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waldau-archived · 11 months ago

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i don't know anyone who writes wonwoo as perfect as you! you manage to capture his personality so well🥺could i please request a friends to lovers thing for wonu? you've been friends for YEARS and you've had your moments and hidden glances but this one night you're just sitting out and feeling the winter breeze together. he can feel you staring and asks why you're doing that..while you contemplate whether to give in and just confess. you're so overwhelmed with emotions for him but you're also so terrified to tell him bcos you're scared to change the dynamics your relationship has so far.

thank you so much for saying that about my writing, anon :') took me entirely too long but i had a sudden burst of inspiration after seeing the latest gam3 bo1 wonwoo with long hair 😵‍💫 hope you like this! title taken from the english version of crush by seventeen.

hearts in parallel — jeon wonwoo | 2,730 words | fluff

gender neutral reader. warnings: none.

wonwoo's standing outside your car in the parking lot of your office. part of you is convinced you're just imagining things, because he's supposed to be in japan. touring. doing idol things. having fun.

every morning you look forward to the pictures he's made a habit of sending whenever he's on tour, whether they're what he had for breakfast, or what a sleeping dokyeom looked like with a moustache drawn on his face. his only motive for doing that has been to convince you to let him take you on a vacation whenever you're free, because he says there's always something you'd enjoy wherever he goes.

it's sweet. it really is. even if you have to keep reminding him that you have your usual 9-5 that's so different from his schedules.

but it is wonwoo, when you focus on the way he's standing against the hood of your car, hands in his pockets as he looks at what you assume is the view of the sun setting in the distance. crazy how he'd sent a picture of it to you just today morning from another country.

suddenly, you fell woefully out-dressed. it's your usual work attire, but wonwoo's got his airport look on, complete with a dashing coat that you've never seen before. maybe he has it on only for today.

"surprise?" wonwoo asks sheepishly, when he catches you staring at him.

you blink once more, just in case. "wonwoo?" you ask, a little uncertain. "aren't you supposed to..."

"tour ended last night," he explains, pushing himself to stand properly. "i texted you afterwards."

you think back to the messages you exchanged last night, but they're a haze at best. all you can currently think of is your calendar you've been crossing things off of for a better part of the day.

any other time, you'd be extremely happy to see wonwoo, but today you don't feel like you can match his energy. "sorry," you murmur, rubbing your face. maybe if you rub it hard enough he'll disappear and you can catch up with him when you're a bit more presentable.

"hey, no," he says, catching your wrist as you pull your hands away. "you look perfectly fine. did i catch you at a wrong time?"

you realize you just said your last sentence out loud. "just tired," you say, proud of yourself at how even your voice is despite the fact that your hand is in his. "i'm glad you're here, though."

wonwoo lets go of your hand. "then is it fine if i drive you home?"

you look at him. he looks pretty serious, and you snort. "did you seriously come here just to drive me home?"

wonwoo nods. "straight from the airport. dropped my stuff home, then took a cab and came here."

no wonder he's still got the airport look on.

"you're a weird man, jeon wonwoo," you say, searching for your keys in your pocket.

"that's probably why we're friends," he deadpans, catching the keys you toss him.

"you should be sleeping," you say, chucking your bag on the backseat. "or resting at home. not being my chauffeur."

"maybe i wanted to be your chauffeur because i'm not sleepy," wonwoo replies, slipping on his seatbelt, waiting for you to do the same before starting your car. "it's been a while since we've hung out together."

that's true, you think. ever since you got this new job, your hours have been filled with work, and even though you're not overly swamped, you've been seeing your friends a bit less frequently than you would have liked. wonwoo included. and wonwoo's also had less time to spend with you, given how the band's been planning more foreign tours in the past year.

so you're glad you're spending time with him, even if you're not at your best.

"who said you don't look good?" wonwoo asks.

you bite your tongue when you realize you've spoken out your thoughts again — it's just a testament to how tired you are, with no filter between your thoughts and words. you shake your head, but wonwoo's not having any of it.

"i came here straight off my flight and i look absolutely dishevelled. you're lucky i don't mind you seeing me like this."

"your so-called dishevelled airport look is just as good as me at my best, so don't even start, okay?"

"yah," wonwoo says, laughing. "i don't appreciate you slandering yourself like that."

"fine, what do you appreciate?"

"you spending some time with me and not worrying about anything else."

blunt, as always. you appreciate it, even if it makes your heart jump a little. and it's not that you're worrying over anything: it's just the sudden nature of wonwoo's appearance that has you a little confused. but you're not complaining.

"by the way," wonwoo says, when you finally pull out onto the main road after leaving all the traffic behind, "i got you something."

"again? wonwoo, i told you i don't need souvenirs from every—"

"this was for your birthday, sweetheart," he says, pausing to pull something out of the pocket of his coat. "i still have your stuff from japan waiting to be unpacked."

"you're a menace, won," you say, hands hesitating to accept the slim box sitting on the dashboard. "i told you i didn't want anything."

"and i told you it'd be a crime if i didn't get you anything. maybe i would've listened to you if you didn't get that insanely expensive camera for me."

you glance at him. "that's—"

"—a completely valid argument," he retorts, reaching for the slim box and putting it in your lap. "i've been waiting to see your reaction ever since i got it."

shaking your head, you make a show of opening it. one thing about wonwoo is that he somehow always knows what to gift others. you could tell him you didn't want anything, and then he'd give you something you didn't even know you wanted.

case in point: there's a dainty silver chain sitting in the box, with the pendant looking very familiar. you take a closer look at it and realize—

"you didn't."

wonwoo has his mischievous grin on. "of course i did."

it's a customized engraving of your cat on the circular coin of metal, a perfect replica down to the little discoloured patch of fur on your cat's face.

you'd complained to wonwoo, once, drunkenly, about this really cute online jewellery store that sold customized necklaces. you'd never been able to find it again despite going through your search history and searching the web extensively.

now that it's sitting in your hands, you can't help but wonder how much time he must have spent tracking it down, finding the perfect picture for the engraving.

"i don't know how to thank you," you say honestly, looking at wonwoo. he still has the smile on his face, looking straight ahead.

"just wear it forever, and you're good."

"oh, emotionally manipulating me? is that how it's going to be?" you ask, tracing the chain with your finger.

"i don't think it's manipulation if it's your cat."

you can't argue with that. you snap the box shut and put it in the pocket of your jeans. "you shouldn't have, won," you say perfunctorily.

wonwoo doesn't respond, simply choosing to switch on the radio.

for once, you're not driving, and you get the chance to appreciate how beautiful the city looks when it's nearing night.

"you hungry?" wonwoo asks, when the car stops at a red light.

you shake your head. "not for a few more hours. you?"

"nope," wonwoo says, flexing his fingers on the wheel. "but tonight's a full moon night, so i was thinking we could go to the riverside and just hang out near the pier? if you're not too tired?"

you think about it. you get to hang out with wonwoo in the moonlight, which will definitely be a sight to behold. the way he's been living rent-free in your mind for a while now is embarrassing, to say the least.

"i don't mind."

you sneak glances at him when he's answers a call from dino asking him if he's free to hang out tomorrow, when he's excited to hear one of his own songs on the radio. he's cute, and the feeling's eating you up from the inside every single time you're with him.

he just looks so...boyfriend. he's let his hair grow out, and black really is his colour. not to mention his glasses which might just be your undoing.

wonwoo parks at a spot not far from the pier.

you get out of the car and immediately get hit by a gust of cool air, and you're really glad wonwoo decided to come pick you up today, because there's no way you would've come here by yourself.

the walkway around the river seems nicer than the last time you were here, bigger and better with more lights and somehow, lesser people. it's exactly what you need right now.

you fall in step alongside wonwoo, comfortably silent as you make your way from the car park, the relative silence amplifying the sound of insects chirping and people chattering around you.

you don't look down for a second, and suddenly there's a tiny pebble that gets stuck in your shoe and trips you up. you brace yourself for a slightly hard impact, but the next thing you know is that wonwoo's arm is around your waist, pulling you into himself.

"careful," he chides softly, rubbing your back for a moment before letting go. "are you okay?"

you nod mechanically.

"let's switch sides. the light's better here."

it's these little things that wonwoo does, that make you fall for him even more. what started off as a little crush is now a hopeless, helpless twinge in your heart that multiplies whenever you so much as look at him. no matter how much you've gotten better at controlling your feelings around him, you can't help but stare at how good he looks tonight, the moon highlighting his face, its silver beams running through his black hair.

you've really, really missed this. just hanging out with him. and maybe you miss the time before you realized your feelings were so earth-consumingly deep that it began clouding every interaction the two of you have had.

"do you have the box with you?" wonwoo asks, all of a sudden.

you question his words for a second, then remember. "yeah," you say, patting at the slim box sitting in the pocket of your jeans.

"let me put it on for you?"

what should have been a calm night out with wonwoo by the riverside has now ended up into you becoming a mess of nerves, your skin burning where his fingertips touch you, fastening the clasp into place. you can't see how it looks on you right now, but wonwoo already has a solution.

"stand here," he says, directing you to a particularly bright lamppost. "you need to see how good it looks on you."

you try protesting, but wonwoo brushes away your concerns. "let me just take a picture. just one."

it's never just one picture with wonwoo, and you can't stop him when he has his mind set on something. you give in and stand under the light and try to muster up a real smile for the camera. you succeed because it's wonwoo standing behind the camera, pulling a funny face that makes you laugh.

he shows you the photos once he's done taking them, and you're not looking at the camera in a single one. he always makes you look better than you do, somehow. you return the favour, taking pictures of him posing in the same spot.

"these are good," wonwoo remarks, scrolling through the photos. "i'm glad you got the moon, too."

you nod before you say something embarrassing like you're the moon, though. you watch as wonwoo takes some more pictures of the sky, and the life around the riverside. the restaurants and shops light up the view for you but you can't help but just look at wonwoo. he looks so serene and in his environment that you can't help but wonder if having wonwoo as your boyfriend would entail dates like this on a regular basis.

"you're staring," is all he says, after two full minutes of silence.

you hum and slowly turn your gaze away from him, focusing on the trees in the distance, trying to play it off casually. rookie error.

"is everything okay?" he asks, pocketing his phone and moving a bit closer to you. "want to go home?"

you shake your head. "you?"

"no, i'm fine."

and then his hand is covering yours.

you try your best not to freak out, but under his hand, your hand is gripping the railing so tightly that you're sure your knuckles are white.

"sorry i missed your birthday," wonwoo says, leaning in close enough that he's towering over you. it's the perfect height to k—

"it's not your fault," you say, licking your lips. "you had work. and you even called me when you were free."

"still. it doesn't make up for me not being here."

"i don't mind," you say honestly, your other hand gripping the railing for strength you don't currently possess. "you're here now."

wonwoo hums, seemingly dissatisfied. your hand's genuinely burning under his, and you resist the urge to check if it's on fire.

"well, for what it's worth," wonwoo says, turning to face you, "i hope you had a good day, and i hope i'm there for your birthday next year. like a good friend."

"you are a good friend, won," you say quietly. "the best."

you wonder if you should just give in and tell him how you feel. given you know how mature he is, you doubt he's going to shun you the way you're afraid he will, but part of you doesn't want your dynamic to change. he's so easy to talk to, and he knows so much about you, and you're afraid of having to find it all over again in another person. maybe it's for the best to let this moment pass.

"you are too, sweetheart." his thumb brushes against the back of your hand, and something in you snaps.

"would you still consider me the best if i told you i liked you?"

wonwoo blinks. in the wake of his silence you can once again hear the vehicles on the road behind you, the sounds of people around you, and maybe even your heart if you shut your eyes.

"you know," he says after a while, his grip on your hand still in place, "i've been trying to give you a chance to say that for the past few months."

your brain plays a comically loud record scratch sound. you look up at him, but he's smiling.

"what."

"i...was hoping there would be a small chance you liked me, and then jeonghan let it out one night when we were out drinking. but i couldn't make the first move because i was scared."

"you were scared? of?"

wonwoo takes his hand back and rubs his neck sheepishly. "i didn't know if he was telling me the truth or making things up. you know jeonghan."

"...yeah," you say, brain still trying to get back on track. "so right now i have one more person on my hitlist."

"whoa, what? i just...implied i liked you!"

"and i just said— wait. what?"

wonwoo laughs. "do you want to be on the same page as me?"

you nod slowly, still processing things. still not believing your luck.

"here's what we'll do, then," wonwoo says, wrapping an arm around your shoulder. "i'm going to drive you home tonight. then we can take jeonghan off your hitlist and send him some more alcohol, just as a thanks."

you wouldn't even have imagined this a few hours ago. you trail your fingers along the railing, reaching out to hold wonwoo's hand again. he meets your fingers with ease. "and what do i get in return?"

"you get to call me your boyfriend. and kiss me, if you like." wonwoo's leaning over you again. it's the perfect height to kiss you.

and he does end up kissing you, this time.

taglist: @bookyeom @wootify @strnsvt @cloudycaramel @thepoopdokyeomtouched @minnieminshi @nonononranghaee

#just had to get this out of my drafts #literally NO one like him btw #jeon wonwoo #jeon wonwoo fluff #wonwoo #wonwoo fluff #fluff #seventeen #seventeen fluff #svt #svt fluff #waldau writes #req

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letteredlettered · 26 days ago

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Hello!! I've read all your hp works and I wanted to say that I love them all and they've made me feel feelings. The way you write drarry and just hp in general is very close to my heart.

That being said, there is a question I wanted to ask you as a writer. What does plagiarism mean and what does it constitute? Like... I hear that term a lot but just reading a definition is not making it clear to me. As far as I understand, copying someone's work, word by word is plagiarism. Does it also count as one if I copy someone's idea but just modify it a bit. Carry on is such a work and it's resemblance to hp and main pairs similarity to drarry are well known. Even hp itself has a evident similarity to Neil Gaiman's ‘The books of magic’ , at least as far as the titular character goes. It was also said that maybe jk stole the idea from there but Neil later said that it wasn't the case. So I'm guessing that's not plagiarism.

Let's take another example, I love you fic away childish things .. so if I wrote a fic with the same idea.. is that plagiarism? Or if I copy the plot? What if I liked a particular scene very much.. or a sentence very much and I used it as a base for a new fic.. or used that scene/sentence itself but in a different context is that plagiarism? I'm sure a lot of people have read Running On Air by eleventy7 in the drarry fandom. So if I use the sentence “Going away is easy, coming home is hard.” in a fic I write (maybe in another fandom or the same) does that count as plagiarism? Ofc I'm assuming that other people will know which scene or sentence I'm using on account of said fic being a famous work (in this case, fandom). But there could be a case where the source is not well known. What if I took something from a particular folktale of a community or country? Would that count as plagiarism? Jk Rowling herself has said that she used a lot of info while writing hp from various stories, folktales, religious books, lore and some good old tropes of said genre and pure imagination. Most of it was done unconsciously while writing. I guess it doesn't count as plagiarism if the place where you're copying from doesn't have a particular author (for eg folktales etc). Like.. God is not gonna sue me if I wrote things similar to some religious text. His followers on the other hand... yeah best not go there haha. But yeah.. what if I used different things from various sources, like.. just picking my way across it all and using them to write a story, just mish mashing things together like a collage and making something out of it. Will that be plagiarism? Or is that just being inspired by other art? On the other hand there is a saying that every art has a genesis and nothing is original. Every work is inspired by some other work be it art, music, writing or whatever. So where does one draw a line between inspiration and plagiarism?

I know it's a very long ask and I'm using a lot of scenarios but I wanted to cover everything that might come under the word 'Plagiarism'. What are your thoughts on it? What is included in plagiarism? Specifically, in writing.

If you made it this far thank you for reading where i essentially just ramble lol. I would like to know your answer and if you have any reading material on it please point me towards them. Thank you and I hope you're doing well xoxo

Plagiarism is copying word for word. It's one kind of stealing.

Copyright infringement is also a kind of stealing. That's a legal term about copyrighted material, but laws from some countries around this issue can maybe help clarify what is socially considered stealing and what is considered fair use. "Fair use" is also a legal term (at least, in the US); it refers to reasons you can use a copyrighted work without permission. I think that what many people socially consider "not stealing," even though its using someone else's ideas, falls under fair use.

Fanfic generally falls under fair use. The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW)--which is the organization behind AO3--argues that while fanfic uses things like characters and settings from copyrighted work, fic falls under fair use because it is creative and transformative.

The transformative part is important. If you copied Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone word for word and put it on AO3, that would be plagiarism. It's not transformed in any way. But if you write a story in which Harry and Draco fall in love, you're significantly transforming the story in a way that progresses the world of literature.

Other attributes of fair use (beyond whether the work is transformative) include whether the work is done for profit, whether the market for the original copyrighted work will be impacted negatively by the derivative work, and how substantially the derivative work uses the original copyrighted work. Fanfic uses the original copyrighted work quite substantially in many cases, but if it doesn't impact the market for the original copyrighted work and isn't done for profit, that shouldn't disqualify it from fair use. This is why it's extremely important never to ask for money for a fanfic, and why any author doing that should be reported to the hosting site.

Now, you asked about the Harry Potter series. While JKR may have gotten ideas about kids attending magical schools from other books, HP differs significantly enough that whenever she was sued for copyright infringement, she won her cases. Some might call JKR's books a ripoff of other books like it, but most agree that while not terribly original, these books do not count as stealing. (I would add, though, that just because someone wins a case doesn't mean it's not stealing. Disney steal shit all the time but wins cases because they own everything.)

You also asked about Carry On. I would say about that series, too, that it is substantially different enough from other books, that it doesn't count as stealing. There are just lots of books about kids secretly going to magic school, as it turns out. But I would add that even if there were more similarities to HP than there are in Carry On, Carry On could not be considered theft, because it is transformative.

Carry On, like Lev Grossman's The Magicians, is in a conversation with books like Harry Potter, books about magical schools and books with young, Chosen One protagonists. Carry On is not a fanfic; the characters are not the same; the set-up is not the same; the plot is not the same. But it is a book that asks questions about Harry Potter, and other books like Harry Potter. It's asking, what does it mean to be the Chosen One? Isn't there something sinister about a supportive mentor figure who pushes young people into war? Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games is also in a conversation with books that have young Chosen Ones, and it asks the same questions. Carry On further asks, isn't there a strange chemistry between the archetypal Golden Boy protagonist and the archetypal schoolmate antagonist? That's something tons of high school romance stories ask, and tons of HP fics, but it wasn't something that hadn't yet been done in a magical school Chosen One series--not with homosexuality--which also makes it pretty damn transformative.

You asked about using a line from Running on Air in a different work. This is plagiarism, because it's the exact words. Using that sentence in any work would be plagiarism. Using the exact sentence that someone else wrote, not matter how well known the work, is plagiarism. You likely won't be sued, but it's still stealing in most cases.

Now, it could be acceptable to use a phrase from the sentence to reference Running on Air. You'll see this in a lot of older literature. You'll see a little phrase in quotes that isn't credited, but your Penguin footnote will tell you they were referencing another author there. That was common because everyone was expected to have read the same body of work in certain cultures.

In fandom, lots of people will have read the same fics, so it could be a nod to another author to quote their work in a fic of your own. That's generally not the culture, mostly because the reason authors would do that had more to do with literary ideas that story telling, and most fic has a focus on storytelling. And, because fandom is a non-professional community where it's easy to reach out directly to the authors, if you do want to quote something by a different author, the author should be asked--again, because that's the culture.

Some material is so often quoted that it's idiomatic. If you say "I put away childish things" in a work, that may be from the Bible, but most people know where it's from, and even if they don't, it's part of our language now. Same would be true if I put in a work "Parting is such sweet sorrow," which is from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Few would call it stealing if I didn't credit such sentences, but if you're not sure whether it's idiomatic, a place where you're using the exact words should be credited with a footnote or citation.

You asked about using a line from a folk tale. As you say, folk tales often don't have known authors--but more importantly for your question, they usually don't have definitive versions. There are literally thousands of versions of Cinderella. If you used an exact sentence the Brothers Grimm used in their version of Cinderella, that would be plagiarism. Any exact language from an extant version of the story would be the same way.

A lot of what I'm saying is about how law works (particularly in the US), which deals with what might be socially acceptable in terms of whether something is stealing or not. But many cultures do have oral traditions that have a specific way a story is told. I would argue that's still a specific version, and if you're quoting the exact language, it's still stealing. But lots and lots of cultures have stories they like to tell but always tell it a little different, in which case you might be stealing ideas but not plagiarizing. And some things that are said enough, such as "Once upon a time" and "And they lived happily ever after" are idiomatic and not consider plagiarism.

But idioms touch on an interesting topic related to idea theft, which is how likely it is that you came up with something on your own, or that anyone could without the original text. The line you quoted from Running on Air is unique, but the idea that coming home is hard is commonly accepted. Indeed, there is an idiom that states "You can't go home again," which refers to the difficulty of coming home again.

Therefore, if someone said, "Going home is difficult," it might be a paraphrase of the sentence from Running on Air, but it might also be a paraphrase of the idiom, and it would be a little silly to call that plagiarism. Paraphrasing can be plagiarism, but it depends on a) how closely the paraphrase hews to the original, b) how much is paraphrased (as soon as you're paraphrasing more than a line, it really starts to be plagiarism), and c) whether someone could reasonably come up with it themselves.

So, if someone said, "Leaving home isn't difficult, but going home again is," that paraphrase is a lot more directly related to the original sentence and could be considered plagiarism. However, in a story without any other Running on Air references or similarities, I would assume an author came up with that based on the idiom and would never even dream of accusing them of plagiarism. But if the next two sentences were also similar to lines from Running on Air, I'd get suspicious.

In fact, the original line you quoted is close enough to the idiom that if I read it in a different story, I might assume that the author hadn't remembered that that line was from Running on Air. This has definitely happened to me--I used a line or phrase that I thought was mine, but I actually got it from somewhere else. If you're doing it consciously, you shouldn't. With paraphrasing, I think it's a little dicier; some would say if you're consciously paraphrasing anything it's a problem, but if you know you read that line from Running on Air but also know you've thought about that idiom about coming home a lot, it might be fine to say something sort of similar, as long as it's not the same and as long as you're not taking other things.

The same is true with ideas. You asked about Away Childish Things. If you read that fic and decided to write a fic about Harry de-aging, you might have been inspired by me, but it isn't stealing because de-aging is a common trope in fandom. You could've come up with it yourself or by reading any number of things. You asked about the plot; if you wrote a story in which Harry and Draco got to know each other by identifying illegal potions and then while doing some of that work together, Harry got de-aged and later Draco got de-aged, I would still say that this is a plot you could have thought of yourself. If you wrote a story in which everyone was infected by a potion that was like Imperius, meaning Harry only trusted Draco to help him, and Harry de-aged, and then to cure him Harry re-aged and then Draco de-aged, and could only re-age one year at a time, dealing with all of their Hogwarts years again and revealing Draco's history with his mentally ill mother and Muggle dating, I would say...okay, that's hewing pretty closely to Away Childish Things and feels a bit like you took something from me.

If you called a shop in your fic Tailored Tinctures, that's very specific, and I would say you took something from me. If you had an indicator solution in which you had to dip your thumb and your thumb turned cerulean to indicate a positive, I would say you took something from me. For these kinds of questions, it has to do with the amount you took but also the specificity of it.

As I mentioned, fandom has its own culture. Usually if you get an idea from someone else it's a very good idea to drop that author a line and say, "Hey, I got inspired, do you mind if I do?" But I don't do that when there are a hundred fics that all have the same idea, because by then it's starting to be fanon, and using fanon is not considered in this culture to be stealing.

Different people have different ideas about this, but I do feel that I'm pretty close to the general thought on this. Some people will say that any time you are inspired by anything you must credit, or you must ask, or you must never use it to begin with. But most of us are inspired by things all the time, and the only times we claim we aren't are the times when we really can't remember what the original inspiration was, or when things are so jumbled that ten different things inspired one idea. In those cases it isn't true that we aren't using other works, only that we can't identify them.

#answer to an ask

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rindragon-from-twewy · 4 months ago

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Swap au character intros part 4!!!

Spoilers for specifically Raincode Chapter 0 ahead!

Let's start with Zilch! In this au his forte becomes Audial Aptitude - thanks in part to his animal ears. If you've seen my art of Zilch before, you'll probably have noticed I like drawing him with his animal ears as his actual ears and not on top of his hat. It's cuz I generally just hate the ambiguity of it. Are the animal ears real? Are they just on his hat? Why do they move? Why does he have 4 ears? So I just like making his animal ears his only set of ears. That being said, apparently they're fox ears??? I always assumed wolf??? But I digress- His uniform has been changed up to be reminiscent of an orchestra conductor cuz hahah audio. His face tattoos are meant to be those spotify code scanners - the right cheek leading to It's All So Incredibly Loud by Glass Animals and We Own The Night by Chandler Kinney on the left (cuz I think it's funny!) As for his last name change, "Allegro" in musical terms means "to be played very quickly" which I thought would suit him quite well as someone who can solve cases really fast. His personality is basically the same, the only alteration being that he carries around a notepad and pen in order to help keep track of all the hundreds of things he's constantly hearing all the time.

Next is Pucci. She's received Spectal Projection from Melami and if you thought being good at hearing made her existential then BOY HOWDY does being able to use her body as a vessel for spirits fuck her up even more! Originally I was going for a classic "fortune teller" look for her but I instead went with a cute seamstress-y sort of look instead cuz I couldn't really get what I had in mind initially to look good. She wears a tape measure like a scarf and a thimble as a necklace charm. Her eyes, while cute, have a sort of dead look in them that make others wonder if she's even alive at all. Her last name has been changed from Lavmin to Lavender because in flower language, they're representive of purity, serenity, grace and calmness - all traits she seems to exhibit until she actually starts talking and you realise she's just sort of awkward and shy. She finds it easier to talk to ghosts/spirits then living creatures and honestly probably gets along reeeaaally well with this AU's version of Vivia.

Now, you may be looking at Aphex and going "Rindude! You changed fuck all about him!" And yeah, you're right... The only major changes I made was switching out his coat, boots and like doubling his muscle mass. He's strong. He could beat you up, no questions asked and it definitely shows! His forte is now Thoughtography but he's just as angry as ever - originating from the "front lines" that canon Zange mentioned in his own backstory. For that reason, his coat is inspired by WW2 trenchcoats and while my art doesn't show it very well, everything he's wearing looks and smells like he's crawled straight out of a dumpster. Originally I was going to change his last name to Harkness as an homage to Captain Jack Harkness, a WW2 soldier inspired character from (surprise, surprise) Doctor Who but considering the fact I did that exact same thing with an oc of mine for my A levels earlier this year... I instead went with Tyler; an homage to another Doctor Who character called Rose Tyler who is also a badass blonde <3

And that's all the details I'm sharing for now! It's a little strange considering I've written the Storm Cypher fanfic about half way through its chapter 0 already so I have a lot more to say about the train gang then I did anyone else - since they've already had stuff actually written for them. Melami and Zange's swap au designs will drop like... as soon as I figure out how to draw elderly people. So soon, hopefully! But yeah, I'm cooking super good atm I just can't really share much due to the nature of writing lol. I've been loving getting asks about it though! Deadass, it makes me kick my legs and giggle to know people are crazy enough to care about this AU- >w<

#master detective archives: rain code #raincode #swap au #fanart #zilch alexander #pucci lavmin #aphex logan #master detective archives: storm cypher

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starrysharks · 2 months ago

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STARRYSHARKS FAQ: 2!

this FAQ will go over some of the questions about my process that i get in my askbox. some disclaimers:

ANYONE who asks any questions that have been answered in either FAQ will be ignored.

PLEASE don't take this FAQ as gospel or assume that it's viable art advice. it is not. i am not a professional, i am a teenager who draws in her free time and therefore many of these answers will involve things that break common "laws" of art, logic, and anatomy. this is just how i personally go about my illustrations. please also don't take me or any individual artist as your sole inspiration, you will not get anywhere believe me. art is like a balanced diet. if you eat sweets all the time, you'll get sick - but if you only eat veggies and healthy food, you'll get bored. try to take inspiration from a vast range of artists, even those you don't think you'd really enjoy. and most importantly, LEARN THE FUNDEMENTALS OF ART!!!! even just a little bit of knowledge can go a long way, regardless of how simple or realistic you want your artstyle to be. refusing to learn fundamentals had my art looking janky for years.

ok enough waffle let's get started!

Q: HOW DO YOU DRAW FACES?

A: it depends.

there's lots of things you can do to a face to make it unique. the starting point is the facial features themselves - eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth... if they're the same for every character with the only uniqueness being in eyecolor or something like that, you get same face syndrome.

so, take your characters and apply some diverse facial features. certain facial features have certain character connotations too. like downturned eyes implying a laid-back or tired character, or a 3-shaped mouth implying a catty character, something like that.

but, for me, facial diversity isn't enough. it's not like you go out and everyone has the same head shape. so, i tend to try and get creative with face shape, and depending on how thin or wide the shape is, you can move around the facial features too.

these examples are a little shitty but that's because i put them together in 10 minutes. you can see the effect in my actual characters, who have more effort put into them, and how no character looks alike.

other than that, i tend to try and give every character a different eye shape and pupil "type" - so while krankenstein and romèo might have simple black dot eyes, octavia and vivica have large multicolor anime esque eyes, onion has cartoony circle eyes, and so on. if you just switch things around enough, even characters with similar face shapes will look unique. and even if they don't, doppelgangers do exist in real life.

Q: HOW DO YOU DRAW HANDS?

A: once again it depends. some characters have regular shaped hands while some have really tiny hands that only have 3-4 fingers instead of 5. usually my larger characters will have smaller hands but that isn't always the case.

but for the standard hand, i tend to have a line between the palm/base and the fingers. and then i um...add the fingers i guess😭 there's usually a lot of abstraction when it comes to hands for me, because i'm not the best at drawing them. usually either the last three fingers or the middle two will be connected as well depending on the pose.

Q: HOW DO YOU DRAW FURRIES?

A: i don't really know myself. i still don't know how to draw most furry species especially canines, god i hate canines!!! well not really, i can just never draw their snouts. really i draw furries like i would human, just with larger thighs and further back lower legs. and fur too. i like to exaggerate the nails too. and of course add fur, usually at the joints.

Q: HOW DO YOU DO LINEART?

A: i draw over the sketch. i do the sketch in thin, low opacity lineart, and go over it in varying thickness based on the perspective/desired look to get that comic book varied thickness look. the eraser will be your best friend more than the pen here, cuz there's a lot of cleaning up with both the sketch and the final lineart to have everything looking sharp.

Q: CAN YOU GIVE A STEP BY STEP GUIDE OF HOW TO DO YOUR STYLE?

A: no and i will never be able to. there is no formula to my style, i break every rule i make for myself. i barely follow any of the answers i write in these QNAs. they are not rules or steps but rather just me explaining my habits in art. i never have a checklist when i draw, i just do these things intuitively based on years of drawing. this might sound like some stuck up "it comes naturally" thing but trust me IT DOES NOT COME NATURALLY!!! these habits are born from over a decade of drawing. and besides, like i said before, with how varied i try to make my character designs any step by step would never be universal to my style. i'm really sorry but that's the truth. either way i hope this QNA helps.

#ask zeno #qna #faq

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alinaastarkov · 2 months ago

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I kind of fell down the jonrya rabbit hole and would like to hear more opinions. I'm not convinced that George gave up on JonArya. No one has proof of this or can pinpoint exactly where he was abandoned. No character has replaced Arya's importance to Jon and vice versa, and I don't think that will ever happen. Their relationship is the strongest in asoaif and is treated as a driving force and something separate from the rest, and I ask myself why. What is the reason for so much emphasis? ADWD is the book with the most clues, since Jon spends a lot of time agonizing over her. He dies for her in the end, and she is his last thought. Not to mention that famous line about the heart, which is very romantic coded. The foreshadowing didn't vanish with the first books, and I truly wonder w h y. Does anyone have any interesting theories about them or speculation?

When I re-read an AMA from George, I was quite surprised by this response.

Has there been a character that you have given a reprieve to, or maybe deviated from the path you originally were going to send them on? If so, whom?

No, not really.

In some cases the chronologies have diverged from what I originally intended, but the overall character arcs remain the same.

This was years after the 1993 outline. And in 2016, he stated that he would continue with the endings he had in mind since 1991.

Also, this is from SSM:

Question: How different is the plot from what he originally envisioned?

GRRM: Not different - just more of it. It has grown in complexity but he likes it that way because it feels real to him. - SSM 2010

Some more quotes.

"But the size is different, and I've introduced some other elements to the books, but it's still the same characters, the '91 characters."

"Some major characters — yes, I always had plans, what Tyrion's arc was gonna be through this, what Arya's arc was gonna be through this, what Jon Snow's arc is gonna be. "

"Who is the most major character you've changed you mind about your plans for?

I don't want to reveal what I've planned for some of these characters, but I'm pretty well on track with most of the major characters. It's minor characters like Bronn that assume greater importance."

After a re-reading, I started to wonder… Why did they give up on being together if they did everything to be by each other's side? They are their true selves with each other, so why shouldn't they be together? Or share their lives together? I've seen some people claim that their relationship will never be the same. And yes, that's true. But isn't that applicable to any relationship in asoiaf? They are deliberately written as something too deep and an intense transcendental bond that no one else has; if they have no chance of thriving, no one does. And as much as George is accused of doing things for shock value, he cares about consistency. He definitely doesn't treat this relationship as trivial to be shattered. Jon is Arya's first priority. He is her home. They love each other unconditionally, and there’s no one Jon loves as much as he does Arya, no doubt on that. My impression is that George may have created an infrastructure for them to end up together somehow. Not necessarily in the way he initially envisioned it, but as soulmates who find refuge in each other and are saved by their unique bond that inspires them to live. Resurrected Jon will probably take the FitzChivalry Farseer route. I doubt he'll come back super damaged because he needs to be reasonably okay for some plot lines. And George always intended for all 5 main characters to survive so.

I would be more inclined to think that everything was scrapped if Jon's arc in ADWD was vastly different. George not only deepened their connection and recycled an old plot line, but also introduced powerful new themes. They are each other's hearts and homes. This approach is very rare in this universe. And no other relationship is treated with this same importance. Why should we pay so much attention to them? What is George's point in this? Like, a lot of time passed between 1993 and 2011. He had more than enough time to rewrite Jon's arc and remove Arya's influence. But he continues to keep these characters intensely and emotionally connected throughout all the books. If he accidentally wrote them as soulmates, wouldn't it be easier to remove it after the first book? I have some vague ideas of what he's going to do with them. But I genuinely don't think it's out of the question as so many fans confidently claim

sorry for taking so long to answer this anon! it was mostly because i agree with everything you said and couldn't think of what to add. i agree there seems to be consensus that george initially planned for them but changed his mind, probably after the first/second book. however, as you say, it then makes no sense that jon's adwd arc is the way it is. for me, it's the most explicitly romantic we get, with many of jon's thoughts (i want my bride back, imagining arya in ramsay's bed, winter's lady etc.) being things a brother cannot innocently think about his sister (despite what some people say and i worry about their relationship with their sibling tbh). if it was scrapped, i wonder how they explain adwd? (they mostly don't, explain it away as platonic, or pretend these thoughts are just about his 'family'). there's also the fact that george's affc outline (before affc and adwd were split) had jon going to and probably dying in hardhome, removing his rescue of arya and betrayal because of that entirely. george explicitly altered his adwd plot to include more arya. i frankly would be amazed at the ga's lack of awareness of the books they claim to love if j*nsas didn't exist

#anonymous #asoiaf #jonrya #jon snow #arya stark

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dartagnantt · 9 months ago

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It's a Trap! | Dangerous Spells to keep those pesky adventurers out of your tower!

PDFs of this and more can be found over on at my Patreon here!

Some trapping spells, which while not technically 'sealing' as per the theme, are similar, that and I think the ranger needs more iconic spells. These spells, are (at least initially) inspired by the Snare spell from Xanathar's which I modify here for… reasons, and because another thing I like in my spells are the ability to scale. Which I made sure every one of these could do.

As I alluded to before, these spells are designed for rangers, and only really have expanded options, because, making things is the artificer's thing, and wizards classically have wacky traps. But, with the ranger in mind, almost all of these spells have a material you need to gather or pre-prepare which seems like a vary ranger thing to do.

Guillotine

A classic dungeon trap, and one of the few whose materials cannot be improvised but I couldn't help myself. Now the party barbarian can kill their foes in their sleep, assuming they lend you their axe

Pitfall

A classic trap and one whose construction seems very in the vein of what a ranger would produce

Rake-in-the-Grass

I couldn't resist, this idea was just to funny to pass up. It's not powerful in the slightest, but incredibly irritating and I made it a ritual for the sole purpose of, if you were to put in the time, you could absolutely booby trap a massive area… assuming you had enough rakes, I'm sure there's a feat for that somewhere. I considered making it a cantrip based on how weak it was, but instead decided that the 8 hour duration was still too powerful for that, so ritual it was.

Rising Action

Another classic dungeon trap and a contender for the spell with the most oddly specific material component. I seem to have a thing for rising pillars that crush people.

Rockfall

Speaking of crushing, rocks fall and everyone die, or are moderately inconvenienced if my experience in Skyrim is anything to go by.

Sling Snare

This is like the snare spell, as follows, but with the comedic power of those traps in cartoons that involve flinging the offending party a great distance.

Snare

As mentioned before, this is based roughly on the spell of the same name from Xanathar's but with the important change of, if it's not triggered, giving you the rope, an actually useful material and one of the few here that actually costs something, back.

Sudden Spikes

A final familiar dungeon trap with some built in versatility, in case you want to stab people with adamantine spikes.

And now to plug my stuff. I release homebrews weekly over on my Patreon. Anyone who pledges $1 or more per post don't have to wait a month to see them, and also help fund my being alive habit.

At the moment, they have exclusive access to the following:

Judgement Domain

The Greatwyrm Patron

Breaking and Exiting

Dungeon Delver's Survival Guide

I also have three classes, and a splatbook over on DriveThrueRPG to check out:

The Rift Binder. A class specialising in summoning monsters and controlling the battlefield.

The Witch Knight. A class that combines swords and sorcery in the most literal way.

The Werebeast. A class that turns you into a half beast to destroy your foes.

d'Artagnan's Adventurer Almanac. A compendium of races, subclasses, feats, spells, monsters and more!

#d&d 5e #d&d #spells #d&d homebrew #d&d5e #druid #ranger #wizard #artificer

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moretheta · 3 months ago

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my personal thoughts below the cut:

gonna say no to benjamin, personally. partially because i trust longhi's judgement on the matter, but mostly because it just would not make sense to go to such lengths for a person who is already at the top. all beyond would need to do was stack up the military and let benjamin's connections do the rest of the work. also, not very interesting story wise (would be kind of insane if nasubi's firstborn wasn't even his own lmao). 1/10

camilla actually has a lot going for her as a candidate. i think the fact that she already has curse users on her side speaks for itself- i could see beyond being the one to put that into place. everything we know about camilla makes it seem like she's not someone who's much into planning or relying on others. on the other hand, she would undoubtably be tough to control- not good for making beyond's puppet king dreams come true. i also saw someone say she bears a similar mentality to (isaac) netero and beyond: namely, a selfish pursuit of her own interests, and the will to do absolutely anything to accomplish them. 7/10

zhang lei: i'm already 90% sure he's meant to be the son of onior longbao, so he's really not a top candidate. not to mention the idea of him being such a senior prince who doesn't know nen or is surrounded by other competant people who know nen doesn't make me feel like he's being supported by beyond behind the scenes. 1/10

i'm hearing a lot of tserriednich talk, mostly due to his resemblance (debatable) to young netero and his vast nen potential. personally i'm not convinced: i think beyond would have put more defensive countermeasures into protecting his child; including, say... a loyal retinue of guards!? like if tserriednich wasn't such a monster at nen he would be dead right now. all of his guards seem either indifferent, scared, enjoy the way he enables violence, or actively plotting to kill him. not a whole lot of loyalty. also.... it would be kind of boring story-wise IMO. like he's already got so much going on, it makes the world feel kinda small. 4/10

i don't really see tubeppa as them either, mostly for the same reasons as zhang lei ; a senior prince who was never taught nen / or is guarded by skilled nen users? unlikely. although it would be a moment of supreme dramatic irony for longhi to have to kill her own prince. 3/10

tyson: kind of a dark horse candidate tbh. we also know so little about her!! and also, by extension, her faction. maybe there's a hidden nen user amongst her guards? i kinda wanna see it, mostly to watch her get roped further into the story. since kurapika already has eyes on her via izunavi, i've kind of been waiting for the moment she becomes more relevant to the plot. not to mention the fact that she and beyond both have cult leader vibes (or in beyond's case, are directly inspired by a cult leader). 6/10

i'm 90% sure luzurus is brocco li's son (same deal as ike zhang lei). but we know as little about him as we do tyson (although he is slowly becoming more relevant) so possibly the brocco li thing is a red herring? it's weird that he doesn't have any guards who know nen, but we also haven't seen enough of his faction to be a 100% certain of that... idk, i'm still gonna say 2/10

salé-salé: dead. 0/10

halkenburg: unlikely IMO, especially after 403. i think having TWO secret parents would be kind of overkill. i also think that, considering how much insight we've gotten into his own thoughts, that he would never bring up beyond or the hunter association or anything. 2/10

kacho: dead- but i give it a 1/10 in case of the twin thing.

i could see a world in which kacho and fugetsu are revealed to not really be twins (they do look completely different) but i think it's odd for her to be so unprotected and defenseless right now. beyond seems like the time to have more of a plan in place to defend his kids. could be interesting story wise, but... i'm not buying it. 3/10

momoze: dead. 0/10

marayam: this one makes sense to me. although he's a bit on the younger side, which means that beyond was a little late on the jump when it came to siring a prince, his youth does make him the perfect target for a bit of fatherly manipulation. and it would make sense for him not to know nen, because he's not really old enough to learn (unless beyond awakened him as a baby?) although even in that case we haven't gotten explicit confirmation (i.e. him or another charcater outright stating it) that he doesn't know nen. and there's something to be said about him having a super powerful spirit guardian beast that keeps growing... and yet, we've yet to see it's parasitic nature reflected in marayam's behavior. kid must either have a MASSIVE pool of aura or his nen beast is just built different. that also might explain why sevanti was so desperate to protect him. 8.5/10

woble: to be honest, the best case i've heard for woble is that silent majority was sent to PROTECT her by beyond (or someone in the hunter association). yes, it disrupted kurapika's nen class, but it's possible the assassin just disasgreed with kurapika's methods. so far, all of the people it's taken out have either been woble's enemies, or had the potential to be enemies. it speaks to this idea of a third party trying to assist a prince. there;s also the idea that perhaps woble's nen beast hasn't shown up yet because it might be a giveaway to beyond's identity, and for the same reasons as maryam it would explain why she doesn'st know nen. also, we already have a confimed beyond spy on her team: bill ( love you bill, i don't think you want to hurt the baby- but maybe you're being manipulated without knowing it). on the other hand, the fact that oito seems completely unaware of beyond's plan speaks to her either lying (unlikely IMO, i just didn't get that vibe from the panel) or she.. didn't know. which is terrible in it's own way but also definitely something he would do. from a story perspective, it would turn longhi into an enemy, which would be sad, but good potential for drama. 8/10

other: i think everything going for woble goes just as well for oito. we don't know exacly how old she is, but considering the fact that beyond is probably older than he looks it's safe to say it isn't completely impossible. on the other hand, there is the fact that she's from meteor city.. and the middle child of five. perhaps she was planted there for her own safety, until it came time for her to meet the king? i also wouldn't put it beyond nasubi to have struck a deal with beyond. and i also think it's possible that she has no idea who her father is, and beyond kept her in the dark so as to better control her, but positioned people around her as protection. also, it would be cool. 8/10

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miyagi-hokarate · 1 month ago

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The basic premise of The Karate Kid (1984) — down on his luck new kid learns how to defend himself and ultimately triumphs over his bullies with the help of a wise, old mentor — is far from unique. But since its release, a wave of movies in the 80s and even as far as into the 90s, clearly inspired by Daniel and Mr. Miyagi, came in with fists raised, ready to dominate late night television and home media.

There's No Retreat, No Surrender (1985), The Power Within (1995) (whose villain is played by none other than William Zabka), and my personal favorite of this niche genre: Showdown (1993), directed by Robert Radler

Also known as American Karate Tiger, for a reason that I could only assume has to do with the fact No Retreat, No Surrender is also known as Karate Tiger (no relation to these films however, besides in genre and story)

Anyway, make no mistake: this is not a good movie. I say it's my favorite, not because of its quality, but because there's just So Much About It that wouldn't leave my mind. This is besides the fact it's transparently derivative of The Karate Kid (hell, the main character in the movie references it in a scene! I was so mad!) — the way it's different (and worse) delights me to no end that the others hadn't achieved somehow.

tldr; a LONG assortment of words with some analysis because I need to tell people about this movie ahfkakfaf. NOT a coherent essay (or an essay at all really)

Part 1: Boring stuff like BACKGROUND or THEMES

First thing to know: there's another movie with the same name that was released in 1933 too, but that one's directed by Leo Fong. In case one Showdown wasn't enough.

Now, Showdown never calls it karate, and I'm not going to pretend and say I could easily tell from one type of martial arts to another by glance, so I'm going to refrain from calling this movie strictly any certain type. Anyway, Its fighting content is more reminiscent of another film that came out in the same year and that'd be familiar to Karate Kid fans and lovers of William Zabka's filmography: Shootfighter (1993).

Like Shootfighter, an underground, illegal fighting ring plays a significant role in Showdown, albeit being less fatal and a local scene. A group of teens and young (?) adults, led by their bloodthirsty criminal sensei, in a dojo make up some of its participants, which naturally incentivizes the high schoolers in the dojo to be aggressive in school — bullying, intimidation, cultish significance in aggression and domination blah blah blah blah we all know the type. Regardless, the high school the new kid moves to certainly doesn't need any help throwing him into the deep end of trouble. By the first five minutes of introduction, his new schoolmates are seen stealing, driving motorcycles on school campus, and contributing to these amazing shots of cinematography:

I'm sure they've all got their reasons and such for their misbehavior, or not because they're nothing more than dressing for the background when they aren't the Cobra Kai lookalikes. One thing I can assume is true for all students is a distinct sense of parental neglect, considering the only parents we see is five minutes of the main character's mom, who's job hunting is never quite resolved by the end of the movie and whom I could only guess decided to fit in to the new place by also abandoning her son to travel to the next state or two for a job.

In addition to this, the members of the school staff are either struggling to do their best or instead doing the bare minimum. The most effort disciplining and guidance we see is a pack of cigarettes taken away by the vice principal... before he's smoking it himself behind a building. Honestly, I don't blame him.

Including those involved with the illegal fighting ring, the only barely respectable adult figure around is the janitor, who is — you've guessed it — the "Mr. Miyagi" character of the movie. But considering we've first been introduced to him as a former cop who quit after having accidentally killed a teen (apparently? Everybody looks at least 24 years old) during the job, it's hard pickings around here.

Why am I introducing this all firstly? Well, it's not a deep movie at all, and yet the first thing Showdown introduces to the audience is this oddly grim mood that makes up a major theme of the film: the inevitability of violence. Even when the main character learns how to defend himself, it is with the sense of precaution to be prepared to fight, not for finding a way to end them. The aura of aggression never truly leaves the scenes to let the main character be in peace for long, and he eventually falls into the illegal fighting ring himself out of his own volition — only, it's the Mega Ultra Battle in the end so it's badass and not treated as bleak at all. Hell, the main tagline of the movie is literally "There is no other way."

It's interesting that the main character learns to defend himself because of the efforts from the former cop turned janitor. And while he busts the operation in the end, the janitor ultimately returns to the force, as well as takes up a job to teach the (now arrested) sensei's former students as his own. Sure, they wouldn't be strung into illegal fighting rings anymore, but I question how much the inevitability of violence is enforced because of the expectation of its existence in the first place. Even in the finale, when the main character and his mentor get their happy ending and defeat their respective rivals, it's not with a new future promising radical change for nonviolence and reconstruction, but a grim determination that they could rise to the challenge of the eventual call to aggression.

There is some effort to try and answer the question: "Why do people commit violence?" For example, the main character learns that many teens involved in the fighting ring are trying to pay for college. He himself empathizes, with his mother expressing frustration about being unable to find a good job. Nevertheless, both the main character and his mentor ultimately condemn the practice as exploitment and bust the fighting ring. While this frees the participants from any more physical harm, the question of how the teens fighting for money could support themselves (the reason that got them into illegal fighting in the first place) is never asked again.

This is not even to mention the actual physical — and even psychological — consequences of illegal tournament fighting that are barely portrayed, if at all. Most attitudes surrounding involvement by the teens are blasé, if content with the gigs they got. It's not hard to imagine that they've been manipulated by an intimidating sensei into what is essentially a cult of violence, but Showdown does not dwell on that. This is not the only thing it does not dwell on.

I'm not necessarily saying a former cop janitor and a high schooler in his midtwenties could singlehandedly rid their society of the deeper, insidious causes that breed the cycle of violence in communities. And frankly, this is a lot to ask for a movie that was never made to answer such questions, and it knows itself. I can recognize that. However, Showdown's fatalistic attitude towards violence feels particularly dooming in an otherwise stupid movie.

As a conclusion to this point, here are the opening words to Showdown as the first thing the audience learns about the film, with a sense of finality in its belief:

Part 2: You would think I'd introduce the characters first

Like the premise, the characters of Showdown share many of the same archetypes as the ones in The Karate Kid. The 1984 film however has a more nuanced and colorful cast, and I will be the asshole comparing the two films and their respective characters shamelessly. Admittedly, this section is the most like a summary, so I won't go through every single person but those I find interesting enough to talk about. I do promise to share whatever cool trivia I learned of the actors however, because nobody else sure will.

Firstly, let's take a look at the main character. Unlike Daniel LaRusso, who looks 12 but was played by a 22 year old at the time, Ken Marx looked as old as he did portrayed by someone who definitely was too old to be in high school.

'"I get it. When this is all over, I'm gonna know how to do all kinds of karate blocks, right? It's like, uh, wax on wax off, paint the fence, sand the floor..."

Ken Marx/Marks is a fine protagonist. New kid from Kansas, he's nice enough (especially compared to his new schoolmates) and has a strong sense of justice, but Ken seems to lack the same young, vulnerable angst as his predecessor Daniel about loneliness in someplace completely new. He, like any other supposed ordinary kid in high school, is embarrassed by the slight coddling of his single mother (who moved with him so she could find a job eventually), yet is understanding and wants to help her with money. Unlike Daniel, I could say with absolute certainty that Ken was trying to steal the girlfriend of the very guy who'd make it his mission to beat Ken up at every opportunity the minute he set foot in school. Arguably deserved some of the shit he got. Dick move, Marx (or Marks? Different sources say one or the other, but there's something funny imagining this All American guy with a name that's a little reminiscent of something... revolutionary).

One of the most notable differences between Daniel and Ken is in their state of origin: New Jersey versus Kansas. Not to profile, but I absolutely think it makes for more than just a minor change in their characters. Ken certainly doesn't have that "East Coast swagger" (as Ralph Macchio himself amazingly puts it) as Daniel does. His Midwest origins reflect through his easy kindness and endearing naïvete, but I've gotta admit that it doesn't do much to help him stand out as a protagonist. Still, even if I'm not especially invested in him, Ken's easygoing personality and humble origins are only boring and forgettable at worst, and I can admire his dedication to learn how to defend himself. That being said, Ken certainly could not be confused for Daniel and his Jersey Fire. The best example of this is Daniel versus Ken's reaction when their request to learn self-defense is first denied; while Daniel is openly upset and petulant, Ken is quiet but aquiesces with understanding. Ken is a nice kid sure, a little more mature and respectful than his predecessor, but that also makes him quite average. To further steal analogies from Macchio himself, it's like the difference between a cannoli and an apple pie.

Ken is played by Kenn Scott, an experienced martial artist. It's incredibly funny watching him throughout the movie be swamped in big jackets and whatnot to hide the guy's ripped abs, pecs, and biceps until it pays off at the end when he takes off his shirt in the big fight. Funnily enough, Scott is also in Shootfighter as Eddie, aka that guy who didn't want to go back in the ring and got killed for it.

RIP Eddie. We hardly knew ye.

Honorable mention goes to Ken's mom, whose name is only seen briefly on her shirt tag from work: Shirley. I can still hear her sighing about a job in her giant coat and 1989 Ford Probe to this day.

Ken doesn't feel as lonely as a character as Daniel does in The Karate Kid. While he is like Daniel in that they both quickly latch onto an older man who displays them a little bit of kindness, Ken finds himself another friend at school to keeps his company from feeling too lonely.

"Well listen, I just remembered I left my cat in the microwave."

Mike (played by John Asher) is meant to be funny and awkward, the wimpy but harmless guide to introduce Ken (and the audience) to his new setting. Mike even has a lackluster Clique Tour Moment à la Mean Girls of a couple distinct students or student groups to demonstrate his knowledge of the school populace to the new kid. He wears clashing patterns, says something funny for a moment or does something silly in the background, throws a few flimsy kicks and punches during a training montage, breaks the fourth wall, and walks away with the hero and his love interest in the most throuple-coded way ever.

Unfortunately, this is the most boy best friend Mike gets with Ken in the movie.

Mike has subtle growth throughout Showdown admittedly — from a cowardly goofball who shrinks away at the barest glare from the bullies and lets the new kid eat dirt on his own, to Ken's best friend that joins him in training a little, stays by his side til the end when he needs the most support, and even helps subsue one of the bad guys.

Of course, the real duo in Showdown — their rendition of the Daniel and Mr. Miyagi relationship — is between Ken and the janitor at school, who saves kids getting beaten up to make up for the fact he accidentally murdered one seven years ago.

"No, this is called toilet cleaning. It teaches humility. Then, I want you to startover here on those urinals."

Billy Grant is riddled with guilt for killing someone on the job, so much that he voluntarily quit the force afterwards — except, Billy expresses thoughts about coming back after being told by Ken of the illegal fighting ring, and eventually does return, so here's hoping Billy learned something in the seven years he "fell off the Earth" (according to his old partner at least, which I find highly doubtful. Guy's only left the force seven years ago, stayed in the area, and found a job as a janitor, but apparently disappeared?? Come on). Nevertheless, he's a Good Guy™ who saves Ken's ass at least three times — just as many times as Mr. Miyagi does Daniel's. This version of Wax On, Wax Off is just making Ken clean toilets, wash off graffiti, throw away trash, etc. — janitorial stuff — to help build his endurance. Let's be honest here though, this is infinitely more like child labor than whatever Mr. Miyagi had ever done.

One moment in the movie I find odd, because they never touch on it again after introducing it, is when Billy saves Ken from two of his bullies. In the end, he puts one of them in a headlock, which lasts for several seconds. It's strongly implied Billy would have continued holding it, if it weren't for Ken's cry for him to stop. The bully drops to the ground as he coughs for breath, and Billy literally runs off in horror.

Ken: Stop! Billy, don't.

It makes it seem like Billy could have some reason to lose control, like unresolved anger issues, his trauma, or perhaps a dark and hidden inclination to cruelty (if the movie wanted to go there). However, Ken never brings this up to Billy, and this lapse in judgement never occurs again in the movie. There isn't even a moment for him to reflect in solitude of what he almost did to those teenage boys to imply there is something more to his internal conflicts. And this loss of control is also absent in Billy's big fight against the criminal sensei.

I'm not even sure it makes sense at all with the trauma Billy actually has that influences his actions? He accidentally killed a kid by tossing him aside onto the floor, which had led to his head making contact with some stairs and killed him upon impact. This was a poorly decided action, but a quick one made in the heat of the moment nonetheless. How on Earth does this translate paychologically to losing control while holding someone in a chokehold? If the implication is that his trauma causes Billy to lose control when caught in a fight, not only does it not make sense, but it also never shows up again in the movie and thus makes the moment where he almost chokes a teenager too hard irrelevant. It sticks out, especially when Billy for the rest of the movie is otherwise unmistakenly altruistic and heroic.

Unfortunately, Billy just doesn't get to have the same room for depth as Mr. Miyagi does. Billy is kind, brave, strong, and wise, but there just aren't enough scenes in Showdown that reveal much of his human, vulnerable qualities to complement the heroic ones.

Billy may be the first major character introduced in the movie, alongside his guilt and regret, but Showdown doesn't dwell on how it's weighed Billy for long; his anger and efforts to bust the illegal fighting ring are all but stated outright to be fueled by a desire to make up for accidentally causing someone else's death years ago and wants to make sure no more young people are senselessly hurt, but the film does not let Billy open up about it. At Ken's question asking if that's the reason, Billy is silent before stoically taking a moral stance on the issue. He spins the topic back to Ken's training, and that's the end of Billy being allowed to be more than an archetype, instead a flawed human being who's been personally affected because of his mistakes:

Ken: Billy, I knew you always weren't a janitor. And I want you to tell the truth. Billy: Ken, I used to be a cop. Then I killed a kid. It was a mistake. Ken Did you have to quit? Billy: No, I couldn't handle it anymore. But I'm thinking about getting back into it. Ken: You want to bust the guys that are running the fights? Billy: ...They're hurting kids to make money, and that's not right. These people are dangerous. If you refuse to fight for them, it could be real trouble for you. Ken: Well, we'll just keep training, right? Billy: Yeah, go warm up.

Following this scene, Billy calls his old partner in the force to help him investigate a way to bust the illegal fighting ring. He's ultimately driven to action by his guilt, but do we as the audience get to see Billy afterwards emotionally open up about his choices, both in the past and the ones in the present made to rectify his mistakes? Nope.

It never feels like Billy's character could be anything else but Ken's mentor, or the big ultimate hero. For all we know, he's been dealing with the guilt of his wrongdoings all on his own for seven years, and he jumps into action the moment he thinks he could do some real, good change. But Billy's internal shift gets streamlined in order to prioritize training montages or cool cop shit. He is kind, brave, strong, and wise, but he does not get to be three-dimensional.

Of course, I have to acknowledge that no one in Showdown is. This isn't a movie that's meant to be beholden of dimensions. As I continue to compare it to The Karate Kid or lament about flatness or whatever, it's imperative to remember that Showdown is a stupid movie.

That being said, I nevertheless cannot help but feel especially disappointed by the flatness of Billy's character — not only because he is one of the most major characters of the movie, if not the most important, but also because Billy the most prominent person of color in the movie, and a Black character at that. Billy's role does not soley revolve around the White male protagonist, and he does have his own drives and motivation, but Showdown falls short in depicting Billy as a nuanced Black character with depth and vulnerability.

He's played by another actor who shares the same first name as him, Billy Blanks, whom I'm actually not that familiar with even though he is arguably the biggest name involved with Showdown. He's been in a bunch of other martial arts films, so that's cool.

Shoutout to his former partner Officer Spinelli, who gets a special shower scene in the beginning of the movie. Amazing.

Here's the crazy thing about Billy's accidental murder that haunts him: that kid was none other than the younger brother of the main villain, the "Kreese" character, who soon is driven to revenge upon laying his eyes on Billy again after seven years.

"I woooon..."

Lee is batshit insane. First of all, he's the ringleader, or at least the main attraction, of the local illegal fighting ring that occurs somehow secretly in his dojo with huge crowds of people. Second of all, he has his own version of the Cobra Kai mantra to drill into his child soldiers: "Success is control, control is success." Third of all, he hires his goons to, not only try and kill Billy, but also to make sure it's done on school campus so everyone could see the body, because this guy evades authorities so easily already. What the fuck is wrong with this man. The only trait Lee has that doesn't make him into even more of an aspiring supervillain is the protective love he has for his brother Max, and even that soon enough becomes revenge fodder for Lee when he witnesses his brother die in the prologue.

Max (left) and Lee (right), ready to take world together by storm...

Lee is played by Patrick Kilpatrick, who I can tell is having the time of his goddamn life playing such a Ham and Cheese PLATTER of a character. His performance plays jump rope with the line that splits between 'menacing' and 'ridiculous', and I love that for him. Kilpatrick was also on an episode of The Equalizer (though not an episode with William Zabka haha)! Patrick Kilpatrick wasn't the only choice to play Lee, however. Another was Bolo Yeung, but he would later turn out to have a role in another 1993 martial arts movie: Shootfighter (a William Zabka project again).

And he shares the same name as the villain of Shootfighter, Mr. Lee haha (played by Martin Kove, aka Kreese in The Karate Kid)

The greatest thing about Lee is that he has a right hand woman running the operation alongside him — almost like the "Silver" to his "Kreese".

"Relax! I don't bite — not unless you want me to..."

Kate is undeniably the brains of the of the two. While Lee uses his physical prowess, skill, and intimidation to dominate others into following, Kate smoothtalks and negotiates it all out to work in their favor with intellect, charm, and often times sex appeal. Kate is the most stylish of the cast, and probably the one with the most money, as she's seen reguarly with styled hair, classy jewelry, sleek dresses, and is in possession of a Mercedes Benz (as well as a Chysler Lebaron convertible, but who am I to judge).

Kate and Lee's relationship is professional, for the most part. He lashes out at her once, but she easily snaps at him back, and it's never clear if one is working for the other. Regardless, Kate and Lee have got their respective strengths they use to their advantage, so they each play a different role in their collective business. There are hints to some affection between the two business partners, but it's not a major focus at all.

Kate is also creepy as fuck. I'll cover more of her in the next part.

She's played by Linda Dona, whose role was initially invented when Bolo Yeung was set to be Lee. Since Yeung could not speak English, Kate was to be his translator. Of course, this was no longer needed once Kilpatrick took on the role of Lee, but Dona stuck anyway when the writers rewrote her role.

In these type of movies, it's uncommon to see more than one significant female character as part of the story, and so Kate stands out, especially compared to the love interest of Ken.

"You know, I thought you were on the track team or something. But you're not, you're working out with the janitor."

Julie doesn't have a lot to work with, besides being an object of affection for Ken and part of the source of the conflict between him and her boyfriend (the "Johnny" character, obviously). She's blonde and innocently pretty like Ali (unlike Kate's mature seductiveness), but Julie lacks the same assertiveness as the Karate Kid character. While Ali plays a pivotal role in helping Daniel and Mr. Miyagi understand the rules of the All Valley Tournament, Julie is reduced to the typical helplessness her type of character is often confined to, being pushed to the side as a spectator of the big fight in the end.

Julie does what she can in the plot — she tries to speak up against her boyfriend's actions several times, and she even stops (or at least delays) one of his attacks on Ken— but Julie, like Ali, is pacified by the narrative to do much of anything else besides express disapproval and side with the heroes. Julie also has a bit of a mean streak, but I don't think the movie knows that lmao.

Now, I am not the greatest with differentiating people, especially those with the same general look. So upon first watch, I had accidentally thought Julie and Kate were the same character, especially since Kate's introduction offered no close ups to differentiate her as someone new. AND IF THAT HAD BEEN TRUE, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN CRAAAAAZY; sweet and innocent high school girl secretly a greedy, manipulative, femme fatale in charge of an illegal fighting ring? IT BLEW MY MIND.

I WAS SEEING JULIE IN A WHOLE, DIFFERENT LIGHT. Her introduction for one thing made sense to me why it was so strange! Ken first lays eyes on her when he jumped onto the ground at the sound of firecrackers he thought were gunshots, which made the crowd of students around Ken to laugh at him. Julie is among the students shamelessly laughing at this kid, and it isn't until when they lock eyes does she stop laughing and walks away.

The scene cements to the audience that Ken's new peers are cruel, delinquent, and indifferent to his confusion — but Julie is part of that crowd! It's incredibly strange to frame Julie as the love interest by the language of cinematography, someone the audience is meant to invest in to pair off with the main character, when her behavior is indistinguishable from the callous mob, besides being pretty. She doesn't apologize for this in the scenes talking to Ken for the first time either.

Another moment that made me look back was how Julie was smart enough to calm her boyfriend down the first time he confronted Ken for trying to talk to her by alluring his attention away.

Julie: Leave him alone... Please...[...]He didn't know about you...! He's new here...

While Julie had good intentions, this demonstrates a level of manipulation towards people that she'd readily use if it meant getting what she wanted. As Kate is later introduced, this shared quality between them made me further convinced in my confusion that they were the same character — only, I thought Kate being manipulative was Julie's true colors being as sinister as they actually were.

Now, a teen girl laughing at some guy for jumping to conclusions (pun intended) and thinking gunshots in the middle of the hallway and using her attractiveness to turn her boyfriend's attention away from someone he intended to hurt are aren't glaring signs of evil or criminal behavior. But that is EXACTLY why I confused Kate for Julie and thought these actions in retrospect were subtle clues to her being more than just the bland love interest that the protagonist wins in the end.

In addition to this, Mike's first words to Ken about Julie would have been almost perfect foreshadowing:

Mike: I see, you have a death wish. Ken: ...Excuse me? Mike: The blonde, Julie... She's beautiful. She's elegant...! I mean– just forget about it. She's trouble.

Mike afterwards explains to Ken that Julie's boyfriend is dangerous and that's why she would be trouble, but if it would have been almost genius writing if she turned out to be a secret villain. The audience wouldn't think twice about that comment, especially since Mike himself only believes Julie would cause trouble for Ken because of her boyfriend specifically. There'd be no reason to think deeper about his warning!

Julie's grimacing apology the following day to Ken for her boyfriend's behavior transformed into being SLIMY, IT WAS AMAZING. I was so excited to watch him fall for someone who wasn't at all like what he thought she was — and then I figured out Julie and Kate were two, separate female characters. Damn.

You may recognize Julie's actress, Christine Taylor, because she was involved with another film William Zabka was in: To the Ends of Time. He just keeps being relevant somehow.

But speaking of William Zabka, what about his character's equivalent in this movie? I talked about the protagonists, the love interest, the villains — but who's the guy in the story that's actually the most prominent threat to Ken? Who's the third player next to Ken and Julie in their teenage love drama? Who's the student trained the hardest by Lee and treated as the best of the best, his strongest fighter, who falls at the end and almost dies at the hands of his sensei for it?

Part 3: We need to talk about Tom

warning for discussions of abusive relationships, as well as physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse, unhealthy power dynamics, and grooming

I'm dedicating a whole section to talk about the "Johnny" equivalent, because I've got so much to say about Tom, the others around him, and parts of the film around his character.

"It's payback time, needledick."

So, Tom. I had briefly shown his character earlier when covering Billy, as well as Julie — kind of hard to talk around him when he's causing so many of the issues for others, little shit. Like Johnny, Tom is tall, blond, aggressive, and does not take kindly to the new guy being too friendly to his girlfriend (ex girlfriend in Johnny's case, but still). Like Johnny, Tom is the most formidable fighter training under his sensei, and his sensei also punishes Tom ruthlessly after losing in the ending fight, before being saved by the protagonist's mentor. Unlike Johnny, Tom looks well into his adulthood — but hey, so does everybody else in this goddamn high school.

He's played by Ken McLeod, who is a real life martial artist with a black belt in karate. Honestly, he's probably doing the best job acting in this film — that, or he's just so entertaining that his performance stands out by that alone. In general, the antagonists are just much more fun to watch than the protagonists. In McLeod's case, he gets the honor of spitting in people's faces with a mean smile or scowl, huffing and puffing when anything pisses his character off, and having his momenta to act with vulnerability to show some versatility in his performance.

White the picture may imply differently, Tom has his own group of loyal friends, Showdown's version of the Cobras.

If Rob on the left is familiar, that's because he's played by Michael Cavalieri, who would soon later play Ned Randall in The Next Karate Kid (1994). I don't know how much of it was in the script, but Cavalieri adds these small, humorous quirks to his character if you pay attention, and it's great. He's the most prominent of Tom's friend, who joins in on much of the bullying, but shows an surprising honorable side near the end. Rob is seemingly Tom's closest friend, as he is almost always by his side and encourages him the most of the group. However, even Rob has his limits, as Tom's worsening behavior almost drives him away. Nevertheless, Rob can't help himself but still support his buddy in his final fight when he fights against Ken. When Lee starts to beat on Tom for losing, the other characters have to hold Rob back from jumping in to defend him (which, is so weird??? Like, HELLO THAT GROWN ASS MAN IS TRYING TO KILL THAT GUY???? WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE GONNA HOLD BACK SOMEONE TRYING TO HELP HIM?????)

Gina (played by Seidy Lopez) is the second/third most prominent female character in the movie, so that means she has to have at least one scene alluring a male character to get him to do what she wants, joy. Gina seems to be the calmest and most levelheaded one of the group — she reminds others that the best place to pick a fight is anywhere but the classroom — but even she coldly revels in terrorizing like the rest of those training under Lee. Gina may be the least troubled by his hyperaggressive leadership in fact, as she is the least visibly disturbed when Lee attacks Tom, and she is the only (former) student not to join in on the others when they start cheering for Billy after he defeats Lee at the end (she does however cheer when Billy accepts Rob's offer to teach them, so maybe Gina just ain't picky with who teaches them how to fight). We never see Gina do any fighting, unfortunately. It's clear she's not a girlfriend who hangs around the boys, as Gina not only attends the class but is seen practicing with a punching bag. Feminism win! This violent dojo is for all genders! So where's Gina's moment to give someone a shiner?

The Bill Skarsgård lookalike's name is unfortunately never said in the movie, but I'm preeeeetty sure it's Bob (credited as being played by Jeremy Duddleston)? It's the only male name in the credits I cannot easily attribute to another character, so I'll just call him Bob. It's hard listing another characteristic of his besides Loves To Fight, since he never utters a single line. While Rob may be Tom's closest friend, Bob is seemingly less significant to Tom, as there's a moment when Tom tosses his book/folder behind himself dismissively, before Bob catches it to carry it for him. But besides that uhhhh. Not a lot with this guy.

It should come to no surprise that Tom is an asshole and a bully. His introduction makes sure the audience knows that when he threatens a class monitor for daring to remind Tom that bells are a thing, before treating his girlfriend Julie with the big ol' triple three of Terrible Boyfriend Qualities: Neglectful, Controlling, and Uncooperative. And this is all before he even sees Ken! But don't worry, his behavior is just as terrible once they do meet.

I may have given Ken shit for his actions, however that does not justify the full extent of Tom's vigilance in making sure he gets violently targetted at every corner. While it gets hard to take the high school drama seriously because of how grown everybody looks, thus making their actions more comical than intended, there are times when Ken gets overpowered or made to feel smaller by Tom that could genuinely get you feeling bad for him — call me a softie, but even when Tom has his funny moments, he sure can make the audience feel as miserable as Ken does.

Tom: It's not about money Kenny. It's about respect.

Tom treats people badly when he doesn't respect them, and this includes a lot of people. In fact, he's consistently shown to be the least respectful towards his girlfriend.

It's undeniable that Tom is a godawful boyfriend to Julie. As you already know, he is infamously possessive and jealous; in addition to saying in her face that he owns her — word-for-word and in public — Mike makes it a point to warn Ken about Julie because of Tom specifically. The warning is justified too, because we know Tom spends the rest of the movie utterly despising Ken for "encroaching" on his "territory" (literally just talking to Julie). In addition to all this, Tom ignores plans he has with Julie because of his own minor reasons, and even forgets to talk to her for weeks, and yet has the gall to insist Julie must compromise and listen to his desires when she has an iota of a backbone.

Tom's behavior runs deeper than being an asshole, though. Because of him, I can confidently categorize their unhealthy relationship as being abusive, without exaggeration. The extreme control he expects to exert over Julie, her actions, and whom she interacts with taints every interaction they have together. Julie does what she can to assert herself, but it's difficult for those times to feel cathartic when Tom looks like he wants to beat or bully her into submission afterwards. Tom contantly uses his natural height against her, looming over Julie like he could intimidate her into listening, and even grabs her if he feels like it. If his treatment towards Ken is tough, it's nothing compared to how Tom abuses Julie.

Tom: I don't want you to ever talk to [Ken] again. In fact, if I catch you hanging around him, I'm gonna beat the– Julie: You can't control my life! Tom: Yes I can. You are my girl, and you'll do exactly what I say.

Besides feeling entitled to Julie as a possession than as an equal, Tom's mistreatment hits its peak when, after he approaches her like she didn't dump him the last time they spoke, Tom's rage overpowers him when Julie says Ken could beat him in a fight — Tom grabs Julie by her hair, calls her a slut, commands her to stay away from Ken, and slaps Julie. In the middle of campus. Ken soon comes to defend her, so it's not clear how far Tom would have gone to hurt Julie. However, several characters (including Julie) note Tom's worsening mental state since the their first interaction on-screen, which had been worsening before the events of the movie, and it's not impossible to imagine him sinking even worse towards Julie — in addition to the emotional abuse Tom was already subjecting her to.

While Julie ultimately finds the courage within herself to ends things with Tom, it wasn't without any conflicts, internal and otherwise — not only was Tom in denial, but Julie had her own reasons to stay with him. When Ken asks her why, she gives an explanation, and had given more:

Julie: It's just that I've been dating Tom for a long time, and... I just think he's a little confused right now... He kind of got involved with some– Ken: Look, pardon me, I'm not sympathetic where Tom is concerned, okay? Julie: No, I don't expect you to be! It's... Sometimes, I think about calling it off. But it's like I feel trapped... kind of like I have to stay with him for now. Ken: But you don't have to if you don't want to...! Julie: No, I do.

Julie's attitude insisting she has to stay because of a sense of duty towards her abuser is a common experience among many abuse victims, and so are her thoughts of feeling trapped. However, Julie recognizes that Tom's awful behavior is new. That does not excuse the abuse, but it does offer important context to his and Julie's relationship. According to her, they've been together long enough that she knows Tom's normal isn't as violent and controlling as it is now. Julie is hoping Tom reverts back, that she will see him get his sense back, and that she has a good idea who's been influencing Tom.

Julie: God. I swear, every day you sound more and more like that jerk, Lee. Tom: Listen, Lee's my sensei, don't talk about him that way.

We never see any of these kid's parents, and so they're next to nonexistent, thus Tom's most present role model and parental figure in Showdown is his sensei, Lee.

The respect Tom has for his sensei is only matched by his fear. The movie builds suspense for his reveal by having Tom be insistent in being on time for class, lest he angers Lee, a character the audience at that point could only assume is a little bit of a bad influence. They'd soon be affirmed by that when watching Lee's blaringly evil (re)introduction, giving a lesson that's half drill sargeant, half cult indoctrination. It's unclear for how long Tom has been around him, but it's been enough that it's started to affect his behavior and life in harmful ways. Tom however doesn't see it like that. While Julie makes excuses about him to Ken, Tom doesn't even consider that what Lee does is anything wrong. In fact, he takes pride in having "learned a few tricks" from him, and always defends the man whenever someone (Julie) so much as criticizes him. And of course Tom would, since Lee openly considers him to be his best fighter in the dojo, ruthlessly training him to be the undefeated champion in his illegal fighting ring. Tom is 17, 18 at most, and his involvement in crime is reinforced by the hand Lee has on his life.

Lee may care about Tom deeper than just as teacher-student, even calling him "my boy" during the final fight, but it is a relationship built on ruthlessness, domination, and abuse that easily turns violent the moment Lee is dissatisfied with Tom. He thinks of Tom as the best among his students, but Lee never hesitates to tear him down mentally, nor to physically beat him as punishment, going so far as to threaten Tom's life:

Lee: What have I told you about weakness? It's disgraceful. And when you disgrace yourself, you disgrace me. You do not have control, you have brought shame upon yourself and my dojo. Humiliation. The pain I give your outside should be nothing compared to the pain you feel inside. We are winners at my dojo. We do not let others control us, ever. If you fail again, you will be lucky if I decide to let you live.

Lee wants Tom to believe that his life is literally at the hands of his sensei, that he deserves any beating (psychological or physical) that Lee delivers because Tom's failure is justification enough, according to himself. He believes so strongly of this dominance over Tom's life that Lee does try to kill him after losing to Ken, in front of a giant crowd of people. He's a madman with full conviction that he could make a teenager his killing machine and murder him afterwards if that kid does not live up to his standards — his boy or not.

Even in the rare moments of tenderness, they're never soft. Lee always performs them in the shadow of violence; if he calls Tom "my boy", it's when Lee commands him to kill Ken. When he cradles Tom's jaw, it's so Lee can strike square in his face. The paternal role Lee has in Tom's life is poisoned with cruelty, and it's corrupted Tom into manifesting the same abuse onto others.

Tom becomes more and more like Lee, an aggressor losing his humanity in his descent towards fighting and crime, because of his sensei's own abusive influence. Lee makes Tom feel powerful, but like a tool to be used and sharpened — and inversely, Lee makes Tom feel powerless even more. And he isn't the only one that makes Tom feel powerless.

Lee and Kate are a team, so they're both invested in the careers of the former's students for the illegal fighting ring. Kate's whole business depends on them, making sure there's an abundant money flow as long as there are good fighters. She, like Lee, has a special interest in Tom — his best fighter.

Kate's mistreatment towards Tom is rather distinct from her partner's. For one, Kate never resorts to threatening his life. She does physically disclipine Tom, but it's with harsh slaps across the face, like a stern mother to her son. What she does threaten in his future in the fighting ring. Considering Tom is completely dedicated to his involvement, certainly encouraged if not groomed by Lee for it like a fighting dog, it's an easy method of controlling Tom. While Kate doesn't entertain the thought of killing him like Lee does, it doesn't make her behavior okay, because it still sends Tom the same message: Kate is the one in control of him, he isn't.

What stands out most about Kate's abuse towards Tom though is that she better manipulates him by other, insidious ways. Kate's age is never specified, but it's clear she's older, more confident, and capable of inflicting certain harm in ways teenagers can't. Kate has no qualms using her sexuality to get what she wants, and that includes preying on teenage boys. With Tom, she doesn't just disclipine him like a mother, but Kate coerces him into a sexual relationship as well. This, in addition to times when she treats him like more of a mother back-to-back, contribute to something truly appalling to watch.

To best explain the scene, here's a video of Kate's introduction, where she pulls Tom aside in the middle of instruction to take him to a dark room alone with her:

Just seconds after Kate hits Tom, she pulls him into a deep kiss, practically forceful. Note how limp Tom's arms and hands are as he's made to kiss her. Later scenes in Showdown depict Tom as more "consensual" in their relationship, but this is notably different in their first moment together on-dcreen. This is not to say that it would have been a healthier relationship if Tom enthusiastically kissed Kate back, but his passiveness as she assaults him only highlights the uneven power dynamics at play — in their first scene introducing their relationship at that.

(Remember when I thought Kate and Julie were the same person? Yeah, Kate stands in the back the whole time, only getting a little closer to the camera but not enough that it would distinguish her as someone new. In addition to them shrouded in darkness and the intimacy on-screen after, that's why I thought Julie was secretly evil and was abusive to Tom back. I became so quickly convinced that they were Evil4Evil, that it took me until several scenes later to realize that they were two different people and that something worse was going on.)

What concerns me as well is how easily Kate was able to pull Tom away from sparring, without much of a second glance from Lee or his students. How much did the other students question whenever she pulled him aside alone? Were they allowed to question? Or even worse, how much were they led to believe it was okay? Is Kate coercing more several teenagers, or is this a way to have more power over Tom to ensure he'd stay her and Lee's cash cow?

Powerlessness defines Tom's most prominent relationships with the two adults with abusive control of his life. With that in mind, it explains why Tom has gotten worse, lashing out and losing control of himself. It doesn't excuse his wrongdoings, but there is a direct, blatant connection to Tom's worsening mental health and the authority figures around him either encouraging his violent attitude or are the main causes of distress in Tom's life.

In addition to that, Tom's bullying and abusive behavior is an unfortunate expression of what he's internalized from Lee and Kate; he only treats a person well if he respects them. Due to Lee's influence, that simply means if they have power. Otherwise, Tom feels he can intimidate, belittle, and hurt them all he wants. In Julie's case, Tom mirrors the same mistreatment that plagues him and causes him to treat her badly, because Tom views Julie something he owns. Tom ultimately believes that he is allowed to abuse those that are less powerful, because those that are more powerful than Tom are allowed to abuse him.

The most alarming thing about Tom's sexual abuse is that... Showdown seems to be unaware of its gravity? Female-on-male sexual abuse and uneven power dynamics aren't often treated with the same severity as the opposite, if it is portrayed. Like I said, the later scenes with Tom and Kate show him receptive to her attraction. But even if Tom played along, Kate would have always had an uneven power dynamic over him. In the end, Kate never receives punishment for her abuse — she's presumably arrested for her involvement running the illegal fighting ring, but Kate's strongly implied sexual relationship is a total nonissue by the time the credits roll.

This is the same with Lee's own physical and psychological abusive behavior. He gets arrested for running the illegal fighting ring, and I suppose Tom could press charges afterwards, but he's oddly okay by the end of the movie, without any meltdown over losing or being almost killed by his sensei. It's not cathartic at all to see Tom calmly congratulate Ken and Billy in the end, as well as say a nice goodbye to Julie. Seriously? He's still got issues — we're just supposed to believe that Tom reverted back to being a normal kid just like that, without any psychological damage to work though?

And in the end, I suppose we are meant to believe that. Showdown is a stupid movie. Of course they weren't going to dwell on all that with sensitivity and nuance. But what if I wanted Tom to get therapy? I don't think he should date Julie anymore, when she shouldn't have been saddled with the responsibility and burden of having to stay with him. Tom should absolutely have some support system though, alongside professional help to guide Tom in processing how to live his life past Lee and Kate's abuse. I dedicated a whole section on him, dear god!! Why did Showdown do this. I hate this movie.

Conclusion: This movie is a hundred minutes long and none of it was worth it, and yet I keep coming back

Showdown is not a good movie. It's highly entertaining, completely laugh-worthy, and full of little pieces that I keep rotating in my mind to complete the puzzle, but it's held together by shoestring and duct tape. I don't recommend this movie to anybody, not Karate Kid fans, and certainly not cinephiles, except for those who want to have a quick laugh, preferably with friends to mock together — or inversely, want to be driven to madness like me. There are a lot of things I didn't mention about the movie, none of it interesting; Brion James plays the vice principal, they repeat the same song over and over again in the movie, there's a sick ass chase and fight in a theater set (because Lee hired hitmen to kill Billy at the school, remember), and so much more.

The Blu-ray Special Edition disk is like under $30, basically half off during the holidays, and contains a "Making Of..." documentary, alongside supplementary videos of the fight featurette and interviewed of various people from the cast and crew (including the director Robert Radler and Billy Blanks)! I need it.

Don't watch the movie. But if you do, tell me about it

#Do I expect many people to read this? No. BUT I had a lot of fun writing this for my birthday‚ so who cares #Anyway I love writing myself things for myself. Last year it was a character study. This year was a rambling ''essay''. Amazing.#Showdown 1993 #Miyagi-horiginal

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bloodofsancho · 4 months ago

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Theories & Speculations about Canto 7: Lightning Round

So, I've had a much longer, more essay formatted post sitting in my drafts on here for a while, and even longer on my main blog where I imported it from. But seeing as Canto 7 is just on the horizon and my real life obligations haven't gotten any lighter, I've decided that instead of writing a Big Long Theory Post about Canto 7, I would instead summarize my main thoughts/beliefs/speculations into bullet points on a single post. This still ended up being really long though. Anyway, without further ado:

Project Moon's interpretation of Don Quixote seems inspired in part by the musical Man of La Mancha. While I've seen many consider it an adaptation of Don Quixote, it's...not really. It's loosely based off of it. In the musical, it follows Miguel de Cervantes and his unnamed servant who have been imprisoned by the Spanish Inquisition and put on a play for the prisoners where Cervantes plays Don Quixote and his servant plays Sancho Panza. A female prisoner/prostitute named is chosen to play Dulcinea. She is a principal character in the play.

In the book, Dulcinea is little more than a figment of Quixote's imagination. Aldonza is only mentioned in one sentence at the end of the first chapter. She's also a slaughterhouse worker and not a prostitute.

I have absolutely no idea which interpretation Project Moon will go with. But I find it interesting that Don Quixote hasn't mentioned Dulcinea at all, while in the book she probably comes up every other sentence.

Dulcinea = Carmen?

I think the likely villain candidatesfor this Canto are either Sanson Carrasco or "Avellaneda".

Sanson Carrasco, also known as the "Knight of Mirrors" or "Knight of the White Moon" is a guy from Don Quixote's town who along with the barber and priest (make note of that btw) takes it upon himself to cure Don Quixote of his presumed madness. He's kind of a smartass. He decides the best way to cure Don Quixote of his mental illness is to defeat him as the Knight of Mirrors but ends up getting beaten by Don Quixote, and he's not happy about this and swears revenge. Later he appears as the Knight of the White Moon, and defeats Don Quixote in a duel.

In Man of La Mancha, a prisoner known as "the Duke" is chosen to play Sanson Carrasco in the play, who pretty much does the same thing as he does in the book except he's much more cynical in the play.

The other candidate, Avellaneda, would be a very interesting and very Project Moon choice for an antagonist. Alonso Fernandez de Avellaneda was the pseudonym used by an author who wrote a fake sequel to the first part of Don Quixote, which Miguel de Cervantes didn't intend on writing an official sequel to until he saw Avellaneda's work and he hated it so much it spurred him into writing an actual sequel. The existence of the fake sequel is mocked and referenced in the second part of Don Quixote, and considering the events of Canto 6 I think that's worth keeping in mind.

Now onto actual speculation and called shots for Canto 7 since I've laid this groundwork:

I think that the plot of Canto 7, at least initially, may draw heavy inspiration from Man of La Mancha. I think the Bloodfiends from La Mancha Land are possibly taking humans captive through some kind of method (attracting them to the fair maybe?) and torturing them as entertainment. Through some kind of means, the Bloodfiends have also gotten a Golden Bough, but I'm unsure how or why they would use it. Maybe someone can provide some ideas.

Humans going missing and ending up at some kind of vampire torture fair is exactly the kind of case Moses would take on. It remains to be seen if she will be there in person, or if she'll communicate with Dante through a walkie talkie or radio. At the end of the teaser, she sounded like she was talking through a radio (assuming that was in fact Moses).

Sancho is either a Fixer who Don Quixote became friends with in between establishing her human form and joining Limbus Company, or he (assuming that the blue text from the teaser is Sancho) is a Bloodfiend. Maybe both? His text from the teaser seems to be encouraging Don Quixote's delusions.

I initially thought that the Bloodfiend from the teaser could be Dulcinea (or Marcela or Dorotea)* but a user pointed out to me that she's holding large scissors so she's probably the Barber. However, this morning I looked back at the MOTWE story cutscenes with Cassetti and he refers to the Barber with he/him pronouns. I don't know if this means anything, or if it's an oversight or retcon from Project Moon.

I think there's a strong possibility that, following the Man of La Mancha line of thought, Don Quixote's true Bloodfiend identity is Miguel de Cervantes. A lot of people seem to agree with this. However, I haven't seen anyone really make any shots as to why she would seal herself away, and I think I have a plausible answer:

Being a member of the elder generation of Bloodfiends from before the White Nights and Dark Days, Cervantes is primarily nonviolent and doesn't want much to do with humans. After the White Nights and Dark Days spawned a new generation of Bloodfiends who were significantly more prone to violence, violent attacks on humans increased and this alerted even more people to the existence of Bloodfiends---especially people who would like to hunt and kill them. This put the lives of Cervantes' Kindred at grave risk, and not wanting to fight or kill humans, she sealed herself away and invented a human persona---and possibly her Kindred as well, hence how Sancho could also both be a Fixer and a Bloodfiend.

She might have invented Don Quixote with the express purpose of creating a human self who had a strong sense of justice and right the wrongs of the City. Maybe she became a Bloodfiend to start with in order to escape the injustice of the City.

This would line up extremely well thematically with both the novel and Man of La Mancha. Sancho supporting Don Quixote's dreams (or her human persona in general) could support this idea if we assume he is a Bloodfiend.

Meanwhile, the Bloodfiends are more concerned with getting their Second Kindred back once they realize who she is. This would align well with the Barber and Sanson, assuming that Sanson is a Bloodfiend and not a Bloodfiend hunter.

I realize that this is kind of a slapdash post, but I was really running out of time and on top of being both sick today and having two papers due on Sunday, I needed to get this out before Canto 7. I realize that this doesn't touch on many aspects, like the associations with Carmilla, other characters like Dorotea, Marcela, Cardenio, the priest, etc but I decided for the sake of time that I would talk about them if/when they appear in Canto 7. Regardless, I would like to hear everyone's thoughts if they have any!

#limbus company #limbus company analysis #limbus company speculation #limbus company theory #project moon

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proshipconfessions · 20 days ago

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Responding to your last post about proshippers complaining about other proshippers. You didn't provide this option, but I really think it should depend on the content of the ask... And yes, this is a confession blog for proshippers/profic, etc. aligned people. Telling us to go to antiship confession blogs is horrifically stupid and is only going to put us in dangerous positions.

The proship community is not immune from being shitty. There are proshippers who act just like antis. People who think they can change their race and give themselves disabilities are straight up infecting the community as well. There are proshippers who are horrifically ableist against pwOSDDID, schizospec disorders, etc. There are proshippers who straight up use slurs they can not reclaim. There are proshippers who call people the r slur. I especially think proshippers with these disorders (including myself) should have a safe outlet to talk about the toxicity and abuse within our own community without telling us to basically become an anti. Because what the hell???

Of course, I can't read every single anon that you get, but if they are anything along the lines of what I'm talking about here, consider not deleting them. Especially don't tell people to "just become antis" or "just go to antiship confession blogs." That's harmful as fuck.

If anything, these confessions should serve as a reality check that our community isn't perfect. Or serve to remind people that this behavior shouldn't or won't be tolerated in the proship community. Not every self-proclaimed "proshipper" is actually a proshipper, especially if they act abusive, ableist, or harass people like antis do. I will die on this hill.

If you don't want to house confessions about these topics, that's fine. Just say so, and I'll make my own confessional blog where these topics are allowed.

You’re right that there are plenty of people who are proship and also shitty af. It’s something that I’ve both posted plenty of confessions about and have actually even—in case you haven’t been familiar with my blog for a while—made my own post about! It’s like one of just a few posts that I have made speaking directly from my mouth and not a confession. It’s just a post that I wrote about behavior that I hate seeing pop up far too commonly in this community. I literally can’t count how many people I have blocked, which includes not only antis, but also shitty proshippers and pricks who claim to be them while supporting harm caused to others in real life.

You’re also right that you can’t read every anon that I get. I would have much preferred that you even just ask what kind of thing I’m talking about instead of acting like you’re some secret second mod and I’m just some asshole who refuses to hold anyone or any behavior accountable as long as I agree with them on some level.

I really do wonder what you would think about one of the (many with a similar tone) asks that inspired this post.

Do you know how many anons I get with the same fucking attitude and the same fucking insistence that they’re right and I’m wrong and evil, and yet I’m somehow the perfect mouthpiece for their beliefs? What reality check is this supposed to be giving me? Please either stop assuming that everything I say is in bad faith or genuinely try to explain to me what the good content for my followers is in this ask. This is the behavior that I mocked in my post. I also have an old one that I think is somewhere in my drafts(?) where the evil behavior that they’ve seen among a bunch of proshippers that has made them hate all proshippers is venting about harassment from antis. The fake post I made mocking them is an amalgamation of those two, but you only get this one since I’m way too tired to go find the other one rn lol. If someone reminds me, I can reblog it with it later.

Also, I really can’t tell where I said in my post that I would tell these people to go to antiship blogs (other than my reference to a comment where I said that if all that people send to my inbox is how much they hate proshippers and basic proship ideology, then they should probably take that to an anti blog) instead of just deleting the ask, like I actually said in the post. The post that was really more of a way to let off some steam while getting some use out of the Tumblr polls that I practically never get to do anything with. Do you think that the person in those screenshots that I put above is more at home here than they’d be sending this to some anti’s blog?

But like to try to put myself in your shoes, you could’ve been having a shitty day when you sent this, you could be young, or hell, you could’ve seen someone say something similar to my statement recently while meaning this shitty completely different thing. Or maybe you’ve never seen my blog in your life and have no clue what kind of stuff I do/don’t post. My response might sound super defensive, and I hope that it doesn’t, and that I’m not jumping to conclusions, too. I’d hate to blow this out of proportion over what could easily be just a misunderstanding. If I’m being too harsh, sorry. I aim any coldness towards all of these bigoted ideas and the idea that I hold them, and not at you as a person, as I’m willing to believe that you’re an entirely rational person who just misunderstood me and lashed out at me bc of it. But if there is a next time, please try to give me the benefit of the doubt. I don’t ever intend to do anything harmful, and what I said wasn’t intended to imply anything like what you’re saying here at all. I’m not talking about proshippers venting. I’m talking about actual antis coming into my inbox with the “I’m like TECHNICALLY a proshipper, I guess, but I just despise proshippers and think that people who engage with certain types of fiction are inherently bad!!!” So unless you’re one of these people coming into my inbox, then I am NOT telling YOU to go to antiship confession blogs. And if you are… well, then you’re probably not gonna see this, since I’m going through and blocking all of these dickheads soon.

#thank you for answering my real question which was if I should ever use a poll instead of just silently doing things myself #you… made a BASELESS assumption about me that would’ve been proven wrong with. a quick scroll through my blog. and yelled at me for-#something that I DIDN’T SAY(!!!) for multiple paragraphs over this btw #I’ve considered deleting this blog so many fucking times #I’m honestly so exhausted at this point #if I don’t delete it I’ll probably just queue some things and take a long break #so get in your asks now!#not all your fault or anything. just saying it in case I post this and then there’s a long blank period #or if I come back tomorrow like ‘sorry for my outburst 🥺🥺🥺… mod has baby emotions disorder.’#it’s mostly stress over real life events and I haven’t slept in 24+ hours so I’m sorry if anything doesn’t make sense or is repetitive #what tf ever. man idc.#if I do take a break I might be back when my doctor refills my psychiatric meds #she’s out of office rn #sorry if this comes off as rude #your ask just felt really rude with the baseless accusations and the yelling at me and the telling me that my claiming that antis belong on #anti blogs is ‘horrifically stupid’#and ‘harmful as fuck’#but like whatever. you don’t know the asks I’m talking about #it’s just like really rude to assume that when someone posts a vague half joking rant that they are a bad person #I’m gonna try to get some rest I have a huge headache #I’m so tired

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welcometothejianghu · 11 months ago

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Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 心宅猎人/Psych-Hunter.

Psych-Hunter is a 2020 drama about a hot young amnesiac who, accompanied by a rich psychiatrist with major daddy issues and a rich girl who cosplays as a cop, uses his Inception-style psychic powers to solve crimes that are part of a shadowy conspiracy orchestrated by a mysterious figure.

True story: Once I couldn't remember the English name of the drama, so I called it "House Haunters," and now my brain insists that's the real English title. If only!

Do not, under any circumstances, labor under the impression that this show is good. It's not. It's incoherent. The writing is bad. The villain is absurd. The vibe is comically melodramatic. People make inexplicable and out-of-character decisions all the time. Countless complex mysteries get set up with no way to resolve them. There's a thin lampshade hanging over it that blurs the line between bad decisions made on accident and bad decisions made on purpose, but the net result is largely the same. This is the show that first inspired my wife to declare something dumb as a guinea pig in a roller skate.

But it's fun. It's a sea of colorful chaos with brilliant pieces that shine through like strange gems. It knows how to work an atmosphere and does so to create some legitimately creepy moments. It spins a wild yarn filled with bizarre and loveable characters. And it has some twists that truly have to be seen to be believed. In the mood for some beautiful nonsense? Here's five reasons that despite everything I warned you about in the previous paragraph, I think this one's worth watching.

1. Psychonauts for Jazz Age homosexuals

Honestly, that phrase alone should let you know if this is the thing for you. But just in case, let me explain the basic premise of the show:

Jiang Shuo, a man who has lost his memory and been adopted by circus folk, is capable of jingling his keys and diving full-body into someone else's subconscious, represented by lovely and thematic dreamscapes. He does this to solve crimes. Sometimes he takes along a handsome doctor who seems like he might know more than he's letting on, by literally tying their hands together with a red string.

Also, when they do this, they get gorgeous steampunk magical girl costume changes, complete with the cutest little pony nub you've ever seen.

This show can be stunningly beautiful. It knows how to manifest dream logic eerily well. Most of these cognitions are gorgeous, and many are done with primarily practical effects, like it's a stage play. ...And it's good it relies on that so much, because the CG it has is kinda cheap and terrible! So, yeah.

(Side note for the DMBJ fans: This is directed by the same guy who directed Sand Sea, which I assume is related to how this both is a visual treat and completely falls apart on the back end.)

The reason I'm a bit surprised that this hasn't taken off more among the creative set is what a great piece of worldbuilding this Psych-diving is. These boys (and, once, the girl) get to short-term manifest bodily in someone else's materialized mental state, where the person whose brain they’re in neither controls the experience nor remembers what happened after it’s done. Were you writing weird Arthur/Eames fic a decade ago? I got a new best thing for you. Can you say freaky dream sex? Because I can.

The base premise should be more than enough to get your gears going. Come ready to get weird with it. There's so much potential here, and so much of that potential is incredibly gay and wearing impeccably tailored suits.

2. Your friendly neighborhood circus family

As I mentioned before, Jiang Shuo lucks into the best possible fate that can befall an amnesiac: being picked up by carnies.

The troupe includes Ventriloquist Man, Really Big Dude, One-Eyed Acrobat, Other Acrobat, Cheerful Fat Girl, Boy Who Looks Like A Kid But Is Actually Played By An Adult So I'm Not Exactly Sure How Old The Character Himself Is Supposed To Be, and Silver Fox Circus Dad, who manages the whole crew. They're a ragtag bunch of performers who all live together in this cute little compound in some very nice slums, and sometimes they open the gates to their lavish compound and put on a circus show for all the common people!

Now: You know this is not going to be the wokest, most sensitive portrayal of body differences, because of course it isn't. But damn, it's pretty not-bad. The show treats all the circus members as valuable people worthy of affection, whose (occasionally exasperating) quirks are no more or less exhausting than those of the non-circus weirdos in the rest of the supporting cast.

I was half-expecting them to disappear after the first arc, but no! They’re a constant fixture through the show! They’re mostly there to support the show’s more comedic moments, but some of them get wrapped up in more emotional plotlines as well. And every now and then you get to see them actually do their circus shit, which is great.

I will admit that my fondness for them is related to how much I generally love fictional Freaks — you know, misfits who have banded together because society considers them unacceptably weird, but together their weirdnesses make them strong. When you find them, they’re usually the bad guys (e.g., the Gung-Ho Guns from Trigun, the Scorpion crew from Word of Honor) whose freak statuses make them formidable and occasionally sympathetic antagonists. But not so here! The Psych-Hunter Family Circus is good guy support all the way through to the final episode.

I know "found family" is a term that suffers from overuse, but that's the best way to describe what's happening here -- really, it's a family that's already found itself even before the show starts, and now they all live together as an unconventional collective of astonishingly flexible people. How did they find one another? Doesn't matter! What matters is that they all love and would do anything for their newest member, and they think it's great when he comes home with his attractive rich friends, who often arrive bringing snacks, which is really the best use for rich people, if you think about it.

3. Two hands, one ring

Now, if you've seen the series already, you know the moment I'm talking about. But if you haven't (and, statistically, you haven't), know that what I mean is the relationship between these two losers.

Together, Qin Yiheng and Jiang Shuo form the emotional core of the series. They're both drawn to one another because of mysterious circumstances that have started to align. Jiang Shuo's memory is missing, Qin Yiheng's dad has vanished, and all signs point to those absences as having something to do with one another.

Very early in the show, we see Qin Yiheng pull a "come with me if you want to live" on Jiang Shuo, giving the impression that he knows just what's going on in this crazy city. Except, no, he doesn't. Or does he? No, we're pretty sure he doesn't. Or he does, but he's forgotten what he knows, if he ever even knew it in the first place. Anyway, time to tie their hands together and jump into someone else's brain!

I'd say they're in love, but that's not quite it. Dr. Qin Yiheng, high-class homosexual, is in love with Jiang Shuo to the point where he's about to murder someone (possibly Jiang Shuo himself) out of frustration about it. Jiang Shuo, on the other hand, is much more sticking his fingers in his ears and going LA LA LA YOU CAN'T CATCH ME GAY THOUGHTS while trying get a girlfriend in an effort to pretend that all the shit they get up to together isn't tremendously romantic.

That is, until the scene that leads to the which-hand ring guessing game, at which point the burden of their relationship falls on Jiang Shuo (and the Inception parallels get unignorable) for exactly as long as the show will allow it to, before it freaks out and has to add another girl love interest just to make sure all the homos got no'd.

It's not textually gay, because seriously, have you met Chinese television? But it's pretty gay. Or, rather, I think Liu Dongqin (Qin Yiheng) is playing his character as a dedicated homosexual on purpose, and Hou Minghao (Jiang Shuo) is just ... kinda like that? I mean, everything I’ve seen him in, he gets real dreamy-eyed around strong men who pay close attention to him. Maybe it's just his thing as an actor. I'm not judging.

However, the main cast isn't just the two of them. One of the things that led me to this show was the promise of an OT3. And does it deliver on that promise?

Well ... sorta.

Qin Yiheng, Jiang Shuo, and Yuan Muqing are a pretty standard MFM not-love-triangle trio of Male Bestie, Main Guy, and Girlfriend (respectively). There's about five seconds at the beginning of the series where it looks like Yuan Muqing might be into Qin Yiheng, but no, that evaporates almost instantly and is never spoken of again -- and with it disappears most of their interactions with one another, period. So it's less an OT3, and more a case of bisexual cutiepie Jiang Shuo getting both a boyfriend and a girlfriend in a world where censorship will only let the latter relationship exist textually.

But damn if these boys aren't made for one another. Sure, there's a level of conscious comical queerbaiting to it -- I mean, there's straight-up an "only one bed" moment, so you know the show isn't stumbling into rainbow territory on accident. No matter how sexual or nonsexual or whatever you read it as, though, their dynamic is the spine that holds the story together. Really, it's almost sad how often the relationships are set parallel to one another, because when you do that, it becomes obvious how intense Jiang Shuo's bond with Qin Yiheng is, and how largely lackluster and comphet most of his canon romance with Yuan Muqing is by comparison.

Like so.

sidebar: The Girl

I am not going to go into a full-throated defense of The Girl this time, as I am wont to do, mostly because I think Yuan Muqing is full of potential in concept but so badly executed that there's really no hope for her. Her entire personality is whatever they need her to be in any particular scene. It's just that once in a while, what they need her to be is completely insane -- like, seeing-things-that-aren't-there insane -- and it's so great that it makes me mad! She could have been like this all the time! But noooooo

As it is, she has a perfunctory canonical romance with Jiang Shuo that's about as endgame as anything is capable of being (see point 5), and it actually gets pretty cute when it finally gets to the point where it's not just awkward obligation! But alas, it only does that so late in the series that it's not even worth it getting invested in it.

She is a creation of the show. She has no novel counterpart. Her entire function in the drama is to un-gay the dynamic between the boys. You can tell that she was initially supposed to have a different role -- to be the muscle of this trio -- but the narrative forgets pretty quickly that she's got that skill set, and she regresses to being The Girl. She makes dumb decisions that forward the plot. She gets put into danger whenever it's convenient. She demands Jiang Shuo do manly things for her because that’s what a girl is supposed to do, I guess? And then there are moments where she’s cool and crazy and it’s awesome! But they never last.

So if you are going to watch this, be prepared for the fact that the female lead is badly written to the point of frustration. I feel her actor is doing the absolutely best with what she's got; the problem is that what she's got is pretty crappy. Still, Muqing gets some pretty charming moments here and there, and I think it's worth hanging onto those and imagining the character she could have been, if the writers had cared just a little more, or even at all.

4. Powerfully surreal worldbuilding

I'm not even talking about the way people's psyches are structured according to dream logic -- the "normal" waking world is almost equally bizarre. The story takes place in sort of the real world c. 1930, except that a lot of things are off. For example, Japan and England are real locations, but China kinda isn't -- instead, the show takes place in a Shanghai-like city-state run by this moustachioed generalissimo with a faux Latin American dictator aesthetic. The place has its own flag and government and police force (where all the cops have coordinating surnames) and diplomatic relationships with other countries, so it’s clearly its own thing. But what that thing is? What it’s even called? Look, don’t worry about it. Nobody else is worried, so you shouldn’t be either.

You will, at every point in the series, be wondering if the show is trying to telegraph to you that Something's Not Quite Right Here, or if it's just making weird decisions for the sake of artsy weirdness. But don't worry -- there's absolutely no way to tell the difference between the two! Just roll with it.

There's a weird mix of universe rules happening throughout, where everything is mostly period-appropriate for a while, and then somebody builds a clock with levitating parts, or causes someone else to have very specific memory loss — or, again, swings some coins in front of a person’s face and gains the ability to treat their subconscious like a VR amusement park.

You can sort of reconstruct the evolution of this weirdness: The book has actual factual ghosts in it. Well, that’s fine for books, but TV isn’t allowed to have ghosts. But TV can have people who imagine ghosts, so long as it’s all in their heads. Okay, but you know jumping bodily into those imaginations isn’t actually a thing real people can do, right? Well, then let’s make it scientific. How can that be scientific? I don't know, it’s psychiatry. I don’t think that’s psychiatry. Look, it could be. Well, it’s definitely not psychiatry in 1930s Shanghai, and that’s the set we’re allowed to film on. Okay, what if it weren’t actually Shanghai? What if it weren’t actually 1930? What if all of this were at best a weird approximation of the period that adheres to no rules except the ones we want?

Once you’ve thought that, the sky’s the limit.

The show has a very inconsistent grasp on reality, and I am listing that as a pro instead of a con because I am choosing to embrace it as a deliberate choice rather than assume it’s the result of craven incompetence. There's something to be said, though, for how pervasively inconsistent it is. It'd be one thing if there were just a few plot holes here and there (and there are), but this is more along the lines of: We woke up in a mysterious boat and got taken to an island with a giant sea monster skeleton on the shore! What's that all about? Couldn't say! Was it real? Maybe! Moving on!

Let the number of "it's fine! who knows!" comments I've made throughout this rec indicate how much this is the kind of show you just have to roll with. If you are a nitpicker or someone who is troubled by unexplained nonsense, this is not the thing for you. If you love artistic magical realism and high strangeness, you will eat this up with a spoon.

And the lampshade that hangs over all of this worldbuilding is...

5. THE STUPIDEST POSSIBLE ENDING EVER

Okay, usually I am coy about when I think an ending has problems. I am going to drag this one out front and center: Psych-Hunter has an ending so jaw-droppingly, head-clutchingly stupid that I'm actually listing it as a selling point, because it has to be seen to be believed.

When I first watched it, I suspected the show ran out of time or money or something and just had to slap together the quickest possible ending ever. But no! This is the ending they meant! If you go back to the rest of the series, you can see that this is what they were (kinda) setting up the whole time! They just set it up so poorly and decided to make the twist hit at such a late point that not only is it complete nonsense, it actually renders moot the entire emotional stakes of the show! Absolutely incredible!

Now, as I've said before in other places, I don't begrudge the actual twist itself. I mean, it's stupid on its face, but I think they could have done something with it — if they'd had it happen halfway through the series, when the characters would have had time to adjust to the new knowledge. Instead, they slap it on at the last possible moment, when there's no time to have any reaction to it. It's just jarring and baffling, and then the whole thing's over.

I've seen lots of people say "season 2 when???" Season 2 never, friends. There was never going to be a season 2. The only reason you think this was an even remotely acceptable narrative move was that you were assuming that this would be the midpoint, not the end. You're having the same reaction I did, only I can tell this was always meant to be their spectacular dismount.

(To me, it's clear what happened: They J.J. Abramsed themselves into a cool premise for a mystery with no idea how to solve it, hoping they'd figure it out along the way. When they got to the end and still hadn't figured it out, they simply ... opted out of solving it.)

Now, if you want a normal viewing experience out of this show, watch to the end of the next-to-last episode, close your browser window, and have imagination adventures about how you think all the mysteries should resolve. But you're not going to. You are going to continue on to that last episode, and you are going to realize that nothing I could have said here could possibly have prepared you for this. And somewhere, I am going to feel the urge to cackle wickedly and not even know why. Except I'll know why. We'll both know why.

Want to watch this hot mess?

That baby's an iQiyi exclusive! But you can watch the first episode on YouTube, if you feel like getting a taste that way.

Look, I know I may have spoiled my pitch somewhat with that last selling point. After all, why would you bother watching a series if you know it has a shit ending?

I refute your objection thus: Knowing it has a shit ending changes the whole game, because it removes the feeling of betrayal that hits upon your discovering that the ending isn’t what you wanted. You know that already now, so there can be no betrayal. The ending goes from being an unpleasant surprise to being exactly the unexpected thing that you expected. With that in mind, you can dive right in (ha ha) knowing that you’ll never get the closure you crave, and therefore whatever you make up along the way is perfectly valid.

This is obviously a turnoff if you prefer shows that are like seeing someone start a magic trick, perform it without breaking a sweat, and walk off calmly, leaving you wondering how on earth they accomplished such an amazing thing. Think of this more as someone starting a magic trick, accidentally letting the rabbit fall out of their hat, saying “I meant to do that!” like thirty times, and suddenly vanishing through a trapdoor, leaving you wondering what the trick was even supposed to be in the first place — but they were really good-looking and well-dressed, so at least whatever they were doing was nice to look at while it was happening.

See? They're having fun.

#psych-hunter #心宅猎人 #house haunters #i made this #rec post #please watch this and then write more fic for it #I have a very selfish agenda here

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