blind as well. But then there are a few times where he's quietly contemplative & you can tell the guilt is eating at him over the fact that he's manipulating innocent people & doesn't care who he hurts all on his way to claim his love interest, he's frequently incredibly self-deperecating and refers to himself as "the worst kind of man with little value" isn't that more having Fi in the critical parent role rather than ourright blind? I've also heard IXFJs can frequently come off as Fi-blind at times too just like their EXTPs cousins) It's manipulative & self-serving in the way Tert Fe usually is but are there not instances where an INFJ's Fe can look more Tert than Aux? Say if they're in a Ni-Ti loop or something? Also if it helps any with determining his type, his core Enneagram is either a 5w4 or a 4w3, and his tritype is either a 458 or a 459 (4w3/5w4/8w9 or 9w8) sx/sp for instinctual variants. So based on all this info I gave what do you think? INFJ or ENTP?

[juleswritesthis]

Roswell NM 3x11 Thoughts (I have a lot of thoughts!!!)

Contrary to popular opinion I really liked this episode. Yes, the science was so made up it was funny, yes certain character choices are hilariously silly, yes there was a lot of scenes filled with exposition dump, yes characters disappearing for episodes not to be mentioned as if they don’t exist is jarring & annoying, and omg yes, the Wyatt arc (if you can call it that) fell flat and was a complete waste of valuable screen time. So yes, I agree with most everyone’s assessment. That said still a very enjoyable and entertaining episode setting up the final concluding 2 hours of the season. Let’s get into it.

Jones is highly entertaining, overly good looking, and sometimes hilarious villain. Nathan shines bringing charm and depth to the role. Its important to note that Jones hasn’t caused any lasting damage to the group. Sure, he has tried to kill various members, he’s responsible for putting Maria in a coma & has kidnapped half the cast basically, kept our heroes busy all season. But when it comes to killing or destruction it’s really been focused on the dregs or racist folks of the town, the poor scientist in Santa Fe (I think it was Santa Fe) & the lady at the university last week. No one of any real consequence to our heroes. Now I have no idea if Maria’s vision arc has concluded because it hasn’t been mentioned in forever, but I’m assuming that there will be a major death by season end. Noah killed Rosa and the 2 other girls, abused Isobel for 10 years and destroyed the lives of all the mains. For Jones to be a real big bad there’s got to be some long-lasting consequences to one or more of our mains. Though I’m going into the final 2 episodes with excitement there is some concern. I don’t think any of the mains will perish but I do worry about Sanders and even Heath. (I’m really worried about Sanders y’all especially after that promo!!!)

Jones negotiation with Liz was bizarre. Why negotiate at all? Wouldn’t he just threaten to kill or maim people…what the heck is Liz’s bargaining chip against an all-powerful, evil dictator? If she doesn’t do what he wants he can just start killing folks she loves. It really is that easy. I get the whole creativity inspiration thing but fear for those you love is a great motivator. I was so amused that after hours of discussion Liz pulls out the big guns… free the sheriff. Was that her wild card? Really Liz? She may be a kick-ass scientist with a boatload of courage and sass, but I wouldn’t have her negotiating any of my needs anytime soon.

Isobel and Rosa scenes continue to delight. I think it’s clear Rosa won’t be in Season 4 much. As much as I will miss her, I’m glad that she will find some peace and joy at art school, she deserves it. Unlike Wyatt who does not deserve any tranquility because his redemption (if you can call it that) was not earned. Instead, his memories were wiped along with it any true feelings of guilt and remorse. How can we believe he has truly changed? What happens if his memories return? So silly and completely wasteful screen time (no offense to the actor who is quite good and likable).

The Dallas and Max scenes were wonderful. Don’t get me wrong I prefer the show not tell method. And Dallas conveniently having the entire Oasis history in a memory from his father then regurgitating those memories to Max (and the audience) was not the best way to convey the story. However, the actor who plays Dallas is ridiculously charismatic and I could listen to him recite the phone book (do those still exist?) and be entertained. Plus, for one moment I truly believe that Dallas had gotten through to the constantly self-sacrificing, martyr that is Max Evans. But as the promo for finale proves with Max asking Michael (why Michael?) to kill him, the words didn’t stick. Oh Max…

Speaking of, I truly feel so bad for Max. He’s had it rough. In a span of couple weeks, he’s been told he is a clone of an evil dictator, he isn’t the Savior but in fact a weapon to bring down the real Savior who also isn’t really a savior but a genocidal maniac (Michael’s words not mine) who slaughtered half his planet. Not to mention the “there has to be 3” doesn’t include him, as he isn’t part of the triad. And that because he is a clone, he doesn’t actually have biological parents or siblings or anything, well Michael, by DNA sort of, maybe? Oh, and he is the only thing tethering the evil, psycho dictator to life. I mean…

My hope for Season 4 is that Max gets to process everything he has learned about his existence. He hasn’t expressed how he feels the entire season and he deserves to. I hope the writers don’t have him get over it by season’s end with one scene or worse just sweep it under the rug. Like being a clone of an evil psycho, to be used as a weapon, without any real connection to Isobel and Michael? That’s got to have some lasting effects…please writers let me see it on my screen.

Speaking of show not telling, Michael’s new powers. I not a fan of Michael telling us a story of how he used his mind control powers accidently when he was 18. Can we please see these scenes so we can feel the true emotional impact?

As for these powers, strap in, this is a doozy (and might be controversial). I, like Michael, feel that taking someone’s free will, no matter who they are is not a good power to have; it’s not fun, it’s not cool. Michael is right that’s some dark shit and a power that needs to be used very sparingly and with a ton of responsibility.

I loved the scene between Sanders and Michael, but I have a couple issues with some of the dialogue. Sanders is the only living person (other than Jones) that knew and loved Nora. Thus, he can speak about her with authority. He is also the only person who is any kind of real parent figure in Michael’s. Thus, him saying Michael has no darkness can be believed. He knows Michael and he knows Nora. However, Sanders doesn’t know what its like to have powers, especially an immense power such as mind control. Though I appreciate Sanders’ perspective (and agree with him about the purity of Michael’s soul) I wasn’t a big fan of him brushing away Michael’s fears about having mind control powers and not wanting to use them. Yes, it’s important for Michael to recognize just because he has Jones’ power doesn’t mean he is or will ever become Jones. It’s not the powers that make a person. But the line about Nora not fearing her powers was not helpful. Nora’s powers were telekinesis, engineering (if genius is a power) and possibly miraculous crop growth. None of these powers take away a person’s ability to control their actions (well telekinesis to a certain point but in nowhere near actual mind control). So of course, Nora didn’t fear her powers.

I wish someone had validated Michael’s fears instead of brushing them away with a few words of you have no darkness or in Isobel’s case you aren’t like Jones/Noah. A person does not have to be evil or bad to misuse a power like mind control & for that misuse to have dire consequences. Can you imagine being able to make people do what you want them to do at any time? Even if your intent is to do good, it doesn’t mean it’s something that should be done or won’t have major consequences. Sort of like the ends justify means conversation between Jones and Liz. What is the line, do you recognize it and what’s to stop a person from inches towards the line and what happens if you cross it?

So, my wish for next season is for Michael like Max is given time to process what he has learned about himself and his powers. My wish is for Michael is to continue to struggle with when, how and if he should use the mind control power. That way even when faced with a racist sheriff that is holding a gun to his friends, he is careful, asks for consent and never takes advantage of this tremendous power. In addition, I do think it would be very interesting to continue to explore these powers and how they maybe could change a person? Take Max’s power to give and take away life force. He killed Noah and used that life force (and his own) to bring Rosa to back to life. Seems like a good exchange but ethically and morally having a person decide who lives or dies? And how would this all fit into religion with Dallas being a priest? These could make for some great conversations and strong character development. Fingers crossed we see some of it and not just get told in passing.

The music in the episode was amazing. The beginning with Nothing Else Matters and Jones is a tux… I mean… Also, the ending with the fight sequence, building the suspense, only for the reveal to be that Jones had wanted them all to come so he could trap Liz, Dallas, and Max along with Isobel and Michael (for extra leverage) in his mind. I’m confused about why everyone was sitting but Michael was standing? Is he able to move or is he able to resist his father’s mind control? I’m really looking forward to next week and for Team Human to come to the rescue (maybe).

Favorite lines of the episode:

Sanders to Michael: “You are just a pair of sad puppy dog eyes and a cowboy hat”

Jones to Team Alien & Liz: “Well, everyone seems a little tense” (LOL I love Jones!)

Dallas (or Isobel) writing on the wall to Jones: “KNOCK, KNOCK”

[leefi]

Starira MBTI III - Frontier

1. Seisho

2. Siegfeld

3. Frontier

4. Rinmeikan

Aruru Otsuki: ENFP

Just go and reread Karen’s entry.

FJDKSLDKL in all seriousness leaps and bounds of Ne from both of them. There’s a reason they often catch themselves saying the same things and why Karen sees so much of herself in Aruru. Not only are they both Ne doms, they’re the exact same type! Ne and Fi together hold that naturally sunny and joyful disposition they both have, and that extreme, passionate love for the people they’re close to. And her Ne may be even higher off the charts than Karen’s. From the entirety of Captain Twins, to improvising lines on stage with Misora as kids, to being the embodiment of Frontier’s free-spirit, pioneering nature - all of this is extroverted intuition, chasing at every possibility under the sun, no matter how absurd it may seem. Her STRONG tertiary Te -- which is much stronger than Karen's, by the way -- supports her dominant Ne, and this is where her gung-ho attitude comes from. “We have to write our own play?? No problem, wheel out the whiteboard! Nobody has an idea yet?? That’s fine, I’ll throw one out and get the ball rolling! Misora and I need three more people for our play? What are we waiting for, let’s go find them!!” All of this is tertiary extroverted Thinking, implementing your ideas out in the world.

Misora Kano: ISTP

She is so compelling!!! I wish we got to see more out of her!! She's already cultivated so many of her talents (and her function stack is pretty strong for such a young age too) - she'd really shine if you just gave her the spotlight! The second ISTP in this series who had her inferior Fe develop super early due to having 1) a ton of siblings and working with so many people from such a young age and 2) a gf with Fi in her dom/aux slot. I’m gonna start with her Fe again because, like Futaba’s, it’s so strong for how young she is - she is quicker to pay attention to social convention than Fi-aux Aruru, scolding her whenever she refers to older Karen by her first name, for example (don't let her see Aruru call Akira -chan). We see aux Se in how energetic and in the moment she is - she grew up acting and doing backstage work and helping her family with their troupe, and we never really see her stuck in her head or wondering about things that aren’t in the here-and-now. Her partnership with ENFJ Michiru to create a new Troupe is going to be SO SO GOOD in the future. They really are going to draw the best out of each other. As polar opposites, they have the exact same functions, just in reverse (like Karen and Junna, or Hikari and Ichie)! So Misora has Ti-Se-Ni-Fe, and Michiru has Fe-Ni-Se-Ti. It’s the perfect setup for them to complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

Honestly, I really wish we saw more out of Misora - she deserves more than just being Aruru’s sidekick, and that Feeling function in her inferior slot (extroverted, no less) means that it’s difficult for her to communicate what exactly it is that she wants, both for herself and from others. Like with Mahiru, it’s intuitively hard for her to speak up and say “Hey, I feel like I’m being left behind”. Somebody needs to tap Aruru on the shoulder and communicate that to her - Fe-dom Tsukasa, maybe, or ideally, Misora herself. I think that she’s been kind of shouldered into the straight-man role not just by Aruru but everyone at Frontier because they all have such big personalities (like...she’s got Aruru and Lalafin taking up space, which is already more than enough), and she’s likely been in this position before. She’s been helping her parents run a troupe since she was a child, and now she’s (unfortunately) playing second fiddle to Aruru for the most part at Frontier. She’s been mostly stuck using her Ti and Se, and I really really hope that AA has us seeing her use more of that tertiary Ni and advocating for the goals she has for herself. She deserves to shine so much!!

One final note - I find it so interesting that both ISTPs in this series have such strong senses of faith - Misora is cast as the Faith arcana (and, unlike some of the other girls who are cast as the “opposites” of their personalities, Misora’s seems true to hers), and Futaba obviously has that reverent faith in Kaoruko (and is canonically religious???). It’s a bit antithetical to the ISTP personality type, which values its individuality above all else and tends to be a bit of a rebel. I don’t have much to add here - it’s just an interesting observation.

Shizuha Kocho: INFJ

Lalafin: The Count was such a great actor! I’m sure he would’ve been great on stage too…

Shizuha: Heh heh, maybe!

Shizuha: But still, he never went back to his original persona even after his revenge. He had to stay as the count for the rest of his life.

Shizuha: And he was able to do that because he was good at becoming other people.

Shizuha: ...Although I cannot say if that meant he was happy.

Lalafin: Even after his revenge, he still wasn’t happy...That’s one point of view to make his sadness stand out even more!

Shizuha: Right?...Yes. I think I’ll stick to how I’m doing things now.

THE!! LOVE!! OF!! MY!! LIFE!!!!!!! I CANNOT OVERSTATE ENOUGH HOW MUCH I LOVE SHIZUHA KOCHO!!!! She was my first favorite character in the game (and still is!! But frontier gets no content :’)). As I said with Maya, INFJs are old souls - wise and idealistic, but typically reserved. Auxiliary extroverted Feeling shows up in how she suppresses herself so as not to intimidate or make others feel inferior - we see the exact same thing play out with INFJ sibling Koharu. She’s mysterious but amiable, kind and awe-inspiring - just like INFJ sibling Maya. And we see that token INFJ loneliness playing out with all three, as well. What I love most about Shizuha is that she’s a person of extremes. She is so cerebral and intelligent and dignified in a way that reminds you of Maya but she’s also so!!!! Fucked in the head!!!!! Ni doms baby!!!!!!! (I am fucking crazy. But i am free).

Unhealthy INFJs can develop this obsession with making themselves martyrs, and I don’t think I need to rehash out her AA conversation with Aruru (and her entire philosophy towards acting - see above quote) to get that across. I want to dive into this more. Truly I do. Shizuha deserves 10 pages of writing. But she is one of the last I'm writing and I've clicked through 3 different AA stories and accidentally found Rui and Yukko's first so I diverted and finished writing Yukko's entry and I've already spent so much time on this oh god the doc is already 18 pages single spaced uhhhh Shizuha my loveliest love I will write your character deep-dive later I prommy <333

(Also, seeing her synergy with Aruru is soo so cute. INFJ/ENFP supremacy!! Same dynamic as MayaKaren!)

Lalafin Nonomiya: ESFP

(Se dom).

She’s so athletic and energetic and in-the-moment and improvisational and quick on her feet (Se, Se, Se)! Fi over Ti aux because she has a much more subjective view of what’s “fun” - “what do I want to do? Where do I want to go? What kind of character do I want to play???". She’s got that trademark genki energy that so many ExFPs share, particularly that childlike zeal that she and ESFP sister Ichie both have. In her own way, Lalafin embodies Frontier’s pioneering, fun-loving spirit just as much as Aruru.

Tsukasa: Lupin is usually portrayed as mysterious and polished, no? But the way you perform him is more fresh and open -- almost like the main character from a children’s book.

Lalafin: Oh! Come to think of it, the book on Lupin I read when I was younger was written for kids!

Lalafin: It was about this big and had a realistic image of Lupin right on the cover!!

I don’t really have too much to add. She’s just a perfect embodiment of that excitable, fun-loving Se and Fi dom/aux duo. Childlike and simplistic-appearing at a first glance, but there's such a fire in there - just compare her to her ESFP twin Ichie!

Tsukasa Ebisu: ENFJ

I can see that use of Se - love of fashion, sweets, dancing, going out and enjoying life - yes, she had overprotective parents and could just be making up for lost time, but I think that nice material things are something she just genuinely enjoys for herself as well. So at first I thought ESFP, but we can’t ignore that enormously caring attitude she has for others and the way she gravitates towards caretaker roles, which indicates more Fe than Fi. So ENFJ it is! She has that Fe and Se, and we see that inferior Ti in how she struggled to realize something was wrong when she was trapped in the play. I love, love, loved her leading role in the Arise All You Sons event and how she and Yachiyo interacted to bring out the best in each other - we saw Yachi using a lot of that aux Ti to support Tsukasa’s inferior Ti and dominant Fe!

Her dominant Fe is SOOOO clear and contrasts to every other girl in Arise All You Sons. She’s the first to go “hey, wait, hold on - I’m not sure what (inferior Ti) but something about this feels artificial, and I don’t think it’s actually going to help the kids”. Inferior Ti/Dominant Fe speaks before thinking too - “Why did I say that?! Why did I do x?!” - it isn’t until aux Ti Yachiyo shows up to help her that she’s able to work through her thoughts. While she can get stuck in the rut of her own mind sometimes, Tsukasa is one of the most caring, empathetic, and mature characters in the series - and she does all this without sacrificing her own autonomy and individuality, which can be difficult for an Fe-dom to do.

[pliablehead]

saw In The Heights last night, it was a truly incredible movie musical experience and I would not have wanted anything else to be my First Movie Back with covid restrictions letting up, and now like..... there are two wolves inside you, one that’s like IT WAS SO PERFECT AND BEAUTIFUL 10/10 and the other that’s been going “... --AND ANOTHER THING,” for the past 12 hours lmaoooo so here are some Thoughts that No One asked for*  *my friend very explicitly did ask for them and they are most of the reason I am making this post

ok visually? Stunning. Literally they did not miss a stitch with the Aesthetic and it felt soooo Real and Lived In like I saw some twitter takes being like “this is a new bar for what it is possible to do and what SHOULD be getting done with movie musicals” and I could not agree more? it felt so much more Tangible than most movie musicals I’ve see while at the same time totally playing with the fantastical and breaking lots of conventions that would bind a realistic non-musical film and I loved it. aaaaah. 

most of the things that I didn’t particularly vibe with were the adjustments that were made to the plot/story arc? largely the shifting around of the timeline/circumstances surrounding the lottery ticket. I understand why, and what they were going for, but it was SO bizarre to be trying to parse the plot around what was happening with that in the film vs what I am used to from the stage show... i think it made a couple of moments really clumsy. ESPECIALLY the edits that were made to the content and structure of Paciencia y Fe as a number. 

obviously the plotline with the Rosario family was very different, also. her mom was written out as having passed away (??; a weirdness I didn’t care for was that this basically left Kevin as the only real “parent” character in the community, this odd vibe that none of them really had adults or caretakers outside of him and the now-ailing Claudia); the tension between Nina, Kevin, and Benny was all totally reconfigured, in ways that I think, again, made sense for what they were doing, and told what was maybe a healthier narrative (I did like the elimination of the racial/ethnic Disapproval re: Benny a black man wooing Nina a Puerto Rican woman, that would have been so tonally wrong for the message they were aiming for with this movie particularly in 2021), but that also I think kind of muddied the waters around what was even happening there in the first place. Some of the potency and passion was taken out of the Benny/Nina romance arc and I think if I hadn’t had a) the prior knowledge of their whole Deal from the stage show and b) the absolutely GORGEOUS When The Sun Goes Down sequence, this would have just been like... Cute, but not especially interesting or compelling. 

i actually think that a LOT of the characterizations of the main cast were just like, one step weaker or Lacking from what I wanted out of them. I wanted Nina to be more fraught, with what was happening with her (her ‘I was searched’ speech at the dinner almost got me there but that was just one moment). I wanted Benny’s on-my-grind energy from the show to be more prominent, especially since I think that really informs his whole steeze at the start of 96000 about what his real dream is and I felt like without it his verse didn’t mean anywhere near as much and was just a cute little “if I had a ton of money” fantasy. I wanted Usnavi to be WAY more of a dork-- I’ve honestly been saying from the absolute get-go that while I adore Anthony Ramos and I always knew he’d do a great job in this role and I’m glad he was there as one of Lin’s ride-or-dies, I just think he is entirely too handsome and cool for this part. I missed the manic energy of him being like, the “funny guy” in the squad vs. Benny being the hot, suave one. Even his babbling at the beginning of The Club didn’t get him there for me. And I wanted Vanessa to just be tougher and brasher and sassier, lmao. That moment of them sitting on the back stoop where she was like “I’m the girl that does nails” what WAS that?? I miss Karen Olivo. I DID like that they gave her a Thing that wasn’t just “get me the fuck out of here and also I am usnavi’s sexy love interest,” but at the same time I feel like she just had way less strong and distinct of a personality, somehow. I think all my characterization issues were just an unfortunate side effect of the differences between stage acting and film acting. onstage characters HAVE to be a little bit larger than life and more forceful personality-wise to read well to the audience and to sustain that energy for the entirety of a linear live performance; on film they can afford to be a little more subtle because y’all got Cameras up in there, and you can edit all to hell. but in this situation I don’t think it helped any. 

so between my characterization grievances and my plot grievances, I think the whole thing just got like--a little bit muddy? Blackout was so strange. I’m curious to talk to my mom about it, who is a huge movie and theater person but who has never seen the stage show of ITH, to see if she found any of it kind of hard to follow. I don’t know if my confusion was as a result of being familiar with the stage version and trying to scan the film version against that, or if I’m actually on better ground having backstory to fill in the gaps with and if it would be even more weird to someone trying to sift through it for the first time. I just feel like there were parts of the movie where I knew what was going on despite what was being shown to me on screen, not because of it. weirdness. (the lottery ticket was the biggest weirdness. it undercut Paciencia y Fe SO bad.) (also musically!! the beginning of that song, and also the climactic end of When You’re Home, got hugely filtered down to soft nothings and I REALLY missed the actual big impact moments of those beats. what a shame. When You’re Home especially I felt like the actress playing Nina was not very - powerful? on that song, it fed back into the sort of weightless cuteness of parts of the Benny/Nina stuff, I really wanted her to belt it out there and I felt like Benny was driving it along wayyy more than she was. Nina felt SUPER young at times, which is like, good, because that’s what that character should be!! lmao, but she lost a little gravitas because of it I think.) almost everything they did I get why they did it though. I totally picked up what they were putting down with regard to what they were trying to do with this film and the things they wanted it to say and to mean. I think I still like the stage show better. the edits they had to make to shuffle things around into getting the original script to fit their vision for the film just felt a lil muddy and juuust barely missed the mark for me.

you know what character was note-perfect? SONNY!!!! Having an age-accurate Sonny made him MORE powerful in ways that I feel like having an age-accurate Nina made her less so. everything that kid did was incredible. The plotline they added for him in the movie was absolutely my favorite thing they changed from stage to screen, it was touched on just enough to be powerful without making it like overwrought and preachy, it was handled so well. love u. the “does your cousin dance” scene.... so incredibly good. 

96000 and No Me Diga were soooo goooooood y’all. In the pool!! All the choreo!! And as much as I griped about Paciencia y Fe it was STUNNING visually, it was done really really elegantly for what they were doing with it. I AM really bummed we lost Sunrise, although it 10000% made sense because like they basically eliminated all of the narrative stuff that comes before it that it kind of addresses (benny vs kevin, mostly) and I think trying to edit it to still make sense in context would have been bananas and mostly impossible. The motif of it snuck in there a bunch which was cute. Also bummed that by losing Camila we lost Enough, which I think is a great underrated song from this show and which I love as a moment that showcases a woman performer who is not a young love interest type, yfm? alas lol. Inutil and Hundreds of Stories are my least favorite songs from this show and I was Not especially bummed to see those go. lmao. 

ALSO........ I OBVIOUSLY KNEW LIN WAS PIRAGUERO BUT NOTHING COULD HAVE PREPARED ME FOR CHRIS JACKSON AS MR SOFTEE. I WAS CACKLING AND LOSING MY MIND SO HARD IN THE THEATER THAT I THINK EVERYONE AROUND ME THOUGHT I WAS INSANE. I AM SO SORRY BUT OH MY GOD. (I was pleasantly surprised at Lin’s voice for this role! I don’t think of him as an especially Strong Singer but he pulled it out! nice.) and so then at the end I was like “Wait but I’m bummed they never returned to the reprise/resolution of this!” and then immediately cut MYSELF off like “--WAIT OF COURSE THAT IS GOING TO BE THE AFTER CREDITS SCENE” and I was 100% right and I died all over again. god bless lin and chris. long as i got a job you got a job. amazing. literally worth the price of admission. i hope as few people get spoiled for this as possible because i want everyone to have the experience that i had of this

Ummm but anyway yeah! these are my Thoughts and Vibes! I probably do not want to debate or discuss any of them if we are not already like close legitimate friends so maybe don’t @ me! byyyyyee