#almost had him in the prime universe with that mmo

[caparrucia]

(This is assuming you played FFXIII, so if you didn't, then you can ignore this) This is a weird ask, but after seeing the "broody male vs broody female" character comparison, I remember that there was one broody female character that people loved: Lightning from FFXIII. Why do you think she was loved?

Oh god, you have triggered my trap card. I am FFXIII's number one feral defender.

My super extra spicy FF opinion is that the XIII trilogy is amazing. To truly trigger the FF nerds in the audience, FFXIII-2 is in fact my favorite final fantasy game in the entire history of the franchise. (I have played all FF games to date except XVI and the MMOs, because I cannot do MMOs due to mental ferret reasons.)

Lightning works as a character because she was written like a man.

Lightning works because she is the emotional driver of the entire trilogy and she's flawed. She's deeply unlikable at the beginning of XIII, prone to violence and overreactions, and she's the central screw keeping the tension in the Snow-Hope-Lighitning knot of emotions, feelings and relationships.

It is very clear her anger towards Snow is misplaced: Lightning is angry at herself, because she was the one who didn't listen, she's the one who alienated Serah, she's the one who was proud and stubborn and refused to bend even a little, despite the fact Serah and Snow were visibly and obviously working very hard to meet her on her terms. It's not her fault that Serah was turned into a l'cie (in fact, the whole overarching argument of the trilogy is that the fal'cie and l'cie system is flawed and broken and needs to be torn out from the roots to allow for a just, better world), but it is her fault that she found herself powerless to do anything about it, because she made the choice to prioritize her own pride over her sister's attempts to communicate.

And this crucial, because as Lightning comes to terms with the fact Snow did not do anything wrong - at least as far as Serah goes, you could argue about the effectiveness of NORA vs PSICOM trying to save the people being purged, etc, but I still think, in universe, we're primed to see Snow's actions as morally correct, because his whole deal is to be a callout for complicit inaction in the face of facism and genocide, which is totally not relevant in this year of our lord 2024 or anything, anyway! - it creates a lot of tension in her relationship with Hope.

See, Hope is fascinating, in XIII, because surface level, his bone with Snow makes sense. Snow got his mom killed! Hope wants revenge over that! He's an unstable, emotional teenager dealing with too much all at once! He latches onto Lightning because Lightning seems to be the only one who sees Snow for what Hope thinks he is: a loud, obnoxious try-hard that will get people killed in pursuit of his miopic idea of "good."

But Hope is wrong.

Demonstrably!

It wasn't Snow that killed his mother, it was the PSICOM and on a larger scale, the government that ordered innocents to be Purged. Snow acknowledged and enabled his mother's agency, but she made the choice to stand up and fight. She picked up the gun. Snow didn't throw a gun at her and told her to go kill people for the glorious revolution. Snow and NORA showed up to try and save people being unjustly and, one could almost say, unlawfully, executed for the grand crime of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Snow and NORA are there to do the fighting, and they enable people who decide to fight back themselves to do so. That was a choice Hope's mom made. She even cracks a joke about it. Hope is doing the teenage thing where he projects all of his rage onto Snow, because Snow is right there. Snow has a face and a name and was conveniently right there when Hope's mom died. Worse, Snow suffered similar injuries to her, but he survived, while Hope's mom didn't, and Hope is stewing on the perceived unfairness of that, as if survival was a tangible, physical thing that Snow had snatched away from Hope's mom to save himself.

So having Lightning acknowledge that it Snow wasn't in the wrong about Serah and come down from the murder-driven high leaves her purposeless and saddled with a volatile teenager that just wants to make the world make sense. Hope wants to kill Snow and pretend that will in fact return everything to normal. But it won't. It can't. It's an observable fact. Killing Snow won't fix anything and will in fact make everything just that little extra worse, just for kicks.

Here's where Lightning shines. Lightning is written like a man. Lightning does not take on a motherly role and sacrifice her own narrative to coddle Hope and teach him the power of forgiveness. Lightning doesn't defrost into a moe blob of soft, kind fluff and she doesn't get in contact with her femininity in the traditional, arguably stereotypical ways.

Lightning goes: New plan, which is Same plan, New target. Lightning is still going to fix the problem through tremendous amounts of military violence, because she is a soldier and that's how she fixes things. What she has gained, as her character arc progresses, is not thawing into non-violence, but rather, clarity of purpose. The game says, in every possible way: Lightning is good at violence and violence is what she's good at, and this is a good thing. The thing she had to overcome was being obsessed with the wrong target, blinded by her own unregulated emotions that did not allow her to see her real enemy and the true path to what she wants.

And this is further reinforced as she grows throughout the trilogy: in XIII, Lightning fights to save her sister, in XIII-2, Lightning fights to save reality, and Lightning Returns, she fights to preserve what she's come to understand as the essence of humanity: those bonds that would drive you to pick up a fight with god himself, and the myriad of complex, contradicting emotions that make life worth living.

Lightning works because she's right. Because no one ever looks at her and goes "oh boo hoo, little girl trying hard!" and there's no very special episode where we learn she's secretly very girly or that the true power is her soft femininity. Lightning is a broody bastard and she fixes all her problems with her sword, which, and this is true, is also a fucking gun.

When Etro hires her as a bodyguard, I promise you, it wasn't because she was uwu waifu material, it was because she looked at Caius casting Meteor at her and went: bitch, I've got a SWORD, that is also a GUN, and then parried that shit out of orbit.

Lightning just works, man.

And you know what's great? She's still no the coolest of the Farron sisters.

*gestures excitedly at Serah*

[magicalcelestialgem]

Transformers Prime Headcanons

I decided to try to make my Tumblr vlog more active a little so I decided to post some TFP headcanons. More specifically in my TFP AU.

Warning: Ships involved

Megatron may hate Optimus Prime but deep down, he loves Orion Pax. Whenever he sees Optimus, he thinks of the betrayal, the heartbreak, and most of all, seeing Orion no longer being Orion after the archivist was given the Matrix of Leadership.

Optimus, in some way, feels the same about Megatron. He hates the current Megatron, but loves Megatronus (the gladiator). Deep down, he even has hopes that Megatron will change.

Ratchet is aware of this as he was friends with Optimus since the Golden Age. How does he feel about Optimus still having this hope? He thinks Optimus, or Orion, is crazy as it seems like Megatron will never change now.

Do any of you remember that canceled Transformers MMO game called Transformers Universe? According to many of the sources I read about it, the game takes place in the Prime/Aligned continuity or is inspired by it. TFwiki says, "set in an alternate version of the Prime portion of the Aligned continuity family." Some other sources say it is a prequel to TFP. Almost anywhere I go on the Internet to see TF Universe, TFP is mentioned. Because of that, I personally think the game is canon, or at least partially canon, to TFP.

Cliffjumper had feelings for Arcee. Arcee felt the same way, but she hid it out of fear for losing him like how she lost Tailgate.

After the events of Triage, Ratchet started to develop a small crush on Wheeljack.

Arcee has sisters and they are Chromia and Ariel/Elita-1. Arcee is the youngest and the smallest.

The sisters still live. They're just far away.

Elita-1, at least when she was just Ariel, had feelings for Orion, but that soon went away some time after Orion started going out with Megatronus.

And, that's about it for now.

[strangeduckpaper]

Alright, let me take a crack at this:

As I seemingly can’t do anything by halves, this would take place in a mishmash of the IDW comics and the Gen 1 cartoon, following the battle of Autobot City and the decimation of both High Commands, as Rodimus leads his own team to end the war, while also addressing the Quintesson’s renewed invasion and the looming threat of Unicron.

Autobots

Leader: Rodimus-I had a lot of other options (Elita one, Arcee, Windblade, but not BB) but I just love Rodimus’ MTMTE writing too much not to put him here. Wrangling a team of misfits while combating his own massive ego and insecurities, and the pressure of succeeding Optimus Prime as Matrix-Bearer, maybe clashing against other figures like Ultra Magnus, Thunderclash or Getaway.

Rookie: Aileron - I love the idea of her early wide eyed idealism clashing intensely with the fact that the Prime she finds herself in the service of is IDW Rodimus. I’d also add in her characterization as an up and coming strategist from her appearance in Wreckers: Tread and Circuses, and have her bond with Cosmos and Roller while crushing on Quickshadow. Maybe bulk up her alt mode into a gunship.

Grouch: Red Alert / Minerva - Weird mishmash of characters that’s basically Animated Red Alert (who served on Rodimus’ team) with IDW Red Alert’s personality, with additional inspiration from the Masterforce character who appeared in Wreckers: Tread and Circuses. Paranoid, traumatized, and a mad scientist in her own right, most likely to dissect the first humans they come across.

Heavy: Roller-Guy needs more love, but an even natured heavy hitter who’s seen it all before. You could take the old soldier from Red Alert’s grouch position, and even create friction btw him and Rodimus through comparisons to Optimus, who he knew since the Orion Pax days.

Loner: Quickshadow-Another obscure favorite of mine, Aston Martin alt mode and the group’s no-nonsense intelligence specialist. I imagine her having the voice of Lashana Lynch, just to sell that Bond reference.

Xenophile: Cosmos-’Bot needs some respect put on their name, and the irony of the team’s resident xenophile being a goddamn flying saucer is hilarious.

Badass: Springer - An old friend of Hot Rod’s, triple changer and leader of the biggest, baddest Autobots around, the Wreckers. Cue friction in the team dynamic and Roddy’s insecurities bubbling to the surface.

Decepticons

Leader: Thunderwing - A rarely used character who I just think is cool. A Decepticon who can interact with the Matrix would make a great foil to the unsure Rodimus. Presents himself as a more honourable sort of ‘Con, but deep down is severely obsessive and violent.

Traitor: Duststorm - A transplant from the Universe MMO. A ruthless cutthroat and strategist hoping to climb the disorganized ranks, who thinks her ‘glorious leader’ has the wrong priorities. I kinda see her as Kikimora with some elements of Lady Macbeth.

Mad Scientist: Oil Slick - Red Alert’s mortal nemesis and quite possibly the cause of her paranoia, expert chemist, virologist and war criminal extraordinaire. Unsettling and creepy, kinda like MTMTE Vos, speaks in a raspy monotone.

Competent One: Barricade - I had a little trouble with this, as I also considered Acid Storm, and two Universe characters (Switchblade & Astraea) but ultimately policebot won out. I imagine him as IDW Prowl with his behaviour taken to the extreme. Hates Duststorm almost as much as he does the Autobots.

Honorbound: Snare - Listen, I just reread Last Stand of the Wreckers and he became my favourite character. A ‘Con who’s disgusted with what the movement has become, joined Thunderwing in the hopes he could bring it back to their glory days.

Brute: Nitro Zeus - I will not apologize, I just wanted someone kinda like Lugnut without just being Lugnut. Given his similarities to Bayverse Shockwave, I’d give him a softspot for animals, alongside a surprising patience.

Monster: Overlord - Another one I had a little trouble with, as I’d also considered Sixshot, but she comes built in with ties to both Snare and Springer, having disgusted the former with their actions and being hunted down by the latter.

Transformers thoughts

The Autobots and Decepticons have different character archetypes that keep appearing in different iterations and this isn't complete and there's usually some overlap but here's what I've got:

Autobot archetypes:

The "Prime"/Leader.

The Rookie.

The Cranky old one who's seen some shit (Usually, but not always the medic).

The aloof, brooding lone wolf type character with a backstory.

The gung-ho, lovable idiot/muscle of the team.

The one who loves Earth (Or Alien cultures if they're in space).

The "Cool one" who kids who don't like the Rookie latch onto sometimes introduced later on for the "Sixth Power Ranger effect".

Decepticon archetypes.

The Leader.

The obviously treacherous, yet cosmically ill-fated one.

The Mad Scientist.

The Dangerously Competent One, the character who could assume the role of leader either through chain of command or by being a better traitor than the obvious traitor.

The Honourable Warrior, the villain who feels out of place due to having a code that they will not deviate from, a character that will, or at least show the potential to change sides when the villains cross lines they can't.

The Brute, the dim-witted but loyal and obedient muscle of the team who can shift from slapstick comic relief to absolutely powerhouse in seconds.

The monster, similar to the brute but usually added later, after the Brute has degraded as a villain; this character has less comedic moments and is basically always a threat just by being present.

So let's make this interesting shall we?

Tell me who, if you were making TF series, you would put in each role and to keep it from being predictable I'm gonna say: No Optimus, Megatron, Starscream or Bumblebee and no Beast Wars characters.

[gothamcityneedsme]

Character questions for girls! 17+18 for Akane, 22+29 for Sennestra, 32 for both. (38 for Tav because I don't want to leave him out :p)

SORRY I FORGOT TO ANSWER THESE.  From the post located here.

17. Do they like to take photos? What do they like to take photos of? Selfies? What do they do with their photos?

Akane is really big on the photo reel.  She’s definitely the kind of person who goes through her photos when she’s bored to delete the ones she shouldn’t keep so that she has more space.  She also definitely uses a computer to store them because they accumulate over the years.  She only takes pictures with her phone, the digital age is kind to her lol.

She takes pictures of things around her, she definitely has a few shots of the places she goes most (her room, her house, places she walks often outside).  She would take pictures of things she sees (pretty buildings, fountains, nature, cute animals).  She would also take selfies, but usually only whenever she’s wearing a new outfit or if she’s with friends.  She definitely likes taking pictures of herself when other people are in it as well, she likes gathering memories.

I can totally see her making scrapbooks when a time or event really strikes her, but she probably keeps those to herself.  She would only share them when she really trusts someone and wants to be very open with them.  (and when a right time happens for her to show them as well).

18. What’s their favourite genre of: books, music, tv shows, films, video games and anything else 

Akane loooooves romance novels.  Big epic ones or trashy silly ones, she adores them all with the same amount of love.  She especially loves medieval-themed romances.  Music-wise she would probably listen to mostly pop songs or classical music.  I can’t really see her enjoying any “harder” music.  TV shows is similar to her book loves, she would love shows like Merlin.  For films she would like foreign artsy films, I think.  Aaand for video games, I don’t usually see her as a gamer, but if she’s going to do anything, it would be to play healer in an MMO with her friends, lol.  She makes her character look pretty and sweet.  I MAYBE could see her getting into rp, which, if that was the case, she would have at least two characters.  One a sweet magical girl and the other a valiant but shy male knight.  She’s baaaaaasically projecting hardcore lol.

22. What are their favourite insults to use? What do they insult people for? Or do they prefer to bitch behind someone’s back? 

If she isn’t swearing, Sennestra would probably call people ‘coward’ a lot, or just literally spit at them.  She definitely bitches both to people’s face and behind their backs--when something bothers her she can be a bit Queen Bitch about it.  I see her using a lot of universe-appropriate swear words when she has something specific to insult too.

Sennestra is definitely the type of person where you’re safe from all perceived slights if you’re her friend, but if you’re her enemy you never escape her glare.

29. What do they do when they find out someone else’s fear? Do they tease them? Or get very over protective? 

For this, I think it depends on the gravity of the fear.  If it’s something small that the person is sort of brushing off themselves even as they confess it, Sennestra would poke fun at them.  Gently, if she’s friends with the person.  This is especially the case if it’s spiders or something little that’s more a minor phobia than a true fear. (And, for these minor things, as long as the relationship wouldn’t be too harmed by it, she’d be the type to do like leaving a rubber spider on the back of someones chair to surprise them later, etc).

If it’s a more serious fear though, especially if it’s the fear of someone she really cares about, Sennestra would be overprotective.  She wouldn’t TALK about it, really, and she’s not good at that kind of close comfort kind of way of addressing fears, but she would be sure to put herself between that fear and the person who is afraid.  Once she’s aware, she would always try to shield them from it, as much as she can.

If it isn’t a physical fear, then she HAS to talk, and while she’s inelegant about that, she would try to do her best to assure the person who is afraid, and would try to reassure them with her own strength.

32. What do they dress like? What sorta shops do they buy clothes from? Do they wear the fashion that they like? What do they wear to sleep? Do they wear makeup? What’s their hair like? 

I’m going to limit myself to a modern universe for this ask or I’ll never get through it.  I’ll start with Akane.  Akane dresses very very femme, lots of pretty dresses and bright colors moreso than dark.  She likes accessories and makeup and prettying herself up.  She buys clothes from stores that sell more clothes for women than men, the sort of store that really has a lot of different fashion-lines to choose from.  She LOVES the clothes she wears.  To sleep, she would wear cute pjs with patterns she likes.  Her pjs would always match.  Her hair is a very dramatic bob, with her hair longer in the front and shorter in the back.  She usually wears it down without much else done to it, but sometimes she will but barrettes or headbands on for fun.  She almost never ties it back at all and would only do so if she’s doing yardwork or something extremely physical like that.

Sennestra is a mix of practicality and goth and while she would dress fancy when the situation calls, for the typical day she wears clothes that she can move quickly in.  When she was younger I think she leaned more heavily into the goth thing, but as she grows older the color scheme remains, but the clothes would change.  She probably buys her clothes from stores that sell clothes for professionalism or sports.  To sleep she probably just wears a big T-Shirt and that’s it.  She’ll wear shorts if other people are around but typically probably wouldn’t bother.  Sennestra wears makeup but she doesn’t change it up very often, but she likes wearing heavy eye makeup and lipstick.  Sennestra’s hair is short, and she styles it to line up with her jawline, but it’s very coarse.

38. What do they admire in others? What talents do they wish they had? 

Tavon admires people who are sure in their ideals and goals, and while he does have those himself, he actually tends to hide his own insecurity about his choices.  He wants so deeply to be sure of his path that he sort of projects the questionlessness he thinks he has onto others and admires it, even when he assumes he possess it as well.  Later, he does possess it, but he does still admire it, especially when someone’s goal does not align with his own--he finds differing perspectives interesting.  (A side note, but he is more often to lessen or remove his own goals in the face of other’s, though--but sometimes that is a good thing).

He also admires practical skills, especially combat-related ones in most universes.  He admires bravery and daring, those who are willing to push for what they think is right.

He wishes he was better at connecting honestly with people--an honest connection is something he struggles with.  Falsely, it is easy for him, he’s a spy, he can play the game perfectly, but trust and true connection often evade him, or are quite difficult.  He looks to people who truly care for and love each other and admires those deep feelings.

He also generally admires any specific skillset that isn’t one he’s particularly trained in--even as a spy its not like he can be a master of everything, so sometimes he needs a specialist.  It depends on universe, but Tavon Prime would wish he had better mechanical technological aptitude (as his skills lie mainly in slicing).

[percentmagazine]

Matrix Pill 2020

The Matrix has you…

The cultural overview over "The Matrix Trilogy" and how it foresaw the social trends.

"The Matrix" trilogy by the Wachowski brothers is the most iconic and groundbreaking movie trilogies in cinema history. Terms like "The red pill", "Dessert of the real", "There is no spoon", "Follow the white rabbit", "Why, Mr. Anderson? Why?" and many other phrases from the film became the golden quotes of the new millennium, shaping the entire culture of the "generation Y"… also known as "the millennials". "The bullet time" effect with fancy acrobatic moves and bullet waves turned into the most quoted gimmick for decades in action films, parodies and video games. The slow motion has never been so cool and slick, as it was after "The Matrix", not to mention sunglasses at night and dark looks with fashionable black leather tailored coats.

Its been 21 years since the theatrical release of the first "The Matrix" film. It came out in November of 1999 (the most revolutionary year in cinema history, since it is the release year of such groundbreaking hit titles like "Star Wars: Episode I. The Phantom Menace" by George Lucas, "Fight Club" by David Fincher, and "The Matrix", of course, by the Wachowski brothers). Four years after the great success of the film, "The Matrix" was reloaded with two worthy sequels: "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions" — turning a movie franchise into a full-time trilogy. There was also "The Animatrix" — an anthology of animated short films set in "The Matrix Universe" directed by highly acclaimed Japanese animators, and a video-game "Enter the Matrix" which told a story that went parallel to the story of sequels, explaining some of the unanswered questions in the films. Thus "The Matrix" franchise has become one of the first inter-media franchises where all available storytelling formats told one epic story from different angles and points of view. And unlike other attempts of creating such inter-media franchise around movies (like it was with "Star Wars Expended Universe" or "The Terminator" franchise) it wasn't just pure merchandising and cash-grabbing schemes with questionable product quality having a famous brand logo on it… no, '"The Matrix" franchise was one well thought out project and story from the very beginning, created and curated by the Wachowski brothers. Nothing more or less.

In the year of 2020 "The Matrix" is being reloaded once again with its new instalment being in production. Internet is filled with shaky mobile phone behind the scenes footage of "The Matrix 4". We see Neo, played by actor Keanu Reeves and his stunt double, jumping of high buildings and riding fancy motorcycle with Trinity, played by Carrie Ann-Moss, while the streets of San-Francisco are being turned into a chaotic war zone with explosions, car chases, extras running all over the streets and helicopters flying.

Usually such big blockbuster film productions are being held in secret in order to prevent unnecessary leaks and story spoilers… most of the extras and crew members don't even know what movie they are filming up until the very end. During such big productions fake movie titles are made. But this time, as it seams, filmmakers don't really care about production secrecy, as actor Keanu Reeves and film director Lana Wachowski keep on hanging out with random people on a street during the filmmaking process. What is it? A new viral social media format of film advertising? Or the new way of entire filmmaking approach? Or maybe both?

Either way — Lana Wachowski is the visionary artist that is going to bring something fresh and unexpected into the cinema format and into the new "Generation Z" culture. The Wachowski brothers have foreseen the future with "The Matrix" film almost in every way possible… and I'm pretty sure they are going to do so again. They spoke of cyber-crimes, data privacy and internet control long before Edward Snowden incident, WikiLeaks, Anonymous group, social medias and etc. They showed aircraft controlled by so called "terrorists" hitting skyscrapers years before 9/11. "The Matrix" also tried to warn us about the dangers of virtual realities, and here we are 20 years later using VR systems and spending our lives in endless MMO RPG games (by the way, "The Matrix" franchise even had its own MMO RPG video game "The Matrix Online"). The virtual values have become much more valuable that the material ones. Bitcoins and Facebook likes are considered to be much more precious then real money and even gold by many. Instagram pages are viewed as the only true portraits of their users, however bright filters, happy faces, flattering camera lenses and photoshop have nothing to do with reality. It is merely a "Residual self-image", as it was named in the film, "A mental projection of your digital self". The person sees himself whom he wants him to be, not whom he really is.

And I think that this topic is the most overlooked topic by critics and contemporary culture scholars.

Just think about it — the Wachowski brothers are the physical manifestation of their own concept of "Residual self-image", as both of them saw themselves as someone different. Both brothers were men, but they considered themselves to be women. Their physical reality didn't match with their mental projection of virtual self. Thus they had to do surgeries and go through sex change procedures. The Wachowski brothers are officially sisters. Nowadays in 2020 it is a common practice that can't surprise anyone, however in 1990s during the production of the first "The Matrix" film it was a big deal… so big that Wachowski brothers had to rewrite the screenplay. In the earlier drafts of the script there was a fully flashed out transgender character. She is still present in the final film, but her role and concept has been reduced. Character Switch — portrayed by Belinda McClory — was a transgender, and her name "Switch" meant too illustrate her constant transitions from one form into another, as she was a female in the real world, but in the Matrix her personal "Residual self-image" switched her into a masculine male. For Wachowski brothers it was a very important topic to explore, since both of them dedicated their lives to transgender worldview, but in 1990's the film studio and producers thought that such concepts would be too confusing for average film viewers and difficult to follow, thus it was all cut out during pre-production. Even their first film "Bound" that featured lesbian love story was met with numerous misunderstandings during pre-production, during its filming and, of course, during its release, since such themes were considered too risky… almost taboo, as they could easily put off many unprepared audiences.

But now… look how the world and culture has changed?! In 21 years everything is upside down. It is almost impossible to find a big blockbuster film or franchise or T.V. series or even a video-game that has no lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, pansexual or any other "something"-sexual character. It is true for both "rated R" and "rated M" media and for media oriented for children. Disney's life adaptation of animated classic "Beauty and the Beast" is the prime example… not to mention more.

I must say that unorthodox sexual orientation of characters were always present in cinema, they were never the subject of prohibition and never will be, however before "Wachowski era" their orientation always played some sort of narrative purpose. No character was supposed to be gay or transexual just for that sake of being such. But nowadays we see LGBT characters all over visual media… and the fact of their orientation rarely enhance the story or add anything to it. For the most part it is just being there for no reason other then being there. No wonder we have so many poorly written stories today. "Chekhov's gun" is the key to good storytelling, isn't it? If you put something into a story, it must heave a purpose, because without purpose it's just a filler, a white noise… this means it shouldn't be there at all. And here I'd like to quote Agent Smith from "The Matrix" films:

"But, as you well know, appearances can be deceiving…" — even here Wachowski brothers point out the previous "Residual self-image" topic. "…which brings me back to the reason why we're here. We're not here because we're free. We're here because we're not free. There is no escaping reason; no denying purpose. Because as we both know, without purpose, we would not exist."

Curious… Wachowski brothers were pioneers in LGBT mass-media, yet even they were smart enough to exclude these themes from "The Matrix trilogy", even having a total creative freedom over the sequels, as they knew that it would serve no purpose in their story. Yet they used much more sophisticated tricks to pinpoint their agenda and worldview. Get ready for some hard drugs! Wachowski brothers urged the protagonist and film viewers to take "The red pill" and "Free our minds". They also urged us to fight against all rules and stereotypes, and young generation loved it. In the film it simply meant "rage against the machines", but in our world where this film was "The red pill" for young people, this fight against the established order had much deeper purpose.

Upon the quick view on the lives of the Wachowski brothers over these two decades we can tell that their "red pill" they were giving us, was simply a androgyne hormone for transgenders and their main "Matrix" they were fighting against, was the sexual orientation stereotypes. They succeeded in their revolution, as LGBT themes are no longer taboo in mass-media. But there were also other important cultural topics Wachowski brothers presented with their trilogy: multiculturalism, racial diversity, feminism and even "toxic masculinity" and war against white men and patriarchy… long before these themes became mainstream in pop-culture.

"The Matrix" franchise had always a diverse cast, didn't it? It also has strong and independent female characters right from the start. And it wasn't just a copycat trend to appeal some social minorities, as it happens today. It was the personal philosophy of the authors. However, despite all their diversity and equality, one social group was shown deliberately one-sided. Just think about it. All evil characters in all three films were male and white. Agents are white middle aged men, Cypher — white middle aged man, Merovingian — white middle aged man, Architect — white man, Bane — white middle aged man, etc. Some can argue on this topic, since white men where also on the side of good guys. True, "but, as you well know, appearances can be deceiving…" says Smith. All white men on the good side of the story are… well, questionable. Whom can we name? Councillor Hamann — played by Anthony Zerbe — is a white man… a father figure in Zion, however he is shown to be an irrational and rhetorical weak old man. Comparing him to other leaders of Zion we can easily see his incompetence. Even Neo makes fun of him, pointing out on a fact that Hamann's solid age doesn't make him wiser (and it is the only time in the whole trilogy when the main protagonist ever trolls anyone). Then there is the Kid — played by Clayton Watson — another white man good guy, but he is just an immature naive boy… in "The Animatrix" he in the moment of danger finds no better way out then a suicide… a very questionable role model, don't you think? Who's next? Mouse — portrayed by Matt Doran — once again a young teenager full of sexual hormones and nothing more. There is also Captain Roland — played by David Roberts — and his ship crew, but a single black woman Niobe — played by Jada Pinkett Smith — turns out to be wiser and much more competent then any of them. Meanwhile all non-white and non-male characters are shown in the positive light. Wait… but what about Neo — the one himself — played by Keanu Reeves — he is a white man — the hero of the trilogy. True. However originally "The Matrix" creators wanted to cast Will Smith for the role of Neo, but Will Smith declined the role and chose to act in "Wild Wild West".

In other words Wachowski brothers brought up anti-white men SJW themes in their films long before such topics became mainstream and part of pop-culture. Thus they weren't even noticed by the time of film release. But it is worth mentioning that Wachowski brothers were depicting anti-white men subplots not because they were following some kind of fashion or social agenda like mass-media does today, but because brothers WERE white and men, and they wanted to do something about it. And they did. For real.

However next generation of filmmakers and artists took the Wachowski brothers' personal issues and turned it into a viral trend, changing the culture forever. It can be even said that the modern SJW and LGBT hysteria is the Matrix, created by Wachowski brothers. I wonder, will their new "The Matrix" film change the world once again?.. and how?

Text: Jurii Kirnev

Omnifinery Editorial: Article 003

[choppahface]

BARRICADE YOU SAY

YEAH, MY OLD FAVE WHO VANISHED NEAR THE END OF THE FIRST MOVIE and who I wish would appear in something... not-movie lol