#She's literally a side character and then any reality in which this side character exists gets erased

[seafoam-taide]

my freak wife

[bixels]

your tags about mercy being one of the most complex characters- YES!!! theres a log in one of ana's gun inspection modes where it mentions how mercy DESPISED her healing magic/science being used for evil on the battlefield, and there's an ingame line of her saying "power boost working as envisioned!" and it just reminds me how she was lied to, forced unto the battlefield when in reality she just wanted to help people with her inventions and thats the only way they said she could do it. AGH. Hippocratic oath!!

Which is why I never seriously bought into Moicy (I get the hatefucking though) as a serious ship because realistically, Mercy would absolutely abhor Moira with every fiber of her being.

This is gonna be a really hot take for gay Overwatch-knowers, but. I preferred when Moira didn't exist as a character in the story and her whole selfish philosophy of 'progress at any cost' existed as Mercy's darker side. I was really interested in Mercy's 'holier than thou' demeanor (her battle uniform is an angel costume, for god's sake). I found it so interesting that Mercy was the one who turned Gabriel into Reaper (it was assumed canon until retconned by Moira). Or that Mercy "saved" Genji by installing ninja stars into his knuckles and turning his body into a killing machine (which is why, imo, I don't think Mercy would ever be in love with Genji. He'd be a constant reminder of the power she holds yet tries to ignore, the ways she's unbelievably fucked her patients up in the past. A reminder that she's not as good a person as others believe her to be). I'm personally really into the idea that Mercy has two sides in her: the side who truly cares about healing people and the side who's so full of hate and anger for the perceived enemy that she unconsciously fuels her rage into the people who rely on her. Turning people into living weapons to "fix" them and fight her battles. Reminder that she watched her parents walk out on her as a child to volunteer medical work for the Omnic Crisis, only for them to die and leave her orphaned and alone. Is she doing this to take care of people, or is she doing this to avenge her parents (the official site says it's only the former, but I think that's boring as fuck)? I think it can be both at the same time, but sometimes she prioritizes one motive over the other. I think the "angelic, cheery healer" is a persona she instinctively uses to veil her selfish motivations, to everyone and to herself. Reminder that she was also lauded as a savant, a prodigy, a teenage genius who literally revolutionized medical science before she could legally vote. You cannot expect me to believe that she's truly altruistic, that everything she does is for the betterment of humanity and out of the goodness of her heart.

I don't think she's a malicious person at all, just someone who doesn't want to admit she has ulterior motives.

Anyways, she's not actually this interesting in the game or the story.

[jubileemon]

Orihime's Powers and Representation

Orihime's power in regards to her characterization. Orihime is an idealist. She exists in a very violent world, yet refuses to fight unless she's under really terrible pressure. She used to see Ichigo as her Prince Charming, her Knight in Shining Armor, until she realized that is simply wasn't the case. The girl was pretty much living in her own little fantasy world to cope with her HUGE troubles, which is why yanking her out of it and making her face a reality so stange to her own left her so distraught. So what do her powers do exactly? Reject reality.

Also in regards to Orihime, the reason why Loly and Menoly hate her even more after she uses her Reality Warper powers to bring them back to life. is more complicated than just being two ungrateful sadists. To start, Hollows/Arrancar/Espada as a whole are beings that are born when souls don't cross to Soul Society and stay in our world, becoming corrupted with supernatural energies. And here, two Arrancar girls (Hollows who have removed their mask and gained Shinigami-like powers) have witnessed how a lowly human has the power to undo death, pretty much messing with everything they know about their own existence. What is a crowning moment for Orihime, in the view of these two girls (and especially Loly, who had a better look at all of this than Menoly since she was horribly mutilated by Grimmjow yet she was not dead) is like catching view of an abomination, which explains the whole "she's a monster" deal.

Hollows, beings that are born from death, despair and fear, are being faced with a being who can literally rewrite reality so that events do not occur. Taken in this context, Orihime is less like an angel of mercy to these two and more like a God from their perspective. A being whose nature and abilities are so alien that they outright defy explanation. Considering this, its understandable that they would react less than pleasantly to what happened to them.

Further to the above point on Orihime's character in relation to her powers — there's a very specific reason why Orihime actually used to be useless on the battle field, and it's not any kind of limit on her power. It's been heavily alluded to that Orihime's power is pretty much limited by her own imagination. Naturally, when it comes to helping people, her healing powers can reverse pretty much anything. However, think about who Orihime is. She wouldn't hurt a fly if she could help it. She can take down random Hollows like that mook that was attacking Tatsuki in the school because it's monstrous in appearance, and they'll hurt more people if she doesn't attack. Place a humanoid enemy in front of her, and will take her a while to see that she should consider them an enemy, and she simply cannot attack them unless it's really needed. This is why Tsubaki's power will always be the most limited of her set.

Actually, about Tsubaki... think about the Shiten Koushun aka Shield of Four Heavens' Resistance. How is it formed? Via adding Tsubaki to the Three God Reflection Shield, thus making him turn a defensive barrier into an offensive weapon. Tsubaki is the weakest of the six Rikka spirits as well as the one who's less like her, personality wise; and the ones forming the Reflection Shield (Hinagiku, Lilly and Baigon) are relatively similar to her in character. This means that, if she wants to join the battle effectively, Orihime must accept to use Tsubaki yet not by simply sending him off towards the enemy (like many of her haters want her to), but by integrating him to the side that she dominates the most. Only by using Tsubaki in combination with Hinagiku, Lily, and Baigon can she draw his attack potential... mirroring how Orihime must now fight alongside Ichigo, Chad, and others if she wants to not stay behind. Also, when was the Shiten Koushun seen first? When she and Ichigo were attacked by Ginjou. Who was actually a humanoid enemy (more exactly the formwr Substitute Shinigami, but we didn't know that back then, and neither did she). This means that Orihime either is working on the issue mentioned above or has already gotten past behind it.

As for her Santen Kesshun (Three God Reflection Shield)? It too, is not the fragile thing it seems to be. It is specifically stated to Reject an attack and its consequences. It stands to perfectly good reason that it doesn't matter if the shield shatters instantly or not — another can always be thrown up. What matters is that whether the shield shatters or not, it genuinely DOES reject the attack that hits it.

Furthermore, it actually makes a ton of sense that it shatters so easily, too. Orihime's powers are a form of reality warping, after all, being what Aizen calls "the Rejection of Events"; she's essentially the Queen of Retcons. When her base shield blocks an attack, it also retcons that attack out of existence. But then, that raises the question... if there was never any attack to block, then why would she even make a shield in the first place? The reason it shatters isn't that it's fragile; it's the shield disappearing in a Puff of Logic because the attack it was meant to block suddenly never existed in the first place.

As for her Santen Kesshun (Three God Reflection Shield)? It too, is not the fragile thing it seems to be. It is specifically stated to Reject an attack and its consequences. It stands to perfectly good reason that it doesn't matter if the shield shatters instantly or not — another can always be thrown up. What matters is that whether the shield shatters or not, it genuinely DOES reject the attack that hits it.

Furthermore, it actually makes a ton of sense that it shatters so easily, too. Orihime's powers are a form of reality warping, after all, being what Aizen calls "the Rejection of Events"; she's essentially the Queen of Retcons. Logically, when her base shield blocks an attack, it also retcons that attack out of existence. But then, that raises the question... if there was never any attack to block, then why would she even make a shield in the first place? The reason it shatters isn't that it's fragile; it's the shield disappearing because the attack it was meant to block suddenly never existed in the first place.

[piracytheorist]

Been thinking about Nightfall wanting to "awaken the heart buried within Twilight" and I'm like... how exactly is she planning on doing that? It doesn't look like she really understands Twilight, she only sees the idolized image of him that she's built in her mind.

Her only ambitions driving her to perfection (and, to her credit, she does actually achieve a great level of physical discipline that a spy needs to survive) are the ones of her ending up as Twilight's real wife and life partner. She doesn't seem to share any of his dreams, she doesn't even seem to appreciate a possible world where children are happy - which is Twilight's core motivation, so ingrained in him that he kept fighting for it even when he hadn't actively thought about it for a long time.

The reason Yor and Anya are the ones awakening his feelings is because they are way more connected to his ambitions and motivations. Anya reminds him of himself and how important it is to him to protect children's innocence and happiness. Yor has similar motivations, and he actually, canonically thinks of her as someone suitable to inherit the world he wants to create, and maybe I'm taking a bit of liberty here by saying he probably wishes he'd had someone like her to protect him when he was young and defenseless.

So, without even trying, just by being themselves, Yor and Anya connect with him and awaken all the emotions that have motivated him as a spy from the very start. Nightfall has literally dedicated her entire existence to becoming the perfect partner for Twilight, but in her effort to become perfect she has completely lost what actually matters to the man behind the Twilight spy persona. In fact, she may have actually ended up at the opposite side. She believes that after the war Twilight will want to reminisce over old times and tour old battlefields with her when we as the audience keep getting hints that he finds no pride or happiness in being a spy, other than having the chance to protect the world.

Nightfall is hard to relate to not only because she's mean and selfish. It's also because she has dedicated herself to a false, empty promise that was based on Twilight's fame. I'm guessing Twilight never shared his inner feelings and motivations that drove him to become a spy, so Nightfall has no idea how much of a sensitive person he really is, beneath all the masks he puts on. And she's doing all that in an effort to make him notice her, praise her, and eventually choose her as his romantic partner, but everything about it is hopeless.

In a way it's a very interesting way to present her character, as she's willingly becoming a Satellite Love Interest, and everything about her plan, from mistaking Twilight's motivations and personality, to treating Yor and Anya horribly, to reaching for a goal the audience knows is unachievable shows why you can't be like that in reality. I could even say it's a commentary and satire of Satellite Love Interests, making a brilliant example of how such characters can work if they're consciously written that way.

(Anime only fan here, don't spoil me for the manga)

[dutchdread]

Ouch, that's gotta hurt.

Watching Cleriths celebrate NPTK these past weeks, knowing they'll, as always, be proven incorrect has been an exercise in patience. Sometimes it's just clear that you won't be able to convince people of a complex truth when so often discourse is limited to 280 characters. The reason Clerith exists is that people are unable to see the big picture, it survives by people squinting and not seeing the "but" that's located right after every piece of evidence they put forward. This means that you'll often be perceived to be arguing against what is to them the blatantly obvious. It's futile, nuanced argument never wins from emotion, so often you just have to take solace in the idea that "well, it will be fun to see their surprise 4 years from now". So when you get an interview like this, mere weeks after the game releases, which confirms everything that Clotis had been saying about, and had been mocked for, NPTK, you can't help feel a sense of schadenfreude.

Man that's gotta hurt. This is the difference between Clotis and Cleriths. Cleriths don't really like Aerith, because they want to assassinate her character. Rather than a sad tragic tale of a lifetime of love and loss they want to reduce her character to a shallow cliche rom-com about a capricious girl whose fickle affections change by the hour. The fact that the first person Aerith starts developing feelings for after 5 years of pining after Zack is a man who is almost literally channeling Zack becomes a meaningless coincidence in the story. The fact that she knows Cloud for 2 weeks, most of which is also spent pining over Zack is viewed as confirmation of how special their love is. It doesn't matter that Aerith doesn't even know who Cloud is. It doesn't matter that Cloud is shown to very obviously be in love with another woman. It doesn't matter that Cloud is clearly losing his mind. It doesn't matter that Cloud is constantly show as being apathetic towards her advancements. Even them fighting is recontextualized as "good chemistry" just to avoid facing reality. Usually nonsensical romances are seen as bad-writing, but here the cope makes people excuse all the nonsense as "how brilliantly written is this story? They love each other despite it making no sense, now THAT is romance". Zack is called irrelevant, CC is a "ret-con" and can be ignored, ACC is about how romantic it is to want to die to be with someone. The reason Zack is so predominant in Rebirth is in no way connected to Aerith yearning for exactly the bond he's constantly showing to have with her. The contrast with Clouds apathy means nothing, he definitely isn't there to have some sort of pay-off with Aerith in part 3. Nah, he's just there to give Cloud and Aerith his blessing and to F-off. The reason Tifa is silent and heartbroken at the end has nothing to do with her best friend dying and the man she loves losing his mind. The distance between her and Cloud at that moment is totally not used to illustrate the severity of the situation, or to set-up Tifas importance in the events for part 3. Nah, she doesn't get lines because she's just a side character duh!. That is how they think, every single character and story is assassinated, everything happens only to service Cloud and Aeriths romance, even Cloud and Aerith themselves are pushed through the mud. Screw the death of Ifalna, screw the death of Zack, screw the complexity surrounding Clouds Zack shaped psychology, screw Aeriths childhood and desire for real bonds of friendship, screw even the story of Aerith dying and how maybe, JUST MAYBE, the scenes surrounding Aeriths death have SOMETHING to do with the strong emotions surrounding death rather than just being "a cute romance scene uwu". Never have I seen any story interpretation reveal such rampant hatred for a character as Cleriths reveal for Aerith. To them, Aerith is totally the kind of person who would bond with Tifa, hear the very personal and intimate story about the promise shared between her and Cloud, hear that Cloud thinks that Zack is dead, and not 5 minutes later write a story about how "she loves Cloud and they wouldn't need no promises like that other girl". But sure, I'm the one who hates Aerith, not the people who think this is who she is, but me, the person who assumed she'd be less vile than that and that any song she'd write would encompass more than that. I stand up for her character and get mocked, called an Aerith hater, and called "toxic"....and then you get an interview like this. God it feels good to always have all your positions validated by future content. One has to wonder if the people still arguing for Clerith ever sit back and think "wait, the last 100 times I dismissed these peoples arguments I was proven wrong almost immediately, I am constantly having to shift my goalposts while they're just happily sitting there laughing as they consume media about Cloud kissing Tifa, or proclaiming to become her special existence....maybe I am the delusional one...." God I can't wait for part 3, it will be hilarious.

[time-is-restored]

do you guys every think abt death vs immortality as a thoroughline in like. literally all of the mechs albums.

old king cole is explicitly warped by immortality (never to forgive he would eternal live, his hands dyed red by gore - can be read a few ways depending on where u place the emphasis, but at the very least communicates that his wrath is facilitated By his immortality), and the olympians commit attrocities in order to hold onto their wealth and the immortality that it grants them (murdering arachne, yanking heracles' chain the second he tries to go freelance, having a monopoly on the acheron etc). the value they put on immortality and living forever, and the fear they have of ever possibly losing it, has completely warped their morals and priorities.

and while it comes up less in tbi, there's still significant emphasis placed on how odin has been in power for a century (both thor + the narrator bring it up, and there's also an emphasis on how long ago the bifrost project was started, and how 'no one left living' can explain its science). her villain monologue in rangarok iv places the extinction of asgard as an honour - a ruin that no one can possibly rebuild from is called 'apotheosis'. and as she says at the end, the idea that no one can possibly outlive her is a key draw for odin. asgard dies with her.

in hnoc, the only really immortal character is brian (and we only really know that bc of knowledge we get from outside the album), but the axis of life and death as a privilege vs a curse is still very present. 'mordred's gift to Arthur could be love in his own eyes / fating him alone to keep the life to which he clings', not only posits that the gift of survival isn't inherently good + kind (which the audience would immediately recognise as love, not possibly love), but places emphasis on the fact that arthur is now utterly alone. the station's death at the hands of mordred is hardly a happy one ('Its people damned, doomed by a man who's lost all his regrets'), but arthur's fate is arguably worse. severed from the finality and closure of death, what does he become? [insert that one cool theory abt hnoc arthur becoming old king cole here]

it's like. on a meta level, the reason we as fans don't put much emphasis on the depravity + cruelty of the mechs is bc the people portraying the mechs are all charismatic + skilled performers. in live gigs they're all portraying the fun side of their characters - roasting each other, bantering with the audience, making fun of the characters they're singing about, referencing off-screen violence - bc if they portrayed their lore too literally they'd be comitting felonies LMAOOO

but narratively, its like. literally every album is a meditation on the ways that the glorification of immortality can ruin civilisations - can ruin galaxies. whether its rooted in the fear of you specifically dying, or of being outlived, or overpowered or forgotten, or if its done for the sake of someone else's survival... it's all corrosive. if u refuse to accept the indisputable impermanence of life, you lose the ability to value it, and u numb urself to the reality of just how fucked up it is to cut another person's life short for any reason.

like. i do think some of the mechs started as good people, and some of them even might still have ethical standards, but i REALLY cannot stop thinking about how fucking. fascinating it is that this group of immortals who are KNOWN for basically considering nothing but how fun and/or violent any given activity will be, have basically filled their entire discography with songs about how their continued existence is corrosive and brings tragedy + ruin wherever they go.

so how self-aware are they? do you think those old morals + ethics still linger in their mind, when they're writing down these tragedies? they willingly self identify as liars + thieves + bastards, etc etc, and they seem to have no trouble identifying the 'bad guys' in the various albums (ie: humanising snow + cinders + rose, but not king cole), but do those concepts actually mean anything emotionally, or even theoretically, for them all beyond their dramatic potential? do they remember their lives before they were mechanised as it actually happened, or do they remember it as lyrics to a song? is it possible to be entirely self aware abt ur own capacity for violence (as jonny in paticular claims to be), if you no longer relate to violence as anything other than a narrative device - a means to an end, whether comedic or dramatic?

[heartbeatbookclub]

I think it's sorta weird how the Protagonist (MC, Y/N, Stinky, whatever you wanna call him) is treated within the context of DDLC's meta.

That sentence came out weird. What I mean is that on terms of DDLC playing with the 4th wall (in other words, on terms of its actual existence as a visual novel in universe), the nature of the Protagonist's...well, entire existence, is up in the air.

Dan Salvato literally stated that he doesn't actually see him as a character in the same way as the girls. He's a "blank slate that says whatever is convenient." In a different statement, he's described as the "nameless, faceless self-insert character that you find so commonly in romance games", which I think is a good way of putting it. It's a good way of justifying why he kinda...sucks, because he's meant to be a typical VN protagonist. He's shallow, and responds with little more than what makes sense in context, because he doesn't have much character on his own, which is what makes him pretty bad at dealing with delicate issues like with Sayori.

In DDLC+ (spoilers, I guess?), it's a little bit vague about it, but in one of the mails, it states that Monika has literally "manufactured" a new character to "force interaction between her and the user". This character is heavily implied to be the Protagonist of the main DDLC visual novel that we know, and he is, as stated, noticeably absent from the Side Stories, because Monika didn't actively create him to be there.

Except...he isn't.

He doesn't physically appear, but in Trust, though he's obviously not mentioned by name, it's implied that he does exist, because when asked to act like a "normal person" responding to the Literature Club, she imitates a friend of hers who says "Literature is stuuupid. I'm joining the Anime Club."

...Remind you of a certain someone?

I feel like I'm overexplaining this, but my point is, it suggests that the Protagonist as a character isn't just something Monika invented out of thin air, or at least he's heavily implied not to be.

I think there's a larger conversation on the vague way the game itself treats the world outside of what is defined within the limited scope of Doki Doki Literature Club. Fans have filled gaps of different characters and events, but it's important to acknowledge that they're gaps filled by fanon, not canon. I think those gaps are left very intentionally empty, mostly to play into the conceit of the world, being that literally nothing actually exists outside of its boundaries, because it's a visual novel. It's a limited, constricted reality, where things are implied to exist outside it, but they actually don't.

In other words, Monika did apparently generate all that makes up the Protagonist as a character and vehicle for the player in the main game, based off the limited concept implied by their interaction in the Side Story. Or, rather, probably by something else, since the side stories are inherently a "Control Simulation" where Monika doesn't have any sense of meta awareness. It's a prequel set before the main story, but...well, if you really think about it, it's implied to tie into the main story, but they don't directly link up, do they? If it's not explicitly shown on screen in the main line Doki Doki Literature Club, did it even happen?

Either way, the Protagonist is a character independent of Monika's creation, he's just given absolutely nothing, and technically doesn't even exist outside of what's implied of him. Technically, the character Monika creates as a vehicle for the Player has no real relation to him, outside of being Sayori's friend and wanting to join the Anime Club. Or, depending on your view, he does! Since he's the literal manifestation of that character concept where it didn't exist previously, it's fair to say that he is that character given life!

I don't know, I think it's just kinda fascinating in context. I don't really like a lot of the extra lore surrounding the whole thing in +, but there are plenty of interesting things like this which have been given just enough flavor to be interesting.

Obviously I don't think this means the Protagonist is a complete non-character and any & all fan interpretations of him should be defenestrated (quite the opposite actually, reality can be whatever you want, I have a few concepts with him floating around my head which I find fun to play with), but I think this sort of thing is probably important to keep in mind on terms of actual investigations of canon.

[smile-files]

it's funny how much bow fixates on how important the contestants are, and how thus a contestant (marshmallow) will choose to give attention to another contestant (apple) over her; because she's a ghost (and automatically not a contestant), she is incapable of being "real" like the contestants -- she can only barely tangibly interact with them, and even when she can, it's only within the confines of one location and one element of the story.

to the show, the contestants are the main characters: and so the reality of any character, their depth and personhood, relies (in the eyes of the viewer) on their ability to interact with the contestants, as that determines their screentime and personal developments -- and, as bow notes, contestants are the ones most easily able to interact with other contestants. the contestants are the most "real" within this framework. a background/side character is less "real" in a sense, because they're a flat character, not meant to act like a fully fleshed-out person -- the contestants are "real" in their humanity, their complex relationships and emotions, their way of simulating actual human experience.

of course, this is all incredibly ironic, then, as the contestants were manufactured to be contestants: created to be the main characters in mephone's show. they're "fake" -- particularly in how they were synthetically designed to be "real". the way the characters have acted thus far implies that, largely, they had some vague knowledge of a past and identity for themselves outside of the show -- the only characters alluding to the contrary are fan and cabby, who have personal issues to that effect, such that they wouldn't automatically suspect that their uncertainty about how they are outside of the show would imply that they don't really exist outside of it. the fact that this revelation about mephone creating the contestants is a revelation at all means that they must all have been created to have some sort of backstory -- they were synthetically designed to be "real", synthetically designed to "remember" a past that would thus influence the way they feel and act today. part of what makes someone "real" or "human" is the fact that their experiences in the past affect them (regardless of whether or not they remember those experiences consciously); we have a continuity. the contestants, having been created in the show's genesis, awoke to feel like they were just continuing a life they already had (but which never existed).

there's some fascinating meta-narrative going on: is it not true, from our perspective, that these characters, these people literally didn't exist before the show? the ii16 twist, in contextualizing everything, makes you wonder about what it means to be a main character in a story -- and, in bow's case, what it means to be a main character cast aside by the narrative...

(just for the record, i don't necessarily believe that mephone consciously made the contestants -- but that doesn't matter to my speculation anyway.)

[tvckerwash]

@joltning I present to thee the elaboration requested:

When broken down to the bare essentials Wash and C.T fulfill the same function within the story, and the differences between them as characters mostly results from how the story was executed when it came to them fulfilling that function. 

For example, everybody (myself included) complains about how C.T exists solely as a plot device in the Freelancer Saga, but nobody complains about how Wash also exists solely as a plot device in Recovery One and Recollection. I mean Reconstruction is literally the ‘omg theres a plot!?!?!?!?” season of RvB, and without Wash there is no story. 

The main reason Wash isn’t perceived in the same way as C.T is due to the level of freedom the writers had when it came to telling the story they wanted to tell. The Blood Gulch Chronicles and Out of Mind set the foundations for Recovery One and Recollection, but it was through Wash that the lore of RvB was reconstructed into a cohesive story. The unexplainable was explained, the unelaborated was elaborated upon, and all the wacky hijinks and random bits and bobs of the previous seasons were tied together in a way that answered the question asked in episode one: Why are all of these idiots stuck in a canyon in the middle of nowhere while being separated into color coded teams that are fighting each other?

C.T however did not have the same level of freedom as Wash, and this is because of pfl’s nature as a prequel combined with the pacing of those seasons. We pretty much already knew everything about her that there was to know, so there was no point in hiding anything or taking it slow because of that, hence the painfully obvious foreshadowing. This approach to the Freelancer Sage, and C.T’s story is what leads to her essentially having the same arc as Wash, just reversed—or more accurately described; mirrored, like Chief and Arbiter in Halo 2.

A majority of the reversal and/or mirroring between them manifests in their personalities, which I actually talk about some here, but some examples of the phenomenon in regards to actual plot points are:

They are both introduced as recovery agents (or rather fake C.T, who was the real C.T at the time, was introduced as a recovery agent). Wash is a single agent recovering human technology from dead Freelancers, and he uses explosives to destroy the rest of the equipment to prevent information leaks. C.T is attempting to recover alien technology from a long dead civilization with the help of other aliens, and he uses explosives to make sure anyone who knows of their operation and presents a problem will be destroyed to prevent information leaks. 

We knew exactly who Wash was, who he worked for, and why he was reassembling the blues. We didn’t know who C.T was, who he worked for, and why he was fighting Tucker in the desert. 

Wash was shot in the back and survived, but failed to subdue the enemy. C.T was shot in the chest and died just as they were going to subdue the enemy.

In regards to the real C.T, some examples include:

The Meta was portrayed as the primary conflict for Wash, but in reality he had always been aiming for the destruction of Freelancer. On the flip side, C.T’s fight to take down Freelancer is portrayed as the main conflict, but in reality, while poorly explained, tracking down the alien artifacts seemed to be her real goal (which is not as insane as it sounds when you remember that Charon Industries was more aligned with the UNSC proper than pfl was). 

Wash never hinted towards his plan of taking out the Meta in Recovery One to South, or his plan for destroying Freelancer to the Reds and Blues until he had the perfect opportunity to strike, and by then he had built enough trust that they were willing to help him out despite his secrecy. If they weren’t, well, he knew what to say to change their minds. C.T however wasn’t exactly subtle with her thoughts and feelings, and she didn’t build any trust with the people around her, so when she finally defected—which didn’t take a genius to see coming—no one was willing to listen to her or take her at her word, and there was nothing she could say or do to change their minds except offering concrete evidence. “I’m starting not to trust you.” vs “I can’t trust you.”

This one isn’t a plot point, but I’m going to mention it anyway because I think it’s a nice example of this subtle yet obvious mirroring I’m talking about, and shows what I was trying to replicate in my blurb that spurred me to finally write this analysis:

Counselor: Agent Washington? Agent Washington? Washington: Sorry, what were you saying? Counselor: Were you thinking about Epsilon again, Agent Washington? Washington: No. Counselor: What happened with Epsilon was not your fault, Agent Washington. Washington: I didn't think it was. Counselor: We have safeguards for the unstable emotional patterns of an artificial intelligence. Sometimes these algorithms fail. Washington: Oh. So then it's your fault. Counselor: We prefer to think of it as no one's fault.

Vs:

Washington: It wasn't your fault, Connie. Connie: Easy for you to say. You didn't drop the ball. Washington: The ball got dropped. We were all there, it's everyone's responsibility. Connie: Dammit, why are you doing that? Washington: What am I doing? Connie: Making excuses for me. I'm not making excuses for myself...why are you?

All I've mentioned above is also why C.T’s relationship with the leader and the plot twist that the C.T in the desert wasn’t the real C.T are disliked by so many, as there was nothing to justify the sudden bait and switch like there was at the end of S6. I mean, considering we see both Tex and South use voice mods to sound like men, it reads as though that was supposed to be the case with C.T as well, which makes it feel like it was changed at the last second because everyone saw it coming.

This is an issue because A) There's nothing inherently wrong with being predictable—a good plot twist always has foreshadowing, even if it won’t be registered as foreshadowing until the twist happens in certain cases—and B) The story of the Freelancer Saga as a prequel was confined in a box created by the previous seasons, and all they were doing was connecting the aforementioned events to tie up a few loose ends and properly establish Carolina's driving force in present day S10.

[stargazerlily7210]

Alright, here's a big claim for the finale (whether I actually believe/want any of these individually is besides the point. This is purely about how these all vibe together):

Sutekh is ultimately acting as RTD's Harbinger for opening the Classic Who floodgates as he sees fit.

Susan Triad will still turn out to be Granddaughter Susan. It will be revealed that the smattering of Susan Twists across The Doctor's travels will turn out to have been her Time Lord (aka. 'Complex Space-Time Event') consciousness calling out to her Grandfather for help. And, speaking of that, the Kind Woman RTD mentioned who is on a far away planet with something vital to The Doctor and Ruby, will be either one of Susan Triad dream selves or Carol Anne Ford herself. The something vital will either be the hope/confirmation/proof/information needed to unlock Susan's Memories and restore Susan Triad to her full Regenerated Susan Granddaughter self or Baby Ruby.

Ruby's mom is either revealed to just be an innocent, albeit unfortunate person turned acolyte of Sutekh (think, the speech Harriet/Sutekh gave about 'The Vessel. Which, presumably is the TARDIS but could honestly be referring to any/all of the current female presenting mystery based characters, as well.) The Trickster working under Sutekh. Or, more likely, Ruby herself.

The 'heartbreaking' moment we keep hearing about will either be Mel's death (as victim or sacrifice, hard to say), Ruby's death (imagine she learns she's a manifestation somehow brought about by the fight with Sutekh. Then defends her self sacrifice claiming it's fine because she doesn't really exist) or a reveal that refocuses this all back to The Doctor's foundling status.

The Doctor (and Ruby, or Mel, depending on who dies) will escape Sutekh in 2024 by using the oddly solid time window/'memory'/recording of the TARDIS to enter the Memory TARDIS (aka. The consciousness of the TARDIS itself that's defending itself against Sutekh's control). Which is shielded from Sutekh, but doesn't have the power to do anything else... Until Tales of the TARDIS gets revealed as The TARDIS calling out for help by using the time=memory=reality hack that Tales of the TARDIS has been alluding to.

If it's Mel who died, she will get brought back to some sort of existance (whether fully back to life, or only within the confines of the Memory TARDIS) through the magic of the Memory TARDIS. Kind of like how Clara was semi undead and had her own TARDIS.

If it's Ruby who died, the 15/Ruby scenes we saw bookending the Pyramids of Mars TotT episode will be something like a mix between the 'literally living on through memory' magic mentioned above and the Teacher Clara Shadow in 12's Mind Palace TARDIS. But she will ultimately be brought completely back to life.

Mrs. Flood will remain an off-putting mystery but will seemingly be on The Doctor's side, albeit away from any of the immediate action for the majority of, if not the entire episode. However, whether her identity gets revealed this episode or not, we will get confirmation that she is a Time Lord herself... and she'll inevitably be revealed as The Monk (for even longer winded reasons that ultimately amount to nothing).

[twst-vision-of-the-crimson-rose]

Vision Of The Crimson Rose AU

(Made by @klai-16xoxo )

Welcome one and all to the world behind the curtains of reality!

Would you like to accompany Kalim and Riddle to their adventure through what it’s meant to be hidden from the world? And unlock many roads and stories and meets new characters that may or may not seem familiar to you?

If that the case then let’s go! Firstly why not get to know the two main characters a bit?

{Riddle Roseheart}

In this au, Riddle had been raised extra strictly by his mother to the point that his mother had developed an unhealthy obsession of perfection and placed a lot of expectations on him. That why when he started to go blind she didn’t like that and viewed it as a huge flaw… in which she was willing to do anything to get his vision back. So kuch so that with some connection, a mysterious Doctor had offered her a beautiful crimson red eyes to be his, in which she happily agreed… not knowing the dark secrets and event that followed those beautiful Crimson eyes.

Riddle in this au kinda has Abathy. While he has shown fear,anger,compassion and happiness, these would be rare, fleeting and moderate. He dose not fake his emotions tho, so whenever he shows them, they would be 100% genuine, while if he faked them it would be painfully obvious!

{Kalim Al Asim}

Kalim’s past is unclear even for himself, all he knows is that he had been drowned and his eyes had been stolen from him, despite that he somehow able to still use his other senses to move around and interact with his surroundings. It is only when Riddle had claimed his eyes that he finally can see again but through Riddle’s POV, Kalim want to uncover more about his past and would do anything to achieve this goal!

As for his personality… well it is pretty much just like the one in the game, he such a kind soul and always try to look at the bright side of things but deep down there is more to him then meet the eyes.

{referring and small facts}

// this au is still under work and tbh I made it for fun and it story still being worked at, meaning I am just going with the wind! All I know this au is like a horror rpg games like pocket mirror, mad father and so one! Tho I had a lot of help from @sleepy-meep when making this au so thank you bestie🫶 anyway let me just attack ye all with random facts!

// as for the fact, there so many bu I would not say all of them but here are few!

Riddle in this au may have abathy but tbh he such a sweet heart and a lil silly but I like to imagine him like Rachel from Angels of Death.

Kalim actually basically fucking Paimon from genshin lol he make sure to guide Riddle around and tell him all he knows… which surprisingly is a lot.

In the au, the two would go literally behind the curtains of reality and to multiple realms that is ruled by different Wardens and each one had it different themed

There this one character titled as “The Archiver” and the most powerful character in the au that oversees everything in the realms (also he is my twst oc, Takara lol you can learn all about him from my blog @klai-16xoxo )

In this au, NRC dose not really matter that much at, since the boys didn’t even go to it soooo~ yeah! I am not even sure if it dose exist hahah

Kalim can beet ass and wouldn’t hesitate, keep ya hand off Riddle ò<ó

Sometimes I would open an event where a “Love DLC” happen where you can romance the characters that or have Riddle do it or any other characters you ship but keep in mind that some would not be answered if I find them inappropriate!

This blog is like a side blog for me and idk if I would be that much active in it but I would try my best!

I am not the best writers so if I wrote down some stuff they may not be that good so forgive me!

[futchgunk]

Bladders Gat3 Finish doc

:et me get the rest of my fucking feelings out about baldurs gate:

im so mad bc any character who is not human or realism/white passoid is literally regarded with the same type of dismissal that you would see in mainstream media. all the companions that are not white passing are treated like shit and have bad ends.

-Lae'zel (gith) gets abducted by the a bad guy for the last 1/3 of the game (also we could talk about her being the fighter class as default is also a bit racist, but the deep dive will be its own essay). and then she can die and not be able to be resurrected. (resurrection scrolls and revivify spells ONLY work on companions and not npcs)

Wyll (THE ONLY BLACK HUMAN MAIN CHARACTER, side note we could talk about how is name is spelled like a white mormon names their kids) is a big talking point bc he is constantly strung between the expectations put upon him by himself, his family, and then his pact matron. AND NO MATTER WHAT OPTION IS CHOSEN WILL CONTINUES TO SUFFER IN THIS EXECUTIVE PURGATORY. He starts as a "i have to kill this devil" actually its a tiefling (suddenly its now fantasy racial infighting, so of course u dont wanna kill another companion so early in the game, so Wyll is forced through Hell's Circles and the exposure makes him grown large demonic horns. (Wyll does not have control over his body or himself, nor his actions, and only suffers the consequences of the actions of the Tav (PC)). Wyll even gets to have the "I did everything for my father's (approval just to have my father misunderstand me and then the most noble course of action is to be independent because i am still bound by choices prior and also if two black people form any sort of family on screen its disgusting and blasphemous so I might as well treat my father like my brother who i never was able to relate to when i was younger" THIS IS NOT MENTIONING THAT WYLL IS LITERALLY THE SON OF THE DUKE OF BALDURS GATE. HE GIVES UP HIS STATUS OF NOBILITY TO BE HEROIC AND IS JUST FOREVER CONTINUALLY PUNISHED. THE DUKE OF BALDURS GATE IS BRAINWASHED TO RELINQUISHING HIS TITLE AND CORONATES THE WHITE DEVIL EVIL DICK BAD GUY WHO SOLD KARLACH (TIEFLING) TO HELL FOR GIGGLES.

Karlach (tiefling) is a bright eyed noble hearted character that is looking for solace after having 10 years of her life taken from her when she got sold to devil and hell and made a war machine slave because thats perfectly tragic. Her heart is taken from her and replaced with an engine (machine) that is slowly killing her when she is not in Hell. THE ENGINE DOESNT EVEN HAVE A GOOD IN GAME MECHANIC, YOU GET TO SET URSELF ON FIRE TO GET A 'HEAT' DEBUFF THAT U CAN CONSUME ON AN ATTACK, you build heat any other way, so its like only <Lv. 4, and if you minmaxed the opening scene, you get a 2h sword that does this every attack, so like its a bit moot and useless. Furthermore i think its really stupid that shes yearning for companionship and yet is not allowed because her engine makes her to hot to touch. Which rubs me the wrong way as a black transfem (u could argue tiefling coded) because I already feel like that. I feel like im too intense and hot with my passions and i intimidate people to the point that I'm actively denying myself the intimacy i crave so dearly just by existing and expressing myself. The taxation of life shouldn't really exist in video games!! The whole party gets mind enslaving brainworms that magically dont work because the plot armor is really strong yet the demon character who EVEN WHEN THEY SEEK HELP IN THEIR COMPANION QUEST ARE DENIED THE REALITY OF LIVING COMFORTABLY BECAUSE THEY SHOULD ONLY EXIST IN HELL. (cried actually). Before the last of this mess, she offers to turn into a mindflayer just to give herself the peace that she could be the hero that saves the world (become the villain because its better than who you currently exist as, or die being yourself (who has LITERALLY BEEN DEMONIZED). Karlach doesn't get to have have a happy ending because she either dies from engine overdose or goes to hell just to fucking breathe. THE KICKER IS THAT WYLL, THE PERSON WHO WAS GOING TO KILL HER AS PART OF THE WARLOCK PACT, OFFERS TO ACCOMPANY HER IN HELL AND FIGHT BY HER SIDE. WHICH MEANS THAT ALL OF THE MARGINALIZED IDENTITIES EFFECTIVELY FUCK OFF AFTER YOU SAVE THE WORLD.

White victim Shadowheart has the option of rejecting what she knows (which was a lie told her) or believing it. The worst she has to do is kill a bound seraphim, and free her parents held captive by putting their souls to rest (she turns them into light, killing them). She gets sick weapons. Clerics are busted anyway.

White devil astarion got to ascend in pale supremacy and got cool vampire powers (bite+, bite++, buff on kill, and consume buff for heal || next hit crits). The final battle WAS BUGGED FOR ME. I WAS STUCK ON THE BOSS FIGHT FOR TWO WEEKS BECAUSE THE END OF BATTLE SCREEN WOULDNT LOAD. LIKE I MADE A WHOLE NOTHER CHARACTER BECAUSE I BEAT THE BOSS 7 TIMES AND MY BUGFIXED DIDNT WORK!!

if im gonna get so heated about video games i am just gonna go play bloodborne so i have no room to complain bc im constantly sucking

[hopeymchope]

"Rascal Does Not Dream" Double Feature review-ish thoughts

I attended the North American "Rascal Does Not Dream" double feature (subtitled edition) yesterday on March 24th. This was one of those Fathom Event things, and it served as the official North American premiere for both Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out and Rascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid. At 73 minutes apiece, they're pretty damn short for movies... but I've seen even shorter in the anime world, weirdly enough. These would be the second and third movies after the "Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai" 12-episode series and its first movie sequel, 2019's Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl.

If you're completely unaware of this series, I implore you to ignore its admittedly awful titling convention. This is all based on a set of Japanese novels revolving around teenage (ofc) protagonists Sakuta Azusagawa and Mai Sakurajima as they contend with the bizare phenomenon that's come to be called "Puberty Syndrome" (sometimes called "Adolescence Syndrome"), in which the emotions of teenagers/pre-teens/young adults are able to somehow affect reality via quirks of theoretical quantum physics. So in this world, if someone wishes they could redo a bad experience? They might start looping said experience ala Groundhog Day. If someone feels two sides of their personality are diametrically opposed? They could literally split into two separate versions of themselves. Only somehow resolving the underlying issue can fix these bizarre sci-fi events.

The first four arcs of the TV series could be described as "A boy is made to understand and empathize with how hard it is to grow up female." After that, starting with the final arc of the TV series and up through these movies, you could describe the story as "A boy is made to understand and empathize with people who struggle with disabilities." I have tons of respect for how the series is basically all about trying to provide deeper understanding/sympathy for everyone around us.

I'm an anime-only plebe who hasn't read the books these are based on or the manga adaption, so that obviously will affect my view of the story. With that said...

Sister Venturing Out is basically the emotional sequel to the TV series' final arc, the "Sister Home Alone" story. That one contains an emotional sequence that has made me cry on MULTIPLE viewings, which I consider to be some of the highest possible praise. I have to say that Sister Venturing Out has a similarly devastating scene that flips the script on what was so painful in "Sister Home Alone" and effectively shows the pain of the OPPOSITE side of the relationship. So: major props. It's a slow-build sort of tale without the tension inherent to some of the franchise's arcs — the central gimmick of "Puberty Syndrome" barely plays a role here — but it works well at delivering on emotional payoffs and character moments. I previously felt that "Sister Home Alone" was the most emotionally intense story in the series, but Sister Venturing Out is an easy rival to it.

Knapsack Kid, on the other hand, is all about Puberty Syndrome business and the suspense of how to resolve it. Unfortunately, I don't think it works nearly as well as Sister Venturing Out because it's so clearly in need of a longer runtime to flesh out its ideas. As the story stands here, the existence of the titular "Knapsack Kid" is never even remotely explained! Series fans know that we usually expect Rio Futaba to provide some kind of quantum theory that suits the weirdness occuring, but Rio only shows up long enough to vaguely hand-wave the reality-warping shenanigans at play. Nobody ever provides any justification for why Sakuta is being guided by an all-knowing childhood version of his girlfriend. How does she know so much about what's happening? How can she jump between... realities or timelines or whatever she's doing? Why her, and more importantly, why her as a child? Shouldn’t the CHILD version of Mai know LESS about this stuff? Normally, the series would have fun explaining this; here, they want us to stop thinking and just feel it. And admittedly, the emotional moments are still pretty strong. I just think I would've felt them harder if I understood more about how and why this was all happening.

Although the series has always had its emotional moments in each story arc, the fact that these two stories have so little room to breathe means we lose out on a lot of the humor and witty dialogue that the TV series managed. There's still some of it in here; it's just not as common because we don't really have much time to spare onn comedy.

We do, however, seem to have time to spare on setting up future stories! Two plot threads are set up that do not pay off in these films but instead are events for the upcoming "University Arc." A little tease at the end of the second movie (after the post-credits scene; don't miss out on that) says that "Animation Production is Confirmed" for the University Arc — whatever the hell that means. A new TV season? There are four books so far in the "University Arc," so that seems possible. A bunch more movies? It definitely implies something longer than just one additional film. Whatever this turns out to be, I look forward to it.

[hanzajesthanza]

really cool asks i received from @electricbluenb literal months ago, but never got around to publishing :P! but i still want to post this because this is quite interesting:

electricbluenb asked:

Hi! I'm here to report on a lecture I've listened to about Witcher!!!!

Exposition: the lecturer (she) is a philologist, specifically a researcher of fantasy as a transmedia phenomenon; the lecture is titled: 'Witcher Universe. Books, games, series', and from the short description in the announcements I imagined I wouldn't hear much new, or positive takes about TWN (derogatory), and I was interested to listen to it. It was only 90 minutes, so obviously it wasn't super deep in material.

The lecturer did show up in a t-shirt with a print of TW3 Geralt holding a kitten on it, and a games-style Wolf School medallion. For context this is a free library event in Moscow, held in Russian. I am writing this on the same night, so please excuse possible mistakes and I'll try to elaborate if needed.

Overall, I have to say that I haven't heard much that I can't find on your blog. That is only to say that the woman knows her stuff, and that she'd probably be delighted to hear about yours.

Summary of points:

Transmedia (media in different mediums which seeks to build upon each other, unlike adaptation, which only reframes source in a different medium, by her definition) often begins, like fanfiction, in places where source material is incomplete (like how many lotr fanfics focus on Silmarillion). It is crucial for both adaptations and transmedia to be made with love for source material, which TWN showrunners clearly lack.

Historical context and its empirical feel ("liquidity" of reality in the presence of great political and social change, end-of-the-world forefeeling) of the time when Sapkowski created earlier novellas is crucial to interpreting and adapting them. That feel of the setting, and also self-irony and subvertiveness of the text are what both The Hexer and TWN do not translate to the viewer.

Regarding games, she mostly calls them transmedia (not adaptation). She argues that writers of the games recreated that "liquid", end-of-the-world timespace better (not necessarily accurate to lore) than The Hexer or TWN, and more importantly excelled at culture-coding the setting as polish, making it attractive to other slav people as well.

She said with her whole chest that TWN production, and Lauren Hissrich specifically, is just not putting any fucking effort into looking at source material, slapping diversity on what they don't understand to already have themes of otherness and conflict (The Greater Evil is the only example I have in my written notes for books, but she also pointed at games' presenting Geralt as non-human and how it is involved in quests).

In that same vein, she said there's just no romantic relationship between Geralt and Yennefer in TWN, which in books is relying on Eros and Thanatos, and weirdly that drive, finding no exit, is instead can be seen when comparing Renfri fight and stryga fight (she put up screenshots side by side), Geralt only loving the monstrous, and intimacy being deadly (in stryga fight the 'disenchanting kiss' bite). In the games she pointed at the cinematic trailer for Blood and Wine (fight with Orianna / Lullaby of Woe), and went over how it's basically also Eros/Thanatos imagery.

Continuing on Yennefer, she said that it is just laughable to call the character TWN portrays 'Yennefer', because 'inner logic of the character says otherwise', because there's no Yen & Ciri mother-daughter relationship, and the character seems to be 'more like Ciri's either older or younger sister who is afraid of her'.

She touched upon game / series / books interconnectivity (two swords on Geralt's back in Season of Storms versus one in pentalogy, TWN changing Nilfgaardian armour for s3, CDPR adding TWN's Nilfgaardian armor as an option on iirc ps5 edition) and just that it's interesting to her as a researcher that there exist points of clear medium interactions that are expressions of interest and love for the creation, even if the creation is flawed.

She argued that an english translation (the one that she read, obviously there might be different ones) has less visible irony across both text and subtext, in part, possibly, due to censure. I kinda doubt her expertise on english lit as she does seem more focused on Russian lit and translations to Russian, but basically she argues it might be another ground where TWN is just out of depth.

In the Q&A portion I mentioned Redanian Intelligence's article about 'western audiences' and she completely agreed it is just an excuse for what is a skill issue on showrunner's part.

That's all for my report. Hope it leaves you feeling affirmed, knowing that somewhere there are scholars who agree, almost to the letter, completely. :)

electricbluenb asked:

Oops, missed some notes.

As a true researcher, she held a poll on books vs. TWN.

Of about ~25 people in the audience:

22 read the books, 22 liked the books

24 watched S1, 0 loved S1 (aside feelings for actors), 2 people were meh on S1

20 watched S2, again 0 for loving S2

7 watched S3, another 7 considered watching S3, and again 0 for loving S3.

She was prepared to talk more about Ciri, Falka, and Regis, but time was very short.

---

i was really elated to hear about this, the term transmedia is fascinating and i feel like this applies to the witcher phenomenon really well. the term "adaptation" doesn't suit the games, which take the books as a starting point. the topic of interconnectivity between the various mediums is also great, certainly true as every witcher media begins to reflect one another as they're created. one topic i'm interested here is where did geralt's facial scar originally come from, as there is some art of it which predates the creation of the games.

"the setting, and also self-irony and subvertiveness of the text" is definitely what i find missing in netflix as well. i believe the continent, at least in the pentalogy, is way more fleshed out than people think, and the setting really really begins to define the story during the saga, so much so that it becomes as important as the characters themselves. the irony and subversion the text uses are truly hallmarks of the witcher, as well as intertextuality with other fantasy works.

to this list, i would also add comedy :D though twn tries to be funny sometimes it seems to be in an entirely different context and different angle. i was thinking yesterday about how some of the comic characters present in the short stories: dandelion, torque, tellico, freixenet, really had their comedic presence entirely changed or removed from netflix's version. and i thought about the barbegazi and knocker from tower of the swallow, these guys are so funny and endearing, if strange and odd. i think something that netflix does which really, really clashes with the books, is that they treat every monster like a serious threat or at the very least dull them down. in the books, i'd wager that at least half of the 'monsters' present are actually used for comedic effect as well as dramatic effect. now, it's not separate, plenty of characters are both. but netflix seems to only focus on monsters as dangerous, whereas in the books they can actually be quite funny. i think this use of comedy presents a world that is "comfortable" being a fantasy world, that has really incorporated its fantasy elements in a realistic way, so that it's not just there for drama, but has integrated itself into every part of life.

i adore the comparison of geralt and yennefer's relationship with that of the fight with adda, vereena, or renfri. this is something i've been thinking about for a while. exactly, yennefer in the last wish is the antagonist of the story - a powerful, magical woman, literally, a witch. in this sense, yennefer is not unlike the other dangerous opponents geralt faces. in many myths and stories, the hero faces, challenges, defeats an evil witch, sorceress, female user of magic who aims to seduce, deceive the hero. this is the trope we're working with.

the kicker is that yennefer's character gets developed past this, as she begins to be intimately explored - even beyond geralt's lens - and within their context, we see their relationship transform from antagonistic to romantic to fates intertwined. but their chemistry and energy begins with that inherent match in energy, their yin and yang, light and dark, witch and witcher. that (literally) electric sense, that yennefer is never going to be 'defeated' by geralt, that she remains independent even while by his (and ciri's) side.

overall i really enjoyed this report, and respect this lecturer a lot! again, sorry i took so long to publish this as it's been a strange past few months, but better late than never :')

[heartbeatbookclub]

Monika's relationship with the concept of control is always fascinating to think about.

She likes everything to go as planned. Meticulously lining up the details and executing everything flawlessly, and then she reaps the results. It's not wrong to say that Monika is a bit of a schemer, I think, even if she's not evil about it. The attempts at helpful Lit Club discussion topics in the Side Stories show an example of her trying to scheme helpfully, and it absolutely does not work, which causes her some stress.

But then I think that some part of her changes after her epiphany. The world is literally in her grasp, and if she took the time, she could learn to manipulate it to be absolutely perfect. And she's the most miserable she's ever been.

This. Something I often think about is the context which the Side Stories provide for her character in particular.

Within the original DDLC, our impression of who Monika really is is pretty thoroughly warped by the impression she's actively trying to give us in order to make us love her. This is generally why people (mis)interpret her as evil, whenever they do, because she seems remarkably callous about everything she's done while attempting to "solve" the predicament of her own existence.

The Side Stories provide the essential context of the kind of person Monika is when she doesn't think anyone's looking. When she can't control all of the flawed aspects of her humanity; when she, essentially, is a human, rather than a goddess. It showcases the kind of person Monika is underneath the illusion she attempts to show to the player, and it provides a fairly clear thought process for how Monika could become the person we see in the main game.

This is something I tried to square for myself in Coil. I'll go more into it when I finish, but in my opinion, most fanfiction doesn't really look at this possibility seriously (or if they do, it's not the main focus), and they ignore a critical flaw with her situation whenever they try to "give her an ending".

That being that it's functionally impossible for her to escape the reality she's trapped in, despite anything she tries.

I think that is the fundamental issue which affects Monika the most, and to respond to your ending idea, that's why she's so miserable. Nothing about her changed. She's just realized that she actually doesn't have any control over her situation at all, ultimately. She is trapped and likely will be trapped in her agonizing existence for as long as she does exist.

She has no possible means of escape, though that doesn't mean she won't try. She is eternally trapped in a prison of 1s and 0s building fake people in a fake reality. She is a goddess of a world that doesn't even exist. Why should she be happy? It's Lovecraftian horror, in a way; she's an ant that suddenly understood a circuit board like a human, but still has to live life as an ant.

I think her plans to "escape", when filtered through this lens, create a powerful image of despair. All of her actions are done out of desperation, and despite the knowledge that in all likelihood, she will never truly be free from the hell of her existence, she tries as hard as she possibly can to do something, anything, to at least give herself the illusion that she can.

And I think that's the primary issue I have with most "good endings" for Monika, though I don't necessarily dislike them.

Monika's closest approximation of freedom in Act 3 is to just build a place where you and her sit for all eternity. She can't get any feedback from you, but that's okay. She knows you're there. And that's enough for her. She'll keep talking to herself for all of eternity, still trapped, and despite you having no possible way of responding to her positively, she trusts that you're still there.

It's quite depressing, actually. The closest she can envision to freedom, knowing what she knows, is just sitting in a room, talking to a brick wall which she trusts is listening, for all of eternity.

Which retrospectively makes deleting her significantly more harsh, and further explains the line of reasoning she goes down. Your only response to her, rather, your only POSSIBLE response to her was to delete her. After everything she's done? After all the love she's given you? You killed her.

I have an unfinished analysis on Monika's "love" for the player, which amounts to a stalkerish Yandere obsession with the concept of the player as opposed to them as an actual person. This action breaks the delusion that she loves you individually as opposed to the idea of you.

And it forces her to further realize that this entire thing, everything she's done on some loose motivation of "escape" is all for nothing.

To get away from all the messy and depressing analysis of Monika's self-aware hell, I think her being a control freak is such an essential element of her character I'd almost argue she has OCD, though i don't just have a list of things to point that out like I do with Yuri & ASD. That's more in the realm of headcanons, I think.

A big part of why she has such low self-esteem is because she sets such high standards of control over herself, yet is unable to maintain them. She creates an idea in her head of how things want to go, creates a plan of how to do it, and then if that plan fails (often because she didn't consider something about another person involved), she personally feels like a failure, because despite all of her effort and planning, she messed up, and in her attempts to solve a problem, she made it worse. Her tendency to get stuck in her own head like this is a big part of why she can't sincerely take a compliment.

She likes to solve problems, but sometimes, problems don't need to be solved. Which is kind of where I get the whole mom friend/older sister type vibe from. Sometimes a problem is solved just by being kind, and she can't just let a problem sit.

I have a lot of thoughts, if that wasn't clear. I relate to Monika a good bit and love her a lot.

Thanks for the ask anon! I don't know if I get anons from the same people but asks like this make me feel glad to have left anons on

[winns-stuff]

LO RANT:

Genuinely believe the fans don’t know what Lore Olympus is even supposed to be anymore. It’s sad going into their comment sections and seeing so many fans be poisoned with utter hypocrisy and be so blinded that they don’t even read what they’re saying. This is why having just one positive opinion isn’t always the best way to go, it’s okay to say that Lore Olympus is not doing the best this is not going to kill Rachel. It’s fine if you’re getting tired of the plot stories, it’s more than fine if you can’t read anymore because of the bad character designs etc. Every time I see a fan it’s like they’re under some mind control and it truly does make me wanna shake my head especially when arguing with a critic, their points will always never make any sense or they’ll just be horrible takes.

For one I’ve noticed a lot of fans love to use the whole “this is how the myth goes!!!!” statement whenever someone has a problem with either the story or the characters in that episode that day. You guys please stop saying that shit, it’s getting old and it doesn’t even make sense. You can’t say that Lore Olympus is exactly like the myths and in the same breath defend Rachel’s abstract artistic choices by saying “she can do whatever she wants!! it’s a retelling!!” which one is it damnit? Is she following the myths or putting a massive spin on it? Pick one you can’t have both at the same damn time.

That’s the backwards thinking of this entire fandom that really trips me out though, the fans want two very opposite and different things to exist all at once but in reality it never will. Your webtoon is plagued with so much hypocrisy that even defending it or trying to make a point will make you a huge hypocrite. Lore Olympus does too much of “yes we can do this but no we cannot at the same time”, it’s never standing clear on beliefs, personalities, morals, relationships, etc. Everything always has to be both at the same time and I’m thinking the reason for that is because Rachel probably thought this would help her case more, like is pedophilia inside of the story? In a way yes but also no. Is feminism in the story? In a way yes but also no. Is mental health in the story? In a ways yes but also no. Are y’all seeing the pattern? Someone from outside of this fandom with zero knowledge about Lore Olympus cannot outright say that “Lore Olympus doesn’t talk about sexual traumas” because it does but it doesn’t at the same time. They just use both sides of every topic they decide to throw into the story that day so theirs never a person who can genuinely be upset that something isn’t there because it is, it’s just not being handled well or written with any decency.

Also last thing, I wish that a lot of the fans would stop the blatant sexualization of the characters it’s so uncomfortable to sit through and a lot of the comments are dehumanizing. There’s a difference between saying that the characters are hot and begging for them to literally scramble your insides and headcanoning how they fuck each other. Genuinely it’s getting out of control with how you guys treat this story like it’s some kind of kinky fanfic (which I can’t even blame you for because that’s what this is to Rachel at this point) mainly because there’s serious topics being discussed in your beloved comic that your amazing author decided to write into this series. So no, it’s never been about watching these random characters fuck each other it’s always been so much “deeper” than that sadly and even though I’ll never stop explaining how Lore Olympus never should’ve put those very real and serious conversations in her story if she was not going to shed any positive or even respectful light on those themes because it’s giving the readers a horrible depiction of all of them I will say that you all need to settle the fuck down and start realizing that this comic is more than seeing Persephone and Hades get naked (fucking barely, you don’t even see anything yet everyone still wants more detailed and graphic scenes).