#advent book project | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

nobody-viii · 4 months ago

Text

The Turks - Context Clues (The Kids Are Alright)

@accala posted an excellent inquisitive post about the Turks here and their motivations and to add some The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story book context, imma leave this here. Couldn't find the quote I was looking for, but here's some things I found interesting. NOTE: I feel like Advent Children did the Turks a little dirty, but I really loved the banter as a kid. This book has some of the same campy shortcomings, but take it or leave it, here's what I found.

1.) The Healen Lodge from Advent Children was an R&R facility for Shinra, universally accepted as the worst one by employees. The Turks/Rufus chose it for its tactical advantages, but it also shows how far back on their heels they were. "The Shinra empire had ruled most of the world up until two short years ago, and it didn't sit right with Elena that the company president had to live in such a desolate place. Yes, medical treatment was available, security was way better away from the city, and the commute was only two hours by car; the staff could have had it much worse." - pg. 14

2.) The abandoned rec hall was being used by Shinra as a lab to convert SOLDIER stimulants into geostigma treatments. The project was Elena's idea, with the resulting medication being donated free of charge to city medical professionals and the WRO. (pp. 16-17)

3.) Reno & Rude were sent into the city to retrieve a stolen item from a teenager (read the book for details I'm too lazy to go into it), and when he started crying and shaking, Reno and Rude switched to a new script. "Aw, look. The kid's really scared." The redhead sounded sympathetic now. "That's what we came to do," the bald one pointed out. And: "Now, we put on our best tough-guys acts on the way over, so we can't just leave without roughing anyone up," said the redhead. "Our job is to teach a lesson to anyone who tries to mess with us." I was still scrambling for an explanation to give them. "Y-you mean, kill me?" was what came out instead. My voice even cracked for good measure. "That's one way to teach a lesson. But we're trying to strike a balance for Shinra, here. We want everyone to love us and maybe be a little bit scared. Killing you would have the opposite effect." (pg. 23) Reno opted to punch the kid in the face, then tell him to keep his chin up, so...balance? Sure. Shinra is, at this point, technically trying to figure out their PR while simultaneously leaning on old habits. Also, the kid calls Reno and Rude a knife and a fork and I thought that was funny.

4.) Reno is described as someone who looked like he 'turned delinquent as a teenager and never grew out of it, like those kids in the Sector Eight warehouses who I still hated and admired in equal measure.' (pg. 23)

5.) Elena roughs up one of the protagonists, but reins herself in when context is presented: She'd paid a visit intending to break Fabio's dominant arm, but when she saw him fight back to protect the child, she changed her plan. Her objective was to punish a thief, not deprive a child with geostigma of his only guardian. (pg. 47)

6.) Reno calls a doctor for the guy he roughed up. Kyrie nodded. "I figured, these guys must have phones, so I asked them to call Dr. Drake. 'Evan's in a bad way 'cause you guys beat him up,' I told them. And guess what? They said they don't know any Evan. So I lost it and said, 'Yeah, 'cause Evan's the one you whaled on when you mixed him up with Fabio. You owe him..... So then the redhead--his name's Reno--he called a doctor. Not Dr. Drake, he said, but a good one..." (pg. 55)

7.) Evan (the protagonist) is trying to work out who would be the easiest Turk to try to forge an alliance with and we get a glimpse of how the Turks are perceived by outsiders (Tseng is an unknown entity to Evan at this time): The most dangerous one was probably the lady Turk who went after Fabio. A close second would be the slab of muscle out there, Rude. Maybe the redhead Reno was more on our level. I thought back to my first impression of him--the grown-up teenage delinquent. Guys like that generally looked out for their own. A sense of solidarity. There had to be an angle I could work. (pg. 57)

8.) There's a whole scene where Evan and Kyrie try to ambush Rude. They choke him, break a chair over him, kick, scratch, the whole shebang and he just brushes himself off and manhandles them to a car (which made me laugh).

9.) Reno and Rude take the protagonists towards Healen in a truck and there's a few moments I found interesting. "So anyway..." Reno was looking at me in the rearview mirror. "Sorry about the shiner, dude. We totally did think you were Fabio. But y'know, I'm impressed you stayed mum and protected your buddy," Reno went on. "Even if you were about to piss your pants." (lol) Then, "Some of us have been slower to to adapt to the new way of doing things," Reno continued. "How many Turks are left?" asked Kyrie. "Can't tell you. That's Shinra's most closely guarded secret." "It's just you three, isn't it?" "Not telling." "But I'm right." "Yeah, you keep thinking that." (pg.63) Rude sleeps through the majority of the ride despite Reno trying to keep him awake. They talk quite a bit about Aerith, because Kyrie and Reno both knew her. Reno warns them not to get mixed up with Shinra's science department.

10.) Evan gets introduced to Rufus for the first time after believing the former president has been dead for two years and Tseng finally exists in this book for two seconds. "He's alive...?" Evan was still speaking to Reno. "I am. The decoy who took my place is not," Rufus replied. "You're a candidate for the position--and from what I can see, you'll do." Evan's jaw dropped, and he stared agape at Reno, then Rufus, then Tseng. Tseng looked down at the ground, trying to hide his laughter. Evan's description of Tseng: He looked like a Turk, too. The very definition of one, in fact. Reno and Rude both showed an awkward humanity--well, sporadically in the latter's case--but this guy was pure ice.

11.) An ill-conceived escape attempt by Evan and crew sees Rufus temporarily kidnapped, as Tseng and Elena are investigating an explosion. Reno and Rude try to stop it, but are ordered back. "Reno, stay back!" Reno obediently halted. I had expected to see fury in his eyes, but all I say was sorrow. Surprisingly, I felt a pang in my chest, too. But there was no other way. I pulled Kyrie's knife from my pocket and opened it--a sad, flimsy little blade, but it could still slice open a throat. "Hey, don't be stupid." I ignored Reno and held the knife to Rufus Shinra's neck. Then, "Reno, take Rude and check on the lab." Suddenly Rufus was giving orders. "Tell Tseng not to get involved here." "Wait, what? Boss, are you sure?!" "Don't worry. I'm as interested in staying alive as you are." Reno reluctantly descended the stairs, glancing over his shoulder almost every step. (pg. 77)

12.) Reno and Rude talk about family and have a lil tiff. "If I found out about a brother I'd never seen, I'd make way more of an effort than those two," Reno insisted. "That right?" Rude said. My colleagues are all I need. "You're not much into family, eh, Rude?" "I'm a Turk," Rude said flatly. "Coolheaded and cold-blooded." He turned and headed for the truck. "Hey, Rude. You pissed at me?" Reno called, an unabashed whine. "C'mon, man. You can't cold-zone me now. Tseng and Elena aren't answering my calls, and the boss just tells me to finish the monument. I know they're starting something awesome without us. We're outcasts! Me and you, you and me. If we don't stick together, then what?" Rude looked back. "Tseng isn't answering calls?" (pg. 94) Reno goes off several times throughout this book about how he'd act if he got the chance to meet family, which makes me wonder about him. "So how'd it feel, meeting your brother?" "I don't think it's sunk in yet." "Well, it's a process, I guess," said Reno. "But you gotta visit once in a while, you know? Then you'll get to figure each other out. Break the ice." (pg. 97)

13.) Reno and Rude are actually partially responsible for the monument in the city. This lil bit kinda gives weight to how long they've been in Shinra. Evan was one of those types who wasn't quite grounded in reality but was full of bravado. A show-off. A scared kid determined to buck people's expectations by pretending he had no fear. And if he kept it up, he was gonna do something stupid enough to get himself killed. Both Reno and Rude had known too many kids like that, from rookie Turks to infantrymen to SOLDIER operatives wet behind the ears from mako infusion tanks.

14.) Reno & Rude get amused by Kyrie treating them like they're not scary. The concern over redemption makes an appearance. "Now what?" Rude stepped closer from his vantage point. Apparently, he'd been watching the whole time. He was pretending he didn't care, but inwardly, Reno was convinced, Rude was intrigued by every act of the farce. Which only made the whole thing funnier. "She said she's hungry," said Reno. "So she's gonna grab something to eat." "It's like she's never heard of the Turks. It's almost refreshing," Rude remarked. So this is what happens when Shinra wins hearts and minds. Reno chuckled again but then remembered that the girl was still afraid of them. He'd seen the goosebumps on her arms. Her toothless threats were her way of gauging the danger he and Rude presented. Evan might trust them, but not Kyrie. Despite what Rude said, she knew what they were and what they were capable of. "You know," said Rude. "She reminds me of Aerith." "Yeah, I was thinkin' that too." Maybe helping them out will redeem us, at least a little bit, he thought. A guy can hope. (pg. 106)

15.) Shinra's resources are thin...and that chopper that ate it in AC was one of the last ones left (cue gross sobbing because in the words of a certain Puppy, Shinra makes good stuff). No one knew exactly how many helicopters the Shinra Company used to have. Within a half a year of Meteorfall, many of them had been looted. Accidents, mechanicals, and other circumstances had taken out others, and now Rufus Shinra and the Turks were left with only three. But even with so few, it was a constant battle to keep them in working order. Also, Rude has mechanical experience and is the one on repairs.

16.) A civilian points out the flaws in Reno's hopes for the future of the Turks. "Well, to be honest, maybe my opinion of you guys is changin'." Doyle looked at Reno again with a level stare. "You're up to better things." Reno couldn't help averting his eyes. Unless it came from a fellow Turk, approval tended to make him uncomfortable. "The monument and the medicine are only one step, you know. Just wait. It might take a while, but Shinra's gonna get off the ground again. Rise again, you hear?" That general idea had been floating around in his head for some time. This was the first time he'd said it aloud. "How?" Doyle scowled, his thick eyebrows lowering. Reno cursed himself for the thoughtless comment. "Can't tell you." "Yeah, I figured. But no one is going to let a violent regime lord it over them again. Not anymore. You tell your president that."

17.) Tseng and Elena bring up the notion of inviting old Turks back into the fold. "For any one person, finding it (Jenova's head) may well seem like a futile task. But there is still a nonzero chance. Either way, staying in contact with our agents and meeting regularly are essential to maintaining organizational cohesion." " But how many...?" Elena glanced around and spoke in a stage whisper. "How many former Turks can we expect to help us?" In his mind, Tseng saw the faces of the old Turks, his former subordinates. Of those, he had made contact with-- They get interrupted and Elena rushes off to investigate something. Tseng watched his operative go with a wry smile. Below the hem of her sundress, old scars marked her legs. Once you joined the Turks, you were in for life. Even those who tried to get out and build new lives could be summoned back with a single phone call. Maybe it was a cruel call to make, Tseng thought. and he sighed.

18.) Reno & Rude defy a direct order from Tseng. "Dumbass," Reno muttered. "What are you waiting for? Engage!" Tseng's command rang from the speakers. "Evan's down there," Rude answered in Reno's stead. "He's already done for," said Tseng. "Fire." "No can do," said Reno. "Reno." Tseng made his name a sharp rebuke. "He's our friend." "Fine. Let me briefly explain--" Tseng's voice abruptly cut out. "Radio trouble," Rude mumbled, his hand drifting away from the radio's master switch.

There are a lot of quirky, funny, violent, or neato moments I didn't list, so check out the book if you want more insight. Hope this gave you some headcanon fodder.

#the turks #turks ff #reno #rude #elena #tseng #reno of the turks #rude of the turks #elena of the turks #tseng of the turks #reno ff7 #rude ff7 #elena ff7 #tseng ff7

58 notes · View notes

soscarlett1twas · 6 months ago

Text

Midnight Church Bells

↳ Andrew and his brother sneak out. ↳ 2k words / also available on ao3! ↳ This fic is literally a year old lmao?? I was sorting through docs and found this finished draft, so I polished it a bit and here we are. Please forgive past me if the prose is... how we say 'shit'.

The holidays always snuck up on Andrew the same - sudden and unwelcome, but inevitable. This year, he’d been too invested in his studies, and, surprisingly, his own love life to notice much of withering leaves or decorations, but when he turned on the radio and heard those familiar jingles, he groaned in recognition.

Really, it was none of those things (despite how much he did tire of those songs) that bittered Christmas for him. It was the fact that once the break started, his family would come calling. And despite all protests, his parents would never let him stay at college during the advent.

“It’s time for the Lord.” His mother’s voice lifted through the phone he propped up on his dashboard. “And family,” she added after a moment. He resisted the urge to slam his head against the steering wheel, instead opting for biting his tongue. The one time his parents didn’t want him studying.

Her saying that added to the sting of the season. And family. It seemed that this was the only time of year where that was on her mind.

Which all led him to the same spot he was every December 24th: Sitting on his childhood bed, with whatever book he was currently reading in his hands, and classical music playing from his phone.

Reclining into his pillow, Andrew lifted his glasses off and put them on the bedside table, a thumb folding the wings as the other worked as a bookmark.

Yet he didn’t close his eyes. For one of those brief moments in life, he wasn’t thinking, or sleeping, or doing really anything at all. He was just there, in a limbo between sleep and consciousness, hoping that if he purposely derived himself the next day wouldn’t come as quickly.

And he stayed like that for 5 minutes. Or maybe it was 10, or maybe no time passed at all. But eventually he gave in to rest. No matter what, the morning would come and he’d rather not fall asleep during the already tedious sermons in church. So he set an alarm, put his book on the nightstand, and laid down.

He closed his eyes, and it was like he could hear the ringing already.

Maybe he did.

A soft patter-ing rang just outside his door, the familiar sound of footsteps on carpet blotting the silence. And just as he was about to roll over, Andrew heard his door creak open, and the silhouette of a man leaned into the room.

“Want to go on a walk?” He whispered, twinged with a sense of boredom.

Andrew didn’t even need to turn to know who was asking. “Give me a moment,” he sighed, and motioned to push himself off the bed.

—

“How did you know I was awake?” Andrew asked, still pulling his overcoat over his arms.

“Your light was on, I saw it through your door.” His brother responded, turning off their driveway onto the sidewalk. He was slightly ahead of Andrew, but slowed a bit so that they were walking together.

A cloud of mist formed from his breath as he stuffed his hands into his pockets, pulling the coat closer to himself to save some of his last remaining body heat. A near-midnight flit wasn’t what he had planned, but he’d prefer it than trying to sleep. Besides, this may be the only quality time he could spend with his twin during the break. God knows the time they’ve spent at college has already distanced them enough.

“So,” he huffed, searching for a topic of conversation. “How have you been?”

“Fine. Uni’s been beating my ass though - we spent practically the entire week leading up to the holidays in the lab, just sweating over our assignments. Jesus, I’m not even a Biochem major but Chemistry is just not letting up.”

It had been years since he was in a lab, but with the track he was on, he got the stress with ‘crunch time’. “I understand. I’ve recently had to rush a project for my Literary Theory course.”

“What do you even do in that class?” He questioned, half serious, half mocking.

“Analyze texts, find out how the culture of the author influenced their works.” He could go on: Literary Theory was one of his favorite classes, no matter how rigorous the course was, but he knew his brother wouldn’t care to hear the details.

Winding down their street, the two carried on talking about academia with a partial interest, not fully understanding either’s field of study but trying to be supportive anyways. Soughing wind bent branches to a static beat as they approached the neighborhood's egress. By and by they were talking about the more social aspects of their schooling: Andrew’s literature club, the parties either rarely attended, his brother’s friends.

“How has your roommate been?” Andrew asked, kicking a rock under his shoe and watching it roll along the concrete.

“Good.” He sighed out a laugh. “He’s great, actually.”

Andrew glanced over to his brother, and if the slight warmth in his voice wasn’t enough, the red on his cheeks told him everything he needed to know. He chuckled too, and gave a soft nudge on his shoulder, making them both smile.

In a weird way, they never needed to tell eachother about any of this stuff. Equal parts the awkwardness that surrounded telling your sibling, your twin of all people, who you were interested in and an unspoken alliance against their parents had kept them from ever openly speaking it. But Andrew knew his brother was into guys ever since they were teens, he just didn’t know if his brother had caught on to his own preferences yet.

The stone made a sharp sound as it drifted over to his brother, who promptly kicked it back to Andrew with the inside of his shoe.

“Helios, right?”

His brother hummed in response.

His mind trailed to the man at his college, the one who he had desperately wanted to introduce to him, and found himself grinning at the mere thought. God, he hoped Isaac would like his brother.

He opened his mouth, then shut it quickly. What would he even say? He trusted his brother, but to come out was something entirely different, and with Christmas just around the corner? No, he’d wait. Right after, though, he’d tell him. Andrew silently swore it to himself.

“Honestly, I prefer the dorms to the house.”

That snapped Andrew out of his thinking. “Really?”

“Yeah.” He stopped abruptly, and threw his arms out in exasperation. “Isn’t it suffocating to you too?”

Everytime he was in his room, Andrew could only remember the sleepless nights he spent hunched over and studying. The dining table was a barrage of moments he spent silent as his parents and brother fought. The living room was a danger zone, as he never wanted to catch his parents when they were disappointed in his brother, or worse, him. The whole house could burn down and the only memories that would go with it were the most futile. Worse was, even without flames, Andrew felt like he wadded through smoke every time he was in those walls.

He silently nodded his head. His brother just stared at him, as if he wanted voice confirmation. But how can one speak up against the pyre when its fumes had already scorched his vocal cords?

After a moment, his brother kept walking, and Andrew followed. “I contemplated not coming back this winter.” He muttered.

“As did I.” Andrew responded, suddenly getting his voice back.

“What could you possibly be avoiding?”

A million and one answers filled his head, but none escaped him - no matter what he said, not a single one would measure up to his brother's reasons. So why even bother trying to compare?

His twin huffed as he turned away, suddenly gaining some distance on Andrew, and he let him keep it.

For a while, the only sound they made was their shoes against concrete sidewalks and the crunch as they occasionally had to step into snow. Andrew brought his hands up to his face, cupping them to breathe and warm himself up. Normally he kept gloves in his pockets, just in case. But, of course, he just had to forget them tonight. His fingers combed through his hair, forcing him to look straight ahead at his brother's back. Again, he bit his tongue. But wasn’t that what had gotten him into this situation, unintentionally pushing his brother away by not talking? He didn’t understand it, but only continuing the cycle wasn’t going to help anything.

So he opened his mouth, just in time to slam right into his brother.

He stumbled, but his brother didn’t flinch. Or even look at Andrew. His eyes remained trained to the tree line, frozen in place.

Regaining his footing, Andrew tried again. “Dar-“

“Stop.” He whispered.

“No, D-“

“Shut up, Andrew, just listen.”

So he did.

For a few seconds, he didn’t hear anything. His eyes fell where his brother’s were focused, though without his glasses, the details were fuzzy.

Then, a distant chime hit his ear.

More followed.

A symphony of church bells rang, each peal like a glimmer in the air.

Andrew knew they rang the bells at midnight every Christmas Eve, though he couldn’t remember the last time he had heard them. During mass, he could imagine it would be unbearable. But from here? The sound was quite pleasant.

As the bells continued, the twins stood there, listening to it all. Andrew was the first to tear his eyes away from the church he couldn’t see, glancing over at his brother through the corner of his eye. It was the first good look he had gotten at him in a long time.

Andrew hadn’t realized how short a decade was. Though in context of anything else, the last ten years of his life had dawdled. But with his brother? It was like the blink of an eye. One moment they were running and laughing, a mirror image of one another - even the Christmas’ were tolerable. Fun, even. The next, blooming into adulthood - mimics of who they used to be.

In fact, the longer he looked at him, Andrew realized just how much his brother had changed. His hair had definitely grown, locked into a short ponytail that hung low with swooping bangs, and he made the full switch to contacts some time ago. He even got taller, and next to Andrew, he was a lofty inch or two higher. Though that could also be accredited to the boots he wore. (Ashamed to say, Andrew didn’t remember when or how he got them. They certainly weren’t a gift from their parents, but did his brother even have a job to afford them?) He was more muscular, which wasn’t saying much compared to Andrew, but he was certainly leaner. The man never made a mention of continuing his secondary school athletics, but maybe he did as an extracurricular? Again, Andrew was straining to remember specifics. Though, he supposed any reason to play was now null, as originally it was a brilliant excuse to come home late without his parents accusing him of deviancy.

But he wasn’t too alien to him. There was something still familiar to him, like flecks of gold shining through, no matter how small. After all, they began to sneak out when they were fourteen and are still doing it now. There must be something that still connected them.

Right?

Just as he had that thought, he missed his brother's pass, and the pebble went flying into a curb.

They walked in silence for a while longer, bells fading to the wind. Eventually they found themselves back on their driveway, and their silence became deafening as they lightened their footsteps. God knows what their parents would do if they found out they had been out so late.

They followed one another up the stairs, crossed the same hallway, and went to rooms adjoining. There was a time they shared one, but that was before they had moved.

Andrew slipped open his door, the knob turning slowly as to mute itself. As he slipped in, he turned half-way to see his brother doing the same.

His brother looked up, catching his gaze.

Andrew saw himself in the reflection of his eyes. They were bitter, burning with… not rage. But a violent form of disappointment.

Andrew was the center of it. And he could smell the smoke wafting.

#MARSTON TWINS I'VE MISSED YOU #this was the first fic I ever wrote for this fandom!!#finally saw the light of day (escaped google docs)#also yes this lines up with the underground ravens theory because of course it freaking does #sakuverse #zsakuva #andrew marston #zsakuva andrew #marston twins #“twin” marston #they kick rocks #divider by cafekitsune

57 notes · View notes

p0rchc0ll4ps3 · 2 months ago

Text

comparing case notes on the ride home at the end of a long day

did all the perspective myself! it kinda' turned out jank but it's what it's. i'll get better at it eventually

really tried to capture the essence of revachol architecture style with this. the metro lines were built by the communards in '79 of the last century, about 11 years into the dictatorship. various cities in revachol have metro, but none are as extensive as jamrock's metro. however, due to mismanagement and embezzlement and war, a lot of the metro stations remain unfinished, especially in the poorest parts of the city (for example, it was never finished in the coal city district of jamrock, which is big enough to count as it's own city. the metro line was dug out, but the tracks were never layed due to the project never reaching completion and due to the commies not really caring to build out there. in the valley of the dogs, which is in west jamrock and about as poor as coal city, the metro wasn't even built at all due to there being a huge immigrant population out there and a lot of bullshit from the government). anyways a lot of homeless people live out in those abandoned stations. this among a billion other things really adds to how much east revachol and its slightly richer cities really think lowly of west revachol and jamrock despite not being much better off themselves

the metro cars and the metro stations are built in the neo-perikinassian style that the communards favored for all their structures (neo-perikinassian is an elysium equivalent to our neo-classical style). this style intends to give a vibe of old world richness and power and strong authoritative government, while also attempting to create a strong, national revacholian architectural style, celebrating insulinde's original pagan origins by reflecting traditional folk patterning. communism in revachol wanted to be purely revacholian, taking zero influence from the colonies that revachol used to rule over. the dictatorship did away completely with insulinde's original colonial past, trying to embrace a new totally revacholian identity and erasing anything deemed not revacholian. unfortunately, revachol is an immigrant country, with a history of colonialism and slavery, and a LOT of that has become a huge part of revacholian and insulindian culture. revachol is a melting pot, a mixture of influences from all over. the communists tried to erase this and make a new identity, but of course this attempted to erase everything else that makes revachol revachol. so in trying to make a new, purely revacholian identity, they erased true revachol from the books.

anways, they favored the neo-perikinassian art style with folk embellishments, but because revachol is revachol, there are also a whole lot of style moderne (revachol's art deco, a lot of airships, sunrises, and anti-pale shit) and noul stil (revachol's art nouveau which involves a lot of ocean and air organic motifs instead of flowers and the like) influences of course. as you can see here, there's noul stil motifs in the way that the lights are pearls and that they have waves on them. in fact, to go on yet another tangent, revachol's 'new disco' architecture, which started in jamrock during the new with the building of skyscrapers and new buildings in the style and spread to the rest of revachol, is a modern day revival of style moderne and noul stil that combines elements of both (i get a very og wizard of oz emerald city vibe).

anyways that's my lore essay. i really wanted to capture the feeling of being in revachol, specifically jamrock. the metro cars are also slightly based off bucharest's communist metro cars as well as the newer ones, but of course with a lot of wood instead because revachol and elysium are in a sort of era with their technology that mixes something of a industrial revolution 1890s victorian london, 1910s america and big cities right before the advent of skyscrapers and cars but also 1920s tech, and 1970s radio tech and all that shit. idk. some fucked up conglomeration

also guy on the left is someone from my de server's oc. i don't know their tumblr otherwise i'd tag!

oh and i tried to capture some kind of how the people of revachol are in general all types of people from many different ethnicities etc. and and the guy in the back looking at harry is one of jean's friends, enzo, who, after getting rejected from the rcm for being too violent (which is a big deal bc the rcm celebrates violence), joined la puta madre and now works to double-cross both lpm and rcm, doing what benefits him best. when jean and harry got captured by the lpm about 3 years back and almost died, it was enzo who saved them. enzo's one of jean's many connections he has in the city. harry doesn't remember him (but he will eventually. he has to figure out at some point where that big nasty scar on his stomach's from).

btw i spent like a wholeass hour or two one day trying to figure out what type of wood revachol would have because the commies use ONLY LOCAL RESOURCES. so i needed to figure out what type of wood they'd have. and i figured it was some kinda' birch with a very specific ashy grey wood. of course you can't see it here bc of the color-grading but yeah. know that i did research on that. ok?

anyways if you read this whole thing thank you very much for reading and congrats on getting thru it hahahaha. i really need to figure out a name for this au bc this is NOT kurwitz's elysium LOL

#my art #disco elysium #disco elysium fanart #harry du bois #kim kitsuragi #finished this in june for the de after life zine application but i never posted it here bc im seriously not happy with it haha #i wanted to try and get some sort of y2k color grading going on but i just did not succeed hahaha #anyways hope ya'll like #super thick lore essay under the cut ofc

29 notes · View notes

yurimother · 2 years ago

Text

Yuri of Absence and The Chair of Yuri: Combining Lesbian Manga and Science Fiction - The Secret Garden

This article was originally written in 2021 as part of The Secret Garden, YuriMother's exclusive series of articles, available only for Patrons. If you want to access other articles and help support Yuri and LGBTQ+ content, subscribe to the YuriMother Patreon.

In the “olden days” of Yuri, which is really to say anything in the ‘00s or earlier, there was not much variety in the mainstream Yuri market. If you wanted to read a manga about the romance between two women or watch an anime with clear lesbian elements, choices were between a sweet school story or a classic tragic school Yuri story. As I have mentioned many times recently, one of the most significant advancements in the recent Yuri genre is the advent of sub-genres. Once considered an element or subgenre itself, Yuri hosts various works from isekai to feminist literature. However, one of the most curious and certainly most well-known subgenres is science fiction.

Yuri science fiction is in the spotlight right now, with everything from visual novels like Synergia to webcomics like Ratana Satis’s Soul Drifters. However, one of the most prolific and rightly celebrated titles is Iori Miyazawa’s Otherside Picnic. The series began publishing under Hayakawa’s Bunko JA imprint in 2017, and over the past few years, it exploded onto the scene. It has an upcoming sixth book, a manga adaptation serialized in Monthly Shounen Gangan, healthy overseas publishing, and of course, an anime adaptation helmed by Kase-san and Stiens;Gate director Takuya Sato. It has garnered praise from critics CBR, Anime News Network, and Erica Friedman of Okazu. I wrote glowing reviews for the first few books, complimenting its worldbuilding, pacing, and characters. However, Otherside Picnic did not spring out of anywhere. Indeed, it is the product of gradual shifts in Yuri and sci-fi storytelling and Miyazawa’s genius theories and knowledge of the genres.

The mixture of Yuri and science fiction is not anything new; it predates most other forms of Yuri save Class S school romances. You may not picture many of these when you think of modern Yuri sci-fi, but as early as 1975, we had Yuri stories like Boku no Shotaiken that included small sci-fi elements, in this case, transferring the mind to another body. Over the next two decades or so, a time during which so few Yuri titles surfaced, it is occasionally referred to as Yuri’s “era of Darkness,” multiple titles sci-fi titles including Dirty Pair, Project A-Ko, Bubblegum Crisis, and Iczer featured science fiction settings and Yuri elements. At this time, Yuri was not much of a genre as we think of it today, but more of a factor inserted into a larger narrative. Think of Yayoi and Shion from Psycho-Pass for a more contemporary example. In fact, except for Iczer, none of these titles feature any outright lesbian characters, just female casts with “Yuri-ish” moments of women standing close together and being companions.

These titles feature two key elements that many current series have shifted further away from, soft sci-fi and Weak Yuri. Soft, as opposed to hard science fiction, is the more established of these two scales. Science fiction can be separated between outlandish and impossible ideas, sometimes known as science fantasy, and those based in reality, research, and the hard sciences such as physics, astronomy, and mathematics. Sorting works between these two labels is, ironically, not an exact science, and fans and critics alike argue about their precise definitions. However, let us consider soft and hard science as a spectrum, with outlandish premises like Dragonball on the soft end and the reality-based concepts of Space Brothers at the other. One can sort most titles along this continuum. M Alan Kazlev does an excellent job dissecting this scale in further detail. Many of the titles we enjoy today, including Otherside Picnic, inhabit this transitory space, as it is not fantasy. Still, its reliance on anthropology and psychology’s soft sciences may put it a small step below more grounded hard sci-fi. Still, it is far above the aliens and superpowered robots in ‘80s anime, so we shall consider it hard sci-fi for the sake of this argument.

*Note: Many science fiction circles use the abbreviation sci-fi for soft science fiction and SF for hard science fiction. For ease of readability and common vernacular, this article uses “sci-fi” for both instances.*

Sci-fi Yuri did not break out of soft science fiction territory until very recently. In the 1990s, Yuri underwent dramatic changes thanks to Sailor Moon and Revolutionary Girl Utena, which helped reform it as a genre rather than a feature. Maria Watches Over Us revived S Yuri traditions, and new titles were set in schools and focused on modern girls’ lives. In the 2000s, Yuri magazines began serialization and featured stories such as Kisses, Sighs, and Cheery Blossom Pink and Strawberry Shake Sweet (both serialized under different names). Despite being primarily aimed at adult women, the magazine found success with male audiences, prompting new stories appealing to men and boys. These works reintroduced action and science fiction into the genre with pieces like Kannazuki no Miko: Destiny of the Shrine Maiden, Blue Drop, and Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl (Yuriboke does a better job breaking all these down). However, all these were still vehemently in soft sci-fi territory, with Kashimashi’s only surreal element being an alien because the author was, to simplify grossly, unable to fathom the existence of transgender people (coming full circle from Boku no Shotaiken). Possibly the only contemporary mainstream hard sci-fi title to include Yuri and enjoy a modicum of success was Qualia The Purple. However, this series did not have the genre-defining power that later works would.

However, what changes between these series and those mentioned earlier is the Yuri itself. The relationships become much more explicit and central to the plot. You can deliberate whether or not Bubblegum Crisis is sapphic, but just try sitting someone down and arguing that Kannazuki no Miko is not built around the crux of two women holding romantic interest in each other. Yuri science fiction author Gengen Kusano proposes a dichotomy similar to soft and hard sci-fi to analyze these titles, Weak and Strong Yuri. He explains it in his own brilliantly convoluted and philosophical way, but in short, Weak Yuri relies on using logic and the mind to make the real imaginary, while strong Yuri is about emotionalism and realism, making fiction into reality.

Strong Yuri is Yuri that focuses on realism through feelings and emotions. Kusano describes it as fiction characters having real emotions. They have strong connections and affection for each other that are real and powerful. The audience experiences the feelings between the characters as they are felt and portrayed. Think of how emotional the exclamations and love, sorrow, confusion, and affection are in titles like Bloom Into You and Citrus. In a sense, they can be so strong that they transcend their fictional confines and become real, as they are experienced by considers, a stage called “radically Strong Yuri.” Most explicit Yuri, which is not subtext or suggestive content but in-your-face lesbianism, is Strong Yuri, although not all Strong Yuri is outright depictions of lesbianism; it is a square rectangle situation, not all rectangles are squares, but all squares are rectangles.

Weak Yuri is cemented in the areas of thought, logic, and epistemology. It deals with the theory of mind, the ability to attribute mental states to others or ourselves. For example, when we see someone smiling or laughing, we may not feel their emotion ourselves, as we do not have direct access to their mind, but we recognize that they are happy. In Weak Yuri, one uses their theory of mind to observe facts and deduce the existence of a Yuri relationship, even if one is not present. So-called “Yuri-ish” titles like Yuru Camp or K-ON! do not outright state or depict romantic or sexual attractions, but is attributed by the viewers onto characters. Said observer witnesses the interactions between girls and, using that factual and observable data, puzzles out a lesbian attraction they prescribe to the subjects, whether real. Shipping culture relies on Weak Yuri’s logic Kusano’s most extreme, “Radical Weak Yuri,” the relationships of real people, like idols, become imaginary through these projections.

Blue Drop and Kashimashi may have been soft Sci-fi, but unlike the soft sci-fi, Weak Yuri series of the twentieth century, they featured Strong Yuri and placed it more as a central aspect of the work with other elements built around, rather than as a side element. The next revolution in sci-fi Yuri came when hard sci-fi titles began production. A few of the principal players here are Kusano himself, Otherside Picnic Creator Iori Miyazawa, and editor Rikimura Mizoguichi, all of whom feature in the viral Yuri Made Me Human interview of Miyazawa. Most of the theories and ideas discussed in this article, including Kusano’s Weak and Strong Yuri arguments, came from these seminars.

It all started with Kusano’s existential widescreen Yuri baroque proletariat hard sci-fi Love Live AU fanfic of the popular ship NicoMaki, consisting of Nico Yazawa and Maki Nishikino. The revised edition of this story, Last and First Idol, was published in 2016 and became the first debut title to win the prestigious Seiun Award in 42 years. Satoshi Maejima’s post-script essay at the end of the Last and First Idol collection gives far more detail into these works’ history. However, Idol was the first prominent story to feature Yuri in a hard sci-fi narrative. It was not perfect. In fact, in its push to feature gruesome content and insane hard sci-fi that Yuri is pushed to the wayside during most of the story.

*Author’s note: The first time I read Last and First Idol, I was completely unaware of its contents, which was a shocking experience; the story comes with a severe content warning).

Last and First Idol did not create a woven hard sci-fi, Strong Yuri narrative. However, it was a definite proof of the concept, a testament that the sprawling details and imagery of hard Sci-Fi could work with Yuri relationships. Kusano’s next short story, Evolution Girls, which would appear alongside Last and First Idol in the collection of the same name, saw the author focus more on emotionalism and create a Strong Yuri work. Nevertheless, Last and First Idol was a massive success. Future hard proof that Yuri hard sci-fi was coming in force came in December 2018, when Hayakawa Shobo ran a special edition of its long-running S-F Magazine featuring Yuri stories. The issue, planned by Rikimura Mizoguchi, proved so popular for the second time in its then 59-year history, the magazine had to reprint before release.

While Kusano was developing theories on Yuri and Hayakawa Shobo worked to push the public eye onto Yuri sci-fi, author Iori Miyazawa was refining his own Yuri premises, ones that, though he did not know it at the time, would not only see Strong Yuri and Hard sci-fi standing side by side in the same story but would synthesis the two into a unique product that could attract new fans and expand the borders of science fiction and Yuri. The work in question, of course, is Otherside Picnic. This light novel series about girls journeying to another world to hunt creatures from occult internet lore is to date Yuri science fiction’s best execution.

As Miyazawa admits, he strives to create Strong Yuri by focusing on emotionalism and realistic characters. However, such character-driven narratives are often at odds with hard science fiction, which requires dense walls of text to explain the complicated science behind its concepts and world. Miyazawa avoids this trap by utilizing Yuri tropes, specifically scenic Yuri and “Yuri of absence,” and integrating Yuri relationship into these explanatory literary lectures. Examining the latter first, rather than using narrative or exposition dialogue to unravel the intelligence behind the world or elements of science fiction, Miyazawa uses the relationship between Sorawo and Toriko.

In Otherside Picnic, explanations of the mysterious Otherside come primarily from two sources, dialogue and Sorawo’s inner monologue. When Sorawo and Torikko discuss a nuance of the paranormal creatures they investigate, it no longer becomes a large infodump but a Yuri scene about their relationship through their interactions and responses. According to both the strong Yuri theory and Yuri’s traditional definition, these emotions and discussions are the crux of the genre – stories about females’ relationships. Similar emotionalism fills Sorawo’s inner monologues, specifically in the frequent romantic admirations of Toriko. Thus, an explanation existing in that same space becomes Yuri, as it mirrors the same emotions and attraction. Merely by placing the usual exposition into interactions and relationships, Miyazawa was able to open hard science fiction to new readers, who may have been apprehensive before because of these text walls.

Miyazawa’s other secret weapon is, as he describes it, “Yuri of absence.” Relying on the principles of Strong Yuri, that Yuri is fiction made real through emotions, Yuri of absence extends these parameters outside of characters. As Strong Yuri relies on feeling, not observable data like characters, anything that invokes two women’s feelings together is Yuri. It could be a song, or an empty bench, as one can imagine two women on it and feel emotions tied to that. Of course, taken to its extreme, nearly anything can then be Yuri, as I have joked before, gesturing to an empty chair proclaiming, “Behold, a Yuri!” However, Miyazawa uses this Yuri of absence sparingly, rendering it closer to scenic Yuri’s intimacy.

Scenic Yuri, a particular type of Yuri of absence, focuses exclusively on setting and imagery, a feature that works particularly well in science fiction as according to Masahiro Noda’s “sci-fi is all about images.” Traditional Yuri uses character interaction and supplements it with images and sights that help communicate characters’ emotions and intimacy, like fleeting shots or descriptions of the sky. Take the shot from Kase-san and Morning Girls where Yamada stands by the bus stop. The distance between the girls, the tree in the foreground on Yamada’s side, and the pole on the right all invoke emotion and help tell the girls’ story, distanced by their differences and upcoming life paths. Now remove the girls, the scene remains, as does its meaning and emotions, whether the characters are present or not.

Scenic Yuri is employed vigorously in more male-targeted S Yuri (a minority of the Class S genre). Here, the imagery provides intimacy so that the voyeuristic viewer could look into the characters’ private and forbidden lives, specifically the girls in all-girls schools. Take the shot from Strawberry “Mo Man May Enter Here” Panic. The sweeping view of the Strawberry Dorms atop Astraea Hill, a place where men are forbidden, gives the consumer an exclusive inside look at the private home of its subjects. Otherside Picnic uses these same scenic Yuri principles in its descriptions. In this case, the intimacy does not come from a place where men are prohibited or a shot describing women’s relationships. Instead, the reports of abandoned ruins and deserted open fields where only Toriko and Sorawo exist provide extreme intimacy. It is an emotional view of two of the few women in this world with nothing but each other; thus, Yuri.

Yuri science fiction is easily the most exciting place in the genre right now. Its creators are experimenting with new theories and storytelling methods to expand the boundaries of what science fiction or Yuri alone could never do. The subgenre has undoubtedly come a long way from its Weak Yuri roots and continues to grow. Industry leaders like Miyazawa and Mizoguichi will continue to push into this excited and uncharted territory, using tactics new and old to bring together Yuri’s emotional and romantic core with science fiction’s epic and provoking imagery. I have few doubts that we have seen all these pioneers have to offer and that Last and First Idol and Otherside Picnic are just the beginning.

Sources

Friedman, Erica, and Kishiji Bando. “Shoujo Yuri Manga Guide.” Yuricon, 29 Mar. 2011, https://www.yuricon.com/oldessays/shoujo-yuri-manga-guide/.

Hanson, Katherine. Yuri No Boke 百合のボケ〜百合が好きだ〜: Sci-Fi Yuri Anime and Manga. 17 Feb. 2012, http://yurinoboke.blogspot.com/2012/02/sci-fi-yuri-anime-and-manga.html.

Kit, et al. Tomo Choco Podcast Episode 58: A Trip to the Otherside. https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/tomochoco5287491142565609/id/14974343. Accessed 18 Feb. 2021.

Komatsu, Mikikazu. “S-F Magazine’s Yuri-Themed Issue Gets Reprints Before Release.” Crunchyroll, https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2018/12/18/s-f-magazines-yuri-themed-issue-gets-reprints-before-release. Accessed 18 Feb. 2021.

Kusano, Gengen. “[R-18] #SF #矢澤にこ【SF合同サンプル】最後にして最初の矢澤 - 節足原々（セッソクハラハラ）の小説.” Pixiv, https://www.pixiv.net/novel/show.php?id=4992326. Accessed 18 Feb. 2021.

M Alan Kazlev. “The Scale of Hardness in Science Fiction.” Futurism, https://vocal.media/futurism/the-scale-of-hardness-in-science-fiction. Accessed 18 Feb. 2021.

Masayuki Sakoi. Strawberry Panic S01:E21 - Like a Flower. Madhouse, 2006. tubitv.com, https://tubitv.com/tv-shows/558933/s01-e21-like-a-flower.

Maser, Verena. Beautiful and Innocent: Female Same-Sex Intimacy in the Japanese Yuri Genre. ubt.opus.hbz-nrw.de, https://ubt.opus.hbz-nrw.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/695. Accessed 18 Feb. 2021.

Miyazawa, Iori, et al. Yuri Made Me Human, Part 2. Translated by Kati_lilian, 24 Aug. 2018, https://teletype.in/@kati_lilian/S1yjBCJgH.

Miyazawa, Iori, and Rikimaru Mizoguchi. Yuri Made Me Human — Interview with Iori Miyazawa. Translated by kati_lilian, May 2018, https://teletype.in/@kati_lilian/SJA8KwjjN.

Moore, Caitlin, et al. “The Winter 2021 Preview Guide - Otherside Picnic.” Anime News Network, https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/preview-guide/2021/winter/otherside-picnic/.167892. Accessed 18 Feb. 2021.

Nicki “YuriMother” Bauman. The History and Future of Transgender Representation in Yuri - The Secret Garden, January 2021 | YuriMother on Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/posts/45495024. Accessed 18 Feb. 2021.

---. “Yuri Is for Everyone: An Analysis of Yuri Demographics and Readership.” Anime Feminist, 12 Feb. 2020, https://www.animefeminist.com/yuri-is-for-everyone-an-analysis-of-yuri-demographics-and-readership/.

Pinansky, Sam. Interview with J-Novel Club’s Sam Pinansky. Interview by Erica Friedman, 1 Oct. 2019, https://okazu.yuricon.com/2019/10/01/interview-with-j-novel-clubs-sam-pinansky/.

Sarantos, Constance. “How Otherside Picnic Breaks the Yuri Genre Mold.” CBR, 10 Jan. 2021, https://www.cbr.com/otherside-picnic-breaks-yuri-genre-mold/.

“「SF冬の時代」は雪解けを迎えた早川書房・溝口力丸 Vol.1.” KAI-YOU Premium, https://premium.kai-you.net/article/201. Accessed 18 Feb. 2021.

Snapshot. https://www.cbr.com/otherside-picnic-breaks-yuri-genre-mold/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2021.

Takuya Satou. Watch Kase-San and Morning Glories. Sentai Filmworks, 2018. vrv.co, https://vrv.co/series/GYQWD1X1Y/Kase-san-and-Morning-Glories.

Walter, Damien. “Science Fiction vs SciFi vs SF: What Is the True Definition?” Damien Walter, 7 Aug. 2018, https://damiengwalter.com/2018/08/07/science-fiction-vs-scifi-vs-sf-what-is-the-true-definition/.

YuriMother. “LGBTQ Light Novel Review - Otherside Picnic Vol. 1.” The Holy Mother of Yuri, 12 Dec. 2019, https://yurimother.com/post/189635367305.

#Yuri #otherside picnic #the secret garden #miyazawa yuri #yuri of absence #scenic yuri #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtq+#queer #gay #lesbian

403 notes · View notes

mincyberr · 11 days ago

Text

welcm to cy's hot takes, where my takes might fire back at me 😭

sorry in advance! 😭 -

this hot take is about YOUR HOT TAKES!

Welcome to the cyber ANNIVERSARY! It's been a year on Tumblr! So I'm sharing your takes! 💋 I'm giving CREDITS to my hot takers SOOOO enjoy the show!

(made on Nov 9 (my anniversary) - Nov 13

@inlovewithdob : Should’ve made Thomasa (Thomas and Teresa) siblings/twins -

I see this for so many reasons, image Teresa betraying Thomas but they are siblings!! THATS DRAMAAA and it makes sense!!!

ﾟ:｡ ִ ✿𝆬 ⁔⁔ ۪ ⊹ ֗ ꫂ

@kestis-advent : Don't know if it's a hot take, but. WICKD was really stupid, and the more you think about their experiment with the maze the less it makes sense or the more you think you could have found an answer faster than them and without harming anyone. -

I had a project at school about TMR and about if WCKD was good or not, BRO! I was in a mid field and had to explain this in my essay, 10/10 hot take

ﾟ:｡ ִ ✿𝆬 ⁔⁔ ۪ ⊹ ֗ ꫂ

@thepersassiest : HOT TAKE Y’ALL ARE GOING TO HATE ME FOR THIS ONE (and I say this as a hardcore Newtmas shipper who can only see Newt as gay) Newt is NOT canonically gay. Trashner only “confirmed” it years afterword for clout and fanservice. Same way JK Rowling only claimed Dumbledore was gay years afterword for inclusion’s sake; without actually putting in the work to make the character real representation. Don’t get me wrong, the subtext is all there and I completely headcannon Newt as gay. But attacking people who hc him as straight or bi or write f!self inserts with him is not necessary. yes, straight washing queer characters is bad!! but it isn’t straight washing when the character was not confirmed queer to begin with. -

Yeah I see this as a good thing to note. One time as I was searching about TMR, I didn't know he was gay until I found Maze Cutter. So thank you for speaking about this.

ﾟ:｡ ִ ✿𝆬 ⁔⁔ ۪ ⊹ ֗ ꫂ

@wildbwills : guess I’d just say book newt is cooler 😎

- FACTS, HES SASSY AS HELL IN THE BOOKS 📚 LOVE HIM !!!

ﾟ:｡ ִ ✿𝆬 ⁔⁔ ۪ ⊹ ֗ ꫂ

@ssseashell : !! i would say my hot take is that the whole plot for the third movie is way better than the 3rd book’s plot. Minho’s rescue was so much better than just the ‘running from wicked and destroy them’ plot from the book -

I haven't finished Death Cure book yet. But yeah I loved the third movie, it's second place for the Maze Runner trilogy for me.

Thanks for a year on this platform!! And 30 followers!! Thank you and good bye 🫂

♡ 𝐜𝐲𝐛𝐞𝐫 (stan minho)

#the maze runner #tmr #thomas maze runner #tmr thomas #minho maze runner #newt maze runner #tmr minho #tmr newt #hot takes #tmr gally

16 notes · View notes

tundrakatiebeanart · 1 year ago

Text

Who’s that Pokémon?!

It’s the LAST page of the advent book! It’s time to start working on binding the pages together and the cover so there’s only one mon to guess this time (and it’s a lot easier if you know Jick and think about what hasn’t been included yet)

My patrons have the full scoop and tiers start at $1! You could know exactly what’s going on and not have to wait a week!

#advent book #advent book project #felt #embroidery #Pokémon #who’s that pokémon #pokemon

6 notes · View notes

anim-ttrpgs · 2 months ago

Text

Songs for Eureka Sessions: Investigators Fleeing/Hiding from Monster

Masterpost of Eureka song lists & how to choose good music for any TTRPG session.

Beastiality - The Thing

Don't Cry, Jennifer - Clock Tower

Anguish - Martha is Dead

Mynah - Signalis

Claws of the Dead - Death Stranding

The Man in the Hat - Little Nightmares

Detritus - It Follows

Strange Dreams – The Mount Fuju Doomjazz Corporation

Disposable Entertainment – Little Nightmares II

Zombie Attack – Resident Evil 1 Remake

Reliving the Present – Resident Evil 2 Remake

Vigilante – Trigg & Gusset

The Second Malformation of G – Resident Evil 2

Black Tiger – Resident Evil 1 Remake

One Step, Two Step – Little Nightmares II

Black Impact – Resident Evil 2 Remake

Ashes and Ghost – Silent Hill 2

Screaming Target – Resident Evil 2

Vengeance – The Guest

Falling Victim to the Ex-Neighbors – Resident Evil 2

Richard – Hotline Miami 2

Theme of Aya – Parasite Eve

The First Malformation of G – Resident Evil 2

Faces – Martha Is Dead

Track 17 – Galerians

Nightwalk Restlessness – Martha Is Dead

Stalker – Parasite Eve II

Intruders (Alternate) – Silent Hill 4

Ultimate Bio Weapon – Resident Evil 1 Remake

Final Battle – Resident Evil 1 Remake

Absurd Advent – Resident Evil 2 Remake

Elegantly designed and thoroughly playtested, Eureka represents the culmination of three years of near-daily work from our team, as well as a lot of our own money. If you’re just now reading this and learning about Eureka for the first time, you missed the crowdfunding window unfortunately, but you can still check out the public beta on itch.io to learn more about what Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy actually is, as that is where we have all the fancy art assets, the animated trailer, links to video reviews by podcasts and youtubers, etc.!

You can also follow updates on our Kickstarter page where we post regular updates on the status of our progress finishing the game and getting it ready for final release.

Beta Copies through the Patreon

If you want more, you can download regularly updated playable beta versions of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy earlier, plus extra content such as adventure modules by subscribing to our Patreon at the $5 tier or higher. Subscribing to our patreon also grants you access to our patreon discord server where you can talk to us directly and offer valuable feedback on our progress and projects.

The A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club

If you would like to meet the A.N.I.M. team and even have a chance to play Eureka with us, you can join the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club discord server. It’s also just a great place to talk and discuss TTRPGs, so there is no schedule obligation, but the main purpose of it is to nominate, vote on, then read, discuss, and play different indie TTRPGs. We put playgroups together based on scheduling compatibility, so it’s all extremely flexible. This is a free discord server, separate from our patreon exclusive one. https://discord.gg/7jdP8FBPes

Other Stuff

We also have a ko-fi and merchandise if you just wanna give us more money for any reason.

We hope to see you there, and that you will help our dreams come true and launch our careers as indie TTRPG developers with a bang by getting us to our base goal and blowing those stretch goals out of the water, and fight back against WotC's monopoly on the entire hobby. Wish us luck.

25 notes · View notes

reivelation · 2 years ago

Text

literary references in evangelion

toji suzuhara, kensuke aida, and the last name horaki are lifted from characters within ryu murakami's novel ai to gensou no fascism / fascism of love and illusion.

nerv's motto is a quote from pippa passes, a 1841 verse drama.

"God's in his heaven— All's right with the world!

this line is also quoted in anne of the green grables.

"'God's in his heaven, all's right with the world,'" whispered Anne softly.

isao takahata's anime adaptation anne of the green gables also includes a scene similar to the ending scene of the anime series.

the name of episode 26 (the beast that shouted i at the heart of the world) is a reference to the book by harlan ellison, the beast that shouted love at the heart of the world, a collection of short stories. "i" sounds very similar to "ai", meaning love in japanese.

the greek tragedies, oedipus rex and electra which is fairly self-explanatory... i hope... with the show's use of freudian concepts (shinji's oedipus complex and misato's electra complex respectively.)

the human instrumentality project is a reference to the book series by cordwainer smith, instrumentality of mankind.

despite that, the human instrumentality bears a striking resemblance to the plot of Arthur C. Clarke's 1953 novel, childhood's end.

plot synopsis on goodreads:

The Overlords appeared suddenly over every city--intellectually, technologically, and militarily superior to humankind. Benevolent, they made few demands: unify earth, eliminate poverty, and end war. With little rebellion, humankind agreed, and a golden age began.

But at what cost? With the advent of peace, man ceases to strive for creative greatness, and a malaise settles over the human race. To those who resist, it becomes evident that the Overlords have an agenda of their own. As civilization approaches the crossroads, will the Overlords spell the end for humankind . . . or the beginning?

in asuka and kaji's introductory episode asuka strikes, there are four battleships in the UN convoy named after the shakespeare plays titus andronicus, cymbeline, othello and tempest.

in 2.22, kaji says he feels like urashima taro, referencing the japanese legend named after it's titular character, a fisherman named urashima taro. the legend goes that the fisherman rescues a turtle and is rewarded by a visit to the dragon palace where he is entertained for several days but when he returns to the human world, he finds that he had been gone for at least a century and everything around him has now changed. this is a metaphor for how kaji left tokyo-03 for only two years yet feels as though everything around him has now changed.

episode sixteen being titled (there are alternate titles to several evangelion episodes) sickness unto death after the philosopher soren kierkegaard's book of the same name exploring christian existentialism.

speaking of episodes being titled after philosophical works from the victorian era, is the hedgehog's dilemma. originally described in arthur schopenhauer's collection of philosophical reflections, parerga und paralipomena. the hedgehogs dilemma is a theme seen over and over again in evangelion with episode 4 being titled after it.

the title of evangelion 3.0 + 1.0: thrice upon a time references the book with the same title, thrice upon a time by james p. hogan.

It's amazing enough when Murdoch Ross's brilliant grandfather invents a machine that can send messages to itself in the past or the future. But when signals begin to arrive without being sent, Murdoch realizes that every action he takes changes the future that would have been...and that the world he lives in has already been altered!

Then a new message arrives from the future: The world is doomed!

as qmisato pointed out, anno has referenced james p. hogan's works previously as well (nadia: secret of the waters' final episode being titled inheritor of stars referencing hogan's novel inherit the stars)

#my work #analysis #evangelion #toji suzuhara #kensuke aida #hikari horaki #asuka langley soryu #shinji ikari #misato katsuragi #yui ikari #ryoji kaji

632 notes · View notes

copperbadge · 3 months ago

Text

Radio Free Monday

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Radio Free Monday!

Ways to Give:

nivchara-yahel and her sibling Hem are disabled and currently applying for SSDI and other benefits; they need ongoing support and are currently fundraising for August rent. Hem is also an artist and offering work for donations of $10 or more to those interested. You can read more, reblog, and find giving information here.

Char is raising funds for a friend's cat, Phil, who is currently at the animal hospital indefinitely until he receives treatment; they're still working out what he's dealing with, but are treating him currently for an infection in his liver and are checking for lymphoma. You can read more and support the fundraiser here.

Anon linked to a fundraiser for a classroom in Texas that is trying to get some missing chapter books in the classroom library, and read-aloud books that focus on marginalized peoples, environmental concerns, and non-Western upbringings. The project page states it will impact ten students, but all students and teachers in the school will have access to these books. You can read more and support the fundraiser here.

Buy Stuff, Help Out:

sarahmackattack is with Skype A Scientist, a nonprofit science education organization that connects scientists with classrooms, libraries, and scout troops for free; they also run a "Squid Facts" hotline that people can text to receive squid facts, and support a science mural program in Philadelphia. They're currently selling Frog Facts and Crab Facts advent calendars; you scratch off the sticker each day to reveal fun facts about frogs or crabs. You can purchase them and other fun stickers and merch to support Skype A Scientist at their website here.

Recurring Needs:

we_are_spc's AC in their house has gone out, and they are trying to stay cool with only one fan; they are unemployed, and the heat is bad for both their asthma and their cats, as well as several musical instruments in the home including indigenous flutes. They've had a great update which is that the unit itself is working so only the copper lines need to be replaced; they need to raise less than previously thought, but are still trying to get as much funding as possible for the line replacement. You can read more and support the fundraiser here or give via paypal at [email protected], via venmo at rowansong, or via cashApp at rowansong.

loversdoom has recently been diagnosed with PCOS and needs help to afford the prescribed birth control pills on top of living expenses; you can read more, reblog, and find giving information here or give via paypal here.

thegeeksqueaks's school district has shorted her on her summer teacher's budget; she can't afford currently to stock her classroom for back-to-school. She's raising funds to get food and hygiene tools for underserved kids as well as various aids for neurodivergent kids. You can read more and reblog here, give via DonorsChoose here or via paypal here, or purchase from an Amazon wishlist here.

And this has been Radio Free Monday! Thank you for your time. You can post items for my attention at the Radio Free Monday submissions form. If you're new to fundraising, you may want to check out my guide to fundraising here.

#radio free monday #charity #philanthropy #fannish community

33 notes · View notes

joelhappyhil · 11 months ago

Text

DAWN’S BETA IS OUT!

I’ve been writing and refining this for at least 3 years now, and I intend for this to be the final major update before releasing the game in full. I’ve got a ton of things to say about this update but if you just want a link to the game it'll be below.

Here’s the link: https://joel-happyhil.itch.io/dawn! Below the option to purchase at full price there will be a bunch of community copies for any who want to download but can’t/don't want to pay.

For those who know nothing about it: DAWN is a Battle Shonen (a subgenre of anime and manga) inspired tactical TTRPG that I’ve been developing since I started my last major release (Star And City 2E).

I consider it the result of everything I’ve learned with writing and game design, it has the most collaborators I’ve had on any project, and it’s a product I’m incredibly proud of. Also, its precursor, Advent Dawn, was the first game I ever posted on Itch.

I want to note that this version is in no way complete, and should be read as such. There's the obvious missing art and text to start (which I’ve marked with a WIP image).

This version will likely have issues, as this is the first time this version has been shown publicly. Despite this, I’ve done as much as I can with my limited testing, I feel the book is a presentable and enjoyable product for any who’re interested in it.

I’ve also started a Itch funding tracker that’ll be active for the first 2 weeks because this update is a big deal to me and I want to see how much support I can get for the final release. I appreciate any support you give because of it, but don’t feel pressured to.

You may know I already ran a Kickstarter campaign for DAWN, this is why I haven’t set up any rewards for this itch funding, as I feel it would devalue the support I got on that initial KS, I just like to see numbers go up.

I can’t express how much I appreciate any amount of support. If you're interested in testing the game there’ll be a Discord link in the document that you can use to find my community, where I’ll be trying to test the game at least weekly and answer any questions asked.

#indie ttrpg #dawn #kickstarter #crowd funding #game design #indie stuff #books #ttrpgsolidarity

93 notes · View notes

stillness-in-green · 1 year ago

Text

On Heteromorphs & Heteromorphobia (Introduction + Terminology + Arcs I - V, Entrance Exam to Sports Festival)

Being a project to observe and document the use of the term “heteromorph,” the people described by it, and the depiction of their experiences with discrimination in My Hero Academia

“No, heteromorphobia isn’t new or a late-story retcon. The non-heteromorph main characters just weren’t confronted with it for a long time, that’s all.”

Introduction

In this series of posts, I will be examining heteromorphic characters and heteromorphic discrimination chapter by chapter, arc by arc, up through the plotline coming to a head in the attack on Central Hospital. My overall aim is to demonstrate that, contrary to widespread assertions otherwise, heteromorphobia had ample groundwork laid long before it burst to the forefront in My Villain Academia. My analysis will generally fall into one of the following categories:

General observations about heteromorphs in the world: how the reader is introduced to them individually and as a group, their demographics, the language used to describe them, how they fit into the structure of professional heroism, etc.

Aspects of the series—scenes, character beats, worldbuilding details, etc.—which I believe canonically point towards heteromorphic discrimination, even before that discrimination was explicitly acknowledged.

Aspects of the series that could be read as evidence for said discrimination, but which may or may not have been intentional on the part of the author.

Discussion of how individual characters intersect, or could intersect, with this form of discrimination.

I would like to fold the Vigilantes spin-off into this analysis as well, as that series is very good at taking aspects of worldbuilding from the main series to their logical, street-level conclusions; I may also examine other extracanonical material (the data books, the movies, TUM and the novels, etc.) if I find—or have suggested to me—anything relevant to the topic. More on this as I get closer to the end of the material in the series proper.

The current plan being to end my mainline analysis with the hospital attack is largely because, at the present time, Shouji’s response to the mob seems to be the series’ last word on The Problem of Heteromorphobia. I may, however, continue beyond that point if the series circles back to the issue in a major way between now and the completion of this project.

In the meantime, join me below the jump as I lay out my thesis, explain the rationale behind the terminology used in this piece, and dive on into the canon material, from Chapter 1 up through the conclusion of the Sports Festival in Chapter 44.

The Thesis

Anti-heteromorph discrimination has been present as a background element in the series from the very beginning. However, this is obscured by the main character’s lack of awareness of it, the overlap between such discrimination and the broader dehumanization of villains, and, perhaps most crucially, the fact that the term “heteromorph,” while serviceable as a descriptor for a broad categorization of quirk types, is uselessly broad for discussing heteromorphic discrimination.

It’s very easy to say, “The idea of heteromorphs being discriminated against is a ridiculous retcon,” if one views the story as suggesting that all people with heteromorphic quirks are subject to the exact same levels of discrimination, while transformation and emitter types are never discriminated against at all, no matter how they look. This, however, is demonstrably false if one instead looks for patterns in the types of discrimination demonstrated throughout the series. The common element in heteromorphic discrimination is that it becomes drastically more likely the farther away one is from the “normal” appearance of humans prior to the Advent of the Extraordinary. This is particularly the case for those with heteromorphic quirks tied to animals or those who live in rural areas.

On Terminology

Baseline/Divergence: “Baseline” is not a canonical term, but it is a useful one. I’ll use it to describe bodies that look more or less “normal,” with features like those humans would have had before the advent of quirks. Bakugou is baseline; so is Momo. Tokoyami and Koda are not. I’ll also sometimes use “divergence” or “divergent” in association with this concept, especially for people who have no more than one or two cosmetic differences that are not associated with an animal. Jirou’s earphone jacks or Iida’s pipes would be examples of such relatively minor divergences from “baseline.” It is, as I will argue, a significant factor in the extent of discrimination that heteromorphs face.

Igyou/Heteromorph: The Japanese term Spinner objects to in Chapter 220 is igyou, literally meaning “fantastic; grotesque; strange-looking; suspicious-looking” per Japanese dictionary site jisho.org. It’s often appended with gata, “type,” and people who have quirks of that type labeled as igyou-gata no ningen. The Viz release translates igyou to “heteromorph,” and igyou-gata to “heteromorphic” or “heteromorphic quirk.” It’s much more clinical-sounding to an English ear than a more literal translation of igyou would be; thus, when Spinner suggests that the word is not very politically correct, the Japanese reader will have a much clearer understanding of why than the English reader.

Another thing Spinner says about igyou is that, despite the fact that it’s not a good word for formal contexts, everyone uses it day to day. However, as far as I can tell, and troublingly for fans who want to avoid using an offensive word, there is no polite alternative. We see people using the word to describe themselves, Aizawa uses it freely in discussing how his quirk affects the type in question, but we don’t get to see an academic paper or expert interview letting us know what we should say instead.

I’ve only seen two alternatives. One is buried in Vigilantes and is less “a polite alternative” and more “a mouthful of words to prevaricate around not having a polite alternative”: tokushuna taikaku no mochinushi, or, per the Viz translation, “individuals with unique bodies.” The other, used by the firebrand PLF advisor leading the hospital riot, is kotonaru katachi, which means, roughly, “differing forms.” It’s better, but still more of a descriptive phrase than a noun, and runs into the issue that something vague like “differing forms” could also apply to, for example, congenital anomalies or amputations. It also uses the same kanji as igyou, just a different reading of the characters, so it’s unclear if Spinner would find that wording just as objectionable.

It’s tricky to navigate this, too, because it’s not all 1:1 translation. Spinner doesn’t object to being called igyou while thinking that igyou-gata or igyou-gata no ningen would be fine—that is, he’s not saying he doesn’t like being called a heteromorph, but being called a heteromorphic type or a person with a heteromorphic quirk would be fine, in the way that you see debates about person-first versus identity-first language in e.g. the autistic community. It’s the word igyou/“heteromorph” itself that he dislikes.

Why? Well, the obvious answer is that the word itself, down to the kanji involved, denotes the people it’s used to describe as being strange or different from normal. Transformation-type quirks have a similar if less pronounced issue: henkei can mean “transformation” or “metamorphosis,” but it can also mean “deformity.” Emitters are the only ones who don’t have this problem at all, with hatsudou meaning simply “invocation” or “put into operation.”

When that kind of normativity is baked into the language itself, it’s impossible to even talk about without Othering the people you’re discussing.

While neither addresses the language issue specifically, Ujiko and Re-Destro both offer some useful insight on why the issue exists. Ujiko says, “With each passing generation, quirks become more mixed, more complex, more ambiguous(...).” Re-Destro, meanwhile, asks, “Isn’t it odd how society insists on conforming to the old ways of thinking while eliminating anyone who doesn’t fit the mold? Especially since we as a species have moved beyond the very notion of normal!”

My suspicion, then, is that no polite alternative exists because the concept itself is so nebulous, and talking about it—as we will see—leads to thorny, difficult-to-categorize places when people prefer to keep things nice and tidy, easy to sort and put away. This is convenient for people who are uncomfortable talking about it, since policing people about their language is a great way to shut down discussion entirely.

Indeed, I’ve seen as much in the fandom—thoughtful, well-articulated posts wholly dismissed with snotty rebukes against using the word “heteromorph” on the basis that it’s equivalent to a slur, with no further engagement on the posts’ actual content. I often see “mutant” used instead, but I don’t view that as any kind of solution, for two reasons.

Firstly, and more simply, using “mutant” creates confusion due to its overlap with the idea of quirk mutations—situations like Eri’s. Indeed, in the Japanese, while Pops uses the Japanese word for “mutation,” kanji that would normally be read as totsuzenheni,[1] the furigana show that what he's actually saying aloud is the English word, giving the reading as myuuteeshon. The word igyou is totally unrelated—it doesn’t even have any kanji in common with totsuzenhi—so I feel it’s best to not add ambiguity where none exists in the original text.

Secondly, and more irksomely, “mutant” is what the most widely available fan scanlation used as a translation for igyou. Scanlation!Spinner says it’s the word “mutant” he dislikes; it’s not dodging offense to use the scanlation version instead of the official when they’re both placed in the exact same objectionable context![2]

Pictured: me being extremely unimpressed with people who use “mutant” accusing people who use “heteromorph” of using slurs.

All that said, in the absence of any polite alternatives provided by the canon, and in the interest of not throwing out the only word we have in favor of a nonexistent nicety the story’s victims themselves have no access to, I will be using the word those victims themselves use: “heteromorph.”

For further specificity, I will use “heteromorph” to describe anyone, regardless of quirk type, with a physical form that diverges from the pre-Advent baseline, while using “heteromorphic quirk” to denote quirks of said category and those who bear them.

Categorizing Quirks & the Division of Arcs:

Usually, when I denote a quirk as a given type—emitter, transformation, heteromorphic—I’m using the English fan wiki’s classification. However, note that, while these broad quirk classifications are discussed within the series, there is no canonical source that categorizes the vast majority of the quirks we see in the series. In character sheets, data books, narrated quirk explanations or the anime’s tic of showing characters’ names and quirks on-screen, the only information given is the quirk’s name and a brief explanation of its function.

Fan wikis, however, are run by curatorial fans, who want to have that information all down neatly, so I’m sure there are whole discussions behind classifying some of the more borderline cases. I will be discussing the insufficiencies of the current system of classification, but any time I declare a quirk as being classified as a certain type, that’s based on the wiki, not the text itself.

The wiki was also my reference for the breakdown of arcs in the series. They are equally noncanonical, but convenient for the purposes of keeping this piece broken down into digestible pieces.

Let's get started.

Heteromorphs and Heteromorphobia Chronologically

The Entrance Exam Arc (Chapters 1-4)

Chapter 1:

On the very first page, we meet li’l Tsubasa, the winged boy who is implied to eventually become the Winged Noumu during the Stain arc.[3] No longer in Bakugou’s friend group by the time they’re in middle school; according to the data book, that’s just because he changed schools, but that information does come with an ominous ellipsis trail-off…

The very first villain we see is a heteromorph, yelling at heroes to go away. We’re told he’s a purse-snatcher who transformed into his large size—he maintains his base appearance even after being captured and shrinking back down to a normal size—when cornered. Called “pure evil” by Kamui Woods and while that does speak more directly to the dehumanization of villains than that of heteromorphs, it’s notable that this very first comparison between what heroes and villains look like shows such a stark difference between which one looks human and which one doesn’t. o Kamui Woods himself is a transformation-type rather than a heteromorph-type, but he blurs the line between quirk categorizations. Even at “rest,” his limbs have a wooden appearance; he transforms their shape and size, but not their basic nature. In that sense, he has a heteromorphic body. His humanoid size and dimensions, though, as well as his mask, make him appear baseline at a casual glance. I’ll be discussing him in more depth later, but note that if you read this first confrontation in light of later reveals about heteromorphic discrimination, it’s the one who wears a mask that’s a hero.

But with Mount Lady getting the final blow, note how everyone in this picture is baseline except the literally muzzled villain.

Of twenty-four visible kids in Deku and Bakugou’s class, only two have clear-cut heteromorphic quirks. One girl has horns but no other divergent features nor other apparent power in use; the other is of the “different head” style, a boy with what looks like a pair of needle-nose pliers in place of a normal head. One other boy has gnashing, sharp teeth; it’s unclear whether they look like that all the time or whether it’s a transformation effect. The rest of the students all seem to be emitter or transformation types.

Introduction of the Sludge Villain, whose body is entirely fluid. Implied to kill those whose bodies he possesses, at least the ones he intends to fully hide himself within. We’re now two-for-two on villains being heteromorphs.

The crowd full of bystanders are all baseline:

Keep this image in mind for when we get our first crowd shot of villains.

Chapter 3+:

You can identify both Shouji and Tokoyami in this chapter, but Deku doesn’t talk to either of them, so they don’t have anything solid in the way of dialogue. Shouji does get one focus in the art, though: a shot of him from behind, typifying the information-gathering type. Nedzu first appears in silhouette but also has no speaking lines beyond a shared impressed noise with the also-silhouetted Vlad King. One or two other heteromorphs can be spotted throughout the exam, but they’re definitely fewer in number compared to the rest.

+: Others will crop up as Deku has his first day with Class 1-A and Aizawa in the following chapters; Tokoyami, befitting his eventual Number 3 placement at the Sports Festival, has his name regularly shown near the top of assorted exam/class activity rankings. Shouji’s name appears likewise in Chapter 7’s track and field test rankings.

The Quirk Apprehension Test Arc (Chapters 5-7)

Chapter 5:

Iida is, strictly speaking, the first named heteromorph in the class. There will never be any particular sign that Iida is subject to the judgement and bias that more divergent heteromorphs are.

Chapter 6:

Tsuyu is the next named heteromorph, the first one with an animal-associated quirk, and the first student whose facial features are clearly intended to be anything other than baseline human. Her quirk is not yet officially introduced, but she’s identified as a froggy type by her hopping, her long tongue, and her ribbit talk bubble.

In the same chapter that gives us our first instance of an animal-type heteromorph, we also get our first instance of animal-type name-calling:

Note the ever-stoic Shouji’s pointed lack of a response.

This is not particularly highlighted in the moment, but it will get a callback over 300 chapters later as something that warrants an apology. Note that both Sero and Mineta are themselves heteromorphs, but neither are animal-associated. This already sets up a discrepancy between what kinds of heteromorphs experience significant discrimination, even though the reader won’t get context for that until Spinner introduces us to the CRC.

The Battle Trial Arc (Chapters 8-11)

Chapter 11:

Shouji is formally introduced, name and quirk alike. Tsuyu proves to be relatively outgoing despite her demeanor, grouped with the affable Kirishima, Mina, and Sato in introducing herself to Deku after the indoor battles.

The first appearance of the League of Villains in the stinger with Shigaraki, Kurogiri and the USJ Noumu. None of them have heteromorphic quirks, as we’ll eventually find, but it’s immediately apparent that—like both of Chapter 1’s villains—they’re much more monstrous in appearance than the heroic cast. This correlation of appearance with criminal activity will continue to bear itself out throughout the series, getting more prominent and more explicit in the text as it goes along.

The U.S.J. Arc (Chapters 12-21)

Chapter 12:

Contains Ojiro’s character sheet, which notes that he always has to ask for clothing alterations when he’s shopping, which has become standard practice since the proliferation of quirks. Another profile page leading Chapter 32 will note similarly that he has a hard time sitting normally in a chair. Indeed, despite U.A. being the premier school for heroes, their accommodation seems to top out at exaggeratedly large doors; there doesn’t seem to be any accommodation in things like desks given for people with differently shaped bodies, like Ojiro’s tail or Mineta’s small stature. It’s possible that specially made desks, like clothes alterations, could be provided upon request, but that puts the onus on the person with the need to ask. Between the people in question being teenagers and Japan’s culture of meiwaku (not causing trouble for others), that’s a pretty significant disincentivization compared to just incorporating different desk sizes into the class by default, either by having a selection available in all classes or by proactively asking students about their needs during the enrollment process.

Chapter 13:

Bakugou calls Tsuyu “frog-face,” starting a trend he will continue for a long, long time of immediately going for animal traits when he’s reaching for an insult to use against an animal-type heteromorph.

Thirteen talks about how the use of quirks is heavily restricted and monitored because, “It only takes one wrong move with an uncontrollable quirk for people to die.” The series will go on to provide all sorts of examples of conflicts that arise from this state of affairs—reduced bodily autonomy, repression of biological compulsion, quirk-based discrimination—but Thirteen doesn’t bring up any of that. As Mr. Compress will call out later, the UA kids are seldom given much in the way of opposing viewpoints, and that’s visible here, where Thirteen provides a very basic explanation of the status quo with zero historical or sociopolitical context.[4]

Chapter 14:

As was the case for Shigaraki’s chapter-ending stinger at the bar, it’s very noticeable that the group at USJ have a far higher ratio of frightening appearances in crowd scenes.

Venus fly-trap hands, paper ofuda body, three with weird heads, face-chest dude, the dude with four legs: some of them might well be transformation types rather than heteromorphs, but either way, they’re a lot creepier across the board.

First use of the term heteromorph, from one of the villains Shigaraki brings to the USJ attack. It’s followed up with Aizawa distinguishing “heteromorphic types” from “operative” and “transformative” types. As I said in the terminology section, “heteromorph” is less fraught than the Japanese term igyou, but one might guess that Caleb Cook didn’t see a discrimination plotline coming—especially since the first person to use the word is self-describing!—so went with something a bit drier.

Tsuyu provides the first example of a character’s quirk being named simply for the animal they resemble with the formal introduction of her quirk, Frog. I have to wonder somewhat about the politics of this—who chooses what to name a quirk? Do the parents themselves do it, choosing a name and the kanji to use, and then just have to get the name approved when turning in a registration form at the local government office? Or does the clerk at said office do it after getting a description of how the quirk operates? Is there an appeals process if your choice is rejected/you don’t like what the clerk saddled your kid with? Are heteromorphs, especially animal-types, more likely to just get assigned the exact same quirk name as their family members, regardless of any difference in their abilities? Both of the Iida brothers, for example, have their quirk listed as Engine, though their pipes are in different places on their bodies. We’ll later be told that Spinner’s whole family has reptilian quirks, but his is particularly weak. Nonetheless, it’s still called Gecko, the same way Tsuyu’s is called Frog, even though she has a whole suite of abilities—she can do anything a frog can do!—and all Spinner can do is stick to walls. And I wonder what the culture is like on that, and who makes that call. As a further thought experiment, consider that if heteromorphs are more likely to get blanket names of their quirks than emitters, what does that mean for the quirk registry as an investigative tool for police? Sure, there might be a lot of fire-users in the area, but the name and description of those quirks in the database will offer more ways to distinguish between them and how a fire-using suspect wielded their flames. You don't get that when your suspect had a lizardish quirk, there are fifteen petty criminals with lizardish quirks in the city, and all the quirk registry says is, “Lizard: Has lizard-like abilities and features.” This homogenization of people who are already discriminated against compared to the apparent effort made to distinguish people with desirable emitter-type or colorful transformation quirks[5] leaves a lot of room for lazy, shoddy or even actively vindictive police work. (Incidentally, Hound Dog and Gigantomachia both have quirks just named Dog. Machia’s version only grants enhanced smell and hearing; he lacks Hound Dog’s canine features completely. This would seem to indicate that simplistic quirk names aren’t limited by family groups, but rather assigned quite widely.)

At the end of the chapter, Tsuyu’s character page notes that she gets cold easily—a weakness to cold that fellow ectotherm-based-quirk-haver Spinner does not seem to share, despite his appearance being considerably more divergent than Tsuyu’s. On the other hand, his power set is much, much weaker. Possibly the more abilities you have from “your” animal, the more of their more “negative” traits you also have to deal with? This would track with Mirko’s panicky “rabbit survival senses” kicking in the instant she saw Shigaraki in the tube.[6]

Chapter 15:

Nedzu is introduced as the Principal. Nedzu’s an interesting case. He must be assumed to have a heteromorphic body as he’s clearly not a baseline mouse! And his quirk is heteromorphic in the same sense that Ujiko’s is—its effect is both limited to his own self as well as being inherent to him—he can’t turn it on and off, and he can’t affect others with it. Yet we can’t quite assume he experiences heteromorphobia in the same way humans do because he isn’t human; if people assume he’s animalistic or less-than-human, well, he is an animal, and he isn’t human. Personally, I think Nedzu’s experience of heteromorphobia is most interesting for how it might intersect with that experienced by human heteromorphs—for example, what do people assume about Nedzu that’s similar to what they assume about other heteromorphs, and what do people assume about heteromorphs because of Nedzu and other rare instances of animals with quirks?

Chapter 21:

Introduction of Cementoss. His quirk’s an emitter-type, but his body, and particularly his head, is very clearly not baseline. Similar to Tokoyami, his appearance is technically independent of his quirk, though there are visual ties. This begs a lot of questions about the arbitrary categorization of quirks and the insufficient language to talk about people whose appearances are very far afield from the old human norm, if the only word there is for a very different body is a word that’s also used to talk about a quirk category, and it’s considered a somewhat rude word at that! In any case, with his squarish, cement-block head, he’s also our best look so far at someone with a heteromorphic body who has a visual tie to something that is a) a recognizable, extant thing in the world, but also b) inorganic in nature. He won’t be the last or the weirdest of these.

Introduction of Sansa, our first animal-type civilian heteromorph.

Shouji’s character sheet, noting that Horikoshi thinks he’s cool even if he’s not the type of guy to stand out in the crowd, and wants to feature him in the story but isn’t sure when it will happen. The character pages often—not always, but often—show what characters look like underneath various masks and costumes. Shouji is the first exception, with his face remaining covered by his mask even here. I see very little reason for that to be the case unless Horikoshi was concealing his scars for a dramatic later reveal. Horikoshi also mentions here, for the first time, that he really enjoys drawing non-human-looking characters. Given that he will also later say that he really enjoys thinking up personal details and backstory stuff for characters, it’s not unreasonable to suppose that he might have had the idea that “rural areas are still discriminatory” from the very beginning, even if he didn’t know how much of a role it might wind up playing. This is especially the case if he had already begun conceptualizing the members and stories of the League of Villains, as discrimination is inseparable from Spinner’s reasons for becoming a villain in the first place.

The U.A. Sports Festival Arc (Chapters 22 - 44)

One thing that stands out to me about the Sports Festival—no particular chapters, so I’m putting it at the beginning; keep an eye out next time you read it!—is that the audience members are far more varied in terms of how they look than the street crowds tend to be. This is particularly the case as you get towards the finals and get more crowd commentary, and thus comparatively more detailed crowd shots.

Unincluded but equally telling panels include the ones with the skeleton knight or the parasitized snail guy.

While some of this can probably be chalked up to Horikoshi’s assistants getting better at drawing colorful random extras, I don’t think that’s the only reason, given how consistent the patterns in crowd make-up are throughout the series. Rather, it’s notable that the attendees to the Sports Festival are, by and large, Hero industry people—most of them are, judging by their costumes,[7] heroes. We know from later on in the series that Japan has hundreds, probably thousands of active heroes in the modern day, and heroism is a good path for heteromorphs who don’t want to become villains but feel stifled at the prospect of being civilians; if nothing else, having a license is a preventative against being harassed for public quirk use just because you exist! So it’s not surprising that the mid-ranks of heroes—people with middling quirks who are, For Some Strange Reason, not popular enough to make it to the tops of the charts—are flush with heteromorphs.

Chapter 26:

The full roster for Class 1-B is shown, though only a few of them get much in the way of dialogue through the Sports Festival material, most prominently Shiozaki, Tetsutetsu, and Monoma. Class B is where a lot of the really weird first-year UA heteromorphs wound up. Class 1-A has got nobody even a sliver as Downright Bizarre as Fukidashi Manga and Bondo Kojirou.

Chapter 27:

Hatsume Mei’s character sheet implies that support goods are mostly a thing for heroes—a government license is required to produce them; using them requires a hero license. Most notable from her page is the sentence, “For those whose quirks impede everyday life, permits for special life-improving items may be granted after a rigorous examination.” That’s a lot of qualifiers, isn’t it? You might get to have support goods that improve your quality of life if you can prove to someone from the government that your life is sufficiently impeded by your quirk—oh, and that examination is going to be really demanding. There’s an obvious example in Aoyama’s belt, and Aoyama’s certainly no heteromorph, but it’s easy to imagine that kind of thing affecting heteromorphs disproportionately.

Chapter 29:

A small thing, but Tokoyami notes that the only person he has previously told Dark Shadow’s weakness to is Koda, another of the Class 1-A kids with a more significantly heteromorphic appearance. We will eventually find in a volume extra about the CRC that one of their branches is a group that rejects those who have strange heads—Tokoyami and Koda are the clear examples in Class 1-A, give or take Shouji’s unmasked features and Mina’s horns and odd coloring. The wiki notes that Koda and Tokoyami were together for the USJ attack, so the weakness may simply have come up there, but I don’t believe it’s explicitly specified anywhere what the circumstances were for Tokoyami telling Koda that information.

Chapter 30:

A “raccoon eyes” from Bakugou aimed at Mina, a reference to her black sclera. The Japanese here just translates to black eyes, though—still a reference to a heteromorphic feature, but not an animal insult.

Chapter 32:

Opting to rest up during the Sports Festival’s pre-final break, Tokoyami, the bird head guy, does this by stashing himself up on a tree branch. While I don’t think Tokoyami tends towards a lot of avian mannerisms, he will later be deeply impacted by Hawks encouraging him to fly.

In a strategic tactic to rile up Midoriya by insulting his classmate, Shinso derisively calls Ojiro a monkey. It’s super-effective!

Chapter 33:

In a not-so-strategic patch of angry internal monologue about Ojiro spilling the beans on his brainwashing quirk, Shinsou thinks of Ojiro as a monkey.

Chapter 35:

Mount Lady comments on Shiozaki’s strength by calling her another plant user when talking to Kamui Woods. We’ll see this sort of quirk solidarity in a number of other places—Endeavor’s agency full of fire types, a fire-type dude on the street expressing his support of Endeavor, Hawks quipping about both him and Tokoyami being birds—but this is the nice, safe version of something that raises a lot more questions when it’s e.g. Tsuyu’s parents both being frog-type heteromorphs. More on that in the relevant bonus chapter. In short, the solidarity’s nice, but pushed too far, it’s easy for that kind of thing to turn exclusionary.

Chapter 41:

The introduction of Stain. Stain’s another interesting case of someone not being denoted as heteromorphic—Bloodcurdle is an emitter-type—but, like Cementoss, having physical traits that clearly fall in line with their quirk. I would say Stain’s an even more borderline case than Cementoss, actually, as far as having a quirk that blurs the line on typing.

Cementoss is clearly strange-looking—less scary than Stain, but also less human—but his physical features do nothing whatsoever to facilitate the use of his Cement quirk. Stain, though, has his tongue: too long to be a normal human feature, and certainly helpful in terms of making it easier for him to taste other peoples’ blood. Yet we don’t call Stain a heteromorph because, in contrast to a feature like e.g. Sero’s elbows, Bloodcurdle would work the same way even if Stain had a totally normal tongue. So how would one discuss any discrimination Stain might ever have faced over it? Thus, my belief that the discrimination we see in the story is based, not simply on having a heteromorphic quirk, but on having a sufficient number of heteromorphic features.

---------

Thanks for reading so far! A lot of this first post was introduction and set-up, but the hints will be growing more overt as we press on. I'd like to make this series either weekly or biweekly, time and other projects depending, but it's written all the way up through the Edgy Deku arc, so I don't anticipate major delays.

I hope you all enjoy; this one has been in the works for a long, long time.

Next time: the Stain arc on through the License Exam, plus the (very telling) Tsuyu bonus chapter.

------------------- FOOTNOTES -------------------

[1] AFO uses the correct reading when he’s explaining Decay’s sudden appearance to Tenko in Chapter 222. I assume this is because Pops is a mobster while AFO has been married to a quirk scientist for seventy years.

[2] Also too, even if I were inclined to pick one word to use as the rude word and one to use as the more formal term, “mutant” is closer to the rude connotations of igyou than “heteromorph.”

[3] Knowing what we know now, it’s possible that l’il Tsubasa is fine, and that said Noumu only has a copy of his quirk via Ujiko. Its impulse to save/grab Deku could be chalked up as something caused by said quirk’s vestige, which the lower tier Noumu might simply lack the brain function to filter out. It’s difficult to say if the current story will find time to address this.

[4] One has to wonder if hero schools save all the crunchy classes about Hero Civics and Modern History for the third-years, if the younger grades are learning it but Horikoshi thinks it’s too dull to show, or if students are just never taught about it at all beyond the bare minimum necessary to do their jobs by the book, and anything more than that is the reserve of higher education or specialized study.

[5] Consider the simplicity of animal-type quirk names and then compare them with e.g. Helflame vs Hardflame Fan, Explosion vs. Landmine, Float vs. Air Walk, Magic vs. Poltergeist, Bubble vs. Clean Bubbler, or Scalemail vs. Scales vs. Shield. And that’s limiting myself to only quirks named directly in the manga! It gets even more ridiculous if the patterns in the anime’s invented names for quirks are taken into consideration.

[6] Of course, lots of people get chills from being around Shigaraki, even before the surgery but especially after. Everyone else has that response to a conscious Shigaraki, however.

[7] Conversely, when Mei scopes out some Support industry dudes in Chapter 35, the two she focuses on as well as nearly everyone seated around them are just baseline dudes in suits and ties. Only one of the fourteen visible faces in that panel is a probable heteromorph.

#bnha #heteromorph discrimination plot #my writing #so much writing #bnha meta #bnha worldbuilding

120 notes · View notes